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OF THE


POWER OF SMALL DOSES
AN
ATTENUATED MEDICINES,
INCLUDING A
THEORY OF POTENTIZATION.
A DISCOURSE BEFORE THE
NEW YORK HOMCEOPATHIC SOCIETY,
MARCH 9TR., 1847,
BY B. FOSLIN, M. D.
NASHUA, N. H.:
PRINTED BY MURRAY & KIMBALL.
1848.






DISCOURSE.
GENTLEMEN,
Who, after due study of the writings of Hahnemann and
a strict trial of his method of practice, has ever come to the
conclusion that Hahnemann was an impostor and a visionary, and Homeopathy a cheat or a delusion? If any honest physician, after a careful trial, ever rejected the Homceopathic practice, he must possess a feeble intellect. As the
sceptical portion of the medical profession have not made
this examination, their prejudices are entitled to some respect. How shall they be prevailed on to undertake the
requisite reading, and those experiments which are still
more essential.  Many feel themselves fortified in their
present position by the testimony of antiquity, or the countenance of their fellow practitioners. Were I addressing such,
I would commence with the following
FABLE OF THE ASS AND THE STEAMBOAT. -An ass heavily laden with a sack of letters directed to a distant town on the
river, was met on his way by a fox, who apprized him that
ease and expedition would both be promoted by transferring
his burden to a steamer which had just stopped at the shore.
"This is unreasonable, friend Reynard," said the patient
beast; " for my method of transporting the mail has been in
operation three thousand years, yours only fifty. It is impossible that the combined wisdom of so many generations
should not exceed that of one."
"Your reasoning," replied the fox, "can have no weight,
unless there had been a race or races between steamboats
and asses during the said three thousand years, and it had
been decided that the ass always gained the race and was
less fatigued. Now this trial of speed and strength must
have been impossible before steamboats were invented."
Whilst the mail-carrier of the old line was staggering un



4


der the weight of this argument and ttuat of his letters, another ass overtook him, and.having overheard the conversatioui. was enabled to briiig tim-iely aid to the con founded disI- Mlaster Revuard,' qnoth he., "' yon are not ofan age and
size rightly to decide snchu matters.  Your facts and argurnents nmay be uinanswverable; bLut they should have no
weight with any respectable ass. No respectable and learned ass shouild ever adopt tihe new method, unitil some other
ass, still more respectable aud niore learned, shall have previouusly adopted it.
"1It puizzles amy brain,," replied the fox, "to apply this
rufle to ainy useful purpose. 1 pity your hopeless conditionl.
The pract ices of' the respectable and learned asses could never be reformed, if each mI ust wait till some ass miore leirned
and respectable than himself should have set the example."
MODIAL. - TheC, idol of- one man is antiquity; that of another is respectability. TIhhe former rejects whatever was not
in ag!es before him; the latter, wvhatever is not in the circle
above him. The man wVho prefers caste to truth, and spuirns
useful discoveries not sanctioned by the head or the tail of
some academy   or fashionable cliqute, can only be pitied.
But the man wkho venerates the shlade of antiquity, and in
matteus even of science and art, is awed~into uiltra-conservatism by long-established opinion and usage, is entitled to
sonne inlstrulctilon.  He does nuot consider that the non-adoptionz of undiscovered facts and unheard opinions is not equivaleuit to their n-jeCtion. rlTere are many facts, and inferences frorn them, which former ages neither adopted nor rejected; an'1 1d simply because they never so mutich as dreamed,
either of the possibility of the facts or of the conclusions to
wvhich their future discovery would necessarily lead every
sound andd un prej Liudiced mind.
EXAM PLE. - Honm0opathy is fifty years old. Thephysi..
cians of form-er ages never rejected the Homaopathic matenia inedica, for it Lvas not known; and as the physicians
who preceded Hahuemaun knew but few of thle symptomns
-whichi nmedicines excite in healthy persons, they had no
Ineanis of determining whether medicines alway-s relieve
symptonms simi'lar to those which they produce; they niever
tried this as a general law of cure. They never made any
Liomcopathic attenuatiouls, and consequently never dreamed of instituting any comparison between their efficacy and
that of crudie drugs. Homa,:opatluy was never rejected before the time of Hahnemaini.
Before stating, in favor of this system, any speculative



5


views, I will acknowledge that my own conversion was not
effected by them, but by the following experiments. I took
the third attenuation of a medicine, and. avoiding the study
of its alleged symptoms as recorded in books, I made a record of all the new symptoms which I experienced. When
this record was completed, I examined a printed list of symptoms, and was surprised to find a remarkable coincidence
between them and those which I had experienced. I at first
thought it probably an accidental coincidence. I repeated
the medicine, and again found a coincidence equally striking. Another medicine was then tried, with similar precautions and similar results.  There was'a new set of symptoms, very different from the former, but generally corresponding with the printed symptoms of the medicine last taken. Thus the evidence accumulated, from week to week,
until I became thoroughly convinced that such a number of
coincidences could not, on the theory of probabilities, be accidental. There were thousands of chances to one against
such a supposition. I knew that the attenuated medicines
were efficient, and the Homeopathic materia medica, so far
as 1 had tested it, substantially true.
The above mode of commencing and continuing the investigation, is that which I would recommend to all inquirers.
'The incredibility of the power of the small doses and of the
attenuations, had been my greatest stumbling-block. This
being removed by actual and direct experiment, I felt confidence in Haihnemann, and felt justified in making therapeutic experiments, to test his grand law of healing. The result was equally satisfactory, and gave me a firm confidence
- which every year's practice has tended to strengthen - in
the exact truth and inestimable value of the Honieopathic
law, and the superiority of the Homeopathic method of practice over every other system and combination of systems.
My apology for designing to give a discourse mainly theoretical, is that thedirect examination of Hommopathy is prevented by speculative objections. If Homeopathy were
assailed only by facts, it has a magazine of facts sufficient
for repelling the assault. To many minds, the facts of the
new school seem incredible, because unsupported - as they
think - by analogous facts, and inexplicable on any known
principles. Even to the most observant men, these difficulties beset the very threshold of Honmeopathic inquiry, and
Sdeter them from entering. Could such men be prevailed on
to enter, their conversion would be secure. Not so with all.
Some would be haunted with speculative difficulties, in spite
of the testimony of their senses. A disproportionate activity



