a~~~~~ ~ * ii riiw - 8>. -ii, I II IAIf I, painie~ an2t l slraic l tt ih1 i, A LECTURE ~' I' F PrSARIS nCoI AND JOB PRINTING OFFICE, JUNEAU LOCi.!!!i~ ~ I~184IIl IHIOIOEOPATHY. BEFORE TIE FACULTY AND STUDENTS OF )ISON UNIIVERSIT-Y9 A April, 1845. BI J.- IDs, L $ 9 U GLAS A. M.9O M.I PUBLISHED BY REQUEST —SECOND EDITION. M 1 LW A U K E EE: STARRS' P.RITINO ESTABLISHMENT, JUNEAU BLOCK. 1854. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. TnEi fbllowing lecture, intended as a popular expositiou of the principles of ithe Homooopaotlhic pLratice, was e cli vot'ed aSt t1he Xla'dison Ulniversity, NeYork, and pulllishld in. 1i 84., av~'ing Tmet, with. the approval of the profCession, and thle I( aro e dliit iol hl1;h at;e to, n(''.. h r ae long tiirne exhausted, a want has'been felt by mianyv phxfi' yvn. s' for,nSou almi.lli. _ o.sed expositionl of our principles, to} p!Lh., i:. tile hl.'ns o. f fia.v'enn:, whvldc-t wovuld[ correct tlhe thousatnd di diculo s n.isr pr<seeon-.t tti,_.. mLe t at indutriously circulated, r.'especting Ollli oI'(Tie!:s InE plc,titO, t-o. a: tl' -tE.lt,toh)r has, often been soiteited to publishl anotlhel.r edition to supply' the want. Tlhis second edition sln-ewhat enla. ged, is t(he response to tlis demand, MILW.AURKEE, Sept.. 12, 1854. A CARD. To D.R' J.' S.'OeCu:LuS~;h':-i' eliteving tl:at, thc' public need correct inforrlation in regard to tl e lHomoceopatlhie praetiee andl tihe pl:hilohsop' h upon whichlit is based, and le-aruing thl-t the edition of a' Leett(,'e p iblishled tby you, i tended to give thijs infnrmation, is exhauted te, il ers igul, retpe etfully'equest the i.s'uii', of a ne w edition to supply thl. lis wani-t. I. S. I-tEWITT, IT TD. T. BROWN, J. ]EO, GUENTHERt, HENRY PEPRLEWI'TZ, Pra.cticirg Plof Jict ie Cit of Milwauikee. J. P. GREVES, L. M. TRACY, J N. W'. CLARK.. D. SMIIT[H, R, MENZIES, H. D. HULL, J. D. SPALDING, 1P. L. MOSSINt J. LOCK70WOD, HI. H. CAMP,. i J. FAR. IES, G. P. HEWITT, N. HI. JORGENSEN, G. B. MINE R, S. C. WEST, WINFIELD SMIITH, 01. L. H. GARDINER, W. K. WVILSON, G. D. NORRIS, R. N. MESSINGER, D. P. HULL, G, W. MYGATT, AW. J. BELL, EDWIN PALMEl. -0. T. GILBIER I, meLdicial praCtetiCe, whether inew or old, to whictL health and life are to'be coummitted, to institute ain investigation into its pre etensions and its meritsto enquire and to ascertain whether it be a philosophical or an empirical siystem-whether its practical applications to the cure of disease are based upon legitimate induction clawn fiom a sufficiently extended and minute.,-xiper>ience, oi upon a theory which is itself hypothetical and unfoundelinshort, wfhether it be entitlod to tile appellation of a science or a mnere art. If those w-ho le,(-w isr it,. clail fibr it the title of a science, it is your furthelr pr~i-ilege to i;l; of themll,a scientific exposition of its principles which you Cl'i unci(erstand; and thiso, notwithstandindg the plea that the mysteries of tile scicnce of medicine can only be explained to the comprehension of inedieal mlel. This plea should not avail; for however difficult it may be to explain tlle principles of an art to one not experienced in it, an, inexplieable science is a contradiction in terms. If this exposition is withheld upon tlhis 1aor ny otller plca, it is your iurthler priilee, as well as your intelest, to roJiect it. It. iS il thll exeicis of this ilght that you liavie aslke[ of me such an cxsp'sition tof thle system which I havre adopted, and into w-hich you propose, iul theu true sl-,i'it Of phlilosoIbhy, to institute anl inquiiry. Reg'ardcing it aS toit' ri' iAl to require lll ust, of Course regard it ias my correlati've duty, a,: it (certainliv is l my pleasure, to accede to this requisition, to lay before, a )botd'y of youn meiin,- dcv-oted to scientific investigations, the claimns of a;,stem of miltelicile to the title of a1 science. It seems to me a highly t.lpp Triatito sutlbject inl a liohlIx appropriate place, thlongh I am. perfectly aLatlReI of'thte flact, that popularl 1 lectutres on the snbject of medicine a.re (teelncfled by mlmany inappro priant anywhere. With the viewxs which have tooe Ih'1-(0 1'allv alnd too Ion) pR- \-aild on the amysterious clharacter of thle science tlfii(.lCc11c, ull't lL(esli'fis thle fllowin. l are perfecl tl n aturlal:'l baIt thel the Iton l -1f',Cssio:lmall to do x-ith, mand ho~w caln tlhey be expecteC tto unille istand anld ]:,l)lej;te and becolne intelested in so complicated, olescuire and occult a sciclcc ax tha't of llledicile-ai science, about which, lno txxwo of its p:1eofessors eoven o:ree —a science of which there have been more than two thundred genieral and dist;net theories, not one of which sutrAivei, (tlo IHoCyceopathtl( ale eon xcepte(d,) that can' boastl an antiquity of alifdt': eoerx a jqlariter of aL caenitmry?;' H)ow