TTTTTºyº, YººHä ſº * 2. º: º % : §º ºg & zºº2%** 2 g NE # t º tº so...; . 1. ***...*& º # Fºº. -- as are --------- a sº-º-º-º: sees as a sº a <> <> º ºx º Ce tº Cº. fº Kº, & Fºliº Ilº G º 3D ET ſº º SE} grº- º º Eº º º ſº &E º F-3 EL E- E- g-y º º NT º º º º K- Č- GT EE mill ſº { PAMPHIETs - HOMOEOPATHIC 15. l6. 17. =l 8. l.9. 20. 2l. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. Rand, J. P. The advantages of fraternal º Addresses Aurand, S. H. Address of the President of the Illinois Homoeopathic Association, 1906. Beckwith, D.H. Address delivered before the American institute of homeo epathy, l87l. Beebe, H. E. Professional fellowship. Beckwith, D.H. The art of prolonging life. Biggar, H.F. The benefits & fallacies of vivisection. - Biggar, H. F. Better laws, better colleges etc. Biggar, H. F. Memorial address, l898. Bowers, B. F. Opposition to homoeopathy in N.Y. Burford, G. Presidential address, Eight quinquennial homoeopathic Congress. Copeland, E. H. Annual Oration. 4 . Fellows, C. G. President 's address. Gilchrist, J. G. How best to meet the modern requirements for a medical education. Graham, A. An address delivered to the Class Of 1902, Detroit . . . Green, W. E. Annual address delivered before R the Southern homoeopathic medical Society, l889 Halbert, H. W. Address before the Illinois hom. . ` medical as Sociation, l'904. Hinsdale, W. B. The thoughts of men are widened With the process of the suns. Homoeopathic medical society of N. Y. Address & progreedings, l855. - James, Bushrod W. Address, 1901 - Laidlaw, G. F. Class day address. - iſ The study of medical history. Lee, J. K. Waledictory address, .1862. - Moffat, J.L. Some of our responsibilities. Neihard, C. Homoeopathy in the year 1849 in - Germany and England. Nottingham, D.M. Address delivered before the Hom Med... society of Michigan, 1890. - Porter, E.H. Unity in health work. Price, ;G., The ethical relations of the dominant schools of medicine. associations. ,-,-, º “ 235590 º 23 28. 29. 3O. 3l. 32. 33. 34. 35. Runnels, O.S. Professional remuneration. Schenck, H. D. Address of the President of the Homoeopathic medical society of N.Y. Stearns, G. & others. Homoeopathic centennial & at Buffalo, l896. Sutherland, J. P. Opening address, 1910 SWeeney, E. D. & Hedges, S. P. Addresses, l883. Thompson, J. J. Medicine & morals. Wigg, G. Annual address, 1891. Wigg, G. iſ !! l890. ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT of the Illinois Homeopathic Association at the Session of 1906. by S. H. A U R AND, M. D. Reprinted from “THE CLINIQUE" for June, 1906. INS NIMI DO NOIN SESSION OF '906–PRESIDENTSADDRESS S. H. AURAND, M. D, CHICAGO, ILL LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: According to a time honored custom, and because of your courtesy, I have the pleasure and privilege of delivering this address. r - The burden of my heart is not to unduly praise or to acrimoniously crit- icise, but to temper justice with modesty and criticism with charity. To be just and true to the public trust which you have so graciously imposed in me, demands from me an honest and impartial discussion, without thought of individual compliment or censure, of the present existing con- ditions and tendencies which are to make for homeopathy or destroy for- ever its illustrious name. If we are honest and sincere in our convictions we may be benefactors to the human race and supporters of homeopathy regardless of our adverse opinions. It is not so much what homeopathy has accomplished, even great as that is, as what she may and must accom- plish which should command our greatest attention. It is not words of eulogy and praise, but ardent buckling to our task, that will round up into a complete, beneficent and recognized whole, our system of the healing art. There is a vast difference between good preaching and good practice. The one may call for nothing but pleasant duty while the other demands stern labor and great sacrifice. We should therefore be careful that in times of our' greatest enthusiasm we do not preach greater than our practice will warrant. Much harm may come to us by making unwarrantable and un- reasonable claims for our system of therapeutics. Modest claims which - can be fully substantiated, even by a less scientific system, will win and hold the confidence of the mass of humanity when the bold and over- drawn claims of a vastly superior system will sink into nothingness and carry with it, possibly the most sparkling gem of the age. Herein may lie one of the greatest hindrances to the present progressive march of 4. homeopathy. Why? Because homeopathy is in possession of the most profound therapeutic principle of this age and therefore, possibly, is dangerously well satisfied. Its natural therapeutic law not only illuminates the entire human organism but it shines through the vital processes and far out into the spiritual world. It gives the homeopath a basis beyond that of a germ or a cell to calculate the pathological causes of pathology. It comprehends realms—dangerous though they are—for thought and study which far transcends the basic principles of any other system of medi- cine. Its law possesses beauty, symmetry, logic and completeness which outlines a curriculum of study and a method of practice which includes within its scope the whole, life of mankind. Its law is so great, broad, good and true, that many of us are satisfied with simply dangling upon the fringes of its edge. But thank God all of us are still hanging on. Even those who have gone so far as to renounce the name of homeopathy are still prescribing aconite, belladonna, bryonia and rhus tox, in a potent- ized form, and according to their respective symptomatology. In spite of our prejudice and extra training sulphur in the thirtieth potency still con- tinues to be a sheet-anchor in certain scrofulous conditions and tendencies. I am willing to admit that it is very difficult to talk or write upon the subject of homeopathy, if one comprehends its full grandeur and benefi- cence, without becoming much elated and enthused. Notwithstanding this pleasant tendency it is our duty to hold our preaching to a point commen- Surate with our practice. - OUR EXTRAVAGANT CLAIMs. - Our extravagant claims and assured satisfaction are factors which cause many of us to scan lightly, or even to look with disfavor upon, much of the valuable work which is constantly being accomplished by the medical profession as a whole. I think it is a generally admitted fact that the men who are recognized as the greatest pillars of homeopathy have in the last few decades grown noticeably less. If we are to judge by the literature which they left to us we must give the earlier stalwarts of homeopathy much credit for their originality and breadth of character. They were great because they comprehended the whole scope of the medi- cal science of their day. The history of their lives shows that they studied not so much exclusive homeopathy as comparative homeopathy. They were medically educated men of their time, well posted in all the science and art of medicine as then practiced. They studied homeopathy step by step from the ground up. They not only mined the ore but they chiselled the diamond from the rock and milled the gold from the quartz. They knew the ground over which they traveled and they were masters not only of homeopathy but of medicine to the degree to which medicine was then 5 developed. With unbounded faith in the coming system of better thera- peutics they handed their hard earned legacy down to the men of the twentieth century. The responsibility is ours whether we will or not, to not only maintain homeopathy at its present status but, to continue its development equal to the opportunities of this age and the possibilities of its great therapeutic law. If we accept the name and utilize the present knowledge of its therapeutic law, which represents years of ardent toil, it is unquestionably our duty to master its principles, continue its develop- - ment and round out a system of medicine which will demand the recogni- tion of this searching and progressive period. This means not to under- rate or depreciate in the least the achievements which have already been won, but to fully realize the great work which this era of marvelous strides is demanding from us. We need more originality, more first knowledge, more liberal ideas, more love for the whole medical profession, more devotion to the cause, more sacrifice upon the altar, more philan- thropy toward noble effort, more of the reaching and leading spirit, in short we need to forget ourselves and labor earnestly for the good of the common cause. This means that our satisfaction and assurance should rest not so much upon what we are today as what we are accomplishing for the future. It also means that we should constantly be on the alert and in our colleges teach all that is necessary for the complete education of the physician for the twentieth century, which must always be under the con- trolling influence of good, pure homeopathy. A medical system that is commercial or exclusive or dogmatic or selfish or small, cannot long en- dure the rigid search-lights of these illuminating times. Therefore We must be big and broad and liberal and yet solidly homeopathic to the core. We cannot afford to belittle ourselves by ridiculing, or even speaking lightly of, a medical system which has delved deeply into the undiscovered mines and brought forth vastly more, along numerous important lines, than we have. We should kindly and gratefully admit, and with a spirit of commendation and gratitude accept, what they through their faithful toil and devoted energy have accomplished. Their fidelity and earnest- ness to a cause, in which their sacrificial devotedness demonstrates un- bounded faith, must on the basis of righteous liberty, be recognized by us. We must, if we are just, give them credit for the possibilities of the dis- covery and development of the homeopathic law. For Hahnemann, as well as many others of our master builders, received his fundamental medical training at the hands of the rational school of medicine. We are today indebted to it for much in modern pathology, research work along various lines, text-books, etc., which are very helpful to us, and without which our educational institutions would not be so well equipped. * *-* * - 6 ..ºr - § - º, These, ladies and gentlemen, to my mind are facts and we, if we expect to be great as a medical system and of the most use to humanity, must rise to that high plane of medical ethics where we can gratefully and gracefully admit them. Never can we allow any individual or combina- tion of individuals to outdo us in politeness and common courtesy without at once taking an inferior rank. • . . . THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. . This period of the world’s history, like all others, demands a certain fitness which is commensurate with the times, and to which we must attain, or like all other failures go down under the action of the inexorable law of the survival of the fittest. All the existing systems of medicine have had their part in the attainment of the present achievement of medical excellence. All must maintain a standard of usefulness which is measured by the demand of the times or be crowded out by those that do. The task of the medical systems of today is too gigantic, their duty too sacred and their responsibility too great, to waste any time in the en- gagement of a warfare for the ascendency over each other. Each should bid God-speed to the other, extend the right hand of fellowship, glory in the achievements, and together wage the battle against the common enemy, ignorance and disease. - - If the allopathic system of medicine, since it has demonstrated in var- ious ways its lack of faith in the curative value of its own medical thera- peutics, would, with all its wealth, influence and power, assist the homeo- paths to more fully develop their law of cure, and place its therapeutics on a more tangible and practical basis, a more brilliant and harmonious medical era would soon dawn to illuminate the hopes of suffering man- kind. This desirable day cannot be hastened by unwarrantable and inex- cusable condemnatory remarks by us of the great work which that great System of medicine is accomplishing. Unprejudiced, philanthropic, hon- est and sincere effort, in the interest of suffering humanity, regardless of “ism or pathy,” must be the guiding spirit of the coming medical system. . THE HOMEOPATHIC TREE. I think we straight-backed homeopaths reach the danger line when in our over confidence we neglect to properly classify, and righteously esti- mate, the value of auxiliary and palliative measures, which according to their nature must and always will have a recognized place in medicine. There seems to be a desire on the part of some to strip this great homeo- pathic tree of its natural branches. They recognize nothing but the main trunk—a straight pole, from its base to its summit, and in their efforts to climb without the use of the branches make poor progress indeed. I am persuaded to believe that many of us fail to see that this great law of 7 homeopathy has subsidiary laws, which must be recognized and developed. . It has relative truths which are eminently worthy of this great parent truth which must be acknowledged to our benefit, or entirely ignored to our peril. - Strip the tree of its natural branches and its crippled vitality may still linger but eventually it will wither and die. Nurture and nourish the whole tree with its strong, legitimate and natural branches and it promises to be the greatest therapeutic growth of the coming centuries. There may be men in our profession, whose practices so favor, who are strong enough and sufficiently well qualified in the great truth of homeopathy, to in a great degree practically overlook many of these auxiliary helps. They are in a way fortunate and may be congratulated, but that argument is flimsy indeed, and weighs but little, in favor of entirely eliminating aux- iliaries and palliatives from a system of medicine. Let me sincerely appeal to you to let your greatness in this direction make you most char- itable to those who are just as honest and just as sincere, but in their efforts to do justice to their patients most keenly feel the need of these sup- porting branches. They are homeopaths true, good, pure and honest, striv- ing to assist in the development of the application of OUR LAW to its ultimate completeness. Let the men who have the greatest knowledge, and who are the most successful in the application of the homeopathic law, patiently and charitably toil on, not to disrupt and separate, but, to adhere and educate. And let those whose ideas are more liberal, be just as char- itable and earnest in their efforts to assist, and thus build this great medical system whose basic principles are founded on nature's law. And let us all remember that the length and breadth and height of any natural law is so paramount to human application that it constantly leads a developing march toward better and nobler things. - DIVISION IN our RANKs cANNOT STRENGTHEN our CAUSE. The good book says: “Every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” United we may stand, divided we are very liable to fall. Division means disintegration with consequent weakness and failure. Union means concentration of power and strength with the probability of a fitting victory. - - Based upon some of the foregoing factors there seems to be a strong tendency to a division in our school of practice. If we are all sincere in preserving homeopathy to its greatest usefulness steps should at once be taken to remedy this evil. Nothing can be gained by dividing ourselves into two factions, but much harm may come to us through such proceed- ings. If our principles are established and we all accept them; that should unquestionably be sufficient to satisfy the most fastidious mind. To prac- 8 tice and preach and teach and educate, along all beneficent lines, is an exalted privilege we must accord to all. To create dissension by quib- bling Över individual opinions and methods of applying principles, is a question which should not demand discussion. Allow me to say, however, that to the outside world, and to the on-looker, this shows insincerity and loss of faith. It is strong evidence of dissatisfaction, discontent, loss of power and fear of failure. Honest rivalry is always to be commended. Therefore we recommend a well regulated and laudable ambition to swing our banner high above all others, but in doing so let us do it with the strength of our sincere and united power. It is our sacred duty to discuss underlying principles and factors which are designed to strengthen or weaken our system of medicine, but we have no time, in this rapid age, when serious and profound problems are confronting us, to quarrel over individual methods of applying them. Homeopathy, it seems to me, might be likened to a great subterranean stream which has numerous surface branches. That it is, there is no ques- tion—neither do we question its power, its purity, its truth or its depth. But to enjoy its most refreshing draughts and its most beneficent influ- ence one must dig deep to reach the power of its current body. There are Some who have the enviable reputation of devoting themselves almost entirely to this commendable task, but there are others whose interests along other lines, which are just as commendable, compel them to sip mainly from the surface branches. It should be understood, however, that these surface branches lead to the main body of the stream, and therefore we are all dipping from the same waters. * This furnishes the materia medica man, like all other specialists, a grand opportunity to specialize along these lines. If the law of similia is the only true, natural therapeutic law then it naturally follows that all auxiliary and palliative measures, which furnish temporary relief and curative power in a degree, must of necessity be sub- sidiary, or surface branches, to this main law. And if these branches are persistently followed they will lead all earnest and honest students of med- icine just where they led Samuel Hahnemann. If this be true then it is evident that to preserve homeopathy we must also preserve these surface branches. To lop them off, or to “dam-n them,” is to stop the healthy cir- culation of the main body, which means congestion and odium. It is not our duty, if we wish to preserve homeopathy, to be constantly lopping off, but on the contrary we should seek to strengthen our system of therapeu- tics by constantly adding to. Around this nucleus of similia may, and should, be entwined many helpful accessories. Every palliative measure, every auxiliary, every suggestion, every mechanism, every new discovery, 9 ~ every move in the direction of medical progress, no matter by whom put forth, should be hailed with joy and investigated with earnestness. All nature's helpful and health-giving measures must be subsidiary to her great underlying, life-giving principle which everywhere is exemplified through the operation of the law of similars. With our lack of ability to absolute correctness in the application of any therapeutic law we must recognize all therapeutic measures whose science can be practically demon- strated at the bedside. We cannot deny the homeopathicity of any help- ful therapeutic measure until we can demonstrate scientifically, beyond the question of a doubt, that it is not homeopathic. We cannot hold indi- vidual doctors responsible for their (apparently) non-homeopathic pre- scriptions until we can demonstrate, scientifically, that our opinions of the homeopathic law are all there is to it. It is the duty of our institutions to thoroughly and practically educate our physicians, but it is the duty, and the prerogative, of the physician at the bedside to prescribe what in his judgment the conditions and surroundings of his patients require. Who could, or who should, allow anybody’s interpretation of “ism or pathy” to stand between him and sacred duty at the bedside of a confiding patient? If we are sincere in our desire to build homeopathy and equally sincere in our opinions as to how it may be accomplished then let us patiently, persistently and unitedly labor on, not with a spirit of rule or ruin but, with a laudable ambition to convince and educate. Each individual doctor has the right to his own opinion as to what constitutes a real good, pure, up-to-date homeopathic physician. But none of us have the right to make this opinion the basis for the government and control of the homeopathic system of medicine. The homeopathic law and the homeopathic system of medicine are two united propositions. The homeopathic law is the guiding principle of the homeopathic system of medicine, but the homeopathic law is not and never can be the homeopathic system of medicine. Much more must be involved in an up-to-date system of medicine than simply a guiding therapeutic principle. The law of similia is our watch-word, our guiding star, our unchangeable law of cure, but it must be surrounded with many other things, to complete a system of medicine. A system may have a principle or governing law, but it cannot be composed of one thing. It is an assemblage of objects, facts or principles which bear relationship to each other, and are scientifically arranged to complete a whole. Thus it be- comes plain that in rounding out and completing our system of medicine, if we would live, preserve and promote our dearest principle, we must adapt it to the demands of the times. We have not sufficient hope to strongly advocate the union or amalgamation of medical systems, but we º: , t I O have sufficient hope to strongly advocate the union of medical effort and professional recognition, by all systems, for the good of the common cause. s - - - . The Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association should continue to develop that high degree of medical ethics which will enable it to respect the rights, freedom of thought and speech, of all of its constituents. It should assume that high attitude in conducting and managing its affairs which will win for it the respect of all professional bodies. It should exer- cise its parental duty by seeking to heal all wounds, to eradicate all appar- ent differences and to unite and rally the forces of all homeopathic colleges, institutions and individuals, within our great state, to the unselfish cause of homeopathy. In my opinion, here would be a good opportunity to put into operation the law of similia by extending the same courtesy to the old school doctors, which the old school organizations extend to the homeo- paths. We may invite them to join our ranks and still hold our organiza- tions distinctly and purely homeopathic. I am heartily in favor of uniting and conserving our strength, of claim- ing all for our system of medicine that is ours by tradition, by inheritance, by right; of increasing our power by a high degree of medical efficiency, and with a whole hearted and kindly spirit, of placing its therapeutic value in the balance with any and all other systems of medicine. - EFFICIENCY, NOT COMMERCIALISM. - Efficiency and not commercialism must be the inspiration of our pro- fession. The man who enters upon any line of the medical business through it to become a multi-millionaire will either be a burden, nuisance or menace to the medical profession or fail in his original purpose, or both. Because the surgeon or the physician saves the life of a patient who is worth a million dollars, and who values his life more than his wealth, is no adequate reason for the doctor to charge a million dollars for his services. In this instance the law of equivalents might not be violated, but the law embodied in the “golden rule,” and the law of sacri- fice, certainly would be badly strained. No physician has the moral right to charge a fancy fee for a surgical operation, or other medical service, simply because the opportunity presents itself. This will not only bring the reactionary penalty upon the individual who commits the wrong, but it lowers, degrades and commercializes our noble profession. I know the argument is commonly used that to charge the rich man a double fee 'simply balances the account of the poor man who is unable to pay at all. This kind of argument serves well, to sooth a troubled conscience, but we must remember that no matter where the dollars go, the stars are always placed in his crown who makes the greatest willing sacrifice. The true hero does not aim at money, glory or renown, but as a rule gets plenty of each. His dauntless and chivalrous purpose is rather to find duty, and with ardent faith in the powers that be to simply and courage- ously execute it. The thought, aim and tendency of the great mass of doctors, and other medical men, must necessarily mark the future destiny of our profession. Sacred is the work and great is the responsibility of the men and women of the medical profession. What gives greater prom- ise to any government, for efficiency of statesmanship, christian and God- like living, long and successful career, than a perfect physicial condition of its subjects? And who should be better prepared, more trustworthy and capable, to look after the health of the nation, than the educated, properly organized and efficient medical profession? . It is the physician or surgeon who is the emancipator of a victim who is dragged down by a physical dragon. And upon the shoulders of the medical profession must rest the responsibility of ridding our great nation of its disease-producing conditions and institutions. We must depend upon the literary colleges and universities of our country to produce intel- lectual efficiency. We must depend upon the churches and religious insti- tutions of our land to produce spiritual efficiency. And we must, like- wise, depend upon the medical profession and its institutions to produce physical efficiency. - - THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC AND ITs AssociateD EVILs. The liquor traffic alone is bringing about an impotency that all the money and medical skill of the nation cannot remedy. So long as the infamous houses of prostitution continue to thrive, all the wealth and remedial agents of our great commonwealth cannot combat their con- taminating influences. Who should be more interested in the overthrow, and complete obliteration, of these two disease-producing and demoraliz- ing institutions of our cities, than the profession whose business it is to look after the health of the people? And whose counsel is of more value to the public, in our legislative bodies, than that of the man whose life is spent in the study of the cause and effect of disease? º - - OUR INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM. - The medical profession should arouse a greater interest, and assume its natural prerogative, in the affairs of our industrial system for the better- ment of physical conditions. The avarice, greed and cupidity of man are developing, to an alarming degree, a miserly, selfish and despotic power which is not only unnatural in that it produces an extreme inequality of things, but it is undesirable, demoralizing and inimical to the greatest mental, moral and physical development of mankind. It dwarfs the body, 12 it narrows the intellect, it hampers the soul and it creates enmity and strife between classes, which result in the destruction of life and property. Like all unhealthy and unnatural conditions it interferes with the circula- tion. The circulating medium is hoarded in certain parts of the great body politic until it begins to irritate, congest and inflame. The more cor- - ruption there is the more quickly will it break down the tissues and result in malignant boils, carbuncles and abscesses, which are commonly called contentions, strikes and riots. - - PATENT AND PROPRIETARY MEDICINES. The patent and proprietary medicine business is another wholesale evil which is not only playing upon the credulity of the people, but it is sapping their physical strength, wrecking their nervous vitality, trans- forming them into drug fiends and destroying their responsive power to scientific medical treatment. This society should put itself upon record, and heartly join the crusade against this nefarious business. We heartily commend the initiative steps which have already been taken by the various periodicals and medical organizations to check this outrageous and danger- ous traffic. - - - QUACKERY SHOULD BE DISCOURAGED. . - Quackery in medicine should be discouraged, and under the guise of cult, pathy or scientist, should by law be prohibited from receiving remun- eration for its service. The efficiency of the profession of medicine must become equal to its duties and its responsibilities. To accomplish this does not require a monopoly on the healing art, but simply a righteous regulation whereby quackery and inefficiency, in all their forms, may be driven to the wall. Justice and fairness require that all who profess to practice the healing art should be governed by the same general rules. If the legitimate medical student is required by law to undergo a four years' course of training and then a rigid examination, all who wish to compete with him in the art of healing should be required to do the same thing. In addition to this each system should be required to make special prepara- tion, and undergo special examination, in its legally recognized therapeu- tics. I would go farther than this, by requiring that each active prac- tician retain a membership, in good standing, in the principal organiza- tions of his special system. If the medical profession accomplishes the de- sign of its existence it must comprehend the full scope of its responsibility. Not only this, but it must unitedly set itself to its task to both destroy and build until it reaches that degree of efficiency which will be recog- nized by all, as the best source for physical needs. . TUBERCULOSIs. . - The zeal and enthusiasm of this society should not abate in its efforts to combat the ravages of the Great White Plague. The tent colony com- mittee which was appointed one year ago should receive our hearty sup- port and encouragement. We commend the tent colony committee for its aggressive determination to succeed in spite of many adverse opinions and obstacles. With this kind of material continued on the committee there promises to be no let up until a tuberculosis tent colony materializes, and the poor sufferers of this terrible scourge have the choice of homeopathic - treatment in a place where recovery is possible. - oRGANIZATION. - 2. This society has, in various ways, shown its high appreciation of the successful accomplishments of the organization committee in the last two years. For the encouragement of this committee, as well as for the good of the cause, I should like to bespeak for it the continued interest and substantial support of this organization. This work should be pushed into every nook and corner of our great state, until there is a local homeo- pathic society within the reach of every physician within the borders of our territory. . . . . - For the purpose of binding our organizations more closely together, that they may be more helpful to each other, I should like to suggest that this society create another official department, to be known and designated as the Cabinet of the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association. This cabinet to be composed of the executive committee, the chairman of the several committees, the chairmen of the bureaux and the active presidents of all our local or district organizations. This will not lessen, but rather increase the duties of the executive committee. It will create for them a greater working force whereby their plans may be more thoroughly exe- cuted. It will unite the local societies with the parent organizations, by making their presidents its ex-officio officers. It will keep the local societies interested in all the plans and purposes of the parent body. It will lend strength, encouragement, enthusiasm and helpfulness to both the state and local institutions. It will add to the honor of the chief executive office of the local organizations, and it will add honor and power to the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association. This Cabinet may be called, by the president of this association, at least once in each year for the transaction of such business as may be necessary. . With your permission I should like to suggest that this society add an- other committee to its list, which shall be known as the General Investi- gation Committee. It should be the duty of this committee to look into and investigate, as thoroughly as they may, the general, or special per- nicious conditions, which should be of great concern to every well regu- lated medical organization. At each annual meeting they, should make a 14 report which should be accompanied with specific recommendations. Well considered and properly directed resolutions from a recognized body of medical men and women should carry with it much weight. In this way we may be placed on record as simply doing our part in the warfare against the demoralizing and disease producing factors which are so abundant in our city, state and nation. Influence, reputation and power will come to us just in proportion to our worthy and philanthropic work. May I recommend further that the president-elect of this association shall—in accordance with the letter of the by-law—enter upon the active duties of his office immediately after the adjournment of this and each succeeding meeting. - - . - . . . - JOURNARISM. . . . . . - It seems to me that our state organization has reached that point, in its progressive career, when it is imperative that its interests, principles and policy, should be constantly placed before the public and professional minds, in Some definite and regular publication. Paramount to most other questions, perhaps, is the one how we may best strengthen and complete our organizations. Experience has taught us that to effectually accom- plish this nothing is so greatly needed as a society journal. This, like all other important ventures, carries with it risks and responsibilities. The executive committee did the best it could in contracting for an official journal whereby the present needs of the association may be fully met. The Society does not assume the responsibility of the business manage- ment of the journal, and it is not involved in any great financial risk. Each member in good standing, will receive, free of charge, our official journal—THE CLINIQUE. This association will pay out of its treasury, the sum of one dollar for each member who receives its official journal. This contract extends over the limited period of one year, at the end of which it is your privilege to continue or discontinue it, as in your judgment seems best. Much of the valuable material which has heretofore been scattered and lost will now be utilized to the benefit of all. Our association will be greatly strengthened and it will be enabled to greatly assist in the up-building of its local organizations. I wish to commend the earnest and unanimous action of the executive committee in this much needed, progressive move. Already new enthusi- asm is apparent all over our state, and the strength and encouragement of both the state and local organizations are greatly enhanced. Our re- lationship with THE CLINIQUE has been and is, so far as we can learn, agreeable, pleasant and profitable to all. We sincerely hope that such relationship may continue until we are strong enough, and have had sufficient experience in the journalistic field to edit and publish an inde- ". . . Aſ I5 pendent journal, all our own. For the encouragement of the executive committee, for the advancement of the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association, and for the good of homeopathy, I sincerely hope that this convention will unanimously ratify this action of the executive committee. ' , - . - FOR OUR ENcourAGEMENT. - Research work, no less now than in the past, opens up a wide and spacious field, and extends a hearty welcome to both intelligence and num- bers. The reward for discovery and achievement is no less today than it was in the times of Harvey, Jenner, Hahnemann, Morton, and Lister. The roll of honor and the banner of recognition are held as high today, in the estimation of the people, as ever before. - We are pleased to note that much has been accomplished in the last two decades in the promotion of medical competency. We are much gratified over the results of the addition of two years to our college course and two months to our college term. We are proud of the advancement made in the addition of scientific studies to our college curriculum. We are pleased be- yond measure with the benefits and experience derived from the discovery of the antitoxins. Our enthusiasm extends almost to the degree of ex- ultation when we think of the marvelous strides and wonderful achieve- ments that have been made along the lines of surgery. Our cup of satis- faction almost bubbles over when we read of the recent research work that, has been accomplished along the lines of internal secretions and physiological medication. Our nerves fairly tingle with vibration when we stop to consider the additional light that is now illuminating our path- way through the electric current. We feel as supple as of yore with nimbleness and agility from the beneficent effects of our manual therapeu- tics. We feel like praising the Giver of all good when we hear the har- monious notes, from all schools of medicine, to the effect that the time of crude drugging is in the past. And we feel like shouting a good method- istic hallelujah when we observe that all of these discoveries, changes and achievements, are in direct accord with the homeopathic law and methods of medication. - - Much has been done and much remains to be done. The public demands are so great upon the medical profession that it seems to me imperative for the public good, that we devote ourselves more especially to the eman- cipation of our great country from those evils which are threatening its bulwarks by producing physical, mental and moral impotency. We should be the patriotic and heroic emancipators of the physical, mental and moral dragons of our country. For this purpose we should conscientiously set ourselves to our task, effect a more complete organization, and see to it that the medical profession is represented upon our boards of education, * . . . tº t -- 16 municipal councils, county boards, state and national legislatures. And I believe at least as good material might be selected, as usually is from other walks in life, for mayors of our cities, governors of our states, and presi- dents of our United States. I believe it to be a self-evident fact that the hard earned and accumulated, practical knowledge of health and disease, which is embodied in a well rounded medical education of today, could, if utilized to a greater extent, be of inestimable value, to the hetero- geneous masses, in the establishment of healthy and enduring govern- mental principles. | + // Yºva-º-f. ºf2 att, . { . } DELIVERED BEFORE THE | - Alleritan histitute of Humanpatſu, BY THE PRESIDENT of THE Association, *::, - : a - \ * { ...! -, D. H. BECK WITH, M. D., -- Of Cleveland, Ohio, TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL SEssion, HELD IN THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY, Association, PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 6th, 7th, 8th, AND 9th, 1871 HALL of . AT THE w . . . ' ' ... ." **** - It . - f - •º - - , , º, - - - •. ~ * . . . - --- | '. w • X , , .-- .* ~ : " - " " .."r º - CLEVELAND, OHIo: , , , G. S. NEW.com B & Co., PRINTERs, 168 AND 110 SENECA STIREET. ~, - -- - - - - - - - - ! ---º- * : • * PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS & ‘ TO THE &MERICAN $NSTITUTE OF #0MEOPATRY. Gentlemen— ~ * Members of the American Institute of JHomoeopathy : w I beg leave to express my gratitude for the honor you have conferred on me in selecting my humble self to preside over your deliberations. - I respectfully ask your forbearance and indulgence in the performance of the duties that devolve upon me during the present session. - It is now eleven years since we last met in this great - and beautiful city—the second metropolis of our éountry; honored in history as the birth-place of our Constitution.- Almost within hearing of our voices the tree of American liberty was planted Here a few noble patriots, with daring ~! scarce known in the world’s history, broke the shackles of our bondage and declared our national freedom; with heartfelt gratitude and thankfulness do we revere the memory of those few fearless men who vouchsafed to our country its liberties and to a glorious nation its existence 1 Not less honored is the spot on which they stood—the same ground we to-day occupy—made memorable through all time of our country's existence as the birth-place of freedom And since our national banner first waved in unmolested freedom from the tower of yon old Independence Hall, until . now has this city been truly called the Mecca of American Medical Literature. - This city has not alone the honor of originating the first Medical College on this side of the Atlantic, but it has the higher honor of establishing the first Medical College in the world where the pure and true science of the healing art of Homoeopathy was taught; and in all the arts and sciences she has been second to none. ſº * - 2 We all remember the hearty and cordial welcome we received from our brethren at that meeting, eleven years ago, and how harmonious were all our transactions, by representa- tives from almost every State in the union, and as we then parted to meet in one year at the “Queen City of the West,” little did we anticipate the great and momentous events that were about to transpire in our country ! Who then thought that an intestine strife was about to take place among our heretofore united people; of the rivers of blood that would flow, and of the thousands upon thousands of human lives that were soon to be sacrificed, and the untold treasures that were to be spent to save our national unity, and to preserve unharmed the tree of liberty, originally planted on this very soil. . • , - And while we mourn with numberless tears the dead— whose lives were sacrificed to maintain our national perpetuity; our hearts are filled with gratitude to Him, the restorer of all peace, that we are again permitted to meet in our annual gathering, a truly national Institute, with no division of sentiment; a body of representatives from the Lakes to the Gulf, and from ocean to ocean. We are again here to receive the same cordial welcome that was so generously bestowed upon us before. - - Gentlemen, it is withinfinite delight that we may contem- plate the growth and prosperity of our Institute. - A little more than a quarter of a century ago, a few pioneers, less in numbers than the Institute is years old, met in the city of New York and originated what is now the largest medical body in the world, and the oldest in this country, The American Institute of Homoeopathy. w To be a member of such a distinguished body may well awaken the pride of every true and honest physician. Some of those noble pioneers we have still with us—little did they think when they organized this body, that such would be its rapid growth, prosperity and usefulness—not even the most sanguine among them could have conceived that in their life- time an organization representing an innovation in the time worn theories of the science of medicine with so few repre- sentatives and patrons, could have attained its present dimensions, and it is but due to those few living, originators, 3 that we give more heed to their counsel, and become willing Jisteners to their long and extensive experience, and not ourselves occupy too much time of the Institute that more properly belongs to them by right of age. We may well pension them with our gratitude for their noble undertaking, in originating and maintaining in its purity this organization. Many of the respected founders of this Institute have gone to a better land. They died with their armor on, working in full faith of the immortal science, discovered by the illustri- ous Hahnemann. May their memory never depart from us, and may their noble example of self-sacrifice and devotion to the cause of Homoeopathy be imitated by us, and may we measure them by that standard so truly theirs—the “good alone are great.” * l - - - Not less gratifying is it for us to contemplate the unpre- cedentedly rapid growth of our science of medicine. Still within the memory of many of us was the introduction of Homoeopathy in this country by the lamented Dr. Gram, (who we are happy to say, is having a suitable monument erected to his memory.) - . - - In the States and Canadas we have nearly ten thousand reputable physicians and surgeons. * --> In this country, alone, seven Colleges, in which the cur- riculum of studies is not surpassed by any, and where the requirements for graduation are now becoming more rigid than that of any other school of medicine. The numerous Hospitals, Dispensaries and Asylums, although supported by individual efforts, are in such a con- dition as to be worthy of our pride. Our patrons are found everywhere among the intelligent and educated, and are numbered by millions. With such a growth in the few past years, who can foretell our future destiny—and at how short a period in the world's coming history will Homoeopathy be the prevailing practice of medicine. God speed the day when right shall rule and overpower might, and truth shall every- where prevail. - w • We have not only been violently opposed by the opposite -school of medicine, but the government has withheld the aid and support that so rightfully belonged to us. Even during the late war none of our brave soldiers and sailors if sick or 4 dying with disease, or giving their last-drop of patriotic blood that the country might be preserved; were allowed a physician ... or surgeon of their choice, but must forsooth take what the regulations of Allopathy directed, until many of us felt the force of the old expression of our forefathers when seeking freedom, “no taxation without representation.” Our arrogant neighbors have since attempted to make the strong arm of the government subserve their ends of opposition to us, in not permitting the poor sick and disabled pensioner to allow us to judge of the disability and amount of his pension— simply because we disagreed with them in the practice of medicine. • d - - - - * Mañy of our pensiqn surgeons were discharged with full assurance from the department that their duties had been well performed. Their removal was for no other cause than . being Homoeopaths. - - . - ' . During the war, while the welfare of our country was at stake, many of our physicians and surgeons entered the ranks as common soldiers—they were willing to sacrifice their right for their country's honor, and their nation's flag. But, since the close of the war, the country no longer in danger of being divided or overthrown—the profession to . a man has risen to resent these outrages which the pension department perpetrated upon us. Delegates were sent from many of the states to confer with the President of the United States, asking of him to remove the Commissioner of Pensions, and with commendable promptness our petitions have been granted. - - Nothing has transpired since our existence as an organiza- tion, that has looked so favorably to our soon attaining our just and equal claims, as the change in the sentiment of public opinion for the past twelve months. - t The path of our duty in the future is evident; we must follow that well known axiom that “in unity there is strength,” and let no minor considerations exist among us to cause divisions. Let not the East nor the West, nor any part of the country claim superiority of practice, but with gen- erosity and liberality allow every physician to prescribe as his honest conclusions may dictate, provided he adheres to the fundamental law in medicine. Similia similibus curantur. V 5. We should have but one object before us, namely: The advancement of medical Science. . . . . -- To accomplish this great work we must liberally support our colleges and then expect of them a high standard of medical education, and insist that diplomas shall only be granted to those students who are well qualified to receive them. It is our duty on all occasions to condemn irregular practice, and encourage the weak to have more confidence in. the principles of cure, for it is not the medicine that fails, but the physician who prescribes it. - - Our literature has reached a high standard in books and periodicals. The latter require for their maintenance our unanimous support. We should not withhold from the pro- fession or the public our observations and experience when they are useful. - - . . . . . Hospitals and dispensaries are found in almost all the - cities of the globe, and they require our aid and influence. Each member of the Institute should consider that he has a certain amount of public work to further the general interests of all. - - I wish to call your attention to the necessity of selecting young men of education, whose abilities will make them good practitioners, and adopting them as students in your offices; young men of such moral character and sterling worth as will make them prominent citizens and leading physicians. - " . - - I know many of you do not wish a student in your office, and you refuse every applicant who comes before you. And these young men who are anxious to obtain a medical educa- tion seek it surrounded by influences by which their minds become prejudiced against the teachings and doctrines of Homoeopathy. If every practitioner of our school of medicine in the United States, would secure one or two students and prepare them for our colleges, it would accomplish more each year for the good and prosperity of Homoeopathy than all other causes combined. Did you ever realize what an army you could prepare in so short a time by bringing properly qualified recruits to fill the ranks in our profession? Since we have by the late action of the governmen received at least some assurance that no particular sect or 6 creed of medicine is to receive its sanction and patronage, we should take all active measures that are honorable to secure our proportion of appointments in all institutions supported by the people. - In the University of Michigan our friends have long since laid claim to a representative in the medical department, and petitions signed by thousands of the prominent men of that State were sent to the legislature of 1870 and 1871, asking them to direct the regents of the State University to appoint a chair of theory and practice of medicine, and one on materia medica of our school. The bill thus providing for two professorships passed the house by a vote of 61 ayes to 25 nays. During the session of one hundred days, no bill was introduced that was so strongly supported and so violently opposed. When the bill reached the Senate the professors of the medical department and their friends throughout the State determined to defeat the bill. The friends of the bill were sanguine that it would pass. At this moment a division in the Homoeopathic profession entered the Senate and the bill was defeated by a majority of 2. 4 - The effort to obtain a professorship in the University will again be made in 1871-2 before the next legislature, and I hope and pray that every division in the profession will be healed, and that all of us will work to secure this which rightfully belongs to us. t The time will soon come when this country will establish a National University, and among its teachings will be included medical science. Diplomas from such an institution will be sought after by most young men entering the profession. Every effort will be made by the old school to entirely control the medical department that will be established in that university. To prevent any such lanentable occurrence each member of this Institute should consider himself bound by the most solemn duty to oppose all legislation that would compromise our rights as a school of medicine. And I hope our Bureau on Legislation will always be ready to work and act with all state and county societies to procure equality in congressional appointments where medical men are required. They should see to it that no state laws are allowed to exist which give priority to any school in its teachings. , 7 - . The great struggle of the present day is between the spirit of progressive medicine on the one hand and conserva- tism on the other. The latter, by organized combinations, endeavor to monopolize all departments in scientific medicine and practical surgery. They have, until a few years past, had entire control of ophthalmic and aural surgery, but to-day we have representatives in nearly all our large cities, engaged in the treatment of that class of diseases - . To promote the interest of this important department I would recommend the establishment of a Bureau of Ophthalmic and Aural Surgery. . : . ... - All things have their proper times and seasons; their periods of growth and progression. The time has arrived in - the history of this society when it ranks as a great national organization, and when each succeeding year sees our mem- bership greatly increased. The mightier we become as an organized power the more is expected of us in our profession. Look at the proceedings of the session of 1864, and com- pare them with those of 1870, and you will see that more than ten times as much medical literature was produced by the members of the Institute the latter, as the former year. It is expected that each bureau devote its energies to the production of a medical literature, which, in its proper depart- ment, shall do honor to the Society as a scientific organization. In our younger days, when prizes were offered for essays for the purpose of stimulating the scholars to a greater effort, it was a fact that better compositions were written than when no prizes were offered. The system of offering premiums and prizes will stimulate the members of every organization where competition is expected; and I doubt notif prizes were offered it would add greatly to the energy and efficiency of our different Bureaus. I would therefore suggest that every member who accepts his appointment in a Bureau, pay to the chairman of that special department a certain designated sum, the aggregate to furnish a prize for the best essay produced in that Bureau, to be awarded at our next meeting. i , . " Other matters that I deem important for the Institute to take into consideration I will not at present suggest, as I have no doubt they will in the course of the session be brought up and properly disposed of. . . . . . . . . . . ." I hope the Bureau on Necrology will pay just tribute to 8. the memory of our dead of the past year. But few of our' members since we last met have been called home to reap the rewards of their labor. - Gentlemen, in conclusion allow me to offer an humble tribute to the memory of Walter Williamson, that great and good physician, who has died since our last annual gathering. He was one of the oldest veterans in the profession ; always ready and willing to bear his part, in contributing to and building up and sustaining the American Institute of Homoeopathy. That life which he devoted to the good of mankind, and to the advancement of medical science, was sacrificed in his profession. “The character upon which death has set his seal, is filled with beautiful and impressive contrasts.” In this society he was one of our strongest repre- sentatives—a man of prompt action and ready resources. When called upon for his opinion, his words were few, but expressive of sentiments that held the closest attention of his auditory. He avoided petty wranglings and foible discussions, for his mind soared far above them. He loved order and harmony, and always cultivated them. He looked upon the American Institute as the great center of the medical profes- sion, and believed the time occupied by usin our deliberations belonged to every member of the profession alike, and not to the few. He has left us a noble example, the highest professional reputation; one that will live for ages to come. In no part of our country will his loss be felt more than in this city; here is the home of his wife and children—the friends of his manhood, the companions of his early profes- sional labors, the county medical society that he assisted in organizing, the medical journal to which he was a con- tributor, the College which was always dear to him—here were his warm friends and patrons, that often welcomed his cheerful face at their bed-sides. It is not for me to dwell on his many and exalted virtues, for they are known to you all—would that he could have lived to be with us to-day. Well do I remember his last words as he bade us farewell in the city of Chicago, “we hope to have a glorious meeting in Philadelphia next year.” I know those words embody the sentiments of every member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy. * Compliments of the Author |Nrofessional jfellowship j69 1b. E. Beebe, (II), ºb. * ** $iomey), Qbic. Read before the Anglaize County, Ollio, Medical Society. Reprinted from Medical Century, May, 1907. PROFESSIONAL FELLOWSHIP. BY H. E. BEEBE, M. D., SIDNEY, OHIO. “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” —Goethe. & - g Some one said: “Men are made for society and mutual fellowship.” We are commanded by the Holy Scriptures to “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.” Webster defines fellowship as: “Companionship; society; mutual association of persons on equal and friendly terms; familiar intercourse.” - - * , From all of this we naturally infer true profes- sional fellowship to be companionship in our pro- ºfession according to the spirit of these quotations. Now, while this ideal friendship is not the type al- ways prevalent in the ranks of the profession, neither is it likely to rapidly become universal, yet we believe there is a decided improvement along this line of fellowship, a feature certainly most de- sirable. - - - The various organizations within the profession which have for their main purpose the bringing about conditions worthy of brotherhood, are doing more than anything else to establish a good friendly feeling, a type of fraternal fellowship that most broad and liberal minded members, actuated by a progressive spirit, are to-day endeavoring to incul- cate into the practice of all good doctors. . . . - The revival of this sentiment is plainly in evi- dence throughout the profession. Few places is it more apparent than in the Auglaize County Medi- cal Society, where the strictures embodied in this paper do not well apply. Would that all similar organizations had a Dr. C. Ludwig Mueller at the head; but they haven't for such active organizers are not found every day. * Progress and investigation are attributes of youth, and as this is the day of the young man we give the credit willingly for this progressive move- Iment towards an improved professional fellowship, largely to the younger element in the ranks of the profession. We old, conservative fellows ought to learn from this and try to keep up with the pro- cession. Such may be a little hard to do, for though we be veterans in the field, we are relegated to the rear, probably where we belong, by reason of long service. Like the old soldier who in his cam- paign oratory was depending upon his war record for political support. - a - A Revolutionary veteran, running for Congress in days before the Civil War, had as his oppo- nent a young man who had never been a soldier. In his speeches the Revolutionary hero made the most of his “record.” . : “Fellow citizens,” he would say, “I have fought and bled for my country. I have helped repulse the British tyrant. I have helped repel the savage Indian. I have slept upon the field of battle with no other covering than the canopy of heaven. I have plodded barefoot over the frozen ground until every footstep was marked with blood.” At the close of one of these speeches an old man wiping the tears from his eyes with the ends of his coat tails, elbowed his way up to the speaker. - “You’ve fought both the British an’ the Injuns?” he asked. “I have, sir.” “And you've slept on the ground without kivver?” “I have, sir.” “An' ye say that your feet have covered the ground ye walked on with blood?” “They have, sir,” said the 2 speaker, delighted that his words had made such a profound impression. - “Well, then,” said the old man turning away with a sigh of deep emotion, “I’m a-feered I’ll have to vote fur that other feller, fur I'll be gosh blamed if you ain't done enough fur yer country already.” Possibly it is considered that we veterans have done enough for our profession already. That which Inost opposes and antagonizes genu- ine good fellowship is not fair, honest competition, but it is rivalry and professional jealousy, probably better termed professional cussedness. - It is not a pleasant thing to bring these re- proaches against a noble profession, but the green- eyed monster, jealousy, does possess many of the obnoxious qualities that have too often crept into our fold and caused troubles where harmony and good feeling should exist. Far more greatful would it be if we could cover from sight these shortcom- ings, yet exposures are sometimes beneficial. ... We take it that this friendly criticism applies mostly to towns and rural districts, for, of course, in cities where medical and surgical lore and true fellowship are supposed to abound, unless medical colleges are located there, or hospitals, or rival specialists, or boards of health, or medical factions, or medical politics, it does not apply. - What is jealousy 2 "It is that passion or peculiar uneasiness which arises from the fear that another does something or will enjoy some advantages which we desire for ourselves. It is awakened by what- ever may exalt others, and is closely allied to envy. Shakespeare said: “Jealousy is the apprehension of superiority.” Rambler said: “Whoever had quali- ties to alarm our jealousy had excellence to deserve our fondness.” • Is there more jealousy, envy, rivalry and what 3 & º - might be termed scientific prejudice among the members of our profession than in other callings? Without watchful observation we, might be led to think that there is, but it will be found that these debasing faults pervade all kinds of business, all trades and professions. They are omnipresent. You may have them. I may have them. We all are susceptible. They seem to be a part of our nature. May be they are necessary to self-preserva- tion. g . . . . Physicians are the most sensitive persons on earth. Their feelings are so very easily hurt. How seldom do we see two village doctors on intimate terms, or if there be but one M. D. in the com- munity he is usually out of humor with himself. The two doctors converse and probably affiliate in a way, but the jealous rivalry is most visibly ap- parent. It is even manifest in the conduct of their. neighbors and patrons, for often the friends of one are enemies or nearly so of the other. “Oh, for the rarity Of medical charity, Under the sun.” . There does really seem to be an element about the practice of medicine that courts pessimism and fault-finding. Our continuous association with the sick, the gloomy and despondent certainly engend- ers this most deplorable fault. There is a ten- dency about it to spoil our amiable dispositions and make us skeptical of humanity's good qualities gen- erally. Mankind, by nature, is fearfully and wonder- fully selfish, fickle and capricious. In health this human quality is partially masked, is hidden, while in sickness it uncovers itself, stalking forth in all its . . 4 glory. In sickness people are themselves more than at any other time. We see them in their homes, as they are. their real selves, and not with their polished exterior only exposed to view. For this reason, mainly, we ought to be, and I believe are, better readers of human nature than the aver- age student, of sociology. - - After all, even though these things be true, and admitting that self-preservation is the first law of nature, let us observe and cherish it less in our own special relation towards our professional breth- ren. Injury to one member of the profession is the concern of all other members, and we should pro- tect each other in every manner possible. Remem- ber that selfishness is the seed of sorrow, and that generosity usually generates joy. . . • Doctors are given some little credit (not as much as they ought to have) for being the most generous and magnanimous of all men towards the dear people, and since this is unquestionably true, why are they not so with each other ? Why do they so often speak disparagingly of their professional brethren? Why are they so arrogant and dog- matic towards one another. Possibly the reason is because these noble qualities referred to are strong- ly expended upon their patients and but little is left for dissemination among themselves. “Doctors resemble very jealous lovers, One sneers at that the other one discovers; One may declare that he the truth decries, The other flatly tells you that he lies. The one announces that a new bacillus Will breed a pestilence and surely kill us; The other, laughing, says this mundane sphere, Minus the microbe, soon would disappear. One swears malaria will ever be 5 . The fountain head of each infirmity; . The other proves diseases to be fewer, . 'Mongst those who daily labor in the sewer, And so dogmatic doctors dodge the blow . . . . Which brother doctors on their heads bestow.” . . . . - (Helmuth.) Let us resolve to eagerly cultivate more charity for each other, that it may equal, yes excel, that, which we possess for our patients. Let acts show this spirit and not words alone. Mental freedom, charity for others’ views, is the order of the day, and liberty of medical opinion and action should be no exception. It is only by the exercise.of freedom that changes and improvements have ever been introduced into the practice of medicine, and herein, lies the only hope of continued improvement. We all too hastily and too freely criticise most, the ideas and things of which we know the least. There is no other calling of which the masses, either literate or illiterate, are so poorly and vaguely informed as they are on questions pertaining to our profession. The average person is prepared to intelligently discuss law, theology, finance, or the press, but as to the well-being of the physical man, either in health or disease, he is wholly lost for re- liablé knowledge. It is our bounden professional duty to aid in all ways possible in educating the people to know, themselves, thereby teaching them to respect all good physicians, and not their own family physician, alone. Let our motto be, speak no ill of a brother practician, and endeavor to teach the laity to follow out the same liberal spirit of charity towards all reputable doctors. There is nothing that can advance the standing of the pro- fession more and ſaid the cause of professional 'fel- lowship. . . . . - 6 “There is so much bad in the best of us, . . And so much good in the worst of us, . That it hardly behooves any of us To talk about the rest of us.”. The public ought to know, though we need not. egotistically, parade the information, that the true, physician is liberal, as a philanthropist he has no superior. He is the friend of the poor, the needy, the sick and the suffering. . . His heart and purse and time are ever responsive to the call of distress. He gives more to the cause of charity than any other class in the community, the church. not excepted. He esteems it a privilege, as well as a duty, to do his full share of charitable work. Our calling, is a manly, ennobling, up-lifting avocation, but at the same time one of the most exacting and least remunerative. . . . . - Permit us to quote from the Southern Medical and Surgical Journal a most beautiful peroration delivered by Mayor W. L. Frierson, of Chatta- nooga, in response to a toast, “The Good Physi- cian,” as follows: - - “The physician—Man's earliest and last earthly acquaintance—the faithful and silent repository of the most delicate secrets of life and the hôme, the medium through whom God brings to the service of man all the curative and restorative agencies with which the works of creation abound; a warrior thoughtless of his own life, leading the hosts of science against hostile diseases, bent on the destruc- tion of human life; a missionary preaching the gospel of redemption from habits which destroy the body, wearing worthily and keeping spotless the immaculate vestments of a profession whose sacred mission is to protect and prolong life, relieve suffer- ing, and whose service to man precedes the cradle 7. and ends with the grave, he is in the company of the earth’s most exalted, only among his peers.” The people often have false impressions regard- ing our professional work and knowledge. Not be- ing competent of judging correctly, they may ex- pect too much or too little of us. As to our knowl- edge, more frequently the profession is given great credit for knowing much more than we do know, or more than it is possible to find out. It may be better in some ways for the laity to remain in ignorance, but altoghether we think enlightenment will, and, in fact, is, prodding the profession to do- ing better things, and is teaching them to extend more charity in their conduct towards one another. Please excuse this seeming fault-finding, for we hope it is not jealousy that leads us to claim the right kind of professional ability is not always the physician's stock in trade, notwithstanding it should be such. The personality of the man himself is an important element to success in the practice of medicine. The fictitious skill, apparently so mark- edly manifest, consists too often in being, able to handle the credulous class of people by hiding what is not known rather than by displaying real posi- tive knowledge. Practice is a field where honest tact should be the fertilizer and not deception and hypocrisy. In our true professional fellowship we can by our actions and teachings, enlighten the public on that which is good and reliable, thereby bringing them to our aid in many ways, where we are needing their assistance in advancing our noble profession. r . A leading object of our medical societies, in ad- dition to that of comparing notes and assisting each other in our work, consists in endeavors to cast out the treachery, jealousy and selfishness so often prev- alent, thereby elevating the profession and creating 8 more room for closer social and professional fellow- ship. Cultivate the social and charitable features in our societies and among each other, both at home and abroad, ketting others see the good works and be governed accordingly. Certainly he who mingles too little with his pro- fessional brethren, as some are doing, devoting his time, alone with invalids, will, unless very much guarded, necessarily become overly narrow and self- ish. Though it may occasionally be best to let our light be hidden under a bushel, to the laity, let it shine forth brightly before our profession. Doc- tors are not different from other people only as their calling makes them so. Therefore, to estab- lish true genuine professional fellowship, let us strive more by being unselfish, honest and faithful in the exercise of our duties, every endeavoring to correct these censurable faults, so tending to rivalry and jealousy in our ranks, by looking and acting above these vices, for vices they surely are. We appeal particularly to the younger members of the profession to cultivate the catholic and noble spirit of Chillingworth : - “I will take no man’s liberty of judgment from him; nor shall any man take mine from me. I will love no man the less for differing in opinion from me; and what measure I mete to others I expect from them again.” - e Finally, let us never forget the celebrated ad- vice of Shakespeare: • , - - “To thine own self be true, And it must follow as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” February 14, 1907. . . . [Read before the Anglaize County, Ohio, Medi- cal Society.] - | THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE | ANNUAL ADDRESS D. H. BECP&WITH, M. D., - President of the State Board of Health, - prºvered IN CoLUMEUs, OHIO, september 24-, 1890. - COLUMBUs, O. : THE WESTROTE company, STATE PRINTERs. - -" 1891. e THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. ANNUAL ADDRESS BY D. H. BECKWITH, M. D., President of the State Board of Health, - DELIVERED IN COLUMEU’s, CHIO, © September 24, 1890. THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. By D. H. BECKw[TH, M. D. “Life is the gift of Godſand is divine.” GENTLEMEN: If the length of my remarks should correspond with the nature of my subject, I fear you would forestall my conclusions; and so, while wishing life were longer, you might wish addresses were shorter. But I promise you that, though a short address on a long subject may seem an anomaly, I shall endeavor to perform that rare feat this?evening. The desire for life is well nigh universal; here and there, we meet with men and women, who earnestly wish they were dead or could die. And we know that the statistics of suicide show an almost alarming number, who voluntarily put an end to their existence. These excep- tions, however, prove the rule. Men prefer living to dying. A few years '. ago the world was startled by Mr. Mallock, who propounded the question: “Is Life Worth Living?” His book had a wide circulation, and it has constituted a never-to-be-forgotton epoch in the history of human thought. We had all taken it for granted that life—except under extraordinary circumstances—was desirable. But you see, it was much like a firm doing business, involving a large amount of capital, employing a large number of men, consuming a variety of material, and manufacturing and selling certain kinds of goods. - Suppose you had such a firm before you, and you say to them : “Is it worth while to carry on your business?” And the firm replies: “Certainly it is. Look at our accounts. We have been in business ten years. Our yearly balance sheet shows a big amount in excess on the credit side.” **, - Nów, human life is a transaction, involving large and important interests. We are each busily working out the results. r These results are two: On the debit side is pain; on the credit side is pleasure. And we all keep going on, with only the vaguest idea as to the results, viewed from a business stand-point. * Mr. Mallock's query set us all on a new track of thinking. Its answer was equivalent to making up a balance sheet of our lives, and so find, if we could, whether the debit or the credit side was the larger. In other words, does life give us more pleasure than pain? For more than a decade this question has held a foremost place in the minds of thinkers. our literature has been flooded with answers. Sermons have been preached; books have been printed; pamphlets have been written and orations have been delivered, in order to settle this vexing question. Poets, too, have had their say. Burns in a fit of despondency cries: “Oppressed with grief, oppressed with care, A burden more than I can bear I set me down and sigh : O Life, thou art a galling load Along a rough and weary road To wretches such as I.” I know at least one satisfactory reply. A humorist was asked, Is life worth living? and he promptly replied: “That depends upon the liver.” " Well, leaving out the liver, and the stomach too, for that matter, together with the nerves, we have to meet this question on the broad ground everywhere occupied by the human race, before we can go on with the discussion of the subject we have especially taken in hand. We may state it : - THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. © Now, whether there be any use in giving time and attention to such a subject, depends. If life is not worth living, we need not concern our- selves about prolonging it. Under that condition, we might better seek after The Art of Shortening Life. - I think some one—a Frenchman most likely—has written a book on “Suicide as a Fine Art.” I suppose we would none of us care to give it a study. We all prefer to live, but wherefore? Well, suppose we decide that life is worth living; we know the inexorable law of Nature, that life must end in death. We know also, that a wise man said: Our years are three score years and ten, expressing thereby, the physiological limit set to the life of man. Do you know that this estimate, made many thousands of years ago, shows a wonderful knowledge on the part of its author? Since his day, Science has taken hold of the question and the result of the most elaborate and careful observations has been to place the physiological limit of human life just where this wise Jew placed it—three score years and ten. - The death of man, comes with the death of all living things, as a law of Nature. He is worn out, and ceases therefore to continue. It was once thought that physical death was caused by a special decree of the Almighty. There may be those who still think that if it had not been for sin, the body of man would have remained immortal. Now, suppose that this were the case, we have the question easily nswered: the art of prolonging life is simply to cease sinning. ... ' '. . . - - - ... . . . - - * * | ; - . X- . . . . r , - : "… º. - . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . r * * * . • * -, - - * - * . tº r - - - - | ... . / • * , , - - • . . . - * . To be sure we have a class among us, quite modern, who avow this openly, not as a philosophic truth merely, but as a thoroughly practical fact, and one applied to disease as easily as to death. ,, . .” Our answer to this is: If your theory be true prove it by demonstra- tion. - * : The nature and causes of the death of the body are questions that lie within the province of natural science. Now, what does science say? It says: Every form of life has its special type of existence. From the tiny object that sports a short hour in the sunbeam, and then dies, to the pondrous elephant, whose life covers more than a century, we have, I say, between these, a myriad of beings, each class of which follows its own type; has its definite limit of existence, and, like man, “dies when its time comes.” - Gentlemen, this is the source of the unity and harmony of Nature. Only in this way, can Nature maintain an equilibrium of existence, among the innumerable creatures that swarm the surface of the earth. I shall not attempt to settle Mr. Mallock's question, by any irrefragi- ble demonstration. It can never be made plain to every body, that life is worth what it costs to prolong it. , I believe that the love of life is instinctive in every human being. Only by some dreadful catastrophe, whether it be like the explosion of dynamite, or like the insidious and fatal work of dry rot—only until calamity or decay has done its worst, does the largest or the most insig- nificant soul lose it's love of live. Yet not all. - “When all the blandishments of life are gone The coward sneaks to death.” But one more nobly sings: “Tell me not in mournful numbers Life is but an empty dream.” And loving it, what more natural than its continuance should be, if possible, preserved. This was the wild dream of centuries ago. When Ponce de Leon crossed unknown seas in search of the fountain that would give eternal youth, he was driven by the breath of many ages, whose sighs for immortality had been blowing across centuries. DeLeon has had many successors who, not daunted by his failures, still pursue the ever eluding ignis fatww8. The old alchemist, who in the privacy of his cell, sought for that touchstone that could turn all baser metals to gold, kept his eye always on the possibility of finding that wonderful something which would for- ever cheat old age and death. The most modern exemplification of this - hope, which has never quite died out of the human bråst, was the almost universal craze in the use of Dr. Brown Sequard's Elixir of Life. * This venerable Parisian doctor doubtless thought he had found what, in all ages, had been sought for: “The Art of Prolonging Life.” Scarcely had he whispered it to the air before the swift telegraph car- ried it to the bounds of civilization; and, not waiting to learn the exact conditions of his method, thousands of physicians—educated and experi- enced men, whom we might suppose knew something of the laws of pathology and physiology—siezed upon the idea, with the zeal of men living in the Dark Ages, and vainly attempted to defeat the laws of na- ture by giving to hopelessly diseased and worn out bodies a new and indefinite lease of life. How futile the effort We may easily cheat our fellow-men, we may shuffle and play our cards—pardon the illustration, gentlemen, so as to secure a prize against odds, we may delude the weak and snatch ill-gotten gains from the ignorant, but, gentlemen, we can not cheat death. * * } Over against this law of limitation, which nature has decreed as to the life of man, we may set the frequent but yet anomalous occurrences- of lives greatly prolonged beyond the normal limit. The latest I have seen is that of a man still living at the age of 127. It is, however, con- sidered a matter of no small interest when we find a man or woman reaching the age of 100. But while we find with great frequency persons of 75 or 80 years we never fail to note that they are always “in the sere and yellow leaf.” 4 - - In years gone by they bravely mounted the rising hill of life, youth and ambition giving wings to their feet, until, like the sun which rose in grandeur and swept upward from horizon to zenith, they stand at the summit of life, the highest type of all that is glorious on earth: “'Tis the greatest thing, I think, to be a man. Man fells the forests, plows and tills the fields, And heap the granaries that feed the world. At his behest swift commerce spreads her wings, And tires the sinewy sea-bird as she flies, Fanning the solitude from clime to clime. Smoke-crested cities rise beneath his hand And roar through ages with the din of trade. Steam is the fleet-winged herald of his will. - # # # % #: A And with one foot upon the conquered sea, And one upon the conquered land proclaims That space shall be no more. —— 'Tis a great thing to be a man.” } . . . . . ... '" ... }. - " ...” " . . " - * * & - - n . . . r" & ' , " . . . . ** : * \, , , - . * , - . . . . . . . .' " 6 - \ - - gº .4 - • ‘ ‘ - - - r - - - - 3. .." - - . - . - . . . . . . . . . . . . { - - - - - : º - g - - - - - “Time and tide wait for no man.” The acme gained, forthwith and . without delay the descent begins. Gray hairs adorn the brow; ominous wrinkles make the face more calm and sedate, and just as imperceptibly as the babe grew to be a man, so the man, almost unnoticed, comes at last to old age. “'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine; And after one hour more 't will be eleven. And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe, And then from hour to hour we rot and rot.” This idea, so truthfully expressed by our king of poets, is far more beautifully expressed by another: “*— age, that melts with unperceived decay, And glides in modest innocence away ; Whose peaceful day benevolence endears, Whose night congratulating conscience cheers; The general favorite as the general friend. Such age there is, and who shall wish it end ?” And here, gentlemen, we are carried back to our original question. If we earnestly set about prolonging human life which of the “seven stages” shall it be? Shall we have our infancy indefinitely extend, so that, having lived to five and forty years, a man would still be “An infant, mewling and puking In the nurse's arms ?” ** Beautiful as a babe may be, we must reject on purely business grounds, the idea of such prolonged nursing. Would you have youth kept at ‘kite and top and ball, or carrying books and slate to school, through long years? Ah, what a paradise this would be for pedagogues? Would you have our beautiful maidens and our noble boys go on for years skating, dancing, flirting and love-making, forced to do it because they were obliged to wait so long before they could assume the nobler duties of life? - Surely, you would not ask that men and women grown to maturity, who had spent years in the arduous duties of life—you would not ask that they should be kept like galley-slaves at the oar for many years to come, with the fruition of their life's work put far away in the future? Gentlemen, there is such a thing as being tired. An hour's rest may renew youth; a day's rest may suffice for maturity, but there comes a time when this body of ours gets tired clear through, and it needs must have such years of rest as only old age can give to it. Said a good woman, who had reached this limit: “O, I long for the time when I can put on . a clean apron and sit down in the kingdom of heaven.” - “Shoot him on the spot,” said the brave General Dix. “Aye, aye sir,” responded the soldier, “but which spot?” So difficult will it be for us to select what part of life to prolong. ~. Need I go on ? The octogenarian stands like a solitary oak, in a wide Waste, where its companions have long since fallen and crumbled to dust. What is human life worth? Ask the god Mars, when he leads his battalions to war; ask the pestilence when it sweeps over the land; ask the cyclone; ask the mad conflagration. They will tell you life is cheap. But, gentlemen, with advancing civilization the value of human life is steadily appreciating. - x We have awakened to a realizing sense of our duties in saving life.’ Sanitary science is born—the noblest daughter of the 19th century, and she is now, nobly laboring to save the human race from premature death. Already she has done a great work and yet she is but just begun. Would you prolong life? give sanitary science your ardent support. She builds a great wall of safety around our happy homes and she hovers like a protecting angel over the cradle of our children. - Gentlemen, if I would redeem my pledge I must hasten to a close. The art of prolonging life is no secret. It is as plain as the shining sun. .The art of prolonging life, is obedience to the laws of nature. Do you want a modern Moses to show you these laws written on stony tablets? I fear if he were to come, he would break his tablets over the head of the golden calf, which we all are worshiping in defiance of the laws of nature. Why should we live rebellious all our lives and hope to escape just punishment by complaint or penitence? Prayers will not save you; medicine will not save you, only obedience. And this means so much, I must beg you to excuse me from entering into a discussion of it. But if I am expected to afford you, through this address, any 'clue to the art of prolonging life, then I have to say, obey the laws of Sanitary Science. They have the power to prolong our lives and to protect the lives of our children. There was a time when doctors alone were expected to know any thing about sanitation. Against their own interest in the matter of dollars and cents, they have worked hard to develop and spread abroads the knowledge of the laws of health, and the prevention of disease. All this knowledge is now given to the world. Books, pamphlets, addresses, have been printed and freely given almost without money and without. price. If men who spend years in making money, would only spend a * * few hours in studying hygiene, they might, perhaps, live to enjoy what they have made. If books on sanitary laws, on rearing children, caring for the home, food, ventilation, dress, exercise and other sanitary topics were in all our libraries, on our center tables, what boundless profit it would be to us all. Ten, twenty and a thousand fold it would return to the world. But now in conclusion, gentlemen, “That life is long which answers life's great end.” “We live in deeds, not years, in thoughts not breaths, In feelings, not in figures on a dial. - We should count time by heart throbs; he most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.” # tº i t . 3 The Benefits and Fallacies of Wivisection. BY H. F. Biggar, M.D., Cleveland, Ohio. Reprint from MEDICAL GENTURY June, 1911. THE BENEFITs AND FALLACIES OF VIVISECTION. THE BENEFITS. IVISECTORS state that vivisection has proved of great service to mankind and ani- mals, and cite the following statistics as some of the results of animal experimentation: In diphtheria the late statistics show a mor- tality of only 6 per cent. and even I.5 per cent., and some report only 5 per cent, whereas pre- vious to the use of the toxin the mortality was 36 per cent. ; for cerebro-spinal meningitis the mortality for epidemic form is now only 25 per cent, to 19 per cent., and even 9 per cent., where- as formerly it was 90 per cent. before the serum treatment was discovered. These are some of the claims of vivisectors: Through its practice have resulted a serum for sarcoma which has proved highly beneficial ; serum for inoperable cancer; a serum for typhoid that shortens the disease nine days and shortens residence in the hospital seventeen days; a serum that has lessened the mortality of child-bed (puerperal) fever; sera for malignant anthrax of sheep and chicken and hog cholera; a serum for the disease of the silk worm ; a serum for tetanus; a serum for meningitis; sera and vac- cines for cholera, bubonic plague and tuberculo- sis. Discoveries made concerning the complex nature of snake bite, progress made in the work combating infantile paralysis, important discov– eries in connection with the process of digestion, researches in the problem of milk supply, injec- tion of magnesium salts in the narcotizing effects on nerve fibres are the result of animal experi- mentation. In every dread germ disease im- portant research work has been done and is now done looking toward the discovery of an efficient: Two ...” antitoxin for cancer, the black plague and hook- worm, vaccines for very many infectious dis- eases; other diseases might be mentioned where the mortality has been lowered due to vivisection. Vivisectors assert that institutes for research give promise of adding to the brilliant achieve- ments already recorded and of helping to lighten still further the burden of suffering borne by afflicted humanity. - oBJECTIONS BY THOSE OPPOSED TO ANIMAL Ex- PERIMENTATION. Vivisection has not added one scrap of solid knowledge to the store we were already in pos- session of derived from legitimate experience, and experiments on animals of different species, so far from tending to useful results, have a ten- dency to mislead us, that the opening of animals. has done more to perpetuate error than to con- firm the just views taken from the study of anatomy. What is true of one species of the human races in respect to functional phenomena is not necessarily true of another, on account of the differences in structure, habit, disposition, etc., the physiological experiments on animals are more liable to fallacies than any other, that in experiments on animals it is often impossible to tell how far the shock of the operation may viti- ate the results, that pathological experiments must afterward be tried on a man before a con- clusion could be drawn. Vivisectionists have a habit of appropriating what has been discovered by other methods, and that the treatment of dis- ease cannot be judged from the inspection of healthy functions. Someone has appropriately said that this is the only professed science that lives on excuses. THE VIEws OF THE ANTIVIVISECTIONISTs IN RESPECT To ANAESTHETICS. • . - r ſº The effectiveness of anaesthesia as applied to vivisection is, on the whole, a sham and delusion. THREE Regarding chloroform, nothing can be more uncertain than its influence upon the lower ani- mals. Complete and conscientious anaesthesia is seldom ever attempted. - - - The testimony before the royal commission was, it is the greatest delusion to suppose that while an animal lived and was being experiment- ed on it was insensible. - The reflex action of the nerves cannot be got from animals insensible from anaesthetics or narcotics. When anaesthetics interfere with due results, which is the case about half the time, no anaes- thetics are given. Experiments on animals did not and could teach nothing, for operations have been performed on thousands of animals every year for centuries and nothing whatever has been learned from this wholesale vivisection. There is no condition of experimentation possible, with the influence of anaesthetics, from which just conclusions can be formed. The thing is ridicu- lous. - ſ THE VIEWS OF THE ANTIVIVISECTIONISTS IN RESPECT TO THE CRUELTIES INFLICTED. It is not necessary or essential to cite instances of brutal cruelty resulting from the pursuit of vivisection. Unfortunately there are many, yes too many, well authenticated instances. They claim, and justly, that man has no right to gratify an idle and purposeless curiosity through the practice of cruelty. That the vivisectors who cut, torture and mutilate in the name of science disgrace our age. They excite the horror and in- dignation of all good people. Those who are in- capable of pitying animals are incapable of pity- ing men. The act of cold blooded and calcu- lating men of science who make experimerits on brute creation, perhaps merely from a sort of curiosity, shows cowardice as well as cruelty. There is something so very dreadful, so satanic in tormenting those who never harmed us, who FOUR cannot defend themselves, who are devoid of speech, and are utterly in our power. Some vivi- sectors have boasted of the thousands of animals that they individually have used up in their so- called greed for knowledge of one sort or an- other. The rights of animals have yet to be vindicated. THE VIEWS OF THE ANTIVIVISECTIONISTS IN RE- SPECT TO THE MORAL EFFECT UPON MAN- KIND. That vivisection is not only conducive to cruelty, but the sympathetic impressions caused by the sight of suffering growing weaker while the pleasure in experimenting becomes stronger, as a logical sequence there is bred blind indiffer- ence, carelessness and callousness which insidu- ously deteriorate the moral character. Many physiologists when engaged in vivisec- tion do not hear the animal’s cries of pain, do not see the blood that flows. They see nothing but their ideas. Consequently the worst result of vivisection is the evil that the reactionary effect has on the man who practices it. The vivisector suffers whether he knows it or not. He has im- mersed his hands in innocent blood. Life has become to him cheap and common. Something divine has died in his soul. He has become more hard and brutal. He has gained his knowledge by the degradation of his moral character. This moral condition of unscrupulous vivisectionists. must have its effect on the community in three different ways—(a) directly on the sick, (ºby example to students and others, (c) on sºlet and posterity. º, That the practice of cutting upon living #if: mals, literally the practice of dissecting them alive in the supposed interest of science, which is called vivisection, is to be condemned—(a) be- cause there is really no necessity for it, (b) be- cause it has proved to be not only useless but mis- leading, (c) because it takes the place of other FIVE \ A methods of study and observation which are definitely preferable and to which no one can possibly object, (d) because it is gross and cruel abuse of the power which God has given us over the lower animals. THE WRITER’s VIEWS. Having thoroughly examined both sides of the subject of vivisection, and in previous articles having plead the cause of the noble dog, and given the opinion of leading representative men on the sacrificing of animals for scientific pur- poses, the writer desires to give his own conclu- sions in regard to this question. “No man is so thoroughly right as to be en- titled to say that others are totally wrong. It is well to affirm your own truth, but it is not well to condemn those who think differently.” - We must admire the honest investigator even though we may differ from him. We must re- spect him if not fully agreeing with his opinions. Some of the most eminent physicians, surgeons and humanitarians who formerly were opposed to vivisection, having become better informed, and convinced of its benefits, have had the cour- age to change their views and are not now op- posed to vivisection. “I will utter what I believe to-day if it should contradict all I said yester- day,” once said a very eminent and progressive ~ecclesiastic. “Among the best men are diver- sities of opinions, which should no more in true reason breed hatred than that one that loves black should be angry with him, that is clothed in white; for thoughts are the very apparel of the mind.” The true physician seeks to cure not to support a system or theory. He is broad and liberal minded and ready to grasp the good. In all things reason should prevail where lives are at stake, for life is the loftiest consummation of all natural energy, and human life well lived should be the supreme object of human interest; there- SIX fore, the effort of the medical profession should be to remove disease, preserve human energy and prolong life. - It is obvious we should “prove all things, hold fast that which is good,” and render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto vivisection the benefits to humanity resulting from animal experimentation. These benefits are shown by comparing results with other methods for the cure of formidable diseases and credit should be given to the vivisectors for the good they have done—it is their due. Statistics are the only fair basis for arriving at a correct conclusion. True, statistics are not always reliable, but it is the only means we have to determine results. If statistics show that in certain diseases methods derived from vivisec- tion have saved more lives than any form of medicament let us be fair and acknowledge the benefits. Unquestionably there are evidences of the benefits of vivisection, for without animal ex- perimentation we would not have the sera treat- ment for diphtheria, cerebro-spinal meningitis, \the black and white plague, cancer, the sleeping sickness, tuberculosis, tetanus, rabies, the hook worm, brain localization (signal symptom) and other fatal diseases. Before the antitoxin for diphtheria was introduced the mortality was 35 in every hundred and now later reports give only I in 200. In cerebro-spinal meningitis the mortality was 90 in every hundred and now there are not more than 25 in a hundred and even 19 in a hundred, and some report only 9 in a hun- dred. In these two diseases alone have not the Sera treatment proved efficacious to the saving of thousands of human lives? It is true that the cause and remedy of cancer has not yet been discovered, but there can be no doubt that re- searches along that line have almost solved the problem and there is every assurance that they will eventually be found. And the same for SEVEN sleeping sickness, which has proved fatal to hun- dreds of thousands. • Many diseases have been conquered through vivisection, but some of the mystery as yet re- mains unsolved. - It is not necessary to show the superior results of vivisection in other desperate diseases over other methods, which could be shown if neces- sary. It has been equally beneficial from a com- mercial view to the animal kingdom in the an- thrax of sheep and in the cholera of hogs. Are not these statistics sufficiently convincing that animal experimentation has been beneficial both to the human as well as to the animal king- dom? The discoveries of sera for diphtheria, cere- bro-spinal meningitis and others was not the re- sult of accident but of scientific research. Sci- entific discoveries, as of cocaine and chloroform, it is true, were of accident. The pathologists in their research work are making strenuous efforts to improve their sera which would still lessen the mortality. Many opposed to vivisection believe that the statements of the vivisectors are not altogether reliable when they proclaim discoveries for the relief of human suffering. It is too true that many of the reports are not reliable. Many of the vivisectors have not the true spirit for the advancement of medical science and conse- quently are severely criticized and their work thoroughly discredited, for they claim originality and priority in some of the problems for discov- eries that are already known and obtained by other methods. There are fallacies in vivisection—many so called discoveries that have not endured the test of clinical experience, and that have not been useful in alleviating human suffering and pro- longing and saving life. Too frequently the most horrible experiments are performed to de- termine the most trivial facts, evidently carried EIGHT. on for the interest and pleasure of the research and the reputation it gives to the operator. Cru- elties are inflicted and many animals ruthlessly and unnecessarily tortured for hours or days or even weeks in experimentation to solve some problematical idea. The tireless daring with which some are now tracking the great plagues of mankind by the white light of science are commendable and we sincerely trust that they may be strengthened in the consciousness that their calling is holy. Certainly no one in touch with modern re- search would hesitate for an instant to phace in the very fore the magnificent work of our well equipped laboratories for research. There can be no more noble work than is found in the en- deavors of intelligent students to conquer any antagonist that has been the cause of suffering and death. Truly too much praise cannot be given to either the investigator himself or to the donor who has made investigations possible. The investigator should be encouraged to become better acquainted with any knowledge that is for the advantage of all living creatures. The world is indebted to leading scientists who are humanity's benefactors. We must not for- get the great work accomplished by Carrell, La- zier, Reed, Rickets and a score of others who have sacrificed their lives in efforts to relieve human sufferings and restore life. These heroes have done much for the advancement of medical Science. It is largely through the efforts of sci- entists that the average of human life has in- creased. Three hundred years ago, in Europe, the average length of human life was nineteen years. It has increased with particular rapidity during the last half century, until now the aver- age life of man is forty years. In Sweden, where the greatest governmental interest exists in the problems of public health, the average span of life has reached fifty-two years. NINE THE WRITER’s CONCLUSIONS. First—That from animal experimentations sera have been discovered that have proved bene- ficial in saving thousands and tens of thousands who were afflicted with desperate formidable dis- eases. Without experiments on animals the medical profession could never have accomplish ed the results that have been secured. Second—That there are many honest and con- scientious vivisectors whose aim and purpose are for alleviating suffering and saving life. Third—That the efforts of capable and honest vivisectors to discover remedies in many of the formidable diseases are most praiseworthy and should be encouraged. That the donors who make possible the work of the vivisectors are among the greatest of all benefactors to humani- tarians, for through research the arch enemy, disease, is conquered and lives are prolonged and saved. . Fourth—That in animal experiments unneces- sary cruelties have been inflicted and animals are unnecessarily slaughtered. Many scores of dogs are slaughtered in the laboratories of medical colleges for no other object than for grandstand exhibition with no beneficial results to medical science. The unnecessary and unwarranted cru- elties to animals have aroused the sympathy of humanitarians, who with just reason have con- demned these atrocious acts and unhesitatingly regard “Vivisection as the Inquisition—the Hell —of Science.” - Fifth–There is too much time consumed in the laboratory. If many vivisectors would study the materia medica there would be less nihilism in therapeutics, less mistakes in diag- noses and less mortality. The vivisectors spend much time in cultivating elaborate diagnosis but neglect their main business as healers and miti- gators of disease. The two great questions in medicine when confronted at the bedside are, TEN first, what will do good; the other of less im- portance, what is the matter? Too many chase after scientific facts and are satisfactorily elated if their ante-mortem conclusions are confirmed by a post-mortem examination. g Sixth—That too many vivisectors work for notoriety or commercialism. They torture and slaughter and do not have the spirit even of a sportsman who always gives an animal a chance for its life. They are virtually degenerate vivi- sectors and charlatans of the most pronounced type, who, screened behind professorial positions in reputable medical colleges, use this means when posing as scientific researchers for the alle- viation of human suffering. Much that is digni- fied with the name of research is worthless work that benefits neither the investigator nor the world. Evidently Job 13:4 referred to this class of physicians, “But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.” Seventh—That rigid restrictions should be placed upon those who vivisect and license granted to those only who are explicitly capable and honest in their work, and they should give assurance that all animals are protected from suffering. A writer in the London Times advo- cates organized scientific research and makes a strong plea for the formation of a research co- ordination committee to organize the whole field of scientific research. “Abstracts of reports and summarized conclusions would be embodied in the proceedings of the institutions covered, it would, however, be a moral obligation upon all to communicate details of what they had found to be futile,” consequently all unnecessary ex- perimentation would stop and all unnecessary torture to the animals end. . Eighth—That there would be less opposition to animal experimentation if the animals were \ not tortured and that many antivivisectionists now oppose vivisection because they are not cor- rectly informed as to the benefits resulting. Ig- ELEVEN _norant and persistent hostility against the hu- mane studies, which have done so much for the services of mankind, is unpardonable and deplor- able. * Ninth—That it is manifest that the practice of vivisection is wrong, far reaching in its degener- ity may be found in persons of very high position as physiologists. That it is because these sav- ageries are committed by men who are respected and admired that they are so utterly dangerous to our national mortality. It is evident that this hardening of the sympa- thetic nature of the physician is liable to react upon the sick under his charge in careless and unfeeling treatment. . The same mental temperament and condition that delights in experiments on subhuman ani- mals would prompt the practitioner to experi- ment on a patient. Now, two questions present themselves. What is the remedy to prevent uncesessary suf- fering of animals and how may vivisection be regulated and restricted? In regard to animals, “Their cause I plead— plead it in heart and hand—A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind.” e Of course the saving of human lives is of more consideration than the torturing or killing of many animals. At the same time if any other methods could be substituted with equally suc- cessful results they should by all means be re- sorted to. In some cases other methods of re- search have proved satisfactory, as in shock and anastomoses of vessels. - Vivisectors have unwisely invited antagonism by relegating the detractors to the class of feeble minded or hysterical sentimentalists which is un- fortunate, unjust and unkind. Many would not oppose vivisection if they had the knowledge and assurance that the animals were not necessarily abused. The abuses in respect to cruelties, com- mercialism and incompetency should be cor- TWELVE rected. Vivisection should be limited and under strict surveillance. The animals should be pro- tected by law. At present the manner of protec- tion is a problem. Different restrictions have been enacted to which there have been and are many objections. The present method of procurcing dogs for vivisection is liable to great abuse, that inhuman- ating and debasing influence and should be cor- rected. As it now is children or bums steal the animals and sell to the laboratories, and the pro- ceeds are squandered. Let every child or person selling a dog be required to give his or her name and address and to tell how and from where the dog has been procured. If a wrong name should be given let the law inflict some suitable punish- ment. Let the vivisector purchasing a dog for vivisection give his name and address and state for what purpose intended and sign a pledge that the dog will be cared for before operated upon, that the dog shall not be tortured before, during or after the operation, and let the law require sufficient anaesthetic to be given that its effects may last during the entire operation. Let the penalty for non-compliance be severe enough to insure obedience to the law. Animals should be properly cared for by legal inspection and proper restrictions. Vivisectors should have license for promoting the work. The donors by their magnificent and princely endowments of laboratories and those having authority in research work should demand better protection for animals. These donors and custodians must not be impressed by the labora- tory reports that there is no cruelty inflicted in animal experimentation. Reports are often given from a biased standpoint and are consequently misleading. If animal experimentation is necessary to save human life let us use righteously and not abuse the powers which God has given us over the lower animals. THIRTEEN If animal experimentation is necessary let it be done properly, for he sins who needlessly gives pain to any living thing. Donors should be encouraged in their noble efforts to assist the investigator to relieve suf- ferings and save life, for “He who saves a life has done mightily.” It has been said that “he who plants a tree is a benefactor; though he may never enjoy its shade or gaze upon its full-grown splendor, yet he is doing what he can to make the world a more wholesome and happier dwell- ing place for those who come after.” How much greater a benefactor is he who, by his munificent financial endowments to research institutions, makes investigations possible than he who plants a tree. He is not only a benefac- tor but he is a humanitarian of the highest type, for his deeds will live forever, and nations shall rise up and call him blessed. -± . . ~~ ~ . ~º: . -* -– ! - - - - - - % BETTER LAWS, BETTER COLLEGES, BETTER DOCTORS. H. F. BIGGAR. CLEVELAND, OHIO, FEBRUARY, 1899. (Reprint from the American Homeopathist, February, 1899.) BETTER LAWS, BETTER COLLEGES, BETTER . DOCTORs. H. F. BIGGAR, M.D., Cleveland, Ohio. 3. A retrospect of medical teachings and general advance- ment of the profession during the last quarter of a century is very gratifying. There can be no question as to this statement, for much has been accomplished. The watch- word of the hour is to elevate the standard of medical col- leges and give greater protection to the members of the profession. This is echoed and re-echoed throughout the land by the medical journals, representing the different systems of medicine, by scholarly physicians and by the interested members of the laity. The great question is, how shall it be accomplished P - - ; g Through correspondence with those deeply interested in this, the vital question of the hour, suggestions have been received, plans and methods have been formulated which aim to solve this vexed and difficult question. With some the question is left with the colleges, with others the preceptors, and some others suggest legislation as the best means to improve the profession. - An alumnus of the Cleveland Homeopathic College would change the government of the college as follows: I would have an Examining Board not primarily for the applicant but for the medical college. g I would make the requirements so strong that only men who possessed recognized ability should occupy its chairs; and whose presence would be a guarantee of the character of the man they would recommend for graduation. - I would have its faculty in no way connected with the business management of the college; only respon- sible to a board of control composed of two classes: I. Physicians elected by the alumni; and 2. Thor- 2 \ - k. s s .* f s ough-going business or professional men (not medical), also elected by the alumni. This board of control should examine by its appointed representatives, or censors, all applicants for graduation (not admission); and their judgment to be final. . - - I would have a State examining board of physi- cians, which should be both elective and appointive. The Governor of the State appointing as he has done; and this number to be complemented by an equal number elected by the alumni of each college in the State. * - Should the number of the colleges in the State render such board unwieldly, the alumni of the dif- ferent colleges of like practice to unite in making the selection. The special function of this board of examiners should be to have a censorship over all medical col- leges in the State; and to prescribe the preliminary requirements of all applicants; which should be the same for all medical colleges. Thus I would make the work of the State Board at the beginning of the medical course; and make the alumni of each institution responsible for the grade and character of the men they permit to practice—by graduating them. - [The editor begs to add that he has seen the original of this communication and has himself transcribed the letter for use of the printers. And this alumnus is one of the most advanced, most conscientious, and most thoroughly Homeopathic practitioners now in the borders of Ohio.] Another plan is by legislation. Do any of the State medical boards meet the full requirements? My acquaint- ance with the laws of some of the States governing the practice of medicine has been a very pleasant surprise, more especially since I have investigated and learned that the laws of Ohio are so rigidly enforced and so carefully guarded by the members of the medical board. The mem- bers of the medical board are entitled to and should re- ceive a hearty support and co-operation from the physi- cians in the efforts of the members to make the laws more perfect. If I may criticise the medical laws of Ohio, it would be: First.—That the examination of the matriculates in medicine should be by a State board; if successful they may attend any medical college which may be elected. 2- 3 Secondly.—That the curriculum and trne of study shall be the same in each and every college, except those studies pertaining to the theory and practice and materia medica of the different systems of medicine. Thirdly.—That a license to practice medicine shall be given by the State medicol board after satisfactory exam- ination. That a diploma from any reputable college ob- tained in any part of the world shall only permit the can- didate to enter the examination before the State board for a license to practice medicine. - - One of the best medical laws extant of any State or country is the Ontario medical law. The following is a synopsis of the plan: - The medical board is to be empowered by law to legis- late upon all matters pertaining to the profession of medi- C1 Ile. : Some of the most important matter which would devolve upon the board would be: - 1st. To examine all matriculates in medicine. 2nd. To arrange a common curriculum of subjects, in- cluding the number of years in attendance, for all the medical colleges for the four years respectively, except such as refer to the teachings of theory and practice and materia medica of the different systems of medicine. 3rd. To examine all candidates for “the finals.” 4th. To issue a license to practice medicine to those only who have complied with the requirements of the board. - 5th. To examine every physician locating in the State before license shall be granted to practice medicine. 6th. To look after the general interests of the profes- sion. The board to be composed of thirty members (more or less), each college to be represented by one member, and in addition the Regulars ten members, the Homeopaths five members, the Eclectics four members, the physio- medics one member, on a basis of representation by regis- tration. - • * The members of the medical board to be elected by the registerd physicians of the State. Each district to select one member of the board. The State to be divided into five districts for the Regulars, five districts for the Homeo- paths, four districts for the Eclectics, and the State as one for the Physiomedics; all as district representatives, whose terms of effice shall be regulated by by-laws of the board. *, g This, we believe, will begin an era for the permanent ad- vancement of medical education for the following reasons: I. The matriculates in medicine will be examined by the board; if successful they may attend any medical col- lege which may be elected. - II. The curriculum of study will be in common in all of the medical colleges, except those studies pertaining to theory and practice and materia medica of the different systems of medicine. III. The diplomas from medical colleges, to be given as before, will be merely certificates admitting the candi- dates who have completed the prescribed curriculum of study, to the examination for “the finals.” The board to have semi-annual sessions, each sitting a week, if necessary. The expenses of the members of the board and expenses pertaining thereto to be met by a tax of $2.oo (more or less) per annum, upon each physician in the State, and the fees from registration, from matricu- lates, and candidates for “the finals,” and other physi- cians locating in the State—no fee for the new registra- tion to be collected from those registered under the act of 1896- - It would be well if the same medical laws should govern the different States of the Union, that the examination of matriculates, that the curriculum and time of study should be the same, except those studies pertaining to theory and practice of medicine and materia medica of the different systems of medicine, and that the examinations for ‘‘the finals '' should be the same. Then with medical laws in common with each and all of the States, a license to prac- tice medicine from any one State should entitle the phy- sician to practice medicine in any State on presentation of this license to the medical board of that State. Is it not possible to have a national law regulating the curriculum of study and the practice of medicine? Such a law would elevate the medical profession. If the require- ments are similar in each State, there would be more honor having a diploma from a medical college than there is now from many of the present unnecessary and ineffi- cient medical schools. With a national law the candidates for government and political positions, as well as examin- ers on pension boards and life insurance companies, would be on an equal footing, irrespective of the different sys- tems of practice. 