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<h2>ALLOPATHY</h2>

<h4>AND</h4>

<h2>HOMOEOPATHY</h2>

<h1>Before the Judgment</h1>
<h4>OF</h4>
<h2>Common Sense!</h2>
<h4>BY</h4>
<h2>F. Hiller, M.D.</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>SAN FRANCISCO:</h4>
<h4>Bruce's Job Printing House, 535 Sacramento Street,</h4>
<h4>1872</h4>


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<blockquote><p>
<i>It is difficult to carry the Torch-Light of Truth
through the masses, without stepping occasionally upon
a toe or burning a wig or a head-dress.</i>
</p></blockquote>

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<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>To</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p>WILLIAM SHARON, Esq.,</p>
<p>ISAAC L. REQUA, Esq.,</p>
<p>A. K. P. HARMON, Esq.,</p>
<p>SAMUEL G. THELLER, Esq.</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen:</span></p>

<p>I have taken the liberty to dedicate this offering
to you, as a token of respect and esteem. This,
together with a grateful remembrance of the courtesies
extended to me, and the support which I have derived
from your friendship, will be, I hope, a sufficient excuse
for the liberty I have taken.</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p class="i8">Very truly, yours, etc.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p class="i10">  F. HILLER, M.D.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p class="i8">San Francisco, 1872.</p>
  </div>  </div>

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<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<h4>TO THE</h4>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<h3>MEMORY</h3>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<h4>OF</h4>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<h3>SAMUEL HAHNEMANN</h3>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<h4>THE DISCOVERER OF</h4>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<h2>The True Law of Cure</h2>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<h4>Born April 10th, 1775;&mdash;Died June 4th, 1843.</h4>
  </div>  </div>

<hr />

<p><span class="smcap">Ladies and Gentlemen:</span></p>

<p>It is a remarkable and at the same time a terrible and
most lamentable fact, that the practice of medicine&mdash;an art of
daily necessity and application, most nearly affecting the
dearest interests and well being of mankind, and to the
improvement of which we are encouraged and impelled by
the strongest motives of interest and humanity, of love for
our neighbor and emulous zeal for professional skill and
superiority therein&mdash;should, after a probation of so long a
period, and recorded experience of at least two thousand
years, still remain, as it confessedly does in most respects, so
little understood and generally of such doubtful and uncertain
application.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span>

<p>The present age, unlike any that has preceded it, is peculiarly
one of rigid, radical and fundamental examination.
Everything in the Heavens above, or in the Earth beneath,
is tested and retested; analyzed, synthetized and submitted
to the crucible of stern reason, and the logical conclusion of
experience; even to the extreme of possibility. This is true
not only of the material universe, but of all mental and moral
conditions, of social, political and even religious institutions.
Nothing, in this day, and especially in this country of free
thought and liberty of speech, is taken for granted merely
because it can lay claim to the honors of a great antiquity,
or can number thousands or millions of adherents. Vast
differences are to be observed in governments, churches,
creeds and social practices; and all, however opposite and
apparently antagonistic, are working out a solution to the
problem&mdash;</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<h2>"What is Truth?"</h2>
  </div>  </div>

<p>Conservatism is fast dying out, hidden and smothered by
the ever-flowing tidal-waves of progression. Radicalism
ceases to become radical, by the daily and hourly recurrence
of startling discoveries, and new, unheard-of, and unexpected
adaptations of old laws. The mistakes of to-day will be
found to be mistakes, and will be rectified. Whenever and
wherever freedom holds her sway, evil must work out its
own destruction, and good enthrone itself in the hearts of
those benefitted by its benign influence. In this spirit, and
with such views, let us look at the progress of Medical Science
that we may learn from the experience of the past to correctly
estimate the developments of the present and aid wisely in
the working for a more glorious future.</p>

<p>Medicine has been&mdash;not inaptly styled&mdash;"The daughter of
dreams." From the time of Hippocrates until now, the great
body of the profession has been swayed by conflicting theories,
founded upon either the wholly unsupported fancies
and conjectures of their authors, or unwarrantably built upon
isolated facts, often accidental in their occurence, partial in
their observation, and improperly understood in their inherent
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span>
nature and theoretical significance, pointing to a law of
action widely different from the one in support of which they
had been adduced. All branches of medicine have been
involved in these crude absurdities; nor has the nomenclature
of any department of science, even in our day, been entirely
purged from the errors and misleadings with which the
past so fruitfully abounds.</p>

<p>To mark the improvement and advancement in the various
branches of medical science; to compare the present with
the past; to observe the unfolding growth, maturity, and
decay of medical creeds; to discern the power of those
master-minds, that, far beyond the ages in which they lived
fore-shadowed the forth-coming discoveries that were to
make other men immortal; to sigh over the incredulity of
whole races, whose blind and dogmatical adherence to the
theories of some prominent physiologist or anatomist&mdash;was at
once silenced by the light of a new truth, suddenly and
clearly promulgated by a single mind. To do all these
things, was the labor of a whole life; volumes could be
written in such investigation, and still thousands of facts be
left untouched and forgotten, forever buried in the chaos
of medical creeds, medical truths and medical fictions.</p>

<p>Old Physic has for several centuries past drifted in the
wrong direction, striking occasionally upon a rock, but finds
itself to day further off from shore than ever before.</p>

<p>Medicine, the oldest and most important of all branches of
science, has not kept up with developments in other departments,
but the rays of light have already deeply penetrated
into the darkness of the past, fast undermining the building
of the so-called "Rational Medicine" with all its hypothesis
and traditions.</p>

<hr />

<p>It was near the end of the last century, that the idea
occurred to a single man, that the reason he had failed in
practice must be that the medical profession was entirely on
the wrong path. He made the effort to cure diseases on the
principle directly opposite to those on which he had been
educated to act, and he was successful. He thought a
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span>
reformation of medicine needful and desirable, and proper to
be attempted. He set about it, hoping, if he should succeed
in pointing out a more safe, certain and pleasant road to the
life-giving and life-renewing fountain of health, that it
would be a blessing to suffering humanity. That man was</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<h2>Samuel Hahnemann.</h2>
  </div>  </div>

<p>Had the reform inaugurated by him been of an insignificant
character, it might have been accepted by the
medical world without controversy. Had the new path
into which he invited the profession been only a little
smoother than the old one and lying right alongside of it,
like that which led the pilgrims from the main high-way into
the domains of the giant, physicians might have been easily
lured into it. But the revolution was a radical one. It
contemplated a counter-march such as the teachers and
<a name="pract" id="pract"></a>practitoners of the healing art had never
been called upon to
make. It called upon the chiefs of the profession to reverse
the wheels of the ponderous engine, and seek for the long-sought
shore in the opposite direction.</p>

<p>The new doctrine came forth embodied in only three
simple words: "<i>Similia Similibus Curantur.</i>"</p>