8


revulsive or alopathic - which excites sufferings dissimilar
to the disease - Homceopathia can appeal no less triumphantly to final results, in the most rapid and violent diseases, as well as in chronic ones.
But the comparison of intermediate results, at different
stages, is attended with more difficulty, and is more likely
to mislead the superficial observer, than in the case of the
antipathic treatment. Here comes in the question of quality of disease, as well as quantity. The elements of the
problem are heterogeneous, and often concealed. The disease, if apparently cured, is displaced by one or more dissimilar diseases, some acute, some chronic. An emetic cures
a headache, and at the same time leaves a chronic inflammation of the stomach. A cathartic removes the contents of
the bowels - which in ninety-nine cases in a hundred were
doing no injury - whilst the cathartic leaves a chronic inflammation of the mucous lining, and a paralytic weakness of
the muscular coat of the intestines. These practices account
for the getneral prevalence of dyspepsia. The multitudinous
arms of this polypus are not more nourished by nostrums
than by prescriptions called scientific.
With these lateral impulses of the revulsive method, which
throw the disease on some other track- -and often on different tracks, some of them concealed in dark tunnels - the
patient, if a man of intelligence and reflection, will often be
led to doubt whether his apparent amendment is really of
any advantage. An intelligent layman yesterday expressed
to me his conviction, that " patients often find it as hard to
get rid of the medicine as of the disease." When the new
form of disease is chronic and latent, the patient often submits without complaint, to its future eruptions, as a new
dispensation of Providence.
Homoeopathy cures a disease without inflicting new ones,
acute or chronic. But because the patient feels no explosion of the disease, no laceration of other parts by its fragments, he often doubts whether the medicine has acted. If
the evil spirit has not torn him, he doubts whether it has
been forcibly expelled.
The immediate morbid effects of a drug, people regard as
the proper working of the medicine, and common sensewhich is often another name for shallow reasoning- teaches them that the more a medicine works, the more it will do.
They say, " Doctor, your medicine has not operated."
Experience has led people to expect some morbid effects
from medicines. Morbid effects are regarded as the tests of



9


energy, without considering whether these nave any curative tendency.
If a man rides on a rough road, in a carriage without
springs, he is very sensible of the motion, though his progress be only six miles an hour. Yet the jars contribute nothing to his progress. They are wasting the force destined
to progression. On a smooth railroad, the passenger, seated
in a closed car, gliding at the rate of twenty miles an hour,
is scarcely sensible of any progress. To the great movements of the globe we inhabit, we are utterly insensible.
Whirled around by the diurnal motion, a thousand miles an
hour, or several hundreds, according to our latitude, and
shooting along the earth's orbit seventy thousand miles an
hour, we suffer no jars, we feel no progress. The vulgar
eye perceives none; ancient philosophy perceived none.
Up to the time of Hahnemann, medical philosophy was
equally blind to the curative effects of medicines.  Its
attention was directed solely to the jarring, the lateral
movements. If the drug purged, or sweat or vomited, or excited some other secretion or excretion, then, and then only,
it operated. The real, the specific virtues, were overlooked.
Rational medicine despised specifics, as the excrescences
of science. With Hahnemann they constitute the whole
structure. With him originated the first general law for
the administration of specifics. This is Homceopathy. With
his predecessors, every drug was pressed into the service of
some evacuating group, or it was nobody and nothing.
Even the arch-agent, mercury, was not permitted to enrol
itself, without consenting to head a squad of silalogogues,
i. e. spitting drugs. Yet this collateral effect is not curative.
If mercury salivates in curing, it does not cure by salivating.
If it purges in curing, it does not cure by purging; neither
does rhubarb nor jalap nor any other cathartic, under ordinary circumstances. We might as well estimate the power
of a steam-engine by the jarring of the boat, or that of a fire
engine by the leakage from a hose, as that of medicine by
the evacuations. Every motion is not progression; every
accident is not proper action.
What a destruction of vital power, what a waste of medicinal energy, by such medical engineering! No wonder
they are unable to make small doses operate. I shall proceed to show why the followers of Hahnemann can make
small doses operate. This exposition will include the doctrine of potentization.
There are four reasons why Hahnemann's small doses operate.  First, They act directly on the disordered parts.
2