2. - The views of an alumnus refer to the advancement of the medical teachings, by changing the government of 5 colleges. Would not advancement take place more thor- oughly and surely and permanently through the legisla- ture than through the colleges P. It appears to me that there should be no difficulty in accomplishing all that is desired along this line if the profession can agree on some plan of action which will not antagonize members of the profession, or systems of medicine or medical colleges. Give us something which will advance the cause and ele- vate the profession. It should not be discouraged if ob- stacles are presented and years should pass before success is attained. It is a worthy cause and should be free from selfish motive or petty jealousies and should succeed. NOTE BY DR. EGGLESTON, MT. VERNON, O. At its meeting in May, 1896, the State board of medical registration and examination passed the following as one of the “requirements demanded of medical colleges '': “Resolved, That on and after July 1st, 1899, no medical college will be recognized as in good standing which does not require the entrance qualification prescribed by the Association of American Medical Colleges, as a prerequisite for matriculation, which does not possess an adequate equipment for teaching medicine, which has not clinical and hospital facilities based upon a minimum munici- pal population of fifty thousand, and which does not have an active faculty embracing the departments of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia medica and ther- apeutics, medicine, surgery, obstetrics, histology, path- ology, bacteriology, ophthalmology and otology, gynecol- ogy, laryngology, hygiene and State medicine, which does not enjoin attendance upon eighty per cent. of four regu- lar courses of instruction, of not less than twenty-six weeks each, in four different years, and which does not exact an average grade of seventy-five per cent. on an ex- amination as a condition of graduation, providing that the rule relative to population, as a basis for hospital and clinical facilities, shall not apply to institutions under State control, and which, by order of such control, receives, gratuitously, patients from all parts of the State in which such colleges are located.” - - - This requirement must stand for the fact that the board appreciates that its work of regulation does not begin and end with certain limitations laid upon medical practice and practitioners. It must also stand for an honest effort toward better conditions. It is probable that from the 6 first it was recognized that, as a stream, can rise no higher than its source, so no graduate physician is a better scholar than his college, made him. It is reasonable, other things being equal, that the better college makes the better doc- tor. So much granted, the requirements of the board ap- pear to be a step in the right direction. - - As to the advisability of merely rectifying abuses while their intention is untouched; of breaking up demands where there is no probability of compliance; of putting the seal of standing upon institutions whose ability and intentions must in the nature of things fall short of re- quirements, there may be some difference of opinion. It is to be remembered that a medical college may be organ- ized and pursue a course on a purely commercial basis —a money-making basis. Another may be conducted on a basis of personal ambitions—a selfish basis. Now it is to be expected in these cases, if there are any such, as in other affairs with like motives, that their conduct will be so ordered as to insure the greatest possible income with the least possible expenditure—of either ambition or money. If such legal requirements are laid upon them as to embarrass their plans, the natural result, as in such ventures, will be evasion of the requirement. Evasion of any requirement designed to be carried out and certified by a college, would be simple and easy. Assuredly it ought not to be said that any would do this, but it remains that any or all might. If one should, is not the board helpless? - It is to be observed that the board has made no provi- sion for systematic censorship, nor does the above rule provide for any, nor for penalty for failure to observe it. True, it may declare such a college to be “not in good standing ”; but such a decree would have only a mere local effect, since the charter would be retained, and it would, therefore, still remain a legally authorized institu- tion whose diplomas would possess a value. That is to say, so long as the State issues to medical colleges charters which lack the favorable endorsement of the board to give them validity, so long their diplomas are valid and valua- ble, and must be respected. Perhaps the State has already surrendered to the board the function of giving validity to such charters. If so, there must have gone with it the function of declaring them invalid for cause, and there- fore to be surrendered or revoked. This would complete the circle of authority and be consistent and just. F- N - • * - - \ . In any event, under any construction of the law and the requirements of the board, if pursued upon the pres- ent theory, as it is understood, it appears that difficulties and antagonisms must arise, with no end of them in sight. Why not, then, instead of rules that may have the ap- pearance of interference, and be always open to the charge of invidious criticisms, put in force measures that would insure uniformity of organization, equipment, curriculum, instruction, courses, matriculation, residence, graduation, and admission to practice, the whole to be under the di- rect control of a board of censors? An essential prerequi- site would be acceptance and endorsement by the State medical board of the charter issued by the State, which should certainly include authority to recommend revoca- tion of such as fail to maintain a prescribed standard. To merely decree a college to be “not in good stand- ing,” while its authority to continue remains untouched, seems to fall short of the aim; while to rule upon its standing backed by the power to rule upon the validity of its charter, completely fulfills the aim, that of keeping colleges up to the highest possible standard. 4 The law does not contemplate this. Change the law so that it will. - II)&morial JiddréS$ for the SČilićf$ Jimérican Institute of Bomwopathy. 0mābā, Déb., Jult& 26th, 1898, j69 Er, b. J. Siggar. ** CLEVELAND, O, : LEADER PRINTING CoMPANY, 146 SUPERIOR STREET, 1898. Indianapolis, May 19, 1898. § s 3. A. F. Biggar, M.D., - Cleveland, Ohio. My dear doctor : Aſaving in charge the memorial exercises at the forth- coming session of the Institute, I am desirous that you will consent to make the address in memory of the departed Seniors. I know of no one who can do it more acceptably, and I am sure it will be a great satisfaction to all if you will do so, and believe me, Ever yours sincerely, - } Indianapolis, May 23, 1898. AXr. H. F. Biggar, Cleveland, Ohio. My dear doctor : - I have yours of the 21st inst., accepting the duty of making the address for the Seniors at the memorial meeting. I am very grateful for your willingness to assist in this matter, and know of no one who can do it more acceptably. With sentiments of high regard, I am, Yours very sincerely, ſº. § MEMORIAL ADDRESS. “Even for the dead I would not bind My soul to grief—death cannot long divide, For is it not as if the rose had climbed My garden wall and blossomed on the other side?”. This is not a season for sorrow, but for praise and rejoicing. Death is not the King of Terrors. “We have learned even by the lifeless forms of our dead to smile through our tears—instead of the gloomy crape we wreathe the door bell with sweet flowers, whose pure faces are expressions of hope and love.” Death and decay are essential ; they are blessings; they are the evolutions in nature. Do we not see it every season in the leaf, the bud, the blossom and the fruit P And when the parent tree has served its three score years and ten of usefulness, decay and death follow, might we not better say change, for no particle or molecule is ever lost. Sleep is tired nature’s rest, and when life's race is well run, when life's crown, is well won, this dreamless sleep should always be a joyous welcome ; for who would live alway, who would ask to stay where storm after storm rolls high o'er the way ? t , ‘. . - “Sleep is our sweetest earthly comfort. Is there a more delic- ious sensation than comes from the falling of “tired eyelids upon tired eyes?’” . * - - - “ what would we give to our beloved? The hero's heart to be unmoved P The poet's star-tuned harp to sweep P The patriot's voice to teach and rouse P The monarch's crown to light the brow P He giveth his beloved sleep.” Futurity is not to-night for us to consider or even to speculate ; “we do not seek to cast our line into the fathomless, nor to measure the measureless, for we know that he who asks doth err-- and he who answers errs.” • & — 4 — “It cannot be that earth is man's only abiding place, it cannot be that our life is only a bubble, cast up by the ocean of eternity to float a moment on its waves and sink into nothingness, else why these high and glorious aspirations which leap like angels from the temple of our hearts, forever wandering unsatisfied ? Why is it that the rainbow and clouds come over us with a beauty that is not of earth and then pass off to leave us to muse on their loveli- ness P Why is it that stars which hold their festival around the midnight throne are set above the grasp of our limited faculties, forever mocking us with their unapproachable glory? Why is it that the bright forms of human beauty are presented to our view and taken from us, leaving the thousand streams of our affections to flow back in Alpine torrents upon our hearts? We were born for a higher destiny than earth, there is a realm where the rain- bows never fade, where the stars will be spread out before us like islands that slumber on the ocean, and where the beautiful beings that pass before us will stay forever in our presence.” Some there may be, who think that doctors are a sect of agnostics —nay, even infidels. If of the latter, I have yet to know them, and I do not think they are agnostics, for is it not true, that one is only thus minded when in health and when there is no need of physician or clergy P - To-night we wish to pay tribute to the worth and memory of those of our fellow seniors who have gone before since the last gathering of this Institute. “We miss the familiar forms and faces of those who we have been accustomed to meet and greet.” Their associations were profitable, for we felt enriched by their words of sound practical thought ; they were pleasant, for they strengthened the bonds which bind us together in common fra- ternity. However, we must confess that there is a tinge, if not a tºmºmº 5 wº large measure of sadness on this occasion, “for life would be very pleasant but for its pleasures.” - “Many happy and joyous memories of their past lives sweetly linger about the names of our late fellow-members who have been called from this earthly bliss.” It needs no tongue to utter their praises, nor swift pen to write their eulogies; they need no monu- ment to record their many glorious deeds of usefulness, for they live in the hearts they have left behind. They were men for whom one is better for knowing. Like the pious, devoted and sainted Chas. Lowder, of whom it is said that one was always the better for seeing his face. So it was with those whom I personally knew of these departed seniors. These men fill graves, but there are graves between the sky and the earth, above ground, which cannot be filled. They were great, for the great are those who serve. They were great for it is indeed great to be great when old. They were not hoarders of money, but riches to them was in good deeds. They preferred to have their reward in the gratitude of their patients. Their lives were symetrical, equal in length, equal in breadth, equal in height. To them, “All places are palaces, and All seasons summer.” “Care or guilt had not deformed them, - God be praised, Tasks and trials but informed them, God be praised, None had been a base self-seeker, God be praised, With the mildest they were meeker, - They had made no brother weaker, God be praised. — 6 — This noble band were true types of representative physicians. They were veterans in their work. They went into the study of homoeopathy with fervence and zeal. They loved their profession and their brethren. They were persons of integrity and upright- ness and of estimable worth. Fitted physically and constitutionally for their great work, not given to excesses, their physical systems could endure the heavy work of the pioneers. Schooled early to deprivations, disappoint- ments, denials and adversities, all of which stimulated the perse- verance of strong and healthy natures, and roused their energies and developed their characters. They were respected even by their strongest opponents, always unyielding in what they thought was true and{right. Their stern adherence to right won respect. They were brave, earnest, valiant and conscientious workers in their professions; faithful in their chosen calling, they were ever zealous. They were among the early pioneers who braved the ridicule of the arch scoffers, for their convictions were in accord- ance with truth and their belief. They were heroes, for they fought the battle nobly and with victory. When attacked they defied their assailants and cried to their adversaries : - “Come one, come all, this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I.” These were the persons who lived the doctrines which they preached. Some were the most able expositors of the homoeopathic law. Some had more than a national reputation. They were known wherever homoeopathy is known. They were unremitting and arduous in their labors, remarkable in their abilities and pro- ºfessional genius; they fitted into the exigencies of the times; they were sincere in their belief. - — 7 — “As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see; So down in their souls, the still prayer of devotion, Unheard by the world rises silent to thee. My God, silent to Thee, True, warm, silent to Thee,” “As, true to the star of its worship though clouded The compass points steadily o'er the dim sea, So, dark as they rove through this wintry world shrouded The hope of their spirit turns trembling to Thee. My God, trembling to Thee, True, fond, trembling to Thee.” They were earnest and vigilant workers, of unusal culture and reading. Mind and heart were blended to an unusal degree in the make up of these heroes. Endowed with intellects that fitted them as few men are fitted, they were giants among men in ability and friendship. Their minds were above the narrow strifes of men, and incapable of a thought that was petty or ignoble ; they lived for those who loved them and in so living they gave their own personality of charm that caused them to be loved of men as few men are loved. Though they had not all attained the length- ened span of life, yet they had more than attained those years by their deeds of usefulness. They believed that man is most happy whose soul is attuned in harmony with all that is noble and pure and good in life, and longed for the time when in every fellow practitioner they should find a brother, a counselor, a scholar and a gentleman. • - They were heroes, for they did the right thing at the right time, - and they well knew that the life of their heart gave light to their head. . - They had not only talent, but purpose, not only the power to achieve, but the will to labor. - - - — 8 — They were born for higher things than to be the slaves of their bodies. They had a mission to perform and they did it well, true types of physicians doing all the good they could. They were consecrated to their work. They had faith in the law of cure; they gave daily evidence of their confidence in that law. - They believe with Bonny that “Homoeopathy is the spirituali- zation of thought in the medical profession, and of all the profes- sions of medicine it stands first and foremost, most conspicuous, most useful.” - They sincerely believed that Homoeopathy “confides every man to do his duty,” and “they simply tried to do their duty every day, hoping that when to-morrow came they would be equal to it.” Duty is the grandest word in the world, it is the cement which binds the whole physical, moral and intellectual edifice together. It is greater than charity, it is greater than love. Before it all material conquests appear of little worth and the lustre of mili- tary glory grows dim. The high calling of the physican is one of the noblest and grandest professions. None can surpass it, none can equal it. It affords opportunities to exercise all of the ennobling qualities of that which is true and beautiful and good. “What are the other professions or vocations in comparison with the inestimable value and importance of the very lives of these fellow-men who everywhere move and breathe and speak and act around us? What are any, or what are all these objects when contrasted with the most precious and valued gift of God—human life? And what would not the great and most successful followers of such varied callings give out of their own professional stores for the restoration of health and for the prolongation of life—if the first were once lost to them or if the other were merely menaced by the dreaded and blighting finger of disease ?” It is a noble profession. It makes good men better. Are we not proud to be members of the same profession as the gentle and kind-hearted author of “Rab and His Friends, or the Hero of a Doctor of the Old School,” who was always and at all times willing and ready to respond to the calls of the suffering, as was Weelum Maclure, so self-forget- ful and so utterly Christian ; or of that philanthropic hero who is so beautifully portrayed by Balzac in “The Country Doctor ’’ P They were benefactors. If he is a benefactor who plants a tree, which gives such beauty and shade and protection, how much more is he, who by his learning and skill and experience, not only a benefactor, but even a saviour to those whom he restors to health. What triumph over disease and death, what joys to many homes. More worthy than many who wear bravely medals or whose breasts are decorated with the insignia of The Legion of Honor or whose brows are encircled with the laurel wreath. At the death of a maker of a thousand bells, at a certain hour these thousand bells were rung, not only commemorating his death, but in joyful response to the sweet vibrations of the musical sounds of perfect bells. How many thousand living tongues are constantly singing the praises of these good doctors who have brought such joy to many homes by their watchfulness and skill P Pliny says: “Nature has given to man nothing of more value than shortness of life.” He should have said, Nature has given to man nothing of more value than a life of usefulness, than the longest life would be too short. ... " A young girl at school wrote to her father : “I always thought that wealth was the only thing necessary to make one happy; but when I know so many of your friends who have such great wealth who are not so very happy, I doubt if riches are the only require- ment to make one happy. Then I thought it must be education; but when I know so many of your friends who are profound scholars and yet not happy, I conclude that knowledge is not the all essential to happiness. Is it not, dear father, to be useful which constitutes the greatest happiness P’’ The great problem of life had been early learned by this dear child. With riches and wisdom usefulness may be more extended, but riches are not all. It is the bubbling, babbling brook, the little rivulet running along day and night by the farm house that is useful, rather than the swollen flood, or the roaring cataract. A man's true wealth is the good he does in this world. If not an alms, a kind and gentle word. “A poor man with a single hand- ful of flowers heaped the alms bowl of Buddha, which the rich could not fill with ten thousand bushels.” The only pleasure that never wears out is that of doing good, and good actions are the ‘‘invisible hinges of the doors of heaven.” Upon life's lengthened thread they strung like beads, The precious jewelry of kind and gentle deeds. The English said that Punshon could not help but preach well for he was filled with the Holy Ghost; so these men could not help doing good, for they were enthusiastic workers with an ambition laudable to the uttermost. - They have offered up their lives, and willingly bestowed their & talents in aiding and comforting the suffering. “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” “Did you ever, think what it is that promotes the most and deepest thought in the human race? Not learning; not the con- duct of business; not even the impulse of the affections : it is suffering. The angel who went down to trouble the waters and to make them healing, may not have been entrusted with as great a mission as the angel who benevolently inflicted upon the suffering, the disease from which they suffered.” & — I 1 — Weary and worn they are now at rest in sleep. Homoeopathy has lost faithful and able representatives whom the Great Reaper has garnered—shocks of grain full of ripe golden ears. “Come ye blessed of my Father—I was sick and ye visited me.” “The objects and powers of our art are alike great and elevated. Our aim is to alleviate human suffering, and lengthen human existence. Our ambition, to gladden as well as prolong the course of human life, by warding off disease as the greatest of mortal evils ; by restoring health and at times reason itself, as the greatest of mortal blessings. If we follow these, the noble objects of our profession, in a proper spirit of love and kindness to our race, the pure light of benevolence will shed around the path of our toils and labors, the brightness and beauty that will ever cheer us onward and keep our steps from being weary in well-doing.” As much as lieth in us let us live peaceably with all men; never allow the darker part of our nature to persuade our overtaking him who has distanced us in the race of life. Let no effort be made to lame the character and thus diminish the speed of our adversary. May a retrospect of our lives be a retrospect of love and usefulness and honor and glory. “Mourn the living not the dead,” said a dear good soul with a heart full of love and charity, always striving to make others happy, “you send flowers to your friend who is gone, I send mine to the living.” Ah there is a great truth in her sentiment. Are there not some who might well exclaim : “O friends I pray to-night, Keep not your kisses for my dead cold brow, The way is lonely, let me feel them now. Think gently of me, I am travel worn, My faltering feet are pierced with many a thorn. Forgive, O hearts estranged, forgive I plead, When dreamless rest is mine, I shall not need The tenderness for which I long to-night.” “Garlands of flowers for the noble dead. Glory to those staunch pioneers whose devotions are seeds shaken from the tree of life. From a great multitude arises a loud shout, and the word of their hearts is amen to the cause of relieving the sufferings of humanity.” “When are summer roses sweetest ? When their sweet is shed. When are summer skies the fairest ? When their light is fled. Strange it is we never prize Blooming rose nor bonny skies *Till the rose's sweet is shed, *Till the summer's light is fled. When are present hours the brighest ? When there hopes are sped. When are friendly faces dearest? When those friends are dead. Sad it is we never prize Happy hours nor loving eyes, *Till happy hours are sped, *Till the loving eyes are dead.” NEW YORK CouTVTY MEDICAL SOCIETY: 391 Drs. T. F. Smith------- 1 West 124th street------- New York. Emma R. Still----- 74 East 12th street. - - - - - - - do S. W. Taylor------ 146 Hudson street-------- do A. P. Throop------ 223 West 34th street------ do J. A. Ward - - - - - - - 20 East 21st street.------- do Edwin West.----- 42 West Washington Place, do J. H. Westcott --...- 200 West 42d street- - - - - - do J. McE. Wetmore- - 278 Fourth avenue--...----- do H. R. White--- ... 39 East 22d street---- --> do W. H. White----. 26 East 22d street - - - - - - - - do H. deV. Wilder - - - - 213 West 38th streeet - - - - - do *gmºmºmºmºmºms ARTICLE LXXIV. Opposition to Homoeopathy in New York. Annual Address. By B. F. BowFRs, M. D., President. - Ladies and Gentlemen—Our last anniversary was held during the excitement of war and the clash of arms. Truth and justice were confronted by that sum of all villianies, slavery, and forced into a war, which threatened the national life, and disturbed the civilized world. Discomfited, the enemy of equal rights in its dying struggle, inflicted a wound in every loyal breast, and filled the land with woe, by the hand of the assassin, striking down him, the highest and best, our chosen leader. Now, we can rejoice together, and give thanks to God, that the conflict is over, and right is triumphant. At immense cost of blood and treasure, it is proved, beyond all peradventure, that we have a country, and the people honest and intelligent, with stout hearts and strong hands, will establish impartial liberty and universal justice, not upon the sands of compromise, but upon the rock of principle. Conservatism in medicine, like conservatism in politics, is intol- erant of change, and the most beneficent reforms, both political and medical, sweeping away only time-honored abuses, are blindly resisted as destructive radicalism. Be it ours, gentlemen, while enjoying and diffusing the blessings of liberty, faithfully to labor for the triumph of that great reformation in medicine inaugurated by him, whose birth we this day commemmorate—the immortal Habnemann. - * The axiomatic principles lying at the foundation of republican- 392 - STATE MEDICAL SocIETY: ism, that all men are created free and equal; that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and the corollary, no taxation without representation, are fraught with blessings to mankind; and yet they are destined to over- throw principalities and powers, and to meet the most determined opposition. So homoeopathy, the gift of the beneficent Creator, for the healing of his dependent creatures, a great innovation, because the greatest improvement ever made in medicine, must overthrow errors and encounter opposition somewhat proportioned to the blessings it confers. * On former occasions we have been interested and instructed by eloquent discourses on the introduction and early history of homoeopathy in this city. Its trials and its triumphs are well known to most of you; but the spirit and the manner in which it has been opposed by a majority of the profession here, has never, so far as I know, been set forth in a succinct and connected form. .The importance of the subject and the interest of the public in a right understanding of it must be my apology for bringing forward on this occasion, matters which to some may seem stale and unprofitable. - Let it be remembered that the law looks upon all regularly educated physicians as equals. It requires of every one a pre- scribed course of study and a rigid examination by legally appoiuted censors, before admission to the duties, privileges and honors of the medical profession. It aims to give, and in return requires, such a knowledge of the science and art of medicine as shall qualify the physician properly to treat the sick committed to his care. It seeks further to protect the public against ignorance and unskillfulness, by making every practitioner liable to prosecu- tion and punishment for malpractice. Moreover, every true phy- sician is bound to increase his skill and improve his art, by careful observation, by study, by reflection, by earnest devotion to his work. A trust is committed to him, a duty is imposed on him; in the fear of God and in love to his neighbor, let him do the duty and execute the trust. The profession ever jealous of its honor and the rights of individuals, has a code of medical ethics, regulating the conduct of its members to one another aud to their patients, to prevent misunderstandings, to settle difficulties and to punish offences, intended to secure courtesy, harmony and justice in professional intercourse. There is a state medical society, and county medical societies in every county, auxilliary to the state NEW York County MEDICAL SocIETF. 393 society, all established by law, to secure the interest of the public and the profession, and to exercise a salutary influence in medical matters. * - “The regular medical profession includes all those who have pursued the course of medical studies prescribed by the laws of the State, and complied with all the professional requirements of the medical colleges and medical societies which the State has established. The diplomas held by the homoeopathic physicians of New York, afford proof that they have passed these ordeals.” Both Webster and Worcester, following Johnson, give this defi- nition of regular, “instituted or initiated according to established rules, forms or discipline.” “A regular doctor,” “a regular phy- sician.” - - While there are diversities of gifts, there will be differences in skill; while there are doubts and uncertainties in medicine, doc- tors will differ, and there will be occasion for mutual kindness and forbearance, and opportunities for mutual assistance and good offices. - Having complied with the requirements of the law, the physi- cian is entitled to all the rights and courtesies which belong to his profession. He is authorized to act on his own responsibility, and to treat each case according to his best judgment. Often he cannot obtain counsel, when he would gladly divide his responsi- bility. Shall the physician, conscientiously exercising his profession, honestly working for its improvement and curing his patients to general satisfaction, be told by any other physician, or by any number of physicians, his peers before the law, perhaps his peers in the sick room, and perhaps not, his patients must judge of that, your opinions and practice differ from mine, therefore I denounce you to the public as a quack, and will hold no professional inter- course with you, nor with any physician who will ? and shall they be upheld in such a course? If so, what becomes of his profes. sional rights, so carefully hedged about and secured by legal enactments 7 - * - The morality of invading the rights, maligning the characters, and trying to destroy the business and reputations of their profes- sional brothers, cannot be considered doubtful. The expected effect, if not the avowed object, of such plans being to secure to their authors all the honors and emoluments of the profession, and to ruin those thus attacked, throws suspicion upon their mo- 394 STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY: 4. tives. It is said, “Brutus is an honorable man—so are they all, all honorable men.” The more is the pity, for when honorable men descend to compass private, selfish ends by dishonorable means, the vicious are emboldened by the bad example of better men, and the public morals are corrupted. Men habitually join hands and do collectively, what individually they are both afraid and ashamed to do. * * What would be thought of a combination of business men, to de- stroy their rivals in business by misrepresenting and ridiculing their business, impeaching their honesty, enticing away their custo- . mers, refusing to recognize them as business men, or to hold busi- ness relations with any business man who would so recognize them, on the pretext that they were presuming on the ignorance and credulity of the people, practicing gross deceptions, and were utterly unworthy of public confidence, when in reality they were worthy, upright, honorable men, trained to and thoroughly under- standing their business, enjoying the confidence and respect of the community, and provoking envy only by their success If such conduct on the part of merchants and business men gener- ally, would be considered highly dishonorable and unjust, why sheuld similar conduct on the part of physicians be held less So 2 So long ago as 1831, Philip E. Milledoller, M. D., Felix Pasca-* lis, M. D., Abraham D. Wilson, M. D., Hans B. Gram, M. D., were appointed by the medical society of the city and county of New York, a committee “to investigate the subject of the exist- ence of a secret association of medical men in New York, said to be for purposes derogatory to the profession and injurious to the public.” They presented a full and interesting report, which was approved almost unanimously by the Society, consisting of 290 physicians, in which they say : r “That it originated in selfishness, and has been continued for the purpose of advancing the pecuniary interest of, and making professional reputation for its membels, without submitting to fair, open competition, which decided talents and honorable minds never wish to avoid. - * g te “By its influence in curtailing a free intercourse with the pro- fession at large, it produces in the minds of its members, a false estimate of their own characters, and an erroneous impression of the characters of those who are uninitiated into their mysteries. An association like the one under consideration, is also to be rep- robated, inasmuch as it tends to an unjust monopoly of the MEW York County MEDICAL SocIETY: 395 emoluments and honors of the profession. Your Committee do consider the combination of men so well calculated to create a monopoly in the profession, as opposed to the spirit of the excel- lent code of medical ethics adopted by the Medical Society, and destructive to the etiquette which in a refined community has ever governed the physician and gentleman. * - - “An association of the magnitude of the club under considera- tion, by acting in concert, by accepting favors from other physi- cians, who act in good faith, and not reciprocating them, can col- lect a much larger portion of public patronage, and wield a greater influence than they are justly entitled to by their real merit. Almost all the professional offices in the city of New York, leading to practice or conferring reputation, are monopo- lized by the secret association.” tº- In regard to the important subject of consultations, they well say: “If your committee understand the nature of a consultation, it is not intended to be merely the assembling together of men who see eye to eye, in order to avoid responsibility and to in- crease the expenses of medical attendance, but would rather judge, that their utility in reference to patients mainly depends upon the free interchange of the opinions of men of skill and in- dependent minds, who would not be so much impressed with a deference for each other, or their own interest, as to forget the most important concern, the patient's safety.” By way of palliation of the association, they say: “allowing some of these gentlemen to be in general good and clever men, yet we must not forget that human nature is weak, that there are such things as besetting sins, and that in a trading community coveteousness is apt to be most predominant.” - The New York Academy of Medicine is said to be the public expansion of this secret exclusive association, called the Kappa Lambda Society, inheriting the spirit and quite overstepping the footsteps of its illustrious predecessor. As homoeopathy attracted more and more attention, physicians, one after another, investigated and adopted it, the practice became more and more popular, until the allopathic doctors became alarmed at its progress and determined to put it down. The county medical societies in the country, in some cases attempted to turn out members who became homoeopathists, and refused to admit homoeopathists to membership. But as the homoeopathists were among the most intelligent and popular. 396 STATE MEDICAL SocIETF. physicians, having enjoyed the respect of their associates, and still retaining the confidence of their patients, this course was found to be unpopular, and rather injured the old school than the new. In this city the homoeopathic physicians were so well known and respected as men of science and skill in their profession, and their clients were so numerous and influential, that it was not thought politic to attempt to turn them out of the medical society, where they have rights which can be legally maintained and where it is necessary to proceed in a legal way against a member. Instead of this, the plan was adopted of forming a new volun- tary association from which homoeopathists should be excluded, and in the language of a prominent and learned member of the Academy, “the least savor or tincture of homoeopathy will not be recognized by us of the old school,” and so the New-York Acad- emy of Medicine was formed in 1847, for the purpose of putting down homoeopathy. - - It was understood that the members of the Academy would not consult with any homoeopathic physician, nor with any allopathic physician who would consult with a homoeopathist. One of the first resolutions after the formation of this Acad- emy, was in these words: That any member of this Academy who shall consult with any homoeopathist, or other irregular practi- tioner, shall be considered to have forfeited his membership. The first president of the Academy, the late Dr. Stearns, deliv- ered his inaugural address Feb. 3d, 1847, which was published by order of the Academy. In the New-York Commercial Adver- tiser, March 8th, 1847, I find the following extract from that address : . - “When I attempt to analyze the doctrines taught by Hahne- mann, I am promptly met at the threshold with the avowal of principles which astonish and confound, and very naturally induce the inquiry, do I possess the faculty of reason, and what is its import and design? Is it not to investigate truth, to direct us in our walk in life, to enable us to choose the good and to reject the evil; to preserve health, life and happiness! If the fundamental principles of the Organon be true, then have I given an erroneous definition of reason, for it meets those principles with a decided contradiction. Reason teaches me that the power of any remedial agent essentially depends on the number of grains, ounces or pounds of which that agent consists. But Hahnemann contradicts this position, and maintains directly the reverse, gnd asserts that NEW York County MEDICAL SocIETY: 397 the power of that agent is increased precisely in proportion to the sub-division, the comminution or dilution of its component parts. To illustrate this I will cite a very analogous case: If one pound of gunpowder will propel a cannon ball one mile, the mil- lionth part of a grain would carry it around the globe, and pro- duce the greatest possible destruction of human life. The same remarks are applicable to steam, and to all other agents of similar power. Well might Hahnemann forbid his pupils to reason or to theorize on his principles. “They have hitherto rigidly adhered to his injunction. In attempting to explain the precise objects which he intended to accomplish by such an extraordinary publication, I can arrive at no other conclusion than that the whole of his Organon was pre- pared for the express purpose of ascertaining how far he could successfully practice deception and imposition upon the credulity and prejudices of the community; for I do sincerely believe that he had too much common sense to believe in the truth of the doc- trine that he promulgated. P . “Poisons and narcotics constitute the corner-stone of the homoeo- pathic edifice. Deprived of this their whole system of materia medica would be demolished. The alleviation of pain by nar- cotics gives to their practice all its popularify. No man in the full exercise of his reason can believe in the truth of this strange doctrine; and if he attempts to practice upon the principles which that doctrine inculcates, he must possess a most depraved moral faculty. • - “I have often heard it asserted that the clergy are advocates homoeopathy, but this charge is too inconsistent with their profes- sion to admit of belief. Their duty to God, their fellow-men and themselves is of so holy a character that they should be placed beyond the reach of such calumnious charges. How can they patronize a practice which impairs health, destroys life and which must necessarily injure their own usefulness as guides to eternal happiness? How can a religious man support a system which places reason and common sense at , defiance, and which rests exclusively on the vagaries of a visionary enthusiast? “If the clergy, like Hahnemann, repudiate reason, how are they to prove the truth of our holy religion, the existence of God and a future state of retribution ? Such reasoning would give peculiar delight to the infidel and atheist. The general avowal of such principles would subvert all true religion and civil government, 398 STATE MEDICAL SocIETY: lead to consequences appalling to all reflecting minds; I therefore earnestly solicit all who persevere in propagating this new doc- trime to pause and consider.” - This address and its publication by order of the Academy, I think affords conclusive evidence that Dr. Stearns and the Society. did not begin to have any correct idea of homoeopathy—were not likely ever to have, and were not in a very amiable state of mind. All these allegations against homoeopathy were denied at the time, and Dr. Stearns was publicly challenged to the proof, without calling forth a reply. - A few quotations from “an appeal for scientific truth against empi- ricism,” published in 1848, will show that there is no improvement, either in the intelligence or the temper of the opposition. “The time, we proclaim, is come when we must arm, muster and be doing. Homoeopathy can, and homoeopathy must be exposed and eradicated. It has trifled too long with the confidence in, the respect for, the security of our profession, with our honor and the safety of mankind. The system which is based upon absurdities the most preposterous—fallacies and inconsistencies, the most gross —results the most lamentable—pretentions the most arrogant—the system which by its prospective advantages and profitable vogue, seduces daily into its ranks the intelligent and respectable from beneath the banner of the just cause—which claims to have laid for the principles and machinery of the science and art of medicine the only definite foundation—which decries the present one and taunts with prejudice and error its votaries—which offers, in its stead, a blind reliance upon the vis medicatriæ of nature and the public credulity, in its infinitesimal doses of oyster shell, or under the guise of potency, secretly prescribes poisons, and adopts, nutate nomine, the most cherished resources of the art which it professes to oppose and despise—which offers in evidence of its success, diagnoses the most erroneous, prognoses the most false, and presumed medicinal agencies and boastings the most unfounded —which maintains, in defiance of all common, correct theory, experience and observation, that bloodletting, is at best a danger- ous remedy, and doubts whether it is even a remedy at all—can and must be exterminated. It is true, that time will do this, as it has done with every one of its congenerous predecessary empiri- cisms; but there seems no good reason why its fate should not be accelerated by the application to its roots, without delay, of the sharp axe of truth; and time and health, aye, and life be spared in New York Countriſemical Society. 399 the interim. * * * Has not the Academy, which may be fairly taken as the expression of the sense of the higher minded and better informed among us, very properly placed them (homoeo- pathists) amongst the irregular practitioners of every grade—has it not eschewed all professional fellowship with them, refused to consult with them, and excluded them from its body ? And do gentlemen hesitate, after this public and approved demonstration of professional sentiment, to lend their individual aid to the exposure of its real character, and to lessen its spread and influ- ence 2 If they do, they do not act up to the spirit of its institution; they do not do their part towards performing one of the highest duties, not only of its associates, but of every member of the reg- ular profession. As to persecution, even if it were truly urged, it is what they merit; what the public safety requires; what the professional duty demands; and when the accusation is well founded, their appeal to it is in vain. * * * Ought we to care for the cry of persecution raised by these unprincipled and mercenary per- sons, when we can show conclusively that health, and life, and money have been sacrificed to their mendacity, selfishness, etc. There are for homoeopathy the two horns of the dilemma. Mis- taken but honest credulity on the one hand—venality and decep- tiveness on the other,” etc. This last idea was more tersely expressed by another prominent member of the Academy who said: “a homoeopathist must be either a fool or a knave.” - The following passage in a letter of the domestic secretary of the Academy, in 1849, shows that things were still in a very bad way with the old school. He writes: “There was a time, sir, when that profession conferred honor and men venerated, loved and confided in their physician. How is it now 2 The term is almost a laughing stock—synonymous almost with ignorance, temerity, petulance and envy—aye, and with poverty. Regular practice is decried—mercenary folly and falsehood flourish under a thousand different names. The public has lost its confidence in legitimate medicine and throws itself blindly into the arms of rene- gades, pretenders and empirics, and listens greedily to every absurdity which is offered to its embrace,” etc. It does seem hard that poverty should be added to contempt; but the way of transgressors is hard, and curses, like chickens, will come home to roost. The hardest thing of all to bear is, the consciousness that respect has been forfeited by one's own demerit. ' The spirit of the opposition to homoeopathy, it seems to me, is 400 STATE MEDICAL SoCIETY: well illustrated in an old report of an interesting case of congeni. tal blindness, cured in a way not considered regular in the schools of that day. The patient had become of age before he was cured, and the case excited quite a sensation. His neighbors were curious to know how he was cured; some believed in the cure and some did not, saying “this is not he that was born blind.” The patient said, “I am he,” and related how he was cured. But some would not believe until his parents were called and examined. They said, “this is our son, and he was born blind; but how, or by whom his eyes were opened we know not. He is of age, ask him. He shall speak for himself.” They were afraid to say more, for there was a combined opposition to such practice, and threats had been made that if any one should confess their belief in this great physician, he should be put out of the society. Finding the case was clearly proved, and there was no use in denying it, the oppo- sers again called the patient and said to him : “Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.” - This seems to have touched the patient, and he answered, “whether he be a sinner or no, I know not; one thing I do know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.” Then they asked him again how he was cured, and finding that he had full faith in the one who had cured him, and was surprised that they did not believe in him too, they insulted and then excommunicated him. Respect- able, intelligent, influential, sanctimonious, regular Pharisees could say of him who was without sin, “We know that this man is a sinner.” It is believed by many persons that even so late as the middle of the nineteenth century there will still be found a good deal of human nature in man. The self-righteous Pharisee bearing false witness against his neighbor, and synagogues organized for the purpose of putting down the truth are not exclusively of the past. - Observe the striking similarity in the conduct of the Pharisees in this case and that of the allopathists of the present day. They eagerly bore testimony to a fact as true within their personal knowledge, which was absolutely false; but as for the truth itself, they could not see it. So, say the allopathists, any one who prac- tices homoeopathy must have a most depraved moral faculty, must be either a fool or a knave, and at the same time talk about our holy religion. .* - &n - - . A few facts will show that they have been determined to pre- vent all investigation of the subject. In 1839 the speaker was New York County Meproar Society. 40t one of the physicians to the New York Dispensary in Centre street. The next year he was turned out for examining homoeo- pathy. Being then an experienced allopathic physician, he did not practice homoeopathy in the Dispensary, but thought it worth examination, and used it in his own private practice. This is the first instance, so far as I know, of the removal of a physician from a public position merely on account of his medical opinions. When the Demilt Dispensary was established, a liberal gentle- man offered a donation of $500 if they would allow homoeopathic treatment to such as desired it. The offer was rejected. The Protestant Half Orphan Asylum has been exclusively under homoeopathic treatment for the last twenty-four years, with the most gratifying results, having had an average mortality, as com- pared with all the other asylums in the city, of only one to three; and yet the only notice, apparently, which the allopathists have taken of the medical treatment in that institution, is one instance where a medical journal, edited by a member of the Academy, published a scandalous, malicious, false communication to prove the published report a gross misrepresentation of the facts, inten- tionally made to show a favorable result for homoeopathy, and this the editor introduced with encomiums, apparently in love with the lie. * > - There have been homoeopathic dispensaries in successful opera- tion for many years, in different parts of the city. The treatment * has also been used with the best results in the Institution at the Five Points, and in the Home for the Friendless. All these institu- tions offer opportunities for obtaining a knowledge of homoeopathy, which seem to have been studiously avoided by the old school. During the prevalence of the cholera, in 1849, great exertions were made to obtain homoeopathic hospitals for its treatment; the application was sneeringly rejected, although the cases publicly reported showed the great superiority of the homoeopathic treatment in that disease. e e Petitions have been presented to the proper authorities at dif. ferent times, numerously signed, asking for the admission of homoe. opathic treatment into the hospitals and public charitable institu- tions, which have uniformly been opposed and the object defeated by the old school. . It is an entire mistake, if the public suppose that the allopaths understand homoeopathy; they will not investi- gate the subject. That branch of the profession have undertaken [Senate, No. 77.] 26 ; 402 - STATE MED104L SocIETY: to decide the questions at issue between them and the homoeo- pathists without investigation, assuming to decide by reason what can be known only by experience. We hazard the opinion that there is not a single member of the Academy who could pass a respect- able examination in homoeopathy, for the very good reason that they do not understand it, and will net learn; and yet they con- demn it and vilify those who practice it. When and where and by whom has homoeopathy been tried and proved to be worthless? “First promulgated in 1796,” seventy years ago, “it has steadily, though slowly advanced, encroaching everywhere, step by step, upon the domains of allopathy, receding at no point, ever gaining new adherents in the profession, and never losing one by relapse or retrocession. It is asked with an air of superiority, “has not the Academy th expression of the sense of the higher minded and better informed among us, placed them (the homoeopathists) amongst the irregular practitioners of every grade, eschewed all professional fellowship with them, refused to consult with them, and excluded them from its body?” as if the Academy had any authority in the premises, or was any better, or essentially different from other trades-unions, got up to promote the pecuniary interests and personal advantage of the associates. º * = . \ If it shall appear that the members of the Academy, instead of taking a bold manly stand and opposing homoeopathy and homoeo- pathists in an honorable legal way, have chosen to imitate the conduct of those who get behind a shelter which they think will protect them, and call names, make faces and throw stones at opponents whom they dare not face in a fair field, their action will be of little consequence except to themselves. The medical profession is not an aristocracy created for the benefit of a caste. It is a public necessity, and is regulated by laws made by the government to promote the efficiency of the profession and secure the public welfare. - The New-York Academy of Medicine is merely a voluntary association, having no power except over its own members, and no authority to confer or take away the licence to practice medi- cine. There is no obligation resting upon any one to join it, and only the honor in being connected with it. Some of the old school physicians of high standing refuse to join it, and for good reason decline all connection with it. . g * ,- But the county medical societies, established many years ago, NEW York County MEDICAL SoorsTY. 403 have authority conferred upon them by the people to grant the license to practice, and also, for cause, to procure its revocation. JEvery regular practicing physician is required by law to join the county society where he resides, and thus they are all brought under the authority and protection of the law. Some of the allopathists have arrogated to themselves the title of regular physicians, and so persistently called those who practice homoeo- pathy irregular, that many are deceived, and suppose that in point of regularity, they have an advantage over us. This is quite a mistake, on the contrary we have quite an advantage over them. g 4. By the definition of regular it may be seen that a regular phy. sician is one initiated, brought into the profession according to established rules, forms or discipline; regular refers to the man- ner of getting in, those who come in by the door are regular, those who climb up some other way, are irregular. Every regular member is not necessarily and always a worthy member; but should he become intolerably bad, a disgrace to the body to which he belongs, it will be necessary for the credit of the body to take the legal steps to get rid of him. Regularity does not apply to practice, insomuch as the law places all methods of practice, past and present, at the discretion of the physician to whom it has given its diploma. In the old school the greatest variety prevails, there is the heroic treatment and the expectant, bread pills and placebos, the hobby of the hour and the empirical expedient, some give larger doses than others dare give, some give none, and assert that medicine never cures. One says if the doctors would throw their physic into the sea it would be all the better for their patients, but the worse for the fishes. Every one feels at liberty to try whatever may be recommended by others, or which he thinks may be useful. The teachings and the practice of the allo- paths are various and discordant in different ages, countries, and Schools, and often in the same school at the same time. - Homoeopathists are agreed on the law for the selection of the remedy, similia similibus curantur, like cures like; they agree in giving one simple remedy at a time in the smallest dose sufficient to cure, and they agree in the necessity of learning the curative properties of drugs by provings upon the healthy. These princi- pies furnish practical rules for the guidance of all homčeopathists, and produce an essential uniformity. Homoeopathists, therefore, are not only regular in their initiation into the profession, like the 404 STATE Medical Society. allopathists, but they have certain uniform general principles for their guidance in the discovery, selection and administration of remedies which the allopathists have not. - . At the time of the formation of the Academy, I believe all th homoeopathic physicians of the city were members of the county medical society, as were also the physicians who formed the Academy. The county society has power to prosecute any mem- ber against whom specific charges are preferred of gross ignorance or misconduct in his profession, or of immoral conduct or habits; and if he is convicted, he may be suspended for a time or expelled from the society, and declared forever incapable of practicing in this State. If the members of the Academy believe what they say about the homoeopathists, why did they not prefer charges against them, and have them declared incapable of practicing 2 That they did not, is evidence that they do not believe their own assertions. They hoped to succeed in putting down homoeopathy by refus- ing to consult with homoeopathists, over-awing the aspiring and the dependent in their own ranks, threatening and refusing to graduate students who intended to practice homoeopathy, and attempting to frighten the people by telling them that if they would employ pretenders, they must take the consequences of their folly, they would not help them. - The attempt to put down homoeopathy by oppression, is an attack upon the right of the people to decide and choose for them- selves in medicine, as in politics and religion. It is an evidence that those who attempt it are behind the age; they do not learn by the experience of the past. It can never permanently succeed under free institutions. An intelligent free people will not sub- mit to have any system of medicine imposed upon them by any authority short of the authority of truth. Mrs. Partington was a nice woman and very handy with her broom, but somehow she never could sweep out the Atlantic Ocean; and our allopathic brethren will find it up-hill work to put down homoeopathy; the laws of nature are against them, and persecution only makes the matter worse for them. , tº - In case of an invasion of the cholera, the people here in New York, with such reports as come to us, from Europe of the com- parative results of the treatment of cholera last year, as in Smyrna for example, deaths under allopathic 65 per cent, under homoeo- pathic treatment, seven to eight per cent (and the reports are NEW YORK County MEDICAL SOCIETY: 405 similar all over), will hardly consent to be dragged into hospitals to undergo allopathic drugging, as in 1849, under the pretense that “homoeopathy is looked upon as a species of empiricism, their - medical advisers conceiving that the public authorities of our city would not consult either their own dignity or the public good, by lending the sanction of their name or influence to homoeopathy or any other irregular mode of practice” which might reduce this dignified regular rate of 65 per cent of deaths to a much less imposing number. To secure the rights of homoeopathists and the rights of the people generally, the government has placed homoeopathy on the same legal foundation as allopathy, establishing homoeopathic medical colleges, and medical societies with the same authority and the same privileges as the allopathic. We, however, have a decided advantage over them, for we study and know what they know, holding to the maxim, “Fas est et ab hoste doceri, it is well to learn even from an enemy,” while they shut their eyes and exclaim, no! no! nefas est, and obstinately refuse to examine what is peculiar to us as not worth knowing. * The present hostile attitude of the profession is wholly due to them. For example, the anxious friends of a patient of mine may: wish to have the opinion of a member of the Academy whom I am willing to meet and treat with the courtesy due to a gentleman, and required by medical etiquette; but the Academy will not per- mit him to behave like a gentleman in the matter; it sanctions his visiting and prescribing for my patient, without my knowledge, and while he knows that I am still in attendance, refusing to receive information essential to the patient's welfare, and inten- tionally violating common courtesy to insult me. Not with any satisfaction, but with unfeigned sorrow do I re- hearse the conduct of physicians which I cannot but consider highly exceptionable. I would not judge unjustly, I will not speak unkindly, for the honor of the profession in which I have labored so many years, is dear to me. To it I owe my life, saved on more than one critical occasion by its resources, and especially to homoeopathy do I owe the last twenty-five years of almost un- interrupted health and activity, and above all, and better than all, by it I am enabled in my limited sphere, and in my humble way, to heal the sick, to relieve the sufferings of my fellow-creatures, to go about doing good. I love my profession; I know from long experience in both systems that homoeopathy is of unspeakable 406 STATE MEDICAL SocIETY: importance to mankind. I believe it is to be an important agent in working out the physical improvement of the race. I have no fears for the result. We have fought the battle of the Wilder- ness, we have flanked their position, and can afford to fight on this line until the enemy surrenders. - . . . In reviewing the conduct of our allopathic brethren, let us re- member that it is better to bear with them, than to be like them, and work on in full faith of the good time to come, when they too shall see the light, and walk uprightly, in the acknowledg- ment and love of the truth. - The Report of the Special Committees of the Homoeopathic Medical Societies of the Metropolitan District shows how homoeo- pathy is opposed. Take for example the following extract : The refusal of the Sanitary Committee of the Board of Health to grant a hospital to the homoeopathists for the treatment of cholera, and the circumstances attending it, presents a case in which a proper regard for the truth involves the unpleasant duty of publicly exposing its opposite. * , , Apparently, as an answer to the statement of the Special Com- ‘mittees of the Homoeopathic Medical Societies of New-York and Brooklyn, and as a justification of the course of the Sanitary Committee, at a public meeting of the Board, the above anony- mous communication was read by the Chairman of the Committee and published with the transactions of the Board. This paper demands a careful examination. . It commences: “We have heard a great deal lately from enthusiastic homoeopathists about their wonderful success in the treatment of cholera. It is well to know what experienced and honest physicians of the same school think upon this subject.” Bating the insinuation that “experienced and honest physicians of the same school” will be found to think quite differently from their enthusiastie brethren here, this is very well. In the pres. ence of a disease which carries off more than fifty per cent of all the cases treated in the usual way, it is well that the public should know, and that the Sanitary Committee should heed, what honest and experienced physicians of the homoeopathic school think upon this subject. Any attempt to distort facts and pervert opinions in relation to it is inexcusable. Prejudice and ignorance should give place to candor and truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '*, * "Let the public judge of the candor, intelligence, and honesty, NEW York County MEDICAL SocIETY: 40'ſ. with which the claims of homoeopathy are treated by men from whom we have a right to demand justice. It is proper to remark that it is especially the relative success of the homoeopathic treat- ment, in comparison with other methods that we claim. To prove that such a claim is not sustained by what experienced and honest physicians of the same school think upon this subject is the object. of the paper read. It goes on with an appearance of great accuracy: “In the British Journal of Homoeopathy, vol. 7, p. 177, we read : “We cannot help deprecating the boastful tone we so often hear assumed by homoeopathists on this subject. It argues a singular callousness of feeling in any one who has had much experience in this disease, not to be penetrated with a pro- found sense of the comparative impotence of the homoeopathic art in arresting or greatly modifying this terrible plague.” This quotation unmistakably condemns homoeopathy. It purports to be given in the words of the author without omission or change. It touches the heart of the question apparently—the comparative impotency of the homoeopathic art in cholera, that is, its impo- tence compared with allopathic treatment. Whereas, immedi- ately after speaking of the boastful tone, the author says: “That our success is greater, much greater, than that of our allopathic colleagues, we have no doubt whatever; and this statement is confirmed by our statistical returns.” Why was this explicit opinion, confirmed by statistical returns, of the greater, much greater success of homoeopathists omitted 2 - - - - The author continues: “Still, that is saying very little, and it would argue a singular callousness of feeling, in any one who has had much experience in the disease, at all events as it appeared among us, not to be penetrated with a profound sense of the im- potence of our art in arresting or greatly modifying this terrible plague. Surely the presence-chamber of the King of Terrors is the last place for man to boast.” The author says: “The impo- tence of our art”—the medical art. Why was this changed to homoeopathic art? If quotations may be thus garbled, and the language changed, what author or what truth is safe 2 * The next quotation is garbled in the same way and with the same design. “In volume 13, p. 329, we learn that. Dr. Ger- stel reported to an allopathic Austrian medical society that he had treated three hundred cases of cholera of a most inveterate char. ' acter, with a loss of only thirty-two. A proposal was made to him to practice under the observation of the District Superinten- 408 STATE MADICAL society. dent, Dr. Nushard, in order to establish satisfactorily the success of homoeopathic treatment. ‘An offer which I declined,’ says Dr. Gerstel. The reason for this may be found on p. 331, where Dr. Gerstel continues: ‘Although I had many cases of choleraic diseases under my treatment during the epidemic, I had not any of real cholera.” The meaning intended to be conveyed by this language is obvious. Dr. Gerstel reported great success in the treatment of cholera; in consequence of this, a proposal was made to him to practice under the observation of Dr. Nushard, to test the success of his treatment. This proposal Dr. Gerstel declined, because he had not treated any case of real cholera, and was afraid to meet the trial. The quotation is made from the following nar- rative : - - - “In 1819 homoeopathy was prohibited in Austria by a decree of the Chancellor's court. In 1831 cholera was successfully treated by homoeopathists in Austria; and Dr. Gerstel, in less than three months, treated near three hundred cases in different 49 villages in which it had shown itself, of a most inveterate charac- ter. The results, most of them officially certified, showed only thirty-two deaths; and Dr. Gerstel's petition, that a portion of the hospital should be placed under homoeopathic treatment, elicited considerable discussion in the faculty. Owing to a breach of etiquette, Dr. Gerstel says, neglecting to pay a visit at the right time to a person of importance, his petition was unattended with any result. A proposal was made to me to practice under the control of a District Superintendent, Dr. Nushard, in order to establish proofs of the success of the homoeopathic treatment, an offer which I declined.’ In this account it is not said that Dr. Gerstel reported his success to the medical society. But it is said that cholera was successfully treated by homoeopathists. That Dr. Gerstel treated near three hundred cases, and that the results, most of them officially certified, showed only thirty-two deaths; that Dr. Gerstel's petition, that a portion of the hospital should be placed under homoeopathic treatment was unattended with any result; and that the proposal which he declined was not to prac- tice under the observation, but under the control, of Dr. Nushard. Dr. Gerstel was desirous of practicing under the observation of his allopathic brethren, and had asked permission to do so; but the proposal made to him to practice under the control of an allo- pathist, under the circumstances, was an insult, and he did not think it necessary to give any reason for declining it. It is just NEW YORK COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 409 the difficulty between us and the Sanitary Committee now. We wish to practice under the observation of allopathists, that they may see and learn our treatment and its results. They require us to practice under the control of allopathists, that our success may be prevented. We respectfully decline to go in on such terms. The narrative continues: “In 1830, Dr. Gerstel says, the chol- era epidemic was of still greater benefit to homoeopathy. It raged with violence in Vienna. The prohibition of 1819 still hung over us Austrians. The allopathic physicians were, as for- merly, still groping in the dark. Dr. Fleischman, who had met with such success in Gumpendorf, was commissioned to lay before . the court a report upon the cholera, and the best mode of treat- ment, in accordance wiih his experience. The immediate result obtained was the removal of the prohibition to practice homoeo- pathy in Austria in 1837. About the year 1842, the College of - Physicians of Vienna held informal meetings for the discussion of any subject that might be brought before them. Dr. Gerstel de- termined to introduce the subject of homoeopathy, which he thought would be well received by the younger members of the profession, as it had been so successful in the treatment of cholera. And he says: “Although I had many cases of choleraic disease under treatment during the epidemic, I had not any of real chol- era; still I could not allow the opportunity to pass of firlfilling my intention.” w This last remark of Dr. Gerstel, made in relation to the epidemic of 1842, and showing that he carefully distinguished between choleraic disease and real cholera, is garbled to suit the purpose, and made to read: “I had not any of real cholera,” instead of “during the epidemic I had not had any of real chol- era”—torn from the context and applied to the epidemic of 1831, to contradict the report of Dr. Gerstel's success, and given as the reason why he declined the proposal to practice under the control of Dr. Nushard, made eleven years before this occurred. All the dates necessary to the right understanding of the subject are carefully excluded, and the great success of homoeopathy in the epidemic of 1836, the report which Dr. Fleischmann was com- missioned to lay before the court, and the consequent removal of the prohibition, in 1837, to practice homoeopathy in Austria, are ignored. . sº - The next quotation, where Dr. Sten is censured for putting the homoeopathie mortality in cholera so low as eight and a half per 410 g STATE MEDICAL Society. f cent, is almost correctly quoted. The old design to give a false impression appears in the following: “In vol. 12, p. 698, we read: We are sorry to learn that the cholera has, in Dr. Tessier's wards, shown so malignant a type.” These results were so bad that Dr. Tessier “has never published them.” In a short paragraph speak- ing of Dr. Tessier's services in the Hospital Beaujon, it is said : “We are sorry to learn that the cholera has, in his wards, as well as in the other hospitals in Paris, shown so malignant a type. One great cause for the increased mortality in all the hospitals as compared with the last epidemic, is the decidedly contagious , character the disease has manifested. It thus spreads from bed to bed, and attacks patients already suffering from serious diseases.” There was no especial malignancy in Dr. Tessier's wards as the writer would represent, and the great mortality is accounted for. “In order to prove that Dr. Tessier has every advantage,” says ...this paper, “we quote from page 693,” and goes on to quote the arrangements in the Hospital St. Marguerite, although the malig- nant cholera spoken of appeared in his wards in the Hospital Beau- jon. This only shows how everything is perverted to the one purpose of maligning homoeopathy. - The paper proceeds: “Dr. Tessier subsequently published a treatise on cholera, reprinted by Radde of New York. On page 102 we read “Homoeopathy seems comparatively powerless in the severer forms of cholera. The cures under this treatment are generally cases of diarrhoea and simple cholera; the number of deaths generally corresponds to the number of cases of algid and ataxic cholera. During the epidemic of 1849, I (Dr. Tessier) only saw one case of either of these forms recover; hence I resorted to the regular treatment, after conviction that the homoeopathic was inefficient except in very few cases.” Whether this quotation gives the opinion of Dr. Tessier, or is garbled purposely to misre- present it, may be learned by consulting the work, where Dr. Tessier says, page 101: “This method (the homoeopathic) is bril- liantly successful in cholerine and simple cholera.” Page 203 : “In those forms of cholera where medical treatment seems to have at all any effect, the Hahnemannian is preferable to the ordi- nary methods, and is both more scientific and more efficacious.” Page 106: “As regards the black or ataxic cholera, I am sorry to say that I cannot propose any effective mode of treatment.” Page 107: “Hahnemann's method has seemed to me more efficacious than any of the other methods of treatment. Under the Hahne- * New York County MEDICAL Society. - 411. mannian method about one-tenth recovered more than under any other. Hahnemann's method enables us to establish the thera- peutic indications and the modes of treatment in cholera upon a scientific basis.” Tessier speaks of resorting to the regular treat- ment in cases of algid and ataxic cholera, but the says the most powerful allopathic treatment was equally inefficient. He thinks the remedy for these incurable cases of cholera shquld be looked for, and may yet be found in the homoeopathic method. . Thus, we think, it is conclusively shown that there is a deli- berate attempt to conceal the opinions of the writers quoted, and, instead, to palm off opinions directly opposed to theirs. The chairman of the Sanitary Committee described the paper “as being an epitome of various eminent homoeopathists' opinions. The document he had read came from highly educated physicians.” We do not object to the witnesses cited by the committee; we only insist that their testimony shall be received as it was actually given, and not as it is garbled and forged for the occasion; and we hold that the committee are bound to the conclusions fairly proved by their own witnesses. In justice to the “eminent homoeopa. thists,” and the “highly educated physicians.” from whom it purports to come, we brand the document a forgery. Coming before the public with a quasi endorsement by the Sanitary Com- mittee, it becomes a duty to expose its true character. It presents an example of the honesty and intelligence, shall we say, or of the ignorance and malice, with which homoeopathy is opposed. Persons whose prejudices are stronger than their judg- ment, are ready to believe what they wish to be true. It is not creditable to the Sanitary Committee, who officially boast of their knowledge of homoeopathy, and who are expected to be well informed on such subjects, that they were taken in by this paper, while the non-medical members of the board rejected it. Judge Bosworth protested against basing any action of the Board upon it, and spoke of it as attacking both the homoeopathic practice as a system, and the homoeopathic physicians as a class. President Schultz regarded the communication a mere bundle of opinions, collated by an allopathist, to show that, in acute cholera, homoeopathy is impotent. He desired to kick the document out. On another point, also, we are indebted to the good sense and correct judgment”of the non-medical members of the Board. Judge Bosworth charged the Sanitary Committee that they had refused the homoeopathists a separate hospital wherein they might 412 º STATE MEDICAL SocIETY: treat cholera in their own way, and had offered them a chance to practice only on conditions which no homoeopathist could accept. We leave the subject, commending to whom it may concern the Divine command: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” What the homoeopathists think on this subject may be known from the following resolutions adopted by the Homoeopathic Med- ical Society of the County of New York: Whereas, This society has heard with surprise and indignation the Statement of Professor Willard Parker, M. D., at the recent meeting of the Allopathic State Medical Society, as reported in the daily papers, in defense of the course pursued by the Metro- politan Health Board (of which he was a member) toward the homoeopathic physicians of this sanitary district—statements so entirely at variance with the facts, and calculated, if uncontra- dicted, to injure the homoeopathic fraternity in the public estima- tion, that this Society feels called upon emphatically to declare these statements to be without foundation, and to place the stamp of reprobation ou the attempt to extenuate the exclusiveness, favoritism and injustice of the Board of Health; therefore, Itesolved, That the assertion of Professor Parker to the effect that the Metropolitan Health Board has offered fair and reasonable concession to the homoeopathists who offered their services in the treatment of cholera; and especially, that they, the homoeopath- ists, had been challenged to a fair trial of their treatment in gen- uine cases of cholera, from which challenge they are asserted to have ignobly shrank, are utterly untrue; that, on the contrary, the urgent and persistent appeals made by them through various societies and committees, and by memorials, petitions and personal applications, to have the charge of even one of the six proposed hospitals (subject, of course, to the inspéction, at all times, of the Board of Health) were discourteously refused; and that the mea- gre concession of a few beds in the Five Points and Battery Hos. pitals, which was finally granted, was coupled with such condi- tions, restrictions and imputations as necessarily to preclude its acceptance, as has been fairly set forth and published in the report of the Cholera Committee of this society in August, 1866. Resolved, That the homoeopathic physicians of this city and district, having enjoyed in a large degree the confidence and patronage of the wealthy and intelligent portion of the commu- nity, stand ready, as they have done from the first, to take their NEW York County MEDICAL SocIETY: 413 full share of responsibility in the care and treatment of the sick poor; that they desire only a fair opportunity, under the strictest supervision, in the public hospitals or elsewhere, to demonstrate the relative advantage of their method in the cholera or any other epidemic; but that they will never consent to entrust the prepara- tion and administration of their prescriptions and other details of treatment to those whose uniform conduct towards them has been characterized by opposition, unfairness and discourtesy. Resolved, that the persistent falsifying of facts in regard to homoeopathy and homoeopathists, and the endorsement and circu- lation by the Sanitary Committee of garbled and forged extracts from the writings of homoeopathic physicians, misrepresenting their statements and opinions, is a prostitution of official station and influence to partizan purposes which calls for public rebuke. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the Gov. ernor of the State, Lieutenant-Governor, and Speaker of the House and President of the Board of Health. * N. GEORGE E. BELCHER, M. D., President. HENRY M. SMITH, M. D., Secretary. NEW YORK, March 13, 1867. At the meeting of the Board of Health as reported in the “World” of the 5th inst., Judge Bosworth said: “That paper states that the Sanitary Committee had made garbled and false extracts from homoeopathic works. If the gentleman making the charges would refer to the books and give the quotations as they say they are, so that the Board could see that they were garbled and false, then he would be in favor of filing such communication, but he was opposed to putting on file a paper like that presented.” Dr. Stone (excitedly): “I tell you that every word that was in the report of the Sanitary Committee came from homoeopathic writers in the form in which it was presented in them; and what is more, Dr. — publishes a book on Cholera, and quotes the very authors. The homoeopathic authors themselves deny that homoeopathy is-useful at all in the “cold 'stages of cholera.” This is not true. With all due respect to the Hon. Chairman of the Sanitary gommittee of the Board of Health, I affirm that the quotations in question are garbled and false, and that the homoeopathic authors themselves do not deny that homoeopathy is useful at all the cold stages of cholera. * * ... This is a simple question of fact, easily settled by any one who will take the trouble to refer to the passages cited. And it is a 414 STATE MEDICAL Society. perfect demonstration of the sad fact that the most confident asser- tions of honored and honorable allopathists in relation to homoeo- pathy are utterly unreliable, because they will not take the trouble to examine. - i . The very first passage quoted reads thus: Correct. Y British Journal of Homoeopathy, Vol. 7, page 177. . “We cannot help deprecating the boastful tone we so often hear assumed by homoeopathists on this subject. That our success is greater, much greater than that of our allopathic colleagues, we have no doubt whatever; and this statement is confirmed by our statistical returns. Still that is saying very little, and it would argue a singular cal]ousness of feeling in any one who has had much experience in the disease, at all events as it appeared among us, not to be penetrated with a profound sense of the impotence of our art in arresting or greatly modifying this terrible plague. Surely the presence-chamber of the King of Terrors is the last place for man to boast.” & Garbled. “In the British Journal of Homoeopathy, Vol. 7, page 177, we read : - “We cannot help deprecating the boastful tone we so often hear assumed by homoeopathists on this subject. It argues a singular callousness of feeling in any one who has had much experience in the disease, not to be penetrated with a profound sense of the comparative impotence of the homoeopathic art in arresting or greatly modifying this terrible plague.” - - Dr. Stearns' Address was reviewed in the Homoeopathic Jour- nals, and the following reply to his remarks was published in th New York Evening Post, March 16, 1847: . “The New York Commercial Advertiser of the 8th inst. con- tains a notice of “Dr. Stearns' inaugural address before the New York Academy of Medicine, published by order of the Academy,” and pronounces it “amanly and sensible performance.” An extract is given to “show the estimate placed by the venerable President of our Academy upon homoeopathy, upon which he speaks with all the vigor and vivacity of his youth.” The estimate thus publicly placed by the venerable President of “our Academy” upon homoeopathy, sanctioned by the Academy, NEW York County MEDICAL Soci&TY. 415 commended and circulated by a respectable journal, becomes from these circumstances an interesting document. I shall therefore endeavor to give it a "respectful consideration, which, under other circumstances, would be unnecessary. - . The venerable President cannot believe the doctrines taught by Hahnemann, because they are contrary to reason. He says, “reason teaches me that the power of any remedial agent essen- tially depends on the number of grains, ounces or pounds, of which that agent consists.” As I cannot understand this state- ment in any sense which makes it true, I must be permitted to ask for an explanation of its meaning. If by power is meant the capability of acting upon the animal organism, irrespective of the kind of effect produced, whether salutary or injurious, the state- ment is not true; for in this respect it is well known that quality is more essential than quantity. .The inherent quality of prussic acid and its relation to the animal economy, makes an ounce of prussic acid vastly more powerful than an ounce of castor oil, although the quantities are equal. ' s If by “the power of a remedial agent” its remedial power is intended, the statement is not true; for it is well known that dis- cretion and sound judgment are required in adapting the dose to the peculiarities of the case. Half a drop of prussic acid may be remedial, when an ounce would instantly destroy life. So of the most common drugs, it is not true that their remedial power is increased in a direct proportion to the increased “number of grains, ounces or pounds” taken; small doses may cure the patient when ounces or pounds of the same drug would inevitably cause his death. The subject of doses is an important one, and I would most respectfully inquire whether the Academy intended by the above proposition of their venerable President to prescribe the limits of doses, putting the minimum at a grain, the medium at one or two ounces, and the maximum of a “regular ’’ dose at one or two pounds. It is to be regretted that the Academy seems to have adopted the views of Dr. Brandreth on this subject, as set forth in advertising Brandreth's pills. He says, “if one pill does good, two pills will do more good; the more pills you take the more good they will do you; if anybody is not cured by taking these pills, it is because they have not taken enough of them; which being generalized and translated into the scientific language of our Academy becomes this identical proposition : The 416 . STATE MED104L SocIETY: power of any remedial agent essentially depends on the number of grains, ounces or pounds of what that agent consists.” I am happy to assure the public that the fractice of intelligent physicians, of whatever school, is not so bad as might be inferred from this statement of a fundamental principle. Experience teaches them the danger of being governed by any such theoreti- cal speculations, and they are themselves ready to admit that many a poor patient gets cured to death by overdosing. “JWullum remedium nisi quod tempestivo usujiat,”—there is no remedy except that which becomes so by seasonable use—is a received medical maxim. The illustration given in the relative effects of a large or small quantity of gunpowder, steam, and all other agents of similar power, which the doctor cites as very analogous, shows a total want of discrimination between remedial and destructive power. The rifleman, who with unerring aim hits the mark, is careful to select powder of the particular quality suited to his rifle, and learns by experience the quantity necessary to propel the ball the required distance with the requisite force. A person ignorant of these necessary precautions, and intent only upon increasing the power, might load to the muzzle, burst the gun, “and produce great destruction of human life,” and might be considered a “dead shot,” but not a good marksman. The ignoramus, usurping the place of the engineer, may fasten down the safety valves and put on steam with all zeal, in the ex- pectation of making a quick passage, and the academy, if they look to the amount of power as the only thing requisite to a safe voyage, may embark, but I would kindly warn them not to go in that boat; experience has shown that there is great danger in such a course. I fear they will burst their boiler. -- Hahnemann has never forbidden “his pupils to reason or theo- rize on his principles,” and never has asserted any such nonsense as Dr. Stearns attributes to him. Believing with undoubting faith, that the benevolent Creator has wisely arranged the laws of nature, with a humility characteristic of true greatness, he has felt it to be his province, by the careful observation of facts, to inquire what is the natural constitution of things, rather than to attempt, by any affort of mere reason, to determine what it ought to be. In this good work he labored with untiring zeal, and his labors were rewarded with glorious success. J - - And now I would ask Dr. Stearns and the Academy, what right MEW YoFºx Couſy TY MEDICAL SoCIETY: 417 have you to accuse Hahnemann of an “express purpose to prac- tice deception and imposition upon the credulity and prejudices of the community?” What reason have you to assert that “poisons and narcotics constitute the corner-stone of the homoeopathic edi. fice?” Dare you assert that homoeopathists use greater quantities, or more concentrated and dangerous forms of poisonous and nar. cotic substances, than allopathists use? Dare you even pretend that we use them in as concentrated forms as they are habitually used by you? What reason have you to assert that “the allevi- ation of pain by narcotics gives to their (homoeopathic) practice all its popularity?” That homoeopathy is popular, and that our practice alleviates pain and cures the patient is true. Your testi- mony to this point is good; but the assertion that the alleviation of pain is procured by narcotics is false, and I challenge you to the proof. How dare you assert that if a man attempts to prac- tice upon the principles of homoeopathy “he must possess a most depraved moral faculty?” Do you know that homoeopathic prac- tice impairs health, destroys life, and must necessarily impair the usefulness of the clergy as guides to eternal happiness, if they patronize it? What has constituted you defenders of the faith and guardians of “our holy religion,” with authority to school the clergy in the discharge of their peculiar professional duties? This high-handed attempt to overawe the clergy and all religious men, to defame and ostracise homoeopathic practitioners looks more like a conspiracy to destroy the reputation of successful rivals, than like an honest, honorable effort to promote the truth. I deny your premises, I deny your conclusions, and I call for your proofs. ſºmº ARTICLE LXXW. Medico-Legal Diagnosis of Insanity. Duties of Physicians before Commissions of Lunacy. By F. W. HUNT, M.D., New York. The science of medical jurisprudence, though still imperfect, is as ancient in some of its first principles-as the time of Moses. Since the time of the Emperor Charles V, it has been the duty of physicians to instruct courts of law on many important matters. In the celebrated criminal code framed at Ratisbon in 1532, it was distinctly ordered that the opinions of physicians should be for- mally taken in all cases in which death has been caused by violent Se nate, No. 77.] 27 #3 ºSTATE MEDICAL SocIETY: means, such as wounds, hanging poisoning, and also in prosecu- tions for infanticide. - In later times the study of questions which physicians are Sup- posed to have peculiar means of settling correctly, has grown into a science known as Legal-Medicine or Medical Jurisprudence. It has already an extensive literature, and is supposed to be one of the most intricate and important of all the medical sciences. On no occasion has medicine assumed a loftier position than when, stepping forward into the forum and, in the light of all the scientific acquisitions of all ages, she has presumed to announce to courts, counselors and juries the degree of intelligence that ought to be claimed by the individual whose judgment is sus- pected, and the extent of responsibility which the State may rightly measure out to the unfortunate, if not criminal, individual charged with the commission of crime. Never, said Dr. Rush, more than half a century ago, has medicine appeared in a posi- tion more “honorable.” - & . Medical men are supposed to have peculiar powers of discrimi- nation and analysis of human motives, and of the strength and weakness of the many hidden springs of human action. They claim to belong to a profession which, in the language of a mem- ber of a rival calling, is composed of “astute personages—mys. terious in their means of knowledge, and confident in their powers of extinguishing the common sense of both judges and juries.”. Let it not be supposed that such pretensions can be easily maintained. Never has medico-legal science been more severely tested than in that darkest field of all medical thought and learn- ing, the medical jurisprudence of insanity. The distinction between real and simulated imbecility—between irresponsible insanity and responsible eccentricity, presents one of the most intricate problems ever presented to a physician. It is one of the requirements of the old English law, copied and fol. lowed out in every American State, that the man who is incapable of taking care of himself by his own wisdom, shall be taken care of by the greater wisdom of the State in which he lives, and of which he only forms an atomic part. All persons, believed by their families or others to be “of un- sound mind,” as idiots, lunatics, or insane persons, are considered “incapable of making contracts, either personal or affecting real estate; of suing or defending in courts of justice; of performing the ordinary duties and offices of life; of making devises or be. H b l b. ? THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE EIGHTH QUINQUENNIAL HOMOEOPATHIC CONGRESS BY GEORGE BURFORD, M.B., C.M. THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS RIGHTH QUINQUENNIAL HOMOEOPATHIC CONGRESS HY GEORGE BURFORD, M.B., C.M. IN the name and by the authority of the Interna- tional Homoeopathic Congress I greet you, dignitaries and citizens of the Homoeopathic World, constituents of this assembly Our Congress is itself the most widely representative Convention ever summoned under the aegis of Homoeopathy. From the portals of the morn—the brooding East—from the newer civilisations of the Southern Seas—from Europe, the cradle of medical Science, whence. Hippocrates and Hahnemann sprang —and from the illimitable West, an area of the Globe virtually a planet in itself—where men live and move and ideas fructify—and whence peace now waves her olive branch from East and West and North and South—from continents, colonies, and countries, the ambassadors of Homoeopathy are met, plenipoten- tiaries in this Pan-Homoeopathic Council, again I give you greeting, for Homoeopathy is great, and may her worth prevail - This representative assembly animated by one mind, is the visible sign of the solidarity of Homoeopathy throughout the world. Science knows no barriers of race or language; the beams of its august sunrise are 2 the liberty, equality and fraternity which are radiated by knowledge. - - Great is the power of assembling ourselves together : for in our confraternity the whole is as great as its parts, only when the parts come together. The living sense of comradeship, the inspiring effect of meeting with one mind, the potent stimulus derived from human assemblage—these are added influences permeating the structure of our intellectual framework, and are poorly represented or represented not at all by a mere paper register of adherents. Here we powerfully augment the springs of action by the con- tact of personalities. - - - Our science has ever dissociated itself from that mediaeval narrowness—parent of a thousand errors— which made knowledge the privilege of the few—and placed it under an interdict to the many. The Renaissance made short work with this embargo for knowledge in general, and Hahnemann as a prodičt of the Renaissance, carried the tradition of the freedoń of knowledge into medicine. The custody of knowledge for the last three hundred years, has ceased to be the prerogative of a profession: . At the gateways of science stand the giants of intellect incessantly striving to win new facts and laws from darkness to light. In the sacred order next come minds with insight, who unfold a new discovery into order and detail, and breathe into it the breath of practical application. Hard would it be for humanity if the order of scientific ... succession ended here. The consummation is into its incorporation into the fabric of national life by the brain workers of the community, by whom science is transformed into politics and sociology. Pre-eminently is this the case in the science of medicine. Preventive medicine—the medicine of the future, like curative medicine, the medicine of the present, is welded and moulded into the national life, by the secular brain . workers of the commonwealth, who see in it an influence making for a healthier national life. . In this open meeting, convened on the wide basis of professional interest in Homoeopathy as medical science, and personal and national interest in Homoeopathy as the healing art par excellence; in this open meeting, are 3. united the intellectual spirit that discovers and knows, and the utilitarian spirit which appreciates and turns to practical account. . . . . Our assemblage is at the behest of the old Roman canon Salus populi Suprema Rex. The profession of medicine is a liberal profession : our raison d'être is the service of the commonwealth. Plato in the “Republic ’’ has the idea trenchantly put by Socrates, “The medical art does not exist for the benefit of the medical art.” Our science and our art, our institu- . tions and our traditions are vassals to this over-lord, the physical well-being of the state and the individual. For this we live and move and have our professional well-being. No considerations of science for science's Sake—no glamour of the honour and glory of mere professionalism ; no half-way house of this description can keep us from the simple truth enunciated in Plato, “The medical art does not exist for its own greatness.” But the profession—or rather the service—of medicine is a great kinship reaching through all times and all lands. Within its hands are placed in a constantly increasing number, the keys of life and death. Its ensign and device is the famous declaration of Terence, “ Humanum Nihil a me alienum puto.” It has been evolved out of the various schools of medical thought, historic and existing, and its comprehensive theory is . of the widest. In so enormous an area of fact and discovery, crystallisation in forms of medical knowledge, and cleavage along lines of medical idea, are persistently going on. The interaction of the whole body of facts, ideas and beliefs; on each other is, to use John Morley's phrase, the sign and essence of life. Homogeneity is impossible : ferment and intellectual flux are the essentials of growth. . Look at the crystallised instances of this intellectual flux in the present day medicine. High and dry are the Therapeutic Agnostics, of whom Sir Samuel Wilks is the most illustrious leader. In the green pastures of Therapeutics flourish the followers of the illustrious Hahnemann. These recognise the reign of law in medicine, and with this leading, their harvest year by year is that of a rich increase. In one area of these fertile plains works Sir Almroth Wright, with the subtle 4 biological reactions of the vaccine method. And, says Sir Almroth, in that most disease proves to be germ disease, the Hospital of the future will be a great out-patient department, whither will repair all who need to fortify their protective mechanisms against germ disease. Bold and zealous are those restless adventurers who record the perpetual development of antiseptic surgery as the great sheet-anchor of health —for while Metschnikoff seeks to replace the virulent bacilli in your colon by non-toxic ones, comes Mr. Lockwood, who wipes out the problem by wiping out the colon too. In malignant disease the surgical school claim that their method is the end-all of this plague, a dictum which those who are skilled in Radium-therapy distinctly and promptly rebut. High above all, in a purer ether and a sublimer air are the Pyscho-therapeutists, who insist on the cure of the ills of this too solid flesh by the development of the will, a curative force which transcends space and time and material bounds. | Such is the working of the Comprehension theory, and without it the practice of medicine could not exist for a day. Because medicine is a liberal profession, all the verified gains and experiences of each part are, freely and without covenant the property of all. Noº part is as great as the whole ; and, with no embargo on the widest freedom of thought, or facts or laws that any section has brought from darkness to light, are the unhindered possession of all, by tradition, by inheri- tance, by right. It is not necessary, it is not possible, that the streams of tendency from all the great springs of medical thought 'shall flow in the same direction. To endeavour for this would be to put all original workers under the iron heel of homogeneity, where freedom is as the very breath of life. In such a profession as ours, the dictum of Mill is paramount : “Only through diversity of opinion is there a chance of fair play to all sides of the truth.” . I have said that the comprehensive theory in medicine is of the widest ; and I have instanced a multiplicity. of points of view encompassed by that great science to which no theory is foreign that makes for the physical well-being of mankind. Why then do we 5 retain our separate cognomen, and why do we meet as a detached body in separate assembly to-day ? History is full of the mistakes of statesmen ; and our isolated position is one of the anomalies of medical statesmanship in the past. - : A hundred years ago, an original thinker in medi- cine, exercising the liberty of thought which was his professional birthright, carried the inspiring spirit of the Renaissance into medicine, and by arduous and protracted experiment, evolved many new facts and a new law. This was a real, definite, and as we consider, successful attempt to convey the methods of science into medicine. Had this discovery been made a hundred years later, it would have linked up in a perfectly natural way with contemporary science, and been hailed as “lux in tenebris '' by original workers in medicine in search of a unifying principle. Appear- ing when it did, it was treated by controversial methods savouring of the Middle Ages, and which can only be compared to the handling of Servetus by Calvin or the no-quarter methods of Milton and Salmasius. Had the medical authorities of that time possessed any instinct of statesmanship, the new facts and the new law would have been left to work out their own Šalvation, and been accorded the crucial test of veri- fication without fear or favour. But that was not the era of medical statesmen. Hahnemann was sub- jected to indignities of persecution which savoured of Pre-Renaissance periods. A University . graduate of the highest promise, master of eight languages, a brilliant physician, a first-class chemist, a man of extraordinary erudition, at fifty-five he publishes his magnum opus, and in three years is driven from his place of abode and his practice, hounded by legal difficulties raised by his confrères. In Hamburg, thence to Torgau, where the Organon was published, he lived poor and persecuted, excommunicated alike by the professsion and the professional press. Thence to Leipsic, where he practised with credit and renown, receiving the University permission to lecture twice weekly. But in ten years, at the age of sixty-six, he was compelled to leave Leipsic, the legal quibbles aforetime successful being again engineered against him. Lest 6 any should mistake.the character of the legal quibbles, they were, that Hahnemann could find no state- licensed chemist to dispense his medicines, but dis- pensed them himself, and frequently gave them away, Casting off the dust of Leipsic from his feet, he accepted an offer by the reigning Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen to become his personal physician ; and here, settling, at this Court, he found that congenial atmosphere which enabled him to develop without restraint for the first time his new departure in Science. The whole account reads like a description of a heresy hunt in the Middle Ages; and is totally at variance with the traditions and instincts of a liberal profession. Listen to the acknowledgments of the Regius Professor of Medicine in the University of Oxford : “It is not as if our Homoeopathic brethren were asleep, far from...it, they are awake . . . to the importance of the scientific study of disease, It is distressing, that so many good men live isolated in a measure, from the great body of the profession, The original grievous mistake,” continues Professor Osler, “was ours—to quarrel with our brothers over infinitesimals was a most unwise and stupid thing to do.” .. - - - - This is not the Comprehensive Theory, in pieces; it is the Comprehensive Practice in the hands of mala- droit statesmanship. Our isolation is not of our seeking. It is one of the many tragedies of Science which history has had to record. Deplorably lacking as was the medical statesmänship of the time, no sympathetic broad-minded administration has yet arisen to mend the rent in the robe of Æsculapius. Such was the ostracism meted out to Hahnemann and his successors, and our meeting here to-day is the outward and visible sign of its persistence. The results of this enduring isolation have been deplorable. While possessing sufficient vitality to take root, and spread all over the earth, Homoeopathy has been “Cribb'd, cabined and confined ” in its later development, and in many places has been squeezed out of existence. We comfort ourselves by the maxim “Magna est veritas et praevalebit.” But here comes John Stuart Mill who assures us that 7 “The dictum that Truth always triumphs over perse- cution is one of those pleasant falsehoods which all history refutes. If not suppressed for ever, truth may be put back by centuries. The real advantage that truth has is that when an opinion is true, it may be extinguished once or twice or many times, but that in the course of time there will generally be found persons to rediscover it.” - ~. This, then, has been the generalized result of the persecution and ostracism of the Similia law—that the service of medicine to humanity has been very greatly depleted and the clock of the world's progress in matters medical put back for centuries. - What has been the limiting effect of our detached position on ourselves 2 How much do we not lose by our separation from the main current Qf professional life—its energy, its volume, its persistence 2 - Not to have been in unison with its stream of tendency has compelled us to spend much of our time in polemics which, but for this, could profitably be turned to pure and applied science. Can our atmo- sphere and equipment be calculated to evolve many personalities of national mark 2 The methods of a distributed professional culture—the Press—Societies —the educational establishments—how can the nurture of a many-sided profession be fully maintained apart from these agencies 2 But for these enforced limi- tations; as I have already said, we are not responsible : they are not of our seeking. - What has not the profession in general suffered by our exclusion ? How has it lacked the vigorous stimulus of our new therapeutics inside its estab- lishment, and for lack of which many of its ablest minds have gradually drifted into therapeutic agnosticism 2 What impetus would have accrued to the science of therapeutics if the active leaven of Homoeopathy had permeated the destructive dosage of an earlier time, or its revulsion, the therapeutic Scepticism of a later date 2 Truly, as an outside influence, Homoeopathy has ousted the wholesale bleeding, blistering, mercurialisation and so forth of the Georgian-Victorian time from the practice of medicine (and how near the shadow of this incubus is to us may be judged from the appeal of Cavour so late as I359 to his professional attendant, “Why torture thus a dying man 2 °). I say, Homoeopathy has ousted the therapeutics by cataclysm from the practice of medicine, and is now engaged in infusing the law of . progress into the more hopeful work of recent years. But how much more rejuvenating to the profession of medicine to have followed in earlier times the lead of . - Sir John Forbes, the editor of the Medico-Chirurgical Review, who boldly advocated a fair field for Homoeo- pathy, than the reactionary counsels of Thomas Wakley, then editor of The Lancet, who was for its extermination by criminal process for manslaughter I say, how rejuvenating for the profession then, to have done what the scientific spread among its leaders is . tending to do now ! What fertile results from the inspiring spirit of the new therapeutics might not have accrued during these sixty sterilised years A new age, however, has arisen in medicine bringing with it a new order of medical statesmen. Rather is the new order plural, for there are two, and both are endeavouring to educate their party. The scandal. of an open sore is no more to the liking of the powers that be in medicine than in politics, and a movement for wider comprehension is being breathed into life in hitherto exclusive medical circles. Simultaneously a reciprocal tendency towards unification is taking some shape among those illiberally dealt with by a liberal profession. The rent in the robe of Æsculapius is to be repaired. Homoeopathy, purged of individualism, is to be recognised as a contributing element in the development of general medicine. And Homoeopaths. are adjured to think imperially, by certain of their own light and leading, specifically those to whom detach- ment spells crippled powers. - $ From all endeavours that are wise and statesmanlike to abolish the anomaly of a many-sided profession divided into two camps as regards one of its orders only—I Say all statesmanlike and wise endeavours to widen, (dispassionately) the comprehension of our profession are endeavours in the direction of legitimate progress, and embody the aspirations of all lovers of progress. Here may I state at once precisely the 9 tests of what is wise and statesmanlike in endeavours . to broaden the basis of professional solidarity. These are liberty of thought, liberty of expression, liberty of action within the sphere of professional duties and obligations. And in putting the principles of comity. in this most elementary form, I have followed Mr. Mill, who in his luminous exposition regards these liberties as fundamental and essential for progress. “Not,” says our authority, “Not the violent conflict between parts of the truth, but the quiet suppression of half of it, is the formidable evil.” Continuing, “ Nor it is enough that one should hear the arguments of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. That is not the way to do justice to the arguments—he must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them, who defend them in earnest, and do their utmost for them.” Thus Mr. Mills; and no sounder, more cogent or more timely arguments for legitimate comprehension could be adjusted to our present position. - . It is then neither wise nor statesmanlike nor ethical in any sense to take or to drift into any position which tends to lessen that liberty of thought, expression and action which we at present enjoy. Rather does Mr. Mill specifically warn and exhort against any tendency to minimise the importance of the bold sanction of opinion in vexed questions, especially that held by a minority. “If either of two opinions has a better claim than the other, not merely to be tolerated, but to be encouraged and countenanced, it is the one which happens at the particular time and place to be in a minority.” - - . This is the kind of language that braces our energies, and fills our counsels with weightiness and power. The loftiness of the authority is unimpeachable : it, warrants the position consistently taken by the leaders among us ; and it is not for the first time that Mill has been proved on the side of the Homoeopaths. - But medical statesmanship has two sides to its shield: not alone the ethical, but also the practical, or as publicists term it, the political spirit, which deals with the expedient and directly attainable in the conduct IO of affairs. An exponent of the political spirit, having an instinct for the openings of the immediate future, may state his case thus:– - Do not forget, proceeds our man of affairs, do not forget that Macaulay, imbued with the historic sense, declared that compromise was of the essence of politics. Why this constant concentration on a part only of the domain of medicine, this perpetual sense of necessity to testify in and out of season as to this one part 2 You do not allow for considerations “which rightly lead us in practice to surrender something of what we desire, in order to secure the rest—considerations which rightly make us acquiesce in a second-best course of action, in order to avoid stagnation and retrogression.” “To disdain anything short of an organic change in thought or institution is infatuation.” “Is not a certain respect owing from the minority to the majority ? And is not the rock of non-compromise precisely that on which the bark of progress has been so frequently wrecked 2 ° - Now this is a problem in politics—medical politics— and the solution is traced by the hand of a master. Lord Morley—as a publicist, has addressed himself to this type of crisis in the history of causes where compromise is spoken of as necessary for progress. Morley Speaks of proceedings in which dignity is naturally lent to debate by the great importance of the transactions. - - In such deliberations he adjures us to take broad views : “In measuring the utility of a course, you have to take into account not only the service rendered to the objects of the present hour, but the contribution to growth, progress and the future.” He notes the pitfalls to be avoided. “It is better to wait and to defer the realisation of our ideas until we can realise these fully, than to defraud the future by truncating them, in order to secure a partial triumph for them in the immediate present.” . He reprehends delay in deciding on a course to be taken : “Questions are inadequately discussed . g- on the ground that the time is not yet come for their solution. Then, when some unforeseen perturbation forces on the time for solution, they are settled II in a slovenly, imperfect and often vicious manner, from the fact that opinion has not been prepared for solving them in a manner efficient and perfect.” The summing up of the whole situation is vivid : “In the endeavour to realise an opinion, to convert a theory into practice, it very often is highly expedient ſº to practise the very utmost sobriety, self- restraint, and conciliativeness.” “In the next place the avowal of dissent from received notions, the refusal to conform to language which implies the acceptance of such notions—this rests on a different footing. Here the reasons for respecting the wishes and sentiments of the majority are far less strong—though some reasons certainly exist. . . . . . . Finally, in the formation of an opinion as to the preferableness of one course of action over another, or the truth or falsehood of a proposition, the fact that the majority of one's contemporaries lean in the other direction is naught, and no more than dust in the balance.” ... -- - He who runs may read. Ethical thinker and practical administrator alike, the circles of their counsels independently coincide. Captain and chief, they insist over all other considerations is the paramount duty of holding a demonstrable truth with positiveness and tenacity as “the higher; wider, more binding, more transcendent part of our action.” - Complementary to this, as the atmosphere and medium in which alone truth can flourish, is the freedom to develop—free space for the perpetual testing of law by fact—the spacious and tolerant liberty for our own or any truth to live move and have its being. Given these essentials—briefest, the conserving of . intellectual independence inspired by clear insight and positive conviction, and, ensuing, the tenacious purpose to make a scientific truth historic and perma- nent—and the thronging expediencies of the hour— the given adjustments required by place, time and circumstances may well be left to the political spirits among us. - § These then are the recognised inclusions in our law of progress—tenacity and positiveness of conviction— I2 free space and a reciprocal atmosphere for develop- ment. These have been the basis of whatever historic success Homoeopathy has achieved—will be the condition under which our inherent values can appre- ciably undergo further expansion. - . Such are the lines on which the service of Homoeo- pathy to the profession, in its widest sense and to the progress of the world in its ultimate issue, can alone be assured. - - - SIMILIA SIMILIBUS. Out of the enduring rock of natural fact and natural law Homoeopathy was hewn. In the original docu- ments of the Royal Society of London the object of that learned body is defined to be the quest of natural knowledge. I know no department of medical science to which this instruction more specifically applies than Homoeopathy. It was the quest of natural knowledge in medicine that impelled the founder of Hömoeopathy to his first experiment. - - . How stable and enduring are the scientific foun- dations he then established are patent to all competent observers who will take the trouble to investigate. ... Experiment—observation—verification—these are the three great pillars on which any Induction is reared. These self-same pillars are the supports of the law of similars. - . . . . . . . . To Samuel Hahnemann is due the discovery of the law of similars in medicine : and round this law he organised the Science and art of Homoeopathy. Its structural lines were the reflex of the knowledge of his time : drugs were the main remedial measures : therapeutics was in an absolutely chaotic state— without form and void : and he set himself to elaborate ‘a really scientific method by which the value of drugs in disease could be determined. - - Now logic is the grammar of Science, and directs its ways. Inductive logic specifies how scientific research máy profitably be conducted. Let us narrow the issue to a single inquiry. “Is, or is not, some particular drug a remedy for a given disease ? " Here the method of investigation has been specifically I3 described again by the hand of a master. The canon he lays down is this : “The experiments are best tried, not in a state of disease, which is essentially a change- able state, but in the condition of health, comparatively a fixed state.” 4 - . - - How many, alas ! run but do not read. * Almost ever week witnesses the launch of some new Dreadnought in the shape of a much-vaunted remedy. Early enthusiasts obtain successes in all sorts and conditions of cases : later workers fail to repeat them —justifying the cynical advice of an astute physician that a new remedy should be given, while it cures. The new remedy—heralded with such a flourish of trumpets, now falls into desuetude, because its exploita- tion has been wrong from the beginning to the end. Do we not recall hundreds of such cases 2 Is it not the commonest of experiences to hear that Professor so and so is trying a new remedy in his clinic, for this and for that ? . . .x * , º - . . . Now, logic, the grammar of science, pronounces such a method of investigation to be radically unsound. “Anything like a scientific use of this method in these . . . . cases is.... out of the question.” That is the authoritative judgment. - ‘. . . Still, we have our new Dreadnought on hand, and we wish to know what to do with it. Another method of investigation presents itself. A hospital physician is intent on assessing its virtues in a definite disease of which he happens to have several cases in his ward. To such patients on one side of the ward is given the new remedy: to those similarly suffering on the other side of the ward, nothing. Results are compared. Is this a more scientific method of inquiry than the former ? Not in the least. Inductive logic sweeps this aside with the contemptuous remark, “No conclusions of value in a subject of such intricacy were ever obtained in this way.” And, criticising both these faulty methods, they are “from the very nature of the case inefficient and illusory.” That is an authoritative judgment. Is there then indeed no method of investigating the values of drugs in disease that complies with the rigid demands of the scientific jurist 2 There is—and only one : the Classic from which I am quoting declares it the only available procedure : and it is : “If we try experiments with ” (a drug, e.g.) “mercury upon a person in health, in order to ascertain the general laws. of its action of the human body, and then reason from these laws to determine how it will act upon persons afflicted with a particular disease ’’; this, the deduticve method is declared to be the only available method, and the authority I am quoting to you is not Hahnemann on Materia Medica, but John Stuart Mill on Inductive Logic. - - . . . Now, observe, this is not the law of similars—that is something much wider in scope. - It is an instrument by which the law of similars is enabled to work. . . . I do not propose to dwell here on the direct scientific proof of the law of similars as developed and organ- ized as Homoeopathy. That comes under the head of verification : "that verification is made thousands of times daily, all over the world, whenever, a cure is effected according to the rules and methods of Hahnemann. I propose to briefly deal with that indirect proof of the similar law which is afforded in manifold wise by those various therapeutic advances, outside the pale of organized Homoeopathy, which may be called the development of the Homoeopathic idea. Vaccine therapy and serum-therapy, X-ray therapy and radio-active therapy, are all unconscious illustrations of the intellectual groping of their sponsors after a therapeutic guide, and that guide, one and indivisible, is the law of similars. Here is the work of Von Behring and Ehlich, which is technically denoted serum-therapy. It has been elaborated with- out the least conscious reference to the similar law. Its terminology of amboceptor and haptophore, and anaphylaxis, would make any Homoeopathic Quintilian stare and gasp. But reviewing the whole series of new facts thus brought to light Von Behring, with a boldness that is characteristic, does not boggle about homo- ousion or homoi-ousion, but frankly says, “By what technical term could we more appropriately speak of this influence exhibited by a similar virus than by Hahnemann's word “Homoeopathy.” " . Serum-therapy, as another independent develop- 15. ment of the law of similars, is even a stronger case in point. The similarity to (if not the identity of the remedy with the disease-producing poison,) the Small dose (in the case of tuberculin sometimes one-fifty- thousandth of a milligramme), the infrequent adminis- tration, the care to avoid surplus dosage so as not to produce that aggravation known as the negative phase. —all these so closely link up with the Hahnemann development of the law of similars as to justify the words said to have been used by its leading advocate, “We are all Homoeopaths now !” Is it necessary to lead proof of the remedial action of X-rays as indubitably coming under the agis of the law of similars 2 - - . . . . . . My distinguished friend, Professor Sutherland, has placed this beyond cavil, and during the course of this present Congress will further amplify and justify this apparent and real derivation. And that tricksy sprite, Radium, a veritable Ariel in its ubiquity, with its wonder-working poly-valency, what relation does its therapeutic validity bear to the similar law 2 . I have discussed this question else- where, on the basis of a review of its total values ; and here I may note that in malignant disease, the evidence is in favour of its curative action proceeding not by direct destruction of the diseased tissue, but by the stimulation of the normal tissues to healthy replace- ment—a principle as old as Hahnemann's Organon. These represent the more important new departures in therapeutics since the era of Hahnemann ; and they are indubitably on the plane of the law of similars.” I say on the plane of the law of similars, for they are not identical in structural detail with Homoeopathy as , we know it. Were they so, they would have no further distinctiveness, and would be dependant parts of the Homoeopathy worked out by Hahnemann. But that they have the similar law as their informing spirit, the candid avowals of their founders and the impossibility of expressing their action in terms other than those of similars leaves no logical doubt. . . º - . But this post-Hahnemannian verification of the depth and breadth of the similar law is not limited to I6 ... the new therapeutists; the new physiologists also find basis and fundamental principles for its warrant in their biological survey. . Here is Professor Max v. Verworn dealing with the physiology of the cell; and his conclusion, too detailed for citation in full, is that stimuli of a similar kind acting on the cell increase its response, while stimuli of an opposite kind dépress it. In less tech- nical language, and as an instance, the virus of disease. acting on a cell heightens its sensitiveness to the action of a remedial influence of a similar kind. If the remedial influence be opposite in nature to the diseased stimulus, the vital resistance, the defensive powers, of the cell are lessened. Now this is implied, Speci- fically implied, in Hahnemann's teaching : like a thread it runs all through the tissue of Hahnemann's making, ... * * Professor Hugo Schulz, of Greifswald, collaborates with Arndt and lays down as rule with no exception, that where large doses paralyse or destroy, Small doses stimulate ; stimulate, that is, not the diseased condition, but the reaction of the healthy tissues against it ; and that the disease is cured by the incitement of the healthy parts of the organism to eliminate the diseased. All pure implication of the law of similars in medicine, and to be found in Hahnemann's Organon. This is the law of similars traced back to its foun- dations in the normal physiology of the cell; founda- tions disclosed by Hahnemann a century before, and developed by him into the science and art of Homoeopathy. & - By and through the work of the new physiologists, we recognise as congeneric and collateral the principles of treatment underlying Van Bier's method, and that of Ehrlich in 606. The latter is based on that principle, always adopted as a corollary by those who utilise the law of similars, of the elective affinity of drugs for Special tissues. - And in Van Bier's methods these, when run to earth, are based on these self-same physiological postulates which legitimate the law of similars. - Thus has this sane central principle of the validity of the law of similars been compassed by different I7 original workers from diverse standpoints, each unconsciously gravitating to this central interpretation of his new facts. . . . . My thesis now, is more comprehensive still. | Such is a précis of the indirect confirmation of the law of similars, derived from physiological foundation, and the independent therapeutic developments of the time. . . . . . . . . It is a display of the Homoeopathic idea, fulfilling itself in many ways. This idea, not consciously recognised by these original thinkers, at least not utilised as centre and basis for their work, yet runs as an informing spirit through the conclusions they have each worked out. The law of similars has no rival, no competitive first principle in the scientific basis of modern therapeutics; these are but variants from the central development of the similar law. The physiologists have condemned the law of the employ- ment of opposites as paralysing the protective mechanism of the cell. The therapeutists have been unable to elaborate any law that approaches the law of similars in generality. It is this law that sweeps the field, that represents explicitly or implicitly the co-ordinate findings. of Science ; and to search for an antagonistic or neutralising law recalls Huxley's famous definition of the study of metaphysics: it is the search of a blind man—in a dark room—for a black hat—that is not there. . . . . . . . . * Homoeopathy is the organisation and development of the law of similars in its widest application ; and the chief verification of Homoeopathy is itself. It is the results in daily practice—the issues of its actual application to the problems of sickness and suffering that frank it as a part of the order of nature ; that mark it as a great instrument devised by nature for obliterating the discords of disease. How great this instrument has been in the past you may visualise by picturing the wholesale reforms in medicine effected by its compelling power. , - Where is the academic manual for wholesale and repeated bleedings in inflammation, and the regular Seasonal bleedings in the healthy for a possible inflam- mation ? Gone for ever. Who swept them away ? 