<p>Thus the year 1790 gave birth to the celebrated system of
Hahnemann, which has received from him a Greek title,
expressive of its peculiarities&mdash;Hom&oelig;opathy, and in opposition
to "<i>Contraria Contraries Curantur</i>."&mdash;Allopathy.</p>

<p>It is not my purpose to entertain you with a detailed
history of medicine, nor even to notice the successive and
conflicting theories that have arisen from time to time; but
simply to show that the old, or Allopathic system of medicine
as practiced till this day is unworthy of our confidence; that
its theory of therapeutics is irrational and worthless; that
there is an absence of any reliable principle to guide the
physicians in the treatment of diseases; and that the sick are
far better off when left to nature, than when subject to the
pernicious system of dosing, while a growing want of confidence
in this system, both in the public mind and the medical
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span>
profession, loudly calls for something more rational in its
theory and more successful in its practice.</p>

<p>I shall not ask you to accept my individual opinions in
support of these views, but shall place upon the witness-stand,
and give you the declarations of men who have spent
their lives in the practice of this system&mdash;most of them
authors and teachers, men living in different countries, and
from the highest ranks of the profession, and who, if any,
should be able to pronounce a eulogy upon this system of
practice.</p>

<p>I introduce to you first <span class="smcap">Boerhave</span>, a man justly illustrious
in the history of medicine, he lived a century before <span class="smcap">Hahnemann</span>,
and was for over forty years Professor at the University
at Leiden.</p>

<p>Hear him! He says:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"If we compare the good which a half dozen true disciples of &#198;sculapius
have done since their art began, with the evil which the immense number of
doctors have inflicted upon mankind, we must be satisfied that it would have
been infinitely better for mankind if medical men had never existed."
</p></blockquote>

<p>The celebrated <span class="smcap">Bichat</span> of Paris, thus speaks of the therapeutic
system of his day:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"It is an incoherent assemblage of incoherent opinions; it is perhaps, of all
the physiological sciences that which best shows the caprice of the human
mind. What do I say?&mdash;It is not a science for a methodical mind; it is a
shapeless assemblage of inexact ideas, of observations often <a name="peurile" id="peurile"></a>peurile, of deceptive
remedies and of formula as fastidiously and fantastically conceived, as they
are tediously arranged."
</p></blockquote>

<p>Then we find the equally celebrated French physician,
<span class="smcap">Majendie</span>, saying:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"I hesitate not to declare, no matter how sorely I shall wound our vanity,
that so gross is our ignorance of the physiological disorders called diseases,
that it would perhaps be better to do nothing, and resign the complaint we are
called upon to treat to the resources of Nature, than to act as we frequently
do, without knowing the why and the wherefore of our conduct, and at the
obvious risk of hastening the end of our patient."
</p></blockquote>

<p><span class="smcap">Dr. Good</span>, the great nosologist, asserts that</p>

<blockquote><p>
"The science of medicine is a barbarous jargon, and the effects of our
medicines on the human system are in the highest degree uncertain; except,
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span>
indeed, that they have already destroyed more lives than war, pestilence and
famine combined."
</p></blockquote>

<p><span class="smcap">Sir Astley Cooper</span>, England's greatest surgeon says:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"The science of medicine is founded on conjecture and improved by
murder."
</p></blockquote>

<p>But, it may be said, these men lived in the past, and since
their time the science of medicine has improved and its
practice has become more rational and safe.</p>

<hr />

<p>Let us then come down to a later period, and listen to <span class="smcap">Dr.
Christison</span>, the present eminent Professor of <i>Materia Medica</i>
at the University of Edinburgh. He says:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"Of all medical sciences, therapeutics is the most unsatisfactory in its
present state, and the least advanced in progress, and surrounded by the most
deceitful sources of fallacy."
</p></blockquote>

<p><span class="smcap">Sir John Forbes</span>, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians:
Physician to the Queen's Household, late editor of the
"British and Foreign Medical Review," after a frank admission
of the imperfections of Allopathic medicine, says:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"<span class="smcap">First.</span> That in a large proportion of the cases treated by Allopathic
physicians, the disease is cured by Nature and not by them."</p>

<p>"<span class="smcap">Second.</span> That in a lesser, but still not a small proportion, the disease is
cured in spite of them; in other words, their interference opposing instead of
assisting the cure."</p>

<p>"<span class="smcap">Third.</span> That, consequently in a considerable proportion of diseases, it
would be as well, or better with patients, in the actual condition of the
medical art, as more generally practiced, if all remedies, at least active remedies
especially drugs were abandoned." And finally adds, "Things have arrived at
such a pitch that they cannot be worse. They must mend or end."
</p></blockquote>

<p>But, I may be asked, what are the views of the Professors
and writers in our own country. Have they no more confidence
in the healing art than their brethren in the old
world? Let us see:</p>

<p><span class="smcap">Dr. Rush</span>, one of the lights of the profession in his day,
remarks:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"The healing art is an unroofed temple, uncovered at the top and cracked at
the foundation."
</p></blockquote>

<p>And again:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"Our want of success results from the following causes: <span class="smcap">First.</span>&mdash;Ignorance
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span>
of the law governing disease. <span class="smcap">Second.</span>&mdash;Our ignorance of a suitable remedy
<span class="smcap">Third.</span>&mdash;Want of efficacy in the remedy; and finally we have assisted in
multiplying disease; nay, we have done more: we have increased their
mortality."
</p></blockquote>

<p>Professor <span class="smcap">Chapman</span>, who stood at the head of the profession
in Philadelphia, in an address to the medical society,
after speaking of the pernicious effects of calomel, adds:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"Gentlemen, it is a disgraceful reproach to the profession of medicine; it is
quackery, horrid <a name="unwaranted" id="unwaranted"></a>unwaranted murderous quackery. *** But I will
ask another question, who is it that can stop the career of mercury at will,
after it has taken the reins into its own destructive and ungovernable hands?
He, who for an ordinary cause resigns the fate of his patient to mercury is a
vile enemy to the sick; and if he is tolerably popular, will, in one successful
season, have paved the way for the business of life, for he has enough to do
ever afterwards to stop the mercurial breach of the constitutions of his dilapidated
patients."
</p></blockquote>

<p>And yet, this article of the <i>Materia Medica</i> in some of its
various forms, is still more frequently prescribed than any
other by the allopathic physicians. A writer in the June
number, 1868, of the "London Chemist," having submitted
to a careful examination one thousand prescriptions, taken
<i>seriatim</i> from the files of a druggist, states, among other
curious facts, that mercury takes the lead, and stands prominently
at the head of the list. Mercury, the very name of
which strikes terror into the minds of nervous and timid
patients, is still the foremost remedial agent employed by the
medical profession.</p>

<p>Professor <span class="smcap">Draper</span>, in one of his introductory lectures, before
the University College of New York, makes the following
statement:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"Even those of us who have most carefully upheld our old professional theories,
and have tried to keep in reverence the old opinions, and the old times,
find that under the advance of the exact sciences our position is becoming untenable.
The ground is slipping away from beneath our feet. We are on the
brink of a great revolution. Go where you will, among intelligent physicians
you will find a deep, though it may be an indistinct perception, that a great
change is imminent."
</p></blockquote>