11


variety of positions-some moving too slowly, others too
fast - will have its movements harmoniously regulated, by
a great current of steam which shall sweep through the
whole in one direction. I would warn the Hommopathic
physician against listening to the delusive pretensions of
medical electricity as now ignorantly practiced, or invoking
it as an auxiliary. This warning may be the more necessary, as he is more a vitalist than a materialist, and attributes great importance to imponderable agents. If animal
electricity is intimately concerned in morbid actions, it must
be in a way so complicated, that all such projects for its regulation are crude and futile.
Hommopathic medicines are the only true regulators of
animal electricity and of the human organism. The Hommeopathic physician is the true engineer of this complicated
machinery. Its minutest and most important parts are invisible to him, and equally so to every other anatomist and
pathologist, the most learned and the most conceited. Not
one of them, in his minutest dissections, has ever seen the
real inside of nature, the real vital machinery, the elementary parts, much less the all important - the elementary -
vital actions. Both are meta-microscopic.  I would not
found systems of vital engineering, upon such superficial examinations, nor expect perfect success in any attempt to repair parts so inconceivably delicate, with instruments as
coarse as crude drugs. The Homeopathic physician can
regulate the invisible machinery of this engine. His tools
are delicate and appropriate, and he has learned the law
which regulates their application to invisible parts. Theinfinitely wise and benevolent Contriver has furnished the engine with indices-called symptoms - which point to the
particular manipulations required for its regulation. To
complete the manifestation of his goodness in regard to this,
ie has, in the course of his Providence, and through the
teachings of Hahnemann, instructed mankind in the use of
these indices. To attempt to cure on theoretical principles,
regardless of the paramount authority of these indications, is
as unwise as to seek the hour of the day by attempting to determine by algebra the position of the wheels of a clock, instead of listening to its striking or looking at its hands. The
remedy, selected in accordance with the unerring index, acts
upon the very parts which require to be influenced. This
contiguity, or proximity of the agent, would of itself render
a small dose sufficient and a large dose unsafe.
Had it been customary with the older surgeons to extract
splinters ftom the fingers by pounding them with a hammer,



12


and some one had ultimately hit upon the expedient of doing it with a needle, should we not have heard a great outcry against the innovation  Says the old orthodox surgeon,
"This small-dose system has no efficiency. I have been
pounding here for two hours; and the splinter has barely
started. My instrument is efficient, as you have evidence
in the brusies. Do you think to dislodge the splinter with
your insignificant homceopathic needle point? It is contrary to the experience of three thousand years; it is contrary
to all analogy. I would as soon think of harnessing a musqueto before my gig. I have deliberately adopted this maxim, To believe nothing which is incredible, except on evidence which is overwhelming."  The surgeon of the new
school replies, " Your instrument is ponderous and powerful, but not efficacious. Its force is worse than wasted on
the living and distant parts. You might pound the patient
to a jelly, before the splinter would come out. If you happen now and then to hit it, you are just as likely to drive it
in. My instrument is small but effective. The whole secret consists in applying the force at the right point, and in
the right direction."
Allopathia applies her force at the wrong point; Antipathia, in the wrong direction; Hommopathia applies hers at
the right point and in the right direction. This right direction is the second reason why a small dose suffices. For
the proof that the Homeopathic direction is the right one, I
rely mainly upon the testimony of experience. When treating of the opposite laws of cure, I have shown that when we
at first move the system a little, in nearly the same direction,
the ultimate results are incomparably better than when we
attempt instantly to reverse its motion.
There are no absurdities in this. Analogies are in its favor. Medicine is the small guiding force; nature the strong
impelling power. Nature might impel to destruction, if medicine were not at the helm. The ship's course is not reversed by stopping the wind, or opposing it, but by using it.
The pilot does not attempt to back his ship against the wind,
but turns her about by moving a few moments, nearly in the
same direction. Suppose it were necessary to bring back into port, a ship sailing directly away from it before a strong
breeze. What would be thought of the captain who should
keep the sails and the helm in their old position, and direct
all hands to apply oars, and with all their feeble might, paddle the ship back against the wind, stern foremost. I should
infer, first, that he had been educated in the antipathic
school; and secondly, that he had never read, that "ships,



13


though great, and driven by fierce winds, are yet turned
about by a very small helm."
Thirdly, The efficacy of a small dose - and the danger
of a large one - is increased by the peculiarly sensitive condition of disordered parts. Suffering with a morbid action,
similar to that producible by the medicine, they possess a
preternaturally acute sensibility to its influence.
It is unnesessary to illustrate and confirm this principle by
examples. They are obvious and numberless. The scalded hand is pained by a distant fire, the inflamed skin by
slight percussion, and the inflamed eye by light.  The
agents, which now with feeble intensity, can severely aggravate the irritation, could, if applied with greater intensity,
have originated the inflammation in the healthy parts. But
the force which can barely aggravate the existing irritation,
could not have irritated the parts when in their normal condition. That kind of irritant which, in the locality in which
it acts and in the phenomena which it developes, resembles
the cause of any disease, is found by experience to be its
proper curative. The excitement which this, given in small
doses, produces, is soon followed by melioration of the disease, and ultimately by permanent cure. The dose administered on such a principle should be exceedingly small, and
the action of such a dose, given under such circumstances,
is not incredible.
We sometimes hear of men - in sound health - going into the chamber of a patient, and swallowing a tumblerful
of a solution which a Homceopathic physician had left to be
administered in teaspoonful doses. This is a common sense
- that is to say- a shallow - argument against Homceopathy, by very green philosophers. Suppose such a man
should visit a patient whose eyes were inflamed, and exceedingly intolerant of light. He finds him in a dark chamber which has sixty-four panes of glass; but the patient declares, that it irritates his eyes to uncover a single one of
them. The visitor declares this to be incredible and absurd;
and proves to his own satisfaction the truth of his own position, by raising every curtain, and finding that his own
eyes are not injured by the light. If the weak minded and
uninstructed should be gathered into a school of elementary
science, the man who swallowed the sixty-four teaspoonfuls
should be placed in the same class with the man who uncovered the sixty-four panes. I know not his residence, but
hope he will make it known before such a charitable institution is established.
The fourth reason why Hahnemann's small doses are effi



