Full text of "The Monthly Homoeopathic Review 37.1893 Michigan"

See other formats

Google

Uber dieses Buch

Dies ist ein digitales Exemplar eines Buches, das seit Generationen in den Regalen der Bibliotheken aufbewahrt wurde, bevor es von Google im
Rahmen eines Projekts, mit dem die Bucher dieser Welt online verfligbar gemacht werden sollen, sorgfaltig gescannt wurde.

Das Buch hat das Urheberrecht uberdauert und kann nun offentlich zuganglich gemacht werden. Ein offentlich zugangliches Buch ist ein Buch,
das niemals Urheberrechten unterlag oder bei dem die Schutzfrist des Urheberrechts abgelaufen ist. Ob ein Buch offentlich zuganglich ist, kann
von Land zu Land unterschiedlich sein. Offentlich zugangliche Bucher sind unser Tor zur Vergangenheit und stellen ein geschichtliches, kulturelles
und wissenschaftliches Vermogen dar, das haufig nur schwierig zu entdecken ist.

Gebrauchsspuren, Anmerkungen und andere Randbemerkungen, die im Originalband enthalten sind, finden sich auch in dieser Datei - eine Erin-
nerung an die lange Reise, die das Buch vom Verleger zu einer Bibliothek und weiter zu Ihnen hinter sich gebracht hat.

Nutzungsrichtlinien

Google ist stolz, mit Bibliotheken in partnerschaftlicher Zusammenarbeit offentlich zugangliches Material zu digitalisieren und einer breiten Masse
zuganglich zu machen. Offentlich zugangliche Bucher gehoren der Offentlichkeit, und wir sind nur ihre Hiiter. Nichtsdestotrotz ist diese
Arbeit kostspielig. Um diese Ressource weiterhin zur Verfugung stellen zu konnen, haben wir Schritte unternommen, um den Missbrauch durch
kommerzielle Parteien zu verhindern. Dazu gehoren technische Einschrankungen fur automatisierte Abfragen.

Wir bitten Sie um Einhaltung folgender Richtlinien:

+ Nutzung der Dateien zu nichtkommerziellen Zwecken Wir haben Google Buchsuche flir Endanwender konzipiert und mochten, dass Sie diese
Dateien nur fur personliche, nichtkommerzielle Zwecke verwenden.

+ Keine automatisierten Abfragen Senden Sie keine automatisierten Abfragen irgendwelcher Art an das Google-System. Wenn Sie Recherchen
liber maschinelle Ubersetzung, optische Zeichenerkennung oder andere Bereiche durchfiihren, in denen der Zugang zu Text in groBen Mengen
niitzlich ist, wenden Sie sich bitte an uns. Wir fordern die Nutzung des offentlich zuganglichen Materials fur diese Zwecke und konnen Ihnen
unter Umstanden helfen.

+ Beibehaltung von Google-Markenelementen Das "Wasserzeichen" von Google, das Sie in jeder Datei finden, ist wichtig zur Information liber
dieses Projekt und hilft den Anwendern weiteres Material liber Google Buchsuche zu finden. Bitte entfemen Sie das Wasserzeichen nicht.

+ Bewegen Sie sich innerhalb der Legalitdt Unabhangig von Ihrem Verwendungszweck miissen Sie sich Ihrer Verantwortung bewusst sein,
sicherzustellen, dass Ihre Nutzung legal ist. Gehen Sie nicht davon aus, dass ein Buch, das nach unserem Dafiirhalten flir Nutzer in den USA
offentlich zuganglich ist, auch flir Nutzer in anderen Landem offentlich zuganglich ist. Ob ein Buch noch dem Urheberrecht unterliegt, ist
von Land zu Land verschieden. Wir konnen keine Beratung leisten, ob eine bestimmte Nutzung eines bestimmten Buches gesetzlich zulassig
ist. Gehen Sie nicht davon aus, dass das Erscheinen eines Buchs in Google Buchsuche bedeutet, dass es in jeder Form und iiberall auf der
Welt verwendet werden kann. Eine Urheberrechtsverletzung kann schwerwiegende Folgen haben.

Uber Google Buchsuche

Das Ziel von Google besteht darin, die weltweiten Informationen zu organisieren und allgemein nutzbar und zuganglich zu machen. Google
Buchsuche hilft Lesern dabei, die Biicher dieser We lt zu entdecken, und unterstiitzt Au toren und Verleger dabei, neue Zielgruppen zu erreichen.
Den gesamten Buchtext konnen Sie im Internet unter http : //books . google . com durchsuchen.

This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized
by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the
information in books and make it universally accessible.

Google" books

https://books.google.com

Digitized by ^ooQle

Digitized by t^ooQle

THE

MONTHLY HOMEOPATHIC REVIEW.

r LX ( XJ.

Edited by

ALFRED C. POPE, M.D.,

D. DYCE BROWN, M.A., M.D.,

AND

EDWIN A. NEATBY, M.D.

VOL. XXXVII.

Honfron:

E. GOULD & SON, 59, MOORGATE STREET, E.C.
1893.

Digitized by ^ooQle

LOXDOX:

CTBAKKB BBOTHEBd & CO., “ THE BI3HOPSOATB PBESS,”
BIBHOP8Q ATS WITHOUT, E.C.

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1893.

INDEX,

111

INDEX.

PAOB

Acid, Acetic .43, 301

Acid, Carbolic .43, 302

Acid, Fluot'ic .627

Aconite .306

Addison’s Disease .176, 416

Alexander, Dr., Obstetric Prac¬
tice, On. 76

Do. Phosphorus, On.267

America, Homoeopathy in .... 163
American Notes, 119, 312, 373,

496, 648

Antonia, Acute . 47

Anaesthetics, Dr. Mason, On .. 286
Angina Pectoris, Dr. Proctor, On 292
Antwerp, Homoeopathy in 183, 369

Antipyrin .263, 269

Apts Virus .489

Apocynum Cann . 44

Argentum Nit. ..235

Arsenic .364, 627

Arsenite of Copper . 171

Asepsis in Laparotomy. 114

Atropitte, Ophthalmic Uses of.. 237

A tropine Poisoning . 110

Aurum .627

Babtholow, Dr.501

Bedside Records, by Dr. Hawkes

363, 481

Beilis Perennis . 318

Benzoic Acid . 301

Birmingham Medical Institute 312
Biahopstone House, Bedford .. 245
Blackley, Dr., on Salivary Fis¬
tula. 160

Bladder, Tubercle of the.363

Blake, Dr. E., on Eye and
Throat Disease. 349

PAOR

Bodman, Dr., on Electricity in

Diseases of Women .406

Boracic Acid . 109

Bright’s Disease. 176

Bronchitis, Chronic . 354

Brown, Dr. Dyce, on Function¬
al Diseases of the Digestive

Organs .519

Burford, Dr., Par - Ovarian

Tumour. 90

Do. on Premature Induction

of the Menopause .... 469
Do. on Symphyseotomy
During Labour in Con¬
tracted Pelvis .213

Caffyn’s Liquor Carnis. 190

Do. Malto-Carnis .317

Calcarea Fluorica .627

Calendula . 365

Canary Islands . 6

Cancer, Another Cure for.559

Cancer, Skin. 627

Cannabis Indica . 169

Carlo Vegetabilis .227

Carbolic Acid .302, 489

Cardiac Tonics. 46

Carduus Mariana .365

Cash, Dr., on Carcinoma of the

Kidney .478

Cataract. 107

Centenarian, A Medical . 123

Cerebral Action of Some Drugs 176
Characteristic Symptoms, with
Clinical Notes, by Dr. Clifton

27, 69, 136, 197, 330, 454
Childhood, a New Journal .... 64

Digitized by

IV,

INDEX,

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1898.

PA GB

Children, Cry of, in Disease.... 421

Children’s Diseases. 397

Children, Feeding of. 48

Cholera. 178, 543

Chorea . 142

Choroiditis . 47

Cicuta T’irosa in Convulsions .. 225

Cinnamon .235

Clifton, Dr., on Characteristic
Symptoms ..27, 69, 136, 197,

330, 454

Cocaine .304, 492

Coccus Cacti .629

Cocoa. 561

Colchicum in Cholera. 178

Colocynth .I

Colotomy, Mr. K. Shaw on .... 157
Congress, British Homoeopathic

501, 515, 548, 643, 678
Congress, Chicago World’s

Homoeopathic.425

Con i am in Cataract. 107

Conjunctivitis. 109

Consultations with Allopaths .. 381
Consultations with Homoeopaths 115

Convulsions.225

Cook, Dr., on the Value of
Drugs and Scientific Medicine 219
Cox, Mr. S., Case of English

Cholera.543

Croucheb, Dr., Presentation to

557, 757

Croucheb, Dr. A. H., on Gly¬
cosuria . 355

pag a

Drugs, The Value of.219

Drummond, Dr., on Chorea.... 142

Drysdale Bed, The. 430

Drysdale Memorial Bed.752

Drysdale Memorial, The.126

Duboisin .364

Dyspepsia. 108

Electric Current, Resistance of

Human Body to the, by E. L.

Pope . 22

Electricity.406

Enema, Nutritive .383

Enteralgia. 177

Erythema. 177

Ethics, Medical . 503, 635

Eucalyptus .234

Exalgine Poisoning. 172

Eye Diseases, by Mr. K. Shaw 335
Eye Disease.349

Faith Cure . 187

Ferrum Phos .234

Fluoride of Sodium .490

Foods for Infants .190, 316

Day, Dr., R., on Children’s

Diseases . 397

Diabetes, A Test for. 2$2

Eiyitalin .. 91, 175

Digestive Organs, Diseases of

the.519

Einitrobenzol , Poisonous action

of. 176

Diphtheria .417, 495

Diptheria and Croup. 307

Eolichos Pruriens .627

Dover’s Powder. 365

Gibraltar and Morocco.319

Glonoim . 174

Gnaphalium . 491

Granatum .303

Grindclia .234

Guiactm .629

Hahnemann’s Chronic Diseases

. 430,551

Hahnemann Gold Medal Thesis 50
Hahnemann Publishing Society 745
Harrogate Waters. 272

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1893.

INDEX,

PAOS

Har t, Mr. Ernest, in America 713
Hawxes, Dr., Bedside Records

by ... 333, 481

Hawkes, Dr., Should Likes be

Treated by Likes ? by .586

Hay Fever .630

Hayward, Dr., Canary Islands,

on the. 6

Hayward, Dr. J. D., Case of
DentalPlate in the (Esophagus 629

Heart Irregular. 51

Hclonias Dioiea . 109

Hemp Commission, The Indian 558
Heredity of Disease, Dr. M.
Moore, on 85, 208, 262, 392, 473,

620

Hernia . 48

Homoeopathic Dispensary, Croy¬
don . 185

Do. Exeter . 311

Do. Folkestone.496

Do. Hastings. 184

Do. Leeds .428

Do. Norwich.750

Do. Notting Hill.429

Do. Oxford .244

Do. Sutton .496

Do. Wirral.311

Homoeopathic Directory 383, 441,
443, 44$, 505, 507, 509, 611, 512,
565, 567, 669, 572, 574
Homoeopathic Hospital, Bath 239,

310

Do. Bristol.751

Do. Bromley.243

Do. Eastbourne .244

Do. Devon and Cornwall .. 711
Do. London 127, 238, 246, 312,
381,422, 488, 631, 711,751

Do. Lectures at the.49, 127

Do. Tunbridge Wells.213

Do. World’s Fair.426

Homoeopathic Medical School,

Calcutta.427

Homoeopathic Society, British 37,
104, 166, 229, 300, 318, 359, 486,
496, 747

Do. Liverpool Branch 42,107,232
Homoeopathically, Prescribing 1
Homoeopathy Dead Again ! .... 248
Do. in America. 153

Homoeopathy in Antwerp .. 183, 369

Do. in Barbadoes. 126

Do. in France . 126

Do. in Northampton. Mr.

A. Pearce.764

Do. in St. Petersburg.372

Do. Modern .579

Do. Progress and Prospects

of. 449

Hughes, Dr., on Materia Medica 612

Hydrastis .173, 191

Hygiene. 63

Hyoscyamtis Poisoning. 110

Hyosdne . 171

Hypericum .627

Hypnotics, Dangers of “ Safe ”631

Insane Diathesis. 54

Insanity, Increase of. 559

Invalids. 633

Iodine . 175

Kali Mur . 234

KaliPhos .234

Kali Sulph .234

Labour, Fourth Stage of. 110

Lactic Add . 302

Laryngeal Tuberculosis.495

Larynx, Pathology of the.307

Leprosy Commission, The .... 375
Likes be Treated by Likes?

Should .586

Lithia Carbonica . 44

Lobelia , Dr. Vawdry, on. 31

Lupus... 46

Digitized by

INDEX,

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1888.

PAGE

Magnesia Phos . 235

Malignant Disease.492

Mason, Dr., on Anaesthetics.... 286

Materia Medica . 612

Do. The Teaching of 65

Meats, Tinned. 185

Medical Incomes.501

Medical Institute, Birmingham 312

Medical Profession, The .200

Medical Week , The . 64

Medicine, The Science of .. 193, 219
Medico-Ethical Missionary, The 760
Menopause, Premature Induc¬
tion of the.469

Mercuric Bichloride .305, 491

Mercury . 490

Methyl-Blue .492

Mixture, Incompatible.251

Moobb, Dr. M., on the Heredity
of Disease ..85, 202, 262, 392,

473, 620

Mullein Oil .234

Muriatic Acid . 302

Myxcedema .620

Nasal Pathology. 306

Naso-Pharyngeal Growths 93, 215
Neatby, Dr. E. A., on Neuroses

of Children .458

Neatby, Dr. E. A., on Ouabain

in Pertussis . 724

Neurasthemia. 109

Neuroses of Children.458

New Zealand . 62

Nitro-Glycerine . 174

Nose, Diseases of the.. 342

Nurses, Pittsburg Training

School, Address at the. 56

Nutritive Enema... 383

PAGE

Obitu ABIES:

Dr. Blumberg. 433

Dr. Buck . 713

Barwood, Basil . 712

Fischer, Dr. 439, 567

Dr. Lyschinski. 254

Dr. Kafka.502

Dr. Mackintosh . 252

John Potts, Esq. 437

Dr. J. H. Smith. 564

Dr. E. W. Thomas.561

Dr. E. Vernon. 565

Dr. S. Wielobydri. 634

Lord Ebury.761

Obstetric Practice . 76

(Enanlhe Crocata .627

(Esophageal Strictures.495

(Esophagotomy . 609

Ophthalmia, Hop-Pickers* .... 433

Opium Bash. 629

Obd, Dr., Reference Book of

Provings .532

Ouabain in Pertussis. Dr. E. A.

Neatby . 724

Ovarian Disease. 619

Ovarian Tumour, Par-. 90

Ovariotomy during Pregnancy 112

Oxalic Add . 301

Paraldehyde Habit, The .760

Parvules . 61

Pasdjlora incamata . 43

Petroleum in Diphtheria .495

Phosphoric Add . 302

Phosphorus in Purpura.267

Photphorus Poisoning .235

Phthisis. 420

Picric Add . 302

Plantago Major . 44

Plumbutn . 233

Pope, Dr., on the Selection of
the Homoeopathic Specific .. 649

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, Dec. 1,1893.

INDEX.

Vll

PAG £

Pope, Mr. E. L., on the Resist¬
ance of the Human Body to

the Electric Current . 22

Potass Bichromate .431

Potass Permanganate . 235

Pregnancy. 45

Prize Essay, Dr. Gould’s. 51

Pboctob, Dr., on Angina Pec¬
toris . 292

Provings, Reference Book of .. 532
PuiiLAB, Dr., on Carbo Vege¬
tal ills .227

Pubdom, Dr., on Diphtheria .. 417

Ramsbotham, Dr., on the Open
Mindedness of the Profession

to New Ideas .200

Repertories, The Uses of. 3

Reviews :

A Laboratory Course in Medi¬
cal Chemistry, by Dr.

Porter . 154

Alaskana; or, Alaska in De¬
scriptive and Legendary
Poems, by Dr. Bushrod
James.418

Bacteriological Diagnosis, by

J. Eisenberg.

Compendium of the Materia
Medica and Therapeutics of
the Digestive System, by

Dr. McMichael .298

Diagnosis and Treatment of

Disease, by Dr. Verdi.298

Diseases of the Skin, by Dr.

Burnett. 625

Electro-Diagnosis Charts, by

H. W. Cardew. 165

Journal of the British Hom¬
oeopathic Society.......... 102

London Homoeopathic Hos¬
pital Reports ... 159

Medical Annual.296

Modern Household Medicine.

Dr. Fleury. 743

PAGK

Obstetrics, by Dr. Leavitt .. 35
Organon of Medicine, trans¬
lated by Dr. Dudgeon _356

Recollections of Gibraltar and
Marocco, by Dr. Morisson 229
Report on Disinfecting and
Germicidal Power of Sanitas,

by Dr. Griffiths .546

Rheumatism and Sciatica, by

Dr. J. H. Clarke. 100

Ringworm, Dr. Burnett, on 98
Septic Intoxication, by Dr.

E. Blake . 163

Tasty Tit-Bits, by Lady C.

Howard . 103

The Curability of Tumours by
Medicines, by Dr. Burnett 484
Tissue Remedies of Schussler,
by Drs. Boericke and Dewey 300
Treatise on Materia Medica
and Therapeutics, by Dr.

Shoemaker .676

Reed, Dr. W. Cash, on Uterine

Deviations..

Rheu m atis m Acute, by Hon. Dr.

Campbell . 727

Robbbts, Dr. A., on Harrogate

Waters .272

Robebts, Dr. A., on Ovarian

Disease.619

Robbbts, Dr. G. W., on Hom¬
oeopathy in America. 153

Sabal Serrulata . 45 , 034

SaU P ..382

Sanatorium at Harrogate.118

Sanatorium at Southport.242

Scutellaria LateHfolia . 109

Seneeio .. 235

Shaw, Mr. K., on Pitfalls’

Eye Diseases. 336

iheep’s Thyroid. 236

Silica . 235

Small-Pox.129, 249

Specific, Selection of the Homoeo¬
pathic. 649

Digitized by

Google

vni

INDEX

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dee. 1,1898.

PAGE

Sphincter Ani, Stretching of the

in Morphine Poisoning.421

Sterility. 112

Stertorous Breathing.630

Stonham, Dr., on Cicuta Viroea

in Convulsions.225

Strychnine Poisoning.. 251

Sulphonal .235

Sulphuric Acid . 301

Symphyseotomy During Labour

213, 309

Symptoms in Perspective.257

Syphilis, Congenital . 48

Testicle, Undescended, with

Strangulated Hernia.482

Theinhardt’s Foods for Iufants

19C, 316

Thesis, The Hahnemann . 50

Therapeutical Society, The

Western .362

Therapeutics, Scepticism in .... 385
Thomas, Dr. B., on Vaccinia .. 295
Throat, Diseases of the .. .342, 349

Thuja Occident all 8 . 303

Thyroid Gland... 308

Thyroid, Sheep’s.236

Tinned Meats, Dangers of -185

Tissue Remedies. 108

Trituration Tablets.189, 255

Tuberculin . 44

Tuberculosis, Pulmonary.412

Tunbridge Wells Waters. 186

Tympanitis in Typhoid.233

Typhoid, Tympanitis in.233

PAGE

Unregistered Practitioners .... 768

Urine, Retention of .481

Urticaria, Peculiar Cause of. •.. 545
Uterine Deviations. Dr. Cash
Reed .727

Vaccination 189, 249, 321, 367, 368,

. 440, 576, 637, 639, 757

Vaccinia Generalised .295

Vawdby, Dr., Lobelia , on .... 31

Visiting Lists . 63

Vomiting, Case of, Dr. Wolston's 4

Warning, A .255

Wilde, Dr. H., Pulmonary

Tuberculosis, on.412

Wilde, Dr. R., on Addison’s

Disease ..410

Wilde, Dr. R., on Urticaria .. 545
Wilkinson, Dr., A New Work

by . 62

Wilkinson, Mr., onUndescend-
ed Testicle with Strangulated

Hernia . 482

Women, Electricity in Diseases

of.406

World’s Columbian Exposition 54
Weight, Mr. D., on Diseases of

the Nose and Throat.342

Weight, Mr. D., on Naso-

Pharyngeal Growths .... 93, 215
Wybobn, Mr., on Digitalin .... 91

Digitized by

PRESCRIBING homceopathically. 1

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

PRESCRIBING HOMCEOPATHICALLY.

The prescribing of drugs homceopathically, the ascertain¬
ing that medicine which, by experiments made with it
the healthy, corresponds in its effects most closely
With those of the totality of the symptoms presented by
a patient, is far less simple than some, who have not suc¬
ceeded in grasping the spirit of the method of Hahne¬
mann, suppose. There are of course cases and cases.
Some there are where the symptoms are so well marked,,
the condition they reflect is so familiar, and the medi¬
cine, the nature of the action of which corresponds most
closely to such a condition, is so readily recognised,,
that no great difficulty presents itself in choosing that
best indicated. But there is a large class of cases of
disease, rather than of diseases, where the making of a
right choice is not so easy. Many of these indeed are
chronic cases, and in a large proportion of them, the
symptoms, which it is so puzzling to control by medica¬
tion, are such as are reflex. In some the central point
of irritation can be detected, and there a knowledge of
the general action of a drug may stand us in good stead,
or some mechanical arrangement may suffice to remove
the cause of irritation, while the medicine competent to
Vol. 37, No. l. b

Digitized by

Google

2 PRESCRIBING HOMEOPATHIC ALLY. H

control the more rapid subsidence of that which has
arisen from the previous presence of the cause may be
found with comparative ease. On the other hand, how
numerous are the instances where memory fails to
bring before us the most similarly acting drug! How
readily is this failure made an excuse for resorting to
a palliative, the use of which is after all but temporising
with the disorder, not curing it.

Palliatives are necessary only when a diligent search
through the records of the Materia Medica has failed in
discovering a true simile. A homoeopathic physician
can only prescribe a palliative, with a clear conscience
that he has done the best he can for his patient, when
such a search has been honestly and thoroughly made
and has proved unsuccessful. In pointing out the
means we have at our disposal for making this search,
Dr. Hayward, at the Southport Congress did good service
to all who know and feel that when prescribing homoeo-
pathically for a patient they are doing the best that can
be done for him, whose ambition it is ever to do the best
for those who consult them, and who are ready and
willing to incur an almost indefinite amount of trouble
in making the effort to do that best.

The careful study of individual drugs in the manner
provided for by Dr. Hughes and Dr. Farrington is a
first step—but only a first step. Following this is the
reading and thinking over the cases of drug disease in
the Cyclopcedia. Study of this kind enables a physician
to grasp the nature of the disturbance in health which the
drug produces. The knowledge it gives is general. When
prescribing we require, in addition to a general know¬
ledge of drug action, an acquaintance with its details.
On seeing a case, say, of rheumatism, these Materia
Medica studies enable a student instantly to call to mind
half-a-dozen medicines, the effects of which resemble an
attack of rheumatism. Which of them is he to prescribe ?
It is the homoeopathic method alone which will enable

Digitized by

B^rjS!TwS? hie PRESCRIBING homceopathically. 3

him to solve this question. It is the want of this
method that renders the Index of Diseases and Remedies , at
the end of Dr. Lauder Brunton’s work on Pharmacology
practically useless to the prescribes Dr. Hayward not
only described this method, but he did so by the very
practical manner of pointing out the means that we
have at our disposal for carrying it out.

There are indeed two plans by which the accurately
indicated remedy may be found. Dr. Hayle referred to
one in his speech in opening the discussion, when he
said : “ Take the symptoms, find out the parts affected
and the cause, and we have a very great help in choosing
our medicines, if we know our medicines well.” By this
plan we can very often— if toe know the medicines well—
select some three or four which may be indicated in a
general way, and then by referring to the Materia
Medica—as set forth in Allen’s Handbook , for example,
or in the Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy —and examining
the symptomatology recorded in these works to find out
which of those we have chosen is the one, the symptoms of
which most closely correspond to those of the patient we
desire to prescribe for. In clearly and well-marked cases
we may succeed by adopting this plan. But too frequently
we need greater facilities for achieving our end. This is so
especially when some reflex symptoms, the pathology of
which is not known to us, are concerned. Here we must,
if we desire that accuracy which is essential to success,
and would obtain it in the shortest space of time, fall
back upon that very uninviting book, The Repertory , or
The Index. Uninviting it may be, but invaluable it
certainly is. The British Cypher Repertory , as Dr. Moorb
remarked, required a considerable amount of preliminary
drudgery to enable us to master the cypher, but when
this had been done it was by far the most satisfactory
work of reference. This is, we believe, quite in accordance
with the experience of those who have mastered the
cypher. The Index now in course of construction will
be much more simple, and equally useful. The pre-
scriber should therefore look up in one or other of
this class of aids to prescribing the peculiar, striking,
or unusual symptoms presented by his patient; and
having found them refer to the Materia Medica , and
ascertain by examination of the drug to which the
Repertory has attributed the power of producing the

—2

Digitized by

Google

4 PRESCRIBING HOMCEOPATHICALLY.

peculiar symptom sought, how far its symptoms corre¬
spond to the totality of those reflecting the condition of
the patient.

That this is a laborious work is not denied—but it i»
one that is very generally rewarded by success; the
omission of this tedious research is, moreover, respon¬
sible for a large proportion of our failures, and to the
refusal to perform it are due nine-tenths of the mere
antipathic palliatives that are prescribed by those who
know the value of adhering closely to the guidance of
the law of similars.

Each of these points was most effectively illustrated
by Dr. Wolston, of Edinburgh, in the case reported by
him during the discussion. Called to see a young lady
who for six weeks had suffered from persistent vomiting,
which had resisted every medicine, whether antipathic
or—so far as the two medical brothers anxiously watch¬
ing over the patient considered — homoeopathic, his
own extempore prescriptions, during ten hours, proved
equally fruitless. Then, with a medical friend, devoting
“two solid hour s' * to the Repci-tory and the Materia
Mediea —the former directed him to one of the last
medicines that he or, in all probability, any other
homoeopathic physician would have thought of, and the
Materia Mediea records confirmed the correctness of the
Repertory —while the almost immediate cessation of the
vomiting, which had lasted for six weeks, and had
brought the patient to a state of emaciation and exhaus¬
tion which rendered all hope of recovery apparently
impossible, confirmed the truth of the record. Silica
was the medicine—the vomiting being always preceded by
a flushing of the face and a certain rapid turning of the
head to one side or the other—was the symptom which
was characteristic of, or peculiar to the patient’s case ;
and this symptom is stated in Hahnemann’s Chronic
Diseases to have been produced by silica . But for the
Repertory , silica never would have been thought of; but
for silica, the patient would in all human probability
have sunk. What confidence does the report of such a
case inspire us with in the Repertory as a means of
research, what confidence does it give to us in the patho¬
genesis of silica, and in the power of this apparently
inert substance, when homoeopathically prescribed, to
cure disease!

Digitized by ^ooQle

Srt^jSTl ^ 110 PRESCRIBING HOMfflOPATHICALLY. 5

One of the two brothers watching the case has since,
we were told, become a successful homceopathically-
practising physician, the other is now a professor of
Materia Medica in “ a well known University ”—where-
-ever that may be. That the practising physician has
had his power of doing good largely increased by the
lessons taught by this case is indubitable, but that the
professor has been able to turn them to account, that he
has been at liberty to point out to his students how they
may discover a remedy in a case of obscure reflex
vomiting, or that he would endanger his University
position by discoursing on what he knew of the remedial
properties of silica and how these could be ascertained is
not, we fear, at all probable! The ethics that are
termed “medical” forbid the communication of knowledge
which is distasteful to the medical powers in high places,
and woe be to the man who dares to assert his rights, or
to perform his duty in this respect. Thus it is that
therapeutics whether as a science or an art makes but
little progress. Thus it is that discoveries in therapeutic
laboratories are chiefly limited to fresh narcotics,
antipyretics and antiseptics—in a word to palliatives,
the most deceptive and consequently disappointing of
all therapeutic measures.

Dr. Hayward’s paper was, as Dr. Hughes said, “ well
calculated to recall us from the empiricism into which
we were all too apt to fall, back to the genuine method of
Hahnemann himself, the true homoeopathic practice of
studying the pathogenesy, of referring to it by such
repertorial aids as we could get, and then treating our
case upon the real principle of siniilia simUibw curentur.”
If it has, as indeed it ought to have, such an effect as
this, it will have been one of the most useful papers read
for many a long day. It is the tedious nature of the
process which deters so many from adopting it, it is the
“ two solid hours ” of patient study of intrinsically dry
hooks, that Di. Wolston and Mr. Nankivell devoted to
that one case, that drives so many to a hypodermic
injection of morphia or a purgative. But let every one
remember that “in all labour there is profit,” and
nowhere is this more real than in the careful and pains¬
taking search for a homoeopathic medicine by means
of the Repertory and the records of the Materia Medica .

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

Monthly HonuBOpnthie
Renew, Jan. 9,1898.

THE CANABY ISLANDS AS A HEALTH RESORT *
By John W. Hayward, M.D.

In April 1892 I paid a visit to the Canary Islands—the
" Fortunate Islands,” as they are called—partly for the
purpose of examining the qualifications of Grand Canary
as a resort for incipient and early consumptives.

Of really suitable places for phthisical subjects—places
free from serious drawbacks—there are extremely few
on the face of the earth. An ideal place is one where the
climate is, all the year round, warm and equable ; dry,
and rather bracing, and where the air is pure, free from
germs, and loaded with ozone ; where there are healthy
out-door occupations, and amusements without crowded
rooms and free from risks and morbid excitements;
where the food is plentiful and varied, and the drink
pure water and pure light wines; where there are
separate residences ; where the ordinary sanitary require¬
ments are enforced; and where there is open-air sea¬
bathing the year through ; and one that is easy of access,
with but little exposure and risk during the journey to
it, and from which invalids can return home easily, and
without risk or loss of time; and where the cost of living
is not great.

I hope to be able to show that Grand Canary meets
all these requirements.

There are seven principal islands in the Canary group,
viz.: Lanzarote, which is the nearest, Fuerteventura,
Gran Canaria, Teneriffe, Palma, Gomera and Hierro,
which is the furthest away. They are not far from one
another, being all between the 27° and 29° of north
latitude, and between the 18° and 18° of west longitude;
that is, they are situated in the semi-tropical zone, and
only about 28° this side or north of the equator. Fuer¬
teventura is only about sixty and Gran Canaria about
seventy miles west of Cape Juba on the African Coast,
Teneriffe is about forty miles further west, and Gomera
about twenty miles west of Teneriffe, Palma is about
forty miles north-west of Gomera, and Hierro about forty
miles south-west. They are on nearly a straight line
southwards from Holyhead, passing Land’s End and the

• Read before the Liverpool Homoeopathic Medico-Chirurgical Society,
October 6th, 1892.

Digitized by ^ooQle

l£riS5Jr*£?iSa ,to THE canary islands.

coasts of France, Portugal and Morocco. As well as
being thus situated in the warm part of the Atlantic
Ocean their climates are further warmed and softened by
the Gulf Stream in the course of which they are placed,
and being in the “ zone of least rain ” their climates are
dry, at least those of the three nearest to Africa, viz.,
Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria; and in
these the climate is further dried by the prevailing
north-east wind which blows nearly all the year round,
and coming oyer Africa, Morocco, and Algeria is very
dry; hence also they are not subject to “ rainy seasons ”
or “ storms of wind ” as are Australia, New Zealand,
and Cape Colony, and they are consequently less sub¬
ject to sudden fluctuations.

The island forming the centre of the group has been
very properly called “ Grand ” (Great) Canary: it is
decidedly the most important, both commercially and
as a health resort, and being the middle island and
nearly the most southerly, it has the best climate; it is
free from the relaxing moistness of Palma and Tene-
riffe, and from the arid dryness of Lanzarote and Fuer¬
teventura ; it has also the best harbour for ships; and
here passing steamers call for water and coal. It is, as
it were, the half-way place of call for vessels to and from
the Antipodes. It is exactly on the 28° of latitude, and
between the 15° and 16° of longitude.

Being so favourably situated these islands of course
early became the objects of the ambition of their power¬
ful neighbours; hence we find they have been attacked
in turn from Egypt, Greece, Borne, Spain, France, Por¬
tugal, Morocco, and England. Spain and England
seem to have struggled long for their possession, Spain
ultimately succeeding. Spain seems to have conquered
them about 1490. They are now all under Spanish
rule, and Spanish is the language spoken, but the
inhabitants claim to be descendants of the aborigines—
the Guanches. They have thick lips, and but little of
the beauty of the Spaniard.

The customs’ duties are very light, being merely
nominal, except on the importation of tobacco, wine, tea, •
coffee, cocoa, and sugar, which industries are attempted
by this means to be “ protected.” The coinage is
Spanish, but English shillings and sovereigns are gladly
accepted.

Digitized by

THE CANARY ISLANDS,

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, Jan. 9,1898.

The most notable of the seven principal islands are
Grand Canary, Teneriffe, and Palma, the four others not
having yet come into much note either as health resorts
or for commerce.

In consequence of the number and position of the
Canary Islands they afford a great variety of climate,
from the moist, soft, soothing climates of Palma and
Teneriffe to the dry and bracing air of Grand Canary,
and the extremely dry and stimulating air of Fuerteven-
tura and Lanzarote ; and from the hot summers near the
sea-level to the cold winters up in the mountains. Near
the sea-level the winters are really warm—averaging
68°F., and in the higher regions the summers are really
cool—also averaging about 63° ; indeed they provide all
degrees of temperature and moisture. There are there¬
fore climates suitable for all varieties of invalids, as well
as persons in health; together, the Canary Islands afford
perhaps the finest climate in the world. In his Canaries
for Consumption , Dr. Thurston says : “I may sum up by
saying that the Canaries must be almost the only spot
in the world which has the equability of an island climate
combined with the dryness oi a continental one.” (P. 94.)

Time was when the Island of Madeira, which is in the
same region of the world as the Fortunate Islands, but
5° less south and 5° further from the drying influence of
the African Sahara, was the place to which English con¬
sumptives were sent; this was, however, some years ago
superseded by the Engadine and Davos-Platz, in Switzer¬
land ; and now the latter are being superseded by Grand
Canary.

In early times, when phthisis was supposed to result
from chronic catarrhs, it was thought that a sea-level,
moist, warm, equable climate—where bronchial and
pneumonic catarrhs are rare—was just the place for
phthisical patients; gradually, however, it was found
that though the warmth and equability of the climate
were advantageous, the moisture was injurious; and
Italy and the South of France—which are less moist
than Madeira—were resorted to instead. When, how¬
ever, it was discovered that phthisis is a “ germ disease”,
and that tubercles and cavities in the lungs result from
the growth of bacilli, another departure was taken, and
consumptives were sent to the mountainous, cold, dry,
bracing and snow-clad regions of Switzerland, where

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eeview, Jan. 2, 1808.

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

germs scarcely exist. However, as consumption is
neither merely a chronic catarrh nor simply a germ
disease, neither of these theories included the whole
truth, and none of these places was found to meet all the
indications, nor provide all the conditions necessary in
cases of either incipient or fully-developed phthisis;
moreover, some of the conditions of each of these places
have been found to be really injurious ; the warm, moist
climate of Madeira, for instance, is of course congenial
to the growth of the phthisical germs, as well as relaxing
and exhausting to the general powers of the body. The
laborious journey, and the liability to take cold and
develop bronchitis or pneumonia on the way, and the
Bevere cold of the evenings and nights when there, have
been found serious drawbacks to resorting to Switzer¬
land. Also, the manner of living there in large estab¬
lishments, where, because of the coldness of the evenings
and nights, the establishments are warmed by heating
apparatus, and in consequence of the artificial lighting,
and the congregating together for hours in the evenings
in large drawing rooms of scores of consumptives in all
stages of the disease, the air becomes hot, foul, moist and
loaded with consumptive germs—the moisture being
such that sometimes it trickles down the walls. The
consumptive germs, which are being constantly expired,
multiply rapidly in this hot, moist, foul air ; and, being
breathed over and over again during the long evenings,
they infect and re-infect the invalids, so that the indoor
life undoes the benefit derived from the pure germless
air of out-of-doors, and the patients are in many cases
made worse instead of better. Consumptive families
should always live in separate houses ; and consumptive
patients should occupy separate and well-ventilated
rooms. There are also serious objections to Italy and
the south of France; in the first place, they are not far
enough south to escape cold winds ; these are especially
severe at times; in the second place, the nights are
often very cold, and the evenings and mornings very
treacherous ; and in the third place, the life led in these
places is anything but conducive to health. Consump¬
tives should carefully avoid balls and crowded hot rooms.

I said France and Italy are not far enough south. The
latitude of a place is of immense importance in the matte*
of climate. In the northern hemisphere, Liverpool i

Digitized by CjOoqL e

THE CANABY ISLANDS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2,1888.

situated on the 58° of latitude; Italy and the south of
France are on the 43°, whereas Grand Canary is on the
28°, that is 15°, or 900 miles nearer to the equator than
is the south of France. Borne is on the 42°; Naples and
Constantinople on the 41°; California on the 40°;
Smyrna and Palermo on the 89°; Algeria on the 84°;
Jerusalem on the 82°; Alexandria on the 31°; Cairo, in
Egypt, and New Orleans and Florida, in America, on the
80°; and Delhi and Mount Sinai on the 29°; so that
Grand Canary is in a warmer region than any of these;
it is 4° nearer to the equator than Alexandria, and 8°
nearer than Cairo. In the southern hemisphere, Bris¬
bane, in Australia, is on the 28° of south latitude, that
is, the same distance from the equator as Grand Canary;
Cape Colony, and the South African health resorts
generally, and Sydney and Adelaide (in Australia) are
on the 34°; Melbourne and Auckland, in the warmest
division of New Zealand, are on the 87°, that is, Auck¬
land and Melbourne are 9°, or 540 miles further from
the equator than is Grand Canary. Moreover, in the
Canaries—which are small islands—the air is generally
a kind of sea air, which is pure, germless, and loaded
with ozone; and the cities being few and small, the air
does not become loaded with town foulness, impregnated
with germs, or impoverished by having been already
used.

Of the three most notable islands in the Canary group
Grand Canary is pre-eminently the most important as a
resort for consumptive families; and, as my principal
purpose is to draw attention to what I consider a won¬
derful climate for incipient and early phthisis, I will
refer most fully to this one, and only briefly to the other
two, beginning with the one whose climate most nearly
resembles that of Madeira—viz., Palma.

1. Palma is the most westerly of the three most
notable of the Fortunate Islands, and one of the most
prosperous; it is situated between the 28° and 29° of
north latitude, and just on the 18° of west longitude,
and is therefore 4£° further south than Madeira. It is
the smallest of the three, it is 82 miles long by 19£
broad, and is somewhat triangular in shape, its longest
diameter being north and south. Its surface is moun¬
tainous, and much broken up with the remains of extinct
volcanoes in the forms of cones and craters; its popula-

Digitized by LjOOQle

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

tion is about 82,000, in one city, one town, and 69 vil¬
lages, and they are occupied chiefly in agriculture and
horticulture, and in flax and silk manufactures. The
climate of Palma is quite moist, though less so than
that of Madeira, but more moist than Teneriffe, at any
rate than the east side of Teneriffe ; in consequence of
its warmth and moisture it is very productive, and its
climate ranks next to that of Teneriffe in suitability for
non-tubercular throat, bronchial, pneumonic, and asth¬
matic troubles; it is, however, too damp for consump¬
tion, and other tubercular diseases, for obesity, and for
rheumatism and gout, and kidney and liver diseases.
Its principal city is near the sea-shore, about the middle
of its eastern side, and is called Santa Cruz, like the
principal city of Teneriffe, Santa Cruz, meaning Holy
Cross, being a favourite name in these islands.

2. Teneriffe, which is about 50 miles south-east of
Palma and 40 north-west of Grand Canary, is some¬
what larger than Palma, and has in addition a prolonga¬
tion north-eastwards, making its total length about 60
miles, with a greatest breadth about 87. Its surface
also is much broken up with the remains of extinct vol¬
canoes. Its population is about 95,000, in two cities,
four towns and 152 villages; their chief occupation is
agriculture and horticulture, and cochineal cultivation.
It has a high mountainous ridge along near its centre,
the highest point—the peak, as it is called—rising to
about 12,180 feet, is often covered with snow. The high
mountainous ridge attracts the clouds, so that there is a
considerable rainfall; this promotes vegetation and the
growth of trees, and renders the climate not dry like
that of Grand Canary, but moist, especially on its north¬
western side, where are the Yale, Town and Port of
Orotava; it is, however, less moist than Madeira and even
than Palma, at least on its south-eastern side, where is
the City of Santa Cruz, though even here mist and clouds,
with their under-lying stagnant air, frequently hang
about the mountain sides, and render it unsuitable for
consumption and for other tubercular diseases, and for
obesity. The moist, soft, soothing climate of Teneriffe,
like that of Palma, is very suitable for non-tubercular
throat and bronchial affections, and for asthmatic
patients ; and here there is greater range than on Palma,
for the south-east side is less moist than the north-west.

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2,1808.

Grand Canary is rather too dry and stimulating for these
patients. Its principal city, called Santa Cruz, is near
the sea shore on the south-eastern side of its north-east
prolongation. This is its principal port and place of
trade, and has a population of about 23,000.

(8.) Grand Canary: this is a small island in the
semi-tropical part of the Atlantic Ocean, which has here
the additional warmth afforded by the Gulf Stream, and
which, in his Guide to Madeira and the Canary Islands ,
Mr. A. Samler Brown calls, “ an extremely interesting
and beautiful island/* It is somewhat circular in form,
and about the same size as Teneriffe without its
prolongation ; it is about 88 miles long by 82 broad, its
longest diameter extending north and south; in other
words, it is about as long and twice as broad as the Isle
of Man. It is about 5° south-by-east of Madeira, 40
miles east-by-south of Teneriffe, and 140 miles west of
the African coast. Its origin having been volcanic it is
mountainous, and its surface is much broken up with
the remains of extinct volcanoes, in the forms of
cones and craters. The mountains are not high; the
highest, which is near the centre of the island, is
about 6,400 ft.; that is, a good deal short of
twice the height of our own Snowdon. The small valleys
between the mountains are called “ barrancos. ,, The
island itself is composed chiefly of dry volcanic ash or
cinders, lava or scoriae, and dry sandy mud with boul¬
ders, resting chiefly on dry porous tufa, which somewhat
resembles pumice stone. There are consequently no
lakes and very little surface moisture, and therefore but
few and small trees, and but scanty natural vegetation,
so that clouds are seldom attracted or broken, and there
is therefore comparatively little rainfall, and what rain
does fall is rapidly absorbed by the dry, porous, thirsty
earth, leaving the river beds almost always dry. Except
in the barrancos, the island is rather barren; animal and
vegetable life are stunted, and germs have but a scant
existence; the climate is consequently dry and bracing,
and the air very pure. The dryness of the climate is
increased by the dry north-east wind which, coming over
Algeria, Morocco and Africa, blows nearly all the year
round, and gets further dried by passing over the dry
volcanic scoriae of the island itself, and in the neighbour¬
hood of its principal city, Las Palmas, also by passing

Digitized by AjOOQle

Monthly Homoeop&thio
Eerlew, Jan. 2, 1898.

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

over the sandy plain connecting together the island and
the isleta. The population of the island is estimated
at about 75,000, who call themselves Canarians, and
they are located principally in three cities, three towns,
and 178 villages. The special industries of the island
are embroidery, coarsely-woven cloths, native-tanned
goat skins, rough red pottery, drip-stone filters and
ornamental knives, along with the cultivation of bananas,
maize, potatoes, tomatoes, sugar canes, limes, lemons,
oranges, figs, grapes, almonds, olives, cochineal (on
the cactus and prickly pear) and tobacco; and the
manufacture of wines, sugar, and cigars. Its principal
city, called Las Palmas, is situated on its eastern side
near its northerly extremity, at the mouth of the
Barranco di Guiniguada, and close to the sea-shore. Ab
well as being the principal place of residence of visitors
and invalids, this is the principal place of the trade of
the island. It has a population of about 20,000, who
are occupied mainly as shopkeepers for the sale of the
productions of the island, and in the export of bananas,
oranges, lemons, potatoes, tomatoes, figs, wine, cochi¬
neal, &c., and in shoemaking, and with the shipping of
the port, which is a little way northwards of the city.
Las Palmas is a city of flat-roofed and mostly one¬
storied houses and shops, with cottages here and there
in the barranco. The land in the immediate neighbour¬
hood is gravelly lava, porous, dry and barren, except in
the barranco, where palms, bananas, sugar-canes, maize,
potatoes, tomatoes, &c., are cultivated. The city of Las
Palmas is nearly at the sea-level on the north-east coast
of the island. Agaete, another of the larger cities, is
also near the sea-level on the north-west coast. Other
towns are at various heights, Aguimes being at an ele¬
vation of 850 feet, Ingenio 975 feet, and San Mateo
2,900 feet. The climate of Grand Canary at sea-level
is dry and bracing, as well as warm, and not extremely
hot; the average mean of the highest temperature
in winter at Las Palmas is 69° F.; and there is
in the island a great variety as to temperature
and dryness, from the comparatively dense air of the
cities and towns at the sea-level to the rarefied
air of those on the mountains, and from the hot
summers of Las Palmas and Agaete to the cold winter
and moderate summer temperatures of Telde, Gaidar,

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 9,1898.

Gaia,. Arucas, Teror, Santa Brigida, Tafira, Fir gas,
Ingenio, Aguimes, and San Mateo; so that by moving
only short distances, invalids may procure an even
temperature and dry genial climate all the year round;
and the difference between winter and summer is not
great; it is, perhaps, less at Las Palmas than in any
other part of the world; the average temperature in
winter, that is, from November to March inclusive, is
68°F., or 10° higher than at Mentone in the south of
France, and than in the warmest division of New
Zealand, and most of the places in Cape Colony; it is
also very much drier, and far less variable; at the
coldest time of the year, viz., in January and February,
it is 65°F. in the day and 55° in the night, that is, 8°
to 5° less difference between day and night than in the
warmest division of New Zealand, and 10° to 15° less
difference than in Cape Colony, where indeed there are
sometimes 10° of frost in the night. “ From one year’s
end to the other,” says Dr. Ernest Hart, “ the variation
of temperature does not exceed 18°, and this within the
limits which are most favourable to life! That is the
whole magic of this climate. There is no excess of heat
in summer ; no cold in winter. Very small rainfall, and
that chiefly at night. No chill at sunset; no heavy
dews; no frosts; no sirocco. It is a climate full of
geniality, neither bite nor bum.” The average of abso¬
lute sunshine at Las Palmas is more than 55 per cent,
of the greatest available amount. Such a warm, dry,
sunny climate as that of Grand Canary, with the ability
to have an even temperature and dryness all the year
round, is, as Dr. Thurston truly says, scarcely to be
found anywhere else in the world. Grand Canary is
therefore very suitable for that exceedingly numerous
class of persons—the strumous and consumptive consti¬
tutions, and incipient and early consumptives. Were it
sufficiently known and appreciated, it would likely
become the place of permanent residence of all the con¬
sumptive families who could avail themselves of it; at
any rate all such would do well to spend at least the
winter months in it. Cases in the early stage of con¬
sumption do exceedingly well here, and often entirely
recover. It is also extremely suitable for strumous gland
and joint and bone diseases, hip joint and spinal disease;
Bright’s disease, diabetes, obesity, rheumatism and gout,

Digitized by LjOOQle

5SS255 fj^TJSSf 10 the canary islands. 15

kidney and liver diseases, and other such like morbid
states. In these maladies the climate alone often works
wonders ; but in all such cases the good influence of the
climate may be considerably aided by the use of the
waters of the warm mineral springs in the island, of
which there are two notable ones; one of these is at
Las Palmas, close by the Santa Catalina hotel; another
at Firgas. The principal ingredients in these waters
are: silicia; the chlorides of sodium, potassium and
calcium; the bicarbonates of soda, potassa, lime and
magnesia; and the sulphate of magnesia ; with free car¬
bonic acid gas—a [compound of great value in such
cases. These waters are used both by drinking and
baths ; and, as the proportions of their constituents are
different in each, they may be used with advantage in a
variety of maladies.

There are also springs in the island giving pure water
to the inhabitants of their neighbourhood, notably at
San Mateo, Santa Brigida, and Agaete; and where this
is not the case, mountain streams and rain water are
utilised, and the drip-stone filters used. Las Palmas is
well supplied with very excellent water from a spring at
the head of the barranco, at the mouth of which the
city is placed ; it is brought down from the spring the
first two-thirds of the way in a closed-in, stone-built and
cemented channel embedded in the mountain, forming
one side of the barranco to San Roque, and thence in an
iron pipe to the city, where it is distributed to the
inhabitants by means of fountains and taps. I have
myself personally examined the sources of this water—
with the kind assistance of Colonel Cragg, of the Canary
Islands Company—and have specially reported on it to
the Company.

Food in the island is fairly plentiful and tolerably
good. From the small farms and gardens in the
barrancos—some of which are very fruitful—there is a
good supply of maize and some wheat and oats for flour
and meal; there are potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes,
and other vegetables in abundance; milk is supplied by
goats and cows, and butter and cheese are made. There
are plenty of poultry and eggs, and some mutton and
beef, and any quantity of fruit—bananas, oranges,
lemons, grapes, figs, peaches, custard apples, guavas,
prickly pears, pomegranates, and even apples, pears,

Digitized by A^OOQle

16 THE CANARY ISLANDS.

plums, &c., and there are several varieties of delicious
native wines, both red and white. These supplies can
be augmented and the whole world laid under contribu¬
tion for both necessaries and luxuries to any extent by
means of the steamers which call nearly every day, and
from almost every part of the world, especially the
large, commodious, and comfortable steamers of the
Elder and Dempster lines, whilst the productions of all
the other islands are at command by means of the
smaller steamers which are constantly plying between
them. Milk is the chief difficulty, and it is so because
it has to be procured from the small farms up amongst
the hills where the water used for all purposes is rain¬
water, or that of mountain streams. Diphtheria and
typhoid fever have been thus caused at the best hotels.
This danger may be obviated by “ home-kept ” cows, or
by the establishing of a properly-managed English
dairy, or by the use of Swiss or other “condensed
milk,” or by carefully boiling the milk.

Of amusements there is certainly no great variety;
still, in a climate where the whole of nearly every day
throughout the winter may be spent out of doors time
need not hang heavily. There are many interesting
and healthy drives and rides, and the means of riding
and driving are cheap and numerous, and the roads
exceptionally good. There are many interesting volcanic
remains, in the forms of cones, craters and calderas, and
many beautiful and interesting barrancos to be explored,
as well as interesting old cities and towns and Guanche
dwellings and caves to be visited; cathedrals and public
buildings to be examined; libraries and museums and an
English club in which to seek entertainment and
instruction, and theatres and concert rooms for diversion,
public gardens to be lounged in, and outdoor games, such
as lawn tennis, bowls, golf and cricket, to be indulged in,
and sea-bathing to be had, the temperature of the water
ranging from 74° to 64° F. the winter through; and
there are dances occasionally during the season, and
picnics are frequently arranged. Young ladies may
botanise and garden, and those benevolently inclined
may enter into some charitable work. Young gentlemen
may boat and shoot, or may rent a cottage and take up
fruit growing, poultry breeding and egg exporting, and
supply to passing vessels; or, if of an enterprising turn,

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2,1863.

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

they might assist in reviving the decayed tea, coffee,
wine and cochineal industries, or take up sheep farming,
or in many other ways may find occupation beneficial to
themselves and the island, which is susceptible of
profitable development in many ways. A reliable dairy
would pay a good dividend, and so would an underground
storehouse for keeping food.

In Mr. A. Samler Brown’s Madeira and the Canary
Islands , it is stated that venomous reptiles are unknown
in the Canary Islands, but that mosquitoes are found on
the eastern and south-eastern sides. The writer was at
Las Palmas in May, and neither heard, saw, nor felt one
of them ; and Mr. Ellerbeck, in his Guide to the Canary
Islands , via Madeira , says, “it is only occasionally they
are troublesome.”

Las Palmas, the principal place of trade and of resi¬
dence of visitors and invalids, is miles south of the
port and place of landing, which is called La Luz.
Grand Canary, like Teneriffe, has a prolongation at its
north-east extremity; this prolongation is in the form
of a small island called the isleta, which is connected to
the main island by a flat neck of sandy land about a
mile in length. This small island, with a fine jetty,
mole, breakwater or quay at La Luz, forms, with the
main island, a spacious bay in which the largest vessels
may anchor in safety. Visitors are landed from the
steamers at the quay at La Luz, about 8£ miles north
of Las Palmas. Steam-tram carriages are run about
half-hourly from La Luz to Las Palmas, and visitors
may travel between the two places either by steam-tram
or by ordinary carriages, which are not expensive. On
the way from La Luz to Las Palmas, about a mile
before reaching the latter there has lately been built a
large, commodious, well-appointed, and well-drained
hotel, called the Santa Catalina. This hotel stands in
its own grounds near the sea-level, and is backed for
miles by a raised plateau of barren, dry, gravelly vol¬
canic scoriae, over which and over the sandy plain con¬
necting together the island and the isleta the prevailing
dry, north-east wind (coming from Africa, Morocco, and
Algeria) blows nearly all the year round. “ The hills in
the immediate rear of Las Palmas,” writes Dr. Thur-
stan, “ are virtually huge cinder heaps—not beautiful to
look at, but valuable as regards meteorological results

VoL 37, No. 1.

Digitized by

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

Monthly Homoeopftthl*
Review, Jan. 3,1838.

.these hills.and the sands on the

other side of the town, absorb heat in the daytime and
rapidly give it out after sunset, thus preventing as much
precipitation of dew as there would otherwise be.” Ibid .
p. 94. The neighbourhood of the Santa Catalina Hotel
is, therefore, one of the best in the island; and having
one of the best of the warm mineral springs it is pecu¬
liarly well adapted for the residence of visitors and
invalids. Here are already an English church, and a
large, elegant, well-furnished, and well-drained board¬
ing house, and small villas and houses provided with all
modern sanitary requirements are shortly to be erected.
Sea-bathing may be indulged in on the shore. There
are also at the hotel during the season a resident
English physician and an English nurse. In the city
also are physicians who speak English, French, and
German; there are also English and good Spanish
hotels.

From the foregoing sketch of the position, conforma¬
tion and surroundings of the island of Grand Canary, it
will be readily and justly concluded that the climate is
one of sunshine and warmth, and yet not too hot;
equable, dry and bracing ; and one in which even inva¬
lids may live out of doors most of every day, and leave
their windows open at night all the winter through,
without the risk of taking cold; and where the air is
bright, clear and pure, loaded with ozone and free from
moisture, and therefore inimical to disease germs—just
the qualifications and qualities suitable for strumous
and phthisical constitutions, and for incipient and early
consumptives, for whom our own damp, cold, variable
and comparatively sunless climate is peculiarly unsuit¬
able. The south of England, even Penzance and Tor¬
quay, though at times tolerably warm, is much too
variable, generally too cold, and always too damp and
relaxing; and the same may be said of the Isle of Wight,
Jersey and the rest of the Channel Islands; and our
own dry places, such as Harrogate and Buxton, are
much too cold and too variable. Even France and
Italy are not sufficiently warm in winter, and they are
too variable and too subject to cold winds and cold and
treacherous evenings and nights.

Then, whilst the severance from home and friends is the
same, the trouble and risks of travelling (which must of

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly JHomoeopathio
Review, Jan. 2,1888.

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

necessity be by both rail and sea in going to Italy or France)
are greater than those of a simple sea voyage like that
to Grand Canary, which is only six or seven days when
going direct and only nine when calling at Madeira and
Teneriffe. The cost, too, is also greater ; the first-class
cabin fare to Grand Canary and back by the Elder and
Dempster liners being only £15, with the liberty to
return any time within twelve months. Then during the
journey, the living and food are in one case irregular and
miserable, and in the other regular, comfortable and
good; and after the termination of the journey, in one
case they are expensive and in the other cheap. Also to
chest invalids, the risk of taking cold in the frequent
changing of trains, carriages and other conveyances, and
in the draughty stations, or by the cold draughts
alternating with the hot, moist, stuffy air of the carriages
is much greater than during the simple sea voyage to
the Canaries, in which there are no such changes or
risks; nay, not only is the voyage almost free from risk,
but it frequently itself contributes greatly to the cure
of disease and the restoration of health. Sea air
is not loaded with town smells, nor impoverished and
fouled by having been already used, but is fresh and
pure, ozonised and invigorating, and free from germs,
so that the sea voyage is itself very often curative,
and should always be beneficial. Of course it must be
understood that reference is here made to the air on
the deck of the vessel and to the windward side of the
openings from the engine-house and the cabins, and not
to that in ill-ventilated cabins and saloon. And here
comes in another of the advantages of the voyage to the
Canary Islands, viz., that the warm latitude is soon
entered, so that passengers may often be on deck all
day nearly the whole voyage. Another advantage is
that in the African and British and African steamers
the saloon and cabins are spacious and well ventilated,
so that even when not on deck there is tolerably pure
air to be breathed. Invalids should, for their own sakes,
make sure that the saloon and cabins are spacious and
well ventilated, for on some journeys they may have to
spend much of thfe time in them, and if the air there is
foul, as it is in some vessels, much of the benefit of the
voyage will be lost to them, and perhaps their disease
be made worse; but here comes in another advantage of

c —2

Digitized by

Google

THE CAN ART ISLANDS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 3,1938.

a voyage to the Canaries, viz., that the sea passage is
short—only six or seven days. Here I would also
interpose a caution: I said the food on board these
steamers is good; it is often too good and too plentiful,
so that even invalids are tempted to eat and drink more
than is good for them. It is quite a mistake on board
ship to eat and drink to excess, even though there may
be, as there usually is, increase of appetite. With the
small amount of exercise to be obtained less food and
drink are needed, and if more than usual be taken, which
is often the case, indigestion, biliousness and other
illnesses are brought on; and this is especially the case
in warm latitudes. This caution is, if possible, more
needed after arrival at Grand Canary. It is an
immense mistake to eat and drink in hot climates as we
do, and require to do, in England ; doing so after arrival
at Grand Canary brings on what is called “Canary
fever,” which is an acute inflammatory bilious attack,
and not at all a true fever nor anything peculiar to the
island. Fruit and vegetables, with native wine or pure
water and very little flesh meat, should be the diet.

In Egypt and Algeria the air may be drier, but these
places have many drawbacks from which Grand Canary
is exempt. Australia, New Zealand and the Cape
Colony are not dry climates, and they are subject to
“ rainy seasons ” and severe “ storms of wind ” both
hot and cold, so that their climates are subject to
“ sudden and sharp fluctuations,” and they are less dry
than Grand Canary and less warm in winter.

The mean temperature in winter in the warmest
division of New Zealand is 50° F., whereas in Grand
Canary it is 68°, and the difference between day and
night in New Zealand, Australia and Cape Colony is
much greater than in Grand Canary. Then the voyage
is very different: to Australia and New Zealand it
occupies six weeks, and as Dr. J. Murray Moore in a
paper in praise of New Zealand admits, it subjects
passengers first to the extreme heat of the equator and
then to “ the inevitable cold and wet of the Southern
latitudes between the Cape and Tasmania,” whereas,
the voyage to the Canaries is only six or seven days, and
there is no excessive heat or cold or damp, but a
gradually increasing warmth and dryness to its
termination, about 28° this side of the equator. Even

Digitized by AjOOQle

THE CANARY ISLANDS.

in the voyage to the Cape Colony the equator has to be
crossed and the cold, wet region entered.

I must mention one objectionable feature prevalent in
the Canary Islands as in many other foreign countries;
unfortunately, Spanish authorities have not yet arrived
at a sufficient appreciation of sanitary necessities to
make them enforce an efficient system of drainage, or of
removal of the refuse of their cities; these consequently
accumulate on the surface, or soak into the ground about
the houses. In taking up residence in the Canary
Islands it will be well, therefore, not to settle in the
midst of a city or town; in Grand Canary, for instance,
those who stay at Las Palmas should reside in the
neighbourhood of the Santa Catalina Hotel, or some
similar locality where the water is that supplied to the
city, and where there is freedom from drainage infiltration.

The time for resorting to the Canary Islands is just
the time when it is necessary to leave England, viz.,
the end of September or beginning of October. The
“ season ” near the sea-level lasts until the end of May,
but invalids need not then return to England; by simply
moving to one or more of the towns I have named up in
the mountains, they may procure a moderate tempera¬
ture and a genial climate all the summer through.

Finally, it should be borne in mind that Grand Canary
offers to consumptive families health- and life-pros¬
pects offered by scarcely anywhere else in the world; and
that in going to live in Grand Canary, though English
invalids do for a time give up the gaieties of English
society, they merely exchange them and the miseries of
the cold, damp, dark, dismal and short days (with the
necessary in-door life) of our English winter, for the
liberties and pleasures of a genial, invigorating, health¬
giving and life-prolonging climate, where they will have
warmth and sunshine, with long cheerful days, and the
opportunity of being out of doors nearly all the day the
winter through; and that when necessary or desirable
they may return home in a short time, and without a
difficult or risky journey.

The objection has been made, that the natives of
Grand Canary itself are not absolutely free from con¬
sumption ; that cases of true tubercular phthisis do
occur, even in Grand Canary. This may be quite true,
as it is true in respect of Egypt, Algeria, Italy, France

Digitized by

Google

ELECTRIC CURRENTS.

Monthly Homceopathio
Review, Jen. 2,1888.

and every other country; it is, however, not necessarily
an objection against the climate, but may result entirely
from the unhealthy habits of the people. Where sanitary
requirements are badly neglected even by the rich, and
where the poor are crowded together without the slightest
sanitary consideration, consumption, as well as other
diseases, will necessarily be induced, even in the most
anti-phthisical climate.

ON THE KESISTANCE OF THE HUMAN BODY
TO THE ELECTBIC CUKRENT.

By Edwyn L. Pope.

Associate Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

Assistant Engineer, Chelsea Electrical Supply Company.

Accidents from electrical shocks necessarily increase in
frequency in proportion as the employment of elec¬
tricity for lighting purposes, and for motors, becomes
more general. The circumstances which conduce to
render a given amount of current fatal are not well
known, and to acquire an accurate degree of knowledge
regarding it a large amount of experimental work
remains to be gone through.

In a case reported by Mr. Nankivell, of Rochester, in
the British Medical Journal (Oct. 22nd), an electric light
linesman is reported to have received through his body
a current of one ampere with an electro-motive force of
2,400 volts, “ perhaps even more,” and the burning of
the left thumb and forefinger—to an extent necessitating
amputation—was, beyond a certain degree of nervous
excitement, the only result of so considerable a shock;
while in the United States the Electro-Technische ZeiU
schrift states that 1,700 volts of an alternating current
has been proved a sufficient electro-motive force for the
execution of criminals. The details of the case referred
to are given as follows.—

“ R. R., aged 24, an electric light linesman, was brought
to the hospital on March 4th, 1892, suffering from severe
burns produced by handling a wire carrying a high potential
current. He stated that he was attending to a transformer
which was not working satisfactorily. This was done in a
damp cellar, and through a badly-insulated overhead con¬
ductor on the roof of the same house there was a considerable
leak to earth. In trying the primary wires for loose connec-

Digitized by AjOOQle

Monthly HonuBopathie
Review, Jan. 9,1893.

ELECTRIC CURRENTS,

tions without any glove on his left hand, he got a slight
shock, although he was standing on a board. This was pro¬
bably due to surface leakage from the wire which had been
for some time in the damp cellar. In the excitement of
receiving this shock, he incautiously put his left foot forward
off the board on to the damp earth, and he then received
through his body the full pressure of 2,400 volts, the force of
which appeared to expend itself chiefly on his left hand,
which held the wire. He was rendered insensible, and it is
stated by some bystanders that his legs were completely
drawn up to his trunk, so that all his weight came on to the
wire, which then broke. In this way he was released.

“ On admission, he was found to be suffering from con¬
siderable nervous excitement, but was quite sensible, and gave
a correct account of the accident.

“ His left thumb and forefinger were completely black and
charred. The eschar extended on the dorsum of the hand to
the end of the ulna. On the palmar surface the burn reached
to the ball of the thumb and to the metacarpal joint of the
forefinger. All these parts were actually burnt to the bones,
and were absolutely insensible to touch. He complained of
intense pain in the wrist and parts of the hand which had
escaped the effects of the shock. On removal to bed, it was
discovered that four toes of the left foot were burnt on the
plantar surface, each eschar being about the size of a three¬
penny piece. ting. boracis and cotton wool were applied to
the hand and foot, and he was ordered a dose of opium . On
examining the patient’s boot, it was found to be without any
mark whatsoever.’*

The thumb and forefinger were amputated a month
after the accident, the wounds in the foot healed, and the
patient was discharged within six weeks of his admission.

From some remarks by Dr. Lewis Jones upon this case
I extract the following:—

4 4 Bums are not uncommonly met with in men working on
electric light circuits, but usually they are produced in an
indirect manner as a result of the sudden heating of some
tool or instrument held in the workman’s hand. If any tool
which is being used in the neighbourhood of a pair of electric
light wires should happen to form a bridge across them, the
short circuit so produced quickly raises the tool to an intense
heat, and may bum the workman severely before he has time
to drop it from his hand. In such burns as these, however,
the current does not pass through any part of the body of the
workman. In the case here reported it is clear that the
current must have passed from the line wire to the patient’s
hand, and from there through his body to the ground. The

Digitized by

Google

24 ELECTRIC CURRENTS.

heating of the tissues was the direct result of the passage of
the current, and was shown mainly at the point? of greatest
resistance, namely, at the skin of the hand and foot. There
is little doubt that the patient would have been killed if the
muscular contraction of his body had not raised his feet off
the ground, and so broken the circuit almost immediately.’ 1

Dr. Jones subsequently refers to the amount of current
as one which “ can hardly have been greater than one
ampere.” If, however, we take into consideration the
amount of resistance offered by the part of the body, etc.,
at which the current entered, and the infinitesimal
portion of time which elapsed between the commence¬
ment of the shock and its termination by the breakage
of the wire, with the consequent breakage of the circuit,
the probability is that it was nearer to the tenth of an
ampere than a whole one that passed through his body,
and perhaps not as much as that.

The burns which constituted the chief result of the
accident may have been caused by arcs formed on
making and breaking the circuit. Perhaps, however,
a more probable theory is that the skin, being a very
poor conductor of electricity, and the contact area being
small, heating was due to the passage of the current.
It would be interesting to know if any metal waa
conveyed into or on to the skin by electrolysis.

The degree of resistance presented by the skin to the
passage of electricity varies widely with the part of the
body, its temperature, degree of moisture, and various
other conditions, and it is only by comparing together
the repeated experiments of different observers that
the factors which condition skin-conductivity can be
definitely ascertained.

The following table records some resistances obtained
oy Mr. H. Newman Lawrence in the course of some
experiments given by him in a paper presented in
section D at the 1892 meeting of the British Association
for the Advancement of Science.* Special electrodes
were used, eliminating complication arising from dry
skin, imperfect contact, differences of temperature and
surface polarisation. These results show that if the
current is kept on for about five minutes the resistance
of the skin diminishes, it then, in some cases, keeps
constant, and in others rises again.

* Electrical Review, 1892, p. 19G.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2,1893.

ELECTRIC CURRENTS,

• Table A. —Continuous current. Volte=15. Direction longitudinal.

Position of Electrodes...

Resistance in Ohms.

Time.

Min.

Min,

Arm—

Hand (palm) and shoul¬
der .

23,800

15,620

13,900

12,410

12,300

Hand and elbow (inside)

27,270

13,636

10,700

10,000

Elbow and shoulder ...

15,000

5,000

3,750

3,550

3,000

2,830

Leg—

Foot (sole) and hip ...

15,000

10,000

8,380

7,500

6,816

6,250

„ and knee (inside)

20,000

13,636

10,700

10,000

9,375

Knee (inside) and hip...

10,000

4,410

3,660

3,333

3,125

2,920

Trunk—

Neck and perinoeum ...

4,286

2,500

2,120

2,027

2,120

2,027

Breast and „

15,000

6,000

5,170

4,270

3,947

3,846

„ „ right hand

(palm) .

15,000

18,700

19,730

20,000

19,600

Breast and left hand
(palm) .

25,000

27,270

27,770

26,800

28,300

Right hand and left
hand.

75,000

60,000

Right foot (sole) and
abdomen .

50,000

25,000

27,270

30,000

Left foot (sole) and
abdomen .

16,666

20,000

22,727

25,000

26,800

27,270

Right foot and left foot

50,000

42,860

44,100

41,000

47,000

Table B.— Direction traverse—other conditions as in Table A.

Time.

Min.

Arms—

Through hand (back and

front.

Through fore arm (back

17,600

20,000

22,000

21,700

21,400

and front) .

Through upper arm

7,500

3,333

2,630

2,600

2,800

3,000

(back and front)

7,500

3,000

2,727

2,680

2,630

2,580

Leg—

Through foot (sole and

instep) .

Through calf (back and

60,000

37,500

42,800

47,000

48,200

front).

Through thigh (back

60,000

16,600

8,000

5,770

5,000

42,860

and front) .

Trunk—

Through chest (back

30,000

10,000

7,140

6,000

5,000

4,700

and front) .

Through abdomen (back

14,700

6,260

5,360

4,700

4,570

4,286

and front) .

Through chest (side to

75,000

21,400

10,710

7,500

6,000

5,550

side .

100,000

36,200

16,600

13,000

10,710

9,370

Mr. Newman Lawrence’s experiments were doubtless
conducted under circumstances most favourable to the

Digitized by

Google

ELECTRIC CURRENTS.

Monthly HomcBop&thlo
Renew, Jan. 2,1808.

resisting power of the skin; in others, made by myself,
the conditions were entirely unfavourable. They were
made on some men in the engine-room of a central
electric-lighting station in London while working with
their dirty hands and old, but dry, boots on. They
have been taken with the idea of obtaining the average
resistance of a man when working amongst dynamo
machines. These men were all perspiring freely owing
to the heat of the engine-room, about 105° F. The
electrodes were clean pieces of copper tubing, having a
contact area of 12 square inches. The electrode
stood upon was an iron plate, thoroughly wet, and much
larger than any of their boots. The results differed very
much from those obtained by Mr. Newman Lawrence.

Name.

Resistance in
ohms between
the two hands.

Resistance in
ohms from
hand to iron
plate.

Remarks.

J. A.

8,000

3,640

Perspiring very freely; hands
dirty and greasy, and had very
bad boots on. (Dynamo at¬
tendant.)

G. C.

9,100

8,000

Perspiring very freely; hands
dirty and greasy, with thin
slippers on. (Engine driver.)

H. H.

6,120

2,100

Stoker. Perspiring very freely;
boots very wet; hands dirty
and greasy.

E. L.P.

4,420

4,000

Perspiring freely; boots damp;
hands dirty and greasy.

B. P.

11,400

7,300

Very hard, dirty and greasy
hands, rather drier than the
other men; boots damp. (Coal
porter.)

P. S.

14,000

9,500

Clean hands, fairly dry; good
boots but damp.

The resistance of a man’s body varies not only in parts,
but from time to time ; the moisture of the hands and body
playing a most important part. The same man with
damp hands had a resistance from hand to hand 12,000
ohms, but when he had dried them thoroughly the re¬
sistance went up to 100,000 ohms. This was a man who
had very hard and dry hands.

To obtain the amount of current which will pass
through a given resistance, the electromotive force in
volts has to be divided by the resistance in ohms, the

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. % 1893.

CHARACTERISTICS •

result being the current in amperes. It is usual for
medical men to use milliamperes as their unit of current,
1,000 milliamperes being equal to one ampere.

To ascertain the current which passed through the
man whose case has been quoted the resistance of the
contact his fingers made with the insulating material,
the resistance of the film of moisture which led from his
fingers to the conductor, the resistance of his body, the
resistance of his socks, boots, contact of his feet with
socks, the contact his boots made with a good earth, and
the resistance of the leak which was on the opposite
main must all be known and added together ; the sum
being divided by 2,400 will equal the current which went
through him.

In addition to the degree of resistance the contact
area and contact duration are factors of great considera¬
tion in the lethal power of electricity. The 1,700 volts
used in criminal executions in the United States have a
fatal effect because the contact area is large and good.
Mr. Kennedy, in a letter to the Electrical Review , of New
York (Oct. 5th, 1888), described some experiments made
by him in Mr. Edison’s laboratory proving that with a con¬
tact duration of 60 seconds 276 volts were sufficient to
kill a dog; but when the contact duration was a little
less than 8 seconds 800 volts were necessary to kill a
similar animal.

In R. R.’s case the contact area was small, the con¬
tact duration probably only a fraction of a second, and
presuming that the resistance of the skin was fairly
good his escape from death is fully accounted for.

Draycott Place, S.W.

Nov. 12th, 1892.

“ CHARACTERISTICS/’ “ KEY - NOTES,” AND
“ GUIDING SYMPTOMS,” TOGETHER WITH
CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS.

By A. C. Clifton, M.D.

Introductory Remarks.

In the ordinary course of my reading of English and
American homoeopathic medical literature during the
last thirty years or thereabouts, it has been my custom
to register whatever I have met with that seemed likely

Digitized by ^ooQle

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly HomraopatMe
Eeview, Jan. 2,1808.

to be useful in my practice at a future date, and which,
apart from such means, would probably be forgotten
when most needed. In that commonplace Medical Note-
Book I have from time to time recorded, among other
things, the so-called “ Characteristics,” “Key-notes,”
&c., of various medicines, to which different men have
called attention. This phase of medical practice has
always been attractive to me, hence I have been led to
examine to some extent the 'pros and cons in relation
to it.

For this reason it has appeared to me that the results of
my experience in this direction may perhaps furnish food
for thought as well as for criticism, and be somewhat
helpful to others, although what I say will partake of
little originality, but will rather be the reflex of other
minds, and show how far I have found their observations
agree with my own.

In taking up this subject, and partly by means of the
register to which I have alluded, 1 am met by a fault on
my part of having failed to record the names of the
men to whose observations I shall have to refer. For
this reason I am unable now to do those gentlemen the
justice I would desire. Moreover, I have made but few
notes as to whether the “ characteristics ” which they
have referred to were from a review of the pathogenetic
action of the drugs in question, or whether their observa¬
tions were from a clinical standpoint, and whether from
high or from low dilutions and doses of medicine.
These and other sins of omission belonging to my note¬
book I now regret, for had I been more careful in this
respect a consideration of the subject at this time might
have been more instructive than it otherwise can be.

Before entering upon the practical side of the subject
it may not be amiss to notice one objection to “ key¬
note” practice that has been repeatedly raised by a few
homoeopathic practitioners and by men moreover of
large experience, as well as of wide and critical thought.
They say that to prescribe by “ characteristics ” as
“ key-notes ” in any given case of disease is contrary to
a cardinal principle of homoeopathy, which demands a
recognition of “ the totality of symptoms.” My answer
to this is that the argument assumes what is not
correct, inasmuch as the use of “ key-notes,” &c., is
only meant to be suggestive , and to serve as a guide , to

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Bartow, Jan. 2 , 1888.

CHARACTERISTICS.

the recognition of the whole, and when so used, I con¬
tend that this method by no means contravenes the
principle which is rightly insisted upon, but is helpful
towards it, and while some practitioners may very likely
rely too much upon these aids, this surely can be no
reason against their use for a wider and fuller purpose.

Further, and for the purpose of showing the reason¬
ableness of what I have been contending for, should
that be deemed needful, I hold that in the pathogeneses
of drugs there will generally be found a few symptoms
that stand out in somewhat bold relief, and sometimes
threading the whole, which show the sphere of action of
each drug, and how it may be distinguished from others,
and in this relation these symptoms are rightly termed
“ characteristics.” So also in relation to what may be
observed of the phenomena of disease, there will gene¬
rally be found a few peculiar and well-marked symptoms
indicating the nature and course of the disease, and
what may be expected to arise, and these symptoms are
rightly termed “ characteristic.” Moreover, I believe
that all practitioners, whether they know and admit it
or not, nevertheless make use of these signs, and, to
some extent, ever must. What, however, I think we
should strive after is to arrive at as accurate a know¬
ledge as possible of the “ characteristics ” in question,
and by means of clinical observations to what degree
they may then be used as “ key-notes ” in practice.

By way of illustrating one side of the subject, notice
the well known symptom, which at one time was said to
be a “key-note” for lycopodium , more especially in
pneumonia, viz., “a fan-like motion of the alae nasi.”
The homoeopathic practitioner who, I believe, first called
attention to this symptom as a “key-note,” was a most
able and painstaking man, and one whose observations,
for that reason, commanded great respect. I accepted
as correct nearly all that he advanced, and I was thus
led to prescribe lycopodium in cases where the symptom
in question was very evident. Most likely I sometimes
made use of the “ key-note ” in a looser way than he
intended, but at other times it was certainly done with
greater care in connection with other symptoms. I now
say, as the result of close observation, that while lyco¬
podium has in some cases done good service where that
symptom has been pronounced, yet in a much larger

Digitized by ^ooQle

30 CHARACTERISTICS.

number of cases of a similar nature, aud with the same
symptom, belladonna , chelidonium , 'phosphorus and rera-
£nm riridc have been far more curative. Hence I am of
opinion, that this reputed “ key-note ” is, at the most,
of but doubtful value. Very likely other men, as keen
observers or more so than myself, may affirm the con¬
trary, in fact they have done so ; nevertheless I contend
that before such a minute symptom as the one in
question is raised to the position of a " key note,” it
requires clearer and more certain confirmation.

While, however, I cannot accept that “ key-note ” for
lycopodium , where is the practitioner who has studied
the pathogenetic action of this medicine, in its far-
reaching extent, who has not recognised many symp¬
toms, very pronounced in character, and at the same
time clinically verified them, thus using them as “ key¬
notes”? This is not the place for taking up in detail
the “ characteristics ” of lycopodium , but a few, by way
oi illustration, may briefly be noticed. Such, for in¬
stance, as its greater action upon the right side of the
body than the left side; its very marked action upon the
stomach, the liver, the kidneys, and the skin ; the time
of day, moreover, when the symptoms of this medicine
are most pronounced—viz., from 4 to 8 p.m.; its largely
curative action in diseases of the throat, especially when
beginning on the right side and tending to spread to the
left (the reverse of lachesis) ; the dyspepsia characterised
by very little thirst, but with hunger which is satisfied
by a very small amount of food, causing repletion and
flatulence in the stomach, and eructations which do not
afford relief (again the reverse of lachesis); so, too, in
relation to the abdomen, the borborygmus and sense
of constriction, with constipation, and the scanty excre¬
tion of urine, which is often loaded with lithates. Many
other well marked symptoms in relation to the cerebro¬
spinal and nervous system generally, as well as its
action on the muscles, glandular organs and the skin,
may be noticed at a future time if an opportunity is
permitted, but sufficient has here been said to show what
I am contending for in relation to lycopodium .

Further, and again by way of illustration, notice a
few of what I think may fairly be termed “ charac¬
teristics” of lachesis , and with which homoeopathic
practitioners are for the most part acquainted. Such for

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2,1893.

LOBELIA.

instance are its more marked action upon the left side of
the body than upon the right; great irregularity and alter¬
nation of symptoms, such as sudden flushings of heat,
and sudden chilliness ; vertigo with fulness and heat in
the head, alternating with dizziness and empty feeling
in the head ; fluttering sensation in the cardiac region,
and palpitation of the heart; sinking sensation in the
stomach, with loss of appetite, some thirst, and desire
for alcoholic beverages; food affords temporary relief,
and eructations of flatulence do the same (contrary to
lycopodium ); the bowels sometimes act regularly every
day, and again are constipated for a few days, or they
are relaxed; so, too, in relation to the urine the same
irregularity is very common, while in women the men¬
struation is sometimes excessive, and sometimes the
reverse. In addition to this general irregularity , there is
the inability to bear the pressure of clothes over the
neck or throat, the chest, or over the waist; and
finally, nearly all the symptoms are worse after sleep,
and more especially in the early part of the morning.

These preliminary remarks in relation to the question
before me may perhaps be considered needless, in fact,
I believe most homoeopathic practitioners, while they
may differ from me in the presentation of some aspects
of the case, will accept what I have said as fairly
correct. Except that I desire to protect myself in some
measure from being considered an entirely one-sided
advocate of “ characteristic 99 and “ key-note ” prescrib¬
ing I would not have taken up so much time on this
point. In my next paper I will at once enter upon the
subject on its practical side.

Northampton.

LOBELIA: ITS THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS AND
MODE OF PREPARATION.

By T. G. Vawdbey, L.R.C.P. Lond.

The object of this paper is to draw attention to a most
valuable remedy. Lobelia is a sheet anchor of the
herbalists of this country. By them it is employed with
great success in a variety of complaints, and the
indications for its employment as ascertained by
empiricism coincide remarkably with thosg defined by

Digitized by

Google

LOBELIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2,1808.

the homoeopathic principle of drug selection. By the
ordinary medical practitioners of this country it is used
chiefly as a remedy for spasmodic asthma. Some speak
favourably of its action in this complaint, whilst others
only report their disappointment. Lobelia has conse¬
quently fallen somewhat into disfavour, and it is to be
feared that this neglect is not confined to the empirical
school of medicine.

Lobelia , or Indian tobacco, is a native of North
America. Like the witch hazel , it was a remedy in
common use amongst the Indians long before orthodox
medicine knew anything about it. Dr. Thomson,
founder of the so-called “ Thomsonian ” system of
m&liiine, seems to have been the first to appropriate the
remedy. Although, as he relates, he had been familiar
with its physiological properties for twenty years, he
never learnt its therapeutic value until he gave a sprig
of the plant one day to a man working in the Ijarvest
field. It does not appear what was the matter with the
patient. His own report was that, after being made
violently sick and feeling as if he should die, he was
able to do a good half-day’s work, and felt better than
he had done for a long time. Dr. Thompson afterwards
used the medicine for asthma and other pulmonary
complaints. *

The herbalists of this country use lobelia very freely
in their practice. It is to be feared that they often
administer the drug in dangerously large doses, but
they have learnt by experience the true indications for
its employment. “In spasmodic asthma, bronchitis,
whooping cough, and other affections of the chest,
throat, and respiratory apparatus it is of immense
value and in extensive employment, having achieved
such a reputation in the treatment of these diseases as
has been accorded to no other single remedy” (the
Botanic Pharmacopoeia , by J. G. Hatfield). They give
the drug in the form of powder, infusion and tincture.

Dr. Binger, who draws his experience from the homoeo¬
pathic as well as the traditional school of medicine,
praises lobelia highly in asthma. He has found the
remedy quite useless for the relief of asthma dependent
upon cardiac disease, but in bronchial and peptic
dyspnoea he finds the drug most useful. In chronic
bronchitis also he reports favourable results from its

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Bcriew, Jan. 2. tm.

LOBELIA.

employment. He recommends the tincture and the
ethereal tincture of the British Pharmacopoeia, and he
gives it in larger doses than are usually considered suffi¬
cient. He does not find that even in large doses the
drug is poisonous.

It may therefore be accepted as an established conclu¬
sion that lobelia is a remedy for certain forms of asthma,
chronic bronchitis, and, according to some, whooping-
cough.

How does it act ? The answer to this question is best
given by recording the provings which have been made
by various investigators. One of the earliest of these
was made by Samuel Thomson the founder of tfie
Botanic or Eclectic school of medicine. “ I discovered’
he says, “ a plant which had a singular branch and
pods that I had never before seen, and I had the
curiosity to pick some of the pods and chew them. The
taste aj)d operation produced were so remarkable that I
never forgot it. I afterwards used to induce the other
boys to chew it, merely by way of sport to see them
vomit. When mowing in the field with a number of
men one day, I cut a sprig of it, and gave to the man
next me, who ate it. He said he believed what I had
given him would kill him, for he never felt so ill in his
life.*"I looked%at him, and saw that he was in a most
profuse perspiration, being wet all over as he could be;
he trembled very much, and there was no more colour
in him than a corpse. He laid down on the ground and
vomited several times. In about two hours he ate a
hearty dinner, and in the afternoon was able to do a
good half-day’s work.”

Dr. Drury, an asthmatic, took three tablespoonfuls
of a tincture prepared from the fresh plant, in divided
doses, an interval of ten minutes being allowed between
the doses. After the first dose his breathing was
relieved, but there was no nausea; after the second he
was sick; after the third he experienced the following
symptoms. “I felt,” he says, “a kind of prickly
sensation through the whole system, even to the
extremities of the fingers and toes. The urinary passage
was perceptibly affected by producing a smarting sen¬
sation on passing urine.”

There is ample evidence to prove that lobelia has a
special action upon the parts supplied by tljje pneumo-

Vol. 37, No. 1. D

Digitized by

Google

LOBELIA,

Monthly Homo»opftthfe
Beview, Jan. % 188ft.

gastric nerve. According to Cowperthwaite, “it acts
upon the cerebro-spinal system, especially upon the
pneumo-gastric nerve, producing profound prostration,
a depressed relaxed condition of the system, oppression
of the chest, impeded respiration and deglutition,
together with epigastric oppression, nausea and vomit¬
ing, finally paralysing the pneumo-gastrics, and causing
failure of the heart and respiration, collapse and death.
In small doses it produces spasms of the larynx and
bronchi.” This description of its pathogenetic effects is
confirmed by Hughes, Hempel and Bartholow.

Its relation to the conditions in which it has been
found useful by Ringer and other authorities of the em¬
pirical school is one of similarity and not one of
antagonism.

Why is it that the drug yields such opposite results in
the hands of different observers? Probably from a
difference in the manner in which the drug has been
prepared. The British Pharmacopoeia contains two
preparations—a simple alcoholic tincture, and an ethe¬
real tincture. The dose recommended is from ten to
thirty minims. Ringer recommends a drachm or more.
He admits, however, that the ordinary tincture is a very
unreliable preparation.

There is a preparation of lobelia which is not commonly
known, but which is far superior to the official prepara¬
tions. In the Botanic Pharmacopoeia the author (Mr.
J. G. Hatfield) gives directions for preparing an acetous
tincture of the drug. The proportions there given are:
lobelia in powder, two and a half ounces; dilute acetic
acid, sufficient to bring the product to a pint. The
tincture is prepared by percolation—not by macera¬
tion. The dose recommended by Mr. Hatfield is from
half a drachm to a drachm.

Some two years ago, feeling dissatisfied with the
results obtained from the tincture prepared in accordance
with the directions given in the British Homoeopathic
Pharmacopoeia , the writer had a tincture prepared as
directed by the Botanic Pharmacopoeia . The strength
is about one in ten, corresponding with the mother
tincture of homoeopathy. After an extensive trial of
the remedy in the valuable field of observation afforded
by the out-patient department of the Devon apd Corn¬
wall Homoeopathic Hospital, the writer ascertained that

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2. 1898.

REVIEWS.

a dose of from two to five minims was amply sufficient
for all therapeutic purposes. A larger dose never suc¬
ceeded where the above dose had failed. In asthma
dependent upon chronic bronchitis the acid tincture of
lobelia (.Acetum Lobelia) will be found a remedy of the
highest possible value. It is useful in chronic bron¬
chitis unassociated with asthma, and it will be found
equally suitable whether the expectoration is profuse, or
scanty and tenacious. In emphysema the Acetum Lobelia
taken three times a day for a month at a time will give
marked relief. In dyspnoea of cardiac origin the writer
can confirm Dr. Ringer’s observation that the drug is
useless. Having no experience of its use in whooping-
cough, the writer is unable to say whether its effects in
that complaint are beneficial or otherwise; but in
asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema he is confi¬
dent, from long and repeated observation, that the
acetous tincture of lobelia will be found one of the most
valuable remedies we possess.

REVIEWS.

The Science and Art of Obstetrics, by Sheldon Leavitt, M.D.

Chicago: Gross & Delbridge, 1892.

We welcome this elaborate text-book from the ripe experience
of our colleague in America, and the more in that it fills a
marked hiatus in the English literature of the homoeopathic
therapeutics of obstetric practice. While the results in
normal and in assisted parturition have been of late years
simply revolutionised in old school practice, we have been
content to absorb the progress of our allopathic brethren
without maintaining, pari passu , the characteristic aids to be
derived from homoeopathic treatment, at various stages of
the maternal organism. From this reproach the present work
relieves us ; and it has the unique advantage of setting forth
side by side the latest advances in the physiology and
mechanical aids of parturition, as well as the additional forces
we can invoke by the appropriate use of remedies.

The chief value to us in Professor Leavitt’s work is the
clear delineation of the indications for drug treatment in the
various conditions of gestation calling for professional aid.
The therapeutic part of the work is particularly well done, and
the balance between the indications relatively for therapeutic
and non-therapeutic measures is well adjusted. We miss, how¬
ever, any specific allusion to the well authenticated properties

d—2

Digitized by

Google

.BEVIEWS.

Monthly Homaaopathio
Beriew, Jan. S, 1898.

of arnica , when administered daring the later months of gesta¬
tion, to lighten the incidence of the parturient shock upon the
organism, and to co-ordinate and regulate the forces resulting
in delivery. In the therapeutics of the vomiting of pregnancy,
we are inclined to rate the virtues of kreosotum more highly
than is apparent in the author’s list, and more emphasis may
fitly be placed upon the paramount usefulness of a protracted
course of nux and sulphur for the constipation often so trouble¬
some in the later months of gestation. The two chapters on
the “ Diseases and Accidents of Pregnancy ” are, however,
very full and suggestive; and if anything further is to be
desired, it lies in the direction of arranging the remedies not
in alphabetical series, with leading indications, but in the
order, according to the author's personal experience, of their
most frequent effective use. There is yet much room for a
fully worked-out scheme of therapeutic treatment, embodying
only the results of personal experience, in the domain of
pregnancy and of the puerperium.

Turning now to that domain of obstetrics that is non-
therapeutic, we find in this volume a very creditable account
of the science, including its more recent developments. The
chapter on antiseptic midwifery is one of particular merit,
and the statistics of the immense advance thus made in the
obstetric technique are well chosen and sufficient. A strange
Statement is made when dealing with the subject of puerperal
fever, to the effect that if a perineal laceration be unrepaired
the patient is more likely to suffer from this form of sepsis.
Exactly the opposite is the case, and in perinea that have
been repaired after parturition, immediately or remotely, septic
symptoms having occurred, the early withdrawal of the
sutures and the outlet thus afforded for retained secretions
will often be immediately followed by a marked betterment in
4he general condition.

The use of anaesthetics in labour is well treated from the
standpoint of practical experience, and the value of the proceed¬
ing clearly pointed out. Recognising that the rules enunciated
are of sufficient generality to safeguard the student and the
junior practitioner in their induction of anaesthesia, these to
whom the administration of chloroform is a matter of use and
wont may extend its benign influence beyond the indicated
xange of general warrant.

The diagnosis of early pregnancy is a matter oftentimes of
paramount importance : a sufficient emphasis is scarcely laid
upon the all-valuable indications afforded by Hegar’s sign.
This latter we have had occasion to demonstrate many times
"in recent years; and in uncomplicated pregnancy its presence
is constant and reliable. There is no other proof of early

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoaopathle
Eeriew, Jan. 2, 1803.

MEETINGS.

J*_

pregnancy comparable to it in definiteness and clearness; and
its practice is not nearly sufficiently known in the English-
speaking countries. Only recently in a prominent English
medical journal, among a long list of more or less reliable signs
of pregnancy Hegar’s sign was not even mentioned. This
omission could only be from ignorance.

Placenta prccvia and its management are admirably treated.
The methods of Barnes and Braxton-Hicks are fully set forth
and deserving weight attached to them. Here, too, is
evidenced a typical instance of the author’s views as to the
place and power of remedies. “ In the treatment of un¬
avoidable haemorrhage during delivery, we can expect but

little aid from drugs administered in any form.

After labour our remedies will be of great service.”

The topic of extra-uterine gestation is hardly treated by
the author at his best. The signs and symptoms anterior to
rupture are correctly stated, but hardly with sufficient discrimi¬
nation ; and the issue of events after rupture is capable of
being treated with classic precision. The clearness of con¬
ception gained by dividing the direction of rupture into
intra-ligamentous and intra-peritoneal is invaluable ; and the
recognition of the one or the other course is essential for the
prognosis of events. If the gush of tubal contents be intra¬
ligamentous the result in the majority of instances is com¬
paratively free from risk. But if the foetus and placenta be
expelled into the peritoneal cavity, the outlook, both immediate
and remote, is grave indeed.

It is with much pleasure that we welcome Prof. Leavitt’s
work as a valuable contribution to obstetrics in general, and
to the homoeopathic supervision of gestation in particular. The
author is happiest and most forceful when detailing his actual
experience, or enunciating axioms of practice derived there¬
from. Through the whole book there breathes the spirit of
the original worker and the careful observer of nature, and
the value of this faculty is such that we heartily commend
the perusal of this work to our readers.

MEETINGS.

BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC SOCIETY.

The third meeting of the session was held at the London
Homoeopathic Hospital on Thursday, December 1st.

The following gentlemen were elected members of the
Society:—Drs. Bodman (Clifton); Buchanan (London^;
Cavenagh (Worcester); Cox (Manchester); G. Craig (Bir-

Digitized by ^ooQle

MEETINGS*

Monthly HoAoopftthte
Berfcnr, Jan. % 1808.

mingham); Craig (Stoke-on-Trent); J. Craig (Birmingham);
Drummond (Malvern); Hall (Bacup); Mitchell (Stoke-on-
Trent) ; Nicholson (Clifton); Ockenden (Brighton); Boss
^Sc arborough); Gordon Smth (Liverpool); Steinthal (Boch-

T^e President announced that a branch of the Society had
been formed in Liverpool by the affiliation of the Liverpool
Homoeopathic Medico - Chir urgical Society with the British
Homoeopathic Society.

Dr. E. A. Cook read a paper entitled The Ovary and
Endometrium as Glandular Structure .

In the paper he proposed to consider how far diseases of
the uterus and ovaries may be looked at as diseases of
glandular structure, what influence abnormal nerve action
had upon them, and whether, by considering these diseases
as nerve irritation acting through glandular structure we
might not get light on treatment. He quoted Tait and John¬
stone in support of the view of the ovary and the endome¬
trium being glandular, and argued that if this was so, then
medicines that acted on glands in other parts of the body
would affect similar glands connected with the uterus and
ovaries. If an organ was found to secrete, and had glandular
structure, and was seen in the opposite sex to develop into an
organ which had all the functions of a gland, then we might
consider the organ in question a gland, too. He maintained
that the endometrium had ordinary glandular structure
and secreting power. The analogy of the ovary being a
gland could be tested if the ovary were affected by disease,
by medicine, by poisons in a similar manner to other glands.

Illustrations were then given to illustrate this idea, from
the actions of disease and drugs upon glands. He next
referred to the strong influence of nerve action on gland
structure, and instanced many cases in point. He thought
that the intimate nearness of nerve action and sexual erethism
was far too often overlooked. He deplored the ignorance of
young women as to the importance of their sexual functions,
and thought that it was no wonder that they had swollen ovaries,
distended tubes, painful catamenia, and all the ills which
civilised life makes women heir to. He considered such drugs
as origanum, ferrum mur ., damiana and iodine valuable aids in
small doses in allaying irritation of nerve connected with
ovarian disease. Speaking of the surgical treatment of the
ovary, he considered operation frequently relieved, but as
frequently left matters in their unameliorated condition.
Nor did the relief by medicines fulfil by any means our
expectations and desires. He felt that he had opened up some
prospect of relief in his own experience by studying treatment

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthl y HomaBopitlkie
Reritw, Jan. 2, lfe&

MEETINGS,

of ovarian diseases from the standpoint of its being > of
glandular origin.

Dr. Hughes thought that a woman was what her ovaries
made her—in most oases unconsciously. He had always
thought that the ovary was a gland, and it had helped him in
treatment. He had had no experience with damiana, \mt he
had often found origanum useful. Platina was useful in
checking morbid tendencies. Another medicine was lilvum.

Dr. Neatby mentioned a case showing the connection
between the parotid gland and the ovary—a case of unilateral
mumps followed by ovarian pain and miscarriage.

Dr. Dudgeon wanted a definition of a gland. In one sense
every organ might be said to be a gland, or to contain glands.
There was a great analogy between the testicle and the ovary.
In a case in which the ovaries were enlarged to the size of a
fist he had upon the analogy prescribed graphites and the
tumours had disappeared. He related a case to show the
danger of girls being brought up in ignorance of their sexual
system.

Dr. Bubford thought that they must not depend wholly on
text books. The ovaries were said to condition the function
of menstruation, they had but little to do with it, for when
removed the patient might continue to menstruate. The ovary
was not a gland in the sense that its secretion was influenced
by nerves or blood supply. The tubes should then be more
of a glandular structure than the ovaries, as the tubes and
their surroundings had far more influence on uterine functions
than the ovaries. Removal of the tubes caused the cessation
of the function of menstruation. When the ovary and the
breast were compared as to the development of new growths
no analogy existed. It was seen that in young girls tumours
of the ovary were sarcomatous, and in the breasts not so. The
theory advanced by Dr. Cook was still inchoate and embryonic,
but it formed an excellent working hypothesis.

Dr. Mora thought the greatest triumphs were to be looked
for in the way of prevention, and Dr. Cook’s paper was full
of suggestion as to what might be done in that direction.

The President had also prescribed graphites on the
suggestion of Dr. Dudgeon. It had not been proved to his
satisfaction that the ovary was a gland. There were clinical
reasons for thinking that it was not a gland. Iodine , which
had such a marked effect upon glands, had none on the ovary.

Dr. Cook in reply admitted that it was not easy to define a
gland. He put forward what he had said as speculations only.
It was the heretic who doubted received doctrines who often
led the way to discovery.

Digitized by ^ooQle

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic*
Review, Jan. *, 1888.

Dr. Byres Mom next read a paper entitled Some Observa¬
tions on the Diuretic Action of Apocynum Cannahinum .

The drug had first been brought to notice in Hale's New
Remedies. Dr. Peters had proved it with a strong decoction*
and found the urine diminished. Dr. Marey proved it with
the third dilution, and observed first some diminution, and 1
then an increase of the flow of the urine. New provings'
were to be found in the Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy. He*
referred to an article by Dr. Murray in the Therapeutic Gazette ,
who came to the conclusion that apocynum did not act as a
diuretic in Bright’s disease, but that it acted through the
heart as digitalis and strophanthus. Dr. Moir described a case
of his own in which the drug had been used for ascites and
anasarca of cardiac origin, where the amount of urine was
increased from thirty-nine to one hundred and fifty-four ounces,
per diem, with the disappearance of the dropsy. He next
quoted a case of Dr. Epps where, owing to cardiac failure,,
there was excessive oedema, and where the amount of urine
excreted was increased by the use of the infusion from twenty
ounces to, on one occasion, three hundred and twenty ounces
per diem. A further case of Dr. Blackley’s showed an in¬
crease in the amount secreted from ten-and-a-half ounces to
two hundred and two ounces. He presented the experience
of others of the use of the drug. Dr. Arthur Clifton having
used it with good effect in dropsy, due to passive congestion
and enlargement of the liver, leading to cardiac dilatation and
kidney inaction. He used Bcericke and Tafel’s concentrated
decoction. Dr. A. S. Alexander had used the drug for years
with the greatest success in cases of oedema of the legs and
even of ascites due to cardiac weakness. Dr. Hardy con¬
sidered that as a diuretic in the anasarca of Bright’s disease*
and more especially of cardiac disease, it had no superior.
Dr. Percy Wilde had not been able to obtain satisfactory
diuretic results. In endeavouring to ascertain in what class,
of cases apocynum was useful he was inclined to think that
they were those mentioned by Dr. Clifton. In conclusion ha
quoted Drs. Drysdale and E. M. Hale to show that there was
a homoeopathic action in the use of the drug in dropsy.

Dr. Hughes had been disappointed with the drug in dropsy.
He had only used the tincture.

Dr. Cook thought all depended whether the drug was freshly
prepared or not, and instanced several drugs whose action was
different whether the drug was used in a fresh or dried state.

Dr. Burford had only given the drug once to a patient with
oedema of the legs, due to a large abdominal tumour. The;

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2,1893.

MEETINGS.

quantity of the urine was doubled, but the albumen which
existed was not influenced.

Dr. Dudgeon thought that if a drachm of the infusion was
given the action was allopathic. He did not suppose Dr-
Moir had seen apocynum given in dilutions produce any
diuretic action. He had not seen it do good in dropsy, it
sometimes purged. When apis removed dropsy it acted
homoeopathically.

Dr. Lough had never seen any diuretic action when using
the tincture. He should in future use the infusion.

Mr. Knox Shaw thought that it was quite possible to
ascribe a homoeopathic action to apocynum in dropsy, in the
same manner as he had tried to show at the Congress last
year that iodide of potassium might be considered homoeo¬
pathic to tertiary syphilis. Provings with large doses of
apocynum showed a diminution of the amount of urine, prov¬
ings with small doses that the urine increased. When
provings with massive doses produced a given effect moderate
doses would relieve the corresponding symptom in the
diseased state ; but when a proving with a dilution revealed
an opposite action to that induced by the larger dose a higher
dilution must be given if its similarly-acting curative action
was desired.

Dr. Jagielski would like to know whether any alkaloid had
been discovered in apocynum .

Dr. Neatby had been disappointed with the drug in renal
dropsy, but he had confidence in it in cases of heart disease
due to chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Mr. Cox had seen the drugs used many times whilst he was
in the hospital, and had seen good results in heart and not
in renal dropsy.

Dr. Epps said that in giving a drachm of the infusion not
more than a grain and a-half of the root was administered.

The President said the medicine did not act in all cases of
dropsy. It was at present being used in the wards in the case
of a woman, age 45, with oedema due to old bronchitis and
emphysema, but without much appreciable effect though she
was taking three drachms three times a day.

Dr. Moir in reply said that it was impossible to get the
drug fresh. It had been noted before, as in Dr. Burford’s case,
that the quantity of albumen was unaffected. He could not
understand Dr. Dudgeon saying that because he had used
large doses therefore the action could not be homoeopathic.
He thought that that was not homoeopathy—the homoeopath-
icity consisted in the similar action and not in the dose.
High dilutions had been found to increase the amount of
urine, and were homoeopathic to such conditions as diabetes
insipidus.

Digitized by

MEETINGS

Monthly Hoaa»Ofwthto
Review, Jan. 2, ISM.

LIVERPOOL BRANCH, BRITISH HOM(EOPATHIO
SOCIETY.

The usual monthly meeting was held in the Hahnemann
Hospital, Liverpool, on Thursday, Dec. 1st, Dr. Hawkes, the
President, occupying the chair.

The Secretary read a letter received from the Secretary of the
British Homoeopathic Society, to the effect that the Council
of that Society had much pleasure in admitting the Liver¬
pool Homoeopathic Medico-Chirurgical Society as a branch of
the British Homoeopathic Society.

It was therefore decided that the Society should in future
adopt the new name of the “ Liverpool Branch of the British
Homoeopathic Society.” Dr. Hayward, Senr., was appointed
representative of the Branch Society on the General Council.

Several cases of interest were mentioned by different mem¬
bers, those of special importance being three which Dr. Hawkes
brought forward, and in each of which pathological specimens
were exhibited. The cases were as follows:—

1. —A case of melanotic sarcoma of the liver. The patient
when examined during life was found to have extensive dul-
ness all over the abdomen, the exact diagnosis of the nature
of which was for some time doubtful. At the post-mortem ,
which was only allowed to be imperfectly made, the liver was
found practically to fill up the whole abdominal cavity. The
interesting feature of the case was the distinctly melanotic
character of the urine, a specimen of which was passed round
for inspection ; and some good microscopical slides of sectional
preparations of the liver were shown.

2. —A portion of an atheromatous aorta was shown from a
case that towards the end had closely simulated aortic aneurism.
During the last week or so the pulses were unequal, but not
the pupils ; there was dulness to the right of the sternum, a
systolic bruit was audible in the second intercostal space, and
a shrill cough developed. In addition the patient suffered
from severe pain, dyspnoea, and restlessness. A post-mortem
revealed a greatly enlarged fatty heart. The auricles were
much dilated, and their walls degenerated and thin. The
right auricle was found to occupy the position of the supposed
aneurism.

8.—An ovary was exhibited which Dr. Hawkes had
successfully removed from a case of inguinal hernia, the
patient being 80 years of age. The hernia came on after her
first confinement.

A discussion afterwards took place upon Health Resorts,
being based upon Dr. Hayward’s recent paper on Grand
Canary as a Health Resort. Dr. Murray Moore compared

Digitized by

Bcritw, Ju. 2,

PERISCOPE.

the climate of New Zealand with that of the Canary Islands
in its relation to consumption; the comparison being in
favour of the latter resort. Dr. Mahony maintained that
climate has far less to do with the cure of phthisis than is
generally imagined, and that the essential feature was to
attend to the manner of life and general sanitation, and above
all to insist upon open air exercise. Dr. Hawkes mentioned
the importance of early morning exercise in phthisical cases,
but a respirator should be worn. He also referred to China,
Davos Platz, Mentone, Bournemouth and other frequently
mentioned health resorts.

PERISCOPE.

MATERIA MEDICA.

Passifloba Incabnata. —Dr. A. J. Harvey calls attention to
this drug as a valuable remedy for insomnia occurring in
debilitated subjects with a feeble and irregular action of the
heart, when sleeplessness does not arise from pain, but is
solely nervous in character, and not controlled by coffea ,
opium , sulphur , or any other indicated remedy. He had also
found it useful in delmum tremens from over indulgence in
alcoholic beverages, and for the cure of the morphine habit,
the dose ranging from ten to sixty drops of the tincture every
hour or two until tranquil sleep is procured.

In relation to the same drug, Dr. Wheeler, in a paper
before one of the American medical societies, accentuated
what has already been noticed, and in addition set forth its
action on the cerebro-spinal nervous tract, and the ganglia of
the thorax and the abdominal organs, and gave some clinical
indications for the use of the drug in other neurotic forms of
disease, such for instance as irregular and rapid respirations,
due to irritation of the medulla; cardiac pains, with constant
and immediate fear of death; neuralgia of the face from the
fifth pair of nerves; enlarged prostate; irregular pains in
pregnancy, and for dysmenorrhoBa. Another physician,
Dr. Tooher, moreover, relates that he cured a case of nervous
cough by this remedy, which case had resisted other and
specially-indicated remedies.— Med . Era , 1892.

Cabbolic Acid. —Dr. Harvey also calls attention to this
remedy for the early stage of diabetes mellitus, and states that
he permanently cured three cases of this disease by the drug
(the dose is not mentioned).

Acetic Acid.— The same physician claims great therapeutic
efficiency for this drug, in the 3x dilution, in cases of
membranous croup. Dr. Wm. Owen, moreover, remarks

Digitized by ^ooQle

PERISCOPE.

Monthly HomoMpnfhfo
Review, Jan. % 1889.

that acetic acid in a diluted form is aseptic and antiseptic,
that a small quantity of vinegar sprinkled about a room will
overcome the offensive odour from small pox, diphtheria and
typhus fever. He also states that this drug as a gargle in
putrid sore throats of scarlatina and diphtheria is largely
beneficial. In epithelioma and other cancerous affections,
he found it very beneficial, using it locally in the 2x dilution,
and giving it internally in the lx dilution, and he relates two
cases of supposed cancer of the pylorus, accompanied with
vomiting of food, blood and mucus, and with obstinate con¬
stipation, and in each case acetic acid effected a cure.— (Ibid.)

Plantago Major.— It is claimed that this drug will
cure nine tenths of cases of otalgia, when the pains proceed
from diseased teeth and extend to the ear.— (Ibid.)

Lithia Carbonica. —Dr. Clifford Mitchell states that in
cases of diabetes mellitus, and under milk diet, he has
prescribed lithia, with very good results, where the urine was
strongly acid when first voided, and was rich in uric acid
crystals, and the patient suffered from rheumatic pains.— (Ibid.)

Tuberculin.— Dr. Arnulphy relates that he was directed to
this remedy from an article that appeared in L'Art Midical ,
1891, by Dr. Jousset, of Paris, who cited quite an array of
cases of phthisis, in which he had used tuberculin 6x to 12x,
with an encouraging sum of success, generally administered
hypodermically, but sometimes in the ordinary way. Acting
on this hint, Dr. Arnulphy prescribed tuberculin in several
similar cases, and although he had met with very indifferent
success, it was of marked benefit in some cases of a pronounced
character, and he suggests that the proper field for tuberculin
is cases of acute tuberculosis, precisely where Koch and his
followers persistently, but rightly from their standpoint,
refuse to use it.— (Ibid.)

Apocynum Cannab.— S. A. J. writes an article on apocynum
cannabinum in the Homoeopathic Eecorder (Nov., 1892). He
relates provings by Knapp with an infusion of the powdered
root, and by Peters with half-wineglassful doses of Hunt's
decoction, which is an infusion of the root with a small
quantity of gin. The characteristic symptoms were found to
be diminished frequency of the pulse, increased calibre of the
arterioles, vomiting, with sleep before and after, diarrhoea
without pain, scantiness of urine, and distension of the abdo¬
men about the stomach, liver and spleen, the lower abdomen
meanwhile not being more flatulent than usual. There were
also quasi-rheumatic pains in the knees, nasal catarrh and
ophthalmia. When used homoeopathically in accordance with
these indications it was found very useful in renal dropsies by

Digitized by ^ooQle

PEBISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 3,1893.

increasing the force and frequency of the heart and toning up
the arterioles, and thus causing greatly increased elimination
of urine. Its action on the arterioles was also found to be
very useful in some cases of menorrhagia and weak pulse and
great irritability of the stomach and vomiting. Other haemo¬
rrhages, as haemoptysis and intestinal haemorrhage, have also
been benefited when the same indications were present.

The homoeopathicity of the drug to menorrhagia is further
shown by the fact that in a patient to whom it was given for
ascites, and who had passed the change of life, its administra¬
tion was followed in each instance by a return of the menstrual
flow ; the ascites not being at all affected.

Sabal Serrulata. —Dr. D. N. Ray, of Calcutta, reports
some very successful cases of treatment of urinary fistula due to
stricture and subsequent formation of perinaeal abscess. The
drug used was sabal serrulata , or saw palmetto, in drop doses of
mother tincture three times daily. The strictures gradually
disappeared, and as they did so, and more urine passed by the
natural passage, the fistulas by degrees closed. He has found
the sabal serrulata very useful also in reducing the enlarged
prostates of old men and curing the urinary ailments depend¬
ing on them.— Homoeopathic Recorder, Nov., 1892.

MEDICINE.

Diagnosis of Pregnancy. —Dr. Wm. Gray, of Virginia, has
demonstrated a new symptom by which pregnancy can be
diagnosed. He has found that in pregnancy, as in all
unusual strains upon the nervous system, the elimination
of phosphates is increased. But in pregnancy not only
is there this increase in the urinary phosphates, but
the microscopical appearance of the crystals is altered.
The normal triple phosphate crystal loses its feathery
form and disintegrates. Instead of the feathery appear¬
ance being preserved to the extreme top, equally clear
on each side of the stem, the branches drop off, beginning at
the top and progressing towards the base ; or only one side
•of the leaflet may be affected, leaving the other side intact.
As the disintegration progresses only the bare stem may be
left, with a few scraggy points jutting from its sides. These
changes commence in the phosphates within 20 days after
conception, and continue till about the middle of the seventh
month, when they gradually become less pronounced, and the
crystals approach the normal type up to the end of gestation.
Should the death of the foetus occur during gestation the
phosphates at once become normal.— New York Medical Times ,
April, 1892. ..

Digitized by ^ooQle

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 9,1808.

Cardiac Tonics. —A recent number of the Brit. Med . JnZ.
(Nov. 26, 1892), contains an account of a discussion on this
subject at the Nottingham meeting of the British Medical
Association, opened by Dr. Broadbent. His paper is interest¬
ing chiefly from its elementary nature, showing how the
author deems it important to keep before the profession many
well recognised facts. The paper is worthy of perusal, though
the discussion apart from the introductory address was singu-
lary devoid of value. We can only signalise a few of the
most prominent points brought out by the speaker.

After describing what takes place in mitral regurgitation,
he “ emphasises the fact that the work of compensation. . . .
falls upon the right ventricle.” It is by improving the con¬
tractile power of the right ventricle, and so raising the tension
in the pulmonary circulation and left auricle, and by lengthen¬
ing the period of diastole, that digitalis does good. In aortic
regurgitation digitalis does good chiefly where there are
mitral regurgitation symptoms, i.e “ obstructive backworking
through the lungs and right heart, giving rise to venous
obstruction and dropsy.” “ There are, in effect, aortic
physical signs with mitral symptoms.” The same may be
said regarding aortic stenosis, but in this condition digitalis is
even less useful than in incompetency, and may do harm if over
stimulation is applied to the ventricle. In fatty degeneration
of the heart, the administration of digitalis ( i.e . 9 in antipathic
doses) is only fraught with danger.

Dr. Stockman, of Edinburgh, drew attention to the value
of small doses of digitalis , saying that in any form of valvular
lesion, when the blood is not properly distributed, digitalis
would do good if not given in too large doses. He remarked
that after poisoning a dog with digitalis its heart was invariably
found in diastole if small enough doses were given.

In his reply Dr. Broadbent said “ the greatest of cardiac
tonics is rest.” Another speaker advocated prolonged rest in
bed in aortic regurgitation.

Lupus. —Dr. Harrison, of Clifton, exhibited some cases of
lupus and photographs of others at the Nottingham meeting of
the British Medical Association, which he believed he had
cured by applying to the affected part at night an aqueous
solution of the hypophosphite of soda gr. 40 to 3 i. through
lint, and covering it with gutta percha tissue or oiled silk,
and so saturating the tissues with this soda salt. The next
morning he applies a lotion, consisting of 5 minims of pure
hydrochloric acid (B.P.) in 3 i. of water. In this way, deep
down in the diseased structures a quantity of nascent sulphur
and sulphurous acid are formed.

Digitized by ^ooQle

IfnwtMy HflllMBOpitMO

Beriew, Jan. % 1891.

PERISCOPE.

Drowning. —Laborde (Rev. GSn. de Med., July 20th, 1892)
reports that in two cases of submersion in which the patients
seemed to be dead, he used the following procedure, which he
is in the habit of employing on the animals in his laboratory.
It consists in seizing the tongue, pulling it out of the
mouth, and making rhythmical traction on it. This is
followed in the first place by reflex hiccough, then by spon¬
taneous contractions of the diaphragm, and finally by re¬
establishment of circulation and respiration. As an adjuvant
to this procedure the application to the epigastrium of cloths
soaked in very hot water, even at the risk of burning the skin,
is found useful.

Acute Anaemia. —P. T. Neustube (Vratch, No. 20, 1892).
recommends rectal injections of a physiological saline solution
as a convenient, easy, harmless, and efficacious substitute for
intravenous, intraperitoneal, or subcutaneous transfusion (see
Epitome, May 21st, 1892, par. 459), in cases of acute
anaemia, due to po&Upartum haemorrhage. He dissolves a
teaspoonful of common salt in a bottleful of tepid water, and
injects the whole into the rectum, taking the usual precautions
for preventing reflux. The author employed this simple pro¬
cedure in five cases (three in hospital and two in private prac¬
tice), every one of the women making good recovery. One of
the cases was an abortion in a patient suffering from typhoid
fever with diarrhoea. Contrary to the expectations of the
author’s colleagues, she retained the injected fluid perfectly well.

Metastatic Choroiditis. —Dr. Mittendorf in an article on
this subject published in the Medical Record of August 27th,
1892, classifies attacks of this kind into two varieties,—those
4 ue to a severe traumatism, or disease of which septicaemia is
the result, and those accompanying severe constitutional dis¬
eases associated with or followed by suppuration, such as the
exanthematous fevers, cerebro-spinal meningitis and others.
He remarks that there have been epidemics of these diseases
distinguished by the occurrence of a large number of metastatic
affections of the choroid. These are the less severe varieties of
the disease, the choroiditis being more usually of a plastic than
of a purulent character, so that there is no complete breaking
down of affected parts, and partial recovery may occur; but
nevertheless great impairment of the vision, and even atrophy
of the eye, and complete blindness often result. Cases of this
kind may be easily overlooked at the time, the other symptoms
of the constitutional disease monopolising the attention. The
more severe and suppurative form occurs after suppurative
inflammation of the joints, after purulent endocarditis, after
empyaemic and other septic diseases, and frequently during

Digitized by ^ooQle

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homooopftthio
Review, Jan. 2,1828.

the puerperal state. In these cases the whole eye becomes
affected, and there is soon a pan-ophthalmitis with severe pains,
chills, and febrile disturbances, which increase till an opening
occurs in the sclero-comea and pus escapes, after which the
tension is relieved, the ball becomes soft and begins to shrink.
There is always total lossofsight. In commencing inflammatory
changes in eyeball, such as wounds of cornea with suspiciously
infiltrated margins, in deep-seated infiltration of cornea, and
in obstinate cases of plastic and purulent iritis, Dr. Mitten-
dorf has had much success in applying to the eye by means of
an eye-cup solutions of perchloride of mercury of strength 1 in
5,000 to 1 in 8,000.

DISEASES OF CHILDREN.

French Laws about Feeding. —It is said, we know not if
on good authority, that 44 it is now illegal in France for any
person to give children under one year of age any solid food
except on medical advice, and nurses are forbidden to use
nursing bottles having rubber tubes.”— New Remedies , Oct.

Trusses for Hernia in Infancy. —The New York Medical
Record (July 16th, 1892) commenting on an article on Hernia
by Dr. de Garmo, of New York, states the opinion of the
author that 41 all substitutes for trusses such as bandages,
elastic bands, hanks of worsted, &c., should be rejected.’*
With this our experience is in entire accord. If the child is
old enough to wear any apparatus at all it should be a
properly-adjusted truss. Dr. De Garmo condemns “all
infant trusses which are made to apply from the side of the
rupture.’* The spring passing across the body from the
rupture (“ cross-body truss **) surrounds about two-thirds of
the pelvis, and readily holds itself in place whether the
completing strap is buttoned or not.

Nervous Diseases due to Congenital Syphilis. —Dr. Had¬
den points out (J Brit. Med. Jnl., Nov. 26, 1892) that evidence
is accumulating to show that arterial disease in young children
with congenital syphilis is not so uncommon as was formerly
supposed. He instances the case of a child of six weeks old
with arterial degeneration and advanced cirrhosis of liver.
Hemiplegia in children under three years of age is very often
sudden in onset, and is probably due to thrombosis or embo¬
lism. Of twenty-five cases of sudden hemiplegia. Dr. Hadden
found a suspicion of syphilis in five, stronger evidence in six,
and definite proof in two.

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Jan. 8,1898.

NOTABILIA.

LECTURES AT THE LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC
HOSPITAL.

The Educational Committee of the Medical Staff desire to make
the following announcements :—

Dr. Dyce Brown has been appointed to the Quin Lecture¬
ship, and will accordingly deliver two special lectures in
January.