<p>The late Professor <span class="smcap">Mutter</span> of Philadelphia, in an introductory
lecture a few years ago, says:</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span>

<blockquote><p>
"We have in truth, rested contented in ideal knowledge. We have received
as perfect, theories as idle as day dreams. We have blindly accepted the follies
of the past; and the foundation of our art must crumble to the earth unless
we learn more discretion and better judgment in the selection of the material of
which they are to be constructed."
</p></blockquote>

<p>I might continue these quotations indefinitely; but I will
not weary you by citing more, and surely, sufficient evidence
has already been produced to sustain the allegation that the
old system of medicine is unworthy of our confidence; that,
with no law upon which to base its principles of treatment,
its practice rests upon a chaotic mass of empirical experiences,
groundless theories, and ever-changing fancies; that those
best acquainted with its principles, and the results of its
practice, have the least faith in its usefulness; and that the
interests of the suffering, imperiously demand a revolution in
the method of treating disease, and call for a system more in
harmony with Nature, more reliable in its application, and
more successful in its results.</p>

<p>This degraded state of the medical practice was deeply felt
by <span class="smcap">Hahnemann</span>, and in 1778 he retired from the practice of
medicine in disgust at its uncertainties, after having acquired
fame as a scientific scholar and high standing in his profession,
breaking away from the past and opening a new field of
glory to his activities, as well as a new era of progress in the
medical art.</p>

<p><span class="smcap">Samuel Hahnemann</span> was a great man; the discoverer of the
true law of cure, in accordance with the principles and laws
of Nature.</p>

<p>I need not tell you, that we maintain that this much-desired
and long-looked-for law of cure, which is to be a lamp to the
feet of the physician, making plain his path, and giving him
an unfailing guide in the application of remedies to the removal
of disease, not only exists, but has been proclaimed
to the world by the immortal Hahnemann in his well-known
formula: <i>Similia Similibus Curantur!</i> But who was Samuel
Hahnemann? When I say that this great Reformer of
Medicine was a regularly educated physician of great learning
and unusual general culture and literary attainments, I
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span>
speak but feeble praise compared with the language of Sir
John Forbes, Hahnemann's most learned critic, where he
says:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"No candid reader of his writings can hesitate for a moment to admit that
he was a very extraordinary man; one, whose name will descend to posterity
as the exclusive excogitator and founder of an original system of medicine,
as ingenious as many that preceded it, and destined to be the remote, if not
the immediate cause of more fundamental changes in the practice of the healing
art, than have resulted from any promulgated since the days of <span class="smcap">Galen</span>
himself."
</p></blockquote>

<p>And he adds:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"He was undoubtedly a man of genius and a scholar, a man of indefatigable
industry and of dauntless energy."
</p></blockquote>

<p>The great <span class="smcap">Haller</span>, says of him:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"He is a doublehead of philosophy and wisdom."
</p></blockquote>

<p>And <span class="smcap">Hufeland</span>, the father of orthodox medicine, speaks of
him as one of the most distinguished physicians in Germany,
while the late <span class="smcap">Dr. Mott</span> of New York, after having visited
<span class="smcap">Hahnemann</span> in Paris, speaks in the highest terms of his
candor, learning and genius.</p>

<p>It has often been stated by close observers of the working
of Divine Providence, that "The darkest hour is just before
day," and also, that "The Creator ever wisely and well
provides agents perfectly adapted to carry out His beneficient
designs in the crisis of human affairs." History, both
sacred and profane, gives unwavering and very numerous
evidences of the justice and verity of these propositions.
In matters theological as well as political this is equally the
case. When there could scarcely be greater gloom or greater
danger, the wise Arbiter of human destinies has educated,
nerved, inspired and protected some master-spirit, who has
caused light to shine out of darkness, and peace and order to
take the place of chaos and destruction. Never were these
propositions more fully illustrated than in medical matters
towards the close of the past century. All the arts and
sciences had received the impetus of new discoveries. The
inductive method of investigation had brought out clearly to
view first principles, on which it was easy for succeeding
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span>
generations to build solid, stable and beautiful temples of
truth.</p>

<p>Astronomy, chemistry, botany and every branch in Natural
Philosophy, instead of continuing mere matters of speculative
theory, as they were before, became sciences. The
sons of &#198;sculapius alone were enshrouded in an Egyptian
darkness, wandering about without guide and compass,
rushing wildly to and fro with instruments of deadly power
in their hands; whom they wished to heal, they slew; and
tortured those whom they fondly hoped might find timely
relief from sufferings and woes through their ministrations.</p>

<p>The hearts of the benevolent were deeply pained, and the
conscientious wavered in their work when they gathered
statistics of the results of their labor. A cry ascended
heaven-wards from the practitioners of medicine, the longing
for better days, seemed seconded by a phalanx of ghostly
beings, who had untimely passed away by means of fearful
treatment, and by the living miseries of multitudes of shapeless
deformed ones, who ever stood unpleasant and incontrovertible
witnesses of the cruelties and barbarities of the
healing art.</p>

<p>With increasing civilization, new and fatal epidemics
appeared, reaping a rich harvest for the grim monster&mdash;Death&mdash;and
adding yearly to the per-centage of the ever-increasing
bills of mortality. Many an honest practitioner
threw away lancet and saddle-bags in despair, while quacks
and medical charlatans, profiting by the wranglings of the
regulars, and the weariness of the people, drove a reckless
but well-paying trade, with nostrums of every character,
from the deadliest poison to the simplest house-hold herb.</p>

<h2>But a <a name="brigther" id="brigther"></a>brigther day was about to dawn.</h2>

<p>In the picturesque town of Meissen, in the district of
Cur Saxony, lived an honest and worthy man, Christian
Gottfried Hahnemann, an intelligent, patriotic and highly
esteemed, though unassuming and unambitious member of
that community, by trade a painter upon porcelain, known
under the name of Dresden-China.</p>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span>

<p>On the 10th day of April, 1755, he was made happy by
the birth of a son, whom he named Samuel Christian Frederick.
Amidst all the fond hopes the parents cherished for
their new-born babe, little did they imagine to what a destiny
the great Creator had appointed him. Of the mother
of this child not very much is known, save that she was
modest, industrious, intensely attached to her family, full
of sympathy with her children's aspirations, and ever-ready
to aid them in their schemes of pleasure or advancement.
The infantile years of little Hahnemann were spent amidst
scenery so strikingly beautiful, as to impress his young
buoyant heart, even in those tender years, with an admiration
of Nature's handiwork, and so instill into him a love of the
works of God, which ever increased as he grew older. He
was not sent to school very young, not until he was eight
years old; this will perhaps partly account for the fact
that when he did go, he manifested an ardent thirst for
knowledge, which was never slacked during his long life-time.
But he did not spend his first eight years of life entirely
in play. Those health-securing, physical-exhilarating and
developing exercises were occasionally relieved by lessons
from his father, and sometimes from his mother, in reading
and writing, and by frequent conversations of a religious
and moral character.</p>