14


cacious is, that the power of the medicine is developed or
exalted by a peculiar mode of preparation.
The three grand doctrines of Homo3opathy are; First,
The law, Similia Similibus curantur- Medicines relieve
affections similar to those which they are capable of producing; Secondly, The doctrine of dose - Small doses are most
safe and efficacious; Thirdly, The doctrine of potenceMedicines are peculiarly powerful after being subjected to
sufficient friction or succession with a suitable quantity of
some inert substance.
These doctrines have naturally grown out of each other in
the above order. The primary action of the medicine coincides with the disease, and aggravates it. Hahnemann, observing these aggravations to be severe, protracted and dangerous, gradually reduced the dose to a safe point. The determination of this was purely a matter of experience. New
experiments were essential, experiments in the use of medicines coinciding with diseases. Allopathic and Antipathic experience, with medicines acting on sound organs to produce
revulsion, or on diseased organs in direct opposition to the
disease, could never determine the appropriate Hommopathic
dose. From a revolution in the therapeutic law, emanated a
revolution in doses. From this revolution in poposology, emanated the grand discovery of potentization or dynamization.
By the doctrine of potence, as discovered by Hahnemann, I
mean no physical theory, but only a generalization of practical facts in relation to the reality of the increased power
manifested by medicine after having been subjected to Hahnemann's processes. After stating the facts, I shall attempt
to give a theory.
When the one-hundredth part of a grain of an insoluble
substance was to be administered, the most convenient method was, to mix one grain of it intimately with ninety-nine
grains of an inert substance, like saccharum lactis, and subsequently divide the mass into one hundred parts. Water,
or alcohol- which in minute quantities is almost equally
destitute of medicinal properties -served a similar purpose
in reducing the dose of liquids and soluble substances. The
diffusion of one drop of medicine through ninety-nine of alcohol afforded a ready and exact method of administering
the one-hundredth part of the former.
But it was soon discovered that no rule of three, no simple doctrine of proportion, embraced the true theory of doses. The one-hundredth part of a grain thus prepared - instead of retaining only the one-hundredth part of the power
of the original grain - had a pathogenetic or symptom-pro



16


cess above described was called the first attenuation. The
second was prepared from the first, as the first was from the
crude article. The original purpose for which the trituration and shaking were employed, was to produce a uniform
diffusion. On trying these preparations as medicines, Hahnemann unexpectedly discovered that they were peculiarly
powerful. Hence they were called potences or dynamizations. Independently of all speculative reasoning, the experience of Hahnemann and other Homceopathic physicians
has demonstrated, First; That a given weight of any drug
in a dilute state, possesses a greater therapeutic power than
the same weight of it in the crude or concentrated state.
Secondly; That Hahnemann's method of diffusing a medicinal substance through a non-medical one, by successive steps
or stages in regular progression, and with mechanical force,
developes more curative powers than is developed in an equally dilute mixture or solution prepared in the ordinary way.
Physicians of the old school have made observations confirmatory of the former proposition, especially in relation to
mineral waters. Prof. Daubney, of the University of Oxford,
alludes to the unquestionable efficacy of certain mineral waters in England, in connection with the fact of their containing only one grain of iodine in ten gallons of the water. He
adopts an extremely improbable and unscientific hypothesis,
viz., that the iodine imparts its qualities to the other substances with which it is associated.
- The truth that Hahnemann's processes are peculiarly efficient in the development of medicinal power, is established
by the experience of thousands of intelligent and scientific
physicians, who have had a thorough and practical acquaintance with the old medicines and the old method of
treating diseases. Believing that theoretical objections prevent many from testing Hahnemann's potences, I shall attempt to give a
THEORY OF      POTENTIZATION.
My view, expressed in the most general terms, is, that
Hahnemann's process developes the power of a drug by effecting a comminution, and in no other way. This is the
whole secret of that incredible power which experience
proves his preparations to possess. Trituration and mixture
with saccharum lactis promote this development, just so far
as they promote comminution, and no farther. The successive steps of centigrade dilution promote this, by subjecting every particle of the medicinal substance to the mechanical, tearing-asunder operation of the non-medicinal one.



