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HYDROPATHY AND HOM(EOPAT
IMPARTIALLY APPRECIATED,

WITH AN
APPENDIX OF NOTES

ILLUSTRATIVE OF
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MIND ON THE BODY.
BY EDWIN LEE, ESQ.,
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY; CORRESPONDING
AND HONORARY MEMBER OF THE TMPERIAL MEDICAL ACADEMY
OF VIENNA, THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF BIEDICINE OF
NAPLES, THE MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL
SOCIETIES OF PARIS, BERLIN,
FLORENCE, &C.
THE THIRD EDITIONS, COMBINED.
LONDON:
J. CHURCHILL, PRINCES STREET, SOHO.
FOLTHORP, BRIGHTON.
1847.

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LONDON:
IPRIXTED BY G. J. PALMER, SAVOY STREET; STRAND.



PREFACE.

THIS notice of the Cold Water Cure originally
formed the Appendix to the " Baths of Germany;" that of Homceopathy having been appended to my "Observations on Continental
Medical Institutions and Practice," published
several years ago. These were, I believe, the
first accounts of the subjects given in this country by one of the profession, and from the large
share of attention which they subsequently attracted, I considered that it would be doing a
service to republish my remarks in a separate
fofm-without making them so diffuse as to
form a book, but with such alterations as a more
extended knowledge had shown to be requisite,
for the advantage of those interested in having
an opinion as to the degree of estimation to
which these methods of treating disease are entitled, free from the one-sided views which their

169206



Iv                PREFACE.
partisans are desirous of inculcating, but at the
same time, without an undue depreciation of
the effects which, when considered in their more
extensive bearings, their introduction is likely
to have on medical practice. Considerable additions have been made to the present combined
editions; the. notes in the Appendix remaining
as before.
13, Curzon Street,
May, 1847.



THE

COLD WATER CURE.
GRAEFENBERG, the head quarters of the practice of hydropathy, now consists of about thirty
houses, scattered on the acclivity of a wooded
mountain which rises above the small town of
Freywaldau, containing about three thousand
inhabitants, and in which an establishment has
also been formed. The country is salubrious,
the air pure and bracing, and the water is excellent. " Among the half-wild mountains in
Silesia," observes Dr. Scoutetten in his report,*
* Rapport a M. le Ministre de la Guerre sur 1'Hydrotherapie. Paris, 1844.



HYDROPATHY.

from other parts to resort to Graefenberg, and
considerable opposition was made on the part of
the local authorities before whom Priessnitz was
cited to appear, and was prohibited from practising; but on appealing to a higher, tribunal,
and proving that he used no secret remedy but
only pure spring water, he was authorised to
receive patients; a physician was sent from
Vienna to report upon the proceedings and the
advantages of the treatment, and Graefenberg
was ranked among the Austrian baths.    In
1830 the number of patients amounted to only
fifty-five, but in 1838 to upwards of eight hundred, which number has since more than doubled,
including many medical men.
The governments of Bavaria and other German territories likewise authorised hydropathy.
At Breslau the professors of the university, and
especially the celebrated anatomist Otto, greatly
modified their practice by the more frequent
employment of water. - At Dresden hydropathy
was favorably received.  The   distinguished
professors, Carus and Choulant, regard hydropathy as a powerful means, calculated to render
great service in the treatment of disease, after
the prevailing enthusiasm should be succeeded
B 2



HYDROPATHY.

the river. In the court-yard is a fountain of clear
spring water with iron cups attached, for drinking, and an ascending douche, by which a fine
continued stream of water may be directed
against the eyes or other parts of the head. A
statue to the virgin, to whom the building was
formerly dedicated, stands as a memento of bygone times in a niche over the door. The apartments (on either side of spacious corridors) are
neatly and conveniently fitted up, the price varying according to the accommodation. There is a
large and cheerful reading-room, commanding a
view of the Rhine, and supplied with newspapers
and periodicals; adjoining is the refectory, where
all the patients assemble at dinner. The baths
are on the lower story, sunk in the ground.
They contain clear water, about four feet deep,
of the natural temperature, and are sufficiently
spacious to admit of the bathers moving freely
about. About 150 persons could be accommodated at the same time. The dinner consists
of soup, roast or boiled meat, potatoes and other
vegetables, cutlets, and plain puddings; the
only beverage allowed being pure water, of
which there is a plentiful supply of bottles upon
the table. Bread and butter, and cold milk and



HYDROPATHY.

water, are allowed for breakfast; and the same
for supper, with the addition of stewed prunes,
pears, or other fruit.
Besides the douches in the house, there are,
in an adjoining building, the Wellenbad, (wavebath,) which is used in certain cases of local
debility, and two or three douches in the environs; one being at the Hermitage, in a picturesque situation at the foot of the Hunds-Drucken
hills, about a mile and half distant, to which
the patients must walk, and, having been
douched, must also return on foot. The water
of the douches falls from a height of from ten to
twenty feet, through tin tubes, the diameter of
which varies from two to three inches, so that a
powerful column of water falls upon the part of
the body exposed to its action. On the back,
abdomen, and chest, the stream is generally
made to fall obliquely.  Marienberg is now
under the superintendance of Dr. Hallmann,
who was formerly commissioned by the Russian
government to visit Graefenberg and report
upon the practice. A few minutes' walk from
Marienberg, and close to the river, is the more
recent establishment, Mtihbad, which can accommodate about fifty patients, and was, till last year,



HYDROPATHY.

the blanket and plunges into the water at a
temperature from 90 to 120 R., while the perspiration is still streaming from the pores of his
skin.
The duration of the bath is only a few seconds in most instances; some persons, however, remain in for a longer period, in brisk
motion, and rubbing the surface of the body.
On quitting the bath the skin presents the same
appearance as a boiled lobster. After having
been dried by friction with a sheet, the patient
dresses, walks about for an hour, drinking two
or three glasses of cold water, and then goes
"to breakfast with what appetite he may." The
time between breakfast and dinner (at twelve
or one o'clock) is occupied in walking, reading,
drinking cold water, &c. At Graefenberg many
of the patients were formerly subjected to a
repetition of the sweating and bathing process
in the course of the day; this is, however, not
now the case.
It is well known that the impression of cold
water or cold air to the surface of the body,
throws the blood upon internal organs, which
relieve themselves of the excess under the consequent reaction when the application of the
cold is discontinued, and a glow, frequently
B5



10

HYDROPATHY.

with  perspiration, is produced.     The sudden
passage of the body, while its surface is heated
or in a state of perspiration, to a very cold medium, is generally considered, and very justly
so, as highly dangerous; but in the cold water
treatment, it is seldom found to be productive
of prejudicial consequences, when under proper
superintendence. On the contrary, a direct increase of bodily vigour and of the appetite is
commonly experienced on leaving the bath.* It
must, however, be borne in mind, that in these
cases the heat of surface and perspiration are of
a passive nature, and not produced by exercise,
by which the whole body is heated and the circulation accelerated, in which state a person
could not go into a cold bath without great
danger. In fact, the practice is very analogous
to that which was adopted by the Romans, who
" The cooling of the body," says Liebig, " by whatever
cause produced, increases the amount of food necessary. The
mere exposure to the open air in a carriage, or on the deck of a
ship, by increasing radiation and vaporization, increases the
loss of beat, and compels us to eat more than usual. The same
is true of those who are accustomed to drink large quantities
of cold water, which is given off at the temperature of the body
of 99"5. It increases the appetite, and persons of weak constitutions find it necessary, by continued exercise, to supply to
the system the oxygen required to restore the heat abstracted
by the cold water.



HYDROPATHY.

11

plunged into the baptisterium or cold bath, after
leaving the vapour or hot one: and also by the
Russians and other nations at the present day.
" The heat of the vapour," says an author who
has treated of the subject, "to which the bather
is exposed, is from 1220 to 132~ Fahrenheit.
Sometimes, when there are no conveniences for
a supply of cold water, a Russian will rush out
from: the bath, and plunge into the nearest
stream, or even roll in the snow."  Acerbi
states, "that almost all the Finnish peasants
have a small house built on purpose for a bath;
the apartment is usually dark, with only a hole
at the top. They remain for half an hour or an
hour in the same room, heated to 1670 Fah.
The Finlanders will sometimes come out naked
and converse together or with any one near
them in the open air.  If travellers happen to
pass by while the peasants of a hamlet or little
village are in the bath, and their assistance is
needed, they will leave the bath, and assist in
yoking and unyoking, and fetching provender
for the horses, or in anything else, without any
sort of covering, while the travellers sit shivering with cold, though wrapped in good wolfskin. The Finnish peasants pass thus instantaneously from an atmosphere of 1670 Fah., to



HYDROPATHY.