<p>These conversations laid deep the foundation of that undeviating
integrity, fixedness of purpose, unwavering conscientiousness
and unaffected reverence for the Divine Being,
which ever characterized this Medical Reformer in after life.
The influence of this paternal conversational instruction and
moral training made him what he was, as a school-boy, as a
college-student, as an author, a chemist and a physician.
Untiring industry, conscientiousness, and a reliance upon
Divine blessing, will in any sphere in life secure success,
and Samuel Hahnemann was no exception to the general
rule. In writing on this subject, he says: "My father had
the soundest ideas on what was to be considered good and
worthy in man, and had arrived at them by his own independent
thought. He sought to plant them in me, and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span>
impressed on me more by actions than by words, the great
lesson of life, to act and to be, not merely to seem! When
a good work was going forward, there, often unobserved, he
was sure to be helping, hand to heart; shall I not do likewise?
In the finest distinctions between the noble and the base, he
decided by his actions with a justness that did honor to the
nicety of his sense of right and wrong. In this, too, he was
my monitor."</p>

<p>Such sterling qualities, rooted in the boy's heart, and early
budding out in his life, made him beloved by all who came
in contact with him. Play-mates, school-fellows and instructors
not only treated him with kindness, but with ardent
affection.</p>

<p>This school-boy life did not pass, however, without trials,
the greatest of which was the disinclination of his father for
him to continue his studies. It is a little strange that the
good man, who himself possessed a keen power of observation,
did not once suspect the future greatness of his child:
but he was very poor, had several other children to support,
and doubtless feared that a thorough classical and scientific
education would give to his son aspirations that would be
doomed to bitter disappointment. His teacher, however,
pleaded on his behalf, offering to remit the usual school-fees,
and he was permitted to continue his studies until he was
twenty years of age. A proof of the poverty of his parents
at this time, is illustrated by the circumstance, that his father
complained of the great consumption of oil during young
Hahnemann's preparation of his lessons, and would not permit
him to use the family lamp after the other members of
the household had retired: but Samuel, who was never daunted
by difficulties, or frustrated in a purpose, when he had
concluded that it was legitimate, manufactured a lamp out of
a lump of clay, and successfully coaxed his mother to supply
him with oil.</p>

<p>At the close of his high school term, young Hahnemann
wrote, as was usual with those just finishing their course, a
treatise. He had for some time manifested a deep interest
in natural science, and particularly in the branches of chemistry
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span>
and physiology. He wrote his thesis in Latin, choosing
as his subject, "The wisdom of God in forming the Human
Hand." This was for his age, a work of great merit, and even
his father seemed to have become proud of his abilities, and
gave his free consent for the studious boy to go to Leipzig
that he might attend the lectures at the University, and
presented him with all the money he possibly could spare,
amounting to nearly fifteen dollars in our currency. "This,"
says Hahnemann, "was the last money I received from my
father." He left his home for Leipzig on Easter, 1775.</p>

<p>He was at first somewhat puzzled by that troublesome
subject, "the ways and means," but fortunately becoming
acquainted with two rich Princes of Greece, who were
anxious to be instructed in the English and French languages.
Hahnemann entered into a lucrative engagement with them
as instructor, and also obtained employment as a translator
of medical and philosophical works. The remuneration he
received for private teaching and translating, not only
enabled him to supply all his moderate wants and purchase
of books, but he saved a considerable amount besides. In
order to save so much, and at the same time attend faithfully
upon all his classes, he denied himself sleep every other
night. In 1777, we find him attending the hospitals of Vienna
where his excellence of character, and extent of medical
information, completely won him the friendship and confidence
of the celebrated Doctor von Quarin, who perceiving the
noble qualities and promising abilities of the young man,
adopted him as a special prot&#233;g&#233;. Hahnemann says of him,
"To him I owe my claims to be reckoned as a physician. I
had his love and friendship." After this, he visited the
University of Erlangen, where he graduated, receiving the
degree of Doctor of Medicine on the 10th of August, 1779.
At this time, an earnest longing for the air of Saxony and
the scenery of his native district seems to have taken possession
of him. After having occupied several prominent
positions, the government offered him the office of District
Physician in Gommern, which he accepted in 1782.</p>

<p>After three years residence in Gommern, during which
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span>
time he had married, he became tired of professional idleness&mdash;as
he expresses himself&mdash;and we find him removing to Dresden.
For about a year he occupied the position as superintendent
of the public hospitals of that city. His conscience
however, began to be much troubled by the conviction that
medicine as then practiced proved worse than useless to the
majority of patients. He retired from the practice of
medicine in disgust at its uncertainties, occupying himself
solely with chemistry and literary labor.</p>

<hr />

<p>The humanity and integrity of Hahnemann is plainly
portrayed in a letter to the venerable Hufeland, where he
gives his own account of the reasons which induced him at
this time to retire from practice. He writes:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"It was painful for me to grope in the dark, guided only by our books in
the treatment of the sick&mdash;to prescribe according to this or that fanciful view of
the nature of diseases, substances that only owed to mere opinion their place in
the <i>Materia Medica</i>. I had conscientious scruples about treating unknown
morbid states in my suffering fellow-creatures with these unknown medicines;
which, being powerful substances, might, if they were not exactly suitable,
(and how could the physician know whether they were suitable or not, seeing
that their peculiar special actions were not yet elucidated?), easily change life
into death, or produce new affections or chronic ailments, which are often much
more difficult to remove than the original disease. To become in this way a
murderer, or an aggravator of the sufferings of mankind, was to me a fearful
thought. So fearful and distressing was it, that shortly after my marriage I
abandoned the practice, and scarcely treated any one for fear of doing him
harm."
</p></blockquote>

<p>In 1789, he settled in Leipzig, and numerous writings and
translations, which have been often quoted by the best writers
ever since, came from his pen during that period. We
come now to the year 1790, in which the first thought of
Hom&oelig;opathy issued from the brain of the great father and
founder of the new school of medicine. It has already been
hinted that Hahnemann had felt an intense desire to obtain
some clear, safe and philosophical guide to the therapeutic
action of drugs.</p>

<p>He was called upon to translate "Cullen's Materia Medica,"
and as he progressed in the description of one medical substance
after another, he could not but feel a renewal of the
earnest longing he had so often cherished, to clear medical
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span>
science from the clouds of mist and uncertainty in which it
had continued from the time of Hippocrates.</p>

<p>The workings of his mind, and the character of the man, at
this time will be best understood by a quotation from the
letter he wrote to Hufeland, where he says:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"Having briefly reviewed, the sad experience of the systems of Sydenham
and Hoffmann, of Boerhave and Glaubius, of Stahl, Cullen and de Hean," he
continues,</p>