18 Homoeopathy, Where is the wholesale mercurial- isation that slew and maimed in the guise of a remedial procedure until the remedy was as bad as the disease ? Taken off the statute book of remedial measures, also for ever. What brought about the conviction that it might safely be dispensed, with ? Homoeopathy first and chiefest. Whence came the impetus for dis- semination— nay, whence came the ideas themselves— such as the treatment of the patient rather than of his latest disease merely, as seen in modern methods in tubercle—the discovery of the potency of the small dose, exemplified in tartar emetic—the frequent implied cognisance of the similar law, bodied forth in the employment of ipecacuanha for sickness and cantharis for nephritis and a host of other instances, whence came, I say, alike the ideas and the consciousness of their futility. From the same source—the applied science of Homoeopathy. During one century to have entirely transformed the type and changed the basis of general medical practice, and to have effected this as an outside and unnoticed influence, is ample justification for the work of Homoeopathy, even were it only relative to the time. g - But Homoeopathy is more, very much more, than a mere passing phase in the history of medicine; the reactionary extreme of yesterday from the dangerous excess of yesterday. . It has all the distinctive qualities of constructive genius, possesses an intellectual edifice of its own, four-square to all the winds that blow, and naturally exerts some influence over its Hinterland. Homoeopathy plans for a future on the basis of its undeveloped powers as well as of its historic past. , - - - - * . . And the future of Homoeopathy is one which may well inspire the imagination and stimulate the enthu- siasm of the worker for humanity, All the forces of Nature are available to Homoeopathy as remedial measures. Solar light and ethereal impulses, the poisonous artillery of germs turned against themselves, the mysterious push and pull of ions and electróns called electricity, the venoms distilled from the animal creation, the cunningly devised synthesis of a labora- tory, the virtues of plants that grow on a thousand hills, | Homoeopathy enjoys a fee simple of all these, and of those physiological influences which maintain bodily health in its plenitude and vigour, . . . . Let none fall into the obvious error that Homoeo- pathy is a closed circle, or is at the end of its embryo- logic history, All the intellectual portents, indicate a development and amplification which we can only conceive in outline. We look forward to its expansion, voluminous and harmonised, compact of facts and laws which embrace the whole field of curative and preven- tive medicine. We are at present in the position of the science of dynamics after the discovery of the first law of motion by Newton. It did not cover all the facts germane to the science, other, laws of motion followed after further investigation, but they all linked up with the first. I repeat the Wordsworthian oracle :- - - “To the solid ground Of nature trusts the mind that builds for aye.” The law of similars is rooted in the solid ground of Nature, and Nature's stores of fact and law are inexhaustible. . . . . . . . . - , -º - My discourse of this morning would be quite in- excusably truncated if this Congress in its being and doing were not to occupy the honourable place of coping-stone. Statesmanship is the medium and Science, the basis àf our existence, but for practical purposes, this Congress represents our very existence itself. • - . . ! . . . . . . . . . Every fifth year this vital organism undergoes rejuvenescence, and is re-breathed into life, now in this continent and now in that. Spring is in its veins ; , its pulses throb with vernal activity; in a brilliant hey-day of existence Summer and autumn rapidly succeed, followed by a prolonged hibernation of as many years as the phase of active existence occupied days. Five years, you will agree, is an unduly, long hibernating period after a strenuous life of six risings and settings of the sun. I propose to you that we should do something to rectify this disproportion, not by way of making the active phase longer, or its incidence more frequent, but by ensur- ing the hibernation is less profound, 20 While Homoeopathy is a world-fact, this Congress is the only World-Organisation. I submit that the supreme function of this International Association is the development of the International weal of Homoeopathy. Less than one-half per cent of Solar time is spent in active utility, the residual interval in reading the biography of each resuscitation, which, like all biographies, deals only with what the moving finger has writ. A congress or any other organism that does not busy itself with regard to altering environ- ment will ultimately have naught but biography to mark its erstwhile place and power, and our environ- ment is always altering. ... . Geographically, the centre of gravity of Homoeo- pathy has long passed from the Old World to the New. Geographically also, the centre of gravity of European * h Homoeopathy has shifted from Germany, the land of its birth, from Austria, the land of its adoption—who does not recall the brilliant work of the Austrian Pioneer Society—to this country, which has the felicity of acting as host to the International Homoeopathic Congress. The balance of Homoeopathic power has changed in all the countries of the world. We wish it to change always in every country in the direction of advance. - - Now, Homoeopathy is a larger thing than the inter- * pretation of any one man or the ascent of any one community. The whole world is its province, and the outward march, the pause, the retardation of the Homoeopathic idea in any country, are of abiding interest to all who have truth as their goal. Mr. George Bernard Shaw, whose patriotism transcended the narrow limits of the land of his birth, when challenged, replied, “I am a good European.” Simi- larly, we are good World-Homoeopaths. In the whole history of the world no cause has prospered, no illuminating idea has made headway, till the artificial barriers of race and country have been set at naught. Science knows no barriers; the impetus and the organisation required to make the truth prevail must be commensurate with truth itself. ' In 1876 the idea took shape that the isolated settle- ments and movement of Homoeopathy in the countries :S gr 2I of the world should be linked up for a few days at long intervals by an International Congress. It was the era of Congresses. They represented the high-water mark of that Civic Welt-Politik which has seen such development since. From that date in the history of the world the international idea has moved on to some purpose. Its inception was by way of Inter- national Congress. Its unfolding has brought us up to international concerted action. The most striking . example is of course the enlargement of the idea of Peace. For long the especial principle of isolated communities in various countries (and among these the Society of Friends held honourable pre-eminence), progress was elevated to a higher and wider plane by the method of International Congress and, inter- national activity. In season and out of season the principle was instilled, until the statesmen of the Great Republic of the West have taken the lead in giving this principle consideration, status and permanence. . . . . . . . I have cited this parallel at length because it contains the elements of our own problem. - We want a consolidated interest in each other's welfare that is . practical, not merely academic. We want an Inter-Congressional Council whose organi- sation will link up the essential interests of Homoeo- pathy over the globe, exactly like the Inter-State Committees of the American Institute of Homoeopathy. Such a limited Committee, appointed by this Congress, should have as a chief instruction to bring every practical aid of the Homoeopathic World to those settle- ments where Homoeopathy is being Squeezed out of existence. . An annual meeting of such an Inter-Congressional Board—and this is entirely practicable in these much travelling times—would at least fill a great gap in Pan-Homoeopathic organisation. Even if it did nothing more, it would maintain during the five years' interval the active influence of International Congress on International Homoeopathy. Later this morning we listen to reports of the status and prospects of Homoeopathy in the countries of the world. We do not wish this to be merely a formal precedure of 22 Congress. We wish our colleagues to take back the assurance that the interest of Congress in the welfare of Homoeopathy in their country is an abiding interest ; and where the difficulties in the way of progress are greatest, there the sympathy and the counsels of experience and the practical support of the International Council would be concentrated. We desire to make the weak places of Homoeopathy Strong, and its rough places plain. Such an Inter-Congress- ional Council would create a solidarity as between all the countries of the Homoeopathic World. It would do away with that ancient fallacy of the water-tight compartment, which has left us where it found us, insular units, with an academic interest in each other's welfare. It would give us the picked brains of the Homoeopathic body out of each country, men of affairs, men of experience, the cabinet of this Homoeo- pathic Parliament, by whom the world affairs of Homoeopathy would be put on the lines of most momentum and of least resistance. How much work is there not for such an Inter- Congressional Council to do | Here we have Homoeo- pathy powerful and popular, there its shadow is apparently growing less. In one country it is held tenaciously and positively, in another deviation to the line of least resistance has depleted its recruits. Ex-hypothesi, where the original establishment of Homoeopathy has not grown with the country's growth, the local influences at its command are in- sufficient, and require augmentation from without. | Such a passage from academic conference to practical . co-operation is suggested for the decision of this Congress. First and foremost, wherever Homoeopathy once established is struggling against odds, it deserves all the interest and support that the most powerful establishments can lend it. To develop and maintain the international functions of this Congress, I put to you my suggestion of an International Ministry, representing every nation where Homoeopathy is established, constituted as an Inter-Congressional Council. We want a never-sleeping, many-sided council of plenipotentiaries, that thinks out the problems of World-Homoeopathy and, co-ordinates 23 - , the movements. The Council need not always be in session, but its distinguished members should be always in co-operation. - . In such a Council there is always an inspiring Spirit, and the inspiring spirit in the public affairs of Homoeo- pathy is undoubtedly that of the United States, a headship long ago honourably won and fitly expressed in this Congress by the brilliant delegacy of colleagues from the land of Washington and Lincoln, the land whose capital rejoices in the largest public statue to Homoeopathy in the world. And now, for this morning our descent into the dust and battle of the strenuous life is ended. Let us transfer ourselves to a purer ether and sublimer air and, leaving the din and turmoil of the stricken field, survey with serenity the emblazoned horizon, rosy with the promise of to-morrow's dawn. The Gods who haunt The lucid interspace of world and world, Where never heaves a sigh nor falls a tear, Nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans, Nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar Their sacred everlasting calm Nor for us the cold callousness of the Olympian .deities. But, hark the great chorus of humanity rises in mighty fugue—a pliant for deliverance from the Satanic thraldom of disease and pain. It is the wail of the mother for the child, the father for the son, the husband for the wife. Not as the Lucretian gods are we, for these cries ring in our ears daily—surround us like a cloud, compel us like a 'spirit. - Rejoice then that we are enthusiasts in the campaign against disease and death, enthusiasts to raise physical humanity out of the dust, and mitigate the ruthless- ness of Nature, red in tooth and claw - Rejoice that we are privileged to be in the van of progress and law in medicine—have been breathed upon by Something of the spirit of innovation, and that the poignancies of isolation and the burden of a minority cause are but as dust in the balance. For our privilege to have fought in the stricken field we rejoice and are exceeding glad. _r 24 For the cause goes on helped by human spirits, but controlled by those great hands that reach through Nature's, moulding the destinies of man. . This cause of progress and law in medicine, amplified and disenthralled, will be the golden heritage of our Successors, when time and space no longer hedge us about, and your personalities and mine are as im- passive as the portraits on our walls. - I invite this Congress.to become an epoch-making Congress by thus initiating a new age for Homoeopathy. I invite this Congress to send through the delegates here assembled, an inspiring, rejuvenating message of living fraternity to every Homoeopathic settlement throughout the world. * I invite this Congress to instruct its officiate to prepare during the present session a draft scheme to embody the course of action I have suggested, and to submit this to its next business meeting. , * The hour is come, and the men. The fruitful Opportunity is present here and now ; custodians are we of the world's Homoeopathic interests, and may power and success attend the deliberations of such a representative Council : - So mote it be. - " . . Compliments of the Author. ~ Annual Oration BY ELMER H. COPELAND, M. D. Northampton, Mass. (DELIVERED BEFORE THE MASSACHUSETTS HoMCEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY, OCTOBER I 2, 1904.) Reprinted from “The Hahnemannian Monthly,” January, 1905. ANNUAL ORATION. (Delivered before the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society, October 12, 1904, g by Elmer H. Copeland, M. D.) - MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:— - Before entering upon the more serious matter of this dis- course, I wish to acknowledge my appreciation of the honor conferred upon me by your President and the Executive Com- mittee in asking me to deliver the annual oration before this ancient and honorable organization; ancient in that, if I am rightly informed, it is the oldest medical society in existence in America, its organization in 1840 antedating by four years the organization of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, its nearest rival for antiquarian honors; honorable because it has ever stood a representative of the best and foremost thought in the medical profession. But why have you sent into the western part of our State, even unto the banks of the “winding, willow-fringed Connecticut,” for one to entertain ... you? My native modesty forbids me to say “instruct you.” SOME PROBLEMS OF THE PHYSICIANS. Let me call your attention this afternoon to “some problems of the physicians,” not to all the problems, that would require too much time, but to just a few of them. These problems are the ones we are all familiar with ; about them all we have thought more or less, and about some of them we have done more or less, still these are the problems that are not gener- ally discussed at our regular medical meetings, and, if men- tioned at all, it is more incidentally than from definite purpose. For this reason, and because they are of such transcendent importance, I ask your attention for the space of half an hour. As the hope of each succeeding generation rests in the chil- dren, I will first ask you to consider some problems in refer- ence to caring for the health of the child. First and foremost, every child is entitled to a happy child- hood. It is the perquisite of children to be happy and to give happiness. While this is not possible in every case, we will consider only those cases where it would seem possible if only the child had health sufficient for taking hold of the na- tural sources of happiness, good food, pure water and plenty of outdoors. To rear a child to this condition often requires the utmost watchfulness, prudence and knowledge on the part of parents and physicians. It requires a knowledge that is real and active, not merely a knowledge sufficient to assent to a proposition, whether it is right or wrong. Too often our efforts are called too late for any real benefit to the individual child, making our work one of diagnosis, palliation and prog- nosis, when it might have been prophylactic, curative and edu- cational. . - - Let me illustrate my meaning. A child fourteen to eighteen years old comes to us for treatment of scoliosis. Much can be done to straighten the child's back, provided the condition has not continued too long and the malformation become per- manent. When the child began school the eyes should have been examined, thereby discovering and correcting the astig- matism which caused the child to hold his head on One side, this deformity resulting in scoliosis. The cause of the trouble had been of long standing, ever since the child began using his eyes, going on unrecognized, producing its crippling effects until the object before us was one of pity, perhaps incurable. Another example, and one even more common, is the deaf child. Clarke School for the Deaf, Northampton, is, to us, a daily reminder of the numberless children not having their adenoids removed soon enough. A large majority of cases of early deafness have resulted from this cause. The same cause unremoved produces the thin, anaemic, narrow-chested child, given over to bronchitis and later to consumption. Defects of health resulting from eye-strain are too familiar, to this audi- ence, to mention except as an illustration of the importance of early, careful examinations, that no physical defects may mar the perfect, symmetrical development. The above explanations of diseased and deformed condi- tions are refined and Scientific compared to the old explana- tions of scoliosis as due to the child habitually sitting with the same leg crossed over the other leg; or that deafness in child- hood was hereditary; or that headache and vomiting were caused by biliousness. Now our scholars and scientists must explain still further and tell why the child is astigmatic, why he has adenoids, why he has eye-strain, why, in short, he is not born a perfect little animal? We are here dealing with the results of processes going on for generations; while correcting these results we should be dealing with the causes that pro- duced the results. They are indications of a degeneration in 2 the human race, increasing with fearful rapidity. Perhaps the problems next considered may give a partial explanation of this degeneration. It is not a hopeful sign that we find more of these degenerative processes at work among the educated and well-to-do classes. - The next problem to which I invite your attention is that of education. To make the unqualified statement that edu-, cation is pursued at too rapid a pace is to invite severe criti- sism. Education has been placed upon so lofty a pedestal, we have been taught to bow down and worship at its feet so long, . that to question the methods adopted to attain the so-called liberal education seems to many almost sacrilegious. Every child must begin the race for an education, toe the scratch at five, be off at the word and then the struggling wavering line. advances. The pace set for the most active child must be kept by every one, no matter what weights he may carry of na- tural defects or acquired deformities of mind and body. The results, shattered nerves, undeveloped bodies, distorted intel- lects, finally reach the goal, a breathless, helpless generation, unprepared to meet the duties of life, and especially unpre- pared for reproduction. It is high time the great and influen- tial body of physicians, to which we belong, stepped to the front and commanded a halt! This education does not edu- cate. It is not a leading out, a development of the faculties. . It is a cramping, warping process, whose results are disastrous to the individual and equally disastrous to the race. - - The prime object of every living thing is to grow, to develop to the best possible point, produce seed and reproduce its kind, “every living thing after its kind.” I care not how much you may exalt art, science, literature, society, religion; each and every one should be the means to the end that a better race may be produced. - A native Japanese missionary in this country, speaking of the difference of development between American girls and Jap- anese girls, said in broken English: “The difference between your treatment of your daughters and our treatment of our daughters is that you ‘develop' your daughters into wives and we ‘develop’ our daughters into mothers.” In that sentence he expressed a great truth. Our girls are taught that their su- preme object is to be brilliant society women, while their girls are taught that it is their greatest honor to become good mothers. - - - Another problem of the physician is the problem of mar- riage. To adequately discuss this subject we ought to con- 3 sider the social, moral, and educational problems of our time and country, but the limited space at my disposal allows only a cursory glance at a picture deserving most minute study. The marriage relation, the one man living with one wife in the home for the fostering and rearing of their offspring, is the crowning glory of civilization. That it is not always so con- © sidered it is sufficient to state that there were sixty thousand divorces in the United States during the last year. It is our solemn and bounden duty as guardians of the public health to encourage the marriage customs, beneficial alike to the physi- cal and moral health of the community. The medical profes- sion has too quickly forgotten that its offices were once held in conjunction with the priesthood. (John Fiske, Discovery of America. Vol. i., p. I 19.) - - The causes assigned why young men and women do not marry should be entirely inoperative. The chief reason ad- vanced is that a young man cannot afford to marry and Sup- port a wife and family. He must spend so much for clubs and clothes that practically nothing is left for bed and board, and should, he marry, the result would be disastrous to himself; he would be obliged to curtail his bachelor comforts and lux- uries. It would not be possible for him to appear as a man of unlimited income on fifteen hundred dollars a year, or less. In other words, he must appear, more nearly, at least, exactly what every one knows him to be, a fifteen hundred dollar man. The young women cannot marry, forsooth, because the young men cannot support them in the style and luxury of the upper four hundred. These, and a hundred other reasons equally trivial, are advanced as the cause of celibacy and single bless- edness. - - -- - * When a man and a woman marry, for we admit this oc- casionally happens, another problem is presented to the physi- cian. That man and woman do not want children, at least “not yet awhile.” Well, what am I going to do about it? What is any honest physician going to do about it? We know very well there are plenty of dishonest physicians who know at once what to do about it, without any preliminary lecturing upon the ethics of marriage. The man and wife go to Europe, or New York, or, possibly, to Boston, the wife is placed in a sanitarium for nervous prostration, it becomes necessary to perform curettage, a month or two spent in recuperation, and the happy mother (?) returns to her family, to her social duties, and to her activities in the church. . . . Occasionally one of these women, becoming pregnant, de- - . . . . ' . - - - . . . ..., , , . . . . . . - - . . $ t , , , . . ." . . . . . - - - - -- ... " . . . ...º. ... ." termines to carry it through to the bitter end. You certainly would think, to hear her talk, she had contracted some con- tagious disease, and one is inclined to believe, judging from the uniformity of experience, that one attack must insure im- munity. Is there anything more deplorable, except childless- ness, than the only child, brought up without the stimulating, educating association with brothers and sisters? . Another problem of the physician is the question of dress; reference here is made entirely to the dress of women. It is something of a mystery, yet fashion has seemed to decree re- garding the garments of men a peculiarly sensible and health- ful manner of dress, and in regard to the dress of women, fash- ion seems to have done about all she could. It does not mat- ter to fashion what shape God intended woman to have; man we are told He made in the likeness of His own image, but if fashion decrees that a woman should have a straight front, a straight front she must and will havel If fashion says a woman must have long hips, long hips she will have; if short waist is “it,” then it is a short waist; if low busts are the style, then low busts are ordered. All this wonderful deformity is brought about by the different “L. R.” models and others. As proof of this statement, look at the advertising pages of any fashion magazine. This advice is for “doctors only.” - What can be said in favor of the high heeled shoe? Only a few years ago we were told the French heel had gone forever. It would seem so! There are no two causes producing more misery for women than high heeled shoes and corsets. Oh! of course women do not lace nowadays; we have all heard them say sol - “Woman, woman, lovely woman!” Now let me say just a word about one of the most serious problems of the physicians, one about which, in all proba- bility, we can do least. My reference is to our attitude regard- ing syphilis and gonorrhea. These diseases are old and are well known, the serious consequences resulting from them are well known. That they are increasing at an alarming rate is also well known. These contagious diseases, from the very manner of their infection, are kept as secret as possible. We are required by law to report to the Board of Health certain contagious diseases. It has been suggested that we ought to report also these contagious diseases. Such a suggestion is worthy of our serious consideration. . - . In the foregoing have been stated some of the problems of the physician in general. In closing let me state one of the prob- lems peculiar to the Homoeopathic physician. Hufland, writ- ing about homoeopathy in the time of Hahnemann, said: “The peculiar and important problem for homoeopathy is to search for and find new specific medicines.” (Life of Hahnemann, p. 26.) - - As homoeopathic physicians, we do not recognize any specific in medicine. That medicine is a specific which cures. One medicine may cure at one time and another medicine may cure at another time conditions apparently similar. Yet Hufland stated a great truth, even if we cannot entirely agree with his wording of the principle. It is the province of homoeopathy to search for and find remedies which will counteract the ten- dency to disease. Here is a great opportunity almost unoccu- pied. Children are coming into the world with warped and vitiated vital strength. As they grow in years they become more and more subject to disease. Before going further along this line, lest some may misunderstand me, let me state to my mind the germ theory of disease is fully and irrevocably estab- lished. But the germs alone cannot produce the disease. We must have the soil fit for the seed to grow, else the seed falls upon barren ground and cannot take root. We can never rid the world of germs of disease, and our only hope is to make ourselves as invulnerable as possible. The germs of disease attacking the human body is an evidence of degeneration. The healthy human being should be able to live in the midst of germs and show no sign of weakness. We are constantly treating the results of degeneration and paying comparatively little attention to the causes. The evidences of decay are about us everywhere; children who are obliged to wear glasses almost from birth; children whose first set of teeth hardly last long enough to hold the shape of the jaws for the permanent set; children with rachitic chests and tuberculous abdomens. Why are these things so? It is not because the children do not have care and sufficient food, because these conditions are more common among the well-to-do and are increasing here more rapidly. This is the special problem of the homoeopathic phy- sician, to find and remedy the causes of this degeneracy. Our constitutional remedies will do much toward helping them, but proper living and proper diet will do more. Growing up into Sound physical bodies, they will resist better the germs of disease. You and I are breathing germs every day that would attack and kill us if there were not a resistance inherent in a healthy body. Make this resistance as great as possible by every means of good living, out-door exercise and preventive *-*-*-**-*-**-*-** ** -º- – - - - - -º- –L==.---------. medication. - . i º In some respects the problem of preventing disease is much the same as the problem of preventing sin. We can restrain the sinner, but it is often impossible to reform one. We can check the ravages of constitutional disease sometimes, but how often can we eradicate it entirely from the system? The time to begin is before the sinner has sinned and before the degen- erate has become diseased. We are sometimes told that health is contagious as well as disease. This is not true. Health will not come to one unsought. Like every other good thing, it must be striven for, both for attainment and for re- tention. - This is the age of wireless telegraphy. A message is borne to us upon the pulsating waves of ether from out of the blue sky, from far down below our horizon line. Wherever we set up instruments of interpretation we may gather messages from out the wide expanse of air. These patients of ours are mes- sages from out the distant unseen past. Often we are unable to read them aright, and, to us, entirely meaningless many of them must remain, because of our imperfect interpretations. We transmit the message, unread, to future generations. The greatest problem of the physician should be to set up such in- struments of interpretation as will gather the secrets of the past. Scientific men are studying the subject with scientific means, and the results are most gratifying. Let us, as physi- cians, not satisfy ourselves with treating merely the end pro- ducts of disease, but rather let us search for those distant Sources of degeneration starting far down below our horizon line, correcting all mistakes we can, and send the message on to future generations yet unborn. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. |BY C. GURNEE FELLOWS, M. D., Chicago. |. •e - Reprinted from THE HOMOEOPATHIC EYE, EAR AND THROAT JOURNAL. July, I902. º PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. C. GURNEE FELLOWS, M. D., Chicago. N reviewing the work of this Society for the year, I wish to ex- press my thanks to the members who have contributed to make the program so full and satisfactory, and to the Secretary for his labor, which has covered so much ground and been of great as- sistance. His labors have helped very materially to make our meet- ing successful, and I would suggest that, as a Society, we tender him our sincere regret at his sickness, and offer him our united good wishes for a speedy recovery. * - I will not go into the medical progress of the year, for that will be taken up by the scientific papers, nor are there many suggestions in the way of changes for the Society. - In trying to devise some possible scheme for the further develop- ment of a successful meeting, it has occurred to me that we might se- lect an hour at some definite time, and, without specially prepared pa- pers, devote that time to the report of unsuccessful cases. Each of us is often at his wit’s end and needs the personal experience of his friends about things not touched in text-books or journals, and by bringing these cases before the convention in an informal way and hearing the suggestions of our conferrees I believe that we might all gain by the discussion elicited. º, It is to be regretted that we cannot see each other’s work. Such observation gives an entirely different idea than simply the descrip- tion or the phrase, “an uninterrupted recovery.” The very handling of a knife, the prescription of a remedy, the accurate observation of the condition in which it was prescribed, all mean much more to a clinical observer than the simple statement of the fact. Hence, of course, hospital work is in a way better than convention attendance, but both together make up the course of instruction that as practi- tioners we are bound to maintain. The following of cases during their treatment or after operation often leads to very different opin- ions as to their value, for we often learn about failures in our own practice or those of our friends which are not always published with the same freedom that are our successes. For instance, I saw a for- eign operator do dozens of simple cataract extractions, very pretty to 2 - C. GURNEE FELLOWS, M. D. look at and successful as to their performance; but in the wards, days . afterwards, I saw hernias of the iris, occluded pupils and other acci- dents, which, though not concealed, were not proclaimed, and this same operator dropped sponges upon the table and floor which were immediately used, after shaking them off, to mop out an orbit from which had just been removed a human eye. Such lessons are not without their practical value. - - In my correspondence with members this year the fact has been apparent that they hesitate to write, believing that there is demanded some long, complete, scientific treatise. Now, although these scientific papers are desirable, and at some time or other essential, at such a meeting as this the clinical idea should be ever uppermost; therefore, the clinical report of cases, with practical suggestions derived there- from, is of equal value with the scientific side of a subject. A number of our men have refused to write because of inexperience or a rush of business, and yet I know that they could furnish matters of extreme interest to us who are present if they were not either too timid or too selfish. It is a fact apparent to us all that the busy men Ilave the most time for writing, attending conventions and helping along in medical matters, so that the excuse of being too busy is hardly accepted as the truth when urged to take a part in making the meetings of our national society successful. One who does not con- tribute an article or discussion is apt to obtain less value from a meet- ing than one who is actively engaged and feels some responsibility. The convention idea is a good one. We broaden our view and learn from the men more expert or of greater experience than ourselves. In some of the conventions that I have attended there have been papers above the heads of the audience. They demanded careful reading and study, rather than being simply listened to the short time of their delivery. In the preparation of papers for a society meeting, careful attention to details is essential. Those who have not been familiar with the subject could hardly be expected to be satisfied with the final results without going through the actual steps which led to the final conclusions, and these preliminary steps with which the original writer has himself become familiar must be taken by the man who undertakes treatment by the new method before he can himself judge of their value. No two minds work alike. As a class of artists draw- ing from the same model produces each a perfect picture as he sees it, and no two are alike, so in our work, our views may vary and yet each have correct ideas, but, as an artist is criticised for his technique, \ PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. - 8 so the general criticism of our papers and the discussion elicited is of value to others working in the same field, although not having worked upon the same subject. - There is only one point in reference to a change in the By-Laws that especially deserves our attention. Art. 2, Sec. 1, reads: “The officers shall be elected by ballot at each annual meeting of the Society, and shall enter upon their respective duties the first day of January following.” The President would suggest that this latter clause be changed to read as follows: “And shall enter upon their respective duties immediately after the close of the annual session.” If any reasons are necessary as to why this suggestion is made, they are as follows: The President, who has just closed a long campaign of letter-writing and paper-begging, having no further duties to per- form, ceases to work actively, and the President-elect, feeling that his term of office does not commence for six months, feels no special re- sponsibility until nearer the time of his assuming office, and there is practically six months lost, whereas the success of the next meeting depends upon the officers-elect, and plans well matured, correspond- ence early instituted, and the lapse of time before the coming meeting should all be in the interests of the newly-elected men. Each year the privilege of commencing work ahead of January Ist has been ac- corded to the newly-elected President, but I believe it should not be a privilege granted to commence on time, but a duty required, and this suggested change, I believe, would meet the requirements. Modern practice in ophthalmology is changing from day to day. The invention of new instruments of precision, both in the field of diagnosis and that of treatment; the different methods of obtaining the same result and the constant seeking after better appliances keep us ever on the alert for that which is best, for the vital point is always— can we do more than we are doing? can we get better results? are there facts or possibilities that will help us to maintain or restore sight, hearing, breathing, speech? . . . As belonging to a distinctive therapeutic school, our thoughts ought to be, and I believe are, of the best. Littleness is almost unknown in our profession. The emoluments that come are acceptable, but the physician whose heart is in his work would rarely refuse his best ef- forts to a suffering patient, and as seldom, if successful, would he give up his profession for an even more alluring business life. It is a pleasure to know, it is happiness to do. When in school, after hours of toil, we unravelled a Greek sentence, we felt buoyed up. When 4 -4 C. GURNEE FELLOWS, M. D. we computed an eclipse, we felt repaid for the loss of sleep. When we trace an effect of disease to its cause, we feel on the road to success. When we operate or prescribe and cure our patients, we are satisfied with our results, and feel a grateful appreciation in the hearts of our clientele. - - Many things contribute to our success, a trained mind, a steady hand, congenial surroundings, grateful patients and the possession of personal friends. We are dependent upon many things which can mili- tate to our detriment or our final success. The hospital idea is one of recent development, and one the most of us appreciate highly. To have a patient under constant trained care, with the surroundings of the sort which are conducive to good results, with our aseptic and antiseptic rooms and instruments, all these things have come to be everyday necessities. Among our special friends and necessary assistants, we class the modern trained nurse. When our work is done, and our orders given, the details must be left to her. The applications, medicines, drops, etc., which we have proven to be the thing called for, must be faithfully administered, or our success is jeopardized. More faithful than a member of the family, as interested in the results as we ourselves, she becomes a necessary part, and in her our trust is placed. A little thing may make or mar our standing in a community. There is no place as in our chosen specialty where the little counts for so much. Many of our examinations reveal nothing to an observer, be he a medical or layman. One eye only may be behind the ophthal- moscope, otoScope and laryngoscope, and even the operations deal with such minute anatomical structures that few can observe them, but lack of interest or attention to details at our hands leads not to happy re- sults. . It is said that “genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.” As special workers in our chosen field, we must take infinite pains. We cafe for the smaller organs; we use smaller instruments, but our ex- perience is that the modern specialist or the medical painstaker may often become a medical genius. As an illustration of this painstaking, Booker Washington tells us how, when he presented himself at Hamp- ton Institute, he was told to clean a recitation room. He swept it and dusted it, and then he swept and dusted it over again, and then a third and a fourth time. He dusted every bench and chair and window- ledge, so that after inspection by the teacher no dust was found. Wash- ington was told he had successfully passed what he calls his entrance examination. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 5 Not all men in positions of trust nowadays have begun by Sweeping out the offices or banks, and worked their way to the top, but many who have attained the coveted positions are more worthy when they attain those results from having gotten their knowledge step by step and worked their way from the bottom to the top. In dealing with our patients, this attention to details shows itself in many ways. For instance, after ever so careful an examination of a case of refraction, our work is nullified by the change of a dot, as we have all seen a .25 glass changed to a 2.50 by either careless writing on our part or careless reading on the part of the optician. I recently wrote a prescription for a pair of cylinders, one with an axis of 135° and the other of 45°, and the result should have been perfect, but I found out in course of time that a reversal of the sides in mounting had changed what should have been a successful issue into a dismal failure; so in writing prescriptions a careful investigation of all de- tails becomes an essential feature of our practice. We are very apt to overlook details which seem to us unimportant, and in giving instructions in a general way to patients we believe they know what we mean, whereas they take our instructions literally, doing what we say, but not doing things that are just as important because we do not happen to mention them. I remember once of telling a patient who was to come for enucleation to eat no food, and other essential details for preparation for chloroform narcosis. When we commenced the anaesthetic, and found him difficult to chloroform, we elicited the information, not that he had eaten anything, but that he had drunk five glasses of beer. He had possibly literally obeyed instructions, but the results were not all that we could have desired, and so the other day, after operating upon a patient for the removal of cataract, and ordering him not to eat, drink or move, he supposed he obeyed instruc- tions, but I found that he persistently chewed tobacco in spite of all orders to the contrary, and although he did not in this case nullify the effects of the operation he ran a serious risk; so you could all con- tribute an experience which could go on indefinitely as to the necessity for taking pains, for details, and for watching the little things, but I think the facts will be accepted by you all. There are a great many things in a physician's life, and as special- ists we are still physicians, that are causes of worry and anxiety, as well as satisfaction. The difficulty of proving our results and know- ing that we have done all that could be done for our patients, did it come from our special aptitude in prescribing? Was it the result of 6 C. GURNEE FELLOWS, M. D. operation? Could it have been due to the local or internal treatment? Was it homoeopathic or surgical? These and other questions constantly present themselves, - * The psychological element plays no unimportant part in our prac- tice. - We are often on trial in the presence of our patients, and the first impression that we make upon them is of the utmost importance to our- selves. By our manner or expression, by some word or look, he is led to judge of our ability, and immediately conceives a confidence in our work which of itself is a predisposing aid towards our successful treat- ment of the case; so on the other hand, if the physician can read his patient, obtain the facts necessary to a true diagnosis, correlate all the ideas and findings in relation to the question at hand, he is a long way advanced in getting at the heart of the patient. Of course, we are all after results. We want to cure our patients in the safest, speediest manner; but if we are honest, we are not satisfied to do what we think of at the moment, but after the day is done our worry is as to whether we could not have done more, whether there is anything we did not know. A man rarely weakens his own position by asking consultation. If placed rightly before the patient's mind, it shows an interest in the case, and if the doctor feels at all doubtful he strengthens his own position. * - r The life of a specialist is but the continuation of the educational process, the development and broadening of himself, the helping of, and being helped by, his professional confreres, the enlightenment of the public with whom he comes in contact. Each year at commence- ment time we hear the oft-repeated explanation that this is not the ending, but the beginning, of an educational life. It is hard for the student to believe that at the time, and especially is it true of the professional graduate, who would hardly admit that he did not know it all, but a few years of practice changes that idea and optimism is apt to give way to pessimism, as he sees theories thrown to the winds, typical cases take on atypical forms, well-indicated remedies fail to act and the unexpected happen. The awakening comes as a rude shock, and half of our medical men stand aside to let the work be done by others who have passed, or are passing, the ordeal. If he braces up, as one-half do, he wonders not why people are sick, but how they can possibly be well, and commences over again what he thought perhaps he had finished,—his own education. It does not all come from books,— experience is a hard, but a faithful, teacher. The student wonders if PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 7 there are other ideas to be obtained, and by poring over his books or magazines, or watching the work of others in the hospital, he tries to find out all that can be of Service in his treatment of the sick. He asks himself if he has done all that could be done, or if he has done that which he should not have done. He compares authors, follows similar cases in the hospital, and often obtains the sequel in the morgue, but ends by knowing something. His time is never his own, for his work is never done, his knowledge never complete. He goes on year after year continuing the educational process. The profession itself has changed greatly in regard to specialism. In earlier years the specialist was frowned upon as a man who set him- self up above his fellows with a sort of “I am holier than thou” atti- tude, and his existence was in spite of, and not with the consent of, the general profession. Later he came to be accepted as a fact, his ability and necessity recognized and his position fairly secure. The rush to specialism has perhaps been overdone, and in some localities they are now crying for the general practitioner and the family physician; but meanwhile the specialist-has educated the profession; he has shown the necessity for his existence. He himself should first be a practicing physician, with an extended personal experience, if possible, and when to that general knowledge he has added that of an extended and exceptional study in his own particular field and comes to know “something of everything and everything of something” the profession will recognize that he is better qualified to act in individual cases; that he is not a bigot in medicine; that he does not think a part is greater than the whole, but can demonstrate from experience that from a part there are to be obtained facts and hints in diagnosis and prognosis and points in treatment which will help the general man to carry to a better issue his own troublesome cases. The general profession has learned to depend upon him and not ignore him. Meanwhile the education of the public has been going on. This is an age of preventive medicine, and I believe that we are getting better results now, and will continue in the future, by teaching laymen and physicians how to keep their sight, preserve their hearing, as well as the other functions of the body. The ignorance as to special functions is rapidly disappearing, and the specialist has been responsible for much of this enlightenment. A few years ago specialists were only consult- ed after all others had failed, but now they are being called earlier, and even the public is recognizing their peculiar fitness. The specialist has taught the public the difference between an oculist and an optician, 8 C. GURNEE FELLOWS, M. D. not by Websterian differentiation, but by added helps, better results and surer prophecies; that the Oto-Rhino-Laryngologist is not busy with jaw-breaking and unintelligible word-making, but has a mission for the relief of pain, saving of functions, the prolonging of life. Our teachings are wider than we know. We become so used to our work that we think it is simple, and our knowledge trivial, but in talking to our patients and friends our remarks are treasured, our sayings quoted and passed from one to another, until whole communities know what we said or did, and all of this adds to, or detracts from, Our reputation. History is but the biography of the world’s great men. No one of us can study the life of a great man without being impelled to nobler effort, to put aside the trivial obstacles and work only for the accom- plishment of the desired result. A successful man was once asked “what helped you over the obstacles of life?” and he replied “the other ob- stacles.” The biography of Helmholtz is one in point. Last year the Ophthalmic Section of the American Medical Association celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the invention of the ophthalmoscope by Helmholtz, and the reading of the many contributions not only im- pressed us with his greatness, versatility and scientific attainment, but inspired us with a new feeling of love for our chosen specialty in medi- cine. It is not given to us all to be at the same time great physiologists and phychologists; to invent an instrument which alone would make us forever remembered; to add greatly to the scientific advancement of ophthalmology or enlighten educated otologists. We are not all “born great,” nor do we “have greatness thrust upon us,” but by the study of the lives of great men, and using their accomplished labors as our foundation stones, we are enabled to attain more than we other- wise could, and our reputation for success and capability arises from all this acquired education. The same features of greatness do not im- press us all alike. I, for one, have often admired Napoleon, not so much for his great generalship as for his ability to do without sleep. Von Graefe's work seems to have lived more in his practical teachings, operations and clinical details, whereas Helmholtz worked out theories, and yet both are worthy of our greatest admiration. The skillful hand- ling of a knife invented by another, the correct prescribing of a remedy proven by another, leads to as good results in the hands of a student who comes after as the master who has gone before. A physician must have as much confidence in his own ability to do as in his capacity for following the teachings of others. Who would not be great? Who among us is to be the Helmholtz or the von Graefe of this new century? - MODERN REQUIREMENTS FOR A MEDICAL EDUCATION. EY JAMES G. g|LcHRist, PR of EssoR of Sufra ERY AND Sun Gical GYNEcology, STATE UNIVERSITY of low A. ſ HOW BEST TO MEET THE r; Y ^*********************** l With the Compliments of the Author REPRINT FROM THE MEDICAL Counselor FEBRUARY 1903 3. º§ How BEST TO MEET THE MODERN REQUIREMENTS FOR - A MEDICAL EDUCATION. JAMES G. GILCHRIST, M.A., M. D., State University of Iowa. Time was, and not very distant at that, when the study of medicine was entered upon with little if any preparation; young men coming up to the colleges from the country district school, barely . familiar with the rudiments of the com- mon primary curriculum. At this time the system of teaching, if such it could be called, was a survival of mediaeval methods, long since abandoned in older civilizations. It is conceivable that in the beginning of our western civilization, a demand had to be met, and that nothing better was obtainable. That such a wretched system should have survived, down to the present time, is inconceiv- able. Of course we must recognize the fact that some of the most eminent men in medicine came from just such primi- tive practices, but it must also be recog- nized that they owed little to their so- called “collegiate” experience. When books were few, expensive, and not of much worth at that; when inter-com- munication, immediate or intermediate, was difficult from distance, sparsity of population, and absence of modern con- veniences for travel, it was unquestion- ably the sole means open to a teacher to impart knowledge, or to the student to acquire it, by word of mouth, or, as the practice is even yet dignified, by “lecture courses.” Medicine could have few of the attributes of a science in those days, practice and theory being purely a matter of individual experience, the experience being of little value from the want of opportunity to compare re- sults with colleagues. In these times, however, all such matters are changed; books, periodicals, professional assoccia- tions and societies with their printed transactions, to say nothing of the nu- merous laboratories and hospitals have radically changed the conditions, and make it impossible to continue the obso- lete methods that have so long been the vogue. Much is being written, now- a-days, by competent and experienced teachers on the subject of this paper, and there is quite a remarkable unanimity of sentiment—one that promises much in the direction of a rational system. For purposes of discussion, I will as- sume that a thorough medical education quite naturally falls under three divi- sions, or periods; the pre-matriculate, under-graduate, and post-graduate, each of which calls for separate mention. . THE PRE-MATRICULATE PERIOD. There can be no question that certain aptitude must be considered a pre-requi- site to the study of medicine, but this is not at all times easy to discover, and is at all times something inherent. Granted this, the student must be absolutely cer- tain of his calling; there should be no doubt in his mind that his vocation must be medicine. The London Lancet, in a recent num- ber, cites, “according to American Medi- cine,” the interesting enquiry made by 4 MODERN REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION. Arthur Keith, “the celebrated English surgeon,” of the London Hospital Medi- cal School, as to the reasons of the adop- tion of the medical career by IOO men at his hospital. In 7 cases their profession was chosen for them; 30 were born in the profession, and grew up in it; Io adopted, it as a boyish ideal at a very early age; 12 chose it by a method like a diagnosis of exclusion—it was the pro- fession they had the least objection to ; 7 because it was the nearest akin to their favorite subjects, zoology, or chemistry; 31 were led to it by some accidental cir- cumstance, and 3 drifted into it, they could not tell why.” In former times, and yet very recent, his preparation was to “read” with a pre- ceptor for a year, the “reading” oftener being to take care of the horse, look after the fires, keep the office in order, and to answer bell and telephone calls. Some attempt was made to gain a little famil- iarity with the human skeleton, mostly from books, aided somewhat by some fragments of bones. Even to-day, where some attempt is honestly made to do bet- ter things, there is something of this old routine surviving. Something pertaining to this branch of our subject must be carried over to the next, or under- graduate period—but at this time an outline of the work to be done can be given. The departments of study in medicine have become so numerous that it is ut- terly impossible for the very brightest young man to do more than acquire a merely superfiicial knowledge of them, or at least of most of them. It seems absolutely essential that he comes to the medical school through the school of letters and science. But how much letters, and how much science must he get through P In a word, enough to give him a degree. The first requirement to . matriculate must be the bachelor's de- gree; not a degree gained in a “com- bined course,” which sounds large but is really small, but the baccaulaureate must be had before he begins in medi- cine. More than this, 1t must be a de- gree gained by a special course leading to medicine. It will be objected by many, that such a prolonged course of study postpones entrance into active professional life too far; that the de- mands our civilization makes almost re- quires a shortening of the preparatory period. This may be so in the com- mercial world, or in some scientific call- ings, but when Abernethy said a doctor of medicine should be born 30 years old, he told almost the exact truth. Now, what must this special course be? The first year, and a portion of suc- ceeding ones, should be the old “classi- cal” course, assuming that entrance to college life is through a perfectly equipped high school. From the second year to the end, the course must be something like this: Anatomy to be mas- tered in all its relations, commencing with biology, morphology, and 111stology, then comparative, and finally descriptive human anatomy. Regional and applied anatomy must be in the medical sched- ule. Physiology, including embryology, must be thoroughly done. Chemistry, inorganic and organic, bacteriology and toxicology, must find a place. Physics and botany should round out the sched- ule. Possibly, it would answer a good purpose to include psychology, or at least to a certain extent, the application being left to the medical course. All this must be finished before com- mencing medicine. It is a curious fact that even in the pedagogic circles in medicine there is a wide-spread objec- tion, or at all events, a pronounced bias against teaching certain of the above list of studies by other than medical teachers, that is, medical doctors. If the teacher is a medical practitioner, it is impossible that he should be compete MODERN REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION. 5 to take charge of chemistry, physiology, histology, morphology, biology, botany, or even descriptive anatomy. All of these studies are laboratory courses, and eminently specialized; in fact, to such a degree that a good teacher in any of them must give his whole time to the work. Furthermore, the student enter- ing upon medicine from a competent college of science, will commence his work with a more precise and complete knowledge of these topics than is now the case at the close of his pupilage. It seems unnecessary to dwell upon these items; they seem to be beyond dis- pute or argument. I cannot conceive of any objection to such pre-matriculate preparation that is not based upon habit and tradition. - THE UNDERGRADUATE PERIOD. - Notwithstanding the fact that this pe- riod is by far the most momentous and important of the three, and that the ad- vantages of the pre-matriculate period will be much diminished if the under- graduate system remains unimproved, this will be found to be a most difficult matter in which to bring about the necessary reform. The work must be done by the University schools, in other words, the State colleges, and the few private schools that are practically inde. pendent of student patronage. The old system is apparently so firmly rooted that much difficulty will be experienced in making any change. Those who have given the most time and study of the problem seem to have reached the con’ clusion that there must be combined. concerted, and simultaneous action by the State institutions, with a certainty that for a time there will be a great loss of students, an item of little moment, as a matter of fact, but one that has its influence with the various lay boards that administer affairs. It may serve a useful purpose to sketch the present cor- ditions in medical education, The various medical colleges in the United States may be grouped in three classes, or better, in two, as the third in the series is, as yet, non-existent; the private school, the quasi university school, and the university School. The private school, representing by far the largest number of medical schools, may be considered as of three kinds or grades. The first, or lowest, not as numerous as formerly, are without hos- pital connection, destitute of laboratories of any kind, and with a most meagre equipment; in fact, they are utterly in- capable of teaching medicine, and seen, to exist simply as an advertisement for the members of their faculties. Such schools conceal their deficiencies by cre- ating a faculty of extravagant numbers, dividing and sub-dividing departments to an extent which is simply ridiculous, and which forbids good, systematic teaching—surgery divided between five or more teachers; practice the same, and the creation of “chairs,” so-called, on topics that are exhausted in one or two class exercises. Some of these little schools have a faculty list including 40 or 50, or more names; some of them known to the profession, but the greater part of merely local standing. In such schools many of these “professors” meet their classes but once or twice in a year, according to their programme, but often do not give any service at all. Others complete their “course of lectures,” as they call it, in a week or ten days. Those who are the most assiduous, and regular in their attendance lose many hours in the course of a year, by the in- terruptions of professional work. The laboratories, if they can be so dignified, are always beneath contempt, and some- times would be laughable did they not stand for such a serious fraud. I know of one college, in Chicago, where the chemical, pathological, and histological laboratories are accommodated in one * 6 MODERN REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION. room, in a building which was a dwell- ing house, the three departments having one microscope between them, and most of the demonstrations being made by black-board, charts, and occasionally projection lantern. In this school the “chairs” of pathology and histology are filled by students, who a year before. were juniors in one of our State col- leges. If we take the conditions in one city as being typical of those in the country at large, as much as four-sixths of the medical schools will fall in this class. The promise for the future is, that nearly all of them will disappear shortly, even under present conditions, as the various State boards are attempt- ing a classification that will make their diplomas valueless. In fact, four have closed their doors within the last month, and four others have consolidated into two. But there is another class, in this same schedule of private colleges, a higher grade, yet still inadequate. They aim to have a good, systematic schedule, as to didactic instruction, and attempt labora- tory work, but with lamentable results. I do not think it extravagent to state that there is probably not a medical col- lege in the United States, outside of the small list of schools connected with State universities, that have adequate laboratory equipment. Even in the lar- ger and best circumstanced colleges, it is patent to even a casual observer, that the laboratories are utterly inefficient. In spite of the advantages these schools possess over the class last referred to, there are two fundamental conditions of impaired efficiency, fundamental in the sense that an ideal system of teaching is absolutely impossible. One of these is the fact that the faculty is made up of men engaged in active professional work, who cannot give the time abso- lutely necessary to do good, thorough teaching, and the various departments are necessarily served by a number of teachers, the time given by any one of them being very small, often only an hour a week for a portion of the year, and sometimes one of them does no duty for a year, perhaps is not expected to, his name on the faculty roll being of more value to the college, in an adver- tising way, than his services as a teacher. Even these men who give serv-, ice are handicapped in two ways: If a busy man—and many of them are—they cannot prepare their class work; it is a purely perfunctory service. Again, with the best intentions in the world, there must be a lack of unity, cohesive- ness, and consecutiveness in depart. ments when the topics are divided up among four, five, or more teachers. Supposing that a laboratory is fairly well equipped, good work and satisfac- tory results are not thereby assured The acutal teacher is often, almost al- ways, an undergraduate, under the merely nominal direction of a “pro- fessor,” has gotten his little knowledge and training in some State school, and receives his final tuition and degree as compensation for his work. I know many such. So with the best a private School can afford, the work is fragmen- tary, uneven, incomplete, or neglected altogether. Surely none can champion them who knows them, or who is com. petent to comprehend what medical edu- cation means: With the best intentions in the world the private medical school, with very few, if any, exceptions, can- not possibly rise to the desired standard, because, first, as already said, the teach- ers are men in active professional life, which at once incapacitates them for pedagogic work; and, secondly, because their financial resources are altogether, and in the very nature of things, inade- quate to furnish the absolutely essential equipment, to say nothing of properly salarying their faculties. A very few private schools have any income apart from the students' fees; enlargement of MODERN REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION. equipment can only be paid for by fac- ulty assessment. . These being facts, it is very, apparent that nothing can be looked for in the way of substantial re- form from the private medical school. The question must arise, why do such schools continue in the field? The answer must consider many things: In the first place, they are at- tempts to perpetuate a system that is out of harmony with existing conditions, but which from generations of practice has become a habit, and narrowed the hori- zon. Numbers of good men bemoan the inadequacy, but they cannot conceive of anything different. Lengthening the an- nual session, increasing the number of studies, and adding years to the term seem to be the only solutions of the problems the private school has pre- sented to them. The results can be seen by a glance at the programme of either of the medical colleges of any university for this present year. No hu- man brain can possibly absorb—to say nothing of assimilation—the alarming amount of material our students are ex- pected to use. What can be done? By the private school, nothing; and it must give up the attempt and suffer extinc- tion. By the State school, much, every- thing; but it must start in with new ideas and a clean slate. There is no ur- gent demand for new material in the profession; as one distinguished teacher has said, “it would be better if every medical college in the United States closed its doors for ten years,” than to go on in the present incompetent way. In a few words, the remedy lies in cre- ating a class of medical pedagogues, and constructing a new schedule on almost revolutionary lines. - - + >k sº - This brings us to the second in our list of colleges, the quasi-university col- lege. Some of us know what this is. for we have two of them in our own university. Still there are some things 'overburdened schedule. the teachers do? to be said of it that may be new to some of my hearers. First, as to the curriculum. Those of us who are teach- ers by profession may be surprised to learn how these faculties are constructed, not in Iowa alone, or particularly, for the same state of things obtains in Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, and Col- orado. The programme in one of these colleges runs like this: Freshmen have from 7 to 8 hours a day in class-room and laboratory work, not for five days a week, but for six, for the greater part of Saturday is also dedicated to work. These hours are divided between six topics. The sophomore class have also 7 to 8 hours a day, for six days in the week, divided among eight subjects. It is a noteworthy fact, that if the scheme I have given you should be adopted, nearly all of these studies would go into the pre-matriculate period. Our juniors and seniors work a little more leisurely, as but from 5 to 6 hours is the average amount of work, the topics being some- what increased in number. During my connection with the university—over 20 years—there have been three changes in the length of the terms, and two years have been added. The poor student has not gained anything in time for study or reading, nor has the system radically changed. Each time that the periods have been lengthened new work has been added; no betterment of methods, but adding to the already shamefully What kind of results would gentlemen of the academic sections expect to get from such work in their departments? Now, what do Those who have laboratories have their time fairly filled; so also with some of the clinical class. The others do a full year’s work in four hours a week. It can be seen that the only advantage the . quasi-university, college can claim over the private school, is in the labora- tory work, mostly done in the two 8 MoDERN REogIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION. under-classes, and all of which would be eliminated from the medical school entirely if a rational System obtained. For the service given by the heads of departments, our own university gives a sum which I have heard spoken of as “salary”; Michigan University pays for the same service more than twice as much; Minnesota and Missouri pay nothing, and Colorado little better. So, it will be seen, the term “quasi-univer- sity college” is well bestowed, as there is an appearance of the real thing, but no substance. • Some of our teachers have the true pedagogic spirit, and all desire to do their best; but the fact re- mains that the support of their families, provision for old age, and the tradi- ditional “rainy day,” is impossible if they put their college or their univers- ity, even, above their professional occu- pation. Their professional engagements must take first place as long as present conditions continue. - The genuine university college does not exist in this country; we must go to Europe to find it; so it does not enter into our argument. of education must originate in our State colleges; but they must act in a truly missionary spirit, as they are in a posi- tion to do. >k >\k Faculties should be organized with three grades of instructors: Professors, assistants, and demonstrators, or in- StructorS. The professor is the head of his de- partment, charged with the work of the same in all its parts. not be in active professional life, that is, in full practice. His time must be de- voted to his college work, but no obsta- cle must be put in his way to a strictly consulting practice consistent with full duty to his college. He must be paid a liberal salary, sufficient to be independ- ent. - . A rational system. While he must be a man of experience, of course, he must The assistants will be, of course, younger men, not necessarily teachers exclusively, but in a position to give much of their time to class room and ward duty. They must be paid sufficient. salary to compensate them for time con- sumed, and should be considered postu- lants, in line of promotion to heads of departments. - The demonstrators, (or instructors) may be recent graduates, or even under- graduates, in some of the departments, who are at once under pupilage and in- structors. The positions may be made prizes, on competitive examination. So much for the teaching force; it is, in the first place, a pedagogic one, essen- tially dissociated from active profes- sional work. There is absolutely no hope of a rational system that ignores this fundamental proposition. Having settled the question of faculty, the next item that commends attention is that of schedule; not that it is a ques- tion of minor or secondary importañce in any sense. That the schedule now in use in all our colleges would be con- demned as utterly irrational by an ex- perienced teacher, requires a mere glance at our own programme. In some of our classes work begins at 8 o'clock in the morning and continues until 5 o'clock in the afternoon; not divided, be it re- membered, between class room and reading, but continuously in class-room and laboratory. Surely no one could expect results from such a daily routine but mental and physical exhaustion sooner or later. I think with these facts before us there is much excuse for the demonstrations of the typical medical student. If we examine these programmes more carefully, we discover, too, portions that are certainly superfluous, one at each end of the line, the freshman and sen- ior; one has much that should have been finished before the study of medicine was commenced, and the other has no MoDERN REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION. 9 legitimate place in this under-graduate period. Anatomy, up to regional or “ap- plied” anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and all that goes with these, as micro- scopical technique, morphology, histol- ogy, botany, etc., should all be completed in the pre-matriculate or scientific CO111 Se. special pathology, principles of medicine, obstetrics, surgery, as far as principles are concerned, materia medica and ther- apeutics, systematic clinical work, and the mere rudiments of the specialties into which medicine is divided. The center of this whole system will be the hospital and the clinical demon- strations connected therewith. It is an absolute impossibility to teach medicine, in whole or in part, in the old way, by lectures, or even by, recitation—the lat- ter is even worse than the first. Instruc- tion is to be given to men and women, not mere boys and girls, and must be, to a very considerable extent, objective, and of a character to develope individu- ality in the student. The time when burdening the mind of a student with a purely passive memorization of facts, has past, and very happily so; we are. now to cultivate intelligence and de- velop the faculty of reason. If any fur- ther argument is needed that present sys- tems are antiquated and worthless, the fact that only 5% of recent graduates who apply for examination for army and navy appointments are successful in re- ceiving a commission, should be convinc- ing. Not only do a very large majority fail in their examinations, but those who are succesful are sent to a special college for further work before receiving de- tails to responsible positions. It will be objected—it has been from many sources—that competent men can- not be procured for heads of depart- ments. It is possible that there may be some force in this objection, but it sure- ly is not a prohibitive condition, as such men are found in some of our State col- Anatomy applied, general and leges. There are many men of position, large experience, and wide scholarship, and also of some pecuniary independ- ence, whose tastes lead them to academic pursuits, and who desire and appreciate relief from active professional life. To be sure, there are not many such men, but there are enough to fil; all the po- sitions that will be called for. We will See the best colleges when the reforma- tion is complete, with from six to ten heads of departments instead of the 30, 40, or more that are now thought neces- sary. There need be no fear that men will not be found for the professors; many such can be found now, and many more will be heard from when they are needed. There need be no fear that the men of world-wide renown, teachers that all medical men delight to honor, will be displaced. We have a third period in the student’s career to treat of the post-graduate—and here we will find a large field for their activities. As a matter of fact, the large schools of Europe and Great Britain, where con- ditions obtain comparable to those under discussion, no difficulty is found in se- curing teachers in undergraduate col- leges of the highest rank and attain- ments. To be sure, they do not serve without salary, nor are their salaries such an insignificant pittance as are of. fered in such of our schools as pay sal- aries at all. They are paid sufficient to make them independent of other sources of revenue, and enrolled to give their time, practically all of it, to college work. So the most serious proposition in bringing about a better and more logi- cal system is one of salaries. No one would expect or ask a salary that would equal in amount what he could earn in large practice, but enough to make him independent of outside employment. I am confident that the difficulty of finding men for heads of departments is a fic- titious one; I am not sure that the Sup- ply would not exceed the demands. IO MoDERN REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION. But this is not all that is to be said on the undergraduate period. Having com- pleted the period, what degrees shall be earned? Not the doctor's, by any means. The bachelor's degree is the proper one to grant, and it must be given the same importance, as far as profes- sional status is concerned, as is now given to the doctor's. Surely it is some- what absurd to grant a doctorate in course, the highest academic honor, when a different custom universally ob- tains in every other department of science and art. Provision will be made, in our next section, for higher degrees. even the doctorate. THE POSTGRADUATE PERIOD. The study of medicine is based upon - three functions, the causation of morbid action, the diagnosis of its particular forms, and the therapeutics or curé of them when the two former are fulfilled. A related function is the prevention of disease. For the most part the methods by which these conditions are met are common to all forms of morbid action, and constitute the proper study during the undergraduate period. But in a certain class of diseases, in which ques- tions of anatomy and physiology largely enter, other, and sometimes different methods obtain, and these have led to a necessary division of the whole field of medicine into two great parts, the one known as general, and the other as Spe- cial medicine. The latter is again di- vided into numerous smaller sub-divi- sions, some of them naturally, and others only very superficially falling into the domain of specialism. Some one has said that a specialist is one who knows something of everything, and everything of something. . While not strictly accu. rate, it is approximately so—sufficient for our purpose. The field of specialism must be entered from that of general medicine, for the best equipped specialist is one who has had intimate relations with general medicine. The require- ments in specialism are not so much dif- ference from, as addition to those of general medicine. Now, an undergradu- ate, even when of the age our scheme supposes him to be, and in spite of his commencing medical study with far bet- fer training and preparation than has hitherto been the rule, is all too young and inexperienced to make specialization proper or safe. This must come later, and properly along certain lines. It should be unnecessary to dwell at greater 1ength on the legitimacy of specialism, but as a matter of fact, there are some medical men who deny it, strange as it may seem. The Army Medical Li- brary in Washington has now Some 170,000 volumes on its shelves; the index catalogue of the same stupendous collection now numbers some 22 large folio volumes, and is several volumes short of comple- tion. A very cursory survey of these quickly convinces that no one man can cultivate all of this enormous field; if he take any department of it, he finds that he has more than he can master. Specialization is not only a necessity, but its growth and development more than any one thing, has created the demand for an entirely new method of medical education. So much seems necessary by way of preface to what is to follow. Two facts are suggested by the fore- going: One, that the undergraduate school must almost ignore the specialist, confining itself to the mere rudiments, as it were. The other is, that some way must be provided to furnish the instruc- tion demanded. The want is easily met. When the young Bachelor of Medicine bids adieu to his college, he knows much that he did not know when he entered its doors, but he has not learned what direction his life-work is to take—this comes to him slowly. He must enter the practice of his calling, doing all that comes in his way, to the best of his MoDERN REQUIREMENTS FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION. It ability, and with the help of his col- leagues. After a time, it is usual for him to find that he had not correctly measured his ability, or capacities. He finds an interest in certain fields grow- ing in his mind, and the first part of his post-graduate life has commenced. Now the time comes when he becomes a pupil once more; a well-stored mind from careful, systematic study, and a culture born of experience enables him to select his life-work, and he enters a proper post-graduate /college. Here are found the great men of the profession; they are not lost as teachers because the undergraduate school could not have them; they will be at work, on the fa- fees is a matter of indifference—with an equipment fully adequate to the oc- casion, and salaried with a faculty who are teachers by profession. 3. In view of the pre-matriculate re- quirements, the medical course proper can, and should be, shortened by at least one year, possibly two. - 4. This undergraduate period earns the bachelor’s degree in medicine, giv- ing the same status, as to medical laws, now attaching to doctor. 5. After an interval of professional occupation comes the postgraduate School, or polyclinic, leading to the mas- ter's degree in one of the great special- ties. - t 6. Finally, conspicuous attainments may bring the doctorate, an honorary distinction, the possession of which stamps the bearer as a scholar indeed. A course of medicine along the above lines, particularly as to pre-matriculate requirements, will shorten the under- graduate period by at least one year, if not more. So the objection that some make, viz., undue postponement of en- trance into active professional life, may be set aside. . NoTE.—Since writing the above two great schools have initiated reforms along the lines indicated. Wisconsin University gives a medical degree in miliar lines, in the future. When this course is completed, a degree of master can be earned, in medicine, possibly, but better in the specialties, the large ones. One year of the work our ideal student does in the polyclinic then will give re- sults many times greater than two years will give him now. This still leaves our student without the doctor's degree. How is he to get that? Why, as it is earned in other de- partments of learning. An honorarium, unsought, conferred for distinguished po- sition, original investigation, or notable professional achievement. - It may serve a useful purpose in clos- ing this very inadequate treatment of a great subject, to sumarize, very briefly, the main features. - I. The medical student must com- mence his professional education as a Bachelor of Science, after a course hav- ing medicine as its ultimate object. 2. The undergraduate college must be a State institution, or, failing that, so well endowed that income from students' two years to graduates in science prop- erly prepared. Rush Medical College, in Chicago, has affiliated with the Univer- sity of Chicago, giving all work in the freshman and sophomore year in the university, and has almost secured an endowment of a million dollars to sal- ary their faculty. ms AN ADDRESS Delivered to the Graduating Class of 'o2 of the Detroit Homeopathic College, At the Detroit Opera House, April 22nd, 1902. BY ALFRED gRAHAM, A. M., M. D., LL.D., Professor of Mental and sº st Jº Jº Jº Nervous Diseases. | § e s Faculty Address. Mr. Dean, Gentlemen of the Faculty, and Mem- bers of the Graduating Class:— It would be out of harmony with. all pre- cedents were I not to say that a distinguished honor was conferred upon me by the Faculty of the Detroit Homeopathic College, when they elected me to deliver the usual faculty address on this occasion; and I regard the privilege of addressing you, at this particular time, as equal to the honor conferred. You are now about to leave the college halls for the trying experiences of real life. Your college life here has been the dream before the awakening. You are now about to awaken to the harsh realties of a career. The importancé of this moment to you cannot be over-estimated. As the years come and go, you will ever revert to the days spent here with increasing pleasure of recollection, and to your graduation as one of the distinguishing mile-stones of your life journey. Do not let it be said that the clock struck twelve on the day of your graduation. This should be the morning of your real busi- ness life. It should be the launching of your bark on an untried sea, with chart well studied and compass in order. This is what is meant by “Commencement.” - > --> * * ,” - 4 - Man is a legatee of the ages gone before him. He is destined to be - “The heir of all the ages, - 'In the foremost files of time.” He is indebted to the past for his religion, his forms of government, his art and his litera- ture. For these he is, largely, indebted to mythology. So, too, is man indebted to mythol- ogy for his physician; the very origin of which is mythological. “The most common story makes him the son of Apollo, the god of archery, prophecy and music,” of whom it might be said, as of Orpheus: Trees in silence bowed before him, At his feet their odors flung; And at night in glorious anthem, Starry choirs above him sung. According to ancient lore, Aesculapius was the god of medicine and the patron of the medi- cal profession. He went about healing diseases and raising the dead to life. The story goes that Pluto, god of Hades, took alarm at the lat- ter exploit, and complained to Zeus that Aesculapius was invading his bailiwick. He acknowledged the justice of the complaint and struck Aesculapius dead with a flash of light- ning. And so great has been the progress of medicine since that far off time, that doctors now use the lightning of heaven to cure rather than to kill; to carry the physician with speed to the patient, rather than himself to the grave- yard. ' ' ' . . . - 5 The priests of the temple were the only regular practitioners of antiquity; but in later times the priests took pupils and initiated them into the mysteries of medicine, and these were regarded as regularly trained physicians. History says nothing of class quizzes, exami- nations, boards of registration or license fees to practice outside the temple. These are a few of the delightful innovations upon the prac- tice of medicine of more modern times. Whether the physician sprang from the myths of ancient lore or not, he is here and has come to stay till humanity has learned better how to obey the laws of nature as they are written in every fiber of his being. Whatever may have been his origin, it is the physician as he is and should be to-day, that we must study him. . e And, first of all, he should be a gentleman. By this I mean what is generally understood by the term in the United States, namely, “a man of education and good breeding of every occu- pation.” This does not mean the man who wears the faded badges of a social position, such as may be found in the old world; but a man of good manners and noble bearing, for I tell you, young gentlemen, good manners is one of the very best passports to human place and honor. And in a physician who comes into the most intimate relations of family and home and social life, this requisite is absolutely indis. pensable. , •se.----->~ * 6 One of the distinguishing marks of a gentle- man, as he moves among strangers—who can judge of him only by his personal appearance— is his dress, which should be neat-fitting and of good material, entirely devoid of foppery; and of colors suitable for a professional man of good standing in his profession. His dress should be the outward manifestation of good taste and his linen must be scrupulously clean and of good quality. - - It goes without saying, that a physician, of all professional men, must be a man of sound morals, and exemplify in his daily walk and conversation the virtues of the accepted stand- ard of Christian character of to-day. His bear- ing , should be characterized by politeness, which is kindness. It is not necessary that a physician should be a courtier. He is a pro- fessional man and he should always be cour- teous, but not a courtier; polite, but not too polite. • . 4 . A physician whose conception of politeness would lead him to thank his patient for grant- ing him the privilege of feeling the pulse, would appear ridiculous in the sick chamber. He should carry his “good-morning” Smile with him when he enters the patient’s presence. His encouraging Word and assuring smile is the mental suggestion of improved condition and returning, health to the patient. The physician whose breath is perfumed with the odor of alcohol grossly offends against all sense of decency and propriety. You should not spend any time in saloons, nor. lend the 7 endorsement of your presence to such places. Do not prescribe alcohol in any of its forms, when it is possible to use any other remedy. Many prescriptions containing alcohol have laid the foundation of a ruined and de- bauched life. Your duty is to prevent injury to your patient as well as to cure him of the ills he has. Do not use intoxicants as a beverage, nor recommend their use by others. Fixedness of habit is fixedness of character. This applies as well to good as to bad habits. And a physician, if he would succeed, must see to it that good habits become established as the order of his life. Bearishness, roughness; taciturnity of manners are intolerable any- . where, but nowhere so much so as in a phy. sician. * A professional man receives his patronage from the community in which he lives. It is the favorable consideration of his neighbors. that enables him to establish practice. It is the confidence of his fellowmen in his integrity and ability that becomes the sure reward of the faithful physician. This confidence offers to the physician the rarest opportunity to repay, in a multiplicity of thoughtful kindnesses to others, the debt he owes to the community at large. And every physician should acknowl- edge this obligation in a proper manner. The physician is no more exempt from the dictates of a manly generosity than any other member of the community, but he has superior opportunities to all other men to manifest it, for he is necessarily brought into close rela- 8 tions to the misfortunes of mankind, and he cannot shut his eyes to them nor ignore the appeal they make to him. And he can, by his skill, scatter many seeds of kindness, which the community will not allow to perish, but will cause to germinate and bear fruit to the honor of the physician, as well as good to the corn- munity in which he resides. - . Do not allow a selfish greed and degrading commercialism to dry up the currents of sym- pathy in your heart. Remember that the repu- tation of doing good is not only capital with which to do business now, but a legacy to those who may come after you. Do not forget that by giving out of your soulful and intellectual self you obtain the very largest moral and intellectual development possible for yourself, and confer upon others your choicest gifts. To this end, regular habits of study are necessary. An intellectually lazy man will never succeed in your profession. The physician must learn to economize time. He should avoid all waste of time among his patients as well as with other persons. To convert office hours into tete-a-tete, for the entertainment of patients is frittering away time and more nearly imitating the brainless- ness of the dandy and fop than the cultivated and learned physician. Keep your social and professional Viands on separate and distinct platters. By this method you will never be nauseated by either and your appetite will remain normal for both. Be brisk, whether you are necessarily so or not. - 9 Do not spend your time riding pel-mel through the streets to create the false impres- sion in the public mind that you are called for by everybody. Do not ride for hours without a patient to call on. Use your spare time pre- paring for future professional work. Form at the outset a habit of reading, and cultivate a liking for it. Read text books chiefly, not medical journals, for the latter publish, largely, early observations of students in science, two- thirds of which observations are soon found to be imperfect and the conclusions false. Study the latest and best books and read them over and over, again and again, remember- ing that one review of a good book is worth two advance readings. As the clergyman studies his Bible and the lawyer his Blackstone, so should the physician never lay aside his Anat- omy and Physiology. Read different authors on the same subject, for thereby you gain enlarged views and have the benefit of a diver- sity of observations. A physician should read scientific works, es- pecially those on the borderland between medi- cine and literature. He should keep himself informed upon those general scientific topics which are claiming the attention of all thought- ful minds of to-day. By so doing you will keep yourself out of professional ruts and faulty habits which tend to dwarf a man in his intellectual life and character. Too many physicians neglect to burnish their mental equipment, and keep sufficiently pol- ished their professional accomplishments. And 10 they should supplément any deficiency by systematic reading. Never let it be truthfully said of you: “The doctor is a good physician, but he does not know anything outside of medi- cine.” t Remember that your study here has only laid the foundation principles of medical knowledge. The superstructure of medical skill, Sound judgment and detail information is to be acquired hereafter. There will be many inter- ruptions to your study; but you must bring to bear a power of application, a concentration of mind that will overcome all obstacles to your professional advancement. “If thou can'st plan a noble deed, - And never flag till it succeed; - -- Though in the strife thy heart should bleed— Whatever obstacles control, Thine hour will come; keep on, true soul! Thou’lt win the prize; thou’lt reach the goal!” Another thing I would impress upon your minds, at this time, is the danger of talking too much. A talkative doctor is an unmitigated nuisance. And one of the most hateful things in the world is a gossip, and the most detestable of all detestable things is a gossiping doctor. Do not gossip. Do not make any invidious references to others. And above all things a physician must not talk of the ailments and troubles of his patients. So odious is this, that the law of the land in its majesty and thoughtfulness of the . unfortunate, positively prohibits a physician from uttering one syllable of testimony in a Il t court of justice concerning facts made known to him in his professional capacity, without first obtaining the patient’s consent. How, then, can a physician, whose mouth the law has wisely closed in the interests of the peace and happiness of households, open it in violation of law and decency? Much talkativeness leads to falsification. This is particularly true when a doctor talks of the wonderful practice be enjoys, and attempts to tell how much money he is making. . A doctor once told me that he had forty cases of diphtheria in a town where there had been only thirty cases, all told. There were other physicians there, and they had their share of those cases. - Then again, the physician sustains a purely professional relation to his patients. He can- not help feeling a more or less friendly socia- bility with agreeable and intelligent people; but these feelings must always be subordinated to the purpose for which he is called. They should be held in check in obedience to the importance and dignity of his professional responsibility. So it is not wise to make inti- mate friends of patients. They will expect too much, and be likely to get too much at your hands. Therefore, do not visit when making professional calls. Be wise and discreet with ignorant people; but be not too wise with intelligent people. Never tell ignorant people you do not know; but leave them to infer, by a wise discretion and good judgment, that you do know. Intel- ligent people are usually afraid of those who know too much. - I2 Many patients are inquisitive and wish to know too much about matters they can neither understand nor profit by knowing. Such patients should be adroitly “headed off” in their inquisitiveness, for their sakes as well as your own. Many inquisitive persons cannot be headed off, except by decapitation. - In your examination of patients do not express opinions until the examination is con- cluded, and even then your opinion should be given with caution. Many physicians talk too much about their opinions. It is the opinion itself that interests the patient and not your confidence in it. Study each case with thought- fulness and dispatch. Depend upon your own judgment of the case and your knowledge of medicine, and not upon the statements of the patient unless verified by the facts disclosed by your study of the case. Stand by your diag- nosis when once made. Another thing I wish to call to your attention. There should be—indeed, there is—such a thing as professional courtesy, as well as ethics, among physicians which should influence thent in their relations to each other. Above all else live in peace with your professional brethren. All wholesome notions of courtesy and profes- sional etiquette are grossly violated by any invidious remarks concerning other physicians. A wholesome emulation, stimulated even to it, healthy rivalry, is conducive to progress in your profession; but jealousy, envy and malice among physicians is reprehensible. A jealous man is a dangerous man, and one jealous phy- sician will disturb the peace and destroy the 13 harmony of the profession in the community where he resides. Shun the society of such a brother as you would avoid an earthquake. “A man’s enemies are they of his own house- hold.” You should disarm hurtful antagonisms by polite and courteous bearing, and overcome all animosity by a gentlemanly conduct. Advo- cate and use your own methods of treatment, if you have found them superior to all others. If they are successful, you can afford to abide the result to win for you a secure place in the profession. - - - Your opposition will come, largely, from your own school of medicine. Be on your guard as to all petty jealousies. Berate no professional man. All are engaged in the same noble work, and, as a rule, equally honest and entitled to credit on general principles. This applies to other schools of practice as well as your own. “As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” . A word as to consultations. Few physicians seem to understand what is due in consulta- tions. In important and difficult cases a phy- sician should invite a consultation and call the consulting physician himself. It is not so much the rightful privilege of the patient or the family, as your own. It is to advice with you as to the patient’s condition, and as to the course of treatment you should pursue in the case, that consultation is necessary. And hav. ing informed counsel of the course of treatment pursued, and the nature of the disease as you have diagnosed it, consultation is to determine 14 the future treatment necessary in the particu: lar case, by the joint judgment of those called in counsel. In this there should be the most courteous freedom of discussion, and a cordial and unhampered freedom of thought and advice. - Your relation to the society in which you live is that of a citizen of the commonwealth. It is your duty to make yourself prominent in every laudable way. You should become actively interested in all questions involving the public health and sanitation. You have no right to exclude yourself from society when you have opportunity to subserve its interests, and the public good. You owe to society a reciprocal duty. See to it that you discharge that duty faithfully. You do not need to fritter away your time and evaporate your brains at theaters or tea parties, for there are wholesome and use- ful enterprises in every community that deserve your support and encouragement, and your mental discipline and scientific training ought to fit you to very materially assist in promoting them. - . . . - Do not try to enter into competition with the fop, the dandy or the snob; you have brains, he has not. What is fitting for them is unbe- coming for you. Remember that a man of breadth and comprehension only can secure a firm hold upon a broad practice. A physician's patients are usually on a level with himself. He should strive to raise his own social level, and in doing so he elevates the profession at large, for all healthful moral uplift of the whole is accomplished by the elevation of the units composing the whole. 15 Reep up with the times both in study and practice; and remember that in your work you are thinking the thoughts of God after him. Strive to emulate the example of the Great Physician of Gallilee, who went about doing good, healing the sick, restoring the blind and making the lame walk. He scattered the |blessed influence of a royal manhood wherever he went. His great, loving heart sympathized with suffering humanity. His humanitarianism knew no bounds. “There are diamonds of purity, rich and rare, And pearls of the ocean, so white and fair; But jewels can never with love compare— The love which encircles all.” ºſºſºſºſºſºlº: --- * ... ' ' ' ' s . . . . . . *.. * , * . . , “ . . . . . . . ; º tº. . . . . . . . ‘s . . . . . º & … . . * : . . 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Movember 3, 1889 PRINTED BY PRESS PRINTING COMPANY LITTLE Rock, ARK, i ſs * s ANNUAL ADDRESS. —º- Jadies and Gentlemen, Members of the Southern Homoeo- pathic Medical Association : Custom has made it the duty of the President of every asso- ciation, to deliver an address at the beginning of its annual sessions. In this address he is supposed to review the past, and to outline the course of the future year. It would be an act of supererogation for me to occupy the time of this learned body with a recital of the growth and achievements of Homoeopathy throughout the length and breadth of this grand country. These facts are known to us all. It will better suit the purpose of this paper to confine our remarks to the interests, needs and advancement of the cause in the South. . - Homoeopathy has had a hard struggle to secure a foothold in this bright and sunny land. Her physicians, who practice here are, to a great degree, as much pioneers in the work, as were those who fought the battles in the east fiſty years ago. They are few in number, and are scattered over a largeter- ritory. The people are prejudiced against them, and they are hated and despised by a lurking foe that is ready, at all times, to take every undue advantage. The old-school doctors of the South are dogmatic and domineering, and they look upon —4.— every innovation with a peculiarly jealous eye. The presence of a Homoeopath is especially obnoxious to them. It is a trite saying that every person is insane upon some subject. The subject of Homoeopathy seems to be the one that is most likely to aberrate the Allopathic mind. He may be rational upon all other topics, but upon this one he is always morbid. The mere mention of the name engenders madness and drives away ration- ality. It is an established principle with the old-school profes- sion to, in some way, crush Homoeopathy out of existence, and they console themselves with the never ſailing belief that it is fast dying out. They have many different ideas as to how this crushing process may be accomplished. The first means that they usually put into practice, and it is amusing to see them, when a Homoeopath appears upon the field, is to assume an air of superiority and dignity, and thereby chill him, actually freeze the life out of him—squelch him with inatten- tion, indifference and contempt. Failing in this, they attack with ridicule, misrepresentation and unkind and unethical treat- ment. Failing to convince intelligent minds of their superi- ority, and as rapid encroachments are made upon the sacred soil, they attempt to turn the power of legislation against us, This is the attitude in which they are now marshaling their forces in most of the Southern States. The favorite plan by which they expect to gain monopolistic power in medical matters is by the formation of licensing boards through legislative enactments. We now see them entering the Legislatures of every State in the land with some kind of a bill advocating this very objectionable form of class legislation. These bills usually provide for an examining board that shall be made exclusively from some special society whose duty it. is to pass upon the qualifications of all applicants for license --5– to practice medicine, regardless of what particular school or pathy they may represent. The creation of such boards, pos- sessing such franchise, is a constant menace to the rights of the minorities. They are wrong, unjust, oppressive, unfavorable to investigation and advancement in medical science, and are op- posed to American principles of liberty. The ostensible pur- pose of these boards is to elevate the standard of medical edu- cation and to protect the public from inadequately educated physicians. In reality the motives are sinister, and the object sought is to establish so-called State medicine in this country. They hope to acquire control over all rival schools, bring the entire medical profession under the censorship of the old school societies and colleges, and thereby effectually suppress all competition in the practice of medicine. It is an established truth that laws are enacted for the protection of mankind in general, minorities as well as majorities. A medical law that is really a protection to the people would be a good thing. If the regulars are sincere, and have only the interest of the dear people at heart, let them come forward like true men and con- sult with the other schools and draft such laws as will be satis- factory and just to all, and thereby do away with the appear- ance of a medical monopoly. It is the duty of Homoeopathic physicians to unitedly oppose, in every legitimate way, the for- mation of these examining boards, and to unmask the treachery, expose the selfish motives and ignoble aims of their advocates. If medical boards must be created, letthe representa- tion be equal, or let there be a separate one for each school. ... Our colleges are in their requirements, in teaching and thoroughness, in every respect the equal of the very best old- school colleges. 2 We have exercised our privilege in educating * assº" --6* our students, and we should insist upon the right to pass upon their qualifications. . . . . . - It is important that we should be in position to oppose those monopolistic bills, and know the best means of defeating them. Organization and concentration offer the greatest hope. - - 4 * The few physicians that we have in the South are located in the cities and larger towns; therefore, the majority of the inhabitants, those from the small towns and rural districts, know nothing of our system. They are prejudiced against us. by our opponents in practice, and are persuaded into the belief that medical legislation, as a protection to the lives of their cons'ituents, is an actual necessity. - - The organization.of our members into societies will have. a modifying effect upon the minds of the people. It will make us better known as a school: it will infuse life and strength, into the cause, and we can, as a body, more effectually thwart: any legislation that is unfriendly to Homoeopathy. Besides the moral effect of such organization will be good. The people. will become interested; they will see more of our physicians, and will know more of their ability both individually and collect- ively. Again, as a society, we can extend the hand of assist- ance to those who live in sections where our members are few and our strength is feeble. - - - • The diseases met with in many parts of this extensive country are of a character differing from, and of a type more malignant than those found in the Northern and Eastern States. These do not especially interest the major part...of the profession, and. consequently are neither taught in the colleges nor-discussed in the society meetings. In the Southern societies. these sub- jects will be in common; there will be a mutual interest mani- is?