13

about half a minute; he then puts on his
clothes, sits down, and smokes with great
composure, and, what is of no little importance, with a thorough persuasion that the process will prove efficacious.  The sudatory is
often resorted to for the purpose of refreshment, or to prepare for the transaction of any
business which requires unusual deliberation
and sagacity."*
In these instances, the time the person remains in the cold is not sufficiently long for the
production of its depressing effects, which can
be better resisted in proportion to the previously
high temperature on the surface of the body.
Hence, a person whose body is moderately
warm, or whose skin is in a state of passive
perspiration, would experience less inconvenience and danger from going into a cold bath,
than one whose skin is cool, or when its vital
powers are depressed. The advantage of cold
affusion.in fevers, when the heat of the body is
steadily above the natural temperature, is well
known, and is a further illustration of the same
principle.
In Great Britain, the regulation of the functions of the skin by bathing, especially the use
0 Bell on baths, &c. Philadelphia.



14

HYDROPATHY.

of the tepid bath, has been more neglected than
in perhaps any other country. Of late years,
however, a greater degree of attention has been
directed to this important circumstance, the
number of public baths having increased in
London within the last few years.
In fact, when we consider the extent of surface occupied by the skin, its varied uses, both
as the chief organ of sensation, in which the
ultimate ramifications of the blood-vessels and
nerves terminate, and also as that in which the
important functions of absorption, perspiration,
and the secretion of the sebaceous matter, by
which its surface is lubricated, are carried on;
its analogous office to the lungs, in favouring
the decarbonization of the blood, and its extensive sympathies with other parts, especially the
mucous membranes of the air passages of the
alimentary canal and the kidneys, we cannot
fail duly to estimate the importance of bathing,
as the means best adapted both for maintaining
this organ in a healthy condition, and also of
rectifying many disordered states of the economy; and yet how seldom is it that baths are
recommended in chronic diseases! Can it excite surprise, that in individuals who pass months
together without taking a bath, or perhaps even



HYDROPATHY.

15

without washing the surface of their bodies (as
is the case especially with the poorer classes of
the community) the functions of the skin should
become   materially  impaired, its circulation
torpid, its secretions obstructed and vitiated,
frequently giving rise, by their re-absorption,
to deranged states of the health, of which the
cause is seldom ascertained, and which the
practitioner vainly endeavours to remove by the
internal administration of medicines.*
Even in private practice, where there would
be no obstacle to the free use of baths, how seldom do they form part of the treatment, unless
there should happen to be any existing disease
of the skin! I am convinced, that in many
instances the digestive powers become deranged,
and the general health undermined, from     a
neglect to pay proper attention to the state of
the skin; that a large proportion of the catarrhal, rheumatic, and nervous affections, so prevalent in the variable climate of Great Britain,
might be traced to the same source; and that
the tendency to these complaints, as well as to
pulmonary consumption, would be materially
lessened, were persons, while in health, accus* The baths for the poor recently established in London
and some other large towns, will have a material effect in
the prevention of disease.



HYDROPATHY.

17

action takes place. In these instances, the first
impression is agreeable; the application generally allays irritation, reduces the frequency of
the pulse, producing a tendency to sleep, and is
thus a powerful antiphlogistic. As long as the
skin is hot and dry, the application may be repeated, at first at intervals of a quarter of an
hour, and afterwards at longer intervals, till a
tendency to moisture appears. The cold water
application has been strongly advocated by many
practitioners in acute disease, and its modified
adoption cannot fail to be beneficial in many instances-as affording the most efficient means
of lowering the temperature of the body, being,
in fact, but a variation of the practice formerly
advocated and successfully practised by Dr.
Currie, of cold affusion in fevers, the rule to be
observed being that the surface of the body be
steadily above the natural temperature, and that
the skin be not in a state of perspiration, though
as regards the latter some exceptions might be
allowed. Where, however, the feverish excitement depends upon inflammation of an important internal organ, there would in many instances be great danger from the frequent application of cold of an increase of the evil, in
consequence of the blood being driven upon the



18

HYDROPATHY.

internal organs at a time when the power of
re-action is weakened. Hence the cases to
which this treatment would be most applicable
would be simple fevers, the more severe forms
of scarlet fever, and other exanthemata, angina
tonsillaris, rheumatism, and lumbago. Hip or
sitz baths-the patient being seated in the
water, with his legs over the edge of the tubare also of very frequent use, combined with
the wet sheet and other means. When employed for a short time only, and frequently
repeated, the action of the sitz bath is tonic and
bracing, causing contraction of the blood-vessels, and is consequently useful in various states
of relaxation. When used for a longer period,
a re-action succeeds on quitting the bath, more
blood is determined to the parts; it is then a
powerful derivative remedy, and is used to relieve congestion of the brain, or of the thoracic
and abdominal viscera, and piles, by causing
them to bleed, as well as constipation and other
consequences of this state. In some cases of
nervous excitement, head-baths are employed,
the patient lying with his occiput in a vessel of
cold water. Compresses of wet linen covered
with a dry cloth (exciting compress) are also
very commonly recommended to be worn on the



20

HYDROPATHY.

It is not my intention to enter upon the consideration  of the  theories of    disease   which
have been promulgated to some of the exclusive
advocates of the cold ývater plan, nor to attempt
to refute their one-sided assertions as to the inefficiency of other remedial means, which have
stood the test of the experience of ages; but it may
be admitted that the treatment employed in proper
cases of chronic disorder, strengthens the nervous
and muscular systems, gives tone to the body
generally, and to the skin in particular; there is consequently a greater inclination and ability for exercise, a diminution of the undue susceptibility to
atmospheric changes, and to morbid impressions
on the nerves, which in a high state of civilization
are so frequently productive of disordered states
of health. The pure air, bodily exercise, plain
ma, tic, sciatica, spasm, infantile convulsions, continued vomiting, and of relieving acidity and flatulence, and also as a
preparatory measure to the applications of cold water, in " old
persons, delicate females, bloodless and greatly debilitated
patients, especially those affected with bronchial and asthmatic
disorder of the lungs," thereby 1" enabling the skin to react
upon the cold wet sheet, when it would otherwise not have
done so. Extreme congestion and extreme general weakness,
may be thus coaxed as it were into commencing the attempt
at self-restoration." A person must indeed be strongly prejudiced in favour of cold water to think of applying it in similar cases.



HYDROPATHY.

21

diet, the drinking freely of water, and consequent copious excretion of fluid, by means of the
skin and kidneys, must tend powerfully to renew the mass of blood, and to eliminate noxious
matters which sometimes remain long in the
circulation and give rise to intractable diseases.
A vitiated state of the blood, as the cause of
disease, has in fact been more overlooked by
English than by continental practitioners, though
even abroad it is only of late years that due
attention has been sufficiently directed to this
point.
The extent to which the employment of active medicines in chronic disease has been and
is still carried in the British dominions, is made
a subject of just reproach by foreign practitioners. The public, however, is, in great measure, to blame for the practice, by encouraging
the custom of remunerating the great body of
practitioners, not according to the attendance,
but in proportion to the quantity of medicine
sent.  To this custom may be ascribed that
habit which many have acquired of dosing themselves and their families with active drugs on
every slight deviation from a state of health. It
is gratifying, however, to observe that of late



HYDROPATHY.

29

ralgia, or irregular muscular movements, after
having resisted other measures, have sometimes
yielded to this treatment, than which few things
could be more calculated to counteract the influence of habit by which similar complaints are
so often kept up; syphilitic cases, particularly
when of long duration, and when much mercury has-been taken;* as also relaxation of the
system, and other derangements of the general
health, may often be removed or mitigated by
this plan of treatment.
Notwithstanding, however,     the  advantage
which the water cure may be calculated to produce in some disordered states of the economy,
it must not be supposed that it is either so
generally applicable or so successful as some of
its advocates would have it considered; and the
exaggerated accounts of its efficacy which have
been given to the world by interested or enthusiastic parties, are likely to do much harm by
leading to,its indiscriminate adoption in cases
S"The patients are most likely to derive advantage if
young, and if the complaints have been induced by chills or
cold. If they are of a feeble constitution, hydropathy is
powerless. The study of general treatment, among which
hydropathy must rank, is worthy of all the attention of prac -
titioners."-Compte Rendat, &c.



30

HYDROPATHY.

to which it is but ill-suited. Thus, one nonmedical author, after extolling Priessnitz as
" one of the greatest benefactors of mankindone of the most astounding geniuses of this or
any other age-a second Hippocrates--the
founder of a system by which all curable diseases, and many declared by the faculty to be
beyond the power of their art, are to be cured
by the sole agency of cold spring-water, air,
and exercise,"* fills his book with cases of cure
of acute and chronic disorders, chiefly from the
publications of practitioners of this method,
who, like others interested in crying up any
particular mode of treatment, would generally
abstain from bringing forward instances which
would cause the success to be questioned.
What, in fact, are the majority of publications
written by watering-place practitioners, but
one-sided accounts of the virtues of the waters
of their particular locality, without any reference to other remedies or other places where
the waters may be of equal if not superior efficacy, in the very complaints of which the account is given? The same may be said of
many remedies which have at times been trum
* Claridge on Hydropathy.



HYDROPATHY.