<p>"But it is, perhaps, the very nature of this art, as great men have asserted
that it is incapable of attaining any greater certainty. Shameful, blasphemous
thought! What! shall it be said that the infinite wisdom of the Eternal Spirit,
that animates the universe, could not produce remedies to allay the sufferings
of the diseases He allows to arise? The all-loving paternal goodness of Him,
whom no name worthily designates, who richly supplies all wants, even the
scarcely conceivable wants of the insect in the dust, imperceptible by reason of
its minuteness to the keenest human eye, and who despenses throughout
creation, life and happiness in rich abundance, shall it be said that He is
capable of the tyranny of not permitting that man, made in his image, should
by the efforts of his penetrating mind, that has been breathed into him from
above, find out the way to discover remedies in the stupendous kingdom of
creation, which should be able to deliver mankind from their sufferings, worse
than death itself? Shall He, the Father of all, behold with indifference the
martyrdom of his best-beloved creatures by disease, and yet render it impossible
to the genius of man, to whom all else is possible, to find any method, any
easy, sure, trust-worthy method, whereby they may see diseases from their
proper point of view, and whereby they may interrogate medicines as to their
special uses, as to what they are really, surely and positively serviceable for?
Well, thought I, as there must be a sure and trust-worthy method of treatment,
as certainly as God is the wisest and most beneficient of Beings, I shall seek it
no longer in the thorny thicket of ontological explanations, *** nor
in the authoritative declarations of celebrated men. No; let me seek it where
it lies nearest at hand, and where it has hitherto been passed over by all,
because it did not seem sufficiently recondite, nor sufficiently learned, and was
not hung with laurels for those who displayed most talent for constructing
systems, for scholastic speculation, and transcendental abstractions."
</p></blockquote>

<p>With these high and noble feelings, his mind was fully
awake to any suggestion that might be derived from the
material before him.</p>

<p>For forty years he carried on a series of well-planned and
well-calculated experiments to ascertain the disease-producing
power of drugs, when administered to persons in health.
Friends, medical and lay, were brought into requisition, and
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span>
all possible means taken to secure the greatest accuracy; for
Hahnemann already began to feel that he was God's agent of
mercy, through whose happy discovery and labors future
generations would be greatly blessed.</p>

<p>He found but little opportunity to test his newly-discovered
law of cure while he remained in Leipzig, and poverty
compelled him to labor with his pen most indefatigably, as
was evidenced by the large number of essays and translations
published at that time.</p>

<p>Providence, however, interfered in his behalf; the reigning
Duke of Saxe Gotha offered him the position of Physician to
the Asylum for the Insane in Georgenthal, in the Thuringen
Forest. He entered upon his duties in 1792. While at the
head of this establishment, he succeeded in affecting a cure
which created some sensation, because the party concerned
was the Hanoverian Minister, Klockenbring, who was rendered
insane by a lampoon written by Kotzebue. He also
introduced a mild and humane treatment for the insane, removing
the chains and tight-jacket, heretofore in use.</p>

<p>In 1810, he published his greatest work, "The Organon,"
which ran through five editions, and was translated into most
all the living languages. From 1810 to 1821, we find him
again in Leipzig, publishing his <i>Materia Medica</i>, and lecturing
twice a week in the University, at the same time attending
to a multitude of patients.</p>

<p>In 1821, Hahnemann was induced by the reigning Duke of
Anhalt-Coethen, who was his warm friend and admirer,
to change his place of residence, and appointed him his Physician.
He accepted the position. He soon began to work
as earnestly as before in proving medicines and prescribing
for his patients, who came from all parts of Europe.</p>

<p>On one occasion, during his residence in Coethen, he <a name="recieved" id="recieved"></a>recieved a visitor who had heard a great deal of
Hahnemann
and his garden, and who had imagined the garden to be as
large as its owner was great. When he was ushered into
the presence of the Prophet of Medicine and found him seated
at a table in a summer-house, only a few yards from the
dwelling, he exclaimed: "But where is the garden?" To which
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span>
Hahnemann replied, "This is the garden." "Surely," rejoined
the visitor, "Not this narrow patch of ground?" "True, it
is very narrow and very short, but observe its infinite
height," said the Sage, pointing upwards to the blue sky
overhead.</p>

<p>The tenth of August, 1829, was a joyful day for the venerable
old man, being the fifteenth anniversary of his obtaining
the degree of M. D. Gratifying and memorable in more than
one respect was this day for him.</p>

<p>I refrain from giving you a full description of this impressive
celebration, lest I should be considered tedious, yet I
cannot thus pass over historical facts, without dwelling upon
a few of the principal features of this gratifying and memorable
festivity.</p>

<p>The early morning found assembled a large number of the
friends of Hahnemann, his disciples; deputations from various
cities; also deputations from the Universities of Leipzig,
Vienna and Erlangen, which presented him with the Diploma
of Honor. The King of Saxony, the Duke of Saxe Gotha
and many others had sent costly presents from far and near.
His dwelling having been appropriately prepared for the
celebration, and on a table, resembling an altar, adorned with
flowers and entwined with oak leaves, was placed a well
executed bust of Hahnemann.</p>

<p>After Hahnemann was introduced, his bust was crowned
with laurels, amid appropriate addresses and congratulations.
With deep emotion, the venerable old man in heartfelt and
affecting words, gave thanks to the Supreme Being that he had
been permitted to make so great a discovery, and was so favored
with a long life, full of bodily and mental vigor.</p>

<p>A year after this important occurrence, the Asiatic
Cholera came marching from the East, for the first time.
This aroused the medical profession in general. Physicians
were helpless, and none of them had ever seen a case of this
fearful disease. But Hahnemann, after learning the symptoms
of the disease, advised the mode of treatment by which
the mortality of that terrible scourge was threefold reduced,
and numerous testimonials were published, showing the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span>
immense success of his mode of treatment. In 1831, he lost
his partner in life, having been married forty-nine years and
a few months.</p>

<p>About four years after the death of his wife, a most interesting,
intelligent and estimable lady, applied to Hahnemann
for advice for lung and heart disease. It has been humorously
stated that though the lung disease was effectually
cured, the trouble of the heart must have assumed a chronic
form, for the fascinating Parisienne seemed deeply enamored
with the great doctor. She was 35 years of age, the daughter
of Louis Jerome Cohier, formerly Minister of Justice and
President and Director of the French Republic, her name
was Marie Melanie d'Herville Cohier. This lady of position
and wealth offered her hand to the octogenarian, which he
accepted, and after having divided his considerable fortune
among his children, upon which his young wife insisted, he
was induced by her to pass the rest of his life in Paris,
where he enjoyed a great reputation till his death, which
took place July 2nd, 1843. On the centenary of his birthday
in 1855, a statute was erected to his memory at Leipzig.</p>

<hr />

<p>To complete the picture of this great man, I have to cite
from a letter written by Dr. Jahr in Paris on the fourth of
July 1843, where he says:</p>