Dr. Burford has been appointed to the Bayes Lectureship,
and will deliver two special lectures in April.

Post-Graduate Lectures will be given by the members of
the Medical Staff during the months of February, March and
May.

These lectures will be delivered in the Board Room of the
London Homoeopathic Hospital on Fridays, on the specified
dates, at 8 p.m.

All medical practitioners and medical students are invited
by the hospital staff to attend.

1898. Calendar.

Jan. 18.—Quin Lecture I. Dr. Dyce Brown. — 14 On some
Functional Disorders of the Digestive Organs, and
their appropriate Therapeutics.”

„ 27.—Quin Lecture II. Dr. Dyce Brown. —The same

( continued ).

Feb. 10.—Post-Graduate Lecture. Mr. Dudley Wrioht.—
Lecture-Demonstration 44 On the commoner Affec¬
tions of the Nose and Throat.”

„ 24.—Post-Graduate Lecture. Mr. Knox-Shaw. —“Pit-

falls in the Treatment of Eye Diseases.”

Mar. 10.—Post-Graduate Lecture. Dr. J. H. Clarke. —“ On
the Therapeutics of the Serpent-Poisons.”

„ 24.—Post-Graduate Lecture. Dr. Roberson Day. —

44 On the more important Aspects of Children’s
Diseases.”

April 7. — Bayes Lecture I. Dr. Burford.— 44 On Malignant
Lesions of the Abdomen of Pelvic Origin: their
Natural History, Differentiation and Therapeutic
Management.” Illustrated by specimens, charts
and lantern slides.

„ 21. —Bayes Lecture H.—Dr. Burford. The same (con¬

tinued).

May 5.—Post-Graduate Lecture. Dr. Edwin Neatby. —Lec¬
ture-Demonstration on “Diseases of the Spinal
Cord, with Practical Remarks on Treatment.”

Yol. 37, No. 1. E

Digitized by

Google

NOTAB ILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Rarlew, Jan. 2,196.

Hahnemann Gold Medal Thesis.

The medical staff of the hospital desire to announce that a
gold medal of the value of £10 will be offered biennially for
the best Thesis on such subject or subjects as will be deter¬
mined and announced by the Staff at the necessary times.

The first award will be made in December, 1894, and
Thesis must be delivered at the hospital before September 1st,
1894.

The Medical Staff has selected as the subject and scope of the
first Thesis as follows , viz .:—

An original monograph on the physiology and therapeutics
of some one or more of the newer remedies, comprising exact
observation on the physiological phenomena induced by the
drug action, and verified observation on the therapeutic range
of the remedy or remedies.

The detailed conditions under which each Thesis must be
written and sent in may be obtained from the Secretary of
the Educational Committee, at the Hospital, to whom all
communications are to be addressed.

We have quoted in full the programme of lectures issued
by the Educational Committee of the London Homoeopathic
Hospital, for the benefit of those who may not have received
one by post, and because we are glad permanently to chronicle
the syllabus of so important a course. We congratulate the
committee on their enterprise, and have no hesitation in
predicting success for an undertaking in which no element
conducive to success is lacking. The variety of the subjects,
the practical nature of many of them, and the convenient
hour selected for the lectures, leave nothing to be desired.

A new feature of these lectures is the establishment of
lectureships in honour and commemoration of men to whom
the hospital, and indirectly most of the practitioners of
homoeopathy, are enduringly indebted—in an educational
sense more especially. Dr. Quin and Dr. Bayes stand out
prominently amongst the medical men who have by their
brain, their influence and their money, helped to diffuse a
knowledge of homoeopathy in this country and to place it on
a permanent basis.

We have special pleasure in calling attention to the
Hahnemann Gold Medal Thesis. Since the publication of the
first volume of Materia Medica Physiological and Applied , little
important original and reliable work on pharmacodynamics
and therapeutics has appeared. Here is an opportunity for
someone to win for himself unfading laurels—unfading
because the laureate’s work will minister comfort and
blessing to others in present and future time.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HomcBopathic
Beriew, Jan. 2,1893.

NO TAB ILIA.

“IRREGULAR HEART” AT THE LONDON MEDICAL
SOCIETY.

The British Homoeopathic Society at its meeting in October
last year, was engaged in the discussion of a paper on
44 Stammering Heart/’ read by Dr. Dudgeon, and we observe
that the London Medical Society, at its meeting on the 12th
December last, was occupied with the discussion of a similar
subject, brought before them by Dr; A. E. Sansom under the
title of 44 Irregular Heart (arhythmia).” Dr. Sansom’s obser¬
vations, like those of Dr. Dudgeon, 44 did not apply to cases
of arhythmia associated with valvular or other structural
lesions of the heart, but bore exclusively upon cases of idio¬
pathic persistent irregularity of long standing. He insisted
upon the value of the sphygmograph as a means of obtaining
precise information as to the nature and extent of cardiac
irregularities.” Dr. B. W. Richardson said that 44 as a rule
the patient is not cognisant of the irregularity, and when it
is perceptible to him it is an unfavourable sign.” This differs
from Dr. Dudgeon’s experience, who found that it made no
difference whether the patient was aware or whether he was
not aware of the irregularity, except that when the irregu¬
larity was very perceptible to him it often caused him great
anxiety until he was assured that the symptom was of little
or no importance, when it did not depend on structural lesion
of the heart, or on some disease of other organs. Dr. Stephen
Mackenzie said he had observed 44 that cardiac irregularity
might exist for years without prejudicing the patient’s general
health,” and this corresponded with the experience of our
colleague in regard to the irregularities he included under the
term 44 Stammering Heart.” It is curious that the two
writers should have been occupied with the consideration of
the same subject at nearly the same time.

AMERICAN NOTES.

The following article from the Clinical Reporter is so
characteristically American in its directness and its humour
as well as in its phraseology, that we are sure our readers will
peruse it with pleasure and advantage. It is a criticism on
the offer of a one hundred dollar prize by Dr. Gould, of
Philadelphia, for the best essay on 44 The ridiculous pretensions
of modem homoeopathy,” to which we recently referred in
these notes.

The editor of the Reporter writes:—

44 After the last year’s meeting of the American Institute of

e —2

Digitized by

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homueopathle
Review, Jan. 2,1»»

5*2

Homoeopathy, Dr. George M. (Mouther ?) Gould set himself
the very easy task of ‘ downing * homoeopathy—a sort of a
4 breakfast job 9 for such an intellectual giant as he saw when¬
ever a looking-glass came in his way. After a year’s struggle,,
however, the only down visible was on the doughty knight-
errant’s upper lip. He was getting sick of the undertaking,
and on the 3rd of May last, in an address before a graduating
class of old-school saw-bones, he offered to sublet the job and
give a bonus of one hundred dollars to any one who would
take it off his hands. * * * *

“ Strange to say, Gould’s munificent offer does not seem to
‘ enthuse * the old-school medical press. Most of its journals
do not even mention it—the few that do, make no comments.
Evidently, poor young Gould is not even going to get a
hundred dollars’ worth of advertising out of his offer. We
feel sorry for him and want to give him a chance to recoup.
He makes a specialty of ophthalmology. We will
give Dr. Gould one hundred dollars if, in a seriea
of two, three, four or five hundred ophthalmological
cases, to be selected by a committee under such safe¬
guards and limitations as to make fraud and favouritism
impossible, an equal number being treated by Dr. Gould and
by a homoeopathic ophthalmologist, to be named by us, the
results of homoeopathic treatment are not superior to the
results obtained by Dr. Gould. Dr. Gould will please notice
that this is no wager ; he is not to put up a cent; he is to risk
nothing (except that of proving, in his oxen chosen field , the
superiority, or to be shown up as a blatherskite and jaw-smith),
while he stands to show at least the equality, of old-school
treatment. The cases may be operative or not, though we
should prefer the non-operative as giving a better opportunity
to compare therapeutic results.

“ Returning to the matter of the coming prize essay, we
would advise the doughty Gould to invest in a copy of
Homoeopathic Bibliography , just issued by Boericke and Tafel.
Here lie w ill find eight large pages devoted to 4 A list of
some of the more important books and pamphlets against
Homoeopathy.* This list will show him that since 1886
homoeopathy has received its death-blow many, many times.
In chronological order (leaving out anonymous executioners)
we find that homoeopathy was 4 killed dead ’ by the following
authors, and by some of them as often as three or four times.
(We mention this to encourage Dr. Gould in the good work in
case his first prize-essay should not make homoeopathy stay
dead.) We give only the names of authors ; for titles and
publishers* names see Bradford’s Bibliography , as above :

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Hocnceopathle
. Review, Jan. 9.1898.

NOTABILIA.

1835—Drs. Lacombe, Wm. Leo
Wolf.

1837— Edwin Lee.

1838— J. McNaughton.

1842—Thos. W. B latch ford, Robley
Dunglison, Oliver Wen¬
dell Holmes, Alex.
Walker.

1844—Elisha Bartlett.

1846— R. M. Huston, L. M.

Lawson.

1847— Isaac Jennings, Henry

Miller, Jno. Stearns.

1848— J. P. Kirtland, Edwin Lee

(again)

1849— E. H. Dixon, Sam A. Latta.

1860— Worthington Hooker, S. A.

Latta (again).

1861— Thos. E. Bond, W. Hooker

(again), Edwin Lee (third
time).

1852—W. Hooker (third time'.
1863—P. Dyer, Chas. A. Lee, H.
B. Musgrave, J. H. Nut¬
ting.

1854—B. Gerondalo, Jaa. T. Simp¬
son.

1858— Jacob Bigelow (two-death-

blows), John Forbes (two
death-blows) D. King.

1859— M. L. Linton.

1860— Oliver Wendell Holmes

(second time).

1864—T. Halliard Thomas.

1869—Richard McSherry. A. B.

Palmer.

1876—A. Sager.

1876—W. R. Dunham, Geo. E.
Frothingham, A. B. Pal¬
mer (again).

1879— E. S. Donster, A. B. Palmer

(again).

1880— F. F. Moore, G. C. Smythe.

1881— A. B. Palmer (fourth death¬

blow).

1886—V. Y. Bowditch.

1887 Henry I. Bowditch.

1890—Nathan Jacobson.

44 In the above list, the doughty Gould will find all sorts of
weapons, from dignified argument to Billingsgate. Yet hated
Homoeopathy still survives. It is, perhaps, not so very
strange, after all, that the longer heads among the old-school
editors do not grow very enthusiastic over the coming death¬
blow, or that our side of the house should be getting ready to
have just one more laugh at the lad who, not knowing 4 just
how the old thing works,’ is anxious to spend one hundred
dollars of his mamma’s money 4 to see the wheels go wound.’

44 Is it too much to ask our old-school exchanges, which
liave published Dr. Gould’s prize offer to the world, to
mention the Clinical Reporter's prize offer to Dr. Gould—
just as a matter of news you know ? Or, do they not believe
that * the proof of the pudding is in chewing the pudding-
'String?”'

The Homoeopathic Journal of Obstetrics , Gynaecology, and
Pedology for July contained discussions on nearly a score of
topics, all of them of vital importance to every physician in
general practice. In pursuance of the purpose to give each
issue of the Journal a character of its own, Dr. Winterbum
devotes this entire number to the consideration of the diseases
of children. As will be remembered, the May number of the
Journal contained a notable symposium on the repair of the
lacerated perineum, in which thirty prominent gynecologists
mid surgeons took part. The July issue is increased to 128
pages, and contained contributions from thirty-four prominent

Digitized by

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jen. % 1808.

physiriaas, includingall the papers in paedology read at the
recent meeting of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, at
Washington, and six papers read before the New York Paedo¬
logies! Society, beside others. Dr. Winterburn also con¬
tributes about 14,000 words in the form of editorials,
therapeutic hints in the management of diseases of children,
book reviews, and an address delivered at Albany, last Feb¬
ruary, entitled “ The First Hours of Life.”

The leading article of this number is by Dr. Talcott, of the
Middletown Asylum, on “ The Insane Diathesis,” in which
he sets forth in glowingly eloquent words the causes of
insanity. He says :—

“In all begetting there is either an increasing or a de¬
creasing intensity of likeness. In all reproduction there is a
tendency either toward improvement or toward retrogression.
This is not true only as regards physical contour, but it also
applies to mental symmetry, or mental idiosyncrasy. Not
only are the general thoughts and emotions of the parents
impressed upon their children, but even the flitting passion
of a moment may cast a cloud of darkness or a blaze of light
over an entire life, just as the silvered sheet of the photograph
receives its impressions of light and shade from a single mo¬
mentary exposure. The mind of the unborn child will receive
impressions of happy or unholy thoughts, and reproduce them
with accuracy in the years to come—ay, even when the brain
of the mother is but dust and her heart no longer responds to
any emotion, and her guiding hand has been chilled by the
icy touch of death. To this holy of holies, then, the sacred
temple of procreation, should be brought only such offerings
as are sure to prove acceptable to the Lord of Nature.”

THE WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE.

The following has been sent to us for publication :—
Preliminary Address op the Committees of the World’s
Congress Auxiliary on a Congress op Homoeopathic
Physicians and Surgeons in connection with the Columbian
Exposition at Chicago in 1898,—The World’s Columbian
Exposition of 1898 will be made notable by a series of con¬
gresses to be held under the auspices of the World’s Congress
Auxiliary. This is an organisation authorised and supported
by the Exposition management, and approved by the United
States Government. Ample audience rooms, with special
facilities for sectional as well as general meetings, will be
provided by the Directory of the Fair in a magnificent Art
building to be erected on the Lake Front. It is confidently
expected that these congresses will add very greatly to the

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Birriew, Jan. 2,1893.

NOTAB ILIA.

55 -

character and utility of the Exposition, and feftve ‘its tabst
permanent impress upon the world. Those pertaining to
medicine will be of the highest importance, as they will deal
with questions essential to human welfare. The history of
the epidemic which has so recently swept over the world
teaches us that, great as has been the advancement in medical
science in the last quarter century, we have still new problems
to solve, and failures in therapeutic means to acknowledge.
At the last quinquennial Congress a prominent representative
of our school stated that the proving of medicines had but
just commenced. A gathering of representatives of our school,
more cosmopolitan and numerically superior to any heretofore
assembled, will afford opportunity for discussion of the leading
medical questions of our time in a manner calculated to elicit
the best medical thought of the age and secure the most
practical results. It is proposed to make prominent the con¬
sideration of the questions specially pertaining to the position
of homoeopathy as an established school of medicine; to show
that our work and influence in medical education has been
commensurate with the dignity and importance of our school;
to make manifest our aim to be associated with every worthy
medical reform; to establish more definitely the relation in
which we stand to other schools of medicine ; to declare our
willingness to remove every barrier to the co-operation of all
schools in the general work of the medical profession, leaving
in the hands of each full liberty to pursue its special work ; to
take steps to secure in all directions a candid consideration
of our tenets and practical work; and, while truly loyal to
homoeopathy, to demonstrate that nothing which concerns the
health of humanity in its widest aspects, is foreign to our
endeavour. In furtherance of these ends the following topics
are suggested for the consideration of the Congress :—

The history of the progress of homoeopathic medicine to
the date of the Congress of 1898.

The temperate and careful estimation of the value of statistics
of the result of homoeopathic treatment, both public and
private.

Plans for the revision, simplification and improvement of
our Materia Medica.

Bacteriology, its relation to homoeopathic practice.

Methods for the establishment of drug-proving on a more
uniform and scientific basis.

The influence exerted by homoeopathy on medicinal
education and practice in general.

The part to be sustained by homoeopathy in the prevention
and control of epidemics.

Digitized by ^ooQle

NOTABILIA.

Monthly HonuBopithio
Bartow, Jan. 8,1668.

The importance of uniformity of pharmaceutical pre¬
parations.

Estimation of the value of efforts to enlighten the publio
on the true principles of homoeopathy.

The relation of adjuvants to our therapeutic methods,
including the effect of morals, culture and music on the
prevention and cure of disease.

Modern surgery as exemplified by the labours of homoeo¬
pathic surgeons.

Specialities, including consideration of their necessity and
benefits, and the part they play in the development of the
homoeopathic system.

The work of women in connection with the Columbian
Exposition has been such as to attract the favourable atten¬
tion of the world. We have reason to expect a continuance
of this earnest work on the part of the Women’s Committee on
Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery, which will act jointly
with our committee for a congress of both men and women,
though a separate preliminary address on the part of the
Women’s Committee may be issued.

J. S. Mitchell, M.D., Chairman .

R. Ludlam, M.D., Vice-Chairman .

W. A. Dunn, M.D., Secretary .

PITTSBURG TRAINING SCHOOL FOR NURSES.

In connection with the Pittsburg Homoeopathic Hospital is a
well organised institution for the training of nurses. They
are required to attend lectures on Toxicology, Surgical and
Medical emergencies, Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Anatomy and
Physiology and on Bandaging and Surgical Dressings
delivered by members of the medical and surgical staff. They
are employed, under the direction of a lady superintendent, in
the hospital which last year received 1,414 patients. At the
end of two years they are submitted to an examination when,
if successful in passing it, they are “ graduated,” that is receive
a certificate of efficiency and a “ badge.” The latter is given
because the uniform of the School was being worn by persons
in no way connected with the Institution and it became
necessary to adopt a “ badge ” which could be legally
protected. The occasion of handing certificates and badges
to the members of the “ graduating class ” was made one of
ceremonial. The proceedings which took place in the chapel
of the hospital were opened by prayer. Dr. Willard, the Dean
of the faculty, delivered an introductory address descriptive of
the work of the school during the previous year. He was
followed by the Rev. G. T. Purvis who addressed the audience
on the profession of a Nurse; and then the certificates of

Digitized by ^ooQle

UOTABILIA.

Monthly Homosopathlo
Beriew, Jan. 2,1808.

graduation were presented to the twelve nurses by the President
of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital aud the badge of the
Institution was handed to them by the Secretary of the
Executive Committee. These “ commencement exercises "
were brought to a conclusion by the following farewell address
from Dr. Charles A. Wilson :—

“ Ladies of the graduating class:

“ There is so much to be said that might be said, so much
of advice and encouragement, so muoh of warning, that it is
with a feeling akin to apprehension that I have consented to
the request of your Faculty to say to you, to-night, those words
which should come to you from them, as a fitting farewell
from teacher to pupil. We are here, to-night, thinking of the
past, not forgetting the present, and wondering what the
future has in store for us.

#< To every one there comes a moment of profound dis¬
couragement which succeeds to prolonged effort, when the
labour, which has become a habit, having ceased, we miss the
sustaining sense of its championship, and stand with a feeling
of strangeness and embarrassment before the abrupt and
positive result.

44 To-day a point in your life’s history has been reached,
toward which you have been toiling so faithfully. You have
reason to be proud of a result, which, while no doubt satis¬
factory to you, is eminently so to those who have been your
instructors; and it is with pleasure that J offer you the con¬
gratulations of your Faculty, that you have so successfully
stood the test of your examinations. The calling to which
you have devoted yourselves is a noble one ; full of oppor¬
tunities, and endowed with grave responsibilities. You hope
to honour your profession, and in so doing to bring honour to
yourselves. To do this in the highest degree, it will be neces¬
sary for you to put forth every effort, and to embrace every
opportunity which may tend to accomplish the result. Success
is often to be won by steadfast adherence to a purpose, how¬
ever difficult, when it could be achieved in no other way. It
is rarely the result of accident, but is rather the well earned
reward of laborious work and preparation. Let your ambition,
first and always be, not only to do, but to do well. Take
advantage of all that comes within your grasp to prepare
yourselves for any and every emergency which may possibly
arise. The fact that you are prepared for the emergency,
which never comes, does you no harm, the discipline in itself
will be of lasting benefit. To be able to cope intelligently
and fairly with every issue, gives you confidence in your own
strength, and will make you the desired and capable nurse
each of you wishes to become.

Digitized by ^ooQle

NOTABILIA.

Monthly HomcBopathfe
Review, Jan. f, 1808.

“ Hahnemann tells ns, * when we have to do with an art,
whose end is the saving of human life, any neglect to make
ourselves thorough masters of it becomes a crime.' The
obligations imposed by your profession demand that you lay
aside, in a large degree, the pleasures and habits of the past,
and that your every energy be given to your work. It is not
given to everyone to reach that standard of excellence which
is the ideal; but there is given to everyone the ability to try.
The prospects of great success are best to her whose ideal of
perfection ever beckons her onward, and who always keeps
in mind that * the better is only the stepping stone to best. ’

“ ‘ The race is not always to the swift.' If you have that
inspiration to great endeavour, which through days of dis¬
couragement keeps you steadfast in the faith, it will lead to
brilliant success. While it is of primary importance, and
without which no one could expect to be permanently suc¬
cessful, there are many things which go to make up the
popular nurse other than the ability to do her work well.
Fulfil your duty wherever you find it; try to give satisfaction
to everyone ; cultivate tact and patience ; learn to be a rapid
observer, and to be quick to reach the character of those with
whom you come in contact.

“ Be sincere. Be sympathetic, good natured, considerate,
prompt and plucky.

“ Endeavour to win the esteem and respect, as well as the
confidence of all. This can be accomplished only by the full
exercise of those womanly qualities and noble traits of charac¬
ter, which serve to elevate the moral nature, and help to lift
us up to higher thoughts and ennobling aims.

“ Be conscientious in your work however trifling the duty
you may be called upon to perform. Nothing so certainly
creates a good impression, while no habits are harder to over¬
come than negligence and indifference. ‘ He who is false to
present duty, breaks a thread in the loom, and will find the
flaw when he may have forgotten the cause.’

“Be sympathetic, truly and sincerely sympathetic. It
brings you close to those whose days of suffering you are called
upon to share, and, when you stand by those whose hearts
are breaking, or where the dark shadow of death hovers near,
the instinct of your own true womanhood will guide you to
the helpful and comforting word and deed. Such a nature is
never unappreciated, and lives in the memory long after other
things may be forgotten. The influence that may be exerted
by a nurse is almost unbounded. If she is actuated by the
fervent love of humanity, which urges so many to undertake
this work ; if she takes with her a true Christian spirit, she

Digitized by CjOoqL e

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Jan. f, 1886.

NOTABILIA.

can carry everywhere a glorious torch that will light others
upward toward more sublime and unselfish aims.

“ Remember, too, that‘ the manner of doing things is often
of more importance than the things themselves.’ There is no
act so good and kind in itself, but it may be sweetened by the
manner of doing it. A simple, cordial, frankness; unassuming,
winning manners; a warmth and geniality of nature, and a
sunny, perennial golden temper, will win you staunch friends.

“ It is not for you to carry a sombre face into the sick room;
do not be funereal; neither a broad face ; do not be flippant.
Know your patient. The cheerfulness which may brighten
one may be looked upon as obtrusive by another, while the
constant attention which will sooth the one will irritate the
other. Strive for a ‘golden mean.’ Show, at all times, an*
interest in those who are under your care, manifested by little
delicate attention and thoughtfulness for their comfort;

‘ favours conferred so naturally as to seem spontaneous ; in
fact, in constant attention to the little details that are sure to
make life ‘ more fair and sweet.’

“It is in not neglecting the little things, the smiles and
kindnesses, and the small favours continually given, that your
brightest laurels will be won. It is the continual dropping of
the water that cuts a channel down the side of the hardest
rock, and ‘ the sap that is silently feeding the limbs of yonder
oak, may at any one moment seem insignificant, but it is
forming timbers for a ship of the line.’ It is in paying
attention to these little details, in not forgetting that the
opportunities for accomplishing great things are so rare that
they may never come to you, combined with pluck, that never
flagging pursuit of a purpose, with promptness to meet every
emergency, and an unyielding determination to attain the
result, at whatever cost of time and labour, that will insure
you the greatest possible success in the vocation you have
chosen. ‘ There are more who fail from want of will than
want of power.’

“ Nor must you overlook in your efforts to please others,
and to do your work well, that there is a duty which you owe
to yourselves. The strain of caring for the sick, by day and
by night, and the anxiety attendant on especially severe cases,
can only be borne by the strictest economy of nerve-force and
strength. To do this, without sacrifice, is a duty you owe to
your patient, to the physician and to yourself. To do a thing
well one should do it easily . To keep the mind clear, and the
body ever ready to act, is to court that success for which you
are all striving ; and only when circumstances, or emergencies
are such as absolutely demand it, should one venture beyond
that degree of physical exhaustion where recuperation is easy
by reasonable rest and recreation.

Digitized by

KOTABIUA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eoriew, Jan. 8,1808.

u Among the many causes for the lowering of one’s powers
of endurance, none are more prolific of this result than excite¬
ment or anxiety, lack of sufficient sleep, and sedentary habits.
What is overwork for one may be but salutary exercise for
another. You should know your limit, and be careful not to
go beyond it.

“ Your duty to your patients, and your conduct in the sick
room, have constituted your course of instruction during your
two years of training in the School. Your duties to the
attending physician, to the family, and to yourself, are so
varied, that only the exercise of your better judgment can
guide you.

“ To the physician be loyal always ; encourage confidence
in him in your patient, whatever may be your own opinion.
Be loyal to your sister nurses—‘ a generous heart would scorn
at anything that would give others pain.’ Do not allow
jealousy to tempt you ever to speak of them other than in
kindness. If you cannot say that which is good, it were
better to say nothing. * To thine own self be true, and it must
follow, as night the day, thou canst not then be false to any
man.* Be your ideal; be a true woman.

“ A word regarding the care of your patients during con¬
valescence. While you will always find it of the greatest
•service in furnishing them entertainment to be a good reader,
-do not forget that, that which is equally important and far
more rare, is to be a good listener. Do not repeat anything
concerning a former patient, or one who has been under your
care, and above all things do no talk about yourself. A bore,
you know, is ‘ the person who wishes to tell you all about
himself, instead of letting you tell him all about yourself.’

“Do not be disappointed, if what you feel is good and faithful
service is not always met by just and merited recognition.
You may, and probably will, be compelled to experience what
many before you have felt—the sting of ingratitude and want
of appreciation—and I am reminded here of the expression of
this thought by a physician, who, from his tone, probably
speaks from experience. He says a patient’s gratitude is a
part of his disease, and is most declared when his fever is
highest, cools off during convalescence, and entirely disappears
with the complete return of health. The most you can do is
ever to be true to the best within you; conscientious in the
performance of every duty ; strive for perfection in all things .
A clear conscience is a grand reward. And now, in bidding
you farewell, let me say: Enter your new life with this
inspiration. Your alma mater puts every confidence in you ;
you have served her well and faithfully, and representing her
to-night, it is a pleasure to offer you her congratulations upon
this, the successful completion of your course, to express to

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. % 1808.

NOTABILIA.

you her earnest desire for your success, and her deepest
interest in your welfare. Go out into the world assured of
her esteem and affection. Even as you have been successful
in your work here, may you be successful in your future
sphere. Be what you admire in others. Be in love with
your work. To ability add enthusiasm. Be dignified,
thoughtful, courteous and kind. Be a woman ; all else will
come.

“ And now, farewell! * The race is before you. Go ! but

remember, no man is crowned unless he strive lawfully.* ’*

” PHARMACEUTIC PIRACY.

A circular just issued by Messrs. F. Newbery and Sons
London, which they, presumably, have scattered broad-cast
among members of “ the medical profession only,** contains
an instance of borrowing without acknowledgment so flagrant
that they are hereby gibbeted as pirates for an example to
all such, and for the satisfaction of honest men. The circular
in question sets forth in glowing terms the virtues of certain
proprietary preparations, “ Ingluvin,” various bromo-salts,
and a preparation called “ Arthrosia,’* consisting of salicylic
add, phytolacca , colchicum, quinine , podophyllum , and capsicum,
and described as “ a perfect antidote in rheumatism
and gout,” a precious coach-and-six to set careering
through the human frame! In the midst of all these
wonderful “cures,** attention is arrested by a heading
in large capitals, “ PARVULES,” a word which, for the
benefit, let us suppose, of those in our profession who are old
enough to have forgotten the little Latin they once imbibed by
the aid of the schoolmaster’s birch-rod, is carefully explained
as being “ derived from the Latin parvum (small) ** They are
described as being “ quickly soluble small doses in pUular
form,” and are thus prepared: “ a concentrated tincture is
prepared and scattered over lumps of cane sugar, and
spontaneous evaporation dissipates the alcohol. The residue
is levigated to an impalpable powder, and a mass is formed
and divided into these perfect and quickly soluble doses,
which yield their therapeutic impressions without delay*
. . • . Years of study and experiment has (sic) developed
this class of remedies.*’ Ye Gods! Where can this
study have been carried on ? Evidently far secluded from one
class of Her Majesty’s subjects—a fairly numerous one too—
who have been for over half a century using doses similarly
prepared, but bearing a different name. Surely it cannot
have required “ years of study and experiment ” merely to
differentiate between cane sugar and milk sugar as a recipient
for the alcoholic tincture ? The price lists of these said
Parmdes show them to contain doses varying from ^ to

Digitized by

Google

NOT ABUJA

Monthly HomoeopatMe
Eerlew, Jan. 2,106.

of a grain, and we are assured that “ it is claimed by many
practitioners that small doses frequently repeated exert a more
salutary effect.” Certainly. Many men have done so for many
years, but their cry has been that of one crying in the wilder¬
ness, where none, or but few, have been found to listen to
them. Recommendations, too, for the use of these Parvules are
given, which excite one’s admiration and astonishment. Atonio
dyspepsia is to be met by nux vomica ^ gr. Bronchitis of
children (but why of children only ?) by tartar emetic gr.;
nausea by ipecac, gr., and soon through an extended series.
This interesting document closes with extracts from a paper
by Dr. S. H. Dessau, read before the New York Medical Society,
and from an anonymous one read before the Hudson County
Medical Society. Here the cat is let out of the bag ; we are
told that “ the rivalry of homoeopathy forces a certain degree
of compulsion upon” its opponents, and with great com¬
placency the introducers of these inimitable Parvules tell us
that they are 11 non-homoeopathic in principle.” All! Messrs.
F. Newbery and Sons, did you know as much as you take
credit to yourselves for knowing, you would be well aware that
in every point you claim—the small dose, the single remedy,
the mode of preparation, nay, the very application
of your Panules —you have adopted methods and teach¬
ings which have been for years before the world, and
are known as “ homoeopathic methods and teachings which
the big-wigs of the profession have carefully kept from the know¬
ledge of its lesser lights, till they, and you, and those on whose
behalf you act in bringing these preparations under our notice,
can, by a systematic process, (which “ ‘ convey ’ the wise it
call”), pose as the great re-casters of the existing chaos called
therapeutic science.

NEW WORK BY DR. WILKINSON.

Dr. Wilkinson, though the doyen of the homoeopathic fra¬
ternity, is still in full enjoyment of his rare mental faculties,
and is about to publish a new work on homoeopathy with the
quaint title, “ Epidemic Man and his Visitations.” We are
sure that all who have enjoyed Dr. Wilkinson’s former writ¬
ings, and those who know him by reputation—which includes
the whole homoeopathic world—will look forward with interest
to the appearance of a new medical work from the learned
pen of our venerable colleague. We trust to be able to give
an appreciative notice of it before long.

NEW ZEALAND.

A correspondent writes:—“ I would just say what a grand
opening there is in Wellington for both a homoeopathic

Digitized by ^ooQle

lfwiHily Tfnmiytfc^i

Btriew, Jan. 2, 1S9S.

NOTAB ILIA.

chemist and a practitioner as well. There are homoeopaths
in all the other large centres, but none here, although this is
the seat of government, and a great many wealthy people
reside here—far more than in the other towns. Numbers of
people I know have expressed the opinion that a homoeopath
would do well here, and many feel there is a lack that ought
to be supplied.*’

VISITING LISTS.

We have received a copy of the Medical Diary and Visiting
List, published jointly by Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome & Co.,
mid C. Letts, and of that published by Boericke & Tafel, and
edited by Dr. R. Faulkener. The former is a portable pocket-
book, with the usual diary arrangements, and space for cash
receipts and memoranda. Its size is in. by in. by £ in.,
it is bound in black, and closes with a tuck. The feature of
this little book is a list of the chief new remedies, together
with their more important or common uses, whether empi¬
rical, antipathic, or homoeopathic. These excerpts are useful
enough for those for whom they are intended.

The feature of Dr. Faulkener’s book is a short repertory.
The value of this may well be a matter of opinion. It is our
opinion that for a repertory to be of use it must be both
reliable and complete, or as complete as our knowledge will
allow. Dr. Faulkener’s may be reliable, but it lays no claim
to being complete. For those who differ from our opinion
this form of repertory has the advantage of being capable of
consultation without attracting the attention of on-lookers.
The book is too bulky for most English pockets. In both
these visiting lists much information might usefully be given
which is withheld.

DR. STONHAM ON HYGIENE.

Following in the footsteps of Hahnemann, our friend, Dr.
Stonham, believes that prevention is better than cure. A
few days ago, to an intelligent and interested audience
assembled in the Literary Institute at Ventnor, Dr. Stonham
delivered a most instructive lecture on “ Domestic Sanita¬
tion.” He traced the history of sanitation from the earliest
times, and gave much useful information which we hope those
who were present will profit by. This is not the first time that
Dr. Stonham has shown the Islanders,” among whom he
stands alone in championing homoeopathy, that although he
is a believer in the great therapeutic principle advocated under
that name, he knows a good deal about other things than
“ little pills.** The year before, the subject of a lecture given
by him in the same place was hygiene in house building.

Digitized by LjOOQle

<64

CORRESPONDENTS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jan. 2,1809.

NEW JOURNALS.

Our colleague, Dr. Winterbum, of New York, has just begun
to edit a new journal on “all about children/* under the title
Childhood. The first number contains chiefly articles by
numerous lay authors on different subjects concerning the
bringing up and care of children, from moral, hygienic, ethical
and social standpoints. There is very little purely medical in
this issue. The writers express their thoughts in forceful and
interesting language, and we doubt not, if kept up to the
present level, the journal will be another monthly success.

The Medical Week is the title of an English edition of
La Semaine Medicate . It is inferior to that journal for English
readers, for it consists largely of extracts from and abstracts
of English lectures. It is published in Paris.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. _ ’

* m * We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts.
Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct

and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. Neatb^

London Homoeopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,
Bloomsbury.—H ours of attendance : Medical, In-patients. 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30, daily ; Surgical, Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.80 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.30 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist. Mondays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2 ; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

Communications have been received from Dr. Cooper, Dr. Dudgeon,
Dr. Burpord, Dr. Blake, Mr. Shaw (London) ; Dr. Hughes
(B righton) ; Dr. Vawdrey (Plymouth) ; Dr. Blackley (Manchester).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Tasty Tit-bits and Dishes Dainty. By Lady Constance Howard.
London: Record Press. 1892.— Warm Hands and Warm Feet. Eight
exercises by A. L. Araim. London. 1892.— The Homoeopathic World .
London. Dec. —The Chemist and Druggist. London. Dec. —The
Monthly Magazine of Pharmacu. London. Dec. —The New York Medi¬
cal Times. Dec.— Childhood. New York. Nov. and Dec. —The Hahne-
mannian Monthly. Philadelphia. Dec. —The Homoeopathic Recorder.
Philadelphia. Nov. —The Clinique. Chicago. Nov. —The Minneapolis
Homoeopathic Magazine. Nov. —Revue Homoeopathique Beige. Brussels.
Oct. and Nov. —Revista Omiopatica. Rome. Oct —The New York
Medical Record. Nov. and Dec. —The Homoeopathic Physician. Nov.—
The Medical Era. Chicago. Dec.— Gazetta Med. Torino. Nov. and Dec.
—The Palmist. London. Nov. —The Medical Week. Paris. Dec.—
Annals of Electro-Homoeopathy. Geneva. Dec. —The Medical Advance.
Chicago. Nov. —The New Remedies. Chicago. Dec. —The Homoeo¬
pathic Envoy. Lancaster, U.S.A. Dec. —Leipziger Pop. Zeitschrift.
Dec. —Homoopatisch Maanblad. The Hague. Dec.— Bull. Gin. de
Therap .—Paris. Dec.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pop*. 19,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Drcs Brown, 29, Seymour Street Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Nsatby, 161, Haverstock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould ft Son, 69,
Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by LjOOQle

B^r^bTSw!' 1 ® TEACHING of matebia medica. 65

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

THE TEACHINQ OF MATEKIA MEDICA.

On this important question, raised by Dr. Hughes in a
paper read at the 1892 meeting of the American Institute
of Homoeopathy,* a sort of symposium is to be held at
the meeting of 1894, and all who have thoughts or
experiences connected with it are invited to send them
to the Chairman of the Bureau of Materia Medica,
Dr. Frank Kraft, Cleveland, Ohio. We anticipate
much profit from the free ventilation of the subject. It
appears, from some recent communications to the
Lancet ,t that it is to some extent agitating the minds
of the old-school teachers of Materia Medica in this
country; and two utterances upon it present some
salient points of interest to us from the homoeopathic
standpoint.

Materia Medica, as taught in the ordinary English
medical schools, has hitherto had three months only
of the student’s curriculum devoted to it; and during
that time he has learned mainly the natural history and
physical characters, with the preparations and doses, of

* See p. 554 of this Review for last year,
t Not. 26th, 1892 ; Jan. 7th, 1893.

Vol. 37, No. 2.

Digitized by

Google

66 TEACHING OP MATERIA MEDICA.

the drugs he will have • to employ. Dr. Fraser,
Professor of the subject in the University of Edinburgh,
and Dr. Lauder Brunton, who holds a corresponding
position at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, alike protest
against this system. The knowledge in question—which
Dr. Fraser classifies as pharmacognosy and pharmacy—
is necessary for the physician. The student must
acquire it, and had best do so in the early part of his
career, while in anatomy, botany and chemistry he is
similarly mastering the external features of the things
he will have to deal with. But, Dr. Fraser goes on,
“ it has become apparent that, in order to treat
abnormal conditions with success, knowledge must be
possessed of ... . the exact changes in structure
or in composition which remedial substances are
capable of producing. A relatively new department, that
of pharmacology, has accordingly been added to Materia
Medica. It constitutes the foundation of therapeutics,
or the application of remedies to disease.” Similarly
Dr. Brunton : “It is of great importance that you should
be free from the reproach of ‘ pouring in drugs of which
you know little into bodies of which you know less ’;
that you should thoroughly know pharmacology, and
have a clear understanding of what your drugs will do,
so that you may know precisely what to give and when
to give it, when to increase your dose and when to with¬
hold your medicine entirely. Pharmacology and rational
therapeutics are inseparable, and without the former the
latter is impossible.” Accordingly, both professors
agree in recommending that pharmacology and drug-
therapeutics should be separated from pharmacognosy
and pharmacy, and should be taught to the more
advanced student after he has learnt his physiology,
and while he is studying the clinical facts and pathology
of disease.

We need hardly say that in all this we heartily agree.
We welcome the recognition of pharmacology as a “rela¬
tively new department of Materia Medica,” and as know¬
ledge without which rational therapeutics is impossible.
We would only suggest that this is but Hahnemann’s
practice under a Greek name, and that he, in his drug-
provings on the healthy, was the true initiator of the
science, as well as the first with any persistence to
advocate its necessity for medicine.

Digitized by AjOOQle

teaching of materia medica. 67

There are two developments of their theme, however,
in which we are unable to follow these distinguished
writers.

1. Dr. Brunton says that “the subject of pharma¬
cology has grown so large that it is exceedingly hard for
a man to remember the actions even of the most im¬
portant drugs; ” and that “ the only way of rendering
it possible is to have them grouped together, so that one
description will do for many drugs which vary from each
other only in a slight degree.” This is surely to subordi¬
nate the requirements of practice to those of examina¬
tions. In the former it needs not, though it is useful,
that a man “ remember ” everything; he has his books
of reference always at hand, and individualisation is as'
practicable as the crude generalising proceeding which
Dr. Brunton’s proposal would lead to. Indeed, in the
illustrations he furnishes he confutes himself. He would
make a group of atropine , hyoscyamine and hyoscine as
diminishing secretion and causing paresis of involuntary
muscular fibre. But he goes on: “In the lowest of the
group, atropine , there is little hypnotic power ; in hyos -
cine this power is greatly developed.” Surely this
differentia is as important as the features which the
three alkaloids have in common!

2. Our difference with Professor Fraser is of another
kind. He very properly maintains that the application
of medicines should be taught side by side with their
pathogenetic action—that pharmacology should not be
dissociated from therapeutics. But in support of this
contention, he goes on to cite a number of remedial
actions which have no place—he maintains—save in
therapeutics; and his inference seems to be that these
should be delivered to the student as isolated phenomena,
empirical uses only of the drugs in question, having no
relation to their influence on the healthy organism. We
cannot but deplore such proceeding. We fully recognise
that there are remedial uses of drugs which, in the present
state of our knowledge , are inexplicable by their physio¬
logical actions. But we hold that such a conclusion
should not be hastily arrived at, and should only be the
result of a thorough and experimental study of the
influence of such substances in health. Two of Dr. Fra¬
ser's instances are arsenic in chorea and squill in dropsy.
Now if he will consider the remedial employment of

F—2

Digitized by

Google

68 TEACHING OF MATERIA MEDICA.

arsenic generally—in cutaneous disease, in neuralgia, in
anaemia—he will find it precisely paralleled by its poison¬
ous action on the healthy. It acts here, therefore,
according to the law similia similibus . We grant that
its power of developing choreiform phenomena is not so
manifest;* but these are not so far apart from the
arsenical tremor and paralysis that we can pronounce
them beyond the range of its possible influence. The
conclusion we submit is that arsenic acts in chorea as it
does in other affections—restoring in disease where it
lowers and disturbs in health. So, also, with squill.
In cardiac dropsy it may act by raising for a time the
tone of the heart and arteries, as digitalis does; but its
main employment is in the renal form of the malady.
And what is its action on the kidneys ? Hear Stille:
“ When the dose is very excessive there is violent emeto-
catharsis, severe colic, dysury or bloody urine , rapid
breathing, a cold skin, coma, and general convulsions.
In somewhat smaller doses vomiting and diminished
secretion of urine are still the prominent symptoms. It
ought never to be used as a diuretic so long as the
strength and frequency of the pulse and the heat of skin
denote inflammatory action, nor when morbid sensibility
of the kidneys or of the urinary passages betrays disease
in them.” The inference is plain; in health squill
irritates the kidneys, congesting them and diminishing
their secretion. When similar conditions obtain in
disease, and are passive enough to bear ordinary doses,
squill will reduce the congestion and cause diuresis.

We venture to think that most of Dr. Fraser’s other
instances might be similarly resolved, if only painstaking
and unprejudiced research were made and proper
experiments instituted; but as long as the lower animals
only are used for this purpose, and the present analytic
method of proceeding is that adopted, we do not hope
much from advances in “pharmacology.” Provings
on the healthy human body, synthetically presented in
all their fulness and coherence, are the only patho¬
genetic experiments by which physiological action can
fruitfully benefit therapeutics.

• We have asked Dr. Hughes what evidence of such choreigenic
power on the part of arsenic is supplied by his new Index. He tells
us that under the head of “ Spasm: clonic,” there are references to
five symptoms in Hahnemann’s pathogenesis in the M. M. Pura (S. 647,
729,889,891,899), and to case II. 14 cf the Cyel. of Drug Pathogmcsy.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1883.

CHARACTERISTICS.

“ CHARACTERISTICS,” “ KEY - NOTES/’ AND
“ GUIDING SYMPTOMS,” TOGETHER WITH
CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS.

By A. C. Clifton, M.D.

From the introductory remarks, and the theoretical part
of my subject in the January number of the Review , I
now pass to the more practical part; but as I have
indicated that I am anxious to treat the matter concerned
in as scientific a spirit as possible, I would just point out
what my meaning is in that respect. Mr. Froude, with
his customary felicity, has defined “ scientific ” as,
“When facts begin to resolve themselves into groups;
when phenomena are no longer isolated experiences, but
appear in connection and order; when after certain
antecedents, certain consequences are uniformly seen to
follow; when facts enough have been collected to furnish
a basis for conjectural explanation, and when conjectures
have so far ceased to be utterly vague, that it is possible
in some degree to foresee the future by the help of them.”
This view I accept, and it is with the intent of being
understood in this sense, that I present my observations.

Acalipha indica. —Twenty-two years ago, in the
12th vol. of the Monthly Homoeopathic Review , may be
found a few remarks of mine in relation to this Indian
plant, and in the Manual of Pharmacodynamics , pp. 889,
by Dr. Richard Hughes, nearly all that is known of it is
there set forth. At this interval of time I may be
excused for touching upon the action of this drug again,
and relating my experience. Guided mainly by the
clinical observations of Dr. Henry Thomas, now of
Llandudno, who first brought this remedy before us,
I have continued to prescribe it occasionally for cases
with similar symptoms to those which have aforetime
been alluded to; cases indicating incipient phthisis,
affecting the apex of one or other lung, without very
marked pain there, but attended with a hard, racking
cough, generally worse at night, with very little ex¬
pectoration, that little being tinged with blood and some¬
times with more pronounced arterial haemorrhage, and
yet without rise of temperature or other febrile dis¬
turbance, and for the most part occurring in pale

Digitized by ^ooQle

CHABACTEBISTICS.

delicate ‘individuals with some amount of emaciation.
In short, cases in which I have been unable to find other
symptoms than what I have named on which to found a
prescription according to the law of homoeopathy. For
many years the seventh dilution was my usual dose, but
for a long time past, the third dilution has yielded
equally good results, for the precise morbid condition
which I have named.

Mthusa cynapium .—This remedy I also made a few
remarks upon when acalipha was noticed; since that
time it has been depreciated by some physiologists and
pharmacologists in the old school, and beep said to be a
harmless drug. Notwithstanding that expression of
opinion, I still contend that it is a valuable therapeutic
agent, although not very intense and wide in its action,
but is indicated for just those morbid conditions afore¬
time pointed out. I emphasize this because, owing to
the criticisms in relation to it, I have more carefully
investigated the cases, with the results where, since
that time I have prescribed it, and while I admit, in
some instances, the want of proof that it ministered to
the cure, there has, nevertheless, been abundant and
satisfactory evidence of its favourable action in other
cases.

The characteristic symptoms of this medicine relate
mainly to the brain and nervous system, and these more¬
over connected with the stomach and intestines, and
forming a group , which, if separated, the medicine then
fails to act. For instance, the gastro-enteric symptoms,
marked by vomiting of undigested milk (when milk has
been partaken of), and the passage of the same by stool,
with greenish and yellowish evacuations, colic before
stool, and tenesmus afterwards—these symptoms point
to a pathological state we name “gastro enteritis/ ’ and
yet I believe such an interpretation would not be correct,
but that the symptoms in question are merely the reflex
of brain disturbance. And I say this, because in the
cases of seeming “ gastro enteritis,” with the symptoms
which I have named in which I have prescribed this
remedy, I have scarcely ever seen any benefit, unless
accompanied by or coincident with, brain disturbance
and convulsions, and mostly occurring in young children
during dentition, generally with the eyes drawn down¬
wards, the pupils dilated, and the fingers and thumbs

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1, 1803.

CHARACTERISTICS.

clenched. So, too, on the other hand, when the brain
symptoms have not been accompanied with the gastro¬
enteric symptoms, this remedy has not served me so
well as other remedies, in a few cases immediately to be
alluded to. But as a rule, it is the entire group , or
totality of symptoms , which are characteristic of the
medicine. Some of the cases in which I have seen this drug
act beneficially, were characterised by splitting headache,
mostly in the occipital region, relieved by lying down,
and by pressing the head backwards on some hard sub¬
stance, with numbness, or pins and needles sensation in
the hands and feet, and here, too, attended with gastro¬
enteric disturbance, such as vomiting of food and diar¬
rhoea. The dose of the medicine which I have found
most beneficial has ranged from the lx to the 6x dilution.

JZsculus hippocastanum .—The general, together with
the more pronounced, symptoms of this valuable thera¬
peutic agent, have been so well brought out and so
lucidly set forth by other men, that I shall merely point
to some of its characteristic symptoms which have served
me as key-notes, and which I have repeatedly cured by
it. And here, just to save repetition I say, that in nearly
all the cases on which my observations are founded they
were dominated by torpor and congestion of the liver and
portal system, with constipation as a constant symptom.

1. In relation to the head . Here the most marked
symptoms have been a sensation of fulness with con¬
striction, pressing, throbbing, shooting pains, sometimes
in one part, at other times in a different part, with a
somewhat muddled feeling on mental exertion, the
pains extending from the occiput to the frontal region
and to the eyes, with a bruised sensation of the scalp,
and all being worse as a rule in the early morning after
heavy, dreamy sleep.

2. In relation to the mouth , fauces , and posterior nares .
Here the prominent symptoms have been heat, dryness,
sense of rawness, pricking and smarting, shooting,
stitching pains up to the ears when swallowing, some¬
times, constriction and difficulty in swallowing dry food,
and soreness of the tongue and gums. The throat
symptoms representing follicular pharyngitis, while
sometimes resulting from a chill, are nevertheless
generally connected with hepatic congestion already
alluded to; when, however, they are due, as they some-

Digitized by A^OOQle

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homoeopathie
Review Feb. 1,1(09.

times are, to indulgence in tobacco smoking and to
alcoholic beverages, kali bichromicum and nux vomica will
do more good.

8. Symptoms relating to the stomach , the liver , and
abdomen generally , including the lower bowel —Here, while
I have confirmed many of the symptoms set forth by
others, and which I need not repeat, I would add that
the symptom “ weight as of a stone in the stomach 99 is
generally most manifest three or four hours after a meal ,
and attended with a gnawing, aching pain, and yet with
inability to take an ordinary meal—in short, one form
of what we call gastralgia. As a remedy for haemorrhoids
with constipation, I need say no more than that my ex¬
perience has been largely in accord with that of others,
viz., that it is a drug of great value. The dose which I
usually employ, ranges from the 2x to 6x dilution.

Acetic acid .—My attention was first directed to this
remedy many years ago, from the fact of young women
occasionally coming under treatment, who for a long
time previously had partaken freely of vinegar, for the
purpose of acquiring a fair and delicate complexion, but
while in that respect they were very successful, they
had overdone it, and caused very pronounced anaemia,
with some amount of anasarca, great debility, frequent
faintings, a weak and quick action of the heart,
dyspnoea on exertion, vomiting of food with tenderness
over the epigastric region, and frequent watery stools.

This group of symptoms I have several times seen, as
the result of what may be termed the vinegar habit,
and these cases have for the most part been cured by
arsenicum iodatum 2x, strychnia arsenias 6x, opium virus
8x, and natrum muriaticum 6x.

On the other hand, a few cases have come under
treatment with similar symptoms , not resulting from the
vinegar habit , accompanied, moreover, sometimes with
emaciation, night sweats, too frequent and excessive
catamenia, and here acetic acid lx dilution in three
drop doses three or four times a day has been of signal
service.

The “keynotes ” for this remedy appear to me to be,
anaemia with anasarca, great debility, vomiting of food,
epigastric tenderness, frequent watery stools, more
especially occurring in the early morning, together with
excessive catamenia. Further, some practitioners have

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Feb. 1, 1898.

CHARACTERISTICS.

reported favourably of the action of acetic acid when it
has been injected into fatty tumours. Acting upon this
hint, and that vinegar drinking sometimes has caused
emaciation, while I had seen phytolacca alone, locally
applied, and given internally for fatty tumours, largely
beneficial, I have during the last few years seen better
results in these cases from the local application of
tincture of the berries of the phytolacca , combined with
an equal proportion of acetic acid , and at the same time
giving internally phytolacca and acetic acid on alternate
weeks, the lx dilution of each three times a day. In
diphtheria and in membranous croup, in cancer of the
stomach, and as a local application for epithelioma, acetic
acid has been highly spoken of; but here I have no
experience to offer, partly due to prejudice on my part,
but mainly because other remedies seemed to me more
eligible.

Actaa racemosa.— This remedy has such a wide action
upon the cerebro-spinal and muscular system that within
the ordinary limits of a paper of this kind I can only
point to a few of its “ characteristics ,” which have been
to me somewhat of the nature of “ keynotes 99 for its.
selection in special cases, and which I have frequently
cured by it. First, the mental condition. This is
largely marked by great depression of spirits, with dread
of impending evil, intense restlessness of mind and body,
desire to mix with others and yet choosing solitude and
rest, a wish to go to church or to a concert but with fear
of being obliged to rush out from the building; during a.
ride in a close carriage, by rail or otherwise, there is the
fear of being obliged to jump out, while a ride in an open
carriage is agreeable. These symptoms I have so often
seen cured by actcea y and at the same time they are so
like unto the pathogenetic symptoms produced by the drug,
that so far I think they may fairly be taken as
“characteristic 99 especially when accompanied as they
often are, with a wild feeling in the brain, full and
pressing out, shooting and throbbing pains in the head,
occurring about the same time daily, and for the most
part relieved by pressure, rest, and the open air, and
more especially when the symptoms are the result of
mental worry, or over-study, or been the reflex of uterine
disorders in women.

On the eyes , actcea , moreover, has a very decided

Digitized by

Google

CHABACTEBISTIC8.

Monthly Homoeopathic
fieriev, Feb. 1,1896.

action, and although I am unable here to point out its
“ characteristic ,” yet, in asthenopia and astigmatism,
accompanied with deep-seated throbbing and shooting
pains in the eyes, with photophobia from artificial light,
and when brought on by over-strain of the sight in
anaBmic and debilitated subjects, this remedy has, in
my hands, been eminently serviceable.

With regard to the action of this remedy upon the
uterus and the ovaries, I have but little to say beyond
what is already well-known. In dysmenorrhoea some
practitioners have found it most useful when the pain
has continued during the whole course; whereas, my
experience is that it answers best to pain immediately
preceding the course, and which ceases in a day or so.
This contradictory experience may, however, be partly
accounted for by the difference of dose prescribed by
individual practitioners, but to a larger degree by what
I think is characteristic of the action of this drug upon
these organs more especially , as well as upon the system
generally, but in a less degree, and very like unto
lachesis. Here , for instance, the menses may be too
early or too late, very profuse and prolonged or the
reverse, sometimes with constipation, at other times
with diarrhoea, and the last symptom occurring in the
early morning, the phenomena as a whole being marked
by irregularity , alternation and uncertainty .

Finally, the muscular and crampy pains, primarily of
neurotic origin, and occurring in nearly every part of the
body, might be noticed as characteristic of its action;
but as every homoeopathic practitioner must be well
acquainted with its remedial power in this relation, I
will only add that, as a rule, I have found it most
beneficial after a few doses of aconite , and when the
pains are somewhat relieved by rest.

The dose of this drug which I usually prescribe is two
or three drops of the lx dilution, but in some cases the
6x dilution.

Agaricus muscarius. —This drug I also noticed many
years ago on the occasion I have previously referred to.
My subsequent experience has, in the main, confirmed my
former observations; but there is one point I wish to
correct. I then emphasized, as a keynote , more particu¬
larly in chorea, that “ the nervous twitchings and spas¬
modic muscular actions cease during sleep.” This

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1803.

CHARACTERISTICS.

observation I believe has been largely accepted as correct,
and been acted upon, but I fear sometimes with indiffe¬
rent results, for I can no longer endorse it; for while I
have seen many cases of chorea, so conditioned, cured
by agaricus , I have also seen other cases in which the
nervous and spasmodic twitchings did not entirely cease
during sleep, and these too cured by agaricus ; thus show¬
ing how highly needful it is to have a large amount of
clinical experience, and severely to examine the same,
before coming to the rash conclusion which I presented
aforetime, and which I now regret, inasmuch as the
symptom in question is at the most only a doubtful
guide.

Our lately deceased friend and highly esteemed col¬
league, Dr. John Drysdale, of Liverpool, unfortunately
for us no more to be seen or heard here, was, I believe,
the first who pointed out, in the British Journal of
Homoeopathy , vol. xxi., some symptoms in the patho¬
genesis of agaricus , greatly resembling the delirium and
other symptoms sometimes seen in typhus or typhoid
fever, and in which he had prescribed this remedy with
great benefit. Since these observations were made
I have employed agaricus in a few cases presenting
similar symptoms to those already noticed, and for the
most part with good results, while in congestion of the
brain, with delirium, from large doses of alcohol, I have
frequently seen it do good.

Further , in relation to the head . The most character¬
istic symptoms are, sensation of fulness and pressing
outwards, both in the occipital region and extending to
the forehead and the glabella, relieved by bleeding from
the nose, which sometimes takes place, and at the same
time with a sensation of coldness of the scalp, and the
desire to cover the head warmly; the delirium is charac¬
terised by singing, shouting and muttering, and is often
attended with twitching of the muscles of the face. On
the eyes agaricus has a very marked action, largely spas¬
modic in character, and here I have cured many cases of
asthenopia, with great uncertainty and irregularity of
reading power, and attended with vertigo when walking
in the open air.

In relation to the stomach , the liver and the spleen . The
main symptoms are characterised by fulness and con¬
gestion. In old topers, especially whisky and brandy

Digitized by LjOOQle

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homoeoptthie
Review, Feb. 1,1888.

drinkers, with hypertrophy of the liver, and attended
with much flatulence in the stomach, loud and spas¬
modic eructations of wind like unto the hysterical eruc¬
tations occurring in women from other causes, I have
often seen agarictis do a great amount of good. So, too,
when there has been much distension of the abdomen
from flatulence, with rolling, gurgling sound, it has been
useful. There is, moreover, one other symptom often
resulting from indulgence in spirituous liquors, apart
from stomach and liver symptoms, viz., diarrhoea , the
stools being greenish, yellowish, bilious, and sometimes
bloody, with flatulence, and occurring mostly in the
early part of the day, this condition I have seen most
often in women, and in which agaricus has been of
great service.

In conclusion, the main “ keynotes ” of this remedy,
so far as my observations have gone, are nervous and
muscular spasms in nearly every part of the body,
more especially on the left side, great sensitiveness to
touch, creeping, pricking and tingling sensations in
various parts, a general chilliness and dislike to
cold air, sensation of coldness of the scalp in cerebral
affections, general congestion with defective circulation,
and a weak, slow and irregular action of the heart,
desire for alcohol, which being given affords temporary
relief.

Beside what I have noticed there are many well
marked symptoms in the pathogenesy of this drug,
together with valuable clinical indications for its use,
and all well set forth in that large and comprehensive,
and so far falsely called, “ Handbook of Materia Medica
and Therapeutics ,” by Dr. Timothy F. Allen, of New York,
U.S.A., which is well worthy of study by every
homoeopathic practitioner.

NOTES ON OBSTETRIC PRACTICE. 0

By S. P. Alexander, M.D., M.R.C.S.

The object of this paper is to gather up and to discuss
briefly a few of the points referred to in our journals
during recent years, in relation to obstetrics, and to

+ Read before the Western Counties Therapeutical Society at Bath,
October 28th, 1892.

Digitized by A^OOQle

notes on obstetric practice. 77

enquire in how far we haye endorsed the measures
advocated, and to what extent they are employed by us
in the daily practice of this important branch of our art.

The practice of obstetrics to a large extent is simply a
mechanical one. We have in parturition to deal with a
normal physiological process, to be assisted in the large
proportion of cases by purely surgical means. To this
extent we are here on common ground with our allo¬
pathic brethren, and can enjoy the sweets of fellowship.
It is to me a real pleasure to meet the enemy at a mid¬
wifery case, and for the moment, forceps in hand, forget
one’s differences of opinion. But it is when the physio¬
logical process demands therapeutical aid, when the
powers of surgery must be superseded by the powers of
drugs, that we must turn to homoeopathy, from the
simply mechanical dynamics to the true pharmacody¬
namics.

I am sure you will all agree with me, when I say that
homoeopathy can do much towards preparing a patient
for childbirth, in expediting and promoting safe delivery,
and towards ensuring a good recovery. We shall take
up then a few points under each of these three headings,
and you will permit me, gentlemen, to ask for the favour
of your opinion and experience.

To refer first of all, to the various ailments premoni¬
tory to labour, I have been struck how amenable to
treatment certain cases are, and again how powerless
we are for good in others. An occasional dose of the
indicated remedy, such as puUatiUa , ipecacuanha , or
cocculus , will quickly relieve the morning sickness of
certain cases, in others a dozen different remedies may
be tried without effect. The asthmatical symptoms and
jaundiced condition occasionally occurring before labour,
I have found peculiarly difficult to relieve. When such
symptoms, however, are sympathetic and reflex in
origin, I believe we can do much with the indicated
remedy, and this applies to the disorders of pregnancy
generally. For example, the spasmodic quasi-hysterical
cough, will frequently yield to ignatia , nux, or coraU.
rub . ; muscular cramp to caulophyllum , nux , or
rerat . alb., the general fidgety condition with tooth¬
ache to chamomiUa; and the dyspeptic symptoms to
puh., nux., bryonia , or carbo. veg. But when the
symptoms are referable more to a mechanical cause,

Digitized by AjOOQle

78 NOTES ON OBSTETRIC PRACTICE.

my experience is that it is hopeless to expect much from
medicines, no matter how well indicated such may be.
Jaundice, with all its attendant symptoms, chalky stools,
bile-stained urine, intolerable itching of the skin, will in
no way yield to the usual remedies for such a condition
when we have a distended uterus pressing directly or
through the adjacent viscera upon the bile-ducts. But
when such a train of symptoms is dependent not so
much upon pressure, but is referable rather to an altera¬
tion in the utero-portal circulation, incident to the
parturient state, I believe we can do much with our
medicinal treatment. As we all know (or should I say,
once upon a time knew?), the uterus and liver are not
only organically related through the sympathetic and
spinal nervous systems, but the vaginal, haemorrhoidal,
uterine and ovarian plexuses of veins communicate by
anastomoses with the portal system as well as with the
inferior vena cava. Now, during pregnancy, the uterine
veins become enormously enlarged into canals and
sinuses, and, being destitute of valves, the only
safeguard against regurgitation and stasis of blood
in them is their tortuosity. The various bilious
symptoms contingent upon pregnancy, as Ludlam
has pointed out, may thus arise from sluggishness
of the venous circulation in the uterus. This organ
receives and retains an unusual quantity of blood, and
as its weight is also increased, pressure therefrom no
doubt increases the obstruction of the local circulation.
The secretory and excretory function of the liver becomes
thereby upset, and hence the dyspeptic and other
digestive troubles of pregnancy. Bearing such patho¬
logical facts in mind, I am confident we are more likely
to be guided aright in the selection of the medicinal
remedy than by the mechanical and somewhat haphazard
process of symptom-covering. Let us by all means hold
fast to the principle of “ totality of symptoms/' but at
the same time, in obstetrics especially, not forego patho¬
logy as a guide.

To refer again for a moment to the more mechanical
disorders of pregnancy, there are a number of such,
dependent mainly upon undue pressure of the gravid
uterus on the adjacent parts. Obstinate constipation,
dragging pains in the back and loins, numbness and
neuralgia, varicose veins, oedema of the legs, difficult

Digitized by ^ooQle

!KS^5bTiS8 thic notes on obstetric practice. 79

micturition and retention of urine are examples. For
the relief of such conditions, or some of them at least,
our remedies can do much; for example coUinsonia,
act. rac., caidophyllum , hamamelis , pvlsatiUa , arsenic and
cantharis. Postural, and other auxiliary measures,
such as a well-fitting abdominal belt or binder, are
often of value. But we have here another means of
help, and upon this point, gentlemen, I shall be glad to
hear what you have to say. Should the pessary be
employed in the pregnant state ? In certain cases we
find the sufferings from subinvolution and prolapse
entirely disappear during pregnancy. The uterus as it
increases in size and volume, has its weight sustained
by the osseous and other structures of the pelvis and
abdomen, and as it gradually presses upon them,
becomes, we may say, to this extent self-supporting.
But there are cases, especially in the early months
of pregnancy, when a previously prolapsed uterus
becomes an intolerable source of annoyance and
discomfort. Again, in the later months, when the
gravid uterus begins to settle down into the in¬
ferior or true pelvis, may we have, though to a
lesser degree, a return of the same symptoms to deal
with. In such cases my experience has taught me to
look upon the pessary as an invaluable aid. With a
judiciously chosen and properly adjusted instrument,
there is little cause to fear miscarriage. As an illustra¬
tion let me quote the following case:—

Mrs. T, the subject of an old-standing prolapse and
ante-version, consulted me on January 7th, 1891, being
then two months enciente. She had miscarried on
several occasions, but had never gone the full time.
She now complained of an increasing difficulty of micturi¬
tion, with burning pain and tenesmus on attempting to
void urine. Aconite , belladonna and cantharis were tried
without benefit, and finally complete retention coming
on, the catheter was resorted to. Finding it decidedly
inconvenient to wait upon her with the catheter morning
and evening, I bethought me of the pessary, and intro¬
duced a large-sized ring. Instantaneous relief
was obtained, and the patient went her full time
without further trouble. The mechanical appliance
in this case not only relieved the pressure on
the neck of the bladder, but by supporting the

Digitized by AjOOQle

80 NOTES ON OBSTETRIC PRACTICE. Ut SS^SSn!^

uterus obviated in part, no doubt, the tendency
to miscarriage. Whilst upon this subject, I should be
glad to have the opinion of the Society, from the
homoeopathic standpoint, on the use of pessaries
generally. My usual practice in treating displacements
is to give the patient the benefit of the pessary during
the time she is taking the remedy indicated by the
symptoms and state of the uterus. To combine the
mechanical with the medicinal treatment, in my
estimation, is to hold out a much surer prospect of final
recovery than by trusting to the indicated remedy alone.
The ultra-homoeopathists or “ homoeopaticians " no
doubt decry the pessary as every other topical appli¬
cation, maintaining that by their use we destroy the
symptoms upon which the selection of the medicinal
remedy is based. True, but this objection can only
apply in so far as the development of further symptoms is
concerned. Let us prescribe upon the existing symp¬
toms and pathological state in a given case, and
let the patient have the benefit of the pessary
whilst the similimum is doing its work. An aggra¬
vated prolapse or other uterine displacement, as we
all know, will often render the patient chronically
invalid from inability to take proper air and exercise.
In such a case an efficient pessary will sometimes at once
enable her to get out and about with comfort. To my
mind this is a result to be decidedly preferred to leaving
the patient to languish on a couch for an indefinite
period whilst the medicinal remedy is acting. I lately
treated a case of prolapse in a lady where the symptoms
and state of the uterus seemed to indicate act. rac.
This remedy was taken alone for a few weeks with con¬
siderable benefit to the dragging pains in the back, but
as the powers of walking did not improve I introduced a
mouldable ring and continued the same medicine. In a
couple of months the pessary was found to be no longer
required, and matters were so far improved that in
process of time the lady, who had gone four years with¬
out a child, found it necessary to call and enlist my
services for the first week in December!

And now to proceed to another point, and one which, I
think, is of great importance and interest to us as
homoeopaths. To what extent are we able to
prepare a patient by medicinal treatment so as to

Digitized by AjOOQle

notes on obstetric practice. 81

facilitate labour? Of all the drugs simulating most
closely in their effects the various troubles of pregnancy,
the two most generally indicated are the “ black ” and
the “blue” cohosh, that is to say actcea raccmosa and
catUophyllum. The routine practice with some physicians
is to give these two remedies in all cases, on alternate
weeks, during the last two or three months of pregnancy.
Dr. J. Eoberson Day. speaking of the employment of
these remedies in his paper read at the Congress in
town last year, says:—“ So far as I have observed, the
effect has been to render labour easier, and I think
more rapid. In some cases I have reason to believe,
the labour has been induced a week or ten days before
term, and if this be so—although it is always difficult to
be sure of these dates—it may explain the greater ease
and rapidity of the labour.” In the discussion which
followed, three gentlemen supported him in these
conclusions, one of them assuring us, in reference
to the effect of pnhatilla and canlophyllum, that
the time he had to wait at midwifery cases was
not half so long as in his earlier days. Having
only lately begun to work out this subject I cannot
speak very confidently upon it. My experience, how¬
ever, with act. rac . and caulophyl. has taught me the
great utility of these remedies in removing the symptoms
actually present, and for which purpose they have been
given during pregnancy. For example, cramping, mus¬
cular, rheumatic and neuralgic pains in uterus and
neighbourhood, dragging pains in back, headache,,
mental irritability and depression, general restlessness*
and so forth. Patients to whom I have given these
remedies for such symptoms have certainly done well
when the labour came on, and in some cases decidedly
more so than in previous confinements, when they have
been without this preliminary treatment. Such cases
of course are not conclusive, as speaking generally it by
no means follows that because a patient has had a “ bad
time ” at one confinement she must necessarily antici¬
pate a “bad time” at her next. Another remark I
would make here, is, that to prescribe act. rac. and caulo¬
phyl. indiscriminately in every case, without the already
existent symptoms indicating these remedies, and to
give them with the object of obviating a hypothetical
difficulty ahead is by no means strictly homoeopathic.

Vol. 37, No. 2.

Digitized by

Google

82 NOTES ON OBSTETRIC PRACTICE.

not to say scientific. The imaginative amongst us
might, upon this principle, conjure up a vast array of
possible difficulties to come, and be for ever dosing his
patients. Nevertheless, I believe the practice is a
justifiable one if we limit it to certain cases where, from
former experience, we are led to anticipate difficulty of a
special kind. Thus, when from former experience in a
forceps case we anticipate difficulty in a subsequent
labour from uterine inertia, a contracted pelvis, or a
big-headed baby, a preparatory course of arnica ought
not to come amiss. We have analogous illustrations
in the practice of giving belladonna as a prophylactic to
scarlet fever, pidsatilla to measles, belladonna and mere .
cor . to peritonitis or other inflammatory troubles which
might follow upon abdominal section.

To pass on to the next heading of our subject, let us
notice a point or two on the supervision of actual
labour. In my own practice I find myself having
recourse to ergot much less frequently than formerly.
When there is deficiency or irregularity of the uterine
pains, I believe we can do as much, and not infrequently
decidedly more, with such remedies dispulsatiUa> caulophyl .,
and ignatia. From secale, in small doses, I have never
obtained help, but give it when using it at all in substan¬
tial doses, to produce its physiological effect of uterine
contraction. The liquid preparations of ergot . in my
experience are sufficiently prompt in action, and I have
so far restricted the hypodermic use of the drug to the
treatment of post-partum haemorrhage. To obviate the
nauseous taste of the liquid extract, I have employed
ergotinum in the form of palatinoids, but cannot recom¬
mend them, for this purpose at least, as their action is
too slow. It is decidedly preferable, however, to secure
uterine contraction homoeopathically by the indicated
remedy when this is possible, as by so doing we do not
incur the risk of the relaxed and flaccid state of uterus,
with all its attendant danger, so apt to follow the con¬
tinuous strong contraction produced by ergot.

On the action of medicines in rigidity of the os, I cannot
speak very confidently, for the reason that I have but
seldom experienced this trouble in practice. I attribute
this in great measure to the free use of lard. Latterly,
I have gone in for it in wholesale quantities, and can
heartily endorse the eulogistic remarks of Dr. Winterburn,

Digitized by ^ooQle

^bT°l893 hi0 NOTES on obstetric pbactice. 83

of New York, upon its use (Monthly Homoeopathic Review ,
September, 1892.) It is certainly messy, but wonder¬
fully soothing and grateful to the patient, and unques¬
tionably is a very great help when used plentifully.
Those of us who have witnessed the launch of an
iron-clad, and noted the tons and tons of Russian tallow
and soft soap employed, could not well have a more
striking demonstration of the value and powers of
lubrication. But not only does lard act as an efficient
lubricant, facilitating mechanical expulsion, but be¬
coming absorbed by the surrounding tissues, it imparts
to them, as has been pointed out, a pliability and
elasticity which neither vaseline , lanoline or anything
else does. Objections may be raised on the score of
antiseptics, but the lard for obstetric purposes should be
specially prepared, and those who are fastidious in this
direction might easily have a little eucalyptus com¬
pounded with it. The free use of lard then, in my
experience, is of material assistance in relaxing a rigid
os, and at the same time very decidedly tends to prevent
perineal laceration.

As to the use of the forceps, no doubt we all advocate
the form of instrument we are accustomed to employ. In
my own practice I have long since discarded the short
forceps, as too toy-like for serious work, neither could I
accomplish much with Leishman’s “ short-long.” Simp¬
son’s long curved, for ordinary all round work both
above and below the brim, is a good instrument, but
does not in my estimation come up to WagstafFs forceps,
the instrument I now invariably use, and have much
pleasure in showing you. The ease with which it is
applied, and the great power and purchase given by the
large double curve and long handles, makes it a very
perfect instrument. In fact, it works so beautifully
that the temptation is to use it perhaps too frequently.
I never delay in putting on the forceps in a necessary
case, and if done properly and with due care and respect
to the presentation, no harm can result. It is of first
importance in a forceps case to have the bladder
thoroughly empty, if after retention is to be avoided, and
to be careful not to use them too early in the labour.
When the head is brought down well on to the perinaeum,
I think it wise to pause and give a final lubrication to
the parts, and then either withdraw the forceps at once,

0—2

Digitized by

Google

84 NOTES ON OBSTETRIC PRACTICE.

leaving the uterus to expel the head, or where this is
impracticable to angle the traction well forward, so as to
guard against laceration. With proper attention to these
points, and by carefully avoiding haste, the risk of peri¬
neal laceration is small, or when it does happen, is so
insignificant as not to necessitate the after millinery
process. When first in practice 1 used to see a good
many cases of laceration, and occasionally had to mend
the perinaeum. Latterly, however, I have been more
successful, having now attended over eighty consecutive
labours without having occasion to use the needle.

And now a word or two on .the after treatment of our
obstetric cases. To what extent should the vaginal
douche be used in midwifery practice? With this
query we open up the whole subject of antiseptic
midwifery—a quaestio vexata indeed; but I shall not
here do more than simply make a few suggestions. I
believe, in reference to obstetrics, that our position
should rather be aseptic than antiseptic . Strict cleanli¬
ness in every detail, and a careful supervision with
respect to the hygienic condition of the patient and her
surroundings, will do much towards obviating the
necessity for antiseptics. Such are always more or less
irritating, and as they are readily absorbed by the
mucous surfaces and open patulous cervix are apt to
cause objectionable symptoms. Thus we may have a
foul tongue, offensive breath, * and. general feeling* of
malaise , attributable I believe in some cases to the use
simply of Condy’s fluid as a vaginal douche. On the
other hand, there are cases where the washing away of
a foul lochial discharge by means of the douche is
followed by a distinct feeling of relief and refreshment.
But a simple warm water douche without an antiseptic
will do this. I believe it is a safe plan, from the aseptic
point of view, to make it a routine practice to order the
warm-water douche in this way in every case at the
onset of labour. Latterly I have practically given up the
antiseptic douche, employing it only in very exceptional
cases. Sanitas for washing the parts externally is
admissible, but I think the internal parts should be left
well alone from antiseptics.

In conclusion, let me testify to the splendid results of
homoeopathy in the subsequent treatment of obstetric
cases. I have been especially struck with the prompt

Digitized by ^ooQle

notes on obstetric practice. 85

way in which our remedies not only smooth the path
towards convalescence, but relieve and cure the host of
troubles resulting from parturition. Perhaps at no time
is a woman more sensitive to drug-action than imme¬
diately after labour, and it is on this very account I
believe that we have here such an especial power for
good in our homoeopathically chosen remedies. For this
reason, I think it wise to depend as much as possible on
the remedy given singly, and in not too low a dilution.
Aconite in third centesimal dilution, for example, may be
followed in a confinement case by as profuse a perspira¬
tion as that induced by the first centesimal dilution of
that remedy employed in an ordinary fever case. For
the relief of after pains I usually prescribe puUatiUa
or arnica , as indicated, and seldom find that any other
remedy is required. For the intermittent character of
the pains, however, caulophyUum is certainly valuable;
and u&tilago maidis , from its similar action, ought to be
of benefit here, but I have never yet put it to the
clinical test.

Of the beneficial effects of collimonia after labour I
can speak highly. I have not yet found a remedy
more curative for the triple condition of constipation,
haemorrhoids, and uterine engorgement. Its timely use
gives frequently immediate relief, and does much, I
believe, to prevent subinvolution and subsequent pro¬
lapse. This is a subject on which one might quote
cases and considerably enlarge, but to do so would take
me beyond the limits of the present paper. And so,
gentlemen, having now given expression to these few
thoughts on a theme which is practically inexhaustible,
I shall bring these notes to a close, trusting that the
food 1 have endeavoured to supply you with to-night,
may be mete for your appetite, suited to your taste, and
worthy of your discussion.

THE HEREDITY OF DISEASE, AND SUGGES¬
TIONS FOR ITS EXTINCTION.

By J. Murray Moore, M.D., Edin., M.R.C.S., Eng.

In the following pages, written expressly for this Review ,
it will be the aim of the writer to bring together (1) the
leading laws of the transmission of disease, disease-
tendencies and malformations from ancestor and parent

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE HEREDITY OP DISEASE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1893.

to descendant and children; (2) some facts and inferences
drawn from his own experience of more than a quarter
of a century; and (8) suggestions as to preventive treat¬
ment and management of both parents and offspring,
which will diminish the frequency with which hereditary
or acquired deviations from normal health are now being
handed down to the generations yet unborn.

The two chief laws of heredity which govern this
development of the human foetus or embryo are—

1st. A general resemblance to the type, Homo .

2nd. A particular resemblance to either or both its
parents (Heredity), or to one or more of its ancestors in
the same lineal descent (Atavism). There is no sufficient
ground for the theory that the human ovum in its em¬
bryonic development goes through all the stages of ani¬
mal progress, from the Protozoa up to the Yertebrata.
The embryo is a human being from the first, and strictly
exemplifies the first law of Heredity. The second law
is illustrated by every new-born infant who is not a
monstrosity. And yet there are no two infants, even
twins of the same sex, exactly alike. The highest order
of terrestrial creation, man, is characterised by the
greatest amount of individual variation ; and this varia¬
tion is chiefly promoted by free selection in marriage.
In the animal world it would seem that while pairing
or sexual congress should be limited to the males
and females of the same species in order to pro¬
duce well-formed and fertile offspring, a wide area
of personal sexual selection promotes their beauty
and strength. Amongst the higher mammalia, “ breed¬
ing in and in,” carried on for a long time, produces
weak descendants, and ultimately extinguishes the
species. In man, analogously, consanguineous marriages
(as of first and second cousins, of uncle and niece, or
aunt and nephew—but not of a widower with his sister-in-
law), when they are not sterile, tend strongly towards
the production of deaf mutes, idiots, epileptics, albinos,
and scrofulous, tuberculous or deformed children. In
the striking statistics collected by Mr. Huth, in his
Marriage of Near Kin, out of 299 such marriages, 48
produced children who were idiots, or became insane;
54, mutes or deaf mutes; 28, scrofulous children; 7,

Digitized by A^OOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1883.

THE HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

albinoism ; 9, hydrocephalus ; 10, malformations ; and
in 82 families early deaths took place. Here, we find
one origin of transmitted disease, namely, consanguinity
(a). Another source of hereditary disease is the marriage
of near kin, who are both subjects of the same morbid
diathesis, such as gout ( b ). The son of a gouty father
and mother, who were first cousins—children of two
brothers, themselves gouty, and very much alike in
features—was the worst example of intractable gout in
Dr. W. B. Carpenter’s long experience. Another origin
of hereditary disease and malformations is the occurrence
of accident, injury, shock, or powerful mental impres¬
sions during the prse-natal period (c). My essay on
“ The Effect of Mental Impressions on Foetal Development ”
is a contribution towards our exact knowledge on this
debated subject.

II.

But before we pursue this part of the subject further
I would call attention to the theory of Weismann, as
explaining more scientifically than any other the
phenomena both of fixity of species and variation of the
individual in normal human beings. It is as follows :
In every impregnated ovum of the higher mammalia
there are two kinds of cells or plasma—the body-cells , or
corporal plasma, and the germ-cells , or germ-plasma, in
which latter the male and female germinative elements
are intermingled. The former kind of cells, entirely
devoted to building up the embryo, give to it the indi¬
viduality which is to distinguish it during life from any
other member of the same family. The latter cells
maintain in the embryo the uniform likeness to the species
or to the race or family to which it belongs.

A portion of these germ-cells unused in the formation
of the foetus is preserved in the form of spermatozoa or
ova, according to sex, in the appropiate organs, to form
the germ-cells of the next generation. Thus there is a
continuous chain of reproductive cells, quite apart from
body-cells, maintaining through several successive gen¬
erations a continuity in which the character of the
original ovum is never wholly lost by differentiation.

This theory, which meets with the guarded approval
of the eminent embryologists Geddes and Thomson,
sufficiently accounts by this wonderful continuity of

Digitized by LjOOQle

THE HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1, 1888.

germ-cells (which thus resemble the protozoa in their
immortality) for the re-appearance at long intervals of
time in a family of some formerly characteristic feature
or peculiarity, such as a Roman nose, red hair, som¬
nambulism, left-handedness, an extra finger and so on.
And this after years of intermarriages with families
not related, so that one would expect that all the earlier
traits had died out.

Tennyson's gibe in “ Locksley Hall,” at

“ The tenth transmitter of a foolish face,”

and the remarkable permanence during 24 centuries of
expatriation of the racial features and Semitic charac¬
teristics (volubility, love of personal decoration,
mendacity, &c.) of the Jews, are equally explicable on
Weismann’s theory of germ-cell continuity. Similarly,
the body-cells, nourished, multiplied, and exclusively
during intra-uterine life and lactation supplied by the
mother, are responsible for the personal differences of
each individual.

III.

We are now in a position to state a few ascertained
laws or principles governing transmission of disease or
abnormalities of any kind.

a. Certain diseases are local in origin, and yet may
become hereditary. Thus in many sunless Alpine
valleys, ill-drained, malarious, where the only drinking
water is calcareous, derived from snow or glaciers,
goitre exists in both sexes for generations, culminating
in cretinism, a form of idiocy. When an Alpine valley
has been put into good sanitary condition, and proper
water provided, these diseases have disappeared from
the place; and even victims to goitre have been cured
by being removed from their sad environment early in
life, and have bred healthy children. Thus also
Norwegian lepers save their lives by emigrating to
America.

b. Diseases of mal-nutrition, such as gout, scrofula,
cancer and tuberculosis require several generations for
their full evolution, and this evolution may be retarded,
or even wholly arrested, by intermarriage with healthy
persons of another non-related family.

Digitized by LjOOQle

^maiyHwmB opgQ ilo THE HEREDITY OP DISEASE. 89

c. Acquired constitutional taints, such as syphilis,
and abnormal habits such as alcoholism, kleptomania,
masturbation, when once firmly rooted in an individual
organism, tend to propagate themselves, like family
features, and become hereditary for several (generally
not more than four) generations, even when the original
factors have ceased to act. Thus the acquired habit of
the father may become a natural feature in his son or
daughter, just as the puppies of a well-trained pointer
or setter require but very little training to “ point ” or
“ set/'

d. Deformities, superfluous digits or toes, and mal¬
formations in general, may be caused by accidents to the
gravid mother, by powerful mental impressions arresting
or altering the development of the foetus, and the child
born with any of these defects may become the parent
or grandparent of an infant having an exactly similar
abnormality. But, fortunately for such families, these
“ family marks ” die out in a few generations.

For example an aunt and a female cousin on the paternal
side of my family have each a flattened right thumb,
but as both are childless, this slight deformity will
pass out of existence in the present generation.
There would indeed be a sadly rapid degeneration
of the civilised races of mankind, if the typical
forms of hereditary diseases, which I shall presently
enumerate, were as permanent as the normal types of
man and woman. Were it otherwise, families, village
communities, nations, and eventually races, would
become extinct in all parts of the world. But the
tendency of this age is towards improved sanitation,
better instruction and physical training of infants and
children, and, it is to be hoped, a purer morality. A
study of the Begistrar-General’s reports, and of the
annual returns of the larger hospitals, will demonstrate
that great success in removing or rectifying deformities
and malformations has attended the efforts of our
surgeons, and that the average of human life has been
considerably extended. Centenarians are now more
common than in any past age of secular history.

fTo be continued.)

Digitized by ^ooQle

PAR-OVARIAN TUMOUR.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1886.

PAR-OVAEIAN TUMOUR OF TWO YEARS
DURATION WITH SUCCESSFUL OVARIOTOMY.

By George Burford, M.B.

Physician to the Gynaecological Department, London Homoeopathic
Hospital.

Dr. A. H. Buck, of Camden Town, sent to me in August
of last year a patient aged 48, in whom a rapidly in¬
creasing abdominal tumour was fast becoming burden¬
some. She was a single woman, forty-eight years of
age, with a typical facies ovariana and an attenuated
frame, save and except the abdominal distension. This
was considerable, and prevented to a notable degree the
pursuit of her usual avocation. Accompanying the dis¬
tress due to the presence of the tumour was a persisting
backache ; but the most notable feature, to my mind, in
the general condition was the rigidity of the arterial
coats, which could be traced as inelastic tubes among the
scant investing tissues of the forearms. The cardiac
impulse was weak, although no murmur was discover¬
able. The atheromatous condition of the arteries, and
the accompanying congestion of the veins, as a matter
of fact furnished the only incidents in what otherwise
would have been a phenomenally easy recovery.

In September I operated upon her, removing a large
quantity of clear fluid from a single cyst, attached to the
left broad ligament. No complications in the form of
adhesions attended the removal of the tumour; the
pedicle was ligated in the usual way, a Keith’s glass
drainage tube inserted, and the abdomen closed.

Arnica had been steadily given a week anterior
to operation; and immediately after the conclusion of
the ovariotomy it was recommenced and continued for
some 24 hours. Bell, and mere. corr. in attenuation
now replaced the arnica , and were continued for some
four days, when the use of remedies was temporarily
intermitted.

Although the operation proceeded so smoothly, yet
each time the gauze plug in the drainage tube was
removed, it came up with some amount of blood clot
around and among its fibres. This manifestation con¬
tinued for three or some four days; and on the fourth day

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1, 1893.

NOTE ON DIGITALIN.

the dressings over a spot in the upper part of the incision
were noticed to be bloodstained over an area the size of a
shilling. This was quite removed from the region of the
tube, and could be traced as proceeding from a well
defined spot in the incision. A small piece of gauze
saturated with matico was laid over the place, but to no
avail; for in twelve hours the oozing had tended to
increase rather than to lessen; a suture was therefore
divided, the blood clot lying betweeh the edges of the
incision for about one third of an inch squeezed out,
and the small cavity stuffed with gauze soaked in
perchloride of iron. No further oozing occurred.

Save and except this tendency to oozing, not a single
symptom occurred to mar the convalescence. Not once
was there any sickness, no pain was complained of, no
restlessness nor sleeplessness, nor any other untoward
condition. The temperature rose immediately after
operation to 100°, a maximum which was touched each
evening until the tube was removed, the usual morning
remissions occurring.

The vascular condition here merits special notice.
From the depths of Douglas pouob a small quantity of
blood was withdrawn daily for some few days after
operation, although there was no apparent reason for its
extravasation. Three or four days after the abdominal
incision was sutured, venous oozing to a marked degree
occurred in a localised area in the wound. These two
manifestations are evidently correlated to a condition of
the circulation favouring easy leakage, although the
patient distinctly denied any tendency to hcemophilia.

I saw her again during December, when she had
materially improved in general health, and put on flesh.
Her condition had been in every way conspicuously
benefited as a result of operation.

NOTE ON DIGITALIN.

By John M. Wyborn, F.C.S.

Schmiedeberg found that commercial digitalin contained,
in addition to digitoxin, its chief pharmacological con¬
stituent, three glucosides, namely, digitonin, digitalin ,
and digitalein . Some of the results of more recent
researches by H. Kiliani are published in Arch . Pharm .,

Digitized by ^ooQle

NOTE ON DIGITALIN.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1898.

280, pp. 250-261. The author states that the leaves
and seeds of digitalis purpurea contain digitonin —a
crystalline inactive glucoside resembling saponin , the
crystalline substance digitoxin , and two amorphous
glucosides, digitalin and digitalein. Of these, digitonin
is said to be useless as a remedy for heart disease, and,
moreover, causes severe local inflammation, whilst digi¬
toxin is unsuitable as a drug on account of its complete
insolubility in water. The other two would be suitable
if prepared pure. The digitalein of Schmiedeberg is
found to be a mixture; not so, however, his digitalin ,
which is a chemical compound, and is now prepared
pure by Boehringer, and sold under the name of “ digi¬
talin verum.” This drug is perfectly uniform in its
operation, gradually producing cessation of the heart’s
action, but no injurious secondary effects.

The author maintains that other preparations, such
as “ digitalinum crystallisatum ,” and “D. pur. pulv.”
are impure, and consequently irregular and often
injurious in their action. The first of these, indeed, is
nearly pure digitonin.

“Digitalin verum ” is an amorphous, white powder,
which is insoluble in chloroform and in ether, swells up
in water, and dissolves in it to the extent of 1 part in
1,000; 50 per cent, alcohol dissolves 1 part in 100, abso¬
lute alcohol still more. Tests of purity are given in the
journal quoted.

Keith’s digitalin , though a somewhat crude prepara¬
tion, is in great part soluble in water, and I have myself
had personal experience of its action on,the heart whilst
taking an aqueous solution in * comparatively large
homoeopathic doses prescribed for. me some years ago. I
was advised to take a dose at bedtime, but owing to my
sensitiveness to the action of the drug and the extreme
prostration produced by it, I had to relinquish it after
taking about three doses. Shortly after going to bed it
appeared to stop the heart’s action almost entirely, and
though perfectly conscious I was unable to speak in the
lowest tone without great effort. No other unpleasant
symptoms accompanied or followed the administration
of the medicine.

Digitized by ^ooQle

S?ri^r, FcbTi«e UC NASO-PHARYNGEAL GROWTHS.

THE OPERATIVE TREATMENT OF OBSTRUCTIVE
‘ GROWTHS OF THE NASO-PHARYNX.

By Dudley Wright,

Assistant Surgeon and Surgeon for Diseases of the Throat to the
London Homoeopathic Hospital.

Naso-pharyngeal growths, of one form or another, are
of by no means uncommon occurrence, and it is probably
the lot of most practitioners to have some dealings with
them, and I therefore hope that the following remarks,
based upon conclusions formed from my own experience
in’dealing with such cases, may by some be found
useful.

By far the commonest morbid condition of this region
that we are called upon to treat by surgical means is
that of hypertrophy of the adenoid tissue contained in
the tract of mucous lining between the openings of the
eustachian tubes—in short, adenoid vegetations or post¬
nasal adenoids.

I would not willingly devote much space to this
subject as sufficient has been written about it
elsewhere; but I feel drawn to say something as a
protest against the method of dealing with the growths
which is at present in vogue with some operators, and
which to my mind, from the occasional evil results I
have seen occur, appears to be a somewhat harsh and
unskilful form of treatment.

I refer to the avulsion of the tumours by means of
variously curved forceps, one of which is figured below.

Figure 1. Lowenberg’s Forceps.

Now, I believe that with this instrument a great deal
more harm than good is usually done. It is almost
impossible to thoroughly guide the instrument to the
various parts that require treatment, and as a con-

Digitized by

NASO-PHARYNGEAL GROWTHS.

sequence of this I have seen injury inflicted to the soft
palate and uvula, and can quite believe that in the
vigorous and somewhat slap-dash crushing that goes on,
the pharyngeal end of the eustachian tubes may suffer
to a considerable extent. As the result of the rather
severe mutilation effected by a surgeon who went to
work with these forceps and a tonsillotome, in a manner
perhaps “ not wisely but too well/* I was called upon to
treat, some months ago, a secondary pharyngitis, and
laryngitis, which almost proved serious to the little
patient.

I have myself in consequence long abandoned the
use of this form of instrument, and now employ only the
index finger to crush the growths, and a small ring
knife, such as that figured below, to cut off those which
do not yield to the simpler method.

Figure 2. Ring Knife.

With this instrument the vegetations are partly cut,
partly scraped off, and there is no pulling or tearing,
and, therefore, no injury is likely to be inflicted to the
parts around. The ring should be brought as near to
the septum as possible, and then pushed backwards along
the roof of the naso-pharynx, care being taken to keep in
the middle line, and thus avoid the eustachian tubes.
It is convenient to put the patient, usually a child,
under an anaesthetic. Complete anaesthesia is not
desirable, the operation lasting but a few seconds, and
as there is usually copious haemorrhage total uncon¬
sciousness might, by abolishing the reflexes, allow the
blood to get into the trachea.

The mouth should be kept open with a gag; if the
tonsils need removing they should be dealt with first,
for otherwise these organs would be obscured by the

Digitized by ^ooQle

NASO-PHARYNGEAL GROWTHS.

downflow of blood from the naso-pharynx. I should
here remark that enlarged tonsils in children are, as a
rule, accompanied by post-nasal adenoids, and it is
therefore wise in all cases where an operation is
performed for the relief of the former condition to be
prepared to deal with the latter. In such cases the
finger should always be passed into the naso-pharynx to
determine the existence or absence of these growths,
for a simple tonsillotomy without removal of these
vegetations will fail as a rule to give the desired relief.

Immediately the operating finger has been removed
from the mouth, the child should be turned over on to
the abdomen with the head hanging over the end of the
table, thus allowing the blood to flow through the nasal
channels into a vessel beneath. The haemorrhage
shortly ceases spontaneously, and the patient recovers
consciousness in a very short time. A good deal of
blood is usually swallowed, and this is always vomited up
again within about half an hour. For this reason, in cases
where the operation is performed in one’s own consulting
rooms, and the parents wish to remove the child soon
after, it is advisable to keep them indoors until this
is over, for otherwise the vomiting takes place in the
street or other inconvenient places.

I have lately performed this operation several times
in older children simply under the local anaesthesia
produced by a preliminary application of cocaine , and
am quite satisfied that this in most instances abolishes
sensation sufficiently to make the operation nearly
painless even when both tonsils have to be removed at
the same time. The after treatment consists in keeping
the patient within doors for one or two days if the
weather is cold or damp, and allowing only slops or soft
diet to be taken.

Painting the pharynx with a mixture of calendula and
glycerine (tit xii. ad. 5 i.), and directing the patient to
sniff the same up the nostrils until it reaches the
posterior parts, is a convenient method of overcoming
the soreness which is often present.

Directly all inflammatory action is at an end, a steady
course of calc . carb . or phosph., silicea or mercurius , as
indicated by the constitution and symptoms, should be
commenced. I believe that by losing no time over
commencing internal medication we remove the tendency

Digitized by AjOOQle

NASO-PHARYNGEAL GROWTHS. M B^wrf5S^MSS

to recurrence of these growths. Attention should also
be paid to the state of the tympanum and membrane,
otitis media being a very common accompaniment of
this disease.

It is fortunate, both for patients and doctors, that
the commonest disease occurring in this rather out
of the way region is also the easiest to treat.
No great skill is required for the performance of this
small operation; a knowledge of the anatomy of the
parts concerned, and a finger which is acquainted with
the shape and outline of the various structures, will
enable the operator to do what is required, and avoid
those structures which are best left alone.

For the recognition as well as for the treatment of
the other morbid conditions of the region under con¬
sideration a somewhat finer manipulative skill is required,
since most of the instrumentation is carried on with the
aid of the rbinoscopic mirror, and this cannot be acquired
without a certain amount of practice.

Sir Henry Thompson, in his lectures on diseases of
the bladder, used to tell his class how he familiarised
himself in the use of the lithotrite by constantly
practising whilst driving about in his carriage, crushing
imaginary stones in the air with his eyes shut. I can
recommend a somewhat similar practice with the
laryngeal mirror and probe, only it cannot be carried
out in a carriage, and needs the eyes to be open.

The plan I have found useful is to make a small tube,
by rolling a piece of paper about 2£ inches long into a
funnel of about 1 inch diameter, and place this upright
on a piece of white paper on which are one or two spots
of ink, contained within the area corresponding to the
circle of the tube.

The laryngeal mirror should be placed over this in the
ordinary position for laryngoscopy, and the probe guided
solely by the image in the mirror to the spots at the
bottom of the tube.

When I commenced to learn the use of the laryn¬
goscope, in order to get over the difficulty one always
experiences at first in having to perform all intra-
laryngeal operations by the image obtained in the
mirror, I constructed a rough imitation larynx out of
cardboard, the vocal cords being inserted separately, and
by constantly practising removing foreign bodies, such

Digitized by ^ooQle

naso-pharyngeal growths.

as pins, peas, &c., from this, the difficulty was quickly
overcome.

Unfortunately, patients are not all built upon the
principle of cardboard phantoms; and there are many
who cannot for one moment tolerate the presence of an
instrument in the mouth, and, still less, one in close
approximation to the pillars of the fauces. A wide
difference exists in the extent of tolerance for operative
procedures with throat, and everyone has met with
those patients in whom the mere approach of a tongue
spatula will of a certainty excite the act of vomiting.

One case of this nature particularly recalls itself to my
memory in the subject of a middle-aged, married lady,
, who could not even bear the presence of a clinical
thermometer in her mouth.

In some of these cases there seems to be a relation¬
ship between this condition and that termed vaginismus;
indeed, in this very patient this symptom was present in
a marked degree, and had not been improved by
dilatation of the vagina performed several years ago.
Dr. Cuilingworth has lately reported the case of a lady
who suffered from vaginismus, and was unable to bear
a simple rectal enema, her father and brother evincing a
similar intolerance. It would appear, then, that most
orifices of the body may show this excess of reflex action.
The local application of cocaine often enables us to over¬
come this excess when dealing with the naso-pharynx;
but it unfortunately does not succeed in every case, and*
therefore, the administration of a general anaesthetic is,
at times, indicated. As many have seen unpleasant
symptoms occur during its use, and my own experiences
with this drug have not been without these mishaps, I
have become rather cautious in employing it.

I believe that its use in the form of a spray to a tract
of mucous membrane is much more liable to produce
ill effects than when simply painted over the parts with
a brush or cotton tampon. In the nasal meatus a plug
of wool moistened with the solution will be found an
excellent way of applying it. The plug should not be so
saturated as to cause, on introduction, a flow of the fluid
to the posterior nares and pharynx. In the pharyngeal
or naso-pharyngeal region a thorough brushing with
the solution is sufficient to produce anaesthesia if it be
used in a 10 or 20 per cent, strength.

VoL 37, No. 2.

Digitized by

Google

REVIEWS.

Monthly HonuBopathlo
Review, Feb. 1 ( 1888.

In all cases one should be prepared for emergencies
by having some brandy at hand, and this should be
administered on the slightest appearance of faintness.
A hypodermic injection of digitalin is the best remedy
for complete or alarming coll&pse. In cases where it
becomes necessary to use cocaine on patients who have
previously shown symptoms of faintness after its use,
I always commence operations with a preliminary
dose of brandy, and have thus succeeded in preventing a
return of the affection.

REVIEWS.

Ringworm: Jfc* Constitutional Nature and Cure. By J. C.

Burnett, M.D. London: The Homoeopathic Publishing

Company, 12, Warwick Lane, E.C., 1892.

The three points to lay stress upon, which is the apparent
purpose of the author of this little book, are— -firstly, that
ringworm is a disease—parasitic, indeed, in its external mani¬
festations, but after all essentially a constitutional dyscrasia,
in the presence of which alone can the parasite find a
suitable soil in which to take root and flourish ; secondly ,
that this constitutional dyscrasia is of the nature of, or at
any rate closely allied to, the tubercular; thirdly, that the
remedy in all cases is hacillinum , or Koch’s tuberculin , given in
a high attenuation, or so-called “potency,” at rare intervals.

That a condition of depraved health is a necessary factor in
ringworm has long been recognised. The homoeopathic
physician has admitted it, practically, by his prescribing as
remedies in it such medicines as calcarea, sepia, silica , lyco¬
podium, sulphur and arsenic, while at the same time, with hot
vinegar, sulphurous acid, or mercurial ointment he endea¬
vours to destroy the fungus which has alighted upon the con¬
genial soil. The non-homoeopathic physician, while attaching
greater importance to the local manifestation of the ailment
than does his homoeopathic neighbour, does not lose sight of
the fact that “ most instances of ringworm occur in children
who possess the lymphatic temperament, many in those who
are strumous, or who are, at least, thin, fair, and pallid.”
Consequently he adopts measures which, from his point of
view, are regarded as calculated to correct this type of
unhealthiness. That they attack the external manifestation
with vigour is true enough, and that the attack is oftentimes
prolonged and useless, and in some instances injurious, is no
less true, but it is no evidence that the destruction of the

Digitized by AjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1888.

REVIEWS.

parasite by a parasiticide is undesirable. The lesson suoh
failure teaches us is that the measures non-homceopathic
practictioners adopt, so to improve the general health of a
patient as to render his body uninhabitable to the tricophytori ,
are inadequate for the purpose.

What is the nature of the condition of health which renders
the child’s scalp a field for the growth of fungus ? Dr. Burnett
says that it is one of, “ so to speak, sub-tuberculosis,”
“ generated by the together-being of young people in close
spaces, i.e. t by their personal emanations or anthropotoxine.”
Dr. Alder Smith, on the other hand, while acknowledging the
existence of a ringworm dyscrasia, says that he “ constantly
sees both recent and chronic ringworm upon decidedly
healthy and robust children; ” and consequently he thinks
“ that the peculiar condition which is favourable to
the development of the ringworm fungus is unknown/’ That
ringworm can occur in healthy and robust children, Dr.
Burnett emphatically denies. “ Ringworm mould,” he says,
44 cannot grow on really healthy children any more than fish
can live out of water.” The physician of Christ’s Hospital
says that he has seen ringworm mould growing on healthy
children ; Dr. Burnett assures us that he “ never yet found a
truly healthy child the subject of ringworm; they all have
more or less indurated glands somewhere.” The question is
one on which a difference of opinion exists, but at the same
time Dr. Burnett tells us (p. 128) that he is 44 a positive
individual,” and that this is one of the points which he holds
44 positively.” Hence it is well in all cases of ringworm to
look carefully for indications of constitutional disturbance,
and to treat the patient accordingly.

What may be the real nature of the constitutional pathology
of ringworm must be regarded as an open question; that
it resembles in many of its features the tubercular diathesis
we admit, but that it is actually so in point of fact has never
yet been proved. How much the symptoms commonly met
with are akin to those characteristic of tuberculous disorders
may be gathered from the fact that, among non-homoeopathic
physicians, cod liver oil is the Thief therapeutic resort, while
the homoeopathist falls back upon such medicines as calc area,
sulphur , silica , and the like; and now, Dr. Burnett holds
41 positively ” that it is curable by 44 bacillinum in high
potency internally and infrequently administered.” The
cases he relates in illustration of the work of this remedy are
few in number, but sufficiently characteristic, and show re¬
markably successful results. He lays great stress on the
medicine being given in a high attenuation, even in the 1,000th.
But as to make such a preparation with that degree of accuracy

Digitized by' ^.ooQie

100

REVIEWS.

Monthly HomcBOpfttb!*
Review, Feb. 1,1808.

which is required for scientific observations, at least three or
four days, working at it for twelve hours a day, are necessary,
we should like to have some satisfactory evidence that a dila¬
tion more readily prepared, such for example as the 6th or the
12 th attenuation, would not give equally good results, and be
as free from any that are undesirable as the 1,000th is said
to be. Dr. Joussett uses the 6th decimal, Dr. Lembreghta
the 6th and 12th in phthisis, and, as they assure us, with
quite satisfactory results. Of course Dr. Burnett could not
write a book of this kind without a mild ebullition of some¬
thing very much like sneering at his medical brethren. He
says, for example, that he does not “ suppose for one moment
that the medical world (and still less the surgical) will accept
my statements in regard to the true nature and cure of ring¬
worm ; nor do I imagine that they will fairly try my treat¬
ment. . • . Even the homoeopathic practitioner seems
very commonly quite unable to crawl out of his own old
ways. Well, medical progress will pass him by and go on.” A
passage of this kind is enough to make many medical men
close the book in disgust, and therefore, we regret its insertion.
There is no reason on earth why Dr. Burnett’s opinion that
there is a constitutional dyscrasia present, at any rate in the
large majority of cases of ringworm, should not be accepted ;
it has been held and taught for many years. Neither is there
any reason why the nature of the dyscrasia being akin to that
of the tubercular diathesis should excite any violent antagon¬
ism. That it is of this character many already have long
believed to be probable enough. That bacillinum , or Koch’s
tuberculin should remedy such a dyscrasia is not at all unlikely;
on the contrary, it is being, and has been, used to cure tuber¬
culosis, in one form of development or another, for several
years past. That it is necessary to give this preparation in so
high an attenuation as Dr. Burnett “ positively ” states it to be,
may well be doubted for the simple reason that such a
dilution has never been experimentally proved to be essential
either for remedial reasons or to prevent the remedy doing
mischief.

Rheumatism and Sciatica . By John H. Clarke, M.D.

London : Jas. Epps & Co., 170, Piccadilly. 1892.

This little book has apparently for its raison d'etre the
conveyance to despairing sufferers from rheumatism of the
assurance that the answer to the question, 44 Is there any
cure for rheumatism ? ” depends “on whose rheumatism it is;
some people’s rheumatism is curable, some people’s rheuma¬
tism can only be alleviated, and there are some (a small
minority, says the author) for whom no sort of treatment

Digitized by AjOoqIc

REVIEWS.

101

ICoatUy Homoeopathic
Eerievr, Feb. 1,1808.

seems to be of much avail." That these prognostics are
correct, Dr. Clarke illustrates by the recital of the chief
features of sundry cases of acute and chronic rheumatism,
both simple and complicated with cardiac and other disease,
treated homoeopatliically. In discussing the treatment suit¬
able for persons predisposed to rheumatism, Dr. Clarke very
properly lays stress upon the importance of their wearing
woollen clothing next the skin. But he says, “ unless they
find a difficulty in keeping warm at night, they need not
sleep in blankets and woollen night clothing, if they have not
accustomed themselves to it." If physiologically necessary
during the day, wool is for the same physiological reasons
required during the night, and it certainly can be shown to
be physiologically demanded during the day. Rheumatic
people ought to five clothed in wool both day and night, if
they would avoid the disease to which they are prone;
while to treat a rheumatic fever without the patient
wearing woollen clothing and without his being covered
with good blankets, is to omit the most useful adju¬
vant at our command. Further, it is advisable that
both dress and blankets should be changed every day;
those removed from the person and the bed being placed
before a good fire for some hours before being used again.
The great objection to flannel is the irritation it causes to the
skin in some persons. In such cases Dr. Clarke advises silk
as a substitute. The expense of this fabric deters most people
from its use. The source of the skin irritation produced by
wool is in the rough surface of the wool-fibre. Such rough¬
ness or sharpness can be done away with in the process of
manufacture, and is done away with in the fabrics produced
by the Jaeger Company. This is shown in a drawing of
woollen fibres from a Jaeger garment, as seen under the
microscope, published in The Sanitarian (New York), Nov.,
1891. Very recently we have seen a lady, who, having had
rheumatic fever somewhat severely, and being consequently
anxious to be entirely clothed in flannel, found the irritation
it created almost too much for her to bear until she tried the
Jaeger fabric ; this she has since worn without the slightest
inconvenience, but on the contrary with nothing but comfort.

The symptoms most resembling rheumatism produced in
health by some twenty medicines are succinctly given. The
medicines are arranged in alphabetical order, and not, as we
should have preferred to see them, either in one of their im¬
portance as determined by the frequency with which they are
usually indicated, or in one representing their natural con¬
nection in the similarity of their symptoms.

In recording some cases of successfully treated sciatica,

Digitized by

102

REVIEWS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1, 1803-

Dr. Clarke relates one cured by gnaphalium . The symptom
which led to the choice of this medicine is thus given:
“ During the intervals of pain there was a feeling of numbness
in the limb. In this case it was the part where the pain was
that became numb.” The prompt success which folllowed
the use of this medicine confirms the record given in the
proving of the drug by Dr. Banks. “ Intense pain in the
sciatic nerve and its larger , ramifications. Numbness occa¬
sionally taking the place of sciatica, rendering walking very
fatiguing.” (Cyclopaedia, of Drug Pathogenesy , art. Gnaphalium),
It is interesting to note that in the abdominal symptoms this
drug gives rise to, it greatly resembles colocynth — one of the
most commonly indicated as it is efficient of remedies in
sciatica.

The Journal of the British Homceopathic Society , being a near
series of the Annals of the British Homcropathic Society and
of the London Homceopathic Hospital . Edited by Richard
Hughes, M.D. Vol. I., No. 1, January, 1898. London :
John Bale and Sons, 87 and 89, Great Titchfield Street,
Oxford Street, W., pp. 94.

Annual Supplement to the Journal of the British Homoeo¬
pathic Society , containing List of Officers , Council , Fellows
and Members of the Society . Edited by Richard Hughes,
M.D. London : John Bale and Sons, Great Titchfield
Street, W., pp. 22.

For the third time in its history the British Homoeopathic
Society makes an attempt to publish the proceedings which
take place at its meetings, independently of periodical litera¬
ture. With the new series, however, under the editorship of
so experienced and cultured a medical litterateur as Dr.
Hughes, it does somewhat more than present the members
with the papers read and reports of the discussions they have
elicited, so that, in addition to these we are furnished with a
certain amount of “ Society News,” and a collection of
“ excerpts out of the many journals taken by or supplied in
exchange to the Society,” “ embodying all observations
pertinent to the specialty of the members of the Society
which have appeared during the three months previous to
the issue of each quarterly number.” This collection of
therapeutic notabilia is drawn up by Dr. Hughes, and is
divided into observations on Phamacodynamics and on
Therapeutics . These, as will be readily believed, are all of
value. Besides the work done at the central Society, we have
a report given of the discussion which took place at the first
and, so far, the only branch of the Society—the Liverpool—

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, Feb. 1,1893.

REVIEWS.

103

when Dr. Hayward read the very interesting paper on Grand
Canary , which appeared in our last number.

As abstracts of the papers and discussions, which
are here reported in exten&o, have already appeared
in our pages, it is unnecessary for us to allude to them
further. In addition to them, however, is the report of
the successful removal of a large ovarian tumour which, eight
years ago, the then most successful operator of the day
had declined to remove—regarding the risks involved as being
too great to justify interference. The “ tumour mass
consisted of a large dermoid cyst with fatty fluid contents,
and of some three or four thin walled cysts containing amber
coloured fluid.” The patient was sent home five weeks after
the operation with the abdominal incision well healed, and
the general health much improved.

The items of news and the supplemental list of its members
show the Society to be in a very flourishing condition. The
canvassing for new members, which has been actively engaged
in by two or three of the more energetic spirits among the
fellows since last July, has been most successful, and there are
now 188 names upon the Society’s roll. This is very gratify¬
ing, and we trust that every medical man practising
homoeopathically will see it to be his duty to homoeopathy to
join a Society the business of which is to cultivate and extend
our knowledge of therapeutics.

Tasty Tit-Bits ami Dishes Dainty . By Lady Constance
Howard. London : Record Press, 1892.

Cookery books during the last few years have been greatly
multiplied, but, unfortunately, very few of them are of much
use to those who have to do their housekeeping on limited
incomes. “ Tasty Tit-Bits and Dishes Dainty,” though an
excellent book for people of good means who are fortunate
enough to possess a first-rate cook, will, we are afraid, do
little towards increasing the variety of dishes within the
reach of the large class of people who cannot afford to
keep more than two ordinary servants. The book is
neatly got up, and as we read through many of
the recipes we feel that the title is a well chosen one, and
that the “ bits ” would indeed prove “ tasty ” and the “ dishes
dainty.” Whether they would prove equally good for the
digestion is, of course, another question. The fish soup on
page 86, in which J lb. of butter is to be dissolved, is hardly
the kind of thing we should care to recommend. The
Hungarian potato salad, on page 61, though exceedingly tasty
cannot be called wholesome. We give the recipe in full:

Digitized by ^ooQle

104

MEETINGS.

Monthly HomoMpftthlo
Review, Feb. 1, 1808.

“ Hungarian Potato Salad.—Take some small potatoes,
boil them, peel them while still warm, slice very thin. To
every pint of potatoes mince one small onion, one pickled
beetroot, one fresh cucumber sliced, a Dutch herring, four
sardines, and one spoonful of cold boiled ham. Mix
all together, and pour over it one teacupful of vinegar.
Garnish with pickled walnuts/’

By epicures the book will be welcomed as containing many
very novel dishes. We think the introduction of advertise¬
ments of patent foods in the second part of the book a happy
thought, and can recommend its use on this account.

MEETINGS.

BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC SOCIETY.

The fourth meeting of the session was held at the London
Homoeopathic Hospital, on Thursday, January 5th, 1898.

The following gentlemen were elected members of the
society: Drs. Arnold, Manchester ; Flint, Scarborough;
Meek, Manchester; Proctor, Birkenhead; Roberts, Dublin;
Wilde, Weston-Super-Mare; and Williams, Manchester.

Mr Gerard Smith read a paper on “ Dentition,” in which
he first referred to the nervous connections of the teeth,
and how they would lead one to expect reflex affections
of the stomach, intestines, eyes, ears, larynx, the
respiratory mucus membrane and other parts. He looked
upon the local affections of the mouth and throat as physio¬
logical processes. When they go on to stomatitis and
enlargement of the glands these must be treated. Simple
ulceration of the fraenum, kali chlor. will cure in tbe 8x.
dilution; borax is of value in aphthous ulceration. In
catarrhal stomatitis, kreasote and acid sulph. were good
remedies ; he had not been served well by mere, sol . He next
discussed the several sympathetic or reflex affections of
difficult dentition. For conjunctival blennorrhoea he
recommended bell. In otitis he had so much faith in aconite
and pulsatilla that if they failed, and the pain was
not abated, he feared suppuration, whereupon he gave hepar.
He questioned whether the Respiratory affections were
purely reflex, and were not as much due to chill or foul air,
and he would treat the bronchitic condition irrespective of
teething. The commonest form of intestinal catarrh, yellow
or greyish stools, he had seen mostly relieved by chamomilla ,
but in the properly indicated cases he would use podoph .,
eoloeijnth , calc. phos. t mere, cor., ipecac. , and Jcreasote. With

Digitized by ^ooQle

ithio

MEETINGS.

105

Beriew, Feb. 1,1893.

advising alumina and bryonia for constipation he concluded
the section devoted to the intestinal conditions. He con¬
sidered “ red gam ” the most common affection of the skin, and
used thus, tox . as a remedy. For the troublesome eczema
attending dentition he was fond of using Unna’s glyco-
gelatine paint as an outward application, also the
well-known “ white precipitate ointment,’* washing the
parts with oatmeal water; his favourite internal remedies
being arsenic , thus and graphites . He thought that we ought
not to put too much reliance in tooth remedies when treating
cerebral or spinal symptoms. Nux would often relieve the
twitchings premonitory to a convulsive attack. He considered
so-called dental paralysis to be coincident with a polio-myelitis,
and not due to the direct result of the teething. He was
strongly in favour of lancing the gums, advising deep crucial
incisions over the molars and linear incisions over the incisors.
The paper was concluded by referring to some of the affections
due to secondary dentition.

The discussion that followed was opened by Dr. Edwin A.
Neatby, who thought that dentition might modify almost
every disease, might excite attacks of ailments to which the
child is predisposed, or might predispose to attacks which
other circumstances excite. The feverishness of teething
was of two kinds; the acute, often accompanied with, if not
due to cerebral hyperaemia, and occurring during the eruption
of a tooth, and the chronic, lasting two or three weeks, and
followed after a week or two by the “ cutting ” of a batch of
three or four teeth. He had noticed repeatedly recurring
during dentition “ pultaceous ” tonsillitis, followed by desqua¬
mation of the epidermis of hands or chest. He thought the
earache and otorrhcea might be either reflex, or due
to extension by continuity, but that the prognosis was
good. He alluded to vulvitis and nocturnal incontinence of
urine as instances of reflex action. In rickets he thought
that it was the rachitic condition which modified the
course of teething. He was of opinion that convulsions during
teething were much less common than most other ailments.
Attention was drawn to the importance of feeding, as it had a
paramount influence on dentition. Observations were given
from a table of 800 cases, in which feeding, family history,
and other ailments had been noted. He drew attention to
three remedies in conclusion : for simple irritability, agaricus ,
lx or 2x ; for sleeplessness, passiflora , given in 2-5 minim
doses; in the intractable cases of skin irritation, half-drop
doses of nux vomica .

Db. Hughes thought that the fear of falling downwards
was not any real indication for the use of borax . It was an

Digitized by ^ooQle

106

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1808.

accidental occurrence during the use of borax . He thought
kreasote was homoeopathic to stomatitis. He considered that
some investigations of Cartwright's showed that iodide of
potassium was homoeopathic to the enlarged submaxillary
glands. Mercurius failed in diarrhoea, and chamomiUa suc¬
ceeded, because the diarrhoea was a reflex trouble.

Dr. Dyce Brown thought that mercurius was only indi¬
cated in stomatitis when there was some accompanying
diarrhoea, but that in simple stomatitis chlorate of potash
acted admirably, and that it had more than a local action.
He considered it necessary in treating bronchitis to keep in
view the reflex character of the condition. In children,
where the fceces were hard and painful to pass, bryonia in the
higher dilutions acted beautifully. Gum lancing ought to be
discarded out and out.

Dr. Madden considered some of the symptoms due to
second dentition, were caused by the decayed tooth and
painful gums, causing food to be bolted. He had never
known lancing gums do any harm.

Dr. Blake thought all absolute rules as to lancing gums
wrong. He objected to the term “ reflex,” which, like
hysteria, covered a multitude of sins. He considered borax
had more than a local action, as he had cured stomatitis with
borax 12.

Mr. Wright considered that undoubtedly the majority of
cases of otitis occurred from inflammation and direct ex¬
tension. He thought that otalgia was relieved as much by
the ylycerine as the cocaine , as the latter was not absorbed.
He had found sulphur internally and locally useful in the skin
affection of teething.

Dr. Dudgeon said that no remedy was better in otitis than
belladonna . He alluded to the popular use of the bryony root
in headaches and constipation.

Dr. Byres Mom thought many of the diseases ascribed to
the teeth were due to rickets and improper feeding. He did
not see much use in lancing the gums.

Dr. Boberson Day insisted on the necessity of a minute
examination of details.

The President concurred with some of the previous speakers
in condemning the lancet. He thought that there was no
doubt that iodide of potassium was useful in enlarged cervical
glands. He did not think bryonia did much good when there
was dribbling. For the skin affections he used antimonium
tart . and crudum and sulphur every week.

Mr. Gerard Smith having replied, the meeting adjourned-

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eerie*, Feb. 1,1893.

PERISCOPE.

107

LIVERPOOL BRANCH, BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC
SOCIETY.

The usual monthly meeting was held in the Hahnemann
Hospital, Liverpool, on Thursday, January 12th, Dr. Hawkes,
the President, in the chair.

Db. Murray Moore drew attention to the letter by Dr.
Burnett in the January number of the “Homoeopathic World,”
with reference to the Drysdale Memorial.

At the suggestion of Dr. Capper, it was agreed that
members of the British Homoeopathic Society practising in
the vicinity of Liverpool should be approached with the view
of persuading them to join the Liverpool Branch.