pepostelrotls, thenl, to expect to iillcarlt itfonation Or intel'est, to a 1lnon-professioInal audience, upon a subject xlinch the unli\-er;cial hdisag'reement of its p)lofioudest professors proves to be undcerstoo( bhy nOlie of t1hem I w sa,,,ith the v ie\xVs wNhich'have been entertained on tile mysteriousness of nleclcine, such quelies are perfectly natural, and sucl, in substalnce, h1ave been raised in this community, within the two or three days sinlce this iectune xwas announced. We reply to them, that if the p1rinciples of a so. called scielmce of mnedicine cannot be explained to the comprehension of. a scientific mindl of ordinary powers, and made interesting to sulch a minid, then no further proof is neecled that it is no science. For if it be a science, it has its laws-its fixed principles; and these laws, are brought together and known by those who have examined them-they are capable of being made known to others, and like all the laws of nature, are necessalrily interesting. Are not the laws of Chemistry, of Astronoimy, of Botany, of Optics, and of the entire iange of naturaj 11 this be evacuated. I advise you to blow your nose." You answer that you have done this every five minutes for the last twenty-four hours, but experience no improvement, and enquire what shall be done next? I reply, "This cause of your disease must first be removed-blow your nose as often,as this accumulation takes place, until this is effected, then we will do something further." This prescription, I perceive, excites a smile. Why should it? I ask in all seriousness. It is but acting upon, and carrying out a principle with which we have all been familiar fiom our earliest childhood. It is just as amusing to hear a physician say to his patient, 1" Your stomach is foul-take an emetic, or a cathartic," as to hear him say, "'Syour nose is foul. blow it." It will puzzle you or your physician to give a more philosophicwal reason for the practice in one case than in the other, for it is equally true of these and all similar cases, that these secretions are not the cause, but the product of disease, and the mere removal of this continually recurring product can have no effect in remoning the disease which produces it, any more than emptying the waters of a reservoil can dry lp the fountain that supplies it. AmongL prevailinig medical theories, one su1pposes all fevers to arise firom inflammation of the brain, another of the stolnach, another of the spleeii, another of the arteries. &c. One supposes fev-er to be the product of local inflammation, another that the local ilflammlation is the product of the fever. The theories in riegard to individual diseases, their natnie anld t reatment, are innumerable. There are at least twenty of deliriun tremens. The-re are no less than orte hundred of fevers, and cal equal number of Cholera. But in the most important and only practical particullar, all these clashing' and contraadictory theories aglee. The alre a]l dlirected ill tlhe application of meciciine to disease by -no higher or sullre guide, than disconnected andi insulated experiments at. the bedside, or pure hypothesis. The best reaso'n, perhaps, wlhich a practitionler of these schools call assig'n for a given prescription is, that he has seen or known of its being beneficial in similar cases. But as no two cases of' disease are ever alike in all their circumstances, we can scarcely speak of our experience in any ogiNen case, as we have never witnessed one which was in all respects like it. Experience here is but' analogy at best, and in all new cases of disease, analogy extremely loose and vague. If there be any apparent exceptionl to the remark that there are in the Allopathic scho-ols no fixed laws controlling tile application of medicine —if there be anly approach to such a law, it consists in giving such articles of medicine as are supposed to be opposite in thllei effects to the disease to be treated. Thlus if the patientt is too hot, cooling remedies, called refrigerents are admlinistered-if too cold, hearting stimu'lants are applied. If he is weak, suipposed strengtheniing remedies, called tonics are givei. If tihe stomach is sour, soda or other alkalies, are prescribed. Diarrhceal is sougoht to be counteracted by opiates and astringenlts an-d constipation by Aaxatives. But this method of curing by contraries, expressed by the phrase ";cohztraria contrariis cm'atntu2r," could never be reduced to a law, for it did not fail to be observed that this mode of treating disease was generally but transient in its effect, leaving the system in a worse permanent condition thian before, with the disease permanently aggravated. Thus a cathartic Pr) remove constipation, generally left the patient more constipated —bleed s0 Its first or primnary effect is, to