<blockquote><p>
"Hahnemann is dead! In fact, dear friends, our venerable father had
finished his career. A pulmonary paralysis had set him free, after an illness
of six weeks, finally liberating the great soul from its earthly tenement. To
the last moment, he was in the possession of his mental faculties. ***
In the commencement of that illness he announced that it would be his last, as
his body was worn out. At first he prescribed for himself, and nearly to the
period of his death delivered his opinion of the remedies offered him by his
wife and Dr. Chartran. *** When his wife, on account of a fit
of suffocation, said to him, 'Providence ought to exempt you from these
sufferings, as you have relieved so many, and endured such numerous persecutions,'
he replied, '<i>Me: why me? Every one works according to the abilities and
powers which Providence has bestowed upon him. Superiority or inferiority exists
only before the tribunal of men, not before that of Providence. Providence owes
nothing to me, but I am indebted to Providence for all.</i>'"
</p></blockquote>

<p>I leave these memorable words, for every one to deduce
from them the natural conclusion, and especially as truly
illustrative of the character of Hahnemann. The grand old
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span>
man, at 80 years of age, launched himself upon a new career
in the capital of France. In three years we find him making
an income of 200,000 francs a year from his professional
exertions, and giving gratuitous advice to crowds of the poor.</p>

<p>Year after year his wonderful successes brought him a
rapid increase to even this large income. In his 89th year
he died and left a fortune of 4,000,000 francs, nearly a million
of dollars.</p>

<p>Seldom has a man ended his days in so glorious a sunset,
or in a surer hope for the future.</p>

<p>The merit of Hahnemann, and that for which we ought to
bless his name and cherish his memory, is his rejection of
theory and the establishment of the curative art upon the solid
foundation of science. All that was merely speculative he
rejected as unsafe, and sought by pure experiment and objective
observation, to find out Nature's law of cure. Taking
nothing for truth that could not be proved by experiment, he,
by careful and untiring observation, obtained from Nature
the answer that <i>Similia Similibus Curantur</i> was the law of
cure, the only scientific law to heal disease.</p>

<p>This science is not wafted to and fro by the winds of
opinion and supposition. It is through its organic unity,
as firm and unchanging as Nature itself. In it all medical
men must agree, because the reign of <i>supposition</i> has been
replaced by that of <i>facts</i>, and all animated by the spirit of
progress will work actively and earnestly in promoting
science and the art of healing for their own benefit, and
that of suffering humanity in general. To get such a science
recognized and spread over the world, is undoubtedly a
noble problem of the age. Hahnemann also discovered by
experiment and pure objective observation, that disease renders
the organization wonderfully sensitive to their specific
remedies, so that the mere smell of the specific drug can, in
many cases effect a cure; and that in all cases, a very small
dose of the true remedy is all that is required; so small as
to have no effect whatever on the organism in a state of
health; and further, that large doses, even of the proper
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span>
remedy, are not only useless, but hurtful, being calculated to
aggravate the disease and endanger vitality.</p>

<p>Time will not permit me to attempt here an elucidation of
the principles and doctrines promulgated by Hahnemann;
yet I wish to notice briefly some of the results following the
introduction of Hom&oelig;opathy into the medical world. It is
now about seventy-five years since Hahnemann made public,
and taught this new system of medicine. The bold reformer
and his disciples were persecuted, ridiculed and scorned in
every manner by the so-called orthodox doctors, who
declared their principles so ridiculous and nonsensical, that
it would be below the dignity of a scientific man to make
himself acquainted with the laws and practice of Hom&oelig;opathy.
But Hom&oelig;opathy in the theoretical and practical
proofs of its universal importance, deserves to be ranked
among the most important discoveries of the age, and as one
of the most beneficial discoveries that humanity has ever
been blessed with.</p>

<p>Men of the highest standing in the profession have given
their unqualified indorsement of its foundation as an indisputable
law of Nature, and of its right to be considered high
in the order of science.</p>

<p>The truth of its principles has been practically proven by
its success, not only in isolated cases, but in great epidemics,
as those of dysentery, cholera, yellow fever, typhus, smallpox,
scarlet fever, measles, diptheria, etc.; and this, too, in
so conspicuous a manner, that year after year, it has forced
its way into larger and higher circles, and is now practiced in
all countries by a large number of scientific and intelligent
physicians, who, after having studied and practiced for a
longer or shorter length of time the murderous system of
Allopathy, are acquainted with both, and have given the
preference to Hom&oelig;opathy, only after mature reflection,
investigation and numerous comparisons of the result of
both systems in their practice.</p>

<p>The great majority of Old-School physicians, only know
Hom&oelig;opathy by hearsay, and look upon it through the dim
glasses of the prejudices of the past. None of those who
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span>
have abused Hom&oelig;opathy have previously examined and
studied the matter thoroughly, because all those who have
conscientiously done this, have soon been converted to the
truth of the system and have adopted its practice.</p>

<p>In the ranks of the practitioners and believers in Hom&oelig;opathy,
we see physicians whose writings prove, and to whom
nobody can deny an extended and profound medical knowledge,
as well as judgment. Hom&oelig;opathy can boast of a
rich and scientific literature, and a great number of profound
writings in all the languages of the civilized world.</p>

<p>Hom&oelig;opathy is a vast and steadily growing power in the
medical and scientific world, demanding earnestly the attention
of every intelligent man. Its real merit may be partially
measured by the strength of obstacles it has had to overcome.</p>

<p>Hom&oelig;opathy is a reform in the central and main field of
medical practice, a reform effected by the discovery of a
great and true therapeutic law, and by the construction of a
new <i>Materia Medica</i>, which reveals to us the disease-producing
properties of drugs. It has rendered pathology the
highest service by making that great branch of medical
science truly practical; for, an exact parallel functional and
organic law between the phenomena of diseases and drugs
is necessary to the scientific selection of hom&oelig;opathic medicines.
By its great therapeutic law, it has introduced new
light, order, beauty and efficiency into the theory and practice
of medicine. It has cured thousands of cases of chronic
disease, beyond the reach of allopathic art, and has treated
all acute diseases with admirable ease and success. In great
epidemics, it proved always superior to the old system. I
was converted by experiencing the wonderful effects of
hom&oelig;opathic medicine on myself, but particularly by witnessing
the triumphs of Hom&oelig;opathy in the treatment of the
Asiatic cholera, in the terrible epidemic of 1849-'50 and '51.</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>Allopathic mortality was            56 <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c.</p>
<p>Hom&oelig;opathic mortality was        12 <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" />  c.</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>In yellow fever, its success was equally surprising.
Drs. Davis and Holcombe treated over a thousand cases at
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span>
Natchez in 1853 and '55, with a mortality of 7 per cent. Allopathy
lost two-thirds of its patients. On account of this
great victory, they were elected physicians and surgeons of
the Mississippi State Hospital, which was till then under allopathic
government. The reports from that Institution are
triumphs to Hom&oelig;opathy up to the present day, and confirmatory
of the superiority of this system of medical treatment.</p>