Dr. J. D. Hayward mentioned a case in the hospital in
which an abscess had formed just below, and a little to the
right of the navel, during convalescence from enteric fever. He
thought the condition bore some relationship to the necrosis
which sometimes occurs after typhoid, and to which he was
the first to draw attention.

He also referred to a case of obstruction of the bowels to
which he had been called. There had been no vomiting, and
the patient had passed flatus on the day on which he first
attended. He thought the case was one of cancer of the
colon, and the patient succumbed about a week afterwards.
The question was as to whether he would have been justified
in attempting an operation, but the members present
generally agreed that an operation was not indicated.

Dr. Ellis then read a paper on “ Colocynth : A suggestion
for a New Materia Medica,” which was afterwards followed by
a discussion.

PERISCOPE.

MATERIA MEDICA.

Conium in Cataract.— Dr. I. T. Talbot, Boston, Mass.,
U.S.A., briefly refers to the accepted fact of the cure, by
conium , of cataract with acute and rapidly advancing glaucoma,
in 1858, in the person of Marshal St. Arnaud, of France, and
he then suggests how the pathogenesy of conium is replete with
symptoms very similar to those of acute cataract. The symp¬
toms which he calls attention to we need not here relate as
they may be found in their proper place by every student of
the Materia Medica. Dr. Talbot then narrates two well
marked cases under his own care, cured by this remedy. One
of them occurring in a woman 82 years of age, a school teacher,
had been examined by a distinguished oculist in Boston, who
pronounced it a lenticular cataract of both eyes, and said that

Digitized by ^ooQle

108

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homo&opathio
Review, Feb. 1,1898.

nothing but an operation could give relief. This measure,
however, was not adopted, but conium 8x. was prescribed four
times a day, for twelve weeks ; she was then seen again by the
same oculist, who although he was a bitter opponent of
homoeopathy, confessed she then had “ no more cataract than he
had; ” in fact, she was cured and has remained free from
recurrence since 1877, except once, when a few doses of conium
relieved some returning symptoms of her former trouble. The
second case was a more severe one, and had gone on to
glaucoma, pronounced by the oculist to be hopeless, and
enucleation was recommended. Here, too, conium was ad¬
ministered, and as it gave relief was continued for eighteen
months; the patient regained vision, was able to read and write
and for the past six years has been in comparatively good health.

Dr. Talbot also states, “ many other cases have occurred in
my practice in which I have seen the most prompt and
desirable results from the use of conium—Medical Century ,
January, 1898, p. 21.

The “ Tissue Remedies ” in Dyspepsia. —Dr. W. A. Dewey,
San Francisco, calls attention to these remedies, for “ those
functional disorders known by the comprehensive terms of
indigestion and dyspepsia,’* for comparison with other well
known remedies in those disorders, and we here condense
his remarks on the main points of observation. Calcarea phos.:
In dyspepsia, with much pain in the stomach and flatulence,
which comes on after eating, only temporarily relieved by
eructation of wind, and usually an unnatural hunger and
craving for salt. Calcarea fluoric : Vomiting of undigested
food, like all the calcareas, but otherwise its symptoms
not marked. Calcarea sulph .; No marked gastric symptoms,
except a desire for fruit, tea and coffee, the appetite
and thirst increased. Ferrum plios. : For acute indigestion,
with flushed face, much pain in the stomach after
food, the food causing nausea ; it is soon vomited, very sour
and undigested, loss of appetite, disgust for milk, headache,
disturbed sleep, and diarrhoea. Kali mur : One of the best
remedies for dyspepsia brought on by indulgence in rich and
fatty food, accompanied by sluggishness of the liver, with
white-coated tongue, lose of appetite, obstinate constipation,
pain in the epigastric region to the back or right shoulder,
jaundiced colour of the skin, bitter taste in the mouth, and
often times vomiting of glairy mucus—symptoms very
similar to nu.r vomica. Kali phos .: For nervous dyspepsia, with
gone feeling in the stomach, hunger soon after food, with
much flatulence, causing distress about the heart, and the patient
languid and exhausted. Kali sulph.: Yellow-coated tongue
and other symptoms similar to pulsatilla, but not much thirst.

Digitized by LjOOQle

PERISCOPE

109

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1898.

Magnesia phos. : Is indicated for sharp, griping pains in the
stomach, with excessive flatulence, but eructations do not
give relief; the eructations are burning and tasteless. There
is a disposition to regurgitation of food soon after eating, an
aversion to taking coffee, and a sensation of a band laced
across the epigastrium. Natrum mur. : For indigestion,
with vomiting of clear mucus, sour regurgitation of food,
distension, pressure, heavy pressure in the stomach, with
soreness in the epigastric region by pressure, and a
weak sinking feeling in that region. There is a
longing for salt and strong tasting things, but a marked
aversion to bread. Natrum phos. : Marked by acidity, sour
risings often caused by fatty food, loss of appetite, flatulence,
tongue coated yellowish at the base, severe burning pain in
the stomach, especially coming on two hours after a meal,
and an empty gone feeling. Natrum sulph. : Bitter taste in
the morning, stomach feels distended and heavy, nausea, sour
eructations, flatulence, complexion very sallow. Silica : A few
symptoms like unto calcarea , such as ravenous appetite, sour
eructations, &c., with aversion to warm cooked food and
desire for cold foods.—( Medical Century , January, 1898, p. 5.)

Scutellaria Latebifolia. —Dr. Gorton, of Brooklyn (New
York Med. Times , Sept.), writes of the valuable assistance he
has derived from one minim doses of the tincture of this drug
in cases of neurasthenia. The symptoms leading to its
selection are given in Milespaugh’s American Medicinal Plants .
They are: “ Mental confusion and stupor, headache and
vertigo, photophobia with dilated pupils, general languor and
tremulousness, followed by wakefulness and restlessness.”
On the vascular system “ variable pulse, with final reduction
of the heart’s action, with intermissions.” These effects of
the drug on the healthy nervous system, though meagre, are
significant. Dr. Gorton believes them to be well-founded,
since they have been clinically verified in his own experience.

Boracic Acid. —The Medical Era states that boracic acid in
the proportion of two drachms to a pint of water furnishes
one of the best of eye washes in conjunctival inflammation.

Helonias Dioica. —Dr. Griffith, of Philadelphia (Hdhne-
mannian Monthly , November), describes as the sphere of this
medicine cases of amennorrhoea and of menorrhagia whenever
dependent upon uterine atony. Where there is a tendency to
uterine malpositions in preventing miscarriage, when from
local weakness the slightest over-exertion produces its pre¬
monitory symptoms, then it resembles aletris , while
caulophyllum and viburum , on the contrary, correspond to an
irritable uterus with great sensitiveness. He illustrates these
grounds of selection by three apposite cases.

Digitized by

Google

110

• PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1893.

Hyoscyamus and Atropine. — Rudolph ( Centralbl . /. Klin.
Med. f October 8th, 1892) reports four cases of henbane and
one of atropine poisoning. The former occurred in four
brothers, aged 11, 9, 7, and 5 years respectively, who had
eaten the seed capsules. Symptoms common to all four were
red face, dilated pupils, dry lips and mouth, restlessness and
mental excitement. In one case the symptoms were but
slightly marked. In the boy, aged 5, there was a period of
marked apathy preceding the excitement. In only one case
was there a rise of temperature (88.8° C.), and in another
case there was a scarlatiniform eruption on the thorax, and
especially on the buttocks. In no case was the pulse more
than 110. In two days’ time all the boys were discharged
well, but with dilated pupils. The treatment consisted in
washing out the stomach, and the subcutaneous injection of
morphine. The case of atropine poisoning occurred in a woman,
aged 80. She was brought in by the police, who thought her
insane. She was rambling, and her gait was uncertain. The
face was red, the pupils widely dilated, the lips and mouth
dry, the pulse 182, and the temperature normal. The faeces
and urine were passed unconsciously. The stomach was
emptied and atropine found in the contents. Morjihine was
injected. In twenty-four hours her mind was clear, and she
was discharged well on the following day. The symptoms of
atropine and hyoscyamus poisoning are almost alike. The
•mental condition is one of excitement, combined in henbane
poisoning with hallucinations. These hallucinations may be
absent in atropine poisoning. The tendency to sleep in the
former condition was not noted at the beginning of any of the
cases, but the deep coma in the boy, aged 9, the author would
attribute to the action of the poison, and not to the small dose
of morphine given. — Brit. Med. Jnl. t Nov. 12, 1892.

GYNAECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS.

The Fourth Stage of Labour.— Abstract of a paper read
before the Homoeopathic Medical Society of New York at the
semi-annual meeting in New York City, October 5th, 1892,
by Dr. G. W. Winterburn:—

In the opening paragraphs of his paper Dr. Winterburn
impresses upon the obstetric practitioner the necessity of
ignoring the “ classic ” division of labour into three stages,
and of the importance of recognising a fourth stage, when
attention should be particularly directed to the various lacera¬
tions which occur in so many instances during the birth of
the child.

To quote Dr. Winterburn’s own words: 11 The duty of the
obstetrician to the woman in the case is not ended until he

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1 , 1888 .

PERISCOPE,

111

has seen that every particle of soil and dampness is removed
from the bed, her own person gently but thoroughly cleansed
with boiled water, followed by rubbing the parts which have
been wetted with hot alcohol, and that the clean linen used
has been thoroughly baked, and put on while yet quite
warm.” This is to be followed by a minute examination of
the parturient canal. He suggests that laceration of the
cervix may be treated expectantly, but that as rupture of the
vagina and mucous and submucous tissues of the perinaeum
are serious both in their immediate and remote consequences,
that the rent should immediately be repaired, and he points
out in reference to this part of his subject, that the perinseal
body is not infrequently injured while the commissure remains
intact.

In the more serious ruptures the author is in favour of
immediate operation, but admits that a delay of some hours
may, under certain circumstances, be advantageous. Primary
operation is a decided benefit to the patient when skilfully
performed; it leaves a functionally perfect perinaeum, and
subsequent parturition is less likely to produce a fresh
laceration.

The operation for ruptured perinaeum which Dr. Winter-
burn considers most satisfactory we will describe in his own
words: “ Before beginning the operation the obstetrician
should find out the exact state of the tissues. The wound is
usually much larger than it appears to be. The success of
the operation depends upon co-apting the tom muscular
fibres. The stitches must be put in with only just sufficient
tension to draw the fibres into place. The tom surfaces must
not be pressed together tightly, or their vitality will be injured.
It must not be forgotten that the parts will in a day or two
become greatly swollen, and the wounded surfaces should
have an equal chance to expand with the contiguous tissues.
In this way union can almost certainly be secured.

“ The common error in repairing severe but incomplete
laceration is to treat it as a longitudinal tear of the posterior
vaginal wall, when as a matter of faot it is usually a trans¬
verse tear at right angles with and immediately within the
orifice. The contraction of the muscles causes a retraction
of the upper (vaginal) portion of the involved tissues, resulting
in the production of an irregular raw surface, which on inspec¬
tion looks and feels like a longitudinal tear ; but if the upper
portion is seized in the median line with a pair of dressing
forceps, and drawn forward and downward, its true form will
be perceived. Generally this initial tear is complicated by
the extension of one or both of its outer extremities upward

Digitized by

Google

112

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1895

along the vaginal wall, caused by the splitting apart of the
fibres of the levator ani in the direction of their length.

“ In the particular form of laceration which, as it does not
involve the commissure is so frequently overlooked by the
4 busy practitioner,* I use the following simple procedure. An
extra large fully curved needle is made to enter through the
skin just in front of the anus, and three quarters of an inch
from the median line, and guided by a finger in the rectum is
carried directly upward into the upper portion of the perineal
body, and swept downward to correspond on the other side of
the median line. The sutures must not show in the line. If
they do it will be necessary to supplement them with a row of
superficial stitches (continuous catgut) in the vagina. A
second suture is parallel to the first, and about one-third of
an inch in front. From three to five such sutures will be
needed. The external sutures are first put in but not tied.
Then the vaginal ones, if these are necessary. These latter
are secured properly, and then the primary ones in the inverse
order of their introduction are tied over a roll of gauze, care
being taken to free the wound from clots.* 1

In concluding his paper Dr. Winterburn enters a decided
protest against midwifery which permits such laceration to
occur, and the disgrace to the science that patients should
fare so badly at our hands.

Sterility, says the Medical Era , not infrequently depends
upon an acid condition of the vaginal secretions. In such
cases a vaginal douche of two quarts of water containing one
ounce of bicarbonate of soda and three or four ounces of
glycerine corrects it. We would suggest that an acid secretion
of the vaginal mucous membrane is but one symptom of &
condition of ill-health, and by meeting it with a medicine
similar to the totality of the symptoms we should cure this
condition, and with it the sterility; while the flooding of the
vagina with a torrent of alkaline solution would be only
temporary in its effects, and have an influence on only one
feature of the disorder.

Ovariotomy during Pregnancy. —Dsime. (Archiv fur Oyndk -
ologie , Band XLII., Heft III.)—On the basis of 185 tabulated
cases of ovariotomy during pregnancy, the author in this
paper examines the indications for operation, and the results
accruing to mother and child. The cases are derived from
cosmopolitan sources, although some of the best English work
in recent years is not included in the category.

Dsirne summarises the results of his examination as
follows: That the danger to both mother and child is
proportionate to the advance of the pregnancy. That cyst-

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HonuBopathio
Review, Feb. 1,1898.

PERISCOPE.

118

tapping and the interruption of pregnancy are merely make¬
shifts of a temporary kind. That ovariotomy gives the best
results for both mother and child if conducted during the
second, third, or fourth month of gestation. That if ovario¬
tomy be performed in the later months of pregnancy, very
good results, especially for the mother, may be obtained.

The indications for operation are derived from a wide area
of fact. Thus in patients left without operation lethal results
.accrue to the mother in 25 per cent., and to the child in 75
per cent., of total cases. The risks involved in the presence of
an ovarian tumour during pregnancy are manifold. Abortion
not infrequently occurs from mechanical obstacles to uterine
enlargement, or from incarceration of the uterus in the pelvis,
or from a permanently maintained backward displacement.
Torsion of the pedicle occurs in 10 per cent, of cases. Bladder
troubles, dyspnoea, rupture of the cyst, oedema—these are
conditions incident to the presence of the tumour; and any
of these may call for urgent operation at an inopportune
juncture.

The author gives statistics showing that the ^special
mortality of this operation is about 6 per cent, of total cases.
This result is much influenced by the late or early time of
•operation relative to the gestation; thus in the third month no
deaths occurred in 80 cases operated on ; in the fourth month
one ease died in a total of twenty-one operations ; and in the
iifth month two cases succumbed out of eleven ovariotomies
with this complication.

Pregnancy was interrupted by operation in 22 per cent, of
the cases cited. Laparotomy in the third or fourth month of
gestation, which gives the best results for the mother, is
followed by fewer post-operational abortions than at any other
period. And when the perturbation of the maternal organism
•due to the tumour is considerable the interests of the child
are safeguarded by operation. The period of gestation, the
anatomical relations of the tumour, the existence of numerous
adhesions, the involvement of both ovaries, all these directly
influence the retentive power of the uterus under the stress of
operation.

Cyst-tapping and the induction of premature labour are
rightly condemned as procrastinatory measures. The frequency
with which puncture has often to be repeated during the
progress of gestation restricts its proper sphere to inoperable
cases. And the constant difficulty in exact diagnosis renders
puncture of the uterus an easy error. The author records
cases in which this has been done even during an abdominal
section, but if the opening be sutured, and the uterine contents
evacuated, usually no harm follows. Numerous cases are

Vol. 37, No. 2.

114

PEBI8C0PE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1SB3.

cited in which repeated tappings were of no permanent avail,
and the radical operation performed before the end of pregnancy,
with added risk from puncture and postponement. Dsime
would limit the range of cases where premature labour or
abortion should be induced to those in which a tumour
impacted in the pelvis connot be otherwise reached or
treated .—Manchester Medical Chronicle , November, 1892.

On Asepsis in Laparotomy. —Mironow. (Centralblatt ftir
Qynakologie , No. 42, 1892.)—Abdominal surgery came in
with antiseptics; but its development soon became largely
independent of the assistance of germicides. While the
results in obstetrics have been simply revolutionised by
antiseptics, the most brilliant abdominal surgery has been
done by a careful study of the conditions necessary for
asepsis. Mironow’s contribution essays to aid the clear
comprehension of the essential factors in success, by report¬
ing a series of bacteriological observations made during the
progress of some 8J laparotomies, and conducted on the air
of the operating room as well as on the fluids of the abdomen.

He describes the precautions taken to ensure aseptic
conditions for operation. All tables, instruments, brushes,
and aprons were strictly reserved for abdominal operations
alone. Instruments and towels were sterilised by exposure
to a steam-current for an hour immediately before operation.
The water used was similarly sterilised by an hour’s boiling.
The sponges were first carbolised and then washed out in
sterilised water ; the instruments were immersed in a two per
cent, solution of carbolic acid. Silk ligatures were likewise
sterilised by the steam-current; and the hands of the surgeon
and assistants were well washed with sublimate solution
immediately before operation.

These precautions against the introduction of germs from
without being taken, observations on the degree of bacterial
infection of the atmosphere were also made in some cases.
The routine method followed in each operation was the
insertion of sterilised folds of gauze (1) immediately after the
opening of the abdomen ; and (2) at the dose of the operation,
well down in the pelvis, and in the abdominal hollows
among the intestines. On the withdrawal of the gauze,
pieces were cut away and submitted to bacteriological
examination in the usual way.

In eight cases no micro-organisms were found either at the
beginning or the end of operation ; none of these operations
lasted over 21 minutes. In 21 out of 28 cases, the
gauze sponges shewed no sign of bacteria immediately after
the peritoneal opening; the great majority of these 21 gave
distinct evidence of micro-organisms in the fluid withdrawn

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Bedew, Feb. 1,1888.

•NOTABILIA.

115

by the gauze sponges at the end of the operation. Altogether*
20 cases out of 28 were found to possess bacterially inoculated
fluids just before the abdomen was closed. But in spite of
this occurrence, in not a single one of these 20 cases demon¬
strated to be so infected were there any septic manifestations
during the convalescence.

In 16 of these latter cases the organisms proved to be
certain varieties of micro-cocci; and the clinical course of 11
cases out of the 15 showed marked temperature elevations.
On the other hand, out of 11 cases in which the operation
did not last over a quarter of an hour, no rise of temperature
occurred in six, a single moderate elevation in only three, while
in two of these cases the febrile movement overstepped 88° C. for
a few days.

The operations embraced all the usual varieties of
abdominal section, including hysterectomy, ovariotomy,
vaginal hysterectomy, etc. In 11 cases there was no recorded
rise in temperature. Evidences of plastic peritonitis in the
shape of adhesions were present in 12 cases; and in 11 of
these no micro-organisms were found on opening the
abdomen. This fact is held to support the view that adhesive
peritonitis may arise from simple local irritation, and without
the intervention of any micro-organism. Further, the
examination of cyst contents, and the secretions of adherent
Fallopian tubes in the majority of cases showed no signs of
proliferating bacteria.

The author concludes, from his observations, that the
peritoneum contains no micro-organisms under ordinary
conditions; and that it is impossible during an operation to
keep the field of work completely aseptic. The practical
import of this fact is of value.— Manchester Medical Chronicle ,
December, 1892.

NOTABILIA.

THE HOSPITAL GAZETTE AND CONSULTATION
WITH HOMOEOPATHS.

We reproduce the following letter from a recent number
(January 14th) of the Medical Times and Hospital Gazette . The
Hospital Gazette has more than once shown a spirit of liberality
and fairness in dealing with questions connected with homoeo¬
pathy, and that it has been willing to publish a letter, such as
the one we print below, speaks well for its courage and love of
freedom:

“ A correspondent writes: A few days ago I was an unwil¬
ling listener to a conversation between a distinguished con-

Digitized by

1—2

Google

116

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, Feb. 1,1898.

sultant anxious to keep on good terms with his college, and
a practitioner whose 1 ’pathic ’ status was open to question.

44 Practitioner: 4 1 shall be glad if you would meet me in
consultation, Dr. X.*

44 Consultant (forewarned): 4 Well, I am very busy just
now, I don’t think I can find time.*

44 Practitioner : 4 Surely that cannot be the reason, Dr. X.
Have you any real reason for declining to meet me ?’

44 Consultant: 4 Well, let me ask you frankly, Are you, or
are you not, a professed homoeopath ?*

“ Practitioner : 4 1 was, but several years since I caused my
name to be omitted from the Homoeopathic Directory, and
have severed my connection with homoeopaths as a body.’

44 Consultant: That is hardly sufficient. Do you, or do
you not, still practise homoeopathy ?*

44 Practitioner: 4 1 don’t see what that has to do with the
question. Having ceased to profess homoeopathy I suppose I
am free, ethically as well as legally, to adopt whichever
treatment I may think best adapted to benefit my patients ? ’

44 Consultant: 4 But do you use homoeopathio remedies ? *

44 Practitioner : 4 That question is beside the mark, permit
me to say. There are no 4 homoeopathic drugs,’ homoeopathy
is a system of treatment and not a pharmacopoeia. The
mere pharmaceutical form is a mere matter of detail.’

44 Consultant : 4 Well, have you formally notified your
patients of the fact that you are no longer a homoeopath ? ’
“Practitioner : ‘No, I can’t say I have, nor would anyone
be justified in expecting me to do so.’

44 Consultant: 4 Then I regret, but I cannot meet you.*

(Exit Practitioner grumbling.)

44 On my way home I could not help reflecting on the
curious ethical standard which apparently condemns sinners,
if sinners they be (italics ours), to professional damnation, and
this everlastingly. The position strikes one as illogical and
oppressive. What we, or rather the profession in the abstract,
object to is the use of distinctive designations and not any
rules or methods of treatment, and when a man consents to
relinquish the objectionable trade-mark, it is no concern of
anybody’s what method of treatment he adopts. A more
illiberal and inconsistent policy it would be difficult to
imagine.”

The foregoing conversation, hypothetical or real, portrays
a bigotry of an extreme form, and one which is probably not
very common. It is, as we know, sometimes quite enough to
exclude a man from a hospital appointment, or from member¬
ship of a learned society that he once was 44 a homoeopath ”—

Digitized by

NOTABILIA.

117

Monthly Homooopathlo
Boriew, Jeb. 1.iSBS.

or even that his father, uncle, or cousin is or was such. But,
be the reason what it may, it is not usual to refuse to meet in
consultation a man, because he once was “ a professed
homoeopath.” We have no new observations to make on this
well-worn subject of “ consultation with homoeopaths,” but
in recognition of even the smallest effort to treat the question
with fairness, a few remarks may not be out of place.

The view of the Hospital Gazette's correspondent that “ it is
no concern of anybody’s what method of treatment ” a man
adopts, Ac., is the view of most of the liberal-minded London
consultants, if not also of the “ rank and file.” Let us briefly
refer to this question of “ distinctive designations ” and
“ objectionable trademarks.” In so far as any medical men,
individually and corporately, “ use ” a “ distinctive designa¬
tion,” it is because their liberty to “ use ” whatever method
of treatment they deem right is not acknowledged. The
recognition of such liberty would at once do away with the
necessity—a necessity, therefore, clearly created by the
dominant school (we do not use the expression offensively)—of
distinctive designations. A medical man may believe in and
practise, either as an adjuvant or to the exclusion of other
methods, hydropathy, hypnotism, electricity, massage, or
medical gymnastics, and no distinctive title is given to him or
“ used ” by him. Why ? Because the liberty to adopt these
therapeutic methods is conceded, quite apart from a universal
belief in them. Many men think little of electricity
or hydropathy as therapeutic methods or measures; many
more entirely disbelieve in the utility of hypnotism; still
more, it may be, disbelieve in the value of homceo-thera¬
peutics. But the right to use the first two is universally
conceded, while the right to use the third is commonly withheld.
For what reason ? The answer can only be—“ without any
reason whatever.” Place all these methods on the same
footing and both the necessity for and the “ use of distinctive
designations ” will be equally absent with respect to them all—
there will be no “ hydropathists ” and no “ homoeopathists.”
Refuse to allow medical men to believe in and practise, to
whatever extent they deem right, the water-treatment, and
you thereby immediately create a number of or a body of
“ hydropathists ”—just as now men are made “ homceo-
pathists.” Little as many men who, times without number,
have been guided to the successful choice of remedies by
Hahnemann’s rule “ let likes be treated by likes,” desire the
title of homoeopath, it is forced upon them by the refusal to
allow a man to believe in the “ bridge which has carried him
over.” Concede to medical men (which is justly theirs) the
entree to medical societies and the right, with the rest, to read

Digitized by ^ooQle

ii8

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoaopithie
Review, Feb. 1,1898.

papers independently of their therapeutical beliefs or dis¬
beliefs, and “ homoeopathic ” societies vanish. Give
the men the liberty, if they can get pupils, to teach
their beliefs or disbeliefs, and homoeopathic schools,
colleges and faculties disappear. Allow physicians or
surgeons, if they will, freely to put into practice their
beliefs and disbeliefs in all the hospitals of the country—
allow them to prescribe not only ipecac, or arsenic for vomit¬
ing, but any number of drugs on the principle on which these
are prescribed, or on any other legitimate principle—and
“ homoeopathic ” hospitals and dispensaries thereupon cease
to exist. For all will be equally homoeopathic, or equally
unhomoeopathic. It is thus the dominant and “ orthodox ”
school , and not the followers of Hahnemann , who make
“ Homoeopaths .”

The same reasoning disposes of the objection—the same
only in other terms—that practitioners accepting the rule of
similars as a guide to drug selection separate themselves
from the general body of practitioners—take up an isolated
or sectarian position. It follows, from what has already been
written, that the separate, isolate^ or sectarian position
is one which is forced upon a number of men entirely against
their will.* They are isolated because of their beliefs, and
ostracised because they are isolated.

It will be clearly understood that we are not here discus¬
sing the merits or demerits of homoeopathy. Our conten¬
tion is that every qualified medical man has the right to form
his own judgment in the matter, and to act upon it without
suffering thereby at the hands of his fellows.

PROPOSED CHILDREN’S SANATORIUM AT
HARROGATE.

We have heard with much pleasure that at a meeting,
specially convened at the house of Mr. James Backhouse,
Victoria Avenue, Harrogate, it was decided to commence a
Sanatorium for Children. A committee to carry out this
desirable object was appointed. That Harrogate is a suitable
place for a sanatorium is shown by the fact of the increasing
number of visitors who go there to recruit their health every
summer, and many are now making it a winter residence.
As a commencement a few beds only will be provided, but if
the demand increases, provided the subscription list keeps
pace with it, these will be added to. Dr. Ramsbotham, of
Leeds, is to be the consulting physician, and Dr. Roberts, of

* This, the history of medicine, as well as the attitude of homoeo¬
pathic practitioners, render clear and undeniable.

Digitized by <^.o< x

NOTABILIA.

119

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1883.

Harrogate, the physician. How great a success a children’s
sanatorium in a suitable locality may be made, when the
medical treatment of the inmates is homoeopathic, was very
conclusively demonstrated by our inspection of that at South-
port, commenced some thirty years ago by Dr. Blumberg. We
have no doubt but that in so bracing and altogether health
inspiring a town as Harrogate, the institution which has
been projected will be equally useful to the children in the
over-crowded manufacturing towns of the West Riding of
Yorkshire.

AMERICAN NOTES.

The year opened with the appearance of a new homoeopathic
monthly journal, issuing from the publishing house of Gross
and Delbridge, Chicago, under the editorship of Dr. C. E.
Fisher, who recently conducted the Southern Journal of
Homoeopathy , now edited by Dr. Eldridge Price, of Baltimore.
It absorbs two journals. New Remedies and the North Western
Journal of Homoeopathy. Dr. Cowperthwaite, who was the
editor of the latter, will in future manage the materia medica
department of the new journal, The Medical Century*

* * * * *

The advent of our newly-born contemporary is heralded
with a good old-fashioned 4th of J uly trumpet blast. Homoeo¬
pathy is pre-eminently a progressive science. With her con¬
tinued growth and development her necessities increase, and
new things are demanded of her. That with which she was
surfeited yesterday but fills her requirements to-day and
will not suffice for her needs to-morrow. And in harmony
with this thought The Medical Century is given birth. It is
believed that there is now a place in homoeopathy for a
journal of the class to which it aspires. It is inaugurated
as an independent, progressive, high-minded international
medical newspaper. It is intended to occupy a field as yet
not filled, to make a place for itself. It comes as the rival of
no existing periodical, as the foe of no journal already
catalogued, as the friend and co-worker with all. Its policy
is one of progression, its platform broad and liberal, its
work the advancement of its school. It will ever champion
her cause, defend her from unrighteous encroachments upon
the citadel of her faith and proclaim her right to a legitimate
place in the great domain of medicine. By the aid of the pro¬
fession it comes to serve it hopes to present the new system
of practice in the light of a science, to elevate its precepts
and to assist in the great work of advancing it to first place in
the field of practical therapeutics.

Digitized by ^ooQle

120

NOTABILIA.

Monthly HocmoBopathia
Review, Feb. 1,1863*

“ This is the mission of The Medical Century. Homoeopathy
is its ward, the general domain of medicine and surgery its.
home, the medical world its vineyard.**

* * t

Still more. u It is to be an international journal in fact a»
well as in name, and intends to draw contributions from the

entire homoeopathic world.The earth is ours and

the fulness thereof—in Homoeopathy.A journal

as good as the best is possible. Shall we have it ? Time
will tell !*’ We should not be surprised to hear some friends,
of ours in New York and Philadelphia express an opinion to
the effect that journals “ as good as the best” are, and for
some years have been, in circulation! And then proceed
to mutter something uncomplimentary about “ Western
blowers,*’

* ♦ * * *

Be this as it may, Dr. Fisher has filled his first number
with material both interesting and useful, and furnishes us
with a good deal of news of how matters of interest to
homoeopaths are proceeding in the United States. Dr. Talbot r
of Boston, for example, contributes the report of a case of
lenticular cataract cured by conium , which is interesting
both from a therapeutic and a medico-ethical point of view*
(See page 107.)

*****

The city of Chicago—the site of which sixty years ago wa»
pure prairie—having won the national grants for promoting
the Columbian Exhibition, or World’s Fair, from its eastern
rivals, is determined to be so much to the front as to compel
Boston, New York and Philadelphia, cities which had 8
position in history long ere Chicago was so much as 8
military outpost, to occupy back seats in the Republic during
the year 1898. The Hahnemann Medical College has a new
building, the Hahnemann Hospital is being erected, The
Medical Century , has as we have seen,commenced its career, and
is in process of being “ boomed,” and now we hear of Chicago
millionaires devoting a goodly proportion of their dollars to the
foundation of the University of Chicago. The trustees have
just received a further donation of $1,000,000 from Mr.
John D. Rockefeller, who had previously given $2,600,000 to
the same institution. The university now owns land, buildings*
and other property, valued at £1,400,000 sterling, and the
principal says :— 44 We expect to have in time such an array
of magnificent buildings as one sees at Oxford or Cambridge.
The University is building in the most massive and imposing
style. At present we have three dormitories, a lecture hall

Digitized by

Monthly Homcoopathio
Review, Feb. l t 1S8S.

NOTABILIA.

121

and gymnasium, 600 students, and 119 professors, assistant
professors and tutors.”

* * * * *

The work of the new university has commenced. Seven
hundred students formed its first body of matriculants, a
large proportion of whom are already graduates of other
colleges. The professional body consists of 160 gentlemen
and ladies, selected from among the best of the professors in
the various seats of learning in the States. The seductive
influence of the dollar was freely and successfully used in
withdrawing these men of learning from their various spheres
of work to assist in founding the University of Chicago.

* * * * *

Our readers will be interested to hear that Miss Marion
Talbot, the elder daughter of Dr. Talbot, of Boston, has
been appointed 44 The Dean of Women,” in this Unifersity.
This lady, in addition to possessing great literary acquire*
ments, inherits a very large share of her father’s conspicuous
capacity for organisation; a capacity the extent of which
we once heard a Member of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy illustrate by saying, 44 If Talbot had been a
politician instead of a physician he WQuld have been Presi¬
dent of the United States by this time.” An allopath from
the Southern States expressed his sense of Dr. Talbot’s
power of organising, if in a less flattering, still, in a very
emphatic way, when, in reply to the question, 44 How is it
that homoeopathy has gone so much ahead in Boston ? ” he
said, 44 Oh! that s easy. The homoeopaths have a Dr. Talbot
there, and he’s the finest wire-puller in the whole of the
United States, sir.” That Miss Talbot will prove an orna¬
ment to the University, and a skilful, and consequently
successful, head of the department she has been selected to
direct, we feel quite sure.

*****

The homoeopaths of Louisville are, we understand from the
correspondence in The Medical Century , arranging for the
institution of a Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital
Four colleges where therapeutics of the empirical type alone is.
taught exist in the city, and it is felt that Kentucky is a State
which ought to instruct medical graduates in homoeopathy.
A suitable building for converting to the purposes both of a
hospital and a school is available. It is hoped that both
will be opened in the autumn.

*****

One piece of news that comes to us with the American
journals we have read with great regret. It is the announce-

Digitized by

122

NOTABILIA.

Monthly HamoBopathfo
Review, Feb. 1,1608.

ment of the serious illness of Dr. J. P. Dake, of Nashville—
one of the chief ornaments, both professionally and socially,
of the homoeopaths of the United States—the joint editor with
Dr. Hughes of the Cydoptedia of Drug Pathogenesy. Dr. Dake
had recently returnedarom Japan, when he was attacked by
a severe illness, confining him to bed and preventing him and
one of his medical sons from attending the meeting of the
Southern Homoeopathic Medical Association, held at Hot
Springs, Arkansas, last November. By the latest advices
that we have received, we are glad to hear that Dr. Dake is
recovering, and trust soon to hear that his convalescence is
sufficiently advanced to enable him to engage in the duties of
his profession he has so long adorned.

* v »:« * w

At the late meeting of the Southern Homoeopathic Medical
Association at Hot Springs, Arkansas, resolutions were
unanimously agreed to, which reveal the existence of a
singular method of securing patients by medical men residing
in this well-known resort for invalids, Hot Springs—the
American Carlsbad. 44 Very early in the session,” writes the
reporter for The Clinique , 44 the Association passed a set of
resolutions heartily approving the efforts that were being
made by the respectable physicians and business men of the
place to break up the system of ‘ drumming ’ for patients
that had become so obnoxious to visitors as well as resi¬
dents. It is a well-known and deeply-rooted evil. Every
passenger train entering the city carries a lot of
these fellows employed by irresponsible practitioners,
soliciting passengers to employ a certain physician while they
stay; and while the visitor probably gets the worst of the
bargain, in some instances the 4 drummers * demand from
the physicians as high as two-thirds of the fees received.
The evil pervades everywhere, in the shops and in the baths.
The waiters at the hotels before you are fairly seated at the
table for the first meal, are ready to tell you the name of the
doctor who will cure with lightning rapidity all chronic
diseases. It is greatly desired that the profession aid
the local committee, by instructing the people who
are going to the Hot Springs to shun these 4 drummers. * ”

This method of gallery 44 business ” is not unknown in the
agricultural towns. In a small town of this type, in either
Iowa or Nebraska—we forget which—a gentleman, who
resided there for some months, told us that there were two
doctors. As is not unusual, there were also many small boys
always on the look-out for a pony to ride on the Saturday
half-holiday. Some of these youngsters each Saturday
obtained the loan of a pony from the doctor’s in return for

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1,1803.

NOTABILIA.

123

visiting the fanners and others in and near the town, and
sounding the praises of the owner of the pony and running
down the reputation of his rival ! Our informant told us
that on One occasion one of the boys gave him a good two
hours’ talking to, on the advantages he would derive from
“ hiring ” Dr. Smith, if ever he were “ sick telling him to
avoid Dr. Johnson entirely* as “ he did not amount to a row
of pins.”

* * * * *

The committee appointed to superintend the erection of
a statue of Hahnemann in the city of Washington is now
actively engaged in procuring funds for the purpose, and are
meeting with great success in their efforts. The selected
sculptor is Mr. T. Q. A. Warde, one of the best-known
artists in the States. A sub-committee is now at work in
Washington endeavouring to obtain a suitable site.

*****

A CENTENARIAN HOMOEOPATHIC DOCTOR.

Dr. Sevebin Wihlobycki, who practised as a homoeopathic
physician in London for upwards of 20 years, at first in
Connaught Place and latterly in St. John’s Wood, com¬
pleted his hundredth year on the 8th of January last. Our
venerable colleague was born in Volhynia, a province of what
is now called Russian Poland, on the 8th January, 1798.
After fighting bravely for his country’s independence against
the Russians in thirty-six battles, on the final defeat of
the patriots he came to Edinburgh with his brother
Dionysius, who had fought by his side. He tried to maintain
himself in the Scottish capital by teaching French, and
by the kindness of friends and the liberality of the professors
he was enabled to study medicine, and he took his degree in
1841, and soon afterwards emigrated to Canada, where he
practised physic for about 10 years. He then returned to this
country, settled in London as a homoeopathic physician, joined
the British Homoeopathic Society, and was for a short time on
the staff of the London Homoeopathic Hospital. He finally
retired from practice about 1874, when he was 81 years of
age, and devoted himself to philanthropic work, more
especially to the cause of temperance, on which he occa¬
sionally lectured.

Dr. S. Wielobycki enjoys very good health, though he is not
quite so strong as he was before the two attacks of influenza
he suffered from in two successive years. He ascribes
his robust health mainly to his having practised total
abstinence from spirituous liquors, a vegetarian diet, and

Digitized by ^ooQle

124

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Bartow, Feb. 1,1808.

never having indulged in tobacco. Of course, that is a pious
opinion, insusceptible of proof, as many centenarians
have been steady topers, flesh devourers and tobacco con¬
sumers. However, a temperance society called “ Society
for the Study of Inebriety,” of which Dr. Wielobycki is one
of the Vice-Presidents thought they could advantageously
utilise his hundred years by getting «up a public demonstration,
nominally for the purpose of congratulating him on his having
attained that great age, really in order to air their doctrines
coram populo. A request that his colleagues of the British
Homoeopathic Society and of the staff of the London Homoeo¬
pathic Hospital should be allowed to participate in the
proposed public congratulations, was peremptorily refused by
the managers, who consist of allopathic physicians to a man,
that man being the object of this proposed demonstration. Well,
the ceremony came off on the 10th January at the Marlborough
Booms in Regent Street. No allusion was, of course, made to
Dr. Wielobycki’s peculiar views on medicine. In fact, when,
the day after the report of the meeting was published in the
papers, a statement appeared that the object of the society's
congratulations was. a practitioner of homoeopathy, Dr.
Norman Kerr, the President of the S.S.I. denied that that
was the case, and that whatever he might have been he waa
no longer a homoeopath, as he (Dr. Kerr) had treated him
(Dr. W.) for many years ailopathically. However, it was
shown that up to 1874 (the year of his withdrawal from
practice) Dr. Wielobycki’s name appears in the homoeopathic
directory, and though he might have occasionally
taken a dose from Dr. Kerr, his regular medical
adviser until within the last two years was our
colleague Dr. Wilkinson. At the meeting in question an
address was read from the Senatus of the Edinburgh
University, which congratulated their centenarian graduate
on his longevity, and on the skill and success of his practice
during so many years. Had this august body known that
the practice of the recipient of their congratulations had been
homoeopathic all those years, they would certainly have
refrained from their compliments to him. We know how the
brother of our centenarian colleague, Dr. Dionysius Wielobycki,
was persecuted by the Edinburgh Faculty for his homoeo¬
pathic practice. Some of them even had the meanness to taunt
him with ingratitude towards the professors, who had assisted
his poverty by foregoing the whole or a part of their fees.
Probably all those who were so bitter against Dr. Dionysius
are dead, and the actual representatives of the Edinburgh
Faculty have no remembrance of the name of the man they
persecuted. The wife of our ancient friend met with a sad

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HooMBopothio
Beriew, Feb. 1,1S».

NOTAB ILIA.

125

accident fifteen months ago. She broke the neck of her
femur within the capsule of the joint. No union has
taken place, and she is consequently a hopeless cripple.

We trust that Dr. Severin Wielobycki may long be spared
to attest the virtues of teetotalism, vegetarianism, anti-
tobaccoism, and last, though not least—homoeopathy.

The following is the correspondence in the Echo of the 18th
and 14th ult., to which we have referred:

44 DR. WIELOBYCKI.

44 Sib, —With reference to a letter in your issue of to-day,
as Dr. Wielobycki’s medical attendant for many years I beg
to state that during all that time he has not been a homoeo-
pathist. All who know me will at once know that I have
nothing to do with homoeopathy. I can so vouch for one-
half of his professional career, spent in Nova Scotia, near my
old friend Dr. Fitch, who was a fellow-graduate of Dr. W.’s
in 1841. During all that time Dr. W. did not practise
homoeopathy. The Inebriety Society consists of medical
members and non-medical associates. Of the officers, not one
is a homoeopath, and I believe not one of the members. The
hypnotists might as well claim me as a 4 new mesmerist,*
because while sowing my medical wild oats I was fascinated
for a few months by the brilliance of the noblest of them all,
the late Professor Gregory.—Yours, &c.,

44 Norman Kerb, M.D.

44 Jan. 12.*’

44 TO THE BDITOB OF THX ECHO.

44 Sib, — 4 Litem scripta manet' In the 4 Homoeopathic
Directory * for 1858, Dr. Wielobycki’s name appears coupled
with the following, among other appointments, 4 Physician-
Accoucheur to the Hahnemann Institution, Physician to the
London Homoeopathic Hospital, Member of the British
Homoeopathic and Hahnemann Medical Societies.' His name
still appears as a practitioner of homoeopathy in the 4 Homoeo¬
pathic Directory ' for 1874, after which, being then 81 years oi
age, he retired from active practice. Thus, during his medical
career in London, he professed and practised homoeopathy.
Dr. Kerr's comparison of Dr. Wielobycki’s practice of
homoeopathy with his own connection with mesmerism
“ while sowing his medical wild oats " is not very apt, for at
the age of 81, and for many years short of that age, one has
generally ceased to sow wild oats, medical or other. How
many 44 the many years ” Dr. Kerr says he has been Dr.
Wielobycki's medical attendant may be, I cannot, of course,

Digitized by ^ooQle

126

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, Feb. 1,18B3.

tell, but I know that it is only a very few years since he had
Dr. Wilkinson, the eminent homoeopathic practitioner of St.
John’s Wood, as the medical attendant of his wife and him-
self. I, too, graduated in Edinburgh the same year as Dr.
Wielobycki, and I believe I have known him for a much
longer time than Dr. Kerr. That 4 the Inebriety Society ’
contains no homoeopaths I can well believe, for many of us
are total abstainers, and the rest are very moderate men.—
Yours, &c.,

44 R. E. Dudgeon, M.D.

44 58, Montagu Square, Jan. 18.”

HOMOEOPATHY IN BARBADOS.

We gather from a Barbados Herald , that homoeopathy has
encountered opposition in that island similar in kind to that
it has met with in Europe, and that there, as here, it has
been well defended. Dr. Licorish, in a letter extending over
four columns of the paper, first of all replies to the charge
against homoeopathic physicians—which appears to have been
industriously circulated in the island—that they, as a body,
ignore all the advances made by medical science in recent
years, and regard all such studies as a waste of time ! This
notion Dr. Licorish easily explodes, and then proceeds to
enlighten the readers of the paper as to what homoeopathy is.
We understand that the letter is but the avant courier of a
pamphlet on the same subject, and this we hope will have a
wide circulation.

HOMEOPATHY IN FRANCE.

Until homoeopathy comes to be treated as a recognised method
of therapeutics we shall always be glad to hear of, and to
take notice of, efforts to diffuse a knowledge of it such as
the following:—The French Society for the Propagation of
Homoeopathy has organised a series of publio conferences on
the subject. They are to be free, and will be held at the
.Town Hall of the 9th Arrondissement of Paris every Friday
evening at 9 p.m. until further notice .—Chemist and Druggist,
Jan. 14th.

THE DRYSDALE MEMORIAL.

The sympathy of all our readers will be with our colleagues
in Liverpool who have taken in hand the establishment of a
memorial to our old friend and colleague, the late Dr. Drys-
dale. Though for many years resident in Liverpool, his
influence was cosmopolitan, and the benefits his erudition and
quiet, patient scientific mind conferred upon medicine and
therapeutics extended beyond any local boundaries.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HonunopfttMc
Review* Feb. 1,1808.

NOTABILIA.

127

It is fitting that the tribute to his memory should be on
the lines of his life’s work. The endowment of a hospital bed
where the occupant can have the advantage of some of Dr.
Drysdale’s work for science, has our cordial support.

Should the enthusiasm of contributors render it possible,
perhaps an extension on the same lines might be contemplated.
The foundation of a lectureship to include a short annual series
of lectures, either didactic or clinical, would be a step in the
right direction, and would do much to advance the truths for
which Dr. Drysdale laboured so long and so well. We feel
sure that could Dr. Drysdale have left us an expression of his
mind, he would have approved of this course. Moreover, such
a permanent institution would form an excellent nucleus
around which, at a later date, more extended and systematic
teaching might develop.

LECTURES AT THE LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC
HOSPITAL.

During February two lectures will be delivered as already
announced.

Feb. 10—“ On the Commoner Affections of the Nose and
. Throat,” by Mr. Dudley Wright.

Feb. 24—“ Pit-falls in the Treatment of Eye Diseases,”
by Mr. Knox Shaw.

We believe both these lectures will be of practical interest
to all classes of hearers expected to attend, and advise our
readers not to miss them.

We understand that Mr. Wright will show a number of
cases in illustration of his lecture, and that the electric light
will be used in demonstrating the diseased conditions.

* * * * *

The Quin Lectures were delivered, as announced, by
Dr. Dyce Brown during last month. The treatment of dys¬
pepsia and the chief homoeopathic remedies useful were dis^
cussed, and the indications given simply and in detail. A£/a
later date we hope to be able to place them before our reflCffers.

DONATION TO THE LONDON HOM(EOP*THIC
HOSPITAL. /

Thu London Homoeopathic Hospital has just received a gift
of fifty guineas, the prize awarded by the Londofa Shoe Com¬
pany, Oheapside, E.C., to Mrs. E. B. Stevenso/n in a recent
competition. Mrs. Stevenson nominated the'Homoeopathic
Hospital, and the amount makes a welcome contribution
towards meeting its current deficit of £600. This award of a
valuable prize should prove suggestive to the perplexed holders
of the impounded missing word prizes. ■

Digitized

d by Google

128

CORBESPONDENTS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Feb. 1 ( 18M.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

%* We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscript*.

Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. N batby.

London Homckopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,
Bloomsbury.— Hours of attendance : Medical, In-patients, 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30, daily; Surgical, Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.30 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist. Mondays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

Erratum. —Page 27, line 13, instead of “ by ” read •‘into.”

Communications have been received from Dr. Dudgeon, Dr. Cooper,
Mr. Wright, Mr. Knox Shaw, Mr. Wyborn (London) ; Dr. Hughes
(Brighton) ; Dr. Hayward (Birkenhead) ; Dr. Moore (Liverpool);
Dr. Porter, Dr. Roberts (New York); Dr. Thomas, Dr. Croucher
(Eastbourne); Dr. Stonham (Ventnor) ; Dr. Clifton (Northampton).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

How I became a Homoeopath. Bv William H. Holcombe, MJ>., of
New Orleans. Philadelphia : Boericke k Tafel. 1892 .—A Laboratory
(burse in Medical Chemistry. By Eugene H. Porter. A.M., M.D., Prof.
Medical Chemistry in N. V. Horn. Med. Coll., and W. H. Pearsall,
Ph. B., M.D. New York. 1892.— Fletcher's Patent Calendar for 1893.
—Warrington.— Leaf Homoeopathic Cottage Hospital , Eastbourne , Fifth
Annual 11 (port.—Transactions of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of
Pennsylvania , 1892. Philadelphia : Sherman k Co. —The Treatment of
Tuberculosis with Tube rcul acid in, by Prof. E. Klebs, and A Combined
Tuberculin-Tuberculocidin Treatment , by Dr. Carl Spengler Davis.
London : Burroughs, Wellcome k Co.— The Journal of the British
Homoeopathic Society . New Series. January, 1893. London : John
Bale k Sons, Titchfield Street, Oxford Street. —The Homoeopathic World.
London. Jan. —The Clinical Journal. London : Burroughs. Wellcome
and Co. Jan. —Medical Bcprints. London : J. M. Richards. Jan.—
The Chemist and Druggist. London. Jan. —The Monthly Magazine
of Pharmacy. London : Burbidge k Co. Jan. —The Palm ist. London.
Dec. —The Few York Medical Becord. Dec. and Jan. —The Chironian.
New York. Dec.— The New York Medical Times. Jan. —New England
Medi&B Gazette. Boston. Jan.— The Hahnemannian Monthly . Phila¬
delphia's Jan.— The Homoeopathic Physician . Philadelphia. Jan.—
The tHinDfuc. Chicago. Jan. —The Medical Century. Chicago. Jan.—
The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine. Dec. and Jan. —Medical
Advance. Chicago. Dec. —The Californian Homoeopath. San Fran¬
cisco. Nov. Vnd Dec.— The Homoeopathic Envoy. Lancaster. Jan.—
Berne Homaeopathique Beige. Brussels. Dec., 1892.— L'Union Homeeo-
pathique. Antwerp. Oct., 1892.— Bull. Gen. de Therap. Paris. Jan.
—Bevista Omiojfatica. Rome. Nov., 1892.— Gazette Med. di Torino.
Dec.— Leipziger Pop. Zeitschrift. filr Horn. Jan. —HomSopatisch
Maandblad. The Hague. January.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pors, 19,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Drcs Beowh, 29, Seymour Street, Port-
man 8qnare, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Kkatby, 161, Haverstock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Businessi communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould A Sow, 69,
Mooigate Street, E.C.

Digitized by

Monthly Hoknoop&thie
Bartow, Mor. 1,1808.

SMALL-POX.

129

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

8MALL-P0X.

Various predictions have been made that we should have
to contend with an epidemic of cholera during the spring
season of this year. Whether the prophets of evil will
prove to have been correct or not time alone can show.
They have at any rate Berved a useful purpose by the
fears they have raised having drawn increased attention
to the importance of measures of sanitation. Now, how¬
ever, we are more than threatened with an epidemic of
small-pox. The disease is not coming—it is here; and
not only is it here, but it is spreading amongst us, and
we regret to think that the opportunities for its dis¬
semination are greater now than they have been
for many years past. The baneful influence of the
Anti-Vaccination League people upon the superficially
informed and more generally ignorant of the population
is bearing fruit. The Compulsory Vaccination Act has
not been enforced to any conspicuous extent for several
yearB, in obedience to the pressure brought to bear upon
the authorities by the same mischievous Association.

The annual volume of the Local Government Board,
issued late in the autumn of last year, shows that the
number of children now growing up who are unprotected
against small-pox by vaccination is rapidly increasing.
Of those bom in 1889, the last year of which the tables
are given, 74,627 remained unvaccinated when the
VoL 37, No. 3. K

Digitized by

130

SMALL-POX.

Monthly HomcBopftthio
Review, Mar. 1,1908.

returns were finally made up—a number representing
9.9 per cent, of the births, compared with 8.5 for 1888;
in London the rate of default was 11.6, compared with
the preceding return of 10.8 ; whilst in Yorkshire it was
18.0, an increase of 2.2 per cent, on the figures of the
previous year. Gloucester shows 88 per cent, of de¬
faulters, Keighley 80 per cent., and Leicester 80 per cent!

For a considerable period, a Royal Commission, pre¬
sided over by the present Lord Chancellor has been
taking evidence on the working of the Compulsory Vacci¬
nation Act. An interim report was presented by the
Commission last May, but it went no further than to
recommend that, in future, penalties for a breach of the
law should no longer be cumulative. The report states
that the members of the Commission have arrived at
this conclusion quite independently of the question
whether vaccination should continue to be compulsorily
enforced. A Bill embodying this recommendation is,
we understand, about to be brought before Parliament.
The delay which has occurred in issuing a full report,
has done much to aid the anti-vaccinators. They have
successfully urged that the question of compulsory vacci¬
nation is still sub judice; that it is not yet determined
that a man is not within his rights in allowing his
children to continue in a state which will admit of their
being centres whence may spread a highly contagious
and loathsome disease.

The work of the Commission is not to collect evidence
and report upon the capacity of vaccination to prevent
or, at any rate, to reduce to a comparatively insignificant
minimum , the liability to contract small-pox; that is a
question which needs no enquiry. In 1871 a Select
Committee of the House of Commons on Vaccination,
after carefully considering the evidence of persons who
assert that vaccination is useless and injurious, and of
medical and other evidence given in reply, reported—

“That cow-pox affords, if not an absolute, yet a very
great protection against an attack of small-pox, and an
almost absolute protection against death from that
disease. . . . That small-pox, unchecked by vacci¬

nation, is one of the most terrible and destructive of
diseases as regards the danger of infection, the propor¬
tion of deaths among those attacked, and the permanent
injury of the survivors.”

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Boriew, Mar. 1, 1898.

SMALL-POX.

131

These conclusions have been strengthened by expe¬
rience in every small-pox epidemic that has occurred
throughout the world since the date of their publication.
That they have had no influence upon the misguided
people, whose mission in life seems to be to persuade their
neighbours that such well and carefully ascertained facts
are fallacies put forward by medical tnen in order to
increase their incomes, is becoming daily more painfully
marked throughout the country. In centres where the
anti-vaccinators have had the greatest success in inducing
the people to defy the law which renders vaccination
compulsory, and in persuading Boards of Guardians
and magistrates to assume a “ dispensing power/* and
not to enforce obedience to the Act, there small-pox has
for some months been rapidly gaining a footing. Among
such centres, Leicester, Warrington, Huddersfield,
Manchester, Sheffield, Halifax and Sunderland have
been conspicuous in supplying material for it to
develop and consequently to spread. The circum¬
stances of the times, too, are especially favourable for
the distribution of a highly contagious disease. Trade
is bad ; large numbers of men are out of employment;
and as a result tramps, in search of the means of living,
are more numerous than usual. It is through them
that the disease is conveyed from one town to another.
“ The history of small-pox in Great Britain is," says the
British Medical Journal , “a history of pauper-spread
disease. From all quarters we receive reports indicating
that it is the common lodging-houses and workhouses
that are the chief means of disseminating infection ; and
the question here becomes one of much moment.
Navvies have been attacked in several places.”

The spread of the disease by persons of this migratory
class has, there is good reason for believing, been greatly
increased by the lack of proper accommodation for their
reception when found to be suffering from it. The hos¬
pitals for infectious cases are not as numerous as they
ought to be, neither are they as large in many places
where they do exist as they should be. Institutions of this
kind are avoided rather than encouraged. Sites are not
easily obtained; a fever or small-pox hospital spells ruin
to all neighbouring property, while the building of them
adds greatly to the local rates. Hence, when our towns
are free from epidemic disease, the authorities can see
no necessity for them, and when an epidemic appears

Digitized by

Google

132

SMALL-POX.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1803.

some makeshift arrangement is hurriedly improvised,
and this in nine cases out of ten involves a heavy expen¬
diture of money, while it is at the best a very imperfect
substitute for a properly constructed hospital. “ In one
town,” writes the editor of the British Medical Journal
(Jan. 21), “it is estimated that each patient removed
has cost £100 of public money. The bill at Warrington
is alarming, and it is likely to be increased and multi¬
plied throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire, where,
owing to the teachings of the anti-vaccinators, vaccina¬
tion has fallen off.”

Extemporised arrangements to quarantine persons
living in infected houses are not only inefficient and
expensive, but—when vaccination is practised and, if
needs be, enforced—they are totally unnecessary. The
evidence of the power of vaccination to prevent or con¬
trol the development and progress of small-pox is simply
overwhelming. It has been published over and over
again, and has never yet been contradicted by facts. It
is unnecessary to reproduce it here. Two interesting and
recent additions to the vast mass of similar testimony we
may give. We take the first from the British Medical
Journal (Dec. 81, 1892). At Warrington, the total ad¬
missions to the hospital up to that time numbered 400,
and altogether there had been 86 deaths from the disease.
The Medical Officer of Health then issued a poster, on
which he says: “ One quarter of the population is now
safe from small-pox ; a large proportion remains in great
and serious danger. Not a single person re-vaccinated
in time has taken the disease. Not one death has
occurred in a well vaccinated person, while it is a matter
of experience that the unvaccinated and the insufficiently
vaccinated have had severer forms of small-pox, have
been longer recovering, and have had more disfigure¬
ment and other serious after effects than have those who
were protected. Of the children that died, ten were un¬
vaccinated.” Secondly , the same paper, of the 18th ult.,
informs us, on the authority of the Leeds Mercury , that
at Batley, in Yorkshire, the very centre of the anti¬
vaccination craze, 26 cases have proved fatal, but not
one vaccinated child has died. Then again, the New
York Medical Times (Feb.) writes that Dr. Edson, of
the Board of Health, says: “During over nine years*
service in the health department of New York, I have

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
fitriew, Mar. 1,1893.

SMALL-POX.

133

never seen a case of small-pox in a person who had
been successfully vaccinated within five years, and the #
number of cases I have seen mount into the hundreds.
•During that period I have seen only one inspector of
contagious diseases contract small-pox, and he was the
only inspector who disbelieved in vaccination, and re¬
fused to have it performed on himself.**

The impression which the anti-vaccinators have made
upon the minds of those who have listened to them,
though sufficient to induce a dangerously considerable
number to indulge in the luxury of resisting the law and
courting the notoriety of a fictitious martyrdom, has
succeeded rather by appealing to what Mark Twain calls
the “ nat*ral cussedness ** of the people, than by con¬
vincing their intelligence, for we find that in Leicester,
the hotbed of opposition to vaccination both compulsory
and voluntary, the local papers state that such a raid
on the medical men of the town for vaccination as has
lately been going on has not been witnessed for many
years! We can only hope that it may not even now be
41 too late to mend,** and that in other places where the
people have been imposed upon by anti-vaccination
fallacies similar raids will be the order of the day.

This sudden rush of the Leicester people to secure the
protection they have during so many years spent time and
money in scouting and in protesting against the iniquity
of their being compelled to obtain, reminds us of an
incident recorded in one of the Sanitary Reports issued
in 1874 or 1875 by the India Office. Efforts to persuade
the Mahommedans and, among Hindoos, the Rajpoots to
be vaccinated, were found to be extremely difficult. At
Donapore the Putwaree had refused to allow his child
to be vaccinated, but sixty other children were success¬
fully operated on. In the hot weather of 1878 epidemic
small-pox broke out with considerable malignity; the
Putwaree’s child died, but the whole of the sixty children
who were protected escaped. Consequently the next
season, when the vaccinator appeared in the village, all
the mothers crowded round him with their infants, and
two mothers, who happened to be absent, followed him
for ten miles to another village where he was vacci¬
nating !

All such panic-stricken efforts to escape the penalty
of previous neglect, as that now in full force at Leicester,

Digitized by ^ooQle

134

SMALL-POX.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1 , 1808 .

require a caution. In the first place, to be effective, it
must be remembered that the operation, whether this is
primary or secondary, must be done carefully and
thoroughly. Secondly, it must be recollected that the
result of vaccination is an illness, and—slight and appa¬
rently insignificant though it be—it is one that demands
a certain degree of care of health, both locally and gene¬
rally, during the development of the pustule. After a
primary vaccination there is a slight degree of febrile
movement which needs to be watched and kept within
bounds. After re-vaccination, the chief source of dis¬
turbance is usually local, and this again is almost
always traceable to an undue use of the arm that has
been operated on.

In localities where small-pox exists at present, and,
should the epidemic become general, in all other places,
the desirability of re-vaccinating those who have already
been vaccinated will come up for consideration.

4< Experience,” writes Dr. Renner, “ has shown that the
protection does not last for an unlimited period. At first
it is perfect, but, after a time, it begins to decrease until
it gets finally lost. The fact is not surprising, if we
remember that small-pox itself does not always exclude
or even mitigate a subsequent attack, and that persons
have died of a second attack of small-pox; hence, it
cannot be fairly expected that cow-pox Bhould do more
than afford a relative and temporary protection. Its
duration will necessarily depend on a number of circum¬
stances, and it is arbitrary to fix it at any given number
of years. The chief of these are the character and course
of the individual vaccination, including the number of
insertions, the quality of the virus, the systemic reac¬
tion, and also individual predisposition. All these
points should be taken into account before predicting
the probable duration of the protective power of a given
vaccination. They are of more importance than the
sign of the scars.” (M. H, Review , vol. xxx., p. 7).

Another point for consideration is the effect of epi¬
demic influence. Of the nature of this we know nothing;
but it is tolerably certain that when a contagious disease
exists to a very large extent, and in an unusually viru¬
lent form, the liability of all to come within its range
is increased, and the influence of prophylactic agencies
of every kind is diminished. The protection which is

Digitized by AjOOQle

Mon tilly Homo&opathie
Kerieir, Mar. 1 , 1888 .

SMALL-POX.

135

efficient in the case of an endemic disease may not be an
adequate preservative when the same disease assumes
the magnitude of an epidemic.

Some years ago Mr. Batho, a staff assistant surgeon,
published the following interesting statistics on the
results of re-vaccinations under his observation :—

Perfect

Modified

Totals.

Vesicles.

Failures.

Recruits bearing no )

marks of vaccina¬
tion. ]

> 75

... 68

... 7 ...

Recruits bearing j

marks of small¬
pox. j

► 29

... 7

Recruits with per- >

feet cicatrices of |
former vaccina- j
tion. ;

> 698

... 280

... 206 ...

204

Totals ...

797

856

220

218

In three instances the results were unknown, owing to
the desertion of the recruits.

One highly important point, both in vaccinating and
re-vaccinating, is the source of the lymph supply. Given
a well vaccinated infant, of whose constitutional sound¬
ness there is no doubt, no method of vaccinating is more
certain than that known as “arm to arm.” Failing
such certainty, we have a thoroughly reliable source in
that known as calf-lymph. This is now regularly sup¬
plied by medical men and others who have facilities for
providing it. Dr. Renner gives the following account of
his plan of proceeding, in the paper we have already
referred to:—

“ Suppose, then, we vaccinate with cow-pox a healthy calf
(free from all suspicion of previous infection), by inserting the
virus into a shaved surface of its abdomen by superficial
punctures, incisions, or scarifications. A certain amount of
swelling and redness almost immediately sets in at each place,
which exceeds the simpler traumatic reaction, and must be
ascribed to an immediate action on the part of the virus. On
the second day, you find the swelling and redness less, while,
on the third, you see and feel distinct papular elevations and
indurations. These increase on the fourth day, and on the
fifth there is a distinct vesication. The vesicles go on in-

Digitized by ^ooQle

136

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1 , 1608 .

creasing in size; they are distinctly umbilicated, and sur¬
rounded by an areola (seen only in light-coloured animals).
On the 7th or 8th day, the hitherto clear contents of the
vesicles begin to become opaque, turbid and purulent; they
assume a yellow hue, scabs begin to form which are adherent
at first, but fall off about three weeks after the vaccination
and leave scars.

“ The clear contents of the vesicles is called vaccine lymph .
It is a white, or pale yellowish, transparent, alkaline fluid, of
salty taste and somewhat sticky to the touch; and is found on
microscopic examination to consist of a clear liquid, in which
are suspended lymphoid cells and free nuclei, and also minute,
shiny spherical bodies, a micro-parasite, which is called micro -
coccus vaccina. These micrococci are contained in large
quantities in the soft granular tissue of the vesicles. They
are looked upon as the specific elements of the disease, while
the liquid, is regarded as a simple menstruum. They have been
successfully cultivated by Dr. Quist, of Helsingfors, outside
the body."

Lymph thus derived has now been in everyday use for
the last five-and-twenty years here, on the continent,
and in the United States. . It has been found a perfectly
efficient protective, and entirely disposes of the anti¬
vaccinators sole argument against vaccination, that the
lymph used may be impure, and so be the medium of
conveying disease of a constitutional character to a
hitherto healthy child.

“ CHARACTERISTICS,” “ KEY-NOTES,” AND
“ GUIDING SYMPTOMS,” TOGETHER WITH
CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS.

By A. C. Clifton,* M.D.

On resuming this subject, I have now determined, and
for the future, to shorten and simplify the work, by
leaving unnoticed, more than on previous occasions, a
number of symptoms, which, from clinical observations
and otherwise, I consider characteristic, but which at the
same time are so well known that there is no need for
alluding to them, and rather to touch upon other symp¬
toms, not so much en evidence , which I have occasionally
verified and think worthy of notice.

Antimonium crudum .—1. In relation to the mind, the
sensorium, and the head . A spirit of crossness and
contradictiveness ; whatever is done for the patient fails

Digitized by AjOOQle

Hontklf Homoeopathic
Btview. Mar. 1, 1898.

CHARACTERISTICS.

137

to give satisfaction, a symptom very similar to one
produced by chamomiUa . Vertigo and staggering when
walking, feeling as if intoxicated, with full sensation in
the head and nausea, all increased by going upstairs or
by looking fixedly at an object. These symptoms apart
from, and sometimes with, the gastric disturbance about
to be named, I have repeatedly cured by this medicine.

2. Gastric peculiarities . Here the most marked
features are the intensely white and somewhat coated
tongue, with much slimy mucus in the mouth and
throat, together with loss of appetite, desire for acids,
nausea, faint sensation in the stomach. Wine or other
alcoholic beverages if given cause aggravation, occasion¬
ally painful flatulent distension in the abdomen; the
urine is generally normal, but the action of the bowels
is irregular, constipation alternating with diarrhoea.
This group of symptoms, under the nomenclature of
“ atonic dyspepsia/’ I have generally cured quickly by
antimonium in the 6x trituration.

3. “ Characteristic ” in relation to the action of the
bowels, viz., “ constipation alternating with diarrhoea,”
already noticed in the previous section ; but I have also
seen a few cases where this symptom was present apart
from the gastric derangement just noticed, occurring
mostly in elderly persons, and in men more than women.
And here antimonium has generally been all sufficient,
just as in elderly women the same symptom is very often
and quickly cured by lachesis.

4. The skin and the nails . Here, hard papular
eruptions, itching when warm in bed, as well as pustular
eruptions, general dryness of the skin, especially the
soles of the feet, which are hard and horny, yet tender
and painful when walking, corns on the feet, brittleness
and splitting of the finger nails, these symptoms are
largely characteristic in connexion with other manifesta¬
tions of ill health. Warts on any part of the body I
have but seldom, if ever, seen cured by this medicine.

Antimonium tartaricum , or tartarus emeticus .—Under
this medicine there are many and strongly marked
symptoms that might fairly be named “ characteristic ,”
except from the fact that they are almost identical with
equally pronounced symptoms of antimonium crudum .
For this reason, and while they must still be considered
landmarks or leading symptoms , I shall, nevertheless, for

Digitized by ^ooQle

188

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly HomcBopotifSe
Boview, Mar. 1.1868.

the most part ignore them, and rather touch upon other
symptoms peculiar to this medicine, and in com¬
parison with the former more especially. In doing
so, I will, for the sake of brevity, allude to the
one under the designation A.C. and to the other
under that of T.E. , signifying tartarus emeticuz.

T.E. 1. In relation to the mental state , the sensorium
and the head. Here the most marked symptoms are
great despondency and cryable mood, fear of being
alone, sometimes followed by frivolous humour, or by
anger. In severe cases of pneumonia, muttering
delirium and stupor is characteristic of this medicine.
The vertigo is like that of A.C. , but with more confusion
and dulness of the intellect, and with less nausea and
faintness; while, in relation to the head, a band-like
feeling over the forehead is very pronounced.

2. Tongue , stomach , and gastric symptoms . Although
the tongue may be somewhat white and dry, like as
under A.C. , it is generally red and dry, especially in the
centre, very similar to the tongue of veratrum viride, but
with much less soreness and smarting sensation than
the tongue of ver. vir. Difficult deglutition of liquids is
a marked symptom, more intense nausea, retching and
vomiting, especially after food, and with more deathly
faint sensations and prostration than from A.C., and
differing, moreover, in this respect from ipecacuanha ,
which has more mucus and bilious vomit, with less
vertigo and less prostration.

8. Larynx , bronchi and lung characteristics. Under
A.C. there is a thin and squeaking note of hoarseness,
worse in hot rooms; under T.E. a rougher and looser
hoarseness, worse in the morning, after coughing, and
from talking. A.C. is characterised by more spasm of
the air tubes than T.E. , and in this respect is similar
to ipecac. The cough, moreover, of A.C. is drier and
more spasmodic than T.E., similar to ipecac ., and under
A.C. the cough is worse when going into warm air,
after cold air, the reverse of T.E. The respiratory
symptoms, however, as a whole, under all three
remedies, I believe are largely dependent upon, and are
altered by, the dose, and its repetition and continuance.
Clinically , I have found A.C. answer best in the lower
dilutions for dryness and spasm of the air tubes, and
T.E. and ipecac, in dilutions from 6x up to 12x; while

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HomoBopotlne
Beriew, Mar. 1,1898.

CHARACTERISTICS.

139

T.E. in dilutions from lx to 8x has answered best
when there has been much secretion and rattling of
mucus, with less spasm, but with more congestion of
the respiratory organs.

Apis mcUifica. A knowledge of the therapeutic
value of this unique medicine in several severe forms of
disease, both acute and chronic, is entirely, or for the
most part confined to homoeopathic practitioners, and for
the sake of suffering humanity it is a great pity that
such should be the case, but the fault so far rests with
those medical men who refuse to examine into homoeo¬
pathy.

The “ guiding symptoms ” in relation to various
pathological conditions in which it has been found so
eminently curative, are so obvious that I will only allude
to a few additional ones that have come under my own
observation more particularly.

1. Pathologically and generally the symptoms indicate
an atonic or asthenic condition of the system, rather
than the contrary.

2. In relation to the head . Besides the recognised heat
and congestion, throbbing, shooting and distensive pains,
relieved by pressure and aggravated by motion , the vertigo,
worse when lying and closing the eyes, all which symp¬
toms (sometimes accompanied with the sensation of
dying), I have repeatedly verified. There is a symptom
very similar to one under helleborus, which I have several
times cured by that remedy, and have also greatly
relieved by apis , viz., a dull, heavy sensation in the occi¬
put, as from a blow, extending to the nape of the neck,
and relieved by pressure, accompanied with sexual
excitement and desire, differing in the latter respect
from helleborusy where the very opposite condition has
been very marked, mainly in men of middle age, who
have largely indulged in the use of tobacco, spirituous
liquors and in venery.

8. The eyes . In common with other practitioners, I
have found this remedy highly curative in catarrhal and
strumous ophthalmia and interstitial keratitis, and I
have nothing to add beyond the fact that I have
generally noticed these cases characterised by anaemia
and general debility; and here while prescribing apis I
. have at the same time found the hypophosphite of lime,

Digitized by ^ooQle

140

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly HomcBoptthio
Review, Mar. 1,1898.

in the form of syrup, twice a day, after meals, very
helpful.

4. Tongue , mouth , and throat . In addition to the
characteristic dryness, redness, soreness, and glossiness
of the mucous membrane, and scalded sensation, there is
a symptom, very similar to one under hepar sulphuris ,
which I have occasionally verified and cured, viz., as if
some small and sharp substance were sticking in the
throat. Under hepar sulphuris the symptom is described
as of “ a fish-bone ” in the throat. Under each of these
medicines there is a feeling of constriction, with difficulty
in swallowing, but under hepar there is less swelling,
dryness, and oedema than under apis.

5. Diarrhoea. One or more thin and loose stools
immediately on rising in the morning. Many years ago
I called attention to this symptom as diagnostic to some
extent of ovaritis, but Dr. Edward Blake subsequently
suggested that this symptom pointed to inflammation of
the cervix uteri rather than to ovaritis. Now, with
proper deference to Dr. Edward Blake, I yet think, from
continued observations, that my view is the more correct;
but whether this be so or not, the symptom in question
is one that is highly characteristic of apis.

The same or a similar symptom, either pathogenetic
or clinical, has been observed in relation to actcea , aloes,
arsenicum, bryonia , dioscorea , lilium , podophyllum , rumex
and sulphur , &c., &c.; but all these remedies may be
differentiated from apis by concomitant and other
qualities.

For the sake of bringing my remarks within a
reasonable compass, 1 must pass over renal symptoms
and dropsies, which for the most part are already en
evidence , and briefly notice a few other characteristics.

6. Laryngeal, cough and respiratory symptoms. Hoarse¬
ness of voice, with pain in the throat from talking, is a
marked feature; dry cough, with a suffocative feeling
and desire for more air, aggravated by cold air, by
pressure over the chest, and all worse after sleep in the
morning, very similar to lachesis symptoms, but in some
respects very different and characteristic.

7. It may well be considered and compared with
arsenicum and rlius in cases of rheumatism, with spinal
irritation and numbness of the fingers, attended with
great debility, and especially with cardiac weakness.

Digitized by ^ooQle

CHARACTERISTICS.

141

It is especially indicated if during the febrile symptoms
the patient show a desire to be uncovered, and for more
air. In cases where carbuncles and boils predominate
with general debility, it should be thought of in
comparison or in opposition to lachesis and arsenicum.

Arnica. —The only notes that I have made in relation
to this medicine are with respect to the brown streak in
the centre of the tongue recorded by others, which I
have sometimes verified; but this should be compared
with the tongue of antim. tart., baptisia, rhus, and
veratrum viride. Under stomach I have noted down,
“pain in stomach during eating/’ recorded by Dr. Usher ;
this symptom I have since verified. Pains changing
from part to part—compare with acid benzoic, kali
bichromicum and pulsatilla.

Arsenicum album. —The general and particular aspects
of this medicine, so largely U6ed by both allopathic and
homoeopathic practitioners, is too extensive a subject for
me to take up, and I will only notice a few peculiarities,
observed by others, that have served me well. Fear to
be left alone, lest doing himself bodily injury or com¬
mitting fsuicide—compare this with phosphorus; dread
of death when alone—compare this with aconite r
where there is the additional symptom of predicting the
time of approaching death ; cannot find rest anywhere,
changes his place continually, especially from the bed—
like unto graphites and rhus ; headaches, worse in windy
weather, like unto rhodendrum, spigelia, platina, and
phosphorus ; headache worse on laying the head low,
and with desire for the upright position, worse on rising
up and by movement, and relieved by cold washing and
by the open air—these symptoms, although well known,
are so highly characteristic that I cannot refrain from
noticing them. Difficulty in hearing the voice of other
persons—compare this with phosphorus. Under appetite
there is aversion to food, with thirst for small quantities
at a time, and a desire for acids. Full sensation at the
stomach, like a stone, immediately after an ordinary meal —
compare this with lycopodium, which is characterised by
fulness after a slight meal; diarrhoea or loose stool at
8 or 4 a.m., and again later on after rising—compare
this with apis, bryonia, podophyllum, sulphur and some
other medicines. Arsenicum has also a more marked
action upon the right ovary than upon the left, and in

Digitized by LjOOQle

142

CHOBEA.

Monthly HomcBop&thic
Review, Mar. 1,1893.

dysmenorrhoea, when relieved by warm applications
over the abdomen, arsenicum is largely helpful.

The “ characteristics ” of cough, respiratory and cardiac
action, I must pass over, together with many others,
and which for the most part are well known.

Arsenicum iodatum. This medicine has come to the
front mainly during the last ten years, and, I believe,
we are largely indebted to Dr. Clarke, the editor of the
Homoeopathic World , in first bringing to our notice its
pathogenetic and therapeutic power observed by other
men, since which time I have prescribed it very often in
the 2x trituration, and with very beneficial results; in
granula conjunctivitis, with acrid discharge; in chronic
nasal catarrh; in phthisis, with hoarse racking cough
and profuse expectoration of a purulent nature, and
attended with cardiac weakness, emaciation, and general
debility; in chronic watery diarrhoea, occurring more
particularly in phthisical subjects ; in cases of emaciation
while the appetite has been good and plenty of food has
been partaken of; in amenorrhoea, with anaemia, palpita¬
tion of the heart and dyspnoea on exertion, l have
frequently found it as largely beneficial as ferrum , and
suitable to a somewhat different class of cases. In each
and all of the pathological states which I have alluded
to, the characteristics of this medicine are very obvious.

CHOEEA.

By John Drummond, L.E.C.P.E., M.R.C.S.

Chorea is essentially a neurosis of early life, and the
majority of cases occur between the age of seven and
sixteen, and it is attested on all hands to be more fre¬
quent in girls than boys. It is met with earlier as well
as later, and is not infrequent in women, but is then
either associated with hysteria or with some reflex
uterine irritation, amenorrhcea, dysmenorrhoea, &c. In
connection, too, with pregnancy it recurs at intervals.
Dr. Handheld Jones, in a paper published in the British
Medical Journal ,* attributes the chorea of pregnancy to
an unstable condition of the nervous system, which is
always present in the gravid constitution. tSpiegeiberg

•July IS, 1889.

t Text-Book , Midwifery . Vol. i., p. 348. New Syd. Soc.

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mu. 1,1898.

CHOREA.

143

concludes from the study of 84 published cases that the
choreic symptoms must be regarded as reflex neuroses,
"which, where there is a predisposition, develop under
the influence of insufficient nourishment of the co¬
ordinating centres, and of the peripheral irritation in
the generative organs, inasmuch as a badly-nourished
condition, with anaemia, was a significant and not rare
state in these patients. Out of the total number of
cases 28 proved fatal, and of the remainder half the
pregnancies terminated prematurely, whilst of the rest
which went on to the end of the term some of the new¬
born children manifested the symptoms of the disease.
It is rarely a phenomenon of senile decay. Some years
ago I met with a case in an old man, who had been the
verger of the Manchester Cathedral for over forty years.
It was intractable to treatment for over twelve months,
and affected the left side of the body, the arm more
especially, which was jerked about violently, and termi¬
nated in paresis and imbecility from softening of the
brain, which of course proved fatal. *Tissier has
recently reported the case of a woman, at 79, in whom
chorea was developed within a year after the violent
death of her son. It ended fatally fourteen months
subsequently, and the autopsy revealed superficial
softening of the cortex of both occipital lobes, and of a
portion of the left frontal lobe of the cerebrum.

The symptoms are peculiar and easily recognised.
They often begin insidiously. There may be a jerking
or twitching of a limb, blinking of the eyelids, or dis¬
tortion of the features from contraction of the facial
muscles, so that parents are apt to correct the child for
what they suppose to be a bad habit. In more confirmed
cases, and when the disease is thoroughly established,
the whole body is in a state of incessant commotion, and
the sprawling contortions of the limbs are very grotesque.
Although the lower limbs may be able to support the
body, locomotion is often difficult, and is due to the
exaggerated or shambling contraction of the joints owing
to the loss of control over their voluntary movements.
In severe cases this becomes utterly impossible, and the
patient is unable to stand or even to sit, being jerked
against his will into some impossible position by which

* Bui. de l’Acad. de M6cL Paris, Feb. 8,1889.

Digitized by ^ooQle

144

CHOREA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Bevinr, Mar. 1 , 1866.

his equilibrium is lost. For the same reason the patient
is unable to feed himself, for either the food is lost before
it can be brought to the mouth, being jerked over the
shoulder or across the room in an opposite direction, or
else the mouth is suddenly closed before the food reaches
it. If the child is asked to protrude the tongue, it is
either jerked in or out, or thrust into the cheek, in the
most capricious manner, and if kept out for a few
seconds it is tremulous, turns from side to side, or is
unexpectedly trapped by the snapping of the jaws, and
what with the lolling about of the head, the rolling of
the eyes, and the extraordinary grimaces, the aspect of
the patient is very comical. All these vagaries of the
glossal muscles renders deglutition difficult, although the
pharynx and sphincter muscles are unaffected. The
power to enunciate distinctly is lost for a time, but we
are generally justified in giving confident assurance that
this is only a temporary defect, which will be perfectly
restored. All these symptoms will be probably exagge¬
rated whilst the patient is under examination, although
in a few cases an increased will power may for a very
short time keep them in abeyance. As a rule, when the
patient sleeps, the muscles are at rest, and he lies in
perfect repose. He often wakes up with the sudden jerk
of an arm or leg, or starts up looking bewildered. In
very severe cases the contortions are so violent and irre¬
pressible that sleep is utterly abolished, and, indeed, the
body and limbs are bruised by the violence with which
they are thrown against the angles of the bed.

In many cases the spasms are much more marked, or
only prevail upon one side of the body, and this form is
usually described as hemichorea. In many neuroses,
the phenomenon of unilateral convulsions would arouse
suspicion of organic cerebral mischief, but in uncompli¬
cated cases of chorea we need not give way to these
apprehensions, for though the mischief probably is uni¬
lateral, it is only of a temporary character, and will
subside. During convalescence, and when the jactitations
are subsiding, any attempt to follow some complicated
and precise coordinating movement, such as is needful
in writing, sewing, knitting, playing the piano, increases
the choreic spasms, and should not be attempted, as it
depresses and baffles the patient. In the milder forms
of the disease there is no great disturbance of the general

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1898.

CHOREA.

145

health, but we may get high febrile excitement, with
delirium, in the severer types of the disease, especially
when associated with the rheumatic dyscrasia. When
mixed with the hysterical element, we may have anal¬
gesia, anaesthesia, hyperaesthesia, or paresis in a limb
or some part of the body.

The course of chorea is often protracted, and may
extend over periods varying from a few weeks, to many
months. In many cases relapses recur after long inter¬
vals of perfect health. As a rule, it may be regarded as
amenable to treatment; few cases, without there is some
deeper seated lesion, prove actually incurable, although
every now and again the vital powers may give way
under the violence of the attack and bring about a fatal
termination. In my own experience I have only had one
ease in which this took place. A youth, ©t. 17, after a
protracted bathe in the Modder river, near Kimberley,
South Africa, was seized with violent pains in the hips
And knees, which made walking to the hotel very difficult.
Next day he had pains in the arms and shoulders, and
was treated by a medical friend for acute rheumatism.
In the course of a few days, the pains subsiding, he drove
into Kimberley and came under my notice. He com¬
plained of twitchings in the arms and legs, which he
could not control, and of great weakness; the tempera¬
ture was 102.3, and I discovered a soft mitral bruit. I
advised him to go to the hospital for the convenience of
nursing and attendance, and within a day or two the
movements had become so incessant and violent it was
impossible to keep him covered, and his limbs were
thrown about in the most violent manner, so that two
nurses were employed to watch him, and prevent him
jerking off the bed or injuring himself. It was impossible
to nourish him, and sleep seemed out of the question,
morphia , chloral , bromide of potassium , and cannabis indica
were used with little avail; after four days the sensorium
became clouded, low muttering delirium, passing gradu¬
ally into coma, and he died. A post-mortem was not
allowed. *Dr. Mitchinson has recently recorded two
similar cases which were unrelieved by narcotics, one
dying four days and the other ten after hospital
admission. In both there was a rapid and extreme rise

• Lancet , May 11th, 1889.

Digitized by

Google

VoL 37, No. 3.

146

CHOREA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1898.

of temperature during the two or three days immediately
preceding death. (Edema of the brain and vegetations
bn the mitral valves were found in each post-mortem
examination.

We may expect to get a neurotic history in the
majority of cases, and to find the children badly
nourished and in poor physical condition, with more or
less anaemia. *Komer combats the idea of school
work, fright, or other emotional shock or irritation
being in themselves capable of exciting chorea in
healthy children; they must be predisposed by mal¬
nutrition. The association of chorea with rheumatism
is now generally recognised. tDr. Stephen Mackenzie,
from an analysis of 72 cases, found that rheumatism
had pre-existed in nearly half the cases, and in cases
where we have no joint symptoms we may have a high
temperature, with endocardial or pericardial murmurs.
Henoch, Bouteille, and See have each drawn attention
to the same connection, and that it is during the subsi¬
dence of, or convalescence from acute rheumatism, when
chorea develops, although Henoch has seen choreic
twitching give agonising pain to the little sufferer during
an attack of rheumatic fever. JHerringham and Garrod,
too, have from a careful analysis of a large number of.
cases inferred that a relationship between rheumatism
and chorea does exist, although many other causes are
effective in the production of the disease. Cheadle
strongly argues in favour of the same intimate relation¬
ship, and Greenwood § reports a case in which, in imme¬
diate sequence, quinsey, acute rheumatism and chorea
followed each other, and during the chorea a distinct
mitral systolic murmur developed. In a boy, aet. 17,
previously healthy, during an attack of chorea,|| Eade
reports that in the third week of his illness an attack of
erythema squamosa, associated with fever, developed,
which was followed by acute articular rheumatism, peri¬
carditis and delirium, and two days later endocarditis.
The symptoms then gradually subsided, and a month
later convalescence was so far advanced that the symp-

* Deutsche Vierteljahresschrift, Vol. xxi, No. 3.
fTheor. and Pract. Med. Roberts, Ed. 8th, p. 911.
j Lancet , Jan. 12th, 1889.
f British Medical Journal , Feb. 16th, 1889.

5 Ibid , March 30th, 1889.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly {HonuBopathio
Review, Mar. 1,1808.

CHOREA*

147

toms of cardiac lesion had almost entirely vanished.
Kirkes,* Hughlings Jackson and Broadbent consider
certain cases to be associated with minute emboli, con¬
veyed from the valves of the heart to the capillary vessels
near the corpora striata and optic thalami, which inter¬
fere with the nutrition of these portions of the brain,
and impair but do not obliterate their functions.
fGrosse has collected nine cases of endocarditis recurrens,
from which he argues that the disease is due to minute
emboli in the brain, especially in the optic thalami and
corpora quadrigemina, the sources of the emboli being
recent vegetations, or coagulated fibrin on the cardiac
valves. I Henoch, on the other hand, opposes the view
that the heart affection is the cause of the chorea, and
that the theory of embolic occlusion is quite erroneous,
and cannot be brought into harmony with the rapid
subsidence and complete recovery of most cases of
chorea, and in his opinion the heart affection and the
chorea are simply associated because they are both due
to the same cause—viz., rheumatism, which appear to
act in an unexplained way upon the coordinating
centres. Probably he may be correct, for we know that
a vitiated condition of the blood with malnutrition of
the nerve centres following the acute exanthemata, may
induce choreic movements, hence we have cases recorded
as the sequel® of measles, diphtheria, and scarlet fever.
§Dana summarises the theorising by placing three promi¬
nent pathological conditions as predisposing to the
disease: J, an impoverished condition of the blood : 2,
an intense cerebral and spinal hyper®mia, not menin¬
geal but deeper seated, and apparently due to vasamotor
paralysis; 3, a neurotic history.

Chorea caused simply by reflex irritation is seldom
met with. IIHenock says, irritation from worms, or in
connection with the genital organs, is much more fre¬
quently assumed as a cause of the disease than the facts
warrant, and he has never succeeded in curing the
disease by giving anthelmintics nor by an operation for

* Theor. and Prac. Med. Roberts, 8th Ed., p. 911.
t Berlin Klin. Woch., August 19th, 1889.

% Children’s Diseases, Vol. 1, p. 209. New Syd. Soc.
§ Medical Record, Oct. 19th, 1889.

|| Children’s Diseases, Vol. i., p. 210.

L—2

Digitized by

Google

148

CHOREA.

Monthly Homcsopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1880.

phymosis. On the contrary * Dr. Thomas W. Jenkins
records in the Lancet two cases cured at once by the
administration of turpentine with senna, and the conse¬
quent evulsion of a large number of lumbrici, after
many other remedies had failed, f Demne reports a case
of chorea which occurred on two occasions as a symptom
of iodoform poisoning. The iodoform had been applied
as a dressing to a wound, and, in addition to the chorea,
there was headache, anorexia, insomnia, iodine in the
urine, and other symptoms of iodoform poisoning.

It is difficult to lay down any line of treatment.
Remedies must be selected which seem best to meet the
prominent features of the case. If there be febrile dis¬
turbance with polyarthritis, aconite would be decidedly
useful to reduce the temperature. Actcea racemosa was
first used empirically, but as in many other drugs, its
pathogenesis shows it to be related homoeopathically to
the disease. It certainly acts upon the motor centres,
for it produces mental restlessness with tremors, twitch¬
ing of the muscles almost amounting to jactitation, mixed
up with muscular pains, not perhaps with much febrile
disturbance, but of a sub-acute character, with cardiac
troubles, tumultuous palpitation, and a sense of crampy
pain in the heart itself, not so agonising as angina. It
also acts upon the uterus, producing uneasy pains with
ovarian hyperesthesia, and mental depression, covering
fairly the sphere of chorea, and its association with
rheumatism and cardiac troubles, or when of a hysteri¬
cal type, the uterine and ovarian complications. Agari -
cus produces tremors and choreic twitchings, with
unsteadiness of the gait and symptoms of spinal irrita¬
tion affecting the motor tracts and centres of coordination,
and has been reported useful, probably in the minor
cases of chorea. Arsenic is one of our chief remedies,
for it proves reliable in a large majority of cases. In
small and repeated poisonous doses it acts primarily
upon the blood, destroying the integrity of the red cor¬
puscles, and producing a pale, waxy complexion, and
secondarily we get impaired nutrition of the nerve
centres, and of the sympathetic ganglia, with cramps,
twitching, irregular gait, and uncontrollable tremors,

• Lancet , Sept. 27th, 1890.
t Sajotcs * Annual, Vol. ii., c. 54, 1890.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoaop&thie
Review, Mar. 1.1898.

CHOREA.

149

and yet we know it is more useful than iron in pernicious
anaemia, and particularly when due to a miasmatic origin,
and that it braces up the nerve centres, curing chorea,
and even some forms of epilepsy. Dr. Ringer speaks of
it as by far the best remedy we possess, and Dr. Begbie
is so enthusiastic that he will not admit a failure after
an experience extending over thirty years. It also acts
specifically upon the heart, causing endocardial inflamma¬
tion in the prover, and yet it relieves endocarditis, with
irregular action, palpitation, dyspnoea and other allied
symptoms. When we have mitral bruit, with threatened
heart failure, what good results we gain with arsenic and
digitalis , and in chorea with heart complication I should
never lose sight of this combination. Cuprum, too, I
have used with considerable advantage. All the provings
tend to show this metal has a specific influence upon the
central motor tracts, manifested by cramps, contractions,
twitching and clonic spasms of the muscles of an epi¬
leptiform or choreic character. I have some confidence
also in the phosphate and valerianate of zinc , the latter
especially in young girls about the age of puberty, or in
older women with a hysterical tendency. They act very
much upon the same motor spheres as cuprum and
arsenicum, and like these metals have enjoyed a reputa¬
tion by both sides of the profession. In badly nourished
children some form of iron may be given with advantage.
My favourite preparation is the pyrophosphate , in from
4 to 1 grain doses, but many of the others would do as
well. The compound syrup of the hypophosphates is a
favourite preparation, which may be given with extract
of malt and cod liver oil. This combination is well
prepared by Burroughs, Wellcome & Co. In very severe
cases some hypnotic may be needed, and a combination
of chloral with bromide of potassium answers better than
an ordinary opiate, which is apt to lock up the secretions
and disturb the digestion. I have used Battle’s bromidia
with much satisfaction, and believe it to be a very reliable
and useful remedy. In extreme cases a temporary ces¬
sation of the spasm may generally be gained by the
inhalation of chloroform, but the result is not satisfac¬
tory, and very transitory. The diet must be carefully
regulated, and of a nutritious character without being
irritating. Plenty of out-door exercise should be taken,
whilst a change of residence may be beneficial. Tepid

Digitized by

Google

150 CASE OP SALIVARY FISTULA.

sluices of 75° down the spine are of service, followed by
gentle massage on each side of the vertebra, but not on
the spine itself, and the feet may at the same time be
immersed in warm water with mustard, about 90° to
96°, which acts as a good derivative and relieves spinal
or cerebral congestion.

Shenstone, Malvern,

October, 1892.

CASE OF SALIVAKY FISTULA.

By Charles Harrison Blackley, M.D., M.B.C.S., Eng.;

F. B. Met. Soc.

Some thirty-three years ago a case came under my care,
which, on account of its being the only one of the kind I
had seen, and also on account of its being cured by an
unusual kind of operation, interested me very much at
the time. From the fact of my never since having had
another case like it, I judge that such cases are not
common, and there cannot, therefore, occur many oppor¬
tunities of putting into practice the method of cure I
adopted. Nevertheless I have thought that a sketch of
the case, and a description of the method used in
remedying the defect, may interest some of the readers
of the Review , and may possibly give a hint to any of
my colleagues who should, by chance, get a similar case
into their hands.

The patient was a young lady of about twenty-four
years of age. She was small in stature, and of a very
spare habit, and was somewhat strumous. When about
ten years of age she had occasion to have a tooth
extracted from the upper maxilla. In doing this opera¬
tion the dentist had the misfortune to fracture the
alveolar process of the left side of the jaw. From the
history I got of the case, it would appear that some
small spicules of the fractured bone became necrosed,
and that these made their way through the cheek exter¬
nally, forming and leaving a fistula. This had never
closed, and from the fact that whenever the patient par¬
took of food or tasted any sapid substance a flow of
saliva through the external opening would immediately
commence, it was evident that this communicated with
one or more of the salivary glands. A cambric hand-

Digitized by

Google

Ztt&TZES* CASE OP SALIVARY FISTULA. 151

kerchief had to be held against the opening at each
meal-time, and one of moderate size would be more or
less saturated with saliva at each meal. A few drops of
vinegar, or a few grains of salt, placed on the tongue,
would, for a short time, cause a very profuse flow
through the opening, and this would sometimes con¬
tinue for a time even after the sense of taste gave no
indication of the presence of the above-named substances
in the mouth. Another interesting circumstance was
that the mere mention of certain kinds of food would
cause a flow of saliva and, if the patient had gone for a
considerable time without food, or the article mentioned
was something that she was very partial to, the flow
would be very profuse. Towards the middle or end of a
meal, however, the flow would diminish, even though
the same quantity of food was passing through the
mouth as at the commencement of the meal.

The constant waste that had been going on for so
many years had told upon the patient’s health, and had
evidently interfered with her development. She was, as
I have said above, small in stature, somewhat anaemic,
and evidently ill-nourished. She was also very dyspep¬
tic, and suffered greatly from flatulence.

Evidently the constant waste of the saliva was one
cause of the ill-health, and so long as this waste con¬
tinued there could be very little chance of permanent
improvement. Several attempts had been made to close
the external opening of the fistula by the medical men
under whose care the girl had been, but these had not
been successful. I had myself very little hope of suc¬
ceeding where others had failed, but I thought the effort
worth making, and in case of failure I should be in no
worse a position than others had been in before me.

It occurred to me that if a very small quantity of a
solution of nitrate of silver could be injected into the
fistula without penetrating to the gland it would coagu¬
late the saliva and possibly stop the flow for a time, at
any rate/ by forming a plug more or less dense. The
passage was very small in diameter, and was sinuous,
only admitting a blunt darning needle to penetrate a

• Later experience with, the nse of Dr. Southey’s tubes has proved to
me that a very soft coagulum will entirely stop the flow from a drop¬
sical limb when the canola is small in diameter.

Digitized by

Google

152 CASE OP SALIVARY FISTULA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mir. 1,1809.

little more than a sixteenth of an inch. The operation
was not quite without risk.

It was evident that the ductus Stenonis was one of the
parts that had been injured by the passage of the spi¬
cules of necrosed bone, but whether this duct had been
completely severed or only partly cut through it was
quite impossible to determine so long as the false passage
remained open. If by any chance the terminal part of the
duct had become entirely, or even partially, closed, then
the closure of the false opening on the external surface
of the cheek would be almost sure to lead to trouble. I
determined, however, to run the risk, whatever that
might be, by injecting the nitrate of silver and then
watching the result.

A glass tube of small diameter was drawn out under
the blow-pipe to a dimension sufficiently narrow to per¬
mit it to enter the external opening of the fistula. To
the wide end of this tube a small Indiarubber bag (such
as is now used on the dropping tubes sold by our
chemists) was attached. The glass tube was filled with
a solution of nitrate of silver (five grains to the ounce),
and about one-tenth of a minim was injected into the
fistula. This almost immediately had the desired effect;
the flow of saliva ceased; but whether this was due
simply to the coagulated saliva forming a plug and thus
blocking up the passage, or partly to the swelling of the
walls of the fistula, I could not determine; but I am
inclined to believe that the rapidity of its action must
quite shut out the idea of its being in any degree due to
the swelling of the walls of the fistula.

So far the experiment had been quite successful, and
I was especially pleased to find that the flow of the sali¬
vary secretion through the internal opening of the ductu *
Stenonis soon re-established itself, though in diminished
quantity apparently.

But, although the experiment had been successful so
far, one felt that we could not depend upon the effect
being permanent. If the cessation of the flow through
the false opening was due simply to the presence of a
coagulum, absorption of this might take place, and the
fistula might at any time become patent again. To
endeavour to prevent this, I determined to scarify the
external portion as far down as could be conveniently
reached by the application of crude nitrate of silver .

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1888.

HOMCEOPATHY IN AMERICA.

158

For this purpose a blunt needle was heated to redness
and was plunged into a stick of nitrate , and was then
withdrawn with a coating of nitrate upon it. This, when
cooled, was moistened with water, and was then passed
into the fistula a full sixteenth of an inch in depth, and
was left in position until all the coating of nitrate was
completely dissolved. This application was followed by
the usual amount of heat and redness and swelling;
and, apparently, by complete occlusion of the external
opening. In about ten days this completely healed and
left very little sign or mark where the opening had been.
At the same time the flow of saliva from the entrance to
the ductus Stenonis rapidly increased and soon became
normal in quantity, so that mastication could go on with
comfort and with satisfaction. For quite twelve months
the patient gained flesh steadily, and at the end of two
years would hardly have been recognised as the same
individual by anyone that had not seen her in the
interval.

Since the above case passed out of my hands it has
several times occurred to me that this method might
possibly be made use of in some other forms of fistula.
Where the fluid secreted is not coagulable, as it is in the
case of saliva, the artificial injection of a small quantity
of albumen (say white of egg) might answer the purpose
as a first step ; and where the diameter of the fistula is
small the coagulum would, I think, as in the above
case, stop the flow of fluid and give time for an effort
being made to close the opening in the way indicated
above. I think the method would be worth a trial in
any suitable case.

Old Trafford, Manchester.

THE PROGRESS OF HOMCEOPATHY IN AMERICA.

By George W. Roberts, Ph.B., M.D.

Probably there is no better index of the prosperity of the
homoeopathic school in America than the number
attending the meetings of our National, State and
Sectional societies, and it would appear from the various
recent gatherings of practitioners that none of the old-
tftne enthusiasm had been lost. The annual meeting of
The American Institute of Homoeopathy, held at Washing¬
ton last June was most successful, both as regards the
number in attendance, the general harmony of feeling.

Digitized by

Google

154 HOMOEOPATHY IN AMERICA* “^dSlrjSS^fiaMu

and the amount of literary material presented. But while
the Washington meeting was very successful, it was
quite evident that the meeting of the Institute in con¬
junction with the World’s Congress at Chicago in 1893
was looked forward to as probably the grandest gathering
of homoeopathists which has ever taken place. Prepa¬
rations are now being made in all parts of the country,
under the auspices of a committee of the American
Institute, looking toward the arrangement of a brilliant
programme and the provision of ample accommodation
and entertainment for our foreign visitors, of whom we
hope England will furnish a large number.

Of the State societies which have recently held suc¬
cessful meetings, the New York Society probably ranks
first in importance. The meeting was the forty-first
semi-annual, and took place in New York City, where
the State Society was the guest of the New York County
Society. It having been some years since the State
Society convened in this City, and its last meeting having
been rather poorly planned and provided for, the County
Society fell that it owed its friends from the State a
royal welcome, and the decision of the guests at the
close of the meeting was that the debt had been fully
paid. The attendance was unusually large. The mem¬
bers of the Society were entertained at the New York
Homoeopathic Medical College and at the Flower Surgi¬
cal Hospital on Tuesday, October 4th, and on the
evening of the 5th were given a dinner at Sherry’s. The
ladies attending the meeting were given a luncheon
by Mrs. Wm. Tod Helmuth on Wednesday—and that
is assurance enough that they received their share of
the welcome.

President W. M. L. Fiske, M.D., of Brooklyn, opened
the meeting with an eloquent address, entitled, “ The
Regulation of Marriage by Law,”* in which he advocated
the prohibition of the marriage contract between persons
who had hereditary mental diseases, epilepsy, dipso¬
mania, or venereal diseases. The address was founded
on statistical evidence, and appealed so strongly to the
profession and the public that it awakened a marked
interest in the subject, and received a great deal of
attention from the press of New York and Brooklyn.

* Published in the November number of the North American Journal
of Homoeopathy.

Digitized by ^ooQle

HOMEOPATHY IN AMERICA.

155

The work of the Society was distributed among ten
bureaux, as follows:—Public Health, Clinical Medicine,
Materia Medica, Paedology, Gynaecology, Obstetrics,
Mental and Nervous Diseases, Laryngology and Rhi-
nology, Ophthalmology and Otology, and Surgery, and
each bureau presented many valuable papers, so many,
indeed, that hardly sufficient time could be allowed for
their satisfactory discussion. Among the many impor¬
tant papers may be mentioned: A Plea for the Establish¬
ment of a Homoeopathic Hospital for Contagious Diseases
in New York City, by J. W. Dowling, A.B., M.D.;
Chorea , by L. A. Frazier, M.D.; Experiments with
Cedron, by T. F. Allen, M.D., LL.D.; The Necessity of
a National Quarantine under Federal Control , by
J. Montfort Schley, M.D.; The Rectal Mucous Membrane
as a Means of Preventing Infection about the Anus , by
W. B. Van Lennep, M.D.; Reflex Neurosis from Eye
Strain , by A. B. Norton, M.D.; Sound as a Factor in
the Treatment of Diseased Conditions of the Sound -
Conducting Apparatus , by Henry C. Houghton, M.D.;
Suturing the Tendo A chillis, by D. G. Wilcox, M.D.;
Three Cases of Appendicitis: No Appendix , by
S. F. Wilcox, M.D.

The Board of Censors reported that 86 new members
had been elected, and that about 175 physicians were in
attendance. The Committee on Legislation reported
that they had decided to make another effort through
the State Legislature for the relief of the Middletown
Insane Asylum (homoeopathic).

The Ohio, Connecticut and Pennsylvania State societies
have recently held large and enthusiastic meetings at
various places, and as it is mainly through the instrument¬
ality of these organisations that we obtain those legal
rights and privileges which are often denied our foreign
brothers, it is encouraging and reassuring to notice that
they are year by year gaining in strength and influence.
This steady, although slow, growth encourages us to
believe that if we adhere to a broad, impartial, intelligent
view of medicine and surgery, and throw ourselves into
private and public work with an enthusiasm born of
deserved merit, the public will in the near future gladly
entrust us with the management of their largest and
most important institutions. But it is only by taking
an advanced stand in all branches of medicine that

Digitized by

Google

156

HOMEOPATHY IN AMERICA.

Monthly HomcpopatWc
Review, Mar. 1 , 1808 .

homoeopathy can hope to gain important victories in
America. That day has gone by when men, incompetent
in other lines can by homoeopathic prescribing alone hope
to attain prominent places in the profession or in the
community. One cannot trade upon the name “ homoeo¬
pathy ” to-day in America. The old school in America,
as abroad, has made marked progress within the past
ten years, and while it may not have been in the direct
line of therapeutics, it is progress nevertheless, and
every homoeopathist who has not been among the
advancing lines of the noble army of physicians as well
as in those of the equally noble regiment of homoeopathic
physicians is feeling the competition. It is quite possible,
however, that interest in, and attention to, pathology,
surgery, and branches of medical science other than
materia medica are retarding the progress of homoeopathic
therapeutics. However that may be, it is evident that
American homoeopathists are more intent upon finding
some method of simplifying our materia medica than
they are upon trying to augment its volume. All this
is evinced by the undeniable fact that proving of drugs
is becoming less and less frequent, while numerous
organisations are being formed, whose avowed object is
to separate the valuable from the worthless and con¬
fusing symptoms recorded in our materia medica.

The annual meeting of the New York County Homoeo¬
pathic Society recently held was the occasion for a report
of the Committee on Public Institutions, and the state
of our institutions according to that report is quite
encouraging. The main points brought out in the report
are that New York City has at present three homoeo¬
pathic medical colleges—one for men, one for women,
and one for both (post-graduate); that these institutions
employ 81 physicians as professors and instructors ; that
they graduated 85 men and 9 women last year, and that
4 took post-graduate degrees; that 187 men and
44 women matriculated this year ; that there are in the
city 7 public hospitals with a capacity of nearly
1,000 beds, and that they cared for 7,800 patients during
the year; and that the 14 dispensaries treated nearly
40,000 patients and gave 109,000 prescriptions during
the same period.

We hope that the ensuing year may swell the list of
patients, students, and prescriptions.

Digitized by

Google

POSITION OP COLOTOMY. 157

NOTES ON THE POSITION OF COLOTOMY AS A
PALLIATIVE OPERATION.

By C. Knox Shaw.

Sturgeon to the London Homoeopathic Hospital.

There exists in the lay mind a natural and well-
understood dread of the “ surgeon’s knife.” Disin¬
clination to accept the alternative of an operation is
frequently bred by fear out of ignorance. It is therefore
very important that the patient’s medical adviser should
be prepared to place before him the true position of any
operation planned to afford him relief, especially when such
operation has a palliative rather than a directly curative
intention. Notwithstanding a mind trained by experience
to appreciate matters of moment, involving perhaps the
issues of life and death, it is sometimes difficult to
weigh the points, and to grasp the features intended by
an operation, especially when that operation is not one
of very frequent occurrence in an ordinary practice.
Yet it is extremely important that these points be well
understood, for rehef from pain and prolongation of life
may depend upon the selection of the most suitable
operation and the decision as to the moment at which
it should be performed. This is perhaps especially so
in the operation of colotomy, and it is with the purpose
of focussing our present knowledge of the subject, that
I have ventured to write these few lines.

Colotomy, as is well known, is now divided into two
kinds, lumbar and inguinal, both having their advocates,
and both having their true position; the choice
depending a good deal upon the condition of the disease
for which the operation is undertaken. Colotomy is
needed mainly in three classes of cases :—

1. In chronic obstruction of the bowels due to stricture
of the colon.

2. In some cases of acute obstruction of the bowels.

3. In cancerous or other disease of the rectum causing
great pain without obstruction ; or both pain and partial
obstruction.

Iu all these cases the practice existed, founded upon
the surgery of five-and-twenty years ago, of delaying the
operation of colotomy until the last possible moment, in
fact, not until complete obstruction had supervened; but
fortunately this is being very slowly altered as knowledge

Digitized by ^ooQle

168

POSITION OF COLOTOMY.

Monthly Homooopathio
Eeview, Mat. 1,1808.

of modern technique permeates the mind of the general
body of the profession. If we are to minimise the risks
of the operation, and to consider the best interests of our
patients, we must take a broader and more enlightened
view of the situation.

It is obvious that we very much lessen the pain and
discomfort of the operation by dividing it into two stages,
and so delay opening the intestinal canal until it has
become firmly adherent to the abdominal wall, the
peritoneum has become sealed and the skin wound healed;
a principle which Mr. Howse first applied with such
excellent results in the operation of gastrotomy.

It matters not which site is chosen for the opera¬
tion—the lumbar or the inguinal—the gain to the
patient in getting the skin wound to heal before
its surface becomes befouled by the passage of fseces
over it is immense. But this much-to-be-desired
object can only be obtained by operating before
the symptoms have become urgent. After finding the
bowel, either through a lumbar or inguinal incision, it is
carefully fixed to the wound, any puncture of its lumen
being scrupulously avoided. Under an aseptic dressing,
and with no urgent obstructive symptoms of the bowels
to cause anxiety, the wound can be left undisturbed
for four or five days, when the bowel will be found to be
firmly adherent to the adjacent parts. The subsequent
opening of the exposed portion of the intestine is an
almost painless operation, and the existing union will
prevent, in the lumbar operation, suppuration from
extravasation of fseces into the planes of muscles of the
back, and in the inguinal operation, peritonitis from
leakage of fseces into the peritoneal cavity. Anyone who
has seen the result of the two modes of operating,
immediate or delayed opening of the intestinal canal, will
be convinced that the latter should be striven for
whenever possible. It is not my intention to discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of either lumbar or
inguinal colotomy or the mode of operating, the choice
of site must be left to the individual judgment and
experience of the operator; but I would like to draw
attention to another point worth considering by those
called upon to treat cases in which an ultimate
colotomy may become necessary. The necessity of
colotomy in cases of obstruction forces itself, by the

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,18B3.

REVIEWS.

159

gravity of the case, upon one’s attention, and operative
interference brooks of but little delay. In carcinoma of
the rectum and sigmoid flexure, the case is different.
In these cases how often are we called upon to watch
the agonising pain attendant iflpon defecation and
the constantly-recurring distressing tenesmus. These
symptoms can generally be removed by a well-timed
operation. Further, and this is a point needing careful
consideration, this suffering is caused by the passage of
irritating feces over an ulcerated cancerous surface.
Surely if we divert the passage of feces away from the
growth, and prevent the constant irritation of the sore
by a colotomy, we give a much greater chance for the
ameliorating action of remedies applied for the local
condition, and thus remove “ a mechanical obstacle to
cure.” It has been urged that the discomforts attending
an artificial anus are as great as those for which the
operation is planned; but I am inclined to think that in
the greater number of cases it is not so, and to
illustrate this, and to show what very little discomfort
a colotomy may cause, I presented last session, at a
clinical evening of the British Homoeopathic Society, a
patient I had colotomised fifteen months previously*
The man had a good artificial anus under perfect
control and with healthy unirritated skin around it.

I think I have said enough to turn the current of the
reader’s thoughts into a profitable channel; the subject
is worth a few moments’ consideration, and the reason¬
ableness of the modern surgeon’s position will then be
emphasised.

REVIEWS.

The London Homoeopathic Hospital Reports. Edited by G.

Bubfobd, M.B., and C. Knox-Shaw. Vol. II. London:

Homoeopathic Hospital, Dec., 1892.

This, the second issue of the Reports of our Central Hospital,
again demonstrates the large amount of useful work and
careful observation that goes on within its walls. The first
article gives an analysis of the results of the 755 cases
admitted during 1892; among them were 220 cases requiring
surgical operation. The papers of a distinctively therapeutic
character are on The Therapeutic Sphere of Arnica in the
Practice of Surgery, by Dr. Pope; A Study of Ranunculus

Digitized by ^ooQle

160

REVIEWS.

Monthly HomoBopftthio
Review, Mar. 1,1808.

Bulbosus, by Dr. Dyce Brown; and a Preliminary Communi¬
cation on the Therapeutic Value of the Hydrastis Alkaloids
in Uterine Haemorrhages and other Lesions, by Dr. Burford.
This last is an endeavour to determine y by the light of
clinical observation, the kind of uterine haemorrhage, in which
we may advise theso alkaloids with confidence. To this
research by Dr. Burford, Dr. Edwin A. Neatby, Dr. George
Clifton, Dr. Madden, Dr. Neild, Dr. Arthur Clifton,
Dr. Harper, and Dr. E. B. Boche contribute the results of
their observations in the use of hydrastinin ; and Di*. E. A.
Cook of his with hydrastin. That these alkaloids have a
distinct influence for good, in some forms of uterine
haemorrhage is—from clinical evidence (we have no patho¬
genetic material to guide us)—well made out, and Dr.
Burford solicits the co-operation of other observers in his
endeavour to illustrate their exact sphere of action and the
conditions in which their value is greatest. Dr. Cook
writes of an alcoholic solution containing 20 grains to the pint,

44 this solution being thus,” he says, 41 1 in 850.” What the
850 refers to we do not understand—20 grains to a pint is
1 minim in every 480, or 1 drop in 960. That this should be
made intelligible is rendered very apparent, when a few
sentences further on (p. 118) he says, 44 1 have found 2 to 5
drops of tjbe 1 in 850 solution, equal to at most ^th of a grain,
all efficient for the distinct purpose of stopping haemorrhage.”
Five drops of a 1 in 860 solution represents rj^nd of a grain
—not V^th. One would like to know, further, how to
differentiate between the uterine haemorrhages calling for
sabina, crocus , platina and similar medicines, and that demand¬
ing hydrastin or hydrastinin , but until we have some good
provings on women—at present we have none—this know¬
ledge can scarcely be expected. Dr. E. M. Hale, in his article
on Hydrastis in New Remedies (1880), writes, 44 The knowledge
that we possess relative to the value of this remedy in
diseases of the organs of generation in women has been
obtained ex usu in morbis . Reasoning from analogy, we
should naturally arrive at the opinion that it would be useful
in many diseases of the uterus and vagina, in which a
blennorrhoea is the predominant symptom. Clinical experience
has verified this opinion.” Medicinal agencies for restraining
uterine haemorrhage are, however, too few in number to
admit of our refusing to search for another by the ex usu in
morbis plan, objectionable and unsatisfactory as this method
is well known to be.

Important contributions to the much-needed additional
study of such still obscure conditions as paroxysmal
Haemoglobinuria and Paroxysmal Tachycardia, or Heart

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,18B3.

BE VIEWS*

161

Hurry are furnished by Dr. Galley Blackley and Dr.
Byres Moir. In the treatment of the former, Dr.
Blackley writes, 11 The properly chosen homoeopathic
remedy must be a haemolytic, and the question which now
awaits solution, is to which class of haemolytics should
we turn for assistance—to those acting directly upon the
blood, like pyrogallic add or anilin , or to those acting
indirectly through the spleen, like toluylen-diamine .” The
patient, whose case forms the text of Dr. Blackley’s very
interesting paper, appears to have been greatly benefited
by anilin. Some observations by Drs. PiUiet and Malbee
(Lancet, Feb. 18) suggest chloride of barium as being
homoeopathically indicated in some cases. Clinical papers
are contributed by Dr. R. Day on diphtheria, illus¬
trating the insidious way in which this very often
fatal disease occasionally makes its approach, and
the variety of phases it assumes during its course; on
typhus, by Drs. Blackley and Moir, who report nine cases of
this happily uncommon fever, at any rate in England. The
medicines used were, in the order of their usefulness, rhus. tox .
bryonia , arsenic and baptisia. We are rather surprised not
to find crotalus in this list. It is satisfactory to notice
that the whole nine recovered. Dr. Epps writes on

double pneumonia, with general anasarca, the specially
anxious feature of the case being the defective secretion
of urine with proportionally increasing anasarca; upon
this doses of from one to eight drops of an old tincture
of apocynum had no influence, while teaspoonful doses of a
freshly prepared infusion of half an ounce of the root in a pint
of water given every two hours, were soon followed by a
“urinary flood,” and in a short time by complete
recovery. Pelvic peritonitis, Dr. Hawkes, of Liverpool
illustrates by the record of the course of an unusually severe
case in which recovery was perfect. As a contribution
under the same heading, clinical medicine, we may include
Dr. E. A. Neatby’s research into the Position of the Heart’s
Apex-beat in Children. Two hundred measurements were
taken of cases in which no chest deformity existed, and
where no disease of the heart or lungs, other than occasional
bronchial catarrh, was present, fifteen of these being after¬
wards excluded as doubtful or incomplete. The age limit
was 14 years. The following is the summary of conclu¬
sions :—

1. That the heart’s apex-beat is situated more externally
in children than in adults.

2. That it is quite exceptional, if not abnormal, for it to be
found external to the nipple line*

Vol. 37, No. 3.

Digitized by

Google

162

.REVIEWS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
BaWew, Mar. 1,1893.

8. That the relative distance of the apex-beat from the
nipple line varies rather with the age of the subject than with
the size of the thorax.

4. That the more external position in children is explained
by the large size of the heart, and by the small transverse
measurement of the chest in these subjects.

5. That the size and state of distension of the abdominal
organs furnish a less constant cause for variation of the posi¬
tion of the heart.

6. That the heart is situated also at a higher level in
the thorax than in adults, and that this is especially the case
in infants.

7. That the apex-beat is felt at a higher level in the re¬
cumbent than in the erect position.

8. That the heart’s sounds are more widely audible in the
chest of the child than of the adult.

The surgical papers comprise a very interesting and well
illustrated description of a case of carcinoma affecting the
cicatrix of lupus, in the course of which Mr. Knox Shaw
remarks that “ the combination of a highly vascularised
tissue, like lupus, subjected to a prolonged course of irritative
treatment, which is usually the case in the surgical treat¬
ment of the disease, is most favourable for the development
of a true carcinoma—not very encouraging to those prone to
adopt irritative surgical treatment. A second, by Mr. Dudley
Wright, gives a very clear account of the mode of illuminat¬
ing the antrum of Highmore by means of the electric light in
diagnosing purulent accumulations in that cavity. Two interest¬
ing and well described cases furnish material for demonstrating
the application of the light, and the operative procedure required
for their relief. A third paper of this order is one by Dr. Burford,
giving the details of case of an extra-uterine gestation, in
which, by abdominal section, a five months’ foetus was removed
from the abdomen. The cranium lay in the left ilio-costal
space, the buttocks in the left pelvis, and the long axis of the
child lay parallel to the long axis of the mother’s abdomen.
The placenta, in a state of atrophy, lay as a spongy mass about
the size of an orange in the corner of the left fallopian tube.
This was tied and removed together with the corresponding
ovary. The patient made a good recovery, and was removed
to the general ward on the eleventh day. The lessons taught
by Dr. Burford’s report of the history of his patient are
important and demand careful study. The whole case
represents one of the many triumphs of modern surgery.

The volume contains matter which reflects great credit
upon the members of our hospital staff, and is well calculated

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homatopaihlo
Boriow, Mat. 1,1898.

REVIEWS.

168

to inspire increasing confidence in the work of the institution,
and to add to its claims upon the profession and the public
for their support and encouragement.

Septic Intoxication: Its Congeners and its Colourable Imita¬
tions. By Edward T. Blake, M.D., M.R.C.S. London:

The F. A. Davis Company. 64 pp., 8vo.

This little brochure, which, reprinted, with additions, from
the Hospital Gazette , appears to be an amplification of a paper
read before the British Homoeopathic Society during last session.
Dr. Blake’s papers and publications are nothing if they are
not original—some of them startlingly so—and this, the latest
product of his pen, forms no exception to the usual rule. The
writer is an enthusiastic advocate of the theory that many
apparently mysterious and widely dissimilar ailments have a
common origin in “septic intoxication.” By this last he
means poisoning by means of “ sepsin ” or “ septin,” and
under this designation he includes ptomaines, leucomaines,
albumoses, toxines, toxalbumens and animal alkaloids. Dr.
Blake starts with the proposition that these agencies may
cause indifferently in different subjects either one or more of
the following manifestations :—

1. Skin diseases,

2. Joint diseases,

8. Nerve or brain disturbance; and proceeds to give, under
the various headings, reasons for his faith, each point being
illustrated by notes of cases, which, if not always absolutely
conclusive; must, at any rate, be put down by the reader as
being ingeniously set forth.