stimulate the intestines to an unusual and unnatural effort to expel their contents. But this effect is transient, continuing only a few hours. The secondary effect is just the, reverse, viz: unusual and unnatural inactivity and torpor, or0 constipation. Again. An opiate is given to allay pain and procure rest by diminishing or benumibing sensibility to the causes of suflering. This purpose is taai-siiently answered by its prilnary eflect, but this soon ceases, and then colmes thej opposite or secondary effect, viz: increased sensibility to all the causes. oL annoyance. And so true is nature to herself — so inflexibly adherent to her own laws, that the physician may persist as long as lhe pleases in his inufractions of this vital law, and she will have her own lway and maintain her resistance to the last, or until - the st!uggle ends in exhaustedl vitality and d ath. The same is true of all other remedies. If you send for a physician who presclibes a cathartic, or laxative, you can very prol)erly ask your medical adviser; " What, sir, is to be the primary effect of this dose?" If he. answers: "To stimulate the bowels to greater activity," you may then very properly reply: "My dear sir, as I have lelarned the laws of culre, this effect will be but transient, while a secondary and opposite effect, viz: increased torpor aind constipation will inevitably follow, which will be lasting, and the effect of your prescription Awill be to afford me temporariy alleviation at the expense of a lasting aggravation of the very difficulty which you aim to cure. I should certainly be1 glad to be relieved of my,present enbarrassment, but this is obtaininng present liquidation at a hligher rate of interest than I can afford to pay. I prefer to suffer a little now to suffering so runch more hereafter. I dra obliged to you for your offer of present relief, even on such hard telrms, but really, sir, I feel obliged to decline it." And the same reasoning applies to all remedies administered on Allopathic principles. Second law. All medicines produce two exactly opposite effects, according to quantity; that is, small and large doses prodlice opposite effects. A small dose of Opium produces exhilaration and wakefulness-a large dose, languor, stupor and sleep. Very small ldoses of Rhubarb, Mercury and other cathartics allay irritability of the bowels, and thuis cure diarrhoea and dysentery-large closes produce irritability and diarrhoea.. Very small doses of Emetic Tartar, pecac, &ec., allay ilrritability of the stomach and thus cure vomiting and cholera-morbus- large doses pecduce tlese very states. The one is the disease-curing, the other the disease-producingl efirct. This law is equally practical with the first. Guided by it, the physician -waill so adlminister his medicines as to secure their secondary or curative effects, atld avoid their priiary or disease-producing effects. And patients when properly informed, Will be wise enough to refuse a prescription made in violation of this law. They will say to the physician who prescribes for them large doses, (and all Allopathic doses are large, though they may call them small,) " Sir, I consulted you for the purpose of being cured, and you offer me a drug' in a dose that will make me sick. The law of culte, as I understand it, mnakes it no part of the business of a physician to produce disease, but, his exclusive business to cure it. The time is past when the proper inscription on the signa of the physician- was,' A disease 27 wACatever. I have only to addtl, that my first few mnonthls of experience -have been conlfirmeed, atld my onviction daily and hourly increased ever sincee. T'his is in substance the experience of all the thousands, who, like Dr. Dunnell, have consented to go into the examination. Permit nme to refer, more directly, to a few of the dlvantages which thlis system possesses over any otlle. I pass over the obvious advt7llintiLge of the greater ease and pleasurne with which sug'ar plums are aiillinisteil'ed to children and irritable stomanchs, than natuseating doses of Jalap, bilious pills, &tc. &c., and observe: 1st. That our experiments upon the properties of meiiein are mare de,;n advance, upon the leealtihy subject, and consequenltly thle lcure of the sick is not delaecld and life endangered- by a courlse of guessingM anl expenrinlcTt at the bedside. An aflomnalous case of disease, entirely new to us occurs. We are not obliged first, to construto a hypothetical theory of its unceltain pathological charlacter and then11 select ledicine, whiCh, ngreeably to outr uncert.ain notions of its properties, is adapteed to th1alt hypotllesis. But we act instantlyV ulon thel principle uI)on which wv halve v lear.le to rely with confidence. We refer at once to ourlll Mteria Medica our pelfected recordt of the