31

petted forth to the world, and though perhaps
efficient in many cases, have nevertheless been
subsequently laid aside, in consequence of their
not answering the exaggerated expectations
raised by their too enthusiastic advocates. It
must also be borne in mind, in estimating the
value of remedies, that it is not because a person gets well while pursuing a particular mode
of treatment, that his recovery is a necessary
consequence of the treatment, as the same result would very often occur under a different
mode, or even where no treatment at all was
adopted. The post hoc is, especially in medicine, very often mistaken for the propter hoc.
On the other hand, some less partial observers,
who likewise followed the practice at Graefenberg, and whose works are favourable to the
cold water treatment, state that many patients
go away without any amelioration in their condition; and that a large proportion labour under no more serious ailments than might be
remedied by a residence in pure air, by exercise and plain diet.
Nor can the accuracy of the diagnosis of cold
water practitioners always be depended upon.
" In a great many cases," observes a recent author,
who passed a long period at Graefenberg, and



32

HYDROPATHY.

whose work is on the whole favourable to the cold
water treatment, " the names of apoplexy,
pneumonia, and serious fevers, have been applied to some symptoms, which a few applications of the wet sheet or frictions caused to disappear, and   of which  the cure resounded
through the colony as a convincing proof of the
omnipotence of the method."*
The ability and tact of Priessnitz is frequently insufficient to counterbalance the absence of medical knowledge as regards the
discrimination of cases -to which the method is
applicable. I have already adduced the testimony of Dr. E. Johnson, that many of the cases
at Graefenberg are such as are not likely to be
relieved, and the attempt is necessarily a failure.
Another medical author who resided at Graefenberg says, " Chance furnished me with several opportunities of meeting, a month or two
after their departure from Graefenberg, with
persons whom I had seen give themselves up
to all the exaltation of their enthusiasm, and I
was quite surprised at the change which had
taken place in their sentiments. A short time
ago I met a young Russian officer, with whom
* Dr. Schedel. Examen Clinique de 'I-Iydrotherapie.
Paris, 1845.



HYDROPATHY.

33

I had dined several times at the table of Priessnitz. 'And how are your headaches?' said I
after the usual salutation, recollecting his bragging, of which I had been a witness more than
once; he replied, with some confusion, ' My
pains are the same as before; and I should
have done much better had I gone to pass six
weeks at Teplitz, instead of losing six months
at Graefenberg.'  Another patient told me,
that far from being satisfied with his journey,
he believed he could date from that period the
sufferings which now tormented him much more
than those for which he had gone to Graefenberg. A lady who had taken care to avoid the
ordinary excesses of Priessnitz's guests could
not find terms sufficiently strong to express to
me, how disagreeable is the time which follows
an hydropathic treatment; the continual use of
cold water had become to her a condition of her
well-being, and when -she was obliged to limit
it in some degree, she experienced the same
inconveniences, as those which occur when one
is suddenly deprived of a stimulant of which
one has contracted a habit."
These instances would be found to be multiplied, if the truth could always be known.
Many persons who feel themselves in better
c 5



HYDROPATHY.

35

maintaining that Priessnitz cured every kind of
intermitting fever in three days. I then recollected the only two patients attacked with fever
whom I had known at Graefenberg, and who
were not yet cured at the end of a month or
six weeks.  One of them had given up the
water, and had recourse to ordinary medicine.
This assertion of the guest whom I have mentioned confirmed me in the opinion that Priessnitz is a favourite of fortune, such as is seldom
seen; for, at the moment when at Graefenberg
an intermitting fever was braving him by its
obstinacy, a few leagues off a panegyrist was
found of his sagacity and the infallibility of his
method.   After my departure from  Graefenberg a lady died there; it was then the custom
to ascribe the occurrence of death to the bursting of an abscess internally, but on this occasion also, the opening of the body gave the lie
to the favourite explanation. When the relatives inquired what had been the cause of the
fatal termination of the case, the answer which
they received was, that the patient's neck was
too short to allow her to live. Where could
there be found another man who would dare
thus to express himself? In what other place
than Graefenberg would there exist a public



36

HYDROPATHY.

who, instead of perceiving in such an answer
the proof of the grossest ignorance, and of an
unblushing effrontery, would, on the contrary,
discover that of a profound wisdom?  What,
then, will be the end of this direction of people's
minds?   What will become of hydropathy,
when it shall no longer be in fashion, and when
time has torn off the tinsel with which it has
been covered? These questions present themselves spontaneously, when on casting an eye
over the history of medicine, we see that so
many systems which have enjoyed so great a
degree of fame, are fallen into complete oblivion. It is a bad sign for hydropathy, that it
counts at the present time among its most
zealous advocates, people who but lately spoke
with  enthusiasm  in favour of homeeopathy.
Precisely, because its value has been exaggerated, it will not be able to avoid a reverse of
fortune."*
Dr. Schedel also mentions cases of intermittent fever which had been long (two months)
under treatment by the cold water, and one
case where the patient became tired of the
treatment and had recourse to quinine, which
* Exposition des Methodes Hydriatriques, par Ehrenberg
et Heidenhain, Docteurs en M6decine, Paris.



HYDROPATHY.

37

soon effected a cure.  He likewise refers to
cases of chronic rheumatism and analogous
affections, where the treatment was not attended with success, though, according to the hydropathists, these complaints are always cured.
One patient had been under treatment for
chronic lumbago for several months in the establishment, and was not cured; and Dr. Schedel
says that similar instances are not uncommon.
The Italians (as well as the English) have a
proverb " Ogni medaglio ha il suo riverso;"
and on viewing the reverse side, as regards the
cold water cure, from what has preceded, it will
be easy to perceive that the method is not so
generally successful, and that some of the cases
have a fatal termination, even while under the
treatment, or within a short time afterwards.
Some of the exclusive advocates of the method
boast of the small number of deaths which have
occurred in the establishments where it is practised, as compared with those which take place
where a purely medicinal treatment is pursued;
but the comparison is not a fair one, inasmuch
as the number of those who would leave their
homes, when in a state of health attended with
danger, to resort to a water cure establishment,
must be extremely limited. The great bulk of



38

HYDROPATHY.

the cases met with in these establishments is
composed of persons labouring under various
derangements of the health unattended with
danger, which is most to be apprehended from
the imprudent use of the remedy from which
they seek restoration. " Of the patients who
resort to Malvern," says Dr. Wilson in his
work,* " for the treatment by water, air, exercise, and diet, seven out of ten labour under the
interruption of more or fewer of the organs
which minister to the digestion of food;" t and
in fact the same may be said of a large proportion of those frequenting the different baths in
the summer season, where, out of a large proportion of invalids, the mortality is extremely
small on the spot, though many may subsequently find their sufferings aggravated, or
have their lives shortened, by an improper use
of the waters.
Hence it will be perceived that much discriThe Dangers of the Cold Water Cure.
t " Let me relieve your mind," says the writer of a letter
to Dr. Bushnan,'' of the idea that a water establishment looks
like an infirmary, and presents at every turn disagreeable pictures of ill health. The fact is just the reverse; the patients
generally seem in good health, and are so for all social purposes; the majority have only some trivial dilapidation of the
system, indigestion, nerves, gout."



HYDROPATHY.

39

mination is required as to the cases in which
the water cure is likely to produce benefit, or
to merit a preference over other means of treatment.   An unbiassed opinion can only be
formed on this point after minute inquiry into
all the circumstances and peculiarities of individual cases; and those persons would often
find themselves grievously mistaken, who from
hearing the account of cases of gout, rheumatism, or any other disease being cured by this
or any other exclusive method, were to infer
that it is necessarily suited to all or even to the
majority of cases of those diseases, which cannot thus be considered in the abstract, but each
case must be examined separately in order to
modify and adapt the treatment to it according
to the varying circumstances and peculiarities. It
is true, that as there may be several roads leading to one place, so also in medicine, the same
disease may frequently be cured by or subside
under different modes of treatment, and it consequently behoves both the practitioner and
patient to select the one which is attended with
the smallest amount of positive inconvenience,
and which requires the least time. Now the
cold water treatment is not only a very unpleasant process, but a long course is in most in



42

HYDROPATHY.

quently employed ini the practice of medicine.
Why, when found in nature's laboratory, should
these substances not have an equal degree of
power as when taken from that of the apothecary? Most mineral waters are not harmless;
they cannot be used with impunity in cases
where they are counter-indicated, and every
year there are persons who become the victims
of their imprudence." *
These statements are further corroborated by
the progress of chemistry, which has demonstrated the direct action of solutions of salts and
other substances contained in mineral waters,
in altering and modifying the condition of the
blood, in which similar substances are also contained, and of the secretions, as well as upon
the nervous system, which point I have more
fully treated of in my works on the German
and English mineral springs; but as it may
perhaps be considered that, having directed
much   of my    attention  to these remedial
means I might be prejudiced on this point,
I will quote the author of the work to which
I have already    referred.  " The   medical
treatment which approaches nearest to hydro
* Patissier, Manuel des Eaux Minerales, Paris.



HYDROPATHY.