Amongst acute septic skin changes, Dr. Blake boldly
includes the exanthemata, erysipelas from sewer gas
poisoning (as after vaccination or operations), erythema
occurring during child-bed fever, and the urticaria
seen in coprostasis. Of chronic forms of skin trouble
he enumerates (1) lichen urtioatus, citing cases
acccompanied by either endometritis, or urethritis and erosion
of cervix, facial bronzing accompanied by purulent
leuoorrhoea; acne depending upon suppurating gums or
vaginal pyorrhoea. The cutaneous changes in rheumatic
gout (first described by the author in 1881) are boldly
ascribed by Dr. Blake to septic intoxication, and he gives
cases of multiple xanthoma with xanthorrhoea, facial melanosis,
pigmentation of skin, with urethral erosions, and the same with
suppurating gums, and lastly erythema with erosion of cervix,
osteo-arthritis being present of course in each.

Of septic joint changes we have a goodly show in notes of
cases of osteo-arthritis with pyorrhoea alveolaris, synovitis and

M—3

Digitized by

164

BEV1EWS.

Monthly Hom®op»tWe
Review, Mar. 1, 1888.

chondro-synovitis with purulent leucorrhcea, chondritis with
uterine polypus and muco-purulent discharges, osteo-arthritia
with urethral erosions, the same with antral abscess.

Dr. Blake’s cases of septic neuroses are not so easily
followed as the preceding, and in very many of the
cases, after reading the notes we feel that the alleged
nervous sequelae were merely coincident. Of such is the
occurrence of goitre in Cases XXVII., XXVIII., and
XXXVIII. On the other hand, his cases of “ Rheumatic
Gout from Grief,” “ Septic Gastralgia,” “ Septic Epilepsy,”
and “ Septic Delirum,” are interesting, if not all convincing.

The book is disfigured by one or two needless repetitions,
which will doubtless be avoided in a future edition; as, for
instance, where the note occurring on p, 18 is repeated word

for word on p. 29 ; and notes of the case of Mrs. T-,

given as 11 Septic Facial Bronzing,” on p. 14, are made to do
duty again as Case XXV., on p. 41.

Dr. Blake deserves our thanks for his very copious index,
which occupies no less than eight out of the total of 64 pp.

A Laboratory Course in Medical Chemistry. By Eugene
H. Porter, A.M., M.D., Professor Medical Chemistry, New
York Homoeopathic Medical College: and W. S. Pearsall,
Ph. B., M.D., Laboratory Instructor. New York. 1892.

Tms little work of 50 pages lays no claim to originality in
the sense of placing new chemical facts before the public. It
is simply a methodical and concise statement of the practical
work carried on in the chemical laboratory of the New York
Homoeopathic Medical College. We conclude that all
students of the college at some period of their curriculum go
through this course of medical chemistry. The experiments
are not exhaustive, but they are quite sufficient to enable the
student to recognise the common medicinal substances,
inorganic and organic, and are as much as, if not more than,
most practitioners have opportunity for carrying out. As
an example, we quote the following from page 19,
on “ Morphine, C 17 H. 9 N0 8 H a 0. General remarks:
Morphine is the principal one of a number of alkaloids
contained in opium, the milky exudation obtained from
the unripe pods of the papaver somniferum or poppy.
In its pure state it is a white crystalline powder, odourless
and with an intensely bitter taste. It is Blightly soluble in
cold water, and almost insoluble in ether and chloroform. It
is soluble in 100 parts of cold and 86 parts of boiling alcohol.
Analytical actions. —Exp. I. Moisten a few crystals of
morphine with a drop of nitric acid , they turn first red then

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Mar. 1, 1888.

REVIEWS.

165

yellow. Exp. II.—To a neutral solution of a salt of morphine
add neutral ferric chloride (Fe 2 Cl 0 ), a bluo colour changing to
green with an excess of the reagent. The colour is destroyed
by alcohol or free acids, but not by alkalies. Exp. III.—Mix
one part of morphine and four parts of cane sugar, add con¬
centrated sulphuric acid — a red colour which is intensified by a
drop of bromine water.”

The book is interleaved with blank pages for notes, and will
form a useful guide for laboratory work.

Electro-diaynosi8 Charts . By H. W. D. Cardew, M.R.C.S.

London : F. A. Davis & Co. 1892.

These charts are intended for recording the methods used
and results obtained in electro-diagnosis, and are issued in
the form of a pad containing twenty-five, so that a chart when
filled up may be readily detached without disarrangement of
the others—an excellent plan ; on the back of the pad direc¬
tions for use are printed. Each chart is ruled off into
columns in which may be registered the Faradic and galvanic
re-actions, a space being left at the end for remarks, and at
the top for name of patient, date of examination, &c. All this
is very useful, but it does not go far enough in the right
direction ; in particular wo note that the necessity of estimat¬
ing the resistance of the skin is not pointed out, neither are
columns provided for its entry, and yet all who have worked
at this subject are aware how greatly it may vary on the two
sides of the body, and its omission may lead to erroneous con¬
clusions.

As so much has been said in the introductory remarks
about the procedure, the author should have given a necessary
caution against the production of electrotonic after effects
which may be prevented, or at least minimised, by not allow¬
ing the current to flow too long and by alternating anodic and
kathodic excitation several times in succession, allowing an
interval to elapse between each alternation, a method suggested
by de Watteville. He should also have mentioned the fact
that the electrodes must be moistened before each application
to the skin.

The charts are far too large (14J in. x 9£ in.), in this
respect, as in many others, comparing unfavourably with one
compiled by Dr. Leslie Phillips, and published by Silverlock
in 1887. In this latter chart—measuring only x 5$—
spaces are provided for recording almost everything that has
been found to be necessary in electro-diagnostic work, indeed
in view of its existence that of Mr. Cardew—by no means an
improvement upon its predecessor—appears to have no raison
d'etre.

Digitized by ^ooQle

166

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homc»opathifc
Review, Mar. 1,1808.

MEETINGS.

BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC SOCIETY.

The fifth meeting of the session was held at the London
Homoeopathic Hospital on Thursday, February 2nd, 1898.

Dr. Edward Blake read a paper on Habitual Constipation ,
in which he discussed the question from the etiologic side in
preference to the symptomatic. He considered that the
theory advanced by Hughlings Jackson that there was a
motor centre in the medulla, and a controlling centre in the
dorsal region of the cord did not explain all, but that we must
infer the existence of an automatic motor nerve centre in or
near the intestinal canal. He described seven of the most
obvious movements of the intestines, some being automatic or
passive, and some voluntary, and entered into a detailed account
of the various muscular movements controlling defaecation,
emphasising that anything that tends to modify any one of
these movements may become a contributory factor in
bringing about a state of constipation. He treated under
separate headings the influence of the three chief epochs of
life, commencing with the constipation of the young.
Aryent. nit . was recommended as the specific for costiveness
of the newly born with jaundice. Sulphur he considered
valuable, but nux was rarely called for in childhood. The
constipation of later childhood was often due to inattention.
He next referred to the constipation of adult life, and spoke
of the evils of athleticism as a remedy in unsuitable cases.
He then drew attention to the difficulties attending the
attempt to cure the constipation of old age, and gave
Arbuthnot Lane’s views as to its causation in some cases.

Constipation in women often originated in inadequate pro¬
vision furnished in boarding schools or factories. He quoted
Mr. Haward, in support of the proposition, that a costive
habit might lead to spinal curvature.

Sea-side constipation may be relieved by iris before meals,
and aconite at bed-time.

Dr. Clarke doubted whether much practical good came
from too minute analysis of the nerves brought into play in
the relief of the bowels. Alum and alumina were useful, the
latter being indicated when the stools were hard and lumpy.
Natrum muriaticum was helpful in certain cases.

Dr. Hughes thought that physiological hypotheses were
interesting, but somewhat unpractical. After doing all in
the way of hygiene that the old school did, they were able to
make use of such remedies as sulphur, bryonia, nux vomica
and opium , and among the newer medicines, hydrastis and

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mn. 1,1866.

MEETINGS.

167

colUnsonia. Bryonia 80, acted well in the constipation of
young children.

Dr. Moib deprecated leaving constipation too long un¬
relieved, and instanced a case in support of this view. In
the constipation of the aged, with a rigid and tight sphincter,
dilatation of the anus was helpful.

Dr. Goldsbrough was surprised that Dr. Blake did not
mention opium in the constipation of infants; he had also
found nux vomica 6 or 12 very useful. He had missed the
mention of hepar sulphuris in constipation with catarrhal
jaundice. He reported a case to illustrate the physiological
rest needed in the treatment of some very obstinate cases.

Dr. Thomas, jun., referred to a case of his, in which a
constipated habit of six years duration was removed by
sulphur, opium and alumina .

Dr. Dudgeon observed that when a constipated person was
affected by an acute disease, it had often been found that the
constipation ceased, although the medicines were not directed
to its removal.

Dr. Burford said that of remedies natrum muriaticum was
among the most valuable. He supported the theory of septic
intoxication from the absorption of ptomaines in cases of
obstinate constipation.

Dr. Bird asked what homoeopathic remedy was indicated for
thejjconstipation of infants due to constriction of the anus ?

The President approved of hygienic means for the removal
of constipation, and advocated the teaching of singing with
proper breathing as a means to that end.

Dr. Blake, in reply, said that the relief of constipation due
to pelvic congestion by rest in bed was mechanical. He did
not consider pouching of the abdominal wall, due to
maternity, to be a mechanical process. With pouching often
went flat foot, which increased constipation by preventing
exercise.

Mr. Frank Shaw next read a paper entitled Infant
Life Insurance. He wished to regard the question from
a medical practitioner’s point of view. He traced the
efforts of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children to propagate information on the subject, and
to amend the law as regards infant life insurance. While
deprecating any intention of depriving the British workman
of his rights, he emphasised the necessity of legislative
interference. He defined those who were tempted by the
monetary attractions of infant life insurance as (1st) the in¬
different, (2nd) those parents devoid of natural affection, (8rd)
the deliberate child destroyer, and (4th) those who are parents
and guardians* of illegitimate children. He then carefully

Digitized by ^ooQle

168

MEETINGS.

Monthly HomoBopftthie
Bartow. Mar. 1,1888.

analysed the inducements that specially attracted each class
to be indifferent to, or even to acquiesce in, the death of
their children. He next discussed the part played by the
death certificate, or as the poor call them, the “papers,” in these
cases, saying that all present must some time or other be
brought face to face with this part of the subject. He alluded
to the difficulties in detecting cases of neglect when the children
were brought to hospitals or dispensaries, and he quoted
the evidence given by Drs. Branson and Cleaver before the
Committee of the House of Lords. Mr. Shaw next described
the methods in which children are insured, and divided In¬
surance Societies into two classes— (a) the friendly societies
and burial clubs; (If) the collecting Societies. In condemna¬
tion of the present system of infant life insurance, he quoted
at length evidence given before the Lords’ Committee, and
laid great stress upon the difficulty of getting suspicious cases
inquired into. As a remedy he advocated first and foremost
the total abolition of insurance for all infants till they are two
years old ; and, further, greater encouragements and facilities
should be given to friendly and burial Societies ; these
being usually local and mutual. He thought that a
more strict supervision should be exercised over the purely
commercial insurance companies (the collecting Societies).
As medical men he considered that we ought to exercise
greater care in giving death certificates, and that all doubtful
cases should be sent to the coroner.

Dr. Mom was afraid that he had not been so vigilant as he
ought ; the paper would make him more careful in future.
He considered that much of the marasmus of infants was
due to the ignorance and possibly wilful neglect of the
parents.

Dr. Goldsbrough strongly condemned the system of
insurance agents touting for fees, and he had seen much
of the evils resulting from it. He thought that they even
insured children when they were known to be ill. When
sent to see a lately-insured child, who was very ill, he told the
parents that he would not give a certificate if it died, and
this acted as a means of saving the child. He thought that
the doctor ought to be able to approach the coroner direct,
and not through his officer.

Dr. Bryant, of San Francisco (a visitor), was under the
impression that infant life insurance was not permitted in
America.

The President said that Mr. Shaw had struck a suggestive
chord in bringing the subject before the Society.

Mr. Frank Shaw, in reply, said that in the country they
were able to communicate direct with the coroner.

Digitized by i^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Mar. 1,1898.

PERISCOPE.

169

PERISCOPE.

MATERIA MEDICA.

Cannabis Indica. — The Therapeutic Gazette contains the
following interesting case of poisoning by cannabis indica ,
reported by Dr. Hamaker, of Meadville, Pa. The patient, a
recent graduate in medicine, bad taken, in order to test the
quality of the preparation, 40 drops of Squibb’s Fluid Extract
at half-past five in the afternoon. Dr. Hamaker, when he
visited him at a quarter past seven, found him as follows :—

“ When I entered his house he was walking the floor
excitedly, laughing, and talking continuously, but not in¬
coherently. At times he would cry, and then suddenly change
to laughing. He kept on walking rapidly, and talking in
a tone of voice pitched higher than his usual tone, and could
not sit or lie down for a minute. If we would induce him to
lie down, he would get up immediately and begin his rapid
walk.

“7.80 p.m. —Pulse, 120 ; respiration, standing, 48 ; tempera¬
ture, normal. He scolded occasionally when there was
nothing scarcely to warrant it, and was easily irritated by
anything his younger brother said or did. Time seemed very,
very long. This was his constant complaint. He said he
felt as if he were 1 rattling around among the centuries.*
When I put the thermometer under his tongue he took it out
in a few seconds, because it took so long a time he could not
keep it there. He then resumed his walk.

“ 7.40 p.m. —Talking foolishly, and reproaching himself for
being rash. He complained of a ‘ leathery * feeling in the
calves of his legs and ‘ a strange feeling in the bowels.*

“ 7.41 p.m. —Said the feeling was extending up the legs, but
could not describe it. Sensation seemed natural if I touched
the leg. He had no idea of time. A minute seemed like
hours, but he could reason out that he was at fault by the aid
of the two facts, that he had taken the hemp at 5.20 p.m.,
and that it was still daylight and that the lights had not yet
been lit. When he tried to think * everything goes,’ ‘every¬
thing gets slippery when I try to get hold of anything.*
Foolish remarks at times.

“ 7.45 p.m. —Sat down, and kept more quiet for a while ;
stood at the window for a few minutes ; sat down again; re¬
proached himself for giving trouble.

“ 7.48 p.m. —Lay down; kept feet moving for some time ;
jerking of the tendons was marked all along. There was
difficulty in catching the words he wanted when he tried to
say anything, and in attempting to get the word needed
he Would often lose the whole idea he had started out to

Digitized by ^ooQle

170

PEBI8COPE.

Monthly Homoaopathlo
Review, Mar. 1,1806.

express. About this time he gave me a lecture on Dr. Hart’s
‘ den of bones,’ attempting to bring in the word osteo-
lyndesmologieal frequently, but stumbling on the pronuncia¬
tion every time he attempted it. In a few minutes more he
lay very quiet, and thought he would probably sleep. I left
him, and returned about 9 p.m., when I found that he was
quite well, but somewhat languid and drowsy. Afterwards,
in conversation, he gave me the following additional impres¬
sion: Just after the first symptoms came on him, he
recollected what he had taken, and a feeling of dread
of danger came over him. This lasted a very short
time, and never returned. He dreaded a possible
symptom that he had read in H. C. Wood’s expe¬
rience—that of falling. The peculiarity about his mental
operations was that while thinking on one subject other
thoughts would dart in to interfere with the first, and in
talking, his sentences and expressions would be of a mixed
character, as derived from different lines of thought or
subjects. I omitted to state that there was redness of the
eyes and profuse lachrymation, even after other symptoms
had disappeared. Pulse remained rather quick while under
my observation, but I was not able to count it very often on
account of his restlessness. Respirations did not remain as
rapid as at first. No treatment of any kind was used.”

“ In another case reported in the same periodical, the patient,
a dentist, was ordered to take five drops of a preparation of
cannabis indica at bedtime, to relieve a cough. His cough
being troublesome he anticipated his prescribed dose by taking
one at 5 p.m. At 6 o’clock, Dr. Prentiss—who reports the
case—found him in bed, oblivious to all surroundings, being
vigorously rubbed by several attendants, and evidently
excessively happy. He would sway back and forth and laugh
until the tears ran down his cheeks, then drop back on the
pillow with an expression of heavenly ecstasy on his face.
The condition of ecstasy lasted until 9 o’clock, when he fell
asleep and slept soundly all night. The next morning I
questioned him about his visions. He said he was conscious
of my demand that on the previous evening he should re¬
member what was pleasing him so much, and he tried to do
so; but the visions followed each other in such quick
succession that he could only remember a small portion. He
had no unpleasant sensations, all were agreeable. When the
medicine began to take effect, it appeared to come over his
senses in a succession of waves until he lost himself. One of
his hallucinations was that the words he tried to say were
immense entities, tangible, swelled up in his mouth so that
he could not get them out, had to push them out bodily with

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeoptthie
Roriew, Mar. 1,1888.

PERISCOPE.

171

his tongue, it seemed an hour between each word. Another
hallucination was that he was moving through space with
lightning speed, and in his path were clouds of the most
beautiful, ever-changing colours, and when he touched them,
each one played a beautiful tune. Being a musician himself,
he tried to fix some of the tunes that he might reproduce
them, but the succession was so rapid that it was impossible.
Another idea was that his nose was of enormous size and
extended down to his knees. When he tried to use his hand¬
kerchief, he reached down between his knees to wipe the nose,
and an attendant was obliged to take his hand and guide it to
the right place. Another hallucination, the one that caused
most hilarity, was an avenue of bottles, a row on each side,
standing on their corks, all sizes and shapes—long, slim
bottles, stout pot-bellied bottles—large and small, all intent
upon dancing comic jigs and trying to climb on top of each
other. He was passing between this row at an immense
speed, and their performance took place as he passed. This,
together with the big nose, was what caused the immoderate
laughter. The idea in his mind was that these performances
had been arranged for his exclusive amusement. The next
day he had fully recovered from the effects of the drug.”

Hyoscine. —At p. 480, July 1892, we noticed some
remarks by Dr. Hale, of Chicago, on the use of this remedy,
in cases of incipient insanity, marked by suspicion, moroseness
with insomnia and intense excitement, leading to acts of
violence, and abusive language. In support of Dr. Hale’s
observations Dr. C. E. Myers of Philadelphia, in the August
number of The New Eemedies, relates a very interesting case
of a similar nature cured by this remedy in doses of 1-250th
of a grain every two hours, gradually reduced to 1-500th of a
grain. The patient was a frail anftmic woman, aged 40, her
symptoms being involuntary laughter, incoherent talking and
chattering, at times violent, and wanting to jump out of the
window, with fear as if something was after her, and
accompanied by insomnia; all her symptoms were worse at
night, with great restlessness.

Absenite of Copper. —Dr. John Aulde, of Philadelphia,
who has on several occasions during the last few years en¬
deavoured to gain reputation as a therapeutist by palming off
upon his medical friends, as original observations, gleanings
from the writings of homoeopathic practitioners of the uses of
some of the best known homoeopathically indicated remedies,
in a paper, read a couple of years ago before the State Medical
Society of Pittsburgh, stated that for two years previously he
had been using the arsenite of capper “ for various affections,

Digitized by

172

PEKISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1808.

'which under the ordinary methods of treatment had been
more or less rebellious,” with great success. He accordingly
instituted a sort of collective investigation arrangement, and
circulated among medical friends forms through which they
might return to him a record of their experience in the use of
the drug. His correspondents found—as every homoeopathic
physician could have told them that they would find—it
useful in cholera morbus, colicky pains, &c., cholera infantum,
dysentery and diarrhoea, diarrhoea of phthisis, and typhoid
fever. One tablet, containing yj^th of a grain, is dissolved
in from four to six ounces of water, and a teaspoonful—^nd
to -Ath of T £ffth of a grain—is given at short intervals.
Children are directed to have only a few drops of the mixture
in one dose. Where water is contra-indicated as a vehicle he
has had tablets containing -g-^^th of a grain each prepared.

Exalgine.— Dr. Prentiss, of Washington, furnishes the
Therapeutic Gazette with the notes of a case of poisoning from
on over-dose of this drug. It had been prescribed to relieve a
severe headache—1 gramme to be divided into 10 powders,
one of which was to be taken every half-hour. The druggist
read the word “ gramme ” as “ drachm,” consequently the
patient took four times the intended quantity. The patient
describes his condition after having taken the fourth dose.
“ Being,” he says, *‘ somewhat restless, and thinking a change
of posture would relieve me, I arose from bed and stood for a
few moments leaning my head against the mantelpiece. I
had stood there but a few minutes when I felt a gradual but
marked sensation of weakness come over me, and I hurried back
to bed. I had scarcely touched my pillow before I became
aware that it was something more than a mere fainting attack,
and that I might become alarmingly ill. I sprang from my
bed, rang the bell, which was several feet away, and had just
strength enough left me to get back to bed. I was now utterly
exhausted ; my heart was beating at a tremendous rate, though
full and strong, and a profuse perspiration broke out, parti¬
cularly over my face. So far as I can now remember, the
action of the heart kept on increasing every minute during the
half-hour’s attack, but I cannot positively state that. Certain
it is, it did not lessen, and although I had no means of ascer¬
taining the pulse rate, I have no hesitation in saying that it
must have reached as high as 160 or 180 per minute, and
probably even higher. All this time I was growing weaker,
and a sense as of approaching death came over me. The
servant-girl, after telephoning for the doctor, returned and
stood fanning me and wiping the perspiration from my face.
Of course, what effect the drug had on my countenance I can¬
not say, but, as the girl afterwards declared that she expected

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1808.

PERISCOPE

178

me to die every minute, it is probable that my features por¬
trayed the general exhaustion of my system." Dr. Prentiss,
arriving after this condition had continued for an hour, and
when after a tablespoonful of whiskey the pulse was becoming
steadier, says that he found the patient in the condition he
describes, almost in collapse, with a rapid, feeble pulse, cold
sweat, pinched expression of the face, and great exhaustion.
Under the free use of stimulants he soon rallied. So far as the
headache—to relieve which he took the exalgine —a headache
which turned out to be one of the initiatory symptoms of a
typhoid fever, the patient says:—“ Directly after the system
was under the full effects of the drug, my headache, intense
and severe as it was for fully twenty-four hours before, sud¬
denly ceased, and I was free from this painful symptom during
all the time I was under the influence of the drug; after it
had fully passed away the headache returned, but in a milder
form for a whole day. After this it came again with nearly
the old-time severity, continuing for a week thereafter. At
the end of that time it quite left me, and I was troubled no
more with it during the rest of my sickness."

Hydrastis. —The following is an abstract of a paper in the
Bull. Gen. de ThSrap .:—

In large doses—6 to 8 grammes—the liquid extract of
hydrastis causes a diminution of the blood pressure and en-
feeblement of the pulse followed before long*by increased
pressure, rapid pulse, and finally by failure of pressure, with
irregular action of the heart and arythmia, and lastly by
death from cardiac failure.

In moderate doses—1-6 grms.—it produces the same
effects, but the blood pressure rises much more in the first
stage and falls less at the end of the second.

Small doses produce permanent rise of blood pressure. If
repeated their effect is similar to that of a medium dose.

Various experiments appear to prove that hydrastis acts
chiefly on the vaso-motor centres. It also acts on the pneu-
mogastric nerves, and it has, moreover, a direct action on the
heart.

Felluer observes that the uterus is much congested during
the preliminary fall in the blood pressure and during the sub¬
sequent increase, the uterine muscle, and frequently even the
muscular fibres of the round ligament, contract powerfully
and are completely ischaemic. The contraction and ischaemia
persist as long as the elevation in the blood pressure.

It has been noticed that large doses of hydrastis arrest
respiration.

Hydrastinin produces hyperaesthesia, convulsions, and arrest
of the heart in diastole. These effects have been noticed in

Digitized by

174

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review. Mar. 1,189S.

the frog and the rabbit. Hydrastin is a spinal stimulant, and
inereases the irritability of motor nerves and muscles.
Probably chloral would be its physiological antidote. '

Experiments on the healthy human subject, whether by the
mouth or by hypodermic injection, have proved that hydrastu
has a marked effect on the circulation. It diminishes the
beats of the heart, appears to raise the blood pressure, and
causes a local anaesthesia.

In small doses herberine diminishes the excitability of the
vagus. In large doses it completely destroys the inhibitory
action of that nerve. It has no action on the vessels.

Hydrastinin has, though in a less degree, the same proper¬
ties as hydrastin .

Siwopiszew, of Moscow, after a large number of experiments
and clinical observations, sums up as follows :—

The aqueous extract, even in large doses, has no toxic
effects on warm blooded animals.

It always causes a diminution of blood pressure, without
preliminary elevation.

In rabbits it produces contractions of the uterus and tubes.
These contractions are more intense in advanced pregnancy
or shortly after delivery, and more feeble in the unimpregnated
uterus. In the latter half of pregnancy large doses may cause
premature delivery.

Nitro-Glycerine.— Dr. George L. Peabody, in some remarks
before the Practitioners’ Society of New York, mentioned that
in giving nitro-glycerine for cases in which there was very
high arterial tension, a negative result might be changed into
a favourable one by giving doses much larger than those
usually recommended or thought safe. To one of his patients,
a blacksmith, 60 years of age, with marked interstitial
nephritis, mitral insufficiency, and general thickening of the
superficial arteries, with high tension pulse, he gave increasing
doses of nitro-glycerine, commencing at y^th grain and
reaching in 40 days two grains every two hours day and
night. It was only when this dose was reached that dyspnoea
disappeared, strength increased, and he was able to go out of
his ward. He also mentioned another case of Bright’s disease,
with pulse of very high tension and occasional attacks of
profuse and painful vomiting ; there was also hypertrophy of
left ventricle. In this case the dose was gradually increased
till one grain every three hours was reached, and this was
continued day and night for several weeks with much im¬
provement of pulse and vomiting, except occasionally when
the pulse would return to its original tension and persistent
vomiting would come on, to be controlled only by enormous
doses of morphia administered hypodermically. This is anti-

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Hotnceopathio
Review, Mar. 1,1808.

PERISCOPE.

175

pathic treatment with a vengeance. In the discussion which
succeeded, Dr. Beverley Robinson, who had apparently not
tried these heroic doses, said that he considered the opinion
that there should be a high arterial tension before nitro¬
glycerine was indicated a mistake, as he had had under his
care a case of weak pulse and low tension, where nitro-glycerine
stimulated the cardiac action after digitalis and other drugs
had failed.— New York Medical Record , August 20th, 1892.

Digitaline. —H6ger (Bull, de VAcad. R. de Belgique t No. 6,
1892) comes to the following conclusions as the result of his
researches on the action of digitaline on the pulmonary cir¬
culation : (1.) Bayet’s experiments have shown that digitaline
acts with greatest energy on the left ventricle, and on
the vessels connected therewith. (2.) The same experi¬
ments show that digitaline has no direct action on the
pulmonary vessels, and has no effect on the right ventricle
comparable to that which it has on the left. (8.) From the
clinical point of view, and taking into account the reserve with
which the results of experiments on animals can be applied to
man, digitaline seems to be indicated particularly in cases of
cardiac weakness without valvular lesions, or of mitral insuffi¬
ciency ; digitaline relieves the left ventricular stasis, and thereby
exerts a depleting influence on the pulmonary circulation.

—British Medical Journal.

Cerebral Action of Some Drugs. —Kraepelin (Rif. Med .,
July 11th, 1892), says that a given drug has a different action
on sensory and motor functions. Thus : (1.) Alcohol in small
doses impairs the sensory functions and excites the
motor ones; in large doses it first aids the motor
processes, then abolishes them. (2.) Paraldehyde causes
difficulty of the sensory functions and aids the motor pro¬
cesses ; then rapid paralysis of these last. (8.) Chloral
impairs both sensory and motor functions. (4.) Ether rapidly *
paralyses sensory processes and excites motor ; in large doses
it increases the sensory paralysis, and eventually abolishes
motion. (5.) Chloroform has a similar but more rapid
action. (6.) Amyl nitrite causes excitement of the motor
functions, slight paresis of the sensory processes. (7.) Tea
greatly facilitates sensory processes, after a time depressing
them, but has little effect on the motor functions. (8.) Mor¬
phine causes at first enormous excitation of sensory functions,
but subsequent rapid depression ; it causes marked and per¬
sistent paralysis of motor functions.— Ibid.

Iodine. —N. Ivanoff ( Yratch , No. 4, 1892) successfully
treats prolapsed and inflamed haemorrhoids by gently painting
the parts with tincture of iodine. He records a severe case in

Digitized by ^ooQle

176

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Honu*op*thie
Review, Mar. 1,1803.

a factory worker with very painful piles, the largest of which
was as big as a walnut. The patient suffered great pain
both in walking and in sitting. All ordinary medical
measures having failed, and the man declining surgical
interference, the author applied the tincture (once daily).
The next day the mass had decreased to half its former size;
after a second and last application, “ only hardly perceptible
traces remained ”; on the third day the man left, declaring
himself perfectly well. Preismann, of Odessa (Wiener Medic .
Presse, May 31st, 1891), emphatically recommended the
application of a compress, or a piece of cotton wool soaked in
a glycerine solution of iodine and iodide of potassium. It is
advisable to commence with a weak solution (2 grammes of the
iodide and 0.2 of iodine to 35.0 glycerine), gradually increas-
mg the strength up to 6.0 of iodide and 1.0 of iodine to
35.0 glycerine.— Ibid . _

MEDICINE. . ~~ _

Addison's Disease. —(Tschirkoff Zeit. fur Klin. Med., 1891,
Bd. xix., Suppl. Hft. p. 87, and Archives Gbiirales de Med.,
1892, vol. ii. p. 484.) The proportion of haemoglobin is con¬
siderable in an advanced stage of Addison's disease, and at the
commencement it is sometimes in excess of the normal amount,
so that it is not always a true anaemia. The blood appears to
contain a considerable proportion of methaemoglobin. The
pigmentation of the skin has no direct relation to the reduced
amount of haemoglobin. The skin takes up the pigment,
alters it and returns it to the circulation. It seems that it is
the quality of the pigment and not the quantity which is at fault.

Chbonic Bright's Disease.— Dujardin-Beaumetz (Archil.
Gin de Mid , 1892, vol. ii., p. 492) thinks that the amount of
albumen passed with the urine is a secondary consideration,
but that it is the permeability of the kidney, and the accumu¬
lation of toxic materials in the body which alone cause the
danger. The promotion of the activity of the kidney and the
excessive action of the skin are used for elimination, but the
dietetic treatment is most relied upon. Best is insisted
upon. Intestinal antisepsis is obtained by benzonaphtol.
Dujardin Beaumetz excludes game, fish, molluscs, Crustacea,
and ripe cheese. Also alcohol, because of its irritating action
on the kidney and brain. The diet recommended consists of
milk, eggs, farinaceous foods, green vegetables, and fruit.
When a uraemic attack is imminent an exclusively milk diet is
ordered.

Dinitrobenzol, on the poisonous action of.—Huber (Vir¬
chow's Archiv. Bd. cxxvi h. 2. p. 240, and Archives Generates
de Medecine, Vol. ii, 1892, p. 105). It is used in the manu¬
facture of roburite, and gives rise to grave symptoms. It

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1883.

PERISCOPE.

177

causes rapid destruction of the red corpuscles of the blood,
paralysis, especially of the legs, dilated pupils, dyspnoea and
gradual slowing of respiration. The skin becomes cyanosed,
hemoglobinuria appears, and there are tube casts in the
urine. The spleen is enlarged. Fatty degeneration of the
liver, heart and muscles is found after death.

Infectious Erythema. —M. V. Hutinel (Archives OSnSrales
de Medecine , Vol. II, p. 268, 1892), describes serious and
often fatal cases of erythema in typhoid fever, diphtheria,
measles, scarlet fever, simple angina. The eruption appears
on the wrists, elbows, knees, malleoli and upper part of the
buttocks. It generally spreads, but usually is confined to the
limbs. In some cases it is purpuric. It is preceded by
ulceration and fissures of the tongue, mouth, and lips.* So-
called relapses of scarlet fever he suppose to be due to this
form of erythema. The erythema which appears at a late
stage of diphtheria, M. Hutinel considers a very grave com¬
plication.

Enteralgia plus Constipation. —Dr. Miller, of Springfield,
Ohio, describes a case of this nature relieved by a mixture of
olive oil and glycerine, in the New York Medical Times for
September. The patient was a man 58 years of age, of
sedentary habits and an extremely nervous temperament.
When seen he was lying on his left side with thighs flexed
upon the abdomen, severely lancinating pains in the left
lumbar region extending down to the bladder, taking the
course of the ureter and into the left thigh; left testicle
retracted, pulse small, vomiting, surface of the body bathed in
cold perspiration, hippocratic countenance, urinating painful,
urine voided drop by drop. Attacks of this kind he had
suffered from at intervals for eight years, each attack being
more severe than the one preceding it. Each had come on
suddenly and as suddenly ceased with a free movement of
the bowels, and each was traceable to business anxieties.
The treatment adopted in these attacks had been ineffectual,
when one occurred which had lasted with great severity for
ten days. Dr. Miller then gave him an ounce of olive oil
mixed with an ounce of glycerine. This in a few hours was
followed by what he said was “ the greatest movement he had
ever had, or heard of.” Three months later, never having
taken a drop of medicine in the interval, he reported himself
as having had two normal evacuations every day, and feeling
in better health than he had done during eight years. Dr.
Miller attributes the remedial power of his prescription to the
action of the olive oil upon the function of the liver.

•And M. Hutinel thinks that the erythema is due to the absorption
of toxic material from the ulcers.

YoL 37, No. 3.

Digitized by

Google

178

NOTABILIA,

Monthly HoauBopathie
Review, Mar. 1,1888.

NOTABILIA.

COLCHICUM: ITS PATHOGENESY AS RELATED TO
CHOLERA.

From a valued contemporary * we re-produce the chief part of
a paper by Dr. Sutherland, of Boston, bringing forward an
addition to our cholera remedies in the shape of colchicum. He
writes:—“ I am amazed, after an earnest study of colchicum in
connection with cholera, that it has hitherto been so little
recognised that in the pathogenesy of colchicum we have an
almost perfect simillimum—one of the ideal sort, always
sought, rarely found,—to the symptoms of this dreadful disease.
I must here pause to remark that the perfect simillimum of a
disease does not, as is loosely taken for granted, mean a drug
that covers a symptom or a group of symptoms of that disease.
It means a drug that, administered to a healthy person, is
capable not only of causing the same symptoms to appear that
appear in the development of a given disease, but of causing
them to appear in the same chronological order as in that
disease. This point of chronology is a vastly interesting and
important one, rarely as we see it alluded to; and when the
chronology of symptom-development coincides in the patho¬
genesy of a drug and the action of a disease, an almost faultless
test of the principle of homoeopathy is offered to the practi¬
tioner. Such a coincidence obtains, to a remarkable degree,
in the relation of colchicum to cholera. I propose to
demonstrate to you this coincidence, by a method with which,
by this time, you are tolerably familiar. I mean the parallel-
column or chart system, which is as invaluably applicable in
the comparison of pathogenesy with disease, as in the
comparative study of pathogeneses.”

“ First let me present to you an epitome of the

SYMPTOMS CHARACTERISTIC OF CHOLERA.”

“Attack begins with diarrhoea and vomiting, sometimes
preceded by malaise, headache, etc.

“ Diarrhoea .—Stools profuse, frequent, serous, alkaline; at
first faecal and possessing colour, but soon assuming the rice-
water appearance. Preceded by rumbling and gurgling in
abdomen. Voided without colic or tenesmus. Followed by
remarkable sense of weakness.

“ Vomiting , at first bilious; soon of rice-water-like fluid;
vomiting in gushes; as in violent regurgitations. Vomiting
and purging often synchronous. Insatiable thirst (fluids thrown
up as soon as swallowed).

*The Xcw-England Medical Gazette. November, 1892.

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eoview, Mar. 1,1808.

NOTABILIA.

179

44 Spasms of muscular system. —Fingers and toes become bent
and stiff. Muscles of calves of legs cramped. Walls of
abdomen hard as a board. Cramps produce sometimes severe
pain.

44 Debility progressively increases. Features become shrunken.
Nose sharp and bent. Eyes sunken, lack lustre. Lips
become thin, cheeks hollow, muscles prominent, skin clammy.
Hands and feet cold. Skin becomes shrivelled—a fold pinched
up subsides very slowly. Tongue pasty and sticky. Voice loses
its normal tone. Urine decreased to suppression (contains
albumen and sugar).

44 As attack advances , stools, etc., are less frequent. Mind
affected—dull, listless, from exhaustion; can give clear,
though languid answers to questions, but falls immediately
into inert state. There is stagnation of blood; hands, feet,
nose, lips, neck or even whole body cyanotic (bluish, leaden, or
violet hue). Pulse which was thready, now imperceptible;
carotid and cardiac impulse no longer felt; second sound of
heart inaudible.

44 Skin is icy cold. Breath, cold. If a vein is opened, only a
few drops of black viscid blood will trickle from the wound.
The voice sinks to a mere whisper, or becomes extinct. The
features become distorted and frightful; nose twisted, pointed;
eyes dry, dull, sunken, half closed, and bloodshot. Sublingual
temperature may fall to 80°. Sticky, cold perspiration
bedews the marbled skin. Whole body shrunken.

“Death occurs sometimes through coma; sometimes is
sudden, on attempting to make some unusual effort.

44 To compare with this epitome let me recall to you from the
4 Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy * the reports of a few cases
of poisonings by colchicum :

444 No. 7. I found on my arrival at Fort Denaud, in
Florida, a private in the marine corps labouring under
symptoms not unlike Asiatic cholera. He had constant sero-
mucous ejections and purgings, resembling rice-water, and
thrown off with considerable force ; cramps of the abdominal
muscles and of the flexors of arms and legs; cold surface,
tongue and breath ; mottled skin and bluish nails ; shrunken
features expressive of great agony; sunken and watery eyes,
with contracted pupils. I found that he had swallowed, the
day before, over a pint of vinum colchici , mistaking it for
liquor. Death took place in forty-eight hours after ingestion/
—(McPhail, Am. Med. Lib. aud Intell. 9 1839.)

44 4 No. 8. A bottle of vinum colchici was drunk by
seventeen persons, seven of whom died from effects, of which

N—2

Digitized by

Google

180

NOTAB ILIA.

Monthly Homoopathio
Review, Mar. 1,1868.

following is a resumt . In from forty-five minutes to one and
one-half hours after ingestion, vomiting ensued. Contents of
stomach were first rejected, then bile or mucus; afterwards
a fluid similar to rice-water of cholera. When amount
taken was great, purging came on simultaneously with
vomiting; but if only a small quantity, comparatively
speaking, had been swallowed, action of bowels was delayed
for several hours. Passages were first natural faeces, then
bilious stools, then rice-water—a very large amount of
frothy, slimy secretion, compared by one patient to clean
soapsuds. In no case was any blood to be found. Vomiting
continued till last moments in fatal cases, and bowels were
emptied involuntarily. Cramps were severe in stomach,
bowels and legs. Severe pains were felt in knee-joints in
some, and in two cases were very marked in left shoulder,
so much so, indeed, as to be a continual source of complaint,
and to compel avoidance of lying on left side. Rubbing was
frequently demanded for relief. In the majority there was
numbness from elbow to wrist; cramp of fingers, especially
second; in one, extreme numbness of thumbs under nails,
lasting twenty-six days. In a boy there was great pain
between shoulders. Features (one half-hour after) were
pinched and drawn ; lips and nose blue, as also lobes of ears.
Eyes were congested, pupils slightly dilated; voice hoarse
and husky, pain experienced in speaking. Feet and legs icy-
cold, as also hands and arms ; rest of body had clammy feel,
but was below normal temperature. Pulse, rapid, 125 to
145, small, compressible, intermitting, and at times imper¬
ceptible at wrists, though it could be found at elbow with
some trouble; temporal arteries difficult of detection, even
carotids required patience to distinguish. For several hours
before death arteries were almost pulseless; heart’s impulse
not to be felt, and its sounds with difficulty heard on
applying ear to chest-wall. They might be likened to a
blowing sound, to a murmur, or to a heart beating at a very
great distance, or heard through a stone-wall—both sounds
melting into one. Respiration was full and easy and well-
maintained throughout, as was also pulse-respiration ratio.
The sufferers were sensible throughout and to the last. One
case ended with a slight convulsive effort. All sat up before
dying, falling back in an instant. No headache was
complained of. Muscular strength was retained. They were
all able to sit up, lift a cup to their lips, or even walk. They
were perfectly sleepless. In two recoveries there appeared a
pustular eruption on face and lower extremities.*—(Major,
Canada Med . and Surg . Jour,, 1880.)

Digitized by L^ooQle

Monthly Homodopathlc
Review, Mar. 1,1888.

NOTAB ILIA,

181

“Here follows the p&rallel-colomn comparison of symptoms:
CHOLERA. COLCHICUM.

Begins with diarrhoea and
vomiting, sometimes pre¬
ceded by malaise, head¬
ache, etc.

Diarrhcea. — Stools profuse ,
frequent, serous, alkaline ; at
first faecal; soon assuming
rice-water appearance; void¬
ed without colic or tenes¬
mus; followed by remark¬
able prostration.

Vomiting. — At first bilious ;
soon of rice-water-like fluid
in gushes, as in violent
regurgitation. Vomiting and
purging often synchronal.

Thirst. — Insatiable.

Cramps. —Fingers, toes, and
legs cramped, bent and
stiff; cramps produce some*
times severe pain.

Debility. — Increases.

Collapse. — Cold stage; voice
altered—husky and weak.
Temperature subnormal, skin
icy-cold, clammy sweat. Pulse
imperceptible; carotid and
cardiac impulse no longer
felt. Features distorted,
nose sharp and bent. Body
shrunken. Cyanosis marked.
Urine decreased or sup¬
pressed.

Death.— Through coma; or
sudden, following an exer¬
tion.

Vomiting. —Contents of stom¬
ach, then bile or mucus,
then fluid like rice-water of
cholera.

Purging. —Stools simultane¬
ously with vomiting; stools
first bilious, then like rice-
water. In no case was
blood found.

Thirst. —Great.

Cramps. —Severe in stomach,
bowels and legs. Rubbing
frequently demanded for
relief.

Collapse. —Features pinched
and drawn ; lips and nose
blue; eyes congested. Voice
hoarse and husky. Feet
and legs icy-cold, also hands
and arms; body covered
with clammy sweat. Tem¬
perature subnormal. Pulse
small and compressible—
pulse imperceptible at wrist.
Temporals and carotids diffi¬
cult to distinguish. Cardiac
impulse hard to feel and
heard with difficulty.

Death —Followed the act of
sitting up.

P.M. (Taylor) Stomach and
intestines contained a great
deal of opaque fluid.

“ In my hurried analysis of disease and drug pathogenesy two
points have occurred to me:—

“ I.—As to the diarrhoea and vomiting—which has prece¬
dence ?

Digitized by ^ooQle

182

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview.Mar. 1,1888.

“ In choleraic diarrhoea, or mild cholera, there may be, or
generally is, no vomiting.

“ In cholerine (more severe attacks than the preceding) vomit¬
ing and diarrhoea occur, but the purging, as I understand it,
is likely to antedate the vomiting.

“In the severe attacks of cholera, vomiting and purging
occur simultaneously ; although, as nearly as I can discover,
sometimes one and sometimes the other takes precedence.

“ In regard to colchicum , a hasty, but probably correct, analy¬
sis of the records shows that of the thirty-three provings, ten
make no mention of vomiting or purging, eleven speak of
nausea or vomiting first, and thirteen speak of urging to stool,
loose stool or diarrhoea first.

“ In the ten reports of poisonings, the phraseology is such
that vomiting would seem to have precedence, although it
might be concluded that diarrhoea is more certainly produced
than vomiting.

“In this connection it maybe well to bear in mind that toxic
doses of drugs are comparatively large, and, therefore, as with
colchicum , likely to exert some direct action on the stomach,
affecting the intestines only at a later period; while, if
modem ideas be correct, the cholera-producing germs being
ingested in small doses, have time to multiply and infest the
intestinal tract, and so produce diarrhoea, the vomiting being
absent in mild cases and somewhat delayed in the severe attacks.

“As to the weakness and prostration following the copious
stools of cholera, one prover of colchicum , No. 82a, 1 fainted
after a copious stool.* ”

“ II.—The other point has to do with the urinary symptoms.
In cholera there is scanty or suppressed urine, and the urine
may be albuminous or diabetic. Of the ten reports of poison¬
ing by colchicum , the urine is not referred to in six (6). In
the remaining four records we find :—

“ No. 1.—Involuntary, diabetic (?) urine.

“ No. 4.—Scanty urine.

“ No. 6.—Profuse, chalky (later acid) urine.

“ No. 10a.— Post-mortem —bladder full of urine.

“ No. 10b.— Pojt-mortem —kidneys congested ; suppression of
urine, ante-mortem.

“ No. 10c.— Post-mortem —kidneys congested, bladder con¬
tained one tablespoonful of urine.

“ No. lOd.— Post-mortem —kidneys congested, bladder full of
acid urine.

“ The provings do not greatly help us to settle this point,
although we read in proving No. 26, ‘ It does not always act
as a diuretic, but has a contrary effect when it produces a
marked effect on the alimentary canal.* This quotation

Digitized by

Google

Monthly HonuBopnthio
tUrtew, Mar. 1,1808.

NOTAB I LI A.

188

would seem to settle the question and establish the congruity
between our disease and drug pictures.

“ Of the ten selected records of poisoning by colchicum , found
in the Cyclopaedia, no fewer than four—No. 2, No. 7, No. 8,
and No. 10b—make distinct allusions to the similarity of the
cases to cholera, one case being treated as a case of cholera,
the cause of the symptoms being at the time unknown.

“ In severe cholera epidemics a large percentage of cases
terminate fatally. In cofr^frum-poisonings we have records of
seventeen cases simultaneously occurring, seven of which
proved fatal; a curious coincidence in mortality statistics.

“All cases of cholera are not identical; there may be different
degrees of severity and some variation in the symptoms. So
with drug pathogeneses, and, therefore, different drugs may be
homoeopathic to the different varieties of cholera. Or, perhaps
the one drug, a specific, may be useful for all cases even if
they differ somewhat in their symptoms . Or, to put the matter
another way, shall we treat different “ stages ” with different
remedies, each appropriate to one stage only, or the disease as
a whole with the one simillimum ?

“Dr. Hughes, in his Pharmacodynamics, says of colchicum:
* Its botanical congener, veratrum album , has pre-occupied any
place it might have found in the treatment of cholera ’; again,
‘ Its main interest lies in its relation to gout and rheumatism.*
I would respectfully submit that, in view of the marvellous
coincidence above demonstrated between the pathogenesy of
colchicum and the disease-symptoms of cholera, this verdict
will bear reconsideration. What slight clinical testimony
there is regarding the use of colchicum in cholera—for instance
the eight cases referred to by Dr. Hughes as treated success¬
fully with colchicum by Mr. Cotter, is much in its favour. If
the strict law of similars be our guide, colchicum is entitled,
beyond dispute, to be the first choice of the homoeopathic
physician called to do battle with this dread disease.

“My object in this imperfect paper has been twofold; first, to
urge upon you by demonstration, how rationally and helpfully
materia medica, as to its resources in any given disease, may
be studied by resort to the “chart system” or parallel
columns; second, to convince you that colchicum is, from a
purely homoeopathic standpoint, better worth experimenting
with, in a cholera epidemic, than are our more traditional
remedies. I trust these objects have been, in part, at least,
accomplished.”

THE HOMEOPATHIC DISPENSARY, ANTWERP.
The readers of the Revise will remember that during the
autumn of 1891, the Town Council of Antwerp resolved, in
spite of a vigorous and indeed passionate opposition from the

Digitized by

Google

184

NOTAB ILIA.

Monthly HomcBopathie
Eeview, Mar. 1,189&

allopathic medical men of the city, to found a homoeopathic
dispensary as a part of the organisation of the Bureau d*
Bienfaisance of the corporation. To this Dr. Lembreghts fils
was appointed physician, and in a report, drawn up by him,
now before us, we have a slight sketch of the struggle, which
resulted in the establishment of the dispensary, and a record
of the work it has accomplished.

The following table represents the progress the institution
has made in the esteem of those to benefit whom it was insti¬
tuted :—

Jan.

Feb.

e8*

Apl.

May

June

July

Sept.

Oot.

Nov.

Dec.

Consultation
at the Dis¬
pensary ...

138

183

226

233

258

255

143

216

234

288

Visited at
their Homes

112

Deaths

Sent into
Hospital ...

In his report Dr. Lembreghts points out the inconvenience
of having, in consequence of the poverty of a patient, to send
him into a hospital where the treatment he has been under¬
going is interrupted. He appeals, therefore, to the adminis¬
trators of the hospitals to favourably consider the petition
shortly to be presented to them, to make the necessary arrange¬
ments for such hospital patients as desire homoeopathic treat¬
ment to have their wishes gratified.

We heartily congratulate Dr. Lembreghts fils on the marked
success which has attended his efforts to give the poor of his-
city the advantages of homoeopathy during illness.

HASTINGS AND ST. LEONARDS HOMEOPATHIC
DISPENSARY.

The annual meeting of this Institution was held on the
2nd ult., the Mayor, Dr. Croucher, J.P., occupying the chair.
The report shows that the dispensary occupies a wide and ever
increasing sphere of usefulness. The number of patients
admitted during last year was 1,487, the total attendances
5,921. The financial statement was also eminently satis¬
factory. The total receipts produced £820 13s. 4d. The
expenditure amounted to £286 7s. lid. The income of the
preceding year did not exceed £250, and the comparison
of two years, therefore, shows an increase of £70. After
the adoption of the report the Mayor gave an interesting
sketch of the career of Hahnemann to whom, we can never
too frequently remind one another, it is that we are indebted

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homcoopathio
Boview, Mar. 1,18B8.

NOTABILIA.

185

for that control over disease that we possess, a control far greater
than it is in the power of those to exercise who shut their eyes
and close their ears to the evidence which demonstrates the
truth of the fundamental principle of therapeutics, proved,
and its practical application taught by him a century ago.

CROYDON HOMCEOPATHIC DISPENSARY,
Report fob 1892.

The dispensary was open as usual four mornings in the week.
The number of attendances during the year was 5,285, as
compared with 4,202 of the previous year. This shows a
steady increase in the usefulness of the dispensary.

Medical officers : T. E. Purdom, M.D., C.M., J. Delepine,
M.B., C.M.

THE DANGERS OF TINNED MEAT.

At a meeting of the Hampstead Vestry, on the 24th November,
a report was received from Dr. E. Gwynn, the medical officer
of health, in which he said that 44 the dangers that occasion-
ally attend consumption of tinned meats are well exemplified
in the following interesting case.” The report then stated
that a freshly-opened tinned tongue purchased in Hampstead
was placed before 44 Mr. X.,” his wife, and two children for
breakfast on the morning of November 14. When he began
to carve the tongue Mr. X. perceived an unusual appearance
and odour, and stopped his wife and younger child from
eating it. They had only just tasted it. Mr. X. then divided
an omelette with the fork he had used in carving the tongue.
About 12 o’clock Mrs. X. and the younger child were seized
with vomiting and diarrhoea, and Mrs. X. also had severe pain.
Dr. Boulting, on being called in, found her almost pulseless.
The elder child was seized with sickness in the afternoon, and
Mr. X. felt sick and faint, with cold perspirations. These two
latter had not tasted the tongue, but had only eaten the
omelette divided with the infected fork. All recovered
ultimately, but Mrs. X. was very ill for some days. Upon
inspection Dr. Gwynn found the tinned tongue soft, dull in
colour, wet, and unwholesome looking, with absence of the
jelly generally present in these tins. He sent the tongue to
Mr. Stokes, the public analyst, for analysis, and Mr. Stokes
reported that it was 44 the most virulent sample of tinned meat
that he has yet met with.” The microscope showed portions
of it to be decomposed and the meat to be saturated with salts
of iron, its poisonous nature being due to the corroding power
of the decomposing meat juice on the tin. Dr. Gwynn, in his
report, added, 44 a general caution to the public may be
expressed that tinned meats that appear wet, pappy, and emit
a faint or putrid odour when opened, should not be eaten, but

Digitized by

Google

186

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eeriew, Mar. 1,1008.

carefully avoided. * * The sanitary committee of the vestry, who
had had Dr. Gwynn’s report under consideration, stated that
they had instructed the vestry clerk to write to the importers,
forwarding an extract from the report, and quoting the analyst’s
opinion of the tinned tongue in question .—The Times .

ANALYSIS OF THE TUNBRIDGE WELLS
CHALYBEATE SPRING.

The following analytical report of the well-known Chalybeate
Spring has recently been presented to the Town Council of
the Borough by Dr. Thomas Stephenson, lecturer on
chemistry at Guy’s Hospital:—

“ I have twice visited the Pantiles Well in Tunbridge
Wells on October 10th, 1892, when I took samples of the
water and experimented on the gases at the well, and on
November 7th, 1892, when I again made check analyses.. I
find that the temperature of the water varies very little with
the season. On October 10th the temperature of the spring
was 51° Fahr., and on November 7th the temperature had
fallen only *4 of a degree to 50|° Fahr. Uniformity of
temperature of a spring indicates that the water comes from
a considerable depth in the soil. I find that the water
contains the following constituents in grains per imperial

gallon (70,000 grains):—

Ammonia (NH8) ... .

Potash (K20) .

Soda (Na20) .

Lime (CaO) .

Magnesia (MgO) ... .

Ferrous Oxide (FeO) .

Sulphuric Anhydride (S03)

Chlorine (Cl) .

Carbon Dioxide (C02) .

(in combination)

“ These results, with further analytical
spring, may be thus arranged:—

Chloride of Potassium (KC1)
Chloride of Sodium (NaCl)

Chloride of Ammonium (NH4C1)
Chloride of Magnesium (MgC12) ...
Sulphate of Magnesium (MgS04)
Sulphate of Calcium (CaS04)
Carbonate of Calcium (CaC08) ...
Ferrtms Carbonate (FeC08)
(protocarbonate of iron)
Carbonate of Manganese (MnCOS)

0.006

0.817

1.795

1.749

0.448

2.798

8.024

2.492

1.792

data as to the

0.501

8.879

0.019

0.264

1.009

8.998

0.184

4.508

a trace

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1803.

NOTABILIA.

187

Silica (Si02) . 0.602

Organic Matter .a trace

14.464

Total solid residue of 1 gallon

(experiment).14,070

Oxygen required to oxidise the organic matter ... 0.007

Yield of albumenoid ammonia . 0.006

Temperature of the water. 619 Fahr.

Specific gravity of the water ... 1.0004

Free carbon dioxide (Carbonic Acid C0 2 ) 20.00

cubic inches at. 60° F.

Free nitrogen, 4.97 cubic inches at. 60° F.

“ This is an excellent chalybeate water, of great purity.
It contains the iron altogether in the state of ferrous car¬
bonate (protocarbonate of iron), the form which is most
preferred where a mild and non-astringent chalybeate is
desired, as most easy of digestion and assimilation. On
comparing the above analysis with the complete analysis
made in May, 1867, by Mr. J. Thomson, and in January,
1872, by myself, I find that the composition of the water has
not varied to any material extent; and it may be concluded
that the Tunbridge Wells Chalybeate Spring yields a water of
nearly constant temperature and uniform composition at al
seasons of the year, and, moreover, a water of pleasing
appearance, complete limpidity, absolute purity, and with
entire absence of disagreeable styptic taste. This last quality
is of great advantage when the water is drunk for medicinal
purposes for a lengthened period.”

THE FAITH CURE.

In The New Review for January, *M. Charcot discourses on the
so-called Faith Cure , discussing the nature of the disorders
which may be removed by a powerful mental impression. For
his clinical material he goes to the religious shrines. “ There
have,” he writes, “ been thaumaturges in every age from
Simon Magus down to Hohenlohe at the beginning of this
century, not to speak of Deacon Paris, who have enjoyed the
gift of performing cures said to be miraculous—that is to say,
of inspiring the faith cure.” Several of the cases said to
have been cured at these “ health resorts ” are examined ;
one, that of Mdlle. Coirin, with much fulness and patho¬
logical ingenuity. The conclusion M. Charcot draws
from this enquiry is stated in the following passage:—
“ Moreover, I do not speak without being able to call my own
personal experience to witness. I have seen patients return

Digitized by

Google

188

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Bomceopathie
Be view, Mar. 1,1888.

from the shrines now in vogue who have been sent thither
with my consent, owing to my own inability to inspire the
operation of the faith cure. I have examined the limbs
affected with paralysis or contraction some days before, and
have seen the gradual disappearance of the local sensitive
spots which almost always remain for some time after
the cure of the actual disease—paralysis or con¬
traction. To sum up, I believe that the faith cure
demands special subjects and special complaints —
those, namely, which are amenable to the influence of the
mind over the body, if it is to find ground to work upon.
Hysterical subjects offer a mental condition favourable to the
operation of the faith cure, for they afford a field eminently
receptive of suggestion, whether that suggestion is
conveyed by external influences, or whether, as is more
probable, they bring to bear on themselves the power¬
ful force of auto-suggestion. With these persons, male
or female, the influence of the mind over the body
is strong enough to produce the cure of maladies which
the lack of knowledge of their true nature which prevailed
not so long ago had caused to be regarded as incurable
Such are the facts about troubles of hysterical origin, which
are beginning to be understood—such as muscular atrophy,
oedema, and ulcerated tumours. When one hears of the
sudden cure in a shrine of an ulcerated cancer of the breast,
it is pennissible to recall the case of Mdlle. Coirin, or the
facts quite recently observed by Dr. Fowler.

“ Can we then affirm that we can explain everything which
claims to be of supernatural origin in the faith cure, and
that the frontiers of the miraculous are visibly shrinking
day by day before the march of scientific attainments?
Certainly not. In all investigations we have to learn the
lesson of patience. I am among the first to recognise that
Shakespeare’s words hold good to-day—

‘ There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in thy philosophy.’ ”

VACCINATION.

The failure of quarantine to keep out small-pox from a
country is well illustrated in a report, just issued, by Dr.
Gresswell on the introduction of the malady into Victoria last
summer. In spite of the fact that a young woman had
suffered on the voyage from a most suspicious skin eruption,
and that another passenger had also experienced symptoms
pointing clearly to small-pox, the usual port questions were
answered in the negative, and free pratique granted. The
consequence was that seven others of those on board the
vessel (the Oroya) developed small-pox in Victoria, New

Digitized by

Google

Monthly HomcBopathio
Bariew, Mar. 1,1888.

NOTABILIA.

189

South Wales, and Queensland, and subsequently four
Australian residents caught the disease from them. The
limitation of the epidemic to such small bounds was entirely
due to the almost superhuman activity displayed by the
Sanitary Staff of Melbourne in vaccination, disinfection, and
isolation. Police cordons were placed around invaded houses,
whose inmates were compulsorily vaccinated, and no ingress
or egress was permitted. Fortunately, the supply of calf-
lymph proved sufficient for the exigencies of the case. In
addition to this, all persons who had been in any kind of
relation with the attacked persons were retained in isolation
for fourteen days. Thanks to these measures, what appeared
likely at one time to be the starting-point of a general
prevalence of small-pox, which might become endemic in
this and neighbouring Colonies, was arrested and turned
back. Vaccination is still maintained, we believe, by a
compulsory Statute in Victoria. The Victorians, however,
seem to have a rooted predilection for quarantine. Their
late experience ought to demonstrate the futility of this
method, and points to vaccination only as the true prophy¬
laxis against small-pox. Surely the quiet and continuous
practice of vaccination and re-vaccination is preferable to a
system of police cordons and compulsory detention.— Standard ,
December 10th, 1892.

TRITURATION TABLETS.

Tablets prepared from triturations, or “tabloids,” as the
allopathic chemists call them, so as not to adopt our nomen¬
clature, are such a convenient form for dispensing, and so
much employed now, that we deem it right to inform our
colleagues what they get when they prescribe tablets. When
ordered of one grain each they are made in an ivory
or vulcanite mould, and simply moistened with spirit,
or, as some chemists do, with the addition of a little
gum. Such tablets are pure and contain no other
admixture. The admixture even of gum is, however,
unadvisable. When fresh, tablets prepared with this addition
are good enough, but when old, they are liable either to
become soft and sticky, or to develop a mouldy flavour. But
as they are advertised also of the size of from 2 to 5 grains
each, or even 10 grains, it is well to know that such cannot
be made by the machine without adding a form of vaseline
and what is still more objectionable, mixing the tablet with
7 per cent, of talc , or dusting them with this substance.
Without this they will not make, or come out of the machine
as separate tablets. Moreover, the machine has to be fre¬
quently oiled. The talc gives the pretty glazed appearance
that these large tablets possess. This may do very well for

Digitized by ^ooQle

190

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homasopathfe
Review, Mar. 1,1808.

allopathic pharmacy, but is out of the question in that of
homoeopathy. We have our information from several of the
leading chemists, and our colleagues should therefore be
aware what they must get when they prescribe tablets of over
one grain each. Where several grains are desired to be given,
so many of the one grain tablets should be prescribed, and
not one of several grains. Besides, the machine used for
making the larger tablets is made of metal, and this of itself
is inadmis sable in homoeopathic pharmacy. When prepared
with this metallic machine, they are found to taste distinctly
metallic. A further reason for the selection of a chemist
adopting the rules of the British Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia
is that, in the case of some of the insoluble drugs (which are
chiefly those made in tablet form) a prolonged and efficient
trituration is necessary to develop their activity. Purity of
the medicines is so vital for our success, that it is unnecessary
to say more than we have done to prevent failures.

“ DR. THEINHARDT’S ” FOODS.

Messrs. Sorensen & Co., of 88, Great Tower Street,
have sent us a sample of “ Food for Infants ” and
“Hygiama,” both of which are fairly palatable foods—
especially the latter. Chemical analysis has shown these
foods to be of high nutritive value and well suited for infants
and invalids. After an opportunity of testing them clinically
we intend to report the result of our experience therewith.

CAFFYN’S LIQUOR CARNIS.

The preparations of the Liquor Camis Company are well-
known and have been alluded to in our pages more than once.
The Company has not long ago purchased an estate in
Buckinghamshire, where they feed their own cattle, and
where, in healthy surroundings, they have erected factories,
and their preparations are, we are informed, becoming
increasingly popular, and we ourselves add they are deservedly
so. Of the chemical excellence of Liq. Camis there has
never been any question, but much earlier in the history of
its manufacture we were compelled to state that it was
unpleasantly sweet and decidedly over-seasoned. Now, we
have pleasure in stating that this is quite altered, and Liq.
Camis is a palatable and agreeable beverage (when properly
diluted), with a just perceptible flavour of celery.

The proprietors have recently made this preparation
available for hospital use by putting it up in large imperial
pint bottles, which are both more convenient and more
economical. We have kept an opened bottle of Liq. Camis for
many weeks and found that it remains perfectly good; indeed.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1, 1808.

CORRESPONDENCE.

191

it is said to improve rather than otherwise by exposure to air.
We have every confidence in commending this food as one of
high quality and nutritive value, of acceptable flavour, and of
easy digestion and assimilation.

AN EXPLANATION.

For different reasons we are obliged to hold over until our
next issue the continuation of Dr. Murray Moore’s interesting
paper on 44 Heredity, etc.,” and of Mr. Wright’s on 44 Nasal
Growths.” We have in type also a paper by Dr. Ramsbotham
ready for our next number. Our contributors have recently
furnished us with a good variety of short papers on a number
of subjects of interest, therapeutic and other, and these have
been received with marked approval by our readers. We hope
that the example of these will stimulate others, and serve as a
reminder that it is not necessary that a communication for our
pages be denied to our readers because it has not attained
the dimensions of a treatise. Pithy articles on any subjects,
brief records of personal experience, are much appreciated.
Items of news, too, are especially welcome.

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editors of the 44 Monthly Homoeopathic Review,”

Gentlemen,— In a recent article in another journal, I have
narrated the valuable therapeutic effects of hydrastinin } when
prescribed for uterine and other haemorrhages. Independent
testimony is constantly coming to hand, confirming the re¬
sults of our earlier observations; and the method of prepara¬
tion and the proper dose are given in the above cited article.
I have reason to believe, however, that preparations are
being dispensed which are quite other than the new alkaloid
hydrastinin , although this is asked for. I must emphatically
state that it is neither hydrastin muriate , nor hydrastia, nor an
impure hydrastin alkaloid, but a defined and stable alkaloid,
of constant chemical composition, creamy white in appearance,
and which readily dissolves in alcohol, forming a colourless
lx solution. I originally imported my own specimens from
Merck’s well-known laboratory in Darmstadt, but have now
delegated the preparation of the attenuations to certain of the
homoeopathic chemists in town. I shall be happy to answer
any enquiries on this point.

Yours truly,

20, Queen Anne Street, George Bubtord.

Cavendish Square, W.

February, 1898.

Digitized by ^ooQle

192

CORRESPONDENTS

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Mar. 1,1898.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

*** We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts.

Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby.

London Hom<eopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,
Bloomsbury. —Honrs of attendance: Medical, In-patients, 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30, daily; Surgical, Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.30 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist, Mondiays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

Communications have been received from Dr. Pullar, Dr. Burford,
Mr. Dudley Wright, Mr. Knox Shaw (London); Dr. Clifton
(Northampton); Dr. Mason, in January (Leicester); Drs. Craig
(Bedford) ; Dr. A. S. Alexander (Plymouth); Dr. Murray Moore,
Dr. Proctor (Liverpool); Dr. Holbrook (Chicago).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Occasional Papers. No. 1 and No. 3. By Dr. Morrison. London :
E. Gould & Son. 1893. —The Zenelt Memo -pad. By Lady Constance
Howard and Mr. C. F. Rideal. London : The Record Press. 1893.—
Alaskana , or Alaska in Descriptive and Legendary Poems. By Pro¬
fessor B. W. James, A.M., M.D. Philadelphia : Porter & Coates. 1892.
— Sepsis , Saturnism and their Congeners. By Edward Blake, M.D.
London : 1892. —Sewage Poisoning , its Causes and Cure. By E. T. Blake,
M.D. Second edition, including ventilation and disinfection. London:
E. & F. N. Spon. —The Homoeopathic World. London. Feb. —Medical
Reprints. London. Feb. —The Clinical Journal.. London. Feb. —The
Chemist and Druggist. London. Feb. —The Monthly Magazine of
Pharmacy. London. Feb. —The North American Journal of Homoeo¬
pathy. New York. Jan. and Feb. —The New York Medical Times .
Feb. — Childhood. New York. Feb. —The New York Medical Record.
Jan. and Feb. — The Chironian. New York. Jan. —The New England
Medical Gazette. Boston. Jan. and Feb. —The Hahnemannian Monthly.
Philadelphia. Feb.— The Homoeopathic Recorder. Philadelphia. Jan.
—The Homoeopathic Physician. Philadelphia. Feb. —The Journal of
Orificial Surgery. Chicago. Jan. —The Medical Era. Chicago. Jan.
—The Medical Advance. Chicago. Jan. and Feb. —The Clinique.
Chicago. Jan. —The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine. Jan. —Pacific
Coast Journal of Homoeopathy. San Drego. Jan. —The Homoeopathic
Envoy. Lancaster. Feb.— Revue Homoeopathique. Brussels. Jan.—
Bull. GSn. de Thbapeutique. Paris. Feb. —Leipzigcr Pop. Zeitschrift .
fur Horn. Feb.— Rirista Omiopatica. Rome. Dec., 1892. — Homoeo-
pathisch Maandblad. The Hague. Feb.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pops, 19 ,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dvca Brown, 29, Seymour Street, Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby, 161, Haverstock Hill, N. W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould A Sox, 60.
Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by

THE science op medicine.

193

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

“THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE.”

We have so long been accustomed to seeing our pro¬
fession ridiculed and sneered at by satirists, novelists
and playwrights, and our practice derided and treated
with contempt as unworthy of being considered a science
or even a rational art, by distinguished members of our own
profession, that we experience a thrill of pleased amaze¬
ment when we find ourselves and our calling spoken of
publicly in altogether eulogistic terms by such an emi¬
nent layman as the late Prime Minister. The high
character given to us and our art by such an exalted
and unimpeachable authority will be some compensation
for the mortification we endure when we see ourselves
depicted under the hateful guise of Sangrado, Diafoirus,
Purgon, Slop and the other medical buffoons of fiction.

In his address at Oxford on the 1st March, Lord Salis¬
bury spoke of medicine as “ one of the greatest of
sciences,” and he further declared it to be “ the most
sober, the most absolute, the most positive of all the
sciences.” The Lancet is in raptures at medicine being
designated by such an excellent judge as “ one of the
greatest of sciences.” It does not go so far as to com¬
mend the second encomium we have quoted. Indeed it
takes no notice of it at all, for it would scarcely endorse
the opinion that it is “ the most sober, absolute and
positive ” of them all.

Vol. 37, No. 4. o

Digitized by LjOOQle

194

THE SCIENCE OE MEDICINE.

The only defect in Lord Salisbury’s high-flown eulogy
of medicine (of course he was talking of old-school medi¬
cine, homoeopathy is not recognised at Oxford) is that it
is not a “ science ” at all. At most it is but an art—
“ the healing art ” as its partisans delight to call it,
“the non-healing art” as Hahnemann designated it.
That this most erratic, ever-changing, no-principled art
should be regarded by a man of intelligence, we may
even say, of science (for Lord Salisbury has the reputa¬
tion of being a highly scientific person—for a lord), as
an absolute, a positive science, is the most curious point
in his oration, which rather abounds in curiosities.
“ Other sciences,” he says, “gave one wide play to the
scientific imagination, and the scientific imagination was
the snare to the scientific man.” Well, we cannot say
that the medical practitioner—the healing artist—gives
play—wide or narrow—to “ scientific ” imagination, but
without any manner of doubt the allopathic practitioner
allows the freest play to his imagination, both in regard
to what he has to use, to the instruments he employs,
and to the mode of action of these instruments. Thus in
a case of disease he has to treat he first of all imagines
the pathological condition, but the vast differences of
opinion among medical men as to what is called the
“ proximate cause ” of almost every disease show what a
great part the imagination plays in the matter. Then the
practitioner has to determine in his own mind what he
ought to do, whether to stimulate or depress, to soothe
or to excite the particular part, organ or nervous tract
he imagines to be causing all the morbid symptoms.
Having settled this in his own mind, he has to administer
the medicine which he imagines possesses the power to
stimulate, depress, soothe or excite, though, not having
tested his medicines on the healthy human body to
ascertain how they act, this is mostly guess-work. Feel¬
ing his deficiencies in this matter he will not trust to
any single medicine to produce the wished-for effect, but
he usually mixes a lot together, imagining that they
will act harmoniously or mutually helpfully. So that
the physician of the ordinary school gives the widest play
to his imagination—his “scientific imagination” we
phould say. “ But,” says Lord Salisbury, “ if they in¬
dulged in scientific imagination by the bedside of a
patient, the patient died.” Yes, indeed, a tolerably large

Digitized by

THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE.

196

number of patients have died, victims to the “ scientific
imagination ” of their doctors.

“ The science of medicine,” said Dr. Mason Good, “ is
a barbarous jargon, and the effects of our medicines on
the human system are in the highest degree uncertain,
except, indeed, that they have destroyed more lives than
war, pestilence and famine combined.” “Medioine,”
says Dr. K. Hansen, “ as now practised, is a pestilence
to mankind ; it has carried off a greater number of vic¬
tims than all that murderous wars have ever done.”

These opinions of the “ science of medicine ” by its
professors are somewhat different from Lord Salisbury’s
verdict. But perhaps they maybe considered antiquated
as they are more than 50 years old, and the views of the
adherents of this “ sober, absolute and positive ” science
vary, as is well known, from time to time. The last 50
years has witnessed a complete volte-face by the authori-
of the old school. They say with Sganarelle: “ Nous
avons change tout cela, et nous faisons maintenant la
medecine d’une methode toute nouvelle.” What say the
modem representatives of the new method ? Dr. Moxon
writes: “ As to medical progress, there is no such thing
as progress. We guess our way, and call the guesses
theories, to make them respectable.” The fabrication
of theories by guessing is giving the rein to “ scientific
imagination ” with a vengeance. Says Dr. Wilks: “ 1
deny that we have a scientific use of medicines. . . .

Our remedies are never suggested by any theoretic con¬
siderations whatever.” After all it does not much matter
as far as science is concerned whether we call our guesses
theories, or say we are guided by no theoretic con¬
siderations whatever. Neither plan has the most
remote claim to science. So, though reluctant to
impeach the infallibility of an ex-Prime Minister, we
must pronounce Lord Salisbury’s estimate of the
scientific character of the medicine of to-day to be
entirely and utterly wrong. Lord Salisbury’s opinion
as to the future of the “ science of medicine ” being
devoted to the study of “ microbes,” is probably “ up to
date,” but at the same time it strikes us as being highly
ludicrous. He thinks it cannot be doubted that “ for a
generation to come the investigation of these creatures,
which had been revealed to them by new methods of
research and singularly patient labour, and on which the

0—2

Digitized by

Google

196

THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE. “b^.’aJSuIu^

lives of millions of human beings depended, that they
would figure larger in the scientific field. That was a
noble object of study, and this was the special domain
and privilege of medicine.” We presume the reporter
is responsible for the queer grammar of this bit, but the
meaning seems to be that the study of microbes will
occupy the attention of the votaries of the “ science of
medicine” for at least”a generation to come.” No
doubt as long as “ kudos ” is to be got by the discovery
of new microbes, these investigations will go on, but
whether they will last for a generation to come is
problematical. Hitherto not much benefit to practical
medicine has accrued from these investigations—rather
the reverse. The discovery of the tubercle bacilli was a
disastrous one for many tuberculous, phthisical and
lupus-infected patients, and that of the cholera bacillus
seems to be valueless. Indeed Pettenkoffer and the
Vienna physicians have proved that the comma bacilli
when swallowed in large quantities only cause a slight
diarrhoea which soon comes to a full stop.

On the whole, then, Lord Salisbury’s address about
medicine is a disappointment, and only shows that he
knows nothing about the subject on which he spoke so
eloquently.

But the Premier does not seem to be a bit better
informed on medical matters than the ex-Premier.
When we find Mr. Gladstone gravely stating, “ no one
is unaware of the increase of fees in the medical
profession, and I am bound to say, that there are none
more nobly earned in the world.” It may be true that
the fashionable west-end doctors, from among whom the
G. 0. M. selects his medical adviser, have raised their
fees, but it is a general complaint among the rank and
file of the profession, that by reason of the great
competition, owing to the over-stocking of the profession,
fees have for many years past been dwindling down to an
almost vanishing point. The Lancet has been harping
on this subject for several years. Talking the other
day to a young friend who had recently bought a
practice in the country, he said he had as much to do
as he could get through, but the fees! There was the
difficulty. He was often glad to get them paid in kind
—a pound of fresh butter, a cheese or a Back of potatoes,
or even a rope of onions; had it only been a hempen

Digitized by

Google

characteristics.

197

rope he thought he might have used it to end his
troubles.

So, then, we may conclude that Premiers, past and
present, though doubtless crammed full of knowledge,
sure not very safe guides on the subject of medicine,
scientific or practical.

44 CHARACTERISTICS/’ 44 KEY-NOTES,” AND
“ GUIDING SYMPTOMS,” TOGETHER WITH
CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS,

By A. C. Clifton, M.D.

The first medicine I now take up is asafoetida , a remedy
largely neglected by our school, and when prescribed
is often chosen from a few prominent nervous symp*
toms, such, for instance, as 44 globus hystericus/ 9 while
at the same time there are many other pronounced
characteristics . One of these especially I will touch
upon. “A sensation of emptiness and weakness, with
distension and throbbing in the stomach and in the
abdomen together, attended with gurgling and rolling
of wind, which is hardly ever passed downwards, but
escapes upwards with loud and difficult eructation, giving
relief.” My attention to this symptom was rivetted,
some fifteen years or so ago, in a case in which argentum
nitricum had failed; but this remedy quickly cured, since
which time I have had several confirmations of this
complex symptom as a “characteristic, 99 and very recently
a colleague of ours in California has called attention to
the same. I would also say that obstinate constipation
is very often associated with the aforesaid condition.

Aurum metallicum .—Beyond what is recorded as
44 characteristic 99 of this medicine, the only note which
I have made is in relation to the heart, viz.: 44 Sensation
as if the heart stopped beating for two or three seconds,
immediately followed by a tumultuous rebound, lasting
for a few minutes, attended with sinking at the epi¬
gastrium, and with great fear of death/’ This complex
symptom should be compared with one under digitalis,
viz. : 44 a fear that the heart will cease beating if the
patient moves the reverse of gelsemium % viz.: 44 fear that
the heart will quite stop unless the patient moves , attended
with intermittent beat, coming on especially when lying

Digitized by ^ooQle

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homosopathie
Review, April 1, 1808.

m the left side. 99 These several symptoms of eaoh
medicine in relation to the heart have been noticed by
Other practitioners, and been expressed in a somewhat
different way; and, moreover, they are largely clinical
Observations, which I have repeatedly verified, and for
this reason I consider them “characteristic;” but in
order to differentiate them more clearly, it should be
looted that the pulse of digitalis and of gelsemium is
slower than the pulse of aurum .

Baptisia tinctoria. —I pass over the many obvious
characteristics of this medicine, for the most part of an
asthenic type, which so often have led to its being
prescribed in typhoid and allied conditions; and my
remarks will be confined to pronounced symptoms in
delation to the tongue, and to the pulse, in contrast
with the tongue and pulse symptoms of veratrum
viride . The baptisia tongue is dry and brown in the
centre, with dry and glistening edges, some amount
of cracking of the surface and soreness, together with
foetor of the mouth; the pulse is rather slow and is
very compressible, all indicating, and especially with
other “characteristics ” a low condition. The vera-
trum viride tongue is dry and red in the centre, with
hot and scalded sensation extending to the throat,
and the pulse is thin, hard and wiry, and very quick,
all which symptoms point to an acute febrile con¬
dition, inflammation of some organ or tissue, and I
halve found this remedy of especial value in pneumonia
and in peritonitis . Apart from pulse symptoms, the
tongue of argentum nitricum, of antimonium tartaricum,
and of phosphoric acid , is in each case very similar in
character to what I have named in relation to baptisia ,
but of course there are other “ characteristics ” which
serve to differentiate the several medicines for therapeutic
purposes. It may be suggested that the somewhat fine
distinctions which I have set forth are pedantic and of
but little practical value; the only reply which I can
make is, that they have served my purpose well, and I
believe that they may be useful to other practitioners.

Baryta carbonica .—In addition to the well-known
“characteristics” of this remedy, I will only allude to
one, and that in relation to the stomach and digestion,
vis., “ pain and a heavy weight in the stomach imme¬
diately after a meal, with tenderness over the epigastric

Digitized by ^ooQle

CHABA0TBW8TIC8,

199 ;

legion, and the pains worse by movement, often accom¬
panied with difficulty and pains in swallowing food', as
if the food was arrested in the oesophagus; ” this com¬
plex symptom, under the nomenclature of dyspepsia and
gastralgia, occurring more especially to young men who
have masturbated, and who suffer from seminal emis¬
sions, together with cardiac irritability and palpitation,
Which is worse when lying upon the left side;” this
condition, and one that I think is “ characteristic 99 of
baryta , I have occasionally cured by that medicine.

Beilis perennis. —This remedy, for contusions, was
introduced to our notice many years ago, and I believe
by Dr. Henry Thomas and by Dr. Burnett, but without
any defined indications for its uses. I have on several
occasions prescribed it internally, and as a local appli¬
cation in the same empirical way, but I have not found
it at all so curative as arnica and rhus f and mainly for
this reason do I now notice it.

Calcarea carbonica .—I shall only refer to one “charac¬
teristic 99 of this medicine, and mainly in contrast with
two other medicines, viz., “ icy coldness, inside and out¬
side of the head, with perspiration on the scalp.”
Although this symptom is very pronounced, and when
it occurs in any case will often lead to this medicine
being prescribed, I have nevertheless seen the benefit,
several times, of comparing chelidonium with it, and
which has led me to select the latter medicine with
advantage to the patient, for chelidonium presents “cold¬
ness in the occiput, rising from the nape.” Silica ,
moreover, demands comparison, inasmuch as it presents
“ cold feeling from the nape of the neck to the crown of
the head, with profuse perspiration of the scalp.” The
fact of these symptoms being so much alike, and yet that
other symptoms in relation to each, especially in their
modality, are very dissimilar, I suggest that the single
“ characteristic 99 should more often be compared with
other “ characteristics 99 than is sometimes done.

Calcarea phosphorica. —It would require at least half
a dozen pages of the Review to point out the “ charac¬
teristics" and “key-notes" in relation to this medicine,
as well as to the one just noticed, and, moreover, several
“ characteristics ” not on record of these far-reaching
remedies. But on the present occasion I pass over the
whole, with the exception of what I have already done.

Digitized by ^ooQle

200

OPEN-MINDEDNESS.

Monthly HonoopitUe
Review, April l, lfiSt.

jast to put on record an interesting piece of clinical
work, to which, in the first instance, I am entirely
indebted to that indefatigable worker and man of
inventive genius, Dr. R. T. Cooper, who, in the past,
has done good service in homoeopathic therapeutics on
several lines, and from whom I hope much in the future.
1 am, however, in direct opposition to his latest thought
and phase of practice of one dose—and, I believe, of
unproven remedies—a therapeutic method which, so far
as I am aware, there is but little, if any, trustworthy
evidence to recommend. On account of my opposition
to him on these lines, I just wish to say something more
in his favour than I have done. Some five or six years
ago I sent to him a case of defective hearing, with per¬
foration of the membrana tympani, and, of course,
attended with otorrhoea. He prescribed calcarea phog-
phorica 8x trituration, about two grains to be forcibly
snuffed up the nostrils twice a day. The result of this
prescription was that in three months the membrane on
both sides was healed and the hearing was greatly im¬
proved. Since that time I have prescribed the same
remedy, and in the same way, in seven similar cases, and
with the same results. For adenoid growths in the
posterior nares I have prescribed the same remedy, as
well as calcium iodatum , baryta carbonica and silica , to
be used in the same way, and with very beneficial
results.

Under stomach and digestion I have the following
note : “ great hunger, with thirst, excessive flatulence in
the stomach soon after eating, temporarily relieved by
sour eructations.'* These symptoms I consider “ charac¬
teristic,” and especially when occurring in women with
too frequent and excessive menstruation I have several
times seen this medicine cure.

THE OPEN-MINDEDNESS OF THE MEDICAL
PROFESSION TO NEW IDEAS.

By S. H. Ramsbotham, M.D., Edin.

There is at the present time such a search after novel¬
ties, such a desire to be abreast of the latest methods of
treatment, such a running after what may be, without
disrespect, called the “ fads ” of medicine, that, to anyone
acquainted with homoeopathy and the benefits which it

Digitized by ^ooQle

OPEN-MINDEDNESS.

201

confers alike on doctor and patient, it appears simply
marvellous that it should not have been more widely
adopted, and its methods laid more freely under contri¬
bution by those who are straining every nerve to get
even a little ahead of their competitors in the race for
fame and fortune, and are ransacking heaven and earth,
nay, even the things under the earth, for the means
whereby they may succeed in their endeavour. Or at
any rate it would appear marvellous, did not an ac¬
quaintance with homoeopathy lead also to an acquaint¬
ance with the undying animosity exhibited towards it
by the majority of those who by education as well as by
tradition claim to be considered members of a liberal pro¬
fession. This animosity is fostered and kept alive to
such an extent by those to whom the rank and file look
for direction and guidance, that even the more liberally
minded men who are willing to shake hands with us
across the chasm which prejudice has opened, are
deterred from giving effect to their kindly intentions by
fear of the consequences which would ensue did their
conduct become known to, say, the editors of the Lancet
and the British Medical Journal. This reasonless opposi¬
tion becomes all the more remarkable, and all the less easy
to understand, when we compare with it the recognition,
investigation, and even patronage extended to other
modes of treatment, some of which at any rate cannot
claim to be based on any principle, either scientific or
practical, and which not infrequently appear to be acci¬
dental or chance discoveries.

Individual instances which may support a general
statement of this kind from time to time come under
notice ; and it may not be altogether a waste of time to
call our thoughts for a brief space from the ardour of
our pursuit of therapeutic skill or scientific knowledge,
and turn them to the consideration of the politics of our
situation. Two cases illustrating the intense animosity
shown towards homoeopathy, and the continued endeavour
to stifle any honest enquiry into its merits or demerits,
have recently occurred in my own neighbourhood; and
I venture to cite them not as examples of any new thing,
but simply because they will serve to contrast with the
considerate reception or friendly welcome accorded to
other claimants for attention.

A medical man practising in Leeds, formerly a student

Digitized by

Google

202

OPEN-MINDEDNESS.

Monthly HoncMpftthle
Bffriew, April 1 , 108 .

at the Leeds School of Medicine, applied to be admitted
a member of the British Medical Association, and was
duly proposed by one of his former teachers. The-
Secretary, however, intimated to his proposer that as
the candidate’s name appeared in the Homoeopathic
directory he was not eligible for membership. Corres¬
pondence ensued between proposer and proposed, and
for a time the latter thought the matter was at an end.
In due course, however, there came an application for
the payment of his annual subscription, and this, in
conjunction with the regular receipt of the weekly
journal of the Association, seemed to justify his belief
that a spirit of liberality had prevailed, and that he had
been duly elected a member of the Association. Acting
on this belief, when the British Medical Association was
about to hold its meeting in Leeds in 1889, he paid to
the local authorities his quota of the guarantee fund
necessarily raised in any town which that august body
proposes to honour by a visit, and duly attended to
subscribe his name to the roll of members present at
the Leeds meeting. Then came the rude awakening: a
prompt challenge of his right to do this renewed the
discussion, and being eventually denied the privileges of
membership, he retired from the contest, as not being of
a litigious spirit he declined to make any effort at
enforcing his claim by an appeal to the law.

The other instance to which I refer is also the case of
a former alumnus of the Leeds School of Medicine, who,
after ten years of practice according to the methods he
had been taught, was led by the demonstration of facts
to abandon these methods, and “ to make use of homoeo¬
pathy in a systematic manner, with great satisfaction to
himself and enormous advantage to his patients.”
But mark the result: “ As soon as it was suspected that
I dabbled in heterodox medicine I was called upon to
sign a written declaration that I did not and would not
nse any homoeopathic remedies, and further have been
asked to pledge myself not to attend those who believed
in such remedies. Failing my compliance with this
unscientific, inhuman, and intolerable requirement, I
was refused recognition either as a gentleman or &
legally qualified medical practitioner.”*

• Leeds Mercury 1 3rd October, 1891.

Digitized by LjOOQle

OPEN-MINDEDNESS.

203

Here is one side of the picture; now let ns look at the
other, and see this animosity giving place to courtesy.

‘ Individuals often move more rapidly than bodies cor¬
porate ; it is therefore hardly surprising if we can more
easily find instances of readiness to accept new teachings
on the part of individuals rather than on that of corpo¬
rations. An instance in point is that of Dr. Edmunds,
Senior Physician to the London Temperance Hospital, a
man with an excellent record alike as a student and as
a practitioner. In the ardour of his endeavours not only
to promote the cause of temperance, but to find a means
of reclaiming the victims of inebriety, he was struck by
the success of the “ Keeley treatment,” and forthwith
proceeded to investigate it, so far as investigation is per¬
mitted. For be it noted, and herein lies the moral of the
tale, that this treatment consists in the repeated inocu¬
lation of the sufferers by Dr. Keeley or his assistants
With some preparation, the nature of which he does
hot think fit to disclose, but which on ample evidence is
shown to have been successful in cases which have
resisted all other known methods of treatment. Accord¬
ing to all rules any dealing with secret remedies or secret
methods of treatment should secure for the dealer the
ban of his College, the forfeiture of his appointments,
and the cold shoulder from every orthodox brother. But
strange to say Dr. Edmunds has found countenance. It
is not yet on record that he is struck off the Register for
“ unprofessional conduct,” or dismissed from his post at
the Temperance Hospital; and stranger still, he has
found an aider and abetter in one of the medical journals.
Dr. Andrew Wilson, F.R.S.E., the editor of Health, not
only publishes his letter* detailing the observations he
made on the “ Keeley treatment,” but introduces it with
some editorial remarks, commending Dr. Edmunds for
the boldness which he has “ set aside professional custom
in so far as it would cause him to refuse to investigate
any cure the rationale of which may be unknown.” And
with strange irony he adds : “ It might cause somewhat
of a reform in medical matters did some of Dr. Edmunds’
colleagues follow his example.” It might indeed, and
probably would do so to a much larger extent than he is
conscious of or intended to suggest!

September, 1892.

Digitized by

204

OPEN-MINDEDNESS.

Monthly Hoaaantte
Boriew, April l v 18W.

Another instance of thus investigating a “ cure, the
rationale of which is unknown,’* occurred very recently,
attracting some attention in unprofessional as well as in
professional circles. And it may be noted that the
investigation was not conducted by one or more indi¬
viduals singly, but by a body of men fortuitously brought
together, but nevertheless acting in concert and jointly.

For some years past the therapeutic value of the so-
ealled “electro-homoeopathic” remedies of Count Mattei
has been constantly asserted by men whose professional
qualifications entitle their opinions at any rate to
respectful attention. This, however, was scarcely
accorded them. What attention they did receive came
chiefly from our side; the “orthodox” frankly held
aloof, till in the early part of last year the editor of
the Review of Reviews drew public attention to certain
cases of cancer, in which these remedies were reported
to have effected a cure. There he kept it fixed, until for
very shame a scientifically conducted enquiry into their
merits could no longer be refused; and a committee of
investigation was brought together, composed of men
whose names were well-known to the public as pioneers
in the advancement of their own specialties, and were
considered a guarantee for the fairness of the enquiry.
True, it was not conducted either with the patience or
the candour which the Matteists looked for; true, it
was only accorded under pressure ; but the fact remains
that it was accorded, and accorded, too, to a series of
remedies, the composition of which, to borrow a phrase
attributed by Macaulay to a certain Grand Vizier, “nest
connu qu’a Dieu et a Comte Mattei ,” and which, there¬
fore, might not unreasonably be considered as tainted
by that secrecy which is the essence of all quackery.

A still more remarkable evidence of the open-minded¬
ness with which the medical profession can receive novel
teachings when it is so inclined, is afforded by an
account given in the Lancet of 5th April, 1890, of a
series of dental and other operations performed under
the influence of “hypnotic suggestion” as an anaesthetic,
in the presence of about sixty of the leading medical
men and dentists of Leeds and the neighbourhood.
Before these gentlemen “a master in the art of hypnotism
as applied to medicine and surgery” gave a demonstra¬
tion, the object of which was to show the power of

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homeopathic
Bortov, April 1,1888.

OPEN-MINDEDNESS.

205

hypnotism to prodace absolate anaesthesia in very
painful and severe operations. Most of the cases were
of the ordinary type: the patient being put to sleep by
the hypnotiser, the operator proceeded to complete his
work, which was accomplished apparently without the
patient being aware of what was done, or experiencing
any pain in the process. The extraction of teeth; the
removal of a bony growth and part of the first phalanx
of the big toe ; the excision of tonsils; these were Borne
of the operations performed under the conditions just
named. Three of these demonstrations will, however,
repay a somewhat closer examination, and I therefore
copy the details.

The first is that of “a woman of 25, who was
hypnotised at a word by Dr. Bramwell, and told she was
to submit to three teeth being extracted without pain
at the hands of Mr. T. Garter, and further that she was
to do anything Mr. Garter asked her to do, such as to
open her mouth and spit out, and the like, as he required
her. This was perfectly successful.”

The next case is that of " a servant girl, aged 19 r
who was put to sleep by the following letter, addressed
by Dr. Bramwell to Mr. Turner, the operating dentist in
the case.

(Copy.)

“ Burlington Crescent, Goole, Yorks.

“Dear Mr. Turner,—I send you a patient with
enclosed order. When you give it her she will fall
asleep at once and obey your commands.

“ (Signed) J. Milne Bramwell."

The enclosed order reads as follows:—

(Copy.)

“ Go to sleep, by order of Dr. Bramwell, and obey
Mr. Turner’s commands.

“ (Signed) J. Milne Bramwell. 1 '

“This experiment answered perfectly. Sleep waa
induced at once by reading the note, and was so
profound that at the end of a lengthy operation, in which
sixteen stumps were removed, she awoke smiling, and
insisted that she had felt no pain, and what was re¬
markable there was no pain in the mouth.”

The third and last instance is that of “ a navvy, from
whom a very difficult impacted stumf^had been success¬
fully extracted. Dr. Bramwell described how this man

Digitized by

206

OPEN-MIHDEDNB 88.

Monthly Hommopntfeic
Bartow* April 1, ISM.

had been completely cored of very obstinate facial
neuralgia by hypnotism. The malady had been produced
by working in a wet cutting, and had previously defied
all medical treatment. On the third day of hypnotism
the neuralgia had entirely disappeared (weeks ago) and
had never returned. This man had obtained also
refreshing hypnotic sleep at night, being put to sleep by
his daughter through a note from Dr. Bramwell, and on
one occasion by a telegram, both methods answering
perfectly.”

Now, certain features in these cases at once arrest our
attention. We have been accustomed to suppose that
in profound hypnosis the hypnotist alone is in touch
with his sleeping patient. He only can influence the
mind of the patient.* But in the first of these three
instances the power thus to influence the mind of the
patient and to compel him to perform certain acts was
transmitted by the hypnotiser to the operator. That is,
the hypnotising power was used, and used successfully,
in what may be termed a first attenuation.

In the second a still higher attenuation of the hypnotic
power was reached. Certain words written by the
hypnotiser on a piece of paper not only have the effect
of causing the patient to go to sleep, but transmit to the
operator the same power as in the former case—that of
compelling the sleeper to perform certain acts at his
discretion. But in the last case attenuation seems to
have run wild. The written words of the hypnotiser
must at any rate have been transmitted by a clerk
through his instrument along the connecting wire to the
receiving instrument, where it would be read by another
clerk and written down by him, when in due course it
would reach the hands of the daughter to be exhibited
before her father’s eyes as a soporific!

Surely it is no wilder effort of the imagination to
suppose that our much derided sixth dilution may con¬
tain some fragment or particle of the elements present
in the original tincture, now indeed imperceptible, but
still active, than it is to suppose that this telegram, when
at length it reached the hands of the expectant patient,
could contain any effective portion of the energising
clement originally set in motion by the hypnotiser.

♦Dr. Liebeoult, in his Medical Annual , 1891, p. 276.

Digitized by ^ooQle

OPEN-MINDEDNESS.

207

HontMr HommopatUo
Sniaw, April 1,1883.

It is not necessary for us to follow the tactics so often
used against ourselves, and dub the hypnotiser a humbug,
ridicule the mental attitude of those who attended the
seance, or quarrel with them for witnessing the ex¬
periments and investigating the claims of hypnotism to
take its place among the recognised methods of medical
treatment. But I think we have a perfect right to
complain of the inconsistency shown when the men who
are present at this exhibition, who applaud these “ deeply
interesting and highly successful experiments,” and
appear to find nothing incredible in the transmission of
soporific powers by the telegraph, nevertheless utterly
refuse to believe it possible that small doses—not to
speak of infinitesimals—can have any power for good;
and decline absolutely to listen to the record of our
experience, to examine our claim to be heard, or to put
to practical test the methods we advocate.

Even as I write, a series of letters are appearing in the
Times* which narrate a careful, and so far as may be
an unbiassed investigation made by “ an occasional
correspondent,” into the practice of hypnotism at the
clinique in the hospital of La Charite, in Paris. Not
only has this correspondent devoted time and labour to
his investigation; a letter also appears above the name
of Ernest Hart, the well known editor of the British
Medical Journal , giving an account of an independent
examination made by him into the same thing at the
same place. Now, will these gentlemen kindly do the
same thing for us ? Will they attend the clinique , say, at
the London Homoeopathic Hospital, in Great Ormond
Street, watch the procedure there with the same care
they exercised at La Charity, and then publish their
investigations and conclusions ? And if they won’t do
this, then why won’t they? Such an investigation
would have for them whatever charm attaches to a novel
experience, and though I, as an outsider, have no claim
to speak on behalf of the hospital staff, I would not
hesitate to assure such visitors that they would be
courteously entreated, and shown everything that could
possibly afford them information. Are they indeed
afraid to venture, afraid they may have to eat their own
words, and end by blessing that which they have

♦January, 1893.

Digitized by ^ooQle

208

HEREDITY OF DISEASE. aSo^um!

hitherto cursed ? Their refusal could only be open to
one interpretation, viz., that the animosity spoken of at
the beginning of this paper is so deep-rooted as to be
almost incurable; a reflection saddening indeed to those
who care more for the advancement of the art of
medicine than for the triumph of any one of its sections,
and causing those who long for re-union to feel it yet so
far in the dim and distant future that to many eyes it
appears as though it would never come about at all.

Leeds, January, 1898.

THE HEREDITY OF DISEASE, AND SUGGES¬
TIONS FOR ITS EXTINCTION.

By J. Murray Moore, M.D., M.R,C.S.

(Continued from p. 89. J

This somewhat bold statement is partly based upon the
account given by the St. James's Gazette , of 220
centenarians, who were officially reported to the
authorities during the years 1886 to 1891, inclusive.
Of these 176 were women, and 76 men, their ages
varying from 100 to 111. The greatest number in any
one year, namely 48, occurred in the census year 1891,
and here the proportion of the sexes is more equal, 27
women to 21 men. Doubtless, if a compulsory old age
Pension Law is adopted, a larger proportion of old people
will pass their century, and thus our descendants will be
prepared for the increased age of man during the
Millennium. Meantime, the inexorable doom of man
is death; and as Malthus’s statement that, while the
means of subsistence increase in arithmetical ratio, the
human race multiplies in geometrical ratio, cannot be
controverted, we cannot but regard wars, epidemics,
earthquakes, floods, accidents by sea and land, and so
forth, as being necessary to the continuance of our race,
however calamitous they are to the individual. This
process of thinning down cannot be truthfully described
as one which tends to the “ survival of the fittest,” for
both accident and epidemic pestilence ( e.g . the Russian
influenza) do not select their victims from those least
qualified in body or mind to continue “ the struggle for
existence.” That capricious passion, Love, still mates

Digitized by ^ooQle

jSj^Sr5Su!^ ,e HEREDITY of disease.

209

together persons who are ill-developed or even in & morbid
state, and such couples rear children who are predisposed
to illness from the moment of conception. I shall point out
in the sequel how much may be done by the enlightened
family doctor who is thoroughly “ up to date " in
knowledge towards the pre-natal prevention of hereditary
•disease, and the consequent improvement of each family.

IV.

And now we will briefly consider the hereditary
•characteristics of a few transmissible diseases, grouped
after the manner indicated above (pp. 88, 89). The
enumeration here made is not at all complete, but it
includes most diseases which are regarded as hereditary
in the present state of our knowledge.

Group A.

Goitre; cretinism ; leprosy; pellagra; anaemia.

Group B.

Gout; rheumatism ; cancer; tuberculosis; purpura;
haemophilia; diabetes; cataract.

Group C.

Syphilis; alcoholism; morphinism; abnormal sexu¬
ality ; hereditary criminality.

Group D.

Deformities, malformation, and abnormalities of struc¬
ture or function; left-handedness; superfluous fingers or
toes; hair, teeth, nails, naevi and moles; club-foot;
atresia vaginae, hypospadias.

In addition we have another class of diseases in

Group E.

Various psychoses and neuroses; neurasthenia; deaf
mutism; epilepsy; insanity in several forms.

Several other varieties of disease I have noted as
transmissible which do not appropriately come under
the above heads, such as colour-blmdness; amaurosis;
strabismus; obesity; varicose veins; hydrocele; cyano¬
sis ; organic valvular heart disease; psoriasis; impetigo;
akrokeratoma.

Group A.—Of these diseases, goitre, the nature of
which is too well-known to need description, is the most
typical. Once well-known in England, and popularly
called Derbyshire neck, from its prevalence in that

Vol. 87, No. 4. p

Digitized by Goode

(210

HEREDITY OP DISEASE, 1 g£££ i iSSufSwJ*

county, it is now rare. Its prevalence in Styria, the
Altai Mountains, the Black Forest, and in certain valleys
in Switzerland,, is due to certain local peculiarities
mentioned on p. 88. If both parents are goitrous the
children are usually cretins, that is, idiots of a peculiar
type. In Chiselborough, in Somersetshire, some years
since, cretins were found. The cretin is stunted, with
short and deformed legs, a large face, hypertrophied,
wrinkled - and yellow skin. The cranium is braohy-
cephalic, reminding one of that of the cave man. Post¬
mortem examination shows that the cranial bones are
thickened and without diploe, the sutures prematurely
ossified, and the brain small, pale, unsymmetrical and
infiltrated with serum. Cretinism is often associated
with enlarged thyroid, and a medical observer living in
a cretinous district can trace the successive steps of
degeneracy from a slightly goitrous active worker down
to a helpless cretin who is maintained by charity. Both
these diseases illustrate the fact that the morbid results
of an unhealthy environment may become hereditary.
If you take a goitrous child away out of his native
valley, treat his goitre with iodine , or silica, or lapis
edbus, and give him good food and a home on a plateau
or airy mountain-side, he becomes healthy and shows no
tendency to relapse. Healthy women who have lived in
cretinous valleys during pregnancy, have borne cretinous
children there, but after removing from those districts
have had healthy infants.

Fortunately for their communities, cretins attain
puberty- later than usual, are usually impotent, and die
about the age of thirty. Therefore, we may expect that
in time, the heredity of cretinism will disappear, 1st, by
emigration from : the cretinous localities; 2nd, by
improved sanitation, better food, and better family
conditions; 3rd,'by sterility of the adult cretins. In
the town of Meyringen, where cretins formerly abounded,
I made careful inquiry in 1891, and could only hear of
one remaining. *

: Leprosy, which is even now a scourge in many parts
of the world, and to which our attention has been drawn
by the revelation of a leper in Smithfield, London, and
by the recent missionary enterprise of that noble and
devoted lady, Miss Kate Marsden, is both endemic and
hereditary in each of its chief forms (tuberosa and

Digitized by ^ooQle

211

Monthly Homoeopathit
Reritw, April 1,1808.

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

mutilans). I have seen this terrible disease in Norway
(Bergen), in the Sandwich Islands (Honolulu), and in
New Zealand. My opinion is that leprosy in all its
forms is contagious and infectious, of slow incubation,
and hereditary in a marked degree. The statements in
Scripture amply confirm the modern views of leprosy.
The originating cause of leprosy is believed by native
tribes and by most medical writers to be due to exclusive
fish diet, or a diet of rotten, or decaying, or fungous fish.
In Norway, where the poorest peasants eat cod-fish raw,
or imperfectly dried, this is the cause. Also in New
Zealand, the Maoris living near Lake Taupo (North
Island) eat a fish caught there which is thought to be
unwholesome, and a number of those who eat it
habitually become leprous. They are usually cured by
the hot mineral baths in the Botorua district.

In Polynesia, sporadic leprosy has existed for centuries,
probably induced by insufficient and unwholesome food.
For example, after a cyclone which destroys all the
coconut trees, yams, and kumara on an island, the
natives are reduced to a scanty supply of sea-slugs (beche
de mer) shell-fish, and shark.

In China leprosy has existed from time immemorial
Eight varieties are to be found in that vast and
over-crowded land, and the Chinese assert that the
disease is handed down for four generations. As
travellers know, every kind and sort of animal, fish,
bird and insect is used for food in China, however
unwholesome therefore we may assign the same cause
to this plague in the Flowery Land. Yet Erasmus
Wilson is of opinion that miasma is the true originating
cause of leprosy, and he gives two very conclusive cases on
p. 815 of Quai’s Dictionary of Medicine, which corroborates
his view, that from our own country where for thirteen
centuries lepers existed, the disease has disappeared,
owing chiefly to drainage of the marshes. But the
“ yellow man ” is responsible directly for importing this
pest into the Sandwich Islands. In Honolulu in 1887,
I found absolute unanimity among the medical men on
this point. Only in the kingdom of Hawaii (the correct
name of the old fashioned Owhyee) are any intelligent and
thorough measures taken to stamp out the disease.
Married couples found to be leprous are sent to the

p —2

Digitized by

Google

•212

HEREDITY OF DISEASE,

isolated settlement of Molokai, and the sexes segregrated.
Their children are placed in a comfortable home and
school outside the city of Honolulu, and are kept under
careful medical surveillance for from three to five years.
They are then liberated, a means of earning a livelihood
having been taught them, and blend into the general
community, but they never see their parents any more,
I could not find any case of absolute cure of a leper,
though a secret Japanese remedy has good repute. The
average life of a leper is from ten to twenty years. The
new leper settlement in Siberia, will be modelled
probably on the Honolulu model, and will do much
towards lessening the plague in that dreary country.
If the importation of Chinese labour could be at once
and for ever averted, the Hawaiians believe that in less
than twenty years this terrible scourge could be
exterminated.

Anaemia is endemic in large towns, in mines and in
factories, and is transmissible to the first generation
following. Those who follow occupations which deprive
them of the atmospheric air and sunlight necessary to
health, who, if men, smoke often to excess from early
youth, are always anaemic. Though this condition of
the blood does not extinguish the power of procreation,
it produces weakly germ-plasma in both sexes; and the
conditions for a healthy pregnancy in the mill-worker,
tailoress, seamstress, or dweller in the cellar-kitchens
which still disgrace our civilisation, are wholly wanting.
Here, then, is a mixed cause, both heredity and environ¬
ment coming into play. Not a third part of these chil¬
dren, bora anaemic and feeble, survive to adult age. The
-extinction of hereditary anaemia then is possible by im¬
proving the environment, and by mating an anaemic
man with a full-blooded country girl, or vice-versa.
Often do we notice the great change in a rosy-cheeked
lass after a year's domestic service in a large city. And
the anaemic effect of neglected menorrhagia in one sex
and spermatorrhoea in the other has to be taken into
account.

(To be continued.)

Digitized by

Google

j£^r5S?M«£ le ON SYMPHYSEOTOMY.

213

ON SYMPHYSEOTOMY, OR THE DIVISION OP
THE SYMPHYSIS PUBIS DURING LABOUR
IN CASES OF CONTRACTED PELVIS.

By Gboboe Bbrford, M.B.

Physician to the Gynaecological Department, London Homoeopathic
Hospital.

I wish to call the attention of my colleagues to a recent
noteworthy addition to the obstetric armamentum, and
which bids fair to be one of the most serviceable aids in
the management of difficult cases of labour. This pro¬
cedure is symphyseotomy, or the division of the sym¬
physis pubis during labour, in order to enlarge the pelvic
diameters, and to allow in cases of contracted pelvis of
the delivery of a mature living child at term. The
destruction of the foetus by perforation or basilysis; or
the induction of premature labour; or an artificially
maintained sterility; or Caesarian section itself; these
may all be obviated where a narrowed bony pelvis is the
cause of difficulty, and their place taken by a short,
effective, and safe operation, which increases at once the
safety of mother and child.

Professor Leopold, of Dresden, whose experience in
these cases is second to none, and whose Caesarian
sections have been phenomenally successful, has
recently, after performing symphyseotomy, declared
that it will considerably limit the number of patients
hitherto supposed only to be delivered by section of the
uterus. From the great Vienna obstetric Clinic is reported
a case in which, four years ago, Caesarian section was
successfully performed; but the patient again becoming
pregnant, symphyseotomy was performed in place of the
major operation, with a successful issue for both mother
and child. From Fressburg is reported a case in which
in two previous labours the patient had been delivered
by perforation and destruction of the foetus; but be¬
coming pregnant a third time, symphyseotomy was
successfully performed, and a mature living child
delivered, the mother being discharged as perfectly
recovered by the 26th day. Professor Zweifel narrates
an instance where a patient presented herself at the end
of the eighth pregnancy for operative delivery. Six
times before had she been with difficulty delivered, but
in each case the child was dead. Once only had a living
child been bora to her, the outcome of a spontaneous

Digitized by ^ooQle

214

ON SYMPHYSEOTOMY,

Brnrimr, April 1, IBM.

premature labour. At the end of the eighth gestation,
Zweiful divided the symphysis during labour, and
delivered easily with forceps. The mother was able to
walk without difficulty on the nineteenth day. The
St. Petersburg Clinic publishes a case in which a patient
delivered in a previous labour by perforation and the
cranioclast, had symphyseotomy performed during the
second delivery, resulting in the birth of a mature living
child and the recovery of the mother. Both of Pro¬
fessor Leopold’s cases strikingly exemplify the value of
this method. The first was in a woman with a rachitic
generally contracted pelvis; she had had three previous
labours, but no living child. ForcepB were used in the
first and second labour, but the child on both occasions
was delivered dead; and premature labour was induced
the third time, also with the result of a foetus dead on
delivery. The fourth gestation was allowed to go to
term, and symphyseotomy performed during labour; a
mature living child was delivered, and the mother
walked about quite easily on the 80th day. Leopold’s
second case was in a patient with one previous labour,
delivery being effected by perforation, on account of a
contracted pelvis. At the termination of the second ges¬
tation the symphysis was divided during labour, and
delivery of a mature living child effected. The mother
was discharged perfectly well on the 26th day.

Morisani, of Naples, has performed symphyseotomy in
more than twenty cases without the loss of a patient,
and the results in Paris have been similarly satisfactory.

In all cases of pelvic contraction that is not excessive,
this operation considerably amplifies our resources in
ensuring the delivery of a living mature child without
any notable risk to the mother. Where forceps or
version may ultimately, and with difficulty, deliver a
dead child, symphyseotomy offers a more excellent way.
When an artificial sterility is kept up, from dread of
the risks of labour, this plan offers an effective method
of delivery not marked by the barbarities of craniotomy
or basilysis. And a case has already been cited in
which an otherwise inevitable Cesarian section has been
replaced with excellent result by the milder operation
of dividing the symphysis. The pubic joint, if kept
immobile, soon unites firmly, and the patient recovers
within the usual time-limits of the puerperium.

Digitized by

toffiSSShSS* NASO-PHABYNGEAL GROWTHS. 216

THE OPERATIVE TREATMENT OF OBSTRUC¬
TIVE GROWTHS OF THE NASO-PHARYNX.

By Dudley Weight.

Surgeon for Diseases of the Throat, and Assistant-Surgeon to the
London Homoeopathic Hospital.

(i Continued from page 98.)

Enlargements of the posterior ends of the lower turbi¬
nated bodies may take place to such an extent as to
cause unpleasant symptoms. Should this enlargement
be considerable, blocking of the nasal channel on one
side or both may be the result, and the usual symptoms
usually accompanying such a condition will then be
present.

It may, however, happen that though they do not
actually hinder the passage of air, they may, never¬
theless, be the means of keeping up, or even the cause
of, a pathological condition of the neighbouring parts, as,
for instance, the Eustachian tubes. Such a contingency
may call for special treatment of the enlargement.

It is oftentimes difficult to decide in any given case,
whether or not one should have recourse to operative
measures, and, knowing this, I have attempted to fix
some special indications which should point out the best
course for adoption, and the following are the rules
which my own mind has formulated, and which, guide
me in the selection of the line of treatment.

' If there be a complete blocking of the meatus, opera¬
tive treatment of some form should be undertaken as
soon as possible. If the blocking be only temporary or
remittent, and there be at the same time symptoms
pointing to Eustachian involvment, similar treatment
should be adopted. If there be a moderate enlargement,
and the symptoms slight and no Eustachian involve¬
ment, the use of medicinal remedies alone is indicated.
In such cases it is as well not to inform the patients
that there is any enlargement at all, for the majority
have undoubtedly some neurotic symptoms, and to such
the news will be anything but cheering, and may lead to
their paying too much attention to their nasal condition,
and as a result of this an undesirable aggravation of
the condition. Having decided that surgical treatment
is necessary, our selection of a method is one which
entirely depends upon the form of the enlargement.

At times the overgrowth assumes a distinctly peduncu-

Digitized by

Google

216 NASO-PHARYNGEAL GROWTHS.

lated character, and forms a mulberry-like tumour rest¬
ing on the upper surface of the soft palate just at the
entrance of the choanae. Such growths may sometimes
be completely dispersed by means of pressure applied by
the point of the index linger passed through the mouth
into the posterior nares. If they do not disappear with
simple pressure, a loop of the galvano-eautery snare may
be passed through the nostril to the back of the pharynx,
and then slipped over the growth by the finger in the
same position, and then drawn tight and the included
mass burnt off. In other cases the thickening is not
amenable to such treatment, and then it becomes neces¬
sary to burn it with the galvano-eautery from the pos¬
terior nares. As this procedure is a little difficult, I will
give a brief account of the plan I pursue.

Thorough anaesthesia of the parts having been first
obtained by means of painting the naso-pharyngeal
space and the structures at the entrance of the posterior
nares with a 20 per cent, solution of cocaine, a self-
retaining palate retractor is placed in such a position
that a good view is obtained in the rhimoscopic mirror
of the whole of the parts to be operated oil, and the
patient is directed to hold the tongue down with a
depressor which is put into position by the operator. A
suitably bent electrode is then introduced through the
mouth into the post-nasal space. This having been
accomplished, the rhimoscopic mirror is lastly put into
position and the electrode guided to the various parts-
which need cauterisation by means of the view so
obtained. Two or three punctures on each side may be
made at each sitting, which should be at intervals of
about a week, rarely more than four sittings being
required. The raw surfaces caused by the burning
quickly heal up without any local treatment, and the
scar contraction which follows leads to the diminution of
the size of the growth.

Fig. 1 .

Digitized by ^ooQle

naso-pharyngeal growths. 217

The foregoing drawing illustrates the condition of a
patient in whom I adopted this treatment. He waa
24 years of age, and had complained for some years of
intermittent attacks of deafness and a dry burning sen¬
sation in the post-nasal region. As seen in the illustra¬
tion, there was a marked hypertrophy of the ends of the
lower turbinates, and there were furthermore signs of
chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the
naso-pharynx. The patient came to me indirectly
through Dr. Wilkinson, of Bolton, where he resided, and
his ailment was probably greatly brought about by
excessive indulgence in cigarette smoking and the habit
of expelling the smoke through his nose.

Ordinary mucous nasal polypi may in their growth.,
tend to pass into the post nasal space, though their ten¬
dency is rather to crowd towards the anterior parts of
the nose.

The subject of Fig. 2 was a patient aged 69, who for
many years had suffered from complete nasal stenosis
and severe headaches.

Fig. 2.

Both nasal passages were filled with gelatinous polypi,
which needed some sixteen sittings for their complete
removal.

Such growths can generally be dealt with from the
front alone, but if they should project far into the post¬
nasal space, the assistance of the finger behind the
palate may be required to slip the noose over the
pendulous growths.

The simple form of naso-pharyngeal polypus is a.
growth composed of myxo-fibromatous tissue, and as
there seems to be some misconception of the nature of
a fibrous polypi of the naso-pharynx and a fibrous
tumour of the same region, it might be well to give in a
tabular form the broad distinctions between the two.

Digitized by

Google

218 ■ NASO-PHABYNGEAL GROWTHS.

naming the former a myxo-fibroma and the latter a
recurrent fibroma.

Myxo-Fibroma.

1. Springs from any part of
naso-pharynx, but usually
from parts around the
choanae.

2. A pedunculated growth.

S. Tendency to hang down

behind the uvula.

4. Grows fairly and rapidly.

5. Occurs in either sex, and
not particularly associated
with any age.

6. No tendency to bleed.

7. No effect on the general
health.

8. No recurrence when com¬
pletely removed.

Recurrent Fibroma.

1. Usually arises from basilar
process of the occipital
bone

2. A sessile growth.

8. Tends to spread in all
directions.

4. Grows more slowly.

5. Nearly always in the male
sex, and usually at puberty.

6. Haemorrhage a marked
symptom.

7. Semi-malignant in charac¬
ter.

8. Complete removal difficult,
and hence frequent re¬
currence.

Figure 3 depicts the condition of affairs met with in

the case of Mr. Y-, sent to me by Dr. Blackley. The

patient was aged 82, and had suffered from nasal
obstruction for nearly four years.

Fig. 3.

Nasal respiration was not markedly obstructed though
the speech had lost its normal resonance. The patient
was in a nervous state bordering on melancholia,
and was under the impression that he had cancer. Digi¬
tal examination proved that the growth arose by a single
pedicle from the region of the lower turbinate, and that
it was fairly movable on the pedicle. There had never
been any haemorrhage. An attempt was made to remove
it with a snare through the anterior nares, cocaine having
been previously used, but as there was considerable diffi-

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Hom oKT^hi* TH£ y ALUB 0P ©BUGS. 219

culty in adjusting the loop, recourse was had to chloro¬
form, and the difficulty was then overcome.

After removal of the tumour, which was of the myxo-
fibromatous variety, the patient rapidly regained his
spirits, and was able to return to his business. He has
lately been seen (18 months after the operation), and
there has been no return, and he enjoys perfect health.

In some cases such as this it is possible to remove the
tumour by catching it with forceps introduced through
the mouth, and then, by rotating these, to twist the
pedicle until it is broken through; but I have never
myself performed the operation in this way, and cannot,
therefore, give my experience of it.

The operative treatment of the more serious form—
the recurrent fibroma—is one of considerable difficulty,
and for its complete removal may need a somewhat
extensive division of the bony structure of the face.
The consideration of both this disease and its congener,
sarcoma of the naso-pharynx, would, however, scarcely
come within the limits of this present paper.

ON THE VALUE OP DRUGS AND SCIENTIFIC
MEDICINE.

By Edmund Alleyns Cook, L.R.C.P.

In The Practitioner, of January last, is an article by
Dr. Samuel Wilks, on “ The Value of Drugs,” which is
one of the frankest statements of belief and opinion
which has of late years appeared; and I feel so heartily
at one with the author when considering the matter
from his standpoint, that I am eager to applaud.
Even when he states, “ like others, I prescribe medicines
for all my patients, for I found that if I did not, I failed
to receive my fees,” I see something of excuse, for he
does not prescribe for mens sana in corpore tano, but the
very reverse, and it is very legitimate to consider
charitably the mental state, the obliquity from abstract
justice which the patient may possess, and which may
affect the case adversely. It would be useless to
endeavour to set this right by argument while the
bodily state continued wrong, and when health had
resulted from the judicious advice given, the patient
himself would be the first to admit the tact and acumen.

Digitized by ^ooQle

220

THE VALUE OP DRUGS.

and the justice of the course of action which so well
contributed not to disturb progress.