<p>Hom&oelig;opathy has saved thousands of cases from surgical
operations, and has introduced safety into the lying-in-room
of woman. It has been a blessing to children, and to
mothers incalculably beneficial. It has been found equally
useful in the diseases of animals, and many veterinary institutions
have been established for its practice.</p>

<p>Finally, it has shortened the average duration of disease,
diminished the expense of treatment enormously, economized
the vital resources of the patient, and delivered its friends
from the frequently baneful and long-lasting effects of enormous
doses of medicine.</p>

<p>In conclusion, I will give a few statistics, from different
and reliable authorities; but first, the testimony of Dr. Routh,
an eminent Allopathic physician of London, given under circumstances
which make it significant and interesting.</p>

<p>In 1852, Dr. Routh published in London a book which he
entitled the "Fallacies of Hom&oelig;opathy," which he says he
was constrained to do, because</p>

<blockquote><p>
"This system of medical practice has of late unfortunately made, and continues
to make, such progress in this country, and the metropolis in particular, and is
daily extending its influence even among the most learned, and those whose
high positions in society gives them no little moral power over the opinions of
the multitude, that our profession is, I think, bound to make it the subject of
inquiry and investigation."
</p></blockquote>

<p>To that end, he collected statistics of different hospitals, to
the number of thirty-two thousand six hundred and fifty
cases, treated in hom&oelig;opathic hospitals, and compared them
with an equal number of cases from old-school hospitals.
He was astonished to find that the average mortality under
allopathic treatment was 10.5 <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c.; while under
hom&oelig;opathic
treatment it was only 4.4 <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c. Still he was honest enough
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span>
to publish the results. He further states that, proportionally
to the number of beds, in hom&oelig;opathic hospitals there are
twice as many patients admitted and cured, as in allopathic
hospitals.</p>

<p>He also states that the mean duration of treatment in
pneumonia was</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>Hom&oelig;opathic,      11-2/3 days.</p>
<p>Allopathic,          29 days.</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>After visiting Vienna, Dr. Routh gives the following statistics
of cases of inflammation of the lungs, treated respectively
in the Hom&oelig;opathic and Allopathic Hospitals of that
city.</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>Allopathic mortality           23 <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c.</p>
<p>Hom&oelig;opathic mortality        5 <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c.</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>Here, then, is allopathic testimony, the most conclusive;
that, in this fatal disease, the old system involves a mortality
of 23 <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c., while that of Hom&oelig;opathy is only 5
<img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c.&mdash;just
about one-fifth!</p>

<p>I have in my possession, and could adduce here, numerous
equally valuable statistics, but as I have already trespassed
upon your time, I will sum up the whole in a carefully prepared
table of several life insurance companies which have
investigated the influence of medical treatment as affecting
human life, and from which they feel authorized in offering
an annual reduction of 15 <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c. to practical
hom&oelig;opathists.
We find the "Atlantic Mutual" making the following deductions:</p>

<blockquote><p>
<i>First.</i> "That practical Hom&oelig;opathists enjoy more robust health."</p>

<p><i>Second.</i> "That they are less frequently attacked by disease."</p>

<p><i>Third.</i> "When attacked, they recover more rapidly than those treated by
any other system."</p>

<p><i>Fourth.</i> "That the mortality in the more fatal forms of disease is small compared
with that under Allopathic treatment."</p>

<p><i>Fifth.</i> "That many diseases, which are incurable under any other system,
are curable under Hom&oelig;opathic treatment."
</p></blockquote>

<p>This statement is followed by a general summary from
carefully prepared tables, comprising a large mass of statistics,
collected from all parts of the world, and embracing the
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span>
records of the treatment of some 300,000 cases of disease.
We find that the ratio of mortality between Hom&oelig;opathic and
Allopathic treatment, omitting the fractions, to be,&mdash;</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>In General diseases                        as  4 to 13</p>
<p> " &nbsp; Cholera,                               as 16 to 49</p>
<p> " &nbsp; Typhus fever,                          as  8 to 33</p>
<p> " &nbsp; Yellow fever,                          as  5 to 43</p>
<p> " &nbsp; Pneumonia,                             as  5 to 31</p>
  </div>  </div>

<p>The general average of all diseases being as 8 to 34, while
the average length of sickness under the two systems, is as
2 to 3, a clear gain of over fifty <img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:f:f-hiller-allopathy-and-homeopathy-per.jpg" alt="per" /> c. is shown
in favor of
Hom&oelig;opathy.</p>

<p>The inquiry will here naturally arise:&mdash;Why is it that, if
the Hom&oelig;opathic system presents such superior results, that
it has not been adopted by the profession generally? While
its adherents may with pride refer to its rapid growth in
this country, its practitioners having increased from 6 in
1830 to over 6,000 in 1871; yet, if the system is all that its
adherents claim, why should it still meet with the most
bitter opposition of the old school, instead of that hearty
acceptance which its merits would seem to demand?</p>

<p>Before answering this question, let us see how the medical
profession, and professors of other branches of science have
received the several great discoveries of the last four hundred
years.</p>

<p>Copernicus, who taught that the sun is stationary; that
the planets revolve around the sun, and that the apparent
revolution of the heavens is caused by the rotation of the
earth on its axis,&mdash;a system now generally received and
acknowledged, was persecuted nearly to death. I found,
only twenty years ago, a sect of people in Wisconsin, who
still disbelieved this great fact, that the earth moves around
the sun.</p>

<p>Gallileo, after being converted to the Copernican theory
of the revolution of the earth around the sun, and after
having improved the telescope of Copernicus, invited his
fellow-professors to make these observations with him.
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span>
They absolutely refused to even look through Gallileo's
telescope, and after he had demonstrated to them by actual
experiment, that the trifling difference in the falling of two
unequal weights is owing only to the resistance of the air,
and after making the experiment twice before the eyes of
his opposers in dropping two unequal weights from the
tower of Pisa, they did not believe it. He also was persecuted
through life.</p>

<p>Franklin's electric experiments were received in like manner.
After they had been read before the Royal Society,
they were considered worthless, and he earned nothing but
ridicule and abuse.</p>

<p>So it was with Fulton, when he was moving upon the
Hudson River with his imperfect steamcraft before the eyes
of the people; they said it was impossible, and could not be
done. Yes, they denied the fact, and declared him insane
after he had done it.</p>

<p>Harvey, who discovered and taught that there is an
arterial circulation of blood through the human system, was
persecuted through life, his professional enemies styling him
the "Circulator," a word, in its original Latin, synifying
vagabond or quack.</p>

<p>In the light of these facts, it was not surprising that
Hahnemann, after the promulgation of his doctrine, meets
the same fate, and from that day to the present, the most
bitter denunciations have been poured by the Old School,
not only upon him, but on all who have adopted, or have
investigated his method.</p>