- ‘fested, in the investigation and discussion of these diseases, and an interchange of thought and expression that will be in- structive and interesting alike to all. * - For these many reasons we cannot too strongly urge upon you the importance of the organization of State and County Societes, and above all a strong support of the Southern Association. - - Homoeopathy has never gained the foothold in the South that it has in the North. Of the twelve thousand Homoeopathic physicians practicing through the United States, in 1888, ex- cepting Missouri, only about three hundred and seventy-five are located with us. Why this condition of affairs exists, I will not here attempt to explain, but, it is a fact that acts to our disadvantage, and it is one with which we have to deal. It is true that Homoeopathy is growing. The increase during the past year somewhat exceeded ten per cent, but the growth is not what it should be, or what we ought to make it. There are many towns in the South offering good locations to well quali- fied physicians. - It is our duty to see that these places are promptly and well filled with worthy men. Let each member of this Asso- ciation use his influence to induce, at least, one or more good men to come and locate in our midst. We can in this way rapidly increase our number, and place our school on a more substantial basis. - - * Another good plan by which we can increase our strength, is to take native young men of promising character into our - offices, as students, and when qualified, locate them among * -ef the fifteen colleges, teaching the law of similia, not one exists in all this land of ours; of the twenty-two journals —8– disseminating the principles of our school, we have but one; of the sixty-one general and special hospitals in which Hom- oeopathy is practiced, we do not claim a single one. It should be the aim and effort of this society to establish a college and hospital in one of our large cities, in which our students can be taught the treatment of diseases that prevail in our section. As it is, they have to go to the Northern colleges and receive instructions at the hands of men who know nothing of our climate or of the diseases that are peculiar to it. - The Southern Journal of Homoeopathy, the mouthpiece of this society, and the only journal in the South devoted to our cause, deserves our unqualified support, and should be found upon the table of, and read by every Homoeopathic physician in the land. - - 4. ADDRESS BEFORE THE ILLINOIs HOMOEOPATHIC M EDICAL ASSOCIATION M A Y 1 0, 1904 BY H. V. HALBERT, M. D. P R E S I D E N T ADDREss. BEFORE THE ILLINois HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL ASSOCIA- TRON, MAY 10, 1904. - BY H. V. HALBERT, M. D., PRESIDENT. Pursuant with the custom of many years it becomes the duty of the Presi- dent of this Association to deliver an address at each annual meeting. In pre- suming such an undertaking, it would be no more than natural, first of all, to con- gratulate the assembly upon the growth and perpetuation of this society. The continuous existence of any organization must declare the virtue of its necessity, and the augmentation of its members must be confirmative of the justice of its cause. It is not a part of my intention to refer to statistical resume for the proof of our development into a power of usefulness in this State. It is not nec- essary for me to point to the individual and collective accomplishment of mem- bers of this Association to reach the as- surance that we have done a good work. These facts are well known in the re- gions from which we hail and their ex- emplification is manifest, from year to year, in these gatherings. . . . . . . It would seem natural then in the pref- ace of my remarks to speak of the value of this society as an institu- tion for our self-preservation and ad- vancement. No one who has endured 2 . the vicissitudes of early day practice will question the meaning of this premise, and no one in present day practice would wish to work without this assuring influence. When any one is bold enough to an- nounce a belief in natural universal tol- erance, it would be proper to ask for one living substantiation of that principle. Right without might has invariably a sad experience in its incipient stage, but right with might is bound to be respect- ed until it can stand by itself. United strength will always provide a way for the ultimate acknowledgment of a truth which otherwise might be overlooked, or repudiated. If anyone asks what need there is of a State affiliation in our pro- fession, we may refer his answer to the pioneers who, despite a rigid opposition, have carried the banner of our school into the frontiers. Each and every one of us has felt the support of organization and the necessity of helping one another. And what was true of yesterday is doubly true . to-day. - No one has been strong enough and no one ever will be strong enough to ac- complish everything without a compos- ite force back of him. No matter how perfect or forceful an individuality may be, it demands the co-operation of other individualities to acquire a better result. Does anyone doubt for a moment that it has been the instrumentality of this and similar societies which has given us. our recognition in institutions of this State? And do we fully realize how essential this coöperative principle has been in other States? To continue the argument a little further, does anyone expect that ~ 3 we shall receive the proper consideration for our rights if we allow this influence to become a dead letter? Apathy is the greatest danger to progress. Indiffer- ence will often overcome the best inten- tions. If we permit these factors to sub- vert our usefulness, the reaction, which is bound to come, will inflict an irrepar- able injury upon all. ‘. - When a man reasons to himself that he has done his duty once, he forgets that he should perform that obligation constantly. Those who have been in the harness a long time should continue in the work for the sake of their own repu- tation and to encourage those who are eventually to take their places. When we cease to work our identity is lost and our influence is impaired. To the young- er members, however, greater obliga- tions appear. These are the men who must endure the brunt of the burden— who must face the requirements of the present day and who must teach the new doctrines and defend the new ideas which conform to scientific revelations. It will need the strong men and the brave mem to demonstrate to the world that homeo- pathy does not oppose any other truth and never will stand in the way of medi- cal advancement. By their help we must dethrone the unjust appellations which have defamed our reputation and we must maintain the assertion that we are physicians in the most perfect sense. By such advocates we must prove that, in holding to our own belief, we do not traduce that of others and that every es- tablished scientific principle is a part of our armamentarium. - - 4 The next apparent benefit which arises from professional affiliation is the clinical advantage. No one has ever come to the meetings of this society without gaining something in the line of practical help. In fact this is the only opportunity, out- side of our clinics and journals, to com- pare notes on the progress of our work. It is invariably the leader of thought and the practical practitioner who contributes the product of his experience at this time. The knowledge thus acquired is utilized or disseminated so that the prop- erty of each investigator becomes the means for further application in the work of every day duty. In this way each suggestion may be tried and tested until its value is found or its error is exposed. Thus, by a consensus of opinion and ex- perience, we gradually build up a mass of therapeutic evidence from which we finally select the best for practice. Who can say that it is not his duty to be a contributor of knowledge and experience, as well as an absorber of the same? As we owe a debt to society, so each of us owes a larger debt to humanity and the more we join hands for this purpose the more thoroughly shall we aid our cause and help ourselves. - In line with this train of thought, a word in behalf of our journalism and lit- erature seems in place upon this occa- sion. By our works we are known, but unless our works are disseminated our acquaintance is not extensive. Nothing is gained by hiding one's light under a bushel and a stone which belongs in the wall should never be left by the wayside. Too much rugged worth is allowed to go 5. to waste and , too many priceless gems are permitted to remain in the rougll. Some of the finest intellectualities are un- appreciated on account of their narrow- ed environment. Some of the best thought is lost because it is never pre- sented to the public. In every way we should encourage—indeed, force, each in- dividuality to the front. If the mod- esty of accomplishment seeks the repose of retirement, our editors and publishers should look for this ability and bring it into the public light. Has every one with a worthy idea come to the assistance of our editors in this respect? And are these men of the press properly encour- aging the best authors to contribute? In journalism, as in commercialism, the article which attracts, too frequently invites first consideration. Our patron- age and our applause too often encourage the publication of arrogant and unsound claims in therapeutics. For this reason I suppose so much of the usufruct, and so much that is untenable, have crept into the acknowledged literature of med- icine. It is for this same reason that our materia medica has become loaded down with incongruous, contradictory and senseless statements as to symptomatol- ogy. I have always held, and still main- tain, that it is through our literature that we are known and exert our influence; but to make that influence what it should be there 5ught to be such a rigid censor- ship that we shall not appear as a laugh- ingstock in modern medicine. Here is where the society, the editor and the pub- lisher are accountable, for they repre- 6 sent the thoughtful criticism of responsi- ble parties. It is impossible to look over,past his- tory without appreciating the advanced standing which modern medicine and surgery enjoy. The physician and the surgeon are no longer considered in the sense of the quack or the barber who oc- casionally does a job of promiscuous cut- ting. The higher degree of efficiency has given cause for the higher ideal of ap- preciation and thus, as science attains re- sults, the reward is given to him who is the agent of this accomplishment. To be sure, we are obliged to suffer, how and then, for the extravagant and nonsensical doctrines of some new, dogma which is founded invariably by a fraud or a fanatic. These cults assume the science of cure while they deny the possibility of disease. They make some noise and pros- per for a time, but the true science will continue like the flow of the resistless stream. It is indeed a pleasure, there- fore, to contemplate the achievement of our profession and to realize the respect which is now paid to us as physicians. No one can be more appreciative of this fact than the members of our school who have endured a longer and more se- vere test by fire before the day of recog- nition came. When we stop to think of the cruel and unjust opposition, the with- holding of recognition and the political efforts to legislate us out of existence, it almost makes our blood boil. Yet that is an experience of the past and our eyes are now turned to the future. No dis- ciple of a new revelation ever passed through an angry mob unscathed; but - 7 we have the satisfaction to know that the truth still lives and will continue to the end of time. If the trial has hurt us, it has certainly strengthened us. If we only come through the struggle with some of the eccentricities and inconsistencies brushed off from us, it will be so much the better for us and for the medical pro- fession as a whole. We may be well sat- isfied that we have cared for the sick and saved many that were supposed to be in- curable, and in doing this we have veri- fied our law. While we have been the minor party we have left our impression and this will lead to the acceptance of the practical part of our principle. After all the best phase of medical accomplish- ment is the fact that preventive medicine and sanitary improvements are gradually limiting the possibility of diseases, and we all should have a common part in furthering this kind of work. As the lines of bigotry become less taut, as prejudice gives way to reason and as the profession looks solely to the salvation of the sick, polemic discussions will be supplanted by the thesis of scientific in- vestigation. Every one should welcome this ultimate result when it comes in the right way. - There are, however, other things for us to think about. In our work some- thing is due to the individual. The crown should not always be withheld until af- ter death. Physicians are too often for- getful of themselves as they give their lives to others. In their love for knowl- edge and accomplishment, the responsi– bility to self is many times overlooked. Everyone is bound, however, to reach 8. the day when this regret will come home with unenjoyable force. No one has the right to live with, thoughtlessness for himself or his family. Duty, to a certain extent, begins at home, and when this thought receives attention we are less lia- ble to become a future burden to others. When we recall the lives of our earlier practitioners, we can see how natural it was for the idea to be entailed that a physician was expected to be supported by charity. This habit has prevailed to such an extent that I am sorry to say it . is too much a part of our present day practice. Too few of our following are willing to hold to the declaration that a “servant is worthy of his hire.” If any- one may be considered to be the “hired man,” without the right of appeal for . a “higher price,” it is the physician. And this condition is greatly due to his own fault. If a man does not value his own worth, no one will surprise him by show- ing him undue appreciation. . When I look at the family physician,— up at all hours of the night, exposed to the most inclement weather, tried by the direst of all responsibilities — my heart goes out in pity for one in such an un- fortunate profession, but when I realize that a good majority of these never re- ceive the pittance which belongs to them, because they do not demand it of those who can afford it, my pity is turned to a mild form of disgust. When I realize that men of our calling, in the wealthiest of country localities, are taking care of confinment cases for five and ten dollars; when I am told that prescriptions and ad- vice are offered at fifty cents per head, 9 - and visits are made for less than a dol- lar, I wonder who is at fault. If this sort of a reward is to continue at its present downward grade, it is a question as competition increases how long before the physician will become a missionary pure and simple. , - -- - The experience is similar in consulting practice. Patients too frequently deceive for the sake of a discount and few are willing to give the consultant a price. commensurate with his skill and expe- rience. The lawyer is not abashed to charge a large fee for his opinion. A man will give anything to save his property, but he is niggardly inclined when his life is saved by the physician. I again re- vert to the fact that we ourselves, are, in a measure, at fault for this, inasmuch as we do not recognize our own value. In that respect we are not as wise as the charlatan who charges a big fee and gets it in advance. If we continue to pauper- ize our profession, the time will come when it will not even furnish us a living. There should be a more perfect under- standing on this subject. We are being robbed daily of our rights because we are not organized for our own protection. Herein we find a greater opportunity for work in our society. This is an age in which special attain- ment survives and prospers. There is no longer room for the “Jack of all trades.” A man must do good work or not at- tempt any. He must rise above medioc- rity or remain a common laborer. Luck is no longer a distributer of favors. Hence, we see the success of the special- ist. His time and energy are devoted to S IO the perfection of one accomplishment. The surgeon succeeds because he pre- pares himself for one line of work. He makes the gravest mistakes when, for the sake of income, he invades the field of medicine. More than that, he robs his fellow practitioner of his rights. The physician who attempts to do surgery is not only out of his sphere of proper ac- tion, but he wrongs the sufferer who en- trusts his life to him. It is for this rea- son that the laity have the greatest cause to complain of indiscriminate surgery. It is no more than justice to all that the specialist should be encouraged and pa- tronized, but here, too, is an opportunity for criticism. The man who sees a symp- tom through only one pair of eyes, who considers a diagnosis only in his own special environment, who acts only in accordance with his own judgment, is liable to be biased and narrow. What he needs is a wider field of vision and a lit- tle more consultation to obviate the mis- takes which we experience from day to day. - Thus we are obliged to admit that there is still a wide sphere for the use- fulness of the general practitioner. There must be the physician upon whom all may depend for any emergency. There must be the practitioner of universal utility to whom the family must reach out for in case of all trouble and afflic- tion. No grander vocation ever existed and no more worthy servant ever need- ed encouragement. It is possible, how- ever, — through the aid of modern edu- cation, — for this practitioner to be well grounded in the fundamental principles II which make him a more capable physi- cian. With a more thorough knowledge he will better appreciate his own strength. He will know when to call for help and, lºnowing this, he should never hesitate to do it. Thus, we will see, as time goes on, that the best efficiency will come when each man knows his own capabili- ties or limitations. Yet, better than all, we shall sometime realize that we are all working together for the same end. The gradual and yet persistent influ- ence of evolution is the great transcriber of all events. Theories of the past which are still tenable are applied and strength- ened by the analysis of investigation. Doctrines which are false are exploded by time and pass out of sight. Only that which is just and best remains for ever, and this survival of the fittest is bound to continue, no matter what men may think or do. No one can look upon the pages of medical history and not recog- nize this axiom. We should, therefore, be thankful for the fact that this level- ing process has brought us nearer and nearer to a degree of perfection. For this reason the physician of to-day should rejoice at the advantages which are be- fore him. g Now and thén we hear the vaporings of some would-be leader who, feeling his influence waning, demands that “we should hold to the doctrine of our fore- fathers.” This is a cry of despair and the lamentation of the pessimist. See- ing no good in anything present, he seeks to fill us with foreboding for the future. Standing in the darkness of “statu quo” he becomes a stagnationist. He neither I2 advances himself nor is willing for oth— ers to improve. In opposition to such an influence we must present the hopeful picture of optimism. This is the power which encourages progression, while it. frowns upon the stupidity of laudatory ignorance. Say what you may, the stand- ard of medical science is constantly ad- vančing. Though we may overlook or neglect much of the truth of past teach- ing, our theories of practice and our technique are improving from year to: year. Diseases which were once pro- nounced incurable are to-day responding to treatment. Our therapeutic ideas are always improving. - - Samuel Hahnemann discovered a law which has given us a safe working prin- ciple in the practice of medicine. We have demonstrated this through many years of trial. It taught us the error of over-dosage, and it called our attention to the study of the physiological knowl- edge of our remedies. It has had a ben- eficent effect upon the practice of medi- cine. And yet I believe that we are bet- ter able to interpret this doctrine now that it is relieved of dogma and incon- gruous claims. There are some, how- ever, who seek still to expound all things through the Organon. This is not the homeopathy that is going to live and hold its influence. I feel that we need a new version of the Organon which will rec- ognize our law of treatment and at the same time accept the scientific discover- ies of to-day. The germ theory has supplanted much of its dogmatic asser- tions. Present day homeopathy must depart from the idea and the “talk” that I3 'all disease is due to something suppress- -ed. A man who is strong in his own opinion is doubly strong when he regards the opinions of others. Homeopathic “principles are weakened when they dis- regard other principles. We err mostly when we hold that our law has no limi- tation. The axiom of experience is often more valuable than a prevailing rule of procedure. Let homeopathy come out into the light of the present day; let it mingle with all other principles of prac- tice and it will stand for its real worth. We have all heard of the story of the Trisoner who was so long confined in a dungeon; when finally he secured his liberty the light of day was so dazzling that he begged to be led back into his con- finement. Every now and then when any -one in our profession seeks the additional Hight of present day knowledge, when he aims to lead us up to the pinnacle of modern science, someone cries out for the -darkness of the past. And so, I presume, there will always be obstructionists who, living in the thoughts of the past, will ever wave the red flag in the face of Trogress. Despite this fact the onward march of Homeopathy cannot be stop- ped. * - I concur with the idea that we are bet- ter physicians than those who preceded us, and I have faith in the more perfect ..accomplishment of those who are to fol- Tow us. I hold also that we are more practical Homeopaths and that our law will receive more consideration as time advances. It is an addition to the estab- lished features of science. That which 1essens our influence and threatens our I4 perpetuity is found in the untenable 2 claims as to its miraculous power. I be- lieve there are two things for us to do. First, to stand abreast of Scientific at- tainments, and, second, to organize for protection and recognition. Each of these are necessities. The first is self- evident because we must be right and up-to-date. The second is a present re- quirement. I see no reason why we should, just now, assume the role of a modern Sampson and pull down the pil- lars of our own temple to crush our past greatness or our future usefulness. No one man possesses sufficient wisdom to decide for all. No one man can foretell that which, in the end, will be best. Yet all men may assume a receptive attitude for the survival of the fittest and the evo- lution of eventual justice. We have remained a distinct school for the sake of our therapeutics and our own exist- ence. We have been forced to do this to overcome persecution. We must still look out for our rights. . We are not Sectarianists, but we propose to exist and to practice medicine in accordance with the dictates of our belief. Let us make ourselves strong in principle as well as in practice. r - I5. The address of the President was re- ferred to a committee consisting of Drs. W. Henry Wilson, C. T. Hood and N. P. Smith. The committee reported indors- ing the sentiments expressed and recom- mending that the address be published and distributed to all Illinois Honleopath- ic physicians. The committee further ad- vised that steps be taken to carry out the recommendation of the President regard- ing the union of the various homeopathic medical societies of the State. The rec- ommendations of the committee were adopted and the Executive Committee was instructed to employ an organizer to canvass the State in the interests of the homeopathic school. . PROGREss. SANDERs-BEckwiTH EIGHTIETH YEAR, LOVING CUP BANOUET CLEVELAND, OHIO, OCT. 6, 1905. “The Thoughts of Men Are widened with the - Process of the Suns.” BY W. B. HINSDALE, A. M., M. D., ANN ARBOR, MICH. To say that I was highly pleased upon receiving notice of this celebration is giving only moderate expression to my emotions. For the delightful privilege of meeting upon this auspicious, occasion, and by gastronomic, vocal and memorial demon- stration extend our compliments and express our joy to our one-time and long-time venerable teach- ers, and experience that incomparable token of friend- ship, the magnetic thrill of their glad hands we are truly thankful. When in a later note from our toastmaster, whose eithtieth anniversary we expect to celebrate in fifty years from now, I was invited to respond to this sentiment my sensations were of a different order. To give testimony of ap- preciation is a simple matter, but to mingle such courtesies with the thoughts that, the occasion sug- gests and before so intelligent and sympathetic an audience as this requires a felicity of expression quite beyond my capacity. . - However there may be a fitness in asking some of us from a distance to participate in making the addresses, not because there are lacking any num- . ber of Cleveland people who can do it perfectly, but perhaps, to indicaté that the influences of these dear friends have been carried and transmitted beyond local bounds. Since I left Cleveland and the old college ten years ago, I have had something to do with teaching medicine to students, and have mingled more or less with my professional col- leagues. Since my connection with it, there has not a student graduated from the school in which I am now a teacher who has not heard me repeat- edly give Dr. Saunders, my learned old. professor, as authority for important statements. In my work in medical committees and societies, many times, I have had occasion to fortify my position by saying, “No less an astute and clear-headed man than Doctor Beckwith, of Cleveland, taught me. these views.” It is needless to say that that clinching argument always caused me to prevail. The hundreds of alumni who have gone out from the Cleveland College, whether they are testifying by their presence here at this time or are present only in spirit, will bear you substantially the same evidence. No two, of course, are doing exactly the same things, and consequently are not re- sponding to the great forces behind them in the same way, but all of them are still acting upon lines that were influenced by these two men. Every person has a horizon upon which he looks out. The horizon of one may be very circum- scribed and insignificant narrow, or, of another, a broad panorama of delightful views. One man's life may be pessimistic and selfish, another's sympathetic and influential. For the first class no one gives banquets and to them no toasts are pro- posed. The horizons which our esteemed octo- genarians survey, wide as they are, are not the limits of their influence. Influence carries farther than vision. Every one of their many disciples, friends and neighbors is a medium of conveyance to secondary centres of dissemination. Each of us is a reflection of a little light, as attenuated as some of us confess our scintillations may appear, that has been cast upon us. - - For anothér illustration, we may compare so- ciety to a massive architectural structure. In it each part sustains some relation to others. Some 2 are essential, others not’so. When he looks at the walls of a great building, one is impressed with the sustaining buttresses and the supporting founda- tions; likewise with the ornating minarets and other embellishments. Remove any of the supports, the structure topples; do away with the other, it lacks beauty. It is not given all of us to either uphold or ornament. But who that is familiar with the history, in the city of Cleveland, can say that our patriarchs have not both buttressed and orna- mented our profession? We have it from tradition that fifty or more years ago it required substan- tiability and strength to hold up the walls of a building that was then in its formative stage. Dur- ing the few past decades we have needed no tra- ditional evidence as to who have been the pillars of our temple. . . . . . - We read in another place in Locksley Hall: “In the spring a livilier iris changes on the burnished dove.” We learn from ornithologists that the plumage of birds grows richer with age. Think, then, of the resplendent sheen on the wings of a pair of doves eighty years old. S - It is an optimist who sees that “Through the ages an increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widened with the - process of the suns.” I believe such has been the vision of Doctor Beckwith and Dr. Saunders. . Let us see. Besides the developments that have been made contribut- ing to human comfort in the application of me- chanical contrivances and refined commercialism, how wide a vista has commenced to open in the last half century? Chemistry has developed large- ly, and its principles been applied to dietary and sanitary improvement. The world of infinitesi- mal life that lurks in the field of the microscope has been invaded and the causes of epidemics, plagues A 3 and pestilences emptied from the phials of wrath that Providence was supposed to frowningly hold in store for Athe children of his creation. Nearly all diseases have lost their mystery, and been found to be due to determinable causes and to be con- trollable by scientific methods. Surgery has de- veloped from a bungling trade to an exact science, and the suffering that it ameliorates is a marvel. A gross pharmacy has been modified so that nearly all physicians dispense tolerable, and many more of them more beneficial medicines. Sociology has developed into a science. The relations between individuals have been worked out and made so plain and important that he is a very ignorant man, indeed, who has not a fair conception of his public duties and of the claims in the interest of social betterment that, the public has tipon him. A democratic cordiality has improved applied ethics, especially medical ethics. The barriers of fanaticism and bigotry have been lowered materi- ally. . It is not necessary to make any more citations to demonstrate that this is especially an age of wid- ening thoughts and rising suns. I am sure that every man who is animated by the dominating spirit of the age, by the spirit of active, reassuring hopefulness, by the spirit that lends beautiful and perennial bloom to all stages and periods of life, needs no further references to either science or art in verification of the truth of our sentiment. . . It certainly has been a delightful accident of birth that has cast the lives of us all in this era of human awakening, particularly so to those who have had opportunity to survey so much of it as eight-tenths of a century. May their pleasant paths be still much lengthened and continued hap- piness attend them. . . Amºs ? Ży, 2 v 4 * | IP IR (D C E E I } I N. ( ; S H0M (EOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY ST A T E O F N E W - Y O R K. N E w - Yo R. R. H. LU Dwig, PRINTER, 45 V E S E Y-STR EET. A DI) R. E. SS P R O C E E D I N G S HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL sociBTY s TATE of N E W - Yo R K. FOR 1 8 5 5. N E W - Y O R K : - H. Ludwig, PRINTER, 45 V Es EY-STREET. - 1855. - Kr - P R O C E E D IN G. s. THE Annual Meeting of this Society was held in the city of Albany, on the 13th day (being the second Tuesday) of February, as required by the Constitution. - At 10 o'clock, A.M. a quorum of members being in attendance, the society was called to order by the president, Dr. Amherst Childs. On taking the chair, the president opened the proceedings with a brief and appropriate address, in which he urged the importance of the objects for which the society was formed, and the necessity of energetic, united and harmonious coöperation in, carrying them out. He particularly called attention to the great need of caution in the observation of medical facts, and the value of really well-attested ex- perience. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Dr. Payne, of Bangor, Me, being present, was invited to a seat in the convention. - - - The secretary explained the cause of the failure of the semi-annual meeting, which was appointed to have been held in September last, and stated the reasons that had induced him, with the advice and ap- probation of the president, to withhold the usual notices therefor. On motion, the course adopted by the secretary was approved. - Election of Members. - . The following physicians having been duly proposed and seconded as required by the by-laws, were then elected members of the society. . . . Dr. A. R. Morgan, Syracuse. “ J. H. Thorp, Whitesville. “ L. M. PRATT, Albany. “ G. W. PERRINE, Pittsford. “ L. B. HAwl Ey, Delhi. “ W. H. Watson, Utica. 4. Dr. H. H. DyKEMAN, Cohoes. “ M. W. CAMPBELL, Stillwater. “ A. G. AustiN, Williamson. “ T. P. K.NAPP, St. Andrews. “. . GEo. LEWIs, Rochester. Whereupon, such of the newly elected members as were present, signed the constitution and took their seats. . . . . . Com/munications. Letters and communications were then read from Dr. L. D. Fleming, of Rochester; Dr. C.T. Harris, of Balston Spa; Dr. G. W. Malin, of Naples; Dr. E. Burdick, of Little Gennesee; Dr. H. Sherrill, of New-York and Dr. C. Dunham, of Brooklyn—all of which were appropriately referred. . . . . : The president informed the society that he had appointed Dr. W. L. R. Perrine, of Hudson (now of Brooklyn) to deliver the Annual Ad- dress; and that the use of the assembly chamber had been granted to the society for this evening. - - . . . . . Reports of Committees. - Dr. H. M. Paine, on behalf of the “Bureau for the enlargement and improvement of the Materia Medica,” reported the proceedings of that Committee during the past year, from which it appeared that considerable progress had been made in the trial of new drugs, and in the arrangement of the material on hand, preparatory to printing. . . Dr. S. S. Guy, from the Committee on the proper mode of conduct- ing, drug-provings, reported, in effect, that the elaborate and judicious instructions of the “American Provers' Union,” recently published, had, in the opinion of the committee, superseded the necessity of any further action on their part. The committee were prepared to adopt and recommend the suggestions of the “Union,” and therefore asked to be discharged. - The report was accepted and the request granted. The committee on the subject of a medical college was called, but A did not respond. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; - 5 Dr. L. Clary presented a report on Tea and Coffee and their phy- siological and therapeutical relations to the human system. . Dr. S. S. Guy repôrted, in part, on the Protiodide of Mercury with especial reference to its effects upon glandular affections of the throat. . . . . . . - Dr. H. D. Paine reported, also in part, on the subject of Anesthetics. - Motions, Resolutions, &c. By Dr. H. M. Paine: Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to revise the list of subjects for medical inquiry adopted at the last annual meeting, and to suggest suitable additions thereto. - - Adopted, and Drs. Paine, Wells and Jones appointed. By Dr. M. M. Mathews: . . . . - - - Resolved, That it is inexpedient at present, to agitate the subject of the establishment of a Homoeopathic Medical College in this State, and that the committee on that subject be excused from the further consideration thereof. - * - • , * The introduction of the above resolution gave rise to an animated debate, in which several members participated, on the subject of me- dical education, the duty of homeopathists in the present condition of the profession, the obligation of sustaining the existing schools in which homoeopathy is taught, &c. Before the vote was taken, the society took a recess till afternoon. - . - AFTERNoon SEssion. - - Half-past three o'clock. The society re-assembled at the above hour. By consent, Dr. Clary offered the following resolution. , r . . . . Whereas, the New-York State Temperance Alliance has prepared certain questions for the medical profession respecting the effects of intoxicating drinks upon the human system in health and disease, Resolved, that the Rev. C. J. Warren, corresponding secretary of the Alliance now present have permission to present these inquiries for the consideration of the society. . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Warren arose and stated the substance and intent of the in- therefore, J quiries referred to, and presented a copy of the same to the society. 6 Whereupon the following Resolution was adopted. Resolved, That the questions presented to this society and to the Medical Profession generally, by the Rev. C. J. Warren, on behalf of the State Temperance Alliance, relative to the influence of intoxicating drinks in ag- gravating and inducing disease, are in the opinion of this society timely and important; and it is hereby recommended to its members to coöperate to the extent of their convenience and opportunity in obtaining and diffusing the information desired. - , a The consideration of Dr. Mathews' resolution on the subject of a Medical College was then resumed, and after some debate was finally adopted. . . . By Dr. Guy. Whereas it is currently reported that Dr. F. Hum- phreys, a member of this society, has been guilty of practices unbe- coming his position as a regular practitioner of medicine, therefore, Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to inquire into the truth of the said reports, and report thereon at the next regular meeting of the society. . Adopted. - . Drs. Guy, Mathews and H. M. Paine were appointed the committee. By Dr.-. Resolved, That the publication and indiscriminate circulation of books on the domestic treatment of diseases now become so prevalent, is likely to be injurious to the sick and detrimental to the character and interests of Homoeopathy, and should be discouraged by the profession. i After some discussion, the resolution was (with the consent of the mover) laid upon the table till the next meeting. - By Dr. Wells. - - Resolved, That the semi-annual meeting of this society be held at Syra- cuse on the first Tuesday of June next. & Adopted. Report of Committee on Medical Inquiry. Dr. H. M. Paine, from the committee appointed in the morning, to suggest topics to be reported on at subsequent meetings of the society, presented the following schedule, which was adopted, and the subjects referred accordingly . . . . . . Sick Headache, referred to Dr. D. A. BALDwin. Dyspepsia, “ to Dr. A. S. BALL. Dysmenorrhoea, “ to Dr. J. M. QUINN. Ovaritis, “ to Dr. E. Guernsey. Cancer, " “ to Dr. B. F. Bowers. 7 Polpyus nasi, referred to Dr. H. H. Caton. Scarlatina, “ to Dr. J. F. GRAY. - Rubeola, “ to Dr. R. S. Bryan. Ozana, “ to Dr. C. J. HEMPEL. White swelling of the knee, referred to Dr. C. sumner. Opthalmia, referred to Dr. E. B. Col.E. : Cataract, , , to Dr. B. F. JosLIN. Otitis, “ to Dr. W. L. R. PERRINE. Stomacace “ to Dr. J. B. Mosher. Cholera infantum, referred to Dr. M. M. MATHEws. Medical History of Rhus-tow. . . - . . . . ry ºf ... • referred to Dr. J. W. Cox. and its affinities, ) The committee also reported the following resolution. - * Resolved, That the Committees of Medical Inquiry appointed at the pre- vious meeting be continued, and that such of them as have not reported, be requested to do so at the semi-annual or next annual meeting. - Adopted. N , sº - Finances. . . . . . . . . . The secretary, as acting treasurer, reported his account of re- ceipts and expenditures, which was referred to an auditing committee. On motion of Dr. Guy, an assessment of one dollar upon each member was voted to defray the expenses of the current year. Dr. Guy also moved the following: - - , - - Resolved, That the secrétary be and is herely directed to notify each member in arrears, of his indebtedness to the society and to request early payment of the same. - Adopted. Clinical Reports. • Reports of cases treated by a single remedy were then called for. ! Several such were presented and referred to the bureau of materia medica. - . . . . . . . - Election of Officers. - . . . . . The society then proceeded to ballot for officers for the ensuing year, with the following result. . . . . . PRESIDENT:—Dr. S. S. GUY, of Brooklyn, 1st Vice PREstdENT:—Dr. M. M. MATHEws, of Rochester, - 2d “ “ . . Dr. R. S. Bryan, of Troy, 3d “ “ Dr. D. Springsteep, of Albany. SECRETARY :—Dr. H. D. PAINE, of Albany. 8 The censors for the several districts of last year were reëlected. Dr. H. M. Paine moved the thanks of the society to the retiring officers, which being unanimously adopted, were duly acknowledged on their behalf by the president. - The society then adjourned to meet at the Capitol, at 7% o'clock, to hear the annual Address. . . ' - Even ING SESSION. - r , - Halfpast 7 o'clock. At the hour appointed, the society, together with a highly respect- able audience of legislators, citizens, &c., met in the assembly chamber. Dr. Perrine having been introduced by the president, proceeded to deliver the annual address. : After which the following resolutions were adopted. Resolved, That the thanks of this society be tendered to Dr. Perrine for his able and interesting address, and that a copy of the same be requested for publication. . * - - Resolved, That 2000 copies of the proceedings of the society, together with the annual address, be printed under the direction of the secretary, for the use of the society. - - The society then adjourned sine die. . - * . HENRY D. PAINE, Secretary. Semi-Annual Meeting. The semi-annual meeting was held, in accordance with previous resolution, in the city of Syracuse on the 5th day of June. The society met at the office of Dr. L. Clary, and was called to order by the president, Dr. S. S. Guy. ''. . . . " - In the absence of the secretary, Dr. F. Humphreys, was appointed secretary, pro-tem. - & - . \ The roll of members being called, and a quorum being in atten- dance, the proceedings of the annual meeting were read and ap- proved. ſ & . - 9 - Election of Members. The following physicians after due nomination were admitted to membership in the society : .*- Dr. B. FINKE, of Brooklyn, “ J. BRYANT, of Brooklyn, “ E. P. GAYLoRD, of Syracuse, “ HENRY E. Stone, of Otego, “ WM. R. Gorton, of Skaneateles. Reports of Committees. Dr. Humphreys presented a verbal report from the Bureau of Dentata. - . . . Dr. Guy, from the committee on the case of Dr. F. Humphreys, presented a written report, embracing charges of unwarrantable ir- regularities in medical practice and unprofessional conduct. The report was accepted and the committee discharged. On motion it was then ordered that a committee be appointed to investigate the charges included in the above report, and to report at the next meeting of the society what further action may be required in the case. . - % - • Dr. H. D. Paine, L. B. Wells, and N. H. Warner, were appointed as such committee. ~ Materia Medica, principally concerning the proving of Comocladia Dr. L. Clary offered the following resolution : Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to consider the in- fluence of the indiscriminate distribution of cases of medicine for popular use and of books of domestic practice, and to report at the annual meeting. The Resolution was adopted and the following members were ap- pointed. Drs. L. Clary, C. M. Dake, and J. W. Cox. g After which the society adjourned. - 2T S. S. Guy, President. F. HuMPHREys, Secretary, pro-tem. - & CONSTITUTION. We, the subscribers, physicians residing in the state of New-York, believing the law propounded by Hahnemann, - - - “Similia Similibus Curantur,” - to be a fundamental truth in medicine, do agree to form an asso- ciation, under the following constitution: - - ... ARTICLE I.-Name and Object. . . . . § 1. The Association shall be styled the “HomoeoPATHIC MEDICAL SocIETy of THE STATE of NEw-York,” and its object shall be the advancement of the science of medicine. i - ARTICLE II.-Of Members. . S 1. Any educated physician of this state, of good standing, acknowledging the homeopathic law of cure, may be elected a mem. ber of the society by a majority of members present at any regular meeting. - - • . - - ARTICLE III.-Of Officers. - S 1. The officers of the society shall be a president, three vice- presidents, a secretary, and such examiners and censors as shall be provided for in the by-laws. The secretary shall act as treasurer. $ 2. The officers shall be elected at the annual meeting, by the votes of a majority of the members present. - - ARTICLE IV.-Miscellaneous. § 1. There shall be a meeting of the society annually, on the second Tuesday of February, at the city of Albany, and a semi-annual meeting at such time and place as may be determined at the annual meeting. The president may also convene special meetings at such time and place as he shall deem expedient. - § 2. This constitution may be amended by a vote of two-thirds of the members present at the annual meeting. - - BY-LAws. I.-Of Election. - § 1. The officers elected at any election, shall hold office until the adjournment of the annual meeting next after that at which they were elected, and until their successors are chosen. - § 2. All elections shall be by ballot. No candidate for member- ship shall be balloted for, unless proposed by one member of the society and seconded by two other members, nor unless he shall first have received a certificate of qualification from two at least, of the censors of this society, if he have not already received a diploma of license. . . . . - Q . . . II.-Of Members. - § 1. No person shall be entitled to the privileges of membership, until he shall have signed the constitution and paid an initiation ſee of one dollar. s . . . . - § 2. Expenses incurred by the society shall be equally assessed upon the members. . - § 3. Physicians attending any meeting of this society as delegates from other state homeopathic societies, shall be admitted as honorary members. Resident members, removing from the state, may be elected corresponding members, Homoeopathic pharmaceutists and chemists, may be invited to seats in the meetings of the society. º, - III.-Of Order. - - § 1. Nine members shall be necessary to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. § 2. The usual order of business shall be as follows: . Calling of the roll. * - . Reading and approval of the minutes of the last meeting. . Proposition and election of members. . . . . . . . Reports of committees. - - . Reading of communications. . Miscellaneous business. . Election of officers. . Adjournment. i; 12 § 3. Communications read before the society, become its property, to be deposited in its archives; but no paper shall be published as a part of the transactions without an express resolution to that effect. IV.-Of Officers. § 1. The president shall preside at all meetings of the society. In his absence, the vice-presidents shall preside in their order. It shall be the duty of the president to deliver an address at the annual and semi-annual meetings of the society, or to make some other pro- vision for that purpose. - § 2. The secretary shall have charge of the archives of the society, sº keep a record of its proceedings and a list of its members, and give notice of meetings. He shall also make an annual report of the state of the funds of the society. § 3. The society may appoint annually a committee, to consist of five members, to be called, the bureau for the improvement and ene largement of the materia medica, whose duty it shall be to propose drugs for trial, and adopt such other means for the promotion of those objects as they may think expedient, and to report at each meeting. § 4. There shall be four medical districts in the state. The first to comprise the 1st and 2d judicial districts. - º The second, do. 3d and 4th do. . The third, do. 5th and 6th do. The fourth, do. 7th and 8th do. § 5. There shall be elected at each annual meeting twelve censors, three for each medical district, any two of whom may examine appli- cants for membership and give certificates which shall entitle the applicant to a license, signed by the president and secretary of this society, and for which he shall pay into the treasury the sum of five dollars. . . . * * S. . . * V.—Of Amendments. ... ' § 1. The by-laws may be amended by a majority of the members present any annual meeting, . . . . . . . OFFICERS AND MEMBERs. 0 FFICERS FOR 1855, - PRESIDENT. S. S. GUY, M. D., Brooklyn. - WICE-PRESIDENTs. * . " 1st M. M. MATHEWS, M. D., Rochester. 2D R. S. BRYAN, M. D., Troy. 3d D. SPRINGSTEED, M. D., Albany. SECRETARY AND TREASURER. : HENRY D. PAINE, M. D., Albany. gºmºmº umme - C E N S 0 R. S. 1st District—DR. S. R. KIRBY, New-York, - DR. S. S. GUY, Brooklyn, * - r • DR. G. BEAKLEY, New-York, 2d District—DR. S. A. Cook, Troy, DR. R. S. BRYAN, Troy, DR. E. D. JONES, Albany, 3d District.—DR. J. C. RAYMOND, Utica, DR. L. B. WELLS, Utica, DR. H. H. CATOR, Syracuse, H. ROBINSON, Auburn, H. BENNETT, Rochester, D CHASE, Palmyra. 4th DISTRICT-DR. : } DR. DR. * g o g MEMBER. S. H. Adams, Cohoes, - M. Anderson, New-York. A. G. Austin, Williamson, E. S. Bailey, Brookfield, S. Bailey, Watertown, D. A. Baldwin, Rochester, A. S. Ball, New-York, D. Barker, Madison, J. Barker, Brooklyn, - S. B. Barlow, New-York, s Barnes, Spencertown, G. Bartlett, New-York, T. Barr, Ludlowville, A. Batty, Lockport, Bayard, New-York, - eakley, do. E. Belcher, do. W. Bell, do. . Bennett, Rochester, G. Bigelow, Syracuse, Bi . Beakley, do. ishop, Sauquoit, E D B. E. J. G G. H H J. L. R. Bloss, Troy, R. B. F. Bowers, do. J. Bowers, do. Boyce, Auburn, . Bradner, Scotchtown, W. Brown, New-York, R. Brown, Homer, S. Bryan, Troy, Bryant, Brooklyn, C. J. E. W. R. J. M. L. Bull, Granville, A. S. B. J. C. W M. Bolles, New-York, W T. J. C. H. D. L. B. L A. A. C. Burke, Brooklyn, M. W. Campbell, Stillwater, H. H Cator, Syracuse, H. C. Champlin, Owego, D. Chase, Palmyra, A. Childs, Waterloo, I. Clark, Eaton, L. Clary, Syracuse, Z. Clements, Victory Mills, E. L. Coburn, Ghent, E. B. Cole, Easton, E. G. Cook, Fredonia, P. Cook, Hudson, A. Cook, Troy, F. Cornell, Moreau Station, W. Cox, Albany, C. A Crossfield, Attica, - . A. M. Culbert, Newburgh, | J. T. Curtis, New-York, . C. Doane, Elmira, W. Donovan, Quarantine, T. Doyle, New-York, - Dunham, Brooklyn, C. Dunham, Canton Canal, G. Dunnell, New-York, H. Dykeman, Cohoes, J. Easton, Saratoga Springs, Elwood, Schenectady, T. Evans, New-York, L. Everett, Modena, Finke, Brooklyn, . D. Fleming, Rochester, . Freeman, New-York, - J M. Freligh, New-York, Lewis McCarthy, Throopsville, E. P. Gaylord, Syracuse, . W. R. Gorton, Skaneatales, " . J. F. Gray, New-York, Jer. Green, Utica, G. S. Green, Brooklyn, E. Guernsey, New-York, S. S. Guy, Brooklyn, A. Hall, Poughkeepsie, L. Hallock, New-York, L. B. Hawley, Delhi, J ames Hedenberg, Troy, C. J. Hempel, Brooklyn, – Hotchkiss, Bloomingrove, A. Houghton, St. Andrews, A. C. Hull, Brooklyn, - A. G. Hull, New-York, F. Humphreys, Auburn, B. C. Jayne, Florida, E. D. Jones, Albany, B. F. Joslin, New-York, B. F. Joslin, Jr., do. E. M. Kellogg, do. J. L. Kellogg, Bridgewater, - . M. Kenyon, Westfield, . R. King, Brooklyn, H. Kinsley, New-York, S. R. Kirby, do. L O J. P. Knapp, St. Andrews, E. Lathrop, Syracuse, C. P. Leggett, Flushing, Geo. Lewis, Rochester, E. Lovejoy, Owego, J. Mairs, New-York, E. E. Marcy, do. - M. M. Matthews, Rochester, J A. E. G. J. H H. M W G. W. G. W. Perrine, Pittsford, W. L. R. P J. P. J. T. A. E. J. L. W J. H, G . McGonegal, Marcellus, J. A. McVicar, New-York, W. Metcalf, do. S. Minier, Elmyra, R Moffatt, Brooklyn, Morgan, Syracuse, Mosher, Schaghticoke, - C. R. P. A. Munger, Waterville, W. Newcomb, Brooklyn, Ostrom, Goshen, . D. Paine, Albany, M. Paine, do. . . . . Palmer, New-York, . Palmer, do. . Peer, Rochester, P . R. Perrine, Brooklyn, C. Peters, New-York, e º º & o H. Peterson, Union Springs, . Philips, Austerlitz, -, * , Pomeroy, Utica, Pool, Oswego, - A. Potter, do. - M. Quinn, New-York, M. Pratt, Albany, - . H. Randel, Albany, C. Raymond, Utica, F. Rice, Cazenovia, E. T. Richardson, Syracuse, . H. Robinson, Auburn, H. Robinson, Jr., do. R. Rossman, Brooklyn, J. Sarle, Granville, S. O. Scudder, Rome, S. Seaward, Liverpool, S. Seymour, Rome, Turner, Brooklyn, H. Sherrill, New-York, E. P. K. Smith, Moravia, N. Spencer, Windfield, S. Spooner, Wampsville, E. B. Spragué, Owego, W. B. Stebbins, Little Falls, . C. A. Stevens, Hudson, - W. Stewart, New-York, - H. C. Stone, Otego, J. L. Sullivan, New-York, C. Sumner, Butternuts, J. H. Thorp, Whitesville, Benj. F. Throop, Palmyra, F. Vanderburgh, New-York, . L. T. Warner, * do. N. H. Warner, Buffalo, W. H. Watson, Utica, B. Weeks, Fulton, L. B. Wells, Utica, P. P. Wells, Brooklyn, F. L. Wilsey, New-York, A. D. Wilson, do. W. G. Wolcott, Whitehall, J. G. Worrall, New-York, C. Wright, dö. ADDRESS NEW YORK STATE HOMOEOPATHIC SOCIETY. IB Y DR. PERINE of Brooklyn, N.-Y. THERE can be no question of greater interest to the Homoeo- pathic Physician than that of the perpetuity and prevalence of his favorite Theory of Medicine. He sees that the discoveries of Hahnemann are effecting a wonderful revolution in the medical world, and that they are shaking to the very foundations the temple of Allopathy. He perceives that throughout the civilized world these principles are known, and favorably appreciated, and that thousands of old school men are investigating them and adopting them as their rule of practice, and that the laity by tens of thousands are flocking to the new standard. In his daily experience he feels the luxury of certainty and of an easy and speedy cure for many curable diseases. To his patient he realizes the long-hoped-for boon of an intelligent and scientific plan for the administration of every individual remedy, and for the treatment of every malady. Guided by the single ray of a specific law, he feels improved consciousness of the exaltation of his professional dignity, while he follows the light of its natural and simple dictates. His prescriptions, which were once a mass of multiplied and strangely incongruous compounds, and whose action was always problematic, now consist of simples, the law of whose action is unvarying and sure. - 2 18 * In place of the fear and trembling which his teachers and his own experience had led him to entertain from the necessity of the case, he is now governed by a comfortable assurance, founded upon the experience of success. . Aforetime, when successful, he was wont to feel that he would be happy to know the why and wherefore of his successes, in order that to could employ his agencies definitely and continuously under the same or similar circum- stances; but, all was dark in himself, and in his widely differing authorities. - . . * Now, the principles of his operations are established in obedience to a constant law. - - When he cures, he knows the individual agencies which accomplished certain effects; and he knows from accumulating experience that these results can be definitely secured, always. He reviews the history of Ancient Medicine, and he finds it a vast field, full of the ruins of medical theories which have had their day and disappeared. That many of these theories were once highly popular, and promised much to the cause of suffering humanity, and bade fair to rival every cotemporary. Be surveys the field of Modern Medicine likewise, and in wain looks for any thing more stable. There is indeed now more general learning and talent than in former ages. Every collateral science has advanced honorably and rapidly: but in medicine he is pained to find that there have been no advances of any importance, and that the greatest doubt and uncertainty prevails now, as in the dark ages. - Turning away from general investigation to his late ex- perience, he finds additional and painful corroboration of the truth, and is irresistibly led to investigate, any thing which claims to produce reform, and whose basis is natural law and specific action. - - Homoeopathy having sustained itself by careful experiment, he finds in it what he seeks, and lays hold of it as the de- sideratum sought for. - In doing so, he incurs a host of inconveniences. He abandons all his old modes of prescribing medicines, and stands before the world as a voluntary reformer of time-honor- ed and good old-ways. As a consequence, he is called upon 19 tº- to endure persecution and malignant misrepresentation. Those who were once his friends, his chosen counsellors, are now so no longer. He is driven to seek new advisers and comforters, and is made to feel that he is regarded as an inferior, if not a weak or dishonest man. His conversion to new principles alienates those who were Once comforted under his professional services. The world is new to him, and he is made to feel oftentimes the sadness of poverty and dire neglect. All these considerations engage the ardent desire of the Homoeopath, to know whether this sacrifice will be in vain, or whether in the perpetuity and spread of his adopted new mea- Sures, he shall have the large reward of success, and the vindi- cation of his cause and himself. . . . – Other theories have shed their rays upon the world, and in- duced their disciples to believe that medical doubt and un- certainty had in them received their death. But the hollowness of their pretentions become apparent when brought to the test of experiment and they passed, away, and the memories of those who adopted them are contemptuously remembered. And he cannot resist the fear, that although experiment es- tablishes the truth of his theory and practice, no matter how often repeated; there may be something which will cause its being laid aside and superseded by something else. While he fondly hopes that all care and anxiety are at an end, and that certainty in medicine is as sure as any principle of any of the collateral sciences, he desires to know what is really to be , r- The Destiny of Homayopathy. . Which topic we shall discuss at this time. . . . . . . . We assume that Homagopathy is fulfilling a mission whose end is the overthrow of all other modes of cure, and the es- tablishment of its own complete and permanent rule. , We shall argue this under the following divisions: 1. The rule of Homoeopathy will be complete and permanent. Decause it is a natural law, and inseparable from medicine. 2. Because it was reduced to a system by scientific and 20 laborious investigation, and perfected by years of experiment before it was given to the world. 3. Because it answers a meeessity felt in all ages, and which every other system of medicine has failed to satisfy. Every great and important truth or principle which has ever been revealed to man, and committed to him for his per- manent benefit, and which has had its influence upon his destiny, has been foreshadowed by admissions or beliefs, among people who lived ages before its final development and use, and which people, though dimly realizing the truth, never were permitted to enjoy in its fäll blessing. So universally has this been the case, that it is an almost conclusive certificate that whatever is thus preserved and brought to light after such hints and beliefs beforehand, is im- perishable truth. - ; : An ancient king rejected the Ptolemaic Theory, because it discovered great irregularities in the planetary world, which it did not reconcile. He declared that the Creator of worlds could not be such a bungler as to create systems of disorder. Here Newton’s theory of regular motions in the heavenly bodies is foreshadowed. Seneca, long before Newton, expressed a belief, that a time would come when the motions of planets and comets too, would be shown to be perfectly regular. - He also predicted the discovery of a world beyond the ocean, which Columbus effected hundreds of years after Seneca. Bacon suspected the controlling influence of the planets over each other at great distances, and of the moon's influence upon the tides. Thus Newton’s Law of Gravitation was foreshadowed. . . . . . - Harvey, in the 17th century demonstrated the theory of circulation of blood and the non-existence of air in the arteries, which to his time was a professional and popular belief. Yet ages beforetime, and about the time of AEsculapius, a physician almost demonstrated it. Forty years before Harvey. Realdo Columbus attempted it, and falling short of full de- monstration it, fell into oblivion. There are hints among the Lost Arts of vessels which were 24 moved by other influence than sails and oars. And here we seem to see Fulton's Steamboat foreshadowed. . . . The pressure of steam, and its appliance to the motion of rude machinery was known a great while before Watt com- pleted his wonderful steam engine. . . . . . Long before Jenner discovered the prophylactie influence of Vaccinia over Variola, it was well known that those persons who had the charge of cows, acquired from them an eruption. And that all those who were thus diseased never took the Small Pox. It was also a popular belief, and had been maintained by , the Isopathic School of medicine, that the 'morbid products of diseases would protect from the recurrence of those diseases. Yet it was reserved to Jenner to lay hold of the immortal principle of Vaccination, and reduce it to a positive system. These examples will suffice to show the force of the position assumed, that every great truth has been foreshadowed for a greater or less length of time, and with more or less clearness before its final development and application. It seems to be quite a common belief that Homoeopathy is of comparatively recent origin. but we shall show that its principle : “Similia Similibus Curantur” has always been acknowledged, and that is has been prečminently foreshadowed. And in doing so we shall establish the strongest claim that we can have for the strength of our proposition, viz. its immutability, because a law of nature. . . . . . . . . . . . . The lack of medical writings among the earlier ages prevents us from knowing the opinions of physicians before the time of Hippocrates. The History of Medicine in those ages is fabu- lous for the most part, and hence quite unreliable. The priest and physician were one and the same individual, and cures were performed by the voice of Oracle. * The people were taught that disease was a special infliction from the Almighty, as a punishment for sin; and that by his special interference all maladies were removed. - AEsculapius is the first person of whom we have anything authentic as interfering with the prerogative of the priest in the cure of disease, and by the means of natural appliances. His medical views are unknown however. He is represented as 22 having been very successful in his professional services and as having as a consequence incurred the displeasure of Pluto and old Charon, who complained to Jupiter that AEsculapius, by curing diseases, was robbing them of their perquisites. Jupiter entertained the complaint and slew the Doctor with a thunderbolt. - Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, as he is usually called, gives us many valuable admissions and vindications of the law of Homoeopathy as a law of nature. . . " - In his “Places in Man,” he says, “By similar things, disease is produced; and by similar things given to the sick are they healed of their diseases.” . . . . . . “The same things which will produce strangury, cough, or vomiting will arrest them.” “Thus, warm water, which is given to induce nausea and vomiting, will arrest it. “Mandrake produces mania: therefore, “Give the patient a smaller dose, than that which will in- duce mania, and it will be cured.” ... - Again, “Cold causes rigors, convulsions, tetanus and stiff- ness: and cold water will cure these conditions in disease.” Of Erysipelas he says: “Most of them are cured by the same agencies which can induce them.” “Hellebore given to the sane, darkens the mind: but it is wont greatly to benefit the insane.” This testimony from Hippocrates is very consolatory, because it recognizes the Homoeopathic views of the law by which medicines arrest disease, and that too at a period the wery earliest in the History of Medicine. The hue and cry against modern Homoeopathy might be easily held in obeyance, could the bloodhounds of persecution and prescription be but induced to allow the first man in medicine to teach them “what is truth.” . . . At the end of several hundred years, passing by the theories of a host of minor reformers, we come to Galen, who is claimed as the unequivocal head of the Allopathic School of medicine. He flourished about A.D. 159, and attempted the repudiation of all the schools and theories which had gone before him. He says, “I have found similars to influence similars.” “God or nature has joined similars to similars.” “A similar 23 naturally indicates its similar.” “Similars are congruous and friendly. • - - Again “the quality of a medicine must bear similarity to the disease and their products; though it must not be identi- cal,” or, as we say, Isopathic. Thus from Galen, we have direct acknowledgment of the cardinal point of the Homoeopathic law as a law of nature. The Isopathic School of medicine furnishes examples of its belief in the existence of “similia” as a fundamental law. The motto of the Isopath is “aqualia aqualibus curantur,” or, diseases are cured by Identicals. They claimed to remove the perplexing uncertainty of medicine, by establishing a full system of specifics. - - . . . Like Hahnemann and his disciples they proved the effect of medicines in health, even to some of the severest poisons. They used parts of venomous reptiles to cure their bites. They professed to cure derangements of different organs of the body, by corresponding parts, and organs of inferior ani- mals—and by the internal use of deranged secretions. . . . . For Haemorrhages they used blood. For Asthma they employed dried and pulverized fox lungs. Diseases of the liver were treated by bullock's liver. Hydrophobia was treated with the saliva of the rabid animals. The poison of the asp, the scorpion, the viper, were antidoted by portions of these reptiles. . . . . - While we repudiate this theory as irrational and as insus- ceptible of proof: we claim from it strong testimony in favor of our homoeopathic principle. The idea of curing diseases by identicals has always existed. It exists now, in the do- mestic cures which never meet the eye of the medical man. In some districts of country it is very strong, and Savors a great deal of traditionary interest. . We quote Basil Valentine, a monk of the order of St. Bene- dict, in the fifteenth century, as affording additional testimony to our position. - - . . . . He says: “Likes must be cured by likes, and not by their contraries—as heat, by cold, and cold by heat.” For, one heat attracts another heat, and one cold attracts another cold, as the magnet does the iron.” Although a chill may be suppressed by heat; still, as a philosopher, and as an ob- server of nature's laws, I say that similars must be met by similars, thereby they will be removed radically and tho- noughly. He who does not attend to this, is no true physician, and cannot boast of his knowledge: for, knowledge and experience, together with fundamental observation of nature, constitute the perfect physician. • - Paracelsus, who flourished in the sixteenth century, and about 1500 years after Galen, bears most unhesitating testi- mony to the action of similars in medicine. Thoroughly dissatisfied with the medical theories and prac- tices of his day, he endeavored to institute a system of thera- peutics as distinct in principle from the old ways as possible. He laid hold of the prineiple similia as his guide. He combatted all the established ideas, and made war upon the apothecaries and physicians. . - But while his therapeutics changed, his pathology remained unchanged, and thus he debarred himself from the perfected light of nature. - . - - - - • ' He did not seek the pathogenesis of his remedies, and thus lost the great secret which laid just within his grasp. In opposition to Galen's proposition of “Contraria” he says: “Cold removes heat and heat cold ! This is false and was never true in medicine.” Like belongs to like, not cold against heat, and heat against cold. That were a wild arrangement, if we had to seek safety in contraries. This is true. That he who will employ cold for heat, moisture for dryness, does not understand the nature of disease. . . . Again, he says, “nature wills stratagem should be arrayed against Stratagem.” - - . . . * This is the natural case with all things on earth, and in medicine also the rule prevails. And the physician should let this be an example to him. . . . - Still more emphatically, “what creates jaundice will cure it in all its species.” “The medicine which shall cure para- lysis must proceed from that which causes it.”—He goes still further and speaks of the dose of the medicament to be used: “A small spark can set on fire a whole forest: even so a 25 small dose of medicine, no matter how small its weight, shall suffice to produce the desired effect.” Truly this strongly foreshadows the developments made by Hahnemann and nobly sustains the position that the cure by similars is a natural law. - - Johannes Agricola professed to cure cancerous and other malignant diseases. He thus speaks: “If the subject is viewed in its proper light, it must be confessed that a con- cealed poison is at the root of these diseases: which must be expelled by a similar poison.” - Tycho Brache, the Danish Astronomer, says: “There is a disease of a sulphurous nature, which quickly yields to ter- 'restrial Sulphur; especially if a bath is had of the liquor as similars by similars.” n - Another evidence of the general conviction of the truth of our proposition is found in the Signature School of medicine, or that which maintained the necessity of actual or closely approximating resemblance between the disease and the remedy. In seeking for a medicinal agent, they sought so to speak, for the daguerrotype of the disease in the remedy to be applied. . Although in their pursuit after truth they pursued the idea of similars, in physical resemblances, rather than in sympto- matic similars, yet they nobly foreshadowed the Hahnemannic theory, and establish its claim to a Natural Law. * The bile being yellow, the signaturists sought for yellow substances to cure jaundice. Blood being red, the red juices of plants were used to arrest haemorrhage. Haemorrhoids would be cured by bulbous roots resembling them. Cassia Fistulata having the appearance of inflated bowel, was used to cure diseases of the bowels. The elder, has a pith resem- bling the spinal marrow, therefore it was used for spinal diseases. - * - - - - The seeds of Letho Spermum resemble urinary calculi; therefore they would cure the gravel. . The lichen pulmonarius, so called from its resemblance to the lungs, obtained the repute of curing pulmonary diseases. These examples prove an intuitive idea in favor of a thera- peutic principle, which prevailed during the dark ages, and 26 indeed from the foundation of medicine. An idea which was held alike by the learned and the unlearned, amid numberless revolutions in the theory of cure. ...Why, if this principle of treating diseases by remedies whose action upon the healthy organism would develop like symptoms, is not a law of.na- ture: was it upheld amid the never-ending attempts to es- tablish different theories of cure; and why was it enabled so successfully to assert its right to consideration ? Why, if not an immutable and essential truth, should this principle have been so assiduously preserved and so definitely enunciated by every theorist in medicine? . . . . Why should this Homoeopathic Law have been kept alive in all ages, amid the rise and fall of theories of cure which have existed by thousands, and which can be known now only by the most assiduous research? \ . . . . . . . Why, while those have waxed and waned and totally gone out in oblivion should this our principle of curing diseases, have until the time of Hahnemann been becoming more and more distinctly enunciated; if it had not its foundation in nature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We have shown already that all important principles of science have had the same fostering experience, and analogy proves for us our strongest argument. Besides the testimony of the ancients, we have the honest admissions of allopathic physicians, for the last two hundred years. Hahnemann gives his immediate predecessors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the credit of having before him acknowledged the truth of treatment by pathoge- nesis. Thus Thoury discovered that electricity would quicken the healthy pulse; and when carefully applied, would to the pulse quickened by disease, diminish it. . . . . . Berthlon removed in disease with electricity the same pains which electricity will produce. º Van Storck, admitted that Stramonium would cure in- sanity, upon the principle of its producing insanity when given In excess. . . - a Boulduc cured diarrhoea with Rhubarb, and attributed the secret of cure to the power of the drug to create the disease. . . . . ,i ...' ' ' . . . . " ' , , 27 Detharding, cured colic with Senna, being induced to do so, from his knowledge of its colic-producing tendencies. Stahl declared, “that the rule generally acted on in medi- cine, to treat by means of oppositely-acting remedies, is false, and the very reverse of what it ought to be.” “I am on the contrary convinced,” said he, “that diseases will yield to and be cured by remedies that produce similar affections. Burns by exposure to fire—Frost-bites by cold water or snow. . . . . . Inflammation and bruises by alcoholic applications. “In like manner I have treated acidity of the stomach with very small doses of Sulphuric-acid, with the most happy effects; after various absorbents and neutral mixtures had been used Riviere, cured bee-stings with blisters, which would relieve the pain, as soon as they reduced the skin. Dessaix says, a relation of his was cured of a disease by eating bread containing darnel. And he did it at the advice of some farmers, who insisted that he would thus be cured because darnel would produce just his symptoms. - Magendie admits that large doses of Tartar-emetic will produce all the symptoms of pneumonia, and every-day ex- perience proves that it will cure that disease. . . . . Dr. Pereira says, “Nitric-acid will excite salivation. Ho- moeopathy cures salivation with this medicine. Dr. Dunsford admits, “that the few specifics the Old School has, are now known to produce precisely the symptomſs of the diseases they cure.” Dr. Adams, the translator of Hippocrates admits the prin- ciple of cure by similars. . . . . . . . . Dr. Routh says, “Cinchona certainly produces all the symp- toms, alleged by the Homoeopaths to be produced by it, and which resemble Ague.” . . . . . Were it necessary, we might adduce many more examples to prove that, the law of Homoeopathy is a law of nature for the cure of disease. . . . . . These which we have named, must surely suffice to consti- tute a conclusive argument. It must be satisfactory to know that all great authorities in medicine, from its founder until now have admitted the truth of this great principle. 28 And further, to know also that the popular sentiment in all the domestic cures, which seldom meet the eye of the physi- cian, favor it. - a • . . . . . g Thus science and unsophisticated nature unite to establish this principle, as a law of nature, inseparable from medicine, and therefore destined at some time to govern the therapeutic world. . . - - . . .” - º 2. Homoeopathy will be permanent and supersede all other systems, because it was established after years of persevering and scientifie investigation, and was not given to the world until its truth had been unequivocally demonstrated by hun- dreds of experiments. - - - Every science that has borne the test of experiment is entitled to our consideration. While all theories, though ever so fair in their exterior, which cannot bear this test must fall to the ground. Of this latter class have been most of the speculations which have afflicted the medical world. It is our pride however, to know that the Homoeopathic System stands upon the basis of ea periment, and that alone. Accident and experiment originated it, experiment repeated, confirmed it. Emperiment has preserved it; and eageriment is the only needed means for carrying it on to the fulfilment of its high destiny. . The history of a reformation or a revolution is imperfect without the knowledge of the history and character of its author: The Protestant Reformation would lose a large degree of its interestand importance, should Luther's character for learning, indomitable perseverance and conscientiousness, as well as all the distinguishing traits which shone forth amid the terrible persecutions he endured, be kept out of view. . . . . The discovery of the New World would lose half its grandeur, were we ignorant of the years of incessant appli- cation which Columbus devoted to it at different courts to secure that patronage which was necessary to carry out the project.—Or, if when after having been successful, his magna- nimous conduct under mutiny, glorious discovery, triumph and subsequent disgrace should be unknown. The American Revolution so full of interest to every lover of civil and religious liberty, would be shorn of its brightest 29 ornaments, were the patriotism and courage of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence forgotten, or, if the pecu- liar qualifications of the Father of his country to the re- sponsible position to which he was advanced by his devoted countrymen, should be kept out of view. - 2' - The French Revolution would be comparatively a meagre affair, separated from the immense power of conception—the rapid and certain successes of Napoleon, before whom kings fled as chaff before the wind, and who acknowledged no con- queror but a Russian winter. In like manner a Reformation in medicine which promises to mankind blessings commensurate with the horrors of pesti- lence; and which offers in place of the uncertainty of Thera- peutics during three thousand years, a specific law of cure; requires that its author should be made known to the world he would bless. Hahnemann, the father of Homoeopathy, was born 1755, at Meissen, near Dresden. His father was a poor porcelain painter, and intended to have his son follow his trade. But, at an early age the boy showed a decided desire for knowledge, which could not be repressed. When ordered to bed, he would rise and spend the night in study, using clay lamps of his own construction, in order that he might not be betrayed by the use of those of the household. He was sent to the village school, and his teacher perceiving the indomi- table bias of his mind for learning, encouraged him in the pursuit of a liberal education. His father discovering this, took him from school several times; but as often returned him at the solicitation of his teacher, who to remove all scruples on the ground of expense, offered him the freedom of his school. : His collegiate education was complete at his twentieth year, at which time he left his father's house for Leipsic with only fifteen dollars in his pocket. - Here he commenced the study of medicine, and supported himself by teaching the German and French, and by trans- lations from the English Language. . . . . . . . Previously to 1789 he spent his time successively as libra- rian and physician to the Governor of Transylvania, district t 30 t physician of Comorn, and post-physician to the Hospital at Dresden. & At Dresden he began his literary career, having as he said in a letter to Hufeland, “retired from the practice of medicine in disgust of its uncertainties.” From 17 80 to 1792 he spent his time on original works of chemistry, medicine, and in translations of scientific works. In 1792 he took charge of the insane hospital in the Duchy Saxe Gotha, where he originated the plan of mild treatment of the insane in place of chains and severity. Previously however, in 1790, he was translating into the German Language, Cullen's great work upon Materia Medica. While at work upon the article Cinchona, which had become known as the specific for intermittents; he was struck with an admission, made by Cullen, that this remedy possessed the power of creating in the healthy body precisely the same symptoms it was known to cure in disease. His previous dissatisfaction with the “uncertainties of medi- cine,” prepared him to catch this idea, and it became to him what the falling apple was to Newton—what the swinging lamp was to Galileo. Here, says he, may be nature’s great secret, by which remedies cure diseases, and he immediately proceeded to investigate this fact. s Having prepared two drachms of Peruvian-bark, he took it gradually, and had the satisfaction to produce in himself, for two successive days, real paroxysms of Fever and Ague. This settled, he proceeded to investigate the principle with other known specifics, and he invariably produced like results. During a period of six years, upon himself and a company of scientific friends, he continued these experiments, finding not one exception to the principle brought to light by the Bark. Having by experiments upon about fifty different remedies, established the positive existence of the Law, that the patho- genesis of medical agents indicated the diseases they will cure; he gave it to the world, declaring as the motto of his discovery: . * “Similia similibus curantur,” that is, diseases are cured by agencies which can produce the symptoms of said diseases. Previously to this he had been popular and respected. 31 Hufeland had said of him: “He is one of the greatest phy- sicians in Germany.” - Paul Richter denominated him: “The rare double headed genius of erudition.” - Berzelius, the Swedish Oracle in Chemistry, had said of him: “This man would make a great chemist.” - His literary and scientific attainments had been universally acknowledged. His works had been highly appreciated and sought after as standard authorities. His talents as a chemist were known as those of first order. But no Sooner had he declared that the Galenic principle of cure was wrong; and that with the certainty of well-conducted and oft-repeated experiment, he had found a rule, which was unfailing; than he fell from his high estate, and became the victim of a most relentless persecution and proscription. His new views first of all induced the giving up complicated prescriptions and the adoption of one remedy only, at once. .* In order to have his remedies in their purity, he prepared them himself, and made his own prescriptions. This drew down upon him the most of the apothecaries, who saw their craft in danger from this new mode of practice, and they resolved to crush him. - . - In order to prevent him from being his own apothecary, they revived an obsolete law, which compelled the physician to go to the pharmacies for his prescriptions, upon pain of prosecution. : - In this way Hahnemann was driven from public practice; whatever he did was done secretly. - The physicians joined hands with the apothecaries, and under their united persecution his disabilities became complete. Previous knowledge of his talents and character for correct research did not screen him. Instead of investigating his propositions they cast him out, and renounced fellowship with him, strove to reduce him to poverty. . º Fired with enthusiasm, and steady for the truth, he again and again appealed to brethren in medicine to join him in the work of reform, and to aid him in correcting those evils which they all admitted and deprecated. But he appealed con- tinually in vain. - 32. His only alternative was to let go the truth, or the favor and patronage of the profession. Convinced beyond the remotest possibility of a doubt of the truth of the newly-developed Law of Cure, he chose rather to maintain it, even though he did it under persecution. For more than forty years was he hunted as the wild beast of the forest. Wandering from place to place, seeking the necessary support of a large family; wherever he went he found every avenue to successful effort forestalled, and he was obliged to drink to the deepest dregs the cup of poverty. It was not until his eightieth year that he was able to live at all comfortably. At this time he was induced to leave his ungrateful country, and go to Paris, where under the patronage of Guizot he prosecuted a successful practice until the time of his death: which occurred in his eighty-eighth year. Here he was able to place his system on a permanent basis. During the whole forty years of his persecution he labored unceasingly, and his provings of medicines went on, and he was continually adding to the testimony for establishing the new practice. He at several times made himself seriously ill under the use of poisonous drugs while at this work. It will show the man, to state the amount of his literary productions. According to Dr. Dudgeon. “He proved up- wards of ninety different medicines on his own person; wrote upwards of seventy original works on chemistry and medicine, and some of them thick volumes; translated twenty-four works from the French, English, Italian and Latin on chemistry, medicine, agriculture and general literature. “Besides this, he attended during his latter years to an immense practice, registering every symptom, and carefully selecting every remedy after the strictest pathogenesis.” “He was an accomplished scholar and philologist, and had extensive acquaintance with botany, astronomy, meteorology, and geography. His industry und working powers certainly bordered on the marvellous, and entitle him to the appellation of a literary Hercules.” ... • - Such was Hahnemann. Such was the man whom Provi- dence appointed to develop a natural law of cure, to overturn 33 the foundations of old modes, to bring fully to light, and develop into a new system, a natural truth, which had been struggling for ages, to obtain definite enunciation—such the man of whom one of the most distinguished surgeons in our country said on his return from a tour to Europe, during which he saw and conversed with Hahnemann: “He is the greatest physician I ever saw”—but the misrepresentations and sneers of the world have depreciated him greatly. Few think Hahnemann much of a man. He is represented as a transcendental Old German, who created all this disturb- ance because he had nothing else to do. . Who for the hue and cry against, the so-called Regular- Profession which he raised: ought almost to have been denied a decent burial when he died, and to have merited all he received and suffered of poverty and sorrow. But what system can refer with more cause of pride, to its Author, than that which he established ? His whole life was of a character far above the ordinary standard. An un- common boy, an uncommon man, a Christian, and an un- compromising reformer, he merits canonization, as the benefac- tor of his race, rather than contempt and neglect. - In the light of this man’s life, do we not see the force of our proposition, that Homoeopathy must prevail, because it was founded and preserved by patient, scientific and laborious investigation? , ºr Can such talent, such fortitude for the defence and preser- vation of truth be in vain? Will Providence allow such efforts to fall to the ground un- requited? . . . . . A ' Shall the blindness of interested bigotry prevail to suppress nature's law, after it has been thus maintained? . . . . Not only has Hahnemann borne evidence of the truth of the natural claim of the Homoeopathic Law of Cure; but we have also the self-denying effort of a large number of the first physicians in Europe, cotemporary with him, as well as many in this country, who have within the last twenty-five years devoted themselves most assiduously to the proving of medicines. - - . , ‘ It is remarkable, that in all the experiments of these men, they all arrive at the same conclusion with regard to the Pathogenetic Law. Minor considerations of the mode of preparing remedies, of the size and potency of the dose to |be used, and of the philosophy of disease, have arisen, but the law of cure is acknowledged by all. - Not only have we the testimony of Hahnemann and his disciples, but we have the unwilling, but honest award of every physician of high talent and position in the Allopathic School. Every text-book of Allopathy will furnish the man guided by the Homoeopathic principle, with abundant testimony to its truth, and discover too the secret of the uncertainty to which our opponents are blind, of which they complain. We may assume that no matter by whom, nor how often experiments may be made, the result will be uniformly the same. Experiment will insure conversion to, and the perma- nency of Homoeopathy. . . . I cannot refrain from saying something upon the criticisms which Hahnemann has to undergo from his disciples. There are thousands of Homoeopaths, but there can be but one Hahnemann. Yet, aspiring to be such, we find many who claim to be superior; many whose counsels were unfortunate- ly wanting to him during his forty years of exile and laborious experiment. There are supposed to be many things in him which need altering. One sees this, another that. One alters him here, another alters him there. Until, if all the proposed altera- tions were united, there would be no Hahnemann left. His mode of preparing medicines; his dose; his theory of cure; his manner of making and reporting provings, each and every one are improved upon by some body until the original is lost. And the homoeopathic school, already divided and disputing upon non-essentials: humiliate themselves in the eye of the world, and hinder the progress of truth. . This is the result of a restless desire for distinction. This spirit cannot be too much discountenanced. Theorizing is the bane of truth, wherever it abounds, every good cause is injured in its essentials. We may profit by the example of Newton, who when speaking of his discovery of gravitation, “says, I have not been able to discover the cause of the properties of gravity from 85 - phenomena, and I frame no hypotheses. To us it is enough to know that gravity does really exist, according to the laws which we have explained.” - In like manner, it is enough that we know the true law of cure. It is a simple truth and needs no ornament; it needs no other than the plainest exposition. We can never know how medicine cures, never can know the relation of disease and the remedy in restoring to health, any more than we can the relation of body and soul. We shall present a better spectacle to the world, and more favor the cause of truth, if with our reform in medicine, we shall reform the vicious habit of overwhelming truth with hypo- thesis, of becoming great men at second-hand, in the way of pulling down authorities, by mere theory, unaided by ac- tual experience. If the rules for the application of medicine in disease, as laid down by our Great Master, do not in our hands, seem to verify his representations; let us rather suspect that the fault. lies in ourselves, and not in Hahnemann. His learning, his application, and his patience, were of the high German order, and such, confessedly, as few possess. . Supposing him to be wrong, the opinions of such a giant. genius should be approached reverentially, and be criticised very cautiously. . . . * * . . . . 3. Homoeopathy must be perpetual, because it answers a necessity felt in all ages. - . *... " Twenty-two hundred years ago, Hippocrates established his doctrine of Humoral Pathology. In his view, the blood, the bile, and the phlegm, were in definite proportions of quantity, quality, and mixture, when in health; and any deviation from these conditions in either or all of these secretions constituted disease. - Accordingly, by bleeding, sweating and purging he en- deavored to restore the equilibrium. • This theory prevailed until Baglivi, in the middle of the Seventeenth century, originated the doctrine of the solidist, which locates disease in the solids. Since him numerous dis- senting theories have prevailed. - There have been the vitalists, who made disease to con- sist in the change of vitality. - . . . . - 36 depression of the powers of nature. e. . . . . . . . . . The eclectics, who favored all theories, and practiced. upon all. . . . . . . . . . The expectants, who dissatisfied with the operation of medi-, cine, discarded all theories, and when called to the sick, prescribed only according to the indications which presented themselves during the progress of disease. . . . . . . . . Yet amid all these different theories, which were so widely. conflicting as to alienate the physicians who practiced upon. the different modes; the treatment was unchanged; no va- riety existed here. . . . As if all were humorists, the stomach, the blood and the skin were made to suffer the same depletion. The same custom, prevails now. Hundreds of new systems are now arising and rapidly disappearing. It has become a fact which every day and hour demonstrates, that scarcely any two physicians of the allopathic school can be found who do not favor different theories of disease. In any one town during any particular epidemic, the humiliating fact reveals itself, in the want of confidence exercised by the faculty among themselves. Scarcely any two can see eye to eye, and the harmony that does exist, the unsophisticated laity even interpret to considerations of policy, for the preservation of the craft. Besides the testimony of many members of the allopathic school, who have attained high repute for learning and medi- ‘cal skill, abounds to prove the want of confidence and . stability among themselves in the treatment of disease. . Their admission going to prove, that after the lapse of more than two thousand years, there is among them to day the same uncertainty as existed in the earliest ages. And, ‘establishing beyond a question the truth of an exigency which the old system of medicine has failed to satisfy, so far as the anxiety and experience of the profession is con- cerned. . . . . . . . Hippocrates, Sydenham, Paracelsus, Cullen, Hoffman, Boerhave, Bichat, Paris, Simpson, Forbes, Routh, and a host. of others, equally illustrious, complete the catalogue of those . The Brunonian, which makes disease an exaltation or who are thus exercised. 37 Hippocrates, dissatisfied with the theories of his day: endeavored to imprové upon them, and thus complains. “The whole art is exposed to much censure from the vulgar, who fancy there is really no such science as medicine. Since, even in acute diseases, practitioners differ so much among them- selves that those things which one administers as thinking the best that can be given,” another holds to be injurious. Galen, who equally with Hippocrates; was disgusted with the miserable jargon, quotes from the latter the above lan- guage, and endorses his complaint. . . . . . . . . . Paracelsus, in what we have said of him ałready, proves that his experience was ill at ease with the medical practices of his day. . . . . . . Cullen says: The materia medica abounds in numberless false conclusions, such indeed is the state of the matter, that nobody can consult these authors with any safety, unless he is fortifted with a good dediæðf skepticism. Bichat writes: “It is an incoherent assemblage of incoherent opinions. It is not a science for a medical mind. It is a shapeless mass of inaccurate ideas, of observations which are often puerile, of deceptive remedies and formulas, as fantasti- cally conceived, as they are tediously arranged.” . . Hoffmann says: “There are few remedies the effects of which are well known. The greater number disappoint the eaſpectations of practitioners.” Girtanner says: “There are a few valuable results founded upon experience; but he will loose his time who searches for these few grains of gold in the large mass of rubbish accumu- lated during twenty-two centuries.” . . . . Broussais : “When I would seek a guide among authors most illustrious, to whom Therapeutics expresses herself most ,” obliged; I find nothing but confusion.” Rostan says: “Let no one say that medicine has freed herself from the darkness of the middle ages. Let one but glance, at the formularies, and he will rise with indignation against the prevailing practices.” . . . . . . . . Dr. Good calls medicine “a miserable jargon, whose effects wpon the system are in the highest degree uncertain. Except, that they have already destroyed more lives than war, pesti- lence and famine combined. . . . © 38 Dr. Paris, Pres, of the Royal College of Physicians in England, is said to have acknowledged in a public lecture: “The science of medicine is incapable of generalization.” ‘’ Dr. Simpson, the writer against Homoeopathy says: “That he who will reduce the science of medicine to a positive science, as Homoeopathy professes to do, will confer a great benefit upon mankind.” .. Dr. Adams, translator of Hippocrates says: “We cannot think of the various theories in medicine since the days of John Hunter, without the most painful distrust in all modes of treatment, These opinions from men in high positions in the Old School must be regarded with great interest, and must be very con- clusive. The whole fraternity, in whom there is any honesty and reflection, respond to these concessions a hearty amen, and raise their eyes to heaven for aid. Those who are mere routinists, who are the mere echoes of the lecture-bench, or synopses of the text-books, with which they began their medical career (and their name is Legion), profess to think otherwise. But their opinions are of no consequence, except as we are forced to realize their influence in opposition to truth, and as impediments to practical in- vestigation. There is another class, who having found that the principle of opposing disease by contraries is untenable, and knowing of no better way, say nothing; but, emboldened by the Homoeopath, they use only extremely minute doses of medicine, and to a good degree make use of simple pre- scriptions. And this class too is large, and the men com- posing it respectable, those of long and large experience. We may well here pause, and ask if we have not from the acknowledged position of our opponents, proved from their own mouths the insufficiency of the prevailing school, and an exigency which calls loudly for a remedy. It would seem that when so thoroughly convinced of the uncertainty of the application of their own rules of cure, by common consent they would honestly confess it, and abandon it, and lay hold of any thing, no matter what; which promises to do better. Instead of forming national conventions for the suppres- sion of quackery and their own protection, it would seem 39 more consistent for them in solemn convention to declare to the world that their very acts of protection and denunciation are the very essence of quackery. That they should announce formally that the learned and the unlearned are alike in the dark, and alike uncertain in the cure of disease. . . . . Instead of multiplying medical colleges in which unsus- pecting youth are by hundreds taught those very rules of therapeutics which their professors, repudiate; and instead of insisting that these youth shall pledge themselves as a condition of their degree, to make the uncertainty of medicine their only rule of practice; how much more honorable would it be to leave out wholly the science of therapeutics, and ...teach that the only rule must be, experiment and uncertainty. Happy would it be for those who yearly receive their medi- cal diplomas, were the confessions of the private conscience of professors, allowed to speak. - But how different the practice of the controlling medical profession. Like the pharisees of old they are of a beauti- ful exterior, but within they are dishonest. Like them they hold the keys of knowledge, and will not enter themselves, and those who would enter, they repudiate. Always follow- ing the beaten track of uncertainty, they universally realize the same results. . How mysterious this devotion to error! Such a sun-light of truth, ought, it would seem, to have led ages ago to some little degree of reform, some little abandonment of uncer- tain laws. * Another system has appeared: the child of the exigency. It has already reformed in some degree the usages of ancient days. But it claims more. It claims the natural right to supersede all that has gone before, and to make the science of therapeutics certain. . . . wº . . . . Upon first view, the honest reformer cannot feel that this new principle can establish this claim. He cannot make up his mind that a system which has held the Supremacy for so many centuries, and which has attached to itself so much grandeur and influence, should be superseded by its ab- solute contrary. He cannot see how the good old-ways can t - 40 e be all wrong; nor how, if wrong, can he see how the immense labor which has been given to the science of medicine should have failed to discover the homoeopathic law earlier. Yet, upon second thought, he remembers that every science has had its principles in embryo for a longer or shorter period; and that it too had to struggle with magnificent error. Again he discovers that in Hahnemann we have a man who was legitimately entitled by talent, indomitable per- severance, and by a regular medical education, to make dis- covery in medicine. One whose interest in his profession would prompt him to investigation, and would kindle the desire to give it the basis of a certain science; he cannot see why he may not in his department of knowledge, be as highly en- titled to the credit of his discoveries, as Franklin, Newton, Gallileo, Dalton, Columbus, or Copernicus were in theirs. Nor why, if answering the test of practical use, his principles should not equally be made available for the public weal. And laying hold of the rules laid down; he places the new system to its test, and is struck with its applicability, and above all, with its wonderful simplicity. . . . . Experiment upon experiment is instituted, until little by little the prejudices of education are dissolved, and he finds himself in a new world, converted to new light and principles. If ever he wavers, if ever his old attachment for “contraria” awakens: he experiments again upon “similia,” and feels conviction made yet more sure. Groping about in the old domain, he finds here and there a cure, which he and his fellows effected, but did not understand; and by his new light he sees that they were performed upon the invariable rule of nature's therapeutic law. “Similia similibus curantur.” Making himself familiar with the pathognesis of medicines, he applies them to the symptoms of disease, and is perfectly astonished at the results. . . . . . . . . Acute diseases heretofore stubborn and removed with di fi- culty, cease as by magic; chronic ailments, which have been in all ages targets upon which allopathy has exhausted itself, he sees quickly to yield and eventually to disappear before the wonderfully simple law and remedies of homoeopathy. Incurable organic diseases, which have ever been the oppro- brium of the profession, because if controlled at all, were so 41 § by means which proved worse than the disease: he sees miti- gated and almost rendered powerless for discomfort to the sufferer. . . . . The system invaded by disease, which rapidly depresses its vital energies, need not now feel the effect of ill-applied and powerfully injurious agents, which run off its vitality more rapidly than the disease itself. The sick-room now no longer is the arena of experiments. No longer now, the dark abode of erring and dangerous (be- cause erring) uncertainty. . . . . . . . . . . . . He now can enter the sick-chamber and feel that he brings comfort rather than terror to his suffering fellowman. Arguing from nature that inasmuch as she uses wonderfully attenuated and diffused influences to accomplish great ends, the phy- sician learns to avoid the risks incurred in the use of large doses of medicine. ' He perceives that the organism aroused by disease is sen- sitive to the smallest amount of medical action. And that which excites the ridicule of the world, and has more than all else tended to fasten reproach upon the homoeopathic system, he finds to be his best and safest agency. I mean the minute dose of medicine. . . . . . . - The comparative results of the two schools of medicine have been fairly laid before the public. | Homoeopathy is only about sixty years old, her progress has been impeded by a severe persecution and a most active pro- scription. The influence in public institutions has been véry limited. Allopathy has engrossed all these advantages all over the world. In this country there have been no facilities at all offered to show the comparative merits of the two schools. The operations of homoeopathy have been confined entirely to private practice. In Europe however the case has been somewhat different, for to a limited extent, this new principle has been tested side by side with allopathy. . . . We have no reason to be ashamed of the results. In those institutions where the appliances were all against us, and every interest arrayed to favor our discomfiture, we have stood competition with honor to ourselves. In the cholera, in dysenteries, in fevers, acute inflamma- ^ - 42 tion and violent nervous diseases, our simple but undeviat- ing law has drawn out testimony in its favor from our enemies. “Dr. Routh gives statistics of hospitals in London, Edin- burgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Vienna, Leipzic, Linz and other places,” and the following appears to be the result: • Admitted. Died. * | per cent. Allop.-Hospitals. Total. . . . 119,680. 11,791. 10,5. Homoeop. “ “. . . 32,655. 1,375. 4,4. For these he vouches, though his strong opposition to ho- moeopathy induces him to accuse it of selecting its cases, and of reporting unfairly. This accusation, will of course be made, and our enemies unhesitatingly believe it. In their view our whole operation is knavery, and statistics it will be argued, are of course so. Hence statistics do us very little good. 2 - But the people are best convinced by the facts around them. And the increasing and already wide-spread influence which our principles are exerting is our strongest favorable argument. The Doctor exists for the people. Not the people for the Doctor. - * , The Macedonian cry comes up from every quarter. The number of homoeopathic physicians is inadequate to the wants of the people. If enough of them could be found to answer every call, one month would not pass after their settlement, before they were in full employ amongst the most intelligent of the people. For it is a fact, that the homoeopath counts his patrons among the best portions of society. A medical gentleman told me a few days since that at that moment seven different localities were pressing them- selves upon him, all lucrative. And who of us does not know the exigency to be great, from his own experience and obser- vation. Hundreds and thousands of families whose locality debars them from the services of the homoeopath, have caused themselves to be instructed in the simple law of cure, and treat themselves in many cases. Discarding wholly the allo- path, unless indeed it be to have his opinion of the disease, so that their books may instruct them more emphatically. Thousands more who yet remain under allopathic rule, clandestinely employ homoeopathic remedies for every dis- 43 ease where office-advice will avail without calling a phy- sician at home. . . . . So that though we are denied public institutions in which to test and show to the world what we can do, we have what is better; we have the whole civilized world for our field, upon which to show the value and the reliability of our system. . . . . - - And our best statistics are the increase of homoeopathic physicians and their immense employment. - Now and then, some gentleman who has finished his edu- cation in Europe returns, and conveys to our ears the astound- ing information, that homoeopathy is going down. But if his limited opportunity for observation has led him into this error upon the state of the case beyond the sea: when he endeavors to compete with it here he finds how it is declining in America too ! - Except among bigots, and those whose supposed interest will not allow them to do otherwise than to oppose homoeo- pathy, we see an increasing respect towards the practitioners of the new school. - - , The hue and cry about repudiating and silencing us has become fainter and fainter. The civilities of social inter- course are more easily extended to us. Very many allopathic physicians, instead of poisoning the minds of their patients with vile misrepresentations of us, ac- cede to us the power of doing some good: acknowledge some wonderful things done by us; and in the last extremity of disease, allow us to be called, as a chance of some hope to the sinking patient. - I know an allopathic physician of wealth and influence, who advises, his family when they are abroad to call in a homoeopath in case of sickness. And by no means to employ a stranger allopath. . - s. The former, says he, will do you no harm, the latter will probably do more harm than good. We believe this man to represent a large class. - g There is a host of physicians for whom the homoeopath has so often cured their patients, when as they supposed they were gone beyond remedy; their courage has failed them in view of the comparative results of the two systems in such 44 cases, and they often place themselves in the attitude of learn- ers and experimenters. And from the ranks of these, con- verts are multiplying. A physician, at present a successful homoeopathic physician in interior New-York, was so often called to acknowledge the success of homoeopathy in his abandoned cases, that he resolved to test the matter. He accordingly gave up his practice, and spent the winter in two of our large cities in investigation. The result was his conversion, and a return to greater success in practice than before, and as an allopath he stood well. . . . Of this class are most of those who now represent the homoeopathic profession. Once they were the most violent. opposers, but forced by honest conviction, founded upon stubborn facts in their way, they experimented, and experi- ment sealed their conversion. ... * , • There is still another class of allopathic physicians, who while they ridicule, oppose and repudiate us: whose daily appellations of us are known. Fool, charlatan, quack, pro- fess to treat homoeopathically when they are in danger of being abandoned by their patients. These very unwillingly confessing an exigency in their humiliation. . It would be superfluous to bring proof that homoeopathy is producing these effects upon the allopathic profession, and upon the people. It is the cause of severe complaint against us from our opponents, that we compel them to a very severe - competition. If our “enemies themselves being judges,” accord to us position and influence, Surely the labor of es- tablishing the facts in the case is saved, and the work is done for us to our hands, and better than we can do it ourselves. There never was a medical theory since Galen which has so successfully turned the world up-side down. There have been many, and often times for a while competition was troublesome. Yet being dissatisfied offshoots merely from the parent stock, and the main principles of their operation being the same, they in the end, rather aided than retarded the pro- gress of allopathy. - . . . But homoeopathy makes a great difference. The period during which it has been operating has been long enough to set the question of its permanency at rest. It has reformed the dose of medicine. It has sheathed the lancet. It has 45 driven heroic medication to the wall, and compelled it, hat in hand, to await orders. It has shown the world that it has been more afflicted by medical than by actual disease. It has demonstrated that the major part of the fatalities which have attended acute diseases and epidemics, has had no foundation in necessity, except as that necessity existed in: misguided medical treatment. It has shown that the sad se- quelae of disease cannot be found in nearly as large a pro- portion as has been claimed to be natural when the system is not poisoned by medicine. It has destroyed the pleasure of practising, medicine in the way of old-fashioned routine. Now no longer can mercury at night and oil in the morning be considered as the universal catholicon of all disease. The veil has been raised, and the holy of holies has been exposed to view and found to be a shadow. - It has broken down arbitrary enactments, which compelled the people to employ as their medical advisers those only whom a constituted faculty consented to recognize. Since—With Calomel, Squills and Ipecac. We first began the great attack, Then pills as big as pistol bullets, . . . . . We ramm'd them down the dunces' gullets. But now wholesale medication cannot be used. The people in very large majority, who yet adhere to the old ways, have come to believe that there is very little difference between the Doctor who has one remedy for all diseases, and who almost kills in order to cure, and the quack nostrums, which are equally adapted to all diseases. Allopathy has lost the con- . fidence of its own friends, and quackery increases as a con- sequence, and we surely in this have a very conclusive argu- ment to prove an exigency which needed to be filled. The ground gained by Homoeopathy, and the influence which it has exerted, has been acquired and exerted under an unlimited opportunity to test the relative merits of the two systems of medicine. And it is difficult to see how all these advantages can be lost. The causes which have brought to light, and which have spread the new principle, must continue to act. And acting: it is difficult to see how the compromise which Allopathy has already been obliged to make will have 46 any other issue than the complete and universal prevalence of Homoeopathy. . The one has had its rule for ages. It has had at its com- mand universal patronage and unbounded appliances to establish itself upon a permanent basis, by satisfying the wants of suffering humanity. g . . . But is has failed to do so. And having failed to fulfil in- dications, it has no fault to find if it be abandoned. The other system has from its outset attracted the world by its wide contrast with the old ways. Intelligence and experi- ment have for sixty years shown it to be reliable and safe- as fulfilling all possible indications in disease—as curing every disease that can be cured—as possessing the merit of certainty, which its antagonist never could claim, according to her own showing—as relieving her too in many a sad dilemma. Hence, to return to our former and original position, we think we have successfully maintained all we have assumed. And that the antiquity of the great principle of Homoeopathy: the modes of its discovery and the means used to reduce it to a certain science, and the wide-spread influence it is exerting in reforming the unsatisfactory and uncertain old modes of medication, give unequivocal evidence that it can never be again suppressed. But that enjoying the honor of a full reve- lation and the increasing confidence of the intelligent and investigating world, it must live and conquer all opposition, and become the only acknowledged principle of cure. Hence the Homoeopath may take courage and go forward. He may feel assured that he will never be brought to shame, nor be forced back to his old position of uncertainty. In his day, and during the present century, the elements now at work must promote the success of his favorite theory. And if it have a basis wide and deep enough to stand thus long, if it be founded in principles established by nature, we can- not see why it may not always prevail. - . It is so directly the counterpart of its great medical rival, its elder sister, in its application to the wants of sick humanity, that all who have ever tried it at the hands of intelligence have abandoned the old mode of medication. . . It seems to be so directly what the world has called for, and What the faculty have always been seeking for; that it is 47 difficult to see how it can do otherwise than increase in the confidence of the world. . . i - It is not quackery, because it hides nothing. Its principles, its mode of operation, its remedies, are all known to the world. So far from keeping anything back, it seeks of its own free will, to instruct all upon its minutest considerations. It goes to the fireside even, and there lays open its simple and easy means for arresting disease at the hands of fond parents, saving to their children the necessity of the sad prostration of terrible medication. - . It courts investigation. It would that every Allopathic physician who laughs it to scorn should place himself can- didly to school in its investigation, confident that the result will be his conversion. : , Meeting thus every necessity. Doing as well, to say the least, as Allopathy; and saving thousands in the hour of ex- tremity when Allopathy has abandoned them, and offering its principles in open hand, and courting investigation; where can there be the room, the necessity, the possibility, for the eclipsing of the homoeopathic principle of cure. One of the two great principles claimed as curative must be true, the other of course must be false. Trials of their relative merits have been had. The one has had its trium- phant rule for over three thousand years. And during the whole of that period both physician and patient have been dissatisfied with it. The former, because it gave him no certain basis for his treatment of diseases. The latter, because in addition to its uncertainty to cure him, by its terrible and uncontrollable agents, it harmed him more by its remedies than the disease could do. g The other principle of cure has had a short systemic life. Existing, it is true, from the foundation of all things; it has not attracted attention as a distinct system of medicine for one hundred years. Yet it has drawn to it thousands of phy- sicians who could not make the opposite principle available to the cure of disease; and who find in it consolation de- rived from no other system, and who too, as a consequence, enjoy the professional life which before was to them a burthen. The new principle has also satisfied the sick man. It has 48 combatted his disease with gentleness and mercy. It has treated him as a tender plant, which when sick required ten- derness rather than harshness. It has shown him that when sick he need not be made more sick in order to get well. It has taught him, that heroic treatment, sofar from offering him any certain application of efficient agency to his disease, renders his chances of recovery more problematical than when dis- ease is opposed only by the unaided powers of nature. How, under this dissatisfaction, on the one hand, and the comfort and certainty which prevails on the other: can we indulge any other idea than that of the permanent establish- ment of the principle which has originated and perfected such wonderful results. - - It seems that all that now remains to insure the most per- fect superseding of Allopathy, is union of feeling and unity of action upon the part of the adherents of Homoeopathy them- selves. If all the philosophizing upon non-essentials, which has arisen in certain quarters, is not abandoned, we confess that we have our fears, that the cause may for a time lose its interest. Years hence, when the whole world shall have become entirely converted, it may be safe to theorize. But now our mission is to preach the Gospel of Medicine as naked, perfectly practical truth. Our work is to meet the inquiries of the people, not to amuse ourselves. I would recommend strict adhesion to the Hahnemannic rules. He was not right perhaps in all his deductions, but his appreciation of the living principle was perfect and clear, and there is danger in depart- ing from the original standard. . . . - - - We shall probably be nearer perfection if we stand by the views of the great founder of Homoeopathy, than if we follow the petty and abundant theories of lesser minds. A rallying point is essential—departure from it necessarily distracting and injurious. Let it be our pride, brethren, that we are like, rather than different from Hahnemann. MAS ON I C T E M P L E Philadelphia ADDRESS OF BUSHROD WASHINGTON JAMES President of the MASONIC VETERAN ASSOCIATION OF PENNSYLVANIA Delivered at the Annual Meeting, November 30, 1901 AT THE MASONIC TEMPLE, PHILADELPHIA PHILADELPHIA : FAHNESTOCK FRESS, 1336 Cherry Street - 1902 ADDRESS Brethren of the Masonic l’eteran Association #. of Pennsylvania: 7(* ET no man say that the ſ Origin of Freemasonry is a myth while we behold the foundations upon which it rests, and the truths that are made manifest in its time-honored sym- º bols. Historians have traced it to *- Solomon's Temple, whose build- ers were master artificers in their several crafts; others have endeavored to see in the wonderful temples of Egypt that the truths of our fraternity were known, and the workmen classified so as not to interfere with other toilers in the splendid archi- tecture that has stood the onslaughts of time and the elements for unnumbered centuries. We stand in awe before these great discoveries, and think perhaps the truth has been laid before us, and yet we are not wholly satisfied. We shrink from accepting as the progenitors of our noble fraternity the mysterious Societies which required the most soul-trying and physical tor- turing ordeals to prepare a novitiate for acceptance into their secret brotherhoods; nor can we believe that the cruelty of Eastern mysticism was the corner-stone of our most honorable and benevolent institution. It is our privilege to look beyond all these that we may find the beautiful landmarks of our beloved structure. - To the broad, blue arch of heaven we lift our eyes and behold that the apprentice is at once ushered into an atmosphere of friendship and benevolence as he enters the portals of the Blue Lodge, and he will realize that at the very foundation of the world the symbols of our fraternity were established. Hereafter he will meet the brotherhood upon the 6 fair level of man's equality in the sight of his Creator, to whom there is neither poverty nor wealth, neither low caste nor high among the faithful followers of His commandments. He will hereafter permit the gavel to strike from the structure of his manhood all tendencies to evil, all moral impurities, that he may one day stand forth a creature perfected in the growth of a blameless life. He will square his character with justice and truth, brotherly love and noble benevolence, and meet his fellow-men so established in character that nothing shall move him from that secure equipoise. As he moves onward and upward into the more sacred precincts of the Temple, he will one day attain to the very keystone of his life, the grand stone upon whose rectitude the safety of the arch of his character must rest; the conscientious faithfulness to every obligation, whether to God, to his people or to his brethren, that will establish him a man among men, one upon whom his Maker shall look with love and for whom the Holy of Holies shall one day open, when his eyes shall be purified from the dust of earth; when his ears shall be opened to hear the sacred music of the celestial world, and he shall behold and partake of the eternal felicity prepared for those who have conquered the world by the power given from above. There in the Temple not made with hands we shall one day know each other, and the recognition will be blessed with the presence of Him to whom we owe all good gifts and to whom we shall join in paying homage for ever and ever. And now, with feelings of the deepest thankfulness and gratitude, I desire to express my appreciation of the fraternal regard and confidence bestowed upon me when one year ago you called me to the dignified and honorable post of presiding officer of this Association. I am rejoiced to note that we have met together in peace and concord. We have had a delightful year of prosperity and enjoyment as Masons, as true friends and as a real fraternal brotherhood, grafted as we are upon the tree of Masonry, which is ever growing in unity and power. Our meetings have been happy gatherings all during the year. No dissenting voice has disturbed our harmony. Only rejoicing has dwelt in our songs, recitations, and addresses, which have awakened the pleasur- able emotions that have made the social hall of our spacious and honored Temple reverberate with good cheer and gladness at each of our monthly meetings. I hope that we shall ever meet and live together in harmony, love and friendship, as 7 becomes our Masonic brotherhood and the object of this vener- able society. And now I will ask your attention for a short time while I speak of “The Rise and Progress of Masonic Veteran Associa- tions.” First, we may ask why these Masonic Veteran Associations were formed, and what was their object? - They were instituted from the same cause and for the same purpose as the alumni associations of colleges and universities. Good Masons are faithful in their attendance upon meetings and in performing all the work planned for them at the founda- tion of the Order. But after twenty-one years of such true service and such ardent study they are so thoroughly competent that they need no further instruction. They have worked so faithfully that they sometimes become weary of the routine, and advancing time makes them less capable of taking part in the very enjoyable portion of the meetings after the arduous duties are completed. Like college graduates, they have become fully competent in the craft, and, like them, they feel like resting after the hard, earnest study and toil, of the years required for their graduation, have passed. They have so mastered the lore and landmarks of Masonry, and have so accomplished the work required of them, that they feel they may well pass plumb, compass and square to younger hands while they lean back and rest. Competent to teach the grand lessons of the Holy Bible, to lead in the lines of charity and brotherly love, to aid in securing upon these great foundations the beautiful structure that has lasted for ages, and will last for ages more, they found one among them who suggested the formation of an association in which the veterans might meet in loving con- verse, and while still remembering every detail of their Master Mason toil, they could rest and enjoy the sweet pleasure of brotherly union and social good-will, in anticipation of meeting and enjoying endless peace and rest in the bright land beyond. Therefore, on June 17, 1871, the first Masonic Veteran Association was organized in the State of Connecticut. The proposition for such an institution was made by Brother Robert C. Naramore, who subsequently lived in the city of Sing Sing, N. Y. His original intention was simply to have a meeting place for the brethren who had grown old in the craft, that they might have an opportunity to talk over Masonic usages and note the passing events as only Masonic brethren understand them. It is to him we feel that we must accord the honor of 8 originating such a society of veteran friendship and association. Brother Naramore has passed away, but his plan has grown and systematically organized itself and proved a source of delight to his veteran brothers. The second society of the kind was instituted, in New York City, on January 25, 1872, by the efforts of Brother Daniel Sickles. Brother Sickles was one of the most active early members of that society, which is now very large and most hospitable. Its visitation to our Association on April 30th of the present year (1901) was an extremely enjoyable and memorable event. Brother Sickles was mainly influential in systematizing the Associations and planning the form in which they are now conducted. In fact, Brother George R. Metcalf, President of the Masonic Veteran Association of Minnesota, stated, in his able address before that Association in St. Paul on January 9, 1894, “that Brother Daniel Sickles deserves the credit of organizing the first systematic association for the pur- pose of perpetuating existing friendship, forming new friend- ships, keeping alive and fructifying the zeal of the brethren, placing before younger craftsmen an example of long-continued devotion to the cause and of zeal that cannot be affected by changes and vicissitudes of time or season, to assist in develop- ing and preserving the history of the fraternity, to pay the last tribute of respect to departed members of the Association and to preserve in its archives a memorial of their lives and ser- vices.” Brother Metcalf then read a letter upon the subject which he had received from Brother Sickles. It was as follows: “I think the idea and the object of the organization I can justly claim. It was not new at the time of Our Organization, for I had talked it up and endeavored to effect it for more than three years before it was completed. In the meantime a district in the vicinity of New Haven, Conn., embracing about four Lodges, had concluded to have an old-fashioned festival, and, as such an event had not taken place with them for many years, it was thought wise, as well as fraternal, to seek out and gather all the old members who were living at the time of the Morgan anti-Masonic excitement, without regard to age or their then connection with the fraternity. I saw quite a number who were present at this gathering, and they spoke of it in glowing terms. They founded an association at that time, making all the old brethren honorary members. With this to encourage ‘me, I renewed my efforts again, and even then the task was somewhat difficult. But at length the child was born, and now 9 has assumed the proportions of manhood and is making quite a little noise outside of our own family.” We can plainly understand, therefore, that though we must accredit the first meeting and the instituting of a Veteran Association to Brother Naramore, the honor of organizing and carrying them on as now conducted must be given to Brother Sickles. While in this connection I must state that the Minnesota Masonic Veteran Association is exemplary as being not only created for Social meeting, but it is also an historical society, having prepared a number of historical papers embracing numerous points of Masonic interest in Minnesota. I think our society should adopt such a plan for the future, having a sum- mary of our proceedings printed annually, thus making and keeping a good history of our Association for futurity, so that after we have entered into the celestial world others may see how faithful we have been as craftsmen in our beloved Order. I will append to this address a summary of the Masonic Veteran Associations with which I am familiar, and, so far as I can glean, the facts relating to their formation. This may be valuable for reference, and may be filed in the archives of our society, open to any member who may desire to increase his knowledge in regard to kindred associations. I have been care- ful in compiling this summary, writing it up from recent letters direct from officers of the societies, as well as from the address of M. V. Brother G. R. Metcalf, and from the address delivered by M. V. Brother William James Hughan, of Torquay, Eng- land, before the British National Society in 1897, and also from an article written by Wor. Brother W. J. Allen in the Hudson River Trestle Board, November, 1901, published at Newburgh, N. Y. From all of these I have gleaned many points of interest, and I here express my thanks to their authors for pamphlets on the subject. - • A Leaving the remaining Associations, we will speak only of this one, the Pennsylvania, which, with deep affection, we call our own. It stands seventh in the line of Masonic Veteran Associations, having been formed on June 3, 1881, by a num+ ber of prominent and active Master Masons of Philadelphia, foremost among whom was M. V. Brother Charles E. Meyer, who was honored by being elected our first President, and was re-elected for four terms in succession. The original members were Masonic Veteran Brothers John Harold Wyckoff, Edward S. Wyckoff, William J. Kelly, M. Richards Mucklé, Collin M. I O Gatchell, John L. Young, Dennis F. Dealy, Thomas J. Bellville, Richard Brown, William H. Dougherty, William Elder, Benja- min D. Franklin, Charles H. Kingston, J. Parker Martin, Edward Masson, Isaac H. O'Harra, Henry F. Prince, Benjamin F. Sage, John Sartain, William D. Shubert, William H. Burk- hardt, Francis R. Gatchell, John Keller, Jr., Michael Nisbet, Andrew M. Rambo, Jacob Roberts, Anthony E. Stocker and Richard Vaux, all of whom helped in the organization, and we have but to recall their names to show that they were worthy Master Masons, mature in Masonic labor and in all requisite qualifications. - . - - Sad to say, of these twenty-nine original members, sixteen have been called away by the Reaper, Death. The others are nearly all still active in the meetings, which have been enhanced by the addition of many new members. The Past Presidents have been, in succession, Most Vener- able Brothers Charles E. Meyer, Collin M. Gatchel, J. Parker Martin, Edward Masson, Charles W. Packer, Thomas J. Bel- ville, Robert J. Linden, John S. Stevens, Jacob W. Jackson, George W. Kendrick, Jr., William H. Burkhardt, Robert Arthur, Clifford P. Allen, John Mariner, Samuel I. Givin, Jesse G. Mecutchen and Arthur A. Muth. The officers for the year now closing have been Venerable Brother Bushrod Washington James, President; V. Brother Amos H. Hall, First Vice-Presi- dent; V. Brother Robert A. Caskey, Second Vice-President; V. Brother M. V. B. Davis, Third Vice-President; V. Brother Charles W. Packer, Secretary, and V. Brother M. Richards Mucklé, Treasurer. Our meetings have been held, with the exception of the sum- mer months, on the last week day of each month, at the Masonic Temple, at half past seven o’clock in the evening. Our present membership numbers six hundred and four active and nineteen honorary members. During the year fifty-two new members have been admitted and twenty-six have been removed from our midst by death, and, though we mourn their departure, we are glad to say that this is the smallest number of deaths we have had in any other Masonic year of recent date. In the earlier days of this Association a blank was furnished to each new member, which he was instructed to fill out. In doing so he furnished in few words the history of his Masonic life, the offices which he had filled, and this, being filed, secured to the Society a faithful and useful record of its members and their history to the date of their admission. I am sorry that I I this has been discontinued, for I think it was a grand step in the right direction. I have referred to this matter before, and for this reason I would ask pardon, because to my mind it would be well worth while to renew the practice. - A very important event in the occurrences of the past year was the visitation we received from the Masonic veterans of New York and Brooklyn, to whom we tendered a joyful recep- tion on April 30, 1901. Among the visitors was the Most Venerable Theophilus Pratt, who has been honored at home and abroad. He was one of the founders of the New York Masonic Veteran Association, and is shown most ardent respect in this country as the oldest Masonic veteran, he having already cele- brated his fiftieth anniversary as a Free and Accepted Mason before he paid us this visit. Addresses were delivered at this reception by Most Venerable George W. Arnold, President of the New York society, and M. Ven. Charles A. Shaw, President of the Brooklyn society. We had the pleasure also of hearing speeches by Venerable . George McGown, Grand Lecturer of the Grand Chapter of New York; Past Grand High Priest M. V. George E. W. Stewart; Past Presidents M. V. Thomas Hillson, John H. Russell and John Alsdorf; V. Secretary Robert S.Wardle, M.V. A. B. Martin, Colonel T. Alston Brown and several others of the distinguished guests who honored us with their presence. We also heard addresses from such distinguished brethren as Right Worshipful Grand Master George E. Wagner, highly learned in the landmarks of Freemasonry and truly esteemed throughout the jurisdiction wherever known, whose pleasant voice has many times been heard teaching and exhorting us to faithfulness in every duty and in our work as active Masons; R. W. Past Grand Master William J. Kelly, prompt, active and respected, and that eloquent and willing worker in our craft, R. W. Deputy Grand Master Edgar A. Tennis, and the cheerful representative of good and true brotherhood, R. W. Junior Grand Warden George W. Kendrick, Jr., all of whom made memorable speeches at this reception given to our visiting brethren from New York and Brooklyn. To us at least that visitation was a most enjoyable return for our visit of a previous time. The banquet, the company and the hall were alive with pleasant faces and gracious voices, and we doubt not that the occasion cemented still more securely the fraternal love of our kindred associations, and that it will ever remain a most agree- able memory to all who were privileged to be present. I 2 A vein of genuine patriotism pervades our membership to such a degree that upon the nearest meeting evening to Wash- ington's Birthday and the Fourth of July the banquet room and the President's chair are decorated with flags and bunting, while the music and other exercises are of a national and patriotic character. This year, probably more than ever before, our members have fully enjoyed this feature of these special Occasions. The “New Year's Eve” meeting was a large and most enthu- siastic assemblage of our members, probably the largest regular monthly meeting ever held; but the closing of the wonderful nineteenth century and the auspicious opening of the twentieth century at midnight doubtless added greatly to the enjoyment of the same. The prosperity of our Order during the past century and the review of its increase, together with the dawn of the incoming new century, made this meeting a memorable one. The impressive memorial exercises held in memory of our beloved and honored brother, the late President William Mc- Kinley, made a lasting impression, and showed our token of regard for this great and noble man and brother. - In reviewing the closing year, we find that we have had a better average attendance at our monthly meetings than hereto- fore, seating two hundred, and sometimes a much greater num- ber of members, while the menus have been abundant and most enjoyable. - Our sincere thanks are due to the officers of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, who granted us the privilege of meeting in its gloriously beautiful Temple. It is certainly a favor bestowed upon us, who are really not a Masonic Lodge, though composed of none but Masonic veterans of twenty-one years’ standing; and it is only by the favor and sanction of the Grand Lodge that we are permitted to hold our regular meetings and our reunions in this beautiful building, sacred to the heart of every member of our fraternity throughout the State. . . . . . . . Thanks are also due our faithful and ever-careful Secretary, who has performed his duties well; and to our worthy Treasurer, who, though crowned with Masonic honors, has given us the best of his executive ability in attending to our finances so promptly and accurately and for presenting his reports without delay. • - We must also thank the Past Presidents who have attended our meetings and been courteously prompt in responding to any I 3 call of the President. The Vice-Presidents also have been in their respective chairs uniformly, and the musical members of our society have been most kind and willing to give us music and songs in good measure whenever they were requested to add to the entertainment, and we assure them of our thanks, as well as our appreciation. - Nor must we forget to express most hearty thanks to the generous Superintendent of the Temple and to his attendants, all of whom have willingly obliged us in arranging for our " comfort. - " - We must also gratefully thank the Temple Quartette, who voluntarily tendered us an evening of delightful song and entertainment. And, last of all, I most sincerely thank you, my brethren of the Association, one and all, for your faithful attendance and your kindly attention to all the business matters of the society. You have all done well, and I am confident that you will continue in the faithful discharge of your every duty in the future. - I am humbly thankful that upon retiring from the honorable office to which you so generously called me I leave the Associa- tion prosperous and ever faithful to its every obligation, and I shall bear with pride the title of Past President of this portion of our beloved fraternity. With a full heart, I thank you one and all once more for every brotherly attention to duty and every sign of courteous fellowship. And now we will spare a little time to speak of the twenty-six brethren who have been called to cross the limiting line of this earthly life. We remem- ber, them with feelings of deep affection; we part from them with the sorrow of parting made glad with the anticipation that for them there was a happy home in the great world of ever- lasting life. They are even now enjoying the spiritual pleasures of a new existence in that glorious land of supernal happiness. They worked most ardently in the craft; they were faithful to the teachings of our blessed keystone, the Holy Bible, and when their hands could no longer labor, nor their voices teach the glorious principles of Freemasonry, the triune virtues of Fraternity, Charity and Truth, they turned from their duties knowing that they would be fitly taken up by those who remain. We take their places reverently; we sorrow for them tenderly, and we remember them always, cherishing their earthly friend- ship and looking forward to that time when we, too, shall join with them in unalloyed happiness in that temple beyond, whose construction required neither plummet-line, square nor com- I4 pass; whose walls are built of masonry indestructible, because the Great Architect of the universe was the builder, and to whose glorious, transcendent happiness we are invited when our life labor is fitly accomplished. When that day comes may we all with heaven-sweet voices sing: - “We thank Thee, O Father of all, for the power Of aiding each other in life's darkest hour— The generous heart and the bountiful hand, And all the soul help that sad souls understand. “We thank Thee, O Father, for days yet to be, (? For hopes that our future will call us to Thee— That all our eternity form, through Thy love, One thanksgiving day in the mansions above.” №aeae ---- →ſº：№. º w HILE SHEPHERDs w ATCHED THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT” * * º º *** NUMERICAL LIST of MASONIC VETERAN ASSOCIATIONS. No. I. Connecticut Masonic Veteran Association. 