After stating with the utmost frankness his belief in
the non-efficacy of most drugs as commonly prescribed,
he says, “ I might say in speaking of true and well-
established remedies, that our knowledge of them has
been mainly empirical, their mode of action being often
unknown. I should still maintain, however, that our
mode of using them is scientific, if we can say from long
observation that their administration is indicated in
particular cases by special circumstances.’* Now, the
dictionary meaning of empirical is “by experiment,’'
“ in the manner of quacks,” and I am so thoroughly
persuaded that the non-scientific administration of
medicine deserves this term that I am overjoyed to see
so distinguished a man admitting it; but when the
author has delivered himself of that which he cannot
approve, he says, “ If a patient have a chronic disorder
which is slowly progressing towards the inevitable end,
and a medical man steps in with a certain medicine,
and soon afterwards the downward progress is arrested
and is followed by a complete restoration to health,
there can be no doubt that the remedy and the recovery
stand in the relation of cause and effect—of course, I
mean when the observation extends over a sufficient
number of instances.” 1 echo the opinion, I agree
entirely. But why has not Dr. Wilks become a
homoeopath ? This which he delivers as his belief
is precisely the belief of homoeopaths, and later
on he declares the homoeopathic mode and prac¬
tice to be easily acquired ; he surely must have
admirable reasons for continuing to practise according
to the method he so cynically decries, and not taking the
easier mode. If there were nothing more scientific than
the medicine he describes, I for one should have to quit
the practice of my vocation rather than feel the humilia¬
tion of contributing to the continuance of so unsatis¬
factory a state of matters.

I have said that the canon he enunciates is the very
belief of homoeopaths, and on it all their prescribing is
done. Now is it easy ? Let me indicate the trial of a
single item of treatment, and try to make plain how hard
it is to get a single undoubted fact in scientific medicine.
A person, X., with no noxious habits, in fair health, with

Digitized by ^ooQle

iu^rJSSTiS^ THE VALUE OP DBUOS.

221

a calm temperament, and in active work, changes no
habit but one—he commences drinking three pints of
hot water per day. He consults literature in this matter,
and finds detailed statements of the effects of such treat¬
ment. The effects on himself do not correspond with
those narrated. He finds, for instance, that with no
other conscious change of habit in any way, he has now
diarrhoea where he had before regular evacuations, and
no mention is made of such effect on others. He sits
down to consider, and states the case to himself, ana¬
lyses this simple act. He has taken three times daily
in sips, one pmt of water as hot as possible on an empty
stomach; he finds the water to be 147° F. Now here
are two factors, water and heat—which has caused the
change. He takes the water at a lower temperature;
the effect is much the same. He ceases; the bowels
resume their normal. He commences again, and the
diarrhoea does not return. But after some time the
bowels get again deranged, and this alternates to his
confusion, till he finds on further enquiry that some¬
times the water is delivered to him after boiling and
cooled by standing; sometimes it has been heated up to
his required temperature only, and sometimes it has
been cooled by the addition of cold water. Now he has
three more factors each capable of giving different effects,
and his duty to himself as an accurate administrator is
to find out the cause of this variety he has noticed. Now
he considers what is he taking ? Surely but little con¬
sideration is required here, water it is and always
has been. Ah! but do not waters vary ? And all
this time has he not been taking a solution of lime
salts pretty uniform in composition, unheated, but
varying with the way the temperature was produced,
and his results, so far as they relate to the action of hot
water on a human being with an empty stomach, are
utterly untrustworthy, and he must begin de novo with
his two factors, water and heat—hot, distilled water; and
only then, and when he has analysed the results with
much heat, and but little heat, is he entitled to say he
has got anything like a result approaching the very
name of scientific. At the time of his second amended
procedure his daily worries beset him, his varying
emotions upset him, and unless he has a bulldog tenacity
of purpose he will give up his idea of finding a scientific

Digitized by ^ooQle

222

THE VALUE OF DRUGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, April 1,18M.

answer to a question of so simple a nature as this. The
answer to the question, What is the physiological action
of a given substance on a living being ? to be scientific
must depend on the being not being susceptible to
unknown changes or the action of other causes of change,
and such a condition is impossible to get in any one
being, and even more impossible if that being be
unhealthy, and the result will never be scientific if the
experiment be tried on numerous unhealthy subjects,
and, therefore, the results of a medicine on a patient
are not scientific even if they be repeatedly obtained
many times; they may be right empirically. Nothing
can approach the scientific unless it be repeatedly pro¬
duced on healthy bodies; and then only the average of
the results can be taken as approximately correct. It is
true that if a given diseased condition be repeatedly
relieved after the administration of a given medicine,
these two may be taken as cause and effect, but only to
be relied on under all the special conditions, and these
special conditions must every one be taken into account
for the knowledge to be scientific. How easily a small
but essential fact may be left unconsidered, and thus
disappointment and invalidation result on future occa¬
sions, seemingly similar, is shown in the instance of
water administration I have given; and Bince homoeo¬
pathic practice is the only one which goes deeply into
minute conditions, and the more minutely it goes the
better the results, how is its practice easy ? How can
it ever be so ? And how can any other practice hope to
approach anything like a science? Consider any disease
recognised as an entity, such as gout for instance. The
allopath says he prescribes for the disease, and it is
unscientific to prescribe for the symptoms only, as they
arise; yet for this one disease, believed to have one
definite cause, there are a hundred different remedies.
Science would say disease gout, remedy one, as
the disease. Why has the allopath a hundred?
Why does one act now and not then; why must he
always change? Why, in desperation, does he load
up with a full charge of sixteen or twenty and fire
a broadside into tho patient in blind hope that one will
hit ? Is that scientific ? He knows there is some reason,
there must be some reason, why the remedy effectual in
one case fails in the next, though they are both gout;

Digitized by

THE VALUE 0F DRUGS.

223

and the cases group themselves, divide and sab-divide
into classes, and he has to admit that goat varies, that
the only test of its varieties is the symptoms. Infinite
in variety are the symptoms, and while we do not adapt
our medicines to them, infinite will be our disappoint¬
ments, and it is only by noting effects of medicines on
the healthy, and collecting cases, that we can hope to
arrive at a scientific basis.

The healthy individual is healthy because his body
contains nutrient material in due proportion to its
needs, and supplyand consumption are also proportionate.
A man presents himself to us declaring he is out of
health. Why is he so, and how has he become so?
Certain broad definite principles must be considered.
Did he present himself and declare he had taken poison
we should at once set to work to rid him of the material;
his discomfort would be ignored till that was done. And
if a man present himself with the declaration that he
has eaten too much, or drunk too much, or smoked too
much, he is no whit different to the poisoned man, he
is poisoned by his own productions, and you must rid
him of those in the first place, that is the first principle
of scientific treatment. How? It is quite true you
cannot treat a living being as you can a laboratory
vessel containing an experimental mixture, but you can
learn something from laboratory ways of the means of
removing evil contaminations of physical character. If
in the laboratory a precipitate contains matter we do not
want we wash it out; if in the process we must lose some
of the precipitate we value, so much the worse, but the
washing goes-on nevertheless; and with a living body,
certain it is that all elimination processes cure disease.
Gertain it is that recovery from disease is preceded by
elimination. Some unreflecting medical persons assert
that too much metamorphosis of tissue goes on in acute
diseases, and true treatment should check it. Nature
having had a practical training at the work, and being
no theorist, proceeds vigorously, may need support when
the fever rises high, but cannot need check. Somehow
the elimination must proceed, and it can only be a
question for interference when the process endangers
life, and then every dose of medicine you put into
the patient, which fails in its effect or overdoses
the being, becomes a poison; that is to say, you

Digitized by LjOOQle

224

THE VALUE OF DRUGS. M B^.Ajrti?uS»!

may treat him with what is often a purgative, but
may not be so in his case; by what is often a
diuretic, but may not be so in his case ; by what is often
a sedative, which may only irritate him; or by all three
or more, and you may only poison him the more. Is
that scientific treatment ? And is it any excuse for it to
■assert, “ Oh! these remedies succeeded in the case of
Mr. Previous Patient, whose health is wonderful now.”
No doubt it is, and his heartiest thanks are due to God,
who preserved him through many dangers, for it might
well have been otherwise. I remember reading somewhere
of a case to which Hahnemann was called, which still
suffered after much previous treatment, and. all he
ordered was water, much water—waiting, watching,
water—and only after many days did he put out his
hand to administer medicine. I recognise science in this
at once—a first step in scientific treatment, and the man
capable of taking it is surely likely to be scientific in
further treatment if he pursues it.

Regarding the multitudinous remedies almost weekly
brought forward for use in disease, there is some exouse
in our eagerness to try them, and the excuse is greater
the less scientific our treatment; but scientific or not
there are, as we all know, cases in which our known
remedies as used are powerless, and life is sweet, and its
possessor would consider our duty unfulfilled if we
neglected to consider gravely every new remedy which
promised, or has been asserted, to give success, and the
less the therapeutic light we have the more we accept
them.

Gradually the light is breaking over the physical
science of the day, and it is a received belief that tenuous
minute actions control the most powerful forces.
Gradually the belief is growing that our recognition of
states of matter has been coarse and incomplete, and if
we would get further into truth we must accept a
doctrine of infinitely fine action. This was urged in
medicine half-a-century ago, and has been scoffed at ever
since, but still the doctrine lives. In dealing with the
finer forces our powers of differentiation must increase,
or we fail in our accuracy; our patient study must
increase for there are so many sub-divisions, and, there¬
fore, homoeopathic prescribing can never be easy,
or, if honestly worked at, popular to the medical

Digitized by ^ooQle

Btvlew, April 1,18M.

CONVULSIONS.

226

mind. Let ns suppose that a patient homoeopath
attain so great a skill that when a case presents
itself, which would under ordinary circumstances
be an illness of three or six weeks or more, he can with
a single dose produce a cure. The patient is very
likely to think within himself that he was in too great
a hurry to consult his medical friend, and matters
would have gone equally well without him, and
therefore there has been a dead loss of the single fee
paid; while on the other hand, had the case taken its
ordinary course there would have been fees innumer¬
able, and finally much gratitude for a recovery brought
about by clever treatment. Is the patient subjected to
the single dose likely to believe it is worth all the
money, and more than the gratitude he would expend
in the other case, for he has been spared pain, and loss
and inconvenience ? How is such an ideal practitioner
of medicine as that to live ? how provide for the feeding
of the family—a prime duty of man ? The world is
not worthy of him. He would live before his time if he
comes now. Nevertheless, he will come, because he will
belong to the only profession in the world which
sacrifices private interest for the benefit of humanity,
and there exists every sign that he will go on doing so,
and find satisfaction in the doing. By all means let us
live for humanity, but let us also find some means of
getting something to eat.

CASE OF CONVULSIONS TREATED BY CICUTA

VIROSA.

By T. G. Stonhak, M.D., Lond.

On the evening of Dec. 16 , 1892 , I was hurriedly sent
for to see a little girl between 8 and 4 years of age who
was in a fit. On arriving, I learnt that the child had
been strongly convulsed for about three-quarters of an
hour. She had been placed in a hot bath without any
benefit; the convulsion seemed only to become more
violent. I could find no cause for the attack. She had
always had good health and had never had any fits;
teething was well over; no worms had been observed or
any symptoms that pointed to them. The house was
at a bakery, but so far as known there had been no

Vol. 37, No. 4.

Digitized by

Google

CONVULSIONS*

Monthly Homrapathi*
Beriew, April 1, 1888.

226

etror in diet. It was obvious that no treatment eould
be based on any presumed cause, and that the character*
of the convulsion must be the indication for the remedy.
The head was drawn to one side, so that the chin pointed
to the left shoulder, and the eyes were directed to the
same side; there were violent clonic spasms of the
muscles about the mouth, most marked on the left side,
of the muscles of the left side of the neck, and of the
left arm and leg. The spasms were violent and affected
the coarser movements. At the same time there was
considerable tonic spasm of the muscles of the back and
neck, and to a less extent of those of the thighs and
shoulders. Faeces were passed twice. Respiration was
not sufficiently affected to cause much lividity, though
the convulsions had continued about three-quarters of
an hour. There was complete unconsciousness. While
I was watching the child and considering what medicine
to give, the head and eyes from being directed to the
left gradually turned over to the right side, and the
clonic spasms of the left arm and leg ceased and passed
over likewise to the right side, as did also the twitching of
the mouth. They were as violent on the right side as
they had been on the left, which was quite passive. It
suddenly occurred to me how extremely similar the
attack was to that which was caused in a little girl last
June by eating some of the tuberous roots of the cicuta
virosa , and which I reported in the September number
of the Monthly Homoeopathic Review .

The principal points of similarity were—(a) the violence
and character of the clonic convulsion; (6) the admix¬
ture of tonic with clonic spasm; (c) the passing over of
the clonic spism from one side of the body to the other.
I had with me a tincture made by macerating in spirit
some of the tubers gathered last June at the same spot
ab those which poisoned my former patient, and mixing
four drops of it in a tumblerful of water, I succeeded in
getting two teaspoonfuls swallowed. In about a minute
the clonic spasms began to be less frequent; though the
movement was as great there was a longer interval
between each spasm till in about three minutes they had
ceased altogether, and the child lay quite quiet with the
breathing rapid and shallow with stertor. Every
minute or two the breathing became still more
embarrassed, and a good deal of lividity occurred, to be

Digitized by ^ooQle

NOTES ON GARBO VEGETABILIS. 227

followed by less embarrassment and improved colour.
This condition continued about 20 minutes, the breath¬
ing improving a little, when there began to be choreiform
movements of the right arm of a half-purposive
character, and with imperfect attempts at articulating.
With this there was a drawn expression of the face.
Apparently the condition was one of attempted move¬
ment and speech hindered by tendency to tonic spasm.
For this I gave a dose of hyoscyamus 8x, and the child
soon sank into a quiet sleep, from which she awoke in
two hours conscious and herself. There were no more
convulsions, and though there was fretfulness and
malaise for a few days, her usual good health was soon
regained. I report the case as being a good illustration
of the working of the homoeopathic law, and as an
example of the kind of convulsion in which cicuta is
likely to prove serviceable.

Ventnor, I.W.

NOTE ON CAEBO VEGETABILIS.

By Alfred Pullar, M.D., Ed.

Whilst our materia medica is being enlarged by new
acquisitions from time to time, we are apt perhaps to
overlook the virtues of old and well-tried remedies.
Amongst the latter we find some medicines recognised
as useful within a comparatively limited range which,
however, by no means represent the full extent of their
therapeutic power. This is certainly true of carbd
vegetabili*, a remedy associated chiefly with digestive
derangements, but also capable of much wider appli¬
cation. My present purpose is to indicate briefly some
phases of its deeper action, which appear to me to have
been imperfectly utilised in practice. I refer to its
therapeutic effects in adynamic conditions, especially
when associated with affections of the respiratory
organs. Several years ago I prescribed carbo veg.
almost as a dernier ressort in a case of bronchitis, and
the result was so remarkable that I have since always
used it in similar conditions and with an equal measure
of success. My patient was a lady aged 74, who had
been delicate for some years, and was now prostrated by
a prolonged attack of bronchitis involving both lungs,

Q—2

Digitized by Google

228

REVIEWS*

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, April 1,1808.

and accompanied with profuse expectoration, harassing
cough and orthopnoea. The remedies usually indicated
in such cases had failed to afford more than partial
relief of the bronchitic symptoms which persisted; the
respiration became weak and superficial, the pulse
thready, and the patient was apparently sinking. I now
prescribed carbo veg. (in trituration) which in a few
hours initiated improvement in the whole condition, this
being steadily maintained, until the patient ultimately
made an excellent recovery.

This clinical experience taught me that in such cases
of threatening collapse, we have in carbo one of the most
valuable remedies, and I have repeatedly confirmed the
observation. In one case in which paralysis of the lungs
seemed impending, the favourable effect of the medicine
was most marked. I find it also serviceable in phthisis
of low type, in some cases of asthma, dilated bronchi
and emphysema.

The medicinal powers of charcoal are, as we know,
developed only by prolonged trituration, and therefore
I think it is preferable in that form. The careful
trituration of such substances, is a most important
matter on which indeed our therapeutic results largely
depend.*

It iB difficult, I admit, to find any satisfactory ex¬
planation of the effects of potentised charcoal,! and
certainly the provings do not throw much light on the
subject. But in the absence of a precise rationale of its
action, the clinical facts remain to attest the value of
the remedy. It seems to have what I would term a
vitalising effect in cases such as those to which I have
referred. In the wordB of Hahnemann the potentised
medicine “ penetrates into the inner vital sphere.” This
may appear too indefinite for those who demand
scientific precision in therapeutics. Yet we may well
be content—for the present at least—to accept facts
clinically proven, leaving the student of molecular
phenomena to thrash out the subtle problems of pharma¬
codynamics in the light of modem science.

* I have for some time past prescribed the sixth centesimal trituration
made bv Mr. H. Turner, of Norwood.

J Unless Dr. Cooper would admit that the so-called “ growth foroe ”
may be stored up in the wood in the form of potential energy.

Digitized by LjOOQle

MEETINGS.

229

REVIEWS.

Recollections of Gibraltar and Marocco. By Dr. Morrisson.

London : E. Gould & Son. 1898. 00 pp.

The story told in these boldly printed pages is that of a visit
in search of health paid by the author in the spring time (of
last year ?) to the above mentioned places. We conclude that
Dr. Morrisson, in spite of a few inconveniences and some dis¬
comforts, thoroughly enjoyed his visit, and we hope he also
profited thereby in health. The traveller was, happily, not
too ill to make very good use of his eyes and ears, and his
record is easy and often amusing. The narrative is racy
reading, and although the style cannot be called rechercht , it
is doubtless suited to the pages of a country newspaper, in
which the 44 Recollections ” first appeared. One or twp
blemishes of the book may perhaps be excused on the same
ground. For instance, the somewhat pedantic manner in
which readers are informed how to spell and pronounce one
or two foreign names contrasts unfortunately with the mis¬
spelling of several common English words which have escaped
correction. Another error into which the author has fallen
surprises us. 44 The adherents,” we are told, 44 of that creed
(Mohammedanism) outnumber the believers of Christianity by
many millions.” As a matter of fact, the followers of Islam
number about 178 millions, while professors of the Christian
religion are estimated to be about 415 millions in number.
Of that total the members of the Roman Catholic Church
alone contribute some 195 millions.

A few sentences about the climate and the diseases of
Morocco bring Dr. Morrisson f s narrative to a close.

MEETINGS.

BRITISH HOMCEOPATHIC SOCIETY.

The sixth meeting of the session was held at the London
Homoeopathic Hospital on Thursday, March 2nd.

The following gentlemen, having been duly nominated,
were elected members of the Society:— Drs. E. R. B. Reynolds,
(London) ; C. E. Waddington, (Bradford); S. H. Woodgates,
(Exeter).

Dr. Weelobtcki’s Centenary.

It is not often in the ranks of the medical profession
that we are able to congratulate one of its members

Digitized by ^ooQle

280

. MEETINGS.

Monthly Homo»opatfcfa
-Review, April 1, ISOS.

on having attained the, great age of one hundred years.
To Dr. Wielobycki this distinction belongs, and the various
societies with which he has been connected during his
.long and useful life, have been vieing with one another
in their desire to do honour to the occasion. Dr.
Severin Wielobycki graduated at Edinburgh in 1841, and
after a time settled in practice in England. In 1852 he was
elected a member of the British Homoeopathic Society, and
became an active member of that body, regularly attending
its meetings and reading papers before its members. It
was therefore felt that the British Homoeopathic Society
might with due propriety offer its congratulations to the
oldest living exponent of the law of similars in the world.
The society therefore appointed a deputation, consisting of
its president, treasurer and secretary, to draw up and present
an address to their late colleague. Dr. Wielobycki having
expressed his willingness to receive it, the officers of the
Society, accompanied by Mr. Cameron (the only surviving
original member of the society), Dr. John H. Clarke, Dr.
Washington Epps and Dr. Jagielski, waited upon their
distinguished colleague and presented the following address:—

“ Db. Sevebin Wielobycki, —The British Homoeopathic
Society desires to congratulate you on the attainment of the
great age of 100 years. When, after obtaining your degree of
M.D. in Edinburgh, and practising for a few years in Canada
on the old system, you became a convert to Hahnemann’s
doctrine, you settled in London as a practitioner of homoeo¬
pathy, and joined the British Homoeopathic Society, of which
you became an active member, and to the transactions of
which you contributed a valuable article on an obstetrical
subject, which is preserved in the 12th vol. of The British
Journal of Homoeopathy .

“ Though, owing to your great age and virtual withdrawal
from medical practice, you have long ceased to be a member
of this Society, we do not forget that you were the associate
of some still living members, and we have great pleasure in
cordially, congratulating you on having attained a length of
years seldom accorded to man. Born three years before the
promulgation of the homoeopathic therapeutic law by Hahne¬
mann, you are doubtless the oldest living representative of
homoeopathy in the world.

“ While warmly congratulating you on the remarkable
health and vigour that have hitherto attended you, we trust
that your life may yet be long spared to enable you to pursue
the philanthropic work of promoting temperance by precept
and example, to which you have devoted yourself since retiring

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
JUriew, April 1,1888.

MEETINGS.

281

from medical practice, and in which, notwithstanding you^
patriarchal age, you still take a lively practical interest.

(Signed) “ J. G. Blackley, President .

“ R. E. Dudgeon, Treasurer .

** C. Knox-Shaw, Secretary .

“ Hugh Camebon.

“ Viotob Jagielski.

“ Washington Epps.

“ John H. Clabke.

“ London, Feb. 18, 1898.”

Clinical Evening.

The evening was devoted to the exhibition of a number of
cases of considerable interest.

Dr. Robebson Day showed a woman exemplifying, in a
typical manner, the characteristics of myxoedema; he proposed
treating her with thyroid extract and showing her again later
on. He also presented a small child with well-marked
pemphigus, which he did not consider to be of syphilitic
origin. Up to the present the disease had not yielded to
treatment. The child had only been under treatment a short
time and had taken mercurius , cantharis and rhus .

Dr. Galley Blackley showed a woman aged 65, who had
suffered from elephantiasis arabum for thirty years. She was
in the London Homoeopathic Hospital two years ago. Beyond
difficulty of locomotion the growth gave her no trouble.

Dr. Blackley also showed a young man aged 20, who was
admitted into the hospital with what was supposed to be
pleurisy. A swelling appearing in the right loin was opened
and pus evacuated. The man made a perfect recovery, and
Dr. Blackley considered the abscesses to have been in th6
posterior mediastinum not penetrating the pleural cavity.

Dr. Byhes Moib exhibited a case of continuous irregular
action of the heart in a labourer aged 42. He remarked that
it was analogous to those cases lately brought to the notice
of the Society in a paper by Dr. Dudgeon. |

Dr. John H. Clabke showed a child convalescent from acute
rheumatism who had been treated with mercurius virus.

Mr. Dudley Weight showed an elderly man suffering from
syphilitic ulceration of the tongue; the case was under
treatment and was making good progress under nitric acid.

A microscopical specimen was also exhibited by Mr. Weight
of the Anchylostomum duodenale, a parasite of the order
Nematoda. The worm infests the duodenum and is the cause
of the disease named Egyptian chlorosis. The present specimens
had been obtained from prisoners in a jail in India.

Dr. Edwabd Blake demonstrated an ideal treatment of
urethritis in the male, in which he advocated, in addition to

Digitized by ^ooQle

282

MEETINGS.

Review, April 1,1M.

drug treatment, perfect rest, abstinence from alcohol, reflux
injections; the securing free drainage by enlarging meatus,
and a careful search for intra-urethral chancre.

Dr. Nkild brought forward a young woman suffering from
a very advanced condition of enlargement of the cervical and
axillary glands; they had, in a few places, begun to suppurate*
A few months ago she suffered from such excessive oedema of
the arm and so much constitutional disturbance, that her life
was despaired of.

Dr. Edwin A. Neatby exhibited a young woman, the subject of
lupus of the foot. Before coming under Dr. Neatby’s notice,
she had been treated at other hospitals and had been operated
on several times. She had been put upon tubercidinum 80
(Koch’s) and since that time the progress of the disease
appeared to have been arrested and considerable repair had
taken place.

Another case shown by Dr. Neatby, was that of a little
girl with a very marked and prominent exostosis of the left
humerus. The growth appeared to spring from the anterior
bicipital ridge.

A pathological specimen obtained from a fatal case of
gastric ulcer, was exhibited by Mr. Gerard Smith. Laparotomy
had been performed on a diagnosis, opposed by Mr. Smith, of
volvulus. The post-mortem showed that there had been a
previous perforation from which the young lady had recovered.

Dr. Goldsbrough showed a man aged 85, suffering from a
large tumour occupying the right side of the abdomen.
There had been a previous history of haematuria, which had
ceased for about twelve months. Dr. Goldsbrough was of
opinion that the tumour was of renal origin and probably
sarcomatous.

Mr. Knox Shaw exhibited a boy who had been admitted
into his ward with headache, apathy, vomiting and double
optic neuritis, following a blow on the back of the head. An
occipital swelling which existed was opened and pus evacuated.
The bone of the skull being in a state of ostitis, it was tre¬
phined, and sub-dural suppuration was found. He made a
perfect recovery, and when discharged had lost his optio
neuritis.

LIVERPOOL BRANCH BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC
SOCIETY.

At the usual monthly meeting, held on Thursday, March 9th,
the evening was devoted to the consideration of clinical
cases, medical reports, &c.

Dr. Hawses showed under the microscope some well-marked

Digitized by

Monthly Hatnceopathie
Boriew. April 1 , 1868 .

PERISCOPE.

233

granular tube-casts, in the urine of a woman suffering from
acute nephritis, for which no reason could be assigned.

He also exhibited four patients: (1) A girl, 16 years of
age, just convalescent from an attack of purpura; (2) A case
of multiple adenoma in a man 50 years of age; (8) A patient,
aged 50, showing well-marked late rigidity, following
an attack of right-sided hemiplegia; (4) A similar case in a
man aged 48, where the apoplectic attack had supervened
a week after a fall from a bicycle.

Dr. Charles Haywabd brought in a patient upon whom he
had performed amputation through the thigh some months
ago. He was wearing a wooden leg that could be flexed at
will by means of a spring. The artificial limb was made
slightly shorter than the sound one, in order to prevent the
habit of sweeping the leg outwards in walking: a habit not
easily remedied when a more elaborate appliance comes to be
used.

Dr. Capper showed a little girl, 4 years of age, with a
well-marked area of dulness extending over the hypogastric
region, the left lumbar, and both iliac regions; especially on
the left side. There was no hepatic enlargement, and no
tumour could be felt on palpation. The general opinion was
that the dulness was probably due to the presence of a
parovarian cyst.

He also showed a very good specimen of intussusception of
the bowels which had occurred in a child 5 months old.

Some further cases of minor importance were related and
discussed, and at the close of the meeting Dr. Charles Hay¬
ward drew attention to the analyses of well-known patent
medicines, which have been published during the last year in
the pages of Hygienic and are now printed in two small
volumes.

PERISCOPE.

MATERIA MEDICA.

Plumbism. — Dr. E. A. Weil, of Lyons, reports five
cases of painters’ colic successfully treated, in from three to
five days, by a glassful of olive oil administered each day,
which not only caused copious motions, and coincident upon
them gave great relief, but previous to the passage of stools it
had a soothing effect on the digestive tract, and at the same
time the muscular and articular pains, cutaneous anesthesia,
headache and vertigo disappeared.— Med . Week .

Tympanitis in Typhoid Fever.— Dr. Nealy remarks that
in these cases the distension of the intestines by gases may

Digitized by

Google

234

FEBI8C0PE.

Monthly Hom <Bop>flfli
Bartow, April 1, ISOS.

constitute a grave and fatal complication, which may be
relieved by an enema of hot water, three ounces ; glycerine , two
ounces; oil of turpentine, thirty minims ; chloride of sodium ,
♦one ounce.— Med. Week.

Under the title, “Clinical Items” and “Selections,” in
the California Homoeopath , July 1892, we gather the
following:—

Eucalyptus in pulmonary gangrene, with extremely
foetid breath, cough, dyspnoea and fever, tubular respiration
and crepitant r&les, black and very offensive sputa; the
patient was first put upon a mixture containing carbolic acid,
but no improvement following, tincture of eucalyptus was
given, and in less than two weeks the patient was cured.
Reported by Dr. Bonamy.— Le Courier Med .

Grindelia.— In the secondary stages of bronchitis and
pneumonia this is a very useful remedy; the cough is loose
and rattling, the chest is seemingly full of mucus, yet so
tight that the patient is unable to raise the mucus; coughs
following the grippe.

Kali Phosph. — Very satisfactory results in cases of
muscular and accommodative asthenopia, and inco-ordination
of the ocular muscles, especially from defective innervation.

Sabul Serrulata is reported upon, but this will be noticed
in connection with observations by others in our next number.

Mullein Oil, in three to five drop doses three times a day,
is recommended for “enuresis nocturna,” especially chronic
cases; and the same remedy for earache and deafness, two to
five drops put into the ear, or applied on cotton once or twioe
«laily.

Kali Sulph., for acute and chronic suppurative inflamma¬
tions of the middle ear, when the discharge is thick, and
contradistinctive to silica , which is better when the discharge
is thin. Kali sulph. is also recommended for abscess of the
cornea, and superior to kali mur. in cases of pus in the anterior
chamber (hypopion), two or three cases of this nature having
been cleared up with promptness by the 8x dilution.

Kali Mur., as an important remedy in many forms of
keratitis, whether from idiopathic or traumatic causes,
especially when the cornea is flecked over a large extent of it?
surface with light deposits; the 6x dilution of the medicine
was given. The same remedy, in follicular pharyngitis, with
tough, tenacious secretion and cough, temporarily relieved by
removal of the clinging mucus after great effort, and in this
respect more frequently useful than kali bichromicum.

Ferbum Phosphoricum. —Of great value in all acute and
many chronic inflammations of the conjunctiva, and during
the inflammatory stages of optic neuritis. In some affections of

Digitized by

KOBtUfHonoBopithie
JtoTicv, April 1, ins.

. PERISCOPE.

the ears marked benefit has resulted from its use, in diffmte
inflammation of the external auditory canal, and in acute
inflammation of the middle ear, whether catarrhal or
suppurative, especially when the membrane of the drum-head
is dry and its vessels engorged. In catarrhal inflammations
of the nasal, pharyngeal and laryngeal mucous membrane,
with evening hoarseness, this remedy is recommended.

Magnesia Phoshorica. —Much good, as the result of a limited
experience, is expected from this medicine in hypersesthesia
of the retina, with flashes of light and black specks before the
eyes, together with general nervous excitability. In epidemic
cough, with symptoms resembling phosphorus , arum tryphii ,
causticum, but where these medicines had failed magnet . phot.
the 6x dilution cured.

Silica ds also reported upon as a valuable remedy in otor-
rhoea, with a thin, ichorous and offensive discharge, and for
chronic inflammations of the middle ear with tendency to
bone destruction.

Sknecio, for amenorrhoea with profuse leucorrhoea, nervous¬
ness, headache and malaise, debility, &c.

Cinnamon is alluded to as an efficient remedy for haemor¬
rhages, bloody urine, excessive menses, and also for spasmodic
gaping.

[Note. —The foregoing abstracts are largely of a general
rather than of a particular and definite character, and while
they are very suggestive of therapeutic needs, they never¬
theless do not come up to the full requirements of
homoeopathy, and should only be borne in mind as such. ]

Potassium Permanganate in Phosphorus Poisoning. —Dr.
Bokai {Bull. MSd.) has found a solution of potamumpermanganate,
two to five grams in 1,000grammes of water, to act as a chemical
antidote. The oxygen of this compound is liberated and unites
with the phosphorus to form ortho-phosphorus acid, which is
innocuous. Experiments on dogs have demonstrated the
efficacy of this treatment. 1

Argentum Nitricum. —Dr. F. T. Allen regards argenhm
nitricum as a valuable remedy in catarrhal affections of the
throat in smokers. The fauces are generally dark red, there
is much tenacious mucus, and a sensation as if a splinter
were lodged in the throat.

In the vocal troubles of public speakers and singers it is
indicated by laryngeal rawness and soreness when coughing,

,hoarseness, viscid but not stringy expectoration, slightly grey
in colour, jelly-like or similar to clear boiled starch. The
soreness is present when talking but not when swallowing.

Sulphonal. —East (Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm ., 81, I),
from a study of the published cases in which poisonous effects

Digitized by

Google

286

■ PERISCOPE.

Monthly HoaMBopathf*
Review, April 1,1883.

have followed the use of sulphonal for a prolonged period;
gives the following as characteristics of the condition of
chronic poisoning by the drug: (1) Disturbances of digestion,
as vomiting, diarrhoea, or constipation; (2) of the nervous
system, as ataxy and feebleness of the limbs, ptosis, and
ascending paralysis; (8) ischuria, oliguria, and sometimes
albuminuria, or the presence of hsematoporphyrin. These are
the chief signs. Kast is of opinion that a cumulative action
of the drug produces, instead of a transitory diminution of the
nervous excitability, a permanent depression thereof, just
similar to that caused by a single large dose. He finds that
the dose best calculated to produce a hypnotic effect is about
80 grains for a man and half the quantity for a woman.
These quantities should be the maximal daily doses. He
advises also that an interruption should be made from time to
time in the use of the drug, so as to ensure its elimination.
Loss of appetite, vomiting, or pains in the stomach he
regards as indications for the immediate discontinuance of the
remedy.— British Medical Journal .

It is not a little singular that sulphonal would seem to pro¬
duce no ill-effects when used as a hypnotic in cases of mania.
Dr. Carlyle Johnson stated in the Lancet , two years ago, that
he had given it in numerous cases in doses of from thirty to
to sixty grains.without any unpleasant symptoms being per¬
ceptible. On the other hand, when prescribed as a hypnotic
in diseases attended with great exhaustion, such as influenza,
the nervous symptoms named by Kast have been very promi¬
nent. These are all cases to which a homoeopathic remedy
to the condition can be found. In chronic mania with sleep¬
lessness and noisy excitement the similar is hard to find, and
too often impossible to discover. Then sulphonal may help us
better than any other medicine of its class.

Sheep's Thyroid. —The remarkable success which has
followed the use of the thyroid gland of the sheep in the
treatment of myxoedema—a disease the one constant patho¬
logical feature of which is the absence of the thyroid gland—
has led to investigations as to the most efficient and the most
“ elegant ” way of prescribing it. The gland itself has been
eaten as an article of diet and has proved perfectly efficient;
extracts have been made from it and injected hypodermically;
these, though remedially successful, have in occasional
instances been attended with irritation proceeding from the
mode of introducing the material into the body, and further,
as the remedy has so far only been found to be a palliative—
albeit a palliative of an unusually satisfactory order—yet the
necessity for the daily use of the hypodermic syringe to pre¬
vent a relapse is not pleasant to contemplate. At the Clinical

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Rerlew, April 1, 1888.

PERISCOPE.

887 .:

Society Dr. Arthur Davies showed three patients in each of
whom the typical symptoms of myxoedema had within a couple
of months been reduced in intensity to a very great degree by
the use of a powder made from an extract by Mr. E. White,
B. Sc., F.I.G., of Ouy’s Hospital, who has described his process
for preparing it in the Bnt. Med . Joum, (Feb. 11). “The
glands,” he writes, “ were first exhausted with a mixture of
equal parts of glycerine and water. The filtered fluid was
then acidulated with phosphoric acid and calcium hydrate added
until an alkaline reaction was obtained. The precipitate was
filtered out as rapidly as possible, washed and dried over
sulphuric acid without heat.” The dose of this powder is
three grains, and corresponds.to one eighth of \ gland.

If it be true that the condition* called myxoedema depends,
as it is supposed to do, upon a lose of the thyroid gland, and
consequently upon a person being deprived of, the influence
which this gland has upon the process of nutrition (an
influence which the researches of physiologists have so far
failed to discover) a cure is impossible unless by the restora¬
tion of the gland which has disappeared. This, we fear, is
beyond the limits of specific medicine, and places myxoedema
beyond the range of cure. We therefore welcome a means
which will enable a person to live and enjoy life, even though
the use of this means must be persevered in throughout the
remainder of life. It is also rendered additionally weloome
by its simplicity and freedom from any unpleasantness.

Atropine. —Dr. Charles H. Thomas, of Philadelphia, pub¬
lishes a thoughtful and very practical paper in The Hahne -
mannian Monthly (March) on the use of atropine in diseases of
the eye. Having seen many cases where unfortunate results
bad followed the neglect to employ mydriatics, and also where
the sight had been wholly or partially lost, where a glaucoma
has been precipitated or intensified by the use of atropine , he
examines the conditions under which atropine is essential in
promoting cure, and those where it is not only contradicted
but extremely mischievous. The strength ordinarily used is
one of four grains to the ounce. It is, he considers, de¬
manded :—

1. In the treatment of a large variety of inflammatory
affections and injuries, more particularly of the iris and cornea.

2. As an aid in the examination of the structures lying
behind the plane of the iris.

8. As a means of placing the accommodation at rest in the
estimation of errors of refraction.

In formulating rules for guidance in the instillation of
atropine he writes:—

-1. Atropine m ay be employed to advantage , or its use be

Digitized by

288

NOTAB ILIA.

Monthly Homoopalfato.
Review. April 1,1898.

absolutely demanded in all inflammatory and traumatic con*
ditions associated with lachrymatdon, photophobia and pain,
more or less impairment of vision, oircumoomeal redness,
dimness of cornea or iris, or both, plus a contracted pupil (spas¬
modic or otherwise) and this picture would cover fairly well
iritic and corneal inflammations.

2. The avoidance of atropine is imperative in all cases asso¬
ciated with photophobia, lachrymation and pain, more or less
impaired vision, a circumcomeal redness, a steamy, insensitive
cornea plus a dull dilated iris—and this picture would corre¬
spond sufficiently well to the ordinary inflammatory glaucoma.

NOTABILIA.

THE NEW HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL FOB
LONDON.

Next to the original decision of the Board of Management of
the London Homoeopathic Hospital, to rebuild the hospital,
and to replace the present antiquated structure by a building
of modern construction, fitted worthily to represent the
homoeopathic cause in London, must rank the resolution of
the board, made during the last month, to forthwith
commence operations. It is full eighteen months since the
building committee were able to announce that they had
received in paid and promised donations, the sum of £30,000,
without which they were determined they would not commence
so gigantic an undertaking as building a new hospital. The
time from then till now has been well spent in maturing
plans and discussing the most advantageous spot upon which
to build the new hospital. After much thought and delibera¬
tion, it has been decided to rebuild it on the site of the
present hospital, with the addition of three houses in Great
Ormond Street, Nos. 52, 54 and 56. During rebuilding, the
Nursing Institute will be converted into a temporary hospital,
to receive from thirty-five to forty patients.

The nurses ousted by this arrangement are being temporarily
accommodated in Queen’s Square, so that the Lady Superin¬
tendent will be able to send out private nurses as heretofore,
this branch of the hospital work being least interfered with.
As the accommodation for patients is thus very seriously
curtailed, only the most urgent cases will be able to be
admitted, but it is hoped that when the new building is opened,
with all its superior advantages, the members of the medical pro¬
fession interested in homoeopathic therapeutics will rally to the
support of the hospital by sending in patients and making thet
hospital known amongst their more wealthy patients.. .As

Digitized by ^ooQle

Bftriew, April 1,18BS.

NOTABILIA.

23ft

soon as ever the arrangements for the temporary hospital are
completed, the whole of the building so long known as the
home of homoeopathy in London, and which has for so many
years given shelter to the British Homoeopathic Society, will
be pulled down. The work of demolition has already begun,
as the three houses in Great Ormond Street needed for the
extended site are in the house-breakers’ hands. An interesting
relic of old London, like many another in recent years, is
being swept away. No. 54 Great Ormond Street, once the
home of Dr. Samuel Johnson, will very shortly be a thing of
the past, but the carved wooden mantel-piece before which he
is supposed to have smoked his clay and growled his growls,
is to be preserved, and may ultimately find its way into the
board room of the new hospital.

Having due regard to the injunctions of their late treasurer.
Major Vaughan Morgan, the board have decided to build a
hospital which the future funds will give some probability of
their being able to keep up in full working order. It appears
that the intention of the committee is to build a hospital
accommodating about 90 patients, but they are having the
designs arranged with a view to extending the hospital into
Queen’s Square in the future, when it should hold 120 beds.
As at present arranged the new hospital will front Great
Ormond Street, having an east and a west wing, with a
central administrative block. We shall hope ere long to be
able to give further details of the scheme.

A new era is opening, not only for the hospital, but for
homoeopathy in London and the country. The £80,000 will
not suffice to meet all the needs of the new hospital, for with
the jealous eyes of the old school upon us, it behoves us that
we make the institution second to none in its arrangement
and construction. And when the crowning day of opening
arrives, strenuous efforts will be needed to increase the
subscription list, so that a greater number than heretofore of
the suffering poor may be able to avail themselves of the
benefits of the new London Homoeopathic Hospital.

THE BATH HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.

The Bath Homoeopathic Hospital, now over 80 years of age,
has reached an important and interesting, if not also critical,
stage in its history. The annual meeting was held at the
Guildhall, on the 1st ult., a distinguished company, including
Lord Grimthorpe, General Sir E. and Lady Bussell, General
Walker, and others, being present. The report, in encouraging
terms, dwelt upon the efficiency of the hospital, and recorded
the thanks of the governing body to the Ladies* Work Society,
to which the hospital is largely indebted for financial help.

Digitized by

240

NOTABILIA.

Monthly HnuoKipatUe
Bertew, April 1,1888.

The funds were not in quite so satisfactory a state as in the
previous year. During the year, the chairman, Mr. Hammond,
and the treasurer, General Walker, had resigned.

By far the most interesting feature in the meeting was a
communication made by our friend Dr. Percy Wilde, who
read the following memorandum:—

“ With the consent of the chairman I am privileged to lay
before you some information concerning a magnificent gift,
which during the present year will be placed in the hands of
trustees for the benefit of the city. It appears fitting that
this announcement should be made at the annual meeting of
this hospital, because, although it is not a public memorial, it
may be regarded as a private tribute to the memory of the
late Mr. Bichard Jennings, who for many years was among
the small number who regularly attended these meetings,
and whose ready help and sympathy was always cheerfully
given towards every effort to make this hospital worthy of the
principle it represents. It is to Miss Jennings that we owe
this act of generosity, and I may say that it does not only
represent the expenditure of a large sum of money but
the result of a very careful consideration of the necessities of
the sick, and the difficulties which remain to us of providing
for them. The object which this gift is designed to effect will
best be understood if I first mention the nature of the gift
itself. It consists of a piece of freehold land situated
on the Lansdown Grove estate, having a frontage of 885
feet, and a total area of 4,991 yards, of one of the largest and
most commodious mansions in Bath, situated in the centre of
this estate, recently erected from the designs of Mr. Silcock,
and known as Lansdown Grove house, and of the expenses of
building a wing to this house to extend the accommodation it
affords. It also includes some further heavy expenses which
I will mention presently. The building, when ready for
occupation, will practically be divided into two portions. On
the eastern side, which I will call the Victoria Home, there
will be accommodation sufficient for 18 poor persons in two
larger and two smaller wards, all facing south and commanding
extensive views. The main building will contain accom¬
modation for paying patients and for nurses. It is the wish
of the donor that this accommodation shall be used not only
to meet every requirement of those able to pay fully for the
services provided, but also that the accommodation shall be
available to those who are of small means, and who, while
they are unable to meet the ordinary expenses of skilled
nursing or residence in a private hospital, are able to afford
the actual expenses of maintenance. The objects to be
accomplished by this gift need little explanation. It is to

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, April 1,1803.

•NOTABILIA.

241

provide skilled nursing and the most favourable conditions
possible for the sick of all classes. Under the conditions
which it is proposed that the institution shall be administered
certain expenses remained to be met, and they have been
supplied from the same generous source. The furnishing
of the private wards and of the dining and drawing rooms
which will be at the service of the patients during con¬
valescence has been undertaken by the donor in addition
to the expenses of laying out and planting the surrounding
grounds. Although we have ample accommodation for the
poor patients in the city, it must be remembered that most
of these come from the low lying portions, and a large
proportion suffer from disorders due to their surroundings.
The situation of our own and the other local hospitals is not
the best that could be selected to promote their recovery, and
their removal to the bracing air of Lansdown will give them
an advantage not at present attainable. Even in respect to
those who have the means to secure skilled private nursing, it
is well recognised that they are placed under less favourable
conditions as regards recovery in private houses than are
those which are provided by a nursing home or even a public
hospital. It is a condition of the gift that all surplus funds
derived from the nursing of private patients shall be employed
for the relief of deserving persons, in such a way as the com¬
mittee of management may select. The management of the
institution has been placed by the trustees in the hands of the
committee of the Homoeopathic Hospital for such time as
they may be able to carry out its objects with advantage to
the interests of the older institution, the constitution, rules,
and invested funds of which are in no way affected by the
conditions of the gift. The only special conditions imposed
on the committee of management are, that the buildings shall
not be used for the purpose of a dispensary or out-patient
department, and that no case of infectious disease shall under
any circumstances be admitted.' 1

This gratifying instance of generosity is another welcome
proof of the appreciation in which homoeopathy is held by
those who have tested its virtues. We congratulate the City
of Bath and the staff of the Homoeopathic Hospital on this
important addition to their resources for treating the sick. It
is to be regretted that there is not perfect unanimity amongst
those interested in the hospital with regard to the changes
referred to in the above extract. On one point we must confess
our sympathy with those whom we may term dissentients.

Though not mentioned in the above quotation, we under¬
stand that one part of the change consists in discontinuance
of the use of the name Homoeopathic in the new hospital. It

Vol. 37, No. 4.

242

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Hura»op*tbt
Bortew, April 1,UttS*

is quite useless to offer this concession to the old school with
a view to re-union, for if one ground of objection to the
teaching of Hahnemann is removed, another will promptly be
discovered. Moreover the “distinctive designation” is a
protection. None but believers more or less thorough in
homoeopathy will be likely to apply for posts in a homoeopathic
institution while the name is retained. If the name is
abandoned, it is not inconceivable that opponents of the
system may insinuate themselves with a view to ultimately
supplanting the homoeopaths. We must record our regret at
this “ hauling down of the colours.” With the other changes
we can only sympathise. The improved site, in a more
salubrious neighbourhood, must count for much. The
separation of the out-patient department from the wards is
not an unmixed inconvenience, and the Bath Homoeopathic
Hospital will not be alone in this feature. The new building
is to receive paying patients at moderate rates, after the
fashion of the “ Home Hospitals ” which are springing up in
various parts. We have reason to know how acceptable this
plan is in London, but it is almost a necessity that the
patients admitted as paying patients should have the choice
of their own medical adviser. Heartily we wish the new
institution success, and we trust that it will help and not
injure the cause of homoeopathy.

NORTH OF ENGLAND CHILDREN’S SANATORIUM,
SOUTHPORT.

Hon. Consulting Physician, Dr. Blumberg, J.P. Hon.
Medical Officers, Drs. Storrar, Stopford, and H. Blumberg.
Hon. Surgeon - Oculist, Dr. F. Harris. Hon. Dentist,
J. 8. Dickin, Esq.

We have received the report for 1892 of work carried on at
the above children’s sanatorium, which was opened 82 years
ago. This institution was established, as was not long ago
indicated in our pages, for the purpose of providing board,
lodging and medical attendance for children suffering from
any disease not contagious in its nature.

Any child not under the age of two years, boys not above
twelve, and girls not above sixteen may be admitted. No
child is admitted for less than three weeks.

Good success has attended the working of the institution
during the past year. The number of children treated during
the year was 651, being an increase of 92 upon the previous
year. Of these 811 are reported on leaving as “ quite well,”
49 as “very much better,” 289 as “improved,” and only 17
as “ po better.” The number of deaths for the year is only

Digitized by

X on thly HonxBopftthio
Beriow, April 1,1808.

NOTABILIA.

24 »

two. A considerable number of cases of diseases of the eye,
and a fair number of cases of diseases of the ear, nose and
throat have been successfully treated.

A new wing, containing a large Sunny play-room for the
children, was opened on the 22nd of February by the Countess*
of Crawford and Balcarres.

THE PHILLIPS MEMORIAL HOMOEOPATHIC
HOSPITAL AND DISPENSARY.

Hon. Medical Officer, E. M. Madden, M.B., M.R.C.S*
Resident Medioal Officer, H. Wynne Thomas, L.R.C.P.,
M.R.C.S.

The number of patients treated in the wards in the year
ended December, 1892, amounted to 71 as against 59 in
the previous year, and of these 50 were discharged cured, and
11 more or less improved. Owing to the subsidence, early in
the year, of the influenza epidemic, which raged during a long
period in 1891, the number of visits to patients at their homes
materially diminished, but the figures show a considerable
increase over those of 1890, when 1,006 visits were paid as
against 1,252 in the past year. The committee therefore
believe that this unique function of the institution is still as
much appreciated as ever. Notwithstanding the fact that the
year under review has proved a comparatively healthy sequel
to a period, during which much sickness had been prevalent,
the number of attendances at the dispensary has reached 1,664.
Twenty-eight operations were performed, while only one fatal
ease occurred to mar the perfection of the otherwise gratifying
record. The committee are again under obligation to
Dr. Burford, of the London Homoeopathic Hospital, for his
skilful assistance in this branch of the work.

THE HOMCEOPATHIC HOSPITAL AND DISPENSARY*
TUNBRIDGE WELLS.

The annual meeting of this hospital took place on Tuesday
afternoon, February 21st, under the presidency of the Hon.
Carteret Hill. Drs. Neild, Pincott and Capper were present.

The report for 1892 showed most satisfactory and cheering
progress. The numbers of subscribers and donors have
increased in a remarkable manner. The ministers and clergy
of various places kindly and warmly advocated the cause of
the hospital, and a very substantial increase in funds was the
result.

The receipts amounted to £614 6s. 6d., an increase of
£105 4s. lOd. The in-patients were 52 ; out-patients received

a—?

Digitized by

Google

244

NOTAB ILIA.

Monthly HomoMpnthle
Beriew, April 1,18B*.

4,188 attendances, an increase of nearly 700; visits made to
patients in their own homes were 1,775, an increase of 725;
dental patients were 586, an increase of 147.

Several surgical operations have been performed, and the
patients have made good and rapid recovery. The home
visiting has been much appreciated, and the committee were
greatly indebted to Dr. Pincott, who had so generously given
much of his valuable time to this special work.

Dispensary out-patients.—Admissions and re-admissions
during the year 1892,1,288. Of these 1,185 were cured or
relieved.

The financial statement showed a balance of £107 15s. lid.
in favour of the hospital.

During the year an accident happened which set fire to the
bath-room, extending to the floor, the skirting-board, and the
window curtains. Disastrous results, however, were happily
averted by the promptitude and energy of the staff on the
premises. As there were no means whatever for properly
coping with a fire, an appeal was issued to the subscribers
and donors asking for £80 to £85 to procure fire-extinguishing
and life-saving appliances. The response to this appeal was
that £125 5s. 6d. was at once sent, and more has come in
this year. The surplus is to be devoted to balancing any
deficit which may arise in the receipts for the year.

LEAF HOMOEOPATHIC COTTAGE HOSPITAL,
EASTBOURNE.

We have received the report for this hospital for 1892. The
total number of cases treated was 110, of which 89 occu¬
pied beds in the hospital, and 21 were out-patients. Of this
number 65 patients were cured and only two have died.
Nine operations were performed with success during the
year. Three patients have occupied beds from four to seven
months. There are four wards in the hospital, containing
seven beds and two cots.

No charge of any kind is made to patients, the supply of
medicine, necessaries and advice being entirely gratuitous.

Medical staff:—A. H. Croucher, Esq., M.D., C.M., Hon.
Physician and Surgeon. J. Walther, Esq., M.D., Hon. Con¬
sulting Physician.

OXFORD HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL DISPENSARY.

During the past year the dispensary has been open three
mornings a week, and the committee report favourably of the
work. The number of patients who have applied for medical

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathy
April 1,1SB8.

NOTABILIA,

245

attendance daring the year is 771. The deaths were six. The
number of patients visited at their own homes was 474. Since
the opening of the dispensary in 1872, 25,628 patients have
received advice and treatment.

Our veteran colleague, Dr. Arthur Guinness, still retains
charge of the dispensary.

BISHOPSTONE HOUSE, BEDFORD.

Report, 1892.

A period of fifteen years having elapsed since this house was
licensed to receive a small number of ladies of unsound mind,
the opportunity is taken of reviewing the work accomplished
and the results obtained.

In the autumn of 1877 a licence was granted for four
patients ; in 1879 this number was increased to six, and sub*
sequently to ten in 1884, when an adjoining house was taken
for the medical superintendent, Dr. Craig, and his family.

Forty-five patients have in all been received, representing
all forms of mental and nervous disease. Eighteen of these
have been discharged recovered. Of this number, however,
two, being cases of recurrent insanity, were re-admitted and
discharged a second time, thus reducing the actual figures to
sixteen. Four have died, three of these from senile decay;
six have returned to friends “relieved”; eight have been
transferred to other asylums, from need of change, or for
motives of economy ; while nine remain under care.

It is impossible in the limits of a report to specialise the
various causes which have contributed to the success of* the
treatment. Beyond those purely medicinal, we may mention
the home-like character of the house, the individual care
which the small number of patients makes possible, as well as
the amount of freedom consistent with safety which they
enjoy. They walk or drive daily into the country in charge
of attendants, and only during the early stages of excitement
are their walks limited to the grounds. They have access to
a large public library ; and the proximity of a town, which is
now regarded as an advantage, affords an opportunity for
those who are convalescent to share in its interests and join
in its amusements.

Other great factors in promoting recovery are moral
discipline and early treatment. It is impossible for relatives
to exercise the control which is needful in the management
of the insane, and early removal to proper care is imperative.
Valuable time will however continually be lost until insanity
is recognised by .the public as a disease rather than a family
disgrace to be concealed. Under the Lunacy Act of 1890,

Digitized by

Google

8*6

NOTABIUA.

Monthly Homaepilte
Review, April 1, l&M,

a a attempt has been made to meet tb» difficulty by
permitting the admission into asylums of cases, not sufficiently
pronounced for certificates, as voluntary boarders. Such
patients usually recover rapidly, and so prove the value of
early treatment.

A large proportion of admissions, even into licensed houses,
is made up of worn-out brains and the wrecks of humanity,
for whom there is no hope of recovery. These, not only
seriously reduce the percentage of recoveries, but make it
difficult to prevent the house from becoming an asylum for
chronic patients, rather than a home-hospital for treatment
and cure.

We regret that no reference is made to the medicinal treat¬
ment of these cases. Here is a splendid field for careful
homoeopathy. Its success in mental diseases in America has
been alluded to in our pages more than once. Surely we have
a right to expect something from our colleagues, the Doctors
Craig, in this respect, and in the only institution in the
country where homoeopathic treatment in mental cases is
possible.

A “ FIELD-DAY " AT THE LONDON HOMCEOPATHIC
HOSPITAL.

How often have we heard the remark, 41 Homoeopaths never
operate.” Perhaps it is well sometimes to stay the hand that
thirsts for Borne big operation, to do something that has never
been done before, and that may lead the operator to think
more of the immediate kudos obtained by a brilliant operation
than of the possible future benefit the patient will derive from
it. Still there are very few but will admit that operative
surgery is an essential part of a well-organised Homoeopathic
Hospital. We can remember that not so very long ago
operations of any magnitude were but rarely performed in the
London Homoeopathic Hospital, but the reports of cases
in the Monthly Homoeopathic Review will have shown that in
this direction at least the Hospital has made vast strides
during the past half-a-dozen years. Monday is 44 operation
day” at the Hospital, and as we wended our way up-stairs to
the operating room on the last Monday in February we could
not help being struck with the unsuitableness of the staircase
for carrying patients from the wards to the theatre. The
operating theatre seemed a comfortable room lighted from the
roof, with two tables, placed parallel to one another, separated
by a curtain sliding on a brass rod. On one table was a lad
to whom an anesthetic was being administered, and on the
other, shielded by the curtain, was another lad who was having

Digitized by ^ooQle

NOTABILIA.

247

s MonthlyHomooop a thU
Btritfir, April 1,1886.

some cocaine dropped into hie eye. Both these boys were the
subject of congenital cataract and were needled, one for the
second, and one for the last time, by Mr. Knox Shaw. The
anesthetic was needed in one case owing to a troublesome
nystagmus.

’ Next a small boy was put on the table suffering from necrosis
of the femur and extensive sinuses about the hip, following
a resection of the hip-joint eighteen months previously,
and which several secondary operations had failed to cure.
Later he had developed disease in the ankle-joint of the same
side and his urine showed evidence of lardaceous disease.
Whilst Dr. Day gave the anaesthetic the external iliac artery
was controlled by Mr. Leo Bowse by Jordan Lloyd’s method,
and so successfully that, during the amputation of the hip-
joint, a mere trifling amount of blood was lost. We noticed
that the mode of operation chosen by Mr. Knox Shaw was an
external racket incision, perhaps better known to English
surgeons by its modified form, Fumeaux Jordan’s amputation.
Within half-an-hour of the time he was put on the table he
was back in the ward and did not appear to be very much
affected by shock.

His place was taken by a boy, about six, with an evident
strumous aspect, who presented a considerable enlargement of
the head of the tibia with softening of the ligaments of the
knee-joint. The limb was amputated through the joint, a few
soft patches on the femur and all tuberculous synovial
membrane being cut and scraped away. Section of the tibia
afterwards showed extensive epiphysitis with a large
sequestrum in the head of the tibia and separation of the
articular cartilage.

We next adjourned to Ebury Ward where Dr. Burford
proceeded to operate on a very interesting case of retained
menses. The girl, aged eighteen, had for a year and a half
experienced the usual menstrual molimina, but no sanguineous
vaginal discharge had been noticed. Lately a swelling had
been observed in the abdomen. There was a swelling in the abdo¬
men reaching midway to the umbilicus, an imperforate hymen
and, on straining, a rounded swelling presenting in the vagina.
After carefully anti-septicising the parts, Dr. Burford divided
the hymen with a thermo-cautery point and allowed a large
quantity of dark treacle-like fluid to slowly escape. When the
cavity was emptied the vagina and distended uterus were
washed out with iodized water.

An adjournment was then made to the operating theatre,
where Mr. Dudley Wright operated on a case of mastoid caries
in a young woman with threatening cerebral symptoms; in

Digitized by ^ooQle

248

N0TABIL1A.

Monthly Hotncftopothic
Rtriew, April 1,1808.

removing the carious and necrosed bone the lateral sinus was
exposed but no sub-dural collection of pus was noticed.

The next operation took place in Quin Ward, on a patient
of Dr. Byres Moir’s, who had been admitted with pleurisy, and
in whose case, though the physical signs and temperature were
characteristic of empyema, yet the exploring needle had up to
the present failed to reach pus. Under chloroform, Mr. Knox
Shaw incised the chest wall and came upon a localised
collection of most offensive pus. A drainage tube was then
inserted.

The afternoon was wound up by the House Surgeons
operating upon two cases of enlarged tonsils and post-nasal
adenoids.

After spending a most interesting afternoon in the Hospital,
we came away with the impression that there were possibilities
in the future development of the hospital, when it had moved
into its new buildings, which were not contemplated by its
original founders, and to which many of its supporters are not
yet fully alive.

HOMCEOPATHY DEAD AGAIN!

Dr. H. C. Wood, of Philadelphia, has lately described
homoeopathy as the only mediaeval dream whose survival
challenges attention at present. He admits that “ it must
possess some measure of worth,” and that he himself believes
that, “ as a rule of practice, it will at times lead to a good
result.” The early successes of homoepathy Dr. Wood traces
to the fact that “ the regular physicians of the day did more
harm than good,” while the homoeopath practically left his
case alone and “allowed nature to have full scope.” But he
admits that “ this explanation does not apply to the present
time.” The one he gives is that “ the American homoeopath
does not practise homoeopathy! ” If Dr. Wood knows any¬
thing of the practise of the American homoeopath, and there
is very little doubt that he knows a great deal more than it
would answer his purpose truthfully to tell, he knows that his
assertion is false. The inference he draws from his conclusion
is a curious one. As long as he believed that the American
homoeopath was honestly practising homoeopathy, he would
have no professional intercourse with him; but, now
that he considers him to be a man falsely “ trading upon a
name,” he says, “ the time has come, in my opinion, when
the regular physicians should no longer, by refusing to consult
with homoeopathic physicians, recognise their separate existence.
If consultations between homoeopaths, so-called, and regular
physicians became frequent, in a short time it would be

Digitized by

Google

Monthly HonxnopntUc
Reriew, April 1,1890.

NOTAB ILIA.

249

impossible to longer deceive the public; moreover, the habit
of truth-telling would have a very palpable effect upon the
homoeopathic physicians themselves; self-respect would lead
them to tell the truth at all times. In my opinion the regular
profession not only has it in its power, but owes it as a duty
to itself and to the public, to announce once for all that
homoeopathy having ceased to exist, every physician is at
liberty to consult with whomsoever he pleases.” This is a
tolerably insolent mode of “ climbing down,” but it is
44 climbing down ” all the same. Here is a man who takes as
a premiss an assertion which he knows to be false and then
poses as a teacher of the duty of “ telling the truth at all
times!” Dr. H. C. Wood sadly needs to learn that duty
himself, or at any rate to practise it.

Apropos of Dr. Wood’s assertion that homoeopathy has
41 ceased to exist,** Dr. Hadley, in an interesting paper on
Comparative Statistics, in the Hahnemannian Monthly
narrates the following anecdote : “An undertaker, in a
Vermont town, was directed to lay out in his best style
one of the leading citizens who, as was supposed, had passed
away. After he had gone into the room a terrible uproar was
heard inside. When the door was opened he was asked,
41 What is all this noise about ? ” He replied “ I am trying to
lay this corpse out, but he won’t keep still long enough.’
The corpse had revived! As often as Dr. H. C. Wood or
any other man takes the notion into his head that homoeopathy
has ceased to exist, or is a “corpse,” and thinks himself qualified
to “ lay it out,” he will find that a good deal of noise proceeds
from the “ corpse ” while he is making the effort!

SMALL-POX AND VACCINATION.

Facts about Leicester.

The following paragraph from the St. James's Gazette , of
March 20th, is of sufficient importance to reproduce inextenso f
A very few facts such as these should silence a host of anti*
vaccination theories:—

The borough of Leicester is the stronghold of the anti¬
vaccinators. In order to protect the relatively unvaccinated
population of the town from the inroads of small-pox, an elabo¬
rate system of compulsory notification, isolation in infectious
hospitals, house disinfection, and quarantine for persons who
have been in contact with any small-pox patient, has been
carried out with sleepless vigour and unstinted expenditure*
Mr. Biggs, the leader of the anti-vaccinators and an active

Digitized by

Google

NOTABILIA.

Monthly HomcMpttlilt

Renew, April 1,1808.

<a»

inember of the Sanitary Committee, recently boasted at &
public meeting of the league that, notwithstanding that small¬
pox had invaded Leicester recently, the results had been such
as to show that vaccination was no protection, and that
sanitation sufficed to keep the disease at bay. He has even
tgone so far as to state that vaccination had broken down as a
protection for the nurses at the Small-Pox Hospital at
Leicester — a crucial test. In venturing on these precise
statements, however, Mr. Biggs seems to have allowed his
-enthusiasm to overrun the limits of veracity: for his official
position must, it may be presumed, have given him access to
the true figures. Dr. J. Priestley, the Medical Officer of
Health for Leicester, now writes to the British Medical Journal
to contradict Mr. Biggs, and to announce that, out of twenty-
eight members of the staff of the Fever Hospital there,
twenty-two were protected either by revaccination or a previous
attack of small-pox ; six had only been vaccinated in child¬
hood, and thus were not efficiently protected. Of these
six, all of whom refused vaccination when offered,
four have contracted small-pox and one has died. The four
recent additions to the hospital staff have been revaccinated.
This looks rather bad for Mr. Biggs and the anti-vaccinators.
^Further than this, it appears that out of 184 cases which
have occurred during the recent epidemic at Leicester with
ten deaths, eight of the deaths were of unvaccinated children,
there being no deaths of vaccinated children. Of the two
cases of death in adults, one was of a man having no marks
of vaccination, and the other was of a woman who had not
been revaccinated since infancy. This case is tolerably com¬
plete ; and it has already been stated that similar results are
reported at Batley and throughout the heavy woollen district,
also a second stronghold of the anti-vaccinators, from which,
however, the official returns have not yet been published. Is
it not greatly to be regretted that returns are not issued by
the Vaccination Commission or by the Government of the
recent inquiries in these districts by Dr. Coupland, Dr. Savill
and others, who have been specially deputed for the purpose ?
Mr. Asquith has threatened to bring in a Bill to alter the law
as to the infliction of penalties for the neglect of vaccination.
Such a Bill will be very ill-timed at a moment when the local
authorities throughout England are finding it necessary to
vaccinate and revaccinate on a very large scale in order to
protect their localities against local epidemics, and when the
Royal Commission on Vaccination are still prosecuting an
inquiry which they have not yet been able to complete. The
subject has waited now for twelve years since Mr. Dodson
brought in his Bill for a similar purpose, which the House of

Digitized by ^ooQle

NOTABILIA

261

MmtMj

Bariev, April 1, 189S.

Commons indignantly rejected,and it may verywell wait *
few months longer, until we have before ns the full report of
the Royal Commission. The issue of that report cannot be
much longer delayed, seeing that the Commissioners have
already sat for nearly three years.”

AN INCOMPATIBLE MIXTURE.

A compound of several drugs in one mixture is an un¬
scientific method of prescribing because we cannot foresee
what influence they may each have upon the other from &>
physiological point of view, but is not rarely dangerous from
some chemical incompatibility existing among the various
ingredients unknown to the prescribes Unexpected changes
from this source have been occasionally fatal, and with the
ever-increasing number of powerful alkaloids, and the eager¬
ness with which they are welcomed by modern practitioners,
accidents from their use in combination with other drugs may
be looked for, especially when, as Dr. Wilks said at
Birmingham, some years ago, 41 * all of us, without exception,
so far as I know, write down upon a piece of paper six inches
by four some dnig for every trouble with which the patient
presents himself.” Strychnine in combination has been and
still remains one of the drugs most liable to prove fatal in
this way. Some little time ago a case of this kind was
reported from Scotland of death occurring from a strychnine
mixture, and at a meeting of the North British Branch of the
Pharmaceutical Society, Mr. Hill produced a copy of the
prescription—we quote from the Chemist and Dmggist , March

18th, which was as follows:—

Tinct. strophanth.. ... 5j.

Liq. strych. hyarochl. . Jiiss.

Liq. bismuth, et pepsin.Jiss.

Spirit, ammon. aromat.jiss.

Spirit, chlorof. .jiss.

Aquam ad.Jvj.

Mr. Hill, after reading the prescription, made the following
comments upon it:—

“The mixture contained 1.7 grain of strychnine. The
presence of the bismuth solution, which was Richardson’s, of
Leicester, made it difficult to clear up the cause of the
poisoning. Dr. Thomson reported that the last dose of the
mixture produced alarming symptoms of strychnine-poisoning.
This was clearly due to the fact that the chloroform had
carried to the bottom the greater portion of the strychnine,
which the patient had therefore got in the last dose. This
case raises the question of the value of 4 Shake the bottle ’ on

Digitized by ^ooQle

252

OBITUABY.

Monthly HomcBopathltt
Btriew, April 1,1808.

the label. As a rule, patients will not shake the bottle, even
when instructed to do so, unless it contains a very evident
quantity of insoluble powder. With regard to the legal
aspects of the case (he spoke without authority) it was not too
much to say that the mixture presented a somewhat dangerous
combination.

“ Mr. Boa said that at the time that the case happened the
weather was very cold, and if, as probably was the case, the
water was hard, chloroform would shake up with great
difficulty.

4 4 Mr. Nesbit regarded the mixture as being extremely
dangerous."

A few years ago there seemed to be a disposition among
physicians to the prescribing of single medicines, but this was
not very long lived, and prescriptions containing numerous
ingredients— 44 some drug for every trouble the patient
presents himself with ”—are rather the rule than otherwise.
It is not the least of tbe many advantages springing from
prescribing homceopathically that medicines must be given
singly and uncombined. Without a knowledge of the
pathogenetic properties of a drug we cannot prescribe
homceopathically at all, and of the pathogenetic properties of
a combination of drugs we have no knowledge.

JOHNSON’S PICRIC-ACID TEST.

Sib Georoe Johnson, M.D., has modified his picric acid test
for the detection of sugar in urine, in consequence of an error
which has been discovered in the calibration of the comparison
tubes. The correction of this error necessitates a modification
of the standard colour solution by the addition of ammonia.
The recipe is now :—

Liq. ferri perchlor. fort. (P.B. grav. 1*420)... 5j.

Acid. acet. glacialis (P.B. sp. grav. 1.058)... Jiy.

Liq. ammonias (P.B. sp. grav. *959) ... 5jj*

Aquam distill, ad .3* v#

The properly graduated tubes are made by Mr. Miiller,
148, High Holbom, W.C .—The ('hemist and Druggist .

O BITUAR Y.

CHARLES HILLS MACKINTOSH, M.D.

We regret to have to record the death of one of the oldest
practitioners of homoeopathy in this country in the person of
Dr. Mackintosh, of Torquay.

Dr. Mackintosh studied medicine at the Westminster
Hospital, from whence he was admitted a licentiate of the

Digitized by L^OOQle

Monthly HomuBoptthie
Biriev, April l t 1803.

NOTABILIA.

253

Society of Apothecaries in 1829 and a member of the College
of Surgeons in 1880. For several years he practised in
Exeter after the traditions of the schools. In 1841 he gave
np general practice, and was admitted an extra urbem licentiate
of the College of Physicians, and began to study homoeopathy.
Shortly afterwards he removed to Torquay, where he has
since resided and where, until his retirement a few years ago,
he enjoyed an unusually large practice. Not long after
his arrival in Torquay an outbreak of cholera occurred ; many
deaths took place, for the Torquay of those days was a very
different place in its sanitary conditions from the present
town. Dr. Mackintosh treated all his cases according to
Hahn emann’s directions, and lost not a single case. His
strength as a practitioner always appeared to lie in his
intimate knowledge of the Materia Medica. Dr. Mackintosh
graduated at St. Andrews in 1868. He may be said to
have been the pioneer of homoeopathy in the “Far West”
of England. No practitioner of the system was then to be
found west of Bristol. A widely extended, influential country
practice made for many years such demands upon his time
and strength as one man, single-handed, could hardly cope
with. He found time, however, to establish and carry on the
Torquay Homoeopathic Dispensary, to which he was exceed¬
ingly devoted. The claims of the wealthy were never
allowed to interfere with the hours he had set apart for
attention to the sick poor, and it is believed that for a period
of upwards of 40 years, during which time he was the sole
medical attendant, he hardly ever missed attending on his
regular days.

The death of his wife, which occurred soon after his retirement
from practice, was a sad blow to his anticipations of comfort,
but he was sustained by the sympathy of his friends, and was
tenderly cared for by his daughters. On the 8th March, a
cold that had been hanging about him for some time
developed into acute bronchitis. Dr. Woodgates, of Exeter,
and Dr. Cash Seed, of Plymouth, saw him in conjunction
with Dr. Midgley Cash of Torquay, but though he made a
slight rally for a few hours, he gradually sank and died on
the 18th. His age was 84.

Though Dr. Mackintosh did not contribute anything of
importance to homoeopathic literature, he took a warm interest
in all that was done for the propagation of homoeopathy, and
helped the cause by the success of his treatment of his
numerous patients. He was much liked by his colleagues for
his genial disposition and honourable character, and many of
the patients who passed through his hands have good cause to
remember with gratitude his practical skill.

Digitized by ^ooQle

254

OBITUABY;

Monthly Horm»^p*4Wa
Beriflw, April 1,1899.

ADAM LY8CHINSKI, M.D. Edik.

Anothkr of the oldest representatives of the practitioners of
homoeopathy has, we regret to notice, passed from amongst
us in the person of Dr. Lyschinski, who for many years,
practised homoeopathically in Edinburgh, where he was, horn
the earliest period of his settlement in that city, held in the
highest esteem alike as a physician and a refined and cultured
gentleman.

After the fruitless efforts of Poland to throw off the Russian
yoke, a large number of those who had participated in the.
patriotic struggle arrived as refugees in this country. Among
others, Lyschinski and the Wielobyckis came to Edinburgh,
and studied medicine there.

Dr. Lyschinski took his degrees in 1837, and like Dionysius
Wielobycki settled in Edinburgh as a homoeopathic prac¬
titioner. He continued to practise there until a few years
ago, when he gave up practice and came to London, where he
lived in retirement at Shepherds Bush, mingling but little with
liis colleagues, to most of whom, indeed, his existence was
unknown. Those who were fortunate enough to enjoy his
friendship found him an amiable and high-minded gentleman.
He was much beloved by his patients. In 1857 a number of
his patients and friends in Edinburgh joined in presenting
him with a silver tea and coffee service and claret jug “in
recognition/* so says the inscription, “ of those sterling
qualities, tested by the experience of years, which have won
for him in this city of his adoption such high esteem as is due
to an upright, generous and kindly man—a laborious, skilful
and conscientious physician.” He must have been an excep¬
tionally “ beloved physician ” to have received such a
testimonial from his friends and patients after a practice of
only twenty years. An account of the proceedings on the
occasion of this very exceptional mark of affection and esteem
appears in the fifteenth volume of the British Journal of
Homoeopathy. By his own countrymen Dr. Lyschinski was
held in high estimation. On the occasion of the presentation
referred to, Prince Czartoryski and Prince Alexandre
Czartoryski—two well-known Polish leaders of the time—
addressed a letter to the testimonial committee, expressing
their gratification at the high position in public esteem their
compatriot had acquired and at the recognition of it.

Dr. Lyschinski was a member of the staff of the Edinburgh
Dispensary at its foundation, and remained so for a number
of years, doing useful and much appreciated work there in his
own quiet and unobtrusive manner.

He died at the age of 86 on the 12th ult.

Digitized by

CORRESPONDENCE.

365

CORRESPONDENCE.

TRITURATION TABLETS.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review,”

Gentlemen,— In your remarks under the above heading,
p. 189 of your current number, you observe that when of one
grain each, tablets “ are made in an ivory or vulcanite mould,"
and further that “ such tablets are pure and contain no other
admixture."

May we venture to remind you that vulcanite—of which the
most commonly used tablet moulds are made—is a compound
of caoutchouc and sulphur, containing sometimes as much as
40 per cent, of the latter, and although generally supposed to
resist the action of chemical reagents, is partially soluble in
the spirit with which the tablets are prepared. It also emits
a perceptible odour when slightly rubbed.

It would be an interesting question to decide, in many
cases, whether the action of the finely powdered silicate used
in making compressed tabloids, and known as talc , or that of
the solution of vulcanite, has the greater preponderance over
the medicinal action intended.

Yours faithfully,

59, Moorgate Street, E.G.
March 7th, 1898.

E. Gould & Son.

A WARNING.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review ."

Gentlemen, —I wish to warn my colleagues against a man
named Barclay, who is going about the country posing as a
distressed colonial homoeopath. He varies his tale somewhat,
but I have heard that on many occasions he uses my name as
a reference. He is an impostor.

I am, yours faithfully,

C. Knox Shaw.

London March 21, 1898.

Digitized by ^ooQle

256

CORRESPONDENTS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, April 1,1888.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

%* We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts.

Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby.

London Homceopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,
Bloomsbury. —Hours of attendance: Medical, In-patients. 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30. daily; Surgical, Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.30 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist. Mondays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

Communications have been received from Dr. Dudgeon, Dr. Bur-
ford, Mr. Knox Shaw, Mr. Dudley Wright (London); Dr. Murray
Moore (Liverpool) ; Dr. Midgley Cash (Torquay) ; Dr. Craig (Bir¬
mingham) ; Dr. Clifton (Leicester); Dr. Hughes (Brighton).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The Twelve Tissue Remedies of SckUssler . By W. Boericke, M.D. r
and W. A. Dewey, M.D. Philadelphia : Boericke & Tafel. 1893. —
The Medical Annual and Practitioner*s Index. J. Wright & Co.,
Bristol. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., London. 1893. —
The Homoeopathic World. London. March. —The Clinical Journal .
London. March. —The Chemist and Druggist. London. March.—
The Monthly Magazine of Pharmacy. London. March. —The North
American Journal of Homoeopathy. New York. March. —The Medical
Record. New York. Feb. and March.— The Chironian. New York.
Feb. —The New England Medical Gazette. Boston. March. —The
Hahnemannian Monthly . Philadelphia. March. —The Homoeopathic
Recorder. Philadelphia. Feb. —The Homoeopathic Physician. Phila¬
delphia. March. —The Medical Century. Chicago. Feb. —The Clinique .
Chicago. Feb. —The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine. Feb. —The
Homoeopathic Envoy. Lancaster. March.— The Homoeopathic Medical
Record. Calcutta. Jan.— The Annals of Electro-Homoeopathy and
Hygiene. Geneva. March. —Revue Homceopathique Beige. Brussels.
Feb.— Bull. Gbi. de Thirapeutique. Paris. March. —The Leipzigcr
Pop. Zeitschrift. fur Horn. Feb.-March.— Rivista Omiopatica. Borne.
Jan. —Homdopathisch Maandhlad. The Hague. Marco.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pops, 19.
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dyck Brown, 29, Seymour Street, Pod-
man 8qnare, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Kkatby, 161, Haverstock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould ft Son, 59.
Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by

“ SYMPTOMS IN PEBSPECTIVE.” 257

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

-:o:-

“SYMPTOMS IN PEBSPECTIVE.”

It is well-known that homoeopathic practitioners, follow¬
ing the marvellously sagacious guidance of their master,
Hahnemann, select their medicines in any given case by
their symptomatic indications. In other words, having
noted carefully all the symptoms present in the case
which is under consideration, subjective as well as
objective, they thus form in their mind's eye a picture,
as complete as possible, of the disease; and having done
so, they look out for a medicine which, in its patho¬
genesis, forms as close a counter-picture as possible to
the case, and having found it, they prescribe that
remedy. They know that a drug which has the power
of producing in the healthy body a disordered condition
closely similar to the case under treatment, must act on
the same organs as those of the patient, and on the same
parts of the organ, and on the same tissues of that part,
and finally in a similar way. They thus, in accordance
with the law of similars, are sure that they have got the
right remedy. And it is not enough to seize on the
broad or salient features of the correspondence between
drug and disease, since there may be several drugs
which have this broad or general similar relation, but it is
necessary to observe the minutest details in symptoms, in
order to differentiate between the same drugs which corres-
spond more or less broadly with the disease. Symptoms,
Voi. 37, No. 5. &

Digitized by

Google

258

44 SYMPTOMS IN PERSPECTIVE.”

-which for old-school practitioners seem ^ of little im¬
portance and hardly worth wasting time in inquiring
into, turn out, to the man who practises according to
homoeopathic rules, of immense importance in determining
the selection of the right remedy. Thus certain
symptoms, which are Blight and seemingly unimportant
in themselves, or by themselves, throw a flood of light
on the case when the whole is viewed in perspective. By
noting what we call the totality of the symptoms we get
such a perfect view of the whole case as would be impos¬
sible were the minor or seemingly trivial symptoms
neglected. The presence or absence of one such
apparently minor feature may alter our prescription,
and lead to success or failure if it is noticed or
ignored.

Such are often the 44 characteristic ” symptoms of a
drug, or its 44 key-notes.” In thus practising, the
homoeopath putB his theories, pathological or otherwise,
in the back-ground, and goes to the root of the matter
by selecting the most perfect 44 simile ” he can find. We
are often twitted by our friends of the old school with a
charge of adopting an unscientific method. They tell
us that any old woman with a book can do the same.
But instead of being an unscientific method, it is pre¬
cisely the reverse. They ignore minute symptoms, and
having noticed the larger or more obvious ones, they are
content to form a theory on the case, and to prescribe
on this theoretical view. The theory may be right or
wrong, and the patient has to take his chance of a hit or
a miss, while as a result of this rough, theoretical
method, several drugs often incompatible with or antago¬
nistic to each other are prescribed together in one com¬
pound, in the hope that one or other, or all together, will
accomplish the theoretical aim of the prescriber. As
long as this system of treatment is in vogue, it is no
wonder that the old school say that medical practice has
no science in it and very little art. In fact, it is admitted
to be in most cases mere blind empiricism. And so it
must remain as long as men will ignore the homoeopathic
law, which alone will open their eyes to the practical
value of minute and seemingly trivial symptoms. How
different from a scientific point of view, to say nothing
of a common-sense point of view, is the homoeopathic
method of observing every symptom, however minute,

Digitized by ^ooQle

!£SS5. 7 lSyirS5! h,e “ SYMPTOMS IN PERSPECTIVE.” 259

and to all appearances of little moment, of forming a
complete picture of the disease in the mind’s eye, and
thereupon, putting aside theory, and selecting the
remedy which forms in its provings an exact or close
counterpart to the case. In thus looking on the case
in perspective, from a distance as it were, certain
symptoms, which at first glance seem all-important,
subside into their proper place, while others, which a
crude observer might pass over, come out into strong
light. And, after all, how does a disease show itself to
us but by its symptoms, objective and subjective ? And
the closer observer the physician is, the more he is
accustomed to note all symptoms and balance them, the
more likely he is to be successful.

But not only in the selection of the remedy is this
careful noting of all symptoms essential, but it is equally
necessary for diagnosis. For, as we have stated, the
disease presents itself to us only by its symptoms,
objective and subjective, and in the case of medical dis¬
orders especially, it is of the greatest importance to note
every detail. Many valuable diagnostic symptoms can
only be ascertained by interrogating the patient—the
subjective symptoms—and the more fully we ascertain
every deviation from health, however minute, the more
sure are we of our diagnosis. For accurate diagnosis is
essential to accuracy and success in prescribing. We
must first thoroughly understand what it is we have to
treat, and then the selection of the remedy is rendered
easier. In fact, the study of the diagnosis and that of
the treatment are, in the hands of homoeopaths, and of
all others who carefully note symptoms, so interwoven,
that in forming our opinion of the one, we are at once
directed, by the study of the symptoms, to success in
the other.

These observations may seem stale and well-known to
our readers, but our apology for writing on the subject is
the evident progress which is being made in the old
school in the adoption of one after another of the
essential parts of Hahnemann’s teachings.

The principle of similars is steadily making its way in
the old school, though without acknowledgment. So
also is the desirability of prescribing a single remedy
at a time coming to be regarded as the beau ideal of
practice.

S—2

Digitized by

Google

260

“ SYMPTOMS IN PERSPECTIVE• * 9

The small dose is now no longer laughed at by those
who make use of the law of similars, while the selection
of the remedy by the symptomatic indications is
becoming an acknowledged method of accurate pre¬
scribing. And now we find, as a consequence, the
recognition of the importance—essential importance—
of observing minute symptoms as having an immense
value in diagnosis and treatment in differentiating cases
one from another, and by producing the requisite
perspective, enabling the observer to place the relative
value on each, as forming a true and full picture of the
complaint under investigation.

In the British Medical Journal for October 22, 1892,.
we find a short leader summarising an address delivered
by Sir William Savory, Bart., at the opening of the
second session of the North London Medical and Chi-
rurgical Society. He entitled his address “ Symptoms
in Perspective.” The full text appears in the Lancet f
October 22nd, but the resume in the leader of the journal
is sufficient for our purpose, and we quote it entire:—

“ Sib William Savory observed that each of the symptoms
which presented themselves in any given case was to be
observed not so much in its absolute value, as in its relative
insignificance. The true meaning of any physical sign, was to
be reached not by considering it alone, but by viewing it in
relation to the rest, and by thus placing each in its proper
relative position, and by taking measure of the proportion of
each to form a mental picture of the actual state of things.
Certain signs were brought into the foreground, others were
put back into the distance. What the rules of perspective
were to the artist, this sound judgment of the relative
proportion of symptoms was in surgical diagnosis. He
illustrated his meaning by referring to the importance which
a practised surgeon would attach, in a case of strangulated
hernia, to the two symptoms—vomiting and a tumour in the
inguinal region—pointing out how he would set aside other
symptoms or assurances of recent amelioration, in his
determination to deal promptly with the root of all the
symptoms. He also insisted on the importance of ob¬
serving all symptoms; signs neither usual nor prominent
might materially modify, or altogether change, the view
taken. The different degrees of excellence of different sur¬
geons were marked by their ability, after observing all the
facts, to assign to them their relation to each other. An
inquiry might be very full and complete, and yet the result

Digitized by LjOOQle

“ SYMPTOMS IN PERSPECTIVE.” 261

-confused or obscure from an absence of all proportion. A too
■exclusive devotion of attention to a particular part or subject,
might lead to symptoms elsewhere revealed, being overlooked
or ignored; or, if recognised and considered, such symptoms
were relegated to the background in the presence of others
which pointed in the direction in which the practitioner was
accustomed to look. This was one of the dangers of special¬
ism. Exactness of observation was above all things to be
sought for. Knowledge and practice were uncertain, but it
was our duty to work with the view of erasing the reproach.
The great progress of medicine and [surgery in recent years,
had been by the application of more exact methods and
instruments of research. Sciences more exact in themselves,
such as physics and chemistry, had been brought by the
advance of a sounder physiology into closer relation with
medicine and surgery, while pathology, the lineal descendant
■of these, was springing into new and vigorous life.”

The above interesting remarks refer more particularly
to Sm William's special branch viz., surgery, but they
are a, fortiori applicable to medicine, where the palpable
and objective symptoms are fewer than in surgery. They
show what a broad and enlightened view Sir William
takes of his subject, and should be laid to heart by all
who read his words. They show once more how far in
advance of his time Hahnemann was in his teachings,
and also how these teachings are gradually but steadily
forcing themselves on the attention of those who at the
same time cry down this great man, and “ taboo ” those
who are first in the race to acknowledge openly his great¬
ness, and to adopt his teachings as their vade-mecum, in
successful practice.

We can afford to wait, and watch this gradual develop¬
ment of thought in the old school, feeling sure that it is
only a question of time, and that the best way to hasten
the ultimate open adoption of homoeopathy is to be true
to ourselves, to stand to our colours, and to endeavour
to spread the truth by all means in our power. Organi¬
sation is now-a-days known to be essential, if a minority
is to hold its ground, and leaven the majority, and the
more we keep together in line, the greater progress shall
we make in bringing about the time when homoeopathy
will be the dominant practice.

In watching this process of evolution, it gives us real
pleasure to draw the attention of our readers to Sm
William Savory’s admirable and enlightened remarks.

Digitized by ^ooQle

262

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

THE HEREDITY OF DISEASE, AND SUGGES¬
TIONS FOR ITS EXTINCTION.

By J. Murray Moore, M.D., M.R.C.S.

Continued from p. 212.

Group B.

1. Gout is the most distinctly hereditary disease on
my list; and yet it is also a spontaneous malady, arising
de novo in persons of temperament and habits conducive
to the excessive formation of uric acid. In seeking for a
philosophical explanation of the well-known “ atavism ”
of hereditary gout, that is, its reappearance in the
grandson, not the son, of a gouty parent, Weismann’s
theory, briefly outlined on p. 87, aids us. The gouty
progenitor is the husband of a wife free from any taint
or predisposition to gout, we will assume. The germ-cells
(combining both ovum and spermatozoa) of the children
have the potentiality of gout in them from the male
element. The spermatozoa, then, of the son of this pair,
or the ova of their daughter, have this transmitted morbid
tendency, but during their life-times the corporeal
plasma, or body-cells, are of such a healthy kind—all
gout-producing diet being avoided on account of the
painful experience of their parent—that the gout is
never developed. But the potentiality of gout lingers in
the male and female germinative elements, which are
carried on to their offspring. Probably the care
exercised to avoid gout is relaxed in the third generation,
and the disease may manifest itself, though with less
intensity, the tendency of the germ-cells towards the
excessive formation of uric acid having been allowed too
suitable an environment and having been fed with too
suitable a pabulum. But gout is a vanishing disease in
Great Britain, and I verily believe will in 20 or 80 years
be extinguished. For temperance in drinking and even
in eating meals is on the increase amongst
all rational people ,* athletics and exercises of all kinds
are adopted by persons past middle age; and even
advanced in years—such as golf; and port wine, that
fertile breeder of gout, has almost disappeared from the
dinner table. Patients need still to be warned against
Burgundy, Madeira and sherry, also cautioned against
porter and even beer, freely taken, unless they follow

Digitized by

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

263

hard, constant out-door work. And excessive meat
eating is a fault to be guarded against. To patients
who will not give up wine I allow claret, or sometimes
hock, but teetotalism is best of all, and fresh, not twice
cooked, meat once a day, with a varied and plentiful
supply of vegetables. The amount of out-door exercise
taken is not so important as its regularity. In summer,
lawn tennis is the easiest kind of exercise for the gouty.
It is almost an axiom that any person manifesting gout
before the age of thirty must have inherited it, but
when it springs up de novo it seldom shows itself before
the age of fifty or fifty-five, when the power of secondary
assimilation is beginning to flag.

2. Bheumatism, though so similar to gout, is less
hereditary. It is, in fact, much more often the product
of environment than of heredity. Yet Dr. J. Mitchell
Bruce states that inheritance can be traced in twenty-
seven per cent, of all cases. I have found that when a
mother during her pregnancy has suffered from acute or
chronic rheumatism the infant generally displays some
form of tendency to that disease. In the very young,
chorea, or flying pains in the joints, or facial neuralgia,
are its manifestations; from the ages of ten to thirty,
acute articular rheumatism; after thirty, chronic mus¬
cular or articular rheumatism. I believe in the theory
that repeated chills cause retention and accumulation of
lactic acid , which is the active exciting cause of acute rheu¬
matism. There is little hope of extinguishing the disease
in our northern counties, because we cannot change the
damp, wet and stormy character of the climate, nor can
we find in-door occupations for all those predisposed or
exposed to rheumatism. We can, however, urge upon
persons whose parents have been sufferers the continu¬
ous wearing of flannel next the skin all the year round—
thin in summer, thick in winter. As to the objection of
“ irritation ” caused to some persons by flannel next the
skin, this “ irritating ” quality is entirely removed by
the Jager process. By dieting largely on salad vege¬
tables, and taking lemon-juice whenever rheumatic pains
are beginning, or the urine is loaded with urates, and
by sea-water hot baths occasionally, it will be possible
in many instances to prevent the development of rheu¬
matism. It is certain, however, that in damp, low valleys,
a certain proportion of persons bom and reared there

Digitized by ^ooQle

264

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

will always be rheumatic. The anti-rheumatic diet
should be enforced during the periods of pregnancy of a
rheumatic wife; and emigration to a warm, dry climate
is the only preventive in most instances.

8. No one doubts that cancer is hereditary. Some
medical writers even doubt its spontaneous occurrence.
But in an experience of over a quarter of a century I
have treated several cases where the most careful in¬
quiry into the family history failed to trace the disease
in any antecedent or collateral relative. Three causes
acting simultaneously on the same individual are suffi¬
cient to cause cancer, that is, to convert a trifling
glandular swelling, or a wound, or a simple “healthy ”
sore into carcinoma or epithelioma. These are—worry,
privation of food, and deficient sleep. In men, excessive
tobacco-smoking is also a cause, either independently or
which may be superadded to the three foregoing.

The prevalence of cancer among the inhabitants of the
valleys whose rivers overflow in winter and subside but
slowly, I have verified in New Zealand ; and in Scotland
I have noticed the disease originating in cottagers who
lived on the edges of ill-drained peat bogs. Habitual
drinking of too hard water has in some individuals
apparently the evil result of causing cancer.

But we need not concern ourselves now with more
than the diathetic aspects of this fell disease. Most
pathologists are agreed that true cancer is analogous, if
not even homologous, with true tubercle. The same
organs are affected in the same order. We find in one
generation cancer, in the next tuberculosis, in the third
cancer once more, and so on, until by inter-marriage
with healthy individuals, or by unusually favourable
environment, either disease disappears from the family.
Just now I am interested in watching the fate of a poor
little infant, eight months old, whose mother recently
died of cancer of the mamma and of the liver. The
child has a scrofulous tubercle on its face and is very
thin and unhealthy. The father, being healthy and
vigorous, may have imparted sufficient vitality (as the
mother did not suckle it) to enable the little girl to pull
through life, but it may succumb from either cancer,
scrofulosis or tuberculosis. There is no question but
that cancer had developed in the mother before concep¬
tion. Tuberculosis may even co-exist with cancer, for

Digitized by ^ooQle

HEREDITY OF DISEASE. 265

Koster has seen tubercles in cancerous ulcers, and Fried-
lander in the stroma of a cancer recurrent after opera¬
tion. As it has been proved that tubercle bacilli can
pass from the mother to the foetus (in a case reported
by Drs. Hirschfeld and Schmorl in 1891), so it is probable
that the cancer bacillus may be transmitted in like
manner.

We know so little about the very earliest beginnings
of cancer that it is not possible to give definite sugges¬
tions for its extinction. I believe that a “ spansemic ”
or “ leukromic ” condition of the blood always precedes
the formation of cancer; and that it is not unlikely that
as in the case of tuberculosis, we may also introduce
into our organism cancer-cells or bacilli from the flesh
of diseased animals if insufficiently cooked. I thus
deduce two practical hints—(a) they who have had can¬
cerous blood relatives should live well, and not be rigid
abstainers; (b) all meat should be most carefully
inspected (which is not the case at present), and so
divided for the kitchen as that every part should be
thoroughly baked, roasted or boiled; (c) it is likely
that diet wherein vegetables and fruit largely (but not
entirely) replace meat, would preserve persons from
falling victims to the family scourge.

4. Tuberculosis, in all its forms, is hereditary to the
extent of from 25 to 80 per cent. Phthisis pulmonalis
causes one-seventh of the total mortality of the United
Kingdom, and one fifth of that of Austria. Like leprosy,
true phthisis of the lungs is inoculable, contagious and
slowly infectious. Doubtless the dried sputum dust,
containing bacilli, is responsible for much of the spread
of this disease to those who are shut up with con¬
sumptive patients, or who sleep in bedrooms, not
thoroughly renovated, where they had died. But
MacCormac, of Belfast, proved (in 1858) conclusively, to
my mind, that this disease also springs up de novo
from the breathing of air exhausted of its oxygen and
loaded with human emanations. I generally find that a
phthisical tendency falls to the lot of the girls of a
family if the father has died of phthisis, and to the boys
if the mother had it. Its occurrence in both parents
concurrently is extremely rare, but it is not uncommon
for the surviving parent to become phthisical after the
death of the other. Then, if a second marriage is

Digitized by ^ooQle

266 HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

contracted with a perfectly healthy partner, the phthisi¬
cal taint is transmitted to the second family also. The
foetus may be infected with tubercle through the paternal
germ-cell, the mother remaining healthy, or the foetus
may, as the case mentioned above (p. 264) illustrates,
contain bacilli before birth. The germs of tuberculosis
usually remain latent during the growth of the infant’s
tissues, only awakening after a few years and attacking
the lungs, bones or glands. Other causes of phthisis—
preventable causes—are the the consumption for food
of milk and of flesh of tuberculous animals. Only the
Jewish “ Kosher ” practice will save us from that risk.

A statement by Mr. T. W. Blake at the British Medical
Congress in 1891 is so interesting as showing the family
inter-connection of cancer and tuberculosis that I must
find room for it. A farmer, Z, of perfectly healthy
family had six sons and six daughters, and died at 78 of
cardiac dropsy. Z’s wife died at 64 of cancer of the
liver. Her mother had an indurated mammary tumour
which did not eventuate in cancer. The third son, K,
died of phthisis at 19, the first death in the family of
twelve. Eleven years afterwards another brother, H,
died of phthisis. His wife, who after his death married
another brother, died of cancer. Next the elder sister
died of cancer, recurrent after removal of the breast, at
the age of 48. Another brother, T, died after seven
years of consumption from that disease. His wife, who
had no family tendency to phthisis, died before him of the
same disease. A sister, J, died in 1891 of cancer of the
stomach and omentum, aged 70. A third sister, M, died
at 57 after the removal of a large ovarian tumour, which
was partly malignant. A fourth sister died of cancer of
the uterus, about 47. A fifth sister became phthisical,
but died of Addison’s disease. Only three brothers now
survive out of the whole family, and the wives of two of
them have died of cancer. I leave my readers to deduce
their own conclusions from this most remarkable sequence
of facts.

The improvement in health during pregnancy of a
woman affected with chronic phthisis is so marked, and
she is, as a rule, so apt to conceive, that the world’s
supply of consumptives is more largely kept up from
this source—the marriage of phthisical women of an

Digitized by ^ooQle

267

Monthly HomcBopathio
Review, Uaj 1,1803.

PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.

attractive, often beautiful type—than from any other.
I have often thought that the parents of both parties
should mutually agree that a medical certificate of freedom
from any communicable taint or disease must be obtained
on each side before the “ engagement ” can be ratified.
If disease shows itself during the “ engagement ” that
ipso facto should be a legal bar to the marriage.

fTo be continued.)

PHOSPHORUS IN PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.

By A. Speirs Alexander, M.D.

It has often been observed that the indicated remedy
will cure in various dissimilar cases, irrespectively of
their pathological condition. For example, it was
pointed out in a former paper,* that calcarea carb . often
relieves the pain of hepatic and renal colic, and of a
certain form of dyspepsia, where the subjective symp¬
toms agree with those of the drug, though there is no
pathological relation at all between those three ailments.

On the other hand, it is interesting to find that,
while the congeries of external manifestations presented
by a given case affords a true picture of the requisite
drug, the pathological changes that have given rise to
those manifestations may likewise be found to correspond
with the toxic effects of the same drug. And here it
may be remarked that, as it is well-nigh impossible to
conceive of any departure from health without some
underlying morbid change, so it is rational to conclude
that the simillimum that restores equilibrium does so in
virtue of its power to set up internal changes corre¬
sponding to the symptoms which give outward expression
to those changes.

Of this principle, numerous instances will doubtless at
onpe suggest themselves to the reader’s mind, and, by
way of illustration, the following case is offered for his
consideration:

On the 8th September, 1892, Laura C., set. 17, was
admitted to the Deyon and Cornwall Homoeopathic
Cottage Hospital, with the following history :

Patient was a servant in a second-rate temperance
hotel, where she had very hard work, late hours and
indifferent food. For some time past, she had been

* M. II. B. t July, 1887.

Digitized by AjOOQle

268

PURPURA HAEMORRHAGIC A.

feeling increasingly weak and poorly, with shortness of
breath, palpitation of the heart, and no catamenia for
several months. The day before admission, she had
been alarmed by the appearance of dark spots all over
her body, quickly followed by an attack of haematemesis.

Fipf. 1, which has not reproduced very well, is intended to show this.

When first seen, she was found to be in a somewhat
anaemic condition, the lips and mucous membranes
generally pale, but no haemic or other bruit.

The face, shoulders, arms, trunk and lower extremities
were covered with petechiae and blotches of a deep
purple colour, varying in size from about a sixteenth
to a quarter of an inch in diameter, and possessing the

Digitized by ^ooQle

269

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1893.

PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.

characteristic of being unaffected by pressure. The spots
were most numerous and of largest size about the hips
and thighs, where a few of them, running together, had
formed ecchymoses. Some pain in the limbs was com¬
plained of, but was at no time severe.

Fip. 2.

Vomiting of blood occurred after each attempt to eat on
the day of admission, and even irrespectively of that act.

The urine was of a deep red colour, and manifestly
loaded with blood.

Patient was at once put to bed, and nourishment
limited to milk and soda water, while phosphorus 6 was
given every two hours.

On the following day, improvement was found to have
set iD. The haematemesis quickly ceased after the first
few doses of phos ., but blood was still being passed with
the urine.

The same medicine was given, but at longer intervals,
and by the 12th, the water was found to be entirely free
from both blood and albumen ; there was no return of
sickness, and more substantial food could be taken. The
spots remained much the same, but no new ones seemed
to have appeared.

On the 15th, the period returned, after having been
absent for six months. The petechiae were all fading away.

On the 20th, they had almost disappeared, and by the
27th, on which day patient was dismissed, no trace of
them remained.

Digitized by ^ooQle

270

PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.

To the student of homceo-therapeutics, the relation of
phosphorus to the foregoing case will be at once
apparent. One of the most familiar toxic effects of that
drug is the production of haemorrhages, whether epistaxis,
haemetemesis, haematuria, or melaena. Post-mortem
examinations have demonstrated the occurrence of
exudations in most of the viscera, while the intestinal
mucous membrane is often found dotted with dark
haemorrhagic petechiae. Sub-cutaneous haemorrhages in
phosphorus poisoning seem to be of less frequent
occurrence. Cases have happened, however, in which
they have been observed, both post-mortem and during
life. Thus, in a case recorded in the Cyclopadia of
Drug Pathogenesy (vol. iii. p. 578), we are told that
after death “ the whole front of the surface of the body,
especially the shoulders, chest, and abdomen, was
studded with petechiae of the size of a hemp seed, some¬
what raised, and of a bright red colour. When cut into,
they were found to be deposits of thin bright-red blood
between epidermis and cutis.”

In another case, narrated at p. 598 of the same work,
similar phenomena were observed during life, as follows:
“ Ecchymosis in abdomen, on the thighs, two pustules
fpetechia?), with bright red areolae and dusky centre.”

Not only does extravasation of blood occur in phos¬
phorus poisoning, but the blood itself is found to have
undergone certain changes. It is dark, fluid, non-
coagulable, the red corpuscles few in number, and to
some extent disintegrated. Experts are not yet agreed
as to whether the haemorrhages result from these
changes, or from alterations in the blood-vessels. That
the well-known power of phosphorus to cause fatty
degeneration of the heart, liver, muscles, &c., extends to
the blood-vessels also, has been determined by the re¬
searches of Virchow. Thus, we read, to quote again
from the work already alluded to : “I have examined a
considerable number of cases of acute poisoning with
phosphorus , and should like to give a prominent place
to the fact that it is not only the central organ of the
circulatory apparatus that is involved in the fatty de¬
generation, but also the peripheral parts of the arterial
system, even as far as the minute microscopical vessels.
This can be observed in all the organs, but most easily
in the brain, in cartilage, in the marrow of the bones, and

Digitized by LjOOQle

PURPURA HJEMORRHAGICA.

271

in the liver. The principal symptoms of it are the san¬
guineous extravasations.”* It therefore seems probable
that the latter are due to loss of integrity of the vessels,
an escape of blood being thereby permitted, rattier than
to changes in the blood itself.

The haematic phenomena, at all events, of phosphorus
poisoning present a vivid picture of the objective symp¬
toms of purpura haemorrhagica; and it seems probable
to the writer that there is likewise a pathological
correspondence between the disease and its drug simula¬
crum. Whether the hoemorrhages of that disease are
due to changes in the blood, or in the vessels, has not
yet been accurately determined. The chief alteration
that has been discovered in the former is, according to
Dr. Parkes, the presence of an excess of iron and a
decrease in the general solids. Analogy might justly
lead to the conclusion that, if phosphorus poisonings
produces fatty degeneration of the capillary vessels, and
that the haemorrhagic effusions are secondary to that
cause, there may also be a similar condition as the
basis of the haemorrhages of purpura. Thus, on the
hypothesis that in that disease the vessels have under¬
gone some degree of fatty degeneration, it can be easily
understood why phosphorus has such a decidedly curative
effect. It causes fatty degeneration of blood vessels,
therefore it also cures that condition; or, to be more
consonant with the teaching of Hahnemann, it so
restores the perverted equilibrium of the vital force,
that the vis mcdicatrix natures is enabled to perform its
curative function. Some colour may be given to this
view of the pathology of purpura by the circumstance
that extreme fatty degeneration of the cardiac muscle
has been noted in cases that have proved fatal. It would
be interesting and instructive to examine the smaller
blood-vessels and capillaries in such cases, with the view
of determining whether they also are the seat of fatty
changes. Opportunities of such a nature, however, are,
it is to be hoped, but rare among practitioners of
homoeopathy.

Whatever the pathology of the disease may be, that
which concerns us most as therapeutists is its treatment,
and in phosphorus , a drug thoroughly homoeopathic, not

* Op. cit.f toI. iii, p. 587.

Digitized by ^ooQle

272 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. M< b^JJSSSTmwl

only to its external manifestations, but also to the
morbid causative changes, we possess a reliable means
of effecting a radical cure.

It may be objected, perhaps, that the petechiae of
purpura tend to disappear of their own accord, and that
therefore phosphorus cannot be fairly credited with the
cure of the disease. It is well known, however, that in
cases treated expectantly, or allopathically, recurrence of
both petechiae and internal haemorrhages is frequent,
thus evidencing a persistence or progression of the
morbid process; while, in the case narrated above, no
relapse, up to the date of writing, has taken place,
though the patient is still living in the same un¬
favourable circumstances and surroundings.

In marked contrast to the clear shining of “ law in
medicine,” are the uncertain gropings after a rational
plan of treatment amid the dim twilight of traditional
science. Thus a modem authority says, “ The prin¬
ciples of treatment of purpura are as little understood
as its pathology . . . The severer cases are apt to

go from bad to worse, whatever treatment be adopted.
A certain prima facie resemblance which purpura presents
to scurvy has induced a common belief that anti¬
scorbutic remedies—fresh vegetables, citric acid and
potash —are indicated here also. Experience, however,
does not confirm the truth of this opinion. Among the
remedies that have been chiefly recommended are
perchloride of iron , acetate of lead , arsenic , digitalis,
turpentine , gallic and sulphuric acids.”* Which is the
better way,—which method the more scientific ?

Plymouth, April, 1893.

THE MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE.
By Arthur Roberts, M.D.

I.—A New Analysis.

Dr. Thomas Short wrote in 1734, that Harrogate was
44 a place that may justly challenge Britain, and perhaps
all Europe, for its great number and variety of its
mineral waters,” and we find that 100 years before this.
Dr. Stanhope, writing in 1682, said 44 our spaw can in

• Theory and Practice of Medicine. Br is to we, p. 584.

Digitized by ^ooQle

MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. 273

justice yield to none in England for the great con¬
sequence and variety of its springs, there being a great
many sorts within two miles of one another. Had they
but one year such an ingenious examiner as Dr. Jordan,
we might expect nations to flock to them.” In 1881,
Dr. Olliver, in his deeply interesting work on the
Harrogate waters, says of the above quotations: * “ But
surely we may be permitted, with justice and without
ostentation, to apply similar terms to the Harrogate of
to-day, inasmuch as the district embraced by two miles
east and west of it possesses no fewer than eighty
medicinal springs, no two of which are alike, and some
of them, both from a chemical and from a therapeutical
standpoint, unrivalled elsewhere.”

Such is the importance in which the Harrogate
mineral waters have been held, and still are held, by the
medical profession; yet how few comparatively of the
general practitioners of this country, or in fact many of
the consultants in London and the large cities and
towns, know anything of the value of these waters ? Dr.
Myrtle t tells us of how a lecturer on materia medica
made fun of a paper he read before a medical society,
and suggested that pure water as supplied to the town
would cure people as well as the mineral waters. From
my experience, and that of all the medical men who
have studied the waters and used them in their practice,
the value of suitably chosen waters is beyond all
question.

The first and most important thing is to study the
analysis of the water. I found that analyses had been
made by various eminent chemists, and the results were
published by the Corporation, and in all books on the
waters, and also in the guides to Harrogate. The next
question was when were these analyses made, and on
inquiry I found that there had not been any analysis of
the Tewett well since Dr. Hofman’s in 1854; of the
magnesia well, since 1867; of the mild sulphur, since
1869; of the Alexandra clialybeate and pure chalybeate
Royal Pump Room, since 1870; of the Starbeck
spa, since 1871 ; of the old sulphur well, since

* The Harrogate Waters, by Dr. Olliver, p. 44.
fThe Harrogate Waters, by Dr. Myrtle, p. 43.

YoL 37, No. 5. T

Digitized by

Google

274 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE.

1876; of the strong sulphur, the Kissengen water
and the mild sulphur, all at the Montpellier Gardens,
since 1879 ; and of the chloride of iron water, since 1880.
I also found that these waters were known to change
their character from time to time, and that, therefore,
it was impossible for anyone to say what was the present
composition of them. More than this, I found that one
spring, No. 86, which was often being prescribed for
medicinal purposes, had never been thoroughly analysed.
All that had been done was to find out how much
sulphur there was in it, and how much salt , but no one
could tell me of what the 292 grains of salt in each
gallon consisted. I therefore made arrangements with
two analysts, Fellows of the Chemical Society, to
make a complete analysis of the waters for me. What
have I gained by this investigation ? I now know the
present composition of the waters which are most fre¬
quently prescribed, and I shall have others analysed that I
think are likely to be useful to my patients. The very
first water that I had analysed was found to contain
two salts not mentioned in any previous analysis, and
the constituents which it was known to contain had
altered in quantity. In one case the silica had increased
from *701 grains to the gallon to 3*101. The presence
of iron and alumina was also detected. Iodine , which
has always been said to be present in the old sulphur
well, could not be detected by the most careful chemical
tests. In the magnesia water there are 80 grains less
in the gallon of solid constituents, and besides, iron,
phosphoric acid, as phosphate of magnesia * has been
found. There are 50 grains less of natrum muriaticum
in the gallon. This water has changed more than any
others yet analysed. These new discoveries have
greatly enhanced the therapeutic value of the waters.
The increased quantity of silica , and the presence of
alumina , phosphoric add, etc., all very useful and
powerful medicines, show that we have at Harrogate
mineral waters of the highest order. I am having these
analyses checked by further examination wherever any
alteration has been detected. This work will, I hope,

* Those who have used Schiissler’s Tissue Cell Salts will know the
value of mag. phot, and other salts contained in these waters, and what
a gain it is to find phosphate of magnesium present.

Digitized by

Google

^d^Jr^TyTi^ 0 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. 275

be completed by the middle of May, and a copy of the
result I shall be happy to send to any one who will
send me a post-card application.

II.—On thb Physiological and Therapeutical Action
of Harrogate Mineral Waters.

This is a very wide subject, and can only be properly
investigated by a careful study of the influence of these
waters in health and disease, and a detailed one of the
action of each constituent in the healthy. That the
waters act according to the law of similars, similia
similibus curentur , I have no doubt. Perhaps I might
briefly say that the law of similars is that medicines or
drugs given to healthy people produce certain symptoms
of ill-health, and that the medicines causing such
symptoms will, if given in a smaller dose, cure a
diseased person suffering from similar symptoms. I
have seen an attack of gout come on whilst drinking the
waters, and heard of several such cases. Dr. Myrtle
tells us in his interesting work on the waters,* that “ It
is no unfrequent occurrence to find that, even under the
best advice and strictest care, patients get wrong whilst
drinking all mineral waters; sometimes they seem to
develop the evil that may happen to be lurking in the
system, as that a bilious, or gouty or rheumatic subject
becomes, for a time, more bilious, gouty or rheumatic
with each dose of the water, and it requires prompt and
judicious steps to be taken so as to bring, as it were,
good out of evil.” The same effect, he tells us,t is
produced in some cases by the baths. Those who
have studied the action of medicines on the healthy,
and seen the aggravations in patients arising from too
large a dose of the homoeopathic medicines, will see at
once that we have here a true example of an aggravation
arising from the mineral waters operating in obedience
to the law of similars. I know some medical men will
argue that this is not so, and that the gout, etc, were
already in the system, and the water only brought out
what was already there. This I fully admit, for it only
proves my contention that, owing to the waters acting
homoeopathically, they aggravate the disease which is
already there, instead of curing it. Hence the im-

* Harrogate Mineral Waters, by Dr. Myrtle, 18G‘J p. 6.
t Ibid. Page G.

T—2

Digitized by

Google

276 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. ^bS^SS^Hm!

portance of measuring the dose according to the
oondition of the patient, and decreasing the quantity
when there are any signs of aggravation, or stopping
the drinking of the water altogether for a time, or
ordering a different kind of water. But further I find
Dr. Myrtle says in the same book,* that the waters act
“ as a specific—I speak of its specific action, because I
am satisfied that I have observed effects produced by it
which I have never seen follow with such uniformity
the administration of any other remedial measures, and
because I am convinced that in certain cases it cures,
upon a principle, as special or peculiar to it as is that
principle which gives quinine its anti-periodic character,
and entitles that alkaloid to rank as a specific against
diseases, observing in their course marked periods of
exacerbation and remission; this specific action is
manifested in the control it exercises over various
cutaneous diseases.”

Here Dr. Myrtle tells us that the waters act upon a
principle as special or peculiar to them as quinine does
in ague. If we turn to the writings of Hahnemann, we
find that what first led him to reflect on the law of
similars, enunciated by Hippocratesf over 2,000 years
before, was the peculiar way in which cinchona bark,
of which quinine is the alkaloid, caused symptoms in
the healthy similar to ague, with marked periods of
exacerbations and remissions. He experimented with other
medicines, and found that in every case the medicine
which produced symptoms similar to those in disease
cured those diseases. From these experiments, repeated
over and over again, he deduced the law of similars,
which even Dr. Lauder Brunton admits is true in some
cases. Homoeopathy is not a new science. It is over
2,000 years since Hippocrates first enunciated the law,
and over 100 years since it became an established truth
and an unerring guide. Now, thousands of physicians
in England, America, Australia, and the Continent,
believe and know that the law is true, not only in some
cases, but in every case susceptible of being cured by
medicine. It is to me, and I am sure it will be to all
homoeopathic physicians, very interesting to find that

1 * Ib id. Page 21.

See Dr. Sharp’s Essays on Medicine, published by Leath and Ross, p.3.

Digitized by ^ooQle

^ewf^UlSs? 10 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. 277

Dr. Myrtle is convinced that there is a principle in the
action of these waters which is specific in its nature,
and our only regret is that Dr. Myrtle does not study
the law of similars, in which he would find a full
•explanation of this principle, which, so long ago as 1867,
he recognised as characterising the action of the waters.

Another question in the action of these mineral
waters is whether they act chemically, or in what way
<lo they act ? Dr. OlHver, in writing on the action of
chloride of sodium (our natrum muriaticum) discusses the
question very fully. He argues that it has a chemical,
or perhaps I ought to say physical, action, not by
causing direct chemical change, but by increasing the
quantity of chloride of sodium, —a constituent already
present in the blood and tissues—and thus increasing
tissue change, and an increased elimination of urea.
He quotes authorities to prove these statements, and
I find that our homoeopathic colleague, Dr. Kranz,
makes similar observations in writing on the Wiesbaden
waters. This, probably, is the reason of the benefit
patients say they derive from large doses of the old
sulphur well, which contains 848 grains of natrum mur.
to the gallon. But if this action is continued too
long, we find, instead of a beneficial action, that we have
poisonous effects brought on. This, too, is borne out by
Dr. Myrtle’s observations,* for he tells us that “the
general action of this water is decidedly weakening, and
a common complaint among those who have taken it
either too long or in too great a quantity, is a feeling of
being pulled down, or good for nothingness.”

Whilst fully agreeing with what has been written on
large doses of the waters, I am convinced from experience
that we can attain these results without the lowering
effect caused by repeated large doses. Dr. Kranz points
out that the waters may be abused, but if taken accord¬
ing to the law of similars they have a curative action,
without any lowering result. The waters do not act
chemically, but as an irritant, or some might prefer to
call it a physical action. Hahnemann called it a dyna¬
mic force. Electricity acts as an irritant. A crumb of
bread irritates the throat, causing a severe attack of
coughing. How small the irritation, and yet how pro-

♦ Ibid. Page 21.

Digitized by ^ooQle

278 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE.

found the result. The more the action of medicines is
thought out, and watched in the patient, the clearer
it will become that they act as irritants or dynami¬
cally. Their effect in some cases is altogether out
of proportion to the dose. It is not the large quanti¬
ties which are taken that produce the result, but the
selection of the one which is specific to the disease. Any
one interested in the dynamic action of medicines should
read Dr. J. C. Burnett’s little book on Natrum Muriati-
cum (chloride of sodium ) as a test of the doctrine of drug
dynamization. There is, however, another important
factor to be taken into consideration in prescribing these
waters, and that is the water itself. As pointed out by
Dr. Lauder Brunton,* water is a most powerful solvent
of the waste tissues of the body, and has been always
found beneficial if taken in sufficient quantities to
enable a patient to get rid of the waste material. People
as a rule drink too little water, and what water they do
drink they take at the wrong time. This difficulty is
easily got over by selecting a water which, whilst it
contains the salts that will benefit the patient, does not
contain them in too large quantities. That is one of the
great advantages of Harrogate over other mineral
waters. We have here various waters (over eighty), each
containing salts or iron, or both combined in various
combinations and in varying degrees of concentration,
so that if the patient requires a large quantity of the
salts for a few days he can take the old sulphur, strong
sulphur, mild sulphur, &c .; or, if he requires less salts,
he can take the magnesia, Starbeck, No. 36, or Harlow
Carr water, without diminishing the quantity of water
taken ; or, if he requires a saline chalybeate, he can take
the Kissengen, Alexandra, Tewitt, &c.; or, if he wants an
astringent chalybeate with saline components, he can
take the chloride of iron water. Thus, we have every
class of water, in almost every degree of concentration,
varying from 9.8 grains to the gallon to 1047 grains.

All students of homoeopathy know that the action of
calcium, or calcarea, as we call it, is useful in enlarged
glands, scrofulous, tubercular and rachitic affections,
diseases of the skin, &c. Barium salts are useful in
scrofula, diseases of the circulatory organs, apoplexy.

* Cavendish Lecture. British Medical Journal , June, 1891.

Digitized by ^ooQle

MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. 279

especially in old people. We find Dr. Olliver recom¬
mends both calcium and barium salts for the same
diseases in which for 100 years they have been used by
homoeopaths, and in the case of the latter he quotes
Dr. Flint, of Scarborough, the homoeopathic physician,
who was led to the use of barium in a case of abdominal
aneurism by a careful study of the law of similars.

1 have not space to go more fully into the action of
the various ingredients. We must, however, remember
that we have to manipulate with these salts in a com¬
plex form, and we must not be too much occupied with
their individual component parts, or we shall lose sight
of their action as a whole. We must also remember
that they are running waters, compounded by nature
herself, and cannot be imitated by art or science. 1
have no doubt this increases their dynamic action. 1
think it is evident that they act on the patient according
to the law of similars, and that the careful study of this
law in connection with the known ingredients will lead
to the most brilliant results. People must not, however,
expect too much, nor to be cured in too short a time.
Failure will at times occur, however careful the pre¬
scribing may be done. As to the dose, this will neces¬
sarily have to be decided specially in each case, as it is
impossible to lay down any rules.

I will give a list of some of the diseases in which the
waters are found beneficial, and in which I believe that
they act in accordance with the law of similars.

1. Skin diseases in every form, including ringworm.

2. Functional diseases of the stomach, liver, and kid¬
neys, including gall stones and calculous formations.

3. Gout, rheumatism, lumbago, sciatica, neuralgia, &c.

4. Nervous exhaustion and general debility from worry,
business troubles and over work. Brain-fag, &c.

5. Scrofula, and glandular affections.

6. Anaemia*

7. Chronic bronchitis. (Dr. Bamsbotham, of Leeds,
pointed out to me the beneficial effects of the waters on
people suffering from chronic bronchitis, and I have had
opportunities of verifying his observation).