43

pathy is doubtless that of mineral waters. The
analogy can, however, only be established between these means and a moderated hydropathic treatment, when the cutaneous stimulation is maintained within just limits, and that
of the different secreting organs is not too active, though sufficient to eliminate from the
economy and by the natural means, the nescio
quid, the presence of which interrupts the harmony of the functions. That an actual elimination is sometimes established there can be no
doubt, since I have seen in gouty patients very
abundant chalky matter come out of the abscess.
But between an elimination of this nature, obtained by means of a very painful suppurative
inflammation, and the mild and, so to say, physiological elimination directed towards the natural.emunctories by the use of certain mineral
waters, my choice would not be doubtful.
cc The duration of the cold water treatment
often requires several years in order to procure
a result which would be obtained by mineral
waters in a much shorter time, and certainly
in a much more agreeable manner for the patient.
But, besides, the length of treatment which
tires out the patience, there exists a very posi



46

HYDROPATHY.

a considerable extent of certain organic substances, and on the other hand, contract or draw
others together. They have the property of
dissolving some, of maintaining them fluid, and
of modifying the combinations of others among
themselves. The salts of the blood are the only
active constituents which maintain the albumen
-which of itself is insoluble in water-in a
state of solution, and this twofold combination is
again the only medium of dissolving fatty and
other insoluble substances, and of carrying them
along with it into the circulation."
" If we apply these facts to therapeutical
and pharmaceutical principles, the conclusion is
readily deducible, that the quantity and quality
of saline combinations, especially as they occur
in mineral waters, exert the most marked influence upon the qualities and fluidity of the
blood, its physical and chemical nature, as well
as upon its circulating, secreting, and excreting
powers." (SCHWARTZE. Heilquellenlehre.)
This is a fact which common sense would lead
any one to expect, and is daily evidenced by
experience in pathological states. In cases of
long-standing gout and rheumatism, for instance, I have had numerous opportunities of
witnessing the effects of baths of thermal waters,



HYDROPATHY.

51

employment too soon; or else, after the course
is terminated, resume those habits of life which
perhaps tended to induce the complaint.  To
the same causes are doubtless attributable many
of the relapses under the cold water cure.
That hydropathy has been in many instances
practised by incompetent persons, by whom
abuses were perpetrated, is apparent from numerous failures, and the fatal results which have
been brought before the public in the form of
judicial inquiry. The chief dangers consist in
the too perturbatory action, as in the forced
sweating, and douches-in the undue excitation
of the skin producing numerous and painful
boils-and in the treatment being too prolonged,
a degree of collapse sometimes succeeding the
stimulation.
In some persons, especially those of advanced
life and of feeble re-active powers, the blood
becomes impoverished from this cause; and Dr.
Schedel observes, that " livid eruptions often
show themselves in persons of a certain age,
presenting evidently the character of local
scurvy." These results are, however, it is to
be hoped, less frequent at the present day
when milder measures have in great measure
superseded the more energetic treatment.
D2



52

H YDROPATHY.

Another source of danger which has been
ascribed to hydropathy is the occurrence of
insanity. Dr. Schedel states, that in the spring
preceding his arrival two females had become
insane at Graefenberg.  A  Mr. S. and his
wife, both great partisans of hydropathy, informed
him that they had visited an asylum some leagues
distant from the establishment, the director of
which told them that he had several patients in
consequence of the hydropathic treatment. He
also mentions the case of Baron S., attached
to the person of the King of Hanover, who
solicited leave of absence to undergo a course
of the cold water systen, on which the king
cautioned him, as several persons who had
undergone this treatment had become insane.
The baron, however, went; during the course
he had several times an eruption of boils,
and some time after his return actually became
insane.
This result, however, like some of those above
mentioned, would only be likely to arise from
the abuse of the system, and not from its moderate use, in cases where it is indicated, according to the opinion of practitioners not too
prejudiced in its favour.
The position of a water cure establishment is



NOTES.

57

Liebenstein, one of the most frequented cold
water establishments, is considered one of the
healthiest places in Germany; protected from
north and easterly winds, while its well-wooded
mountains and rich grassy valleys make it
second to none in pleasing scenes and associations.  The establishment (formerly appropriated to visitors to the mineral springs which
have of late fallen into disrepute) contains, besides the saloon and lesser public rooms, seventy
bed-rooms in the central portion, and thirty in
each wing. The baths are well arranged, and
attendance good. " No bath in Germany is so
agreeably situate, in the midst of a park twelve
miles in circumference, commanding fine and
varied views of the Thuringian forest, and
stretching over hill, and dale, and mountain."
The Queen Dowager occasionally visits Liebenstein, which is also an agreeable summer
residence, possessing resources for the recreation
of persons in health.

D5



HOM (EOPATHY.
" Quand l'absurde est outr6, on lui fait trop d'honneur,
De vouloir, par raison, combattre son erreur."
LA FONTAINE.
THIs doctrine was first promulgated about
forty years ago, though it did not attract much
attention till of late years.   It originated with
Dr. Hahnemann, a native of Saxony, who, after
having resided in various parts of Germany, failing, it would appear, to succeed in practice, at
length took up his abode in Leipsic, and instituted experiments on the action of medicinal
substances upon himself and others.*      Having,
* "About the year 1800, Hahnemann advertised a new salt,
of which he claimed the discovery, and which he sold at the
modest price of a louis d'or per ounce. The Society for the
Promotion of Natural Sciences, desirous of becoming acquainted
with this new substance, had it analysed by some of the most



60

HOM(EOPATHY.

in 1790, taken some bark, which produced, as
he states, paroxysms of intermittent fever, he
was struck with the circumstance that the substance employed for the cure of intermittents
should occasion a similar disease in a healthy
person. This led to the inference that substances which produce certain symptoms in
healthy individuals, can remove those symptoms
when induced by other causes; hence a fundamental point of the doctrine, that diseases are
cured only by medicines which have the power
of causing similar diseases in healthy persons:
Similia similibus curentur.
Homceopathists consequently do not consider
a knowledge of anatomy, physiology, or pathology, as contributing to the cure of disease, but
restrict  themselves  to  noting  the   different
symptoms and      to  ascertaining  the   appropriate remedy, without regard to the organic
changes, or other circumstances, by which the
symptoms are caused, or whether they affect the
experienced chemists, who pronounced it to be nothing but
common borax. He shortly afterwards advertised " an infallible preventive of scarlet fever;" but being disappointed by
its sale, he afterwards confessed it to be nothing but a few grains
of extract of belladonna dissolved in water."-Remarks on the
Abracadabra of the nineteenth century, by Dr. Leo Wolf.



HOMOEOPATHY.

61

nervous, vascular, or other systems. For example, in strictly following the rules of homoeopathy, if a person have headache, whether
arising from exhaustion, inflammation, or stomach derangement, the same remedy should be
had recourse to, and that remedy must be a
substance capable of causing headache in a
healthy individual.
Medical doctrines are divided by Hahnemann,
into the allopathic, or method in general use, of
curing diseases by remedies of an opposite nature-contraria contrariis,-the antipathic, or
palliative method, and the homoeopathic, the
only true method; the principles of which are
contained in his Organon, ou Exposition de la
Doctrine MeJdicale Homceopathique. This work
contains an abundance of absurd reasoning, of
extravagant and unfounded assertions; of some
truisms, from which erroneous conclusions are
drawn; of exceptions to general principles and
isolated examples, extracted from various works
and adduced   as the principles themselves,
in order to corroborate the positions laid down
by the author. Thus, to prove that many of
the cures hitherto effected, have been so by the
chance employment of homceopathic means, several instances are brought forward, among



62

HOMEEOPATHY.

which are, that rose-water cures ophthalmy,
only because it has the power of causing a kind
of ophthalmy. In like manner bark cures intermittents, because it occasions these diseases;
ipecacuanha arrests fluxions of blood, only because it possesses the faculty of exciting haemorrhage; generous wines, in small doses, cure
homoeopathically inflammatory fever; hyoscyamus could not cure spasms resembling epilepsy,
if it had not the power of exciting convulsions;
the same remedy could not have cured a case of
mania from jealousy, if it did not occasion mania
and jealousy in healthy individuals.
Again, the popular customs of using snow to
frost-bitten parts, of putting a scalded hand near
the fire, are adduced to prove the homoeopathic
nature of the remedies to these accidents; vaccine is considered to act homceopathically in
preventing small-pox, &c.  These examples
will suffice to show, that the style of argument
adopted is opposed to established truths; for
who ever heard of rose-water causing ophthalmy, of bark causing intermittents, of ipecacuanha exciting haemorrhage, or being employed
to arrest it, of generous wines curing inflammatory fever, of hyoscyamus determining convul.
sions, mania, and jealousy? If snow is used to



HOMCEOPATHY.