17


One man, by Hahnemann's process, can, in a single day, effect a greater comminution of a substance, than could have
been effected in a direct mixture and trituration, by the combined labor of the whole human race continually operating
since the creation of Adam. The labor that built the pyramids is nothing in comparison to that of preparing even the
eighteenth potence by such a process, that is, by thoroughly triturating one grain with a sextillion of grains. By Hahnemann's process, the eighteenth trituration is prepared by
one man in eighteen hours, one hour being sufficient at each
stage for a thorough trituration.
The whole world could not divide a medicinal powder so
minutely, either by triturating it with one mass of saccharum lactis, or by triturating it by itself. For in the first case
the labor would be enormous on account of the bulk. In
the last case, the comminution would attain a limit, and the
medicine would be left coarse compared with Hahnemann's.
To triturate one grain of medicinal powder with ninetynine grains of a hard inert powder, like saccharum lactis,
effects not merely a wider separation of its original component masses, but a division of those masses, and a division
more minute than would be practicable by any amount of
trituration of the medicinal powder per se. In subjecting
one grain of the resulting powder to a similar operation with
ninety-nine grains of saccharum lactis, in order to obtain
the second trituration, we render the groups of medicinal
molecules still smaller than in the first trituration. In forming still higher triturations, a reduction in the size of the
groups of medicinal molecules must be effected by each successive operation.
The philosopher will not find it difficult to believe, that
this division of the medicine might take place many thousands of times, without reducing it to the indivisible particles-the proper atoms - if such exist.
What effect may such division produce in the properties
of a substance? This is an inquiry interesting both to the
physician and the philosopher. The philosophers of future
times will gratefully acknowledge their obligations to Hahnemann, for opening this new field of investigation. It is
the destiny of Homceopathia, not only to effect a glorious
revolution in the art of healing, but to lead to new views of
the constitution of matter. She is to become the handmaid
of physical science, as well as the mistress of practical medicine. Should the great thinkers and experimenters of the
age, be once prevailed on to give to the alleged facts of Homceopathy that serious consideration, and that practical exam3



19
physicians give blue pill, calomel and corrosive sublimate,
almost indiscriminately when they aim at proper mercurial
effects, by means of small doses. If so active an agent as
chlorine is not capable of masking or essentially changing
the mercurial power, what could be expected of three or fbur
per cent. of oxygen, except to favor the comminution? In
regard to exaltation of proper mercurial power-exclusive of
caustic, cathartic and other extraneous properties - chlorine
can act on no other principle. In the smaller doses and higher attenuations of the new school, the similarity of different
mercurial preparations is still more manifest, even with that
nice discrimination of medicinal properties which is peculiar
to Homoeopathy. The old school uses mercury much oftener, but knows much less about its medicinal properties.
Where is the evidence that the mercury of blue pill is oxidized?  What chemist has detected the oxygen? If it existed, chemistry could separate and exhibit it. No one has
pretended to do this. The pharmaceutist can urge nothing
but presumptions. Murray says, " There is every reason to
believe that an oxidation of the metal is effected, and that
the medicinal efficacy of the preparation depends on this oxide. Quicksilver, in its metalic state, being inert with regard to the living system, the activity of the preparation itself is a presumption of this; but it is farther known, that
by agitation with atmospheric air, quicksilver affords a portion of a grey powder, soluble in muriatic acid, and which
must therefore be an oxide, metalic quicksilver being insoluble in that acid." These are his reasons. They are founded on two false assumptions; the first, that the comminution
of a substance can have no effect on its medicinal activity;
the second, that comminution can have no effect on its solubility. At the same time he inconsistently alleges, that it
is sufficient to effect its oxidation, even when the parts are
" divided by the interposition of any viscous matter."  If
comminuted globules, when perfectly naked, cannot be dissolved in a powerful acid, what reason is there to suppose
that when enveloped in a viscid substance, almost impermeable to air, they can readily combine with atmospheric
oxygen    One would suppose such an envelopment an
awkward expedient for effecting their oxidation.
The color of blue pill affords no evidence of oxidation.
Color, in numberless other instances, depends on division
and mode of aggregation, without any change of composition; as we see in substances chemically identical, such as
snow compared with water, and charcoal compared with
diamond. Again, the discoloration of mercury is not pro



portional to the duration of exposure, but to ihe amount of
friction, and commences almost instantaneously when the
first attenuation is formed by a rapid machine. Such should
not be the facts, if the discoloration depended on oxidation.
That mercury will in certain cases produce its specific effects without oxidation, is the opinion of the latest and most
respectable writers on materia medica and chemistry. Pereira relates that the vapor from several tons of mercury in
the hold of a vessel, salivated two hundred men, and destroyed all the dogs, sheep and poultry on board, and even
the mice. He says, in opposition to those who had supposed an oxidation, that he " believes with Buchner, Orfila and
others, that metalic mercury, in the finely divided state in
which it must exist as vapor is itself poisonous."*  Here is
a distinct recognition of the power of pure mercury to produce the specific effects of blue pill. That these effects were
poisonous, was owing to excessive dose. Hahnemann has
taught us how to develope curative power by a still finerdivision, and to cure the most violent disease in a man, by a
dose that would not injure a mouse. Pereira, in another passage, with some inconsistency refers to the occasional effects
of masses of mercury in the bowels as resulting from oxidation. The Homceopathist, who knows how small a quantity will act, will find no difficulty in attributing them to
partial comminution; especially as there may be present
some saline or other substances which conduce to the detachment of globules.
Graham, one of the highest and latest authorities in chemistry, alludes to one kind of medicinal mercury which is demonstrably a pure metal, and to mercury triturated with fat,
syrup, &c.-as in forming mercurial ointment and blue pill
- as undoubtedly existing in a state of division merely, and
not of oxidation. The passage is this. " The salts of the
red oxide, are reduced to the metalic state by copper and more
oxidizable metals, and by the proto-compounds of tin. The
precipitated mercury often presents itself as a grey powder,
in which the metalic globules are not perceived, and remains
in this condition while humid. Mercury in this divided state
possesses the medicinal qualities of the milder mercurials,
and has often been mistaken for black oxide." * * "There
can be no doubt that it is in this divided state, and not as the
black oxide, that mercury is obtained by trituration with fat,
turpentine, syrup, saliva, &c., in many pharmaceutical preparations."t
"*Pereira's IMateria Medica, p. 585.
iElements of Chemistry, by Thomas Graham. F. R. S. L. & Ed. p. 448.