8. Certain forms of consumption.

9. Diseases of women. (As pointed out by Dr. Kranz,
chloride of sodium has a special curative action in these
cases).

Digitized by LjOOQle

280 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE.

10. Diseases induced by tropical climates and malaria.

11. Cancer . I have studied cancer and tumours for
many years, and I find that they receive great benefit
from the waters and baths. The cases must be properly
selected, for all do not obtain benefit. It is known that
in America many springs are reported to cure cancer,
and it is said that every one of the springs contain silica.
That silica has cured cancer in subjects who have the
silica symptoms, as shown by the law of similars, is
true, and whether it is the presence of silica which has
cured these cases of cancer I cannot say. This I do
know, that I have seen patients suffering from cancer
improve very much whilst under treatment here. Dr.
Myrtle* gives a very interesting case of cancer which
was very much benefited by taking the mild sulphur
water, which contains 2.4 grains of silica to the gallon.

12. Obesity and Corpulence have often been bene¬
fited by the waters.

III.— Massage in Corpulence and other Diseases.

Speaking of corpulence leads me to say a word or two
about the treatment of this disease. Though generally
not looked upon as a disease, from a careful study of
obesity I am certain that it is a departure from health.
It is a well known fact, that stout people bear acute
disease far worse than thin ones, and that it is much
more difficult to cure chronic diseases in stout people.
If this is so, every pound weight above the average is a

{ >ound on the wrong side of the scale, and ought to be
ooked upon as a disease of a more or less serious kind
according to the amount of weight added to the bulk. I
do not therefore wonder that people who get too fat are
anxious to throw off their burden. This, under proper
treatment, can be accomplished with perfect safety to
the patient, though it is not wise to do so except under
the direct supervision of the medical man. Neither is it
wise to attempt to do so too rapidly. The increase
comes on gradually, and if health is to be preserved the
decrease must also be brought about gradually.

How, then, can this be accomplished ?

1st. By careful attention to diet, which must be begun
and carried out on a fixed principle, varied from time

* Ibid. Page 78.

Digitized by ^ooQle

MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. 281

to time to meet the requirements of the patients.
Patients are not machines that can just be put to
orders, but have thoughts, feelings, pleasures, and so
forth, which must be taken into consideration, and
whilst a suitable diet is prescribed, it must be regulated
with all thoughtful consideration for the peculiarities of
the patient. If this is not done, the whole life of the
patient becomes a burden, and the cure is worse than
the disease.

2nd. The question of exercise is most important, and
again here the patient has to be considered. Some
patients cannot take exercise, and then we have a
splendid remedy—one of the best that has been intro¬
duced for years—in massage.

3rd. Massage properly done by a well trained masseur
or masseuse, is one of the best means of getting rid of
superabundant fat that we possess. So much has been
written on massage, that I need not here praise its
excellency. All schools of medicines are happily agreed
here.

4th. Suitable baths are very useful, and some of the
waters, if drunk in not too large a quantity, are very
helpful. Thus without putting the patient to a treat¬
ment, which in some cases is little better than a
punishment, patients may get rid of their superabundant
fat, and return home from Harrogate after a few weeks
much better in health and spirits.

Other diseases in which massage is useful axe,
rheumatism, gout, neuralgia in all its forms, including
lumbago and sciatica, paralysis, writer’s cramp, some
forms of indigestion, constipation, emaciation where
there is no acute disease, consumption when there are
no acute and febrile symptoms, and certain forms of
bronchitis.

IV.—Climate of Harrogate.

This paper would not be complete without a few words
on the climate. The season is generally from June to
October, but patients begin to come about Easter. During
the last few years patients have begun to winter here. I
have had patients here all through the winter, and they
have not complained of it being colder than other and
similar places. It is a dry, bright atmosphere, and the
walks about are so many and various that visitors have
no lack of choice. The altitude of Harrogate, being

Digitized by ^ooQle

282 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE.

over 400 feet above the sea level, gives it a mountainous
atmosphere well charged with oxygen and ozone. The
surrounding hills, which, however, are not too near to
throw their rain down on to us, break the various winds
from all quarters. These hills by attracting the rain
leave Harrogate a comparatively dry place. It was
found that, for inland watering places, whilst the average
rain-fall of nine of them was 36.2 inches with an average
of 179 rainy days, Harrogate during the same period
had only 38.4 inches of rain which fell on 156 days.
Taking 13 coast watering places it was found they had
an average of 181 rainy days, whilst Harrogate had only
158 during the corresponding period. Harrogate may,
therefore, be regarded as a dry bracing atmosphere.
Patients sometimes find that the atmosphere
is too bracing the first few days, and have
thought of departing on this account, but if they are
only persuaded to have a little patience and take plenty
of rest, they find that they soon begin to recruit, and in
a fortnight or three weeks the climate suits them well.
Harrogate being placed so high is well suited for all
diseases requiring a pure bracing atmosphere. The
beautiful even walks on the Stray are well adapted for
people suffering from heart disease, and people who
cannot walk fast, or up hills. It is specially useful in
bronchitis, and also in some forms of consumption.
Dr. Myrtle* tells us that “ the air of Harrogate also acta
as a tonic to the relaxed and congested mucous mem¬
brane, thereby lessening the secretion from its surface,
much in the same way as the air of Cannes does. Many
of my patients have drawn my attention to the similarity
of the two places as regards climatic conditions and the
corresponding results.” Thus many people who are now
sent on the Continent, at much personal inconvenience,
away from their families, and at great cost, might be
cured at Harrogate. My experience is that Harrogate
is not as cold during the winter as other places in York¬
shire, and people who have wintered here, tell me they
have found the same, and speak favourably of it.

Y.— The Baths.

The baths are most important in the cure of skin
diseases, gout, rheumatism, diseases of the liver, etc.,

* Ibid. Page 62.

Digitized by

ff5£? y i MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. 283

especially in their chronic forms. The Corporation have
fitted up baths by which the sulphur water can be
administered in the form of slipper baths, Aix douche,
hot douches, needle baths, etc., and there are also non-
medicated baths, such as Turkish, vapour, and plain
water slipper baths, liver packs, etc. Just now the
Corporation are beginning to build a new suite of baths,
which, when completed, will supply all the requirements
for four times the number of patients which we have had
up to the present. The number of visitors who come
every year to Harrogate to drink the waters and take the
baths, has been estimated at between 60,000 to 100,000.
During the full season, which extends from June to the
end of October, it is astonishing how many go every
morning to drink the sulphur and other waters. From
1,000 to 1,500 have been known to drink them between
seven o’clock and nine in the morning.

I will now give a brief description of the baths.

The Turkish Bath .—At present this is only available
for gentlemen at the Montpellier Baths. In the new
baths there will be accommodation for both ladies and
gentlemen. Ladies can, however, get a Turkish bath
at the hydropathic establishments. Turkish baths are
so well known that I need not give a description here.
I would point out that at the Montpellier Baths, the
special feature is that the bather is washed down with a
sulphur needle bath. This combines the beneficial
action of the Turkish bath with the medicinal action of
the sulphur water.

The Vapour Bath is also provided for the patients, and
is available at the Victoria Baths for both ladies and
gentlemen. The vapour bath consists in the application
of hot steam to the whole body, except the head, which
is outside, differing in this respect from the Bussian
bath. The patient is enclosed in a box, comfortably
seated, with the head outside. Then the steam is
turned on and the patient remains in from 15 to 20
minutes. Arrangements are also made so that the
steam can be applied locally to an arm or leg. This is
very useful in cases of swollen knees, elbows, &c. After
the vapour bath, the patient is washed down with a
sulphur needle bath.

Electric Steam Douche .—The Corporation have pur¬
chased the electric steam douche, used so successfully

Digitized by ^ooQle

284 MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE.

for very many years by Mr. Hardy. I hope they will
soon have it in working order, for I have seen it produce
very satisfactory results in cases of swollen joints,
diseases of bones, Ac. I believe that it will become a
very great therapeutic agent in disease, especially as we
shall be able to use it in conjunction with the sulphur
water.

Russian Bath .—At present the Corporation have not
a Russian bath, but I hope in the new baths there will
be one fitted up. They can, however, be obtained at
the hydropathic establishments. I have found the
Russian bath very useful in cases of bronchitis, and in
some throat affections.

Sulphur Bath .—The sulphur bath is taken by a
patient in a slipper bath, which is filled with hot
sulphur water. The strength of the sulphur water in
the bath is regulated by the medical directions, and can
be given as a thermal sulphur, a strong sulphur, or a
mild sulphur.

Needle Bath .—This is a most strengthening and
invigorating bath, if properly taken in suitable cases. It
consists of a series of pipes, one above the other, in a
circular form of about a yard and a half in diameter, the
patient standing in the centre. These pipes have an
innumerable number of small holes through which the
sulphur water passes to the patient. Besides these pipes
are also arranged some of a larger diameter, so that a
stream of the water can be turned on any particular part
of the body. By folding the hands in the form of a cup
and letting this stream descend into them, and holding
them near, say to the liver, a stream of water can be
made to run over it without any of the bad effects which
might arise, were it to strike the body over the liver. In
cancer of the breast, I have found this a very soothing
application, when proper cave is taken to prevent the
stream striking the breast. This can be avoided by
holding one hand over the breast whilst the other is held
just outside and below, so that the water can strike
against it, and run on to the breast. There is also an
arrangement admitting of the water being sent over the
patient in the form of a wave, which is much milder in
its action than the stream; or again the sulphur water
may descend in the form of a shower. There is an
ascending douche connected with this bath. By a very

Digitized by ^ooQle

MINERAL WATERS AT HARROGATE. 285

ingenious contrivance, the floor of the bath can be
lowered or raised to suit the convenience of those who
are tall or of short stature. The needle bath is supplied
with sulphur and plain water, and the temperature can
be raised or lowered as may be directed. Thermometers
are inserted in the pipes, so that the temperature is
always exactly known.

Sitz Baths .—These are also provided and can be used
with either sulphur or plain water, and either still or
running.

Aix Douche .—Perhaps the most important improve¬
ment in the way of baths is the one called an
Aix douche. * The patient is taken into a large
warm room and seated on a reclining stool, with
a back rest. The water runs down the back in a gentle
stream, whilst the attendant, with a hose so arranged
as to throw the water on the part of the body required,
works the muscles with his hands. He begins with the
feet, then the legs, and so on until he has gone over the
whole of the body, giving particular attention to those
joints which are inflamed, or muscles which are painful.
After the patient has been massaged in this way he is
placed in a needle bath and the temperature of the
water reduced, when he is conveyed back again to his
couch, where he is warmly wrapped up and allowed to
cool. The temperature of the bath room and of the
water is kept at a regulated heat, so that there is not
any danger of the patient catching cold. No one ought
to take one of these baths excepting under medical
orders, since, in cases of a weak heart, they are very
fatiguing and may, under some circumstances, do more
harm than good.

Liver Back .—For people who suffer from congestion of
the liver a mustard bran pack is very useful. It is
applied as follows :—The patient is taken into a warm
room and after undressing is covered with warm
wrappers. The attendant has ready a large poultice,
made with mustard bran, which is wrapped round the
liver and stomach. The patient lies still for 15 or 20
minutes, just according to its action on him. It is then

• The Corporation have engaged Mon*. P. Gaillard, for nearly
twenty years Masseur at the Bath Aix-les-Bains. to give the Aix
douche at the Victoria Baths, Harrogate. Great improvements in the
administration of this bath have been introduced.

Digitized by ^ooQle

286 MORE ABOUT AESTHETICS. Mg &S^lS^i!ms.

taken off and a needle bath is taken. After which he
can either lie wrapped up in warm wrappers or dress at
once.

Starbeck .—There is at Starbeck a swimming bath
filled with an alkaline sulphur water, which is very
pleasant and soothing to the skin. No one suffering
from disease is allowed to enter it. The water is regu¬
larly changed and kept at an equal temperature. There
are slipper baths for patients.

Harlow Baths .—These baths are very useful in certain
forms of skin diseases, in rheumatism and gout. They
are alkaline sulphur waters.

Medical Uses of the Baths are so many and various
that I do not intend here to enter upon them. I have
briefly described the action of the waters and given a list
of the diseases for which they are so eminently useful,
and I need only add that in all cases where the internal
use of the waters has been found to be beneficial the
baths are equally helpful in restoring health. The new
analysis has thrown some light on the necessity for a
careful selection of baths. I have found in some cases
that where the patient could not retain the water the
baths have cured the disease.

In other cases, patients, who could not bear to take
the baths, have received great benefit from drinking
some of the waters. In prescribing, therefore, either the
baths or the waters, the doctor has to take into con¬
sideration not only the disease but the patient, and this
involves the previous history of the disorder and some
knowledge of his constitution. In fact, we must ever
bear in mind that we have to treat the patient, not the
disease. If we can set the patient right the disease will
vanish.

Kingswood House, Harrogate.

April, 1898.

MORE ABOUT ANAESTHETICS*

By Henry Mason, M.D., M.R.C.S.

The discussion upon anaesthetics at the Southport Con¬
gress, a report of which appeared in the December number

* This paper was written as a supplement to the discussion at the
Congress, and should have appeared in an earlier number of the
Review, but, owing to pressure upon our space, its publication had to
be postponed.— Eds.

Digitized by ^ooQle

S^, T |fa7nSe thiC M 0 RE ABOUT anesthetics.

287

of the Review , cannot fail, from the importance of the
subject, to be most interesting to every medical practi¬
tioner. The long vexed question of ether versus chloroform
seems to be as far from settlement as ever, and probably so
long as it remains a question of one versus the other, it
will remain unsettled. It should be recognised that,
although there may be a large number, perhaps a
majority of cases, in which one will answer as well as the
other, still there is a large class in which careful con¬
sideration is required in the selection of ether or chloro¬
form, and in which one of them may be distinctly
indicated in preference to the other. Ether, as
far as statistics go, is undoubtedly the safer agent
of the two, but as Dr. Day pointed out it is in¬
admissible in cases of bronchial, pulmonary, and renal
disease, also in operations upon the head and neck, on
account of the hyperemia it induces in those parts, and
in the case of operations upon the mouth and tongue
on account of the difficulty of keeping the patient
ansBsthetised, and allowing the surgeon or dentist at the
same time to proceed rapidly and continuously with the
operation. When all such cases as these have to be
operated upon whilst under the influence of chloroform
it is manifest that any comparison in the way of
statistics is almost useless. If such cases were operated
upon under the influence of ether there is little doubt its
death-rate would be considerably increased. Moreover,
the deaths caused by ether are not always so con¬
spicuously the result of the anaesthetic as in the case of
chloroform. When the patient dies from chloroform
administration he does so immediately on the operating
table, but with ether this is exceptional, and the patient
may die a few days after, and the death is attributed to
pulmonary complications, perhaps, whereas the ether
was the primary cause. A case of this kind with which
I am acquainted occurred in Mr. Lawson Tait’s practice.
The patient developed oedema and congestion of the
lungs immediately after operation and died on the third
day.

On the other side there are many cases to which
chloroform is unsuitable and dangerous, and which
would be perfectly safe with ether. Some of these,
unfortunately, it appears at present impossible to
diagnose beforehand. The patient dies after inhaling

Digitized by

288

MORE ABOUT ANAESTHETICS.

the drag only a few minutes, it may be. No patho*
logical conditions are discovered to account for this
untoward result, and we put it down to that convenient
cloak for our ignorance, idiosyncrasy of the individual.
I suspect, however, that if this idiosyncrasy exist, which
I doubt, some of the fatal results attributed to it would
have been prevented, if it had been possible to give
greater care to the preparation of the patient and the
selection of the anesthetic, and in others, a careful
post mortem , including microscopic examination of the
cardiac muscle, would have revealed something to
account for the sudden death. Of course, these remarks
would not apply where too much chloroform has been
given.

The cases which seem specially unsuitable for the
administration of chloroform, include certain kinds of
heart disease, especially the fatty heart, if it can be
diagnosed beforehand, and according to Richardson,
dilatation of the right side of the heart with varicose
veins. In the latter form, ether would be equally
contra-indicated on account of the pulmonary compli¬
cations which might ensue, and personally, I should be
disposed to make use of a mixture, or give chloroform
first and afterwards ether. In all cases in which fatty
degeneration or infiltration of the heart was suspected
or in which, from the history of the patient as regards
habits of excessive smoking or drinking, any cardiac
weakness may be suspected, ether should without hesita¬
tion have the preference. Chloroform seems perfectly
safe in simple valvular disease of the heart, whether
aortic or mitral. I have given it many times in such
cases, and they seem to have taken it without the least
ill effect. In mitral stenosis it should always be given,
for with ether the risk of pulmonary oedema and con¬
gestion would be very considerable. According to Sir
James Paget, chloroform is badly borne by dyspeptics,
and in such ether should be preferred. The distension
of the stomach and intestines with flatulence presses
upon the heart interfering with its action, and under
such circumstances the danger of administering chloro¬
form is obvious.

I must confess to considerable scepticism as to the
additional safety which is said to be gained by the
preliminary injection of atropin and morphia. Of

Digitized by

Google

nSw thiC MORE about anesthetics.

289

course I admit the advantages in the way of diminished
salivation, vomiting, &c., and having to administer less
of the anaesthetic. Moreover Schafer’s theory in
recommending atropin to depress the influence of the
pneumogastric, is certainly a good one and supported by
many facts, but does there not seem to be unnecessary
risk, especially with chloroform (and it is with chloroform
that the cardiac action of atropin is most needed) in
adding £ grain of morphia. Alone, the morphia is a
very sufficient narcotic and depressant, and if when the
anaesthetic is given there should be failure of the
respiration or action of the heart, the danger seems
materially increased. The chloroform or ether is rapidly
volatile and will soon be eliminated, but not so the
morphia, its narcotic deadening influence upon the
system is more lasting and will greatly militate against
efforts at resuscitation.

In the administration of chloroform , as was emphasized
by several speakers at the Congress, the best method
seems to be to give it boldly at the outset, and my own
experience is fully in accord with this. I have certainly
more often seen dangerous symptoms, such as excessive
slowness and feebleness of the respiration and pulse,
arise when it has been given cautiously and timidly. If
vomiting threaten, I still continue to push the chloroform
vigorously, and the retching, as a rule, rapidly subsides.

In the treatment of collapse, it is very important to
know and have one’s mind made up as to what course
should be adopted. I have no intention of discussing
the different methods which may be adopted, but shall
mention two only, of which I have had practical
experience. (1.) The best and most efficient I believe,
is slapping the patient’s chest with a wet towel. As soon
as collapse is noticed, the chest should be laid bare (and
such attire should always be adopted in the adminis¬
tration of anaesthetics, so that this can be done
immediately) the tongue seized with forceps and drawn
forward, and the surgeon having dipped the end of a
towel in water, very hot preferably, slaps the chest with
it, not a gentle slap but he should bring the towel down
with all the strength of which he is capable, just as if
he were using a threshing flail. If the treatment is
successful, the patient will give a sudden inspiration,
a nd the slap should then be repeated every four or five

Y ol. 37, No. 5. u

Digitized by

Google

290 MORE ABOUT AESTHETICS. M ^Jw®Sfoy

seconds until the respiration becomes normal. I first
saw this method adopted with success by Professor
George Buchanan, and I have repeated it once myself
with the same satisfactory result. This was the only real
case of syncope I have had in a series of about 650
cases. Ether was given in about 50 or 60 of these,
mixtures in a few others, and chloroform in the rest.
(2) The inversion treatment is usually very effectual,
and if the slapping treatment failed, I should without
hesitation adopt it. I have partially applied it several
times when there has seemed a tendency to chloroform
syncope, as indicated by abnormal slowness of pulse and
respiration. The head may be extended and thrown
back over the end of the table, or the head and shoulders
depressed over the side, and the loot of the table raised
at the same time. If the patient be of light weight, he
or she may be lifted bodily and thus inverted. Some
surgeons speak highly of turning the patient to the prone
position and throwing the head and body over the knee, so
that the upper half of the body hangs directly downwards,
at a right angle to the lower extremities. The principle
of all is the same, and gives us a clue, I think, to the
pathology of chloroform syncope. Many facts point to
cerebral anaemia as being one of the effects of chloroform
inhalation, and it is probably an excessive degree of
this anaemia, affecting particularly the medullary
centres, combined with the almost complete paralysis of
the nervous system, which induces syncope. There is
no doubt the danger in giving chloroform is much
increased by having the head, and more especially the
head and shoulders, raised upon a pillow.

For the prevention and treatment of vomiting
I have, during the last three or four years,
when I have had the opportunity, made use of
apomorphia and found it to answer most admirably.
Vomiting in the majority of cases in which I have used
it has been entirely prevented, and the few cases in
which it has occurred have been dental ones in which a
quantity of blood has been swallowed. I use the first
centesimal dilution, adding one drop of this to each
half-ounce of water and giving teaspoonful doses every
hour or two before and after the operation, not usually
giving more than five or six doses altogether.

For the cough, which is often very troublesome, after

Digitized by ^ooQle

MORE ABOUT ANAESTHETICS.

291

an anaesthetic, especially ether, I have found phosphorus
2 more generally useful than any other remedy. The
first case in which I discovered its efficacy was an
abdominal section, where it was especially desirable to
give relief. The cough was dry, hard and frequent, and
had resisted several remedies. The first dose of phos¬
phorus relieved and a few more completely cured it.

Since writing the above I have received a letter from
Mr. Charles Martin, M.B., who administers all anaes¬
thetics that are required in Mr. Lawson Tait’s practice.
I give the following extracts which, coming from the pen
of such an experienced anaesthetist, will be found most
interesting and instructive:—

“ In two-thirds of his (Mr. Tait's) cases I employ a
mixture of two parts of ether and one part of chloroform
administered in a Clover’s inhaler. In the remainder
of the cases I give pure chloroform.

“ The general rules which guide us in the selection are
the following:—

“ (a) In diseases of the lung such as chronic bronchitis
(and of coarse acute), phthisis, emphysema, oedema, &c.,
and in pleurisy, we give pure chloroform.

“ (b) In diseased conditions of the kidney we give pure
chloroform.

“ (c) In very severe operations such as hysterectomy,
splenectomy and nephrectomy, we give pure chloroform.

“ (d) In children under 15 and in old people over 50,
we give pure chloroform, and between 45 and 50, we
give an increased amount of chloroform mixed with the
ether.

“ In all other cases we use the mixture referred to.

“ Pure chloroform we give on one thickness of a towel
(the side of a towel being pulled through a finger ring
and so shaped as a mask).

“ Personally I believe that chloroform is the safest
anaesthetic in abdominal work, although the immediate
results are perhaps less favourable, that is to say death
on the table may be more frequent. Ether and a mixture
are less fatal immediately, but much more fatal
ultimately, as I have seen several deaths from pulmonary
congestion and oedema, acute bronchitis, &c., after the
administration of ether and never after pure chloroform.”

Leicester.

17—2

Digitized by ^ooQle

292

ANGINA PECTORIS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1, 1893.

A SUGGESTIVE CASE OF ANGINA PECTORIS.

By P. Proctor, L.R.C.P. & M.R.C.S.

About the end of January, 1892, I was asked to
prescribe for an active man of some 64 or 65 years, a
butcher, of previous good health, who had been seized
one morning on walking at his usual pace up a slight
hill with distressing pain about the heart, causing him
to stop for a time until he was somewhat recovered.
He returned home very leisurely, any quickening of his
pace inducing a return of the paroxysm. On examina¬
tion the pain was found to have extended a little to the
right as far as the sternum, and on the left to the
shoulder and down the arm It was of the usual
agonizing kind, compelling instant cessation of all
motion and attended with great mental distress. On
using the stethoscope nothing abnormal could be
detected in the heart or pericardium, and the patient’s
health was in no wise disturbed beyond the pain
experienced during the paroxysms which continued to-
visit him several times a day when going up stairs or
when handling his cleaver. Occasionally, but not often,
he would have an attack when quite at rest. Nothing
that I could gather of his immediate antecedents could
throw any light upon its causation beyond possibly the
very cold weather then prevailing. His family was
informed of the dangerous nature of the complaint, and
all care was exercised to avoid such causes as were likely to
induce an attack. He was placed upon such treatment as
seemed homceopathically indicated, but as the interest of
the case does not centre in the medicinal treatment at this
stage, but rather in the evolution and course of the
disease, no detailed reference to the medicines employed
seems called for. Suffice it to say that although the
medicines were selected with the greatest care and given
a fair time to operate in, nothing seemed to have any
decided curative action. The attacks did not gain
ground, but I cannot honestly say that they were
substantially mitigated. This went on for about six
weeks. Nitro-glycerinc and aviyl were not resorted to as
palliatives, alcohol being found sufficient to afford some
relief. But one day whilst talking over the case with

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1, 1893.

ANGINA PECTORIS.

293

the patient’s wife, she expatiated on the sufferings he
endured, and said they were quite as bad if not worse
than what he had undergone three or four years ago
during a long attack of sciatica. This hint was enough
for me as I had previously been much exercised in mind
by the probability that many cases of angina pectoris
were of gouty origin. So the medicinal venue was
changed, and discarding symptomatic indications an
attempt was made to reach the possible dyscrasia that
lay at the root of the whole affair. A strict anti-arthritic
dietary was enjoined and the medicinal treatment more
generalised, colchicum , mere . sol . and potass . iod. being
chiefly employed. This treatment was continued for
some ten days, the paroxysms occurring in much the
same frequency all the time. But one morning to my
great delight, I found my patient complaining of being
hardly able to stand from an unmistakable gouty
inflammation that had localised itself in one of his great
toes. The joint was carefully wrapped up in cotton
wadding and treated as tenderly as possible. All
medicine was stopped lest interference might induce a
transference elsewhere, and the disease was allowed to run
a slow and natural course in the hope that the heart
would be relieved thereby. The hope was well founded,
for, when the gouty joint was fully developed, the
Anginal paroxysms absolutely ceased, and from that time
till the present there has not been the slightest recurrence.
The patient’s health has been good and I have not had to
prescribe for him. As showing the constitutional
nature of the case, it may be stated that one of his sons
has lately been under treatment for a pretty severe
Attack of sciatica.

Such a fortunate termination to what threatened to
be a very painful and dangerous illness could not be
passed over without many reflections arising in my
mind. In the first place, considering that angina
pectoris affects predominantly men rather than women,
that it is an affection essentially of the latter period of
life, and that those who are affected belong to
that class more likely to be the subjects of gout, there is
An a priori probability that this disease may be at the
bottom of a certain number of cases, as, to my mind, it
undoubtedly was in this case. It may be said that it
was one of pseudo-angina, but if so, it was impossible

Digitized by ^ooQle

294

ANGINA PECTORIS.

Monthly Homce spathic
Review, May 1,1898.

for me to distinguish it by any means in my power from
other cases that have gone on to a fatal termination.
From the rational side it does not seem at all improbable
that gout may affect the cardiac plexus as well as the
cceliac, supposing the angina to be really, as I take it to
be, a neurosis, for it is established that all forms of
tissue degeneration may be found post mortem without
any antecedent angina, and conversely, death may
take place during a paroxysm without any notice¬
able lesion. Therefore it may be well to entertain
the possibility that in addition to other causes
the existence of gout is a potential one, and may, I
believe, be a more general one than has hitherto been
dreamt of, and consequently we shall do well to give our
patients the benefit of suitable treatment based on this
supposition. In the second place, I would advert to the
great advantage that treatment directed to the consti¬
tutional state must have over that which seeks to cover
only the obvious symptoms. It seems to be merely a
chance where a uratosis, to use Roberts’ term, may
localise itself, and whilst the disease is a pathological
unity it may excite a neuralgia in the sensory nerves or
a paresis in the motor—a vertigo in the brain, an
inflammation in the joint, a sore throat, or a catarrh,
all calling on merely symptomatic indications for a host
of different medicines. The discussion of this point
involves many questions that are not here intended to be
considered, but in the case related the most careful
symptomatic selection of the medicines was futile, and I
am not able to assign any exact value even to the latter
part of the treatment during which the happy metastasis
to the foot occurred. I am inclined, however, to think
that the vital forces were thereby roused to throw out
the disease from the centre to the periphery. But as
previously stated, the interest of the case lies in its evo¬
lution and course rather than its medicinal treatment,
and it is with a view to the larger and more general
bearings oetiologically that it is brought forward, and
with the hope that the suggestions here advanced may
prove useful in other cases that may possibly fall into
the same category. In addition to the interesting rela¬
tion of the angina to the gouty state, this case illustrates
the difficulty of curing a local disease where it is
dependent on a constitutional condition. Had the

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HomcBop&thic
Review, May 1, 1893.

GENERALISED VACCINIA.

295

symptoms been due strictly to some local derangement
the probability is the homceopathically selected medicines
would have proved of more value than they were in this
case.

Birkenhead.

GENERALISED VACCINIA.

By Bernard Thomas, M.B., C.M.

The relation between vaccination and small-pox has
been satisfactorily demonstrated, and there now exists
little doubt that the former is only a milder variety
of the latter. The virus has been modified and rendered,
not only comparatively innocuous, but even a useful
agent by conferring immunity against that serious and
fatal disease. I may refer especially to the experiments
of Dr. Thomas Whiteside Hime, which are so fully
detailed and illustrated in the British Medical Journal *
This observer successfully inoculated one calf with
variolous lymph, and after its transmission through a
second animal, he transferred the virus to his own arm.
The result was the development of a vesicle such as
might have been produced on the arm of a child with
ordinary lymph and which was unattended by any grave
general symptoms.

The result of a vaccination is governed by two factors;
the lymph and the patient. It depends on the efficacy,
virulence and purity of the virus and on the constitution,
condition, and idiosyncrasy of the child. When proper
precautions are taken, and the source of the lymph is
known to be pure, there is little doubt of the compara¬
tively trifling risk of vaccination. But on the other
hand there is no doubt that some children do take
the inoculation badly, although I have never heard of
any serious harm resulting. I recall two children who
were brought to me at the dispensary (where we do
not vaccinate) in whom the inflammatory process was not
confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the vesicles
but had spread uniformly over the arm and in one child
the skin was red, dry and eczematous; except for this,

* July 16,1892.

Digitized by AjOOQle

296

REVIEWS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1803.

the general disturbance was only trifling, and they soon
recovered. Other medical men have, no doubt, a similar
experience. There was one case, however, to which
these few remarks are introductory, and as I have never
before or since seen such a typical case of generalised
vaccinia, I thought it was worth recording.

W. G., aged three months, was vaccinated in four
places on the left arm. These areas took and developed
vesicles in the usual time. According to the mother's
statement, about nine days after, the arm became
swollen, red, and -other vesicles appeared on it. Later
the right arm presented a similar appearance. Thirteen
days after the vaccination the child was brought to me
covered from head to foot with discretely separated
vesicles, some of them as large as the primary
lesions, and, perhaps, the largest of all on the dorsum of
the left foot. Each was surrounded by an areola and
accompanied with much oedema of the adjacent skin.
The treatment adopted was thuja internally and externally,
before scabbing took place, an ointment of equal parts of
boric ointment and vaseline was used. I think it must
be admitted that the patient was lucky in having been
vaccinated, for as he showed such a susceptibility to the
attenuated virus, what would have been the result if,
at a subsequent date, he had contracted small-pox, a
disease not unknown in the district ?

REVIEWS.

The Medical Annual and Practitioners' Index: A work of
Reference for Medical Practitioners, by numerous Editors
and Contributors. 1898. Eleventh year. Bristol: John
Wright & Co. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.

One of the best testimonies to the appreciation in which
this annual digest of the year’s progress is held is that we
see it on the library shelves of an increasing number of our
medical friends. In a small space, and for a modest sum, a
resume of every interesting or important discovery, and of
every useful fact dwelt upon in current literature, is here
presented to us. It is unnecessary to dwell at length on the
annual as we have sometimes done before, for we believe most
of the copies sold are 44 subscription copies.’* Nevertheless,
if our notice of it should induce any of our friends to

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Hommopatmc
Beriew, May 1,1806.

REVIEWS.

297

subscribe for next year’s issue we are sure they will not
regret it.

The work is opened by an address on “ The Present State
of Therapeutics,” by Professor H. A. Hare, M.D., the present
editor of our plagiarist contemporary, The Therapeutic Gazette .
Professor Hare writes an interesting chapter comparing some
of our present methods and remedies with those of a few
years ago. The 44 Dictionary of New Remedies ” is, as usual,
full of suggestions which will be fresh to most of those who
read the book, and decidedly stale to a small minority of our
professional brethren. As an illustration we may mention a
quotation from The Therapeutic Gazette , which states that 44 as
with many other substances, which in large amount act as
irritants, cantharides acts in small amounts as a stimulant to
epithelial cells,” &c., &c. ! ! The first article in the “Dic¬
tionary” is on Anemonin , under which title we recognise
-an old friend, whose virtues are becoming more widely
known ; two whole pages are devoted to this “ new remedy.”
Copper is brought well to the fore for anaemia and
chorea—and deservedly so. Peroxide of hydrogen is another
remedy deserving more patronage than it receives ; so also is
ouabain in pertussis, introduced by our friend, Dr. Percy
Wilde. His remarks on its value in the Med. Annual of 1889
led us to give the drug an extended trial; so satisfactory have
been the results that we are not surprised to find its praise
echoed from far and near. Time is saved and complications
are prevented by the use of ouabain.

We will only mention two other valuable and timely articles
which cannot be read without profit. The first is on cholera.
The views of the supporters and opponents of quarantine are
olearly stated, and a summary of Dr. George Johnson’s
sensible and successful methods of treatment, as opposed to
the astringent methods so generally adopted, is of especial
value. To us they are of interest as confirming, in a some¬
what crude way, views long advocated in our pages. Dr.
Sisley gives a resume of the Russian epidemic, 1892, and the
instructions issued by the Russian authorities.

The second article to which we allude is one on cholera
infantum. Our space forbids our dwelling upon it, but we
may state that Dr. Meinert’s theory, that this disease is
allied in its origin to sunstroke, furnishes food for much
thought, and deserves the attention of all those who have
work amongst children, especially of the poorer classes. We
again congratulate the editor in chief, and his various dis¬
tinguished collaborateurs on their most recent effort.

Digitized by

298

REVIEWS.

Monthly Homonopethic
Review, May 1,1883,

Verdi*8 Special Diagnosis and Homoeopathic Treatment of Disease,
for Popular Use , imiuding such Functional Disturbances as are
peculiar to Girls and to Maternity. By Tullio de Suzzara-
Verdi, M.D. Philadelphia : Boericke k Tafel. 1898.

This book is, we are told in the preface, an enlargement of
a previous volume, entitled Maternity . We can only
suppose that such works as these meet a need felt by some¬
body, as they continue to appear. This work, which we have
carefully looked over, is neither better nor worse (though a
good deal larger) than most of its fellows. It includes a good
deal, for which medical training, more or less complete, is
required to make it useful. The volume is got up in Messrs.
Boericke k Tafel’s well-known thorough manner. We regret
they do not adopt a different style of binding for such a
manual, instead of making it appear as one of a series with
such a classical work as Dr. Hales’ on Diseases of the Hearty
for instance.

A Compendium of Materia Medica , Therapeutics , and Repertory
of the Digestive System . By Arkell Roger McMichael,
M.D. Philadelphia: Boericke k Tafel. 1892.

The striking personality, if we maybe allowed the expression,
of this volume at once claims for it attention. It is a
ponderous quarto tome of 860 pages, 14 in. by 10J in., and
the arrangement of its letterpress is unique.

The avowed object of Dr. Me Michael’s work is to place in
the hands of the student and physician a comparative study of
the materia medica of the digestive system. With this aim we,
of course, entirely sympathise; how it is accomplished only
the actual use of the book can prove. To eliminate unreliable
material the author has rejected all symptoms, even those of
acknowledged pathogenetic authenticity, which has not hitherto
proved curative. As to the wisdom of this we should respect¬
fully differ from the author; he has, however, left us a mass
of material, formidable in its greatness, and has distinguished
clearly between pathogenetic and clinical symptoms.

The work is arranged in two parts, to each of which a
repertory is attached. In the latter, each symptom may be
found in full. The symptoms are arranged in simple
alphabetical order and under every important word is a reference.
Part I. deals with stomach, appetite, thirst, taste, tongue,
mouth, teeth, nausea, vomiting, eructations, and flatulence.
Part II. embraces stool, rectum, anus, abdomen, hypochondria,
umbilicus, and hypogastrium.

To do justice to this important departure in materia medica
work we must give an example.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1808.

REVIEWS.

3 i&a s.sg’S

.£g- s

- ^ 5 ^ 2 be

iallfcJ a

®.23,c 3

StSffp,

esi-al

SwSJI

w __

i*OI” l 5i!s*. tilUw

^5 __

=aa>5’3 6?sp8fl'3l

llI1sts|s s »J

s«j-3 © * * § . *3

I: o ® ? sSggg

|Jfi«ii28Sa8 , gl

* f-> <s> A .' • 5* -r*a A .

min&n

1?J-i -Jll

« | 'JL.5 a ^ ® d .S' g a .S

S s aT^3.2^ - p*-*-> ««■*-<

o.S « §£•«
C d

«&£Va.2

“f||!|a

Digitized by t^ooQle

300

MEETINGS,

Monthly Homoeopathfie
Review, May 1,1808.

With this brief example we must leave the reader to form a
judgment of his own respecting the completeness of the
manner in which the digestive system materia medica is dealt
with. A very large proportion of Hahnemann’s work, as
related in the chronic diseases, is left out. A good deal more
is supplied, on the other hand, than is given in the Cyclopedia.
The facility with which the work may be used and the sections
compared leaves nothing to be desired. The repertory is full,
the clinical suggestions judicious. The type is large and
good. Although the book is large it is not very unwieldy.

The Twelve Tissue Remedies of Schiissler ; comprising the Theory ,
Therapeutical Application , Materia Medica and a Complete
Repertory of these Remedies. Homceopathically and Bio¬
chemically Considered. By William Boericke, M.D., and
Willis A. Dewey, M.D. Third edition, re-written and
enlarged. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. 1898.

It is but two years and a-half since we had occasion to notice
at some length the second edition of this work. With certain
well-defined qualifications we gladly accepted this work of
Drs. Boericke and Dewey as a useful contribution to our
knowledge of the action of the drugs considered. We pointed
out the necessity, recognised also by the authors, of as soon
as possible confirming and extending the clinical knowledge
already possessed by means of experiments on healthy subjects.
In the case of at least one remedy (kali jdws.), this has now
been done, and the proving is incorporated in the third edition
of The Tissue Remedies. The plan of this edition is similar to
that of the last, but much fresh information is given and many
of the clinical illustrations are new.

Although everything that Dr. Schiissler himself has written
up to the publication of his latest, the eighteenth edition of
his Abgehurtze Therapie f is included in this edition, we are
told that the authors’ “ conception of the true place of the
Tissue Remedies has separated ” them “ more and more with
each new edition from that of their distinguished introducer.”
We are not surprised to learn this, and think better rather
than worse of the work on this account.

MEETINGS.

BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC SOCIETY.

The seventh meeting of the session was held at the London
Homoeopathic Hospital, on Thursday, April 6th.

Drs. Henry Arnold Eaton of Norwich, George Reginald
Jones of Eastbourne, William Theophilus Ord of Bourae-

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1898.

PERISCOPE.

301

mouth, and James Call Weddell of Sunderland, were elected
members of the Society.

Dr. Percy Wilde, of Bath, read a very interesting paper on
the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Rheumatism. The paper,
which was the outcome of a series of investigations and
observations by the author, promoted the theory that the
symptoms known as rheumatism, and which he christened
“ asthenoxia,” were due to an accumulation of acid in the
tissues. This view was supported by carefully prepared
chemical experiments, but condensation will not do due
justice to the paper, it must be read in extenso.

In the discussion which followed, the theoretical part of
the paper was adversely criticised by Drs. Cook, Hughes,
Blake, Dyce Brown, Dudgeon, Carfrae, Madden and Galley
Blackley, though the treatment founded on the author’s
views was generally endorsed.

PERISCOPE.

MATERIA MEDICA.

Debility of the Acids Differentiated. —Dr. Wm. Boerieke
(California Homceopath) writes as follows:—All the acids
produce debility, languor and weakness, in consequence of
the impaired nutrition they cause.

Acetic acid is indicated in the most profound forms of
debility in the course of diseases that tend deathward, as
indicated not only by the profuse perspiration, the haemor¬
rhage, the diarrhoea, the hectic fever, but also by the cold
extremities, dropsical effusions, great emaciation and ma¬
rasmus.

The sulphuric acid debility shows itself more as a tremor.
There is a sense of tremor all over, not necessarily accompanied
by objective tremor. Frequently in women at change of life,
and with it also the hot flushes, relaxed cold feeling at the
stomach, causing a craving for stimulants. This trembling
weakness is associated with a quick, hasty movement;
everything must be done in a hurry.

Oxalic acid produces great muscular prostration, weight
and powerlessness of the limbs. The back feels too weak to
support the body ; great lassitude and weakness of the limbs;
acute pain in the back, extending down the thighs, seeks
relief by change of posture; numb feeling, blueness, coldness,
stiffness and immobility of the limbs accompany the backache;
pains worse when thinking of them ; pain in spots; aphonia
and alteration of voice.

The benzoic acid debility is less general and more local
in its manifestations, as seen in its action upon the urinary

Digitized by

Google

302

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1883.

organs. The weakness is shown in the irritable condition of
the bladder that is produced, going on to enuresis. Irritable
bladder, with muco-purulent discharges, enlarged prostate,
often found in old persons. They complain of dribbling
strong-smelling urine. The urine is high-coloured and very
offensive; the odour is extremely strong and pungent, and is
present when the urine is voided. Gouty patients, especially,
are apt to be candidates for benzoic acid. Much pain in the
joints, with gouty concretions or nodes.

Carbolic acid debility is associated with headache, spinal pain
and tenderness. The headache is congestive, like a band
around the head, or neuralgia over the right eye, and often
accompanied by great acuteness of smell. Symptoms of acute
dyspepsia, much flatulence, acidity, burning in stomach,
showing its weakening effect upon the digestive tract. In
flatulence of old age depending upon imperfect digestion it is
indicated.

Lactic acid shows its debility in the stomach. Morning
sickness in pale anaemic women, who lose large quantities of
blood during the menses, which usually last too long; acid
and profuse perspiration all over.

Muriatic acid debility is of such a character as is found in
low fevers, where the debility is so great that the patient slips
down toward the foot of the bed, and must be lifted up every
little while. Inability to void urine unless the bowels are
moved; he needs the rectal stimulus in order to get the bladder
to act.

The debility of phosphoric acul is like that of china and calc,
phos. resulting from the loss of fluids and after sexual excesses.
It corresponds more to the chronic effects, while china meets
the acute symptoms. Sometimes after mental emotions, grief,
sorrow, homesickness or disappointments, a profound debility
sets in with emaciation, night sweats, drowsiness, congestive
headaches, etc. Children who grow very rapidly, feel tired as
if beaten in the back and limbs, need phosphoric acid. The
debility of this remedy is more of a nervous character. Indeed
the usual sources of ordinary loss of strength, diarrhoea,
perspiration, polyuria, etc., do not seem to weaken the patient
very much. Phosphoric acid does not cause serious blood
changes, and in its action on the nervous system we fail to
And a profound disorganizing influence. It is indicated in
functional debility from various sources.

Pu ne acid. Back aches, is numb loins weak, limbs numb,
legs blue and cold. It causes almost complete immobility of
the lower extremities. Nervous exhaustion is its sphere.
Everything points to a profound depression, and anaemia
going on to softening. The remedy produces a weariness

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monihiv Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1893.

PERISCOPE.

303

from a slight fatigue on motion to paralysis, a mental
inactivity with indifference, want of will power to do anything,
and a desire to lie down and rest. It corresponds to
symptoms of neurasthenia, brain fag. It has severe head¬
aches, beginning in the occipital region and then extending
forward and downward, worse from the slightest use of the
brain, better from pressure. The slightest exertion brings on
speedy exhaustion.

Picric acid has marked excitement of the sexual organs
shown by priapism and profuse emissions. Erections very
violent, a common symptom in spinal diseases, and it is in
chronic cerebro-spinal diseases that picric acid will come into
play. It has cured locomotor ataxia. The sleep of such
patients is disturbed by the most violent erections. Legs
heavy, weak, numb, trembling—prostration from least exer¬
tion. General sense of lassitude. Difficult to move the
limbs.

Thuja Occidentalis. —In The Hahnemannian Monthly (April)
Dr. McGeorge, of Woodbury, N.I., reports a singularly
interesting case of osteosarcoma of thigh, in an infant,
successfully treated by the use of this medicine by a physician
of the old school. The second day after her birth the doctor’s
attention was drawn to a hard substance, the size of an almond,
under the skin of the right thigh. It increased rapidly in size,
and on the eleventh day he had intended to pass an electric
current through it. He, however, met with an accident which
disabled him for nearly five months. In three weeks the
tumour covered one-half the distance between the knee and
the thigh. Two eminent surgeons from Philadelphia advised
amputation at the hip joint; this was declined. When five
months old, the tumour extended from the knee to the groin,
and was as hard as bone. The surgeon who attended the
mother in her confinement, Dr. H. Clark, of Woodbury, was
now able to resume his professional duties. He gave the
infant at first one and afterwards two drops of the fluid extract
of thuja three times a day, and applied the same preparation
to the surface of the tumour. Faithfully persevering in this
treatment, the swelling had, in six months, entirely disappeared.
When examined, at six years of age, no trace of a tumour was
perceptible, merely a little depression in the lower third of the
internal part of the thigh. Medicine can, now and again, be
even more “ brilliant ” in its results than surgery, though its
methods may be devoid of anything sensational.

Granatum.— In the Hahnemannian Monthly (April) Dr. Hart
Smith, of Philadelphia, gives the particulars of a case of
poisoning by the tincture of the bark of pomegranate root.
Fifteen drops were given three times a day to relieve ascarides.

Digitized by ^ooQle

304

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review, May 1,1803.

On the second day attacks of suffocation occurred. The child
would run across the room, lose its breath, and become un¬
conscious. Moschus was given, the symptoms not being
attributed to the granatum. After an interval of two or three
days the pomegranate tincture was resumed, and after the
fifth dose a similar condition of spasm of the glottis occurred,
attended with more alarming symptoms than before.
Dr. Hitchins was called in to see the patient, and recognising
the condition as a drug pathogenesis, when shortly afterwards
he was requested to see a child of an irritable and excitable
disposition, who on being crossed, or in any way vexed, would
throw down whatever object it had, run across the room, and
fall into a state of asphyxia. This had been the habit of the
child for several months. Granatum was given, and the relief
was almost instantaneous, and being continued at intervals
there was no recurrence of the paroxysms. Dr. Hart Smith
was consulted by a nervous hysterical girl, who, since the
appearance of the menses and at every period, “ would have
congestion with nervous spasms and constriction of the throat,
when she would lose her breath, become purple in the face r
and only by dashing cold water over her were we able to
relieve her.” Granatum was followed by complete relief, not
only to the glottis, but to an annoying itching at the anus r
which was demonstrated to arise from ascarides. In whooping
cough Dr. H. Smith says he has never found it fail to relievo
the spasm of the glottis, and he has seen great advantage from
it in asthma with constriction of the glottis.

Cocaine. —In The Medical Era (January) Dr. C. R. Crosby
reports the case of a boy, aged 12 years, with tubercular
meningitis. The usually indicated remedies had been
administered without result. An article in an allopathic
journal reported a case of cocaine poisoning coming to hand,,
a comparison showed that it had all the symptoms of his
patient. One symptom in particular, which would not yield
to any remedy, was dilatation of the pupils and non-reaction
to light. Cocaine, two drops of a 2 per cent, solution was put
in a half-glass of water, and given in two teaspoonful doses
every two hours during the night. The next morning the
delirium was very much modified; discontinued cocaine till
next night, and then repeated it. From that time convales¬
cence began, and at this writing the patient is about the house
and improving rapidly. The leading indications are herewith
presented: Temperature, 104.5 ; respiration, 36; pupils
dilated; would drop suddenly into a heavy sleep for about
twenty minutes, then wakes with increased delirium; then
great excitement; laughs, cries, gesticulates, talks incessantly,
pays no attention to questions, changes position constantly;

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1 , 1883.

PERISCOPE.

305

dizzy, staggers like one intoxicated, then exerts twice the
natural strength; urine natural in quantity; skin cool, some¬
times very dry and sometimes drenched with profuse sweat;
face pale, with an occasional besotted look. An upright posi¬
tion seemed to be preferred by the patient. All the pain
complained of was in the back of the head.

Carbolic Acid and Mercuric Bichloride Solutions. —In an
abstract of a paper on Mercuric Chloride Solution by Mr. J. R.
Johnson, published in the Chemist and Druggist (Nov. 5.,) the
author appears to have been in doubt whether the minute
amount of free chlorine present would in any way interfere
with the germicidal powers of the aqueous solution made
therefrom, and though at first sight it appeared to be unlikely
that any such result would follow, the opinion of Sir Joseph
Lister was asked. His reply is of particular interest, as it
bears upon his present use of antiseptics. He wrote thus —

“ Glenelg, N.B., Sept. 24, 1892.

“ My Dear Sir.—Your letter has been forwarded to me to
this place. I have no hesitation in answering your question
to the effect that the presence of the minute quantity of free
chlorine cannot possibly interfere with the antiseptic action
of the bichloride. If it had any effect at all, it would be to
enhance the antiseptic efficacy. It might possibly make the
solution act slightly more upon the steel of the instruments.
I may remark that, as the result of recent investigations, I
have for some months past abandoned the use of the bichloride
in favour of our old friend carbolic acid. It has been shown
that a 1-40 solution of carbolic acid is really superior in actual
germicidal power for such organisms as cause inconvenience
in surgery, as compared with any solution of bichloride that
could be used for surgical purposes. I may add that very pure
carbolic acid, soluble in less than 20 parts of water, may now
be obtained at Is. per lb. wholesale from any thoroughly
trustworthy manufacturers, such as Morson & Co., of South¬
ampton Row, London.

“ Believe me, sincerely yours,

“ Joseph Lister.’*

P.S.—For purifying instruments and sponges, and the skin
of the part to be operated upon, a 1-20 solution of carbolic
acid is, of course, used.

Aconite. —Robinson (Bost. Med. and Surg. Joum ., August
25th) reports the case of a soldier who, after a debauch, took
about 2 drachms of tincture of aconite . He was seen an hour
later when he was recumbent, tossing his limbs about and
complaining of numbness and cramps in the arms and hands;
his radial pulse was imperceptible, carotid 119, respirations 19,
Yol. 37, No. 5. x

Digitized by

Google

306

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Iteview, May 1,1868.

pupils slightly dilated but sensitive, nose pinched, extremities
cold, face bedewed with cold sweat; at times he lapsed into
unconsciousness. Between and \ grain of apomorphme
hypodermically produced vomiting, and the stomach was
thoroughly washed out by means of a tube. At intervals in
the course of four hours—by which time he was out of
danger—he w as given hypodermic injections, amounting in all
to 25 minims of tincture of digitalis , 45 minims of aromatic
spirits of ammonia , and 2 drachms of brandy. The author
considers that digitalis is far superior to atropine or strychnine
as an antidote to aconite , but that stimulants must also be
used to gain time for the digitalis to act.— Brit. Med . Joum.

LARYNGOLOGY, &c.

a. Nose.— Nasal pathology has received a fair share of
attention in the various general medical and surgical
periodicals of late, apart from those specially given up to this
department. Derville (1) relates a case of epithelioma of the
bridge of the nose cured oy the local application of chlorate of
potash. The patient was aged 78, and the disease was of
nearly a year’s duration. Applications of powdered chlorate
of potash were made three or four times a day, followed by
dressings of lint soaked in a concentrated solution of the
same salt. The applications were painful, but led to healing
in six to eight w r eeks. The relationship existing between
amenorrlioea and hypertrophic rhinitis has been studied by
Oppenheimer (2), who reports cases in w ? hich removal of
enlarged lower turbinates caused cessation of the former con¬
dition. Somewhat allied to this is a paper by J. Dunn (8) on
Tic Douloureux of lie flex Origin , in which he relates two causes
in which this malady of some 15 years’ standing was cured
within a few minutes by a similar operation. Six months
after there W’as no recurrence.

Concerning nasal liydrorrhoea, Bean (4) summarises that
cocaine is seldom of use, and in many cases is actually harm¬
ful, owing to its depressing effect upon the nervous system.
Apart from those cases due to trauma or polypus no
good is to be expected from local treatment. He recommends
“ anti-spasmodics ” and “tonics,” especially strychnine and
quinine, together with cold baths and massage.

A hitherto undescribed form of “ coryza professionals ” has
been noticed by Polyak (5) amongst workers in bronze. It
somewhat resembles the chromic acid affection.

Boeck’s treatment of lupus (scraping ; applying argent. wif.
to the base and then painting with 10 per cent, iodoform col -
lodium) has received approbation from Dr. Schlapoberski (6),

Digitized by L^OOQle

Monthly Homceopathio
Review, May 1,1893.

PERISCOPE.

307

who treated with complete success a woman, aged 29, in
whom the disease, situated on the nose, had lasted five years.
Treatment was carried on for seven months. No return after
four-and-a-half years.

References: (1) Journ. de Sciences Med . de Lille , No. 46,
1892; (2), Berl. Klin. Woch., No. 40, 1892 ; (8) Virginia Med.
Monthly , Feb., 1892; (4) N. Y. Med. Journ., 10th Dec., 1892;
(5) Berl. Klin. Woch , No. 1, 1898 ; (6) Russ. Med., No. 12,
1892.

b. Diphtheria and Croup. —Muskowitz (1) recommends
mercurial inunction , the ointment being rubbed into the neck,
which is then covered with gutta percha and flannel. Between
60 and 75 grms. were used during the treatment without pro¬
ducing mercurialisation.

Latta (2) treats such cases with arsenite of copper; and De
Vrij (8) recommends choline , but adds the warning that this sub¬
stance often contains neurine, which possesses poisonous
properties. Antipyrine as a local application in inflammatory
states of the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract
is advanced as both an anaesthetic and analgesic by Glee-
son (4). He uses it in a spray of 1—8 per cent, strengths
for the Schneiderian membrane, and for an inflamed pharynx
or larynx the powdered drug or a concentrated solution may
be applied, and this usually gives immediate relief. The
author has found it of much use in allaying the pain of
advanced tuberculous laryngitis.

References: (1) N. Y. Med. Rec ., May 21,1892; (2) Indiana
Med. Journ., July, 1892; (8) Weekbl. voor Geneesk, No. 2, July,
1892; (4) N. Y. Med. Joum., Oct. 29, 1892.

c. Larynx. — Iodine as a cause of oedema of the larynx has
been treated of by Avellis (1) in the conclusion of a paper on
the causes of this complaint. He distinguishes three primary
forms of oedema, viz., the benign or simple, the infectious and
the septic malignant oedema, which vary only in degree, and,
lastly, the erysipelatous. The benign he divides into four
forms—the idiopathic, traumatic, angioneurotic, and the toxic,
which last is only caused by iodine (? Abstr). This drug he
considers acts through the nervous system and is thus
analogous to the angioneurotic form. Rhu (2) recommends
as treatment for oedema subcutaneous injections of
pilocarpine.

Tervaest (8) and Schultze (4) both have articles on the use
of cantharidate of potash in tuberculous laryngitis.

The former after using subcutaneous injection reports the
cure of a case of slight ulceration within 14 days, and others
in which a rapid improvement occurred.

Digitized by

Google

308

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Bartow, May 1,18W.

The latter, however, takes a pessimistic view of the treat¬
ment. Twenty-one patients were treated (as usual, indis¬
criminately—Abstractor), 4 of tuberculosis, 8 of tumours, and
18 of dry catarrh of nose, pharynx, and larynx, with no good
results. Further, the application was painful, and in 88J per
cent, of cases albuminuria occurred even after the first
injections.

With regard to tuberculin in laryngeal tubercle, Erwin (5)
draws the following conclusions from the treatment of seven
cases:—

1. Tuberculin causes healing in many cases, and generally
checks advance of the disease.

2. The treatment must be persistently pursued in order to
accomplish a cure.

8. In cases of recurrence of the disease the treatment must
be commenced from the beginning again.

4. It is only in the earlier stages of the disease that success
can be expected from the treatment.

5. Laryngeal tuberculosis is less amenable to treatment
than a similar condition of the lungs.

References: (1) Wiener Med. Woch ., No. 46-47, 1892 ; (2)
Cincinnati Lancet—Clinic Aug. 20, 1892; (8) Weekbl . voor
Geneesk. No. 2, 1892. ; (4) Munchrer Med. Woch., No. 48.
1892; (5) Jouml. Amer. Med. Assoc., Oct. 15, 1892.

d. Thyroid Gland.— Under the heading of “ An answer to
the question : When are intra-nasal operations justifiable in
morbus Basedowii ? ” Winckler (1) discusses the theory ad¬
vanced by Eulenberg that exophthalmic goitre is essentially a
series of nervous symptoms produced by various localised
morbid conditions, i.e ., a reflex neurosis of the sympathetic.

Various observers have from time to time published cures
wrought by treating the morbid nasal condition. Winckler
lays stress on the fact that although it cannot be controverted
that swelling of the orbital and thyroid gland can be produced
by obstruction to the flow of blood through the nasal veins,
and acceleration of the heart beat by obstruction of nasal
respiration ; still, true morbus Basedowii does not result, and
therefore he considers that intra-nasal operations are only
justifiable when there is marbed obstruction or other morbid
conditions within the nose. Slight changes should be left
alone, as the manipulations may serve to increase the disease.

Leflaire (2), in a paper on the surgery of Basedoxce's Disease*
remarks that in looking at the results of surgical interference
in this disease (removal of part of thyroid or ligature of the
vessels of the gland) we should bear in mind the fact that a
spontaneous disappearance of the trouble may result from many

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1898.

PERISCOPE.

309

forms of treatment. Particular attention is paid to suggestive
treatment, and the following case is reported by Prengrueber:

A nervous woman, very susceptible to suggestion, is taken
ill with the symptoms of the disease, and is determined to
have her thyroid gland removed. Everything is prepared as
for an operation and the woman is anaesthetised. A thick
•dressing is placed over the part and the woman allowed to
regain consciousness. Afterwards she is told how difficult the
operation has been, but that everything has gone on well. In
•eight days the dressing is removed and all the symptoms,
including the swelling of the gland, have disappeared, and the
patient is able to carry on a laborious occupation !

Eeferences: (1) Wien Med . Woch ., No. 40-44, 1892; (2)
Bulletin Medical , 1st June, 1892.

Dudley Wbioht.

GYNAECOLOGY.

Symphysiotomy During Labour.— The Manchester Medical
Chronicle for March, contains an interesting summary by Dr.
George Burford, of the opinions and success of a number of
continental authorities on this recently revived procedure.
All branches of surgery show that operations, unjustifiable
under conditions of sepsis, are being adopted with brilliant
results under an aseptic regime. Symphysiotomy is one of
these. We give the concluding paragraphs of our colleague’s
summary as they stand, and have no doubt that they will be
perused with interest by our readers :—

“ The weight of opinion given by these authors is unanimous
regarding the value and desirability of symphysiotomy as
largely displacing craniotomy, induction of premature labour
for narrowed pelvis, and Caesarean section. Leopold, whose
authority as a successful operator is second to none, declares
that ‘ symphysiotomy ought, in cases where forceps and
version are not applicable, to replace both perforation of the
living child and Caesarean section, as operative procedures
under proper conditions.’ And Zweifel similarly states that
4 the course of the operation and the recovery have made an
unexpectedly favourable impression on me.’

“ The details of the operation are similar in all the recorded
oases. The skin incision is made 1 cm. over the symphysis,
and extends downward to within 1 cm. of the clitoris.
Vessels are seized with forceps and ligatured as usual. The
attachments of the recti-abdominis muscles are next notched
on each side of the symphysis, and a way made for the fore¬
finger to be inserted over and behind the pubic joint, quite to
its lower edge. A metal catheter is now inserted into the
urethra and kept pressed backwards. Under the protection of

Digitized by LjOOQle

310

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homeopathic
Review, May 1,18M.

the finger a blunt-pointed curved bistoury is now made to
divide the symphysis in a direction from above downward. The
hands of the assistants support the trochanters and sacro-iliac
joints, the pubic bones are separated, and the wound stuffed
with iodoform gauze to temporarily arrest the bleeding.
Forceps are now applied and the child delivered. The
placenta is next in due time expelled and the ends of the
symphysis apposed. They are retained in position by 8 or 4
silver or silkworm gut sutures; any bleeding not easily stayed
is met by ligation with needle and catgut, and the wound is
then closed in the usual manner. A girdle bandage is finally
applied round the hips, of plaster of Paris, silicate, or
Esmarch’s indiarubber bandage. This is retained for about
three weeks, at the expiration of which time it may be safely
removed. During this time the patient’s knees must be kept
together, but there is no necessity for a permanent dorsal
decubitis.

“ The relative ease and the absolute efficiency of this
operation, its freedom from the risks of Caesarean section, and
its immense superiority over perforation, bespeak for it a
brilliant and useful future.”

NOTABILIA.

“ THE BATH HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.”

Under the above title in our last issue we alluded to the addi¬
tion recently made to the resources of the City of Bath in
dealing with cases of sickness in its midst, by the establish¬
ment of a new medical and nursing institution of the nature
of the home hospitals found elsewhere.

Owing to a misapprehension we made a statement calculated,
perhaps, to give an erroneous impression respecting the older
institution, the Bath Homoeopathic Hospital. Our words were,
“ We understand that one part of the change consists in dis¬
continuance of the use of the name homoeopathic in the new
hospital.” The new hospital will be utilised by patients rich
and poor from all sources, who will be attended by their
own medical men, but it will not be in any sense a
homoeopathic hospital, and of course will have no such
designation attached to it. The Bath Homoeopathic Hospital
will continue its beneficent work as before, its laws, constitu¬
tion and its name will remain unchanged. In other words,
the new institution (Lansdown Grove House] is not, as we at
first supposed, the in-patient department of tne Bath Homoeo-

Digitized by LjOoqL e

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1, 1898.

NOTABILIA.

311

patbic Hospital transferred to a new site, and with paying
wards attached. It is a distinct institution, open to all Bath
practitioners (and hence to the medical staff of the Bath
Homoeopathic Hospital). The management of the new
“ Home ” is placed by the trustees in the hands of the com¬
mittee of the Bath Homoeopathic Hospital.

We are glad to hear that, through the indefatigable energy
of our colleague, Dr. Percy Wilde, the last named charity is in
a prosperous condition. During the latter half of April a
bazaar in aid of its funds was held in Bath, the management
and entire financial responsibility of which were undertaken
by Dr. and Mrs. Wilde. The handsome sum of £500 was
received, and we congratulate the managers of the bazaar and
of the hospital alike on the success of the undertaking.

EXETER HOMCEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.

Forty-Third Annual Report, 1892.

During the past year the total number of cases treated was
502.

Number of consultations held was 8,440; inclusive of 468
visits and consultations at patients’ homes, &c.

The following are the details:—Remaining under treat¬
ment, 51; cured, 888; relieved, 88; not improved, 10; no
report, 14 ; sent to hospital, 5 ; died, 1 ; total, 502.

The Hon. Physician is Henry Woodgates, M.D., M.R.C.S.
The financial condition of the dispensary is good, the year
closing with a small balance at the bank.

THE WIRRAL HOMCEOPATHIC DISPENSARY,
BIRKENHEAD.

The seventeenth annual report of this institution is before us,
and we are gratified to find that it is able to record an increase
in the number of patients during 1892 of the extent of 1,059,
the year showing 8,968 as against 2,909 in 1891. The
Committee during 1892 made provision for the visiting of
patients at their own homes; during the second half of 1892
222 such visits were paid. We have been informed, privately,
that nearly the same number were paid during the first quarter
of 1898, showing how much this department of the work is
appreciated.

Dr. Reginald Jones and Dr. Theodore Green are the
medical officers.

Digitized by

Google

312

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1803.

FOUNDATION STONE OF THE NEW HOSPITAL.

Their Royal Highnesses the Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess
of Teck, and the Princess May have graciously consented, at
an early date (not later than June, we hope}, to lay the founda¬
tion stone of the new London Homceopatnic Hospital. The
work of pulling down is actively proceeding, and the temporary
hospital is now ready for use.

BIRMINGHAM MEDICAL INSTITUTE.

A short time ago (March 28rd) the annual meeting of the
above institute took place, Mr. Lawson Tait, retiring president,
in the chair. The meeting expressed its indebtedness to
Mr. Tait for his support of the institute, and his zeal and per¬
severance in its cause which had resulted in freeing it from
debt.

It will be remembered by those who have visited the town
that the institute is one of the most liberal in our profession,
and that a few years ago our annual Congress was held in its
library. Mr. Tait explained that he felt bound to help the
institute because, years ago, his support of its liberal principles
had temporarily damaged it. We think Mr. Lawson Tait is
perhaps a little too sanguine, but we gladly reproduce, if only
as a wish, his closing remarks:—

“ Mr. Tait, in reply, said that he had felt bound to repay
to the institute the injury which he was to a very large extent
instrumental in doing it on its inception. Dr. Heslop and
lie were then engaged for some time on one side—he would
not say who were the leaders on the other side—in a
warfare as bitter as any that had ever been waged in a town
of the size of Birmingham. He regretted the row, but
he did not regret the victory. It was a victory of liberty,
and its effects were widespread ; for, except in London, that
most conservative of all professional centres, the word homoeo¬
path was no longer used in an antagonistic spirit, and the
brotherhood then begun between the two branches of the pro¬
fession had widened ever since. But that row did the institute
some injury, which he was glad to have been able in some
small degree to repair.” The meeting then terminated.

AMERICAN NOTES.

We understand that the New Chicago Journal, The Medical
Century , has, in addition to the two journals mentioned in our
February number, absorbed The Medical Era . We hope that
Dr. Fisher has secured the aid of Dr. Gatchell for his new

Digitized by

Google

JConthlyHomceopathit
Review, May 1, 1893.

NOTABILIA.

313

venture, or The Medical Kra will be much missed. At the
same time the concentration of force upon one good journal is
preferable to its distribution over the pages of three or four
smaller ones. Dr. Arndt, the editor of The System of Medicine ,
has taken the editorship of The Californian Homoeopath , and
has re-named it The Pacific Coast Journal of Homoeopathy.
Another new journal, The Medical Arena , is published in
Kansas City, Mo., whence issued some time ago The Keynote
of Homoeopathy , to which it is the successor.

*****

The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine tells us that a
homoeopathic physician. Dr. Campbell, of Redlands, Cal., has
been appointed the medical superintendent of the State Asylum
for the Insane and Inebriates, at San Bernardino, California.
This, we believe, is the fifth State Asylum in which the
medical superintendent is a homoeopath.

*****

Dr. Egbert Guernsey, of New York, who for the past
nineteen years has been one of the trustees of the State of
New York Homoeopathic Insane Asylum, at Middletown, has,
at the expiration of his term of office, not been re-appointed
by the Governor of the State. His successor is Dr. Wetmore,
of New York, medical examiner of the State Board of Regents
and a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, as
well as of the various homoeopathic medical societies of the
State of New York, Dr. Guernsey was one of the oldest and
most active members of the Board of Trustees, and has
rendered invaluable sendee to the institution. He is one of
the editors of The New York Medical Times. The causes of his
not being re-appointed are not stated, and hence are
hypothetically attributed to the influence of “ a faction fight
in the Homoeopathic School of Medicine in New York City.”

* * * * *

The homoeopathic hospital onWard’s Island—an institution
of the type of our workhouse infirmaries—is under the oontrol
of the New York Board of Commissioners of Charities and
Correction, and has accommodation for 560 patients. Dr.
G. Stewart, the chief of the hospital staff, has devoted him¬
self to the development of a training school for nurses there.
The following interesting account of the dress, duties and
method of instructing the nurses is taken from The New York
Medical Times :—

“ The nurses in the homoeopathic hospital have such
pleasant faces and are so charmingly dressed that you cannot
but feel that the patients have a pleasant time of it. Every
one who has seen the uniform they wear says that it is the

Digitized by CjOoqL e

814

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopath i<T
Review, May 1,1893,

most attractive to be found in any of the hospitals. The
frock is made of light blue gingham, with sleeves which are
puffed to the elbows and fit closely from there to the wrist.
These sleeves add much to the picturesqueness of the uniform.

“ Instead of the ordinary bit of lace resting upon the top
of the head, the nurses of the homceopathic hospital wear light
frames over which snowy linen fits, making a dainty cap.
They wear Byronic collars, with graceful hanging white ties.
White aprons with cross belts add to the costume. At their
sides they wear a chatelaine, with scissors, pincushion and
other articles which are in constant use in the wards. These
chatelaines will not jingle, which is an important considera¬
tion. Dr. Stewart designed the uniform, and he is very proud
of the work. The Rev. C. W. de Lyon Nichols, the chaplain
of Ward’s Island, says that it is complete from an aesthetic
point of view, and the nurses say that from a working stand¬
point it could not be improved upon.

“ The applicants for admission to the training school are
selected by Dr. Stewart himself, who recommends their
appointment to the Commissioners of Charities and Correc¬
tion. In order to gain admission the applicant must be over
twenty-one and under thirty-five years old. She must bring
a certificate from a physician, showing that she is in good
health. She must be able to read aloud plainly and write
legibly and accurately.

“ The applicants spend a month in the hospital on probation.
Then, if they are acceptable, they are enrolled as members of
the training school. During the first year they receive $10 a
month. During the second year they receive $15 a month.
That is not much apparently, but it must be remembered that
they have no expense except their clothing, and they are fitting
themselves for a business in which they can earn $25 a week
after the two years. And they live very comfortably. They
have pleasant rooms, large, light, comfortably furnished, with
a view and air that people know nothing about in their New
York houses.

“ The nurses are on duty from seven in the morning until
seven o’clock at night, with an hour for dinner, and when
hospital duties permit, they have additional time for rest and
study. Each year they have a vacation of two weeks.

“ First the nurses are taught bed-making, changing sheets
and positions of patients while in bed, cleanliness of patients
and utensils. Then they are taught how to dress wounds, the
best methods of friction of bodies of patients, giving of baths
to helpless patients, bandaging, making reports to physician,
methods in the management of the convalescents and preparing

Digitized by LjOOQle

Ifonthl ^Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1898.

NOTABILIA.

315

delicacies for the sick. They are given instruction in anatomy,
physiology, toxicology, &c.

“ Dr. Stewart is of course the superintendent of the training
school. The director is Miss Emma F. Lencke. She gives
individual instruction to the nurses at all times. At night she
gives lectures in the little club-room on the same floor as their
sleeping-rooms. In addition there are lectures by the Medical
board of the hospital.

* * * ❖ *

Only two years training, and then £5 a week as a nursing
fee afterwards, will make the mouths of all English nurses
water! Nothing, we note, is said about the night nursing
work, the hardest, most fatiguing and withal most depressing
of any.

* v * * *

The fight which has been going on in Pennsylvania for the
last three years, to prevent the allopathic party obtaining the
sole control of the right to practise medicine in that State,
has now terminated in the usual, and indeed, only possible way.
An Act has been passed by the State Legislature, decreeing
the appointment of three Boards of State Medical Examiners,
with a supervising Council composed of five State officials.
The members of these Boards are to be appointed by the
Governor of the State from gentlemen whose names are
furnished to him by the Homoeopathic State Medical Society,
the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, and the
Eclectic Medical Society of the State. After the passing of
this Act, admission to practise in the State will be by the
certificate of one of these Boards. This certificate will be
granted after passing before one or other of these Boards an
examination, to which a candidate will be admitted on
presenting a degree obtained from a Medical College.

* # * * ¥

A most striking indication of good healthy progress comes
to us from Cleveland. The Hahnemannian Monthly tells us that
“ Homoeopathic and allopathic physicians will be on an equal
footing with the managers of the Cleveland Women’s and
Children’s Hospital hereafter. Prior to the annual meeting
allopathic doctors were members of the staff of visiting
physicians. At that time the friends of the homceopathists
made a move to have physicians of that school of medicine on
the hospital staff, and their efforts have been successful. At
the meeting of the Board of Lady Managers in the City Hall,
March 2nd, the constitution was amended by striking out the
words ‘ regular physicians/ and inserting * any physicians
properly qualified by the laws of Ohio.’ This will enable
homceopathists to become members of the visiting staff.”

Digitized by ^ooQle

316

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1808.

The World's Congress of Homoeopathic Physicians and
Surgeons, in connection with the Columbian Exposition at
Chicago, opens on the 27th of this month. The New England
Medical Gazette assures us that “ the attendance will
be very great, and the Congress an event of immense
significance and brilliancy. The attractions will be
phenomenal. The opportunity to see, in gala dress, one of
the most famous and representative cities of the west; the
opportunity to glimpse at the long talked of World’s Fair, with
its complexity of marvellous interests ; the coming together in
earnest and enthusiastic council of the men who, all over the
world, have made and are making the history of homoeopathy.
Surely these are inducements no one who can compass the
journey will willingly let himself miss. Western hospitality
is proverbial, western resources boundless; enjoyment and
profit wait in overflowing measure the lucky pilgrim to our
World's Congress." All “ who can compass the journey "
should start not later than the 18th inst. from Liverpool, and
write at once to secure quarters at the Great Northern Hotel
at Chicago, which is the appointed rendezvous of the members
of Congress.

THEINHARDT'S FOODS.

Published analyses corroborate our good opinion of Dr. Thein-
hardt’s preparations. The Lancet (Jan. 7th, 1898) gives the
following analysis of Hygiama :—

“ Hygiama : moisture, 8.41 per cent.; fat, 5.01 per cent.;
ash, 8.81 per cent.; nitrogen, 8.65 per cent.; carbo-hydrates
(chiefly soluble), 64.77 per cent. Infants' Food : moisture,
d.00 per cent.; fat, 6.5 per cent.; ash, 2.76 per cent.;
nitrogen, 2.2 per cent.; carbo-hydrates (mainly soluble),
74.78 per cent. Under the microscope there were indications
of the foods having been partially digested, unchanged starch
cells were scarce, while dextrin and sugar were present in
abundance. These foods are doubtless of high dietetic value,
and the ingredients of which they are composed are evidently
derived from the best of materials. In addition the flavour
of each is very pleasant, and calculated to stimulate even a
feeble appetite. They are well suited for invalids and infants
or for general use. Whilst admitting in the face of our
analyses the excellence of these foods, the fact of the name of
a medical man being attached to them calls, we think, for
adverse criticism."

We cannot have too many of these foods when really good,
for constant change is needed with capricious appetites, and
half the battle often consists in suitable feeding.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Keriew, May 1,1898.

NOTABILIA.

317

Of the Infants' Food we extract the following analysis :—

j Nitrogenous matter
! (blood and flesh-
| forming).

Fatty

Natural .

Moisture.

j Total.

Of which
easily
digestible
Albu-
menoids.

matter

(Cream

Substance)

Dr. Konigrt normal standard for
good Infants’ Pood

Dr. Theinhardt’s Infants’ Food

6.00 15.00

13.50

5.00

492 14.21

13.10

6.89

Neave’s Food .

5-27 | 13.20

11.50

1.70

Carbo-hydrates
(foroe and
heat-giring
matter).

•Of

which

Cellu¬

lose.

Nourishing
Salts (bone and
brain-forming
matter.)

Proportion of nitro¬
genous to non-nitro-
genouji matter.

(N * 1) 1 in-

Soluble

water.

In¬

soluble*

water.

Total.

Of which
Phosphoric
Add.

Dr. Konigs Standard

50*00

21*50

0.50

2*50

1*00

5*40

Dr. Theinhardt’s Food

5675

14*21

0.51

3*02

1*11

5-80

Neave’s Food

4*71 1

! 7414

0.89

1*09

0.40

6*24

Since our notice two months ago we have had several oppor¬
tunities of clinically testing these new foods—the Infants 9
Food and Hygiama” With both we are, from the practical
standpoint, thoroughly satisfied. They are readily taken,
much liked, well retained and easily digested. Quite recently,
when summoned to a patient in the country, where neither
doctors nor chemists were within easy reach, we took down
some of Theinhardt’s samples. The case was one of acute
diarrhoea and vomiting. For nourishment we gave the two
foods, in small quantities alternately. They were liked and
kept down, and agreed very well, the patient making a good
recovery after a very severe attack. In another case the
Hygiama answered well for a patient recovering from peri¬
tonitis.

CAFFYN’S MALTO-CARNIS.

Malto-Cabnis made with all milk, as is directed, is a rich
beverage of pleasant flavour like a cup of good chocolate. To

Digitized by ^ooQle

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1898.

318

our thinking it is improved by being made with half water on
account of its exceptional sweetness. The Malto-Camis is
now put up in large jars for hospital use, and is moderate in
price. It is both sustaining and reviving, and might be taken
with advantage after a fatiguing journey.

CORRESPONDENCE.

BELLIS PEEENNIS.

To the Editors of the “Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen,— In your April number Dr. A. C. Clifton
mentions bellis perennis saying that he did not find it of much
service in “ contusions.” Referring to my notes on this plant,
published in the BHtisli Journal of Homoeopathy , vol. 16,
pp. 825 and 826 (where on lines 8 and 25 of page 826, the
word bellis is printed in error for belladonna) the only allusion
to contusions is this, “ the roots and leaves were formerly
used in wound drinks, and were considered efficacious in
removing extravasated blood from bruises, &c.” This of
course was ancient history.

I have found it more rapid and satisfactory in the cure of
sprains than either rhus or arnica. Dr. Burnett’s article on
bellis is in the Homoeopathic World of April 1st, 1884, pp. 168
to 176. But bellis is not there mentioned in connection with
contusions.

Kindly insert this correction in your next.

Yours truly,

Llandudno. Hy. Thomas.

DR. JOHNSON’S HOMES.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review.* 9

Gentlemen,— In a note upon the New Homoeopathic
Hospital, in your issue of April 1st, you mention that
54, Great Ormond Street was “ once the house of Dr. Samuel
Johnson.” I presume that you mean the great Samuel,
Doctor major .

May I point out that under the date of Friday, April 22nd,
1768, Boswell writes : “ Finding him this evening in a very
good humour, I prevailed on him to give me an exact list of
his places of residence since he entered the metropolis as an
author, which I subjoin. • . .” Here follows a list of 17

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1883.

CORRESPONDENCE.

319

tenancies, but there is no mention of Great Ormond Street,
though it takes the doctor as far as No. 8, Bolt Court, where
he died.

Laurence Hutton is similarly silent in his Literary Land¬
marks of London (1892).

I would like also to remind your readers that part of the
old hospital was “ said to be the residence of Lord Chancellor
Thurlow when the great seal was stolen from his custody,”
and was certainly the home of T. B. Macaulay from 1823-81.

I am, yours faithfully,

Helus.

[We understand that it is a commonly received tradition
that Dr. Johnson resided at 54, Great Ormond Street, one
room of which is, or was, pointed out as his library. Helus is,
we believe, in error in supposing that Lord Thurlow resided in
the building at present known as the London Homoeopathic
Hospital. It is in an adjacent house, now used as a Working
Men’s Institute, that he is reported to have lived at the time
of the stealing of the seal.— Eds. M.H.R. 1

RECOLLECTIONS OF GIBRALTAR AND MAROCCO.

To the Editors of “ The Monthly Homeopathic Review/ 1

Gentlemen,— In your review of the above pamphlet,
attention is drawn to my error of statement that the Moham¬
medans outnumber “the believers in Christianity by many
millions.” I intended to have said the believers in Protestant¬
ism. The last edition of Cassell's Encyclopedia puts the
followers of Mahomet at 200 millions, and of “ English-speaking
Christians ” at over 117 millions. But among the latter
are included 15 millions of Roman Catholics, and 15 millions
of no particular belief. Deduct these figures of 80 millions,
and it would require 118 millions from other countries to
balance the Mohammedan figures.

Friends who may contemplate visiting Gibraltar and
Tangier would find the recent Gibraltar Directory a most
useful guide book. The “ Villa de France Hotel ” is now
outside the walls of Tangier, and the new “Continental
Hotel ” is by the bay, in a good position.

Faithfully yours,

S. Morrisson.

Clapham Common.

April 17th.

Digitized by L^ooQle

820

CORRESPONDENTS

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, May 1,1893.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

%* We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscript*.
Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
uid return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. N eatby.
London Hom<eopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,.
Bloomsbury.—H ours of attendance: Medical, In-patients. 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30, daily; Surgical, Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.30 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist. Mondays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2 ; Disease*
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

We are requested to state that Dr. Andrew Neatby has commenced
practice in Mulgrave Road, Sutton, Surrey.

Communications have been reoeived from Dr. Morrison, Dr.
Edward Blake, Mr. Dudley Wright, Mr. C. K$ox Shaw, Mr.
Gerard Smith, Liquor Carnis Co. (London); Dr. Percy Wilde
(B ath); Dr. Hawkes (Liverpool); Dr. Thomas (Llandudno); Dr. C. P.
Wilkinson (Bolton); Dr. Clifton (Northampton); Dr. Roberts
(H arrogate); Dr. E. H. Porter (New York City) ; Dr. Andrew
Neatby (Sutton); Dr. A. H. Croucher (Eastbourne); Dr. A.
Flemming (St. Petersburg).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Verdi's Special Diagnosis ami Homoeopathic Treatment of Disease
for Popular Use , including such Functional Disturbances as are
peculiar to Girls and- to Maternity . By Tullio de Suzzara-Verdi, M.D.
Philadelphia : Boericke A Tafel. 1893. —The Twelve Tissue Remedies
of Sckiissltr, comprising the Theory , Therapeutical Application, <$•<?., of
these Remedies. By William Boericke, M.D., and Willis A. Dewey, M.D.
Third edition, re-written and enlarged. Philadelphia: Boericke A Tafel.
1893. —A Gtmpendium of Materia Med>ca, Therapeutics and Repertory
of the Digestive System. By Arkell Roger McMichael, M.D. Phila¬
delphia : Boericke A Tafel. 1892. —The Hmnoeopathic World. London.
April. —The Clinical Journal. London. April. —Medical Reprints.
London. April. —The Chemist and Druggist. London. April. —The
Magazine of Pharmacy. London. April. —The Vaccination Inquirer.
London. April. —The North American Journal of Homoeopathy. New
York. April. —The New York Medical Times. March and April —The
Medical Record . New York. April. —The Chironian. New York.
March. —The New England Medical Gazette. Boston. April. —The
Hahnemann ian Monthly. Philadelphia. April.— The Homoeopathic
Recorder. Philadelphia. March and April. —The Homoeopathic Physi¬
cian. Philadelphia. April.— The Clinique . Chicago. March.— Tin-
Journal of Orifieial Surgery. Chicago. March. —The Medical Century.
Chicago. March. —The Medical Advance. Chicago. March. —The
Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine. March.— Pacific- Coast Journal
of Homoeopathy. San Diego. March. —'The Homoeopathic Envoy. Lan¬
caster. April. —The Annals of Electro-Homoeopathy. Geneva. April.
—The Homoeopathic Physician. St. Petersburg. April. —The Homoeo¬
pathic Medical Record. Calcutta. Feb. —Revue Homoeopathiguc Beige.
Brussels. March.— Bull. Gen. de Therapratique. Paris. April.—
Archie, fu-r Homoopathie. Dresden. Jan.. Feb. and March. —Leipziger
Pop. Zeitschrift. fur Horn. April. —Ricista Omiopatica. Rome. Feb.
—Homoeopath isch Maandhlad. The Hague. April.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pora, 19,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dyck Brown, 29, Seymour Street, Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby, 161, Haveratock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould A Bov. 00 .
Mooigate Street, E.C.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

VACCINATION.

321

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

VACCINATION:

An Object Lesson from Leicester.

If Leicester has no other claim to distinction, it may
fairly be credited with having earnestly endeavoured to
make it appear that, for the purposes of preventing an
attack of small-pox, vaccination is unnecessary and
inefficient, and that re-vaccination is useless and perni¬
cious. Any evidence to the contrary, however consider¬
able, however extensive the facts upon which it may have
been based, Leicester worthies regard as “cooked.”
Many, we doubt not, question the contagious nature of
the disease. These, however, appear to be in a minority;
the majority admitting that it is, as they call it, “ catch -
ing,” or, at any rate, are so far prepared to bow to the
generally expressed belief that it is so as to acknowledge
that “ the life of a free people” in a town where an epi¬
demic of small-pox prevails, may be interfered with
to the extent of inducing the free people to submit to
have their illness “notified,” to be “quarantined,” to be
44 isolated,” to have their houses “disinfected,” and their
44 sanitation ” supervised by sanitary inspectors acting
under the direction of a Medical Officer of Health. These
arrangements are generally supposed to have constituted
44 the Leicester system ” of small-pox prevention for
the last sixteen years; vaccination during that time has,
to a very great extent, been allowed to fall into desuetude.
It has been the pride and boast of Leicester that its
Vol. 37, No. c. x

Digitized by

Google

322

VACCINATION.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1, lb^S.

inhabitants have been protected without their having
had recourse to vaccination. Is this boasting justified?
A leading article writer in the Lancet of the 8th of
April, states that “ As far back as 1886 we ascertained,
by careful investigation on the spot, that whenever a
case of small-pox occurred, and was notified in Leicester,
it was taken charge of by re-vaccinated persons; and
that all persons exposed to its influence, in the house in
which it occurred, were not only isolated but were re¬
vaccinated. This has been the system before and since
then.” So that vaccination and re-vaccination have,
during times when an epidemic was feared, been called
in aid of notification, quarantine, isolation and sanita¬
tion ! The boast of having protected Leicester without
reliance upon vaccination is, to use a parliamentary
phrase, “ inaccurate ” ! The Medical Officers of Health
of Leicester have always had too much good sense to
allow those for whose health they were so far responsible
to indulge in their favourite folly when “ the life of a
free people ” was at stake. Once again the anti-vacci-
nation proclivities of Leicester have been put to the test,
and once again vaccination and re-vaccination have been
called to the assistance of the “ system,” which, in
defiance of all the teachings of experience, its supporters
maintain is sufficient to hold in check and suppress an
epidemic of small-pox.

The results of this experience appear in a report
drawn up by Dr. Joseph Priestley, the Medical Officer
of Health for the Borough, at the request of the Fever
Hospital Sub-committee. This report has been published,
and its publication has been bitterly complained of by
the more zealous of the anti-vaccination faddists as being
“ premature.” This we are not surprised at. The
report is a clear statement of the facts of the recent
epidemic (so far as it has gone), and these facts are
utterly subversive of anti-vaccination delusions. Hinc
ilia Lachrynuc. Dr. Priestley writes :—

“I have prepared a tabulated statement of all the small-pox
cases that have occurred in the Borough of Leicester up to the
present date, giving all the details as to the nature of the cases
(e.r/., mildness or severity, recovery or death, complications or
otherwise, vaccination or non-vaccination, &c); and in pre¬
senting this statement I would remark that I have tabulated

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1, 1808.

VACCINATION.

323

simply facts—facts which are striking, and which, I think,
ought to be published. 1 *

From these figures we learn that, up to the date of
the report, 146 cases of small-pox had occurred, all of
which had come under the official notice of the Medical
Officer of Health. It must be remembered that it is only
during recent years that anti-vaccination fanaticism had
gained so strong an influence over the people of Leicester.
Consequently the adult population is partially protected,
either by vaccination or by a previous attack of small¬
pox during the'epidemic of 1871-2. “In fact,” says
Dr. Priestley, “ Leicester, as regards its adult popula¬
tion, is a well-vaccinated town, by which expression I
mean well primarily vaccinated, but not necessarily re¬
vaccinated.” On the other hand, only 2 per cent, of the
children born in Leicester at the present time are vacci¬
nated. Of the 146 cases, 89 were adults (i.e., over 15
years of age). Of these, 82 had been vaccinated, as
shown by the presence of vaccination scars; 7 presented
no vaccination marks, and were therefore regarded as
unvaccinated; the children numbered 57: of these 7
only had been vaccinated, leaving 50 unprotected.

The following table gives the course and termination
of the disease in these 89 adult cases:—

Of the 82 vaccinated adult cases

64 were
( 50 were
| 26 were
( 6 were

whilst of the
( 8 were
( 4 were

Of the 57
and of these

abortive
very mild ...
mild
severe

= 78*04 per cent.
= 60*9
- 31-7 „

1 died = 1*2 per cent.

7 unvaccinated cases

very severe. =42*8 per cent.

severe . = 67*2 „

1 died = 14*2 per cent,
children lately attacked, 60 were unvaccinated,

8 died = 16 per cent.

/ 22 were severe cases . =44 per cent.

l 22 were very severe cases ... =44 „

\ 5 were mild cases . =10 „

\ 1 was a very mild case ... =2 „

24 were followed by abscesses = 48 per cent,
whilst all of the 7 vaccinated children, who caught small-pox,
had very mild attacks, 5 of the attacks being abortive.

x—2

Digitized by

Google

324

VACCINATION.

Monthly Homoeopathic*
Review, June 1,1893.

Seven cases occurred in persons who had been re¬
vaccinated, one two years ago, one six, one eight, one
thirty and two forty years since. In each the attack
was abortive—limited to about half a dozen spots in
each case—and presented difficulties in determining
whether the illness were small-pox or not.

Another interesting and practically useful fact is.
noted in the following sentence:—

“ In three patients re-vaccination was performed during
the incubation period of small-pox, with the result that the
attacks (both of small-pox and re-vaccination) were abortive
in each case; whilst in two children whom I vaccinated
during the incubation stage, the attacks were also abortive.”

One patient, who was said to have been re-vaccinated
six years ago—the evidence of having been so being
doubtful—had a severe attack, the spots, however,,
aborted, and recovery was complete.

The importance and efficiency of re-vaccination
during an epidemic, especially among the inmates of a
building where the contagion of small-pox is concen¬
trated, are seen in that section of the report which
refers to the staff of the Fever Hospital. This consisted
of 28 persons in all. Twenty-two of these were
protected either by a previous attack of small-pox, or
by re-vaccination, the remaining six had only been
vaccinated in infancy. The protection was therefore
inadequate. They refused the re-vaccination offered to
them, and four subsequently contracted small-pox,
while of these four one died. Since the Report was
published, we have heard that a fifth has contracted
small-pox, so that now only one remains to suffer !

In vaccinating, some stress has long been laid upon
the extent to which the operation is performed. Forty
years ago two punctures, made with an ordinary
venesection lancet into which vaccine-loaded ivory
points were inserted, were deemed to afford a protective
vaccination. Various instruments have of late years
been introduced, each supposed to be more efficient in
introducing the lymph than any other, and rendering
more than two punctures unnecessary. Of these the
most thorough is the “rake,” of which we believe that
Dr. Husband, of Glasgow, was the earliest advocate.
Two marks made with it, each being liberally covered
with lymph, are quite equal in thoroughness to four or

Digitized by

Monthly Hom<Bop*thio
B^viow, June 1,1868.

VACCINATION.

325

five punctures with the lancet. As indicative of the
•extent to which vaccination has been carried among
the “ mild ” cases, and those returned as being “ severe,”
Dr. Priestley gives the following account:—

“Of the mild and very mild cases, 1 had one mark of
vaccination, 20 had two marks of vaccination, 26 had three
marks of vaccination, 20 had four marks of vaccination, 16
had jive marks and upwards of vaccination, whilst 6 were
unvaccinated ( Le. t had no marks).”

“ Of the severe and very severe cases, 1 had one mark of
vaccination, 1 had two marks of vaccination, 4 had three
marks of vaccination, 0 had four marks of vaccination, 0 had
five marks and upwards of vaccination, whilst 51 were un-
vaccinated (i.e., had no marks).

The number of cases is too small to admit of any
generalisation being drawn from them; but they
correspond very closely with all previous statistics
bearing on the same point.

Before passing to a consideration of the other means
necessary to prevent the extension of an epidemic
among the inhabitants of a town which had been in¬
vaded by small-pox, it will be well to draw attention to
the degree of influence which these facts show, that
vaccination has had upon the course of the disease in,
more than 146 cases, and which it may be presumed
that it will have on all others.

First, we notice, that with the exception of 6 out of
the 82 vaccinated adult cases, all were either abortive
or mild, and that only 1 died; while the 7 un¬
vaccinated patients all presented severe instances
of the disease, and that of these 1 proved fatal.
The 7 vaccinated children who caught small-pox
had very mild attacks. On the other hand, of the 50
unvaccinated children, 8, or 16 per cent, died, while 44,
or 88 per cent, were severe or very severe cases; and,
moreover, 24, or 48 per cent, were followed by'
abscesses.

Is it possible for any one, whose mind has not been in¬
curably warped by prejudice, to trace the comparative
immunity from severe and fatal illness in the one group
of cases, and the dangerous character of the disease in so
large a proportion of the other group, to any other
cause than to the fact of vaccination having been per¬
formed in the former, and of its having bpen omitted in

Digitized by ^ooQle

326

VACCINATION.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,18&3.

the latter ? This is the only point of difference between
the two sets of cases under consideration. In estimating
any comparative value of different therapeutic methods,
we have ever laid great stress upon the importance of
the comparison being drawn between groups of cases
treated at the same time, in the same locality, and
from among persons whose ordinary social surroundings
were similar; groups between whom there was no
difference, save in the presence in the one and the
absence in the other, of the therapeutic measure under
investigation. These conditions are precisely fulfilled in
Dr. Priestley’s report, and the result furnishes very
striking evidence of the efficiency of vaccination in modi¬
fying an attack of small-pox.

Secondly, though the figures are small, yet, so far as
they go, they point to the desirability of re-vaccination
during an epidemic, and this in proportion as it is exten¬
sive, and the degree of contagium , which necessarily
bears a relation to the number of cases in a locality,
intense. The advantage of vaccination during the incu¬
bation stage of the disease is also shown by Dr. Priest¬
ley’s experience.

Hence, we believe that were the inhabitants of every
town efficiently protected—its infant population by vacci¬
nation and the adults by re-vaccination—the appearance
of casual cases of small-pox from some other locality
would need no further attention than their removal to
the infectious or fever hospital, and the maintenance, by
sanitation, of a degree of health which would enable the
ordinary residents to resist all morbid influences. It
must, however, be remembered that no town can be said
to be thus efficiently protected, that in the large propor¬
tion of instances the adult population has not been re¬
vaccinated, and that in far too many districts the
children who have been vaccinated are fewer than those
who have not been thus cared for. Hence, notification of
the occurrence of a case of small-pox, bringing it, that
is, to the knowledge of the Medical Officer of Health, of
quarantining those who have come into contact with it,
of disinfecting the house where it has occurred, and
removing the patient to a hospital, are, under existing
circumstances, essential elements in stamping out or
staying the progress of this loathsome and too often fatal
form of disease. That it is to the energy and thorough-

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jane 1, 1883.

VACCINATION.

327

ness with which these measures have, in addition to
vaccination and re-vaccination, been carried out by
Dr. Priestley and his staff of inspectors that Leicester
has, in spite of its neglect and folly in the past, been
so far preserved from an overwhelming epidemic, there
can, we think, be no doubt.

Quarantine is performed either by removing the in¬
mates of a house to the hospital, or keeping them at
home under the surveillance of the sanitary inspectors.

“ To ensure the efficient carrying out of the quarantine,
whether at the hospital or in private houses, it has been
found necessary to offer compensation to the bread-winners
for loss of employment, as well as for loss of property (e.g. 9
clothes, bedding, etc., destroyed). Where the people are
quarantined at hospital, and have all their food found, they
have been allowed by the Committee sufficient money simply
to cover the rent; but where they are quarantined at their
own homes, the sum advanced in each case has been sufficient
to cover rent and maintenance.”

The quarantining arrangements are described in the
following passage of the report:—

“Hitherto,” writes Dr. Priestley, “quarantined people
have been taken up to the hospital and watched there; but
during the present outbreak the numbers were found to be too
large to treat in that way, and accordingly it was arranged to
quarantine and watch some of those who had come directly or
indirectly into contact with small-pox cases, at their own
homes; and this plan has worked apparently satisfactorily.
The small-pox cases themselves are at once taken to hospital,
and their houses, clothes, bedding, etc., disinfected. The in¬
mates and others who have been exposed to the contagium from
that source are watched—being visited by the inspectors
daily for from fourteen to sixteen days, and in the event of any
suspicious illness developing, examined by the Medical Officer
of Health, and removed to the hospital, if necessary. This
process is a very simple one, and seems to work satisfactorily,
but as the number of cases increases, so does the strain put
upon the sanitary authority. Vaccination or re-vaccination
are performed, if desired. The quarantined people are allowed
to go about, and are even encouraged to take walks into the
country; but are advised not to enter anybody's house, any
public institution, or meeting, under penalty of forfeiting their
compensation money.”

The number of people thus separated from their
neighbours, up to date of the report, amounted to 968*

Digitized by ^ooQle

328

VACCINATION.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1888.

Of these, 44 developed small-pox, viz., 13 at the hospital
and 31 at their own homes. These results show how
fully warranted, in the public interest, was this inter¬
ference with “ the life of a free people.” Had vaccina¬
tion—the only interference with “the life of a free
people,” that Leicester people will recognise as unjusti¬
fiable—been performed, at the proper time, this
infraction of “ personal rights ” would not have been
required.

The expense of thus dealing with an epidemic is of
course considerable. The cost of quarantining 510
people—173 at the hospital, and 337 at their own
homes—and treating 98 patients in the wards, amounted
to £1,648 4s. 5d., including £323 6s. 4d. paid for an
iron structure used as a Home for Nurses. We would
suggest, as an interesting study for ratepayers of the
anti-vaccination persuasion, the calculation from these
figures of an estimate of the “ cost say of 1,000 quaran¬
tines and 500 patients—a by no means large epidemic.”
When the Leicester expenditure “ up to date ” has been
published, and the 968 quarantines and 146 patients are
accounted for by the borough accountant, we feel sure
that they will find further material for useful reflections
of this kind, and be fully disposed to agree with Dr. Priest¬
ley’s conclusion “ that the stamping out of a large small¬
pox epidemic by our Leicester system would be, though
perhaps successful, an expensive affair.”

But the weakest point in this method of preventing
the spread of a highly contagious disease is, that the
quarantining and the isolation are voluntary, and con-
uequently are always liable to be rendered nugatory by
the element ever present among masses of individuals of
“ nat’ral cussedness.” This has especially to be reckoned
on with persons whose views of “ personal rights ”
include that of the right to be a centre of propagating
disease among their neighbours, when it suits their con¬
venience to be so. The Leicester “ System ” can never
be so effective as it might be until it is made com¬
pulsory in all its elements. Possibly there might be no
objection raised to its being made so. The anti¬
vaccinationists ought not to make any; for with the
exception of the merest fraction they all belong to that
party in the State, who, when legislating for the
advantage of individuals desirous of becoming possessed

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1, 1893.

VACCINATION.

329

of the property of their neighbours, argue in favour of
making the sale of land to their friends by those who
are unwilling to part with what belongs to them—com¬
pulsory. Surely a temporary inconvenience demanded
in the interest of the health and life of a community
may be rendered compulsory with even greater reason
than the inflicting of a permanent loss upon individuals,
for the sole benefit of individuals.

In considering this method of dealing with an
epidemic, the amount of constant hard work which is
thrown upon the officials of the sanitary department of
a town, work which, especially in a manufacturing town,
is always arduous enough, must needs be great and
exhausting. In the concluding paragraphs of his report
Dr. Priestley, referring to this, writes :—

“The history of our own 146 cases is certainly startling
from a vaccination point of view, as also is the fact that by
untiring energy on the part of your sanitary officials in iso¬
lating cases, watching suspected persons, and disinfecting
houses, together with the hearty co-operation of the Leicester
medical profession in promptly notifying the patients, the epi¬
demic or outbreak has apparently been so far stemmed. The
extra work, however, thrown upon your sanitary department
at a time like the present is enormous, and may be realised
when I state that in addition to treating the 146 cases in hos¬
pital, 968 persons have been quarantined and watched,
together with 146 absentee school children, making a total of
1,114 persons who have been visited daily for a period of 14
to 16 days.

“ The result of all this work and all the money expended
has been to prevent no far an outbreak of over 100 cases from
becoming an epidemic of 2,000 or 8,000 cases.”

This is, indeed, much to be thankful for; and the
lessons to be learned from the work will, if taken to heart
.generally throughout the country, be still further cause
for gratitude. The diffusion of small-pox by vagrants
would seem still to be going on. On the 4th ult. it was
reported to the Lancashire County Council, that whilst
in December last this disease prevailed in 28 districts of
the county it now exists in 48 districts. Vaccination
.and re-vaccination ought therefore to be earnestly
advised and carefully performed by all medical men in
^very part of the country.

We cannot conclude this article without congratulating
Dr. Priestley on the excellent piece of work he has done

Digitized by C^ooQle

330

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1803.

in contending against the forces of small-pox contagium
and anti-vaccination stupidity, and on the great value of
the outcome of his work as a contribution to the vacci¬
nation controversy ; a controversy in which, like that on
homoeopathy, knowledge and experience are on the
affirmative, and nothing but ignorance and prejudice on
the negative side.

“ CHARACTERISTICS,” “ KEYNOTES,” ANI>
“ GUIDING SYMPTOMS,” TOGETHER WITH
CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS.

By A. C. Clifton, M.D.

(Continued from Page 200.)

Causticum .—This medicine is prescribed much less
often by the younger members of our school than by
the older men, but amongst the latter class I think it
is not so frequently used as it was formerly, and this to
some extent is due to the method of preparing it, and
its being considered of uncertain standard. For my
own part, while I admit there is some show of reason
for the objection, I nevertheless have not lost faith
in it, but have been eminently satisfied with its-
curative power in certain forms of general and local
paralysis, such, for instance, as hemiplegia affecting the
right side particularly, and often accompanied with loss
of memory and of will power, together with vertigo, or
rather a sense of dizziness in the act of rising up or of
lying down, slowness of speech and stammering, consti¬
pation (and urinary troubles to be afterwards pointed out);
paralysis, moreover,of the facial muscles, occurring in pale
and debilitated subjects, occasioned by exposure to cold
wind ; dysphagia also, apart from aDy morbid growth in
the gullet, but rather due to somo amount of paralysis of
the muscles, for in the act of swallowing the patient has
to make a sudden and forcible gulp for the passage of
either liquid or solid food.

In paretic conditions of the bladder, in old men more
especially, I have found this remedy useful; in fact, it
was for this affection that my attention was first directed
to causticum, some forty years or so ago, prescribed at
that time by Dr. John Epps, of London; the guiding,
symptoms being involuntary and frequent micturition*

Digitized by AjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

CHARACTERISTICS.

331

followed by dribbling of urine, which was worse when
lying down and during the night. In some of these
cases there was evidence of enlarged prostate, and
while this medicine did not appear to have any marked
action on that gland, it nevertheless greatly relieved the
irritability of the bladder, and enabled the patient to
retain his urine for a longer time. In nocturnal
involuntary micturition during the early hours of the
night, occurring in poorly-fed children, with irritability
and nervous fears, 1 have in a few cases seen camticnm
do good.

In chronic rheumatism affecting the joints, accom¬
panied with a sensation of crackling on movement, and
stiffness of the parts, especially of the maxillary joint
and of the knee, I have seen this medicine beneficial.

Causticum was, moreover, a favourite remedy of Dr.
John Epps for epileptiform convulsions occurring in
young people, when the symptoms were worse during
the new moon, and, I believe, it is held in repute by
some practitioners at the present time for this affection;
but after watching carefully and over a long period
cases of this nature where it has been prescribed from
the 200th dilution down to the third dilution, I have
failed to see any decided benefit accruing from its use
therein.

There is very little, if anything, that is new in my
presentation of this medicine, but it is rather for the
purpose of confirming evidence adduced by others,
and with the hope that it may not be neglected by the
younger homoeopaths.

Chelidonium mojus .—Some thirty years or so ago I was
very conversant with the practice of Dr. Charles T.
Pearce, then a resident in Northampton, a man whose
knowledge of the Materia Medica of our school and
subtle analysis of it was equal to that of anyone I have
known. Chelidonium was a favourite remedy of his in
pneumonia and some other pulmonary affections, more
especially where the right lung was affected, accom¬
panied with very quick and short inspirations, pain on
deep inspirations, and flapping of the alee nasi —which
has been noticed by other men as a characteristic of
lycopodium —a large amount of febrile disturbance, such
as dry heat of the skin and quick pulse (at that period
the clinical thermometer was not in use, so nothing can

Digitized by ^ooQle

532

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1888.

be said as to the temperature of the patient), there
was a short, dry hacking cough causing pain, and if
there was expectoration it was very tenacious and
•difficult to raise. From seeing several cases of this
nature under Dr. Pearce, I took notes at the time as
above set forth, and since that period I have had reason
for satisfaction in treating with this remedy many other
cases with similar symptoms, and I feel that it is a
medicine which will favourably compare with bryonia,
phosphorus, lycopodium , and other remedies.

In a previous paper I have alluded to one “ character¬
istic” as a “keynote” for chelidonium , viz., “icy
■coldness of the occiput from the nape of the neck,“and
I compared it with the coldness in the head under
calcarea carb. Supra orbital neuralgia on the right side
is another characteristic , and may be compared with
carbolic acid , kalmia , and sepia. Someone has made the
remark, but who has done so I have no note of, that it
is especially useful for neuralgia of the right side of the
head, gradually increasing in intensity, preceded by pain
in the liver, and followed by bilious vomiting. Acting
on this hint, I have in three cases of this nature pre¬
scribed chelidonium , and in two out of the three with
very beneficial results. In gastric and hepatic disease
there is much on record in regard to the value of this
medicine, and the characteristics and keynotes are for
the most part well set forth, but I would just say that
in any case of gastralgia, where the pain is relieved
during and immediately after a meal, especially when
accompanied with hepatic symptoms, a large and flabby
tongue, showing imprints of the teeth like the tongue
peculiar to hydrastis and mercurius. Here I have found
this remedy more efficacious than any other, especially
if attended with diarrhoea in alternation with constipa¬
tion of small stools. The dose of chelidonium from
which I have seen the best results has been from one
to five drops of the lx dilution in gastric and hepatic
diseases, and the third to the sixth dilution in diseases
of the respiratory organs.

Cinnamon. —Although I do not consider this medicine
one of large importance, I have, nevertheless, found it
very useful sometimes, in doses of the lx dilution, for
.arterial haemorrhage from the uterus, in threatening

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeoptthio
Review, June 1,1883.

CHARACTERISTICS.

33a

abortion of pregnant women, and in excessive menstrua¬
tion, with much debility, faintness, yawning or gaping*,
arising from the loss of blood, and where china is to
some extent indicated.

Cocculus indicus. —The characteristics of this medi¬
cine are, on the whole, so well set forth, that I have
but little to say in addition to what other men have
observed. On the sensorium and the head, the main
characteristics are heavy and stupid conditions of the
mental faculties—vertigo like that produced by large
doses of alcohol, and occipital headache with nausea;
and here it may be compared with helleborus .
Crampy constrictive pains in the stomach and in the
abdomen, with the sensation of emptiness or hollowness*
while at the same time the abdomen is distended with
wind, but which when passed downwards affords but
little relief—here I have often found it useful. In
dysmennorrhcea with profuse menses, dark in colour,
crampy pains in the pelvis, and pains in the back, it ia
very useful. In some forms of general and local
paralysis cocculus is an admirable remedy, particularly
when the symptoms are worse after sleep; and here
especially it should be compared with lachesis .

Conium maculatum .—My observations in relation to
this medicine have been within very narrow limits, and
far from commensurate with what is demanded from its
well-known physiological action and its therapeutic
indications. For the most part, I have prescribed
conium , firstly, for the schirrus form of cancer, and for
indurated glands of a suspiciously malignant character,
when attended with shooting or stabbing pains; and
here I have not seen any very marked beneficial result
from its employment. Secondly, I have prescribed it
for dry, irritable cough, worse when lying down, and
more especially in the night—a condition very similar
for which hyoscyamus is largely indicated, but attended
with less relaxation of the uvula and the fauces than
what the latter remedy points to, and if there has been
any expectoration it has been with great difficulty
thrown off, but rather swallowed; but the indications for
each of these remedies are so much alike, that as a rule
I have given one when the other has been given without
relief. Thirdly, Vertigo is a symptom for which I have

Digitized by ^ooQle

334

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1863.

occasionally prescribed conium with benefit, chiefly
when occurring in elderly persons. At one time I
looked upon this symptom in connexion with others as
indicating incipient paralysis, but as the vertigo was
worse, not only by turning the head and by looking
down, but very often by reading, writing, or fixing the
oyes upon an object, which conditions are characteristic
of conium , I now am of opinion that this form of
vertigo is largely due to some affection of the eyes
and sight, which I previously failed to recognise; and
I am more convinced of this by reason of evidence
that has recently been adduced by Dr. Talbot, of
Boston, U.S.A., and by other physicians, in relation
to the physiological and therapeutic action of conium
upon the eyes. For deafness, or rather defective hearing,
I have seen conium do good in two cases out of four
in which I have used it, and very singularly in
elderly men of cancerous family history; and in
addition to that indication, I was further led to choose
the remedy, from what is set forth in Jlering's Con¬
densed Materia Medica —“ Discharge from the car like
decayed paper , mixed with jms or mucus .” In my cases,
however, there was only the discharge “ like decayed
(white) paper .” The power of hearing varied at
different times, but none that could be well defined,
and there was no pain in the ear. In gastric ulcer
of the pylorus, attended with great pain after food,
and offensive eructations, I have tried it several times,
but without marked benefit. Lastly, but here, too, for
old people, partially paralysed, and who have been
teased by inability to retain the faeces, or by the very
opposite condition of constipation—and this, moreover,
often accompanied by involuntary micturition, and
dribbling of urine, or by difficult micturition, without
pain in the bladder, or any abnormal condition of the
urine. In cases of this nature I have been very
gratified by the help afforded by conium in the lx
dilution. I might touch upon some other aspects of
disease for which this medicine has been used by me
with some benefit; but nothing more could be said at
all worthy of note beyond what others have set forth.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1888.

PITFALLS.

335

PITFALLS IN THE TREATMENT OF EYE
DISEASES.*

By C. Knox Shaw,

Ophthalmic Surgeon to the London Homoeopathic Hospital.
When I was asked to deliver one of the Post Graduate
lectures at the hospital during the present session, I
was naturally anxious to find some subject which could
be made of practical use to those who are working in
the busy round of general practice.

When constantly at work upon a limited number of
subjects, familiarity soon breeds contempt, and the
specialist is apt to take a deeper view, and to look more
into the minutiae of changes from the normal than is
necessary or needful for the general practitioner. If we
then specialise our Post Graduate lectures too much, we
may be able to show possibly profound personal
erudition, and perhaps a considerable amount of digital
dexterity, without being able to add anything really
serviceable to the practical knowledge of those to whom
the address is delivered. Unfortunately, owing to the
limited time at the disposal of the medical student, and
the vast variety of the subjects he is compelled to study,
the ophthalmological departments of our hospitals are
not as assiduously attended as they might well be,
and the recently qualified medical man plunges into
practice only too ready to fall into the number of
pitfalls scattered throughout medical and surgical
practice, always ready to catch the unwary. It is
because I have sometimes seen a brother stumble that
[ want to-night to place a few beacon lights in the dark
places, and to write “danger” on spots where the
ground is treacherous and thin. The subject I have
chosen I have entitled “ Pitfalls in the treatment of eye
diseases,” and I want you to allow me to use the word
treatment in its broadest sense, as a “ mode or course
pursued for remedial ends.” To the homoeopath,
treatment would seem to consist mainly in the admin¬
istration of drugs selected with a due regard to a
symptomatic manifestation of the disease and the
pathogenetic action of the drug. But in such a study
as ophthalmology, we can often rely but little upon the
symptomatic indication of the disease, but must be
guided in a great measure by the local pathological

* Post-Graduate Lecture, delivered February 24th, 1893.

Digitized by U^ooQle

836

PITFALLS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1, 1893.

condition. Hence in eye diseases especially, a correct
diagnosis is essential to a successful “ course pursued
for remedial ends.”

Whenever one investigates a fresh case there is an
unconscious bias towards a pathological diagnosis which
has its influence in the selection of the remedy or mode
of cure. In avoiding pitfalls we must look to our
diagnosis as well as to the more purely medical treatment
of the disease. No medical man can be long in practice
without having to prescribe for an eye case, and it is a
grievous disappointment to be treating a patient unsuc¬
cessfully, and then to find someone has scored off you
by your having omitted to notice some little thing that
has been the obstacle to cure. And it is worse to have
allowed a patient to become blind owing to a mistaken
diagnosis from the wrong interpretation of his symptoms.

The treatment of errors of refraction is to a certain
extent now so specialised that we are not likely to be
caught napping, but in view of the spread of the “ penny
in the slot ” method of choosing our glasses it is as well
to bear in mind that because a patient does not see
distant objects clearly and that a concave lens gives him
excellent vision, he is not necessarily short sighted.
There is such a condition as spasm of the accommodation
due to excessive contraction of the ciliary muscle, which
will produce in an emmetropic or even a hyperopic eye, an
apparent myopia, and will exaggerate, too, the amount of
error in an otherwise ordinary myopia. I have known
oculists even fall into this pit. To give a concave lens*
to such a patient is disastrous, it only accentuates and
increases his difficulty.

Some of your patients you will find, notwithstanding
carefully chosen glasses, will still suffer from headache
and severe pain in the eye after reading; you will be
aiding in the selection of remedies by testing the ocular
muscles. In all probability you will find an insufficiency
of convergence which will need such remedies for its
relief as gelsemium , macrotin , natrum muriaticum or
ono8modnm . As I explained at a Post-Graduate Lec¬
ture delivered last winter session this error is best
detected with the rod test devised by Mr. Maddox. I
was not long since at a consultation in the country when
to elucidate the case (a Eailway Spinal injury) I was
was anxious to test the ocular muscles. I manufactured
an impromptu rod out of a clinical thermometer and

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Jane 1,1803.

PITFALLS.

337

a visiting card. Apropos of this condition Mr. Spencer
Cox, then House Surgeon and now my Ophthalmic
Clinical Assistant modified a well known proverb into
“ Spare the Rod and spoil the Eye.” I may as well recall
the principle of the test: a glass rod is held horizontally
before the tight eye, across the pupil; a vertical line of light
is seen, which should in a normal condition occupy almost
exactly the same position as the candle flame. In
insufficiency of the interni the line of light is seen to
the left of the candle. There is latent crossed diplopia.
Children, especially those at school, are often sent to the
oculist, because they are thought to be wanting spectacles,
their asthenopic symptoms being credited to an error of
refraction. The ophthalmoscope shows them to be
emmetropic, or to have but a trifling error, the symptoms
being caused by that exceedingly troublesome affection,
follicular conjunctivitis. This has escaped attention,
because as a rule the ocular conjunctiva is free from
hyperemia, and it is necessary to evert the lower lid to
discover the mischief. The small glistening follicles
about the size of a pin’s head are mostly congregated on
that part of the palpebral conjunctiva approaching the
outer canthus. Medicinal treatment alone will not cure
this affection, active local treatment is necessary, some¬
times even to the extent of expressing the contents of
the follicles with Knapp’s forceps. Attention, too, should
be directed to the ventilation of the school-room, for
close foul rooms have much to do with this trouble.

It seems almost superfluous to impress upon any
intelligent man the danger of a neglected ophthalmia
neonatorum, with its comparatively easy cure with
argentum nit., internally and locally, combined with
absolute local cleanliness, yet I have seen cases where
sufficient importance has not been paid to early
symptoms, a passing remark when the nurse has told
the doctor that the eyes were discharging, “Oh, bathe
them with a little warm milk and water,” letting the
child slide into irretrievable blindness. Every medical
man should cultivate a wholesome horror of infantile
blennorrhcea and instil it forcibly into the minds of the
mother and nurse. A discharge from a new born infant’s
eye demands the close personal attention of the doctor.

Conjunctivitis would appear to be an easy disease to
cure, but not when some obscure cause that is keeping
Yol. 37, No. 6. Y

Digitized by AjOOQle

338

PITFALLS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,18£3.

it up is overlooked, so when an obstinate case baffles you
remember that a small foreign body may be buried in
the conjunctiva of the upper lid, and if the patient
insists that he has something under the upper lid and
you cannot see it, evert the lid and pass a clean camel's
hair brush beneath the retro-tassal fold. I have seen
conjunctivitis keep up by a hair lodged in the punctum
lachrymal (in patients who had lately had their hair
cut) ; by the husk of a bird seed adherent to the con¬
junctiva for three months ; and by the irritation caused
by the calcification of the secretion of the meibomian
glands. This condition often occurs but is easily
remedied by applying cocaine and removing with a sharp
needle the small hard concretion. It is no good treat¬
ing conjunctivitis in elderly people caused by senile
entropium without first seeing that the eye lashes are
inverted by strapping or surgical means.

In the young and the aged we find a condition not
unfrequently overlooked and often mistaken for simple
conjunctivitis, namely, the indolent ulcer of the cornea.
The reason being that the ulcer itself being very small,
and having a clear uninfiltrated base requires oblique
illumination of the cornea for its detection.

Instead of astringents the eye needs warm, soothing
applications, and such specifics as ignatia and silica with
the local use of atropine . In ulcers and wounds of the
cornea many an unfortunate result would be avoided by
the bold use of atropine . I do not know why there is
such a dread of using atropine , I presume that the fear
that it may produce glaucoma remains so primarily
impressed upon the mind that it deters its being used as
often as it should. I am sure that more trouble has
arisen from neglecting its use than from applying it too
frequently. I would say of atropine as of trumps, when
in doubt, use atropine .

No perverse faith in the all powerful effects of well
selected remedies should blind us to the use of atro¬
pine in the proper cases. Its aid is both therapeutic
and mechanical, by the latter the iris is drawn out of
danger of prolapse in an ulcer threatening perforation,
and is prevented from being incarcerated in the edge of
a wounded cornea.

Accidents to the eye are generally difficult cases to treat,
sometimes a blow from the sharp point of a stick or
some steel instrument so easily penetrates the cornea and

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

PITFALLS.

339

wounds the lens. If the wound of the cornea is very
slight, the injury to the lens may escape notice, and
before you have realised the mischief done the lens is
swollen, the iris inflamed, and there are firm posterior
synechiae. In any case when you have any doubt use
/itropine , it will help to avoid a host of complications.

As it is not always easy to recognise iritis in its early
stage, it is far better, in any case where there is the
least suspicion of its existence, to use atropine at once
than to wait until the formation of adhesions has led
the medical attendant into a pitfall that it would have
been much better for the future vision of the patient that
he had avoided. We should remember, however, that there
are certain patients who are peculiarly intolerant of the
use of atropine , it produces a severe conjunctivitis and
erythema of the lids and contiguous portions of the face.
Should such a condition be found to exist whilst a case
of iritis is under treatment, the mydriatic must be
changed at once to duboisia sulph . (four grains to the
ounce.) Do not be tempted to leave off using atropine
too soon in iritis, wait till all ciliary injection is
gone, as long as that exists the iris is prone to form
adhesions to the lens, and this is the bug-bear, if I may
so express it, of iritis.