63

frost-bitten parts, it is used with friction, in
order, as is well known, to bring the parts gradually to their natural state; whereas, if used
on homoeopathic principles, it would be kept
constantly applied; and, as may be imagined,
with a certainty of aggravating the evil. So also
with respect to the application of heat to scalded parts; and to prove vaccine a homceopathic
agent, it should be shown that it has the power
to;cure small-pox when already existing; which
indeed it is asserted it would do, were it not
surpassed by the small-pox in intensity.
Medicines, then, are not considered by the
homoeopathists as direct remedies, but to act by
giving rise to morbid symptoms, surpassing in intensity those of the disease against which they
are employed, on the principle that two similar
diseases cannot co-exist in the same individual:
the original disease consequently yields, being
overpowered by the artificial disease caused by
the remedies: and this, on the discontinuance of
the medicines, is in its turn speedily overcome
by the powers of the constitution.
This proposition also contradicts itself, for, as
Dr. Wolf observes, "( How can it be reconciled
with common sense, that the vital powers are
too weak and insufficient to remove any natural



64

HOM(EOPATHY.

disease or its symptoms, be they ever so trifling,
without the aid of a homoeopathic drug, but are
nevertheless powerful enough to remove the
drug-sickness which is left after the natural
disease is extinguished?  Can any one comprehend that a power should be capable of overcoming a large obstacle, and should be incapable
of removing at the same time a similar and comparatively much smaller one?"
The particular symptoms to which each medicinal substance gives rise, and against which
it is to be employed, are ascertained by experiments made by the homoeopathist upon himself
or other healthy persons.
But it must not be supposed that these surprising effects are produced by the drachm, or
grain doses employed by ordinary practitioners.
According to Hahnemann, the effects of medicinal substances are two-fold, viz. primritive, as
-the violent action produced by large quantities
of certain drugs; purgation, sweating, &c.;
and secondary, or homoeopathic, in which the
action is determined towards the diseased part;
the active properties becoming more developed
in proportion to the minuteness of the dose: in
fact, homoeopathists are cautioned against too
minute a subdivision of the medicine, lest it



68

HOM (IEOPATHY.

order for the analogy to be maintained, it should
have been proved by the homceopathists, that
persons can see better in proportion to the
small quantity of light, and that they are more
affected by heat or electricity in proportion to
the smallness of the quantity of these agents
applied.
Hahnemann says, "Let mathematicians explain to them how true it is, that if a substance
be divided into any number of parts, its smallest
particle will always contain something of this
substance, and therefore it can never become a
nonentity." On which Dr. Wolf remarks, " If
this be admitted in a strict sense, does it follow;
therefore, that the effect of these substances on
the human body in any imaginable small quantity, must not only be perceptible, but still
greater than when in quantities many million
times larger? The thick fibres of a piece of
meat are divisible into those which are so small
as to be perceptible only by the best microscope. Does it follow from this, that the decoction of such a microscopic fibre will afford the
patient as much or even more nourishment
after a homoeopathic manipulation, than a strong
broth made allopathically from some pounds of
meat?"

Afi.



HOM(EOPA1 HY.

69

Homoeopathic remedies may therefore be considered analogous with the medecine expectante,
with this difference, that in the latter the pa-.
tients know that the physician employs no remedies, but trusts entirely to the efforts of
nature for their cure; whereas the imagination
of patients treated homoeopathically is acted
'upon, from their being led to consider the remedies employed to be of an energetic nature,
as will be seen in the sequel. The cures so
pompously announced by the homceopathists,
will in almost all cases be found to be simple
recoveries by the efforts of nature after a longer
or shorter period, as in the following, published
by a homoeopathic physician.
" Madame C. V., aged thirty-six, affected
with chronic gastro-enteritis, produced  by
grief and abuse of coffee: she   had been
treated by several physicians, and had been
kept for three months on a milk diet; she had
headaches, and menstruation had been suppressed seven months; she was prescribed pulsatilla, nux vomica, &c.; menstruation appeared
in twenty-seven days, and in three months she
was cured."
" Mademoiselle R. did not menstruate at her
accustomed period, and was affected with a



HOM(EOPATH Y.

71

penetration, he will soon perceive that the remedies which are chosen nevertheless fail to effect
a cure unless great attention be paid to the
hygienic regimen and external means.    The
homoeopathist must therefore, after a few years,
have his attention almost exclusively directed to
hygiene."-Madden on Homoeopathy, 1846.
The only division of diseases by Hahnemann
is into acute and chronic; of the former but
little is said in the Exposition; although they
may arise from exterior causes, as cold, excesses,
&c., yet in many cases they depend upon a psoric
affection, and almost all chronic diseases originate from sycosis, syphilis, or psora (vulgo, itch).
This latter, especially, is the cause of innumerable diseases, which great truth it took Hahnemann twelve years to find out. In mentioning
some of the evils produced by this miasm, I
quote his own words: "This is the only fundamental and exciting cause of all the morbid
forms, which, under the names of nervous weakness, hysteria, hypochondriasis, mania, melancholia, epilepsy, spasms of all kinds, rickets,
caries, cancer, gout, haemorrhoids, jaundice,
dropsy, amenorrhoea, hemoptysis, asthma, and
suppuration of the lungs, sterility, deafness,
cataract, and amaurosis, gravel, palsy, pains of



72

HOM(EOPATHY.

all kinds, &c., figure in pathology as so many
separate diseases, distinct and independent one
from the other."
" The modifications this miasm has undergone
in its passage through millions of human constitutions, during several hundred generations, explain how it can assume so many forms." *
Abstinence from everything of a stimulating
nature, as condiments, coffee, &c., is recommended; even the smelling of delicate perfumes
is prohibited, although the smoking of tobacco
is allowed; which, considering Germany is the
country whence homoeopathy originated, was an
extremely politic measure.
The absurdity of a doctrine equally opposed
to reason and every-day experience could not
fail to be immediately apparent to the medical
profession, as well as the injurious effects that
might arise from its professors being allowed to
practise on the credulity of the public, a large
proportion of whom is always to be attracted by
novelty, especially if it be clothed in the garb of
unintelligibility and mystery. In order, there* It is scarcely necessary to recal to mind, that many persons,
while actually labouring under the itch, are in robust bodily
health. The homocopaths of the present day do not, however,
adopt this absurd dogma.



HOM(EOPATHY.

75

under homoeopathic treatment, but similar affections disappear equally well, without any medical
treatment, by the adoption of an appropriate
regimen, good air, and cleanliness."
The homoeopathist who introduced the practice at Naples, was, as stated by Dr. Wolf, " an
ignorant Bohemian barber, who enjoyed the
patronage of the Austrian general, to whom he
was particularly recommended by Hahnemann.
The public as well as some talented young physicians, who adopted homoeopathy, awoke from
their illusive credulity, but not until the general,
with many other persons of distinguished rank,
had died or were injured by this all-curing art."
At the time homoeopathy was in vogue at
Naples, a commission was appointed, by royal
order, to superintend the treatment of a certain
number of patients during forty days; the
patients were selected by the physicians, and a
separate ward in the hospital was appropriated
to them.
It was first determined by the commissioners to
ascertain whether some of the patients would
not get well without the employment of any
remedy; ten were consequently set apart, and
all recovered. One of them had a gastric fever;
the homceopathic physician wished to give him a
E 2



HOM(EOPATHY.

77

facts, the commissioners deduced the following
inferences: 1st, That the homoeopathic treatment produced no effect; and 2ndly, that it had
the serious inconvenience, in several of the
patients, of preventing the employment of remedies by which they might be cured.
On account of the statement of a Dr. Luz, a
veterinary surgeon at Leipsic, that he had performed several surprising cures by the homceopathic method on horses and dogs, trials were
instituted on these animals in the veterinary
school and hospital at Berlin. The experiments
were conducted with the utmost exactitude, and
in the presence of many students and homoeopathists; and though the cases were similar to
those described by Dr. Luz, not one was cured,
not one confirmed his statements even in the
slightest degree.
The experiments made in Paris to show how
far homoeopathy had claims to public confidence,
also tend to prove that where any effects are produced, they are to be ascribed to the influence
of the imagination.
First. Several medical students of the H6tel
Dieu, chosen by a homteopathic physician, were
subjected to the homoeopathic regimen, and took
at first one, then two, then ten, and at last eighty



HOMCEOPATHY.

79

heat and eruption on the skin..The second
pill appeared to aggravate these symptoms, with
the addition of hiccough. She afterwards fell
asleep, and, on awaking, was astonished to find
she could talk in a loud tone. The complaint
did not recur, and she soon quitted the hospital.
A man, aged forty, was admitted about the
same time as the preceding patient, complaining
of sense of oppression on the chest. He had
experienced an attack of hemoptysis a year before, and was exceedingly hypochondriacal.
During the first few days no treatment was
adopted, and he continued in the same state.
Four starch pills, which he supposed to be
homceopathic remedies, were then prescribed;
one to be taken regularly every six hours. Half
an hour after swallowing each pill, the patient
experienced anxiety, sense of oppression, spitting
of blood. The pills were discontinued, and resumed on alternate days during a fortnight.
Each time they were taken, they were followed
by oppression, headache, acceleration of pulse,
diuresis, and pains in all the limbs.
A girl, aged twenty-three, labouring under
cough with hectic fever, and sleeplessness, was
also treated by these inert pills, which she
imagined to be homoeopathic. Each time after



84

HOMCEOPATHY.

" MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE,
" Homoeopathy, which presents itself to you
at the present time as a novelty, is not a new
thing. For more than twenty-five years this
doctrine has wandered here and there;-first in
Germany, then in Prussia, afterwards in Italy,
and now in France; seeking everywhere, though
in vain, to introduce itself as a branch of medicine.
" The time of the Academie has been repeatedly taken up with the subject, and, moreover,
there are but few of its members who have not
sought to ascertain its basis, and its effects.
" With us, as elsewhere, homceopathy has
been subjected, in the first place, to logical examination, which has exhibited in it a formal
opposition to the best-established truths, a
great number of striking contradictions, and
many of those palpable absurdities which inevitably ruin all false systems in the opinion of
enlightened persons, but which are not always
a sufficient obstacle to the credulity of the multitude.
" With us, as elsewhere, homceopathy has
also been subjected to the trial of facts, and put
to the test of experience. Observation, faithfully interrogated, has furnished the most cate



HOMOEOPATHY.

85

gorical answers; for if it be admitted that some
examples of recovery have occurred while under
the homoeopathic treatment, it has been ascertained that the success is justly attributable to
the bias of a weak imagination on the one hand,
and to the remedial powers of the constitution
on the other. Observation has also shown the
great danger of homceopathy in frequent and
serious cases of disease, where the physician
may do as much harm, and cause no less injury,
by inactive measures, as by those which are
directly prejudicial.
" Reason and experience are consequently
united to repel a similar doctrine, and counsel that it should be left to itself and to its own
resources."
Having heard of the existence of a homoeopathic hospital at Leipsic, the head-quarters of
the doctrine, I had the curiosity to visit it when
in that city, some years ago, and was directed to a
small house in one of the suburbs, with an inscription on the outside denoting its destination.
I had no difficulty in obtaining admission, and
was accompanied through the house by the assistant homoeopathist, the principal being in
the country.



HO M CEOPATHY.

87

been taking homoeopathic globules since February, the hair having been allowed to grow,
and no external application having been used.
The appearance of the patient's head did not
afford any favourable evidence of the good effects
of the treatment, and I should imagine the disease was much in the same state as when he
first applied for relief.
The house-physician to this institution having
become convinced, after a residence of several
months, of the nullity and danger of homoeopathy, gave up the appointment, and published
an exposition of the system pursued, with an
account of the cases, which clearly show what
had long been evident to the bulk of the profession and the public, viz. that the so-called
cures were recoveries from ordinary ailments by
the efforts of nature; the cases being frequently
a long time under treatment, whereas by a proper medication and attention at the outset, they
would probably have been cured in a few days;
and that many of the more serious cases got
worse for the want of efficient treatment.* When
last at Leipsic, I heard that matters were
going on indifferently with homoeopathy, the
hospital having been turned into a dispensary.
* Ueber die Nichtigkeit der Homaeopathie. On the nullity
of Homceopathy. Leipsic, 1840.



HOMEOPATHY.

89

same, viz. expectation, and the influencing the
patient's imagination by leading them to suppose that they are taking some extraordinary
remedies. In the cases which are noised about
and published as recoveries by the homoeopathic
method, the advantages derived may be ascribed
to the above causes, assisted by a more strict
attention to modes of living and regimen; and
in many instances is only temporary, as in the
case of a noble individual labouring under tic,
who has been repeatedly said in the papers to
be cured or greatly relieved by different methods
of treatment, and who, it appears, subsequently
had recourse to the water cure. It is in the
nature of several complaints, especially those of
a nervous character, to be better or worse at
different times or seasons, and to offer complete
intermissions during a longer or shorter period,
especially when patients can be induced to
adopt a regulated diet, and mode of living; and in
these cases the amelioration is generally ascribed
to the remedy which happens to be employed at
the time. Homoeopathy in fact is now comparatively little heard of in most parts of northern
Germany and in France, to what it was some
years ago, and only required to be inquired into
by the more enlightened portion of the public,



94

HOM(EOPATHY.

yielded, both because it makes them objects of
interest to the public, and because it appears
to justify them in having given it their confidence.
" Again, there are many cases where the complaint has existed only in the imagination of the
patient, and in these it will be no matter of
wonder if the homoeopathic globule in aid of
said imagination should effect a cure. In chronic stomach disorders, also, many patients have
recovered under an homoeopathic doctor, and
thus been the means of exalting his fame,
whereas, it would be easy to show, that such
patients needed only.cautious diet, time, the
abandonment of a habit of taking too much
aperient medicine, and the observance of regular rules, to effect a cure-all of which even
an old-fashioned doctor would, of course, have
directed.
" A gentleman who had been out of health
some time, and had paid but little attention to
the direction of his medical attendant, was advised to consult an homoeopathic physician; he
did so, and remained under his care six weeks,
the doctor making his visit as often as he pleased:
he improved in health-in short, was cured.
'Now,' exclaimed his friend, 'you henceforth



HOMCEOPATHY.

95

stand up in defence of homceopathy.' ' Not at
all; I am more than ever convinced of its fallacy and humbug.   I have followed the plan
of diet, &c., which plan was often urged upon
me by my former medical friend, but not one
of the billionth powders or globules have I
taken.'
" A gentleman had been for some time subject to acute inflammation of the membrana
conjunctiva, and had been attended by a surgeon of great eminence in the metropolis, who
on every occasion had succeeded in subduing
it.  On a recurrence of the complaint, by
the judicious advice of friends, he was 'placed
under the care of an homoeopathic practitioner,
when, after being for six weeks shut up in a
dark room, great attention being paid to his
diet and manner of living, he was cured again
by the wonderful effects of the homoopathic
remedies!!!  This, of course, stamped the
faith of the family, and all became disciples of
Hahnemann. Some time after, one of its members was found in a fit, and the doctor was sent
for. What plan did he adopt?   He belonging
to a school which professes to repudiate bloodletting as pernicious, and almost certainly fatal,
himself immediately bled her, and that not in



96

HOMCEOPATHY.

an homoeopathic quantity, but largely.  She
continued under his care for a few days, but
not recovering, she was by the doctor's own
desire sent into the country in this state, and
handed over to her original medical attendant,
who discovered, and was confirmed in his opinion by an eminent physician, that she had been
suffering from epilepsy, arising from the overloaded state of her stomach and bowels. The
results, of course, effected the moral cure of
the whole family.
" I give you now a case of the mischief that
may arise from adopting this harmless system.
A lady of rank had occasional headaches, for
which she was advised to consult an homceopathic physician.  She had for many years
taken daily aperient medicine, but nevertheless
enjoyed a very good state of health. Her old
medical attendants were summoned to her assistance after about the expiration of twelve
months of homoeopathic treatment. They found
her labouring under congestion of the liver to
an enormous extent, constipated bowels, and
active peritoneal inflammation, all of which had
existed for some days, and had not ' yielded to
the means employed' by the homoeopathist; he
by whose treatment these formidable symptoms



98

HOMCEOPATHY.

of his malady. It is often dinned in my ears,
that a certain noble earl swears by homoeopathy,
yet that noble earl flies to Malvern with all
avidity, to follow the most dangerous system of
hydropathy for his relief.  These are curious
contradictions, but not more curious than true,
and is it not wonderful that the fact of any
person abandoning a system by which he has
sworn, to adopt another diametrically opposed
to it, should not open the eyes of his friends, as
to the extent of his faith in it? The fact is,
the public have not yet learned the necessity of
inquiring what opportunities those persons have
had, who profess to practise medicine or surgery, of perfecting themselves, not merely in
the knowledge of remedies, but what is of infinitely greater importance, in distinguishing the
character of diseases.  How  many are there
in the ranks of the profession, men of honour
and talent, who have not thought it beneath
them to spend often half their lives in the
drudgei'y of public practice in hospitals and similar institutions, that they might obtain a competent knowledge of diseases, as distinguished
from each other, and of applying remedies to
each individual case! for after all, each case is



100

HOMCEOPATHY.

It is unnecessary for me to make much allusion to the works published by homceopathists, as
the degree of estimation to which they are entitled, and the value of the cases which they
contain, will have been pretty effectually shown
in the preceding account, as far as the public is
concerned.
Is there then nothing good in homoeopathy?
Unquestionably - though the good resulting
from homoeopathy is more of a negative than a
positive character, and one advantage of its
introduction into England is that it has tended
to limit the too active medication in chronic
disease, which has so long prevailed to the prejudice of a large portion of the community; and
the suspension of this active medication, during
the homoeopathic treatment, has not unfrequently been a cause of the benefit which has
followed: consequently, homoeopathy is not unlikely to be longer in fashion in England than
it has been in the continental countries, where
a different system of medical practice obtains.
It has likewise led to more minute inquiry into
the action of several remedies, and has thus
tended to make the circumstance more frequently known, that much smaller doses of active substances (especially sedatives and other
i  4



104

HOMOEOPATHY.

what may be effected in many disordered conditions of the economy, by a due attention to
regimen, by the imagination, and the unaided
powers of the constitution, and in this way like.
wise has rendered some service.
A good deal has been said by the homoeopathists in England about the homoeopathic
hospitals abroad.  The only ones of which I
know are the one at Leipsic, of which I have
spoken, and the one at Vienna, of the practice
of which the following report is given by Dr.
Balfour (in the British and Foreign Medical
Review for October, 1846). The homoeopathic
hospital is a private one in the convent of the
sisters of charity in one of the suburbs, and
contains fifty beds; and since 1845, has been
under the care of Dr. Fleischmann. Hahnemann's empirical rules as to rubbings and shakings are disregarded - the diet is light and
simple-no coffee, tea, or wine is allowed.
"In taking into consideration the adjuvants to
the treatment, the religious character of the
establishment must not be forgotten. The patients find themselves surrounded by all the
consolations of religion, by everything which,
in their opinion, tends to ensure, in the event
of death, a speedy passage of the soul to the



HOMCEOPATHY.