2. The Masonic Veterans of New York City. 3. Ohio Masonic Veterans' Association. 4. Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast. 5. The Masonic Veterans' Association of Central New York. 6. Masonic Veteran Association of the District of Columbia. 7. Masonic Veteran Association of Pennsylvania. 8. Indiana Masonic Veteran Association. * 9. Masonic Veterans of Lockport, N. Y. IO. Association of Masonic Veterans of Western Pennsylvania. II. Masonic Veteran Association of Illinois. - 12. Washington Masonic Veteran Association. I3. Louisiana Masonic Veteran Association. I4. Nebraska Veteran Freemasons. " I5. Brooklyn Masonic Veterans. - I6. Masonic Veteran Association of Albany, N. Y. I7. Masonic Veterans’ Association of the M. W. Grand Lodge. of F. and A. M. of the State of New Jersey. I8. Masonic Veteran Association of Vermont. 19. Masonic Veteran Association of the State of Iowa. 2O. Masonic Veteran Association of Troy and Vicinity, New York. , - 21. Greenpoint Masonic Veterans, of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N. Y. . . . . . . . ; 22. Masonic Veteran Association of the State of Minnesota. 23. National Masonic Veterans’ Association. - - 24. Masonic Veteran Association of Rhode Island. . . . . 25. Masonic Veteran Association of Northeastern Pennsyl- vania. . . . . . . t 26. Asociacion de Veteranos Masones de la Isla de Cuba. 27. Masonic Veterans of Kentucky. - - 28. Masonic Vétérair’Association of Tennessee. 293. The Memphis' Masonic Veteran Association. . . . . . 363" Masonic Veteran Association of Maryland. . . . . . . . . v. J 8 31. The Masonic Veteran Association of Utica, N. Y. 32. Masonic Veterans’ Association of Newburgh, N. Y. 33. Masonic Veterans’ Association, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. - 34. National Masonic Veteran Association of Great Britain, Ireland and the Colonies and Dependencies of the Brit- ish Crown, England. 35. Veteran Association of the Masonic Home, Utica, N. Y. 36. Michigan Masonic Veteran Association. 37. Scottish Masonic Veterans, Hamilton, Scotland. 38. Masonic Veteran Association of South Dakota. 39. Masonic Veterans' Association of Mt. Vernon, N. Y. No. 1. Connecticut Masonic Weteran Association Thus far there has been no general opposition to the state- ment that the Connecticut Masonic Veteran Association has the honor of being the first one of the kind in the world. Its founder, Most Venerable Robert C. Naramore, had no idea of instituting a new organized Masonic body whose name should stand as a memorial in the annals of Freemasonry. Its history commenced in a quiet grave-yard at Southford, near Birming- ham, Conn., at which place Brother Naramore was officiating at a funeral of one of the fraternity. While preparing for the ceremony three old men approached him and asked that they might be permitted to join in the rites. They came like brothers who regretted that they had for many years neglected the obligations of friendship and brotherhood laid upon them in their initiation into the Order. He acknowledged their fellow- ship, and while the tears were still wet upon the cheeks of those who sorrowed for the departed comrade he conceived the plan of calling just such brethren to meet together to talk over their experiences, and to renew their loyalty. Brother Naramore proposed this, and the delinquents promised to meet when notified. This was the nucleus from which sprang the Con- necticut Masonic Veteran Association, which was organized at Birmingham, Conn., June 17, 1871. The meeting was held under the auspices of King Hiram Lodge, No. 12, of that city, and there were many old Masons at the reunion, one, Bro. Stephen Trowbridge, a veteran of ninety-two years of age, wore an apron that he bought in France fifty-six years.before. I9 as a member of the Order is required to make one eligible to admission in this Association. Brother Naramore was the first President, and was retained in office until 1879, when he removed to Sing Sing, N. Y. He is now deceased. - - The President at this time is ven. William Wallace Lee, of Meriden, Conn. The first Secretary was Bro. V. Rev. C. N. Lewis, of Montpelier, Vt., who still holds that honorable position. The Association holds its meetings on the Thursday Of the week in which the 24th of June occurs. Twenty-five years c No. 2. The Masonic Veterans of New York City The second Masonic Veteran Association was organized on January 25, 1872, in New York, and adopted the title of The Masonic Veterans of New York City. Though superseded some months by the Connecticut Association, it stands first as an organization based upon definite purposes. The credit of its formation is ever gratefully conceded to Most Venerable Daniel Sickles, who planned as its platform the perpetuation of existing friendships, the formation of new ones, keeping alive and making fruitful the zeal of the fraternity, placing before young craftsmen examples of continued devotion to the cause with a zeal not to be affected by the changes or vicissitudes of time and seasons, assisting in developing and preserving the history of the fraternity, paying final tributes of respect to departed brethren and preserving in the archives an appropriate memorial of their lives and services. Twenty-one years as members of the Masonic Order was decided upon as the requisite for admission into the Association, and has been adopted as the limit by the majority of these Associations. Brother Sickles is justified in looking with pride upon the out- 2O come of his patient and earnest work, particularly as he has willingly credited priority to the Association formed by M. V. Brother Naramore, though the plan was slowly developing in his mind many years before the kindly inspiration waked to life in that quiet grave-yard in Connecticut. M. V. Daniel Sickles was the first President of the New York Masonic Veterans. The President at this time is Venerable Brother Jacob Vough, of New York City. The first Secretary was V. Brother Albert eterans. P. Moriarty. The position is now filed by V. Brother Robert S. Wardle, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Meetings are held on the 20th, 30th or 31st of each month, and the Annual Feast is celebrated on the 25th of January, unless it occurs on Sunday, another day is selected. The elections are held annually in May. This Association has h ~ R - - - - - - - hundred in all, while at this time there are seven hundred notices sent out for each meetin which shows the continued prosperity of the society. we are going to press we are Inotified that Our esteem -1. :O Dani ickles died on January 18, 1902. W -- 11, 21. sº-º-ow, No. 3. Ohio Masonic Weterans’ Association lines as the New York soc --" quently changed to twenty-one years. The first President was of eighteen - -- - - - - . . - The third Masonic Veteran Association was organized in Ohio on October 15, 1872, at Columbus. It was based upon the same ociety. Originally it required twenty- M. V. Brother William B. Thrall, who died in 1873, before his term had expired, the vacancy being filled by Vice-President M. V. Brother Jacob Graff. It has been a prompt and active organization, meeting at the same time and place as the Grand Lodge of Ohio, and its annual proceedings are published with those of the Grand Lodge. The President now in office is Venerable Brother S. S. Williams, of Newark, Ohio. The Secretary is V. Brother Edwin Morrell, of Columbus, Ohio. The entrance fee of $2 required from the members is not sup- plemented by any further dues. Th one of its kind in the State. ssociation is the only 2 I No. 4. The Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast - Fourth in the list stands the Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast. It was organized at San Francisco on January 8, 1879, under the active influence of M. V. Brother Edwin Allen Sherman, 33°. The jurisdiction of this Associa- tion is by far the greatest in extent of any such organization, embracing as it does the eleven States and Territories on the Pacific Slope, besides Alaska, British Columbia, Mexico, Central America, the Philippine and the Hawaiian Islands. Of late years the requirement of twenty-one years as Master Masons to constitute eligibility to membership has been curtailed to four- teen years, provided the applicant has held office in his Lodge seven years of that time. The first President of this Associa- tion was M. V. Brother Columbus Waterhouse, 33°, of San Francisco. He is deceased. The President is now Venerable Brother Wm. A. January, of San Jose. There are a number of Vice-Presidents, including some of the most noble and worthy citizens and true Masonic brethren in the magnificent Western country. Among them is numbered M. W. Brother Porfirio Diaz, 33°, President of the Republic of Mexico. President Diaz is respected as a brother worthy of emulation by the members of the craft throughout the world. The Vice- Presidents from other parts of the jurisdiction are mostly high degree Masons, and all most worthy and honorable members of our fraternity. The first Secretary was V. Brother Edwin A. Sherman, of Oakland, Cal., who still holds that responsible office, as a letter in my hand attests. He has also favored me with a pamphlet in blue and gold containing a history of the Association and photo- gravures of the Presidents, Vice-Presidents and himself. It also contains a fine picture taken from a drawing made by him in 1849, representing Sutter's Fort, Sacramento, Cal., the spot upon which the first Masonic Hospital was located. Brother Sherman, who is also Past National President of the Masonic Veteran Association of the United States, had the honor of being Grand Marshal of the Pacific Division of States and Territories at the funeral of our first martyr President, Abraham Lincoln, in New York City, April 25, 1865. - The meetings of this Association are held in October of each year, and an annual memorial service in honor of departed brethren is held on the Sunday evening preceding the 25th of 22 December whenever it can be so arranged. From a first mem- bership of twenty-three, this society has swelled to a member- ship of one thousand one hundred and three, all active and in good Standing. No. 5. The Masonic Weterans’ Association of Central New York The Masonic Veteran Association of Central New York was fifth in order of organization. It was formed in Syracuse, N. Y., on May 24, 1879. The leading spirit in its institution was V. Brother George Judd Gardiner. Its first President was M. V. Brother James S. Leach, and its first Secretary V. Brother George Judd Gardiner. From a first membership of about one dozen, the roll has increased to two hundred and ninety-three active and five honorary members. The President is now Venerable Brother Lewis T. Robinson, the Secretary V. Brother H. W. Greenland. Meetings are held monthly, on the first Tuesday of the month, in the Masonic Hall at Syracuse, N. Y. The annual meeting for election of officers is held June 24th, and the Annual Feast on December 27th. This Association claims that it would have had priority of organization in New York had the papers legalizing its forma- tion not been delayed in the office of the Secretary of State. It is one of the most prosperous societies in the fraternity. 23 Sº…2 No. 6. Masonic Weteran Association of the District of Columbia cº The Masonic Veteran Association of the District of was the sixth organization of its kind. It was inaugurated under the active influence of M. V. Brother Albert Pike, dis- tinguished as a Mason and a public official of high attainments. When the Association was organized, in Washington, August 20, 1879, Brother Pike was elected its first President, with V. Brother William M. Ireland as first Secretary. There were ten brethren at the organization, the number at this time being two hundred and sixty-one active and twelve honorary members. The President is Venerable Brother William Gibson, the Secretary V. Brother Albert H. Van Deusen. The meetings are held but once a year, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in January. The Annual Banquet is spread on January 23d, St. John the Almoner's Day, unless it should fall on Sunday, when another day is selected. No. 7. Masonic Weteran Association of Pennsylvania The seventh upon the list was the Masonic Veteran Associa- tion of Pennsylvania, which was organized in Philadelphia, on 24 June 3, 1881. The honor of having formed this society is due to the able and enthusiastic efforts of M. V. Brother Charles E. Meyer, who was at once elected its first President. The first Secretary was V. Brother Dennis F. Dealy. The society was organized with twenty-nine members, but the number is now six hundred and four active and nineteen honorary mem- bers. The Association meets on the last day of each month, except when it falls upon Sunday, and there is always good cheer, genial fellowship and a happy anticipation of future sociability. The annual election is held in November, but the officers do not assume their duties until St. John the Evan- gelist's Day. There are always three Vice-Presidents, and when his time expires the President is succeeded by the first Vice-President, each Vice-President being promoted in turn. The annual election is, therefore, devoted to the selection of a third Vice-President, and the retiring President is called Past President. The President at this time, is Venerable Brother Bushrod Washington James. The Secretary is V. Brother Charles H. Packer. This Association meets in the Masonic Temple, Philadelphia. . . . . . No. 8. Indiana Masonic Weteran Association The eighth in order of organization was the Indiana Masonic Veteran Association, which was organized, with thirty-two members, on May 29, 1884, at Indianapolis, under the influence of V. Brother Martin H. Rice, of that city, who was the first Secretary, and has ever since served in the same capacity. The first President was the Venerable Brother Christian Fetta, of Richmond, who has been retained in the chair ever since the organization. A communication received very recently shows this Association to be in quite an inactive condition, no meeting having been held since 1892. 'Make another rally, brethren. No. 9. Masonic veterans of Lockport, N. Y. The ninth Masonic Veteran Association was organized in Lockport, N. Y., June 24, 1884, and had for its founder Most Wor. Bro. John Hodge, Past Grand Master of New York. There were ten members present at the organization, and the founder was at once elected President (or Venerable Chief). .V. Brother W. H. McCoy was elected first Secretary, and has been continuously retained in that office. The Association as numbers forty active and one honorary member, and it is in quite a prosperous condition. Meetings are held on the last Thursday in every month. The President is now Venerable Brother C. N. Palmer. No. 10. Association of the Masonic Veterans of Western Pennsylvania The Association of Masonic Veterans of Western I vania was the tenth organization of the kind, and was fo s in Pittsburg on November 30, 1885. V. Brothers Willia B. Lupton, Joseph Eichbaum, William H. Slack and J. Lytle were actively influential in the organization, which at that time included thirty members. The first President was M. V. Brother George Glass. This Association has prospered from the beginning, the number of active members being three hundred and ninety. The President at this time is Venerable Brother John D. Biggert, and the Secretary V. Brother Theodore F. Anshutz. Meetings are held quarterly, in March, June, September and December. The Annual Reunion occurs on the second Wednesday in October, and the Annual Election December 31st. - VETERANs s - *: --- |ón Z|} - |O O|| Q - UD || | * - < à O |L L |NO |S No. 11. Masonic Veteran Association of Illinois On January 13, 1886, the eleventh Masonic Veteran Associa- tion was organized in Chicago, Ill. One hundred members 26 were present, and M. V. Brother D. C. Cregier was elected first President. V. Brother Gil W. Barnard, who was very active in founding the Association, was elected first Secretary, and has filled that position ever since. Venerable Brother General John C. Smith is the President, or Venerable Chief, at this time. Meetings are held quarterly, and the Annual Reunion occurs in October. The membership has increased to three hundred and forty-nine active and ninety-nine honorary mem- bers. The reunions are held at the residence of the Venerable Chief, Brother General Smith, who, with his wife as gracious hostess, makes the meetings at “Smith's Inn” such unique and enjoyable gatherings that their reputation has spread through- out the whole fraternity. I have received from this Association a finely illustrated pamphlet, containing a concise history of Freemasonry in the United States, that is very interesting. No. 12. Washington Masonic Weteran Association Twelfth in order of organization was the Washington Masonic Veteran Association, which was organized in Wash- ington, D.C., January 31, 1887. To be a member of this Society one must be a member in good standing in a Lodge of the Dis- trict of Columbia. From a beginning of twenty members, it has increased to a roll of two hundred and ten in good standing. The first President was M. V. Brother José M. Yznaga, and the first Secretary V. Brother L. G. Stephens. The President is now Venerable Brother Noble D. Larner, and the Secretary V. Brother Goodwin Y. At Lee. The meetings are held annually on the second Wednesday of February, when officers are elected and a tasteful banquet is served, tickets to which may be purchased by members of the fraternity not connected with that Association. No. 13. Louisiana Masonic Weteran Association The Louisiana Masonic Veteran Association was the thir- teenth organization of this kind, and was inaugurated in New Orleans on October 23, 1887. The original number of mem- bers was sixty-two, with the addition of thirty honorary members. The first President was M. V. Brother S. M. Todd, and the Secretary V. Brother Richard Lambert. As the Asso- 27 ciation has had no meeting for ten years, the list of membership must be quite uncertain, and the Officers who were originally elected still remain in office. Doubtless if this society would but meet together in Social intercourse a few times they would find themselves induced to frequently repeat the pleasant reunions. - NEBRASKA *Sº - NOSWWEEE º º P Z. E. No. 14. Nebraska Veteran Freemasons Fourteenth in order of organization was the Nebraska Veteran Freemasons, founded on January 23, 1888, at Omaha, Neb. The Association was started through the zealous efforts of V. Brothers Robert C. Jordan, William Cleburne and William, R. Bowen. The first President was M. V. Brother Robert C. Jordan, the first Secretary V. Brother William R. Bowen. It started with a membership of twenty, which has increased to one hundred and sixty-five active and three honorary members. The meetings are semi-annual, at the Communications of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska. An annual meeting is held on the 23d of January, St. John the Almoner's Day. The President is Venerable Brother Charles K. Coutant, and the Secretary V. Brother Francis E. White, both of Omaha. No. 15. Brooklyn Masonic Weterans The Brooklyn Masonic Veterans was the fifteenth Associa- tion in order. It was organized in Brooklyn, N. Y., December I5, 1888, by forty-six elder Masons of that city. At this time it boasts of seven hundred and sixty active members. The first President was M. V. Brother James E. Conor ; the first Secretary was V. Brother James Macbeth. The inaugural meeting was directed by V. Brother Robert Macoy, who was very active in founding the Association. The President is Venerable Brother Charles A. Shaw, and the Secretary V. Brother William L. Gardner. The regular meetings are held the last Saturday in each month, except July. The Annual Feast is held on the second Saturday in December, and memorial services are held annually in October. 28 Among the members are about one hundred and fifty veterans of the Civil War, who have a reunion annually in May. This Association has always been active in its meetings, the members regular in their attendance, and good cheer attends its gather- 1ngs. - No. 16. Masonic Weteran Association - of Albany, N. Y. The sixteenth Association was the Masonic Veteran Associa- tion of Albany, N. Y., which was organized in the Masonic Temple, Albany, on May 20, 1890, under the active influence of V. Brother Avery Herrick. The first President was M. V. Brother E. Darwin Jones. The first Secretary was V. Brother John Lomax. The original membership consisted of twenty-four brethren. The roll now shows one hundred and twenty-five active members, who hold meetings on the first and third Mondays in April. The President at this time is Vener- able Brother James Ten Eyck. . The Secretary is V. Brother C. C. Geller. * . - - No. 17. Masonic Weterans' Association of the M. W. Grand Lodge of F. and A. M. of the State of New Jersey This was the seventeenth Association, and was organized in Trenton, January 28, 1891, forty-five members being present; among them V. Brothers Robert M. Moore, Henry Vehslage and Hamilton Wallace, who were very active in its formation. The first President was M. V. Brother Robert M. Moore, and the first Secretary V. Brother Albert D. Winfield. The Presi- dent is now Venerable Brother Joseph W. Congdon, of Pater- son. The Secretary is V. Brother Valentine N. Bagley, of Rahway. The membership includes one hundred and thirty- four active members, each of whom has received a handsome certificate of membership, 24 x 18 inches in size. They also have received a fine intaglio badge, bearing the bust of M. W. Brother Daniel Coxe in the center. , , Meetings are held upon the first Wednesday after the fourth Tuesday in January in Trenton, N.J., and a banquet is held after this annual meeting, being at all times a very pleasant and social entertainment. lington, Vt., on June 1 No. 18. Masonic Weteran Association of Vermont The Masonic Veteran Assoc a eighteenth in order of formation - 801, with s M. V. Brother Alfred A. Hall was on of Vermont was the as organized at Bur- enty-five members. most influential in the founding of this Association, and was elected its first President. The Secretary was V. Warren G. Reynolds, who still holds that position. The membership has increased to two hundred and twenty-seven active and six honorary mem- bers. The meetings are held in “Masonic Week,” in June, at which time the annual election and banquet are held. The President now serving is Venerable Brother Henry L. Stillson, of Bennington. No. 19. Masonic Veteran Association of the State of Iowa The nineteenth organization of Masonic º was the ociation of the State of Iowa, which was ave failed in ob eynolds, of Burlington, No. 20. Masonic Veteran Association of Troy and Vicinity, New York This was the twentieth in order of the Masonic Veteran Associations, and was organized January 25, 1802, at Troy, N. Y., under the earnest work of V. Brother J. F. Shafer. The first meeting was held in the Masonic Temple, at which thirty- six Masonic veterans were present. The Association now boasts of three hundred and eight active members. The first President was M. V. Brother Jesse B. Anthony, and the first Secretary was V. Brother Henry Stowell, 33°, of Troy, who still retains the Office. - - The President is now Venerable Brother John T. Ross, of Albany. Meetings are held annually on the third Friday in February, at which time officers are elected and the brethren are entertained with a tasteful banquet. - No. 21. Greenpoint Masonic Weterans, Brooklyn, N. Y. The Greenpoint Masonic Veterans was the twenty-first Asso- ciation in line. It was organized by members of the Brooklyn Masonic Veteran Association, May 7, 1892. The idea for its formation was to accommodate those members living at Green- point. Eight years afterward it became a part of the Brooklyn organization again, and by so doing added considerable influ- ence and strength to the parent association. No. 22. Masonic Weteran Association of the State of Minnesota The twenty-second in order of organization was the Masonic Veteran Association of the State of Minnesota, which was inaugurated on June 23, 1892, at St. Paul, Minn. It originated with nine members, among whom M. V. Brother George R. Metcalf was the dominant spirit. He was elected its first President, and has been held in that most honorable capacity ever since. The first Secretary, who also retains the position, was V. Brother G. W. Merrill. This Association has now three hundred and forty active and twenty-One honorary members. Meetings are held in January at the same time as the meetings of the Grand Lodge of Minne- sota. An exemplary feature of this society is that it has assumed the nature of an historical society, having prepared several fine historical papers relating to the progress of Free- masonry in the State. In his annual address, delivered before the Association on January 9, 1894, Venerable Brother Metcalf presented a very interesting summary of kindred Asso- ciations that had been organized to that date. The Minnesota veterans can congratulate themselves upon having a very fine and commendable society. - - 32 No. 23. National Masonic Weteran Association Twenty-third in order of Organization stands the National Masonic Veteran Association, instituted August 10, 1892. This was really intended to embrace delegations from all the State ... sign has not been carried out S the small number of State important matter has yet of delegates. - º No. 24. The Masonic Weteran Association of Rhode Isl --- eteran clation Of Rhod wenty-fourth on the list of ized August 25, 1892, at Providenc 1, 1 US 101 1114t 1911 Wol tie to the zealous efforts of M. V. Brother James H. Arming- on, of Riverside, who has been President from its organization. The first Secretary was V. Brother Edwin Baker. The first roll-call included twelve members. Now there are two hundred ind sixteen active members and one honorary member. The Secretary is V. Brother William E. Husband, of Providence. Meetings are held quarterly, on the third Friday in January, \pril, July and October. The annual meeting for election and for a social banquet is held in October. This Association is long the º flourishing O any in the fraternity. No. 25. Masonic Veteran Association - of Northeastern Pennsylvania - The Masonic Veteran Association of Northeastern Penn- sylvania, twenty-fifth by right of formation, was organized December 7, 1892, in Scranton, Pa., with a membership of twenty-five veterans. The first President was M. V. Brother J . The first Secretary was V. Brother - is still in office. The President is now 33 Venerable Brother Frank Leuthner. The Association has one hundred and fifty-six members. Meetings are held the first Monday in March, June, September and December. They have an annual meeting and banquet, when a very pleasant reunion is held under the auspices of the Association. No. 26. Asociacion de Veteranos Masones de la Isla de Cuba Twenty-sixth in line of succession was the Asociacion de Veteranos Masones de la Isla de Cuba, which also stands first as a Veteran Association outside the limits of the United States. It was organized May 28, 1893, at Havana. Its success was due to the commendable efforts of G. M. V. Brother J. F. Pellon and V. Brother F. de P. Rodriguez. It began with twenty-one members, the number now being ninety-four active and eight honorary members. The first President was Vener- able Brother Octavio Rodriguez Perez, who still presides. V. Brother Francisco de P. Rodriguez was the first Secretary, and still remains in office. Owing to the short life of Masonry in the island, the qualification for membership calls for fifteen years in the craft, and is to remain so until membership of longer standing becomes available. - - - The meetings of this Association are held in January, April, July and October. cº, During the tº spanish.cºm War all Masonic bodies were broken up and Masonry discouraged by the Spanish army, but they have since been restored by the occupation of the American forces. 34 No. 27. Masonic Weterans of Kentucky The twenty-seventh Association of Masonic veterans was instituted in Louisville, June 24, 1893, under the worthy efforts of M. V. Brother H. B. Grant, who was elected its first Presi- dent. The first Secretary was V. Brother James W. Hopper. This Association was organized with but six members. The number has increased to thirteen, with a bright prospect for future success, as the meetings will be held, after this year, in a grand new Masonic Temple which is being erected. six stories in heigh and will have all the qualifications requisite time is Venerable Brother James W. Staton, of Brookville, and the Secretary V. Brother James A. Hudget, of Louisville. Meetings are held annually in October, when the election and all other business is transacted. - No. 28. Masonic Veteran Association of Tennessee The twenty-eighth Masonic Veteran Association was organ- ized in Nashville, Tenn., January 29, 1894, with fifty-two mem- bers. Its institution was proposed by V. Brother George ( Connor, who worked faithfully for the success of the undertak- ing, and who was elected its first Secretary. The first President was M. V. Brother John Frizzell. The President at this time is Venerable Rev. W. S. Findlay, of Sparta, and the Secretary V. Brother Wm. G. Sadler, of Nashville. The membership has increased to seventy-seven active Masons. A very beautiful certificate is presented to each in token of membership. Meet- ings are held on the last Tuesday in January, when, after busi- ness matters are attended to, there is an annual banquet, from which, it is distinctly understood, all intoxicants are forever excluded, - to make it superior in every particular. The President at this 35 No. 29. Memphis Masonic Veteran Association The Memphis Masonic Veteran Association, twenty-ninth in order of organization, was inaugurated at Memphis, Tenn., on March 23, 1894, through the influential efforts of M. V. Brother B. F. Price, who was elected first President, and V. Brother T. J. Barchus, its first Secretary. The latter still remains in office, but the present President is Venerable Brother Alexander Allison. From forty-nine members at organization, this Association has grown rapidly. It now num- bers one hundred and sixty-one active members. Meetings are held annually in March. No. 30. Masonic veteran Association of Maryland Thirtieth in line of succession was the Masonic Veteran Asso- ciation of Maryland, organized at Baltimore, in May, 1894, with twenty members. The chief actor in the formation of this society was M. V. Brother George L. McCahan, of Baltimore, who has been its only President thus far. The Secretary, Brother William M. Isaac, of Towson, has also retained his position since the first election. There are now in the Associa- tion eighty-seven active and ten honºrary members, all Of whom take an interest in its welfare. Meetings are held on the 22d of February, the second Tuesday in May and the third Tuesday in November. No. 31. Masonic Weteran Association of Utica, N. Y. - The Masonic Veteran Association of Utica was the thirty- first society of the kind, and was organized on June 20, 1894, in Utica. On inquiry we find this society was disbanded a few years ago. Possibly the formation of a later Association may have been the cause of its non-success. 36 No. 32. Masonic Weterans’ Association of Newburgh, N. Y. g This, the thirty-second Masonic Veteran Association, was organized at Newburgh, December 27, 1894, with thirty mem- bers, prominent among whom was R. Wor, Brother Charles H. Halstead, a member of Hudson River Lodge, who was actively interested in its institution. The roll now contains one honor- ary and one hundred and five active members. The first Presi- dent was Venerable Brother Wilbur H. Weston, who still pre- sides. V. Brother Sylvester W. Holdredge has been their only Secretary. Meetings are held on the first Tuesday in January, May and September. The annual dinner is served on Wash- ington's Birthday, February 22d, or the day upon which it is celebrated. - No. 33. Masonic Veterans' Association, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. t This Association, which was the thirty-third in order of organization, was the first of such Associations in Europe. It was instituted at Newcastle-on-Tyne as a merely local society in I895, but on March 21, 1896, it was properly organized as a national association. The organization of this European society was due to the indefatigable efforts of V. Brother Charles Fendelow, an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Masonic Veteran Association. - e 37 No. 34. The National Masonic Weteran Association of Great Britain, Ireland and the Colonies and Dependencies of the British Crown This Association mainly owes its existence to the active inter- est displayed by V. Brother William James Hughan, the emi- ment Masonic writer, and V. Brothers Thomas B. Whytehead, Robert F. Gould, William Watson, and the lately deceased V. Brothers George Kenning and Brackstone Baker, all of whom became members of the Pennsylvania Masonic Veteran Asso- ciation through the earnest influence of V. Brother Charles E. Meyer, a founder of the Pennsylvania society. The British and Pennsylvania Associations always maintain a close fra- ternal relationship through constant correspondence, and through this we are assured that this younger society is in a very prosperous condition. Ven. Brother Charles Fendelow is now President, and Vet. Brother Fred. J. Schnitger is Secre- tary-General. - No. 35. Veteran Association of the Masonic Home, Utica, N. Y. is the thirty-fifth Association of Masonic veterans. It was organized uly 19, 1896, through the active interest of the inmates of the Home, twelve of whom formed its first membership. It has now thirty-four active and three honorary members. The original members missed the pleasant associa- tions of their home societies, and felt the need of more genial intercourse as true Masonic brethren. Therefore they con- ceive 1 and carried out the formation of this Association, whose growth has been a keen delight to the founders. Venerable Brother Henry Adams has been the President from the beginning. The first Secretary was V. Brother Peter Cum- mins. The present Secretary is V. Brother Rollin H. Gray. Meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month, and they are truly fraternal reunion - - - - No. 36. Michigan Masonic Weteran Association - 51 ic Veteran Association was organized at “Tracy's Cabin,” Detroit, Mich., November II, 1896, with 39 about six veteran Masons present. Notwithstanding their dearth of numbers, they were enthusiastic of success, and not without reason, for they now boast fifty-five active and fifty- eight honorary members. Of the latter, there is a representative from each State and Territory in the United States, and from the British Islands, Japan, Honolulu, etc. The President has always been Venerable Brother D. Burnham Tracy, and the Secretary V. Brother W. M. Bailey, both of Detroit. This Association is glad to own that V. Brother William McKinley, our late beloved President, was one of its honorary members. Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month, except July, August and September. - No. 37. Scottish Masonic Weterans, - Hamilton, Scotland The thirty-seventh Masonic Veteran Association was organ- ized on June 8, 1897, at Hamilton, Scotland, by V. Brothers William McMurdo, Archibald Turner and John Cameron, all honored members of the Brooklyn Masonic Veteran Associa- tion. We have no recent report of the progress of this Asso- ciation, but doubtless it is prospering in a quiet manner. No. 38. The Masonic Weteran Association of South Dakota This, the thirty-eighth Masonic Veteran Association, was organized at Aberdeen, S. D., on June 13, 1900, with twenty- eight members present. The credit of its formation is due to the patient efforts of V. Brother William C. Allen. The Association has prospered remarkably, the number having increased to forty-four active and four honorary members. The President is Venerable Brother Albert W. Coe, of Dead- wood, and the Secretary V. Brother Socrates Drew, of High- more. Meetings are held annually at the session of the Grand Lodge of South Dakota in June. There is not a doubt that this will become an extensive and useful Society in the West. 4O No. 39. Masonic Veteran Association of Mt. Vernon, N. Y. This, the infant Association of Masonic Veterans, and the thirty-ninth in order of formation, was organized at Mt. Vernon, N. Y., in Hiawatha Lodge rooms, on December 18, 1901. M. V. Brothers George Hayes, Franklin T. Davis and William A. Anderson were specially influential in its organiza- tion. Twenty veterans were present at the first meeting, and when the election of officers was held the following brethren were elected: President Venerable Brother George Hayes; Vice-President, V. Brother William A. Anderson; Secretary, V. Brother David C. Young; Treasurer, V. Brother Franklin T. Davis. - Of the original membership, nineteen remain, one having already been called to enter the celestial land. It is sad to know that sorrow has already entered the young Association, yet there is comfort in knowing that even now it has a golden link binding it with the Grand Lodge of brethren who have laid down their working tools and received the crown of everlasting life. e : The Association meets in the Hiawatha Lodge rooms on the first Wednesday of each month, and they look forward to add- ing quite a number of new applications for membership at the February meeting. . & We congratulate our baby Association, and hope that it will attain sturdy and vigorous growth, setting example to any of its kindred who have grown lukewarm and inciting other com- munities of Masonic veterans to meet in loving brotherhood, that the world may know that our Ancient Fraternity is neither enfeebled by centuries nor wearied with the work that has ever made skilled craftsmen. This closes the list of the Masonic Veteran Associations of the world, so far as I have been able to obtain information, and I look upon it as a most satisfactory demonstration of the advancement of these interesting social societies, whose genial atmosphere must soon draw many more, if not all, of our Masonic veteran fraternity into their reminiscent and sociable fraternal gatherings, where they may interchange such greet- ings as only Masonic brethren can enjoy. n ,3--4- ºrn ſº -7- • * - w CLASS DAY ADDRESS Delivered to the Graduating Class of the New York Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital - GEORGE FREDERICK LAIDLAW, M. D. New York ./ - - - i Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine in the New York Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital; Visiting Physician to the Flower , Hospital; Visiting Physician to the Hahnemann Hospital; Visiting Physician to the Metropolitan Hospital, Department of Public Charities of the City of Nezv York; Medical Examiner to the State Hospital for Incipient Pulmonary Tuber- culosis, Ray Brook, New York, Etc. : :: ;: Reprinted from T H E C H H R O N I A N - June, 1908 CLASS DAY ADDRESS BY GEORGE F. LAIDLAw, M. D. Eighteen years ago I stood on this platform and read a class poem. It was a pretty bad poem, even worse than that which we have just listened to, and no one has ever asked me to write another. Since that time eighteen classes have gathered here. Eighteen broad leaves have loosed their hold and fluttered from the tree. Alma Mater has the habit of turning over a new leaf every year, but in May instead of January. The leaf just turned bears the mótto, 1908, semper optimum, the best ever. As in the customary New Year's picture, 1908 is a baby. In the background is old Father Time with a scythe. This must represent the chair of surgery, for the chair of practice is quite up to date. - . . . This Alma Mater of yours is a very busy and business-like old lady. She has done her best to bring up her biggest baby, 1908, and now turns him out to shift for himself, while she busies her- self with his little brothers, 1909, 1910 and 1911. Like the old woman who lived in a shoe, she has a great many children, extending from Maine to California. They are deans of colleges, teachers of men, teachers of physicians, famous surgeons and plain every-day prac- titioners. Now I will whisper to you a little secret. Sometimes the plain practitioner has more money in the bank than the famous Surgeon. . - - Parting is usually a time of sorrow, but this is a time of joy. Parting should be watered with tears, but here I see nothing but smiles, unless it be the tears in a proud mother's eyes. There are no tears in the eyes of the sweethearts. Anticipation is but super- ficial, the deepest emotion roots in memory. Only mothers weep at weddings and, by the same token, your Alma Mater should have tears for you to-day; for to-day you break loose from the maternal funiculus or apron-string and are wedded to the world and to yout . work. However, I see few tears in the eyes of her representatives, Like Hamlet's newly acquired stepfather, “with one auspicious and one dropping eye,” she rejoices with you and congratulates you on successfully wrestling with the powers of darkness as represented by the examination papers. I assure you that some of them are very dark, indeed. - If the college is your Alma Mater, the faculty are your big brothers. With few exceptions, all of them, from the dean down, are graduates of this instiution. We stand now on an equal foot- ing, you and I. But yesterday it was “Professor, what is the best book on Practice?” “The best book on Practice is not yet written, Mr. Smith, but I expect to write it this summer, if I get time.” Now it is “Brother Alumnus, what means would you suggest for im- proving our medical course?” And brother alumnus sits down and writes a long letter. - - 's - I look at you and wonder what you will be in another eighteen years. Some of you are destined to be great; some, like Banquo's ghost, will rise and push us from our stools. I cannot tell what you may become. As Pfleiderer says of religions, “Not in the early and primitive stage do we know truly the possibilities of a man or a sys- tem; but in its gradual development, its adaption to the needs of the time, its usefulness in its day and generation.” But this I know, that no man ever grew strong and great of his own impulse or volition. We are all amoebae and made of protoplasm. When we are let alone, we sit still and grow fat. We are active only in response to external stimuli. When nature wants to make a man strong and great, she surrounds him with difficulties and hardships and watches him struggle and wriggle out. Then she gives him some more of the same. Through struggle, he grows strong. In your early days when you have plenty of strength and time, shun no responsibility Or trouble. The more difficult the work the more space you put be- tween yourself and your competitors who have not yet done it. I heard the late Governor Roswell P. Flower, of noble memory, con- gratulate a graduating class of this college upon the fact that most of them were poor and had to work for a living. He said that he knew no such incentive for work and development of character as poverty and necessity, and he expressed regret that his own sons had not the benefit of that discipline. So, when we big brothers see you breathlessly pursuing your living, trying this way and that to get ahead, to be something and somebody, we say to you, as to the little brother that we have thrown overboard to teach him to swim, “Wriggle away, little brother, struggle and wriggle. You are learn- ing a lot and getting good exercise.” - 2 At the outset of your career, you will meet misanthropists of gloomy aspect who will tell you that Homoeopathy is dead, that the American Medical Association has started to kill it with kindness, with benevolent assimilation, that your college is dead and that all the great men are dead. I can well imagine a time when, in the pro- cess of the suns, the homoeopathic doctrine and practice will be in- corporated in the great body of medical tradition, a time when the distinctive homoeopathic college will be no more; but that time is still far in the future. That the American Medical Association or the State Legislature with its State examining boards and all its power to bind and to loose, can ever kill the homoeopathic idea, I see no rea- son to believe. I have more faith than that in the vitality of an idea. You cannot legislate an idea out of existence. You can change in- stitutions but ideas survive. Consider the wonderful vitality of Greek thought and culture centuries after the Grecian cities were destroyed and their temples thrown down. You remember the old line— “CoNQUERED GREECE O'ERCAME HER CONQUERORS.” What if Macedonian and Tartar and Scythian and Roman and Hun and Arab and Goth and Turk successively swept over the city of Pericles and the plains of Sparta ? They destroyed Grecian government and institutions but not Grecian thought. Grecian phil- osophy permeated the savage conquerors and, in the kingdoms found- led by those savages, Grecian philosophy and even her mythology live to the present day. You live in a Christian country and are the heir of two thousand years of Christian teaching, but you cannot send your son to any college in this country or Europe which will not bring him under the influence of Grecian and pagan thought, of Aristotle and Plato, of Demosthenes and Socrates. Even your Christian school-boys know the names and histories of the Grecian demi-gods better than their own calendar of saints (Such is the vitality of an idea ' -- With the eruption of the northern barbarians, Greek culture took refuge in Byzantium. Then the Mahommedan came and shattered the empire and its government into fragments. The church of St. Sophia is a Moslem mosque, but Grecian thought permeated the Mohammedan schools so that to this day, in all the kingdoms that acknowledge Mahomet, from far off Persia to Morocco, you will see 3 - Moslem school boys sit cross-legged on the ground studying what? Aristotle, the Grecian philosopher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... You all remember the furor over. Fitzgerald's translation of the Persian poet, Omar Khayyam, how its profound thought and grace- ful phrases swept through the English-speaking world like a fresh breath from the sea. Whence did it come? Straight from Epicurus, the Greek, through the Saracens. . . . . . . You remember the despised and pilloried Paracelsus. His con- ception was that the human body is made of the same substance as the rest of the world, that life is a chemical process, that disease is a matter of disordered chemical reactions and that medicines are chemical reagents introduced for the purpose of regulating and cor- recting disordered chemical activity. These conceptions constituted a little stream that trickled through the iatro-chemists of the six- teenth century from van Helmont and Sylvius, broadening in Berzel- ius and Wohler and Liebig to end, through Ehrlich and von, Behring, in the immense river of organic chemistry of the present day. When, sixty years ago, the great Liebig fluttered the philosophers by demon- strating that life was a process of oxidation, and Wohler synthe- sized urea without the aid of yital force, they merely developed the ideas of Paracelsus with improved methods. On that day in 1892 when von Behring mixed in a test tube the blood of an immune rabbit with the toxin of diphtheria and demonstrated that there oc- curred a chemical reaction which destroyed the diphtheria toxin; and when, in the body of a living child, he reproduced the reaction and antidoted the poison of diphtheria within the body, the idea of Paracelsus and the iatro-chemists of the sixteenth century reached its consummation. Four hundred years of slander and misrepre- sentation could not kill the idea. . . . . So, I think that acts of legislature will never kill the homoeopathic idea. Under other names, it may be, and under other auspices than ours, it will survive. I’venture to predict that the most rabid mem- ber of the American Medical Association in its most vicious ho- moeopathic-heresy-hunting days, will not be able to send his son to any medical college in the land where he will not be taught the minute dose, the danger and the value of the medicinal aggravation and the homoeopathic principle of cure, similia similibus curantur. " So with your college. It is not dead, either, nor like to be. A col- lege is great, not in proportion to the size of its classes, but in the type of men that it attracts and educates. When, on Alumni Day, I 4. ſº l . . . - l look on a body of graduates of this institution and realize their posi- tions of trust and importance in a thousand communities' scattered over this country, I have no fear of the future of this college. “It is true that institutions and empires have their beginning, their growth and their decay; but the period of decay of this institution has not yet arrived. Passing through the present period of unrest and un- certainty, it will eliminate its outworn and useless elements and emerge all the stronger from the struggle; for, the same rule holds with institutions as with men. With a man or an institution of any character, trouble means struggle and struggle brings strength \ The struggle of this institution and of yourselves will be not only against financial limitations. There are chains as tight and barriers as strong as ever kept a man in a flat when he wanted to live in a house. They are the chains that bind the mind. You have been trained in a medical philosophy, a medical system. Beware of blind adherence to that system or supine leaning against it. In medicine, as in religion and politics, we always have had systems and we al- ways will. Systems represent man's effort to fix truth in permanent form; but truth is liquid, flowing and changeable, presenting new points of view to successive generations. A system is truth crys- tallized in a fixed form, with angles and sides that can be measured and plotted. We can master a system but we can never grasp truth itself. Like rippling water, truth ever turns new aspects. Systems are only points of view, like a photograph of running water. Sys- tems are only single phases of truth. That is the reason why there are so many of them and why not only the homoeopathic but all sys- tems carried to their logical conclusions become ridiculous. Sys- tems are only clotted truth; and the only changes that a clot can undergo are putrefaction and decay. In therapeutics the final arbiter is not a system nor a book nor a law, but nature as judged by your. own eyes. As the great Paracelsus, hemmed round by medical sects and systems, cried, “Be not Aristotelians, not Platonists; be not of the sects of Scotus nor Albertus. Be yourselves.” Opposing the teaching of Avicenna that the reading of a thousand books was of more value than seeing a thousand patients,” Paracelsus said truly, “Better treat a thousand patients than read a thousand books. Read- ing books does not make a physician. It is practice with the sick that makes a physician.” And it is to this test of practice with the sick that you must submit all systems, however plausible. The ideal sectarian is trained by a book but not bound between its covers; trained under law but not blind to its limitations. * 5 You have been trained under a sectarian name, but you have not had purely sectarian training. Your education has been as broad as the medical knowledge of the twentieth century, neglecting noth- ing. Surgery is there and electro-therapeutics and hydro-thera- peutics and mechanical therapeutics. This broad training you owe to the foresight, comprehension and courage of your dean, William Harvey King, and you will yet grow old enough to appreciate your debt of gratitude to him for the sincerity, the breadth and the catholicity of your course in therapeutics. Still, in the eyes of the world, you are sectarians, and, in a sense, you are sectarians. Sectarians are those who possess a truth which is not yet common property. There are no sectarians of the multiplication table or geography. And as sectarians, as possessors of a truth unknown to many of your fellow physicians, you are also missionaries. Of what use is a missionary among believers? His place is with the heathen. If you are invited to join allopathic societies, join them and go among them. Be not afraid of absorption of the lesser by the greater. Re- member that it is the little leaven that leaveneth the whole lump. Remember the vitality of an idea. Go out among the heathen who know not Homoeopathy and preach it to them. The world of thera- peutics is longing for exact methods. As never before, the minds of physicians have been prepared by bacteriology for the law of simi- lars and the minute dose. Go forth, then, and conquer. - The study of Medical History President's Address to the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the County of New York, January, 1908. By George F. Laidlaw, M. D. During the past ten years there has developed a marked interest in the study of the history of medicine. In many universities, both in Europe and in this country, professorships of the history of medicine have recently been established and the study made part of the regu- lar curriculum. This is especially true in Holland, where a geo- graphical and historical journal has been published for twelve years," and in Germany, where a Society for the Study of the His- tory of the Medical Sciences” and two journals” were founded about five years ago. In this country the movement is represented by the Medical Library and Historical Journal, of Brooklyn, and the publi- cations of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Historical Club.” Of histories of medicine we have always had enough and to spare, dry catalogues of facts and traditions, wearisome to read and im- possible to remember. The notable feature of the group of Ger- man physicians who comprise the Medico-Historical Society is that they approach the subject from the objective and philosophic side. Above all, they endeavor to form their conclusions by reference to the original writings, discarding legend and second-hand tradition. This sympathetic method has already produced some surprises. During all of our medical lives we have heard of Paracelsus, but when did we ever hear any good of him? Slandered and despised by contemporaries and every generation of physicians since, his 1Janus. Amsterdam. Founded 1896. 2Deutsche Gesellschaft fur. Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissen- chaften. 3. - * 8Mittheilungen fur Geschichte der Med. und Naturwiss. Founded 1902. Abhandlungen gur Geschichte der Medicin, Breslau. Founded 1902. ' *Published in Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin. name has stood as a synonym for dishonesty and charlatanism. Will it not astonish you, as it did me, to see this “monumental impostor,” Paracelsus, referred to as “the great Switzer,” “the Sage of Ein- siedeln,” “the great Einsiedeln Thinker and Hero?” . A few years ago you could not have induced any influential medi- cal journal in this country to publish an article in praise of Para- celsus. Now it is unsafe to disparage him even in the remotest corner of the medical world. In the same historical journal during a single year (1906), I find sixteen references to Paracelsus, and six of these are protests against repetition of the old calumnies. Even Paracelsus' neglect of Latin and his teaching in the German language, which has been made a reproach during the past four hundred years, has turned to honor; for, the German authors now praise him as the first German physician who gave instruction in the glorious mother tongue while Melancthon (Schwartzkopf) and others were ashamed of their uncouth German names and covered them with a Greek veneer." * - . After such a complete reversal of historic judgment as this, any- thing is possible, and I see in this method of studying medical his- tory great hope for the ultimate appreciation and understanding of Homoeopathy. The process has already begun. In the same journal (1907) I, find a review of a biography of the French apothecary, Demachy, which the reviewer says was translated by “the many- sided, actually thoroughly-educated Samuel Hahnemann.” In an- other number (1906, p. 171) I find mention of a biography of Sam- uel Hahnemann that appeared in the Cologne Popular Journal in celebration of Hahnemann's one hundred and fiftieth birthday. The only comment is a laconic “nicht ubel,” not bad. Thus grudging nicht ubel marks the dawn of a better day, the yielding of prejudice and ignorance to the sense of historic justice. It is on this sense of historic justice that we must rely for justification of our past his- tory and present position. In this historical research, there will in- evitably arise a philosophic historian who will do for Hahnemann and Homoeopathy what Strünz and Sudhoff have done for the much- abused Paracelsus. r - The history and present status of the homoeopathic school present an interesting problem for the philosophic historian. It is truly a *Mittheilungen zur Geschichte der Medizin, etc., 1904, p. 433 and 1906, p. 198, “der grosse Schweizer;” p. 164, “der Weise von Einsiedeln;” p. 165, “der grosse Einsiedler Denker und Held,” and pp. 79, 192 289 and 367. *Puschmann's Geschichte der Medicin, Vol. II. 2 curious phenomenon, this existence of two bodies of educated physi- cians, living side by side, with absolutely no mutual understanding or communication. It is well known that, in its praiseworthy efforts to unite the medical profession in this country, the American Medi-, cal Association has recently encountered this peculiar solidarity of the homoeopathic school and has tried and is now trying to under- stand it and to overcome it. The officials of the American Medi- cal Association see nothing in this separation except an unfortunate quarrel between gentlemen who were probably both in the wrong and who now have simply to apologize to each other and unite. It seems to me that a historian of the philosophic type would declare that the cause of our separate existence lies far deeper than that. The cause is to be sought in the laws that govern the larger move- ments of the human mind. It is a matter of psychology not of etiquette. • - - - Your modern philosophic historian is a great classifier. In study- ing the field of medical history to learn where to place the homoeo- pathic system, he will consider that systems of medicine in all ages have been capable of arrangement in two great classes, known, re- spectively, as vitalism and mechanism or materialism, and he will classify Homoeopathy as a form of vitalism. The vitalist believes in an intelligent vital power that presides over and guards the body that it has created. The mechanist rejects all idea of a controlling vital or creating power and regards the body as a machine, the product of physical vibration of atoms or chemical reactions that just happened to come together for a time. Hippocrates was a vitalist. His maxim, nature heals, the doctor attends and his vis medicatria. naturae were his recognition of a vital power that he could neither see nor weigh nor measure. Democritus, with his system of whirling atoms, was a mechanist. Aristotle was a vitalist, Epicurus a me- chanist. Galen was a vitalist, but his humoral doctrine became by . turns a mechanist and vitalist in succeeding centuries. The great revival of mathematical and physical science during the sixteenth century gave a mechanical turn to all philosophy of that period. One hundred years later, sixteenth century mechanism entered phy- siology with Harvey's demonstration of the physical circulation of the blood. 2. a Modern historians insist that medical thought is simply a part of the philosophy of the time and that the history of medicine can only be understood as a part of the history of human culture. It is in- 3 teresting to note that in philosophy as in medicine the vital and the mechanical principle have predominated alternately in all historic time. One has seemed to grow out of the other. The whitest lily grows from the blackest mud, and the most delicate and subtle philosophies have sprouted amid the grossest materialism. Not that the mechanism produces the vitalism any more than the mud produces the lily; but the seed of vitalism lies dormant for many years, to sprout and bloom in unexpected places. Similarly, any apparently abrupt appearances of vitalistic thought can always be traced to pre-existing forms. " . Stahl was the great vitalist of the eighteenth century. If Hahne- mann was the father of Homoeopathy, Stahl was its grandfather; though Stahl neither mentioned the law of similars nor commended small doses. Medical historians miss the mark when they trace Hahnemann's Homoeopathy to a chance remark of Hippocrates. It was from the vitalism of Stahl that the homoeopathic twig budded forth, and the twig grew and flourished long after the Stahlian vitalism had disappeared from the medical world. In pathology Stahl rejected the crude mrechanical and chemical theories of the day. In therapeutics he rejected the still cruder attempts at managing the chemistry and mechanics of the body and taught dependence on the vital power which had created the body and was every trying to preserve it from disintegration. This purely vitalistic attitude could not last forever. The materialistic reaction was bound to come and, at the end of the eighteenth and during the entire nineteenth cen- tury, it came with an impetus that swept vitalism from the field for one hundred years. This was a period of intense scientific activity. Chemistry and physiology and microscopic and experimental pa- thology unrolled the material splendors of the body before physi- cians' eyes and they were dazzled by the spectacle. Here, at last, in motion of the minute cells and fibers and in chemical reactions was the explanation of life. Lavoisier's discovery of oxidation was the first and greatest blow to vitalism. The origin of heat, both physical and animal, the changes of nutrition, life itself were seen to be nothing but a process of oxidation and reduction. Before the piled up wonders of the new chemistry, Stahl's phlogiston doctrine crumbled and his vitalism with it and, when Wohler broke down the last barrier between organic and inorganic substance by manufactur- ing urea without the aid of vital force, he seemed to give vitalism its death blow. No need of a vital principle now. Chemists and 4. physiologists were gods and, from the dust of the earth they be- lieved they could create man, if that dust contained carbon, hydro- gen, oxygen and nitrogen and a little phosphorus and sulphur. The very name of vitalism disappeared from nineteenth century medicine, so much so that, in 1886, Professor Bunge apologized to the Ger- man Medical Association for using the word in a scientific assembly." It was at the turn of the tide from vitalism to nineteenth century scientific mechanism of materialism that Homoeopathy appeared on the scene. Hahnemann fulfills Carlyle's definition of a seer or prophet in that he saw through the outer hulls and wrappings to the core of the matter, through the temporal and changeable to the eternal verity. Hahnemann saw clearly the shifting and uncertain nature of the current chemical and mechanical explanations of life and disease and tried to operate on the vital power itself as the only fixed point. Hahnemann said truly that we do not and cannot know what life is but we can recognize life by its manifestations. The manifestations of disordered life or disease are called symptoms, and when Hahnemann found that, with his method, he could change the symptoms of disease to the symptoms of health, he recognized that he had a method of operating directly on the vital power, of whose changes these symptoms are the outward expression. So Homoeop- athy was founded and still rests on the observation of symptoms as the clearest guides to the nature of a disordered vital power. We homoeopaths, then, are vitalists in therepautics. We deal directly with the vital power of the patient without the interposition of a middleman in the shape of a chemical or mechanical theory. As therapeutists, we are not concerned with the anatomical or micro- scopic changes of disease. Vital power takes care of them. Nor the chemical changes. Vital power will take care of them, too. \ But, says the iatro-chemist, this disease is attended by an ex- cessive production of hydrochloric acid. “No matter, we say, the vital power that produces hydrochloric acid and stops and starts its flow will take care of that. - But, says the cellular pathologist, cancer is really a mad pro- liferation of epithelia invading the lymph spaces. No matter, we say, the vital power which made both lymph space and epithelium and starts the proliferation can stop it, too. It is this naive trust in the vital power of the patient that makes 7Vitalismus und Mechahismus, Leipzig. 5 the homoeopath so indifferent to systematized pathology and to pur- gatives and emetics and ointments and acids and alkalies and di- gestives and all the agents which presuppose a familiarity with the inside workings of the human body. It is this indifference to these things that so puzzles the allopath. He thinks that the homoeopath is grossly ignorant in not knowing these things. The indifference of the homoeopath to modern science cannot be attributed to lack of culture or ignorance, for many of them were and are cultured and educated men. His indifference to pathological studies is due to his firm faith that the vital rules the mechanical and chemical worlds. His indifference to chemical and physical therapeutic agents is due to his belief that they are an unwarranted interference with the working of the vital power. The philosophic historian will next turn to the question, why did not the homoeopath unite with the great body of the profession long ago? And for an answer he will not, like the medical journalist of the ordinary type, urge the view that the present generation of ho- moeopaths do not really believe their doctrine but keep the name for commercial or sentimental reasons. At the outset, your philosophic historian will reject the proposition that a large percentage of in- telligent and educated men are fools or knaves. Your philosopher will turn to history and probably agree with Carlyle that a lie pro- duces nothing. Faith is constructive. Faith can build temples and cross unknown seas and conquer continents and form societies and sustain governments; but no body of men can be held together, one hundred years by a lie. Deep in the collective human heart there is an aversion to falsehood. When we cease to believe our religion, we stop going to church. When the homoeopaths, as a body, cease to believe their doctrine, their societies and hospitals will disintegrate - spontaneously and their members enter new combinations according to their strongest affinities. New systems spread by assimilation and compromise. Homoeop- athy came into a world just made enthusiastic by the early develop- ment of exact science. It made no compromise and assimilated nothing. There followed a period of intense scientific activity, of exact observation and experiment in many fields and still homoeop- athy, remained isolated. In all the researches in scientific medicine, in chemistry, pathology, microscopy and bacteriology, it found no point of sympathy and mutual understanding. They were material. It was vital. Johannes Muller, Rokitansky and Virchow developed 6 - the cellular pathology; but Homoeopathy seemed further off than ever from sympathy and co-operation with scientific medicine. What had they to do with the motion of cells or their degeneration and proliferation who could operate directly on the vital power? In bacteriology Pasteur revealed a new world in science; but Ho- moeopathy opposed this, too, as foreign to her mission and saw no useful thing in the knowledge of bacteria and their toxins. Behring and Roux discovered a new therapeutic principle, that of the manu- /facture of chemical antidotes to the toxins of diphtheria and tetanus. Again, Homoeopathy bristled with antagonism. It resented the in- trusion of the chemist with his mechanical explanations into the citadel of vital power. Individual practitioners might take up, the new treatment, but under the recrimination and taunts of their stricter brethren. Homoeopathy has remained apart because there has been no point of mutual understanding between it and material- istic science. - a - The philosophic historian will then inquire whether this separa- tion must continue indefinitely and again will turn for his explana- tion to the laws governing the action of the human mind as revealed history. Minds that have a common point of sympathy flow to- gether naturally. They do not need to be dragged together by the neck or by acts of legislature. Consider any American city where Protestants and Roman Catholics live together in harmony but in absolutely different mental spheres as far as their religious beliefs' are concerned. Will you try to bring them together by argument that they all believe in the same God and by urging Christian- brotherhood? Will you succeed in bringing them to an agreement on the subject of the mass? Is that merely a matter of etiquette? Their psychological attitude toward the mass is totally different and you might as well try to mix oil and water or homoeopathic and allopathic ideas of therapeutics. But present them with a point of common interest and sympathy, as a charitable institution, a hospital, an infirmary for the poor or tuberculous and it is a matter of daily observation that Catholic and Protestant will speak from the same platform and work side by side. So, this philosophic historian can predict that when homoeopathic and allopathic therapeutics present a point of common understanding, when allopathy touches vitalism or Homoeopathy materialism, they will unite. We see both of these : processes before our eyes to-day. Those homoeopaths who are more material in their ideas and practice fuse readily with the allopath. 7 They understand each other's language when they talk of intestinal antisepsis and diaphoresis and correcting acidity. But the ho- moeopath who sticks closely to his vitalism has his reward, too. The bacteriological therapeutics of the allopath has passed on through the stage of antisepsis and chemical antidoting that the homoeopath pre- tends not to understand, to-what? Vitalism or direct action on the living body as such with no chemical or mechanical theory to inter- pose and not the slightest notion whether the action takes place in cell or serum, in spleen or lung. Allopathic bacteriological thera- peutics, especially with tuberculin, now offers the homoeopath a dose of one ten-millionth of a grain of a substance that you can eat on your bread and butter without harm, the minimum dose of the thing that will produce or aggravate the disease, the medicinal aggrava- tion, the infrequent dose, all the old furniture dear to the homoeo- pathic heart. Even the vitalist's timidity in dosing is there, witness Professor Koch’s caution not to begin treatment with more than one ten-millionth of a grain,” and Wright's horror of a dose exceeding one six hundred-millionth of a grain.” Does your philosophic his- torian wonder that, like the Prince in Macbeth, the homoeopath ex- claims, “I know him now !” Does he wonder that homoeopathic so- cieties and journals are ringing with Wright's vaccines and serum therapeutics? No, for he predicted that at the first tinge of vitalism in allopathic therapeutics, Homoeopathy would flow toward it as the acid to the base, as the leucocyte to the bacterium and by the same law of affinity. - - • I have tried to show the service that the study of history is capable of rendering Homoeopathy. It may not be too bold to suggest that this society do something to further historical study, either by an annual lecture or, what seems to me better, the establishment of an annual or biennial prize for an essay on medical history from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, especially in reference to the origin of the homoeopathic doctrine; for I feel that the same spirit in the study of medical history that has vindicated Paracelsus is des- tined to bring Homoeopathy into proper relation with traditional medicine. The revelations of history will give to Homoeopathy his- toric dignity; and Ishmael, disowned and friendless, will compel rec- ognition of his royal lineage as the representative in the nineteenth century of the ancient doctrine of vitalism applied to therapeutics. *Die Tuberkulose. G. Cornet, 1907, p. IoI2. - s - *London Lancet, 1906, Vol., pp. 519, IIo2; Vol. I., pp. 94, 1652. British Medical Journal, 1906, I., p. 204; II, pp. I8, 2I, I453; Igo7, I., p. 258, espe- cially 1906, II, 21, which states that the effect of a single dose of one twelve- millionth of a grain lasted two months. . I) E LIVE RED TO THE GRADUATING CLASS O F 'I' 15 F. HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL COLLEGE O F PEN N S YLVANIA, A 'I' T H E FOURTEENTH ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT, March 3d, 1862. BY J. K. L. E E, M. D., PROFESSOR OF MATERIA ME DICA AND THE RAP EU TIC S. PHIL AD EL PHI A : CoLLINs, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET. Kº s 2N§ -º º º : º º i | i . WALEDICTORY ADDRESS ; ; º DELIVERED TO THE GRADUATING CLASS OF THE HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL COLLEGE OF PEN NSYLVANIA, AT THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT, March 3d, 1862. BY J. K. L. E. E., M. D., PROFESSOR OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS. - PHILADELPHIA: - CoLLINs, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET. 1862. -W AL EDICTORY ADDRESS. GENTLEMEN OF THE GRADUATING CLASS— WHILST to others the formalities of this occasion may appear empty and unmeaning, to you they are fraught with peculiar and momentous interest. They indicate that you have passed successfully through the required curriculum of study and been adjudged worthy of official authority to exercise the office of a physician. - And with this conferment, you assume responsibilities of the gravest character—responsibilities which have no parallel in the ordinary avocations of life, and are only second in importance to those which devolve on him who is divinely commissioned to minister at the sacred altar. . - Hitherto you have been revelling amid the wild dreams of fancy or culling the sweet flowers of youthful enjoy. ment, without an anxious care to repress your buoyant spirits or ripple the undisturbed tranquillity of your minds, save, perhaps, when you have sought to penetrate the misty future and solve the intricate problem of your destiny; but now you are about to leave your quiet moorings and embark upon the tempestuous sea of life, to test its stern realities and dare its latent dangers—sometimes to gal- lantly career before the favoring breeze with flaunting sail and not a lowering cloud to portend the approaching storm or bode of evil; and again to be rudely tossed like the noble vessel which creaks and groans in every timber, 4 WALEDICTORY ADDRESS. when lashed by the furious waves and threatened with their yawning depths. “Thus the ever-changing course of things Runs a perpetual circle, ever turning, And that.same day, that highest glory brings Brings us unto the point of back returning.” Nevertheless, as Byron beautifully expresses it— “All when life is new * Commence with feelings warm and prospects high, But time strips our illusions of their hue.” Thus, whilst age enfeebled and disappointed, sullenly retires from the bootless conflict to seek a sanctuary in retirement, impetuous youth, with trenchant blade, is ever eager for the fray and heeds not the voice which warns of danger; so that to him, the darkest cloud is spanned with the rainbow of promise and present griefs seem but the shadows that enhance the opening glories of the future. - But whilst with all the characteristic ardor of earlier years, you are restive under restraint and pant for a parti- cipation in the active scenes that await you, in order that you may respond to the natural instincts of your nature and win the meed of praise and the honors of renown, still I am persuaded, that you would rush not headlong with all the implicit confidence of presuming ignorance, and trust to blind chance for the accomplishment of your high purposes. With a prudent forecast which is com- mendable, you have carefully surveyed the difficulties which encompass your undertaking and sought to provide yourselves with every appliance to insure success. With this cherished object in view, you have foregone the rounds of pleasure, and the temptations of ease, and like a recluse withdrawn from the world and its blandishments, in order that you might discipline your mental powers for effort, expand their capabilities and freight them with the treasures of knowledge. WALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 5 For years have you thus toiled like the galley slave, in threading the intricate mazes of science and sounding the depths of professional learning, never once relaxing your efforts or faltering in your purpose, although at times disappointments weighed upon your spirits, and human nature faint and weary from constant application, was ready to succumb. •. And to-day, as a partial reward for all these sacrifices and denials, you witness the culmination of your brightest hopes and the fruition of your arduous labors. But it must not be presumed that when the term of pupilage ends and the student expands into the physician, habits of study can be relinquished, and the minds lapse into a condition of sluggish stupor. He who adopts this erroneous idea, is guilty of an act of fatuity which clips the wings of ambition and strips him of the ability to soar to the heights of distinction, and enrol his name on the annals of enduring fame. He may perform the ordinary routine of duties with some degree of acceptability, and win for himself a local reputation, still he will ever grope amid impenetrable darkness, and leave behind no trace of his existence, no lasting monument to perpetuate his memory and endear him to posterity. He may enjoy the prestige of wealth and honorable lineage, but instead of these contributing to his success, they will only render his failure more conspicuous and deny him that small boon which oblivion would prove to his expiring mo- mentS. - - Nor can we predicate success on the mere possession of native genius or brilliancy of intellectual endowments; for although these may flash and flame like the meteor in his fiery orbit, like that erratic luminary, they will only dazzle and coruscate for a brief period, and then fade from human vision and be quenched in eternal night. In short, there is no excellence without great labor, and when the Almighty sounded in the terror stricken ears of our first parents, the inflexible decree that man should earn his 6 WALEDICTORY ADDRESS. bread by the sweat of his brow, he proclaimed a law the benefits of which no pen can describe or tongue enume- rate. Poetry in flowing numbers has hymned the praises of labor and eloquence laid her noble tribute at its shrine, the chisel has made the cold inanimate marble speak its worth, and the glowing canvass in living colors portrays its glories: and yet the story of its achievements remains untold, and the theme is unexhausted and exhaustless. It is this which discovers and opens up the teeming resources of nature, and makes them tributary to the wants of our species; it is this which arouses to action the dormant intellectual energies and moulds and develops their capa- bilities, until they expand into godlike proportions; and it is this, assisted by divine grace, that so renovates and refines our moral Organization as to eliminate its inherent impurities, and render it fit for the companionship of angels and the hallowed presence of Deity. And it is this alone upon which we can safely base our expectations of success in the great struggle of life. Other foundations are as-yielding and unreliable as the drifting sand, but this is firm as the eternal granite, and upon it we can rear a superstructure which may defy the pelting storm or even the corroding tooth of time. Labor moreover, or its equivalent energy of character conjoined with habits of severe study, renders us not the subjects but the mas- ters of circumstances, so that the most adverse are con- trolled and made to contribute to the accomplishment of our designs. And whilst the sea of life is everywhere strown with the wrecks of those who were nursed in the lap of luxury and enjoyed all the advantages of heredi- tary honors, it proudly bears upon its bosom those who were born in obscurity and disciplined in the severe school of poverty. And of all those who have illuminated the pages of history by the lustre of their achievements and the renown of their virtues, much the larger number were the sons of penury endowed with few natural facili. ties, but having an indomitable will, which more than VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. q 7 atones for the absence of other advantages, they struggled manfully with every difficulty, and forced their way up despite every obstruction and discouragement, until they attained the summit of their ambition and claimed a peerage with the most illustrious of their age. Wealth, instead of fostering genius, tends rather to emasculate it by the influence of its effeminating indulgences, and so far from proſnoting its expansion, it more frequently dwarfs its budding energies and extinguishes the last spark of its internal fires. Nor is this mere hypothesis or a deduction from assumed premises, since history, the impartial chroni- cler of events—that venerable teacher whose lessons are the embodiment of stern inflexible truths—fortifies and confirms our position by the inexorable logic of facts. Her pages abound in numerous examples which teach us that nations which were once distinguished for their manly virtues, their enterprise, their proud achievements, and their moral elevation, became debauched by the influence of opulence, declined in power and relapsed into their primitive insignificance. - Imperial Rome, which sat enthroned upon the Seven Hills as the queen of the world, and received the homage of all mankind, felt its corrupting and blighting influence, and her ruined cities and broken columns alone remain to tell the story of her former greatness and splendor. And classic Greece, the foster mother of song and eloquence, and the focus of every refinement, where learn- ing flourished in its fullest vigor and the arts were culti- vated until they reached the perfection of development, maintained her proud position and diffused the benign influence of letters, until she grasped after the sceptre of universal empire and the tribute of her conquered pro- vinces flowed into her coffers; then luxury with its con- comitant vices sapped her foundations, and she crumbled into ruins, ever to receive the adoration of the scholar down to latest posterity. And as nations are but the aggregation of individuals of which they are the type, 8 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. it follows that the same causes will produce the same results in the one as the other, the difference being only in degree. \ * Moreover, man is naturally an intellectual as well as a moral and physical sluggard, averse to effort, save when prompted by interest or necessity; and if we would stir him to action and excite him to an exertion of his godlike powers, we are forced to appeal to this selfish principle of our nature; and when this elicits no response he continues imperturbed and indifferent to every other influence. Like the tortoise, he remains inclosed in his invulnerable shell and only ventures forth when impelled by want or lured by the fascinations of pleasure. And when wealth sur- rounds him with her allurements and ministers to his appetites and passions, he yields himself to her irresistible charms, passively submits to her control and breathes not an aspiration for intellectual pre-eminence or moral worth. And in this fatal embrace have ignobly perished some of the finest intellects that have emanated from the Creative hand—intellects which, if fostered andfully developed, might have enthroned their possessors on the highest pinnacle of fame and invested their memories with a halo of undy- ing glory. But like giants unconscious of their strength, they slumbered on, and, stupefied by the opiate of sensual pleasure, they awoke not to feel those generous impulses which inspire to noble deeds. - But if close application is necessary for success in the ordinary pursuits of life, it is much more essential for him who dedicates himself to the practice of medicine. He must not only thoroughly understand the complex machinery of the human organism, and the appropriate function of each individual part, but with promptness recognize their aberrations and with facility restore them to their normal action. To fulfil this requirement, he must not be satisfied with the meagre pittance acquired during a brief collegiate course; for although, to the novitiate, this may appear ample and sufficient, it is nevertheless but the skeleton d - ^ VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 9 which subsequent study and observation must clothe with muscles and nerves and all the other essentials of com- plete organization. . Whilst I would not disparage the incalculable benefits which may be derived from an attendance upon the lecture-room, still I would lift my warning voice against that fatal delusion cherished by some, that its occupants leap forth from its walls, as did the fabled god, fully armed for a successful contest with disease. Although the living teacher is a valuable and almost indispensable aid to the student, greatly facilitating his progress by simplifying the abstractions of science, elucidating obscurities and removing other impediments in his pathway, still, at most, he but furnishes the founda. tions on which to build and not the superstructure. And to the knowledge here acquired, the physician should constantly seek to make additions, by enlarging the circle of his investigations, and extending his re- searches far up the ordinary channels of information until he reaches the rippling stream which gushes from their fountain-heads. He must descend from generalities to the study of minute details, from the consideration of princi- ples to a careful analysis of the premises upon which they are based, ever earnestly endeavoring to discriminate between truth and error, so as to winnow the wheat from the chaff and separate the gold from its alloy. • . . . And to intellectual culture and rigid application, h must bring an unreserved devotion to his profession which would cause him to abnegate self, and, if necessary, suffer immolation on the altar of humanity. . Nor must this proceed from the suggestions of a vault. ing ambition which— - “Courts a glorious doom— A bright destruction and a shining tomb;” * but from a higher and holier influence, from a profound conviction of duty. For it is this alone of all things else, which can enable him to fulfil his sacred mission and pre- 10 WALEDICTORY ADDRESS. sent the grand moral spectacle of an individual asserting the dignity of his manhood and boldly confronting disease, when like a withering simoom it sweeps over the land, blighting and blasting every living object in its pathway; nor even recoiling from his task when death is exhausting his full quiver, and an effort to stay his progress may involve a forfeiture of life itself. Instances of this cha- racter by no means rare in the annals of our profession, afford an example of true heroism before which pales the valor of the warrior, though chanted by song and honored with the wreathing laurel; because it was prompted by a spirit of pure benevolence, whilst the other, too often, is the mere offspring of a sordid selfish ambition. It may not awake the trump of fame or enter into story, but it enjoys a richer reward, the approval of conscience and the benediction of heaven. . - Eut, gentlemen, whilst you may be oppressed and over- whelmed with a profound sense of your unfitness for the efficient and satisfactory performance of the duties incum- bent on you, in consequence of the professional relation you are about to assume, still you have the consolation to know, that you possess an important advantage not enjoyed by your cotemporaries of the dominant school. Whilst they grope in thick darkness, without even the twilight of approaching morn to gleam upon their pathway and gladden their bewildered vision, you bask in the clear sunlight of similia similibus curantur, the daystar of hope to suffering humanity and the harbinger of a new era in the history of the art of healing. Nor is this a mere dogma evolved by the lucubrations of some visionary enthusiast and destined after a brief celebrity, to lapse into merited oblivion, to add another to the long catalogue of exploded doctrines which form the staple of medical history; it is something more, it is an immutable and essential principle of nature, evoked by the genius and indefatigable research of Hahnemann, and it promises to do for medicine what Newton did for physics, and Kepler WALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 11 for astronomy—rescue it from the uncertainty of hypo- thesis and invest it with the dignity and importance of a science. Conscious of its well-founded claims to recognition as the great central law of cure, it appeals to the tribunal of reason and philosophy, challenges their most rigid scrutiny, and expresses its entire willingness to acquiesce in their impartial verdict. And as often as it has been subjected to this trial, and been awarded even-handed justice, just so often has it vindicated its legitimacy and silenced the voice of rational objection. - But, inasmuch as human ingenuity may so far pervert the powers of intellect, as by a process of refined and in- tricate reasoning, to cause the most patent error to assume the guise of unquestioned truth, the doctrine of similitude has consented to undergo a still further ordeal, in order to satisfy the most sceptical and demonstrate its strong claims to public confidence and respect; it has, therefore, been placed in the crucible of practical experience, and tried by all the varied tests the inventive mind of man could sug- gest; and from this fiery furnace, also, it has invariably come forth radiant with new lustre, its untold virtues dis- played in clearer light, and its rational basis made more apparent. And, although its opponents have aimed at it their envenomed shafts, and pursued it with all the rancor of malignant hate, it has, nevertheless, ever presented an impregnable front, and, hurling defiance at its adversaries, advanced in its conscious and aggressive power with the resistless tread of a conqueror, every day making fresh conquests and winning new trophies and more widely ex- tending the sway of its mild sceptre. From Germany, the focus of Hahnemann's efforts, the rays of light have been diffused and distributed until in every land they have shed their genial influence around many a hearthstone where hope was flickering ready to expire, and sent pulsations of joy to hearts over which despair had long been brooding, restored the healthful flush to many awan cheek and lustre 12 WALEDICTORY ADDRESS. to many a glazing eye. And notwithstanding its enemies have classed it with those delusions that have blazed like meteors soon to be quenched in utter darkness, and ill- boding prophets in their vaticinations have predicted its speedy decline and extinction, it still lives to rejoice like a strong man to run a race, and flushed with the past un- paralleled triumphs, it already clutches after the reins of universal dominion. - - - - - - But divested of all the coloring of metaphor or the gar: niture of rhetoric, let us revert to the circumstances that surrounded its conception, its struggles for life and recog- nition, and with these, briefly contrast its present position and power, and we must conclude that it requires not the aid of prophetic vision to look down the vista of coming years, and foresee the early dawn of that period when the tricolor of Homoeopathy will make the circuit of the world and receive the homage of every grateful heart. At first friendless and proscribed, it now enjoys the patronage of royalty and the protecting aegis of the civil law. Then its votaries were few and despised, now they comprise millions and are distinguished for their intelligence and virtue. In its infancy it was derided and persecuted, in its manhood it is caressed and honored. In almost every populous city, hospitals are open where its benefactions are dispensed and in many, colleges are erected where its, principles are expounded and its lessons of instruction are imparted. “Men commendable for their scientific distinction and - medical attainments, members of faculties, hospital physi- cians and eminent practitioners have embraced it.” Jour- nals have been established and societies instituted in various countries for the purpose of disseminating its doctrines and promoting its practice, and as a tribute to its illustrious founder, he has been enthroned in bronze amid the plaudits of a grateful world. In short, we every- where discoverindubitable evidences, strong as holy writ, to convince us that its march is onward to final victory, and that Allopathy with its dark and bloody memories, its un- \ WALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 13 expiated sacrifice of human life, is ever retreating at its approach, and must ultimately succumb to its authority. But to achieve this devoutly wished for result, we must labor to preserve our system intact, free from interpola- tion or abridgment; and not suffer it to be emasculated or shorn of its virtues by those who would inaugurate what they would dignify with the imposing appellation of a rational Homoeopathy, in which fancy weaves her gossa- mer web, and Sophistry constructs her perplexing mazes. This, gentlemen, is the wooden horse, which, if not teem- ing with armed men, contains at least the elements of destruction, and in relation to which, it behooves us to heed the admonition of Virgil, “Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.” It is just as true in medicine as in moral ethics, that he that is not for us is against us; and those are to be re- garded as the most dangerous foes who would explain away even the minor principles of our school, and thus lower its standard and pluck the well-earned laurel wreath from the brow of its illustrious author, in order to con- ciliate opposition or with the less honorable motive of pro- moting their personal aggrandizement or pecuniary profit. We very much fear that too many of this class are as in- different about the true interests of Homoeopathy, as was that honest Hibernian, who being in bed in a violent storm and told the house would tumble over his head, made answer, “What care I for the house? I am only a lodger.” - But whilst it is our imperative duty to repudiate and goad with the barbed arrows of truth till they cry out in utter agony, all those whose teachings are subversive of the distinctive and essential tenets of our school, yet we must beware lest we vibrate to an opposite extreme, and in a spirit of intolerance and mistaken zeal, repress mental activity and rational controversy, and thus blight and scathe the first buddings of truth; for even excessive 14 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. agitation is less to be deprecated than the undisturbed calm which broods over the Dead Sea. - Although the principles of our science are fixed and immutable, still there underlie and spring from it questions that admit of an honest difference of opinion and are the legitimate subjects of discussion. But unfortunately our discussions are too prone to degenerate into bitter person- alities and become a mere contest for victory, instead of having for their great paramount object the elimination of truth and the increase of knowledge. “That there is a fearful amount of illiberality, narrowness and cant, of contemptuous and scornful invective, of self-satisfied and haughty condemnation in the tone and conduct of medical men, no one well acquainted with them can for a moment doubt.” And although this condition of things is painful and humiliating to acknowledge it is never- theless so patent and notorious that it cannot be disguised or gainsaid. It ramifies throughout our ranks and is the prolific parent of nearly all the evils that afflict and curse our profession. It checks and drives back upon the ingenuous heart the free issues of spontaneous feeling and renders our intercourse frigid and conventional. It applies the keen edge of the dissecting knife of cynical criticism to the characters and productions of our associates and searches for their follies and peccadilloes with inquisitorial rigor. In short, it is the fountain from which flows the bitter waters of dissension and acrimony, and the incubus which presses with leaden weight upon our cause and re- tards its onward march. And instead of being extenuated or justified as an inevitable necessity, we should earnestly labor for its banishment and extirpation, since it is not in sympathy with the spirit of Christianity that willeth no evil to his neighbor, or in accordance with the well estab- lished principles of criticism; for as Lord Kames properly observes, “to censure works, not men, is the true preroga- tive of this science.” Instead of indulging in unholy strife over empty abstractions and wasting our energies in futile WALEDICTORY ADDRESS. • 15 endeavors to solve abstruse questions of no vital import. ance, we should harmonize our efforts and, emulate each other in our devotion to the noble science that has for its lofty aim the enfranchisement of our race and the promotion , and conservation of its dearest interests, our sole ambition being to increase its facilities for usefulness and better qualify it for the accomplishment of the high mission for which heaven has ordained it. Let us rise superior to the baleful influence of petty jealousy and turbulent passion and recognize all as brethren and colaborers who acknow- ledge the validity and supremacy of the great central law of similia similibus curantur. Let this be our shibboleth and not lateral issues upon which there never can be a coinci- dence of opinion. Then and only then, can we participate in the true irrepressible conflict, in which reason is arrayed against prejudice, truth, against error, and light against darkness. Then will our unity and fraternity be a prelude to a new era in our history, when our embattled hosts will become formidable and strike terror into the ranks of our common foe, and our cause advance with ever increasing power, until in its peaceful triumph it has reduced all man- kind to its sway and belted the world with a fairer and richer zone than ever clasped the waist of Cytheria. But gentlemen, I have already detained you too long and must desist, since you are impatient to rejoin the domestic circle and receive those cordial greetings and congratula- tions which await you. In conclusion, therefore, permit me in behalf of those whom I have the honor to represent to assure you, that your uniform courtesy and propriety of deportment, your respectful attention to the voice of in- struction, and untiring devotion to study, have won for you not only our profound regard but enshrined you in the warmest affections of our souls. And although our daily intercourse may be interrupted and the endearing relation of teacher and pupil dissolved, still our hearts will pulsate with joy at the intelligence of 16 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. your success, and tenderly sympathize with you in the darkest hour of misfortune. And as a parting injunction, let me entreat you to be true to your God, to humanity, to your country, and to the cause which you have espoused, and then will your Alma Mater ever proudly point to you, as did the mother of the Gracchi, as her jewels. GRADUATES OF 1862. At a Public Commencement, held in the Musical ‘Fund Hall, March 3, 1862, the Degree of the College was conferred, by au- thority of the Board of Managers, upon the following named gentlemen, by RICHARD GARDINER, M. D. NAME. Bailey, G. W. IBarnes, G. L. Bender, J. S. Brouse, H. Kelsay Bumstead, Samuel J. Hewitt, H. T. Middleton, Caleb S. Monell, John F. Slough, Franklin J. Taylor, Richard G. Wallens, Miles W. Wilson, Pusey RESIDENCE, New York, R. Island, Pa. Pa. Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pa. Pa. Pa. Pa. Del. TITLE OF THESIS. Diphtheria. * Measles. AEtiology. The Physician, or the Study of Medicine. Divisibility of Matter, &c. Natural Labor. Hydrophobia—its Cause and Treatment. Variola. Diphtheria. Rubeola. Variola. The Healing of Wounds—a Pro- cess of Nutrition. S. S. BROOKS, M. D., Dean, 1820 Vine Street. MATRICULANTS OF THE COLLEGE, SESSION OF 1861–62. Bailey, Geo. W. Barnes, Geo. L. Bender, J. S. Boericke, Francis E. . Brickley, Jeremiah W. Brouse, H. Kelsay Bumstead, Samuel J. Chambers, Wm. C. Chamberlain, Chas. H. Danforth, Richard H. Dudley, Pemberton, M. D. Earhart, Wm. I. Farrington, H. Walter Foster, G. S., M. D. Gilchrist, J. G. Hewitt, H. T. . Homer, Horace Iorkenson, Joseph Kittinger, Leonard Middleton, Caleb S. . Monell, John F. Pratt, Henry C. Pfeiffer, Casper Rasch, William Rose, John F. . Sharp, Anthony H. . New York. Rhode Island. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. . Illinois. Pennsylvania. Vermont. Connecticut. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Connecticut. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. New Jersey. New Jersey. Pennsylvania. . Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. 20 MATRICULANTS. Slough, Franklin J. . Smith, Geo. B. Starkey, Daniel F. Taylor, Richard G. Tindall, W. R. . Wallens, Miles W. Willard, Lewis H. Wilson, Pusey . Pennsylvania. Connecticut. Massachusetts. Pennsylvania. Delaware. Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Delaware. | ºr * . . . *** {-, - 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - - i • - > . . . . . . - # * **, * * , , . - . - | UN; V → ..., , , - MAY 2, 19t. *:: ; 5 iſ Compliments of the Author. soME OF OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Before the N. Y. State Homoeopathic Medical Society BY JOHN L. MOFFAT, M. D. $ v I r " . ." * * - rs . - * * * * -- ~. 2- - - - - - - t 'Quix ‘. . . . . . . . . . . . . - ... - - , , * * * 'º'; ) is “ . . . . . . . . . . . ., J . . . . . . . . . ii., v. REPRINTED FROM THE SOCIETY'S TRANSACTIONS. Democrat and Chronicle Print, Rochester, N. Y. 1903. SOME OF OUR RESPONSIBILITIES” BY JOHN L. MOFFAT, B. S., M.D., O. ET A. CHIR. New York, Brooklyn Borough. One of the greatest advances in philosophic thought during the last fifty or a hundred years is the increasing recognition of the maximus homo–"the grand man.” Not only are the stages, of infancy, childhood, youth, manhood and decrepitude recognized in the development of the race, of nations, civilizations, churches, communities and societies, but within each of these are to be found component parts analagous to the various functions of the human mind and body. Last month President Hopkins, in his anniversary address to the old school State Society in this city, said: “All the dead, the living, the unborn are one moral person.” Without stop- ping to inquire the correspondence of the medical profession in the body politic, let us consider a few of our responsibilities as citizens, physicians and homoeopathists. Our profession, in its literature and organization as well as by individuals, is each year exerting a more active, powerful and wide- spread influence in and upon the community—moral, educational and sanitative. Among our responsibilities as members of one of the learned professions is that of being scholarly and of exercising an elevating influence upon the language. Nowadays the dictionary follows rather than leads in the usage of words; its compilers quote medical writers as authority for certain expressions. English is a living, and therefore a changing, growing language, but I plead for more ºtion to purity of our written and spoken language and to literary style. - Largely owing to the deplorable influence of the daily press, partly to deficient education, but principally to carelessness, there is to be found upon the lips and from the pens of medical men an inexcusable and increasing frequency of distorted words—such as “to diagnosti- cate” instead of “to diagnose,” “preventative” for preventive—and of ungrammatical expressions like “to remember of a thing and similar, uncalled for interpolations of this and other prepositions. Spelling reform has come to stay, but it should not prevail to the extent its enthusiasts advocate. The meaning of a word should be pºvable from its spelling. This seems to be a safe and practicable 1 11F6. º p The diphthong ae should be retained in words derived from the Greek 'agga, conveying the idea of blood in some of its relations. Take, for instance, the word hamiangiosarcoma. If spelt with the diphthong, one who has never before seen it would understand at Once that a haemorrhagic vascular sarcoma was alluded to; but without the diphthong, the first part of the word—“hemi”—would *Presidential Address before the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York, Albany, Feb. 11, 1903. - I - signify “half”, and possibly cause a momentary hesitation as to which was meant. - The word homoeopathy without its diphthong is etymologically meaningless; if for no other reason, the diphthong should be retained in order to avoid embarrassment in reading the word when it is so divided that opathy comes upon the second line. “Home-opathy” is a pronunciation no one could seriously advocate. & - There is room for argument and for conscientious diversity of opinion as to the advisability of attempting to change the form of a word that has been in general use for a number of years—even regardless of the merits of the case. But it can, and at times should, be done. • - - A generation ago the word astigmatism was coined to express that defect of the eye in which a bundle of parallel rays cannot be focused to a point. In 1895* Dr. Georges Martin called attention to Rev. Dr. Whewell’s error when the latter coined, this word. Instead of basing it upon the Greek ºverpua, areg, which signifies a point in the sense of a prick, mark, sign or wound, the reverend scholar should have derived it from the next word in the lexicon, cterpt/, /g, which means a mathematical point. From this with a privative the English word is astigmia, as aphonia comes from a and pov/, 73, (sound). It is as practicable to substitute astigmia for astigmatism, and astigmic for astigmatic, as are many other reforms which are being accomplished, and is more scholarly than some of them. Physicians have the opportunity—and therefore the responsibility —of exercising a greater influence for good upon the morals of the community than has any other one class of men. Some years ago this society discussed the social evil and came to the wise conclusion that the only effective remedy is education; naturally this education must be more or less directly by and from us. Let each of us be ever alert to disseminate the idea that the bride has as much right to demand purity on the part of the bride- groom as has the latter to expect it of her. Whenever occasion arises let us encourage the women to ostracize men who are known to persist in leading impure lives. I am ashamed to acknowledge that the physician is too often responsible for such men by advising illicit sexual indulgence upon the specious plea that it is necessary for health. The doctor who gives such immoral counsel is a leprous spot, a rodent ulcer in the body politic; he should be expelled from medical societies and lose his license to practice! Codes of ethics have less force than of yore, but I hope to see a paragraph to this effect inserted in the codes of the American Institute of Homoeopathy and of the American Medical Association. - One of the most important and difficult problems facing the sociologists of this country to-day is the alarming decrease in birth- rate among our native Americans; in two generations this has fallen from forty to fifteen per thousand of population. The most serious element in this is not the physical barrenness of the overworked or over-nervous woman, it is the moral degradation of so many young married people of both sexes who openly express, before and after *Annales d'Oculistique, December. marriage, the determination to have no offspring. Witness the rarity of large families and the increasing prevalence of families of but one or two children. - The responsibility for this rests very largely with members of our profession. In violation of the spirit of the Hippocratic oath, some physicians, to their shame be it spoken, take the lower fork (as Cable says in The Cavalier) and not only encourage this frame of mind but teach, and actually help, their patients to avoid conception. From this to infanticide the descent is by steps so gradual that it is impossible to draw the line between what is right and what is wrong; or, as some might euphemistically put it, between the justifiable and the unjustifiable, the harmless and the harmful. As has been well said:* “The ephemeral pleasure by which nature beguiles the irra- tional creature into the propagation of the species is lusted after with effeminate propensity, and has become an art or science how to indulge and evade the end designed. The secrets of nature are sought out and the knowledge gained is used to cheat her of some of her rewards without fulfilling her nobler purposes. At what cost, let the nations and civilizations that have perished in their corruption tell.” In olden days medicine received the greatest impulse in its history by experimentation upon condemned criminals. Such is now unnec- essary and contrary to the spirit of this age; but it is safe to predict that before the twentieth century shall have expired society will have adopted, as one way of protecting itself against the increase and the degeneration of the criminal class, a law providing for castration and spaying of confirmed criminals. - It would almost seem as if homoeopathy's long fight were drawing to a close, but our cause is not yet won. The mistaken, albeit con- scientious, efforts of those of our number who sought to lower the barriers between the schools by dropping the word homoeopathic from the names of our societies and journals or by accepting the recent invitation to join old school societies without renouncing homoeopathy, have been ineffectual—they have not contributed to the desired millenium. - In his anniversary address, the other day,f to the Medical Society of the State of New York, President Hopkins—one of the chief exponents of liberalism—said: “Medical unity is tacitly recognized by ourselves as present in a greater degree than some would admit— from filing a death certificate all the way up to the highest function performed by a medical man, service upon a board of state examiners for state license.” - We agree with him that “the most important event in our medical history of the last half century was the institution of state examina- tion for license to practice the healing art.” - But my warning of last September is justified, for almost in the same breath Dr. Hopkins exclaimed: “There are in this State three examining boards where there should be but one.” Why? Our boards work harmoniously; Dr. Couch, one of our examiners, was long president of the joint boards. The legislative committees of both *R. P. Brorup, Modern Medical Science (and the Sanitary Era), Aug., 1902. fjan. 28, 1903, in Albany. . : 3 State societies have for years worked successfully together as one committee. - * - Trust no future, howe'er pleasant, trust not to the liberalism of even the New York State Medical Society, but let us stand firm and demand our full political rights under the constitution. Now is no time to forsake the advantages already won by our numbers and organizations. The official definition of a homoeopathic physician is ‘one who adds to his knowledge of medicine a special knowledge of homoeopathic therapeutics and observes the law of similia.’ All that pertains to the great field of medical learning is his by tradition, by inheritance, by right. This definition places us upon a broad, sound, unassailable platform, upon which we will soon overcome the allopathic bureaucracy which still bars us from appointments in the medical service of the United States Government. - - Let us lose no opportunity to impress upon all physicians, and upon the public at large, this definition and the fact that it is the allopaths who are the sectarians, just in so far as they close their minds against homoeopathy and their eyes to our literature, thus depriving their patients, and failing to avail themselves, of all the resources of therapeutics. WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY? In two words, it is the reason why—or the principle upon which— a physician, surgeon or specialist prescribes a certain remedy after he has decided that the case is one calling for medicinal therapeutics. It is not all there is in the practice of medicine, it is not the whole of therapeutics, but it is as yet the only science of therapeutics. According to the Standard Dictionary, science is the formulation into law of correlations of observed facts; it is “knowledge gained and verified by expert observation and correct thinking, especially as methodically formulated and arranged in a rational system.” Does not homoeopathy fulfill these requirements? - In homoeopathy expert observation and correct thinking arrange two series of correlated facts: on the one hand, “the totality of symptoms”—by which we mean everything that we can learn about our patient with the help of all modern aids to diagnosis, instruments of precision and our knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology and nosology; on the other hand, the pathogeneses of the various drugs—that is, all their effects upon the healthy human body even to the extent of pathological anatomy in poison cases and in animals, observed and interpreted with the above mentioned aids. The law of the correlation of these two series is formulated as Similia Similibus Curantur, inaccurately translated, Likes cure likes; had Hahnemann meant that he would have written sanantur. As a matter of fact, what Hahnemann really wrote was Similia Similibus Curentur—let likes be treated with likes. He, one of the best scholars and linguists in Europe, knew the difference and deliberately used the subjunctive mode. - : Critics who deny that “like cures like” is one of nature’s laws need not hesitate to try as a rule of practice “let likes be treated with likes.” - - . - - Experience of a century has demonstrated that when we find the drug which can cause a totality of symptoms similar to those of our patient that remedy, given in sufficient but not too large a quan- tity, will cure the patient if he be curable with medicine. This is not easily done; real homoeopathic cures are comparatively rare, because homoeopathy is the most difficult of all the sciences, in that it has to deal with the most intricate thing in nature—the human body in health and in disease. - Imperfect as our data still are, our principle is right, the system is rational and practicable. Not only is it more rational to build our drug pathogeneses from the effects of drugs upon the healthy instead of the diseased body, it is simpler, more uniform and intelli- gible; in fact is the only sound, practicable method which is unaffected by changes in our knowledge or theories of pathology and nosology. Similia is more rational than contraria, because the only contrary to disease is health; we can conceive the opposite condition to a symp- tom, but not (except as health) to the totality of symptoms. It has been said: “If homoeopathy would claim to be a science it should enable one to predict results and to repeat its experiments.” This it has been accomplishing for the last hundred years. The failures, which of course occur, no more disprove it than does the testimony of twenty men who did not see a crime committed weigh against that of two who did. - - When cholera first appeared in the outskirts of Europe, Hahne- mann, who had never seen a case, studied the symptoms as reported by his pupils who were combatting it and predicted that patients presenting a certain group of symptoms would be cured by camphor, another type by arsenic, another by cuprum, and still another by veratrum album; these predictions were verified at the time, and they hold as true to-day. This, and similar experiments, have been repeated times without number. - Verifications—cures of symptoms under our law—form an essen- tial part of our literature, provided they are properly reported. Each should be so reported that the reader can form his own judgment and agree that there was nothing but the remedy (whether crude or in potency) to account for the disappearance of that symptom. Unfortunately, most of our reported cures are only assertions instead of the demonstrations that they should be. The model cure of a case or of a symptom should be so clear a report that the reader can make his own diagnosis, it would be well to distinguish the pathogenetic symptoms from those which are clinical, all adjuvants should be mentioned—together with anything else which might have had a beneficial effect—and the time should be given of the duration of the symptom or disease, how soon after administration of the remedy improvement was noted, and how long the cure had persisted at the time of the report. This natºrally infers the single remedy. The question of dose is entirely secondary. It is possible to be as true a homoeopath with tinctures, the crude drug and the lower triturations as it is with the high potencies. But the more thoroughly one studies our materia medica and the more closely he prescribes the single remedy, the more apt is he to give the potencies—and vice versa. . It is a matter of regret that instead of striving to find the least dose—the highest potency—that will cure, the rule has not * : . - - r" | *, * sº-. . . . . - - - * . . *... . universally been, “Do not give a dose of medicine large enough to do any harm.” Another responsibility inherent to a liberal profession is that one should be broad minded and open to conviction, in favor of anything that bids fair to cure our patients surely, safely, quickly and, if possible, pleasantly. One should be loyal to new truth; the abuse of this would be degeneracy to empiricism. One should have a good reason for what he does, in medicine as in other walks of life, but we have no right to let our patients suffer from our narrow minded- 1162.SS. - For hundreds of generations has the idea been implanted in our minds that a medicine to be good should be strong, should have color, taste, smell; in short be tangible by at least one of the senses. But each year it should be more easy to realize that medicines may act by some property (whether called dynamic, medicinal or path- ogenic) other than their chemical or physical properties and activities. To deny the dynamic theory now is materialism of the past century, in view of telepathy, in view of the facts that our bodies are explored with the X-Ray, and Marconi is sending aerograms across the Ocean. We learn the chemical properties of a drug by chemical experiments, but the only way to study its dynamic medicinal effects is to intro- duce it into the living body. Even then we do not know, we cannot comprehend how it acts. : How do the molecules of a drug affect the adjacent molecules of the tissue with which it is incorporated? How can the energy or motion of our drug molecule reach the neighboring molecules and influence their motions? - - As George Elliott said: “To advance in knowledge is to outline more perfectly our ignorance.” º The theory of dynamization may be compared with the develop- ment of magnetism in a piece of steel by stroking it with a magnet, or with the excitation of frictional electricity by rubbing glass with silk. Those are phenomena which were discovered, as was the phenomenon of potentization discovered; they are observed facts, their respective tentative theories offered in explanation are com- paratively unimportant. - Friction or impact in a mortar, and succussion in a vial, in some mysterious manner does impart to the menstruum (milk, sugar or alcohol) the medicinal properties of the drug being diluted or potentized. Why or how we do not know. But how else can we explain the fact, for fact it is, that the 30th potency of lycopodium, for instance, acts medicinally according to similia, relieving the symptoms of lycopodium but not directly affecting other symptoms? According to acknowledged leaders in science there is no tenable ground to-day for believing that there can be any of the original drug in the 30th centesimal dilution. A miracle is an unusual unexplainable occurrence. The action of the high potency is no more miraculous than is that of the crude drug, except to those with whom it is more unusual. - Another grave responsibility resting upon us, and the one which is perhaps the most frequently neglected, is that, whatever one’s private 6 practice may be, once having accepted a position upon the staff of an avowedly homoeopathic institution he is in honor bound to practice there according to Similia—or to make room for one who will. Not only are we under this obligation to the patients and students who come or are sent upon the understanding that it is a homoeopathic institution, but also to the people who gave their time, money and labor to found and maintain it upon that understanding, as well as to our school at large, whose growth and influence are enhanced by the number and success of its institutions. Empirics and allopaths should not be representatives of homoeopathy. Man is a gregarious being; no one can help exerting some influence in this world. If one is known as a homoeopathist he thereby repre- sents homoeopathy in his community by his personal life and his practice. . Allow me to quote a letter received from one of the most prominent old school men in the country. He wrote me: “I have a personal friend, one of the high lights in homoeopathy in this city, who recently, while suffering from grip, informed me that he was treating himself with ten grain doses of quinine, truly more heroic than the regular practitioner will subscribe. I was encouraged to observe to him that I was happy to note that he had discarded, so far as he himself at least was concerned, the practice of homoeopathy for that of medi- cine. * * * I asked him why, if he did not practice homoeopathy, he should use the name of homoeopath save as a measure to gain . practice.” - Our high light was within the measure of his personal rights, but unwittingly took the lower instead of the upper fork (as Cable expresses it in The Cavalier) and thereby injured homoeopathy—was false to its pioneers who, by their sufferings, made it financially worth his while to pose as a homoeopathist. Had he studied the epidemic conscientiously he would have been using the indicated remedy and might have demonstrated the superiority of our practice to that influential friend of the other persuasion who, in the same letter, writes: “If there is anything in homoeopathy that is of good I, or any other regular practitioner should [italicizing is mine] not hesitate a moment to make use of it.” If the self styled “regulars” do make use of it they should not ignore where they learned of it, and if they find it good they should, as scientific men, honestly investigate our system instead of taking credit to themselves for an empirical discovery of their own—which is their usual course. - - - My failures in homoeopathic prescribing can not logically be held as indicating that homoeopathy is inadequate; the inadequacy is in me, in the inherent difficulties of the problem, in the incompleteness as yet of our materia medica. - We homoeopathic specialists possess an advantage over our old school brothers in our medicinal therapeutics—if we study and apply them. A so-called homoeopathic oculist confessed that he did not believe internal medication could affect the interior of the eyeball, whereupon he was asked upon what ground did he expect the homoeopathic general practitioners to send their patients to him in preference to the old school oculists. A similar question might be 7 asked of some so-called homoeopathic surgeons and other specialists. We homoeopathists should have the courage of our convictions, as had our fathers who established upon a sound footing this the science of therapeutics. As men, do we measure smaller than they? Intellectually we are not their inferiors, and we have the advantage of much better educational facilities. - - Our medical colleges graduate at least as good physicians and surgeons as do the allopathic schools, men entitled by law to all the rights, privileges and immunities of medicinae doctoris, plus four years' training in the knowledge of, and with each class more experience in, homoeopathy. The standard demanded and furnished is higher each year. It was the legislative committee of this society that drew up and secured the enactment of the New York Medical License Law in 1890," establishing three boards of examiners, and which has been copied by other States, although none has as yet set so high a standard. - Fully abreast with the times our New York college is now teach- ing haematology. I am in hope that to this department will belong the credit of establishing what seems to me will be an early if not the next important achievement of medicine in haematology, the detec- tion and measurements of the sugar in diabetic blood.” Sugar, unfortunately, has no characteristic spectrum, but there is one form of polariscope with which may be recognized two-tenths of one per cent. of diabetic sugar in any transparent physiological or patho- logical fluid, while with another polariscope it can be delicately measured. Flower Hospital presents such clinical facilities in con- nection with the college that we may not unreasonably look there for a solution of the problem and the establishment of a practical clinical procedure. Loyalty to alma mater is one of our responsibilities upon which it should not be necessary to dwell. No medical college is or desires to be independent of its alumni. Ultimately a fair and thorough course of instruction in homoeopathy will be an essential, not an optional, part of the curriculum in each old school medical college. Then, but not until then, will the two schools unite and “our warfare be accomplished.” Our homoeopathic societies and journals will, however, still exist as do those of other specialties. Homoeopathic practice is really a specialty, but it should not be narrowed down to exclusivism. % % - Sk Sk 3k % One of the most effective steps in checking the dangers of osteopathy and christian science would be a determination by the Legislature of what constitutes the “practice of medicine.” I suggest an endeavor to have a law passed, to the effect that “any one habitually undertaking for compensation any treatment of the sick with the object of restoring health, shall be considered to be practicing medicine.” *Chapter 507. - - +journal of Ophthalmology, Otology and Laryngology, Sept., 1902. Editorial. II36 Dean Street. ( 241 ) HOMCEGPATHY IN THE YEAR 1849 IN GERMANY AND ENGLAND, WITH A GLANCE AT ALLEOPATHIC MEN AND THINGs : BEING Two PRELIMINARY DISCOURSEs, DELIVERED IN THE Homoeo- PATHIC MEDICAL CoILEGE OF PENNsyLVANIA. By C. NEIDHARD, M. D., Professor of Clinical Medicine, LECTURE I. sº GENTLEMEN: sº- Whilst visiting Europe during last summer, I committed to paper my first impressions of homoeopathic men and institutions. But as I did this very hastily, generally after the fatigues of the day, a very great imperfection was naturally the result of my observations. For some time I hesitated whether to communicate these notes or not, but on looking them over again, I thought that among all the rubbish, you might still be able to pick up some particles of gold, that would repay you for your trouble. I have also availed myself, in these preliminary discourses, of the privilege generally conceded to lecturers on medicine, to take a wider range of subjects. Munich, the capital of Bavaria, is the first city where I staid a sufficient length of time to become acquainted with some homoeopathic physicians, and to inform myself of the pro- gress of the art in Germany. - - To be sure, on my way, I passed through Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, Frankfort, Würtzburg, in each of which towns there reside, no doubt, eminent physicians of the new school, but I had no time to make their acquaintance. I hastened on to Munich and Vienna, the centres of the homoeopathic movement in Germany and Austria, if we except Saxony, where a large circle of practitioners have acquired great influence; and Baden, where Griesselich in Carlsruhe, vol. II. — No. 11. 21 - 242 Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. Professor Arnold and Dr. Segin in Heidelberg, and numerous other physicians have been active in the cause. Dr. Griesselich has, no doubt, mainly contributed to this result in the south of Germany, by his powerful advocacy of Homoeopathy in the Hygea. Of his lamentable death, by a fall from his horse, when riding through the streets of Hamburgh, some of you have been informed. ſº The first homoeopathic acquaintance I made in Munich was Dr. Jos. Buchner, whose great kindness to me during my first and second visits to that city I shall not easily forget. Dr. Buchner has the largest homoeopathic practice in Munich. He, in conjunction with Dr. Nusser in Augsburg, edits the “Allgemeine Zeitung für Homoeopathie ;” and is inde- fatigable in his efforts to forward the progress of science. He showed me several large piles of manuscript, containing a record of symptoms of various old and new remedies, which will be of the greatest advantage to the homoeopathic prac- titioner. I give you here a detailed list of them : - 1. Gummi ammoniacum, (acting specifically on the joints); 2. Secale cornutum ; 3. Belladonna, (extended proving); 4. Colchicum ; 5. Phosphorus; 6. Rhus ; 7. Aconite ; 8. Aloes; 9. Aranea, the black cellar spider; 10. Argentum nitricum ; 11. Arsenic; 12. Asparagus; 18. Croton tiglium; 14. Sulphur, antim. auratum ; 15. Morphium aceticum ; 16. Bismuth ; 17. Bromine ; 18. Kalmia latifolia; 19. Cancer fluviat; 20. Cainca; 21. Conium maculatum; 22. Copaiva balsam ; 23. Lacerta viridis; 24. Flores zinci. In addition to the above he has added an extensive collection of symptoms to Wibmer's work on the effects of remedies and poisons. It was always my practice, during my European tour, to inquire into the homoeopathic practice of the different medical men whom I met, in order to give the results of my inves- tigations to the American homoeopathic student. But I found this task more difficult than I supposed at first, for the most important facts in the practice of any physician do not occur Bomoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. 243 to him at once, and it is only by repeated conversations that his mode of action becomes at all clear to you. The little, however, that I have gleaned in this way, I will faithfully communicate, if it were only serviceable to corroborate the experience of others. And here I wish it to be distinctly. understood that, if I enumerate certain remedies as having been found useful against certain names of diseases, by these German physicians, I merely wish to draw the attention of medical men to remedies, which have been confirmed by re- peated, practical trials, in order that they may compare the facts with the results of their own practice. I must most dis- tinctly aver, that the law similia similibus must always remain * the unerring guide. - - *~ Dr. Buchner found the best remedies in hooping cough to be Lactuca virosa and Cuprum aceticum; in croup, Tartar emetic 1, Hepar, s. 1, Aconite as intercurrent remedy. In dropsy, from affection of the liver, Mercur., Aurum, Digitalis. In scarlatina, he relies upon the old remedies, Aconite, Bella- donna, Mercury; this last disease being generally in America of a more violent kind, a greater variety of remedies are known to us than to the physicians in Germany, where the disease assumes a lighter character. The best remedy in intermittent fever, according to Dr. Buchner, is the Alkaloid of Ignatia. One case of diabetes mellitus he has cured by Ammon. carbonicum in chemical doses. An infusion of Digi- talis he gave in a case of dropsy of the chest, returning every year in July. He mentioned this case because it was one where he had seen the most decided effects produced by any medicine; the patient was an old lady; for three years the disease was arrested successively at the same periód. In the fourth year, however, the lungs became paralyzed, and she died. Dr. Buchner intends also to experiment with the Digitalis lutea, a species of Digitalis which grows abundantly near Munich. The Digitalis purpurea grows wild only in the Porphyr mountains. Besides the usual remedies the itch is best 244 Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. cured by Peruvian balsam, externally as well as internally. He related to me a remarkable, although not strictly a homoeo- pathic fact, in the case of a man from whom a stone or calculus had been taken, which on analysis, was found to contain a good deal of copper. This was traced to an ox of whose meat the man had partook freely. The ox had subsisted for some time on grass upon which copper ore had been deposited. The arsenic in the blood, he thinks, is only an occasional in- gredient and produced in a similar way. Among the interesting men whose acquaintance I made in Munich, I must also mention Dr. Ott, of Mindelheim, a small Bavarian town, at no great distance from Munich. He was district physician there, but owing to his participation in the revolutionary movement of the year 1848, he was deprived-of his office. He is the author of a work on “Hydro-Homoe- opathy,” in which he advocates the combinátion of the water cure and homoeopathy as the most certain means of curing everything, even chronic diseases which could not be cured by one or the other method alone. He is, at the present time, engaged in a new work on the same subject, in which he endea. vors to lay down the principles and laws which ought to guide us in the selection of one or the other method. I have myself great faith in this view of the subject, and have always main- tained that the two are inseparable; and must, in the present state of our knowledge, often supply each other's defects. The other homoeopathic physicians in Munich are, the Professor of Physiology at the University, Reubel ; , Drs. Trittenbach, Steinbacher, Mahir, Moser, and Pemmerb. This last one has just settled here, after obtaining permission to do so, by paying $1000 to another physician who was going away, in order to obtain his vacancy. Bavarian physicians, although regular graduates, are not permitted to settle anywhere but by permis- sion of the government; thus forming a guild, or corporation, which no one can enter, except on these conditions. In Ame- rica, we are hardly aware of the privileges and liberties we Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. 245 enjoy, because we are so used to them. During the revolution- ary period in 1848, an attempt was made in Bavaria to open a free competition to all physicians, and to allow them to practise wherever they pleased, without the license of the government. A petition, signed and headed by the distinguished surgeon and oculist Dr. Walther, and also signed by several younger members of the profession, was handed to the government, praying to grant the free exercise of medical practice to all physicians, as well as that of dispensing their own medicines, but without success. The great majority were not in favor of it. They evidently feared it would diminish their own rentals if the arena was thrown open to a host of young practitioners. It behooves me to mention in this place one of the German homoeopathic physicians, who may be considered a martyr to the cause. It is Dr. Nusser of Augsburg, co-editor with Buchner of the “Allegemeine Zeitung für Homoeopathie.” He is characterized by independence of thought and a simple mode of life. His success in Augsburg was at first slow, but he tells me now that he has a very good practice. During his former residence in the country, he was overrun with business, exciting, in consequence, the jealousy of the government alloeopathic physicians. The country-town where he lived was often so crowded with strangers coming from a distance to visit him, that the magistrate pretended to be afraid of a revo- lutionary outbreak, and put his interdict upon it. More than eight times his medicine chest was seized; as the liberty of dis- pensing their own medicines had not, as yet, been obtained by the homoeopathic physicians, and the revival of this obsolete law was made the instrument wherewith to aim a blow at homoeopathy by the adherents of the old system. The American homoeopathic practitioner has hardly any conception, to what innumerable annoyances his German and European brethren. are exposed. The privilege to practise in any Bavarian town is only granted to favorites, and that these are hardly ever homoeopathic physicians may easily be conceived. That 21 * 246 Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. Homoeopathy in spite of these difficulties has still advanced so steadfastly in Germany, is to me a marvel, and another testi- monial to its inward truth. Had it not been for persecution and opposition, hospitals would have risen all over the land, which would have ruined the old practice in less than twenty years. º - . The want of success which attended the efforts made to establish an hospital on a firm footing, to which the legislative chamber had already voted $4,000, was owing to the cowardly behavior of a prince and prime minister who was afraid of compromising his popularity by advocating an unpopular cause. He would not sign the petition, or present it at court, although signed by an immense number of names. In contemplating the life of the European scientific man, particularly the homoeopathic reformer, we are again and again led to form comparisons in favor of a similar career in this free republican country. Not easily shall I forget that honest and industrious Dr. Nusser of Augsburg, who so faithfully struggled through all his difficulties, and who is still indefatigable in his endeavors to place Homoeopathy on a better footing in Bavaria. It is now eight years since he asked for permission to settle in Munich, but has not as yet received an answer from the govern- ment. Another practitioner of the same stamp, Dr. Gerster, resides in the neighboring Regensburg, (Ratisbon.) His labors in the cause of Homoeopathy have been unwearied. He is also distinguished as an oculist, and is at present engaged in investigations of chemical pathology, particularly with regard to the importance of the urine in the diagnosis and cure of dis- 63SCS. - - Dr. Buchner also had to contend with many obstacles when he first entered on his homoeopathic career. But he took good care to remonstrate in the most powerful language against the different rescripts of the medical authorities, always however signing his name with great politeness. In this way he kept them at bay, and noy they leave him in peace. Under the * i Homeopathy in Germany and England in 1849, 247 head of Munich, it may be noteworthy to state that provings are to be instituted for testing the pathogenetic effects of the Aconitum lycoctonum. It is said to be superior to Aconit. napellus, in arthritic and rheumatic affections, whilst the latter is more purely specific in inflammatory diseases. Dr. Ott has found Baryta carbonica the best remedy in tinea capitis. Dr. Ott also believes that the leaves of different plants are more useful in inflammations, whilst the seeds are to be pre- ferred in exudations. This is particularly the case with Col. chicum autumnale, of which remedy the seeds are much more active in dropsy of the chest, than the leaves. According to Dr. Ott, the best remedy in all atonic hemorrhages is Ipeca. cuanha. In indolent ulcers Dr. Moser pronounced himself very successful by merely giving Belladonna for the removal of the pain, and Arsenicum for the proud flesh. Sepia is is used by Dr. Nusser in many chronic periodical headaches with the happiest effect. Plumb. ac, sh; he prescribes in many cases of chronic constipation, where the other symptoms agree. He has also made extensive experiments with the high potences, and prefers them in one third of the cases he attends. In the rest he uses the lower and middle dilutions. He generally mixes the medicines in water, that is, a number of medicated globules are mixed in a vial, to preserve which a few drops of spirits of wine are added, and of this mixture he gives a tea- spoonful according to circumstances. We conversed several times on the importance of the periodicity of the remedies, as a deciding point for their application, where the characteristic symptoms of the disease and remedy were precisely the same in several remedies, what should govern our decision ? They did not seem to me to pay the attention to it, that several of our distinguished homoeopathic physicians demand, and, ac- , cording to my own opinion, with justice. I advocated as a main guide the similarity of the color of the remedial agent and the disease. I have always thought color to be the highest physical characteristic of a thing. According to 4 248 Homalopathy in Germany and England in 1849. Goethe, there is something daemonic in color behind which the Godhead immediately appears. Linz. Furnished by my friends in Munich with letters for Linz and Vienna, I directed my way to these cities, in the early part of July. The first point of attraction in Linz, to a homoeopathic physician is of course the homoeopathic Hospital. I visited it both on my way to Vienna in July, and on my return in August, 1849. - The physician is Dr. Reis, who had the kindness to conduct me all over the Institution, and to explain every thing. The Hospital consists of a fine building, three stories high, with a wide front entrance. The first hall, on entering, is appropriated for the exercise of charity and where the poor receive soup, &c., gratis. To the right of this is the kitchen, and a small room for the reception of the policlinical patients, where they receive the medicine prescribed by the physician from one of the sisters. This intelligent lady, who looked herself the pic- ture of health, had superintended this branch of the establish- ment for more than eight years. She puts up all the medicine according to the prescriptions of Dr. Reis. Behind this room is the Pharmacy. Here we find all the dilutions and tritura- tions from 1 to 60, arranged in a very superior manner behind glass cases, – and also still higher dilutions. The sisters pre- pare all the medicines. They make tinctures of the plants growing in the vicinity themselves. Such as they do not find here, they procure from a trustworthy apothecary in the neighborhood. They are all prepared according to the method of Mr. Gruner of Dresden. The triturations are from 10 to 90. The whole ensemble of the pharmacy is striking and very orderly. Dr. Reis generally prescribes the medicines in the form of globules as large as small pills and often repeats the dose. Sugar of milk is obtained very cheap from the Tyrolese mountains. The Alcohol is prepared by the sisters themselves, from inferior spirits of wine by distillation. The number of the sisters is about sixteen. All recommended may be admitted Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. 249 provisionally, but they have to undergo a trial of six months before they are finally accepted. Archduke Maximilian, an immensely rich man, is the patron of the institution. He has himself formed the plan of the Hospital which is very excellent as to its interior arrangements and conveniences, but by no means symmetrical in its proportions as a building. It has been for some time past with Dr. Reis, a favorite idea to have some beds appropriated for the reception of children, because the results obtained under homoeopathic treatment are So much more striking in their case. All that was necessary to be done, was that a lady from Linz should write to the Arch- duke, and the request was immediately granted. The institution now possesses six beds for the reception of male children, and six for female children from two to twelve years of age. The section of the Hospital set apart for children is the cleanest and most beautiful part of the building. It overlooks a large gar- den, in which all the vegetables used by the sick are raised, and where there are pleasant walks for the convalescent patients. Each bed has a good hair mattress, with hair pillow, coverlets of excellent material and linen sheets, as white as snow. The Empress of Austria, out of her own private purse, presented some of the furniture and house linen. On the left side of the hall you enter the women's apartment, with ten beds on each side, every thing having the same clean appearance before mentioned. The sick women in their beds also looking comfort- able. Even the dressing-gowns which they put on after their recovery, on sitting up, are provided for them by the institution. On the 2nd floor were 20 beds for the men, arranged in the same order. The sisters live together in one room on the right side of the building; the superiors have their own rooms. Each patient has a blackboard over the top of his bed, as in other hospitals, for the purpose of noting down the name of the disease, day of reception, &c. The windows throughout are large, and the rooms in consequence airy. Besides the large kitchen on the first floor, there is a smaller one attached to each 250 Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. floor for temporary purposes. The facilities for the use of cold water are not so extensive as in the Viennese institution. - The disease most prevailing at the period of my visit was Typhus abdominalis, successfully treated with Arsenicum. The great thing in the treatment of Typhus, according to Dr. Reis, is Individualization, a truth which cannot be expressed too often. All phenomena must be taken into consideration, in order to obtain a happy result. The majority of the cases had a vesic- ular eruption all over the body. The cases, having this eruption, always terminate favorably. Several of them were followed by intermittent fever. One case of this last disease he cured with China 60; ten other cases of tertian intermittent fever he cured with China ſin. The paroxsym coming on each time two hours later and weaker. He corroborated also my experience, that in some cases Quinine is necessary because it is specific. He has, however, always found the first trituration sufficient. There were also several cases of acute rheumatism in the wards. One case very much resembled a case which I had attended in Philadelphia. Dr. Reis treated the case — a painful swelling of the right hand rendering it almost useless — with constant application of cold water. Internally he only prescribed Acon- ite. In my own similar case, I had used Bryonia, Calcarea, and Lycopodium with great benefit. Dr. Reis mentioned to me a case of his own personally, which is instructive as throwing some light on the action of the high potences. He had suffered for some time with palpitation of the heart, constant roaring in the left ear and rheumatic affection of the back. The ear, as well as the palpitation of the heart were easily cured by Aeon- âte 1. Not so the rheumatism, which remained the same. Aconite ºn however cured it immediately. The action of the medicine was the more remarkable, because he had previously partaken of coffee, and the rheumatic pains also did not return notwithstanding his being exposed for three days to wet and cold. After a long interval he had again an attack of rheu- matic pain, which was again cured by Aconite sº. In pneumo- Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. 251 nia, or inflammation of the lungs he is as successful with Aconite as with Phosphorus. Tartar em. 2 is however still more frequently indicated. In one of the most severe cases of he- patization of the lung, Bryonia is relieved the patient after causing a violent aggravation. A case of aneurism of the aorta descendens, diagnosticated as such both by himself and another physician, was cured by Plumbum aceticum, 1%. A case of scurvy, where the gums were nearly black, was cured very quickly with Sulphuric ac. In violent metrorrhagia China 1 was the best remedy. In almost all kinds of spasms Dr. Reis found applications of cold water to the spine the most reliable means of affording speedy relief; also in a species of coma. With regard to psora Dr. Reis thinks that external remedies are absolutely necessary for its quick cure. Neither cases of syphilis or psora are however admitted into the hospital. As will be seen above Dr. Reis does not reject the employment of the high dilutions, which he himself prepares. But of late he makes little use of them, because he can perform the same cures equally well with other preparations, avoiding the trouble of preparing them, which will always militate against the use of the high potences. One of the most invaluable medicines used by him in the high potence is Sepia ſin–specific in the consti- pation of the bowels of women afflicted with carcinoma uteri. It generally produces copious passages of a consistent nature. The number of patients treated per annum at the Homoe- opathic Hospital at Linz amount, on an average to 800. I cannot help, in this place, paying a tribute to the liberality of Dr. Reis, in freely opening his hospital to any physicians or students who wish to inform themselves of the true state of the homoeopathic art of cure by verifying its professions at the bedside. A large number of the most talented physicians in Austria have been thus converted to Homoeopathy. Dr. Reis accords to them full liberty to prescribe themselves and observe the effects of the medicine. During my sojourn at Linz Dr. Caspar of Prague had been studying three months at the Hos- 252 Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. pital. His great object was to establish, at least in some cases, the unimpeachable fact that, without any doubt, the cure must necessarily be attributed to the influence of the medicine. He rejected every case where nature could be sufficient to cure the disease. At last after long debate, three cases were adopted, in which nature alone and without the aid of medicine could never have performed the cure. The case of aneurism men- tioned above was one of these. At this time Dr. Reis is active- ly engaged in making a new and extensive series of experiments at his Hospital with the high potences, the result of which he has promised to communicate to me forthwith. Hitherto he has not found them entirely to answer his expectations. The mid- dle and lower dilutions were more successful in his hands. It has been for a long time the cherished wish of Austrian Homoeopathists to establish a homoeopathic chair, or College, connected with their Hospitals either in Linz or Vienna, the practical advantages of which would have been evident to every one. The plan had been already to a certain extent matured, when the revolutionary movements, of which their country has been the theatre, put a stop to every thing. Dr. Reis had in- tended to take the clinical chair and give lectures at the bed- side. Dr. Hubner, another homoeopathic physician of Linz would have lectured on pharmacy and theoretical Homoeopathy. The Linz homoeopathic physicians are still convinced that after the country is more tranquillized, all these plans will be put in execution. - * - Most of the Austrian homoeopathic physicians belonging to the liberal, or republican party, were deeply involved in the Vienna revolution, and many of them had to fly after the hopes of the friends of liberty were prostrated. This revolution, so fatal to so many high aspirations and hopes, also prevented the Arch- duke Maximilian from adding another Hospital of 120 beds to the present institution. The Hospital in question adjoins the present one and is now in alloeopathic hands. It belongs to the Brothers of Charity. The Archduke's means having been Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. 253 crippled by the revolution, he was unable to make the purchase this year. The most remarkable thing during my intercourse with homoeopathic and alloeopathic physicians in Europe was the universally prevailing wish to emigrate to America, even in such whose position and practice would preclude such an idea. The despotism of kings and bureaucrats seems to weigh heavily upon our brethren in Europe. Although homoeopathy is in Austria in the most flourishing condition, being supported by the wealth and intelligence of the land, it would have risen still higher and extended over a wider sphere, if the illiberal measures of the government had not constantly thwarted it. I had some difficulty in persuading these discontented friends of homoeopathy, to persevere in propagating our doctrines, which by making man healthier, will make him also freer and wiser. The day of justice will come at last. The Sisters of Charity form a peculiar feature in the Austrian homoeopathic hospitals, their ministering spirits. In sweetness of expression and intelligence I have hardly ever seen their equals, except in our societies of Friends, whom in many respects they greatly resemble, although the enthusiasm with which they fulfil their charitable calling has marked their faces with an expression of still deeper devotion. Dr. Reis thinks, that they are particularly distinguished by their great powers of observation, and in diagnosis would shame many a physician. Many times, in cases of sudden emergencies, they have made the most judicious prescriptions, and perhaps have saved the lives of many by their prompt action. ... • I had wished to obtain complete statistics of all the cases treated at the hospital from the time of its commencement, but Dr. Reis, who has a most extensive practice, said, he could never find time to do so. The general results of the practice have been from time to time communicated in the Austrian homoeopathic “Jahrbuecher,” but never a detailed account. I was glad to hear from Dr. Reis, that he is on a much more pleasant, if not friendly, footing with his alloeopathic brethren WOL. II. - NO. II, 22 254 Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. than formerly. They, at least, have ceased to be openly The young student of homoeopathy ought particularly to be impressed with the idea that his success is of less importance than the success of our great cause. That by cultivating a spirit of generous rivalry with his future colleagues, success will come in spite of all the obstacles that may be opposed to him. Let him, in the first place, devote himself with all pos- sible zeal to this new science; let his mind and whole soul be absorbed in its investigation, and everything else will follow naturally. The school of Forbes, as well as that of Skoda, both being about the same, seem to have many followers in Austria; and, notwithstanding their pretending to give no medicine, will still continue to do so. . . . . . . A very gratifying piece of news from this country is, that a new homoeopathic, hospital, under the auspices of the, Sisters of Charity, will, also soon be opened at Steyer, a neighboring city, and that a homoeopathic physician from Vienna will be sent to attend it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In Linz, there are several other homoeopathic practitioners. In Salzburg, there is an excellent physician highly spoken of by every one. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I must advert in this place to a plan, which has been pro- posed and discussed with some members of the Union, for the physiological proving of the materia medica at Munich, as well as with such homoeopathic physicians of Liverpool, and England generally, as are engaged in the noble and arduous task of im: proving our therapeutics, by trials of old and new remedies. It is the following: The German and English unions (for the phy. siological proving of medicines) shall unite with an American Society, yet to be formed, to publish the symptoms, collected from these various sources simultaneously in Liverpool, Munich, Vienna, and Philadelphia. Thé different. Societies, one after the other, shall propose a remedy for trial, which shall be proved by all the members of the different unions...The remedy Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849, 255 receiving the majority of votes shall be tried first. In order to become a member of the union, the following conditions shall be required: | - 1. No one shall be elected a member who shall not have made some trials on the healthy; or, 2. Transmitted, at least, one complete trial to the union. A full statement of the plan will soon be communicated, I will only add here, that the active coöperation of the most distinguished provers in England, as well as Germany, has been promised. Thus a generous rivalry will be excited be- tween the advocates of our cause in different parts of the world. Every medical man should consider it his bounden duty to contribute something, every year, towards the improvement of the materia medica by experimenting with some new remedies. And let me ask you, gentlemen, the hand upon the heart,- is not the physician, or even layman, who daily profits by the invaluable records handed down to us by our great master, in duty and conscience bound to furnish his share in the con- tinuation and farther advancement of this great work : Does not every practitioner, even in the days of homoeopathy, which can effect so much, occasionally meet with cases which he can not cure, but which the quack or old woman can 7 - I am not ashamed to confess this. But what is the cause of it? Is the homoeopathic law insufficient? By no means. It only furnishes the evidence, that there are still many plants and substances, of whose path9genetic effects we are ignorant. A friend of mine from New England lately made the suggestion to me, that for the true interests of science the homoeopathic physicians should not only publish their successful, but also their unsuccessful cases. I highly approve of the plan and cannot but think it would be of the greatest service to our cause. \ - The true position of the homoeopathic school is clearly defined in the following remarks by Dr. Watzke : “Hunter, Bichat, - Reil, Müller, Roesch, Walentin, Romberg, Stark, Canstätt, 256 Homoeopathy in Germany and England in 1849. and others, have established the physiological basis of patho- logy, which has already advanced to a high degree of perfection. Wepfer, Morgagni, Meckel, Andral, Bouillaud, Cruveilhier, Louis, Auenbrugger, Laenner, Skoda, Rokitanski, Kolletschka, Lobstein, Berres, Güterbock, Simon, Gruby, and innumerable others, have commenced with most surprising success the con- struction of a new diagnosis, by means of pathological anatomy, (auscultation and percussion, microscopical examinations, and chemical analysis of morbid products.) Orfila, Heraubstuedt, Schneider and Wibmer, have cultivated the anatomy of dis- eases produced by medicinal influence. Although the latter investigations were carried on for a very different object, they will, in the main, aid the specific school. Finally, Hahnemann has with iron industry and perseverance undertaken the gigan- tic labor of building up a new pharmacology and new thera- peutics, by means of his trials of medicines on the healthy, and from autopsis of those diseased by poisoning, as well as the application of the results thus gained at the bedside.” Joerg, Trincks, Hartlaub, Noack, Stapf, Hesse, Hering, Hel- big, Wahle and many others, have continued this great work. It is to you, the young physicians of America, where the new science is already most widely disseminated, that the country looks for the fostering and farther advancement of the labors of Hahnemann and his disciples. To you falls the imperative duty, which you cannot throw aside for a moment without becoming recreant to your higher convictions, to prove the great number of valuable American plants, and other substances of the animal and mineral kingdom not yet experimented upon, a knowledge of which will alone enable you to subdue thoroughly the numerous diseases of this continent. As the clinical instructor in this College, I consider it my particular duty to invite you to these trials, which, besides their indispen- sable necessity for the improvement of the materia medica, are of advantage to the student by exercising his talent of obser- vation, the most useful one to the physician. The establishment ! Practical Communications. 257 of a reform in medicine in the threefold manner mentioned above is the problem of our times. Our life is devoted to the final solving of this question.’ Placing ourselves firmly on this basis, we have the right of demanding to be judged according to this position, which we have taken and shall not relinquish. PRACTICAL COMMUNICATIONS. By DR. J. SchweikERT, of BRESLAU. (Continued from page 92 Vol. II.) III. Inflammatory Brain — and Brain Membrane Diseases. £ncephalitis vera. Otto Koch, a thick headed, good condi- tioned boy four years old, who was already in his first months of life frequently afflicted with convulsions, became afterwards emaciated to a skeleton, in consequence of an atrophia mese- raica, which set in, accompanied with a double hernia inguina- lis, I can only remember from that time that he received principally Baryta muriat. and Arsenic against the atrophia, and was thereby saved from a certain death. He recovered afterwards so well completely, that, previous to the disease now to be related, he seemed to be a picture of perfect health. On the 30th of June, 1848, at 6; P. M., the boy was sud- denly seized with most serious general convulsions, after having a few days previous complained only of headache. During my absence Dr. Tuleſ; gave him Aconite 1, and Belladonna 1, for 2; hours, and ordered cold water to be poured upon his head, while the patient remained quite insensible, uttering not a sound: At 9 P.M. I found him in the following state; the general and burning heat of the skin, which existed before the cold wa- ter application, was reduced to a mean temperature; pulse small, _* 22* 258 Practical Communications. hard, almost uncountable; general convulsions of the extremi- ties, of such a nature that on the left side they were more of a clonic, and on the right more of a tonic character, the right limb and arm being mostly stiff and immovable, while the left extremities were in constant twitching and trembling motions; with spasmodic, twitching motions of the muscles of the face. The eyes mostly open and staring; occasionally, however, during the spasmodic contractions of the muscles of the face, for a very few moments closed; the pupils completely dilated, and not contracting on entrance of light, the lower jaw tightly pressed upon the upper jaw, sometimes grinding of the teeth. Respi. ration stertorous in the highest degree, with loud rattling in the chest, intermitting occasionally 8 to 10 seconds, as in a dying state, so that every moment a paralysis of the lungs might be expected. I considered the patient to be irretrievably lost, and was at first of opinion, that the form of hydrocephalus was be- fore me, called water-paralysis by Göllis; consequently, I gave a very unfavorable prognosis, remarking, that, if the patient should recover from this disease, contrary to all expectations, he certainly must be destined to eminence in this life, inasmuch as he once before had been saved by homoeopathic treatment from a highly dangerous state of atrophy. We concluded to give him Cuprum acet. and Stramonium in alternation, as apparently the best adapted remedies. He received forthwith Cuprum acet. 1, 1 grain between the lips, and after 10 minutes 3 drops Stramo- nium 1; besides cold fomentations upon the head. After he had taken two doses of each remedy, the convulsions of the extremities abated somewhat ; the hands and feet however be- came cooler, the left arm and left leg relaxed, as in a dying person, respiration so stertorous and intérmitting, that we feared a paralysis of the nervus vagus would soon take place and gave therefore Phosphor 1, one drop upon sugar. The only percep- tible encouraging indication in this state was, the re-contraction of the pupils on the entrance of light, which had not previous- ly been the case. After 15 minutes, Cuprum acet, and Stra- A D D RESS DELIVER ED BEFORE THE - TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF THE s || Mill ill OF THE STATE OF MICH IGAN, -- MAY 20, 1890, By D. M. NOTTINGHAM, M. D., President, LANSING, MICHIGAN. -------->---------→ --~ ; F. A. RAY & Co., PRINTERS, CITY HALL BLOCK. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS, MAY 20, 1890. Mr. Chairman and members of Homeopathic Medical Society, State of Michigan: , * Cº “Once more a year behind us falls; Once more we're brought face to face. Time impartially on us calls To be always ready for the race.” As a citizen of the Capital City, I take great pleasure in extending to each and all a most hearty welcome, and hope that your stay in our city may be both pleasant and profitable. When I assumed the responsible duties you so kindly hon- ored me with, when you elected me President of this Society, I made a firm resolve that I would do all in my power to . secure a successful meeting at this time, and I entreat your forbearance in any failures I may have made or may make during our convention. To all I wish to return my personal thanks for the confi- dence you have reposed in me. G)ur annual meetings cannot help from being interesting and profitable in the ratio of interest taken by each individual member. It is impossible for a society of this kind to flour- ish without the united efforts of the profession, and when we remember that we are about four hundred strong in this State, we cannot but wonder why our numbers are not many times greater as a society. We must remember, also, that it now becomes a personal matter with each member of the profession as to the future success of Homeopathy. , During the past year many facts have developed which demonstrate beyond doubt that the same element which ban- 2 ished Hahnemann as a fugitive from Leipsic is still being nursed in the breasts of our enemies. Addresses have been delivered which at one time brand us as quacks and ignora- muses, and the next consign us to eternal annihilation. They talk of medical reform and of a higher standard of medical education, and immediately point to the Homeopathic camp to prove the need thereof. They assume to judge the attainments of both and all schools of medicine, and when they have summed it all up they exclaim: “Behold the ignorance over there and the wisdom here.” For some unaccountable reason they acknowledge that since the advent of Homeopathy “the doctor of to-day is no more like the doctor of a hundred years ago than was our - Darwinian forefather like his offspring, a Caucasian dandy.” Dr. Wood, of Pennsylvania, in an address delivered before Yale University, said that “the prosperity of Homeopathy is not a reality, and where the law required physicians to be educated the Homeopathic system withers.” He then makes the statement that at a recent examination for the Army Board, out of thirty doctors who applied only two reached the required standard. This statement implies the fact that out of thirty allopathic physicians who had been graduated by allopathic colleges, only two had sufficient knowledge to be allowed upon the Army Board. Does this show great superiority in medical teaching?... Does this argue for another of his sayings that where ignorance prevails Homeopathy prospers? - . - He asks, “What proof is there that the medical profession is not as mistaken to-day as it was during the last century?” and answers his question by saying, “We know that we have gained power over disease, because we have adopted the modern, scientific method and have subordinated to it empir- icism and bed-side experience,” and then defines “modern scientific medicine” to be an accidental result of the teachings of Hahnemann. 3. He quotes statistics to establish the fact that in Great Britain and Germany “ Homeopathy is wasting to its death,” and recommends to the people the great necessity of estab- lishing boards of examiners in this country as there, in order to bring about a like condition. * - - The allopathic school have by organized effort endeavored to pass bills in this State, which, if they had become law, would have assumed most important bars against the further progress of the Homeopathic school. They have entered upon a systematic and determined effort to constitute State medicine in this country by elevating the license above the degree, the license to be issued under authority of the State, the ostensible object being to elevate the standard of medical education. Their object, when properly interpreted, is noth- ing more than an ardent desire to acquire control over all rival schools, by establishing a monopoly of the system of medical education in this country. When we see bills almost identical in their construction introduced simultaneously, cre- ating single State Examining Boards in the States of Massa- chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, and several other States, it is the best of evidence that it is the result of systematic organization. This work, too, has several times been endorsed by the American Medical Association, approved by their journals, and at last by their colleges. *- They have aimed in every instance possible to enact laws creating a single Examining Board and in States where other schools were organized allow them a minority representation on that Board. This has been done with the hope of invest- ing itself with absolute control of the granting of medical license. Who would believe for one moment that, should they gain their end, backed by State authority, they would not use it to the lasting detriment of Homeopathy? The antagonism they have always shown us would certainly com- pel us to believe they would do so. 4. If you do not believe this, make. the attempt to go into practice in a State where a single Board is now in operation. The report of the Minnesota Board shows that five-sevenths. of all of the allopath applicants are licensed, while the same report shows that only one in five of the Homeopaths are licensed. . - r - No honest person will believe that there is this difference in the actual attainments of the different schools. At our own University the students of both schools enter upon the same requirements, are confined to the same regime of study, and are graduated after rigid examinations. - It can be clearly shown that the Homeopathic Medical Col- leges have taken the initiative step on the ground of attain- ment before graduation. Every year the American Institute. Of Homeopathy is requiring its colleges to be more rigid in their work, as the following resolution passed by that body June 28, 1888, will show: Resolved, That from and after the year 1891 the American Institute of Homeopathy will not recognize the diploma of any college requiring less than three years of study, and the attendance upon three annual courses of lectures of at least six months each. - : - - Shall we, knowing their past treatment of any and all reforms of medicine, stand idly by and allow bills passed creating single Examining Boards, giving them a majority? Suppose this reform is necessary, shall we accept the posi- tion they assign us and quietly submit to subjugation to them? No one will attempt to say but that the single Board, with minority representation, will cripple us and soon end in our eomplete overthrow. I do not believe that a single Board with a majority representation of either school could be capable of justice to all, and when we strike at the single Board we strike at the fundamental point in this question with the allopaths. - - & - The formation of a mixed single Board, allowing them a majority for the reason that they have a majority in the field, e & 5. is a proposition which on the face may seem fair, but it is a trap which, if once sprung upon us, will soon strangle us out of recognition. * . º We believe that any law which would give persons of one belief or faith an advantage over another, whereby their rights and privileges are destroyed, should be considered as class legislation and should be objected to. The organization of a Medical Examining Board giving them a majority would surely give them the advantage, and you can always be assured no time would be lost to cripple us if in their power. Such a law would tend to constantly strengthen the dominant school and would be detrimental to. the growth and prosperity of the minority. The minority representation would be considered a mark of degradation and subserviency, which would stamp the Homeopathic minority with a brand of inferiority. Homeopathic students, regardless of their wishes or prefer- ences, would be placed completely in the power of an old- school Examining Board, with authority, simply by a majority. vote, to stop their further progress, and when we take into consideration the antagonism, rivalry, and jealousy existing between the different branches of the medical profession, one school ought not by any means be clothed with any such arbitrary powers. - - Any law which enforces a coalition of important rival inter- ests, until there are evidences of greater harmony, is against -public welfare. We know of no iron-clad law required of applicants to the profession of law or theology, for both have several sources of entrance. • , * - We should actively oppose a single Examining Board for these reasons, and for the further reason that the single Board constitutes a part of a widely-extended, well-arranged, and systematic plan, endorsed by the American Medical Associa- tion, for practically placing the management of medical 6. affairs, as far as possible, throughout this country, under the control of one set of medical men. . . . * In the States where this law has been adopted, already most disastrous results are to be seen to Homeopathy, completely - arresting its progress and preventing accessions thereto. If we are lovers of liberty, we will do all in our power to prevent this opposition to the opinion and freedom of action among educated medical men. . The committee on Medical Legislation of the State of New York says: “The committee are of the decided opinion that the only hope of 'saving the Homeopathic school in this country from complete annihilation, as far as regards a reten- tion of its individuality, as a distinct school of medicine, lies in our ability to secure such legislation, not only in this State, but also in a majority of all the States in this country, as shall provide for separate examining and licensing Boards for each of the recognized and incorporated systems of practice.” The AVew England Medical Gazette says: “We want restrictions that will shut out quacks, ignoramuses and fanatics, while leaving educated and honest practioners all possible liberty of medical opinion.” - The allopaths have placed themselves upon record as desir- ous of Examining Boards and have made the demand for the same though our Legislature. - : We, too, go upon record as demanding a higher, standard of medical education and endorse any law which has this as its only object. But since we believe it would be as impos- sible to secure fairness with a single Board, consisting of a majority of allopathic physicians, as it would that all clergy should be examined by a Board consisting of Catholic priests, we should with all our powers oppose any such measures. We should see to it that our Committee on Medical Legis- lation is instructed to prepare a proper bill, and have it introduced into our next Legislature, granting a Board of Examiners to each legally-authorized medical school. 7 We recognize the truth of the fact that the title of Doctor has lost much of respect and dignity of former years, owing to the want of more thorough education and a greater exhibi- tion of honesty by the profession, and we want it distinctly understood that the Homeopathic profession to-day are as ready to do any honorable thing to elevate the standard of the profession as the most enthusiastic of our allopathic brethren. Yet we must exhibit a manly and determined effort to be recognized, not because of our name or sect, but from sterling worth, and to maintain that worth we must be fore- most to insist upon a higher and more enlightened standard of medical education. - I recommend that the Committee on Medical Legislation be instructed to prepare and have introduced in our next Legislature a medical bill creating separate Examining Boards for each legally chartered school of medicine, and that every honorable means be put forth to secure its passage. PERMANENT BUREAU of MATERIA MEDICA. There is one point, and one only, that makes us a distinct- ive school of medicine. The reports of each bureau will compare with the report of any other medical association until it speaks of the therapeutic part of the work, and then we see a great distinction. r - Our surgical operations are like those of other schools, so far as the mechanical part of the operation goes, but when we speak of administering remedies we observe a great difference. • ... * * * Now, if we find it necessary to form separate associations on the ground of a difference mainly in the administration of remedies, one would naturally conclude that one of our most important studies when together would be our Materia Medica. It is this that makes us a distinctive school, and yet there is not a bureau in our Society that has received as great neglect as that of Materia Medica. 8 At some of our meetings there has not been even a report from that bureau. It seems that we are willing to accept the work of others and are unwilling to put forth an effort to develop our Materia Medica. Many other State societies are adding very valuable material to our Materia Medica and are able to show excellent advance- ment in that line. We have nothing or little of value, or at least in a form that can be utilized, that has been accomp- lished by that department. It seems that a thorough organiza- tion of that bureau has never been accomplished and that the selections on the work of that bureau have not always been of those who have a special taste for that subject. I recommend that steps be taken to thoroughly organize a permanent bureau of Materia Medica, with full power to organize themselves and with instructions to take up some special work, with the hope of securing more effectual and scientific results. - - cº - There is one point in which we as Homeopaths lose much in influence and confidence among the observing laity, and often is a cause for much trouble. We lack in thorough organization and concert of action. Let us observe for a moment our friends in the old-school ranks. They have personal differences and hold often per- sonal hatred for each other, but when it is plain that by a concert of action and influence they may be able to elevate their cause and put their profession in a better light with the world, they all wheel in line of battle. It is often the case that we, rather than yield a small point, would throw the whole profession into a condition of disorganization. When we meet obstacles to our cause we should throw aside personal feeling and with one accord surmount them and exhibit to the world a united profession. * How often we see little matters creep into the profession which demonstrate beyond doubt the necessity of a more thorough study of the law of ethics. In our profession, aspirations for success, accompanied with a supreme consciousness of right toward a fellow physi- cian, is a laudable ambition, and should meet with the most hearty approval of all. Such an aspiration becomes objec- tionable only when it is not conducted along the line con- science tells us is nearest our best knowledge of right. Nothing is more worthy of our admiration than to see the conscientious physician who is willing and capable of lending a helping hand, and yet do it in that unassuming way which has no intent upon the professional standing of the one helped. When we arrive at the happy point that we can, for the sake of the profession we have chosen, throw aside selfish preferences rather than develop anything that would detract from the dignity of that profession, we will have gained much in influence and confidence with the educated. - - When we show to the world that we are above petty jeal- ousies and are willing to stand or fall by the right, we will have gained much toward perfecting our ethics. Nothing can detract so much from the dignity and respect for our profes- sion by the educated as discord and inability to agree upon certain minor points. We do not expect from the allopaths that respect and gentlemanly conduct which would naturally come from one set of educated men toward another, for the reason that their principal study of ethics is to the entire exclusion of all who may differ from them, But when we see Homeopaths exhibit- - ing questionable conduct toward, each other, by stooping to the little unprincipled acts properly belonging to the other school, we cannot help but feel that something is wrong. Certain formalities are necessary in order to maintain and facilitate the intercourse of persons of the same standing. There are certain manners we should respect in our inter- course with each other, in order to maintain our self-respect and show to the world that we have accomplishments neces- sary for well-bred men and women. Men may differ and yet be courteous and have due respect for an honest difference. 10 It is by active competition and honest criticism that every case is more thoroughly studied and the faithful student more brightly polished. - : . An ambition which invites criticism with the hope of mutual good, which places manly worth and thorough work at the front and frown forever upon the little, unprincipled, and unscrupulous methods of trying to secure patronage, should receive the hearty approval of all. Not from his enemies a man, With any show of reason, can Expect fair, honest dealing; But, if we keep a united front, I think that we can bear the brunt Of allopathic squealing. And all in vain has been their wrath; We've kept our way—the Homeopath; That is the path we follow. t And now the people, low and high, Say that's the road they'll travel by, * And our's the pill they’ll swallow. Cast old-time jealoiſsies aside; The world for them now grows too wide, Too earnest now the workers. On every side there's work to do, We'll leave the worthless bickerings to The ignorant and shirkers. But, men may differ and still be Courteous to the highest degree In doings with each other. - An honest difference oft may show High thoughts of which we might not know In an agreeing brother. 11 Among the virtues of our creed - I would suggest that we should heed The following admonitions; They will our ranks more firmly bind And give us better peace of mind As men and as physicians: When called for aid, to go with grace And help your brother in his case With dignified agility; - And to the public speak no ill Concerning him in want of skill Or medical ability. Though by such tactics oftentimes A man may seem to gain more dimes, • 'Tis only temporary, And he who slanders, hints, or slurs, Will find these things to stick like burs, And should of them be chary. - But why proceed? All this was said Ages ago, and you have read Of that rule, *—and olden Zºº The whole of ethics and of laws Are summed up in the single clause s' Of the rule that's called “the golden.” STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH r UNITY IN HEALTH work AN ADDRESS - Delivered Before the Conference of Mayors at : Schenectady, June 24, 191C EUGENE. H. PORTER, A.M., M.D. State Commissioner of Health Issued BY THE New York state DEPARTMENT or HEALTH Division of PUBLIcITY AND EDUCATIon ALBANY, 191o ***-º§ º UNITY IN HEALTH work It has been said that this is an age of science and ours a nation of science. Observation has matured in measurement and has passed from the qualitative to the quantitative, generalization is a habit and precision is becoming a commonplace in current life- More than all else the course of nature has come to be investigated. in order that it may be controlled and redirected along lines con– tributory to human welfare; invention has become a step. toward creation, and is extending far beyond the merely mechanical and into the realms of the chemical and vital. - The advance in sanitation is an index of the progress of modern civilization. The development and application of sanitary law is. the result of an increasing altruistic knowledge. Behind every movement for civic improvement, back of every- effort for social or economic betterment, may always be found the - moral impulse that stirs to action. Sanitation, with all its wealth. of scientific achievement, with all its earnest and able workers,. ... would never have made such rapid advance without the aid of an aroused and partially emancipated public sentiment. When many men thinking independently come to the same conclusion, action is likely to follow, and when men so thinking demand facts, and carefully weigh the evidence there is likely to be action along right lines. Education is the dynamite of our civilization. It has broken some of the follies of superstition and ignorance and will break many more. - . • So education in sanitary science had not progressed very far before it was perceived that a great door had been opened forgen- eral betterment. Not merely stamping out of epidemics, the dis- posal of sewage or investigation of water supplies, important and urgently necessary as these are, but that wider field that embraces all that makes toward the absolute prevention of all misery and disease, came clearly into view. - And so there came into being that great and increasing number of societies and organizations devoted entirely to changing the old order of things, working always for clean cities, clean homes. 4 & clean air, and also, therefore, for clean morals. 2 These societies' that look after proper playgrounds, sufficient parks, decent tenements, pure foods, clean streets, efficient factory supervision, protection of child labor, care of working women, pure . water, tuberculosis, and many other things are all playing a most important part in the great struggle of the new against the old — of knowledge against ignorance. Deprived of the aid and strength of these auxiliaries sanitary science would have halted and stumbled much more than it has. These societies are almost always composed of laymen and not of trained sanitarians. This is most significant for it shows how rapidly education in sanita- tion is progressing. . If it is true that at times, the enthusiasm of some of these lay workers remains untempered by judgment, and that they seem to prefer occasionally to work against rather than with the health . . -officials, and so miss the greatest possible effectiveness, yet that “should count but little against the immense amount of good work they are doing. Their appearance and continuance is one of the most significant signs of the times. . . . . . . . . But after all if we are to have this real sanitation, the sanitation of a wider view, we must widen, the vision of the people. For the great problems before us in sanitary science must be solved by experts. The question then is not what will our laws do for us or our legislatures do for us or our courts do for us. The question is what will our schools do for us? It comes to that in the last analysis. For if we are to reach our final goal we must have a greater efficiency, a greater sense of justice, a greater self-sacrifice that must come from a high type of citizenship. So the duties and responsibilities of a health department are not only changed, but they are very greatly increased and constantly changing. . . To cause the citizen to do the things he can and ought to do, and then do for him the things he can not do, but should be done, is the duty of the State. The entire system of health supervision and control is insep- arably bound together. The highest efficiency can only be obtained by cooperation. The basis of this cooperation must be a general sympathetic and intelligent comprehension of methods adopted and results desired. This is precisely the relationship that should exist between the local health authorities and the State health -authorities. When it is clearly seen that one can not hope to fully -succeed without the other; when it is cordially recognized that interests are mutual; when antagonisms born of ignorance are 3 replaced by the confidence that comes from wider vision; when political domination is stamped out; when none but competent and trained sanitarians possess authority in health matters; then will come that perfect adjustment and inter-relationship of local and State health administrations that we are anxious to attain. Now I believe that the local health officer in nearly all cases, and the local board in some instances are anxious to work in harmony with the State Department of Health. This would be indeed the ex- pected and most natural thing for them to do. But experience teaches that in some cities and towns harmonious relations are difficult to establish or maintain. It has seemed to me that in most of these cases, the difficulty lay in a lack of knowledge of the pur- poses and plans of the State Department on the part of the local authorities, and at times doubtless the Department failed to get the right angle of vision when it viewed, the local situation. And so I would put down as the first important requisite for a satis- factory relationship between local health authorities and State health authorities: - . . . . . MUTUAL KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING . The experience of the Department in cases where its plans were not understood and where, as is generally the case, there existed a profound ignorance of the health law, have been both ludicrous and vexatious. We have been accused of violating the law on enforcing sanitary measures, and we have been charged with gross neglect of the law under exactly similar conditions; the Commis- sioner has been termed a Tzar and despot in some localities, and in others, while trying to effect the same results as in the first, he was called inefficient and spineless. Some cities have welcomed reports on their sanitary condition and adopted at least some of the recommendations, while others have resented these reports as “attacks,” and vigorously opposed their publication. Most cities and towns welcome our aid in times of trouble, but there are and have been some who seem to think that our only desire was to cause them trouble and expense. This lack of understanding and consequent want of cooperation is a most deadly thing—it costs lives that could and should be saved, besides the always increased expense. . . . . . . " ' ' ' ' s' º In one' case, out Öf many, where the Department has made repeated investigations and inspections of a threatened water supply, and report after report and letter after letter urging imme- 4 N diate action had been sent to the health and other officials of that town — without result – typhoid fever came. There were over one hundred cases and twenty-five deaths. The day will come when such neglect of plain sanitary duty, neglect that causes unnecessary and preventable death, will be looked upon and called by it right name — murder. - But I must not tarry. The first thing then is to get together — to find out — to understand. . •ºr Politics. AND WASTE I spoke just now of those towns that are fearful of the expense involved in any effort to better conditions. Economy in health matters is generally parsimony, born of ignorance and selfishness. This reluctance to expend reasonable sums for the public health is not a flattering reflection on our vaunted modern civilization. But we are learning. We have learned that if we allow our neighbor to dwell in foulness and filth some of us go with him over the great divide when the plague rages. But it is still true that in many places there is a strong disposition to hide the presence of contagious disease — to conceal the visitation of smallpox, diph- theria, typhoid or scarlet fever. This also is vanity and is the child once more of ignorance and selfishness. Ignorance that prompt action by efficient health authorities would limit and con- quer the outbreak; selfishness, since before business interests could be allowed to suffer imaginary damage, innocent visitors and equally innocent citizens are exposed to the dangers of a con- tagious disease. In the end the cost is greatly increased by the policy of concealment. And yet we must recognize that there exists some reason for thi state of affairs. . * : * , The evidence is conclusive that in municipalities, counties, States and the National Government itself there is a vast and growing amount of extravagance, mismanagement and waste in the administration of public business that is now a burden to the country. The bonded indebtedness of American cities as a whole is increasing much more rapidly than municipal assets, and the taxes for operating expenses are becoming more burdensome each year. In 1902 the percentage of the revenue of all the cities in the country to their debt was 37.3. By 1909 this percentage was decreased to 25.9. The net public debt of forty-nine cities, includ- ing New York, increased 47.71 per cent., while during the same 5 period the increase in the assessed valuation of all the taxable property in these cities advanced but 12.66. It is certain that this course if continued will result in intolerable conditions. Many of our towns are now bonded to the limit. These are some of the reasons why appropriations for public health are difficult to secure, but they are not reasons to be proud of. Inefficiency in public service resulting in shameful waste of public funds is a burden the weight of which public health has in part at least to bear. I am not charging that dishonesty invariably exists in governmental affairs, but I do say that there is incapable business management, and that in large measure is the fault of the system and not of the men. So there is not enough money for the health departments, playgrounds, clean streets, pure water supply, proper sewage dis- posal and the other needed sanitary reforms. Turning away from further consideration of this question, we stumble over an- other burden of which we must rid ourselves if we would hope for desirable results. - Politics must be driven out and kept out of every health depart- ment, National, State or municipal. If efficiency of health admin- istration is to be expected, politics must play no part. The men to serve the public health must be trained men. They must have had special and technical teaching fitting them for the duties required by the science of sanitation. The men to serve the public health must be experienced men. They must be experienced in the prac- tical workings of an actual health department. Laboratory methods and field investigations must be among their more familiar scientific acquisitions. The men to serve the public health must be studious, honest and energetic men. It is evident that however well meaning a politician might be, he would not very often be able to nominate for a health position a man possessed of the necessary qualifications. The tenure of office in a health department should be dependent on efficiency and good behavior, and on these alone. Should politics dominate the policies of local-health authorities or should the State authorities be controlled by politicians, harmony of action would be impos- sible. The spirit, the essential and living force, would be dead and progress impossible. - • The second point then is: To endeavor as citizens to lessen administrative waste so that health authorities may secure more adequate appropriations. Let our motto be fewer laws and better laws. And then eliminate all politics, for unless this is done the most efficient harmony of action is impossible. - 6 . THE Power of EDUCATION Eut the combined administrative strength of all our health divisions, both State and municipal, will never reach its fullest efficiency — will never gain an entire cordiality of support from our people, until we invoke the power of education in sanitation. A Dr. Burford in his admirable inaugural address, entitled “The Medicine of the Future,” said: . . . . . “And this point I wish to make vivid and clear — it is the diffu- sion of information freely and universally among the people that can make the knowledge of the prevention of disease of any value. to us. Ample and instructive methods have to be adopted to carry all such intelligence far and wide; it is only an enlightened public knowledge that can protect the public itself. And the expert is the servant of all — he gives the methods of protection for the would-be protected to use. • . “And when the knowledge exists, but not the will to apply it, then the strong arm of the law must protect the community. Every case of infectious disease is as a spark among gunpowder; neglect of prevention may, and will, do irreparable damage to others. When prevention has been neglected by the citizen, and the practical issue is the Man versus the State, the community. have a right to protect themselves; and convert the conflict into the State versus the Man.” - We are just beginning to realize the lack of trained men among us. This is shown by the great difficulty of finding capable men, to fill responsible positions. The preliminary training is wanting. When we turn to our schools throughout the country at large, we find that we have a great educational machine, that does not train. It does not train men in the things related to the lives they must lead. The great mass of our citizens begin life's work when and where they can. They bring to this work a smattering of knowl- edge, very little of which is in any way directly applicable to the every day facts and practicalities of life. So the boy or girl in the country learns nothing of the science and art of agriculture, the things that most deeply and vitally concerns their future lives; the boy in our city schools learns substantially nothing of the fundamental principles of the mechanic arts; and neither country. nor city child is taught anything concerning disease and health. When we stop a moment to consider what wide significance of. meaning, what great scope of utilitarian activities, is embraced to- day in the term public health; when we remember that its everyday 7. applications touch life at every angle, we are justified in demand- ing that our schools give this necessary life training. These are some of the things our boys and girls need to know and must know not only to save their own lives, but still more important, in order: that they may as trained and intelligent citizens and sanitarians, save the lives of others. • ‘ The work of any health department to-day is regarded with cold, indifference by a majority of our citizens. Public sentiment is. often opposed to very urgent and necessary sanitary measures. The present generation – untrained, uninformed and so in un- regenerate contentment with present, evils — is inert and unre- sponsive. The trouble is they do not understand. We can let the light shine on some of them but it is the children that we must get after. Teach the children of to-day and the fathers of to- morrow will enlist in the army of progress. ... • So in this campaign of education the State health authorities and the local health authorities meet again on common ground. By joining forces both together could do more effective sanitary edu- cational work in one year than could be done by either alone, in five. I have no time for details, but in such work the local author- ities could take full charge of local arrangements including places of meeting, advertising, speakers. The State Department would furnish expert lecturers, give illustrated talks, provide cir- culars, pamphlets and in short do all it could to promote the suc- cess of the campaign. It is a great field and we should not delay its cultivation. . . . - - . . . . . . . So the third point I would make is: That we demand that sani- tary science and public health be adequately and properly taught’ in all our schools, and that we begin at once our own campaign of education among our people. CoNTAGIOUS DISEASEs AND QUARANTINE - The State Health Department is at present striving to build up and perfect a division of communicable diseases to the end that contagious diseases throughout the State, but especially in our smaller towns and villages, may be promptly and efficiently dealt. with. The chief thing that hinders is lack of money. But while. we can not as yet cover the entire State, we are ready to respond. to calls for help. Once more we stand upon the same platform. Our common aim is to suppress communicable diseases and to do. it swiftly. - - - Now in the case of an epidemic in any city, our services and resources are entirely at your disposal, if you need them. If the effect of our moral support is needed it is yours; if in emergencies toxins or antitoxin are urgently needed we will furnish all we can; if you desire aid in conducting investigations as to cause of disease or reports on existing conditions we will give all the help within our power. It seems very clear to me that the State and local authorities should work earnestly together in every instance of outbreak of contagious diseases. And so my next point is: Unity of Effort in the Suppression of Epidemics. r WATER SUPPLIES AND SEwAGE DISPosAL If there are any questions the solution of which require the hearty cooperation of both State and local authorities it is the adequate protection of public water supplies and the proper dis- posal of sewage. These problems are not limited by the boundaries of particular localities. They may and generally do affect, in their solution, numerous other communities, in addition to the locality of origin for the pollution of a stream may and often does affect people living along its banks for hundreds of miles. In certain cases it becomes an interstate question — as in the case of the pollution of . the Delaware. In the final determination of these questions the State Health Department with its state wide outlook, its special information of the particular conditions existing in the various communities, should be able to give most valuable and timely assist- ance. It has seemed to me at times that in no other line of health. work has the attitude and policy of the Department been so mis- understood or so persistently misrepresented. Of course the mis- representation in the main has been because of lack of knowledge; but based on this very want of information inferences were drawn and the sublimated postulate is that publication of inferences is not justified in equity. - - - Almost every town in the State of New York is to-day discharg— ing raw sewage into some stream or lake. All the mills and mian- ufacturing establishments in this State are discharging their waste products in our streams and our streams are burdened with more than they can take away. This is the present condition. Now we know what should be done in order to prevent the continuance of such dangerous and obnoxious pollution. Sanitary science has after many years of research work and experimentation afforded 9 - us a solution; and there is no longer any need nor excuse for a municipality to discharge its raw sewage where a menace to health or a nuisance can be thus avoided. To make clear the position of the Department I will quote very briefly from two addresses of mine given in 1908 and 1909 respectively. - In the former address I said: . “Before any intelligent or coherent steps in any direction may be taken concerning the purification of any stream, the entire water- shed to which it belongs must be thoroughly studied. “The sources of water, character of soil, number of villages and towns, population of such, conditions of sewage, conditions of water supply, manufacturing establishments and their various wastes, maximum and minimum flow of the main river and its tributaries, all these things and many more must be learned before it can be intelligently decided whether the single town above re- ferred to shall or shall not be required to put in a sewage disposal plant. In other words, this work of the purification of our streams must proceed along broad and comprehensive lines. Otherwise it will make no permanent and satisfactory progress.” In the latter: - “Well, let us see about removing this pollution to-morrow — that was the point I wanted to speak of. It seems to me that this is a problem not to be solved in a moment. The follies of a cen- tury cannot be corrected in a year.” Municipalities now bonded and taxed almost to the limit cannot, in a single day, undertake the installation of extensive sewer systems and sewage disposal plants. Mill owners who have invested millions of dollars, manu- facturing establishments that employ thousands of people, upon whose industry whole towns depend, cannot be expected to make such a total change in their process of manufactures as to get rid of waste in a day when we are utterly unable to tell them what to do with it. . - - “The pollution of our streams and our lakes must stop. Yes, it must stop — in time. In the meantime let us remember that. time is the greatest factor in the solution of this problem. : “In 1875 the Royal Pollution Commissioner was appointed in England because they became aware-then of the conditions and realized the danger in the pollution of their waters, and in the last report gotten out by this learned commission or the successor of it, you will read that they passed a resolution that they felt that now the time had arrived for a thorough and systematic study of 10 the situation. We learn from them, do we not, that time is a factor that enters into this. Massachusetts said that after twenty years of effort that the streams that were polluted then are polluted now, that what had been done so far was to prevent an increase of pollution.” . - This states clearly enough, it would seem, the policy of the Department. With a full realization of the enormity of the pres- ent pollution of our waters, with an earnest determination to pre- vent further pollution, it also clearly recognizes the difficulties in the way of an immediate removal of the present discharge of Wastes. , - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . Each municipality presents its own particular problem. No two are precisely alike. I believe the wisest way to solve these questions is by the cordial cooperation of State and local health authorities. The Division of Sanitary Engineering and the Division of Laboratory Work, both well equipped, are entirely at the disposal of municipal authorities. They will in all cases give their best expert judgment and advice as promptly as possible. The purpose of the bill designed to regulate pollution of streams, introduced during the last session of the Legislature, was widely misunderstood. It was prepared after several years of study; the laws of all other States and of foreign countries were care- fully compared and the results attained noted; the conditions ex- isting in our own State were thoroughly considered and the bill as drawn was the result. It had the approval of the leading san- itarians and sanitary engineers in the country. - - Now this bill provided that after an investigation and after a hearing for all interested, the commissioner of health might issue an order requiring a town or a mill owner to cease discharging raw material in streams or waters of the State. But this order was unoperative unless approved by the Governor and Attorney-Gen- eral of the State. I believe and I think that you do also, that there must be somewhere a restraining and controlling power, and that this power should be itself surely held within reasonable limits. This I believe the bill provided for. The actual operation of the bill would be to bring about closer relations between local and State health authorities, a joining together of resources and a mutual solving of difficult problems. In my judgment very few orders would ever be issued under the provision of this bill. The point I would make here is, then: The heartiest cooperation of municipal authorities and State health authorities in the protec- tion of public water supplies and of sewage disposal. * 11 In closing I would suggest that a yearly conference at least be held of the city health authorities; that this conference should include the mayors of the cities and other officials of the city gov- ernment, and that the State Health Department be also admitted. Finally, let me emphasize the fact that the business of the Department of Health of New York State is to aid you in health matters in every way possible. Our experts are yours; our lab- oratories are yours; our experience is yours. Let us get together and, profiting by each other's knowledge, turn our combined wis- dom to the benefit of the people of our State. + . | THE ETHICAL RELATIONS OF THE || | DOMINANT SCHOOLS OF MEDIGINE || / By ELDRIDGE C. PRICE, M.D. | |. Annual Address of the President of the Maryland State Homeopathic Medical Society, * - - - -, * * , Delivered May 17, 1904 . . ! - . . . . - , s: , ORDERED PRINTED BY THE MARYLAND STATE HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL society . . . . . . . . . 4 - - * | - - - - r - r . . . . . . . -, | • - . GOD | - * . . - . - * , : - . { . \. 7 - .. - ! zº tº REPRINTED FROM MARYLAND MEDICAL JOURNAL JULY, 1904 THE ETHICAL RELATIONS OF THE DOMINANT SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE. By Eldridge c. Price, M.D. ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE MARYLAND STATE Homi EoPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY, DELIVERED MAY 17, 1904. BACK of the various codified rules of ethics, and as a foundation upon which they all rest, is the general science of human duty which should control the conduct of all civilization, and which may be expressed in the phraseology of the golden rule, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them, likewise.” This is a wholesome rule by which to be governed in our relations with our fellow human beings, because its application is beneficial to the mass of humanity and to the individual. The day of its con- sistent practice by the human race would be the first day of the great millennium of peace of which we have so often read. We are, however, not yet threatened by this sublime epoch, for not only must the ethnic world change, but Christendom ſmust be practically and consistently Christianized and sociologically enlightened. Na- ture's fundamental law of self-preservation is yet the prime motive which governs all classes of society from the street fakir to the theological adept. It is, therefore, not remarkable that the medical profession sometimes forgets to regulate its conduct in consistent accord with the golden rule. Did it do so there would have been no question between the two dominant branches of the profession as to mutual exchange of consultations and qualifications for fra- ternal association. - In the year 1847 the American Medical Association adopted a code of ethics which declared that “no one can be considered as a regular practitioner or a fit associate in consultation whose prac- tice is based on an exclusive dogma to the rejection of the accumu- lated experience of the profession and the aids actually furnished by anatomy, physiology, pathology, and organic chemistry.” * , This code remained in force until May, 1903, when the Ameri- can Medical Association adopted as its ethical guide what it offi- cially terms “Principles of Medical Ethics,” and in which there is nothing to prevent the members of that organization from con- sulting with homeopathic practitioners. Apparently a long stride has been taken in advance by the lead- ing and representative organization of the older branch of the medical profession in this country, but when we stop to consider the fact that while the members of the American Medical Associa- tion are now permitted to consult with practitioners of homeopathy, they are not required to regard such aractitioners as their equals in breadth of education, in honesty of purpose, nor in therapeutic ability, we can but question this alleged evidence of progress. The members of the older school of medicine may be divided into classes—those who are animated by the spirit of 1847, and those who are animated by the spirit of 1903. Of the two I am not at all sure the former are not safer and more honest than are many of the latter; for they are outspoken in their wrath against all things that are not strictly consistent with the orthodox standards of their fathers. - In the days when the old code was first adopted the rank and file of the homeopathic school in this country was certainly not com- posed of persons who could be regarded as properly educated in medicine. In many instances they were quite illiterate, having come from some humble walk in life not at all calculated to pre- pare them even for the study of the few books with which they supplied themselves as their sole source of medical education. It is no great wonder that the men who were thoroughly edu- cated in the best schools of the day should have discriminated against those whom they knew to be so little qualified for the dig- nified position physicians were supposed to hold. That there were some properly-qualified physicians, however, among the early practitioners of homeopathy in this country is true, and that the action of the American Medical Association was a hardship for these men is also true; but when we take into consideration the fact that there were a large number of illiterate book-and-box medi- cal tinkers, who were generally accepted as representative of the homeopathic profession, and when provision was made in the code of ethics of the American Institute of Homeopathy for the recog- nition of these very persons in consultation with members who were thoroughly educated in general medicine, and, in addition, really qualified to represent homeopathy, then there is nothing very surprising in the action of the American Medical Association. The mistake was, however, that all alleged practitioners of homeopathy were debarred from the American Medical Association. Proper discrimination could and should have been made. This lack of discrimination was neither wise nor just, and it is not unnatural that the educated homeopathic practitioners should resent having been classed with cobbler-doctors and blacksmith-doctors and the whole quackish group that in the past posed as homeopathic phy- S1C1211S. i The day of the significance of this wholesale ostracism, however, has long since passed, for the homeopathic practitioner h § grown, careless of whether or not his older brother recognizes º cially. He cares little whether he may join orthodox societies; he 3. has become self-sufficient, and has within his school those who are the equals in educational qualification, experience and skill of the men in the same lines of work in the older school. What difference, then, does it make at this late day whether or not the American Med- ical Association decides that he is fit for membership or for con- Sultation ? He does not seek to place himself in a position where his views may be subjected to censorship, and certainly he will not allow himself to be suppressed and prevented from confessing his belief in anything his common sense and judgment may sanction. He is as good a judge of the sanity of his views as is anyone else, especially if his critic be one who has not made a thorough study of the subject of his criticism. - The age of this fight for a right to one's opinion is counted by decades of centuries. In this day of progress it is somewhat ab- surd, not to say wearying, to educated men to have their opinions corrected of ridiculed by men no better educated, and in this con- sideration of the present status of medical ethics we care little for the opinion of our self-constituted judges; it is to have our posi- tion clearly defined that concerns us. - Homeopathy has long since passed the experimental stage, and we refuse longer to submit to the unnecessary and gratuitous indig- nity of the witness-box or the pillory in its behalf. The dictum of the representative “homeopath” is clothed with no less ea cathedra authority than is the dictum of the representative “allopath.” The right of homeopathy to consideration does not rest upon a founda- tion of rare cures of self-limited conditions by “high potencies.” Its truth and accuracy have been demonstrated by the use of ma- terial doses of well-known drugs. Neither are the believers in and practitioners of homeopathy illiterate, or in any manner differently constructed mentally, or inferiorly equipped educationally from the average well-educated practitioner of the dominant school. The representative “homeopath” of today is one with a good general medical education, to which he has added a knowledge of the home- opathic use of drugs. He has the right to use, and does use, any means his judgment may sanction for the healing of the sick, for the best good of his patient. As Dr. D. W. Cathell, in his paper read before the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland not long since, says, the homeopathic profession consists of a “body of edu- cated men, physicians under the laws of the various States, men of good professional character, correct morals, and much esteemed by those who know them best.” - In this address Dr. Cathell has voiced the sentiments of a large number of his brethren. Without entering into a detailed examina- ſtion of this essay, it is sufficient to say that its object is to advocate the recognition of homeopathic practitioners as in good ethical \ - g 4. standing, provided that the “homeopath” is willing to drop the “sectarian name.” - In the meantime the discourse breathes a spirit not quite con- sistent with modesty or with the genuine fraternal feeling for the brother whom its author would welcome back into the feld from which he has been excluded for so long a time. He says: “We non-sectarians, with our boundless field of therapeutics, naturally stand on a broad vantage-ground and see much to contemn in our opponents; but, gentlemen, withal, let us be modest in our claims, for we ourselves are not scientifically perfect, our enemies still find much in us for criticism, and there is not a specialist or surgeon or consultant of any kind anywhere who does not discover by actual experience that ignorance of this or that medical truth is not con- fined to irregulars.” On the question of consultation with homeopathic practitioners Dr. Cathell gives expression to his views as follows:* “As to the moral aspect of mixed consultations, what physician does not come in frequent contact with the vile, the vicious, and the ignoble? Is anyone thereby necessarily contaminated? Not at all. Would it not be equally foolish, or even more so, for anyone to say that if a well-qualified physician gives his advice or his aid to an ignorant one, or even to a medical fool or knave, and thus aids him in pre- venting suffering or in saving life, he thereby necessarily descends to that man's level or degrades our noble calling? To all such assertions I would answer—No! In the name of God—No!” Do these expressions breathe such a spirit of welcome that we feel impelled by their sincerity to rush into the arms outstretched for us? Suppose we were to accept this invitation in good faith, pro- viding it were officially endorsed, and become members of either the Americal Medical Association or of the Medical and Chirurgi- cal Faculty of Maryland, would we be permitted to discuss home- opathy at the meetings of these organization and enter freely into an account of the homeopathic treatment of our cases? Would we not, as a matter of fact, be expected not only to drop the “sectarian name,” but also to refrain from all mention of the practical appli- cation of homeopathy, or even to give expression to a belief in the ſaw P Would we not feel ourselves among men who consider a belief in therapeutic law of any kind exceedingly “bad form,” and would we not be looked at askance or possibly even treated with polite forbearance as persons of peculiar mental organization, or even as mental invalids? $ *In justice to Dr. Cathell be it said that in a telephonic conversation with him since the delivery of this address he disclaims any intention of applying this paragraph to homeopathic practitioners. It is unfortunate, however, that the author of the essay did not so couch his remarks as to leave the reader in no doubt as to his meaning.—E. C. P - . . Until we are sure of such points we are willing to be excused from the honor. We have had too many successes, and have grown to be too dependent upon homeopathy, to lend ourselves to its be- trayal in this manner; for the acceptance of the favor of our older brothers, according to the gospel preached by Dr. Cathell, would mean nothing less than the engulfing of our faith in the great. Ocean of Dr. Cathell's superior kind of wisdom. That this engulf- ing is the purpose of the change in the ethics of the American Medi- cal Association we are led to believe by Dr. Cathell in the statement of his belief that the restriction exacted by the old code was “an unwise method of dealing with the homeopathic portion of our foes, and one that had the directly opposite effect from that which was intended.” He then goes on to show the surprising growth of the homeopathic school and its institutions, and concludes by stating as his belief that this growth is due to what “all our enemies forthwith stigmatized as ‘persecution.’” • If, therefore, homeopathy has grown to such proportions in the last century—as has been shown by Dr. Cathell—because of the restrictions of the old code, then, per contra, if these restrictions are removed, it is quite logical to conclude that this undesirable growth will cease, and homeopathy will become a mere name with- out practical significance. Such, doubtless, is the view and the hope of those who unite with the essayist in advocating this method of exchanging “the tomahawk for the olive branch.” - There is a small contingent of older-school men who are really honest in their antiquated ideas. The type of this class is no clearer as to what constitutes a homeopathic practitioner than are many homeopathic practitioners as to what constitutes an “allopathic” practitioner. The definition of the latter might be expected to be about as follows: “An ‘allopath’ is a man who has a degree from a college where homeopathy is not taught, and who usually belongs to a medical society where homeopathy is not rationally discussed.” The definition of the other might be expected to be, if he be good- natured: “A ‘homeopath’ is one who has a degree from a college where homeopathy is taught.” While some “homeopaths” might be able to give a more intelligent definition of what constitutes an “allopath,” yet few “allopaths” could give a much clearer defini- tion of what constitutes a “homeopath,” unless possibly they add, “One who gives insignificant doses of medicine.” - . It is astonishing, in this supposedly enlightened day, that some of these well-educated physicians of the older school should have such almost fantastic ideas of the position of the homeopathic school, as, for example, that we should necessarily restrict ourselves to the practice of homeopathy as taught by Hahnemann, never availing , ourselves of any other measures of any nature whatsoever; that the 6 world of therapeutics is not open to all men, but only to those who deny there is anything in homeopathy; that all dilutions of drugs beyond possibly the second or third decimal dilution are mere place- bos, and the prescription of such preparations is but the practice of simple expectancy. These gentlemen ridicule the idea of infinitesi- mal drug influence as a proposition too absurd to be considered. They are angered at the idea that one who practices homeopathy should ever use a dose of crude medicine, should palliate or avail himself of anything but infinitesimal doses, and declare that they cannot understand the mental construction of one who can for one moment believe homeopathy is anything but a delusion. They ap- parently do not recognize the difference between the resisting power of a healthy organism and the sensitiveness of a diseased organism, and that this sensitiveness is beyond computation in degree of re- sisting power; that what will produce a profound effect upon a diseased organism may not affect a healthy organism in the slightest, and that what is required to cause a definite effect in a healthy organism may work disaster in one weakened by disease. Apparently they do not recognize that this difference in resisting . power is a matter of fact, and not a theory, and should be reckoned in the use of drugs. This type of “allopath” will grant the homeopathic believer noth- ing. He asserts that the homeopathic practitioner only produces definite results with drugs when he prescribes crude drugs in the same manner as the older-school practitioner. He classes us with faith curists, christian scientists, et id omne genus, when he has not made an impartial study of homeopathy, and is therefore not prepared to judge. He has read various writings about homeop- athy, but he has never studied the homeopathic relationship of drugs to disease in an impartial manner as one seeking to know the truth, but as a cynic and as one whose purpose is to prove his theory. He is not aware that homeopathy may be demonstrated through the use of crude drugs as well as through infinitesimal doses of drugs. He does not know that in this day the physician should know how to apply drugs by each and every effective method, and that unless he knows and does this he does not do his duty by himself or his patient—he ignores the spirit of the golden rule. He does not know that the effects following the prescription of diluted drugs are not necessarily always due to expectancy. A study of Pettigrew, Spencer, Ribot, Beard, Tukes, Gates, and other psychologists has put the “homeopath” into possession of knowl- edge whereby he may differentiate possible results of diluted drugs from possible results of pure credulous expectancy. * In the early days of homeopathy little was known of psychology, and hence the early promoters of the system were not infrequently gº 7 misled. They were easily deceived, as were all scientists in those days, and as a result their mistakes and overzealous statements have. done much to retard the serious consideration of the claim that there is such a thing as a principle of similars, through the applica- tion of which the sick may be cured. Since that day, however, the world has grown, but these conservative gentlemen do not seem to know it. . * . The men who so severely criticise us may be really sincere, but they are too narrow to grasp the full possibilities of therapeutics, confessing that they do not believe in such a thing as a law of thef- apeutics. Such men really do live in Baltimore today. . There are, however, many members of the older branch of the profession who are far more liberal (and among whom I am sure I have some very good friends), and who really are sincere in their desire for an official reconciliation with us, and I feel confident that these gentlemen would enter into any plan that might give reasonable promise of an amicable adjustment, and in the process of such a reconciliation they would undoubtedly desire that the terms, be equally fair for both parties concerned. A reconciliation of this character would have for its foundation a knowledge of what constitutes the progressive elements of both schools; and especially would it be understood that a progressive homeopathic physician is not a sectarian, that he is one who has studied all the methods of healing the sick that give promise of effectiveness, that he understands that homeopathy does not regu- late the affairs of the universe, or even of the whole field of thera- peutics, but that, like all other laws, its sphere is limited. It would further be understood that, in common with the members of the older school, the homeopathic practitioner also endeavors to re- move the existing cause of disease before undertaking to relieve its effects; that he is free to use all drugs and methods of cure that his judgment may sanction; that he, too, shares the “boundless field of therapeutics” in common with his older brother, and also stands on the same “broad vantage-ground;” that he does not claim to limit his practice within the sphere of homeopathy; and, finally, it would necessarily be recognized that the only difference existing between the modern liberally-educated physician of the older school and the modern liberally-educated homeopathic practitioner is that the former has not studied homeopathic therapeutics systematically, and, therefore, cannot apply them intelligently, and the latter has studied homeopathy systematically, and is prepared to intelligently prescribe drugs according to this method when the conditions to be relieved come within the sphere of applicability of the law of similars. - . . . . When these facts are clearly understood, and the “homeopath” is treated as any other educated doctor of medicine, and not as a men- 8. ºtal pervert, then, with few exceptions, he will be ready and willing to drop the “sectarian name.” He will not expect the “allopath” to accept all his therapeutic views, nor will he be expected to accept all the therapeutic views of the “allopath” any more than the indi- viduals of each school accept all of each other's individual views, but as he is willing to grant his brother the right to individual opinion, so he expects the same right for himself. There are today many practitioners in our school who have not for years attached to their names any distinctive adjective by which one could guess at their therapeutic belief. Some go farther, and do not even claim to be “homeopaths.” They are practitioners of medicine, who reserve the right to apply what they believe to be for the best good of the patient, and include in their armamentarium the means furnished by homeopathy, by antipathy, and by allopathy. This mutual recognition of the right to freedom of thought and rational action must exist before a reconciliation can be established, and even then it must be understood that the “homeopath” will reserve to himself the right to have his special organizations for the study of special subjects, homeopathy among them, just as men who compose our national bodies are members of smaller organiza- tions whose purposes are for investigations in limited fields. If those whose sentiments Dr. Cathell so clearly expressed in his address are really desirous of the reconciliation so ardently ad- vocated, then will they gladly accord us the rights we are willing to accord them; and with a large number of representatives of both schools of the same mind, there is no reason why an organization should not exist in Maryland within whose pale all physicians in good educational and legal standing may fraternize on a plane of equality. Or if the policy of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland were now to be recast in such a liberal mold, there is no reason to doubt that to its membership would, in a reasonable time, be added a goodly number of those whose views have hereto- fore debarred them from the privilege of association with medical practitioners who have never been, and never will be, more than their equals in the medical profession. Upon such terms of equality, and such terms only, can a digni- fied, just, and honorable fraternization of the two dominant schools of medicine be established. Then will it be that contraria contrariis curantur and similia similbus curantur will be emblazoned side by side in the temple of Esculapius, where all who have attained the dignity of the physician may be free to enter, regardless of indi- vidual opinion, and where all who enter respect and honor the code of duty by which each mutually governs his conduct, for this code will have had shorn from it all that can be used to injure a worthy brother, and which will breathe only the spirit of the golden rule: “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them, like- wise.” THE ADVANTAGES OF FRATER- | NAL ASSOCIATIONS - f HY JOHN PRENTICE RAND, M.D., MONSON, MASS. REPR INTED FROM THE North AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HOMCEoPATHY, February, 1900. ; [Reprinted from the North AMERICAN Journal of Howogarity, Feb., 1900.] .