I wonder how often acute inflammation of the lach¬
rymal sac, with its swollen and tense red skin and
<edematous eyelids has been mistaken for erysipelas.
Enquiry as to the antecedent history of the case, will
show that there has been lachrymal obstruction, and
possibly swelling on the seat of the sac, known as
mucocele. Pus soon forms in these cases, and though
belladonna and hydrargi iodatus and later calcium sulphide
will do much to shorten the attack, the pus will most
probably have to be evacuated. It is almost useless
trying to evacuate it by slitting the canaliculus, the
oedema of the lid usually prevents this, so that the sac
must be attacked through the skin. In doing this
choose a long, narrow bladed knife, and taking a line
from the tip of the nose to the outer edge of the orbit,
plunge the knife vertically downwards through the
inflamed area exactly in the middle of this line. By this
incision you will open the sac, and at the same time the
knife should pass along the nasal duct, and divide the
stricture, which was probably at the root of all the
trouble.

iF >-,2

tagle

340

PITFALLS.

Monthly Homoeopatbie-
Eeview, June 1, 1693.

In 1881, when giving the Introductory Address at the
Ophthalmological Society, Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson,
speaking of the number of cases of glaucoma that are
still unrecognised, said, “ Some years ago, in the early
days of the Keratome, I felt so strongly on the subject
that I had some thoughts of engaging a full page in the
Lancet for a big red lettered anonymous advertisement,
so staring that all must read it, stating in a dozen words
the symptoms and inevitable result of glaucoma, together
with the certainty of its cure by operation.”

A slip in acute glaucoma is so serious, there is so-
little time to extricate oneself from a perilous position
before an irretrievable disaster overtakes the patient,
that every medical man should be well versed in the
symptoms of this serious disease. When they are purely
ocular, and have been attended by premonitory warnings,,
there is not so much danger of error, but when the attack
is ushered in with pains in the head, ear and teeth, as
well as the eye, with sleeplessness, loss of appetite,
fever, and even vomiting, then “ biliousness” is thought
to be the cause of the patient’s suffering and he is
treated accordingly, with the result that when con¬
valescent he is found to have lost much of his sight.

It cannot be too strongly urged upon those having such
cases under their care that one cannot be too prompt in
their treatment. First and foremost will be the use
of local applications of sulphate of eserinc instilled into
the eye every two or three hours, and the alternation
of aconite and hryonia , these being in my opinion the
two most useful internal medicines. But unless relief
is speedy, within say 12 or 18 hours, then resort must
be had to operative interference, and we must not
wait until the patient is a little better. I have
known it said, “I am sure you would not have
operated then (meaning the time of the attack). as the
eye was so very inflamed.” Alas! that was the time
when help was most needed. Errors are mostly made
in the acute form of the disease, but I have known mis¬
takes made in the chronic form too. As an instance
I will quote the following case, as it will serve to
illustrate another point as well. A patient consulted
his own doctor in a small country village as his sight
was failing. Taking him to the window and looking at

Digitized by AjOOQle

Ifoothl j Homoeopathic
Review, Jane 1,1863.

PITFALLS.

341

his eyes the doctor told the man that he had cataract
and that he was to wait until he was quite blind and
then be operated on. At length he came to the hospital
for operation and was dismayed when told that he had
no cataract at all but was absolutely blind from glau¬
coma. The mistake had arisen in this way : the doctor
had forgotten how in old age it is easy to confuse the
physiological aspect of the lens with a real opacity. The
lens at that time of life often reflects a good deal of light
and the nucleus assumes a yellowish tint. Of course if
the ophthalmoscope had been used no error could have
been committed, as the lens would have been seen to
have been perfectly transparent. I had a capital case
showing this at my out patients* only a week or two
since, and was able to demonstrate the condition to
those at the Clinic. It is possible that some such cases
as these are credited with being cured by medicines.

Want of practice makes it difficult to expect an
accurate knowledge of minute ophthalmoscopic changes
of the fundus from the busy general practitioner, but
everyone ought to know somewhat of the use of the
•ophthalmoscope, it is such a good means of avoiding
such pit-falls as trying to treat persistent headache due
to error of refraction or to more serious intracranial
mischief, accompanied by optic neuritis, without knowing
the cause.

The diagnosis of an error of refraction by the
ophthalmoscope is really simplicity itself, and needs but
little practice: if on looking through the central
aperture of the ophthalmoscope mirror, into the illumin¬
ated pupil, an image of the vessels of the fundus can be
seen whilst the observer is standing about two or three feet
from the patient, this is sufficient to tell us an error
exists. We ought to remember, too, that optic neuritis
is not necessarily accompanied by loss of vision, a point
very strongly insisted upon by Dr. Hughlings Jackson,
and the knowledge of this fact should cause us system¬
atically to use the ophthalmoscope when treating cases
of persistent headache.

I have passed in review in a very fragmentary manner
the main points of my subject, treating it as I indicated
at the outset from a general practitioner’s standpoint.
I can only hope that the manner in which it has been
undertaken may be thought interesting and profitable.

Digitized by

Google

342

NOSE AND THROAT.

Monthly Iloimjo spathic
lloview, June 1,18WJ.

POST GRADUATE LECTURE ON THE COMMON
DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND THROAT.*

Delivered at the London Homoeopathic Hospital, on
February 10th, 1898, by Dudley Wright.

Surgeon for Diseases of the Throat, and Assistant-Surgeon to the
Hospital.

Gentlemen, —The first case I have to bring before you 3
this evening is of exceedingly interesting nature, owing:
to the obscurity of the nature of the disease, and I have
to thank Dr. Roberson Day, under whose care the patient
is, for having enabled me to show her to you to-night.

The patient is a married woman of 48 years of age,
and is suffering from a slowly progressive infiltration ot
the left tonsil and the parts around including the deeper
tissues of the neck.

You will be able to judge of the chronicity of the pro¬
cess, when I tell you that the first indication of her
trouble appeared so long as 16 years ago. She had just
before this time given birth to a child, and during con¬
valescence the face had swollen. About two months
after this she consulted Mr. Heath, at University College
Hospital, and was told that there was some tumour in
her throat. She attended at that hospital for about a
year, and then went to the Kentish Town hospital and
attended as out-patient there for about five years, and on
five occasions had pieces of the tumour removed per os
but without making any great difference to the growth.
Three years after ceasing attendance at the above hos¬
pital she came under Dr. Day’s treatment, and has con¬
tinued under him ever since.

In March, 1890, Dr. Day kindly enabled me to see the
patient, and at that time I took the following notes:—

“ The patient is anaemic but presents no marked
cachexia. She complains of pain and difficulty in
swallowing, obstruction to breathing, and almost com¬
plete loss of voice. Externally, the left side of the neck
below the angle of the jaw and the parotid region is
occupied by a round smooth, sottish, almost painless
swelling, the lobule of the ear being slightly expanded
over it, but there is no adherence or redness of the over-

* The lecture was chiefly clinical, and the demonstration of care*
left little time for further remarks, so that this report has been con-
siderably added to.

Digitized by Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1883.

NOSE AND THROAT.

343

lying skin. The limits of the swelling are: Forwards,
as far as the socia parotidis; backwards, half an inch
behind the ear; and downwards, an inch along the edge
of the stemo-mastoid muscle, which it does not, however,
involve. Neither is it adherent to the lower law, though
it dips deeply into the submaxillary region.

By the mouth, the tumour is seen to incorporate and
push forward the left tonsil, the base of the tongue, and
the soft palate, the uvula being markedly deflected to the
right side. There is a pennatiform scar on the most
prominent part of the tumour.”

The growth involves the palate to such an extent on
the left side that it does not move on phonation, but the
movements of the opposite side are but little interfered
with. The distortion of the parts being considerable the
space between the pillars of the fauces is naturally much
decreased in size. By comparing her condition then with
what it is now, an interval of three years having elapsed,
I think you will agree with me that there is but little
change. The growth has slightly increased in all its
dimensions, but it has had very little effect upon the
bodily health, the patient still being able to swallow and
breathe without any great difficulty ; indeed, deglutition
has of late been decidedly less painful.

Not having a complete history of the case in its earlier
stage it is difficult to decide whether we are dealing with
a growth which had its origin in the tonsil or in the
tissues around it. Further, the nature of the growth is
somewhat uncertain, both in regard to its malignancy or
otherwise, and its exact constitution. I myself, incline
to the view that it is a primary growth of the tonsil of a
fibrous nature.

Primary malignant growths of the tonsil are
occasionally met with, and may be either sarcomatous or
carcinomatous. The latter are exceedingly malignant
and seldom, owing to their running a rapid course with
early glandular enlargement, give much opportunity for
treatment. Of the former, the round-celled and lympho¬
sarcoma are also very malignant, but the fibro or spindle-
celled variety may remain encapsuled and only semi-
malignant in nature for some considerable time, and is
oftentimes remediable by operation.

Repeated, and occasionally severe haemorrhage is a
feature common to all malignant growths of the tonsil—

Digitized by ^ooQle

344

NOSE AND THROAT.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1888.

less so to the fibro-sarcoma—than to the others; and the
fact that this patient has had no haemorrhage during the
16 years’ growth turns the scales very much in favour of
the benignity of the case.

Fibrous tumours of the tonsil, though being the
commonest form of benign tumours of the tonsil, are
of somewhat rare occurrence, and there appear to be
only some nine or ten cases recorded in medical
literature, this forming probably but a small propor¬
tion of those that have been met with but of which no
record has been made. It is not usual for this sort
of growth to invade other tissues in its region, but still
cases have occurred in which they have presented as
tumours on the surface of the neck.

With regard to the operative treatment of tumours of
the tonsil, it may be said that benign growths can be
fairly easily dealt with. Malignant ones, on the other
hand, except the fibro sarcoma, which is, as I have said,
often encapsuled for a long period, are seldom very
hopeful cases for operating on.

Growths in this region may be dealt with through the
mouth, or by excision through an external incision, and
whichever method be chosen, a preliminary tracheotomy
is advisable, as the haemorrhage may be very severe.
In some cases a ligature has been placed round the
carotid artery ready to be tied if necessary.

When the tumour is dealt with through the mouth,
after the primary incision through the anterior arch of
the fauces has been made, the tumour may often be
shelled out completely with the use of the finger or
handle of scalpel. If an operation by external incision
be undertaken, enlarged glands may be dealt with within
the area of operation with comparative ease. Deep
dissection is always necessary, but this operation gives
the surgeon a more complete control over the haemorr¬
hage, as he will have the main arteries immediately
under his supervision.

In this case operation is of course out of the question.
The infiltration of the external tissues is too diffuse and
it would be impossible to fully remove all the invaded
parts.

The next patient I have to show you, is one who has
been in the Hospital under my care for the past two
weeks, and is suffering from extensive ulceration of the

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1803.

NOSE AND THROAT

345

soft palate, pharynx and epiglottis of syphilitic nature.
Her history is that some five years ago she contracted
syphilis and was treated at the Lock Hospital. The
present trouble began some three months ago, the right
tonsil and the uvula being the first parts attacked. The
latter appendage was quickly eaten away and the
ulceration spread rapidly on to the pharynx, and further
involved the epiglottis and right false cord.

A few days ago these parts were covered with a thick
slough, but as you see them now the bases of the ulcers
show signs of healing, granulations appearing in several
parts.

Tertiary syphilis of the palate and pharynx, is a
rather common complaint, and one meets with many
cases of it amongst the out patients of the hospital. In
all cases it commences as a gummatous infiltration,
which may or may not form an actual tumour, this
■depending upon the amount of the gummatous deposit.
The deposit soon breaks down if left to itself, and
ulceration is then present, which extends by the depo¬
sition and breaking down of fresh deposit.

In its course areas may be left free from ulceration,
but which subsequently necrose owing to the blood
supply being cut off by the surrounding ulceration. In
this way perforations of the soft palate—or indeed of
the hard palate should the underlying bone die and
•exfoliate—may occur. But perforations of the soft
palate may occur in another way, as you will see well
illustrated in the case of this boy who has been under
Dr. Moir’s care for syphilitic thrombosis of the cerebral
vessels subsequent to which manifestations in the
mouth occurred. Here you will see that the gummatous
deposit has occurred on the upper surface of the soft
palate, and perforation has thus taken place from above.

When a gumma forms in the larynx it manifests itself
usually upon the epiglottis, ventricular bands, or ary-
epiglottic folds. In this other patient, an elderly
woman, you will see a rounded swelling on the right
ary-epiglottic fold, which under treatment has been very
greatly reduced in size. You will see that the swelling
•causes some restriction in the movements of the ary-
.tenoid joint of that side, thus making the closure of the
vocal cords imperfect and causing some aphonia. Tertiary
ulceration of the larynx, if of any extent, is rather a

Digitized by ^ooQle

346

NOSE AND THROAT.

Monthly Hoaunopathie
Review, June 1, 1833.

troublesome affection, not so much in its immediate
effects as in its ultimate consequences. As healing
takes place contraction of the parts follows, and serious
stenosis of the larynx may occur. In the first case you
have seen I fully expect that such will be the con-
sequence, as the destruction has been wide-spread; and
so soon as healing has begun to take place I shall
attempt, by the use of bougies passed occasionally, to
overcome this tendency to contraction. In all such
cases the earlier this treatment is adopted the more
hopeful is the outlook. With regard to the treatment
of the ulceration stage, I depend mainly on the use of
three drugs, viz.: iodide of potassium, which I use in
the lx dilution, bin iodide of mercury and nitric acid . Iam
quite satisfied from my own experience that the lx dilution
of iodide of potassium will, in the majority of instances
of syphilis, accomplish all that the drug undoubtedly
does in larger doses.

With regard to these three remedies I am inclined to
think that we may find the first more suitable in nasal,
the second in pharyngeal and laryngeal, and the third in
lingual syphilis. This requires confirmation as it is
only quite recently that I have begun to believe that we
can possibly localise the sphere of action of these drugs
within such narrow limits. This, at any rate, has
lately been my experience, but it is quite possible
that extended experience will not bear out the supposi¬
tion.

This little boy, who forms the subject of our next
study, was brought to me for treatment of nasal
obstruction. The parents stated that he snored in lus-
sleep and always breathed through his mouth. Now
these symptoms in children generally point to enlarged
tonsils, or the presence of post nasal adenoids, or
both, but in this little boy neither is present. On
examining the nose by anterior rhinoscopy it will be
found that the obstruction is caused by the presence of
great enlargement of the inferior turbinated bodies which
are so big as to press against the septum and thus
almost close up the entrance of the nose.

You will further see that on the right side the
obstruction is rendered greater by the presence of an
outgrowth or spur from the septum.

Spurs growing from the septum are exceedingly

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review June l f 1893.

NOSE AND THROAT.

347

commonly met with, but they do not always cause symp¬
toms, and in most cases we can afford to leave them
alone. Even in this case we shall probably not have to
interfere with it, for you will see that since I have applied
a solution of cocaine to the swollen turbinate a retraction
of that body has taken place owing to the shrinking of
the carvernous tissue which is present in it, and to dila¬
tation of which the enlargement is due. This shrinking
is so considerable that the nasal channel is no longer
occluded, and air passes along it fairly freely.

Unfortunately this is only temporary, for so soon as
the effect of the cocaine has passed off the enlargement
will return. Our object, then, is to bring about such
shrinking as a permanent effect; and though it may be
possible, by means of a long treatment of internal reme¬
dies to produce this, I need not tell you that all the time
the boy will be suffering from the evil effects of mouth
breathing. In order to obviate this, and to bring about
the change as quickly as possible, I will burn the turbi¬
nate, now that the surface is anaesthetic from the action
of the cocaine , with the galvano cautery. By this means
an ulcerated surface will be produced, after healing of
which a contraction will take place, and the desired
result will be obtained. The operation, as you see, is
simple and absolutely painless now that the cocaine has
had its full action. The after-treatment consists in
directing the boy to snuff up some weak calendula lotion
into the nose night and morning, and we may expect
healing to take place in a few days.

If the spur had been so great as to cause an actual
obstruction even when the turbinate had been reduced in.
bulk, the proper treatment would have been to remove
it by means of a saw or drill such as is used by dentists-
The operation in adults can as a rule be performed after
the local application of cocaine , without causing very
much pain. I constantly do this in the out-patient
room, and rarely lind it necessary to use a general
anaesthetic. The haemorrhage, which is usually severe
for a few minutes, is easily, controlled by pressure with
a pad of antiseptic lint.

The same rules which we follow with regard to anti¬
septics when operating in other parts of the body r
should be as rigidly borne in mind when we are using
surgical means within the nose. The lymphatics which

Digitized by

Google

348

NOSE AND THROAT.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

drain the upper and posterior part of the nasal channels
are continuous with those in the meninges, and septic
conditions in the former place can easily give rise to
serious and fatal trouble in the latter. Such a simple
procedure as plugging the posterior nares for htemorrhage,
has caused death from meningitis owing to the de¬
composition of the bloodclot in a plug which has been
left there too long. It therefore behoves us to be as
careful in the matter of cleansing of instruments and
hands when dealing with the nose as we are when we
operate on any other part of the body.

The last case that I will show you, is that of a female
who is suffering from varicosis of the veins at the base
•of the tongue. This condition is commonly met with if
only sought after, and I have found it usually present
in anaemic women, who complain of various subjective
sensations in the region of the throat. It is by no
means, however, limited to such persons, but is usually
I believe associated with a general want of tone.

The veins of the pharynx and uvula are often found
in a similar condition, and can usually be more easily
seen, as those of the tongue need the use of a laryngo-
scopic mirror to show them plainly.

They may be found congregated at the base of the
tongue just in front of the epiglottis and surrounding
that structure called the lingual tonsil, which is found
in this position, and as often as not is enlarged. The
subjective symptoms complained of are mostly those of a
burning and pricking or tingling sensation, and are
usually for some reason or other, worse in the morning
or after sleep. Pains shooting forwards into the tongue
and up to the ear, are often present, and all these
symptoms are usually aggravated by anything that
fatigues, or often by the slightest movement of the
tongue.

The medicines which I have found of most use in
getting rid of the subjective symptoms are nux vom.
Zachcsis and pulsatilla , each of which has its particular
indications. Alumina is further a most useful drug
when great dryness of the throat is complained of, and
there is much constipation. The local use of hydrastis
in glycerine is also beneficial. A few of these cases are
very obstinate, the pains being a constant source of
annoyance to the patients, and in such the destruction

Digitized by AjOOQle

EYE disease. 34 »

of the enlarged veins by means of the galvano cautery is
oftentimes followed by immediate cessation of the^
symptoms.

In order to do this effectively, the electrode should be
laid flat on the vein in the direction of its length, and if
the vein be a long one, this may be done at intervals
along its course. Several may thus be dealt with at
one sitting. In order to control the feeling of soreness
after the anaesthetic action of the cocaine has passed off,
glycerine of calendula or liydrastis may be conveniently
used. Healing as a rule takes place rapidly, and the
veins become obliterated.

THE ETIOLOGY OF EYE AND THROAT DISEASE
IN CHILDREN.

By Edward Blake, M.D.

I think it is generally admitted that disorders of the eye
are common in schools and orphanages. In point of
fact, wherever children are crowded together, ophthalmia
is prone to occur, and it is often very intractable.

A large number of the children that attend school
suffer from innutrition, either hereditary or acquired.
In the case of underfed children, the amount of salt in
the tear probably falls below the needful quantity
requisite for sterilising purposes.

For one of the uses of the salt is no doubt to disinfect
the free surface of the eyeball. If we enter an ill-
ventilated class-room full of children, our olfactory
nerves warn us of the presence of a great variety of
volatile organic products. The eternal restlessness of
infantile feet stirs up an incredible quantity of dust.
The tierce metabolism of childhood, loads the air with
anthropotoxine* and other animal alkaloids.

Some of the ptomaines induce tachycardia, as I have
shown.t They can cause a group of neuro-vascular
changes which have been demonstrated by Dr. Rayner
Batten \ to accompany progressive myopia. This at once
suggests to us that defective ventilation may be an im¬
portant contributory cause of the eye troubles of children.

* First isolated by Du Bois Raymond. Lancet, April 6. 1889, p. 710.

t Septic Intoxication. F. A. Davis, Lond. Pihlad., 1802 p. 40-44.
Proc. Med. Soc. 1892.

X Ophthalmic fieri etc, January, 1802.

Digitized by AjOOQle

350

EYE DISEASE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1863.

If the lachrymal secretion be abundant, and if the tears
contain the full proportion of salts, that is 0.8 per cent.,
the impurities thrown upon the eyeball are neutralised
u.nd removed as fast as they are precipitated. But in the
sickly and the under-fed, the proportion of sodium salts
may fall below 0.4 per cent.

Now the toxic elements are no longer neutralised. Bac¬
teria, and their proteid products, enter the four kinds of
gland found in the tarsal connective tissue, they set up
the well-known “ granular lid.” The cure consists in
hot salt collyria, whilst the preventive measures consist
in supplying much more salt in the food, and ensuring
a purer atmosphere.

Others enter the lymphatic sacs in the conjunctiva,
and cause a condition erroneously styled ” scrofulous ”
ulcer, in reality a genuine septic invasion.

It is to be remembered that there is a direct anatomi¬
cal communication between the blood vessels of the con¬
junctiva and the juice canals of the cornea and of the
sclerotic.

This explains at once why infection from specific
urethritis is so rapidly fatal to vision, and why there
exists a septic, as well as a specific, form of interstitial
keratitis.

But the tears are salt for another reason. They are
saline in order to keep the cornea transparent.

With regard to this point. It is very much more com¬
plex than might appear on the surface. The warm tear
prevents the eyeball from freezing during intense cold.
Latude tells us that the ill-fed and ill-clad prisoners in
the Bastille, having unglazed loopholes for window’s,
became blind through the action of frost on the eyeball.

The difference of density between the intra-ocular
fluids and the tear leads to a perpetual diosmosis, and
but for this arrangement, when we traverse a desert or
stare in the fire, the cornea would become opaque. The
exceptional w^ages paid to Dr. Salviati’s glass-blowers,
and to the “ puddlers ” of Staffordshire, mean in part
that the fate of blindness awaits them.

It is possible that some forms of cataract may be due
to an arrest of this diosmotic process.

The passage of air in vigorous breathing is probably
the mechanism by which the canaliculi are emptied.
‘The action being like a Korting’s or a Sprengel’s pump,

Digitized by L^OOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

EYE DISEASE.

351

or, to use a more familiar comparison, like an inverted
spray-producer.

Dentists make use of the same kind of action to remove
saliva from the mouth while stopping a tooth.

We have seen that a mixture of atmospheric air,
organic and inorganic dust, and nitrogenised carbohy¬
drates of toxic character, is perpetually precipitated on
the free surface of the eyeball. But, happily for the
integrity of the eye, the insensible flow of the tears over
the eyeball never ceases. Automatic blinking, going on
during the waking hours at the rate of from five to fifty
thousand times a day, keeps the eyeball swept and clean.
The larger portions of dust collect at the inner canthus,
the more minute particles, including vast numbers of
micro-organisms, pass through the canaliculi into the
nostril.

The opening of the lachrymal duct under the inferior
turbinate is guarded by a fold of mucous membrane
forming an imperfect valve—the valve of Hasner.

Having employed the salt secretion in the tears to
cleanse the eye, nature is too thrifty even now to throw
away her solution of brine. She deposits it at about
half an inch from the external opening of the nostril, in a
kind of trough forming the floor of the nares.

The position should be noted as not unimportant.

Particles of soot in the inspired air are entangled by
the intranasal hairs.

The sides of the lower portion of the nose are what
architects call “ splayed,” that is to say, they are
chamfered or bevelled away. Hence the air first strikes
the septum, and then rebounds against the inferior
turbinates; these direct the current into the trough of
warm brine, which in health always stands in readiness
to moisten, rarefy, and cleanse the incoming air. The
erectile tissue is probably placed on the turbinals, to
act as a hot-water coil to warm the inspired air; but
it has other functions.

If this process does not take place, nature probably
makes a second effort to save the lungs from invasion,
by means of a leucocyte action on the part of the
enormously active glands of the pharynx.

For a time this succeeds, but constant irritation leads
to hyperplasia or else to hypertrophy, and then to
abolished function.

Digitized by AjOOQle

852

EYE DISEASE.

Monthly Horace*) patbic
Review, June 1, 1893.

This corresponds with the formation of so-called
“ adenoids,” or post-nasal vegetations. They are more
prone to grow in children than in adults, for two
reasons. Children have more glands than adults, and
these are far more active on account of the greater
energy of all the metabolic processes. Again, the young
breathe faster than adults, therefore more toxic elements
pass through the nostrils, and besides children are more
shut up indoors than grown up persons.

If adenoids block the choana, the nose is not properly
dried by the passage of air from 15 to 25 times per
minute ; and polypi may form, especially in people with
feeble heart-action, who reside in a swampy district.

When the nostrils become impervious to air, the child
must of course breathe through the mouth. The usual
result is that the tonsils try to perform the cleansing
functions of the nose. The lacunae soon becomes
blocked by hyperplasia, by true hypertrophy, or by a
combination of the two. The large, purple, soft tonsil
is a type of the adenomatous state, the smaller horn-like
tonsil is the representative of persistent hyperplasia.

The first essential in chronic tonsillitis is to have the
teeth thoroughly overhauled, for carious teeth produce
tonsillitis in a similar way by invasion; and when the
tonsils will do no more leucocytic work, we may get the
three forms of septic intoxication which have been fully
described elsewhere.*

That is to say, we may get a skin affection, a joint
disease, or a nerve disorder. I have seen epilepsy in
girls follow dental amygdalitis. It is well known that
girls with adenoids are prone to spinal troubles, such as
wetting the bed.

We can see now what is the long sought relation
between tonsillitis and rheumatism.

The dreaming associated with tonsillar hypertrophy
is probably not due entirely to mere mechanical pressure
on the cerebral vessels.

The anaemia and the “ frog-face ” resulting from
adenoids are now easily understood.

I will give one final word of caution to men ambitious
to operate on adenoids. The dorsal posture, with head

* S/’ptic Intoxication, also S p*i« and Satu rni*m. 1892. Rebman r
11, Adam Street, Adelphi.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1 , 1808.

BEDSIDE RECORDS.

353

sharply extended, is the best. The finger-nail is the
most convenient instrument, but it should be very
carefully cleansed and sterilized first, or a false membrane
may form and cause needless peril. The air of the room
should be pure, and the house free from sewer emanations
and from zymotic disease. A sterilizing spray should
be used, if possible, to the naso-pharynx before
operating. Pledgets of Ehrle’s styptic wool, firmly tied
to long strings, in order to prevent their being swallowed,
or their being drawn into the larynx, will at once stop
the haemorrhage, which, however, unless haemophilia or
scurvy be present, is seldom very free. The ring-knife
of Gottstein and Lowenbergs forceps are needful for
tough growths.

Dr. Woakes' modification of the latter makes it
difficult for the veriest tyro to injure the septum with it.

After the removal of adenoid growths, the art of
pernasal respiration should be carefully taught by the
surgeon and systematically practised by the patient.
Otherwise these growths are prone to recur.

BEDSIDE RECORDS.

By Alfred E. Hawkes, M.D.

Tubercle of Bladder.

During the early part of January, 1888, I was asked to
see a boy, A. T., about five years old.

He had got his feet wet by walking in the snow, and
when first seen he was already suffering from extreme
dysuria. After a time there came to be a very large
amount of mucus in the urine, of a very tenacious
character, and to all appearance the boy was suffering
from acute cystitis. The usual remedies, including a
fair trial of dulcamara , cantharis , &c., were tried, but to
no purpose. The pain was severe, the muco-purulent
deposit large, and the general state of the child very
unsatisfactory. Obviously something more serious than
ordinary vesical catarrh or inflammation existed, and
after five weeks of effort a consultation was held.

A well-known surgeon willingly came to our aid. He
carefully sounded the bladder, and on finding no

Vol. 37, Xo. 0.

Digitized by

Google

354

BEDSIDE RECORDS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1883.

calculus, pronounced the case one of tubercle. He
requested me to put the child on suitable diet, including
more fat than he had taken hitherto, and advised the use
of small doses of tinct. opii to relieve the great pain.

He subsequently wrote:—“I think the case is one
where it is probable the whole of the urinary apparatus,
from the kidneys downward, is more or less infected with
tubercle, and this, I believe, the indication for treatment.”

A few doses of the tinct. opii were given to relieve the^
pain, as well as to keep faith with the surgeon who had
suggested the remedy.

About the middle of February, 1888, he was put upon
calc. carb. 6 alone, and he needed no other medicine.

I saw him nearly every day in January, five times in
April, and I visited him once only in June.

The dysuria slowly disappeared as well as the deposit;
he gained flesh, and has continued well since.

He was then the only child, but another was born
early last year. I need not announce to those who know
my practice, that I gave the mother calc. carb. during the
second pregnancy; but I may add that the child exhibits*
no tubercular or other ill-health sign yet.

Chronic Bronchitis.

During November, 1891, I was asked to see an old
patient, H., who, during several winters, had suffered from
severe bronchitis. His age was about 70, and his frequent
attacks had led to a good deal of emphysema. With the
aid of ant. tart.,phos. f ipec. and occasionally lobel., he had*
survived a good many attacks of an acute character.
This time all the old remedies had failed. Ammon, carb.
did not help him to rally; the pulse still flagged in spite
of digitalis. The dyspnoea was extreme, the expectoration
muco-purulent, and the appearance cyanotic. There
was no fever, but profound adynamia. Above all lie
desired the door to be kept wide open, as he could not get
enough air. I thought of arscnicum, but Dr. Hughes's
observations under carbo (Pharmacodynamics, p. 370)
helped me to differentiate between these two powerful
aids, and I gave carbo veg. 6, two drops of tincture every
hour, with complete success, and my old friend has had
no severe attack since.

Digitized by ^ooQle

KXTC CASE OF GLYCOSURIA.

355

A CASE OF GLYCOSURIA INDUCED BY BRAIN

WORK.

By Alexander H. Croucher, M.D. and C.M. Edin,

Mr. M., aged about 85, single, non-smoker, of nervous
temperament, and high intellectual attainments, applied
to me on September 16th, 1892, under the following
circumstances.

Patient was studying for a science examination, and
complained of insomnia and want of energy, preventing
his reading for any length of time; these symptoms had
come on about one week ago.

On three or more occasions the same thing had
occurred, so much so, that the patient had been com¬
pelled to give up the examination, from sleeplessness and
want of energy, preventing the application to books
required.

At these times London physicians had been consulted,
who had given some relief to the insomnia by hypnotics,
sulphonal having been prescribed on one occasion. The
ability to work was, however, not in the least restored,
and, as stated before, the examination had to be post¬
poned nolens volens . The urine was not examined.

An examination again impending, Mr. M. came to me
on September 16th, 1892. I found him of medium
stature, spare habit, slightly anaemic, and complaining
that he could not sleep until just about the time he
should rise in the morning; in fact he lay awake all
night; he also mentioned that he suffered from rheu¬
matic pains in the left leg.

Phosphoric acid was prescribed, and I desired that a
specimen of urine should be sent for examination before
his next visit. Patient stated he did not think there was
anything wrong with the water, the colour being natural,
amount passed as usual, and that he had no thirst.
Patient was advised to take half a glass of stout on
going to bed.

On September 19th the urine was examined, colour
natural, sp. gr. 1,028, no albumen, sugar according to
Fehling’s test was, however, present unmistakably.

September 20th. Reports that he has slept rather
better. Repeat acid phosph . Diet regulated.

September 26th. Urine, sp. gr. 1,080. Sugar about
.same.

z—2

Digitized by

Google

356

REVIEWS.

liouthlf QomcBopathio
Eerie r, June 1. 1683.

September 27th. Reports sleeping better, but feels
weak in the morning, and unable to do much reading
during the day. One teaspoonful of cod’s liver oil to be
taken night and morning. Uranium nitr\ 8x, four drops
to be taken four times a day.

September 29th. Urine, sp. gr. 1,025, sugar in less
amount, separate specimens of night and morning urine
were similar.

September 80th. Worked well until 11 p.m. last
night, and slept well. Has more energy in the day. No
sugar discovered in specimen of to-day’s urine. Repeat
medicine.

October 26th. Patient left Eastbourne three weeks
ago, but reports that he is working hard, and sleeps well.
He continues to be careful in his diet. A specimen of
urine sent on same date, shows sp. gr. 1,022, and doubt¬
ful presence of sugar. Strych . nit. 8x, three drops three
times a day.

Patient informed me later that he bad passed his
examination successfully, and with no difficulty. It may
be open to question whether the glycosuria caused the
sleeplessness and malaise, or the sleeplessness the glyco¬
suria ; be that as it may, marked improvement followed
the prescription of the nitrate of uranium . This case
emphasizes the importance of examining the urine.

In Hale’s New Remedies , uran. nit is stated to cause
and cure general malaise, and to have cured obstinate
sleeplessness in diabetes.

Eastbourne, April, 1898.

REVIEWS.

Organon of Medicine. By Samuel Hahnemann. Translated
from the fifth edition, with an appendix, by R. E. Dudgeon,
M.D. Hahnemann Publishing Society. 1898.

For this volume there was a needs-be of more than one kind.
It could not be said that there was available a satisfactory
English version of Hahnemann’s epoch-making work. Those
previously made* were either out of print, or from their im-
]>erfections failed in inspiring confidence. We were threatened
with a literal German-English rendering from the pen of

* An account and estimate of these may be read in the British Jour¬
nal of Homoeopathy, vol. xxxiv. (1870). p. 560.

Digitized by LjOOQle

'Monthly Homoeopathic
Bartow, June 1,1803.

REVIEWS.

357

])r. Fincke, who would probably make his author speak after
the manner of the old Prussian General in Marion Crawford’s
Jtoman Singer . From the dread of this, and from the lack
which would have been its sole excuse, Dr. Dudgeon has
delivered us. His qualifications as a translator are known and
recognised by all; he understands German, and he writes
English. No one can pretend, no one need doubt that
British and American homoeopathists now truly possess the
Orgamn in their mother tongue.

But, at the present day, something more than a version
was required here. Editorial as well as translating work had
to be done, if the historical method—so fruitful otherwise—
was to be applied to Hahnemann’s essay; and we were to
learn, not merely what he wrote in its fifth edition, but how
this had grown out of its predecessors. Such work was
needed; and the materials for it were at hand. The four
previous editions had been obtained and collated with the
last,! so that illumination from this source was possible.
Dr. Dudgeon's “ Appendix ” mainly consists of an exhibition
of the “ more important variations ” of these. Comparison is
also made with the “ Essay on a New Principle ” (1796)
and the “ Medicine of Experience ” (1805); and with Hahne¬
mann’s latest views as contained in the second edition of the
Chronic Diseases (1885-9). “Thus,” he writes, “while the
body of this work contains the Organon precisely as it appears
in the last edition, the Appendix gives a detailed history of
the origin, growth and process of the homoeopathic system of
medicine in the mind of its author.” It is obvious how indis¬
pensable such an edition must be to the teachers of the Organon ,
and to every thorough student of the treatise. The Hahne¬
mann Publishing Society has bestowed a boon on its members,
and on the whole body of homoeopathists of the English
speech, by undertaking the publication of this volume; and
we trust that their outlay will be recouped by an extensive
demand for it.

And what shall we say of the translator ? It is not granted
to every man to issue, after forty-four years, a revised and
augmented edition of a work of his early manhood; and to
have such health and vigour spared to him that he can
accomplish the task as thoroughly as we see it done here.
Dr. Dudgeon’s first translation of the Organon —that which
most of us in this country have had in our hands—dates from
1849. Since then he has given us the “ Lesser Writings ”
and the Mateiia Medica Pura of the master in our language;
and has done an amount of work for homoeopathy in editing.

t See Ibid, xxxv-vi., xxxix., xl.

Digitized by

358

REVIEWS,

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jane 1,1803*

repertorising and original composition to which no other
living man can pretend. For this, and for the present latest
fruit of his self-denying devotion, we give him our grateful
thanks. He accepts no other reward; but this he has in
fullest measure. May he long flourish even yet to strengthen
and enrich our cause, and to receive our appreciation!

What, finally, shall we say of the author and his work ?
This is not the place to enter into an examination of the
Organon .* We are not of those who treat its utterances as
inspired and beyond criticism. But we do say that its
existence, and history, and present status, are facts unique in
medical story. That a German practitioner, of no official or
professorial rank, should publish a work in name and form
recalling Aristotle and Bacon and Hippocrates; that this
should go through five editions in his life-time, and be
translated then or subsequently into well-nigh every language
of the civilised world; that fifty years after his death its
English version should be re-issued, sedulously revised and
annotated, for the benefit of followers of that speech twelve
thousand or more in number—surely such facts should make
his despisers pause and consider. Can any parallel be found
in the literature of traditional medicine ? Does it not look as
if this was a real corner-stone, and of a solid edifice ? Must
it not be that a methodus medendi is propounded here which—
whatever its limitations—is genuine, reasonable, fruitful,
worthy of study and fair trial ? This is the moral we would
draw from the present publication. If its force can be felt
outside our own ranks, the re-issue of the English Organon
will do more than supply ourselves with a text-book: it will
•do something towards hastening the day when similia similUms
shall take its legitimate place in practical medicine, and
Hahnemann shall be given his niche among the leaders of the
healing art.

Bacteriological Diagnosis. By James Eisenbbbg. Trans¬
lated from the German by Norval H. Pierce, M.D., Phila¬
delphia and London. F. A. Davis, 1892.

The present volume consists of tabular enumerations of the
characteristics of the various micro-organisms to aid in
practical bacteriological work.

There are three divisions in the work, the first dealing with
non-pathogenic bacteria, the second with pathogenic bacteria,
and the third with the fungi. A further division of the first

*The general mind of liberal homo?opathists about it is fairly
expressed in Dr. Hughes’ Hahnemannian Lecture ( Hahnemann a* a
Medical Phihutojther—The Organon. Gould A: Bon, 1882).

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
'Review, June 1,1863.

MEETINGS.

359

two subjects in the matter of culture, viz., as to whether
cultivated outside the animal body or if not cultivated outside
the animal body.

A page is devoted to each organism, and its characteristics
are noted down in tabular form under separate heads. For
instance, if we turn to the Bacillus Sultilis—the organism of
ordinary hay infusion—we find set down the place in which
it is found; form and arrangement of the bacilli; their
motivity ; their mode of growth in gelatin, Agar-agar,
.potatoes, and blood serum ; the temperature most suitable to
the development; the rapidity of growth ; spore formation;
aerobiosis; gas production; effects on gelatin; colour pro¬
duction ; and, lastly, their pathogenic effects.

It will be seen that we have here at once both a clear and
full account of the attributes of each organism. For th6
pathogenic organism an additional note is added on their
•aniline reactions, and under this head are given hints as to
the best method of colouring and detecting them in the
various tissues of the body. For the fungi, a slightly different
arrangement has, of course, to be adopted, and the following
.are the headings under which each is considered:—Place
found; colour of growth; mycelium arrangement; fructifica¬
tion organs ; growth; temperature; examination methods ;
and pathogenesis.

Finally, there is a full appendix in which full directions
are given how to prepare and use the various nourishing
media, stains and reagents, as well as instructions on the
microscopic examination of bacteria.

The book is essentially a practical one, and containing, as
it does, such a very clear and concise account of the subject of
which it treats, it cannot fail to be of use to all those who
have dealings with this branch of pathology.

MEETINGS.

BRITISH HOMEOPATHIC SOCIETY.

The eighth meeting of the Session was held on Thursday,
May 4th, at the London Homoeopathic Hospital.

Drs. Andrew Mossforth Neatby (Sutton), Carl Fischer
(London), and Samuel Brewer Brooks (Nottingham) were
-elected members of the Society.

Dr. Speibs Alexander (Plymouth) read a paper on
Thuja in Relation to Aural Polypus and Allied Growths. In
the paper he advanced the claim of homoeopathy to obviate sur¬
real operations, and quoted Hahnemann, that as (< affections
of the external part proceed from an internal morbid state ” we

Digitized by ^ooQle

360

MEETINGS

Monthly Honu»opathie>
Review, June 1,1803.

should treat the patient and not the disease. The paper was
illustrated by cases under the author’s care, the first one being
an aural polypus associated with exostosis of the meatus. In
discussing the selection of the drug, Dr. Alexander mentioned
that in no cases, as far as he was aware, had any of the drugs
credited with the cure of polypus been found to produce
polypus. Such drugs were calc, carb ., lycopodium , mercurim ,
phosphorus , sanguinaria , thuja and teucrium . In the first and
second cases the polypus disappeared under the use of
thuja 80. In the third case, in a man aged 88, the symptoms-
appeared aggravated whilst taking the 30th dilution, but
disappeared on his being given a few pellets of the l,000tli.
The fourth case was one reported by Dr. Hughes in the
Review for September, 1869, where a cure was obtained by the
use of thuja 12.

The two next cases, one of polypus of the ear and the
other of the umbilicus in a child, were reported by Dr. Black,
of Torquay. Dr. Alexander raised the question whether, in
the absence of the production of polypus in any of theprovers,
the cure can be regarded as homoeopathic.

He, however, pointed out the analogy between the effects
produced by thuja on the urethra and that on the nasal and
aural mucous membrane, and that there had been produced
warty and condylomatous growths on the genitals and skin,
and concluded that from these to polypus there was but a
step. Thuja cures whilst the ligature or snare only removed.
In the former case the cause is got rid of, but in the latter
the general morbid condition and local hyperemia being
unaffected the polypus may be expected to reappear. He
gave as another explanation of the action of thuja its reputed
relation to the sycotic diathesis. As further evidence of the
curative effect of thuja y Dr. Alexander reported a case of
papilloma of the conjunctiva in a young lady, which was
removed after the use of the drug in the 30th dilution. In
conclusion he suggested the use of thuja in the treatment of
papilloma of the bladder.

Dr. Jagielski had not used thuja in aural polypus, but
had used it with benefit, both internally and locally, in thicken-
mg, with polypoid growths, in the nose, and he narrated a
case where a small polypus protruding from the cervix uteri
had shrivelled up after taking thuja in the 80th dilution.

Mr. Dudley Wright had applied thuja in several cases,
but had never been satisfied that it was not the action of the
spirit which caused the polypus to shrivel. So, when
boracic acid was used it was probably this that cured. If the
drug was used it should be used alone. Where the polypus,
was associated with diseased bone silica was usefiil. He

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1, 1893.

MEETINGS.

361

had treated a case of papilloma of the larynx for seven
months with thuja 80 to 12 without effect.

Dr. Mom related a personal experience of the cure of an
aural polypus by a snuff of sanyuinaria.

Dr. Dudgeon mentioned that Hahnemann had recom¬
mended the pure juice of thuja, and he thought that it
would be as well to do in the cases under discussion so as to
avoid the action of the spirit.

Dr. Dyce Brown said that the surgical treatment of
polypus was not successful, and was disposed to agree with
Dr. Alexander.

Dr. Cook had seen little good from internal remedies in
nasal polypus. He thought that Dr. Alexander should have
recorded his failures as well as his successes.

Dr. Pincott had cured a case of polypus of the umbilicus
in two days with bonteie powder and no thuja .

Mr. Gerard Smith said that nearly all cases of umbilical
polypus in children get well if Fuller’s earth is applied.

Mr. Knox Shaw regarded polypus not as a primary
disease but as the final development of a pre-existing malady.
Hence surgical interference by promptly removing the latest
development allowed the pre-existing disease to be better
treated.

Dr. Burford thought, too, that we should distinguish
between the prevention of the causes culminating in polypus
and the absorption of the polypus. He thought that possibly
the remedies had but little effect upon the polypus itself, but
that Dr. Alexander was right in referring to the action of the
inflamed condition of the base surrounding the tumour.

The President (Dr. Blackley) had not used thuja in aural
polypus. With reference to the prophylactic treatment of
these cases, he was afraid that the facts were not brought
early enough before them, or probably much more good might
be done and surgical means avoided.

Dr. Alexander, in reply, said that nasal polypus was not
the subject of his paper. He did not see how prophylactics
could be used. He had known a dyscrasia cured by thuja,
which was homoeopathic to it.

Mr. Dudley Wright then read a communication on “ Boar¬
ing in Infants,” a name he used as the cause of the disease
is not yet sufficiently clearly defined to justfy one in adopting
a nomenclature on pathological grounds. The symptoms are
assumed to be due to paresis of the posterior crico-
arytenoideus. In roaring horses there is more or less
complete paralysis of the left vocal cord, this being caused by
pressure upon the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. In infants,
however, the paralysis is probably bilateral, and limited to

Digitized by ^ooQle

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1, 1863.

362

the posterior crico-arytenoideus muscles, the stridor only
accompanying the act of inspiration. Three cases had been
under observation in the London Homoeopathic Hospital, two
under Dr. Byres Moir and one under his own care. In none
of the cases was a laryngoscopic examination possible, and
in the one on which a post-mortem examination was made
no gross lesion was discoverable.

In the other two improvement was observed under the use
of the bin-iodide of mercury . By the process of exclusion he
attempted to arrive at a conclusion as to the nature of the
affection. He showed that it could not be croup, spasm of the
Jaryn.r or laryngismus stridulus, growths of the laryn,r, nor
jp-owths pressing on the trachea , but argued that it must be due
to an unnatural position of the vocal cords brought about by
paralysis.

Dr. Moir thought congenital syphilis played a considerable
part in the cases.

Mr. Cox had seen two of the cases, and thought that
paralysis did not explain the symptoms.

Mr. Knox Shaw had seen one case in which a post-mortem
had revealed enlarged bronchial glands.

Dr. Alexander inquired whether these cases were allied to
those of chronic hoarseness in children.

THE WESTERN COUNTIES THERAPEUTICAL
SOCIETY.*

Present : — Drs. Eubulus Williams, Samuel Morgan, R. W.
Barrow, F. H. Bodman and T. D. Nicholson, of Clifton ;
Drs. MacKechnie and Norman, of Bath ; Dr. W. Cash Reed, of
Plymouth ; Dr. John Wilde, of Weston-Super-Mare, Dr.
Ashley Bird, of Penarth.

Dr. Nicholson showed a rhinolith weighing 10 grains (a
small piece having been broken) which was removed from
the nose of an elderly lady by douching. She suffered from
severe arthritis and chronic ozoena. The process of growth
was probably due to hardened mucus collecting in the nasal
fossie, and gradually becoming encrusted with calcareous
matter. These concretions are comparatively rare, especially
of this size, but Dr. Haviland Hall was lately reported to
have shown a specimen weighing 92 grs. Dr. Hake made an
analysis, and found the composition of this one to be, organic
matter 26 per cent., and calcic phosphate 74 per cent.

Dr. Bodman read a paper,! “ Notes on the Treatment of
Diseases of Women by Electricity,” after which there was a
short discussion.

* Meeting held at Clifton, February 17th. 18113.
t We hope to print this paper in our next.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

PERISCOPE.

363

Dr. Williams proposed a vote of thanks to the author, and
remarked, in reference to the cure of sterility by electricity,
ihe introduction of the sound itself into the uterus would
-enlarge the canal and thus remove obstruction.

Dr. Reed thought electricity most useful in cases of
hiemorrhage, where sec ale also benefited, and where there
were large vessels which contracted under pressure. He had
found hydrastine 8 (Keith’s muriate) valuable in one case of
uterine fibroid with haemorrhage. He was chary about
using the curette.

Dr. Wilde considered the homoeopathic treatment the best
where the case was curable. He recommended ext . bursa
pastotis jt. (Ferris) in uterine haemorrhage when severe.

Dr. Bird mentioned a case, menorrhagia, cured by calc. c.
5 and 10.

Dr. Nicholson thought members generally had not sufficient
experience of electricity to decide exactly its place in uterine
theraupeutics. He knew one of the cases mentioned, and which
he had put under Dr. Bodman’s care—a case of chronic
congestion with adhesion and misplacement, sacral pain, and
loss of walking power, where the treatment had a decidedly
beneficial result. Here a strong current was applied to the
interior of the uterus.

Dr. Bodman replied, giving some further details of the
necessary apparatus.

PERISCOPE.

MATERIA MEDICA.

Antipyrin. —The following case of poisoning by this drug is
recorded by Campellatti ( Rir . Spcr. di Freniatria , e di Med.
leg., March 81, 1898, and British Medical Journal, May 6):

“ A somewhat hysterical girl, of 28, two years before the
present history, began to suffer from headache, for which she
was recommended to take small doses of anti pyrin. These at
first proved efficient, but after a time, contrary to the advice
of her doctor, she steadily increased the amount, till at last
she took as much as eight grammes daily. At this time her
health began to suffer seriously; the least provocation or
contradiction brought on a violent hysterical convulsion; she
lost appetite and all interest in domestic matters; her
headaches increased, and to them was added a buzzing in the
ears; she appeared like a person half asleep. The large doses
of antipyrin which she was taking afforded only very
transient relief, but she would not brook either the least
reduction in amount, or even any delay in administration,

Digitized by

364

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1803.

eomplaining of great pain and becoming greatly excited if the
dose were delayed even for an hour. At this time she
entered an asylum with the desire of being cured. Here an
attempt was first of all made suddenly to reduce considerably
the amount given, but this gave rise to such prostration that
it was found necessary to treat the case like one of morphino-
mania, there being a great similarity between the two
conditions. But every reduction, whether made with or
without the patient’s knowledge, produced much constitu¬
tional disturbance, and it was found necessary to have
recourse first of all to large doses of potassium bromide , and
later on to caffeine. The two main troubles were the
insomnia and the loss of appetite, but these were gradually
overcome, and the patient at length left the asylum com¬
pletely cured, both of the headaches and also of her craving
for antipyrin."

Arsenic. —Osier ( Montreal Med . Joun t., April, 1898) relates
a case to show that long continuance of full therepeutic doses
of arsenic may lead to the development of peripheral neuritis.
The patient was a Pole, suffering from Hodgkin’s disease,
affecting the cervical, axillary, and inguinal glands. During
a period of seventy-five days he took 5 iv, 5 j, nt xviii of the-
liquor potamr arsenitis , equivalent to 16£ grains of arseniant¬
acid. The dose, for the greatar part of the time, with some
intermissions owing to diarrhoea, was nt xv. thrice a day.
Increased pigmentation of the skin was noticed at an early
period of the treatment, and, after about seven weeks, it was
noticed that the muscles of the upper and lower limbs were
tender to the touch, and that he walked stiffly. The knee-
jerks which were then present had disappeared in another
fortnight, and he was scarcely able to walk
at all. The musculur power of the arms was
diminished. The excitability of the muscles of the
legs to both currents was diminished, and A.C.C was equal
to, if not greater than, K.G.C. Osier observes that idiosyn¬
crasy must play a part in the production of arsenical neuritis,
which is very rarely produced by therapeutic doses. He had only
once before met with a case which raised the suspicion of
neuritis, though he has been in the habit of treating pernicious
anaemia, Hodgkin’s disease, and chorea minor with arsenic ,
pushing the drug until its physiological effects were produced
—itching of the skin, slight oedema, vomiting, or diarrhoea.

Duboisin. —C. Crouzet (Bee. d'OphtaL , February, 1898)-
publishes a case of iritis plastica with adhesion of the whole
pupillary margin to the lens, in which he used 5 drops daily
of the following solution :— Dub. sulph. 5 c. ; aq. dest. 10 g.
Four days later the patient began to complain of dryness of

Digitized by ^ooQle

PERISCOPE.

365

Monthly Honu»op*thie
Review, Juno 1,1883.

the throat; but the synechiae beginning to yield, the treat¬
ment was persevered with until, a few days later, other general
symptoms having appeared, the duboixin had to be discon¬
tinued. The symptoms were frequent pulse, great weakness,
rise of temperature, and disturbances of speech, similar to
those present in aphasia. Crouzet has not been able to find
any mention of such disturbances of speech as a symptom
produced by the use of duboixin in medical literature.

Dover’s Powder in the Treatment op Colliquative
Sweating.— Dr. G. Frank Lydston, of Chicago, stated in a
recent clinical lecture that, while an interne in the New York
'Charity Hospital, he experimented quite extensively upon the
abundant clinical material in the medical wards to determine
the relative value of the various remedies recommended for
night sweats, particularly in pulmonary consumption. He
found atropine not only unreliable, but productive of certain
disagreeable effects that more than counterbalanced its
possible advantages. The mineral acids and other tonic
remedies and astringent baths were not much more efficacious
than the atropine. He established, to his own satisfaction,
that there are but two remedies which can be relied upon to
check night sweats. These are Dover’s powders and the
active principle of cocculus indicus or picrotoxin, the former
being by far the more valuable of the two.— New York Medical
Times.

Calendula Officinalis.— Dr. H. M. Michener, in the pages
of the Californian Medical Journal , calls attention to the
value of this remedy, not alone for cuts and lacerated wounds,
to which it has mainly been confined, but as a local remedy
in gangrenous ulcers, in otorrhoea, eczema, vaginitis, endo-
cervicitis, gonorrhoea and non-specific urethritis. In each
and all of these morbid conditions Dr. M. states that he has
had most happy results from its use applied as a wash, or on
cotton tampons, or used in a dry state by mixing it with
sugar of milk, the parts having been previously cleansed with
warm water. The preparation that Dr. M. employs, and
which he recommends, is the succux calendula, to which has
been added a very small quantity of spirit to make it keep.

Carduus Marianus. —In the Homoeopathic Recorder for
March, 1893, there is a valuable article translated from a
Berlin Medical Journal on the treatment of varicose ulcers by
this remedy. After alluding to the unsatisfactory results of
treatment among the labouring classes by means of bandaging
and astringent lotions, which under their conditions of home
life cannot be properly 9 arried out, and after noticing the
medicines which he has employed with only limited success—
such, for instance, as belladonna, carbo. ve<j., graphites ,

Digitized by ^ooQle

366

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic^
Uerievr, June 1,1893.

hamamelis , pul*« till a , sulphur , &c.—he then relates his experi¬
ence with cardu us marianus. The cases which usually were
presented for treatment were fully developed ulcers of a
brownish red colour, with serous discoloured granulations,,
surrounded with mis-shapen varicose veins, with pointed and
callous borders, easily bleeding, the ulcers having been
brought on by a blow or bursting of a varix, and generally
preceded by eczema and itching of the skin. The pain in
the ulcers was very moderate, and there was but little burning
in them or their vicinity. The writer then touches on the
sphere of the action of this remedy; we learn from its known
provings that it produces hyperaemia of the liver and the gall
ducts, as well as the whole of the intestinal tract, and that it has
a specific connection with the veins and the whole vascular
system. He then alludes to what Lobacher claims for
the remedy as more useful than any other in meno¬
rrhagia, chronic uterine haemorrhages, pointing to the
influence of carduus on the venous vascular system of
the uterus, which he has verified by numerous personal
observations. He goes on to remark in relation to this point
that in nearly all his cases of varicose ulcers the patients were
women over 30 to 40 years of age, troubled with uterine
catarrh, chronic endometritis, displacement of the uterus,
and inclination to profuse perspirations. Dr. Windelband,.
the author of the paper, claims to have cured 145 out of 190
cases of this nature, occurring mostly among the labouring
’classes, but among the remaining number decided benefit
ensued. The doses never exceed 5 drops of the tincture
three times a day, but he thinks it well to commence with
quite small doses, and if any aggravations are caused not to
increase the dose till the same has ceased.

Colocynth. —Dr. Hobart, writing in the Medical Fra
(January), gives the following example of the types of sciatica
in which the provings of colocynth indicate it as the remedy.

“ Mrs. A., aged about forty, consulted me two years ago
for the relief of a severe form of sciatic neuralgia of the left
leg. She had been well up to about four years before, when
she was taken with a very severe pain in the stomach and
left ovarian region, the cause of which she could not explain.
The pain was so severe at times that she ■would become
delirious and vomit with great difficulty. Treatment met
with but partial success, when suddenly the pain appeared in
the left sciatic nerve, and continued periodically in that
locality for one year. When I saw her first, she had intense
drawing, aching pains, ending in tw itching in the calf of the
leg. Cramping pains would run from the hip to the foot and
vice versa . Occasionally there would be a throbbing which

Digitized by CjOoqL e

Monthly Honuaopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

NOTABILIA.

367

would invariably end in a drawing pain along the whole
length of the limb. Color ynth 8x was prescribed to be taken
every one or two hours in water. She was discharged cured
in four days, and when I saw her one year afterwards she
said that she had had no more pain.”

In some remarks upon this case. Dr. Hobart points out
that it verifies the proving which shows “ that it acts often¬
times as profoundly upon the nerve trunks and peripheral
nerves as upon the abdominal plexus. The trigeminus
is often affected, causing hemicrania and toothache. The
nerves of the extremities, and especially those about the
hip-joints, are often profoundly affected. In a word, there is
abundant proof that the great sphere of color ynth lies among
the neuroses, where the pain is especially of a crampy and
drawing nature, as found in its provings.”

NOTABILIA.

COMPULSORY VACCINATION DEBATE IN THE
HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Ox going into Committee of Supply, on the 12tli ult., Mr.
Hopwood (Middleton Division, Lancashire) moved that the
law compelling the vaccination of infants and young persons
was unjustifiable, and ought to be repealed. This proposal
was seconded by Mr. Arthur O’Connor (East Donegal). The
speeches of these two gentlemen consisted chiefly of abuse of
the members of the medical profession, and of misrepresenta¬
tion of the facts upon which the supporters of vaccina¬
tion rely in advocating it, and of the motives which
animate them in doing so. Sir Walter Foster (Ilkes¬
ton Division, Derbyshire), the Secretary to the Local
Government Board, replied to them in an admirable
speech occupying an hour and 20 minutes; a speech
bristling with facts and most conclusive in arguments; one
in which all who are called upon to defend vaccination in the
future will find abundant material to sustain them. It is
published in e.vtenso in the British Medical Journal of the 20th
ult. The same journal gives the following analysis of the
minority voting—the motion being rejected by 188, including
tellers, against 72, including tellers : Radicals, 62; Nationa¬
lists, 7 ; Conservatives, 8. Mr. T. P. O’Connor, who voted
with the majority, commenting upon the division in his
newspaper— The Sun —said that he had “ no idea that there
were so many lunatics in the House.” And yet he has sat
there since 1980, constantly acting with 69 of this minority l

Digitized by LjOOQle

368

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Honu*opathi c
Review, June 1,1893*

COMPULSORY VACCINATION.

Before vaccination was introduced the old rate of mortality
in London from small pox was about 3,000 in a million
yearly. This rate has now been reduced to a bare 178. This
is one fact out of many all pointing to the same conclusion,
and all borne out by sound and indisputable proof. But is it
right, even so, that vaccination should be made compulsory ?
On this point some evidence will be found in the tabular
statements handed in to the Royal Commission by Dr.
William Ogle, the superintendent of statistics in the Regis¬
trar-General’s office. Dr. Ogle’s evidence is important all
through. As regards compulsory vaccination, he shows
that when vaccination was optional, the deaths
from smallpox in England and Wales were 805
per million of inhabitants. In 1853 the obligation was im¬
posed, but it was not efficiently enforced. The deaths, even
so, fell from 805 to 228. The more efficient enforcement he
dates from 1872, and it was attended by a further reduction
to 114 per milhon, and it was especially infants and young
children who were most beneficially affected by the change.
It may be argued, with some show of justice, that in such a
matter as this grown up persons may be left to take care of
themselves. Children and infants are at the mercy of others.
If their natural protectors will not look after them, if from
carelessness or ignorance they leave them without protection
against the ravages of small pox, it becomes the duty of the
State to interpose, and to insist that what is necessary shall
be done. But we are living in a day of compromises. Care¬
lessness and ignorance have their admitted claims on our
respect. * The Royal Commission itself recognizes them, and
the Home Secretary’s Bill has been drafted to give effect to
the recommendations in the Commission’s fifth report.
These are that parents who refuse to have a child vaccinated
shall not be proceeded against more than once in each case
for their breach of the law, and that, if they are sent to prison
in default of paying a fine, they shall be treated as first-class
misdemeanants and not as ordinary criminals. These are in
the nature of concessions to weak consciences, and their
defence is that there are persons to be found—Peculiar
People and others—who have bond jidc conscientious objec¬
tions to having their children vaccinated, and whose high
sense of duty impels them to leave all matters of health and
sickness under the care of Providence or of chance. It is im¬
possible in such a case as this to be quite fair to all parties.
Either the parent’s conscience or the child’s body must suffer.
The law as it stands favours the child. The amended lav/
will be kind to the parent, but obviously at the child's
-expense.— The Times , May 18.

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1, 1893.

NOTABILIA.

369

HOMOEOPATHY IN ANTWERP.

The success which has followed the establishment of a
Homoeopathic Dispensary by the Town Council of Antwerp
has led to the presentation of the following petition, by Drs.
Lembreghts Jibs and Dr. B. Schmitz,^to the Administration of
iihe City Hospital :—

“ To the President and Members of the Administration of
the hospitals of Antwerp.

“ Gentlemen,—We take the liberty of respectfully drawing
your attention to a want which exists in the hospital service
of our city. We would draw your attention to the exclusion
of homoeopathic treatment therein.

44 The Town Council, in order to secure the benefit of this
treatment to the poor, has not hesitated to establish a special
dispensary, where the sick can be treated homoeopathically.

“ This dispensary, which was opened in January, 1892, has
shown remarkable results, after only a year’s existence, as
you can convince yourselves by the following figures:—

Consultations at the hospital

... 2,818

Visits (at home) .

609

Deaths ... .

Patients sent to the hospital

“ The consultations at the dispensary, which were eight on
each occasion during the first three months, have risen to 20
at each reception during the last quarter. The number of
visits has increased still more. From 89, during the first
quarter, it has increased during the last three months to 280.

“ These results prove conclusively that a very considerable
proportion of the poorer classes prefer the treatment pro¬
vided through homoeopathy; further, we are persuaded that
a preference for this mode of treatment is likely to extend
considerably amongst them.

“ As you will remark from the figures given above, we have
sent only a relatively small number of patients to the
hospital. We have been obliged to treat all acute and chronic
affections which presented themslves at the patients’ homes ;
because, homoeopathy being excluded from the hospitals, we
have not wished to expose our patients to the always injurious
consequences of a sudden change of therapeutics—still more
so for the reason that if the poor had recourse to us, it was
because they had confidence in homoeopathic treatment, and
wished to be treated by this mode.

“ But in many instances treating the patients at home is
impossible, owing to the bad hygienic conditions under which
they live. In cases of contagious diseases, doing so would
present a serious danger to the public health.

“ The poor, therefore, whom we send to the hospital find

Yol. 37. No. (5. 2—A

Digitized by

Google

370

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homceopathic-
Beview, June 1,1893.

themselves in an exceptionally unfavourable situation, for
after having followed a course of homoeopathic treatment,
they are submitted to a therapeutic method, based on entirely
different principles, and even opposed to those on which we
practice. Such a system can only act injuriously on the
patient's condition.

“ In times of an epidemic it would entail very grave conse¬
quences, for it is to be feared that the patients from our dis¬
pensary, thus subjected to two methods of treatment quite
incompatible with each other, would pay a larger tribute to
mortality.

“It is thus in the name of humanity, in the name of the
health of our patients, that we come to you, praying that you
will devote to homoeopathic treatment some of the wards of
one of the hospitals of this town.

“ The introduction of homoeopathy into the public service is
no longer an innovation in Antwerp, since the Town Council
has taken the initiative by founding a dispensary, where the
poor have the power of resorting to this therapeutic method.
You will not forget that this measure of liberty and justice
has been greeted with the greatest sympathy in our town. It
has been approved of by a large majority of the Communal
Council, and, with the exception of a few newspapers, it has
had the approbation of the whole political Press of the
country. Besides which, the most evident proof of the
opportuneness of such a reform is shown in the success which
it has had amongst those principally interested—the poor—
since during the first year we have given nearly 8,000
homoeopathic prescriptions.

“ In introducing homoeopathy into its medical service, the
Town Council has desired to preserve the great principle of
liberty in the treatment of the poor.

“ In imitating this example, gentlemen, you will have an
interest in view, even plainer and more sacred, namely, the
health of the patients; for from the foregoing arguments
you will be able to understand all that is anomalous, illogical,
nay, even to see the lack of humanity, in the present situation.

“ The homoeopathic system is admitted at the present time
into a large number of establishments, public and private.
From a report presented at the Homoeopathic Congress at
Basle, in 1886, it appeared that the United States possessed
51 homoeopathic hospitals. Further, numerous and authentic
statistics showed that the mortality in these is less than in
the hospitals directed by the doctors of the old school. We
quote several facts :—

“ At the Hopital St. Boch, in Buda-Pesth, several wards
have been devoted to homoeopathic treatment. There the

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Juno 1,1883.

NOTABILIA.

371

mortality has been 18.5 under allopathic treatment, and 15.7
per cent, among cases treated by homoeopathy .”—(Statistic
der Klinischen Lehranstalt im Si. Rochus Spitale zu Ihula-
Pesth.

44 One of the largest hospitals in New York—the hospital of
Ward’s Island—is exclusively homoeopathic. The mortality
there is about 6 per cent., whilst it attains 12 per cent, in the
allopathic hospitals of the same town. (These figures are ex¬
tracted from the Report of the Board of Charities of New
York.)

44 In 1854 London was ravaged by a terrible epidemic of
cholera. The English Government caused a large number of
hospitals to be vacated (amongst the number the Homoeo¬
pathic Hospital), in order to place in them patients attacked
by the epidemic. It also named a medical commission, com¬
posed exclusively of allopathic doctors, to inquire into the
results obtained by the help of the various therapeutic
methods put in practice in these hospitals. The Commission
presented its report, but omitted to mention the results ob¬
tained at the Homoeopathic Hospital. This omission was
made the occasion of a question in the House of Commons,
and the Commission Was obliged to confess that, whilst the
mortality had been 51 per cent, in the allopathic hospitals,
it had only reached 16.4 per cent, at the Homoeopathic
Hospital. This fact has been again noticed recently by the
Times , on the occasion of the memorable controversy which
broke out in 1887 between the English homoeopathic and
allopathic doctors.

44 In conlusion, we would wish to point out that the intro¬
duction of homoeopathy into the hospitals would not have the
effect of sensibly increasing the expenses of the administra¬
tion, since the homoeopathic medicines are less expensive
than are the allopathic prescriptions, and it has been proved
that the average duration of residence in hospital for the
same disease is shorter under homoeopathic than under allo¬
pathic treatment. Confident in the interest which you have
always shown in the welfare of the poorer classes, we dare to
hope that you will take the necessary steps for the patients
continuing at the hospital the treatment which they have
chosen by applying to the Homoeopathic Dispensary of the
Town Council.

“ Dr. Lembreghts Fils.

44 Dr. B. Schmitz.

44 Antwerp, Feb. 28rd, 1898.”

To this petition the following reply has been sent:—

44 Antwerp, 25th February. 1893.

44 Gentlemen,—We are in receipt of your letter of the 23rd inst.

2 A— 2

Digitized by

Google

372

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1883.

relative to the establishing of a homoeopathic service in our hospitals,
and beg to inform you that the matter will be submitted to the con¬
sideration of our Council.

“ By Order “ Ferd. de Wael, President.

*• E. Bon wens, Secretary.”

HOMOEOPATHY IN ST. PETERSBURG.

We are informed by the British Medical Journal of the
18th ult., that “ a large gathering of people of the higher
classes of St. Petersburg, on the 5th of April, assembled to
hear a public debate between champions of homoeopathy and
of orthodox medicine. In the Russian capital, as elsewhere,
the upper classes have a natural leaning towards heresy in
medicine, and, at the commencement of the discussion, their
sympathies were almost entirely with the disciples of Hahne¬
mann. The 4 allopathic * side of the question was upheld,
not by a medical man, but by Professor Goldstein, a phar¬
macist, against whom, therefore, no allegations of professional
jealousy could be made. Homoeopathy was defended by Dr.
Brasol, the leader of the sect in St. Petersburg. Professor
Goldstein’s criticism of his adversary’s statements made a
profound impression on the audience.’’ * The editor then goes
on to describe the points of Professor Goldstein’s statements
which created this 44 profound impression.” They are, that
homoeopathy consists in giving as medicines 44 single drops of
water.” 44 Besides water, the chief remedies of the homoeo¬
paths are grains of salt, carbon, silica, and minute quantities
of pounded sugar and spirits.” Then the Professor is said to
have 4 4 exposed the absurdity of the well-known theory of the
* dynamic power ’ ”—whatever this may be. In explanation
of this so-called 44 well-known theory,” he said: 44 Take a few
pinches of salt, and throw it into the middleof the sea of Ladoga,
and then travel to St. Petersburg and take a tumbler of water
from the Neva, which draws its waters from that sea, and
then you will drink a homoeopathic medicine ” ! If this is
the sort of stuff that can create any “profound impression ”
—other than unfavourable—upon 44 a large gathering of
people of the higher classes of St. Petersburg,” they must be
much more easily hoodwinked than we should have supposed
it possible for them or any other persons of average informa¬
tion, to have been. Professor Goldstein’s statements do not
touch homoeopathy, neither do they present the remotest
resemblance to the practice of homoeopathy. This one thing
they do. They show that though the Russian laws are
generally supposed to be repressive of freedom of speech and
freedom of action, nevertheless, the lamentation we once
heard uttered by an American citizen :— 44 The trouble is, sir,

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

NOTABILIA.

373

that there is no law in the United States which prevents a
man making a darn fool of himself ”—applies with equal
force to the state of legislation in Russia. That it is so,
Professor Goldstein is a conspicious illustration.

AMERICAN NOTES.

The assembling at Chicago, three or four days ago, of the
World’s Homoeopathic Congress, is the one event upon which
the thoughts of all homoeopaths in the United States have
been centred for some time past. Every arrangement has
been made to secure “ the largest assemblage of homoeopathic
physicians in the world’s history.” Dr. Bojanus, of Samara,
Russia, Dr. Oscar Hansen, of Copenhagen, Dr. Majundar and
Dr. Baneijee, of Calcutta, Dr. Day, of Honolulu, Dr. Piaz,
of Bogota, Columbia, and Dr. A. C. Eastman, an educated
Sioux Indian, are among the distinguished foreigners who
were reported by the journals received last month to be on
their way to Chicago. Seven of the large halls in the mag¬
nificent Art Building on the lake front have been assigned by
President Bonney, of the World’s Congress Auxiliary, for the
exclusive use of the Congress, and will afford ample facilities
for the meetings.

* # # *

We have, so far, heard only of Dr. Molson and Dr. Karl
Fischer from this country having expressed an intention
to be present. Dr. Molson goes charged with a message
for the Congress from the British Homoeopathic Society. He
left this country about the middle of last month. The period
of the year at which the Congress is held makes attendance
at it impossible to most of us. Nevertheless, though largely
absent in the body we shall be represented by literary
contributions. Dr. Hughes has sent a paper entitled The
Further Improvement of the Materia Medica ; Dr. Pope one on
The Value of Efforts to Enlighten the Public on Homoeopathy ;
Dr. J. H. Clarke one on The Curative Action of Homoeopathic
Remedies in Cases of Organic Disease of the Heart ; Dr. Edward
Blake one on Some Important Clinical Aspects of Passive
Septic Invasion , and Mr. Gerard Smith one on Headache in
Children .

* * # *

Not only will British homoeopathy be represented by papers
to be read at the Congress, but also by an exhibit at the
General Exposition—the World’s Fair. This has been sent by
the London Homoeopathic Hospital, and is thus described in
the Hahnemannian Monthly :—“ It is a collection of dolls to
illustrate nursing and the advantages of various surgical
appliances. One doll wears the uniform of a nurse, and looks

Digitized by

374

NOTABILIA.

Monthly HonuBopathiO
Review, June 1,1898.

very natty in a dark-blue dress and a white apron, cuffs, and
collar. A collection of little doll invalids is exhibited in tiny
beds. They are suffering from broken thighs and other
injuries, and are fitted with splints and placed in such atti¬
tudes as the living patient would be made to assume. It is a
novel idea, but a very practical and useful one, and the
collection will, no doubt, attract the attention of the medical
fraternity.”

♦ *J» "r

A de die in diem record of the proceedings of the Congress
is to appear in a daily edition of the Medical Century ,
lately established by Dr. Fisher, each number to contain
from 12 to 20 pages of matter. This energetic purveyor of
medical literature and news has, we learn from one of
the journals, secured all the addresses in advance !
We may be assured that the Medical Century will contain,
therefore, not only an early but a very full report of the
papers and discussions.

❖ ❖ * ❖ *

Brilliant as are the anticipations of the success of the
meeting, the death, on the 4th of April, of Dr. George A.
Hall, the Professor of Surgery in Hahnemann Medical
•College, the organiser of the World’s Fair Homoeopathic
Hospital, a fine building just within the entrance to the
Exposition grounds, constitutes a cloud, the existence of
which Chicago men, at any rate, will find it hard to avoid
feeling the influence of. Dr. Hall was a surgeon of far
more than average ability, and a teacher of the highest
excellence. As a man, he was genial, hospitable, and generous ;
popular alike with his professional colleagues at the college
and the hospital and throughout the city, with his students
and, very especially so, among his very large circle of
patients. His last appearance in public was at a meeting of
he board of the World’s Fair Homoeopathic Hospital, of
which he was President. His loss to the College

is indeed a very heavy one, and greatly do we

sympathise with his sorrowing colleagues.

V v *i* V

It will be remembered that some months ago we noticed the
offer of Dr. G. M. Gould, of Philadelphia, to give a prize of
$100 for the best essay showing the ridiculous pretensions of
homoeopathy! The successful essay, he proposed, should be
used for circulation among the laity, and homoeopathy was to
be killed off at last! Thirteen essays were sent in, that of Dr.
W. W. Browning, of Brooklyn, securing the dollars. “ And
then,” writes the Hahnemannian Monthly , “ there was silence.
What had become of the essay ? Eagerly we scanned the

Digitized by ^ooQle

[Monthly Homoeopathio
Review, June 1,1893.

NOTABILIA.

375

pages of The Medical News, and other allopathic journals, week
after week. We had almost feared that the essay had been
suppressed, when, lo, and behold, a firm of homoeopathic
pharmacists rescues it from oblivion by putting it on sale over
their counters. Nowhere do we hear of any old-school
doctors using it as a campaign document; no allopathic
journals announce it with flourishes of trumpets or shouts of
approval. It is simply purchased by the homoeopathists as a
means of innocent amusement, as they would buy Puck , Judge ,
Life, or any other comic papers. This sounds strange, but
truth is often stranger than fiction.’*

♦ V *1* *»*

“ The Microbe Killer ** is the name of a much advertised
-quack medicine. It is an attractive name. People have read
so much about microbes, and all their terrors, that they have
naturally felt desirous to have them slaughtered, if the
knowledge, that there is a race of microbes known as
phagocytes, who maintain a precarious existence by devouring
other microbes, had been more generally diffused, the
chances are that there would have been less demand for the
aid in destroying them offered, at so much a bottle, by Mr.
Radam than, greatly to his advantage, at any rate, was found
to exist. Of all the horrors that a quack medicine-vendor
has to endure none is so repulsive as an analytical chemist of
an inquiring turn of mind, and possessing the courage of his
opinions. Some years ago, it fell to the lot of Mr. Radam to
come into contact with one of these inquisitors, a Dr. Eccles.
Dr. Eccles analysed the Microbe Killer, showing it to be
principally dilute sulphuric acid. This analysis was pub¬
lished in the Druggists * Circular at the time, and led to quite
a controversy, during which Mr. Radam printed an article in
a daily newspaper, where he took the opportunity of calling Dr.
Eccles a quack and a charlatan. An action for libel followed,
and the jury has recently decided that Mr. Radam shall pay
the sum of six thousand dollars and costs for the privilege
of calling Dr. Eccles a charlatan and a quack. On the other
hand, Mr. Radam also instituted a suit against the Diniggists*
Circular for two hundred thousand dollars damages, for
having printed the analysis of his Microbe Killer. This case
has not yet been tried.

THE REPORT OF THE LEPROSY COMMISSION.

This report is too important to pass over without notice.
The Commission executed their work in a most careful and
painstaking manner, free from all prejudice, and occupied a
jear in their investigations of the disease as it is found in

Digitized by ^ooQle

876

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homopopathic-
Review, June 1, 1893.

India. They visited the leper centres and asylums, and
personally examined over 2,000 lepers, in order to ascer¬
tain all points in connection with the disease. The result
of the report will be the correction of many generally re¬
ceived opinions in regard to causation, heredity and contagion.
They insist, to begin with, on the essential identity of the
tuberculous and anaesthetic forms of the disease. As to the
geographical distribution, they find that there is no special
tract of country or geological conformation, in which leprosy
exists more than in any other. Next, as to the alleged
increase of the disease, the Commission find that the re¬
verse is actually the fact, and they believe that with proper
hygienic surroundings, the disease may, and will, die out.
Dampness of climate seems to have certain relations to the
frequency of the disease, and, as a general rule, when the
insanitary conditions which favour the existence of cholera
endemically are present, there leprosy is most prevalent,
the two generally co-existing. So, likewise, poverty, with its
consequences, seems to favour the prevalence of the disease.
The Commission lay great stress therefore on the improve¬
ment of the sanitary and social surroundings, in order to
prevent the spread of leprosy. In the same way, they find
that though the native races are more susceptible than
Europeans, yet the more highly educated, and the more
materially prosperous races or castes are less obnoxious to
the disease than are others. Next, the Commission find that
in spite of the anti-vaccination outcry, there is no evidence to
show that vaccination has anything to do with the
propagation of the disease, nor did they even meet a single
case where the natives attributed the spread of the disease
to vaccination. Then follows the very important question
of hereditary transmission and predisposition, and the con¬
clusion at which they arrive is thus stated:—“ That leprosy
in India cannot be considered a hereditary disease, and they
would even venture to say that the evidence which exists
is hardly sufficient to establish an inherited specific pre¬
disposition to the disease by the offspring of leprous parents
to any appreciable degree.” They state that a congenital
case of leprosy was never met by them, that a possible true
family taint in the direct line could only be traced in 5 per
cent, or 6 per cent, of over 2,000 cases enquired into, that
the disease could be traced through at least two generations
in less than 1 per cent., that only 4 per cent, to 7 per
cent, of the children bom of parents who were
both leprous, and were so before marriage, became lepers,
that, with one exception, all the children at the Almora
Orphanage, bom of leper parents, but separated from them

Digitized by L^OOQle

MonthlyHomceop&thlo
Review, June 1,1893.

NOTABILIA.

877

and carefully tended, remained free from the disease, that not
more than 6 to 8 per cent, of all the children born after the
development of the disease in either parent, became leprous,
and that, lastly, in cases where a family taint in the direct
line could be made out, individuals bom of leprous parents
are no more pre-disposed to the disease than those whose
parents became lepers some time after the birth of their
children. The Commission also adduce arguments to
show that a true specific hereditary predisposition causally
related to the leprosy in the parent does not exist. The
Commission further argue that, if they assume the disease
to spread by heredity alone, statistics show that the proba¬
bility is rather a decrease than increase of leprosy. For of 2,915-
cases, the offspring of 1,564 marriages, the latter repre¬
senting 1,685 lepers, only 78 of the offspring were affected,,
and, in accordance with other statistics, it is improbable that
more than 150 will be affected by heredity alone, and that
thus, in place of 1,685 lepers, there would remain only 150^
Another very important point in connection with this question
of increase or decrease, is the high mortality in leper off¬
spring, and at the same time, diminished reproductive
power of lepers ; 65 per cent, of the leper couples are sterile,,
while in the case of the leprosy of the husband 60 per cent^
of the couples are sterile, and in that of the wife 70 per cent,
are so. The Commission therefore comes to the important
conclusion that marriages among lepers, or with lepers, do-
not tend to increase the spread of the disease by means of the
offspring.

The next important question discussed by the Com¬
mission is that of Contayiousmss. The current view of
leprosy is that it is an infectious disease—that is, one caused
by a specific microbe, the bacillus leprse, but as such not
necessarily contagious. In fact, even up to date, views differ
on this point, as the conflicting opinions expressed by Hansen
and Leloir on the one hand, and Virchow and Fliigge on the
other, clearly show. A succinct abstract on the essence and
import of contagion follows, which may briefly be summarised
thus—(Here we quote an entire passage from the able
abstract of the British Medical Journal , April 29, and from
which, as the full report is not yet published, we have taken
our information):—

“1. The scientific and practical meaning of contagion should
always be kept separate. Although a given disease in a
scientific classification of diseases may have to be placed
amongst the contagious ones, it may yet be practically non-
contagious under ordinary conditions and surroundings. 2.
Infection and contagion are by no means synonymous terms,.

Digitized by

Google

378

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, June 1, 1803.

m shown by malaria and pneumonia. 8. Animal experiments
and bacteriology are altogether inadequate to establish the
contagiousness of a disease in human surroundings. 4. The
disposition of the individual is an important factor in the
acquisition of many infective diseases; and, from a practical
and legislative point of view, as the importance of this
disposition increases the stress laid on contagion necessarily
•decreases. Thus, in tuberculosis, it is an old-established rule
to counteract the special predisposition rather than the
contagium vivum.

The Commissioners have arrived at the conclusion that,
though leprosy must be classed amongst the contagious
diseases, yet the risk of contagion is so small that it may
practically be disregarded, and the attention of the reformer
or legislator should, therefore, be directed towards the re¬
moval of predisposing factors. They base their conclusion on
the following reasons:—

1. With one questionable exception, all the instances of
a possible contagion which they personally met with have
broken down.

2. In no case could contagion, or the possibility of it, be
demonstrated free from objection.

8. The disease does not spread sufficiently amongst
members of a family.

4. Leprosy very seldom spreads from husband to wife, or
Jticc versa .

5. There is no risk of a diffusion of leprosy by means of
vaccination. Under this heading a short summary is given
*>f the lengthy exposition in Chapter III., to which we must
refer.

6. Leper communities in India have never acted as centres
Around which and from which leprosy has been diffused
amongst the population. Segregation or partial isolation
<*annot explain this, as in places like Amritsar the lepers are
not restricted in any way.

7. The belief that people who go barefoot are liable to be
inoculated through wounds on their feet is unfounded, for the
cases shown in evidence of this assumption were very doubt¬
ful and problematic; bacilli were never found in the dust
removed from leper huts, though doubtful bacilli were
obtained on examining earth from the footwalks of the Almora
Asylum.

8. All the persons who had lived many years in close con¬
tact with lepers, either as their attendants or being retained
in asylums on the suspicion of being lepers, and who were
seen and examined by the Commissioners, have remained un¬
tainted, with one, or perhaps two, exceptions.

Digitized by

..Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Junel, 1898.

NOTABILIA.

379

In an Appendix these arguments are still further elabo¬
rated, and full statistical evidence is given. A short state¬
ment, with critical notes, is given of the cases brought forward
as proof of the contagiousness of leprosy, and it is at once
evident that none of these can be considered authentic evi¬
dence of a possible or true contagion. While inquiring in
how many instances the disease might be said to have spread
from one member of a family to another, they found that, of
1,691 people who confessed to have lived in close family
intercourse with lepers, 95 (or, excluding all cases of doubtful
diagnosis, 78) contracted the affection, that is, about 5 per cent.
This percentage might have been reduced, if all children who
died as infants had been included. This has not been done,
as leprosy seldom shows itself at an infantile age. This,
they claim, is a weak point in the theory of contagion, as is
also the assumption of a long incubation period; 5 per cent,
cannot, however, represent the actually existing chances of
infection, as the 1,691 persons are only a selected few of all
those who have come into contact with the same lepers, and
as all other possible causes of acquiring the disease have been
disregarded. But even assuming 5 per cent, to indicate the
true incidence of contagion, and this to be the only cause of
• diffusion, it is maintained that the disease would die out after
a few generations.

They next inquire whether the fact of leprosy having a pre¬
dilection for certain families is explicable on a theory of
contagion, as it was shown not to depend on heredity, and
demonstrate that amongst all the families of which one
member at least was a leper, in only from 5 to 8 per cent, at
the most the disease can be said to have spread amongst the
offspring, and that this diffusion amongst the children is very
slight, and that the ratio would become still less if husbands
and wives were included as well as the offspring.

Again, a possible contagion from husband and wife, or
vice versa , could be made out in comparatively few cases, for
of 881 individuals having conjugal intercourse with an equal
number of lepers, only 5 per cent, became affected, choosing
those cases only where couples had lived together for at
least five years. Counting all cases, a possible contagion
coaid be traced in only 8.6 per cent.

Taking the evidence afforded by hospital or asylum
officials, it was found that of 69 persons only one, or 1.5 per
cent., became tainted, while of 85 cases voluntarily or other¬
wise exposed to the danger of contagion by living, sleeping,
and eating with lepers in the asylums, often for many years,
none were affected.

The question of contagion being affected by persons eating

Digitized by ^ooQle

880

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1883.

and drinking out of the same vessels with lepers was also
gone into, with the result that of 205 persons who indulged in
this practice from 5 to 7 per cent, subsequently suffered.’*

IV.— Sanitation, Diet, and Diseases in Relation to
Leprosy.

The Commissioners believe that insanitary surroundings,
defective hygiene, want of personal cleanliness, and bad food,
may predispose to, and aggravate the disease, but will not
originate it, but at the same time they agree that it is
possible that really unwholesome food may produce general
disease. They find that there is no proof of the disease
being carried or propagated by mosquitoes or other insects.
The Commissioners likewise reject as quite unproven the
old theory, revived by Mr. Hutchinson, that fish is a cause
of leprosy. Many castes, where leprosy is found, are for¬
bidden to touch flesh or fish. Nor can they find any evidence
to show that a scarcity of salt from high prices has anything
to do with the spread of the disease. And on this
question they point out that a few pence will obtain
the annual amount of salt any individual requires.
They further reject the view that water, for
drinking or bathing has any connection with the spread of
leprosy, the disease is not sufficiently diffused to warrant such
a belief, while the bacterioscopic examination of water from
tanks greatly frequented by lepers was negative. As to the
theory that leprosy is “ a phase of inherited syphilis,” as Sir
William Moore maintains, the Commission adduce arguments
which completely negative the possibility of 3uch being the
case.

Finally, as to the treatment, the Commission consider
leprosy an incurable disease. But, nevertheless, great
amelioration may be obtained by removal to proper hygienic
surroundings, and this they considered the chief good to be
obtained by separation in asylums. As to drugs, those that
seemed of greatest benefit were arsenic given internally, and
chauhnooyra oil rubbed on the skin. They found that Unpa’s
treatment by ichthyol and resorcin t lately recommended by the
Indian Government, as also Dr. Lutz’s treatment with sold
were complete failures.

Surgical treatment may be required in certain ca$es,
and as safely as for an ordinary patient in a general hospii&l.
Tuberculin was likewise a complete failure. /

The bacteriological investigations elicited nothing new.

The report is, on the whole, most interesting and instructive,
and greatly adds to our knowledge of the disease. 1

^Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1,1893.

NOTABILIA.

381

SALE OF WORK AT GREAT ORMOND STREET.

A very successful sale of work was held by the sisters and
nurses of the London Homoeopathic Hospital on May 16th
and 17th and realised £55. When it is stated that no
special announcement of its taking place was made, and only
a few friends of the hospital invited, and that the articles
consisted chiefly of clothing for the poor and small articles
left over from the last bazaar, Sister Marian (who organised
the sale) is to be congratulated on the very handsome
amount collected for the purpose of providing those little
comforts for the patients which are so necessary during
their occupation of the temporary hospital to which they
have been removed pending the rebuilding of this well
known institution. Among the attractions was a 44 Post
Office ” which, for the amount of one penny, presented you
with a letter containing a quotation appropriate or in¬
appropriate as fortune befel. Another novelty consisted of a
44 Fairy Well ” attended by living fairies, who, for a trifle,
showed themselves to be ordinary mortals by dipping in the
well and bringing up a useful little article, such as a paper
knife, pin-cushion, &c. This and the 44 Post Office ” were
very successful, and largely contributed to the success of the
bazaar. The site of the old hospital is being rapidly cleared
for the erection of the new hospital at a cost of £85,000 with
accommodation for 125 patients.

CONSULTATIONS WITH ALLOPATHS.

Dear Sir, — I send you copy of a correspondence which
has taken place between myself and a well-known London
specialist.

The facts of the case are these: I am attending a young
lady for a slight but very troublesome ailment. She went to
town on a visit, and her parents, old homoeopaths, asked,
as she would be in town, if I had any objection to her seeing

Dr.-, and if I did not object, would I write to the doctor

giving a short history of her case ? I said, let her see him by
all means. I wrote a civil letter to the doctor, giving him
particulars, but saying nothing as to treatment.

In the course of a day or two, I received the following
reply:—

4 ‘ London, Feb. —.

“ Dear Sir, —I thank you for your letter respecting Miss-.

Mrs.-, who brought her to me, tells me that you are a

homoeopath. May I ask if you are ? In asking this question you
will, I am sure, fully understand that I do not wish in any way to be
offensive, for you are doubtless aware that I could not meet a member
of the profession who professed to be such.

“ Yours truly,

J. W-.”

Digitized by

882

NOTABILIA,

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, June 1. 1893.

*• Exeter. Feb. —.

11 Dear Sir, —In reply to your enquiry respecting my medical belief,
I am, like yourself, a duly qualified practitioner, plus a knowledge of
homoeopathy. I have studied both systems of medicine, and honestly
believing homoeopathio treatment to be far in advance of allopathic,
I practise it.

“The suggestion that the patient in question should consult you
came from her mother, she asking me if I would send a short history
of her case to you,

“ I never throw any obstacle in the way to prevent a patient con¬
sulting one of the * old school,' as I know that in taking this retro¬
grade step they will return to me sooner or later. You are the first
allopathic specialist who has gone out of his way to make the enquiry
you do, and it is evident from your saying that you do not wish to be
offensive (discourteous, I think, would have been a happier term) that
you had some doubt as to the way I should interpret your letter.
May I remind you that I did not ask you to virct me in consultation.

“ I am, Dear Sir,

“ Yours sincerely,

“ Henry Woodgates.

A few days afterwards the patient returned, and I was
asked to see her. I was also shown the prescription,
which was based on the law of similars.

I have shown the correspondence to two allopathic medical
friends of mine, both of whom are personal friends of the
doctor. They both consider him decidedly wrong, and each
said, it is just like him, but we do not think there are many
others, if any, w f ho would have so acted.

Yours faithfully,

HENRY WOODGATES, M.D.

SALEP.

The tuberous roots of some varieties of orchis yield a
nutritious substance, consisting chiefly of bassorin, some
soluble gum and a little starch. This constitutes what is
known as salep. It is employed in India, and, to some extent,
in France, as a nutrient of an easily assimilable character.
Medicinally it has been used as “ a restorative, emollient and
demulcent ” ( Percivall , 1778). A century earlier it occurs, in
the dispensatories of the period, as an aphrodisiao and a pre¬
ventive of miscarriages—properties to which, as Pereira
remarks, “ it has no claim.” There is, however, a consider¬
able amount of testimony to its power as a food of a singularly
nutritious character and to its emollient properties.

Mr. Pottage, of Edinburgh, has for some months been
engaged in studying the orchis family with the view
of utilising the dietetic and therapeutic qualities it has
been found to possess. The variety of orchis which has
proved to be the richest in salep is that found in
Persia. From the Persian variety, Mr. Pottage has prepared
a lozenge, as a restorative, and an ointment as an emollient

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jane 1,1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

38a

to the skin. The former is pleasant to the taste, and a con¬
venient form in which to present nourishment to invalids.
The latter is of excellent consistence, and a good base
for medication. When spread on the skin, and allowed to
dry, it forms a smooth, homogeneous, dry surface, which does
not peel of, and requires no covering of lint or linen, while
it is easily removed with a wet sponge. It should be
remembered that preparations of alum and iron are incom¬
patible with it.

THE BEST NUTRITIVE ENEMA. ~

Ewald, as a result of experiments, found that eggs, even
though not peptonised, were to a considerable extent absorbed
by the rectal mucous membrane. According to the Mereredi
Medical for April 1st, Huber, of Zurich, has recently repeated.
Ewald’s experiments in Professor Eichorst’s clinic, and
announces that the absorption of raw eggs is greatly aided by
the addition of common salt. The salt is well borne, and
causes, as a rule, no irritation of the bowel. He considers
that eggs beaten up with salt, in the proportion of 15 grs. to .
each egg, are the best for nutritive enema. His method of
procedure is as follows: Two or three eggs are taken, and
80 to 46 grs. of salt are added. They are slowly injected by
means of a soft rubber tube, carried as high up the bowel as-
possible. Three such enemata are given daily. An hour
before each enema the rectum is cleaned out by means of a^
large injection of warm water. Any nutritive enema will be
better absorbed by being peptonised, which may be readily
done by the addition of from 5 to 10 grs. of Lactopeptine
powder.— Medical Reprints.

CORRE SPOND ENCE.

“ THE HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL DIRECTORY.”

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen, —We are going to press with a new edition of
the above, and shall be much obliged if you will give publicity
to this letter. We find it a difficult task to get a correct list,
and we would take this opportunity of asking all those
interested in homoeopathy to send us any information they
may have that will further the work now in hand, as we have
every desire to make the Directory as correct as possible.

We are, Gentlemen,

Your obedient servants,

Keene & Ashwell.

74, New Bond Street, London.

P.S.—We are anxious also to give a correct list of homoeo¬
pathic chemists.

Digitized by

384

CORRESPONDENTS

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jane 1, 1888.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

*** We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts.

Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby.

London Homeopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,
Bloomsbury. —Hours of attendance : Medical, In-patients, 9.80 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30, daily; Surgical. Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.80 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist. Mondays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

Communications have been received from Dr. J. R. Day, Dr.
Edward Blake, Mr. Knox Shaw, Mr. Cross (London) ; Dr. Hughes
(Brighton) ; Dr. Nicholson (Clifton); Dr. Purdom (Croydon); Dr.
Roberts (Harrogate).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Curability of Tumours by Medicines. By J. Compton Burnett, M.D.
London: The Homoeopathic Publishing Company. 1893.— .Votes on
Medicinal Bcmcdies. By J. B. Stephenson, Member of the Parma-
ceutical Society. London : Baillicre, Tindall & Cox. 1893.— 1The
Homoeopathic World. London. May.— Medical Bcprints. London.
May.— The Chemist and Druggist. London. May.— The Monthly
Magazine of Pharmacy. London. May.— The Xorth American Journal
of Homoeopathy. New York. May.— The New York Medical Becord .
April and May.— The New York Medical Times. May.— Childhood .
New York. May. —The Ch Iranian. New York. April and May.—
The New England Medical Gazette. Boston. May. —The Hahne¬
mann i an Monthly. Philadelphia. May. —The Homoeopathic Becorder.
Philadelphia. May. —The Clinique. Chicago. April. —The Medical
Century. Chicago. April. —The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine.
April.— The Homoeopathic Physician. Philadelphia. May.— The Medi¬
cal Argus. Minneapolis. April.— The Homoeopathic Envoy. Lan¬
caster, Pa. May.— Paeijic Coast Journal of Homoeopathy. San Diego,
California. April.— The Homoeopathic Medical Becord. Calcutta.
March.— Annals of Electro-Homoeopathy. Geneva. May. — Bcvuts
Homoeopath igue Beige. Brussels. April. —Bivista Omiopatica. Rome.
March.— Ifomoeopathisch Maandblad. The Hague. May.— Lcipziger
Pop. Zeitschrift. fur Horn. May.— Bull. Gin. de Therap. Paris. May.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pope, 18,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dtce Browx, 29, Seymour Street, Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby, 161, Haveratock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments ami Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould & Son, 59,
Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by ^ooQle

»i2^ thiC SCEPTICISM IN THERAPEUTICS. 385

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

-:o: — -

SCEPTICISM IN THERAPEUTICS.

Of late years editorial writers in the non-homceopathic
medical journals have not infrequently called upon their
readers to admire the great strides that have been made
during modern times in the accumulation of therapeutic
knowledge. The establishment of a Pharmacological
Section, at the annual meetings of the British Medical
Association, has been welcomed, as many years ago the
publication of The Practitioner was welcomed, in the
hope that, at last, a real source of therapeutic investiga¬
tion had been secured, one which would enable the
general practitioner to prescribe drugs for the healing of
his patients with a measure of success and a degree of
safety unknown in the old days. Scepticism as to the
utility of drugs was to become without excuse.
Researches into the effects produced by drugs upon dogs
and cats, mice and frogs, were to solve all the difficulties
surrounding the utilisation of drugs in curing disease.
Dr. Lauder Brunton’s magnum opus on Pharmacology ,
Therapeutics , and Materia Medic a, constructed largely
upon these lines, rapidly passed through two editions.
A third appeared some years ago, and now we hear no
more of it. This book, built upon foundations laid in
the physiological and chemical laboratories, was found
to give but little assistance to the busy practitioner.
Vol. 37, No. 7. 2—B

Digitized by ^ooQle

386 SCEPTICISM IN THERAPEUTICS.

It indeed contained an Index of Diseases and Remedies ;
but here, too, the long list of drugs appended to each
nosological definition, without the least attempt being
made in the text to differentiate between them, rendered
the Index of comparatively little value to anyone.
Notwithstanding the apparently scientifically ascertained
quality of its observations, the general practitioner
found them to be of a sort from which little or no clinical
fruit could be derived. Hence, at the present time, we
hear little or nothing of this ponderous collection of facts,
interesting indeed as a contribution to general know¬
ledge, but of little or no service at the bedside. The more
empirical Handbook of Therapeutics by Dr. Sidney
Eingeb, with its collection of therapeutic generalisations,
derived from the writings of homoeopathic physicians,
dressed up to meet the anti-homoeopathic prejudices of
the majority of the profession, still holds its own as the
most useful therapeutic-reference book available for the
non-homceopathic general practitioner.

The so-called scientific—what an abuse of the word!
—therapeutics which followed the long period of sceptic¬
ism that succeeded the irrational empiricism of forty
years ago is already, short as has been its existence,
found to be inadequate to fulfil the objects of the physi¬
cian’s mission, and therapeutic scepticism is again in the
ascendant. To it, at the opening of the recent session of
the Medical Council, the President, Sib Richabd Quain,
drew attention in his address; and, having done so,
sought to trace its cause and to suggest a remedy. In
reviewing the report of the Education Committee, and
expressing his gratification at the evidence it afforded of a
desire on the part of the educational bodies to advance
medical education, he said :—

“ At the present time, we see great earnestness everywhere
in the pursuit of scientific medical knowledge. We see men
of ability devoting themselves to the recondite investigation
of the nature of disease and of morbid processes. These
researches are receiving their reward in the light which is
daily being thrown on the process of morbid action. Great
zeal is likewise devoted to the promotion and extension of the
means of diagnosis, and, within recent times, to measures for
the prevention of disease. Would that I could speak with
equal gratification on another subject—namely of therapeutics,
the means adopted for the treatment of disease. In this
department of our science it is, alas, too true that much

Digitized by ^ooQle

SCEPTICISM IN THERAPEUTICS. 387

scepticism exists; remedies are undervalued, and doubts are
thrown on their usefulness. I have a strong conviction,
which I would wish here to emphasise, that this failure of
remedies to determine success is due not so much to a
deficiency in the agent itself, as to the fact that it is not the
right remedy, or that it is not applied at the right time or in
the right way.”

Such is the indictment drawn by Sir Richard Quain
against the present state of therapeutics. The way in
which he accounts for such a condition of things having
arisen is singular, to say the least of it; this is how he
explains the existence of the scepticism and of the doubts
thrown on the usefulness of remedies which he so much
deplores:—

“ Can we wonder at this,” he continues, “ when we daily
see announcements of ready made physic in every form, which
is too frequently administered to patients because it is con¬
venient and ready at hand ? This system should be combated
both in the hospital wards and in the examination halls, for
it threatens to render the method of prescribing an obsolete
art.”

To restore confidence in the value of remedies and
remove existing doubts as to their value, the President
of the Medical Council makes the following recommenda¬
tion :—

“ Students should be more fully instructed in the use of
medicinal agents and in the value of remedies, and their
knowledge of the subject should be fully and carefully tested
when they are under examination.”

This we entirely endorse. Students do indeed require
to be “ more fully instructed in the use of medicinal
agents." But where is the teacher to be found who has
sufficient confidence in the worth of the knowledge he
has to impart regarding the “ use of medicinal agents ”
and “ the value of remedies?" Only a few years ago
one of Guy’s most brilliant lecturers told his materia
inedica class that “ the drugs that a good doctor gives
are often only, as it were, signs and symbols in the
plan he is carrying out for the patient’s benefit—symbols
vitally important in the practical world; without the
dose three times a day the service would not go on;

. . . . that potion every three or four times is like

a set of stepping stones to faith in the weary time."
If such constitutes the “value of remedies" what real

2 B—2

Digitized by

Google

388 SCEPTICISM IN THERAPEUTICS. “^riewfjJSHJiaas?

difference does it make to a sick person whether the
“ potion ” is prepared in a wholesale drug house, in a
medical man’s surgery, or from a prescription dispensed
in a druggist's pharmacy? The chances of purity,
accuracy and neatness are all in favour of the first.

Again, we ask, where can we find men to teach the
use of medicinal agents and the value of remedies,
“ when,” as Sir Andrew Clark said at the Cork
meeting of the British Medical Association, “ when we
hear that the leaders of medicine both here and abroad
are sceptical of the curative influence of drugs upon
disease; and when we know that experienced practi¬
tioners are divided in opinion as to the effects upon the
body of the commonest medicines ? ” There cannot be
faith in the healing virtues of drugs without knowledge
of their action; the absence of faith in the leaders of
medicine and experienced practitioners is proof positive
that their knowledge of the action of drugs is valueless.
Neither is there any room for our being astonished that
it is so, for one of these “ leaders of medicine,” the
President of the Section of Medicine at the Belfast
meeting of the British Medical Association, described
therapeutics as “ that department of medicine of which
we know least.” And those who pin their faith to
“ leaders in medicine ” when they remember that Sir
William Gull once said “People do not get well by
drugs. The duty of the physician is not to give drugs,
but to see that Nature's powers are not interfered with,”
may well ask “ What is the use of knowing anything of
drug action?” And has not Dr. Wilks —the chief
oracle of Guy’s—emphatically declared that “so far
from the medical man depending upon physic for his
success, he never takes so high a position as when he
gives none and makes the friends of the patient stand
aloof and rely upon his superior knowledge? ”

Can the therapeutic scepticism of men of this type be
fairly traced to the popularity of “ ready-made physic?”
Can it be explained by referring it to the success which
has followed the commercial enterprise of Messrs.
Burroughs & Wellcome and other firms in the same
business ? Most assuredly it cannot. To seek for the
causes of the scepticism Sir Richard Quain is so anxious
to remove, we may well look back some five-and-twenty
years, and read once more the words of wisdom, now

Digitized by ^ooQle

^wl y j^°“nS3 hlC SCEPTICISM IN THERAPEUTICS. 389

probably forgotten, which fell from the late Sir Thomas
Watson, when he opened the first meeting of the
Clinical Society. Having recognised “ therapeutics ” as
“ the greatest gap in the science of medicine,” he went
on presently to say that “ we want to learn distinctly
what is the action of drugs and other outward influences
upon bodily organs and functions.” To acquire this
knowledge, Sir Thomas relied chiefly upon clinical
experience, upon “ faithful descriptions of competent
and accurate observers of the symptoms, circumstances
and progress of disease in the living body, and of its
behaviour under treatment by medicines prescribed
with singleness and simplicity, and a definite aim or
object, or sometimes it may be under no treatment at
all.” To this method of enquiry he also added,
“ authentic reports of trials with medicinal substances
upon the healthy human body.” (A Cyclopedia of Drug
Pathogenesy is tersely described in this sentence).
“Contributions of this order,” he concluded, “multiplied
in number, compared together, contrasted, sifted, and
discussed by a variety of keen and instructed minds, of
minds sceptical, in the best and true sense of that word,
must lead at length, tardily, perhaps, but surely, to a
better ascertainment of the rules—peradventure, to the
discovery even of the law by which our practice should
be guided—and so bring up the therapeutic and
crowning department of medicine to a nearer level with
those other parts which are strictly ministerial and
subservient to this.”

Herein Sir Thomas Watson dug down to the very
roots of the therapeutic “ scepticism ” of the day, and
laid bare the causes of the diminution of esteem in which
drugs are commonly held. He did not, like Sir Eichard
Quain, endeavour to shift the burden of having occasioned
this therapeutic scepticism, this depreciation of drug-
remedies, from the shoulders of the physician to those
of the pharmacist. It was to the quality of current
knowledge regarding drug action—“ very loose, imperfect
and often misleading,” he described it as being—that he
traced the want of confidence in the utility of drugs,
characterising “ leaders of medicine ” and “ experienced
practitioners.” To remove this scepticism, he attached
a high value to clinical experience, and to “ authentic
reports of trials with medicinal substances upon the

Digitized by A^OOQle

390 SCEPTICISM IN THERAPEUTICS.

healthy human body,” not, be it observed, upon dogs
and cats, mice and frogs, but upon “ the healthy human
body.”

The complaint of Sir Thomas Watson in 1868, remains
as Sir Richard Quain has shown, true in 1893. The
mode of generating of faith in the power of drugs to
remedy diseases, in their positive value as therapeutic
agents set forth by the former, is as sound as that of the
latter is trivial. The work must be done by the
physician. The pharmacist can only afford him
assistance by procuring for him pure specimens of the
materials he has to experiment with.

But this is not all. Enquiry into drug action is
fruitless unless some substantially grounded principle
connecting drug action with disease processes is
recognised. Said the British Medical Journal a few
years since, “ between the pharmacologist, labouring to
elucidate the mysteries of the subtle actions of drugs
upon the complicated and intricate human organism,
and the therapeutist, struggling to apply these results
to the successful treatment of disease, a wide and deep
gulf has always been fixed.” Dr. Bristowe, at the
Ryde meeting of the British Medical Association, when
pouring, if not cold, at any rate very tepid, water on the
value of “authentic reports of trials with medicinal
substances upon the healthy human body,” said, that
“ we must admit the truth of the homoeopathic relation
between drugs and diseases before we admit the special
value of investigations conducted only on the healthy
body.”

For pharmacology to prove of any service to practical
medicine, for clinical observation to enhance our sense
of the value of remedies, there must exist some principle,
some rule , “ some law by which,” to use the words of
Sir Thomas Watson, “ our practice may be guided.”
The gulf which has always been fixed between the work
of the pharmacologist and that of the therapeutist must
be bridged to render that of the former useful to the
physician, and that of the latter advantageous to the
sick.

Dr. Wilks, who attaches scant value to pharmaco¬
logical research, almost passionately repudiated, at the
College of Physicians, in December, 1881, the idea of
there being any such thing as “doctrine in therapeutics

Digitized by

Google

SCEPTICISM IN THERAPEUTICS. 391

and Professor Gairdner, of Glasgow, at the Dublin
meeting of the British Medical Association, said that
he 44 instinctively recoiled from the idea that any exclu¬
sive or single principle or law of the healing art could
be said to exi8t. ,,

That we may know what drugs can do, what affinities
they possess for certain organs and tissues, 44 authentic
reports of trials with medicinal substances upon the
healthy human body ” are essential. We require to use
these substances upon diseased human bodies, and
before we can do so with either safety or success we
must know 44 the mysteries of the subtle action of drugs
upon the complicated and intricate human organism/’
However much, therefore, Dr. Wilks, Dr. Bristowe
and Professor Gairdner may endeavour to belittle
pharmacological research, pharmacological research is a
sine qud non of our knowledge of remedies; and a
knowledge of remedies must be acquired before
any hope of removing the prevailing scepticism can be
indulged in. Sir Richard Quain expresses his strong
conviction that “the failure of remedies to determine
success is due, not so much to a deficiency in the agent
itself, as to the fact that it is not the right remedy, or
that it is not applied at the right time or in the right
way.” Quite so. Having acquired by pharmacological
research a knowledge of the powers of a drug, how Can
we tell when it will prove a right remedy ? How, in
other words, can the gulf between the labour of the
pharmacologist and the work of the physician be bridged?

This gulf has been bridged. Dr. Wilks may repu¬
diate, with all the earnestness of 44 a good hater,” the
notion of 44 doctrine in therapeuticsProfessor Gaird¬
ner may 44 instinctively recoil ” from the idea that any
principle or law of the healing art can be said to exist,
with all the energy of his nature—but there is doctrine
in therapeutics, there is a law of the healing art not¬
withstanding. If therapeutic research and clinical medi¬
cine have proved anything during the nineteenth century
of the Christian era, they have proved that such a law
exists, and that it is expressed in the words similia simili -
bus curentur .

Recognise the value of 44 authentic reports ” of trials
with medicinal substances upon the healthy human
body,” recognise the value of the law similia similibus

Digitized by ^ooQle

392

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1863.

curentur in directing the use of these authentic reports
in the treatment of disease, and we shall hear very little
of therapeutic scepticism. Without this recognition, and
until it comes about, as come about it most assuredly
will, repeated therapeutic disappointment will engender
ever increasing therapeutic scepticism. The refusal to
acknowledge the ingenuity of the pharmaceutist will
avail nothing to prevent it. Any attempt to boycott his
productions will prove absurd. It is knowledge, know¬
ledge of drug-action and knowledge of how to direct it
in disease, it is “ light, more light,” that alone can dis¬
pel the dark clouds of scepticism in therapeutics.

To acquire this knowledge we turn to The Cyclopaedia
of Drug Pathogenesy in the first instance, and to homoeo¬
pathy, to the practical application of the law of similars
in the second. Among those who have done so honestly
and industriously no therapeutic sceptics are to be found.

THE HEREDITY OF DISEASE, AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS EXTINCTION.

By J. Murray Moore, M.I)., M.R.C.S.

(Continued from p. 267.)

5. Purpura.—This disease, consisting essentially of
sub-cutaneous haemorrhages, circumscribed in area, has
been known, though rarely, to be transmitted from
parent to child. “ A pregnant woman suddenly became
affected with purpura, attended with coma, and died in
four days from its appearance, giving birth to a dead
foetus ”—the intra-uterine age of which is not stated by
the reporters, Drs. Mole, Hanot and Luzet. “ Thisfoetusdid
not present traces of purpura on the skin, but the serous
cavities contained a reddish fluid. There were discrete
haemorrhagic patches in the thymus gland; the visceral
pericardium was covered with black ecchymosed spots;
and the surface of the lung, as well as the mediastinal
and costal pleura contained similar disseminated patches.
Streptococcus was found in both mother and foetus.”

Whatever may be the ultimate pathological state
giving rise to the phenomena of acute purpura, we have
it here proved to be transmissible to the foetus, through
the maternal side, and by the somatic elements. But

Digitized by Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Keview, July 1, 1883.

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

393

this is scarcely a case of “ true inheritance,” seeing that
it was a disease acquired by the mother during preg¬
nancy.

6. Haemophilia, or the haemorrhagic diathesis, is
noticeably hereditary in direct descent, and the practical
hint should be taken by all dentists and operating
surgeons of making some enquiry as to the patient’s
antecedents before any operation involving bleeding. In
a “ bleeder ” family the disease descends to the boys
through the mothers, who themselves usually remain
healthy (Wickham Legg). More rarely does a haemo
rrhagic father transmit the diathesis to his son. Haemo¬
philia is more common in males than females, in the
proportion of 11 : 1. Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson is of
opinion that inherited gout is the commonest cause of
the haemorrhagic diathesis, that is, of cases where the
idiosyncrasy of a parent or ancestor has become definite
and established in the family. He specifies, as examples
in his own experience, epistaxis, cerebral haemorrhage,
blood patches in the conjunctiva, and retinitis haemo-
rrhagica. He also narrates three cases proving his view,
on pp. 129 and 180 of his Lectures on the Pedigree of
Disease. But the general experience of practitioners, so
far as their attention has been called to this subject,
does not confirm Hutchinson’s theory. A thickened
and brittle state of the walls of a gouty man’s arteries is
not likely to be transmitted to his natural heirs in the
form of that peculiar thinness, or laxity, or deficiency—
for the exact pathology of this haemophilia is not yet
known—which produces this morbid state.

The most likely drug to antidote this tendency to
haemorrhage would be phosphorus (see Allen's Materia
Medica , s. v. Phosphorus , sympts. 3,198 and 3,201) from
the homoeopathic standpoint. But I cannot suggest
any method of the extinction of haemophilia, for I place
it in the same category as albinism, absolutely beyond
our foresight or prevention.

7. Diabetes.—This widely distributed malady is often
hereditary, showing itself even in young children, and
in certain districts, where neither the local climate, soil,
diet, nor occupation can possibly cause it. Among the
Jews, as noted by Seegen, diabetes is common, probably
from an excess of hydrocarbons in their diet. And this
error of diet, more especially an excess of sugar, may

Digitized by AjOOQle

394 HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

originate a fatal diabetes in those who have any heredi¬
tary tendency to the disease. The diabetic tendency in
one branch of the family where this heredity exists may
be represented in another branch by various neuroses ,
especially epilepsy and imbecility. Drs. Prout and
Silver, and Sir Henry Holland are among the writers
who have specially noted the heredity of diabetes. As
to its prevention, where we suspect heredity to exist
there is not much to say. We can only advise that
children should have a larger proportion than usual of
lean meat and green vegetables, and be educated to
manual rather than to mental occupations, and that
their urine should be regularly tested for glucose and
albumen. The pathology of this disease is extremely
obscure, but, thanks to its greatly improved dietetic and
medicinal treatment, we may hope for an eventual
extinction of diabetes mellitus.

8. Cataract, so often a consequence or accompaniment
of diabetes, is frequently hereditary. Children are born
with cataract, sometimes in both eyes, and it is almost
an invariable fact that one parent has the disease at the
time. Haynes Walton has operated on twins, both of
whom were cataractous at birth. Sometimes the lens is
arrested in its intra-uterine development, and at birth
shows its trifid structure,by cataractous striae radiating to
the centre, and by opaque concentric lamellae. There is
usually some other congenital defect in the globe of the
eye, probably in some cases the result of pre-natal iritis
or inflammation of the ciliary body. Infants affected
with congenital cataract are generally liable to hydro¬
cephalus, or other disease of the brain and its meninges.
Fortunately, operation is more successful in childhood
than later on in life, the operation of solution being
usually chosen (J. V. Solomon). In extreme old age
cataract is merely the degenerative change of senility,
but the healthier the eye the slower does the cataract
form. Walton goes so far as to state that “ age merely
never causes cataract.” It would be an interesting line
of * research to trace in what lines of manual labour
prolonged daily overstrain of the eye has produced
cataract in women, and what proportion of their children
have been born, or have become cataractous. I believe that
cataract from this cause is becoming less frequent,
because of the much greater attention bestowed on the

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893.

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

395

eyesight of children, by correcting visual deficiencies by
suitable lenses. The possibility also, as proved by
Burnett, of the cure of some forms of cataract by
homoeopathic remedies, of which he has printed thirteen
cases, must not be lost sight of; prevention is best, but
a cure, even a very slow cure, is a boon to mankind.
There are some sufferers from cataract that will not allow
an operation at all. One rule in diet, preventive of the
formation if cataract it may be, in those whose parents
or grandparents have thus suffered, is to take as little
salt or salted food-material as possible. Burnett’s twelve
cases recorded in his little book Supersalinity of the Blood ,
d'c. f though too small in number to substantiate his
theory, have convinced me that “ there is something
in it.”

Group C.

1. Syphilis.—The immense subject of hereditary
syphilis can only be outlined here. No one doubts its hate¬
ful heredity. But there is a distinction of interest to be
drawn between syphilis acquired in utero by a foetus
originally healthy, and a true transmission in the
spermatic cells as a medium of transference to the
ovum. Many children who are born syphilised are so
through an infection conveyed to the mother during her
pregnancy, even so late as the eighth month. And the
two modes of infection of the foetus, according to
Hutchinson, produce disease of the same duration. The
same great authority states that the diathesis of syphilis
cannot he transmitted , but u inherited ” syphilis arises
from directly transferred germs of the virus. The period
of the elimination of all syphilitic germs from the parent
is so variable, some authorities putting it at two,
and others at nine or ten years, that we are often
at a loss to account for the fact of some children
in a family showing inherited syphilides, while the
others are healthy and robust, except on the rather
harsh supposition that the father has repeatedly become
infected. Hutchinson declines to recognise any relation¬
ship between “ true lupus ” and inherited syphilis, con¬
trary to many writers; but he allows that there is a
“ form of destructive ulceration, which is sometimes
mistaken for lupus, but which is syphilitic from begin¬
ning to end.”

Digitized by

Google

396

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1, 1893.

A healthy mother may, through the placental circula¬
tion, be infected by a syphilitic foetus, or during lactation
through the nipples. Thus, the next succeeding infant
may have a double infection, through both sperm-cell
and germ-cell, supposing that the father’s semen is still
vitiated. But the commoner family history is that the
earlier offspring are born dead, or live but a short time,
and the later are more or less healthy. The greater
dumber of infected children appear healthy at birth,
and begin to show infection about a month afterwards.
In a few instances, where the signs of disease had been
overlooked at birth, a child of seven, ten, or even four¬
teen years of age will suddenly show syphilitic symptoms
{Brit, and Foreign Medico - C li irurg . Review, 1875). I
have no doubt that vaccine lymph is often unjustly blamed
for conveying syphilis into a child’s blood, whereas its
powerful pathogenic action rouses the latent syphilis,
which has hitherto been dormant in the feeble constitu¬
tion of the little one. Pure calf lymph would doubtless
have the same effect. It is fortunate for the human
race that true syphilis is not propagated beyond the
second generation. Its vitality of endurance is less than
that of scrofula or of tuberculosis. I have also the
greatest possible confidence in medicinal and hygienic
treatment both of the mother-expectant, of the husband,
if need be, and of the poor little infant who is born
diseased. We, as homceopathists, use the mercurials and
the iodides, in such a mode and in such doses as to
eliminate the syphilitic virus safely without inducing
any drug-disease or debility. But as I pointed out on
p. 89, the best check to the spread of this destructive
plague is a purer morality.

2. Alcoholism is also a vast subject, viewed in its
hereditary possibilities and ascertained developments.
Children of drunkards are liable to hydrocephalus, epi¬
lepsy, idiocy, imbecility, mental alienation of various
kinds, depraved instincts and appetites; phthisis pul-
monalis; deafness; and all sorts of premature or irregu¬
lar neurotic and sexual disturbances. They are more
liable to sink under attacks of prevailing epidemics than
the children of sober parents. Alcoholic heredity is
more surely transmitted by the mother than by the father;
hence the great care which the family doctor ought to
exercise in recommending stimulants to a young mother.

Digitized by CjOoqL e

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review. July 1,1808.

CHILDREN S DISEASES.