preleise P01o(l'tieos of mnedicines, ascertained by dcitEeliberate, cautious and i inullte experimente. We select that'Irticle whose known effects correlspond with tile group of sy-mptoms which clharacterize the disease in lquestion, and whien ewe haxe determined on this correspoiilence between thle remedy and the diseas-, we feel certain of' its eIfects.'ITh Asiatic Cholerla, wherever loioinoeopathy was pralctice(dl, was thus t eated, fi oll tile vel y fi st, with pre-emilent, snuccess. Cases of disease, the precise nature of which it is impossible to determine, nare constantlv occulrino, 7hlich'iveo the superior advanut.i amJs of tle system in thi's respect, a most palpable iantl deli ltfit l pte2dll. The strlentlil of the patient; ulder this system, is neve cl onsileir ably reiuced by tieattimlent. The miost acu~te attacks of pleurisy, inflam-mation of the lunes, and inlammatolry fever are curedcl in a few hours, withonut any of that debility and prostration produced by profutse bleedings, catha.rtics anf-de itlauseatin renmeldies supposed to be indispensible in the prevalent, p'ractic(e, n-id whlinch leave the p)iltient in a. state reqjuilrino weellc s or1 imonths to rcolverC the strieln tli of wvic.h lie ilas been robbed, not by tle disease, btit by t!ie treatnlent. To the truth of tllis advaistalige multitudes in this communitx, i and in exverv other wxhere the system is pr icticed, can testify. 3dly. Our sy stelm neever proclues artifici-l or medicinal diseases. We, hIve seen that upon thlis Sxyscemln, mhediine is never given with a view inor in suffiient quantity to produce its primairy or medicinal efticts, but to proyvoie tie vital powxer to react and overcome thle slight effect of the medicine and the disease at, the salme time — in other words, to excite nature to do her own work. Not so with other s stems. They depend for all tlleir cures, upon the primiarl eftects of lledicines, against whlieh efiets, we have3 seen, the vital princip)le noe er fails to react. This reactive power, the only curative power in nature, they place no depenelnce upon, and lose sight cf altogether, while it is llmakirg perpetual and sblenuoius efforts to counteract, and overconme every dose of medicine they give. If in -this dotuble strife against both disease and medicine, the system so ofteil succumbs, it should 28 not be matter of mucll surprise. But every artificial state produced by medicine is a diseased state. The sleepiness and stupor produced by opium is no less disease than the samestate occurring spontaneously. The action of an emetic is but an artificial cholera morbus, and the action of a cathartic but an artificial diarrhcea. All other prevalent systems aim to produce these medicinal diseases —to cure one disease by producing another, rof an opposite character; as sleeplessness, restlessness and irritability by artificial stupor-constipation by inducing artificial diarrhcea, &c. But look at the inevitable results accordiing to the invariable law of ivital reaction.'rhe primary effects of all medicines, unless given in directly ruinous doses, must be temporary, to be certainly followed by a pcrmanently opposite condition. Thus opium is given to a patient to relieve him from restlessness, nervousn ess andt sleeplessness. He is relieved while the primary effect of the remedy continues,;but as surely as there exists a law of vital reaction, it will establish a state the reverse of thalt produced by the opiate, lnd within twenty-four hours, when the primnary effect has ceased and the vital power has reacted, the patient will be more nervous, more restless and lore sleepless than before. The close is repeated with the same temporary relief and the same vital reaction as before, and so on, until obstinate naturle gains the ascencldancy and the patient is placed permanently in a condition the very reverse of that which the medicine'w as O ilen to prodtuce; that is, in a st.ate of such pelrmanlent restlnes s and irritability that life is a burden unless he is perpetually under' the at'lficiall stupor of opium. The physician leaves hiIm, recovered, if you please, of his original disease, but laboring unlder the infliction of its atificial substitute, than w hich, no natttratl disease could be more deploitble, whlether contemplated in its physical or its mental aspect. A patient takes a cathartic to remllove constipation. The object is effcted for a short timle. But the vital principle, ever at its post, ever on the alert, and never failin?