<p>But Time ever rectifies the mistakes of mankind. The
value of the discoveries of all these great men has long
since been acknowledged by the world; and the day will
and must surely arrive, when the little acorn of Truth,
planted by Hahnemann, which has already taken deep root,
and is lifting high its vigorous stem, shall tower far above all
other giants of the medical forest, and its wide-spreading
branches cast their beneficent shadows over the whole
earth.</p>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>F. HILLER, M. D.</p>
  </div><div class="stanza">
<p><span class="smcap">San Francisco</span>, April 10th, 1872.</p>
  </div>  </div>
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span>




<h2>"Hom&oelig;opathy and
Regular Medicine."</h2>


<p>The editor of the <i>Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal</i>
(old school) had a sudden spasm of good sense&mdash;a condition
none too frequent with our Allopathic brethren, and during
the attack, allowed the following communication to appear in
the pages of his journal.</p>

<p><i>To the Editor of the Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal</i>:</p>

<blockquote><p>
It will be to the advantage of the regular medical profession to go carefully
over their treatment of the class of physicians who have seen fit to denominate
themselves hom&oelig;opathic, and to observe the effect such treatment has had
upon the profession itself, upon the public and upon hom&oelig;opathy.</p>

<p>That the accumulated experience of faithful observers, who, for the last four
thousand years have given their lives to the study and treatment of diseases, is,
we believe, of almost invaluable importance to one who wishes to become a
physician, and certainly is of infinite importance when compared with a hypothetical
dogma, and yet, with all the machinery of our hospitals and dispensaries,
the control of every medical appointment in the gift of governments or
corporations, with our medical schools perfectly equipped with professors for
every separate department of medicine, and an entire monopoly of the advantages
of clinical observations, with all these advantages and precedents, what
headway have we made in convincing the public and individuals of our superior
ability to manage disease, or of our peculiar fitness for becoming the sanitary
officers of households or communities?</p>

<p>The line of treatment which the regular profession saw fit to adopt in the
earliest days of hom&oelig;opathy, and which they are still following, is generally
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span>
bigoted, and universally intolerant opposition. What is the effect of this opposition?
It is to arouse in the public mind that generous American sentiment
which ever asserts itself to see fair play between a big boy and a little one.
There is scarcely an instance in which the regular profession, with all its accumulated
prestige, has arrayed itself against hom&oelig;opathy, where the weaker
party have not prevailed. And to-day, in the sight of the law, and in the
confidence of the people, hom&oelig;opathy is the peer of regular medicine.</p>

<p>It becomes us to go over this case, and, if possible, discover why, we so
strong in numbers, and in all the facilities and appliances for illustrating and
inforcing our tenets, are so repeatedly beaten? Why is it that individuals and
corporations are becoming convinced that their interests require them to employ
hom&oelig;opathic in preference to regular physicians? For myself, in spite
of the logic of events, I still believe, and my belief is founded upon a thorough
investigation of the principles of hom&oelig;opathy, and observations upon the
practice of many of its most distinguished disciples, that in no way can a man
so efficiently equip himself for the responsibility of the management of disease,
and the custody of health as in the study of regular medicine.</p>

<p>If we take it for granted that the past experience and observations of physicians
are of service to physicians at present, and I do not think we will be
charged with assumption for considering this an axiom; then why is it that
a sect which disregards all traditions of medicine, and found their system upon
a dogma which contradicts all that we have held as truth, why is it that they
are flourishing and we are going to the wall?</p>

<p>The answer to this question presents itself to my mind under two heads,
which may be formularized as follows: Hom&oelig;opathy lives upon the disgrace
brought upon the profession of medicine by the low standard of medical
education, and flourishes upon the intolerant opposition it has received at the
hands of regular physicians.</p>

<p>It is with the second, the lesser of the two evils I propose to deal at this time.</p>

<p>The treatment of hom&oelig;opathy by the regular profession in past years is so
well known as to require no mention, therefore let us turn our attention to the
present, and by reading its signs in the light of the past, endeavor to do something
for our future.</p>

<p>The position of the regular profession in regard to hom&oelig;opathy may be expressed
in a few words. We are not aware of their existence. They have no
professional rights which we are bound to respect, and when forced by some
laymen to speak upon the subject, or give an opinion upon hom&oelig;opathy, the
opinion is that it is a "humbug." This line of treatment was bad enough
<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span>
when hom&oelig;opathy was young, but now when we stand on equal footing before
the law, and nearly equal before the public, it is suicidal.</p>

<p>It may be well to explain what I mean by equal rights before the law. All
the rights which members of the regular profession of this State enjoy are
granted them by Acts of Legislature, the first of which was passed April 10th,
1813, this and the Act of 1827, contain the "Regulations concerning the Practice
of Physic and Surgery in this State." They provide for the establishment of
County Medical Societies, "the only organization existing under law for the
purpose of diffusing true science and knowledge of the healing art," and
otherwise point out and fix the duties, responsibilities and immunities of physicians
and surgeons.</p>

<p>On April 13th, 1857, the Legislature of this State admitted the hom&oelig;opathic
profession to all the rights and privileges enjoyed by members of the regular
profession under the above mentioned Acts. This provided for the present, and
in the Acts incorporating their colleges, exactly the same power is granted to
them as had been granted to our medical schools, which provides for the future.
I doubt not there are members of our profession who have hitherto failed
to realize the change wrought in the hom&oelig;opathic profession by the Acts of
1857. As before stated, the Act admitted the hom&oelig;opathic profession to all
the rights and privileges as physicians and surgeons under the Acts of 1813
and 1827, and all Acts amendatory thereof, thus they became "legally authorized
practicing physicians and surgeons," and as such, are entitled to membership
of our County Medical Societies. This right is positive, and no County
Society has the power to adopt a by-law which will keep them out if they
should make application for admission. The right of legally authorizing physicians
to membership of County Medical Societies has been most definitely
settled by our courts, and the proceedings to obtain such rights are well understood
by many of our members.</p>

<p>In view of these facts what should the regular profession do in the matter?
Shall we continue to call ourselves "the profession," and neither by public act
or private word allow that there is any other? Shall we continue a line of
treatment condemned by law and by experience, treatment which only makes
hom&oelig;opathy notorious and ourselves disgraceful; or shall we submit gracefully
to the laws of the State, and public opinion, and proffer to the hom&oelig;opathic
profession those amenities which should exist between professional
equals? Invite them to the rights in our County Medical Societies, when
called by their patrons, attend with them in consultation; when wished by our
patients ask them to attend in consultation with us? If they have any superior
knowledge in the management of the disease or the protection of health, our
duty to our patrons requires us to avail ourselves of that knowledge. If we
possess the greater professional ability, they and their patrons will find it out.
If we hold back from this, we may reasonably be charged with having little
confidence in our doctrines. If we go into it, I rest my faith upon "the survival
of the fittest."
</p></blockquote>

<div class="poem">  <div class="stanza">
<p>Buffalo, August, 1871.</p>
<p><span class="smcap">H. R. Hopkins</span>, M. D.</p>
  </div>  </div>
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