*. * ' THE ADVANTAGES OF FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS.* JoHN PRENTICE RAND, M.D., Monson, Mass. ADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I rise to make my acknowl- edgements, rather than an “address.” Through the courtesy of this society one year ago I was elected its President. I knew at the time (what I fear you must have since found out) it was a mistake. For I am not a “surgeon,” unless the amputation of a supernumerary pair of fingers upon a colored baby, without great deformity or loss of function, constitutes a claim. Nor am I a “gynaecologist,” unless the recovery of a few hysterical patients un- der internal medication makes me so. I am only an obscure coun- try physician, whose imperfections, brought out by the complimen- tary light in which I am placed, appear upon the public screen most sadly magnified. * * And yet I am proud of this society—proud of its history, proud of its attainments—it has made for itself an honest name; it fills in the hearts of the fraternity an honored place. It is here that the busy practitioner can come and, without the interference of un- necessary formalities, obtain the pith of what he wants. - I truly believe that the general modus operandi of this society cannot be greatly improved. Its founders “built better than they knew.” I like its freedom from politics, its homelike atmosphere, its unconventional ways. Its officers are selected for service only. There is never an unseemly scramble for place. Its members stand ready to assist at any time and in any way. We have thus far been a medical society in fact as well as in name. We have never at- tempted to coerce the Federal government to supply our members with positions, or extort funds from the State treasury for private ends. We have attended strictly to our business as physicians, commanding alike the respect and approval of all. - - There are many things devolving upon our State and National * Annual Address by the President of the Massachusetts Surgical and Gynecological Society. December 13, 1899. 2 The Advantages of Fraternal Associations: Rand. organizations which this society should not attempt. It surely could not take the initiative in bringing about some sadly needed reforms. . We have our place, and, knowing that, let us not hazard our repu- tation by an ill-advised encounter as did the Rough Riders at Santiago. . . . - And yet I am assured that, whether we wish it or not—whether we believe it or not—there are many things which should be ours ...that we shall never possess until we declare our rights and put ourselves in position to obtain them. In other words we must fight —fight against pernicious legislation and the organized officious- ness of the dominant school. And in order to fight successfully we must be united. Of us it might almost be said what Benja- min Franklin said to the intrepid signers of Independence: “We must hang together or we shall be pretty sure to hang separately.” Let us frankly acknowledge at the outset that “we have a con- dition, not a theory, to encounter”; that our law of therapeutics does not comprehend the entire domain of medicine and surgery; that our position, so far as State recognition is concerned, is still a sub- ordinate one; that the attitude of the self-called “regular school” towards us is one of compulsory toleration, if not of actual duplicity; and that we ourselves are what we are and where we are, not be- cause of professional skill or attainments, but just because our indi- vidual needs have compelled us to organize, and thus “the weakness of one has become the strength of all.” - - This brings me to the very center of my theme—The Advantages of Fraternal Associations—and, with your kind permission, I will try to define some of them. . . . . In the most primitive state of society every man lived for him- self. There was no such thing as philanthropy, no such word as friend. The family tie, even, was unknown, and, apart from ani- mal desire, there was no consideration of sex. But in the processes of time the male began to share the burdens of the female, and both together to provide for the immediate wants of their offspring. Here, then, we find the family made up and fortified for mutual help. Next came the clan, in which a few-families united for pro- tection—then the tribe, and so on in successive evolutions until the individual no longer lived wholly for himself, but lived as truly for the family, the community, the State. In fact, this spirit of altru- ism has continued and developed until to-day the nation's claim upon an able-bodied young man antecedes and supersedes that of his family or of the man himself. Now what was true of society in primitive times is equally true The Advantages of Fraternal Associations: Rand. 3 of the professions. In a sparsely settled community the physician is a law unto himself; he has no code of ethics to annoy him, no hope or expectation of professional aid. Like the heroic Doctor MacClure of Drumtochty, he fills and more than fills his solitary place. But in the processes of time settlements become villages, and villages cities. The good old country doctor is no longer the sole “oracle” of health. Specialists arise in every department of . medicine and slowly but surely the general practitioner awakes, like Othello, to find “his occupation gone.” * - . But every disease produces its own antidote, and the scourge of competition is followed by a higher efficiency, a larger ior and a spirit of reciprocity which finds expression in every fraternal organization that exists to-day. . — Physicians must combine, not for acquaintance merely, but for mutual instruction, inspiration, recreation and defense. Perhaps the foregoing order would be the most natural: Ac- quaintance, instruction, inspiration, recreation, and self-defense. ere is a difference between mind and matter, between a liv- ing thinker and a lifeless thought. The rarest book can never for one moment compare with the mind that produced it; the rarest experience related by some one else loses half of its effect. We must become acquainted by actual contact in order to be most help- ful to one another, and that is just what the Medical Society provides. . - • * * It used to be a wonder to the physicians who knew the lamented Dr. William B. Chamberlain of Worcester where he acquired such a wealth of information and such stores of expedients which he could command upon any emergency. The Medical Society would explain the secret in part. With pencil and notebook he was wont to follow each speaker, jotting down the gist of what was said, and from suggestions thus obtained he gained that wonderful facility in practise. He used to say that he knew he lost money every time he went to a medical meeting but that he usually got hold of some new ideas, any one of which was worth many times what he lost, so that in the end the balance was always on the right side of the account. * Nor are the advantages of the Medical Society confined to the hearers, alone. Many a paper is of no earthly interest except to the one who presents it. But even the stupid text-book essay with which we are so often bored has instructed at least the writer, and made him a better informed physician than he was before. The real nuggets of medical experience, however, are seldom 4 The Advantages of Fraternal Associations: Rand. found in papers or books. The essayist does his duty, as is so often remarked, when he opens up a subject for general discussion. It is then and there that the busy practitioner who never wrote a paper in his life, and never believed that he could, forgets his surround- ings and becomes at once the teacher of all. It is then and there that we catch those snap-shots of actual experience—volumes of instruction in a single remark. We read in our magazines or text- books of some new remedy, and mentally determine to give it a trial at the first opportunity. But time glides by, and, in a little while, both the remedy and its application are forgotten. Let the same thing come to us from the direct testimony of a practical physician, and we order the remedy at once. k How can a man so tied up with the financial end of his business that he never dares to go to a medical meeting or leave his office for fear of losing a patient, ever expect to get out of the ruts or be- come anything more than a routine prescriber? Like the prisoner of Chillon, he wears a pathway in the rugged circle of his little “beat” to the spot by the ball and chain of the almighty dollar. “I had rather be a dog and bay at the moon than such a” practitioner. But the physician needs something more than instruction. He needs the inspiration that comes to him from contact with his fel- lows. He needs to have his ideals enlarged; his love for humanity increased, so that he can see in the filthiest patient, who presents nothing whatever of financial or scientific interest, a fellow mortal doomed like himself to “thole the winter's sleety dribble.” I have often thought that a “charity patient” was the consummate pºsay 6. of a physician's character. In the name of science we dissect the most loathsome dead body, and subject ourselves to the almost cer- tain contagion of disease. Can we also do it in the name of hu- manity? * O what a charm has the association of “kindred minds” to cure the “blues”! Which one of us has not at some time felt discour- aged when alone? Even Elijah, the prophet of Jehovah, prayed that he might die rather than remain the sole representative of his “school.” One touch of sympathy makes us all brothers. The chronic invalid, after the illumination of a day like this, becomes an object of interest. Like the early disciples filled with Pentecostal spirit, we go home to work miracles. The medical society is to the phy- sician a “means of grace”—perhaps the only one he ever attends. I think it was the Rev. DeWitt Talmage who said: “Any man who has work to do and does it deserves a vacation.” The physi- The Advantages of Fraternal Associations: Rand. 5 cian works seven days in the week; it is absolutely impossible for him to drop his cares on Sunday. Other men may go to walk and to drive or “sleep in any church” they please without fear of dis- turbance. He cannot. In order to balance his hygienic account for the year, so as to put him on an equal footing with his patients, he should take a vacation of at least fifty-two days to compensate for work done on Sunday. A part of this time should be spent in sleep, a part in recreation, and a part in the association of “brothers and friends.” But the most imperative need of fraternal associations, the sine qua non to a physician from a political standpoint, are the advan- tages they afford for mutual protection and the relief of public ne- cessities. “The meek shall inherit the earth”—that means the allo- paths.” The only reason they do not is that the Homoeopaths and eclectics are too numerous. - t - Personally I do not believe that any school or schools of medicine should be allowed to make a “corner” on the public health. I do not believe the State should exercise its authority to debar any sane man of adult age from selecting his own physician. If he wants to employ a Christian Scientist, clairvoyant, or an allopath, even, he ought to have the chance. l • I believe in law, but I believe in liberty more. I beleve in anti- toxin, but not in compulsory antitoxin. I believe in vac- cination, but its use should be discretionary with the physician. “Freedom to worship God according to the dictates of one's own conscience” is guaranteed in the Constitution, and freedom to seek one’s “end” by any path or pathy in medicine should be the same. All wisdom is not tied up in one school or three schools. The greatest reformers in medicine and religion have been heretics, and, unless history fails to repeat itself, will be so in the future. O what crazy-quilt of medical legislation does this country pre- sent! What a mess of contradictions ! What a host of abstirdities There must be relief in some way for conditions that exist, and there is. Think of granting an institution the right to educate phy- sicians, and then branding the physician as an outlaw if he attempts to use that education before submitting to an additional examina- tion by some State Board | Thinking of working four long years for a diploma that carries with it no legal right to practice!—in fact is worth less than the parchment on which it is written. There surely must be a leak somewhere when every graduate is black- balled and the college escapes. , - . . Why should disease be allowed to be propagated on one side of 6 The Advantages of Fraternal Associations: Rand. an invisible line to the risk and positive injury of the other? Why should a physician be culpable for opening an office to practice his profession in different parts of the same neighborhood? State lines may be tolerated on the surveyor's map, but, in the geography of health, our country should be indissolubly one from Ocean to Ocean, and the Lakes to the Gulf. -- - We talk about our laws for “the protection of the people.” What does it mean? It means that if you or I should be stricken with disease and obliged to seek a residence in a more congenial climate; if you or I were poor, utterly unable to live without practice; in spite of sickness, poverty and distress, you or I would be com- pelled to go before some State Board and pass an examination upon —what we do not know. It matters not who we are or how long we have been in practice. Such is the law in many states; such is the law in this State. And you and I helped to make it. - O, but you say: “This act of registration put a stop to quack- ery. So it did. Any quack who had been in the State three years when the law went into effect, stopped right there. (Three hun- dred and twenty-seven of them—non-graduates—in the little State of Massachusetts were registered under the “three years' practice” exemption act, and became at once the legal peers of the best.)” While to-day the graduate physician is obliged to take his examina- tions or leave. We shut out a few quacks, it is true; and soon awoke to find the rest had all been shut in. Yes, and ourselves with them. Doctor Mag-net-i-cuss still makes his semi-annual trips from Barn- stable to Berkshire “in quest of the golden fleece.” One State for an itinerary answers his purpose well; but if you or I, who happen to live in a border town, go over the line to practice we are liable to arrest. But what has all this to do with medical societies, especially with this society, whose policy has ever been to let law and politics severely alone, and confine its energies to surgery and diseases of women? Just this: There is absolutely no need that such ridicu- lous medical laws should remain upon our statutes any longer. If a man is competent to practice medicine in Massachusetts he is equally competent to go over the line into Connecticut or New York. I grant the difficulties that exist in bringing different States to adopt exactly the same standards for medical registration. It never can be done, any more than separate Boards of Examiners, in the same State, can do it now. Even a single Board of Examiners can- not maintain an exact standard through any two successive exam- The Advantages of Fraternal Associations: Rand. . 7 inations, unless the very same questions were used in each, which would be a farce. I grant the value of a State examination to weed out the “Sun- down College” and prevent the chartered diploma factory from run- ning seven days in a week. But wouldn't it be a good idea for the State inspectors to look over the factory itself once in a while, to see what kind of stuff goes in, what kind of machinery is used, and who is using it, instead of spending so much time examining'the material it turns out? - . - Is it really a common-sense way of preventing the adulteration of prepared foods, to appoint a Health Commission to taste of all their products before allowing them to be offered to the public? Does any sane man believe that a single examination, in a doubtful case, would establish the fitness or unfitness of a candidate for the prac- tice of medicine? To a recent graduate the State examination ought not to be a great hardship; but to subject the veteran practi. tioner to the same is surely nothing less. Nor is it necessary. Reciprocity, devised by that great statesman, James G. Blaine, as a remedy for the “free trade and high tariff” issue, can be made to settle the whole difficulty. Interstate reciprocity, whereby a physi- cian legally qualified to practice in one State may be allowed to reg- ister in another, is the most available remedy for the immediate future. And it surely will come. “What ought to be will be.” Let but the physicians unite and take hold of this matter in earnest and the work is done. The trouble is that the majority of us are too indolent and too indifferent to do anything about it. Conscious of our own individual security, and feeling no necessity or desire for a change of location, we forget the obligations we owe to our less fortunate associates to whom this spectre of State examina- tions is ever present. - - But fortune is “no respecter of persons”; even now the fickle goddess may have her eyes on some one of us. Before another springtime shall appear some one of us may be obliged to relinquish his practice and position to seek a livelihood in a distant State. What can this society do for him? It can agitate the question of medical reciprocity if nothing more. It can call the attention of the Legislative Committee of the American Institute of Homoe- opathy to the advantages and necessity of the measure we propose. And it can do it now. The subject must be emphasized everywhere. Why not here? Suppose this society should help the ball along by adopting a set of resolutions something like these: 8 The Advantages of Fraternal Associations: Rand. *WHEREAs, The Massachusetts Surgical and Gynaecological Society, believing that the present laws for medical registration as they appear in many States, are unjust to the reputable physician who for any reason may desire to change his location from one State to another; therefore be it * Resolved, That this society call upon the American Institute of Homoeopathy, as the oldest national medical organization in this country, to take some action towards bringing about a uniform system for registration in medicine, whereby a physician legally qualified to practice in any State or Territory of this Union, or in the District of Columbia, may be allowed to register for practice in any other State or Territory of this Union, or in the District of Columbia, upon the presentation of a verified certificate and the payment of a nominal fee. & * Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be, forwarded to the Chairman of the Legislative, Committee of the American Institute of Homoeopathy for such consideration as may be deemed expedient. Gentlemen, I am done. It is not for this society to raise the signal which will call upon every State in the Union for aid. There is but one organization in our school that can do this successfully, and that is the grand old Institute of Homoeopathy, which has al- ready achieved so much, and of which we are so justly proud. Let but the Institute take the lead, with all our State and local societies in cooperation with it, and medical reciprocity will shortly become a fact. It must be accomplished some time. It will be accomplished. It is demanded alike by reason and common sense. Party jealousies may hinder, but cannot prevent its coming, for it is founded upon the eternal principles of justice and of equal rights to all. That this society may have a part in bringing about this much needed reform is my earnest, honest wish. * At the close of Dr. Rand's Address the above resolutions were unan- imously adopted by the Society. - PROFESSIONAL REMUNERATION BY O. S. RUNNELS, M. D. Read at the Twelfth Annual Session of the Indiana Institute of Homoeopathy. /.fJ.O The question of success in life is one of the broadest that can be discussed. It is the most expansive because it in- volves and includes every query pertaining to right living, and because, molens volens, every human being is required to essay its problem. What constitutes success, what road shall be taken, and methods employed to attain it, are the general interrogations that propound themselves; and in the scramble for life, where self-preservation is the primal law and only “the fittest survive,” it is plain they should be well considered, and rightly answered. Particularly is this so after the life work has been chosen. and entered upon, and the struggle of competition commenced. Essentially, success means—whatever other attributes are included—the attainment through honest and noble methods of a “good living” for self and those dependent. Try to deny this as we may by insistence upon a more unselfish, and philanthropic definition, the stubborn fact will recur that nutrition of body and mind is the first necessity, , and that - .2 PROFESSIONAL REMUNERATION. only those who are well fed in both senses can be considered a success. This fact has been so long established that it would seem unnecessary to come before a body like this, composed of doctors well versed in laws of growth and decay, to restate it; but this truth long used—like money— needs a recoining, as the medical profession seems to know less, as a body, about ordinary business principles—which is proven by the general slip-shod management of their finan- ces—than any other class of citizens While this is true, it is strange, but not so strange either, as I find upon refl. ction that a kind of suicidal policy has been taught us for ages. Not long since I heard one of the most distinguished teachers in the country, himself fat and rich, say to his class: “Is there a gentleman present who has entered this sacred pro- fession for the purpose of making money, for the sake of the dollar? If so he should leave these halls at once and renounce the profession forever, The holy work of healing should not be cursed by any such mercenary spirit.” And I have heard and seen in our various channels of communication the same sentiment many times repeated. Being an expression old and oſt-restated its baleful influ- ence has gradually filtered in and permeated the medical fab- ric until to-day, it is a rare thing to find a doctor possessed of such business principles as will enable him to make his practice a living issue to all concerned. - * * Whatever else may be said the sentiment is sickly and fal- lacious to the last degree and has done as much to cripple medicine as any one thing that can be named. - It is the outgrowth of that one-sided and emasculating code to which the clergy have subscribed for, lo, these centuries, viz: going into the vineyard without stipulation and receiving for pay as a mendicant, practically, whatsoever a large hearted (?) people might choose to donate. Now I am free to say that no man is excusable for quietly accepting any such menial and dwarfing position; for he can never attain, while he does it, to that erect and robust professional standing which should be the ambitious aim of -all. It necessitates a consent to crawl on through a profitless ProfessionAL REMUNERATION. . .3 existence; a contentment with whatever a slow and ungrate- ful public may dole out and a surrender of all those helps that rightfully belong to him but which per force he can not com- mand. ' \ - : . . . . That “the laborer is worthy of his hire” is universally ad- mitted; but while manual work receives its reward mental toil for the most part has to beg and starve. . . People have somehow reached the conclusion that brain work does not cost the producer anything and that therefore no wrong is done, if it be the last item paid for, or be paid for, perchance, only after a ruinous discount has been con- sented to; or, be not paid for at all. It is high time that the . fact of such a condition be broadly recognized, the causes searched for, and agencies set in motion that will remove them. - - : * = † . . . . To prove that in our profession this condition is about as represented I need only refer to the large number of accounts denominated “bad,” in the hands of every physician and to the general tone of slander that characterizes every remark about “doctors' bills.” These facts self-evident and un- deniable as they are, can not be regarded as laudable symp- toms; for they do not indicate a self-limiting disease. They are only valuable in leading us to the correct diagnosis and treatment, to the cause and cure of the case. - As “every man is the architect of his own fortune,” so also is he the creator of his own misfortune; and that the harvest is the same in kind as the seed sown is a like truth of unvary- ing fulfillment here well instanced. The fault lies in the pro- fession itself; and the time is come when abuse of the people for performing what they have been so long and thoroughlv taught to do must cease. - s. Medicine as well as theology had superstition for a mother; or rather superstition was the mother of the joint offspring the priest-doctor; which in the chain of development has gradually evolved into the two professions as we find them. Remembering this we can understand where the bias was obtained and why they have so much in common, each re- taining to an extent, as they do, the shackles of their ancestor. *4 • Profession AL REMUN-ER-Arros. It was considered a base thing for one engaged in so htty a calling to indulge in any material thoughts whatever. "Oh, no, he must rely upon the Invisible entirely for enough of the earthy to solidify his bones; it would be infidelity, an offense worthy of death, if he did not! . . . . And thus, because poverty has been esteemed the requisite qualification, in these two professions; inability and disadvant- age have been perpetuated. It is because of this very reason that the doctors of soul and body are hampered and crippled, as we find them, by fetters elsewhere in the business world unknown. This remarkable foolishness is to-day widely pre- valent and, strange to say, is fostered by the doctors them- selves. When will they learn that the world has moved on and that this is the age of enlightenment and equity? The edict has gone forth that slavery is wrong and that it is right , to have pay for labor. - For the confirmation of this principle armies have fought and triumphed; and the result is crystallized in the laws of the land. The fact, then, must be accepted and acted upon. Medical schools must be consistent and teach it, and medical journals must iterate and reiterate it till, the weak minded sentiment referred to, shall disappear forever. To further ac- complish it the profession, to a man, must do two things: first, advance in excellence; second, require prompt pay- ment. There must be better qualification, and a higher prac- tice of honor, in those who have professional labor to sell. As it is, the ranks are crowded with men of low grade at- tainment or mountebank propensities who do not really de- serve much remuneration. l - First, and least to be blamed, are the indigent, who are too poor to buy books, periodicals and instruments and without which the finest ability is inadequate; second, and much to be goaded, are the indolent, who are without the animation to use such helps if possessed and are wanting the ambition to gain them; and lastly, and ever to be exposed are the adven- turers, who having had little or no preliminary culture, have by some devious way clambered into the fold and are depending upon “seventh son” or mother witendowmement to carry them PROFEssroNAL REMUNERAT16N, 5. through; or who, having had a good rudimentary start, have fallen into prostitution and resort to any ignoble practice to fürther their selfish ends. A man can be poor or lazy in this country pretty much as he wills to and the burden is largely his own, a personal matter; but when he converts himself into a professional devastator and freebooter, that is another matter which vitally affects us all. - These men, and you have them for neighbors in every com- munity, embody the curse. Glad to get business at any rate they announce to the public that their charges are merely nominal or fifty per cent less than the established price. If any movement be on foot to build up the cause and bet- ter the fraternity they are sure to be the naughty children that “won't play.” Studiously shunning the societies, because they have not brains enough to furnish a fact for the advance- ment of science, they busy themselves by lying about their more prosperous neighbors thereby hoping to build them: selves up. If called in consultation they are certain, by sub voce disparagement and innuendo, to besmear their benefactor before they get through. . A common error on the part of many good physicians, and another element of debasement, is misplaced generosity. I refer to the practice of treating clergymen, and others able to pay, for nothing; and this, perhaps, when the brother of the “cloth” is receiving for a salary a sum equivalent to or double the doctor's income and, when, at the same time, the doctor feels himself obliged to ask pay of widows, orphans. and the other meritorius poor. This thing needs only to be stated to be condemned, for the scales of justice do not bal- ât,ce in such a measurement. There will be a healthier Christianity when charity is more wisely bestowed. From an extended experience in treating clergymen whom I have in- variably charged I have yet to meet the first one that re- monstrated. Repeatedly have they expressed to me their ap- proval of this practice and their condemnation of the plan that consigns them willing or not to the ranks of the mendi- cant. - 6 PROFEssionAL REMUNERATION. But this leads me, to say that our services should never for mercenary reasons be withheld from those reduced to honest need. As the “Good Samaritan,” the worthy physician must ever be related to this large and ever present class. And to the honor and tender sympathy of our profession be it said that no other class in society can at all compare with the doc- tors in their arduous and self-denying charities. For this very reason doctors have the better right to ex- pect their just dues promptly. It is an equal charity and justice due themselves and co-laborers that they fix a fair valuation upon their services and, to the extent of individual ability, to require payment. In this matter of collecting, doctors have assumed the attitude of the beggar. As a general rule accounts are presented with an apology, much as a fellow would beg off before a police judge for sheep stealing. The doctor feels as if he were doing a mean thing and so postpones it as long as possible. The hope is expressed to Mr. Debter that he will pardon the—bill (?) and is assured that he will confer a lasting obligation, if he will respond even in a small amount! As if the preponderance of obligation had not long existed in the opposite direction! No, until doctors can approach their debtors with the consciousness of having rendered an equivalent for the sum demanded and to which he has a right and just claim, there can be no health- ful business atmosphere in the medical profession. Honest accounts must be promptly and frankly presented, and pay to their full face, (except charity,) insisted upon. The practice of “knocking-off” from ten per cent to fifty per cent, by way of discount, is mischievous and should be abolished. Gen- eral bankrupty would sweep the country if that were the cus- tom in all vocations; and special collapse is none the less cer- tain to all those who practice it in ours. Make a candid ac- count of your services and collect it and don’t deny that you “work for money” and expect to receive it. Business is noth- ing but exchange and is a rule that works both ways equally well; so that service and pay must be reciprocal. This is with us, the great desideratum. . - r To reach it attention must be, in the second place, faithfully paid to collections, such attention as the merchant pays to it, PROFESSIONAL REMUNERATION. 7 regarding it as he does one of the two cardinal points of suc- cess. There must be method in it. Collections must be made regularly and systematically, not after long uncertain intervals and with intermittent effort, but often when the service is completed and ever with unrelaxing over sight. For nine years I have made a general rendition of my ac- counts every ninety days. All classes, from rich to poor, have been alike favored every quarter with the statement of their indebtedness. The plan has worked like a charm. People who intend to pay do not care much when they do so and ... are always better content with a small bill than a large one. But, if in three months, the account has reached magnitude, then it is high time that the debt? be apprised of the fact; that he may rectify any mistake while the matter is fresh in memory and acknowledge its correctness if he do not at once pay, thus preventing future misunderstanding. For a “doc- tors bill” is just like any other current account, may grow very fast, and good people are prone to raise both hands in amaze- ment and declare they “never got so much.” In that case one of two things is sure to be lost, possibly both, the “bill” or the family. Then, for protection in many ways, collect often and regularly; or at least keep the growing object before them. * After this extended personal experience and the commend- atory testimony of several of my friends of like practice I am urgent in my recommendation of the adoption of these principles. Their faithful use will elminate from your ledgers and the land, that large class of respectable (?) paupers and dead beats, with money enough for dress and ornamentation but not for the doctor, so well known to you all: will yearly in- crease your patronage in number, worth and desirableness and will possess you of sufficient means to enable you to com- mand not only the conveniences of life but such vocational helps as will elevate you into the front rank of the profession. - ºwiv. of M19% Jun 16 196" Address of the President of | the Homoeopathic Medical | Society of the State of New York HERBERT DANA SCHENCK B. S., M. D., O. ET A. CHIR. - Reprinted from - * - Tha Medical Century - ) April, 1908 * . ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT Herbert Dana Schenck, B.S., M.D., 0.et A. chir. Fellow Members: In reviewing the events of the past year which have a distinct relation to our 'Society, nothing stands out as prominently as the legislation which was passed last winter, replacing by a single board of nine members the three boards of medical examiners of seven members each, which had been in existence since 1892. This pending law was presented to you at the last an- nual meeting. Your attitude at that time was for an uncompromising fight for keeping the three boards. This was made, and, undoubtedly would have been successful had the campaign been be- tween medical forces alone, but it was not a test of arms between the allopathic and homoeopathic and eclectic schools, but it was between the State Department of Education, with the more or less passive assistance of the allopathic school on the one hand and the homoeopathic and eclectic Schools on the other. A considerable number of practi- tioners of allopathy were against the bill and out- spoken in its opposition when the Osteopathic com- promise was made. . There has been considerable comment in this State and out of it, criticising the attitude of the homoeopathic profession in this crisis, hence, I shall take this opportunity of giving to you the facts as they present themselves to one who was in the closest possible touch with the situation during the time from the last annual meeting until the bill was signed by the Governor in May, at the risk * of repeating some things which were said at the semi-annual meeting. Medical Legislation. The agitation for the substitution of a single board for the three boards, wherever they exist, has been active in the American Medical Association for some years, but the chief lead in this State was taken by the Department of Education, which called a conference of representatives of the medi- cal colleges of the State, as well as the State so- cieties at the Department of Education, November 24, 1905. You will find in the Transactions for I906 an account of what took place at that con- ference. At that time Howard J. Rogers, first assistant of the Department of Education, and representing that department, presented an argu- ment for a single board under the following heads: First, because it appealed to the department as more economical and efficient in administration. It had no relation to the medical side of the sub- ject, being purely departmental. - - Secondly, that one board would make its prac- tically impossible for other boards to be created, of which he said there seemed danger of several. Here he created a man of straw, as no one could imagine a Legislature or a sane Governor consider- ing the appeals of the kineteopath, Christian Scientist, etc. The only body of practitioners that had any support or organization behind them was the osteopaths, who were demanding much less recognition than the present law gives them. At this conference the homoeopathic and eclectic schools opposed vigorously the idea of having a single examining board, and nothing was done about the matter until the spring of 1906, when a bill was drawn for a single examining board, as I understand, by Howard J. Rogers and the coun- 2 - l - - . 'sel for the Medical Society of the County of New York. This bill was introduced in the Assembly, and, in the public health committee of that branch of the Legislature, acted as a measure whose con- sideration helped amazingly to defeat the bill creat- ing an osteopathic board, which had been actively pushed during the whole of that winter, with the sympathy, it was currently believed, of a great many members of the Legislature. This was prac- tically the same bill that was introduced at the opening of the session in 1907, which had the strong support of the committee on public health of the Assembly, the latter having a number of allopathic physicians among its members and a druggist as its chairman. . Just before the Legislature convened in 1907, a -decision was handed down by the appellate division in New York City defining medical practice and declaring all those not legally licensed as illegal practitioners and amenable to the provisions of the medical law regarding such practitioners. It was thought by the legal representatives of the Medical Society of the County of New York that the osteo- paths would defend the man whose case was used for the test, but the osteopaths, repudiating him, -made no move to modify this decision. They did make a move the moment the Legislature con- vened and introduced a bill legalizing osteopathy. They used this decision as a boomerang by sending 2,000,000 copies around this State telling members of the Legislature and the patients of every Osteo- path in the State that if they desired to be treated Tby osteopathy any longer, their bill legalizing their practice would have to be passed before the Legis- Tature adjourned. This created such tremendous sentiment that the legislators felt its pressure at •every visit home and the Senate committee on pub- dic health, which was very strongly biased toward 3 *- osteopathy, espoused their cause and demanded a law legalizing all these practitioners. . . . Dr. Rogers, who was conducting the cam- paign for the single examining board, found very soon that he was unable to move his bill out of the Senate committee until some provision was made for the osteopaths, and the latter found that they could not move their bill out of the Assembly committee until some provision was made for a single board. - - -- - Your officers and committee vigorously fought for the retention of the three examining boards and also as unfair, unjust and against public policy the licensing practically as practitioners, of medi- cine of a large number of osteopaths who had had less preliminary training and medical education than had been required of medical students for. many years past. A few members of the Legis- lature, under the leadership of commissioner Howard J. Rogers, however, met one Saturday night (March 9th) in Albany, and sent for the osteopathic committee, then in that city, and told them that something must be done. After a pro- longed session, adjournment was taken until Sunday morning, when the osteopathic committee defined their position and the present medical bill, which contains in a dozen lines practically all the pro- visions of the original osteopathic bill, was decided upon as satisfactory to Dr. Rogers, the committee- men and the leaders of the Legislature. This radically changed the whole complexion of the legislative fight, and, in spite of our opposition and our suggestions for amendment, the bill was finally passed and signed with scarcely any change in its professional aspects. We even went so far aš to employ the best legal talent we could get to present our case before the Governor that he might see the justice of our contentions and veto it, but 4 even in this we failed. We suggested amendments for compulsory representation of all schools upon the examining board; for the nomination of ex- aminers by the State medical societies; for an ex- amination in materia medica and therapeutics; and for a modification of the osteopathic section. Neither the Senate nor Assembly committee on . public health would accept them nor permit any change in the bill. Such as were introduced on the floor were defeated through the active opposition of these committees. . º - Our fight, however, before the Legislature and the Governor made such an impression that I feel sure that it resulted in the minority schools secur- ing representation, and, further, in not permitting any school of medicine to have a majority of the board. . . . . The bill, as passed, has four marked defects: First, because it does not compel the Regents to recognize the different schools of medical practice by giving them a definite representation on the board. Second, because it does not give organized phy- sicians, who are the best judges of the qualifi- cations of their members for positions on the ex- amining boards, any voice in the selection of the examiners. This is left entirely to the personal whim of the Regents. . . . . Third, the bill does not require an examination in therapeutics or materia medica. Since the be- ginning of civilization, all peoples and times have believed in the efficacy of drugs in disease, and physicians have always used drugs for treating their patients. Pt would seem, then, that the corner- stone of any examination for a license to practice medicine must be to find out whether a man had a sufficient knowledge of drugs and their proper . administration. That he must have a knowledge 5 of the collateral sciences of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, pathology, etc., everybody admits, but that the colleges can be left to take care of the knowledge of the students in materia medica and therapeutics, but not in anatomy, physiology, chemistry, etc., seems to be entirely at variance with human experience. Students work on the subjects upon which they are to be examined and teachers bend their energies toward making their students meet whatever requirements may be set, be it a promotion, entrance to college or what not. If materia medica and therapeutics is a “specialty,” as was said in the Legislature last winter, the prac- titioners of Homoeopathy must stand in a class by themselves. . . The fourth defect in the bill, was its broad com- promise, letting in a large number of Osteopaths as practitioners of medicine, as they claim, with- out requiring that they should, have the pre- liminary education or spend the time and money required, of medical men. - But do not go home with any delusion that this bill was passed through the efforts of the allopathic school. They had little to do with its drafting. The management of their campaign was left to the first commissioner of the Department of Education, who made the principal argument for the bill at the committee hearing before the Legislature. At the hearing before the Governor the homoeopathic school was represented by nearly forty of its mem- bers, the eclectic school had a large delegation present, but the allopathic school was represented by a half dozen men, and their principal spokesman was Howard J. Rogers. Without the support and guidance of this great State Department, this bill could never have passed the Legislature. Its first assistant was in the capitol seven days each week. His prestige, as an officer 6. of a State department in the Legislature, gave him untold advantages over a member of your commit- tee in access to the legislators and greatly aug- mented his influence. ‘. . . . . Administration by Regents. - In this connection it might be well to briefly call to your attention the fact that when the original medical law establishing three examining boards was drawn it was placed in the hands of the Board of Re- gents for execution, as a matter of convenience. The legislative matters connected with its formulation were done by physicians after years of considera- tion to determine the standard to be required of medical men, the subjects, upon which they were to be examined and the form of the law necessary for carrying these into effect. They also outlined the education necessary as a preliminary to the study of medicine. After the manner of bureaus generally, the bureau of the Regents, into whose hands this matter was put, assumed not only execu- tive, but legislative power. . . - It is very easy for any executive to read into a law oppressive measures never intended by those who drew it, and this seems to have been the at- titude of this bureau in regard to the preliminary educational requirements. They planned, they said, to have New York in the lead in this matter. As a matter of fact, they made the requirements so oppressive by their ruling upon immaterial spoints that they have made New York State in a class by itself, so far above others were their re- quirements. It was not a leader, and New York City, the largest and first in commercial importance in the United States, and the first until recently, in the matter of medical education, fell to fourth or fifth place in the number of medical students who came to her for their education. 7 . In Pope's directory for 1906 it is stated that Chicago had registered 2,127 students during the session ending May, 1906. Philadelphia had 2,089; New York, 1,705, and Baltimore, 1,658. These were far ahead of any other cities of the United States, and I believe the falling off in New York since then has made Baltimore third and New York fourth, if not lower. . . Is it not time that medical men asserted themselves to correct this condition, that some change may be made so that the medical colleges of this State may not be filled almost exclusively by those who can pass the Regent's examination to the exclusion of the graduates of private schools outside of the State whose students may not havé the exact qualifications of our Regents' curriculum, but are as well educated in the general sense, which is all the law requires of any prospective medical student? . - It would seem to me desirable that a committee be appointed from this society that would confer with other societies and report what action is best for us to take at our next meeting in order to place New York in the front rank as a medical Centre. . . . . Unnecessary Blindness. - . . One of the menbers of our society, as chairman of the State Commission for the Blind, has been doing most valuable work in the last two years in calling attention of the medical profession to the unnecessary blindness which still exists because of the careless treatment of our babies at the time of birth. Ophthalmia néonatorum has been known for forty years as a preventable disease, and for a long time as of bacterial origin. In spite of this it is causing over 30 per cent. of the blindness in the United States at the present time. In our own" 8 State, over 30 per cent. of those entering the State School for, the Blind, at Batavia, during the fall of 1907, were blind from this cause; in Pennsyl- vania, 33% per cent. ; in Massachusetts, about . 30 per cent., and in Colorado, over 42 per cent. In Pennsylvania the average for eight years has been 33°/, per cent of the whole number admit- ted have become blind from ophthalmia neona- torum. In view of these facts I urge upon every one of you to actively support all measures that are thought advisable to cut off such a prolific source of . - unnecessary blindness, and to support not only your State Department of Health, but your local health officers in promulgating among the midwives and mothers the danger of this disease and how - it may be combatted. A committee should be ap- pointed from this society to aid the committees of other organizations in the widest diffusion of the knowledge of the prevention of this disease and to secure action by legislation and otherwise for its control. It is particularly urged to find out in the large centres of population, where there is a large foreign element and where there are midwives, whether the Howe law is enforced requiring mid- wives to be licensed. It is also necessary to know how many cases of ophthalmia neonatorum oc- curred last year and whether any prophylactics were, used and what. It has been found in a large number of cases where prophylactics were used that the newer silver salts were substituted for the old Credé niträte of silver. Whether these adequately protect is not known, and steps should be taken to find out at once. Tuberculosis and its Prevention. - - The subject of tuberculosis has been widely agitated, and in this city of Albany was recently held one of the most remarkable conferences upon 9 } this subject ever held anywhere. The whole subject is of the greatest interest, and the matter of the registration, notification and other active measures advanced by the State Department of Health should have the earnest support of every member of this society who is interested in lessening this great white plague. A resolution should be adopted urging the Legislature to give an adequate appropriation for public meetings, so that a wide- spread and active campaign for dispensing knowl- edge upon this subject may be undertaken by the State. Pennsylvania appropriated $1,000,000.OO for fighting this disease last winter. g A Pure Food Law. - " The pure food and drug act of the United States does not apply to food nor to drugs which are manufactured wholly within the State. It is neces- Šary, therefore, that provision be made for the pro- tection of the citizens of New York by having a pure food law adopted and put into the hands of the Department of Health for execution, in order that we may have the protection of our food sup- plies, as well as of our medicines, which the National Government guarantees to these products which are sold in the different States. - United States Pharmacopoeia. In the formation of this national food law, one omission was made in the bill which we ought to have corrected. In framing the bill, the United States Dispensatory and the National Formulary - were made standards for the preparation of tinc- tures and various other drug preparations. All others were rated as proprietary medicines, and were required to state the amount of alcohol, etc., they contained. A bill now before Congress, intro- duced in the House of Representatives by the Hon. IO * John Dalzell, of Pittsburg, has been referred to the committee on interstate and foreign commerce, It is known as House of Representative bill, No. 6089.” This bill provides that the pharmacopoeia which the American Institute adopted some years ago and known as the United States Pharmacopoeia, be mentioned in the bill and put upon the same footing as the National Dispensatory and National Förmulary. Action should be taken by this so- ciéty endorsing that stand, and members are re- quested to communicate with their Congressmen and ask them to give this bill their support. Examination of the Eyes and Ears of School Children.,, , Under the direction of the State Department of Health, an examination was held by the teachers last fall in over 95 per cent. of the 446 incorporated villages of the State to ascertain the vision of our school children, their acuteness of hearing, and whether they were suffering from nasal catarrh or were mouth breathers. They were, also asked to report concerning children who had headaches or other conditions of the lids or eye balls, which are easily ascertained by any layman through inspec- tion. This method followed the plan of Massa- chusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and some other States, but it is not compulsory as it is in those States. The department expects to extend this to the country districts as soon as it is in smooth working order in the villages, and public sentiment is aroused to its value. As physicians in your re- spective communities who thoroughly appreciate the value of this work, you can greatly assist in crystallizing public sentiment so that in these im- portant respects the physical welfare of our school children may be greatly benefitted. - - II Materia Medica Symposiums. . - The writer has been instrumental on a num- ber of occasions, in formulating and watching the results of what has been called materia medica symposiums, similar to that which those of you in Brooklyn enjoyed on the Tuesday evening of the last semi-annual meeting. It would seem most de- sirable and necessary to have as many verifications of our drugs as possible. It increases our knowl- edge, of our materia medica, stimulates its study and we ought to have at each of our meetings a few of these reports presented. Not to exceed five minutes should be consumed in the presentation of any case showing the curative action of the drug when administered singly. Such reports when col- lected, would be of the utmost value in showing the results of cures by our remedies. Pioneers' of homoeopathy in this State and elsewhere, were wont to spend most of their time in reporting their cures and discussing the value of our drugs. We have gone too far the other way, and it will be wholesome if we can have, at least one or two papers yearly that will enter into the philosophy of homoeopathic therapeutics. - Papers Read by Title. One of the abuses of all medical societies and one that detracts considerably from their attendance and interest, is the fact that a number of papers are put upon the programme which are never written or finished. It has been the habit of medical men from time immemorial to come to the meetings with the ink scarcely dry upon their papers. This results in more or less carelessness in their prep- aration, and makes it impossible to secure the formal discussion, which brings out those spon- taneous remarks which often add most valuable facts to the subject. The standing resolution in I2 regard to reading papers by titles should be re- scinded. My experience during the past year and in other organizations in which I have been an of- ficer, leads me to believe each year more and more that no paper should be put on the programme that is not prepared at the time the programme goes to press, and that every paper on a programme should be read. It is boyish and beneath the dig- nity of any medical society to think it is punishing a writer who has taken the time to prepare a paper by reading it by title when some unforeseen crisis has arisen which makes it impossible for him to attend the meeting. There may have been half a dozen or more who have come to the meeting to hear that paper read and they, as well as the writer, have rights to be protected. Several people went to hear a paper that was read by title at the semi-annual meeting, and were much disappointed to think they had spent the whole afternoon to hear only its title. The impressions made by hearing a paper well read, are much deeper than those that can ever be brought out through seeing the same paper in type. The facts are nailed to our mem- ory so that they are always at hand, which is not always the case when papers are read. • Committee on Resolutions. tº The time has come when this society is large enough and important enough to have a standing committee on resolutions to whom all resolutions should be referred, as they are in our national so- ciety. There they can be thoroughly considered, changed into a better form, if necessary, and then brought before the society for consideration at a later period of the meeting. I would recommend that a standing resolution be adopted forming such a committee. - & ! 13. t Delegates of the Interstate Committee of the American Insti- This committee is developing more and more each year into one of the most valuable committees of the Institute in guarding and promoting the in- terests of homoeopathy. Too little attention has been paid in the past to the selection of delegates to this committee and to informing them of their duties. It would seem desirable to have appointed upon this committee such members of the State society who are members of the Institute as at- tend its meetings regularly and are in touch with its proceedings. The Institute by-law, which provides / for the formation of this committee, says: : “That it shall consist of two members from each State, to be appointed by the respective State so- cieties, provided the appointees are members of the Institute. - - - w “Delegates shall be appointed for a term of four years and hold office until their successors are ap- pointed. Each State society shall also appoint one or more alternates.” - There is no provision made in our by-laws for these officers, and I would suggest that a standing resolution be made or an amendment to the by- laws authorizing the president to appoint delegates and alternates, and to see that New York State is annually represented at the Institute meetings. Present and Future work for Homeopathy. The full effect of the medical legislation of the past year upon the minority schools will not be known for several years. While we have repre- sentation, we stand before the world as a school of medicine standing for the most definite point where medicine touches the patient—a law for the administration of drugs in disease. It is seven years since we had our jubilee. In this three- -I 4 fourths of a decade. what have we accomplished in forwarding this law? What have the last, thirty years to show in the way of concrete additions to dur proven drugs? Only one attempt has been made to demonstrate by a scientific reproving the effects of drugs upon the healthy human organ- ism. Under the auspices of the American Homoeo- pathic Ophthalmological, Otological and Laryngo- logical Society, Dr. Howard P. Bellows, of Boston, made a reproving of Belladonna under the most exact scientific requirements he could devise. He confirmed many of our well-known symptoms and developed new ones, all his symptoms being eliminated from the effects of the drug in poisonous dosage. Upon such a basis as this do we want to proceed to demonstrate to general medicine the law of similars. - Two years ago my predecessor, Dr. DeWitt G. "Wilcox, offered a definite suggestion for such a demonstration by proposing a commission of ten representative Homoeopaths and ten allopaths to be chosen by their respective national organizations, to make such reproving and test some of our more common drugs. This commission should get the support of some laboratory doing research work in its study, which will require much time and money. - • * - The committee on the president's address were 'silent upon the matter, and no action has ever been taken by this society to forward this plan. It should be presented to the American Institute by a -committee, who should see that it received careful consideration and treatment. If the law was demonstrated, as we believe it would be beyond a reasonable doubt, its recognition would necessarily The made by the national organization of the domi- , nant school. The administration of drugs affects, Practically all physicians whatever their school, and , sº I5 no other subject offers a fraction of the boon to suf- fering humanity that the critical study of this law does. g e - When the 6,000 members of the Medical Society of the State of New York are willing to accept the results of such a test and receive our reports as they do all other scientific papers, we can see the mil- lennium of medical unity at hand. Until then we must hold rigidly to the old law of similars, support it loyally and, above all, pass it on to our successors benefitted by our work. Our pioneers braved per- secution, obliquity and ostracism because their duty to their patients and the public demanded that they enlist under the banner of homoeopathy. We can- not do less than demonstrate anew in the language of science that there is a science of therapeutics and stand by Similia Similibus Curentur. No ab- negation, no gracious toleration should be the cost of accepting medical unity, but broad, honest and Scientific investigation and acknowledgment must be the only basis. We are all at one time or another dreamers and our young visions seem strangely unlike the stern realities of middle life, but it is only by making these visions into ideals that the man who does something in the world separates himself from the one who does what is at hand from day to day without bending his life to a definite ideal. Columbus, Spencer, Lincoln, Carnegie, and men in all walks of life have had their visions gradually become their dominating ideal. Organizations must have an ideal as much as the individual. That governing ours must be a vision to protect and foster our law of cure until it is acknowledged as a scientific means for administering drugs in disease. $ t urviv. ºr ºr, DEC 1: sº REPRINT FROM MEDICAL CENTURY, May 15, 1896. Homºpºlic Cºlºmial at Bllffalſ), my /h. *—i, %. G. R. STEARNS, M.D., Buffalo, N. Y.; J. W. HODGE, M.D., Niagara Falls, N. Y.; J. M. LEE, M.D., Rochester, N. --—%. O . Y.; Joseph T. Cook, M.D., Buffalo, N. Y.; W. “. . . . . A. DoDs, M.D., Fredonia, N. Y.; C. E. WALKER, M.D., West Henrietta, (22. #7. /3" N. Y. CHICAGO : MEDICAL CENTURY COMPANY 31 Washington Street. REPRINT FROM MEDICAL CENTURY, May 15, 1896. Homºmtilº Cºlºmial at Buffalo, PA P E RS w G. R. STEARNs, M.D., Buffalo, N.Y.; J. W. HoDGE, M.D., Niagara Falls, N. Y.; J. M. LEE, M.D., Rochester, N. Y.; JoSEPH. T. Cook, M.D., Buffalo, N. Y.; W. A. DoDs, M.D., Fredonia, N. Y.; C. E. WALKER, M.D., West Henrietta, N. Y. C.H. I. C. A G O : MEDICAL CENTURY COMPANY 31 Washington Street. - . *ºne *~~ HOMEOPATHIC CENTENNIAL AT BUFFAL0. HOMEOPATHy AS A SCIENCE. BY G. R. STEARNS, M. D., BUFFALO, NEW YORK. It is not the province of this paper, nor have I the opportunity, either in its preparation or the delivery, to enter at all exhaustively into the scientific aspects of homeopathy as a distinct branch of medical treat- ment. My idea has been rather, in view of the anni- versary character of this meeting and the general tone befitting such an occasion, to point out briefly a few facts pertaining to the groundwork of our faith as homeopaths, and the relation of our law of similars to the great body of scientific truth. Car- roll Dunham, in his classical writings treating of this general topic, and a host of lesser lights before and after him, have covered the ground too, thor- oughly and carefully to need more than brief sugges- tion here. However we may differ among ourselves regarding minor details in the application of the law enunciated by Hahnemann we all agree that there is one common meeting-ground for all of us who do march under his banner, and that is the acceptance of that law as a working basis of scientific truth. In the domain of thought no step has been of more moment, none fraught with more far-reaching results, than the elucidation of the inductive mode of reason- ing and its formulation by Lord Bacon and his liter- ary associates of the sixteenth century. This method of interrogating nature by a careful study of her processes and, by combining the results of a broad and varied observation, the formulation of a law which will not only satisfy the demands of all the facts so observed but prove applicable to all cases coming under the same principle for all time to come, are the f —4— only true and reliable courses for such investigation. Such was the formulation by Newton of the law of gravitation, and such again with equal originality by Hahnemann of the law of similars in the appli- cation of remedies to diseased conditions in the human economy. It is to be remembered that it was by way of a pro- test against the utterly unscientific methods of his time that Hahnemann was led to follow out the line of research which culminated in the promulgation by him of that law under which we still labor with ever-increasing efficiency. Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that it was not as a mere working hypothesis, based upon merely theoretical inference, that he promulgated his doctrine, but as a true law of cure in the highest sense, as resting on the firmest of ground—that of clear inductive reasoning. *- On such firm basis is formulated the general law that the selection of a remedy for any diseased state should be guided not by empirical experience with various medicinal substances, employed under simi- lar circumstances, nor yet by any theoretical appli- cation of the supposed sphere of action of the drug to an equally uncertain theory as to the exact nature of the disease in question, but by the previous testing of the effects of these drug substances on the healthy human body and then the choice of such an one as has developed symptoms similar to those manifested by the patient under treatment. By this method, the law, if properly applied, must be accurate and unvarying; by any other the whole scheme of medi- cal practice is in a state of constant chaos—varying with every changing breeze of theory as to the essen- tial nature of disease. The question of how the law works has no bearing whatever on our acceptance of it as an established and demonstrable truth; as well may we deny the universality of the law of gravitation on the ground that we cannot understand the rationale of its appli- —O— cation, or the means by which the far-famed and proverbial apple of Sir Isaac Newton was induced to fall to the ground rather than to remain at its accus- tomed perch or to go flying off into indefinite space “upon separating from its ancestral branch. - Understand that I am speaking now simply of the - law of similars—similia similibus curemżwr—the watchword and ground of our faith, not particularly of the somewhat mooted questions of dosage, the Psora theory and other minor corollaries of Hahne- mann’s teaching. However closely allied these may have been to the main law as there enunciated they were never given out as forming a necessary part of that law, and the stability of the law itself is by no means affected by their acceptance or rejection. We may not, however, utterly ignore these allied topics even in this brief review, inasmuch as they are more or less inseparably connected, in the public mind at least, with our method of treatment. But even here, it seems to me, if looked at in the proper light, we need not take an apologetic ground or cease to maintain our right of claim to scientific accuracy. The psora theory itself, as shown by Wesselhoeft and other commentators on the writings of Hahnemann, so far from being unscientific, was an attempt to- ward a more accurate classification of diseases in accordance with the best light in an age of imper- fect and rudimentary knowledge of pathological conditions, nor does it affect either the application or the general applicability of the law of cure. The subject of dose has become, though errone- ously, even more closely associated in the public conception of homeopathy than the doctrine of similars—all-important as the latter has been shown to be. In the light of his protest against the crude and unsatisfactory methods of his time, wherein the effects of the treatment were frequently, in truth, much worse than the disease, Hahnemann was led to contend for the smallest dose of the remedy, selected according to the law of similars—and the single remedy at that—capable of producing the desired result in rousing the depressed or dormant powers of nature to throw off the effects of the dis- ease under treatment. In his researches in this direction he evolved the further corollary of devel- oping the dynamization or potentializing of rem- edies through systematic division by dilution, trit- uration and succussion. Here comes in the apparent ground for the pseudo- scientist of all ages—and he still lives and flourishes today—to exclaim at the unscientific weapons of the homeopathic armamentarium, scoffing at the theoretical impossibility of producing effects from substances subdivided far beyond the limits of any conceivable recognition. It strikes me that the sneer of such scoffers is decidedly premature and that the argument for a scientific basis is away over on the other side. & Without attempting to enter at all deeply into the details of the argument, let us take for the sake of illustration two facts attested to be such on apparently incontrovertible authority: First, that a bucket of water may be poured over a man’s head and the tem- porary shock quickly recovered from, while if the same amount of water be made to fall from even a slight height drop by drop on the head at regular intervals the poor victim will be bordering on insan- ity ere the whole supply has become exhausted. An- other alleged fact: A man may dash down a Schup- per of lager beer and show not the least indication of exhileration, even from its frequent repetition, and yet let that same man undertake to finish but one of those Schuppers in teaspoonful doses continuously repeated and he will succumb to its intoxicating effect long before its completion. - ** These are but crude examples of facts noted in every day’s experience in the employment of remedies—and that is that the dynamic —7— effect of any drug does not by any means increase in direct arithmetical or even geometrical proportion to the size of the dose, but frequently rather the contrary if the question of repetition be considered at the same time. The only proper and truly scientific course to pursue in such investigation is with clear unprejudiced mind to observe truthful- ly and accurately facts presented by practical experi- ence in typical clinical cases and then honestly to accept the fair conclusions to be drawn from such observations. - A mind of any decent calibre and acumen will recognize the undeniably positive effect of an utterly imponderable dose of Amyl nitrate-taken by olfaction just as readily as the expected sequence to a tablesponful or two of castor oil or a grain of Mor- phia sulphate. Why should not that mind go but one step farther and accept the testimony of repeated experience in the use of the highly attenuated reme- ' dies of our pharmacopea administered on a strictly scientific basis and producing foretold results time and time again? - - The afore-mentioned small-calibre pseudo-scientist of yesterday would have scoffed at the idea of taking photographs (and I mean photographs, not skio- graphs or skoliographs) through an intervening bar- rier of rubber, wood or other substance utterly non- transmissible to light; and yet it is done every day now and it is the cathode rays that accomplish the work, though it has been clearly shown by Röntgen that the cathode rays themselves do not extend be- yond the limits of the Crookes’ tube in which they are generated. Now if the luminosity set up in the glass of the tube by these same cathode rays devel- ops a new system of rays outside of the tube (now known as Röntgen’s “X” rays), these latter recog- nized only by the wonderful results achieved, is it - unreasonable to assume by analogy that the molecu- lar activity of a drug may develop in the medium —8— employed in dilution or trituration a higher grade of molecular activity—not to be recognized as such by any of our methods of research, however delicate, but shown by positive results on the sensitive plate of the suffering human frame to which it is admin- istered? I do not suggest this as any definite ex- planation of how drug action may be developed or “potentized,” but simply that it may be so as a sci- entific fact since we see its results every day. I therefore contend that not only is the law of similia similibus curentwr a working basis of scientific truth but that its corollaries are also accurate and reasonable. I would only emphasize, in closing, our right as scientific men and students to make use of every advance made in the study of disease—its etiol- ogy, diagnosis, pathology and morbid anatomy— the duty incumbent on us as members of a profession which demands so much of each one in these days of marvelous progress and development to keep abreast of the times and to help on the grand work, and at the same time to stand by the noble law of similars in the application of remedies—as the scientific method of all ages. TRUTHS OF HOMEOPATHY. BY J. W. HODGE, M. D., NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. Every subject which affects the interests, conduces to the comfort, or influences the health of the public is one on which information ought to be generally diffused, regarding which facts cautiously collected and accurately set forth should be made accessible to all. Upon this basis I propose within the narrow limits of this paper to review a few of the truths of homeopathy, after having first alluded briefly to the status of medical practice previous to the discovery of the homeopathic law of cure by Samuel Hahne- IIlāIll. | —9— The practice of medicine from its earliest history until the time of Hahnemann was regarded as simply an empirical art, not capable of elevation beyond general rules and expediencies. It seemed given over to conjecture and uncertainty, and was gov- erned only by loose, empirical methods. Experience was said to be the mother of wisdom. Verily, in medicine, she had been rather a blind leader of the blind; and the history of medical practice was a his- tory of men groping in darkness, finding seeming gems of truth, one after another, only in a little while to cast each back to the vast heap of forgotten baubles that in their day had also been mistaken for verities. What today was believed was tomorrow to be cast aside certainly had been the law of advance- ment up to the time of Hahnemann’s discovery and promulgation of the homeopathic law of cure. Nearly everything in medicine was shrouded in mystery or veiled in obscurity. There was scarcely a conceivable absurdity that men had not tested by experience and found, for a time, to be the thing desired. Bleeding, blistering, purging, mercurial salivation and kindred absurdities were indiscrimi- nately and dogmatically practiced upon the unfortu- nate sick. In those days if there was anything the matter with a man the doctors almost invariably let out his blood. Called to the bedside, they took him on the point of the lancet to the verge of the grave and then practiced all their art in trying to bring him back. One can hardly imagine how robust a consti- tution it required to stand the assault. Had it not been for the discovery of the homeopathic law of cure it is not at all improbable that physicians would still be bleeding their patients; for long after the old practice was found to be a mistake and the law of similars accepted as a truth hundreds and thou- sands of ancient doctors still clung to it, and carried around with them in one pocket a bottle of jalap ---- - —10— - and in the other a rusty lancet, sorry that they could mot find another patient with faith enough to per- mit the experiment to be made again. 2- No body knew better than Hahnemann the extent of mischief wrought by the prevailing medical prac- tice. He was an allopathic physician, as he would afterwards have termed it. He was right abreast of his time in the then dominant school, and prescribed for his patients secundum artem, according to art, as it was called. What art? What was the art, of medicine at that time? It was, to quote one of its journals, “a jumble of inconsistent opinions;” or in the words of the famous Dr. Rush “an art that multiplied diseases and increased their mortality.” So, we see, Hahnemann was strictly a “regular ’’ physician, but was not content with this very good position in Society. He believed it was the duty of the physician to heal the sick; and he saw with keen regret that the secundum artem method either failed to heal or made the patient worse. Higher far than that of his contemporaries was the conception Hahnemann formed of medical prac- tice. No man better than he understood the utter falsity of the theories and methods of his predecessors and contemporaries. His mind was bent upon the discovery of the real in medicine; hence it became necessary to work in a manner theretofore unknown. - Nearly everything relating to the practice of physic was in a state of chaos and confusion. True, more than one earnest searcher after truth had perceived a glimmer of light through rifts in the dark clouds of mysticism and ignorance. A Haller, an Alexan- der, and others, had caught glimpses of the true way, but none had been found with power to pene- trate the surrounding gloom and ability to reach the true therapeutic goal beyond until Hahnemann ap- peared upon the scene. With a mind stored with a wealth of knowledge and trained to inductive re- search, he began the great work of investigation by —11— interrogating nature herself, carefully noting the relations of causes and effects, and endeavoring so to relate them as to avoid mere conjecture. Eschewing all the empty theories then in vogue he prosecuted the study of nature with diligence and precision. Feeling assured that in the harmonious adjustment of nature in which every molecule of matter is sub- servient to law mankind must also be confined within similar bounds he felt that in disease, as in health, law must reign. Sustained by an unbounded faith in the justness of his position he diligently sought such law, confidently believing that it must be amenable to the use of man. Impelled by such thoughts, Hahnemann communed with nature's works, studying her phenomena, that he might learn her ways. After long , and patient research, by personal experiment and inductive reasoning, Hahne- mann was enabled to evolve from the domain of doubt and uncertainty the great law of therapeutics, expressed in the symbol similia similibus curentwr. TJntil the sway of this law had been acknowledged the practice of medicine had never risen above th inferiority of an empirical art. Thus was born the science of therapeutics, that is to say, the science by which medicines may be intelligently applied for the cure of disease, and not blindly as in the past. Today, after the lapse of one hundred years since its promulgation to the world, there is known to science no other promising method of applying medicines for the cure of diseases save the homeopathic—“in accordiance with which we select such a drug as will excite within the healthy human organism the greatest number of symptoms similar in character to those of a given case of disease, which drug will, when given in such case in properly potentiated and diminished doses, remove the totality of symptoms of this diseased state— that is to say, will remove the entire existing disease in a speedy, thorough and permanent manner, re- storing health.” - / - —12— ” The homeopathic law of cure is one of the sim- plest and at the same time one of the most com- prehensive of laws, and its very simplicity is in con- formity with views but recently enunciated by investigators in other departments of scientific re- search. The infinitesimal quantities of drugs in some of the homeopathic attenuations have long been a subject of criticism by the opposing school of med- icine. Those not skilled in homeopathic therapeu- tics often doubt, because they are unable to compre- hend the fact, that very minute particles of drugs are efficacious in the cure of disease. As well might one doubt the existence or efficacy of the contagium of Small-pox because he cannot weigh or measure that which enters the system to set up the disease. Where is the chemist who will presume to tell us how much in weight of the infectious principle of Scarlatina it requires to set up this disease? The profound effects of imponderable doses of drugs in the cure of disease is no more wonderful than are thousands of other patent facts in nature. How much of substance of any odorous body enters the nostrils of one perceiving its fragrance? A grain of musk may continue throwing off particles for years, impregnating oceans of air, without perceptible de- crease in weight. Is it illogical, then, to believe that minute drug atoms may also be capable of similar action within the system by developing a sphere of force that shall be fully as potential as the perfume atoms? Surely we have irresistible evidence in the great light of advancing science that in order to be powerful and persistent a substance does not require to be appreciable to the senses, and that the impon- derable forces are usually the greatest—as witness the effects of light, heat, electricity, etc. The paradox of homeopathy is that its very success in healing physical and mental ills tends to make unthinking people skeptical of its efficacy. A man is aware that there is something wrong with him, an –13– ache, a pain, fever, nausea, something unpleasant, in short, he is ill, and he consults a homeopathic phy- sician, . The latter having observed his symptoms gives him a small dose of what seems to be nothing but a mild powder, or some sugar pellets. The pa. tient goes his way and, generally, in a very short time forgets his unpleasant symptoms—his illness; forgets that he was sick, forgets that he called on the doctor (sometimes forgets to pay him); and when he recalls the occurrence concludes, too often, that “nothing ailed me after all.” If only the medicine. had burned his interior like the old time Thompso- nian “No. 6,” or had hustled his inner organs like an ordinary allopathic dose, or had done anything unpleasant to remind him that he had swallowed a dose of drugs, he would have had great respect. for it. - Have you not heard of the great philosopher who once went mooning for one fixed provable fact, that no one could dispute, on which to rest his system? He lit upon the fact that “I think, therefore, I ex- ist.” No one, he believed, could successfully assair that fact. It was self-evident. Yet scoffers have disputed it; have said that the great philosopher got the cart before the horse—the cart being the think- ing and the horse the existing. Very little can be proven about disease or its cure, not even that a microbe is the original sin of disease, although this is supposed to be scientific. “The fact, however, remains that thousands of scientific physi- cians have domonstrated at the bedside thousands of times to their own satisfaction and to that of their patients that diseases are cured by the adminstra- tion of imponderable doses of medicine. - Another seeming inconsistency in the practice of homeopathy appears in the fact that some of its practitioners prescribe large doses of medicine. Home- opaths do not deny that cures can be effected by large doses of drugs. Similia similibus curemtur, —14— is the main law proved and supported by them. The question of the size of the dose is a debatable one. All that is maintained by homeopaths is that cures : are made with imponderable doses. Even of the higher attenuation there always has been, and probably will be for a long time, a difference of . opinion as to the size of the dose. Some practition- ers prescribe the tinctures and thereby effect unde- niable cures; others use the higher attenuations exclusively and likewise are undoubtedly successful. The sum of the evidence would seem to show that different individuals and diseases are differently influenced by drugs, according to their respective degrees of impressibility, and that the size of the dose is of far less importance than the similarity of the symptoms to those of the disease against which it is directed. “Diseases are often self-limited,” or “the patient may not have had the supposed disease” are statements sometimes urged by unthinking people against the reliability of homeopathic cures by minute doses. Both of these statements may be equally used against all methods of cure. - It is gratifying, while contemplating the truths of homeopathy, to know that they are receiving con- tinually increasing confirmation from the advance of science, as is evidenced by the steady increase in the number and standing of homeopathic colleges, hospi- tals, practitioners, and patients, and the rapid manner in which its teachings and remedies, together with their mode of preparation, are being pilfered and adopted by the allopathic school of medicine. *Whether she admits its truth or not, it is an indis- putable fact that the allopathic school is continually appropriating much of homeopathy without return- ing either thanks or credit. That homeopathy will eventually take the place of the old school practice is no longer a matter of doubt in the minds of those who have experienced its benefits. Nor is it reason- able to suppose that intelligent people who have had * ** —15— the opportunity of judging of the comparative merits of the two systems will subject themselves, or their friends, to the painful and often injurious means employed by old school doctors. . . . Niagara Falls, New York. HAHNEMANN's INFLUENCE UPON THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. BY J. M. LEE, M. D., ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. A century ago when Hahnemann announced his homeopathic principle therapeutics were most rudimentary and crude. Allopathic practices of those days may be aptly compared to “a tropical forest where growth was dense, wild and unre- strained, subject to no law and without order; in short, it consisted of a chaotic mass of theories and practices which had sprung up here and there along the highway of medicine, measured by its thou- sands of annual milestones, and which had been allowed to stand or fall as they could, until a dense entanglement ensued.” - For fear that we may not, in these days of medi- cal progress, realize what this crude system, or lack of system of medicine was, I will transcribe from a medical work of those days a single prescription for cancer of the uterus. “I would advise the use of the balneum-semicupium (a sitz bath of a decoction of many plants) to cleanse and soften the parts and open the lacunae which are full of slimy mucus, and so expel it by means of emollients; and when the uterus comes by this means to a better condition, then I think it will be proper to strengthen it by the vapor of the fumigation A (five ingredients), thrown on live coals, which will presently mount up in smoke. The lady may receive it in a proper manner by cover- ing it with her petticoats. She must likewise once a week, in the morning fasting, drink the purgative *~ –16– draught B (six ingredients), and at five o’clock in the afternoon take the gentle opiate C (five ingredi- ents). The other days of the week she may swallow, thrice a day on an empty stomach, three of the pills D (eight ingredients), drinking each time an ounce of the mixture E, cold (five ingredients).” r Thus it is seen, this woman with a deadly disease was compelled to sit up to the waist in warm water, in which proper plants had been boiled, to expel the cancerous ichor by means of the so-called emollients and also take this blunderbuss prescription of twenty- nine vile and nauseating drugs. She succumbed shortly after this course of treatment was inaugura- ted, and the doctor was surprised as he had given her all the known remedies at once. It is no wonder that Hahnemann, who as a oy was taught to think and reason for himself, when developed by the best education obtainable in his German fatherland, refused to accept such medical doctrine. Neither is it strange that when he an- nounced his discovery his associates, classmates, in short, his entire school of medicine, sought to con- vince the public that his system was based upon an insecure foundation and that he and his disciples were visionary and incompetent. : Hahnemann was sneered at, persecuted and driven from city to city. An allopath wrote: “The author has seen in his forty years practice many systems of medicine pass like thunder clouds, and so, too, this homeopathic delusion will come to an end without it being necessary to abuse it.” Another thought homeopathy was a mere fashion, and as soon as any other novelty occupied the general mind it would (to use his own inelegant expression) “evaporate in a bad smell.” - - - Neither of these predictions proved to be correct;. homeopathy was based upon a natural law. Its founder was a scientific physician who was willing to sacrifice all personal comfort, if necessary, for the - Aº’ -it- establishment and perpetuity of the system of sim- ilia, which he believed, would revolutionize medical practice. His success, as likewise that of his fol- lowers, was marvelous, and brought hundreds of converts from the old school. They worked in their new field with a zeal born of intense enthusiasm over the flattering results of the milder mode of cure. Homeopathy did not “evaporate,” neither did it “go out of fashion,” but it spread over Germany and other éountries in an astonishingly short space of time. Everywhere it cured a much larger per cent. than the old practice, and that, too, without bleeding or any unpleasant methods. p The allopaths soliloquized: “The people like it, we did not invent it, and something must be done to check its progress.” And so they changed their tactics; urged that homeopathy was contrary to results of experience; that it was criminal for its fol- lowers to allow patients to die without bleeding, “suffocated in their own blood.” They exclaimed: “Voice of thunder! Crime!! Murder!!! The law should take cognizance of it.” A professional warfare arose which was scarcely surpassed in bitterness even by the relentless per- secutions of Nero. The allopaths bound themselves together in associations; rigid codes of ethics were framed to shut out the homeopaths, and every medical man from the college professor down to the medical student holding views friendly to homeopathy was ostracized. An allopathic physician of New York City was expelled from his society simply for pur- chasing drugs from a homeopathic drug store. Bliss, of Washington, was excommunicated for serving on a board of health with a homeopath. ‘s . . In, those days the stiff-necked members of the school of “scientific medicine,” as they are now - pleased to have it called, would not notice on the street their own classmates who had discárded the allopathic practice, and often refused to recognize e —18– the laity who employed them. One would think from reading the history of those times that the vocabulary did not contain qualifying adjectives sufficiently venomous to characterize the home- opathic doctor or to express the deadly hatred the allopath felt for him. - - Our school paid little attention to such treatment but studied the materia medica fervently, with a full consciousness of its necessity. The result was that ere long their success in practice created a public sen- timent which gradually forced the old school profes- sion to abandon its former attitude of out-spoken hatred and tyranny and to discontinue some of its pernicious practices. Finally, the more liberal minds among them refused to be bound by any code and consultations were frequently held by members of the unfriendly schools. The lives of Garfield and Beaconsfield were too valuable for mere professional jealousy to deter doctors from the employment of curative measures, let them come from whatever source they may, and the representatives of the antagonistic schools met in frequent friendly consul- tations over the illustrious statesmen, regardless of code, while two great nations approved and applauded. These and other similar cases served as signals for thorough agitation of the code question, and with the exception of antiquated fossils the old school has voluntarily laid it aside. So far as we are per- Sonally concerned it makes but little difference; it in- dicates, however, a marvelous change of heart—per- haps I had better say, change of attack. They no longer consider it expedient to insult the millions of the wealthy and more intelligent who employ the homeopathic system of practice. The laity are aware of the superior results of our treatment, and the self-styled “regulars” know full well that no amount of anathematizing or Gould prize essays can influence them to disbelieve their . own eyes and senses. Neither can they convince the —19– laity that our School of practice is based upon a shaky or insecure foundation. They know that it is built upon a natural law which is as enduring as the law of gravitation, and that it has not been changed since given to us by the distinguished Hahnemann. It is indeed amusing to note the different points of attack made upon us. First, we are not worth noticing, and homeopathy would die out like a “fashion ” or ‘‘ evaporate in a bad smell;” next, a professional warfare arose and when the smoke and fire of open battle died away they attempted to despatch us by means of state help. For a decade, which ex- tended up to five years ago, they tried to legislate us out of existence under the pretext of raising the standard of medical education. We joined issues with them year after year and always came out vic- torious. Finally we determined to make a move for separate boards for the three schools; they joined us, and whenever a demand has been made for advance- ment we have gone them one better, and in New York, today, we have the best medical law in the country. It requires all students to have an educa- tion as a prerequisite to the entrance upon medical study equal to that of the graduate of a registered high school or academy, and this must be determined by the regents of the university and not the medical college. After this requirement, the student must study four years of nine months each before he can be examined for the degree of doctor of medicine. The law provides that at least six months of each year must be spent in attendance upon medical in- struction at a regularly equipped college. As the legislative scheme did not succeed they have formulated another plan of attack which is per- haps more formidable than any of the others. It is to absorb homeopathy without recognition of the services of any of its physicians. The pseudo-regu- lars ask us to drop “homeopathic” and then we can go into their societies, practice what we please and —20— * be just as good as they. -Shall we do it? Shall we prove deserters and drop the work entrusted to our care by Hahnemann? Shall we give up the contest on the eve of victory? Or shall we march into the promised land like true soldiers? ... " Even if the old school were prepared to receive.the trust, have we so far perfected the work assigned us as to say to them, “Here is a perfect materia medica, take it, go and cure all curable diseases.” Are not the pathogenic effects of many drugs yet unknown to every therapeutist? Are not still other remedies only partially understood? Is there not plenty of work for the provers yet to do? I am aware of the great wealth of golden harvest already stored in our works on materia medica, but is not chaff mixed with the wheat to a great extent even here? Are not T. F. Allen and Richard Hughes, in short, the materia medica section of our glorious national body, aroused this centennial year as never before to winnow out the chaff? Is not the combersomeness of our materia medica, in part at least, to blame for the “empirical drift” or polypharmacy on one hand and the “re- pertory doctors” on the other? I am not reflecting on repertories, or those who make them their chief study; they are a necessity to the homeopath; but when one spends all his time studying them the sciences auxiliary to medicine must suffer. These physicians are very successful with cases coming under the law; but those coming within the range of other fields of practice are often irreparably neg- lected by misapplication of the law. These errors, as stated above, are being corrected; and when this is accomplished, our system of med- icine will stand out brighter and more certain than ever. We are not disposed to complain as it now is. The work already accomplished by us is simply won- derful; Hahnemann’s influence upon the old school has brought them from the most crude and irra- tional practice to that which often closely resembles \ —21— our own system. Even though we had done nothing more than teach them that their practices of a cen- tury ago were worse than no medical treatment, we should have rendered a service to the world which would have immortalized the name of Hahnemann and of homeopathy; for at the time Hahnemann made his discovery phlebotomy was resorted to for nearly every disease to which the human system is heir—cholera, pneumonia, fevers and even consump- tion. The victims of the lance were numbered by the thousand, to say nothing of excessive medica- tion, polypharmacy, blistering and other barbarous methods. The basis of the old school—if it ever had any—has not changed; they are still without law or guide, wandering about ready to follow the latest theory or fashion, and when exploded to relegate it to their rubbish heap with the accumulations of the ages. Many of their cruel procedures, and much heroic dosing, have been abandoned during the last two decades. Up to that time their text-books con- tained here and there illustrations of drug action on the principle of similia, but they were hot aware of it as a school. Some of their leaders, however, had keenness of perception sufficient to make the appli- Čation, but not the honesty to give Hahnemann credit for his services to the profession. . Lauder Brunton, Phillips, and Ringer, of Great Britain; Strumpell, of Germany; and Bartholow, of this country, are their chief captains. These “great reformers” have unscrupulously extracted from our Iiterature new points, new indications, new rem- edies, and palmed their plagiarized works off as reve- lations of pure original investigation. Their brethren enthusiastically receive these productions and regard them as great accessions to their thera- peutical resources, mainly on account of the “new remedies” and their homeopathic indications. Their medical journals also contain many new uses of old remedies, and although they seek to cover the *- —22– • – sources of their information by their ingenious phras. eology it is apparent to us all that homeopathic books have been freely consulted. The following excerpt from a long list of similar ones is a fair sample of old school homeopathy: “In the wheezing and cough of children with bronchitis good results may be obtained with tarter emetic, one grain to two pints of water, a teaspoonful every half-hour.” In Hahnemann’s time it was not uncommon for them to prescribe twenty to twenty-five grains of tarter emetic to the dose in pneumonia; now they are down to the 1–250 of a grain for children. This author, in his closing paragraph says: “Many troubles could be treated with small doses and bene- fited as much, and often more than to administer large doses;” and we would add—especially so pro- vided they get their homeopathic indications as cor- rectly as those by which they prescribe tarter emetic. “A diamond flashes the light none the less because the gem is stolen.” * Two decades ago it was a crime for one of their physicians to purchase drugs from one of our phar- macies; now they can use drugs off the same shelves, even out of the same bottles, from which the home- opaths draw their supplies. The principal products of these institutions are “tablet-triturates” manu- factured after our own decimal scales; they are received with acclamation the world over, and all their prominent physicians prescribe them. - One of the above pharmacists in his announcement, says that the success which has attended this method of dispensing medicines in small quantities is due to thoroughness of division of the remedies, the quick- ness and ease with which they are diffused in water or the stomach, and their elegance and novelty of appearance. Quite a compliment for our method! But where did they learn this? Is not the answer apparent, and the source about as thinly masked as Ringer's indications for the use of Mercuric bichlo- —23— vide in dysentery? We have used remedies tritu- rated in exactly the same way as the above and pre- scribed them in powder form during the last century; now they moisten the triturate with alcohol, press it into tablets, and try to pass this process off as orignal with themselves, without adding a single important point. Why do they not have the frankness to at least give us credit for our homeopathic methods and to admit that much of their advancement is due to Hahnemann’s influence? Many of them do ap- preciate the value of homeopathy but they will not acknowledge it; they prefer to absorb the work of Hahnemann and his school without giving us due credit, while a few “old timers’ continue their former methods of warfare; they declare that we have not made a single important discovery or devel- oped a desirable method, and that the new school is slowly but surely dying out. The Medical Record, even in the face of our unprecedented growth, says that homeopathy is a “social disorder which the United States is surely outgrowing.” This remarkable statement is characteristic of the non-homeopathic school, and contains about as much truth as most of the other things they say about us. , Seventy-one years ago homeopathy was not known to the American people; now we have sixteen thou- sand practitioners, over six thousand of whom are converts from the allopathic ranks. These men have organized one hundred and forty-three splen- didly equipped state associations and six national Societies, including our American Institute of extra- ordinary strength. Our thirty-five ably edited jour- nals and thrifty writers afford us the latest scientific research of the age, and stimulate a healthful growth. The one hundred and twenty-five well equipped hospitals afford abundant opportunities for thoroughly developing all the specialties of medi- cine. Asylums, dispensaries, and colleges too, have sprung up in every quarter of the globe. That our —24– twenty colleges have done good work is shown by the grand reports that come to us from everywhere. With such training as our students receive nowadays it is no wonder that the most intelligent, most en- lightened, and most wealthy people of the land flock to us. It is carefully estimated that two-thirds of the taxable property of certain cities of the United States is owned by patrons of homeopathy, and in others it is safe to place the public wealth held by . citizens who employ homeopathic physicians at from one-third to one-half. The specialties which our school has taken up, and notably so during the last fifteen years, is a marked factor in this wonderful growth. Beside the earnest materia medica workers before referred to we have pathologists, gynecolo- gists, laryngologists, ophthalmic, aural and general surgeons, as well as specialists in other departments. The phrase, “The homeopaths have no surgeons” or skilled workers in any other department of medical science, is no longer applicable to us. f What is the significance of this glorious army of special workers? Is it not that we shall cluster all the sciences auxiliary to medicine about the grand principle enunciated by the great Hahnemann, de- fended and developed by our forefathers, and march on from victory to conquest? HOMEOPATHY IN ITS RELATION TO THE OTHER SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. - - JOSEPH T. COOK, M. D., BUFFALO, NEW YORK. The above title will give an opportunity to cousid- er the real relation of old and new schools toward each other, and I will endeavor to view the subject from both standpoints. First: Attention is called to the relation of the . . . new school to the physicians and to the methods of the older school. 'v **, –25– The policy of the homeopath has always been toº treat his allopathic brother with every mark of courtesy that is due from one gentleman to another. The long-established, if unwritten, law still holds good, very plainly, to permit in our every relation- ship to him only one rule to govern, and that ther “golden rule.” It is a matter of record that we . avoid disparaging remarks upon any and all oc- casions, as much so as in our conduct toward one of our own school. By this line of conduct we certain- ly in the days gone by have set a good example: of civility, honesty and gentlemanly demeanor. Surely this rule, should be continued, and no mat- ter what the provocation from them, we should never allow it to be said that we have done to them. one thing, by word or deed, that could be taken ex- ception to by the most punctilious gentleman. When we come to consider our relation to their methods of curing disease the field widens materi- ally. The unfixed and varying winds that govern. their views of disorders of the physical system, and how to cure them, lead naturally to the steady intro- duction into their practice of novelties, which appear- and become popular and as soon die in general favor and become obsolete. This constant change of method and procedure is, to be sure, somewhat be- wildering to us who practice in allegiance to an unchanging law of cure, but still it can do us no- harm to watch the rise and fall of their new devices which are so oft and loudly advocated and so soon fall into disuse. In regard to their researches in pathology and, bacteriology, we can and should listen respectfully and earnestly, ever ready to make practical applica- tion of the new truth as soon as well and firmly prov- en; but let us not make the error of accepting every device put forward before it has lived long enough to . give evidence of a right to a permanent place. . . In therapeutics we certainly will seldom be able to . —26– 'find new light from them, since our paths are so s \*** * e i t , oº * opening AddREss. BY DEAN JoHN P. SyTHERLAND, M. D. THIRTY EIGHTH ANNUAL SESSION, Boston UNIVERSITY School of MEDICINE, - OCTOBER 6, 1910. Ladies and Gentlemen :— For more than a decade it has been my duty and privilege to extend to the student body assembled on the first day of the new academic year a sincere and hearty welcome, and in the name of the Faculty of Boston University School of Medicine, I today and at this time wish you as a body, and individually, a happy, prosperous and successful new year. The occasion which calls us together is from every view-point a peculiarly important One ; for it marks the beginning of a new era. It is epoch- making to each one of us. As students, you are on the thresh- old of new opportunities, you are assuming new responsibili- ties, you are undertaking serious tasks, you are voluntarily and consciously taking up burdens and duties which are exacting in their demands and which will test to the utmost your ability, your faithfulness, and your endurance. As a faculty, we are pledging ourselves anew to give you the ripest fruits of our ex- perience, to furnish you the best of our knowledge, to guide you in your studies, and to train you to the best of our ability in the intricate, philanthropic and noble “Art of Healing.” Many of you have successfully passed through the initial phases of your medical-student life and have been with us a period of one or more years, and the greeting that is extended to you is the greeting that is possible between friends who have been brought together after a season of separation, and who once more are united by common interests. Others of you are here for the first time, strangers to one another, in a new environment, unfamiliar with your duties but anxious and eager to take up the tasks that are before you. The reasons which have brought you hither, your aims and ambi- tions, your conceptions of life in general, and the medical life in particular, are known only to yourselves. It is assumed by us, however, that you are here in the fulfilment of lofty desires, of high hopes and worthy aspirations, with the earnest intention of devoting all your energies and your entire strength unre- servedly to fitting yourselves for the high calling of profes- sional life. To you, especially, the right hand of fellowship is ex- tended in cordial greetings; the door to our friendship is opened wide to you; you are welcomed to all we have to give; and a double assurance is given you that if you work in the right spirit success and happiness and usefulness will crown your efforts. - It is customary at the opening exercises of the school year to outline the duties of students and instructors, to consider briefly some ethical phase of student or professional life, or to • rv G 1911 * T is T : " ſº E-S$1.6 s - º *visi\ *RSITE §. \, :- - . *. direct our thoughts for a few moments toward some topic in- timately connected with the great subject of medicine, which, though important, finds no place in the regular curriculum. It seems to me appropriate to turn your attention today to a very important movement which is on foot, looking towards the so- lution of certain problems in medical education—the problems of higher standards for matriculation into medical schools; of different and improved methods of teaching; of the status of the medical School among educational institutions; of the academic value of the degree M.D.; of the financial aspects of medical edu- cation; of medical sects; of State boards of examination and registration; of the “poor boy” in relation to medical education; of providing small and isolated communities with high grade practitioners, etc. - It is not that I expect to solve all or any one of these prob- lems at this time, but it is my desire to acquaint you with some of the current opinions concerning them, and to solicit your in- terest in them, in order that you may formulate definite and con- crete opinions for yourselves, and in order that you may intelli- gently guide the thoughts of those with whom you may be brought in contact. At no time in the history of mankind has medical education been so prominently before the public as it is at present. At no time has the laity taken so great an interest in the subject. At no time have educators in general united with philanthropists in attempts to bring medical education into line with academic methods. At no preceding time has there been such activity among national medical associations through their councils on medical education, or such unified efforts on the part of State licensing and examining boards and boards of health to elevate standards of medical education. At no time has medical edu- cation been subjected to such thorough investigation, such Searching analysis, such sweeping criticism by lay and profes- sional bodies as recently. At no time has there been so universal a consensus of opinion as to the necessity for heavy endowments for medical schools, for a body of instructors who can devote their entire time to research and teaching, for the full equipment of laboratories, and for all the clinical and didactic facilities needed to impart a thorough and practical training in this most important division of human knowledge and labor. It is an undeniable fact that enormous progress in the aims, methods and thoroughness of medical education has been made during the past score of years through the initiative of the medi- cal profession itself. The profession is and has been keenly alive to the deficiencies of medical education, and has been hon- estly and unceasingly endeavoring to overcome these deficien- cies. Influences and factors in the profession itself, however, have militated against the rapid and radical reforms which have been recognized as necessary. Fresh and vital interest has been aroused in the entire sub- ject by a special investigation and report made and published by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This investigation consisted of the personal inspection of all the 1medical Schools of the United States and Canada; the collection of all sorts of allied statistics and data; the summarizing of the facts collected; the formulation of conclusions and recommenda- tions, and the presentation of arguments in support of the same. The record of this investigation is commonly referred to as the “Flexner Report.” It was printed and a few months ago was widely distributed, and it has been the object of consider- able comment and discussion. . It forms a volume of nearly 350 pages and is a monument to the industry and ability of its author. The Report presents an excellent and praiseworthy re- view of the history, the gradual development, and the present status of medical education. It exposes unflinchingly, impartial- ly and very properly the low standards, the glaring faults, the unworthy methods and practices of many medical schools. It ruthlessly holds up for inspection the departures from ethical and creditable customs which have been found to exist in sundry quarters, and it would seem to show that medical education is, on the whole, on a rather low plane in the country at large. Many of the criticisms made are undoubtedly deserved, and the investigator merits the approval of the profession and the laity for his exposé of faults and incompetency, and for the majority of his recommendations. The Report contains an admirable com- pilation of statistics covering all phases of its subject and the accuracy of its statements is to be challenged in relatively few instances. Probably nothing of the sort has been attempted that is so free from errors, so exempt from prejudices, so unbiased by preconceptions. In short, it contains so much that is reliable and true that one looks leniently upon what may be called its de- fects. These defects are such as might be expected in one who theorizes about medical education, and are connected with his conclusions, and arguments rather than with his statistics. That Mr. Flexner, who made the inspection and wrote the Report, did his work faithfully and conscientiously cannot be doubted by anyone familiar with his methods and acquainted with the sub- ject under consideration. That he may have made a few mis- statements is possible and excusable in a work of such magni- tude and accomplished in so short a period. Naturally the appearance of the Report and the publicity given to it caused at first an acute resentment, especially on the part of those whose discrepancies were revealed and those who objected to having a layman gratuitously instruct the profes- sion in matters with which it assumed to be perfectly familiar. Resentment of the criticisms, however, is not to be lightly in- dulged in, and wholesale condemnation of the Report is abso- lutely out of place, besides putting the condemner into a very undesirable category. The conclusions of the Report, imperfectly summarized, are that: - There are in this country altogether too many medical schools. - * That the majority of our medical schools are deficient in equipment, facilities, and a properly prepared teaching force. That there are annually a much greater number of graduates from our medical schools than there is any need for, and that these graduates are naturally inadequately trained. That the graduation of so many physicians makes it impos- sible for the majority of them to make a “decent living.” That independent medical schools are an anomaly, and that there is no excuse for their existence. That medical schools should be parts of universities and should be located in large centres of population on account of the clinical facilities only there to be obtained. • , That medical schools should be integrally, not nominally, parts of universities, and should be under university manage- ment. That large endowments should be available to supply an adequately salaried corps of instructors and to fully equip labor- atories with modern and necessary apparatus. * That all medical schools should own and operate hospitals of sufficient size to furnish the material needed for clinical, pathological and diagnostic work. That the degree, Doctor of Medicine, should be elevated to its proper academic relationship and be preceded by full courses leading to the Bachelor's degree. - That the minimum entrance requirements should include one or two college courses, embracing laboratory biology, physics and chemistry in their curricula. That medical students training for general practice should be instructed in the principles and technic of research work. That medical schools or, to quote correctly, “all colleges and universities” are “Public Service Corporations,” and “that the public is entitled to know the facts concerning their admin- istration and development, whether those facts pertain to the financial or to the educational side.” º! - It is not my intention, even if time and your forbearance permitted, to comment upon these conclusions in detail, but a few of them are of such vital importance to us all that some com- ment is called for. First, however, let me quote to you from articles on the Report which have been brought to my notice. Dr. A. E. Winship, editor of the Journal of Education and formerly Commissioner of Education in Massachusetts, has writ- ten an article for the National Magazine for August, which was reprinted in the Somerville Journal for August 5, 1910, entitled, “Where is the Pension Foundation Headed?” In this article Dr. Winship claims that the purposes of the Carnegie Founda- 4 tion are being subverted by its present administrators, who, he asserts, are endeavoring through financial power to crush out small and insufficiently endowed educational institutions. Dr. Winship says:– “The worst charge ever made of crushing out Small business houses, in the interest of large concerns, is not a circumstance to this new and not altogether saintly way of killing off educational institutions that lack wealth and aristocratic conditions. This presumed noble benefac- tion is to be used for crushing scholastic aspirations in all lads who, have not inherited the regulation twelve years’ Culture scheme, and whose code of etiquette is so crude that they do not know that it is an unpardonable offence to ring the college door bell on any but the Con- ventional day of the year. - 4 “The one redeeming feature of this is that it was not put in force earlier. Today a large number of the best students in Harvard and Yale, Columbia, and Princeton, Cornell and Stanford, are those who did not enter college in the lock-step fashion, who are not primarily students Of these institutions, but are merely completing there the Work nobly begun at Antioch, Athens, or Crete. The college in which they were born, in which they were fathered and mothered, can have no recognition in the new Order of things. Poverty and neglect are to be the reward for discovering scholarly taste by the Wayside, while luxurious pensions await those who are too aristocratic to go into the highways and hedges after hitherto undiscovered scholastic taste and talents. “How fortunate that this glorious reform did not come earlier!” # * * “What evidence is there that these are famous wise men who are administering this pension foundation on commercial and aristocratic lines?” # * * “As a layman, I have no opinion as to the wisdom of the suggestion to medical schools. But of late the Pension Foundation has entered a field with which I am familiar.” + 4 + - “It is devoutly to be hoped that the Pension Foundation knows more of colleges and medical schools than it knows of public schools. In View of its stupendous ignorance of public schools thus demonstrated, it can hardly claim to be an expert in anything educational.” - Another writer, the son of a scientist who was at the same time a physician of wide repute, writes in the “Nation” for Sep- tember I, as follows:— “Sir:-Mr. Flexner’s recent review of the conditions prevailing at the present time in the medical profession and the criticism by the Carnegie Foundation of medical institutions in general, reminds the writer of some observations by Joseph Addison on the “overcrowded professions,’ which were published in the ‘Spectator' of Saturday, March 24, 1711. - “He says: —I am sometimes very much troubled when I reflect upon the three great professions, of Divinity; Law, and Physick, how they are each of them overburdened with practitioners and filled with mul- titudes Of Ingenious Gentlemen that starve one another.” - “The man who has not the means to defray the expense of a long preliminary training, to make him a ‘desirable' matriculate for the insti- tution of advanced learning, has a right to some consideration. Great endowments, laboratories, and teachers unfortunately cannot make the man of true science; there is something behind all these things. “The great leaders of thought in science were born with the spark of genius.” + + + In regard to criticism, whether criticism by the Carnegie Foundation or criticism of the Flexner Report, or criticism of t. 1. . . . . . . . - - 5 anything else, I have been reminded of an ancient Hindu fable which was put into verse by J. G. Saxe under the title, “The Blind Men and the Elephant.” - It reads as follows:— “It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined Who went to see the Elephant (Tho all of them were blind), That each by observation Might Satisfy his mind. . So “The First approached the Elephant And, happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl, L ‘God bless me! But the Elephant Is very like a Wall.” “The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried:—‘Ho, what have we here So very round and smooth and sharp 2 To me ’tis mighty clear This Wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!” “The Third approached the animal And happening to take The Squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and Spake: ‘I See,” quoth he, “the Elephant IS very like a snake.’ “The Fourth reached out his eager hand And felt about the knee. ‘What most this Wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain’ quoth he: ‘’Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!’ - “The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said, ‘E’en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan l’ “The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, ‘I See,” quoth he, “the Elephant Is very like a rope!’ “And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong!” The “moral” of this fable is evident to anyone who is not blind. In order to make a criticism, a diagnosis, or a prescrip- tion, it is necessary, in Hahnemannian phraseology, to get the “totality of the symptoms.” And “the totality” does not mean a few or most of the symptoms or facts, but the comprehensive ALL, no one being omitted. - - . With this idea in mind it is permissible to ask—Are there any flaws in Flexner’s indictment of the medical profession? Are his conclusions consistent with the totality of the facts? I would say cautiously there are flaws in the indictment, and his conclusions are not all warranted by the totality of facts. There are three points commented on in the Report, to which I wish particularly to call your attention; viz., over-production of physi- cians, inadequately trained doctors, and the high standards ad- vocated as absolutely essential to the making of efficient doctors. In regard to the overcrowding of the profession: We have already quoted Addison’s wail of 200 years ago concerning the “overcrowded professions,” a wail that has been repeated “many a time and oft.” And with what result? The professions con- tinue to be overcrowded, according to the views of some critics, and this in spite of the wonderful and enormous advances in gen- eral and special education during the centuries. The amazing growth of scientific knowledge, the increase in number and effi- ciency of educational institutions and the improvements in peda- gogical methods do not seem to deter students from entering the professions or decrease the number of those who are ambitious to acquire knowledge. It is conceded, however, that the Flex- ner Report is correct in claiming that there is a superfluity of medical schools in this country, that there are too many inade- quately trained doctors. Without giving rise to much con- troversy it may be claimed that there are too many lawyers, too many clergymen, too many teachers, too many artisans, too many people, too many animals—of an inferior or of a mediocre qual- ity—and altogether too few of the best. Does it necessarily fol- low that by reducing the number of schools and decreasing the number of practitioners we shall have better schools, more effi- cient, humane, truly successful physicians? He would be reck- less who claimed the affirmative To my mind one great flaw in Mr. Flexner’s reasoning is the purely statistical method made use of. As I understand the Report, the basis of its conclusion in this matter is wholly statis- tical and financial. It is argued that the amount of money now spent in maintaining I55 Schools, if concentrated in the support of 20, would mean vastly superior schools and teaching. From the financial standpoint—one of the few standards of the Carne- gie Foundation made use of in estimating the value of medical Schools—this conclusion might be considered well founded. The experience of past ages, however, would seem to prove that Something more rare and of greater value than money is needed to make good teachers, worthy scholars, true scientists. - 7. : * * * The statistical reason relied upon by Mr. Flexner to prove his contention that the medical profession in America is over- crowded is quite as fallacious as the financial one. The Report argues that because in Europe, or in Germany in particular, there are a certain number of medical schools and physicians to a cer- tain population, therefore in this country the same proportion should be maintained. Germany, for instance, with one physi- cian to 2,000 population in rural districts and one physician to every 1,000 in large urban communities, is taken as the ideal standard, and the fact that in the large cities of this country there is a physician to every 300, 400, 500 or 600 residents (the proportion varying in different cities) is considered proof posi- tive that the profession is overcrowded by incompetent physi- cians. Is the argument without a flaw F I think not. Certain fundamental facts are wholly lost sight of in the reasoning. America is not Europe. The United States is not Germany. The social and the economic conditions, the political and the religious status, the essential genius of the two countries are as widely separated as the poles, and the conditions maintained in the one are by no means the conditions to be maintained in the other. The absurdity of claiming that European standards, customs, and traditions should be insisted upon in this country may be partly demonstrated by reference to statistics found in the Boston Transcript for September 23 which state: “St. Petersburg, Sept. 23. The figures available at the sanitary bureau show that during the present cholera epidemic there have bee 191,076 cases, with 88,716 deaths throughout the country.” - Therefore, according to the Report’s method of reasoning, it would be our duty in this country in the event of a cholera epi- demic to have the same relative number of cases and the same proportion of fatalities, an appalling number of cases and a still more appalling percentage of deaths, and this in an almost wholly preventable disease. - e -- To carry the demonstration further, let me refer to “The Outlook” for September 3 in which may be found the follow- ing :- “Reports received from Russia are to the effect that Asiatic cholera, which has been epidemic in St. Petersburg since the spring of 1908, is rapidly spreading to other parts of the Empire, and is threatening to - become a great national calamity. * * * Until the present summer the Scourge had been confined, for the most part, to cities and towns on the main routes of travel; but it is now invading the rural villages, where the ignorant and superstitious population is least liable to deal with it in- telligently and successfully. * * * * * * * Asiatic cholera in Russia is not a new nor an unfamiliar visitor. It first made its appear- ance there in 1829, and it has prevailed in epidemic form during thirty- seven of the eighty-one years that have since elapsed. In the course of these thirty-Seven years 4,558,000 Russians have been attacked by the disease, and 1,995,000 have died from it. In the year 1848 alone there Were 1,740,000 cases and 690,000 deaths, and even as late as 1892, when the cause of the disease and the best methods of dealing with it had been ascertained, there were 340,000 cases, 158,000 of which terminated fatally. * * * * * * 8 “In countries where the population is enlightened and the Govern- ment efficient, cholera, in the present state of medical and Sanitary science, is not greatly to be feared, because it can be easily controlled and quickly stamped out; but in Russia, where an overwhelming ma- jority of the people know no more of the causes of epidemic disease than they do of the ultimate origin of life, and where the government has never dealt successfully with anything except revolution, cholera is as much to be dreaded as War. “In this as in all previous epidemics, the greatest difficulty With which the Russian physicians and sanitarians have to contend is the in- vincible ignorance and hostility of the common people. * * * * * * , “* * * * * * Only a month ago a newspaper in the Crimea be- gan a series of popular articles intended to enlighten the peasants with regard to the causes and nature of cholera and the best means of Com- batting it; but after the publication of the first article the editor had to inform his readers that, for reasons beyond his control, the series would be discontinued. * * * * * * Reports from competent observers, recently published in Russian papers, indicate that the Government is as negligent and inefficient now as it was eighteen years ago. The num- ber of cholera cases has already reached one hundred and thirteen thou- sand, with fifty thousand deaths, and yet no national appropriation of money has been made for sanitary purposes. * * * * * * Meanwhile cholera has been carried into Italy by a party of Russians from Odessa, Who Went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Nicholas at Bari, in Apulia, and washed their clothing in the same buckets with which they drew Water from Italian Wells.” . - - What about the epidemic now raging in parts of Italy, and the attitude of the population toward medical science and physi- cians? - - - What about the attitude of Spain towards things broadly educational, towards religious, civil, and educational liberty? What about the relationship of Science and the Church of Rome in Austria, France and Germany at the present time? Is what is called “Modernism” having fair play? Shall we in America with our traditions, abilities and possi- loilities go to the continent of Europe for models in matters re- ligious, political, educational P Not that I would not follow a good example let it come from India, Africa, or the South Sea Islands, but it does not appeal to . me as necessary for us in this country to adopt practices that are common in Öther countries simply because they are prevalent in some other country than our own. We have our own problems to solve, our own conditions to meet, our own destiny to mould, and in all probability the abil- ity to solve, meet and mould them in due season under such in- fluences as come from what are called “Nattiral Laws,” whether recognized as such or as yet unknown. Competition, the sur- vival of the fittest, and other influences, are not to be lost sight of in trying to settle the question of medical education and over- production of cheap doctors. - A word as to inadequate training and “cheap doctors”: The yardstick made use of by the Carnegie Foundation is again the financial one—adequacy is predicted of large endowments, elab- orately equipped laboratories, the number of “full time instruc- tº t t 9 tors,” the control of extensive hospital clinics, etc. And once more history proves the fallaciousness of the argument. It is not always the sons of the affluent who make the most of their priv- ileges. It is not infrequently those of obscure origin and small financial endowment who rise to prominence and prove their own adequacy in spite of limited privileges. John Hunter, the cabi- net-maker janitor of a medical school, did not owe his ability and success to luxuriously appointed laboratories or full-time in- structors. Leeuwenhoek's brilliant discoveries were not made with microscopes of modern type fitted with triple nose-piece, mechanical stage, substage condensor and the like. Was Pas- teur's training obtained in medical schools with $5,000,000 en- dowments? Did Faraday have the high academic advantages advocated by the Foundation as so necessary to adequacy? Did Burns' road to fame lie through well-stocked libraries and aca- demic halls? Instances of the sort are numerous enough to sug- gest that something more than the most highly-endowed schools is needed to produce the best and most useful and adequate scholars. The Report does not look for proof of inadequate train- ing to data showing the incompetency of physicians in the field of actual practice, the only place where inadequacy of training can be proven. It may be asserted confidently that the average graduate of even the so-called inferior schools can administer a cathartic in constipation, a hypnotic in insomnia, iron in anaemia, quinine in malaria, Salicylates in rheumatism, bromides in epilepsy, digi- talis in weak heart, fresh air in tuberculosis, antitoxin in diph- theria, diet to control diabetes, and can treat scarlet fever, erysipe- las, typhoid fever, pneumonia, etc., by the “expectant” or “non- interference” system with all the nonchalance of his more favored colleague who has graduated from a superior school; and that the One is as helpless as the other when confronted by malignant and incurable diseases. - I would not, however, for one instant be understood as pre- ferring unendowed, weak, struggling, commercial medical Schools to the flourishing, well-favored medical department of a Solidly established university, any more than I would prefer a crippled invalid to a strong, healthy, symmetrically-developed man for carrying on the work of the world. I simply feel that Some things have been overlooked by the Carnegie Foundation in its investigation of medical schools. And now a word as to the high standards considered essen- tial to the making of good and capable physicians. The Report advocates the requirement of a Bachelor's degree as a pre- requisite to the medical course, and a full four-years' medical course followed by post-graduate hospital experience. This we do not look upon with disfavor, but we consider it desirable rather than absolutely necessary. The Report looks favorably upon a preliminary two-years college course including biology, IO physics and chemistry, and the requirement deserves favorable consideration. The Report looks with suspicion upon the One- year college course as an entrance requirement, and considers the ordinary high school course as furnishing insufficient prepara- tion for the medical career. - What is absolutely essential, what is desirable, and what is feasible, are entirely different things, and for the present I am not inclined to discuss the question of high standards at any great length. - - In one matter there is work for the Foundation to do before it insists on a Bachelor's degree as an essential requirement for matriculation into the medical school;-and that is to standardize the degrees A.B., and Sc.B. When these degrees represent the posses- sion of a definite and uniform amount of knowledge and skill it will be useful to discuss the relationship to medical education; not before . The point I wish to make is that the Report does not take into consideration those innate qualities of mind and heart that are SO often of greater use in the sick room than all the knowledge and training the schools can give. In the Report these things are not re- ferred to as among the high standards. They are not referred to at all. The fact that the possessor of many degrees does not neces- sarily possess sound judgment and what is known as common sense is also ignored. The high standards advocated in the Report do not by any means make the graduate broad-minded, progressive, recep- tive of new ideas, or capable of adjusting his own ideas and prac- tices to innovations which may be admirable and very desirable and which sooner or later compel wide recognition. In the older civiliza- tions which are held up to us as models of excellence and as exam- ples to be followed with energy and faithfulness, discoveries in medical science and reformations in medical practice have not always been welcomed by those who represented the highest attainable medical education. The discoveries of Harvey and Jenner and Hahnemann, for example—not to mention others—were received with ridicule, contempt and persecution by those possessing what was thought to be the highest professional education of the day. The ability to recognize the TRUTH in whatever shape it may appear or whatever its origin is not dependent upon high academic training;-quite the reverse, as history amply testifies to. The disciples of the Great Teacher—the Great Physician—were not chosen from among the most highly cultured or the most highly educated classes of His day and people—a special faculty often is needed to appreciate and fully realize the truth, and the cultivation of this faculty is not usually included in the school curriculum. Unfortunately for the high standard plea it is not a rare sight to see a fully educated doctor who possesses all the Ordinarily ad- vocated ideal preliminary requirements and all that the professional school can give him, including surgical clinics in Vienna and else- where, perform his work with the heartlessness of a butcher. II I do not withdraw my allegiance to high educational standards, but I do contend that the physician worthy of his calling requires other equipment than is furnished by even the high standard course. Gentleness, tact, intuition, patience, quick perception, tolerance, humane impulses, and all that is implied by the word sympathy, are not incompatible with high scholastic attainments and Ought to be helpful companions of the same. At all events they are often more useful in the sick room than all the training obtainable in the best equipped laboratory. The faculty to inspire confidence and justifi- able hope, to instil courage in the faint-hearted, to quiet apprehensive forebodings is a faculty to be cultivated, for it is frequently of greater service than the best bacteriological knowledge and tech- nic. I beg of you while you are in this School to cultivate assiduous- ly these qualities of mind and heart and character, for without them your work in life will fall far short of its full fruition. In order to remove any possible misconception regarding the attitude here assumed toward the Flexner Report let me say we are gratified with the just and accurate statements and criticism of our School contained in the record of the Foundation’s Investigation. For instance, we read apropos of “Entrance Examinations: A cer- tificate of graduation from an approved four-year high school, or examination; the examination is not set by the University, but by the Medical School, and is markedly below the four-year high school Standard— * * * * * * w “The institution is mainly dependent on fees, but these have been consistently used to develop its facilities. * * * * * * Laboratory facilities: In striking contrast with schools in which whatever the claim, fees have not been so used, this school has an excellent building, admirably well kept and well equipped, and at- tractive laboratories for pathology, bacteriology, physiology, chemistry and anatomy. There is no experimental pharmacology. It possesses a library in charge of a permanent librarian, a beauti- fully mounted collection of pathological material, an excellent refrigerator plant, and other features indicative of intelligent and conscientious effort. * * * * * * Clinical facilities: The school adjoins a hospital of some 230 beds, Of which I 25 are available for amphitheatre and ward clinics. The material is fairly abundant and varied ; but students do not make laboratory examinations for the patients whom they see in the wards. A pavilion for contagious diseases is also accessible. Con- nected with the hospital is a large, thoroughly modern and system- atically conducted dispensary, in which laboratory work and physical work are more closely connected. * * * * * * “Of the others, Boston University alone has a really model dispen- Sary, comparing favorably in equipment, organization and conduct with the best institutions of the kind in the country. * * * * * “Of complete homoeopathic schools, Boston University, the New York Homoeopathic College, and the Hahnemann of Phila- delphia alone possess the equipment necessary for the effective I 2 routine teaching of the fundamental branches. None of them can employ full-time teachers to any considerable extent. But they pos- sess fairly well equipped laboratories in anatomy, pathology, bac- teriology and physiology, a museum showing care and intelligence and a decent library. Boston University deserves especial com- mendation for what it has accomplished with its small annual in- CO11162. “The medical department of Boston University” (with a small total income) “makes a decent and attractive showing in a simple way in its laboratories of bacteriology, pathology, physiology, etc.” “The Homoeopathic Medical Dispensary controlled by the Bos- ton University School of Medicine must be included in the number of excellently housed, equipped and organized institutions of this kind.” “A small but beautifully mounted collection at Boston Univer- sity is once more an evidence of what conscience and intelligence will achieve despite slender financial resources.” . The only real criticism relates to our entrance examinations, which are rated in one place as below the four-years high school standard, and in another as below the two-years high school standard. But no criticism is made of our graduation requirements, though the fact that our graduating classes often reach only 50 per cent. Of Our entering classes testifies to the standards and demo– cratic policy of the School. - It is the opinion of our Faculty that an educational aristocracy is no more consistent with American ideas than is a social, financial or inherited aristocracy. And it is considered by us a truly demo- cratic procedure, a procedure thoroughly consistent with the tradi- tions, the purposes and general policies of the country, to give all who with reasonable educational foundations and possibilities have aspirations to improve their social condition to acquire knowledge and to benefit humanity, an opportunity to show of what stuff they are made;—to give every person an opportunity to demonstrate his ability;-and to throw as few obstacles as possible in the way of his advancement. The mere fact of associating with those who are better equipped, and entering into competition with them is a power- ful stimulant to the one who may lack the preliminary preparation but possesses justifiable ambition, determination and earnestness to take the place of the “better equipment.” - The Report speaks well of and even praises our buildings, laboratories, library, museum, dispensary, etc., but there are things connected with the School which we prize more than we do the bricks and mortar which form its habitation. Our School was the first in this country to offer a systematically graded three years course. It was among the first to make the three years course com- pulsory. * - - It was THE FIRST to offer a four years course, and the FIRST to make the four years course compulsory. 3 * * 3 I3 5 : * * * ^ 2 * n It restored and grants the Baccalaureates in Surgery and Medicine. It from its inception removed sex disabilities in teaching and studying. It is one of six out of the 155 schools of the country to offer and maintain a five years course granting at its completion the M.D. cum laude. - It is one of a few to establish and offer a six years combina- tion course whereby the two degrees Sc.B. and M.D. may be earned. It is the only medical school in this or any other country that possesses three medals won on the merit of its exhibits in open competition at National and International Expositions and Con- gresses. • Ladies and Gentlemen —It is for you to win additional laurels for the School—and this you can do by faithfully and patiently fol- lowing in the footsteps of the devoted band of high-minded, inde- pendent, whole-Souled, brave, courageous, well-equipped and ade- quate men and women to whom the School owes its existence. Its 38th year is in your hands. Make of it the brilliant success it : merits. *2 • */ 43 is y \* r 2 J. - ; : . e. I4. r". . Nº ~ : . . . . . ." - y? RECEPTION IIINS HMMI MIDI ASS||M||N. HON. E. D. SWEENEY, Esq., ON BEHALF OF ROCK ISLAND, º - O O —AND– S. P. HEDGES, A M., M. D., JPresident of the Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Association. —AT— garper's Opera jouse, ROCK ISLAND, MAY, I 5th, 1883. DUNCAN BROTHERS' Books For THE PEOPLE. A Guide to Homoeopathy for Family and Private Use. Paper, 25c ; Cloth.......... • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...5 .50 The Home Treatment of Children; or, The Feeding and Management of Infants and Children and the Hom- Oeopathic Treatment of their Common Diseases. Elegantly bound. Cloth, $2.00; half Morocco....... 2.75 The Nurse; or, Hints on the Gare of the Sick.......... . .60 Hand-book of Diet in Disease; or, “Doctor, What Shall I Eat P” Second edition ............................. 1.00 How to be Plump; or, Talks on Physiological Feeding..., 25 - The Prevention of Congenital Malformations, Defects, Diseases, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 First Impressions on Child Life and Health. Paper.... .10 On Teething and Croup.................................. .25 Spectacles, and How to Choose Them. Illustrated....... 1.00 Decline of Manhood; its Causes and Cure....... ... . . . . . 1.00 Helps to Hear. Illustrated............................... .75 IIow to See with the Microscope. Illustrated............ 2.00 The Homoeopathic Law of Cure.......................... .03. The Progress of Medicine as Influenced by Homoe- Opathy..... . . . . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • . . . . . . . .03 Diet Rules for Children of Different Ages... . . . . .01 How to Feed Children to Prevent Sickness. Paper, 10c: Cloth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The Homoeopathic Domestic Treatment. A full treat- ment of the more Common Diseases of the Family... 8.00 Laws of Health and Homoeopathy Explained... ........ ‘.05 May be ordered through any bookseller or will be sent direct to any address on receipt of price. * - ºr A.Descriptive Catalogue of these books will be sent to any address. - - - - DU.NCAIN BROTHERS, Publishers. 133 d. 135 Wabash Ave., Chicago. T - - RE-PRINT FROM THE I UNITED STATES MEDICAL INVESTIGATOR. * , DUNCAN BROTHERS, PUBLISHERs, : T EI E. ILLINo.1s HomoeoPATHIC MEDICAL N Associ ATION. , …" RECEPTION BY THE CITIZENS OF ROCK ISLAND. The Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Association was given a grand wel- come by the people of Rock Island at Harper's Opera House, on the evening of May 15, 1883. A goodly number of the best people of the city, ladies and gentlemen filled the auditorium. When the curtain rolled up, the Mayor, City Council and other dignitaries appeared on the stage. Dr. C. B. Kenyon, as master of cermonies, introduced Rev. Irving A. Searles, who offered a S1mple and earnest blessing. Mayor Mott was next introduced. He said he was a man of deeds and not of words, but it gave him great pleasure to introduce a man who would voice the welcome that the people of Rock Island felt towards the medical men present, (applause). Judge E. D. Sweeney's address of welcome was a masterly effort. President Hedges address was received with the deepest attention. Biehl's orchestra during the evening rendered some choice selec- tions of music. At a late hour the company dispersed well pleased with the £ntertainment. (º ADDRESS OF WELCOME By JUDGE SWEENEY. GENTLEMEN OF THE ILLINois STATE HomoeoPATHIO MEDICAL Asso- CIATION: In the name and by the authority of the Mayor and City Council of Rock Island, I give you a cordial welcome to our city, I welcome you to our hospitalities and to all that we have that is enjoyable. We think that the lines have fallen to us, in Rock Island, in pleasant places. g The location of our city is half way on the great stream of commerce of the Northwest, carried on the greatest river of the continent and which has for its termini St. Louis and St. Paul; half-way of the great agricultural plains and valleys lying between the great lakes and the Missouri river. Its location makes it of necessity a railroad center, with as many roads as the fingers on your hand, which cross the river with their burdens on a bridge *= second only to that of St. Louis. It is also the terminus of the long looked 4 - for and yet hoped for Hennepin canal. It is within a mile of the junction of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers and has the advantages and benefits of both. T º - - : You can take a car, in the center of our city, and after a twenty minutes. ride, over a nice little railroad, behind the nicest little dummy in the West, find yourself at Milan, the city of mills, not only in name but in fact. You will find there three flouring mills, two paper mills, a cotton factory, a wagon factory and other industries, with enough surplus water power, to turn all the wheels of Lowell. r - - - In taking this ride permit me to remind you that you will skirt along .* through what was once the cornfields of the Sac and Foxes, where the squaw and the pappooses planted and cultivated the Indian maize, from generation to generation in the same hills, many of which still remain, and where you will also see the site of the wigwam of Black Hawk, who was the last good warrior and chief who made a stand for the red man against. the “pale face” on this side of the “Father of waters.” - To the east of us, is the proud city of Moline, which has made more plows than any other city in the world, and is now becoming as equally renowned in the manufacture of wagons, corn planters and wooden ware. Here you will see the great government dam which harnesses to the wheel of industry nearly one-third of the great river. In Moline you will find more beautiful and comfortable homes than in any other city of its size in the West, built, from the savings of industrious and intelligent mechanics. You will see here how that one man can by his industry and perseverance stamp upon the whole city the noble traits of his own character. I refer to John Deere, the great plow maker of the west. A visit to Moline you can- not afford to omit. Across our beautiful harbor, three-eights of a mile in width, is the flourishing and prosperous city of Davenport, with its 25.000 people, where you will find busy marts of trade, a great glucose factory and saw mills which have an output of millions of feet of lumber every year. You will also find there the Academy of Sciences, an institution which is the pride of Iowa, and which will repay a Visit from you. . - But surpassing all in the mention of our surroundings is the island of Rock Island, which has been designated, on account of its unparalleled beauty and inestimable value, the Koh-i-noor of the Mississippi valley. It is beau- tifully located, parting the great river in twain. The government in obéâi- ence to the maxim, “in time of peace prepare for war,” is spending millions in fitting it up as the great work shop of the nation. Here you will find acres of buildings prepared for the manufacture of arms. A drive along its great avenues, equal to the boulevards of Chicago, and along and through its, beautiful drives, almost as charming as you will find in Central Park. New York, will amply compensate you for a visit to the Island. - l would not fail to mention our own plow factory, glass and stove fac tories, our great lumber manufactures and our water works, of which we are proud and in which we know that you will be interested. - I might be excused from further remark but for the first time in my life, I find myself addressing an audience of physicians and as one of the laity, I may be excused in saying a word that your presence as physicians sug- gests. As I understand the object of your society, you are here for the mutual exchange of thought and experience as physicians and to learn from Such intercourse lessons which will enable you to better practice your pro- 5 fession. This object is certainly a worthy one and commends you to the favorable consideration of all. It appears to me the incentive, that a physi- cian has to become proficient in his profession is not excelled, if equalled, by the incentive which addresses itself to the membership of any other of the learned professions. The priceless jewel of life is placed in your keeping. Upon the proper exercise of this trust depends every interest of right and property; every relation of business and family, the enjoyment of the accu- mulations of the past and hopes of the future, the continuance of every enterprise, the carrying out of every plan, the fulfilment of every promise and engagement, all depends upon it. Life is everything, as the good book has in the new version, “For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own life or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?” . - - . It appears to me that as no men could have a higher trust, none ought to be more diligent in the discharge of their duties. The inducements for exertion and effort are of the highest possible character. The husband - comes to you with all he has and pleads for the life of his wife. His plead- ing reminds you that a failure on your part will leave him a widower, his children motherless, and his home a desolation; that if you fail, instead of happiness and joy there will be sadness and sorrow ; there will be broken ties that never can be restored; hearts that will always bleed and eyes that will always weep. The wife comes to you in her helplessness and in her tears and pleads for the life of the husband, the father of her children, the stay and support of the household. The parents plead for the lives of their children, the precious ties of love which bless the married life, and the children for the lives of their parents. Every treasure of the family is placed in your hands and every household god bows in your presence. When pestilence and contagion come, whole communities attend your every step, with prayers for blessings on your efforts and as happened in the cases of the illustrious Garfield and the great Lord Beaconsfield, a whole nation, yea the whole world, bowed in prayer that the hand of the physician might be endowed with cunning, and his head with wisdom, and that his remedies be blessed with the powers of life. A man who would omit any effort, a man who would neglect an exertion in your profession in the face of the stern realities of life and death, it appears to me would be the unworthiest of his kind. ... . * - In addition to these solemn calls for effort are the constant successes which attend the practice of your profession. The healing of the sick, the restoration of health, the defeat of the ravages of disease, the relief of pain and suffering, the seizing, as it were, the bridle of the pale horse with his rider and setting him back on his haunches with the command, “hitherto shalt thou come but no further,” it appears to me are successes which in their grandeur and sublimity measure up to the divine. Certainly, to no other profession do the opportunities of doing something for mankind so constantly occur. Like the Great Healer, in your hourly visitations, you can go about doing good, and like him, if you are men who have profited by the great lessons you have an opportunity to learn, you can help poor humanity bear its sorrows and carry its griefs. The popular mention of the great triumphs of the World at large-are spoken of in connection with the application and use of steam, the steamboat, the railroad and the thousand other ways in which this power is made to serve mankind, and the applica- 6 tion and use of electricity, in the telegraph which has made all the world neighbors, and the telephone which has put all these neighbors on speaking terms with each other. e . . . Great and glorious indeed are these triumphs which make the nineteenth century the golden age of the world’s civilization. But in my opinion the nineteenth century can boast 6f no grander, no nobler discovery, than the use of anaesthetics. Properly is it inscribed upon the tomb of Dr. Morton, . its great discoverer, “Before whom in all time surgery was.agony; since whom science has control of pain.” By the use of this great agent the medical profession is able to do to-day that which for 6,000 years of the world’s history it never entered into the heart of man to conceive it possible to be done. Through it vivisection has been robbed of its cruelties, the knowledge of the anatomy of the human organism increased and mankind blessed as by a revelation from heaven! To the profession at large there is a compensation for all its arduous labors, in the successes which are the proud results of the years as they go by. * * Not more than a century since the ravages of small-pox came like a besom. of destruction to whole communities, and those who escaped death from this terrible scourge were mutilated with blind eyes and hideously scarred features. But now, thanks to the doctors, small-pox will no more afflict a prudent people. Plagues, scurvy and spotted fever, each of which within the memory of man claimed regularly their yearly tribute of victims, are becoming diseases of the past and hopes are cherished that the skill of your profession will soon make cholera, scarlatina, diphtheria and diseases of like character live only in recollection. - • From the progress of the past few years it needs no prophet's imagination to forsee a time when preventive medicine shall have reached such a degree of perfection, through your profession, that the occurence of epidemic diseases will be felt as a gross reproach to any community and the time is coming, and not far distant, when the world will be able to give affirmative answer to the inquiry applied to the disease of the body, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” I am reminded that you gentlemen belong to the Homoeopathic school of medicine, a school having its origin within the present century, and which has for its founder the celebrated Hahnemann, who brought forward prom- inently the principle that “like cures like.” Whether this principle is of universal application, or whetherit is entitled to the prominence given it by your school, I am not here to affirm or discuss. I assume that you gentlemen . in choosing your life occupation have done so intelligently and conscienti- ously. Your duty is a plain one, to heal the sick, relieve suffering and to save life, and to do this in the surest, quickest and simplest mode possible. If the Homoeopathic system reaches this end the best, then you are right in belonging to that school of medicine. . The Wonderful favor into which your system of medicine has grown with the people, the large number of your colleges and medical schools, the mul- titudes of graduates which they are annually sending forth, the great num- ber of your medical publications and the intelligence of the rank and file of your profession are guarantees that there is merit in your system. > I think that I am safe in saying for your system, that it is a progressive one. I am informed that the world is indebted to you for the discovery of some of the greatest remedies now in use. Whether the other systems or f - schools concede this, or concede that any good thing can come out of Naza- reth, I do not know. One thing I do know and the world knows it ; that your system has forced upon the others the use of smallerdoses of medicine. This itself is certainly a great blessing, for there is no Šick man who has to take medicine, and no well man who has to pay for it, but is grateful to you for this, if nothing more. : It is a fact known to every reader of the public journals of the day, that there is a discussion going on among medical men of the country concern- ing the ethics of your profession and one of the questions discussed is whether men of your school should be recognized by what is known as the “regular” profession—that is, will they concede to meet you on equal terms in the consultation room and recognize you, as physicians, entitled to the same consideration as members of their own system? I am informed that there is a growing sentiment among the better class of physicians of the old school to concede this to you, but that the large majority persist in its denial and your exclusion. Exclusiveness of any kind is always odious and sooner or later must yield. I believe that you are fighting a winning battle, and I predict that this barrier now in your path will ere long be swept away, and that your system will soon stand upon an equal footing with all others. Gentlemen, you belong to a noble profession. Go on with your efforts to be competent in your calling and proficient in all that makes a successful physician. The whole world will applaud your labors, the stars in their courses will aid you, and generations yet unborn will rise up to call you blessed. (Loud applause.) " . . g ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT HEDGES . THE PRESENT TENDENCY OF MEDICAL THOUGHT. MR. CHAIRMAN : LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND FELLOW MEMBERS OF THE ILLINoſs HoMCEOPATHIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: At the request of the committee of arrangements, I have the honºr, this evening, of address- ing you on one of the most interesting subjects of the day. There is no home in all our broad land into which this question does not, in some man- ner, enter. Though physicians are the most deeply stirred by the present tendency of medical thought, it is true that every family sympathizes more or less with any movement affecting medicine, and their medical attendant. You cannot, if you would, be entirely unaffected by all this. It is in con- sideration of this widespread interest among the people, that the local com- mittee of our association thought it would interest and instruct you should a presentation of this subject be given at this time. So intent is the reading public to know how the subject is being handled by medical men them- selves, that the newspapers of the day give close attention to the meetings even of the smallest local and county societies. Action taken by any of these societies touching the points in discussion is published far and wide. The reason of this wide spread interest is that at present there is a great change taking place in the Allopathic School of medicine. This change relates to questions of ethics. Ethics in medicine relate to manners; in short, how one doctor shall behave towards another. It is strange that on this surface question, one which only involves the personal relations of physicians among themselves, and professionally to their patients, on this ~s - > 8 mere surface question so much interest attaches. . But, my friends, this which you observe, and which seems so easy to you, to settle, is the first external mark of an upheaval which starts in the very lowest foundation. In February 1882, at the regular annual meeting of the New York S194a society of Allopathic physicians, a new code of ethics was adopted, con- taining the following significant rule. “Members of the medical Society of the state of New York and of medical societies in affiliation therewith, may oneet in consultation, legally qualified practitioners of medicine. Emergen- cies may occur in which all restrictions, should, in the judgment of the practitioners, yield to the demands of humanity.” This was the entering wedge. It has split in twain the exclusive and prejudiced and hide-bound code of ethics of the Allopathic school in this country. The rent will never be healed. The scientific progressive and young American physician of the dominant school, having once felt free to act upon his own right judgment. in regard to consultations will never again permit himself to be bound with the old chains. The above action of the Allopathic society of the great state of New York created a tremendous flurry in their national association at its meeting in St. Paul, last year. The national association refused to receive the delegates from the New York state society, on account of this change in their code of ethics. - This action widens the rent, and in January 1883, the wedge was driven home by the medical society of the county of New York approving the new code of ethics of the state society. Thus the matter, as to official action, stands at present. But there is a great unrest among our brethren of the other school. They are ranging themselves in opposing lines. The con- test is not to be ended until the old gives way to the new. The battle will be fought in New York. All over the land in every city and town men are taking sides for or against the new code. The tendency of medical thought on this subject will be guided by the tendencies of scientific thought in other departments. Science searches for the true, and the real. It-favors liberty of thought, freedom of individual judgment. It is willing to rest its case On the “Survival of the fitteſt.” Those physicians who favor this new code, not only desire freedom of individual judgment, but also to range them- selves on the side of the law of the land, as to legally qualified practitioners. . The medical societies of the various states receive their charters from the delegates of the people in their state legislatures. - - Chief among the rights and privileges, granted by these charters is the right to enact by-laws for their own goverment, and the control of their future. These by-laws, in their entirety constitute a code of ethics. In addition to this the various state legislatures have also enacted medical laws as to what constitutes a legally qualified medical practitioner, Any physician who qualifies in this state under the medical act becomes a legally qualified practitioner. The Allopathic school of medicine, by their code, has denied any of their members the right to consult with many legally qualified physicians. In this, they have set themselves above the power which gave them their rights and privileges. - * These charters for the organization of the medical profession were not given for the good of the profession, but rather for the good of the people. Hence any code of ethics which binds its adherent to only recognize those as physicians who hold his own peculiar views, and to only consult with 9 such, is a code which sets itself above the law which made a code possible . at all. It is an arrogant assumption of Complete knowledge. It is of that pharisaical spirit Which leads one to say, “I am holier than thou.” The Allopathic sohool has charged that Homoeopathy is an eacclusive sys- tem, that it is governed by an exclusive dogma. In the light of the present controversy in its code of ethics, one can very readily see on which side the exclusiveness belongs. When the smoke of the contest has passed away, and freedom of individual action and thought is established among the so- called regular profession, their code of ethics will have necessarily con- formed itself to its primitive purity. The code of ethics of the Homooe- pathic profession was framed exactly upon the code of the Allopathic school of 1823, adopted by the American Medical Association in 1849. I wish to call your attention to a few sentences from that primitive code, which is the basis of our Homoeopathic code. Here we will find that the primitive code in medicine, like the primitive faith in religion, is the best. In that early code, under specifications of medical ethics in practice we read. “Honor and justice particularly forbid a medical practitioner infringing upon the rights of another, who is legally accredited, and whose character is not impeached by public opinion, or civil or medical authority, whether he be a native or a stranger settled in the country. There is no difference between physicians but such as result from their personal talents, medical acquirements or experience, and the public from the service they receive are the natural judges of their intellectual advantages.” This is the fountain from which both codes emanate. They started, with equal sources of honor and justice. The Homoeopathic code has never departed from its early principle of equal justice to all accredited physicians. Town, state and national societies have ever allowed their members the liberty to . consult with any practitioner of any school whenever the patient or medi- cal attendant requested, subject always to his individual judgment. Humanity, in many instances requires that there should be no restrictions put upon the judgment of the practitioner as regards consultations. It does not follow that we may not refuse to admit consultation, but that our judgment is left free to act in the individual case as it occurs. There may be reasons, sufficient for me, why I should refuse to meet a certain medical man, be he of whatever medical school, and I wish to be free to exercise my own judgment. The honor of our noble profession is in the keeping of her individual members, and 1b is safer there, under liberty of thought and action, than as at present held, according to the illegal and bigoted code of the American Medical Association. . . - In view of this purity of our Homoeopathic code, it will be interesting to note the time and cause of the change in the Allopathic code. From 1823 until 1849 there was no change. At that time, a few physicians, less than fifty, in the whole country, had investigated the principles of Homoeopathy, and were practicing under its law of cure. They had been ridiculed, laughed at, and abused. They had been written down, and logically annihilated. But they were still quietly pursuing their way. They would not stay killed. It was the old story that truth crushed to earth will rise again. Indeed, if there had been no real law of cure under those men, those early pioneers of our cause, if there had really been no truth with them, they would surely have been crushed out by the storm of obloquy, derision and opposition 10 which assailed them. It was not the first nor last storm which the noble ship, Similia, has ridden out, since she was so gallantly launched by Samuel Hahnemann in 1796. - - - - f - . The continued success of these few Homoeopathic physicians, and the favor with which they were received by the people, finally caused the dom- inant school of medicine to further attempts to destroy this heresy. Hence they were ostracised by medical official authority. And to follow up and complete this, the good, honest old medical code of ethics was violated and changed, and instead of saying, as quoted above, that “honor and justice particularly forbid a medical practitioner infringing upon the rights of another who is legally accredited * * and that there is no difference between physicians but such as results from their personal talents and medical acquirements and experience,” instead of saying this, it arrogates to itself supreme medical knowledge, and styles all who hold different medical views, irregulars, quacks and charlatans, and forbids any recognition of even legally qualified physicians, or any consultation With such, on pain of expulsion and ostracism. That you may realize that a Homoeopathic physi- cian is not the only one who takes this view, I will quote from the address of one of the leading Allopathic physicians of the state of New York, Dr. BI. R. Hopkins, of Buffalo. g - - - In addressing his state society concerning the operation of the code of ethics, as above noticed, he says: - “We must remember that we, as a medical society, exist by the will of the people, for the good of the people, and that it does not rest with us to say when, or for what cause the people have forfeited their rights to our Ser- vices; and when the corporate medical profession, when this Society announces that its members may not meet in consultation, legally qualified practitioners, we attempt to dictate to the people, to sit in judgment upon the wisdom of their legislative enactments; we arrogate to ourselves, pow- ers that in no manner or degree belong to us and we do that which we can ill afford to do, we make our profession ridiculous.” A - That is just what the people say, when they see such arrogance, “the doc- tors make themselves ridiculous.” . We thus see, that to oppose and destroy the Homoeopathic heresy, the Old School was led into a false position. In the progress of time and the advance of Science, some of these men have finally had the courage to take a deter- mined stand against the highest medical tribunal of the land, in order to ... place themselves, and their state Society right on this great subject. They are to-day denounced as traitors to their school. However, they are strong in the right, and the right must conquer. No one can foresee where this commotion will end. It is pregnant with meaning and is Óne of the great epochs in the history of medicine. Here in the west, our Allopathic breth- ren are looking and watching the tendency of this question and will soon have to take their stand on one side or the other. The old code will soon be wiped out, whatever takes its place. - - º As Homoeopathic physicians, we have but little personal interest in the matter. Our own position is that towards which our opponents are tending. It is our place and duty to preserve a quiet dignity and wait the outcome of this struggle. We can afford to do this for we are on vantage ground. I Wish you to note on what ground the Allopathic profession were led away from their old, and almost perfect system of ethics into the formation of 11 their present narrow, arrogant, and exclusive system of ethics, which is as unscientific as it is dishonorable. It was to destroy Homoeopathy. One of their leading Writers was so certain of the early death of Homoeopathy that he said about this time, that in twenty-five years, if any one wished to learn anything of this system, he must search the shelves of the antiquarian. He lived to see the utter failure of his prophecy. s Note, in the second place, that the new school of medicine, on attaining a growth sufficient to require a code of ethics, adopted the primitive one, and this they did while receiving the most unjust treatment from the dominant, school. Those early disciples of Hahnemann were far-sighted, cool-headed men. They were so confident that truth and right were with them, that: they could quietly await the decision of the years. - And this brings me to note, in the third place, that the present movement, on this ethical question is towards the original code. It is to abandon a, false and unscientific position, and retreat to the old and true. One would think that in doing this, some expression of regret or Sorrow would be. dropped, to show the sincerity of their repentance. But no, their pride will not permit, and so with a smile, we note that it is on the ground of humanity that they take this painful step. Let us be patient; it is too much to expect. of them in the heat and turmoil of the change, but the future will make all suitable acknowledgements. t - - - . . I have given considerable time to this first part of my subject, but my •reason is, that while a mere surface movement, as already stated, it needs to be fully understood in order to make plain the elucidations of the deeper. causes at work under all this to bring it all about. It will be necessary now to take you back with me, while we gather up. the medical lines of thought just prior to the days of Hahnemann. To these, we will add the new and only law of cure, discovered by Hahnemann in 1795 and 1796. : Next we will note the relations of these diverse elements, as they acted, and reacted upon each other. We will witness the influence which the Homoeopathic law of similia, as carried out in practice, had upon the thought and practice of the dominant medical School down to this day. Lastly we will sum up all, and show plainly the present tendency of medical thought and the duties devolving upon us as practitioners of medicine. It is the general opinion that before the introduction of Homoeopathy, there was uniformity of belief and practice in medicine. Nothing could be farther from the facts. The science and art of healing previous to the year. 1800 was peculiar in this: namely, that in practice, medical men followed the light of experience. They gaye what Some one recommended for a given disease. It had been used successfully, So Was passed along to the next; doctor. It received favor according to the reputation and standing of the man who recommended it. The principal advantage a student received from his preceptor in those days, was the right to copy and take away with him the old doctor's formulae and prescriptions and What they were good for. Often great sums were paid for this “accumulated experience of the ages,” as it has been grandiloquently called. This claim to possess and be guided by the acumulated experience of the last 2000 years, which is the great boast and possession of the Allopathic School, is nothing more than domestic or empirical medication, elevated to the place of Science. It has 12 no basis as true science. Science is accurate, reliable, and satisfactory. This kind of prescribing is inaccurate, not to be depended upon for results, and often disappoints every hope reposed in it. In Hahnemann's day, this. was so true of medical art, that many able men left the practice of physic for other fields of labor. They could not follow such uncertain guides. There was no law to regulate the application of drugs to the cure of disease. Science is law understood and applied. There was no Science in this kind of prescribing, for there was no law admitted or understood. . | The above description is true, as to the practice of medicine at the close of the eighteenth century; and except as modified in its application by Hom- oeopathy, it is the same to-day. It is thus seen that there was, at that day, uniformity of practice, such as it was, a grand system of irrational empiri- cism. This unsatisfactory condition of the art of healing, led medical men to numerous and varied hypotheses to explain or account for it. The theory advanced one day, which for a time drew attention was soon forgotten, or gave way to another. An endless, succession filled in the years, and like them passed away. Theories can only be born of a felt want, a crying out for knowledge. We know not; we desire to know ; we think out an explan- ation, and call it a theory. Theories so born always die sooner or later unless they stumble upon a firm foothold on some of the great laws, dis- covered or undiscovered, which underlie all the phenomena of nature, and are known and recognized when discovered, as laws of nature. How vividly this brings to our minds the history of Newton’s great discovery of the law. ‘of gravitation. What momentous results turn upon little things I Newton And the law of gravitation. Hahnemann and the law of cure. The former delivered astronomy from the vague theories which never could harmonize the motion of the spheres; the latter delivered medicine from the swaddling clothes of puerility and ignorance. gº It is remarkable that while the law of experience, weak and poor and 'deceptive as it was, unified practice in that day, there was the widest and wildest division among medical men, as to the theories explaining and governing such relations. They were all one harmonious School. Each one might believe as he chose, and practice as he chose, so long as he did not practice as he preached. In other words, believe as he might, he must not govern his practice by his belief. Here we uncover the root of all the opposition, the great founder of our school received. Hahnemann, in 1795 in Hufeland's Journal, first published his theory of the action of drugs in the cause of disease. Soon after he formulated his theory into a law, “similia similibus curantur,” like cures like. So far, he met with no more opposition than any author of a new hypothesis might expect. But he now began to claim that medicine should be prescribed according to this law. It followed from this law, that only one remedy could or ought to be dispensed in one dose. As it was necessary to study the remedies individually, to ascertain their peculiar action in the system, so it would be necessary to give them alone, singly. Here, we have, as following the “law of similia” the single. remedy. What a tremendous dose for Allopathy were these little doses of 3Homoeopathyl One can but sympathize with those heroic old doctors, heroic as to practice, as such amazing changes were placed before them. No wonder they staggered at the tremendous issue involved, and thought to turn back the tide of progress which was to carry the science and art of * * 13 healing to its rightful place among the exact sciences. Vain endeavor t Trom its natal hour similia has grown in favor both with doctor and patient; and being a law of nature, as it is a law of cure, it is eterſial. Any such claim as this was certainly a bold attack on the ancient and sacred science, of medicine. Who had ever before tried to substitute his theory and law, for the wisdom and experience of the age I It was a preposterous arrogance. and must be thoroughly put down. So thought and wrote the doctors. Hence they opposed the new theory and law of cure and the single remedy, Undismayed by opposition, and confident in truth, Hahnemann now took another step in advance. This step was brought about by his experience in the application of the law of similia. - - . Prescribing by that law, he was forced to reduce the size of his doses in order to avoid the characteristic aggravations which followed too large a dose. One would think that as this was dictated by the law of experience, his opponents would have been somewhat molified. Not so I It only served to intensify and add to the storm. The great class of legally authorized apothecaries now joined themselves with the opposing medical profession and their cry was as of old in Paul's day “Our craft is in danger.” “Great; is Diana of the Ephesians !” “If all the doctors prescribe such small doses, our craft is gone.” Opposed and persecuted by these combined and privi- leged classes, the physicians and the apothecaries. Hahnemann met the fate meted out to every class of independent thinkers and workers who dis- cover or invent new and revolutionary laws or machines. In short, let. us see what it was that Hahnemann had done. It is best expressed in language already formulated, namely: “The law of similia, the single remedy, and the minimum dose.” Dr. E. M. Hale, has expanded this as follows: It means, this: 1. The remedy chosen must be selected according to the law of similars. 2. It must be prescribed in as small a dose or doses as will cure most safely and speedily. 3. The medicine should be given singly not. mixed with several others according to the old notions of polypharmacy. - On these three points, hang all that is distinctive in Homoeopathy. It seems very little to have created such a revolution. But my friends, is it. only a little? Is it not the full ſlower of Homoeopathy, the leaves of which willyet be for the healing of the nations? Like leaven, it has been working. It is still working and it will continue working, until the whole medical lump is leavened. What is it that has held Homoeopathy together, compact and strong through all these years of such opposition as the history of men has. scarcely paralled? It is the central principle, similia. It is its law which makes it coherent. Like gravitation, the law of similia holds all its subor- dinate parts in equal and uniform relation to itself, and so they move in their own orbits, ever kept steady and true by the great central power, the law. - - - Allopathy, like the giant, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, has been able to. destroy every opposing medical theory until it met its Great Heart in “similia similibus curantur.” But while Homoeopathy has grown to be a resisting force, and has won for itself an honorable place and name, What, has been its effect upon Allopathy. I would say in passing that it is not. admitted by the opposing school that our system has had any effect upon them. When we observe them taking up, one after another, our own 14 Ymethods and remedies, even our often ridiculed doses, we wonder they still have no word of acknowledgement, e Let us examine the facts of the case in the light of reason, and see what the verdict will be. As the years have passed since the Homoeopaths has been prescribing his little doses, we notice that gradually the Allopath has been giving up his old violent measures. One by one their writers have “ceased recommending bleeding, leeching, blistering and mercurializing. "This is the first change, a negative one. Some Allopathic physicians went so far in giving up their old measures, that thinking very little was left, they were called the expectant school. Soon after, and within the last few years, we notice that in place of a negative change, there has been going on a positive change. Had I the time, I could cite from all the recent text- books and journals of the Allopathic school, in proof of this change. In materia medica they advise the study of the single drug on the healthy, that they may learn its peculiar action. So did Hahnemann eighty years wago! - I notice in some recent text-books that in advising such small doses as the H-100 to the 1-1000 of a grain, and smaller, even, the reason given is, that a ‘dose sufficient to set up a curative action, is all that is required, and larger aoses would create an aggravation. These reasons are borrowed bodily from Hahnemann, and by him given to the world nearly eighty years ago. Under Some other name, many of the best minds in the Allopathic ranks, really recognize the law of similars. How otherwise can they prescribe as they now do? Ipecac for vomiting, Aconite for fever, Belladonna for head- ache, Bryonia for pleurisy. If they are not imitating Homoeopathy, how do headache, Corrosive sublimate, one grain in a quart of water, teaspoonful they advise the following, to wit: Calomel, 1-60 of a grain for nocturnal every hour, for dysentery? Tartar emetic for bronchitis, one grain in a quart of water, one teaspoonful every half hour? Nux vomica for sick headache, one drop every ten minutes? Pulsatilla for dysmenorrhoea, two drops every hour? I might go on for an hour, and not exhaust their recent imitation and copying almost wholly from our text-books in this same line. You notice it is not only according to the law of similars, but also the single tremedy, and the minimum dose, and yet they have learned nothing from JHomoeopathyl It is all the result of the accumulated experience of the ages | Such pride and prejudice is human, but it is not worthy a scientific amind. Before passing to my conclusion, I wish to note a new and advanced step taken towards Homoeopathy, or rather, a new appropriation of Hahne- ‘mann's Wonderful conclusions, published by him three-fourths of a century ago. On almost every page of the Organon, Hahnemann inculcated the ‘principle that the physician should treat the symptoms, not the disease, treat the patient, not the diagnosis. He reiterated this advice, and from that day HomoCepaths have been laughed at, and called unscientific for fol- lowing this true light. And now, in the very most regular orthodox of all Allopathic authors, Prof. J. R. Reynolds, of the University College, London, $n the last American edition of his System of Medicine, Vol. I, page 24, we have this same thing taught as plainly as it can be, and yet no word of him Who Was Seventy-five years in advance of the learned writer. This most recent change of the Old School is more significant than the 15 others. It shows that they begin to see it. All scientific men are exceed- ingly careful to award the honor of the earliest discovery or thought, on . . any subject, to the right one; and it must be that the pride and prejudice, and ignorance which so far has prevented this, will before long, pass away. We have now seen what the influence of Homoeopathy has been upon the dominant school.down to the present. It has been said by others that there has been an approximation of the two great schools of medicine. This is true, but the coming nearer together has been nearly all the movement of Allopathy towards Homoeopathy. Why is this? The answer is that as Homoeopathy is founded on a law of nature, it is coherent and fixed. It is also powerful in attracting, and by this still, silent power, draws all affected by it, to its center. - In looking over the field, we see that Homoeopathy occupies the vantage ground. The tendency of medical thought with her is to more and more study into, and understand the law of cure in its application to disease. Over the broad surface of Allopathy we observe an unrest, a state of motion. Its tendency with them is to reach fixed and scientific grounds. And even if it is driven to adopt the principles and practice of Homoeo- pathy, it must do it by the very power of attraction. These deeply hidden . agencies working in the midst of the Allopathic school have brought about the ethical problem with which we opened our paper. As their tendency was towards the practice of Homoeopathy, though too proud and prejudiced to openly acknowledge it, so they are in ethical or personal relations, tend- ing towards us. The law of similia is drawing with irresistible influence, all medical thought and practice to itself. It is the true law of cure and all who practice the healing art, will soon be under her glorious banner no longer sailing under false colors as at present. I may be enthusiastic, and so will allow another to express this same pro- phecy as follows: “We cannot escape the inevitable, and it is inevitable, that in the future all schools of medicine will merge into our broad and comprehensive body. Not that all men will ever think alike or believe alike on all points of medi- $ºut that all will Settle finally on One or more grand dogmas or princi- pleS. - - The tendency of medical thought as we have tried to show is towards this ‘end. - - - ‘To my fellow members of the Illinois Medical Society, I have a word to say, in conclusion. If these things be so, it becomes us to firmly, patiently and hopefully stand by our law and its application. We will be tempted to lower its high claims, to suit one or another. The reform movement in Allopathy Will decry our claims, but ſet us hold up Habnemann to them, and his wonderful Organon of Medicine, published more than seventy-five years ago. - - - In order to hasten the medical millennium, we must not give up our dis- tinctive organization. There is much for us to do yet. The method of rightly studying drugs, in order to know them accurately and minutely, is a sacred trust. To such a knowledge we alone have the key. It will be so difficult för any disciple of crude Allopathy, who has worked so long with grains and scruples and drachms, who has recognized, as drug effects only the emetic, the purgative and the opiate, it will be so hard for him, I say, to see effects in the third, the twelfth and the thirtieth attenuations, that we 16 must still be true to our long pupilage and stand as true teachers of the sacred domain of the effects of small, even infinitesimal doses. Although our friends in old medicine, some of them, are enthusiastic students and searchers in the field of the physiological effects of drug action on the healthy, they yet fail to notice the nicer and finer shades of effect in the mental and nervous and emotional system. To this more delicate coloring they are as yet blind. Now, if in haste we go too far to meet them, we may be influenced to give up some of these most useful and necessary elements of drug study. Our manipulation will not be so accurate if we handle too freely their coarse and heavy tools, we must keep to our own tools if we would do good work. And hence we have a work to do in the future of materia medica. Let us be quiet. Let us wait and time will make the way an open and a plain one. Then the same caution and advice holds true in therapeutics. What has been wrought, in the average life of one man, for the system of the practice of medicine, by Homoeopathy | It is so wonder- ful it enters into the marvelous, if we lay it side by side with the condition of the practice of medicine for a thousand years before the day of Hahne- mann. These past eighty years have gathered into themselves the energy and progress of more than ten centuries! Only that we live in a wonderful age of progress and improvement, in every department of human life and thought, this onward sweep of the science of medicine, would be perfectly overwhelming to contemplate, and we have shown that the discovery of the law of cure, the law of application of drugs to cure diseases, was the first and potent factor in shaking off the incubus or ignorance and bigotry which had rested for so many hundred years upon the art of medicine. It was the light beaming from similia that dissipated the medical darkness of the ages. But there is still work for us to do as the advance column in the medical army. Let us be true and faithful in applying by our law the properly chosen drug, in the properly selected dilution, to the suffering and sick who shall require our services. “The wheels of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small,” and it will require time and yet more time, before the doses of the Allopathic doctor will be ground small enough to avoid a medicinal aggravation. Until then, we who are the great almoners of the gifts of beneficent nature, must keep to our colors, and point the way and hold forth the gifts our beautiful law and system have for humanity. (Applause.) MoRE social, ENTERTAINMENTs. A most enjoyable time was had in the evening of May 16, at the residence, of Dr. C. B. Kinyon, No. 1707 Sixth avenue, where a reception was given to the visiting physicians. An excellent supper was served, and Biehl's orchestra enlivened the occasion by music. Séveral toasts were offered and responded to in a hearty manner, by President Hedges, Drs. Small, ºfoster, Baker and Judge Sweeney. At a late hour the Company dispersed. + v - * - At the close of the meeting carriages were in waiting at the Harper House, May 17, and the whole association was soon whirling over the great bridge spanning the Father of waters to Rock Island proper where the great government workshops were inspected with interest. Moline with its immense plow, wagon and other implement manufacturie were then visited, and the party spent, a most pleasant afternoon. In the evening the physicians departed for their homes not soon to forget the pleasant time they had at Rock Island and the sister cities of Moline and Davenport. ' MEDICINE AND MORALS. RY J. J. THOMPSON, M. D., CHICAGO. President Cook County Homoeopathic Medical Society; Professor of Orificial and Plastic Surgery in National Homoeopathic Medical College; Gynaecologist to Baptist Hospital, Member American Institute of Homoeopathy; Vice-Presi- dent Illinois State Aſomaeopathic Medical Association. Read at the Opening of the National Homoeopathic Medical College, October, 1893. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: - • In a recent number of one of our leading medical maga- zines, the editor, in commenting upon an article which had appeared in a previous number, makes this broad statement: “The intellectual faculties can be developed by, instruc- tion and education and by nothing else under heaven, twin processes that begin at the hour of birth and end only when the clods fall on the coffin-lid. Morals are improved by the voluntary efforts of man to keep the ten commandments and by absolutely nothing else.” - If I believed in the sentiment expressed in this quotation, I should not be here to-night. I should not be connected with the National Homoeopathic Medical College. I should leave the practice of medicine and enter some business or profession where I could make an honest living. If I really thought that the practice of medicine and surgery was con- fined to the clayey parts of man, and that as physicians we could not reach the intellectual and moral man through our more intimate knowledge of the physical, I should certain- ly lose the greatest incentive I have to continue and per- fect myself in the practice. And I would say now, to these young ladies and young gentlemen who are just starting in to learn this noblest of all professions, if you do not hope to 2, MEDICINE AND MORALs. - be able to reach higher than the gross anatomy, physiology and pathology of your patients, you had better stop right here at the threshold, because, struggle as you may, you will never get far beyond it. r But I am glad to state that there is a large and a con- stantly growing number in the profession, and especially in our school of practice, who are beginning to recognize the fact that the physical, the intellectual and the moral man are too intimately connected to treat the one success- fully without taking cognizance of the others, and I sin- cerely hope that the National college will put itself on record , in the coming years, not only in its instruction to the many whom we hope may pass through its course of instruction but also in its clinical work, as being able not only to cure the ordinary ills of life but to go into the broader domain of medicine and surgery and reach the mentally and moral- ly sick. - - - - I have no patience with such men as Dr. Galavardin and others who build a whole mountain of sophistry upon a grain of truth. I shall not try to argue that the indicated remedy may give a man a special liking for this or that ** - profession, or make him satisfied with incongruous surround- ing, but I do claim that the more subtle use of our remedies, supplemented, if necessary, with our more recent develop- ments in surgery, can often remove the cloud from the brain and the evil desire from the heart. Many persons are prone to shun the vicious element as they would a contagious disease. The comparison is apt and just. But who of us would leave the patient suffering from small-pox or Asiatic cholera, to care for himself or be cared for by others in a like condition? To fail to respond to the call to give medical aid to these latter, would be stamped the worst of cowardice or carelessness. To shirk the responsibility of caring for the vicious class in a humane and scientific manner, is no less careless or cowardly. I believe that nine-tenths of the viciousness and criminal- ity of the world are the result directly or indirectly of path- ological conditions. Many of these conditions are chronic or hereditary, but none the less real, and even under the MEDICINE AND MORALs. 3. most favorable circumstances, would take generations to completely eradicate, but it becomes none the less im- ºperative on us as medical men to turn our attention to the individual cases and relieve them to the best of our ability. Criminality and viciousness are species of insanity and should be treated as such. Time was when insane patients were said to be possessed of a devil, and they were punished in the most atrocious. manner. But now, to beat an insane person is considered little less than a crime, and yet hanging is considered none too good for him, who, in a moment of insane passion takes the life of his fellow man. º * It is not my purpose to-night to offer an excuse for wrong- doing, but I do claim, and I wish to emphasize the thought, that the perfectly well man or woman or child has no desire to do wrong. The perfectly well man is not only well in body, but he is sound in mind. He is not only sound in mind, but the moral faculties are developed to its fullest extent. Now if he is well, physically, mentally, and mor- ally, he is happy and satisfied with his surroundings, ordinary trials do not vex him, ordinary cares do not weigh heavily upon him, he is the rounded-out, completed spec- imen of perfect manhood. The desire to do wrong is a morbid desire and is pro- duced by a pathological condition of some one or more of the vital organs, and many instances might be cited where cure of the physical ailment has revolutionized the mental and moral condition. Not one of the experienced physicians here to-night but has seen the peevish and fretful and disobedient child turned into a radiant sunbeam by the application of the indicated remedy. Not one but has seen the discontented, worried, over- anxious, jealous, and shrewish woman turned into a model of loveliness with a few doses of the rightly-selected drug. Not one of us but has seen the surly, selfish, over-bearing and quarrelsome man changed into a kind, respectful and respect- ed citizen by a careful diagnosis and treatment of his case. And can we not go still further in this matter? If we can cure the peevish and fretful child, why not reform the 4. MEDICINE AND MORALs. young desperado in like manner. If we can transform the discontented, jealous, peevish woman, why not rescue the liabitue of the vilest den. If we can take the cloud from the surly, selfish man, why not bring the rays of hope, to the man who thirsts for blood. This is not an idle dream, but a theory that may be borne out by facts. * , Two cases recently reported by Dr. Harris, of St. Louis, illustrates this point. The first is that of a single man twenty-six years old. As a child, had always been very passionate, very willful and made angry at the least dis- appointment. As he grew up, felt constant desire to play mean tricks on his companions, knowing all the while he was doing wrong. Was carefully brought up by a religious mother, who earnestly endeavored to train him in the right, yet he had always felt a desire within him to do what he knew he should not. He had for a number of years past stolen from any one he could when there was no chance of his being found out. Seemed to delight in taking what belonged to some one else. Recently he had stolen from his employer a sum of money but had not been found out. He had been thinking so much about it that he could not sleep and that is what had brought him to the Doctor for treatment. : : After detailing his method of treatment Dr. Harris goes on to say: “This man got well of his physical ailment and with it went many of his mean traits. He is now an honor- ed and respected man in the city of St. Louis; has been married for years, has an 'elegant home, children and all that goes to make life happy. He is honest and has often told me that while he may have moments of temptation to steal, yet his power to resist has grown stronger from the time of his first treatment in 1875.” . . : Dr. Harris reports another typical case, that of “a married man about thirty-eight years old, who was subject to the most gloomy and despondent attacks. Although in good financial circumstances, he constantly feared he was on the verge of bankruptcy and was ever planning some dis- honest scheme to realize wealth rapidly, his plans often be-, ing to make his best friends his greatest victims. All of - MEDICINE AND MORALS. 3. 5 this I gradually learned from time to time while he was under treatment. - “After a month the mental condition began to improve, until the present time, now over four months after the operation. The moral balance is very nearly natural once more; the world looks bright again and faith in friends is restored. In fact this man lives again, a joy to himself and family.” - - . A couple of cases from the many in my own experience will further illustrate the idea. - - - One was a young married man who held an important position on one of the leading daily papers in this city. From childhood he had contended with an unnatural desire to do evil which had many times nearly wrecked his life. He had joined the church and had become active in Sunday-school work in hope that religious affliations might help him over- come his evil tendencies, but all to no purpose. In an un- guarded moment he disgraced himself in such a way that he lost his position on the paper and was expelled from the Press association. He came to my office heartbroken and wept like a child. It was pitiful to see this strong man bowed down in grief and shame, because he had lost in the unequal battle with self. I studied the case carefully and at last found the cause of his trouble, this being removed he soon felt the shakels dropping and a few months later he wrote to me, from a distant city, one of the most thankful letters I ever received. He had begun life anew, with every prospect of brilliant success. * g The other case was that of a young lady of this city who became so irritable and quarrelsome that she at last struck a lady companion, her dearest friend, a violent blow in the face, for some trivial reason. This unwarranted assault seemed to bring her to a realizing sense of her condition and she applied to me for medical aid. A few weeks' treat- ment restored her to health and with returning health there came back to her, her naturally bright and sunshiny dis- position. e : A patient of mine from Wisconsin who had secured a divorce from her husband, told me with tears in her eyes 6 MEDICINE AND MORALs. that she was sorry she had not consulted me earlier, as she was satisfied that her previous illness was the sole cause of her discomfort and trouble with her husband. - These are only a few cases from the many which might be related. Many a young man who might have stood at the head of his profession or have succeeded in a business career, whose every prospect was bright and whose surroundings were such as would naturally keep him in the right, has sudden- ly become a shame to himself and friends, a living blot on humanity, a disgrace to mankind; and why? Simply because certain physiological processes were going on in the body which clouded the mind and blotted out the moral faculty. Many a young woman has given up home and friends and broken all the ties which bound her to a better life, simply because it was a physicial impossibility for her to do otherwise. Sick in body and weary in soul, what wonder that she should have fallen when a thousand hands were stretched forth to drag her down to hell. Do not point at her the finger of scorn but “lift her up tenderly ’’ and try what the physician's skill can do to restore mental and moral and physicial peace. - - - You may know, “in part, what's done,” but never until the judgment day may you know what has been resisted. The greatest trouble in the treatment of the insane, is to get them to realize the fact that they are sick and submit to treatment before they become so violent that restraint is necessary. - - - Just so the greatest difficulty in the treatment of vicious- ness is to get the vicious ones themselves and their friends to believe that their evil tendencies are the result of disease and not the machinations of the devil. And just here let me say, it is not the man who deals in medicine alone that can reach these cases. Very often the surgeon must be called in to assist in the removal of all exciting causes. “If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. If thy right hand offend thee cut it off, it is profitable for MEDICINE AND MORALS. 7 thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” These are the words of the greatest physician the world has ever known. They are divine words from a Divine teacher, and they are not entirely metaphorical, as some would have us believe. And yet, notwithstanding the divine origin of this in- junction, many people would suffer all through life rather than submit even to the most trival surgical work. It be- comes, therefore, a duty with us, as medical men, to call the attention of the masses to the fact that there is a source of relief for the dull and vicious elements in the careful handling of their cases by the competent physician. Let us not say with the poet, that A -- “The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope.” Let us not answer the wail of Macbeth when he says : “Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, . Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, * Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart.” Let us not, I say, answer this wail as did Shakspeare's doctor by saying: “Therein the patient must minister unto himself.” But rather let us search diligently into the fountains of medical knowledge and see if some “sweet antidote ” may not be found, that will not only alleviate sorrow, but will eradicate from the heart every vicious desire which brings sorrow. - 707 Marshall Field Building. Reprinted from The Medical Current for January, 1894. H. E. BECKER, PRINTER AND BINDER, 3O3-5 DEAR BORN ST., CHHCAGO. ANNUAL Robreiss s ; —=OFs— GEO. WIG G. M. D., - President of the Homºpathic Medical Society of the State of ~~~<= OFEGON. E- Delivered at its Fourteenth Annual Session, held at Portland, Oregon, Tuesday May 13, 1890. -A-, -ē- ---- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: Time, ever swiftly rolling onward with its burden of care, as well as of joys and pleasures, has again favored us with another opportunity of meeting together to exchange fraternal greeting, and review our labors of the past twelve months. With some of us these golden moments will pass—are passing rapidly away with each chang- ing year; such being the case, let us make the most of our time in giving and receiving all the good in our power. We are assembled at this time under circum- stances of no ordinary character—peculiarly blessed at the hands of the Great Physician, in the enjoyment of full health and strength, and of our reasoning faculties, blessed in our basket and in our store, in our going out and in our coming in. Let us then with thankful hearts look up to the giver of all good, and invoke His sanction and blessing upon all we may say or do at this meeting; may He who is the fountain head of all wisdom, expand our minds, enlighten our under- standings, so that we may the better grasp the great problem of restoring the sick to health. Since our last meeting, two of our number have fallen from the ranks of Homoeopathy in this state, Dr. Pohl, late of Portland, and Dr. Resdon, late of Salem=At an hour they were not. * * aware of, their spirits toºk their departure from the tenements of clay. "We shall not see their faces nor hear their voices in our midst again; but in the deathless hereafter, our spirits, with theirs and Hahnemanns, Dunhams, Herings and a host of others who have departed from the battle- ~ " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ºf … .s.º. - . . . sº . . . e; s *UUOrETITE IT. Wºl.I.K." TDE *Ogº. Ig, GG "C [[: A - - - º Ł © - - - - skies—For we know there is something that lives, the dust can but cover its dust. . . In taking a retrospective view of the past twelve months, we stand awe stricken as the pan- orama passes before the minds eye. City after city has been laid low by the devouring element, fire. Thousands of human lives have been sacri- ficed in that ever restless element, water, while catastrophes from other causes have been legion, Yet amidst it all, the physician has calmly per- formed his mission of toil and mercy, and Hom- Ceopathy has brought forth golden blocks for the Temple of the Art of Healing. For fourteen years this Society has annually congregated, and the results of these gatherings are manifest in all parts of Oregon. Already there are thousands of persons living in Oregon who can testify to the superiority of Homoeopathy over every other known system of medicine. This fact ought to stimulate us to still greater effort in behalf of those grand truths which it teaches. - I repeat—“those grand truths.” For when Samuel Hahnemann, in the year 1796, announc- ed to the world the law of similie, he proclaimed a truth high as heaven, deep as hell, and lasting as eternity; and because of this truth, he was ha- ted by Physician and Apothecary alike, and in some kingdoms his practice was interdicted by law, and the law went so far as to forbid him dis- pensing his own remedies. How much better it would have been for hu- manity at large, had the Old School doctors as- sisted Hahnemann in his search for proof of the law he taught. Hahnemann threw down the gauntlet when he said; “Either prove or disprove the truth of what I say—if true, acknowledge it; if false, publish it to the world.” But instead of doing so, they heaped upon that head, which was the peer of them all, calumny, and not content with that, they drove him from the land of his birth, causing him to become a stranger in a strange land. No doubt he thought, as he turn- ed his back upon his native land, was ever grief TESTRTO mine." But Riſöwing the truth"of" - he taught, and seeing, away in the far distant gloom, faint rays of that sun which would arise and throw its illuminating power into the most secret recess of Allopathic ignorance and deceit, he, like a well inflated balloon in a calm atmos- phere, moved smoothly through it all, landiug at last triumphant, and to-day he, though dead, lives as “Hahnemann the Conqueror.” His enemies might down him, stone him, yea I have slain him, his blood would only have given nourishment to his convictions and the truth he had already proclaimed would have still grown and reflected back upon their guilty con- science—the law, “similia similibus curantur,” which even now haunts and troubles them. - In the year 1834 Homoeopathy was represented by an old school doctor as being nothing but a frightful abortion, with a big body, goat hoofs, crooked arms and long fingers, foxes eyes, don- keys ears and a hydrocephalic head, and like every other work of deceit and darkness, must of itself fall to the ground. - And 'twas thus they shouted and they spouted; Then they spouted and they shouted; But the people jeered and blouted, At their damned infernal lies. Had it been in the power of the Allopaths to have done so, they would have burned Hahne- mann and his adherents at the stake, even to- day, are they not ploting the destruction of the name Homoeopathy—and no stone will they leave unturned that will help them in their work of persecution. But Homoeopathy is powerful and being founded upon truth cannot be destroyed. In an article published in the Medical World of January, 1890, Vol. VIII, Page 24, the editor in speaking of the Homoeopathic law of cure says: “A prudent man will not fasten himself to any so-called law of cure, because no such law. exists.” Great God what an expression. “No. law.” A world of men, women and children bowing beneath the curse of disease, and an army of noble-minded physicians toiling incessantly to find the best ways and means by which disease may be cured, life prolonged and sorrowful hearts - - * * - - * . * . . . . . . base of yon snow-capped mountain—watch those little streamlets creeping from their white bed, see them form into brooks, then watch the brooks as they form into creeks, the Greeks into rivers, and the rivers into the grand old ocean—there forming a highway for the commerce of the whole world and “no law.” Again, watch the sun as it rises on a bright July morning, guild- ing the rosy-fingered morn with its crimson; or the moon, as it climbs from behind yon hill, veiled in the silvery mist of night; or if you please, you may watch the great bear as he swings in his circle around the polar star and “no law.” Then go and stand by the bed of those suffering from disease and tell me if there is “no law”, why in typhoid fever one tongue is dry and brown with a red streak in the middle, and an- other red, dry, cracked and stiff; or why one is white and another yellow? Why is it in scarlet fever, ones tongue is of a deep red color, covered all over with white blisters, and anothers white with red edges? - ^ - tº ºf s in v A. |- sº a ſº tº ſº tºº a ſº a tº C ſº If there is “no law,” how comes it that in rheumatism, ones pains are aggravated by cold, and better by warmth, and anothers is made worse by heat, and cease altogether by the appli- eation of cold, or why is ones pains aggravated by motion, and anothers by rest? Ladies and gentlemen, there is a law, and you know it; and this law of cure is as universal as the universe. How a physician, ignorant of this law, must grope around the sick form of his patient, as gropeth the blind, and know not at what they stumble. Remember, that ignorance of how to apply this law in disease, does not destroy it. See yon powerful engine, that by a well known law can be made to attain a speed of one hundred miles per hour; yet ignorance of the law of evaporation and condensation, on the part of the engineer, may cause its boiler to explode, and scatter death and destruction all around it, but the bursting of the boiler would not destroy the law, that should have governed it. So with the Homoeopathic law º - #"Wººlºº Rººt, a lºgº Nº. ſº ºf Cºsmººr - #" - known law can aecomplish; yet for lack of knowl- edge in its application, death may result. In Monday issue of The Oregonian, Jan. 20th is an article from the pen of Dr. Van Dike, of Grant's Pass, Oregon, in which he states that “there is no Allopathic doctors, Allopathic teach- ers, and never has been; we simply call ourselves regular practitioners.” But the Doctor does not irrform us in what he, or his school is regular, nor upon what grounds they have arrogated unto themselves such a ridiculous claim. Further on he informs us “that the falsely called Allopaths, have made all the great improvements and dis- coveries in medicine, surgery and the allied sci- ences, and McDowell, Sims, Biglow, Sager, Gross and the other illustrious men in medicine and surgery belonged to the so-called Allopathic school. Show me such an array of names in any other school, and I will show you a few white Blackbirds.” T & - - - We know the above named gentlemen to be men of eminence among their professional breth- ren, and we know further, that Samuel Hahne- mann, the founder of the Homoeopathic school of medicine, was the peer of them all; and it was Hahnemann, and such men as Hufeland, Gurn- sey, Lippe, Bonninghousen, Wesselhoft and a host of others, not members of the Allopathic school, that done, and are still doing more to bring order out of medical chaos, than any other men in this, or any other age. These men brought the truths of Homoeopathy to bear with such force against the citidal of the old school of medicine, as to cause its ponderous machine to move forward, and to-day, one can hear the grat- ing of its bearings, as friction takes off the rust and dust of ages. The influence of homoeopathic teachings and practice on the allopathic school of medicine has been such as to constrain them to relinquish those barbarous methods which were in vogue before the days of Hahnemann. Had Homoeopathy ac- gomplished nothing more than this, and could it claim no more favorable results in the treatment ranks pre-eminent in medicine. At the fifteenth session of the State Legisla- . ture, an Act was passed regulating the practice of medicine and surgery in this State. This Act gave the Governor power to appoint three persons from among the most competent physicians living in Oregon. The Governor, for some reason known only to himself, appointed three allopathic phy- sicians, and in so doing, has given to the State a one-legged Medical Board of Examiners with pow- er to issue certificates to any person or persons, who, in their judgment are qualified to practice medicine and surgery. Now we would like to know by what means this one-legged Board is going to test the qualifi- cations of homoeopathic physicians, seeing the Board itself is as ignorant of the law of the Hom- Oeopathic Art of Healing, as a sturgeon is of the ten commandments; for Homoeopathy is not taught in their colleges, neither will they allow their students to investigate it. Hence, I say that the three gentlemen com- posing the Medical Examining Board of the State of Oregon, being ignorant of the whole science and art of medicine, are not qualified to judge of the ability of those doctors who have graduated from homoeopathic colleges, to practice as homoeo- pathic physicians. And further, seeing that the allopaths are opposed to homoeopathy, and hold it up to the world as nothing but a humbug, how can they conscientiously recommend a homoeo- path to the people of this or any other state. And again, let us suppose that the Governor had seen fit to appoint three Homoeopaths as medical examiners, how could they, not beleiving in the Allopathic system of practice, recommend the students of their colleges as qualified to prac- tice medicine? Suppose that at the next meeting of the Legislature, an Act to regulate the practice of preaching in the State of Oregon should be passed, and the act give to the Governor power to appoint three clergymen from among the clergy living in this state—and suppose, the Governor appointed three Priests, members of the Roman Cºmorrºchurch, WHO- , - tute a Board of Preacher examiners, with power to grant or with-hold a license, just as they saw fit—Do you think the clergymen of other denom- inations would for one moment tolerate, or sub- mit to such a law 2 Verily, no. They would demand that each church regulate its own house hold. We say, give us an Examining Board com- posed of nine members, three from each of the leading schools of medicine; and if you will not do that, then we demand in the name of freedom and righteousness, separate Examining and Li- censing Boards for each of the legally organized medical school of this state. Need we remind our opponents that the Persian, in his day, had the richest, most vast empire in the world? He boasted that his laws were unalterable, and his wisdom so great that his opinions were never changed. A small but sturdy people arose on his borders—the Greek, subtle, supple and great students of nature. With tents that covered the land, and sails that whitened the sea, the Persians came on to destroy their foe. The result was, Salamus and Marathon. In due time the Greek arose in his turn, over-ran the empire of his enemy without sheath- ing his sword, trampled the unalterable laws in the dust, and divided out all his provinces among the followers of his camp. You must remember that it is no longer Samuel Hahnemann, fleeing before the wrath of his enemies, O no. Homoeopathy turned its face to the face of its adversary long ago, and being urged on, will fight till she conquers. Like the everlasting Gospel, its power and influence is ac- knowledged in every corner of the world. Never in its history, has Homoeopathy stood so high as it stands to-day; never before did the rich and influential give of their substance for the spread of its cause, as they are giving now. It is here a college, there a hospital, and on this street an ambulance, and on that a free dispensary, with a large staff of physicians at work by day and by night. ~Tºrrairing trºm . S. . . . ing all over the world. In America we have nine thousand, five hundred practitioners, fifty-seven hospitals, several State supported lunatic asylums, one hundred and ten societies, twenty-six period- icals, as well as a number of annual publications containing reports of transactions. The British province of Canada, contain a large number of homoeopathic practitioners, whilst in Mexico, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, France, South America, Australia, England, China, New Zealand, Hindostan, and other places, the growth of homoeopathy in the past few years has been marvelous. Gradually, at first unrecognized, surrounded by all manner of weeds, it has at last grown into an oak of God and suffering mankind are now healed under its beneficent shade. And now, my dear fellows, I hope that after the business here has been transacted we will each return to our several posts of duty, determine to discharge faithfully the duty we owe to ourselves and to our patrons. Let us strive to do all in our power to cultivate a more fraternal feeling with our professional brethren everywhere, and should our lives be spared, may we return to our next annual meeting, laden with the garnered exper- ience of another year, to give as a free contribu- tion to the cause of homoeopathy. Hoping that your deliberations may be har- monious, and your intercourse with each other while here fraternal—I will now thank you all for the courtesies you have manifested towards me during the two years I have presided over this so- ciety, and I shall ever remember those years as ones of pleasure, and pride myself in the fact that as president of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the State of Oregon, I presided over a society whose profession is inferior to none, and whose art the noblest that ever taxes the intellect of man. _--~~I T-> Tº *-w - - - - - - - * mr. º. *-*. * - *ms - : *--- - *** *- * * - - - * * * - - - * * * - *º-º- * * * - *-* = ** ** ... = * * * *-* = ** *-* *- **** *** * * * * *** *-* *-* * *-* - - - -º, s-- a---- ~~q →-- - - - --ro – º – = ** –-a ---a ------- a--c == = -- a--a – ==== -->s ****- - - -º- - - -- *-*-* -- - - -º- - - - - -º-º-º- ºr--- - -º- =------------------------------- a-------------- = <--------- *-*** -ºn *** *** * * * * * * **---- - -s e--- * --> --- *-s e = ** === - - - - - --> = -, -- = = a- = === s.sºs es—ss - - - - - -ss-s – = = – ======= ANNUAL ADDRESS GEO, WIGG, M. D., Howgoraſaic MEDIcAL society STATE OF OREGO N. Delivered at its Fifteenth Annual Session, held at - Portland, Oregon, - May 12th, 13th and 14th, 1891. -sa -e- est-sº-sº mºm, e-º-º-e a-e - - -ºº-ººs -s -- = *-*-* a- e-T--->== a-- --------- a-- -------- ~ — — — — p- -— — — —- -------- a-- --~ -- a-- ----- ~~- ----- a-- - - - - *= ºre-º ºs- *w- ºr- *-* * *m amº ºm * = *-* *= amº --> *masº ºr -- - **-* * *…* * tº-º- ºn tº-º- * tº-º, *-*. * - *- mºm *w hºmº- + *m. " gººm *- sº-º - ANNUAL ADDRESS s (SE0. WIGG, M. D., President of the Hom(Bupathic Medical Society of the state of of Ego N. Delivered at its Fifteenth Annual Session, held at Portland, Oregon, May 12th, 13th and 14th, 1891. Members of the Homoeopathic Medical Soci- ety of the State of Oregon. Another year of labor has passed away, and we are once more gathered together to transact the business of this Society. Let us with thankful hearts look up to the . Great Physician who has preserved our own lives and health amidst the dangers and difficulties that have beset eur own professional pathway. We are reminded at this time, that another twelve-months, the fifteenth in the history of this Society, now lies buried in the eternal past, never again to return; but not so with the acts commit- ted by us, in the days passed by, for each one of them stand out in bold relief upon the obelisk of time, and neither the floods of ages, nor the waves of oblivion will be able to eface or wash them out. They remain engraven there, to ap- pear sooner or later, for or against us; by them we must be tried, and from the decision of that tribunal, there is no appeal. Suppose that for one brief moment we enter into the innermest recess of our own souls, and examine and see if we have been true and faith- ful in the past year in the discharge of our duty as Homoeopathic physicians. Have we—or have we not—whilst claiming to be the disciples of Samuel Hahnemann, M. D., been like Judas of old, who claimed to be a follower of Jesus Christ; yet by his actions, proved his lack of sincerity in the cause he had espoused, and whose record came down to us even at this late date, as that of an unfaithful man? - - If we have been striving to fulfill our obliga- tions to God and a disease-stricken race, if we have truly gone in and out among the sick and dying, administering to their necessities accord- ing to the law, ‘‘similia similybus curantwr,” then well done, but if we, like Mohammeds coffin, which as traditions informs us, hang suspended between the earth beneath and the heavens above, resting upon nothing. What I mean is, if we have been hanging around the Homoeopaths and Eclectics on the one hand and the Allopaths on the other, and belonging to neither, verily we are unfaith- ful servants, and will receive condemnation as our reward when the Master cometh. - But let our acts have been what they may, one thing is certain, Homoeopathy still lives, and its fundamental truths promulgated by Dr. Hahne- mann have come forth out of the year 1890, more glorious, more triumphant, than in any year pre- ceding it, and to-day having arrived into this pleasant month of May, 1891, she stands before the world in all her grandeur, and the light em- anating from the purity of her law is such, that even her enemies delight to bask in its rays, and as they steal her tablets of arsenicun album, pel- lets of Lachesis and tincture of pulsatilla, they find new life infused into their old and fast decay- ing system. Hope again springs up and throws a ray of light into their troubled minds, one by one they join our number. Yielding to the in- 2 fluence the truth of Homoeopathy unfolds before their intellect, they crown it the only true way of curing disease the world has ever been blessed with. And it is no uncommon thing to hear them singing as they triturate their bryonia alba 3x. Homoeopathy we now inscribe upon our banner. Her light into our hearts has come. 'Tis true, we fought and thought to kill her, but she lives, not. withstanding all we allopaths have done. There was a time when Homoeopathy had no representation in these United States of America, no organization or journals. But how is it to-day? Why, bless you, ladies and gentlemen, there are now under the skirts of her garments, 136 organ- izations, all the offspring of her own body; nor is this all, for she has 130 Hospitals valued at ten million, two hundred and twelve thousand two hundred dollars; forty-six Dispensaries, and press- es upon which twenty-six journals are monthly printed for the benefit of its nine thousand prac- titioners, and all this in free America. Should I give you the statistics of Homoeopathy from the whole world, your joy would be so exceedingly great that this annual meeting would at once be closed by hysteria. Who can tell but what a pan- orama of all these institutions, all this vast army of practitioners, and the thousands yet to come, would often pass before the mind's eye of Hahne- mann as he sat reclining in his sumptous arm- chair, with his black skull-cap on his head and his richly enameled pipe in his mouth. . Truly, Homoeopathy has grown into an oak of God. As one’s eyes passes over the literature of our school, they ever and anon catch sight of a paragraph, which like a disquieted spirit disturbs the mind of many a guilty practitioner. Its voice is ever sounding forth these words, “When we have to do with an art whose end is the saving of human lives, any neglect to make ourselves mas- ter of it, becomes a crime.” I hope you will not 3 consider the following question an impertinent one. As Homoeopathic physicians, “Are we mas- ters of our art?” You must remember that to be a master of our art does not mean that we sit down by the side of our sick patient, and after a thorough examination of his person, give a cor- rect diagnosis of his case, if that is all we can do, we are far from being masters. - Many a novice can diagnose a case and give its name correct. To be a master of our art, implies that we have studiously and industriously applied ourselves in the study of the several branches of the sciences contained in our art, and that we have ... so far mastered them as to be no longer in doubt as to the truth of the principles upon which our art is founded, and tò be able to apply its truths in the work we undertake, in the most skillful manner possible. - - - As masters, we must be able when in the forest, on the prairie, the ocean, or down in the bowels of the earth; to distinguish between those things that are found in these places, that are useful to the therapeutist and those which are not. We must understand the nature of the symptom-pro- ducing property of their molecules as they lie locked together by attraction. We must know what means is necessary to be employed to set at liberty and transform those molecules into a pow- er that will, when administered to the sick ac- cording to the law of similia cure him, if his di- sease is not incurable. And not till we under- stand this are we masters of our art, and Hahne- mann says, negligence on our part to acquire this knowledge, makes us guilty of a crime. But one may even be a master of his art, and yet be guilty. of a crime in his profession. First, he may be guilty of the crime of indolence. As Homoeopath- ic physicians, are we not surrounded by ignorance and superstition in our daily walks among the sick? Men, women and children are dying on 4 account of the darkness that surround the minds of the thousands who hold the life, health and happiness of the masses in their hands. Light has been imparted to us, and it is our duty to place that light where all may see it if they will. Yet in the face of this, we have those in our ranks who are receiving the benefits derived from a Homoeopathic practice. They have settled down in their office, gathered unto themselves a rich clientage, live in luxury, yet not a word from their tongue, nor a scratch from their pen is seen or heard in defence of Homoeopathy. They are too indolent to trim their lamps and hold it so as its rays may illuminate the dark corners of medical practice, and not to do so is a crime. Then in the second place, we have those in our ranks who are guilty of the crime of cowardice. As Homocepath, we are beset on every side by a foe ever anxious, and on the alert to root out and destroy the very name of Homoeopathy from the face of the earth, And it is only by the vigilance of the faithful, that they are prevented from car- rying out their intended plan. Our cause de- mands that every one in its ranks be actively en- gaged in defending the truth of our art against its most formidable foe. In the army, there is no disgrace, so bad as that of cowardice. Yet we have in our ranks, men who are afraid to face the foe; they have not the courage to draw the sword or show their colors when the enemy is in sight. Where would Homoeopathy have been to-day, had Hahnemann been a coward 2 Single handed and alone he fought our first battles, time and again did he put the armies of the enemy to shame and confusion. Shall we fail to do as he done? If we do, we fail in our duty to his cause, and thus become guilty of a crime. Had the members of our school been true to a man, Homoeopathy would have gained many a victory, and stood on more advantage ground than she now does. - In the third place, we have in our ranks mas- 5 ters of their art, who are guilty of the crime of selfishness—selfishness is an enormous crime, yet some of the members of the profession are so self- ish that they scruple not at a lie if it will keep out of their district a brother practitioner, and they would sooner that a patient die from neglect, than call a brother in to help them. Like the dog in the manger, what they cannot eat themselves, they see to it that no one else shall. This is a crime many in all schools of medicine are guilty of Had we the spirit of love and unselfishness the founder of Homoeopathy had, we would be glad to divide our work with a more unfortunate brother. It would delight our eyes, and gladden our hearts to have them partake of the crumbs from our table. Did Hahnemann, after he had discow- ered the benefits to be derived from the law, simi- lia similibus curantwr, keep that knowledge to him- self, and use it to his own gain and glory? He might have done so, but he did not. He used his tongue and pen in the invitation to his fellows, to come and see what he had found, and to assist him in the demonstration of its truths. All who sat at his feet and listened to the words of wisdom that from the depths of his soul flowed forth in love to each, became the possessor of a jewel that has transmitted its purity down to the present time, shining brighter and brighter with each succeed- ing year. Let us strive to imitate him in his willingness to help others. - We have among us, yet another class who are guilty of a crime. The crime of deceitfulness. One may often see hanging from a door-post, or painted on the window, these words, “Homoeo- pathic Physician,” which announces to the passers by, that one who practices Homoeopathy holds forth within. You enter, describe to him your symp- toms, and he prescribes. But what does his pre- scription contain? He has already informed you that he is a disciple of Dr. Hahnemann, that all his prescriptions are based upon the law as laid 6 down in the Organon of the Art of healing. Hence for the hoarseness you complained of, he gives you Cubebs, one-half grain ; Benzoic acid, one third grain ; Hydrochlor of Cocaine, one-seventieth part of a grain; Powdered tragacanth, one-fourth of a grain ; Black currant paste enough to make ten grains. Ye Gods of the Romans, tell us what Hahnemann thinks of such prescribing, as he looks down from the spirit land. Homoeopathic physician may dangle from the door-post or glisten from the office window, but inside it is Sir Astly Cooper, with his opium, an- timony, magnesia, calomel and bark. Winslow with his morphia, carbonate of soda and syrup. Warren with his potash, liverwort, alcohol, gly- cerine, wintergreen and water. Abernathly with his universal pill, and old Mother Seigel with her capsicum, borax, Sassafras, dandelion and spirit, with all the paraphernalia of charlatans from every clime. Physicians holding themselves out before the world as Homoeopaths and practice as above, are guilty of the crime of deceitfulness. And I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that Samson shorn of his power was no more helpless in the lap of the harlot Dilila, than are these hypocrites to cure disease by the law of similia. And we announce to the world, that we have no fellowship with these hor anyone who gives his patients morphine and nut-gall, till their bowels turn into iron tubes, and their contents into blocks of oak. - . We say to these guilty ones, “Take the portion of goods that belong to you, and go where you belong, for Homoeopathy is not false, but true.” It is a foundation to which we may bring our sick ones in all confidence, and upon which they may place all their hope and not be disappointed. As men and physicians, we may sometimes err, but the law upon which Homoeopathy is founded— never. It is the eternal law of God. Yet there is no profession in which each others sympathy is 7 so much needed as that of the medical practitioners, as we go forth in obedience to that law, we need, and must have each others help. The world we have to encounter knows not how to appreciate our worth, and where one applaud, ten condemn UlS. There ought to be peace, and harmony in every company composing the medical ranks. Allgood, true and educated physicians, no matter of what school or name they may be called, ought to be as one man, working for the common good of a dis- eased people, each should strive to help his brother by bringing his knowledge and skill to one center, where each may come as to an ever flowing fountain of experience, taking there from a mind well stored with the richest of blessings for the afflicted. We are in an unequal contest, for dis- charge is unknown in the war we are engaged in, and however skillful we may be in strategy, death laughs at our maneuvering, and with one swoop of his relentless scythe, mows down our brightest expectations, leaving us too often in the darkness of defeat. And now in the language of Dr. Hufe- land, I would remind you that every sick person is a temple of nature ; approach it with awe and devotion, devoid of frivolity, egotism and want of principles, then nature will look at you with grace and disclose you her secret. Bear always in mind who you are and what your office is. You are employed by God as a priest of the holy flame of life, and as administrator and distributor of the highest gifts—health and life—and of the secret powers which he has bestowed throughout nature for the benefit of mankind. A sublime, a sacred task, perform it purely—not to your own advan- tage nor your fame—but to the glory of the Lord and to the salvation of your fellow man. You shall have once to give an account for it. Maintain always the dignity of the profession in yourself and in others, and never degrade it so as to make it a trade and means of bad purpose. . . . -- . . . *_ t -- ***~~~~）.- || ". | 3 9015 02 ||||| || | s O1 *# 25 glz