105

realms of bliss-their minds thus set at rest
with respect to futurity, they are less gloomy
and desponding, and consequently react more
favourably upon the body than under the opposite circumstances. The severer their disease,
the more closely do they grasp their rosaries
and crucifixes. The superiority of the attendance is also one great advantage in favour of
this hospital, independently of the important
fact just stated, that the nurses are spiritual as
well as temporal comforters. The comparative
youth of the patients in this hospital must also
be taken into consideration; out of three hundred and twenty patients, two hundred and
forty-five were under thirty years of age, and
only four above sixty.  The circumstance of
comparative youth under all kinds of treatment
has an immense influence upon the ultimate
result."
"Again-the patients are admitted and dis
charged by the physicians without any control;
so that, to say the least, it requires a man to be
very conscientious to decide impartially between
temporary improvement and perfect cure, especially when he recollects that the fate of his
creed, and of his institution, depends upon the
nature of his returns to government, which are
v5



106

HOM(EOPATHY.

made monthly.    Cases discharged apparently
cured may apply for readmission, and be under
some pretext or other refused, while,, to disarm
suspicion, a few whose relapses are more manageable may be readmitted. I have seen at
least one patient refused admittance, and that,
too, the very day after his discharge, without
any good obvious reason; it was that of a boy
with effusion into the right pleura, following
scarlatina. There was also a general anasarcous state of the body, which speedily disappeared, but the chief complaints remained obstinate, and after thirty-three: days' treatment
with bryonia, (second dilution,) he was dismissed, slightly improved. This is not the only
case of effusion into the chest which has been
dismissed unimproved during the period of my
observation, yet this scarcely agrees with Dr.
Fleischmann's returns, as out of twelve with
exudation in the pleura during ten years, he
says he hascured all, but three, who died; and a
physician of the general hospital assured me
that many such cases, after having been dismissed by Dr. F., and subsequently refused
admission, have applied to him for relief, which
they have obtained by the use of purgatives
and baths. Then again I may say, there are



HOMCEOPATHY.

107

hundreds of trifling cases admitted here which
would not have been admitted into any hospital
in England, and even of these comparatively trifling cases  many remain for weeks, nay,
months, in the hospital, while more acute or
more interesting cases are hurried out too often
with the cure incomplete. When the patient
recovers, the case is published as one of the
triumphs of homoeopathy, whilst the many similar cases, where even homoeopathic treatment
has proved unavailing, are silently passed over,
or are recorded as instances of the imperfection
of the human. intellect."
c' The whole process of the admissions and discharge of patients is mysterious; still so much
is certain, that most of those admitted have
been previously visited at their homes by the
assistant.  I feel convinced  that the great
secret of Dr. F.:s great seeming success lies in
the fact of the admissions and dismissals being
uncontrolled, and there being no check on the
diagnosis; rarely other than well-marked cases
have the diagnosis written on the board at their
bed.head, the others being left blank, and entered in his book, of course, as he pleases.
"' Homoeopathic remedies are not exclusively
trusted to, for Dr. F. uses cold applications to



NOTES

ILLUSTRATIVE OF. THE
INFLUENCE OF THE MIND ON THE BODY.
THE great influence exerted by the imagination and other mental faculties on the exercise
of the bodily functions, and in the production
and removal of disease, has not received from
medical practitioners the degree of consideration
to which its importance entitles it, notwithstanding the effects of this influence are daily seen in
the practice of medicine, and the subject has occupied the pens of several eminent individuals,
both in ancient and more recent times. It is
not my intention to enter at any length into the
consideration of this subject, which would suffice to fill several volumes, but I purpose adding



112

NOTES.

are not so liable to be influenced by the terrors
of an excited imagination, are'much less likely
to be affected by the disease, or, if they are attacked, the termination is favourable in a large
proportion of cases.  In many instances, again,
and especially after accidents and operations,
though the circumstances appear to be most
favourable for recovery, yet if the moral of the
patients be so influenced as to make them apprehend an unfavourable termination, how frequently does it not occur that these prognostications are verified by the result! In like manner, predictions of the occurrence of disease or
death at a certain period, by the hold they obtain on the patient's imagination, occasionally
bring about their own fulfilment. It is said,
that in the Sandwich Islands there is a sect who
assume the power of praying people to death:
1" Whoever incurs their displeasure, receives notice that the homicide litany is about to commence, and such are the effects of the imagina.
tion, that the very notice is sufficient with these
people to produce the effect." It is mentioned
by Hearne in his Journey, that " Such is the
confidence of the North American Indians in
professors of the magic art, that they appear



NOTES.

115

thus expresses himself on the subject: " Sometimes a strong conceit or apprehension will take
away diseases; in both kinds it will produce
real effects. Men, if they see but another man
tremble, giddy, or sick of some disease, their
apprehension and fear is so strong in this kind,
that they will have the same disease; or if by
some soothsayer, wise man, fortune-teller, or
physician, they be told they will have such a
disease, they will so seriously apprehend it, that
they will instantly labour of it. If it be told
them they shall be sick on such a day, when
that day comes they will surely be sick, and will
be so terribly afflicted, that sometimes they die
upon it."
Again, " As some are so molested by phantasie, so some again by fancy alone, and a good
conceit, are as easily cured. We see commonly
the toothache, gout, falling-sickness, and many
such diseases, cured by spells, words, characters,
and charms. All the world knows there is no
virtue in such charms, but a strong conceit and
opinion alone."
I need scarcely allude to the more common
effects of the imagination and of moral impressions known to every one, as illustrated by the
production of blushing, paleness, fainting, pri



116

6NOTES.

vation of appetite, disturbance of disgestion, and
other functions;* but it is too often overlooked,
that similar impressions are very frequently instrumental in the production and keeping up of
a large proportion of chronic diseases; hence, a
cause of the intractableness of many of them
under a treatment exclusively medicinal.
A great many of the disorders of the digestive
apparatus met with in a metropolis like London
are induced and kept up by anxiety, the worry
of particular avocations, and the annoyances and
perplexities to which the professional, mercantile, and trading classes of the community are
especially subjected. Such complaints may persist, or be constantly recurring for an indnfinite
period, deriving but temporary alleviation from
medicine; but they not unfrequently cease spontaneously, rif any circumstance occur to counteract the influence of the above-mentioned causes;
as partial change of habits, a short residence in
the country, the undertaking of a journey of
pleasure, &c. The same may be said of the
class of nervous disorders, many of which are
occasioned and kept up solely by causes of a
moral nature, as seen in the occurrence of some

" Unquiet meals make ill digestions."
SHAKSPEARE.



NOTES.

119

are all the bodily functions performed, when the
mind is free from care and we are in good spirits!
How languid, on the contrary, is the flow of the
"nimble spirits in the arteries," when we are
" besieged with sable-coloured melancholy!" and
how much more liable are we under these circumstances to be affected by deleterious agencies
of a physical nature!  In an advancing army,
flushed with conquest, disease rarely appears;
if, however, the same body of men be dispirited
by defeat and on a retreat, disease to a great
extent will not fail to manifest itself, should
they be exposed to any of its more common
causes. The British troops in Walcheren continued tolerably healthy, notwithstanding the
deleterious influence of the climate, till circumstances occurred" to depress their moral. The
same effects were seen on a larger scale on the
retreat of the French from Moscow, and there is
no doubt, that had the army been advancing
with a prospect of good quarters, instead of
being in retreat and undisciplined, it would
have supported the privations consequent on
the rigour of the season and scantiness of food,
with the loss of a comparatively small number
of men.
The power of the imagination and of faith is



NOTES.

123

audience were in one roar of laughter, nobody
appeared to enjoy the fun and humour more
than this poor fellow. As the scene progressed
Grimaldi's tricks and jokes became still more
irresistible, and at length, after a violent peal of
laughter and applause, which quite shook. the
theatre, in which the dumb man joined most
heartily, he suddenly turned to his mate who
sat next him, and cried out with much glee' What a d-d funny fellow!'-' Why, Jack,'
shouted, the other, starting back with surprise,
'can you speak?'-' Speak,' returned the other,
'ay, that I can, and hear too.' The man, who
appeared an intelligent and well-behaved fellow,
said, that in the earlier part of his life he could
both speak and hear very well, and that he attributed his deprivation of the two senses to the
intense heat 'of the sun in the quarter of the
world from which he had recently returned.
He added, that he had for a long time felt a
powerful anxiety to express his delight at what
was passing on the stage, and that after some
feat of Grimaldi's, which struck him as particularly amusing, he had made a strong effort to
deliver his thoughts, in which, to his great astonishment, no less than that of his comrades, he
succeeded."
G 2



126

NOTES.

temperature. The paralytic man, wholly ignorant of the process to which he was to be subjected, but deeply impressed by Dr. Beddoes
with the certainty of its success, no sooner felt
the thermometer between his teeth, than he
concluded the talisman was in operation, and in
a burst of enthusiasm, declared that he already
experienced the effects of its benign influence
throughout his whole body. The opportunity
was too tempting to be lost. Davy did nothing
more, but desired his patient to return the following day. The same ceremony was repeated,
and the same result followed, and at the end of a
fortnight he was dismissed cured, no remedy of
any kind, except the thermometer, having been
used.
When the metallic tractors were in vogue for
the cure of several complaints, by being applied
to the parts affected, Dr. Haygarth tried the
experiment of preparing tractors composed of
other than metallic substances, but which were
made to resemble the original ones, and equally
advantageous results ensued from their application.
I will subjoin three other cases which appeared in the papers, and were considered as
evidencing the special interposition of a super



NOTES.