21


The grey powder above alluded to, will run into liquid
mercury when the water evaporates. The invisible globules
require for their permanent preservation a coating less volatile, as oil. This is a proof that the oxidation of mercury
does not readily take place, even in this state of minute division. This also teaches us the actual function of viscid
substances, in the blue pill mass, and unguentum hydrargyri. It is, to divide, and keep divided.
Hahnemann's process effects and preserves in the globules,
a separation which is wider compared with their diameters,
and a division inconceivably more minute, and consequently
enhances - to an extent never before conceived of- their
salutary energies.
If physicians in all ages had given mercury in no form but
that of undivided quicksilver, and in half pound doses, they
would at this day ridicule the man, who should pretend that
he had seen powerful alterative effects from the occasional
repetition of three or four grain doses of blue pill, each containing one grain of divided mercury. We can conceive
with what sincere contempt, those old-school, half-pound
prescribers would have viewed such pretensions, when put
forth by a few individuals, and with what affected contempt
and half-concealed indignation, when the new doctrine and
practice were rapidly overspreading the civilized world.
They would say, "It is contrary to the experience of thousands of years, to all analogy, to all reason. Away with
your transcendental, infinitesimal nonsense! It is wellknown that mercury acts only by its mechanical properties
- its fluidity and weight. Half a pound will force its way
through the bowels, will remove obstructions and purge off
the vitiated secretions. You will never clear the system by
your grain doses."
To many a conservative champion of old drugs, we might
say, This is your portrait and no caricature. " Name changed, the fable speaks of thee." You ridicule the alleged power of Hahnemann's comminuted mercury, simply because
you and your predecessors have never tried mercury in a
state of more minute division than that in which it exists in
blue pill, or hydrargyrum cum creta. If you have developed latent power, by reducing it to globules of a certain degree of minuteness, why may not he have increased the power on the same principle, by rendering the globules still
smaller? What you have imperfectly done with mercury,
he has done to an extent inconveivably greater, with allhis
medicines. Your most comminuted medicines are coarse
compared with his.



22


Some have gratuitously alleged, that Hahnemann's doses
may answer for Germany, but not for the United States. It
seems that according to some undiscovered facts, or for some
unspeakable reason, the excitable Americans require large
doses.
Others have argued, that the small doses can have little
effect in Germany; because a man in that country once
swallowed a jack-knife, and was not killed by it. As the allegation of the first party is on a par with the argument of
the second, I leave them to settle their dispute, so far as it
relates.to medical geography.
If I may be pardoned for treating the last party's argument with all the seriousness with which it appears to have
been offered, I would say; It has three fallacies. It confounds mechanical and vital effects, regarding them as varying in the same ratio; it confounds hurtful and curative
effects, regarding them as varying in the same ratio; and it
confounds the effects of fine powders with that of dense
masses.
We might say to the whole class of similar reasoners, The
pebbles in a turkey's gizzard are infinitely less coarse compared with your medicines, than yours are compared with
ours. We find finely divided quartz, i. e. silicea, to be a
powerful medicine. You deny it for no better reason, than
that its coarser forms are insoluble and inert. You appreciate only the chemical composition, and neglect the mechanical condition. Your blind and headlong philosophy
jumps to a conclusion over the wide gulf that separates the
massive integral from the inconceivably comminuted.
This kind of philosophy is a hobby extremely useful for
riding over facts. Some Grecian genius invented her for
that purpose. Since Bacon exposed her defects, she has
been in little demand except in the old medical school - a
school however that can boast many true followers of Bacon, and wise observers of nature.
A practical physician, of the Baconian stamp, once remarked sarcastically, that he knew of " nobody that had so
much leisure to study philosophy, as a sitting goose. She
had nothing to do, but to sit and think."
The old school is now engaged in this dignified and sublime process of incubation. She is taking precisely this method of hatching truth, and unhatching error. With an obstinacy and perseverance worthy of a better cause, and with
eyes closed to surrounding nature, she sits on the nest and
thinks; she sits and broods over lifeless stones -mistaken
for eggs - in the fond hope of a progeny, which shall one