@ to act in obedience to its own tlaw, reacts against this artificial disturbance and establishes a state opposite to that produced by the disturbing agent, viz: a state of constipation. This calls for a repetition of the calthartic, and the vital lprinciple forltifies itself in. its second reaction, more strongly antd more permanently than before, against its influence, and so on, until the habitual use of cathartics becomes indispensible. He is now, as migiht have been predicted, a pelrmanentll, artificially diseased man, a victima to medicinal disease, and unless he gets his eyes openl in season, like the opiuni-talher, he, will dralg out a miserable existence and meet with a premature end. Who cannot point to melhlancholly examples of bothl these cases in every community? An individclal is attackeid with indcligestion. A laxative is given, followed by bitters. This is the usual practice. Cannot my hearers predict the riestit? Constipation' follows the laxative, and increased weakness of the stomach succeeds the artificial stimulation communicated to it by the bitter. He thinks himself cured for a short time. But wheni the treatment is suspended and the primary effect ceases, and reaction has followed, he has what he very probably calls a new attack, worse than the first. He again applies for relief. The artificial, nmedicinal constipation is' now taken as evidence of torpor of the liver, and Blue pills or some other form.of mert 30 4th. A fourth advanct. age of this system arises fi'om its greater definiteness in the treatmlent of lisease from the specific character of its remledies. Specific remledies for a few diseases have- been long known. Sulphur has been regarded as a specific for the itch. Peruviani Bark for intermittelt fteverl, and erulmy for clrtain affections of the liver and some othller discases, &r. It has frequently been predicted tllat specific inediiines would be evl-entually discovered for the great mass of diseases. Thle HIoinoeopathliC law has realizedl the prediction wvith a definitenless never drealiled of. It announces this realization of a long chlerish ed hope1 of the profiftessioit'aind (strang5 exhibition of humanl naturle i) that piofessionl, without stoppil)ig to inquire into its, truth or falsehood, set theimselx es in hostile a'rray at i ainst it, and cry, iimpossible, humbug! The predliction is not fulfilled in the pre(ise slhape thlleir philosophy had supposed it, should he. This fbature of i:omocopathic practice is doubtless clearly perct ixved-by those, who1h haNv followed us thus far in our exposition of it. In all cases of disease, giiMn) th very Iel:medly -wlich is capable of producingn' the saime diseael, with the slane symptons, these relnedies are of coulse, in all case- s of' the'<clu'rater of specifics. Thouugh this may be suffiicientlx clear alread, l wc- w -wrill illistrate it by an examplle or two. Several art-icles of medicine, as Bc!lladolli.Il, Hyoseiamus, Opium and Straconull ll ui ll ha\ beenl fitlcu1n:us, but laV i enjoyedl a1 Cver varialble'pntutation tor the trl.ate:nit of menltl delacll'inc it. While one phys'ician has extollel ono11 of thllese articles for tihe great success'with xw hich lle h s employe d it in fIle trietmelllt of tllis alfi-etion, another has declared his entire disbelief in it,, eficacy, hasinc, isn hiti haiincs entirely file. Anil so of them'all. Tlle ric asoi of thius disacireolinent is pefcectly obvTious. INot atlWare of the fact, that each of these articles a specific riemedy for inental le ra'c:llncnt clallticteriz led by a c(ertain distingui.;.;:1hinic traini oc symlptoInm, tlhe -]a\mve re'irdedtl ( thinem I iine dies for m entil delrngemlent in eenler l, hoxweve lhaal Cteiziei. e-Ieic both thteir-sueeess and their faillure 1hav beein alike ec-idents. Belladonna, wv.hen givxen in sufficient quanltitties, prodlcs ldelangceinelt with such sympt;is a-i the followiino: excessiv-ce a'l-'cuish amnd iiquietude, loss of conselouniless; frig ltful -visions, as of spectres, devils, war, &c., wxith desire to rtun axwamy or to hide; ricliulous buffotonlr; wildness of the eycss with fixed and furious look; trembling of the limbs, &c. Folr dele-anelemont hlls charactelrized, Bellcldonna is the specific ilededy, and lien a p hysiciain his ae:uidetntally employed it in sCtch cases lhe has been suleessful acnd plais-ed Belladonna. as an eificient remedy for mental deralgenlent. Another Ias triecd it in the safie disease, but with a difflrent tr.ail of syimptoi-as and hlas of course failed, andcl hence has declaredl Belladonna of lio use in this disease.c Hyoscianmus prloduces the disease marked by parox ysms of mania, alterliately wxitll epileptic fits; sleeplessness with loquacious deliriunm, great ancuislh and fea, especially at night, with fear of being betrayed or poisonedl; visions of persons who are cldead; jealousy; fury, with desile to strike and kill; iaxinog about one's affairs, &e. In just this forlm of disease, HIoscianmus is the specific remedy, but totally inapplicable in other forms.. But not kIowiing this fict, some harve; pronounced judgment for, and others agaiLst it.