127

natural agency, having been cried up as miracles
in the localities where they occurred.
" Miracle in the river Ouse. - Charlotte
Beeby, late of Elstow, aged twenty-five, an inhabitant of Biddenham, has for the last five
years been a cripple, with an affection of the
back, the lower limbs being perfectly paralysed.
The affection had resisted the treatment of
many practitioners. Being acquainted with the
episcopalian church doctrines taught by the
Rev. Mr. Matthews of this town, she conceived
that if she were baptized by that gentleman she
would recover. Accordingly, the reverend gentleman, at half-past ten at night, in the presence
of a hundred spectators, converts to his doctrines, proceeded to the river Biddenham, whither the diseased person was removed in a cart,
as usual when moved about. Mr. Matthews,
going into the river to support her, immersed
her in the water, when she immediately said,
' Leave me go, I can walk,' and walked out of
the water, and ran some little distance up a hill
till she was exhausted, but she has retained the
use of her limbs ever since."
Similar cases, occurring for the most part in
females, are recorded from time to time, and are
not unfrequently considered as miraculous cures



130

NOTES.

novice, had caused a swelling in her feet.
Leeches, unseasonably applied, had injured the
nerves, and this, which was at first only a slight
inconvenience, became at last a distemper of a
very frightful character. One of her legs became contracted, bent back, and fixed in a
strained and unnatural position, (dans un etat
de flexion exageree,) so that the knee became
twisted, and the foot rested firmly and immoveably on the hip. All this was accompanied by
frightful suffering.' Being unable to fulfil the
duties of the monastery, her mother brought
her home early in last July, 'her life already
despaired of, neither eating or sleeping, always
in pain, able neither to walk nor sit, nor remain
in bed.' She got worse every day in spite of
the attentions of three excellent physicians.
She had besides crises of convulsion; she would
fall down on the ground, be covered with black
marks, her eyes turned round in her head, and
her arms grew benumbed. The day of her
cure, four hours before the miracle, she was
visited by two of the physicians, who examined
the limb: The same evening the surgeon came
to the house, and seeing her, could not help
saying,' There is no hope, I cannot work miracles.'"  Such was the state of the patient which.



NOTES -

181

we have described "pretty fully from the letter.
In the rest of the case we must be more brief.
A daughter of the Countess de Komar had a
great devotion for a canon,, Dom Gaspard del
Bufalo, who died in December, 1838, in the
odour of sanctity, after having founded an order
of Missionaries of the Precious Blood, and
worked miracles of all kinds during a laborious
course of evangelical labours in Piedmont and
Italy. Mdlle. de Komar had, for some days
past, persuaded Mdlle. de Maistre to join her
in a Noveria, and in'certain other devotions, towards this holy man. On the 8th October, at
noon, in the midst of these devotions, Mdlle.
Komar, 'urged to do so by a secret and irresistible power, commanded Mdlle. de Maistre,
in a loud voice, in the name of God, and by the
merits of his servant, to do her utmost to stretch
out her leg.   ' Frances,' said she to her,
' stretch out your leg, try, try.' The patient
did so move her leg, and leaping from her bed,
turew herself into her friend's arms, and cried
out, '.Nathalie, I am cured.' The physicians
were at once sent for, and, on examination, they
found.that. the knee, lately ossified, was now
sound.and flexible. It was straight, smooth,
white, and perfectly sound; on being repeatedly



132

NOTES.

squeezed, it was perfectly free from pain, though
the moment before she had not been able to endure the slightest contact of the linen. The
cure occurred at half-past three, P.M. and all the
rest of the day Mdlle. Maistre continued on foot,
receiving visits from the chief people of the
place.  The next morning she heard three
masses, kneeling, and received the blessed
Sacrament with all her family. Afterwards she
went to the hospital, and when the letter was
written, she was going from bed to bed, visiting
and consoling the sick. The particulars of this
occurrence, with the depositions of the physicians, have been sent to Rome. The rumour of
it has spread to Genoa, Turin, and through
Piedmont, where it has caused the most lively
emotion."-Morning Herald, Dec. 1842.
In the next case the cure was produced by the
same means, being in consequence of the report
of the former one. It was likewise headed" A  Modern Miracle,"-said to have been
wrought at Plombieres, was also recorded in the
Union Catholique:-" A   young girl, who for
some years had been confined to her bed, by a
disease which baffled the skill of several eminent
physicians, was deemed to be incurable. For
the last four months her body appeared to be



NOTES.

135

so that an operation was proposed. To this the
patient objected, but asked whether it would be
safe to make an application which had been recommended to her, viz., touching the part three
times with a dead man's hand. Dr. W. assured
her that she might make the trial without apprehending any serious consequences. After a
time, she again presented herself, and smiling,
informed him that she had used this remedy and
no other, and on examining the part, he found
the tumour had,disappeared.    The cure of
scrofulous swellings and sores in former days,
by the royal touch, is also attributable to the
power of the imagination, on the absorption of
parts.
Imitation and habit influence in a remarkable
manner the actions of the economy in health
and disease. How frequently do we not see one
person imitating the gestures of another, without being aware of the circumstance? * Children, in whom the imitative faculty is- most
strong, readily adopt the gestures and even the
tone of voice of their parents or other persons
with whom they are associated. The action of
" It is certain that wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught,
as men take diseases one of another; therefore let men take
heed of their company."-HENRY IV., Part 2.



NOTES.

137

his determination to apply a~ red-hot rod on the
face of the first who should have an attack.
None of them had any recurrence, and the epidemic ceased as if by magic. Epidemics of a
somewhat similar kind have at different times
been propagated by imitation over a considerable extent of country; as in the case of the.dancing mania, which extended so widely in the
sixteenth century. Laughter is also frequently
excited by imitation, and sometimes under circumstances but' little likely to occasion merriment. Wesley relates, that paroxysms of uncontrollable laughter occurred at some of his
prayer-meetings. He himself, and some of his
most zealous followers, could not resist the infection, but laughed as loudly as the rest. He
accounts for the circumstance by ascribing it to
the influence of Satan.
The power of habit is further seen in the facility with which persons, under certain circumstances, accustom themselves to bear with but
little inconvenience extremes of temperature;
to digest with facility articles of food which
would cause an attack of illness to those less
accustomed to their use; or to require but a small
quantity of sleep. By this power the eye becomes enabled to discern minute objects in com



138

NOTES.

parative obscurity. The ear of a North American Indian applied to the ground, can hear
advancing footsteps at a distance that appears
incredible to Europeans. After the loss of one
sense the other senses become, by the habit of
cultivation, extremely susceptible to impressions
made on their organs. When a person is deprived of his hands, the sense of touch may become surprisingly developed in other parts of
the body, as the feet. Many diseases are greatly
under the influence of habit, especially epilepsy,
hysteria, and others, which occur at periodical
intervals. The paroxysms of an intermittent
fever are sometimes kept up by habit. Abortion is liable to recur at a similar period of pregnancy from this influence. In these cases the
disorders are often kept up until some circumstance occurs which tends to break the chain of
habitual- recurrence. Moral impressions have
frequently this effect, as seen in the cases related
in the preceding pages. Change of scene and
mode of living also have a beneficial effect in
many instances. Some remedies, which have
an energetic action, and other, means in which
the patient is led to place great confidence, produce an advantageous result in some cases, while,
-in others which have resisted a variety of remedial measures, time alone effects the cure.



NOTES.

139

It is unnecessary to, lengthen this work by
any further examples of the influence exerted by
the mind on the body, enough having been said
to enable those who have perused it to form an
estimate of the power of this influence; as also
of the value to be set upon homoeopathy.
SPALE, PNTER, SAVOY STR:ET, SAD
0. 1. PALMER, PILlNTERp SAVOY STRICETý STAAND.



NOTICES OF THE FORMER EDITIONS.
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His views on the subject are sober and rational."-Atlas.
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" An able dissertation."-United Service Gazette.
" Mr. Lee's remarks are precisely what we expected from his candour and
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" Gives a very fair and rational view of the merits and fallacies of this mode of
treatment."-MIedical Gazette.
WORKS ON MINERAL WATERS.
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