24


superficial extent. The quantity of electricity which a given body can receive may be indefinitely increased. When
a large solid ball is divided into smaller ones, much of what
was interior becomes surface, and the same weight of matter
can receive more electricity. A magnetic bar has no apparent magnetism in the interior, and none at the middle of its
surface; but when broken in the middle, it there becomes
magnetic, instantly and spontaneously.  A collection of
small bars at some little distance from each other, is susceptible of being rendered more powerfully magnetic than one large
bar of the same weight: in other words, small magnets can
be made more powerful than a large one of the same size.
I would recommend these analogies, as " aids to reflection " for those closet speculators, who, averse to the labor
of HommEopathic experiment and the light of direct observation, are sitting quietly in their shady rooms, pondering over
the a priori improbability of naked facts, and, after the legitimate period, bringing forth the conclusion, that to make
power out of littleness, is contrary to all reason and analogy.
A bundle of rods has been regarded as an emblem of associated strength. But mechanical notions might often mislead in physics and therapeutics. In drawing offthe electricity of a prime couductor, a single wire directed toward it at
a certain distance, may have a hundred times as much power as a compact bundle of thick wires. The single point is
put in a favorable state by induction; but the neighboring
points by counterinductive influence mutually tend to neutralize the action of each other. The electroscope shows a
striking contrast between the power of a solitary point, and
the comparative inefficiency of many. But when the wires
of the fasciculus are widely separated, and presented simultaneously, they no longer occasion this mutual neutralization, and their combined efficiency will be found to have increased, a thousand-fold or more according to their number
and mutual distance. The round numbers above employed
are not to be understood as the result of any calculation. Instead of exaggerating, they are far within the limits of what
could be realized.
The above facts in relation to pointed conductors, and the
neutral zone of a magnet, show that certain properties possessed by small groups of molecules are removed, masked, or
rendered latent, by the proximity of similar groups. They
show that properties or powers are created or developed by
the division of substances, or the separation of the parts of
a mass, and again destroyed or rendered latent by the reunion of those parts.



27


rive poles. These compound groups then present similar
phenomena, in their mutual approach, their rotation and
union. I have witnessed similar phenomena in nitrate of
silver and other crystals. Large crystals of the same substances exhibit no such attraction or polarity. Even ice,
which in large masses has no magnetism, may exhibit magnetic properties when beginning to form minute crystal in
the atmosphere.
The theory of potentization, so far as above given, consists of two parts; one relating to comminution, as the result of certain processes; the other, to power as the result
of comminution.
I have shown; First, that Hahnemann's processes produce a comminution almost infinitely surpassing any which
is practicable by any other method; Secondly; that comminution developes latent power.
I have incidentally alluded to another advantage which
comminuted medicines possess, in the delicacy of the human
organism. The invisible vessels and pores are, in all probability, inconceivably more numerous and minute than the
visible ones. It may be in these narrow recesses of the system, that nature carries on her most important operations,
and disease lays her foundations. To modify those operations, and overturn those foundations, it may be important,
that medicine should enter straits impassable and chambers
inaccessible, by any substances whose parts are as gross as
those of ordinary powders and solutions. For this additional reason, the powders and sQlutions prepared by Hahnemann's method-which divides the medicine into parts inconceivably smaller - may possess peculiar power. The
comminution effected in ordinary medicines by solution in
the mouth, the stomach and the blood, leaves them coarse
in comparison with medicines which may be prepared by
Hahnemann's processes.
There is still another advantage which small medicinal
particles may have over large ones: viz., that when in contact with any living part, the average distance of their whole
surface - as well as substance-from the points of contact,
is less than it would be if they were in one group. This advantage might be very great, if medicinal action, like other
forces, varies inversely as the square, or some higher power
of the distance.
In endeavoring to explain the efficiency of Hahnemann's
potences, I have, hitherto, not specially adverted to the distinction between liquid and dry preparations. We find repeated solution with succussion, and repeated mixture with



28


trituration, to develope similar powers, and have reason to
believe the principles similar. As a part of the theory of potentization, 1 shall attempt to give a
THEORY OF SOLUTION.-It is generally believed, that the
simple solution of a medicine, effects the minutest division
of it which is practicable, and that no dilution of any dissolved substance, can divide its parts into parts still smaller.
In calling in question the correctness of this notion, I am
aware of the strength of the prejudices to be encountered -
prejudices both of the senses and intellect. For deciding
such a point, there is no adequate delicacy in human vision
nor in the instruments of physical research; nor is the human mind so constituted, as to be capable of any adequate
conception of the minuteness of ultimate atoms, or of the infinite diversity of magnitude existing among infinitesimals.
When a body is divided into parts so small as to elude microscopic vision and our most delicate tests, it is difficult to
conceive of any farther division. Yet these parts may still
be divided such an inconceivable number of times, that we
may call the number infinite. The change thus produced in
a medicine may be appreciated by means of those nerves on
which it has a specific action, but not by means of any instrument less delicate.
The unparalleled sensibility of these nervous electroscopes
or pharmascopes, is exemplified in the powerful action of
some hommopathic solutions, in which the chemist, with his
comparatively coarse-but in his own estimation most delicate-tests, can detect no medicine, and in which he could
detect none, were they concentrated millions of millions of
times. Yet millions of persons, including Homceopathic
physicians and their patients, have repeatedly experienced
the efficiency of such attenuations. The number, competency, integrity and unanimity of the witnesses, are such as
would secure the reception of their testimony on any other
subject.
If we can sufficiently divest our own minds of the prejudices of the grosser senses, let us imagine a saturated aqueous solution of any salt, to consist ot hard, solid masses of
salt, suspended at equal distances in the water, which exceeds the salt in quantity. Each mass of salt consists of
innumerable particles. It is impossible to make them smaller either by the continued action of the affinity of the water,
or by any mechanical force, whilst the quantity of water remains the same. If they were sundered, they would instantly reunite. For, any division of the solids into smaller
solids, would diminish their muntal distance, and conse



30


with their components. It is possible that there may be included in each group - as there are in a nebula - different
orders of groups, which determine the points of easier division. We know that to be to a certain extent true in chemical compounds, as solution does not divide them in all
parts indiscriminately, else it would destroy their peculiar
chemical properties.
I have hitherto considered saturated solutions. Before
proceeding to attenuation in any higher sense, I will-for
those who may not consider the subject too dry, and who
desire the most precise ideas - explain more fully some of
the molecular actions above referred to.
What is cohesion? When are molecules united in one
group? When is the group divided? In what sense is medicinal power at the surface?
Cohesion is attraction between bodies or particles of the
same kind at insensible distances. In molecular action, I
make no attempt to distinguish the cases in which polarity
is manifest, as in crystals; for all cohesion may depend on
the polarity and even the magnetism of molecules.
If a group of atoms exists as a little solid body in a solution, and we are able, by adding more liquid, to break it into
two groups or bodies, in what sense are they two until they
get beyond the sphere of cohesion  If still in contact, they
are one group. In the mechanics of infinitesimal bodies, we
must use the term contact in a stricter sense. The contact
of the infinitesimal solid parts of a solution, is such a degree
of proximity as excludes the solvent liquid.
The view which I take- and which is calculated to remove one of the greatest obstacles to the reception of Homceopathic truth - is, that the ultimate particles of a dissolved
medicine are not separately invested with the menstruum or
solvent liquid, but united in hard and complex massesmasses which, in a saturated tincture or solution, are of great
magnitude and little activity, when compared with those in
Hahnemann's attenuations. The free medicinal agency resides exclusively at the surface of the group, the latent at the
surface of each particle. I make no attempt to decide, whether the medicinal power is or is not a modification of electricity or magnetism; or whether, like the former, it resides
on the whole surface, or, like the latter, on certain parts.On either supposition, division will have a similar effect in
increasing the extent of active surface. Electricity and
magnetism are known to be in one sense identical, but to
avoid circumlocution they are referred to as distinct.
You will readily anticipate the application of the above



31


principles to attenuations. When a drop of pure tincture is
shaken with ninety-nine of alcohol, the newly added alcohol
exerts its affinity as an antagonist to the cohesion of the solid
medicinal groups, and effects their dismemberment to a greater extent than was possible in the primary solution. This
process commences instantly, before the diffusion is complete. But to simplify the investigation, let us suppose the
drop to be uniformly diffused before any disintegration of
the groups commences. The groups would be at nearly five
timestheir original distance, and each group would be surrounded by one hundred times as much alcohol as in the
primary tincture. This state of things could not remain a
moment; especially if the disruptive power of the affinity
of this increased quantity of alcohol, were aided by a mechanical succussion, as strong as that to which the tincture
has been subjected. For the equilibrium before existing between cohesion and affinity, will be disturbed by that increase of the latter which regults from the increase of the
liquid; and the suspended solids will each be sundered into
numerous smaller solids. But it is not divided into its smallest particles; nor could it be by the most violent succussion.
The vibrations caused by jars, transiently increase the distance of some particles of each group and approximate them
to the liquid, and thus give affinity a preponderance over
cohesion. In this way succussion aids division. But to
carry division by this means beyond a certain point, effects
no permanent change; as the particles will instantly reunite
by the preponderance of cohesion over affinity. As power
is developed on a similar principle by successive dilutions, it
is unnecessary to pursue this subject any farther.
Power is developed on the same principle as in dry preparations. The affinity of the liquid enables us to dispense
with part of the mechanical force: yet all that I have said
in regard to the relative labor of comminuting by Hahne.mann's method as compared with any former one, applies
equally to liquid preparations.
His discovery of a new law in the science of therapeutics,
and his invention of a new process in the art of pharmacy,
have led to unprecedented results. The most insoluble bodies are dissolved, inert substances rendered medicinal, and
the most virulent poisons harmless; whilst drugs of intermediate activity have their salutary powers exalted, and
their noxious effects obviated.
The main objects of this discourse, have been to show,That small doses are efficacious when giyen in accordance
with the Homceopathic law; That medicines prepared by



32


Hahnemann's process are in a state of extremely minute di&
vision; That on this comminution their peculiar efficacy
depends; And that the development of power by separation
of parts is not an anomaly, but is in accordance with known
laws of nature.
[Just as the printing of the above paper is nearly completed, I find in the Bridgewater Treatise of Dr. Prout -
than whom few have more profoundly studied the molecular constitution of bodies - the following passage, which is
in accordance with some of the above views:
" In this respect, therefore, the views we have advanced
accord generally with those at present entertained; and the
only point in which they differ, is in supposing that the selfrepulsive molecule, as it exists in the gaseous form, does not
represent the ultimate molecule, but is composed of many of
them. With respect to the nature of the ultimate sub-molecules of those bodies which we consider at present as elements, as, for instance, of oxygen, they may naturally be
supposed- to possess the most intense properties or polarities.
Indeed such sub-molecules may be imagined to resemble in
some degree the imponderable matters, heat, &c., not only
by their extreme tenuity, but in other characters also; and
this very intensity of property and character may be reasonably considered as one, if not the principal reason, why they
are incapable of existing in a detached form. Lastly, are not
these ultimate and refined forms of matter extensively employed in many of the operations of nature, and particularly
in many of the processes of organization."  B. F. J.
7, Amity Street, March 27th, 1847.]



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