397

I have elsewhere described a deplorable instance of a
precocious love of drink manifesting itself in the son of
a female drunkard at five years of age (Provincial Medi¬
cal Journal , vol. xii., No. 134). Esquirol reports a
similar case, where the father and grandfather had both
died of alcoholism, and the little boy of five showed a
love for the mine kind of drink. The records of practice
establish two striking facts: 1st. Sexual desires, asso¬
ciated with an absence of moral sense, show themselves
early in drunkards’ children ; hence the ranks of prosti¬
tution are recruited ; and 2nd. Phthisis, not hereditary,
is often produced by alcoholic excesses. Drs. Taquet,
Hus8, and Launy have described numerous examples of
the latter. One of the observations (No. II.) of Taquet
is worth quoting, as a type of the inherited evils of alco¬
holism passing over the first and attacking the second
generation. The father died of cerebral softening in¬
duced by alcoholic excess. The mother died of ascites ;
cause unknown. Their offspring consisted of one
daughter, who married a healthy man without any
morbid heredity. This couple have had six children:
1st, an idiot, born blind ; 2nd, an imbecile ; 3rd, ditto :
4th, an imbecile, also blind; 5th, a child of normal
moral and physical development; 6th, an idiot. After
having descended through the scale of physical and
intellectual degeneration, the families of drunkards,
according to Darwin, become extinct in the fourth
generation. A new mode of treating alcoholism has
proved successful, especially in the case of women, and
this is by suggestion during the hypnotic sleep. As
women are more easily hypnotised than men, the cures
of dipsomania by this method are the more numerous
and permanent. We must welcome this or any other
proved means of extinguishing the terrible heredity of
alcoholism; but total abstinence from all intoxicants
seems to be the only effectual cure for this disease.

ON THE MORE IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF
CHILDREN’S DISEASES.*

By J. Roberson Day, M.D., Lond.

Assistant Physician to the London Homoeopathic Hospital.

It has been said “ The child is father to the man,” but
this is only to be taken as referring to certain mental and

•A Post-graduate lecture delivered at the London Homoeopathic
Hospital, March 24, 1803.

Digitized by

Google

398

CHILDREN’S DISEASES.

moral proclivities, which first declaring themselves in the
child will most probably mark the man and influence his
character through life. Although this may be true from
a psychological standpoint, we, as physicians, shall be
more concerned this evening with the points of difference
which are sufficiently great to justify diseases of children
being considered separately and apart from those of
adults. Like antiquarians we look back—and it is not
necessary to look back very far—on the time when
diseases of “women and children” were considered
together, and generally were allotted to the same physician
for treatment. Beyond the obvious fact that, as the
Spartan woman said, “ Women alone bring forth
children,” it is difficult to see what connection there can
be between the diseases of childhood and of adult
womanhood. It has been a generally expressed desire to
make these post-graduate lectures as practical as possible,
and as unlike the ordinary text books as possible. This
it has been my desire to do, and I hope to engage your
attention at the end of the lecture by demonstrating to
you some cases which have especially interested me, and
either show now, or have shown, abundance of physical
signs. But while most fully endorsing this laudable
wish of the educational committee I have felt the
difficulties which exist, inasmuch as 'medical cases
so rarely lend themselves to demonstration at fixed
times; the physical signs are, as a rule, transient,
continually altering and rarely remaining for any length
of time; nor is it possible to preserve many of these
morbid conditions; the physician does not deal with large
growths, whose successful removal can be demonstrated
by photography or other means, but with the more
delicate and evanescent signs as elicited by the stetho¬
scope, and which cannot be preserved for demonstration.
In approaching our subject it may be said that the child
is at the same time easier and more difficult to examine
than the adult—easier because it can give no information
as to its troubles, and has not learnt the art of deception ;
but owing to its passive state it is more difficult to arrive
at a diagnosis, for we get no help from it, and stand to
it much in the same relation as the veterinary surgeon
does to his patient; the symptoms are entirely objective.
Moreover, the physical signs are often equivocal, and
much tact and patience may be required in eliciting

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review* July 1,1898.

CHILDREN S DISEASES.

399

them. Our subject is, as a rule, small, and it is possible,
for instance, to have a pleural effusion, which will give a
fairly resonant note; and again, sounds travel much
more readily, so that cardiac bruits can be heard all
over the chest. Further, the important anatomical
differences between children and adults must be borne in
mind, and it is possible to make a more or less accurate
anatomical classification of diseases of children. From
this standpoint the child can be regarded as an a-sexual
being, since the generative organs before puberty cannot
be said to be the direct cause of any diseases, their
functions not being established. The abdomen is much
larger in children and the pelvis much smaller. The
abdominal cavity contains a relatively much larger liver
than in adults, and in addition the bladder and a con¬
siderable portion of the rectum. The force with which
a boy can eject his urine is a matter of common expe¬
rience, and this is owing to the high position of the
bladder, so that the abdominal muscles can be made to
press the bladder against the sacral promontory, thereby
greatly assisting the intrinsic vesical muscles. Nor is
this the only result of its different position. In speaking
of the greater frequency of peritonitis after lithotrity in
children, Sir Henry Thompson says: “ The bladder in
children is an abdominal organ rather than a pelvic one,
and has more intimate relations with the peritoneum
than the bladder of the adult possesses. On examining
its structure also, it is easily seen that the peritoneum
is more entitled to its anatomical distinction of consti¬
tuting one of the vesical coats in the child than in the
adult. Hence violence in extraction tells much more
readily and directly on the peritoneum in the former
than in the latter. Again, the skeleton in the child is
not the same firm, solid structure of the adult, but a soft
and pliable framework, yielding readily to any pressure,
bending rather than breaking, and like a young tree can
be distorted till it may permanently assume some dwarf,
mis-shapen form, which, like the stunted trees of the
Japanese, remain grotesque objects through life. By no
means is it possible to alter the firm, bony skeleton of
the adult; when once it is fully ossified and its epiphyses
firmly united it remains the same in spite of unfavour¬
able surroundings and bad food. Not so with the
growing child, which soon shows signs of rickets when

Digitized by AjOOQle

400

childben’s diseases.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893.

its nutrition is in any way defective, and this, though
mostly seen in the earlier years of childhood, may occur
later on in the child’s life for the first time.

Other anatomical differences readily suggest them¬
selves, such as the presence of the thymus in infancy,
and its gradual and complete disappearance with
advancing years, the immature condition of the salivary
and pancreatic glands in the early months of child life,
their secretions only towards the end of the normal
period of lactation being of much digestive value, and
this may well suggest the consideration of the child
in the

Pre-Salivary Age —a useful term to apply to the
most important period of a child’s life. This is essentially
the period in a child’s history when a knowledge of
dietetics is essential, and which is rarely, if ever, under¬
stood by mothers, and the lower their position in the
social scale the greater their ignorance in these matters,
in fact infant mortality may be said to vary inversely as
the income of the parents. It is not my intention to go
into the question of infant feeding, w T hich would scarcely
come within the scope of my subject, but it would form
a fitting sequel at some future time.

This pre-salivary age varies in duration with the
individual, and depends on the appearance of the teeth,
the presence or absence of which is a better guide to the
real age of the child and its proper diet than the actual
number of weeks or months it has been born. It is no
uncommon thing to meet with children of perhaps a
year old with only one tooth. The feeding of such a
backward child would have to be the same as for one
only seven months old, it is but one sign of general
immaturity; also children born prematurely cut their
teeth correspondingly later.

The Age of Dentition. —This period follows in the
natural sequence of events, and the cutting of the teeth
is often said to be the cause of many of the troubles of
infants. There seems very little doubt that dental
reflexes play a very important part in the economy of the
child as w’eil as the adult. If the parents are neurotic,
convulsions may easily come on at this period. This is
also the time when chamomilla is almost a specific for
most of these symptoms, and we might not improperly
call it the chamomilla age.

Digitized by AjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Jul? 1,18U3.

children’s DISEASES.

401

Temperature. —In respect of temperature children
differ from adults considerably. They are much more
unstable beings, and hence the temperature is much more
easily affected, so that these alterations do not imply the
same gravity that such changes would do in the adult.

For some weeks after birth the temperature of the
child continues somewhat higher than in the adult and the
daily variations are less. In taking the temperature of
a child—and this is best taken in the rectum—it is well
to bear this fact in mind. A temperature of 104° is often
found, and may simply point to the eruption of a tooth,
so readily is the balance in the child disturbed. This,
probably, is the explanation as to why teething children
are so liable to bronchitis and diarrhoea. The tooth in
piercing the gum disturbs the economy causing fever,
this renders the child more liable to chills, which result in
either bronchitis or gastro-intestinal catarrh. From
these facts it is evident that it is most essential that
children, and especially young children, should be
properly clad, but apparently custom has decreed
otherwise, for the younger the child the more it is exposed.

The Lymphatic Age. —Glandular activity is at its
height in children, observe for instance the gradual
disappearance of the thymus, and the development of
the functions of the salivary glands. Adenoid tissue is
singularly prolific in children, as seen in the ready way
in which the tonsils enlarge and post-nasal adenoids are
limited to childhood and early adolescence. The
lymphatic glands are much more subject to inflammatory
enlargement in children than in adults, and much more
trivial causes tend to inflame them, for instance, the
eruption of the milk teeth, and any irritation of the
scalp, such as pediculi capitis will soon cause an
occipital abscess. Moreover if there is any hereditary
scrofulous taint, the lymphatic glands are sure to give
the first evidence of it by enlarging and suppurating.
Tabes mesenterica also is a disease of children and
young persons. In this condition the mesenteric glands
are rendered constitutionally irritable and prone to take
on inflammatory action, any improper feeding in a
child of tuberculous stock is sufficient to cause the
irritation of these glands, and to light up tuberculous
inflammation. Recently it has been suggested that

Vol. 37, No. 7.

2—c

Digitized by

Google

402 children’s diseases. jS^sw?

even children of healthy parents may become the
subjects of tabes mesenterica by being fed on infected
milk, that is to say milk coming from cows affected with
tuberculous disease. This is an additional reason for
always boiling milk used for household purposes, the
' bacilli are thereby destroyed, although it seems that
their spores require a higher temperature, and repeated
boilings are required to insure absolute sterility.

There are certain diseases which are peculiar to chil¬
dren such as rickets, chorea, tinea tonsurans, pediculi
capitis (which is almost confined to children and young
adults although there are exceptions), erythema nodosum
and acute anterior polio-myelitis. You observe I do not
mention the acute specifics which are generally the
peculiar heritage of children, but this to a large extent
is accidental and due to the fact that they are unpro¬
tected, not having had a previous attack. Still this will
not wholly explain why children are the chief victims,
for it is not uncommon to find adults who have gone all
their life without scarlet fever, and who in adult age
when exposed to the germs do not take the disease. Of
course we are quite at liberty to assume that these indi¬
viduals were naturally insusceptible to the disease, but
I still think if we can isolate a child from scarlet fever
until adolescence or early adult life he will probably
never take the disease. Measles, on the other hand, is
not per se a disease of childhood. Children are attacked
because they are invariably at some time or other
exposed to its contagion; generally one attack is pro¬
tective, and hence adults do not suffer, but when the
contagion is for the first time conveyed to an adult
community they immediately fall victims, as has been
known to happen to some of the South Sea Islanders;
the disease then as it were falling on virgin soil is very
fatal.

Congenital syphilis of course is found only in children,
but it is not common to find primary syphilis.

On April 3, 1890, E. B., aged 3, was brought to me
with severe vaginitis, which was said to have begun
1 i days before. The whole body was now covered with
scaly patches the size of a three-penny piece, and
smaller, where they had faded coppery marks were left.
Under mercurial treatment, consisting chiefly of mere .
sol., there was much improvement, but much of the

Digitized by U^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893.

children’s DISEASES.

403

hair fell out and very bad and offensive otorrlioea
followed. She was finally cured in December.

On November 20th, 1890, M. B., aged 1 year and 10
months, came to me with syphilitic psoriasis all over the
trunk, probably contracted from the sister. Merc . c. 3x
every 2 hours, and dilute white precipitate ointment, was
prescribed, and on Jan. 1, 1891, rash was much better,
but mucous tubercles appeared at the anus. Merc . v.
2x, gr. 1, 8 hours, was given, and the mercurial ointment
to the tubercles. On March 12th she left off coming,
being practically well until May 7th, when she came
with an attack of phlyctenular conjunctivitis.

On June 4th, 1891, came the third member of the
family, aged 8, with a hard chancre at the angle of the
jaw on the left side, and the cervical glands below the
jaw hard and enlarged, under mercurial treatment he
got well and left off coming on June 18th. On October
8th he came again with mucous tubercles at the anus,
which in turn were cured by October 29th.

The nerve system of the child is notably unstable and
this influences the diseases from which they may be
suffering, and should guide us in our management and
training of children. The effects of a terrifying story in
producing nightmare are well known. Vivid dreams in
children are much more common than in adults, and
may not infrequently lead to somnambulism. Chorea
is often caused by a fright and acute diseases are
ushered in by convulsions which in later life give place
to the less severe nerve storm known as rigor. Delirium
is so very common in children when the temperature
rises at all, that we attach little importance to it per sc y
but in adults it is of much graver import and more rarely
met with. From the foregoing considerations we can
naturally arrive at certain conclusions as regards the
treatment of children which are of fundamental import.
The diet of the child should never be “ what the parents
eat,” it must be made a matter of study and vary with
the age of the child, and alcohol in any form is only
permissible as a medicine. Far from being a matter
beneath our notice the child’s diet should always be made
the subject of enquiry, and in many cases it will be found
to require regulating. In the case of infants who are
brought up on tinned milks the absence of anti-scorbutic
elements in the food frequently causes a condition of

2 c—2

Digitized by

Google

404

children’s diseases.

Monthly Homoeopatlic
Review, July 1, 1893.

scurvy, which is at once removed by supplying the
wanting ingredients. As a rule children get too little
fruit, and the constipation met with can be easily
remedied by attention to this point. The constipation of
infants, I generally find, yields to a teaspoonful of
treacle occasionally, not golden syrup, but coarse
molasses, or the juice or pounded pulp of some well
stewed prunes. If the infant is at all emaciated cod
liver oil serves a double purpose, it is very nutritious
and also laxative. The youngest infant can take cod
liver oil, and it is astonishing how often it helps our
other remedies. It was our veteran Doctor Yeldham
who first called my attention to the almost invariable
benefit derived from cod liver oil. To infants he gave it
in small quantities from the tip of the finger when it is
soon liked, and the dose can then be increased. Generally
it is best taken soon ,after food, but if it causes much
nausea it may be given at bed-time only, when it is
digested before morning. Occasionally the brown oil
(De Jongh’s) is digested better.

The mental training of the child should never be
carried on to the neglect of the physical, the two should
go on pari passu, a neurotic condition may be produced
by such ill-judged anxiety to educate. Fortunately
paethods of education are improving, and the subject
of teaching has been recognised as an art in itself.
Very properly the gymnasium is now acknowledged as
an essential adjunct to the school, and the Slojd system
beginning to be known and valued. The public are
learning to recognise, though very tardily, that the
medicinal treatment pure and simple in disease, has its
limits, and an all-round condition of hygienic conditions
is necessary to obtain the best results. In much the
same emphatic way in which Dr. Yeldham praised cod
liver oil as an adjunct to treatment, almost always
permissible, so I w r ould like to advocate the use of the
brine bath. The warm bath in the evening before bed,
is for cleanliness, to be used with soap. The morning
bath of brine is the tonic, to be given immediately the
child leaves its bed. Certain precautions are necessary,
and tact required in the case of very young and nervous
children. The brine bath is best obtained from the sea;
where this is not possible, from Brill's Sea Salt or
Tidman's Sea Salt dissolved in ordinary water, or even

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893.

children’s DISEASES.

405

ordinary common salt will do. The bath should be
given in front of a tire (if in the winter) surrounded by
a screen, the child standing in a shallow sponge bath with
its feet in hot water. The brine from a basin is then very
rapidly sponged over the child immediately it leaves the
warm bed; if in winter or beginning the baths for the
first time, the brine may have the chill just taken off it,
the child is then rubbed briskly down with a warm
rough towel, and this should leave the child in a healthy
glow. In cases of rickets, general debility, infantile para¬
lysis and many other cases, I have found it of the utmost
value. Where the muscular tissue is flabby, massage may
be well added after the rough towel. The few simple move¬
ments that are necessary can easily be taught to the
nurse or mother, and the benefit in rickets, and after
infantile paralysis is incalculable. Moreover, during this
process it is possible to bend and gradually straighten
rickety limbs, and by bandaging the legs together in such
cases the one leg forms a splint for the other, and at the
same time prevents the child from walking. I cannot help
feeling that the foregoing remarks are ill arranged and ill
digested, in part the result of their being written during
great pressure of work, which I must urge as my plea,
and it only now remains for me to thank you for the
patient hearing you have given me.

* * * *

After the lecture a clinical demonstration of cases
illustrating some of the points in the lecture was given.

Case I.—Advanced case of rickets in a child aged 8.
The temporary teeth were deficient and decayed. The
anterior fontanelle widely open, taking three finger tips.
The spleen was enlarged, and could be readily felt below
the costal margin.

Case II.—Case of pemphigus in boy aet 9, whose
mother also suffers from same disease.

Case III.—Case of pemphigus in a child 15 months
old. Evidently not syphilitic in origin, as two elder
children were healthy, and mercurial treatment failed to
cure.

Case IV.—Congenital heart disease in a girl aet 12,
who had the characteristic cyanotic tint, with a loud
blowing systolic bruit over precordial region.

Digitized by ^ooQle

406

DISEASES OF WOMEN.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,18D3.

Case Y. —Mitral systolic murmur after chorea, so loud
that it could be heard at the angle of the scapula on the
left side, and faintly even on the right side, showing how
readily sounds are conducted in children.

Case VI.—Hemichorea with mitral disease; its frequent
concomitant.

NOTES ON THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES OF
WOMEN BY ELECTRICITY.*

By F. H. Bodman, M.D.

As a society we have adopted a name which enables us
to survey the whole field of therapeutics, and I consider
that our duty as physicians is not only to study the
actions of medicines, and their applications to disease
on the principle of similia similibus curentur , but also to
ascertain the limitations of this rule, or at least of the
present possible applications of it, to any given case, or
class of diseases, so that in suitable cases we may adopt
any other measures which may more speedily, or more
effectually, accomplish the desired result in bringing
about a cure. I am aware that there is a class of
practitioners who will scarcely admit that there are any
limitations to the application of this rule; but if we
admit that it is more than a general rule, that it is
indeed a universal law of nature, that drugs which cause
a certain group of symptoms will remove a similar
group of symptoms caused by diseased action, or will at
least act in that direction, there are, nevertheless, many
reasons which may prevent its universal application.
For instance, there may be such organic change in an
organ that it becomes impossible to cure the disease
unless we could reconstruct such organ. Or again, while
in a given case medicine might eventually lead to a cure,
yet the time required to accomplish this may, on account
of the long duration of the disease, and of the organic
changes produced in the parts affected, be so great that
other measures might be adopted which will accomplish
the cure more speedily, or may be useful in assisting the
action of medicines; or again, our knowledge of drug
action being necessarily imperfect, we may fail to cure

* Read before the Western Counties’ Therapeutical Society, Feb. 17.1803.

Digitized by Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1888.

DISEASES OF WOMEN.

407

homceopathically, not that the principle itself fails, but
that we fail in our application of it to some particular
case or form of disease. Now, there can be no doubt
that we possess many other means of acting on a
diseased organism beside the giving of drugs, means
which we can by no means afford to neglect. Among
these, besides surgery, may be mentioned change of
climate, hydropathy, including the Turkish bath, hygiene,
diet, the inhalation of oxygen, massage, electricity,
&c. This last in its various forms is capable
of a wide application in the alleviation and cure of
disease. Here we have a field of therapeutics in which
there is room for great development, and I believe in the
future it will be brought more largely into the service of
physicians and surgeons, as its actions upon the
living organism become better understood. Already
very much may be accomplished by its use.

These considerations have induced me to bring before
the members of this society some of its applications to
the treatment of disease of women.

The treatment of fibroid tumours by strong galvanic
currents, as introduced by Apostoli, is now pretty widely
known, but scarcely appreciated, as much as it
deserves to be. As an instance of what may be accom¬
plished by its means, I may mention the case of a
patient of mine who had been condemned to the
operation of oophorectomy for haemorrhage, due to
fibroid tumour with enlargement of one ovary. This
ovarian affection complicated the case, making the
application of this kind of treatment somewhat doubtful
and uncertain, as it prevented the use of so strong a
current as is usually required. Yet the result must
be considered as decidedly favourable. After several
applications of the galvanism all the urgent symptoms
were relieved; the patient has since enjoyed a fair
amount of health and strength, being able to attend to
her household duties, besides doing a considerable
amount of visiting in her district. The ovary as well as
the tumour has diminished in size; this result was no
doubt partly due to the administration of platina for some
time after the galvanic treatment. Thus the patient
was saved from the serious risk which accompanies
the operation for removal of the uterus or its append¬
ages. Numerous other cases have been published with

Digitized by

Google

408 DISEASES OF WOMEN.

similar results, in which even when the tumour has not
been totally removed or even greatly lessened in size, the
growth has, nevertheless, been checked, and the urgent
symptoms have been so far relieved that the patient may
be considered practically cured. Not long since I was
summoned at night to attend a patient in a critical
condition from repeated attacks of haemorrhage due to a
fibroid condition of the uterus. She had on several
occasions suffered from excessive loss of blood at
the menstrual period. Having met the present
emergency by the administration of a subcutaneous
injection of ergotine , and the hot water douche, followed
by secale lx. After the period was over, I commenced the
treatment with galvanism, using about 50 to 60
milliamperes for ten or fifteen minutes, with the positive
pole passed inside the uterine cavity. This application
was repeated seven times at intervals of four or five
days. Since this the pains from which she previously
suffered have almost disappeared, and the periods have
been normal, while the general health has improved, so
that she is practically cured. In cases of larger fibroids,
the strength of current required will be considerably
iarger than those used in the foregoing case, ranging
from 100 to 250 milliamperes, and the number of
upplicationB will vary according to the effect produced.
I believe the explanation of the action of the galvanic
current on fibroid tumours is threefold. 1. It has a
powerful effect in causing muscular contraction, and as
the structure of a fibroid tumour is homologous with
that of the walls of the uterus, that is, composed mainly
of fibrous and muscular tissue, this contraction tends
to reduce the Bize of the tumour, and by constringing the
blood vessels it diminishes the blood supply and relieves
congestion. 2. It stimulates the processes of nutri¬
tion, and so causes absorption of adventitious products.
3. An electro-chemical action takes place, by which
are set free at the negative pole nascent alkalies, while
at the positive pole certain nascent acids are liberated,
by which in both cases a cauterisation of the adjacent
tissues is produced, though of a different character; at
the negative pole the eschar is softer, while at the
positive pole it is harder, and so tends to seal up the
mouth of any bleeding vessels. These different effects
determine which pole is used internally in any given

Digitized by ^ooQle

iie^ y juiTi?i^3 th,c diseases of women. 409

case. Where the main object is the destruction of tissue
we should apply the negative pole, where on, the other
hand, the control of haemorrhage is the first desideratum
we should use the positive pole internally. In some
cases it is well to use the internal positive application
before the periods, and the internal negative after the
periods.

Another disease which, under ordinary treatment,
is usually very tedious and unsatisfactory, is chronic
metritis and endo-metritis. Here I am convinced,
from personal experience, nothing acts so surely, speedily
and permanently as the galvanic current cautiously
applied. In these cases milder currents must be used.
The more chronic the symptoms and the greater the
induration of the tissues caused by the previous inflam¬
mation, the stronger the current required, and vice versa.
If there be symptoms of more acute inflammation these
should first be relieved by the usual homceopathic
remedies, and the use of the hot-water douche before
beginning any treatment by galvanism. In suitable
cases we may begin with a current strength of 10 to 20
milliamperes, applied for five minutes, increasing the
strength and the time of its application according to the
effect produced and the forbearance of the patient.
From 6 to 12 seances will be required, according to the
ehronicity of the case and the amount of induration
produced.

In cases of sub-involution, nothing so quickly restores
the uterus to its normal condition and size as the Faradic
current if the case is comparatively recent, either by
passing one pole into the uterus and placing the other
pole over the abdomen, or by using a bipolar electrode,
so that both poles act internally. But in chronic cases
with more or less induration, the galvanic current is
more effective. In some cases it may be more advan¬
tageous to combine these two forms of electricity, either
at the same sitting or using them at alternate sittings.
If we remember that the effect of the Faradic current is
to produce muscular contraction, with contraction of the
blood vessels, also to relieve pain; while that of the
galvanic current is not only to cause muscular contraction,
but also to produce chemical action and stimulation of the
nutritive changes going on in the part, so producing
absorption of adventitious products, we shall be able to

Digitized by AjOOQle

410

DISEASES OF WOMEN.

Monfchlj Homoeopathic
Review, July 1, 1893.

decide which of these forms, or if both combined, are
required in any given case of disease.

In uterine haemorrhage not due to polypus or fibroid
tumours, nor to such a granular condition of the fendo-
metrium as would call for the use of the currette, but
simply the result of a relaxed condition of the uterine
walls, such as occasionally follows miscarriage or labour,
or which may be due to a congested condition of the endo¬
metrium or to a state of hyperplasia, in such cases the
application of electricity in the form of Faradaism, or
galvanism, or both combined, is often quickly and
permanently curative. In those cases of relaxed fibre
where ergot would usually be given, the Faradic current
with the negative pole passed inside the uterus would be
the proper treatment. If the case is complicated with
thickening of the uterine tissues, the result of inflam¬
mation, the galvanic current would be more suitable,
using the positive pole internally. Whenever the posi¬
tive electrode is used internally it should be made of some
unoxidizable metal, platinum being usually the most
suitable. In such cases the strength of the galvanic
current should vary from 50 to 80 milliamperes, used for
about five minutes at a time. In using the Faradic current,
the strength should be gradually increased to as much
as the patient can bear without producing too much
pain. In cases of menorrhagia, one or two applications
should be made before the menstrual period is due, the
last about three days before.

In pelvic pain due to a hypersesthetic condition of the
endo-metrium, or to hysteria, or of a purely neuralgic
character, or when connected with displacement or
prolapse, causing a dragging on the uterine ligaments,
the application of the Faradic current with rapid
interruptions is often effectual in giving great relief.
It may be applied either with a bi-polar electrode passed
into the interior of the uterus or vagina, or by using a
single positive electrode internally, and by applying the
negative electrode over the abdomen.

In obstinate cases of dysmenorrhoea, in which medicine
fails to effect a cure, the desired result will often be speedily
obtained by the use of an intra-uterine negative galvanic
current of about 20 to 50 milliamperes. This will in many
cases be found more satisfactory than surgical measures.
In cases of sterility due to an occlusion of the cervical

Digitized by ^ooQle

diseases of women. 411

canal, the same treatment will often be successful. In a
case of suppression of the menses in an otherwise healthy
young woman, in whom the usual remedies failed to
bring on the catamenia, the use of the negative galvanic
current each time before the period was due accom¬
plished the desired result. But in many cases the
benefit may be obtained by spinal or dorso-abdominal
application of galvanism of 40 to 50 milliamperes
strength.

In old cases of misplacement the Faradic current
is useful in giving tone to the muscular tissue of the
uterus and ligaments, while at the same time it greatly
relieves the pain accompanying such conditions. In
one case, where the uterus was retroverted and bound
down with adhesion, I was able to stretch these bands,
and gradually, in the course of several applications, to
restore the uterus to its normal position.

What has been said will serve to indicate some of the
many uterine diseases in which electricity in one form or
another may be used with the greatest advantage.
Before closing this paper it will be necessary to mention
the chief contra-indications to its use. As a matter of
course it should not be used during pregnancy or the
menstrual period. It is important before beginning the
treatment by electricity to ascertain that there is no
acute metritis, or parametritis, and should this exist it
must first be subdued by the usual means. Should there
be any abscess in the pelvis it would contra-indicate the
treatment by electricity. Also, if there is disease of the
ovaries or cysts of the broad ligament, it must be
undertaken only with the greatest caution.

The apparatus necessary for the electrical treatment of
diseases of women is first of all a battery composed of about
40 cells; these may be conglomerate Leclanche cells, such
as used for bell work, and may be set up on shelves in a
cellar or other room outside the consulting room, the
wires being brought up and attached to a proper board in
the room where used. This form of battery requires but
little attention, except refilling occasionally on account of
evaporation. Then some rheostat must be used to modify
the current; in this country the water rheostat is mostly
in use. The glass tube should be longer than those
usually made; it should be about seven inches long. It
should be filled with a mixture of equal parts lime water

Digitized by ^ooQle

41*2

PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS. M ^ewfj°Sy ifttw!

and ordinary water. A galvanometer must also be used
to measure the strength of the current; it should be
divided so as to register from 250 to 300 milleamperes.
Various electrodes will be required for the internal
application of the current; when using the negative pole
internally with strong galvanic current, the internal
electrode must be made of platinum or it would become
corroded. The external electrode should be either sheet
lead, covered with chamois leather, or potter’s clay
enclosed in tarlatan. For currents below 100 milliam-
peres, the former may be used, it is more cleanly and
less trouble, but for currents above this strength the
clay must be substituted, with pieces of perforated tin
or sheet lead with terminals attached for connecting the
current. The internal electrode may be more or less
isolated with shellac, according as it may be deemed
desirable to apply the current to the whole of the
cavity of the cervix and body of the uterus, or to the
latter only. Besides these apparatus used with the
galvanic current, it is also necessary to have a coil for
producing the interrupted or Faradic current; Du Bois
Reymond’s is the best, and may be worked with two
Leclanche cells. Suitable internal electrodes will be
required for applying the current to the vagina or inside
the uterus, these may be mona-polar or bi-polar; when
the former is used, the external electrode may be of
sheet lead covered with chamois leather.

APICIAL PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS IN AN
INFANT.

By Herbert Wilde, M.B.

The extreme rarity of pulmonary tuberculosis in an
infant of nine months, and more especially of apicial
tuberculosis, makes this case worth recording. Positive
proofs of the condition were afforded by the detection of
the tubercle bacillus in the sputum, and by a post-mortem
examination.

The family history shows an hereditary suscepti¬
bility. The mother, Mrs. A. (who informed me that
her father died of consumption), came under my care
three years ago, complaining of the ordinary symptoms
of pulmonary phthisis, and on examining the lungs I

Digitized by VjOoqIc

^w t y jul°yTi ^ thi0 PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS. 413

found consolidation at the left apex. Her periods had
ceased for two months, and seven months later she gave
birth to a healthy child. During this period of treat¬
ment a great improvement occurred in her condition,
doubtless favoured by the benign influence of pregnancy
upon the tubercular process. At the end of the puerperal
month her health seemed completely restored, her cough
and night sweats had disappeared, and an examination
of the affected apex revealed no abnormal signs beyond
a slight diminution of the percussion resonance.

The infant remained in fair health during the first
few weeks, when the mother’s milk began to fail, and
weaning became necessary. Milk and water was then
substituted, to which was subsequently added a smail
quantity of malted food. About this time the signs of
general malnutrition became manifest, and were soon
followed by obstinate diarrhoea, which the adoption of
more assimilable forms of nourishment failed to miti¬
gate. The progressive and intractable nature of the
symptoms led me to suspect the existence of tubercle,
and at the age of five months the condition was one of
such marked asthenia and emaciation that all hopes of
recovery were abandoned.

At this point a surprising improvement began to take
place, unaccounted for by any change in the treatment
(either dietetic or medicinal) beyond the more constant
administration of tori urn. The infant rapidly progressed,
until in the course of a month she appeared a somewhat
thin but healthy baby.

Now, unfortunately, a second change occurred; a
cough commenced, soon to be followed by the gradual
supervention of profuse night sweats, progressive weak¬
ness and emaciation. An examination of the chest at
first revealed a* generalised bronchial catarrh ; and at a
somewhat later period a localised percussion dulness was
detected at the left apex, over which the bronchial
breathing was almost concealed by coarse bubbling niles.
The right apex soon exhibited these signs to a lesser
degree, while both bases remained resonant throughout
the whole course of the disease. Diarrhoea recommenced
and vomiting became frequent. In the vomited matter
purulent nummular material was discernible, which
upon examining microscopically I found to consist

Digitized by A^OOQle

414

PULMONABY TUBERCULOSIS.

almost entirely of pus cells, among which a few tubercle
bacilli were distinctly recognised.

The infant died at the age of nine months, when a post¬
mortem examination being made my diagnosis of apicial
pulmonary tuberculosis was amply confirmed. The apex
of the left lung was densely studded with small yellow
tubercles, and the pleura covering it was slightly
thickened. Towards the base the tubercles were few and
of smaller size. The right lung presented a similar but
less advanced condition. The bronchial glands were
greatly enlarged, hard, and caseous. Upon making a
section at the left apex signs of commencing softening
were seen ; and on making a section through one of the
large adjacent bronchi, it was found to be choked with a
thick puriform material similar to that obtained from
the vomited matter during life. This was carefully
examined, with the result that a few unusually well
developed bacilli were detected among the masses of pus
cells. On examining the mesenteric glands they were
found to be more or less enlarged and partially caseous.
The intestines presented a fairly healthy appearance.

At the present day it is generally admitted that
tubercle of the mesenteric glands, while rare in young
infants, is not an uncommon affection in childhood ; and
also that by frequently terminating in recovery the true
nature of the disease is often overlooked. In addition
it has been shown that when tuberculosis occurs in
young infants, the lymphatics and bones are in the
majority of cases affected primarily,* i.c., prior to the
existence of lesions in other organs.

These points, together with the life history of the
patient and the post-mortem appearances, would indicate
the probability that in this case the mesenteric glands
were primarily affected: the tubercular process becoming
temporarily arrested about the age of five months. The
pre-natal communicability of tuberculosis still remaining
to be disproved there is some reason for suspecting that
in this instance its unusually early appearance may have
been due to intra-uterine infection. On the other hand,
the symptoms pointing to mesenteric disease appearing

* Tuberculosis hi all it a Relations. Paper read at the International
Congress of Hygiene and Demography. By J. Burdon Sanderson.

Digitized by ^ooQle

PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS.

415

shortly after the infant was weaned might suggest
tuberculous milk as the medium of infection.

There must also be some doubt in this case as to the
origin of the pulmonary tuberculosis; whether arising
from a secondary extension of the abdominal lesion,
through the medium of the bronchial glands, or through
a direct infection from the mother after birth.

The former hypothesis is made improbable by the fact
that the lungs were principally and primarily affected at
the apices; and also because it is improbable that a
secondary extension would occur subsequent to the appa¬
rent arrest of the primary process. That the mother
was the means of infecting the lungs of her own child
seems probable from the fact that at this time her old
phthisical symptoms had returned with increased severity;
and she was expectorating muco-purulent sputum in
which numerous tubercle bacilli were detected. Doubt¬
less these microbles were floating in the air of the room
occupied by the mother and infant; either liberated from
the sputum through dried portions on the floor becoming
pulverised by the feet and disseminated by the broom,
or through the use of a pocket-handkerchief on which
the sputum had been previously deposited.

Admitting that this was the true mode of infection,
this case must emphasise the importance of the
safe disposal of the sputa in phthisical cases; either by
expectorating invariably into a spittoon, or still better
by the use of cuspidores.

The extensive experiments of Cornet* have proved
beyond doubt the highly infective nature of tuberculous
sputum when reduced to the condition of fine dust.

I am not aware, however, that special emphasis has
been laid upon the danger of infection from the sputum
in its moist condition, but I have nevertheless been
forcibly struck by the risk of enteric infection which
must arise when an infant’s mouth is wiped with a
handkerchief on which the tuberculous sputum has been
recently expectorated.

* The Origin, Propagation , and Prevention of Phthisis, By Professor
Tyndal. Fortnightly Review, September, 1891.

Digitized by

Google

416

addison’s disease.

Monthlj Homoeopath ie
Review, July 1, 1893.

A RAPID CASE OF ADDISON’S DISEASE.

By Rowland Wilde, M.B.

Catherine B-, aged 15, admitted May 13th (died

May 20th), presented somewhat the appearance of a
Mulatto.

Family history of no clinical value. Occupation
indigo dye works. Patient had not menstruated for
seven months.

The present illness began seven weeks previously with
gradually increasing weakness. Three weeks later some
patches of a dark tint were noticed upon the sides of the
neck. The pigmentation then appeared upon the backs
of the hands, the elbows and face successively, and thus
spread over the Tbody until there was no portion of the
skin which was not of a dark olive brown. It was at
this time that the girl first came under notice as an out¬
patient, about three weeks previous to her admission.

The pigmentation would vary in its intensity from day
to day, and patches of a greyish black colour would
appear in parts, and then disappear in a few days. At
home she was noticed at times to be drowsy, and on
being questioned as to what ailed her, she would reply,
“ My head aches, and I am so tired.” Some pain in the
back, but not great.

From the daj’ of her admission she complained of con¬
stant nausea, and aching in the lower limbs, as well as
the feeling of weariness. The nausea was her most
distressing symptom. Vomiting at times as after brandy.
There were bluisli-black lines on the lips, and dark
patches on their mucous surface. Gums pale and
slightly ulcerated.

The pigmentation was increased in those parts where
pressure had been applied, $.//., where the garters had
been. As far as physical examination could ascertain
all the organs were healthy; the lungs were perfectly
sound, and a spinal examination was not omitted. There
was reduplication and apparent accentuation of the
second sound of the heart at the base, probably
indicating amemia. Breath rather offensive. Bowels
very constipated. Diminished urea in the urine.

The pigmentation became deeper, until two days before
the end the forehead and backs of the hands were of a
deep greyish black.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893-

NOTE ON DIPHTHERIA.

417

The progression of the debility was very rapid during
her time in the hospital. Extreme drowsiness during
the first three or four days, patient sleeping most of the
time. She then became semi-comatose. Quite sensible
when roused, even up to the last. Tongue dry brown;
thirst slight; rapid feeble pulse. Some muttering
delirium for a few nights when temperature at highest.
Highest temperature 101.2° ; lowest 97°; evening rises
with morning remissions.

Patient sank lower and lower, and died comatose
May 20th.

Treatment: The medicines she had before admission
were argent, nit. and pulsatilla. After admission, at first
calc, arsen ., and then crotalus. They did not seem to
have the slightest effect.

This case is of interest on account of the youth of the
patient; the rapid and fatal strides with which the
disease advanced (the end being reached within two
months of the insidious onset of the symptoms) ; and
the rarity of well marked cases.

Although a post-mortem was urgently requested, it
was not permitted.

NOTE ON DIPHTHERIA.

By T. E. Purdom, M.D.

Having had a few cases of diphtheria during 1892,
where the treatment was fairly uniform and very
successful, I think a note of the remedies might be of
use.

During the initial stages of the attacks,, belladonna
and phytolacca were given, but where there was not
decided improvement in a day or two, mere. cyan.
6x tinct. was prescribed. This was coupled with a very
frequent spraying of throat with mere. corr. In four or
five cases this treatment did very well, and seemed to
combine the specific action of the mere, cyan ., which is
well established, with the local antiseptic action of
the corrosive sublimate , by using the lx dilution of this
powerful drug, it is very easy to make a solution of the
strength desired, say, 1-1,000 or 1-4,000. The last
mentioned is strong enough, and safe to use at short
intervals for a short time. The amount of spirits of
VoL 37, No. 7. 2—D

Digitized by

Google

418

REVIEWS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1898.

wine with it can also be varied. This also is powerfully
antiseptic, besides being useful as adding a little alcohol
to the treatment. Glycerine added to the spray makes
it fairly pleasant, even for young children, and this also
is solvent and antiseptic. I was struck with the rapid
way the temperature fell and the throat cleared in more
than one of the cases.

For the swelling of tonsils and cervical glands left
behind, mere . bin . (2x and 3x trit.) was given, while for
the debility and anaemia, iron was useful. In one case
where the factor of the breath was a striking symptom,
bapthia acted very quickly and beneficially.

The usual general treatment of full diet, &c., was
carried out.

The internal treatment by mere . cyan., combined with
the local spray of mere. corr. 9 seems to offer a simple
and successful plan for attacking this dire disease in
many cases at least. Perhaps this note may lead others
to give us some useful hints on the subject.

Croydon.

REVIEWS.

Alaskana, or Alaska , in Descriptive and Legendary Poems . By

Prof. Bushrod W. Jambs, A.M„ M.D. Philadelphia:

Porter and Coates. 1892.

Alaska is the most northerly territory of the United States
of America, and its possession, acquired from the Russian
Empire in 1868, “ makes,” Dr. James says, “ a truth of the
statement that ‘ the sun never sets,’ on the Republic of the
United States.” It is a district seldom resorted to for
pleasure by the citizens of the Republic, and still less
frequently by European tourists, save by those adventurous
gentlemen, who, in the columns of The Field , tell of their ex¬
ploits in search of game. Dr. James, who has travelled much,
not only throughout the length and breath of his native country,
but also in Europe, has, he informs us, been so impressed
by the beauties spread throughout the waterways of
Alaska, along its coasts, and in the few towns of
which it can boast, and has been so deeply interested in
studying the peculiarities of the natives, their habits, customs
and legends, and in investigating the natural history
of the country and its resources for the production of wealth,
that he resolved to perpetuate the recollections of his visit to
“ a people and country as yet so little known, but so well

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893.

REVIEWS,

419

worthy of nearer acquaintance,’* and to do so in verse. The
Tesult is before us in a handsomely published volume of blank
verse, “in the weird rhymeless style of ‘Kalevala* and
* Hiawatha,'” and illustrated with some well-executed
-engravings, apparently from photographs of the scenery of
Alaska, its natives and their “curios.”

The volume opens with an account of the voyage of the
Russians, Bering and Tschericov, in search of a Western
Continent; a voyage which, while ending disastrously for its
-commanders, enabled their survivors to supply such proof of
the wealth of the new-found country as to induce others of
their countrymen to repair to it, and annex it for the advantage
•of Russia. Following this is a general description of the
grandeur and stillness of the

Hills with verdure topped and skirted,

Valleys gay with golden poppies,

Granite orags, with naked foreheads,

Guarding well the river passes—

Great volcanoes, cold and scar-seamed.

Resting from their fiery belchings,

Bearing in their rough crevasses
Ghost-like ashes of their passion—

Mountains, rearing snow-capped summits
Far unto the sun’s bright kingdom—

Ranges overtopping ranges,

Darkly frowning, palely ghost-like,

Peering through the clefts once riven
By some shock that made earth tremble.

* * * *

Mighty glaciers, bound for ages
To her brow with icy fetters,

Glow in varied tints of azure
Like a crown with sapphire setting.

And the twinkling rills and streamlets
Make sweet music for her dreaming,

As they drip and run and murmur
From their coldly sparkling birthplace.

Rivers seam her glorious landscape,

Mighty rivers, broad and rapid.

* * * •

Rivers, too, whose quiet currents
Steal their way through narrow passes
Noiselessly, as if the canons
Awed their hearts to abject silence.

Bays indent her lovely shore-lines.

* * * •

And her broad arterial channels
Lead among rich island beauties,

That bewilder with their changes ;

Lead through fairy woodland wonders,

And through Arctic cold and silence—

From the quivering smiles of spring-time.

To the weird majestic stillness

That surrounds this ice-bound kingdom.

2 D— 2

Digitized by

Google

420

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Horoceopathkr
Review, July 1, 1863.

Such is Dr. James* description of Alaskan scenery, and, at
the same time, a fair specimen of the style in which through¬
out the 800 following pages, he pictures Sitka, the chief
town of the territory, tells of the natives, the algae, flora,
and birds of Alaska, describes the marriage, funeral, and
other customs of the Indians, recounts their many legends,
and dwells on the

Taunting mirage
Of Alaska’s frost-bound tundra;

on the

Soft splendour of the moonlight;

on the aurora as witnessed in these far-off Arctic regions ;
and Anally on the glorious beauties of the Alaska sunset.

Dr. James has, in this book, drawn attention to a
country but little known, and has pointed out with much
force its many attractions, especially for the anthropologist,
the naturalist, and the botanist, and in having done so he
deserves our thanks.

PE RISCO PE.

MEDICINE.

Phthisis. —In remarking on the importance of careful
auscultation in the first stage of phthisis, in the Clinical
Journal , Dr. Percy Kidd draws attention, in the following
paragraph, to some sources of error that require to be guarded
against:—

“ It is always well to guard against certain errors which
can be made in auscultation, for there is no disease in which
it is more important to recognise without misconception the
early stages than phthisis. You should always keep, so to
speak, one eye on the patient. In this case — on
auscultation at the supra-spinous fossa—I hear some
crepitant sounds after the patient coughs, but on
requesting him to cough again without swallowing
afterwards, the r&les are no longer to be heard; that is tosay r
the rales were produced by the act of swallowing. This is a
common error which it is very necessary to guard against in
auscultation of the apices of the lungs. Another point to
notice is the patient's method of breathing. Some persons,
unintentionally, make a loud noise in their pharynx when
they breathe through the mouth. In such cases the
breath sounds heard at the apex of the lung acquire a
harsh, bronchial quality which is apt to give a false impression.
In all healthy chests, more particularly in those that are
thinly covered, the expiratory sound at the apex of the lung is
more prolonged than elsewhere, and may even be distinctly
bronchial on the right side. Again, increased resonance of

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1883.

PERISCOPE.

421

the voice, or bronchophony, may be audible at the apex,
especially on the right side, without any actual disease being
present. This is due to the proximity of the large bronchi to
the chest wall in the apical regions. The increased loudness
of the vocal resonance, and the more bronchial quality of
expiration on the right side are to be explained by the slightly
larger size of the right bronchus, and the fact that the branch
to the upper lobe is given off higher up, and nearer to the
trachea than on the left side.”

Stretching the Sphincter Ani in Morphine Poisoning.
{Dr. J. C. Daily, South Jour, of Horn., May, 1892). — “All
students of orificial surgery know how easy it is to control
respiration by manipulation of the sphincter ani, and we can
give our anaesthetic with a feeling of security if our bivalve is
in easy reach. I have resuscitated several patients almost
moribund with chloroform by the use of my bivalve. But a
few nights since, I had, to me, a unique experience in
dilitation of the sphincter ani for morphine poisoning. I was
called to see a woman who had taken fifty-seven grains of
morphine with suicidal intent. I found her in a stupor, with
pupils contracted, and slow, stertorous breathing. The
neighbours had beaten her black and blue before I had reached
her, and she gradually sank into a stupor from which she
could not be aroused by the most severe switching. While
giving an enema of coffee, the idea occurred to me, why not
stretch the sphincter as we do in chloroform narcosis ?
Accordingly I at once introduced both thumbs and separated
them widely. The patient gave a loud shriek and took several
good breaths. I sent for my bivalve and for several hours I
sat by her side, and as respiration would flag I would stimulate
it by pressing together the handles of the speculum. As a
result of this treatment her life was saved. It has been my
misfortune to see many cases of suicide, and I feel certain that
several of them would now be alive had I known enough to use
the speculum. It seems to me little less than a crime for the
profession to neglect so simple and yet so effective a method.''

The Cry of Children, according to Dr. E. C. Hill (Denver
Med. Times), in pneumonia and capillary bronchitis is moderate
and peevish and muffled, as if a door were shut between child
and hearer. The cry of croup is hoarse, brassy and metallic,
with a crowing inspiration. That of cerebral disease,
especially hydrocephalus, is short, sharp, shrill and solitary.
Marasmus and tubercular peritonitis are manifested by moaning
and wailing. Obstinate, passionate and long-continued crying
tells of earache, thirst, hunger, original meanness, or the
pricking of a pin. The pleuritic is louder and shriller than
the pneumonic, and is evoked by moving the child or on

Digitized by

Google

422

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893,

coughing. The cry of intestinal ailments is often accompanied
by wriggling and writhing before defecation. Exhaustion is
manifested with a whine. Crying only, or just after coughing
indicates pain caused by the act. The return or inspiratory
part of the cry grows weaker toward the fatal end of all
diseases, and the absence of crying during disease is often of
graver import than its presence, showing complete exhaustion
and loss of power. Loud screaming sometimes tells of renal
gravel. _

NOTABILIA.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE
LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.

A large company assembled on the afternoon of
June 28rd on the premises of the London Homoeopathic
Hospital, Great Ormond Street, to witness the laying of the
foundation stone of the new buildings by H.R.H. the
Duchess of Teck. Much disappointment was felt at the
absence of the Princess Victoria of Teck, who had been
expected, but who was prevented by indisposition from being
present. A large crowd assembled in the neighbourhood to
welcome the Royal visitors, the streets being gaily decorated
with flags and bunting. A large marquee, erected over the
foundation stone was rendered bright with flowers and
foliage, and was well filled with the friends of the Hospital.
A guard of honour of the Post Office Rifles was posted
outside, and a band of the same regiment played selections
of music.

Her Royal Highness was received by Lord Ebury,
President of the Hospital, and by the members
of the Board of Management and Building Committee,
headed by Mr. J. P. Stillwell, Mr. Alan E. Chambre, the
Architect, Treasurer, Secretary, and the Medical and Surgical
Staff of the Hospital. Among those present were the Bishop
of Bedford, the Rev. Dacre Craven, Chaplain of the Hospital r
the Hon. R. Grosvenor, Lady Caird, General Thompson,
Colonel Attewood, Miss Duming Smith and Miss Barton.

Mr. A. E. Chambre read the following address :—

“ May it please your Royal and Serene Highnesses,

“ We, the treasurer, the chairman and board of manage¬
ment, the chairman and building committee, the officers and
members of the medical council and medical staff of this, the
London Homoeopathic Hospital, beg leave to offer to your
Royal and Serene Highnesses our most grateful and cordial
thanks for the signal kindness shown in your presence here
to-day.

Digitized by LjOoqL e

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1, 1893.

NOTABILIA.

423

“ That your Royal Highness is the patron of this charity is
a great support and encouragement to the board of manage¬
ment and its many friends.

“ The hospital was inaugurated nearly half a century ago
through the generous impulses of the late distinguished
physician, Dr. Frederick Foster Quin, and his Royal and
personal friends, for the charitable purpose of succouring the
sick poor under the guidance of medical principles not only
sanctioned by true science, but possessed in practice of many
medical special advantages. It has ever since been the
earnest effort of the medical council and staff of the hospital
to foster and assist the progress of medical science by
demonstrating those proved and widely-accepted principles,
and also to promote that true and free union of the medical
profession without which progress in knowledge is seldom
possible. An unwavering adherence to these principles has
been followed by the readiest and most generous support from
the charitable public, very largely under the munificent
example and strong administrative ability of the late lamented
chairman and treasurer, Major William Vaughan Morgan;
while the efficient training of a large number of nurses in the
tenderness and loyal devotion to duty so requisite in the
proper care of the sick, has elicited the warmest recognition
from every section of the medical profession.

“ The board of management-^whose counsels have for
forty years been guided by the distinguished nobleman, our
president, the Lord Ebury, and the friends of the hospital—
among whom can be happily numbered more than one member
of your Royal Highness’s illustrious family—not only feel
some pride in a record of patients reaching nearly 800,000,
and also in a yearly register of 800 patients treated in the
wards, and 10,000 patients treated in the out-patient depart¬
ment, but can now look forward to a new building of large
capacity, involving an expenditure of £40,000, of which the
sum of £80,000 has been already provided—a new building
possessing all those modem accessories to the effective care of
the sick and suffering which the latest advancements of
medical science have suggested.

“ That the first stone of this new building should be laid by
your Royal Highness and Her Serene Highness your Daughter
we regard as a very distinguished honour ; and that in con¬
ferring this honour upon an old-established charity, beginning
a new phase in its history, your Royal Highness should be
joined by Her Serene Highness at the present auspicious time
of national congratulation and of national gladness, we feel to
be the brightest augury for the future of the hospital. 1 *

The Bishop of Bedford having conducted a brief service,

Digitized by ^ooQle

424

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1888.

during which the choir of St. George-tbe-Martyr chanted the
127th Psalm, the stone was raised; at the same time the
architect exhibited sketches of the old and new buildings to
Her Royal Highness.

The Secretary-Superintendent next deposited beneath the
stone a copy of The Times , the 42nd Annual Report of the
Hospital, homoeopathic Journals, and papers relating to the
ceremony. The builder having fixed the slab, and the
mortar being partly spread, the Honorary Architect presented
a silver gilt trowel to the Duchess of Teck.

The architect of the new building, Mr. William Pite,
F.R.I.B.A., held a tray of mortar for the use of Her Royal
Highness the Duchess of Teck, who proceeded to complete
the spreading of the mortar in a most thorough manner.

The stone was then lowered into its place, and the Chairman
of the Board presented a mallet to Her Royal Highness.

The Duchess having tapped the stone three times at each
corner, the architect adjusted the level.

Her Royal Highness, with firm voice and pleasant tones,
declared the stone to be “ Well and truly laid.”

The stone bears the following inscription:—“ This stone
was laid by H.R.H. Princess Mary Adelaide Duchess of Teck,
and H.S.H. Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, on June 23,
1893.” After the completion of the operations the choir
sang a hymn, the Bishop of Bedford pronounced the benedic¬
tion and the ceremony ended. Her Royal Highness afterwards
inspected the wards of the temporary hospital, and as she
drove away was enthusiastically cheered by the assembled
crowd. Although only very short notice of the approaching
ceremony could be given by the Hospital, and consequently
only a limited number could be accommodated and invited,
yet a cheerful and enthusiastic company had assembled to
welcome their Royal Highnesses and to show their warm
interest in the institution.

It is not without some feelings of regret that we have watched
the rapid demolition of the old building, interesting as it was
historically, and dear as it had become as the witness of so
much good work for the relief of suffering humanity, and as
the scene of many happy and fruitful associations. Though
the material witness of the happy past disappears its memory
will be cherished in the minds of many who were present at
the inauguration of a still brighter future. In the cause of
truth, and for the sake of the sick and sorrowing, our motto
is Excelsior . On this foundation stone so well and truly
laid there will, we trust, rise a building which shall see
greater triumphs than in the past, shall do honour to the
noble teachings of Hahnemann, and still shine as the official
centre of a renewed, humane and successful therapeutics.

Digitized by

Monthly HomoBop&thio
Review, July 1, 1893.

NOTABILIA.

425

THE CHICAGO WORLD’S HOMCEOPATHIC
CONGRESS.

The Chicago Congress has come and gone. As we announced
last month, the Medical Century issued a daily edition during
the Congress week, and the six numbers are now before us.
We regret that we cannot feel our anticipations regarding
them to be realised. The report of the proceedings is pro-
vokingly meagre and scrappy, and the pressure of the daily
issue seems to have caused the proof-reading to be slurred
over—in the case of the Saturday number, indeed, to have
been entirely omitted—with disastrous results to orthography.
The editor expresses a trust that these six numbers of his
journal will be deemed worthy of special binding and preser¬
vation as a memorial of the Congress. We venture to hope,
for the credit of homoeopathic journalism, that it will be quite
otherwise.

* * # * *

As far as numbers are concerned, the Congress has been a
great success. The American Institute, under whose auspices
it was held, registers 868 of its members as having been
present; and doubtless among the 381 “ visitors in attend¬
ance, though the majority of the names are feminine,” some
represent physicians outside the circle of the Institute. There
was a fair foreign delegation—Drs. Hawkes, of Liverpool, and
Molson, of Wimbledon, representing our own country; Dr.
Bojanus attending from Russia; Dr. Majumdar from India;
and Dr. Fischer from Australia; while Canada sent Drs.
Fisher, Vernon and Logan. The President (we can find no
account of any elections to office) was Dr. J. S. Mitchell, of
Chicago, who was chairman of the committee of arrange¬
ments for the meeting; and Dr. Ludlam and Dr. Julia
Holmes Smith, of the same city, were the Vice-Presidents.
An Honorary Presidentship was conferred on Drs. Hughes
and Talbot, in virtue of their headship of the International
Congresses of 1881 and 1891 respectively ; and an Honorary
Vice-Presidentship on Drs. McClelland, Galley Blackley, and
Rushmore as occupying a similar position at present in the
American Institute of Homoeopathy, the British Homoeopathic
Society, and the International Hahnemannian Society.

* * * * *

As regards the proceedings, nothing is furnished us but a
list of titles of papers read and names of those who took part
in their discussion, with a few of the addresses presented at
the general meetings. It is said to have been a busy and
pleasant time; we trust it has been so, and that more details
will be furnished hereafter by less hurried editors. The
American Institute held business sessions daily, and added

Digitized by ^ooQle

426

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,18B3.

notably to its roll of membership. It has determined next
year to go a thousand miles yet further West, meeting at Den¬
ver, Colorado, under the shadow of the Rocky Mountains.

Among the results of the Congress is the establishment
of a “Women’s Provers* Union.” It will do good work,
and stimulate us all to look further into this now neglected
portion of our work.

HOMCEOPATHIC HOSPITAL, THE WORLD’S FAIR,
CHICAGO.

The homoeopathic hospital at the World’s Fair grounds was
dedicated May 29th, and is now ready to receive patients,
either for surgical or medical treatment. This hospital is the
result of public-spirited generosity and enterprise on the part
of the physicians of that school who live in Chicago and
vicinity. The building has already cost $12,000, and it is
estimated that $8,000 more will be needed to maintain it
during the Fair, and this amount is contributed by the way of
private subscriptions from local homcBopathic doctors so that
their school of medicine shall be adequately represented at
the Exposition.

The building, an attractive, two-story structure, is located
just north of the entrance to the Midway plaisance and
directly west of the main entrance to the women’s building.
On the lower floor there are reception rooms in front with a
very complete pharmacy. Consultation and operating rooms
All the balance of the space on one side of the lower hall and
dining-rooms, a kitchen, etc., on the other side to the rear of
the building, where a large room the width of the building
has been devoted to exhibiting various things that are said to
be good for sick people. The second floor is principally given
up to wards for sick and injured persons.

Two trained nurses will at all times be in attendance.
They will come from the various training schools of the city
for periods of two weeks, leaving at the end of that time to
give place to other girls who wish to come. The service of
these nurses are gratuitous, and they receive no other com¬
pensation than the practical training they will get. The
hospital is in charge of Dr. R. M. Baker, of Chicago, with
Dr. Lincoln S. Brown, of Pittsburg, as an assistant. Dr.
Baker will pay particular attention to the surgical cases, and
Dr. Brown will attend to the medical work. No ambulance
service has been arranged for, and there will not be unless it is
found that the administration ambulances do not answer the
purpose. The intention of the men who projected the idea of
this hospital was to provide a place where those who were
taken sick on the grounds or were the victims of accidents

Digitized by LiOOQLe

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, July 1 , 1893.

NOTABILIA.

427

could have homoeopathic treatment if they so desired. If
there was no hospital of this kind on the grounds invalids
would be obliged to accept allopathic treatment, as that is the
kind that is given in the general hospital.— The Weekly Inter-
Ocean , Chicago, June 6.

THE HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL SCHOOL OF
CALCUTTA.

We have received from our colleague, Dr. M. M. Bose, of
Calcutta, a most interesting report for 1891-92 of the
Homoeopathic Medical School in the great capital of Bengal,
and also that up to June, 1898. The School has completed its
tenth year, having been founded by Dr. M. M. Bose, and
carried on year by year with increasing success, owing to his
untiring energy and perseverance. Before the School was
founded, many of the native practitioners were quite unquali¬
fied by medical training, having simply studied books on
homoeopathic therapeutics, and then setting up as practi¬
tioners. Dr. Bose resolved, if possible, to put a stop to this
system, which tended to bring homoeopathy into disrepute
with the educated classes, and he started the school. There is a
three years’ course, comprising all the necessary subjects of
study, and they are now taught both in the vernacular and in
English, the numbers attending the English course increasing
yearly. Besides the three examinations at the end of each
year, there are daily examinations before beginning the
lectures, on the work of the previous day. The students are
required to take full notes of all the lectures. For practical
work, there is a “ School Clinical Dispensary,” where system¬
atic clinical instruction is daily given. The students are
required to keep a record of each case, its history, progress
and treatment, and it is hoped that ultimately this dispensary
will develope into a hospital. As yet there are not sufficient
funds to carry out this project, but uphill work as Dr. Bose
and his colleagues find it to be, success will be the ultimate
reward. Each student who passes the final examination gets
the Licentiateship in homoeopathic medicine and surgery,
and there is already a marked demand in Calcutta and the
provinces for these educated men, who take an excellent posi¬
tion in practice. The yearly increase in the number of
students is very gratifying. In 1889, there were 84 ; in 1890,
67; in 1891, 96 ; and in 1892, 126.

The Work is a great and noble one, and we congratulate
Dr. Bose and his colleagues on their energy and success. It
is a bright example of the absence of the medical scepticism
which is so prevalent in the old school, when we find men -so
devoted to the propagation of the great truth of the law of

Digitized by

Google

428

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1883*

similars, that not content with success in private practice,
they devote their surplus energy to the teaching of the great
truth, and so strive to bring about the time when homoeo¬
pathy will be the dominant practice all over the world.

It will, we are sure, interest our readers to know that fifteen
years ago Dr. M. M. Bose was in London for a year, and
attended regularly the courses of Lectures on Materia Medica
and on Practice of Medicine at the London School of Homoeo¬
pathy, and also came daily to see the practice in the wards
and out-patient department at the London Homoeopathic
Hospital. We therefore feel a special delight and interest in
hearing of the success of the noble propaganda of our dis¬
tinguished student, Dr. M. M. Bose.

LEEDS HOMEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.

After a time of suspended animation, reaching the prolonged
period of 85 years, this institution is again entering on an
active, and it is to be hoped useful existence. Formerly a
dispensary flourished in Leeds under the fostering care of Dr.
Irvine. In 1858 it was found impossible to fill the office
of Resident Medical Officer, vacant by the resignation of Dr.
Craig, and the subscribers assembled in public meeting
declared the Institution “ suspended and closed, but not
dissolved,” and a sum of £200, the surplus profit of its
working, was placed in the hands of trustees, to accumulate,
for the purpose of re-organising the present or establishing
another dispensary in Leeds. This fund has until lately
remained unclaimed. Dr. Craig established a private dis¬
pensary in connection with his own professional residence,
and Dr. J. H. Ramsbotham did the same. These dispensaries
have been carried on quietly and unostentatiously by their
successors, and would probably have been continued for the
present on the same lines had not an effort been made in
February last on behalf of the Leeds General Infirmary to
obtain possession of this money. By the terms of the trust,
the trustees are allowed, in the event of no public homoeo¬
pathic dispensary being carried on in Leeds, to allot the
money to some other “similar” charity in that place.
Accordingly the General Infirmary put in a plea of similarity,
a plea at once traversed by Drs. Ramsbotham and Stacey,
two of the present representatives of homoeopathy in Leeds, on
the ground that the doctrine of similars was excluded from all
consideration at that institution, however useful and
beneficial its work might otherwise be. What seemed likely
to result in a very pretty quarrel, will now apparently result
in benefit to the public and advance the cause of homoeopathy.

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893.

NOTABILIA.

429

for the public dispensary re-opened lately. Central pre¬
mises have been obtained, a goodly subscription list has
been opened, and though our colleagues above named have
decided to proceed tentatively with the development of the
Institution, and will open it for the present on three days of
the week only, they hope ere long to be in a position to secure
the services of a Resident Medical Officer,, provide daily
consultations at the dispensary, and arrange for the visiting
of dispensary patients at their own homes.

The President of the revived institution is J. B. G. Tottie,
Esq., of Coniston Hall. The trustees are Messrs. Tottie and
J. W. Williams, J.P., and Dr. S. H. Ramsbotham. The list
of patronesses and the members of the committee are
sufficient to show the interest taken in the dispensary, and
to give an assurance that it will be earnestly and efficiently
conducted. Donations, including one of £100 “ in memory
of the late Dr. J. H. Ramsbotham,” amounting to £240 8s.
have been received, and annual subscriptions promised,
of £81 ; this, with £12 10s. derived from investments, and
£12 10s. from the rent of rooms sub-let, produces an income
of over £100 per annum, so that our colleagues will renew the
public work under very promising auspices and with ample
means for carrying it on efficiently.

We congratulate the City of Leeds on this awakening of
the consciences of the adherents of homoeopathy there, and
that they recognise not only their duty to themselves and
their immediate surroundings, but their responsibility tothe
profession at large and to the public. We wish success to
this effort to establish a public dispensary, success to the
medical officers in the results of their treatment, and success
to the cause of homoeopathy in Leeds, which we believe may
be greatly advanced by means of institutions such as this.

NOTTING HILL HOMCEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.

We have received with much pleasure the first annual report
of this youthful institution, which is situated in the High
Street, Notting Hill. It is conducted by Messrs. Dudley
Wright and W. Spencer Cox, while Dr. Byres Moir acts as
consulting physician. The dispensary paid its expenses the
first year, and the results of the treatment of the 86 patients
were good. We are glad to note that the attendances, which
were naturally few at first, have been gradually increasing in
number, and during the last three months have shown a more
rapid augmentation. We wish every success to this enterprise,
with which we heartily sympathise.

Digitized by ^ooQle

430

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1803.

THE DRYSDALE BED.

The resolution, arrived at some months ago by friends of
the late Dr. Drysdale, of Liverpool, to keep his memory green
by the endowment of a free bed in the Hahnemann Hospital
of the city which was the scene of his long, honourable and
useful career, is, we are glad to learn, within measurable
distance of being carried out. Of the £1,000 needed for the
endowment, £828 18s. Od. have been promised. In obtaining
such an amount for a definite object, it is ever the case that
the final hundred or two is the most difficult to secure. From
the list of subscribers circulated a week or so back, we noticed
the absence of the names of many who, we know, held
Dr. Drysdale in the highest esteem, of many who have derived
the greatest advantage from the work he accomplished for
practical medicine. We have no doubt at all that, in many
of these instances, the proposal that was made has been for*
gotten; some, we have heard, did not subscribe because they
objected to the form of the memorial as being too insignificant*
The recently circulated appeal will remind such of the
existence of an opportunity still to take a part in commemo
rating the work of one who held so high a place in their
regard, of one to whom they stand so largely indebted. While
those who looked upon an endowed bed in the Hahnemann
Hospital as being too slight a memorial, we would remind
that this hospital, built and furnished by the munificence of
Mr. Henry Tate, was, from a scientific point of view, due to
the work of Dr. Drysdale—it represents “ the full fruition of
hopes ” entertained by him nearly fifty years ago, for the
realisation of which he laboured during those years. A
thousand pounds represents a considerable sum of money;
and it is hoped that, in addition to this, sufficient may be
obtained to place a portrait of our departed friend in the board
room of the hospital. But one thing must be done first of all
—the bed must be endowed. Let this be accomplished at any
rate ; £175 are alone needed, and we hope that ere the current
month has slipped away, “ The Drysdale Bed ” may be esta¬
blished. Subscriptions will be received by the Secretary of
the Hahnemann Hospital, Hope Street, Liverpool; and any
sent to either of the editors of the Monthly Homoeopathdc
Beview will be remitted to him.

“SHALL HAHNEMANN’S ‘CHRONIC DISEASES’
BE REPRINTED?”

This is the heading of a circular sent to us by Messrs.
Boericke & Tafel, with request for a notice. Finding from the
body of the document, that the work intended is not the
original, but Hempel’s translation of 1845, we answer the

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893.

NOTABILIA.

431

question very decidedly in the negative. Messrs. Boericke &
Tafel, being publishers and not physicians, are doubtless
unaware that the version in question has long ago been shown
to be utterly untrustworthy. The close examination of it
instituted by the late Dr. David Wilson, and published in
the Review for 1862-8, revealed such wholesale omissions in
the symptom lists and so many mis-translations, that the
work has naturally and deservedly fallen out of print. In
the face of these investigations, to re-issue it as it originally
stood would show little desire to give the English reader the
genuine thoughts and observations of the master. Moreover,
such a work needs editing as well as translating. Comparison
with its former editions (one only in this case), information as
to the sources drawn upon for the symptoms, and illumination
of these cases cited from authors by reference to their original
record, such annotation, in fact, as characterises the version
of the Materia Medica Pura issued by the Hahnemann
Publishing Society, must be supplied here if the English
Chronic Diseases is to be a worthy pendant to its predecessor.
To dispense with all this and to perpetuate Hempel’s errors,
would surely be dishonouring to Hahnemann and discreditable
to his disciples of our speech. We trust that Messrs.
Boericke & Tafel will abandon their present project, and in its
place will seek to provide a new translation, duly edited, of
this great work of the founder of the homoeopathic school.

“ BICHROMATE OF POTASSIUM AS AN
EXPECTORANT/’

In its “ Reports on Therapeutic Progress,” The Therapeutic
Gazette (March) contains a reference under the above
title to an article elsewhere by a Dr. Hunt. This reference
“ smells ” so strongly of “ heresy ” that it certainly ought to
have been “ scented ” by Dr. Hare, the learned editor of The
Therapeutic Gazette. It would, perhaps, be captious to criticise
the title, for doubtless the word “ expectorant ” has a meaning
in the mind of the writer much wider than its etymology
suggests. Probably he did not succeed in making the children
of one year old, for whom he recommends the drug, expectorate,
though he admits that some of his doses caused them to
vomit. Dr. Hunt also alludes to the action of the bichromate
on the periosteum, but does not affirm, though he leaves us to
infer, that here also it is an expectorant!

Dr. Hunt has used bichromate of potassium for nearly
20 years, with “ extraordinary ” results. At first sight it is
a little “ extraordinary ” that he has kept to himself all this
time the knowledge he has constantly found so valuable.

Some of the “ extra-ordinariness ” however disappears

Digitized by

Google

432

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1 , 1803.

when we learn further on that the source of his information
—so far as written testimony goes—was one Dr. Drysdale,
“ of Cannes, France.” We are well aware that the energy and
devotion of the lamented Dr. Drysdale, “of Liverpool,
England,” as long ago as 1846, gave us the bichromate as a
remedy. But it is news to us that his son, the late Dr. Alfred
Drysdale, for a short time “ of Cannes, France,” ever pub¬
lished anything on this subject. We suspect that Dr. Hunt
knows more of the Drysdales than he cares to confess, though
what is the precise object of mixing up Cannes with Liverpool
is not perfectly clear. In passing we will furnish Dr. Hunt
with the full title of the work in which Dr. Drysdale’s article
may be found: Materia Medic a, Physiological and Applied ,
vol. i. London : Triibner & Co. 1884. In two or three years
time, after further study, he will be able to give us an
extended “ report ” of his “ therapeutic progress.”

There are yet other “extraordinary” features in this
extract. One of these is that Dr. Hunt “ has not been able
to find ” any article on the drug in question (thus implying
that he has searched) except that of Dr. Drysdale, while in
all probability, on the shelves of ten thousand of his confreres
in the States and all over the world, treatises on materia
medica are to be found containing an account of the effect of
bichromate of potash far more complete than Dr. Hunt supplies
us with. It is certainly odd, if not “ extraordinary,” that,
although Dr. Hunt’s sources of information are so limited,
he should happen in his brief reference to the tissues and
organs affected by the drug, to mention them in precisely the
same order as does a certain much-borrowed-from work on
Pharmacodynamics, by Richard Hughes, M.D., with which,
of course, Dr. Hunt has not the good fortune to be
acquainted ! This is not the first curious coincidence of the
kind which the Therapeutic Gazette has been able to place
before its readers, and we are glad to find that these
coincidences also invariably coincide in “ extraordinary ”
fruitfulness of results. Perhaps some day the Gazette will be
able to discover the happy hunting ground in which its
contributors capture so many new ideas and new remedies
with extraordinary effects, and enable its readers to explore
its resources for themselves. We notice too that most of
these new remedies are given in doses “ extraordinarily ”
small for such large results, and that some of them are even
prescribed to be triturated with sugar of milk. Both of these
circumstances are suggestive of methods used by Hahnemann.
But we think we should be safe in saying that Hahnemann
never used “ bichromate of potash as an expectorant.” It may
be however that Dr. Hunt is practismg homoeopathy, and his
paper looks as if he knew it.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Bevtew, July 1, 1808.

OBITUARY.

433

In short, we have here another example of the plagiarism
for which the Therapeutic Gazette is so famed. We cannot in
this instance congratulate it on a clever robbery, for it is
clumsily done, and as a penalty will remain useless, so few
instructions are given as to how to employ the stolen goods.
The standard of ethics is different in America and in England
—sometimes. There they steal unblushingly and without fear
of punishment. Here they may not steal for fear of con¬
viction, and they will not buy the truth, except in licensed
markets. Bather must patients suffer or die than relief be
obtained from sources which the prejudice of the profession
has “ tabooed.” After all we almost prefer the American
style as being more humane.

HOP-PICKERS’ OPHTHALMIA.

In the British Medical Journal for May 13, Dr. Percy
T. Adams writes on a form of ophthalmia to which hop-
pickers are liable. In its milder forms it is a simple conjunc¬
tivitis of severe type, but it frequently involves deeper
structures, and keratitis and hypopyon result. It is found
that it does not especially invade those exposed to unsanitary
conditions like the foreign pickers who sleep in barns or
tents, but is fairly equally distributed amongst all the pickers,
but affecting women and children more than men. The
patient frequently states that the acute smarting ushering in
the attack came on immediately after rubbing the eyes with
the hop-stained hands. It is evidently something in the
hops that causes the ophthalmia. Experiments were made
with a solution of lupuline , but it was found that this pro¬
duced no effect when applied to the conjunctival sac. An
alcoholic extract of hops was evaporated to dryness and some
of the residue introduced into the eye, but beyond a little
smarting nothing occurred. It seemed certain that the
ophthalmia was due to a mechanical cause, viz., to the thom-
like hairy processes which cover the tracts of the hop-catkins,
and which are very sharp.

The hop plant ( 1 humulus hipulus), it is interesting to observe,
belongs to the same family as the urtica urens and the order
urticaceee.

OBITUARY.

HENRY BLUMBERG, M.D., J.P.

With very great regret do we inform our readers of the death,
on the 6th ult., of Dr. Blumberg, of Southport, whose geniality
and hospitality contributed so largely to the pleasure of all
who attended the British Homoeopathic Congress last Sep¬
tember.

Yol. 37. X... 7.

2—X

Digitized by

Google

OBITUABY.

Monthly Homoeopathic
fieri ew, July 1,1898.

Henky Blumberg, a member of an old and distinguished
Hungarian family, was bom in 1829 at Easchau, the native
place of our old friend the late Dr. Both, to whom, on his
mother’s side, he was related. He received his education at
the College of Easchau, where his father was the professor of
Oriental languages. From the College he proceeded to the
University of Vienna, which he entered as a student of medi¬
cine. The political upheaval of the period enlisted his
sympathies from a very early age. While at Easchau, he
wrote numerous political articles and verses for the news¬
papers, the authorship of which was not discovered until long
after their publication. When at length the Hungarian
struggle for political freedom broke out in 1848, he, and many
of his fellow students, enlisted under the banner of Eossuth.
When only 19 years of age, he commanded a company of the
reserve force under General Bern at the siege of Vienna.
After the defeat of Eossuth’s army by the combined forces of
Austria and Russia, Captain Blumberg, with many others,
was ordered to leave the country. On his arrival at the
frontier, cholera was found to be prevailing, and he was
detained there to officiate as a cholera doctor. So satis¬
factorily did he perform his duties, that the Government of
Austria presented him with a testimonial in recognition of his
services. He then proceeded to Prague, where he renewed
his medical studies, and graduated as Doctor of Medicine of
the University in 1855. During the ensuing year, he followed
many of his exiled countrymen to England. Here his first
introduction to practical medicine was as locum tenens for the
late Mr. Decimus Hands, then practising in Dorset Square,
London. After spending a few months in Macclesfield, he
settled in practice at Southport, then a small seaside resort
with a rapidly growing reputation for the possession of a
singularly genial climate. Two years later, he was admitted
as an extra-urbem licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians
j —a diploma which, since the College entered into compe¬
tition with the Apothecaries Society for the licensing of
general practitioners, has been changed to that of “ Member.”

In Southport, the fact of his practising homoeopathy
exposed him to a serious amount of opposition, in some
instances of a peculiarly offensive and insolent character.
This, his success in practice, his energy and determination,
together with his extensive literary culture and many social
gifts, enabled him most completely to live down. At
Southport was an institution known then as the Stranger’s
Charity, and still flourishing as the Southport Convalescent
Home. Enowing well how great an advantage homoeopathy
would prove to many of the cases received there, he applied

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HomoBopathlo
Review, July 1, 1883.

OBITUABY.

435

to the governors to set apart a ward for the homoeopathic
treatment of children. His application was not entertained.
This refusal, however, did but stimulate Dr. Blumberg to
independent action, and, with the support of his now
increasing circle of friends, he took a cottage for the reception
of sick children. From this has sprung the Southport
Children’s Sanatorium, the first institution of the kind in
England, and one from which hundreds of children have
Teceived invaluable benefits. How considerable has been the
success which has attended the work of this institution, and
how greatly it has been appreciated in Southport and
throughout Lancashire, were fully recognised by all who,
during the afternoon of the meeting of Congress at Southport
last year, looked upon the extensive and handsome range of
buildings devoted to its operations, inspected its wards, and
interviewed the numerous band of happy little invalids,
amongst whom were instances of well nigh every form of
strumous disease.

In 1862 Dr. Blumberg exchanged practices with Dr. Stokes
of Liverpool, but his health flailing, he accepted the post of
travelling physician to the well-known Polish nobleman, Prince
Czartoryski. On his return to England he resided for about
a year in Bournemouth, when he again went abroad as
travelling physician to Lady Prosser. Ketuming to England,
lie ultimately settled in Cheltenham. After remaining there
three years, he again went abroad, visiting Bonn for a while,
and afterwards Kreuznach, where he had some property. At
the end of 1877, Dr. Stokes, wishing to retire from his
practice, gave Dr. Blumberg the first offer of the succession to
it. This he accepted, and once more threw all his energies
into the work which was ready for him, into the development
of the Sanatorium, and also into much of the public life of
Southport, promoting the interest of the town in every way
that lay in his power. For two or three years he was also the
medical officer of the Wigan Homoeopathic Dispensary, where
his services where so highly appreciated by those interested
in the Institution that, on his retirement, he was presented
with a testimonial, which took the form of an illuminated
address, a handsome clock and an elegant pair of vases.

In 1880, he was placed on the Commission of the Peace
and rendered very efficient service to the Borough Bench.
During the remainder of his life he also took a warm interest
in the Southport Literary and Philosophical Society, of which
he was one of the originators, one of its earliest Presidents,
and before which he delivered several addresses eminently
characteristic of the philosophical and yet practical bent of his
mind. Of these, one delivered in 1880, On the Connection

2 e—2

Digitized by

Google

436

OBITUARY.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review, July 1,1808.

Between National Wealth and National Healthy appears in this
Beview for 1891. In it he points out and elucidates the
connection which necessarily exists between the wealth of
nations and the health of the individual citizen. His object,
he said, was “not to prove that national health promote*
national wealth—that is too obvious; but vice versa, that
national wealth is one of the great—nay, the greatest element
of national health.” This proposition he worked out by
means of many interesting facts and statistics, deducing from
them some practical conclusions, the adoption of which would
be for the advantage of rulers of nations. Another, in 1882,
and published in this Beview during the same year, was on
The Medicine of the Future . In this, he, in a very interesting
and instructive manner, traced the history of medicine from
early times down to the period when Hahnemann commenced
his great therapeutic reform. Pointing to his doctrines as
those which must have the chief influence upon the medicine
of the future, he graphically described the characteristics of &•
successful physician, and anticipated the time when common
sense, a general knowledge of hygiene, a popular aquaintance
with physiological axioms and reliance upon the doctrines of
Hahnemann in the treatment of disease will prevail.

Two other papers read by him at Southport— The History
of Philosophy , and Is Life Worth Living? Emmerson and
Schopenhauer; or Optimism and Pessimism, are especially
characteristic of his devotion to philosophising, and equally
demonstrative of the extensive range of his reading.

In 1888, Dr. Blumberg was requested to deliver the annual
Hahnemann Oration. He selected as his subject Hippocrates
and Hahnemann . This essay, which was published in our
Beview shortly after its delivery, describes with much anima¬
tion the high qualities of his two heroes, pointing out how far
above their contemporaries each was; giving a graphic account
of Hahnemann both from a physical and an intellectual point
of view, and showing how his doctrines had passed through
the ordeal which all new truths have to endure, that of enthu¬
siasm with persecution, followed by a languid reaction of ease,
and this by the period, in which homoeopathy is at present,
that of carrying conviction into the minds of its opponents.

Dr. Blumberg’s health has for many years been indifferent*
A serious attack of illness a year and a half ago greatly added
to his previous feebleness. In spite of his impaired vigour he
struggled on, until three months ago he was obliged to confine
himself to bed. Then it was that the gravity of his condition
became only too apparent to those about him, and when the
nature and exteut of the pathological changes that had taken
place were fully realised, the possibility of his restoration to

Digitized by ^ooQle

IConthljHommop&thio
Beriew, July 1,1893.

OBITUARY.

437

any degree of health was felt to be beyond hope. Daring the
last few weeks of his life he was devotedly attended by his
eon, Dr. H. D. Blumberg, supported by his old friend
Dr. Baildon, and assisted in consultation by Dr. Dudgeon,
Dr. Hawkes, and Dr. Barron, of Liverpool.

He leaves a widow, three sons and two daughters, the eldest
eon, Dr. H. D. Blumberg, succeeding to his practice.

The esteem in which he was held by those amongst whom
he lived, and to promote whose welfare he devoted himself,
the affection felt for him by his large circle of patients, and
the widely spread feeling of sympathy for his family existing
among the people of Southport, received very full expression
at his funeral, which took place on the 9th ult.

JOHN POTTS, Esq., J.P.

We announce, with much regret, the death of a most active
and useful member of our profession in the person of Mr.
Alderman Potts, of Sunderland, who has practised homceo-
pathically in that town for more than forty years.

John Potts was bom in Sunderland, where his father was a
wealthy shipbuilder and shipowner, in 1818. After leaving
school he was apprenticed to Mr. Charles Ferguson, of
Sunderland, and from him passed on to Edinburgh, and there
studied under the well-known anatomist Mr. Knox, whose
pupil he was at the time of the Burke and Hare
disclosures. In 1886 Mr. Potts was admitted a member
of the Royal College of Surgeons, when he also obtained
the licence of the Apothecaries’ Society. He at once
commenced practice in Darlington, whence he removed to his
native town in 1848. About the year 1850 his attention was
drawn to homoeopathy by the late Dr. Hayle, of Rochdale, at
that time practising in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Investigation
followed, and afterwards, possessing in an eminent degree the
courage of his opinions, he openly announced his conviction
that disease was more successfully treated in accordance with
the principle of homoeopathy than when the methods then
commonly in use were employed ; thenceforward his mode of
treatment was homoeopathic. His practice was large for
many years, and, together with public duties of a local
character, fully absorbed his whole time, so that he was
little if at all known as a contributor to medical literature.

He took a part in some of the earlier congresses, when the
thoroughly practical character of his observations in dis¬
cussion, his beaming countenance, genial and hearty manner
made many regret that opportunities of meeting him were so
rare.

When the Crimean War broke out Mr. Potts was appointed

Digitized by

Google

438

OBITUARY.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1893..

Surgeon to the 1st Durham Militia, under the Duke of
Cleveland, then Colonel of the Regiment. At the conclusion
of the War he returned to his practice in Sunderland, but
remained connected with the regiment, and attended its annual
training for several years before resigning his commission.

In describing his career in Sunderland, The Sunderland
Union says of him :—

“ He was elected a member of the Sunderland Town Council
for West Ward in 1854, and served in that capacity until
1867. Then he was out for a year, but was re-elected to
represent Bridge Ward in 1858. He retained his seat for this
ward until 1874, and on the 6th of June of that year he was
elected an alderman, and in the November he was chosen
Mayor. * He occupied the civic chair for one year, but on
returning to the aldermanic benches he still continued to take
a lively interest in all that he considered was for the good of
the town. He was a vigorous speaker, and acted with great
independence, never allowing himself to be tied to the leading
strings of authority. In 1870 Mr. Potts was appointed a
Justice of the Peace for the Borough, an honour which he
highly appreciated. He exercised his judicial functions with
great impartiality, and it may be truly said of him that his
desire was to temper justice with mercy. He served his
neighbours as a magistrate as late as three months ago. He
was a strict Churchman, and a Conservative to the backbone.
He held tenaciously to his principles, and whilst differing from
his opponents did not willingly differ with them. He aided
the Conservative cause with his pocket, and was always
accorded some honoured task] whenever there was a large
gathering of the members of the party in the borough. He
was a man much liked by his Conservative friends, as well as
by his Radical opponents, and he felt himself honoured when,
as chief magistrate, he was called upon to assist in the
inauguration of the statue of the late Mr. John Candlish,
which now adorns the Mowbray Park. He was a prominent
member of the Masonic craft, and was three times Master of
the Phoenix Lodge. During his Mayoralty he was present at
the installation of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales as Grandmaster
of the Masons of England. The deceased gentleman also
took a great interest in Friendly Societies, and was medical
officer for several lodges and courts. He often took the chair
at their annual feasts. He was a jocular president, and
invariably kept the board in good humour. Many will be
indebted to him for happy nights spent in that brotherly
reunion which is so essential to success. Aid. Potts was one
of the originators and shareholders of the first Daily Post
Company, and he held offices of importance in connection

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HomcBopathie
Boriew, July 1,1893.

OBITUARY.

439

with the Sunderland Conservative Association, of which he
was a vice-president. He encouraged all that tended to make
a man noble. He lent his countenance to all branches of
athletics, and in the early days of the Sunderland Association
Football Club frequently presided at its meetings. Mr. Potts
had a large circle of fnends, and they will deeply mourn
the loss of one to whom they were much attached, and for
whom in his later days they entertained a feeling of veneration.
The deceased gentleman was twice married. He has left a
widow but no family.”

His death occurred on the 8th ult. as the result of a severe
attack of nephritis, which, it was hoped, had been subdued,
when inflammation of the bladder set in and terminated
fatally. Mr. Potts bad a serious attack of influenza last year,
that made an impression upon him, from which he never
fully recovered, and rendered the acute illness, which
commenced ten weeks before his death, all the more difficult
to rally from. He was anxiously and carefully attended by
Dr. Call Weddell of Sunderland, who, we have heard, succeeds
to his practice.

CARL FISCHER, M.D.

We were sorry to notice in the Times of the 24th ult., the
death, at Chicago, on the 22nd, of Dr. Carl Fischer, late of *
Sydney, Australia, and formerly of Auckland, New Zealand.

Dr. Fischeb was, we believe, a native of Berlin. He was a
graduate in medicine of the university of Wurzburg, a licen¬
tiate of the London College of Physicians, and a member of
the College of Surgeons.

He emigrated many years ago to Auckland, where he
rapidly acquired an extensive practice. After residing there
a few years, he passed over to Australia, where he settled in
Sydney. He was a man of great natural ability, genial and
hearty in his manner, and possessing a singular capacity for
inspiring confidence in all who consulted him. With such
gifts his success and popularity in Sydney, great as they were,
are in no way surprising. Several years ago he retired from
practice and came to reside in London. He was on a visit to
Chicago for the purpose of attending the World’s Homoeo¬
pathic Congress, in which he had taken a part, when the
illness occurred which terminated fatally on the 22nd of June,
at the age of 69.

Digitized by ^ooQle

440

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homonopothie
Review, July 1,1868.

CORRESPONDENCE.

VACCINATION.

To the Editors of the “Monthly Homoeopathic Review''

Gentlemen,— The art isles which have lately appeared in
the Review on vaccination are full of interest, the principal
interest being in the illustration which they afford of what is
called, in legal phraseology, “special pleading." Statistics
of various kinds are given, but these are not quite complete,
and it is to be hoped that the writer will supply the deficiency
at the first opportunity.

For instance, we are told that at Leicester, a town remark¬
able for the intelligence of its population, no less than 60
unvaccinated children were attacked by small-pox, whilst only
seven were attacked who had been vaccinated. Prima facie
this looks like an ominous indictment; but, unfortunately for
the argument, it appears that nearly all the children in
Leicester remain unvaccinated, for “ only two per cent, of
the children bom in Leicester at the present time are vacci¬
nated." This fact affords quite a new basis for statistics,
which it is to be hoped the writer in the Review will avail
himself of.

One other point: We are not told how many children have
died from the effects of vaccination, nor how many have been
transformed from healthy infants to diseased ones, often per¬
manently so. This is a very important consideration. In
fact my own experience has convinced me that the reputed
remedy is far worse than the disease. Moreover, I would at
any time prefer treating the natural disease rather than the
spurious and artificial one caused by vaccination. Yes,
gentlemen, the people of Leicester have very good reasons for
refusing to have their children vaccinated. That is certain
enough, and, for my part, I heartily sympathise with them.

Faithfully yours,

June 9, 1893. George Herring.

[The fact, that so comparatively few of the seriously large
number of unvaccinated children in Leicester contracted
small-pox during the last few months is traceable to two
causes. 1st. The energy of the Medical Officer of Health and
his assistants in isolating, and where the parents had sense
enough to accept the boon offered them, vaccinating all living
in places which had become centres of infection. 2nd. To
the large number of children who were vaccinated during the
panic created by a fear of the epidemic spreading.

The number of children who have died from the effects of
vaccination, or of infants who have been transformed from

Digitized by

CORRESPONDENCE.

441

healthy to diseased ones, either temporarily or permanently,
we have no means of ascertaining. We have no reason to
believe that either death or injury has ever resulted from
vaccination in Leicester.

Mr. Herring’s experience in vaccination seems to have been
unfortunate; we are glad, however, to be able to feel sure
that it is exceptional.

That it is “ certain enough ” that “ the people of Leicester
have very good reasons for refusing to have their children
vaccinated,” there is no evidence. On the contrary,
they have had ample proof that vaccination is necessary.—
Eds. M.H.R.]

THE HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL DIBECTORY.

To the Editors of “ The Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen,— It is encouraging to learn from your current
number that there is some likelihood of a fresh issue of the Horn -
aopathic Directory . I venture to think that the importance of that
work has been greatly under-rated. It is difficult to believe
that the list of members of the British Homoeopathic Society
will be an adequate substitute, as there are still several
homoeopathic practitioners who do not belong to that society.
And a more serious consideration is that that list is not likely
to find its way very readily into the hands of the public. I
may be told that it is much more “ ethical ” for the public
not to have a list of homoeopathic practitioners. There is,
however, a story much to the point, told of the well known
Scottish preacher, Chalmers. A brother minister had
remarked to him that the clergy ought to stand on their
dignity. Chalmers replied, “ Sir, if we don’t take care, we
may die of dignity.” In like manner, if homoeopaths do not
take care, they may die of “ ethics.” And they may be
pardoned for asking what ethics have done for them. Ethical
rules may be useful to hinder a homoeopath running away
with some one else’s patient, but they will never be applied
to protect the homoeopath himself from injury and insult.
The British Medical Journal has repeatedly drawn attention
in connection with medical ethics to what it rightly calls the
great rule in all ethics, viz., to do as we would be done by.
Yet consultants have frequently been known to use to
homoeopaths such language as, “I cannot consult with you,
but I do not object to your standing in the room.” Is this
graceful and gracious concession to be taken as indicating the
way in which the consultant wishes to be treated himself?
A few years ago the Lancet published a communication or
paragraph headed “ Nits and Homoeopaths.” Could anything

Digitized by ^ooQle

442

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1883.

be more coarsely insulting? But ethical rules count for
nothing when the orthodox wish to insult the heretical.

Moreover, the enmity of consultants will wax greater. It
is probable that in the past they have frequently “ looked
another way ” when they suspected heresy, for the sake of
large fees. But now that homoeopaths have several operating
consultants of their own, it would be abject folly on their part
to sue humbly for the privilege of standing in the same room
with some “ great man.” And as this gets more widely
known consultants will wax more bitter. And can anyone
suppose that the editors of the journals devoted to “ scientific ”
medicine will be propitiated by the suppression of the
Homceopathic Directory . If they notice its disappearance at
all it will only have the effect of convincing them that it is
not without reason that they have been asserting for so
many years past that homoeopathy is dead. Homoeopathy
has not been killed by these countless reports of its demise.
Nor will it ever be murdered by abuse. But it may commit
suicide, and no policy would be more suicidal than one that
would lead the public to suppose that there was no longer
anything distinctive about homoeopathic practice. For it is to
the public that homoeopathy must look. What has come of
all these years of ethical arguing with the dominant party
in the profession ? It is worse than idle to argue with people
who will not use reasons themselves, and wifi not trouble to
answer the reasons of their opponents by anything more
convincing than coarse abuse. I will defy the upholders of
ethics to point to any great reform, political, social, scientific,
religious, to free constitutions, to valuable inventions or
discoveries, to any of our greatest privileges, for which we
are indebted to men who were in bondage to arbitrary codes
of ethics and etiquette. The matter is a serious one for the
following reason. Homoeopaths have frequently put forth
statistics to show that under their treatment diseases last a
shorter time, and are less likely to prove fatal than if treated
“ scientifically.” If this means anything, it means that for
the last 80 years, or thereabouts, there has been an immense
amount of suffering, sorrow, bereavement and want in the
world, that might have been prevented by the intelligent use
of the law of similars. And all this is to go on indefinitely
out of deference to a narrow and arbitrary standard of
ethics. We had better be content with the eternal ethical
rules of upright and honourable conduct, which, in this
instance, will compel us to ignore all sentimental consider¬
ations that may be urged against appealing freely to the
public.

It is not beside the mark to observe that the authorities of

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1, 1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

44a

the London Hospital have printed a local list of practitioners
who received their professional education at that hospital.
If that be “ ethical ” (and I can conceive of no rational
objection to it) why may we not have a homoeopathic
directory ?

Yours faithfully,

Mulgrave Road, Andrew M. Neatby.

Sutton, Surrey.

14th June, 1898.

THE HOMOEOPATHIC DIRECTORY.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Revieic.”

Gentlemen, —A mischievous circular is being issued,
requesting practitioners to refrain from inserting their names
in the forthcoming Directory of Messrs. Keene & Ashwell.
And why ? “ As a matter of policy, and for the sake of the
advancement of homoeopathy on the truest ethical lines." In
other words, in order that we may pander to those who force
upon us a sectarian position.

Two interests are involved in a special Directony: first, those
of the practitioners whose names appear therein; and, second,
those of the public. A Directory helps in making the practi¬
tioners known beyond their own neighbourhood. I have
frequently found this of service for patients going away, and
chemists would probably say the same. And the second point
is, that patients desiring homoeopathic treatment will consult a
special Directory. Therefore in this direction also the spread
of our system is encouraged. If our doctrines are worth all
that we claim for them, let them be spread abroad by all
legitimate means—even by the aid of a shilling Directory .

Faithfully yours,

S. M.

June 19th.

THE HOMOEOPATHIC DIRECTORY.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review ."

Gentlemen,— I write in my private capacity, and not edi¬
torially, to protest against the action taken by the Hon.
Secretary of the British Homoeopathic Society in sending out
a circular, signed by a number of names, to all our colleagues
requesting them not to send their names to Messrs. Keene and
Ashwell for insertion in their Directory , and enclosing a post¬
card to be sent to Messrs. Keene & Ashwell embodying this
request. In writing as I do, I should like it to be clearly
understood that I have no personal difference with my friend
Mr. Knox Shaw, a friend for whom I have a warm regard.

Digitized by

444

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1808.

nor do I doubt in the least that he is acting for what he con¬
siders the best interests of homoeopathy. We all work to this
end. But it is as a piece of policy or tactics that I object to
his present course of action, and this policy I believe to be
entirely mistaken. It is a piece of so-called “ ethics ” that
he and some others are desirous of getting rid of the Homeo¬
pathic Directory . The old school use the existence of this
Directory as a convenient excuse for their boycotting action
towards us, and Mr. Shaw, and others of his way of think¬
ing, wish to remove this bug-bear, and so take away
excuse from “ our friends, the enemy.” But I am firmly
convinced that the Directory is a mere cat’s paw in their
hands, and if this is “ closured,” some other similar excuse
will be found, as that we are members of a sectarian society,
or are attached to the staff of a sectarian hospital. Thus our
efforts at removing stumbling blocks will be utterly futile, we
shall lose a very valuable list of homoeopathic practitioners
and chemists, to say nothing of the list of our foreign
colleagues, and so have no reference book to which the
chemists or the public can apply to find out who are homoeo¬
pathic practitioners in any given city or town or country.
Nor, in return for this, will the old school respect us one bit
more, but rather the reverse. They will look on it as evidence
of a desire to curry favour with them, and consider it a
virtual lowering of our flag. As a substitute for Keene and
AshwelTs Directory , Mr. Knox Shaw prints a list of members
of the British Homoeopathic Society once a year, and a copy
of this is enclosed in one of the numbers of the Transactions
of the Society . Now if this list were synonymous with a list
of homoeopathic practitioners, a good deal might be said, but
it is not. It is a pity it is not, as it is the duty of all homoeo¬
paths to support the metropolitan society with their member¬
ship. But the fact remains that it is not. Hence this list
is incomplete and inaccurate as a list of practitioners
who practise homoeopathy. Messrs. Keene & Ashwell’s
Directory is not perfect, but that is not their fault, but that of
men who will not take the trouble to return them a corrected
slip for publication. But I venture to say that Keene & Ash-
well’s Directory is much more complete than a list of members
of the British Homoeopathic Society for practical purposes.
The latter is not accessible to the public, and so cannot
supply the want. This is the practical view of the matter—
the “ ethical ” view I consider to be quite a mistake and
delusive. But the main point of my letter is not to ducuss
this question, as it has already been often discussed, but to
protest against what I consider an unfair piece of tactics.
Mr. Knox Shaw and others are quite at liberty to hold to

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1898.

CORRESPONDENCE.

445

their own opinions, and to see whether their substitute for the
Directory will succeed, and so oust the Directory, by fair com¬
petition, from its present position. But it is quite a different
thing to adopt such aggressive, and, as I consider it, unfair
tactics as to send out this circular and post-card. It seems
to me to be rather like “ hitting below the belt.” Far be it from
me to suggest for one moment that Mr. Knox Shaw would do
anything of this kind wittingly. I am certain he would not,
but all the same, my opinion of these tactics is what I have
stated. And I would appeal to my colleagues to think twice
before they agree to put the “ closure ” on Messrs. Keene and
Ashwell. They have done valuable service, at a personal
pecuniary loss, to the cause of homoeopathy, by publishing
for years a Directory as perfect as they can possibly make it.
And I feel sure that if the Directory is allowed to go down, as
it must do if men keep out their names in any number, we
shall regret this mistaken step when it is too late.

Mr. Knox Shaw has done a great deal for homoeopathy and
for the Society, and I repeat that, while grateful to him for
what he has done, it is only because, having each of us the
good of homoeopathy at heart, I feel obliged to object to the
tactical method he adopts to carry out his views.

D. Dyoe Brown.

June 23rd.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review

Gentlemen,— Through the kindness and courtesy of Dr.
Dyce Brown I have been enabled to see a letter he has written
to you, so that both sides of the “ Directory Question ” may
be represented in the present issue of the Review . In
order to avoid any misconception, I should like it to be clearly
understood that any action I, along with others, may have
taken in the matter, is quite apart and distinct from the
British Homoeopathic Society. That I have acted in no
official capacity, but merely as one of the section of the medi¬
cal profession openly acknowledging the value of homoeopathic
therapeutics.

The appeal, in your last issue, from Messrs. Keene & Ash¬
well for information for the compilation of the Homoeopathic
Directory was the first intimation, to many of us, that
preparations were being made for its re-issue. We learnt, on
enquiry, that time was pressing: in fact Mr. Ashwell very
kindly delayed sending out the Directory circulars in order
that we might lay our views before our colleagues. Otherwise
we should have appealed to them through your columns. I
desire to protest warmly against the suggestion that we have
been guilty of unfair fighting or “ hitting below the belt.”

Digitized by ^ooQle

446

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eeview, July 1, 1893.

After careful reconsideration of all the steps we have taken I
fail utterly to see where we have laid ourselves open to so
grave a charge. We believe the issue of the Directory to be
wrong in principle, and surely we have a perfect right to
advocate our views and to urge our colleagues to refrain from
committing what, rightly or wrongly, we consider an error.

At once let me say that the motives that actuate Messrs.
Keene and Ashwell are most honourable, and that they have
but one desire, to do the best they can for homoeopathy.
There is happily no personal element in the matter, the
difference between us lies in the choice of policy that should
guide us.

And here we are brought face to face with the question, Is
the issue of a special medical directory the best thing for
homoeopathy? To this many will answer, unhesitatingly,
No! As one of the co-signatories to a letter sent to most of
the practitioners of homoeopathy in this country, emphasising
this fact, and seeking to influence public opinion on this
question, I have been in the receipt of several communica¬
tions on the subject. I presume that I am singled out for
attack by Dr. Dyce Brown, because a year ago I publicly
proclaimed that the existence of a directory was an ethical and
tactical error on our part. Still I only expressed a view that
I believe is held by very many, and it is only the exigencies of
the case that have allowed a special medical directory to exist
for so long a time. Unfortunately, a need did exist for this
Directory , but a more enlightened policy on the part of
Messrs. Churchill, and a great increase in the membership of
the British Homoeopathic Society, have removed the necessity
for its publication.

A definite and pronounced revival has lately stirred the
homoeopathic world; mark the development of our leading
hospitals, the issue of the London Homoeopathic Hospital
Reports, the tone of our journals, and the growth and
activity of our Society. All this indicates an enthusiasm and
an awakened interest in homoeopathy within our ranks, and
shows, what is essential to the success of this therapeutic
truth, a growth of the spirit of scientific investigation and
observation, and an intellectual capacity for good work
amongst its exponents. The future development of homoeo¬
pathy must come from within, it must, if we are to attract
the best men to our ranks, eliminate from its methods
anything derogatory to the best and most sensitive pro¬
fessional instincts.

An uncontrolled and irresponsible separation of ourselves
from the general body of the medical profession in the form
of a directory, if meant for the benefit of the public, is a

Digitized by $le g

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1, 1898.

CORRESPONDENCE.

447

distinct method of advertising, to which a body boasting to be
guided by a truly scientific spirit should not condescend ; and
if it is intended for professional use, should be superseded by
membership of a learned society, such as the British Homoeo¬
pathic Society. Zeal for the public convenience must not
lead us to the commission of an error in ethics. And there
is, to an ethically developed nature, a considerable difference
between being associated with a special medical directory and
being a member of a learned, though sectarian, medical society.

The public in this matter would be wiser to consult their
ordinary medical attendant as to the choice of a physician in
a town they may be visiting, than to make their selection from
scanning the pages of a directory.

The correctness or incorrectness of a directory does not
enter into the question of the ethics of its issue, but it may
interest Dr. Dyce Brown to know that if he removes from the
Directory the names of those who have died since its issue,
those who have retired from practice, and those who have no
address, and compares it with the present roll of the British
Homoeopathic Society (also removing the names of those not
in active practice), he will find the number is only twelve
more than the roll of the Society. Further, if as we believe,
a considerable number of men withdraw their names from the
Directory , the roll of the Society will be by far the most reliable,
trustworthy and correct guide to the practitioners of homoeo¬
pathy in this country. It is a pity, as Dr. Dyce Brown says, that
this roll is not complete; it merely needs that the few men who
are not included in it should take the opportunity next
session—the jubilee of the foundation of the Society—of
avowing their adhesion to the principles of scientific thera¬
peutics, by applying for membership of the British Homoeo¬
pathic Society.

I am not desirous of hauling down the flag, I am keenly
alive to the necessity of an effective organization of the
supporters of our great medical doctrine, but I am desirous
of evacuating an out-post which, in my opinion, is a source of
weakness rather than of strength, in the development of our
cause in a truly scientific spirit.

Calumny, misrepresentation, abuse (such as, alas, we too
often meet with) may tend to foster a spirit of resentment
against our calumniators, but it should not deaden the
emotions of the professional conscience, and make us less
sensitive to condemn actions in ourselves that we certainly
should not acquiesce in were they committed by any other
section of the medical profession.

I am, yours faithfully,

C. Knox Shaw.

June 26th, 1893.

Digitized by ^ooQle

448

COBBESPONDENTS,

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, July 1,1868.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

%* We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts.
Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. N eatby.
London Homoeopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,
Bloomsbury. —Honrs of attendance: Medical, In-patients, 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.80, daily; Surgical, Mondays and Thursdays, 2.80 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.80 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.80 ; Dentist, Mondays, 2.80 ; Operations, Mondays, 2; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

Communications have been reoeived from Mr. Herring, Mr. Knox
Shaw, Mr. Dudly Wright, Mr. Cross, Dr. Dyce Brown, Dr. Mor-
risson (London) ; Dr. Molson (Wimbledon); Dr. Andrew Neatby
(Sutton, Surrey) ; Dr. Hughes (Brighton); Dr. Murray Moore
(Liverpool); Dr. Theophilus Ord (Bournemouth) ; Dr. Midgley
Cash (Torquay); Mrs. Potts (Sunderland) ; Messrs. Bckbicke k
Tafel (New York) ; Dr. M. M. Bose (Calcutta). _

~ BOOKS RECEIVED.

Rules and Reports of the Calcutta Homoeopathic Medical School.
—Hahnemann on Cholera . Homoeopathic League Tracts. London.—
Psychopathia Sexualis , a Medico-Legal Study . By Dr. A. Van Keafft
Ebmg. Translated by Chas. Gilbert Chaddock, M.D. Philadelphia and
London. F. A. Davis k Co. 1893 .—Diseases of the Nose and Throat .
A Text book for Students and Practitioners. By Horace F. Ivins, M.D.
With 129 illustrations, including 18 coloured plates. Philadelphia and
London : F. A. Davis. 1893 .—A Practical Treatise of Materia Medica
and Therapeutics. By John V. Shoemaker, M J). Second edition, 2 vols.
Philadelphia k London : F. A. Davis k Co. 1893 .—Transactions of the
Forty-Fifth Session of the American Institute of Homoeopathy. Edited
by Pemberton Dudley, MJ). Philadelphia. Sherman k Co. 1892.—
When may Syphilitics Marry? By Dr. Schuster. Translated by
C. Renner. London : F. J. Rebman. 1893 .—The Harrogate Mineral
Waters and Homoeopathy. By Arthur Roberts, M J). E. Gould k Son.
London. 1893 .—Newcastle Daily Journal. June 9th, 1893 .—Bath
Chronicle , June 1st, 1893 .—Sunderland Daily Echo. June 13th, 1893.
—The Homoeopathic World. London. June.— Therapist. London.
June .—Nurses Journal. London. May .—Medical Reprints. London.
June .—The Chemist and Druggist. London. June .—The Monthly
Magazine of Pharmacy. London. June .—The North American Journal
of Homoeopathy. New York. June .—The New York Medical Record.
May and June .—The New York Medical Times. June.— Childhood .
New York. June .—The Chironian. New York. May and June.—
The Hahnemannian Monthly. Philadelphia. Jane .—The Homoeopathic
Recorder. Philadelphia. Jane .—Medical Advance. Chicago. May
and June .—The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine* May .—The
Homoeopathic Physician. Philadelphia. June .—The Medical Argus.
Minneapolis. May .—The Homoeopathic Envoy . Lancaster, Pa. June.
—Pacific Coast Journal of Homoeopathy. San Diego, California. May.
—Annals of Electro-Homoeopathy. Geneva. June .—Revue Horn Geo¬
pat hique Beige. Brussels. April .—Rivista Omiopatica. Rome. March.
—Homoeopathisch Maandhlad. The Hague. June .—Lcipziger Pop .
Zeitschrift. fiir Horn. June.— Archiv. fur Homoeopathic. Dresden.
May.— Bull. Gin, de Therap. Paris. June. __

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pops, 19,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dyck Bbowk, 69, Seymour Street, Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr. Edwix A. Nkatbt, 161, Haverstock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould & Sow, 59,
Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by ^ooQle

»A%TSr PROGRESS OP HOMCEOPATHY.

449

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

-:o:-

THE PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS OP
HOMCEOPATHY.

The World’s Congress of Homoeopathic Physicians and
Surgeons has come and gone, and although the actual
work of the sections is not before us, and consequently
we cannot judge, except by report, of its quality, there
can be no doubt that such a gathering as mustered this
year at Chicago affords ground for pride to the homoeo¬
pathic body, primarily of the United States, and
secondarily of the whole world. Our brethren across
the Atlantic have realised this, and we gladly add our
congratulations to their own feelings of satisfaction.
Twenty years ago such a meeting, numbering some 1,200,
would have been impossible, and that it should have
taken place at all not 50 years after the foundation of
the American Institute is most encouraging. In 1876
it was estimated that the adherents of homoeopathy
numbered only some 5,000; in that year the first Inter¬
national Homoeopathic Congress was held. At the
present time that number is more than doubled—12,000
men now adopting Hahnemann’s rule of drug selection,
by far the larger portion of whom are Americans.

One of the most interesting of the opening addresses
was delivered by Dr. J. P. Dake, one of the editors of the
VoL 37, No. 8. 2—p

Digitized by AjOOQle

450

PROGRESS OF HOMEOPATHY.

Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy , on the past, present
and future of homoeopathy. With pardonable pride he
alludes to the prosperous condition of homoeopathic
institutions and to the medical journals, over twenty in
number, issued in the United States. Respecting the
relationship of homoeo-therapeutics “ to other principles
that have to do with the art of healing,** our own views
are well expressed by the lecturer, when he says that
with these “ homoeopathy has no antagonism whatever.*’

“ What surgery can and should do, or chemistry, or
mechanics, to remove useless or burdensome tissues
and products, or destructive parasites or poisons—and
what palliatives should do to save life or mitigate useless
suffering, we are agreed that they shall do. We are
prepared to hail with pleasure every discovery and
improvement in the ways and means of preventing or
removing disease. If we hesitate and take time to
consider, when the inventions of Brown-Sequard and
Koch are heralded over the world, it is for the want of
more affirmative proofs of their value.”

Concerning the future of homoeopathy, Dr. Dake
advances four propositions :—

First: “ The true field or sphere of the homoeopathic laic
will he more clearly defined ” The first care must be to
ascertain from what department of the healing art help
may be expected. ‘ ‘Diseases, according to the help required,
very readily fall into classes; and the homoeopathic class
is made up of all such as are similar to those producible
by pathogenic means, existing in organisms having the
integrity of tissue and re-active power necessary to re¬
covery, the essential cause having been removed or
having ceased to be operative in the case. For this class
the homoeopathic law is supreme and universal, while for
all others it has no application and no meaning.*’

Second: “ The basis and governing principle (of homoeo¬
pathy) will survive all changes that Tnay come , only ” they
will be “ more clearly defined and strongly established .*’
“ The whole order of man’s physical nature must be
reversed, so that re-action does not follow action and so
that the continuing or lasting functional condition is not
opposite to that directly induced by pathogenic agencies,
if a time ever comes when the homoeopathic method
fails. Terms may be changed and explanatory theories

Digitized by LjOOQle

PROGRESS OF HOMCEOPATHY. 451

may be different, but the essential relationship between
the disease and the remedy will ever be homoeopathic;
and I may add, that such must be the case, however the
curative impression is made, whether by a single drug
or a combination of drugs, by cold or heat, by electricity
or massage.’*

Third: “ The pathogenesy , or drug symptomatology ,
constituting the homoeopathic materia medica , tv ill be more
thoroughly obtained and carefully displayed Beginning
with Hahnemann’s first efforts to obtain a reliable
Materia Medica and coming down to the Cyclopcedia 9 the
address shows how the effort has been to purify and
increase our knowledge. That further separation of
chaff from wheat will have yet to take place most people
will agree with Dr. Dake. He specially presses
the importance of the formation of “a college of drug
provers,” in order to avoid the “ defects in provings
made here, there and everywhere, by busy, wearied
and worried physicians, exposed to the vicissi¬
tudes of weather and sick-room influences, with little if
any critical observation of their symptoms. Again and
again I have urged the profession to take hold of the
work and make our Materia Medica more in keeping with
our matchless therapeutic law.” .... “The great
University that shall lead the way by devoting its entire
medical department to original research in physiology and
pathogenic s, will cover its name with glory, and bring to
its regents and faculty and student experimenters the
gratitude of the world during all time.”

Fourthly: “ Some changes are to come in matters of
pharmacy and posology.” “The unmerited odium that
our peerless law of cure has been obliged to bear, these
many years, by reason of the unwillingness of some of
its adherents to employ the sensible doses with which
the law itself was demonstrated and with which its
most striking victories were won, will be wiped away.”

Very likely. But in avoiding Scylla let us not make
shipwreck on Charybdis. It is at once unscientific and
idle to shut our eyes to a set of facts because too much
has been made of them, or because they have
been unfairly interpreted in the past. That “ sensible
doses” do act beneficially and even better than less
material quantities the observations of many unprejudiced

2 F— 2

Digitized by A^OOQle

452

PROGRESS OF HOMOEOPATHY.

minds have demonstrated, both in the new school and
in the old. This is no reason, however, for denying the
fact, equally well established, that with some drugs and
in some cases doses quite “ insensible,” except to
hypersensitive diseased tissues, have obtained unexpected
if not unexampled triumphs. Let us retain an unbiassed
mind and accept well-proved facts as such, seeking not
to discredit them, but by patient study to elucidate and
explain them.

* * * * *

The question presents itself readily enough to the
mind—“ have the adherents of homoeopathy outside
America any reason to be encouraged in the present
position of the system ? ” We are, we believe, fully
justified in answering in the affirmative. At present we
cannot attempt to compete in numbers with the
Americans. But nowhere is homoeopathy dead. We
last month reported the good work of the Homoeopathic
Medical School of Calcutta. From Dr. Majumdar’s
account at the World’s Congress we learn there are two
dispensaries, one hospital, several journals, and a con¬
siderable number of practitioners in that city. We
recall with satisfaction the chair of homoeopathy at
Buda-Pesth, the Municipal Homoeopathic Dispensary at
Antwerp, and the Hospital recognised by the Government
in Paris. In this country, too, so conservative and so
slow, homoeopathy is more widely represented than ever
before; in all parts of England institutions, large or
small, where patients may be treated cito tuto et jucunde
are to be found, new ones springing up or old ones being
resuscitated; the national Society is more flourishing
than ever, and its new quarterly journal gives us again
three homoeopathic periodicals published in London;
finally the work done by the societies, hospitals, and
private members of the fraternity are more in quantity
and of better quality than before. We have enough to
encourage us, not indeed to allow us to rest on our oars,
but to stimulate us to fresh and persevering effort.

If all we have said be true of the conditions of homoeo¬
pathy in this country, how is it, it may be asked, that it
does not gain ground in the profession and with the
public more rapidly ? That it does gain ground what
we have said shows, for it must either advance or recede
—there can be no standing still.

Digitized by ^ooQle

progress op homeopathy.

453

Mr. A. J. Balfour, M.P.,* reminds us that while in a
fabric, an organism or a community much depends upon
the raw material to be worked upon, yet the results of
manufacture and the environment will largely influence
the kind and degree of development and progress of each.
Even supposing the quality of the stuff to be at its best,
we have no ground for supposing “that the possible
results of manufacture are insignificant.’* These
statements are as true of the growth of knowledge or the
spread of a particular truth as of a fabric or an
organism. And it is also true both of an organism and
of the maintained of a truth that they may possibly in
course of time be able “to provide themselves with
a much more commodious ‘ environment.* ’’ The
“ environment ** of homoeopathy has truly been
most adverse, and the opposition which prejudice
and official despotism have shown it, has, doubt¬
less, greatly hindered its progress. And yet these
very forces have, as if by natural selection, served to
demonstrate its “fitness,** seeing that it has “survived”
their destructive power. The time will come when the
homoeopathic organism will modify, if it is not already
perceptibly doing so, its environment. At present, how¬
ever, its chief efforts are directed to the improvement of
the organism itself, and rightly so. To abandon the
metaphor, we feel with our American brethren that for
the success of the individual practitioner, or of the
corporate representatives of the doctrine of similars,
the highest possible educational level must be
maintained. It is not enough now-a-days that
a man be a good “ symptom-coverer.** He
must bring to his aid skill in diagnosis, judg¬
ment in prognosis, and a large-minded knowledge
and use of the best therapeutic measures outside drug
administration. This is our aim in this country, and
a fresh evidence of this sentiment in America is given
by the proposal laid before the World’s Congress by
Dr. Talbot to extend the curriculum in the Homoeopathic
Colleges to five years. In this respect the new school in
America have shown themselves leaders in medical
progress. Another and final question presents itself:

* Essays and Addresses . Edinburgh, 1893. Second Edition.
(“ A Fragment on Progress.”)

Digitized by ^ooQle

454

CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1898.

“ What ideal have we in view as homoeopaths and
medical men?” Do we aim at establishing a rival
school, which shall remain always opposed to our
confreres of the so-called orthodox persuasion, which
shall, gradually increasing in strength, duplicate, as in
America, the medical institutions of the country, both
for charitable purposes and for teaching ? Or have we,
supposing it to be necessary that these stages be gone
through, have we a further aim before us ?—the ultimate
unity of the profession, when the teaching of Hahnemann,
perhaps narrowed in application, but rendered more
clear and definite and hence more successful in practice,
shall have become universally accepted ? Our attitude
towards our “environment” in the present, and our
ultimate attainment in the future, depend upon the goal
we set before us.

“ CHARACTERISTICS,” “ KEY-NOTES,” AND
“GUIDING SYMPTOMS,” TOGETHER WITH
CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS.

By A. C. Clifton, M.D.

0 Continued from page 884.)

Croton Tiglium. —The employment of this medicine, by
homoeopathic practitioners, has hitherto been mainly
directed towards meeting, on the one hand, a distinctive
type of enteritis, attended with a characteristic form of
diarrhoea, and on the other hand, a special kind of skin
disease. In each of these conditions, fairly well defined
pathologically, croton is of great value, and the indica¬
tions for its use in those relations are so manifest,
that nothing more need be said on that line.

By surveying and analysing the pathogenesis of croton ,
it will be seen that it has not only an intense, but a wide
action upon mucous membrane, causing both irritation
and inflammation, with the formation of vesicles and
mucous discharge; hence as a therapeutic agent, it may,
with great benefit, be used far more widely than for the
most part it has been.

Some of its characteristic symptoms in this relation,
beyond what have been generally recognized, I have

Digitized by ^ooQle

IMonthly Homoeopathic
Keview, Aug. 1, 1898. j

CHARACTERISTICS.

45 &

repeatedly verified clinically, and they now serve me as
“ key-notes ” for its use. Such for instance as burning,
pricking, smarting pains on the eyes and eyelids, the
nasal passages, the mouth, throat, and oesophagus,
generally accompanied with slight swelling of the mucous
membrane and with vesicular eruption, photophobia,
supra-orbital neuralgia, pustular eruption on the face,
enlargement of the tonsils, and constriction of the throat,
making deglutition painful and difficult. On the mucous
membrane of the stomach, croton has a similar action,
and here I have found it act very beneficially in
gastritis, attended with great tenderness in the
epigastric region, sinking sensation in that locality,
desire for food, but which, when taken, causes an
aggravation of pain, not relieved until the food is passed
downwards or is vomited; in these cases the tongue is
generally dry, red and sensitive. So, moreover, on
the intestinal mucous tract it has a similar action,
and I have found it occasionally very serviceable in
abdominal colic, with a sensation of emptiness and
coldness, borborygmus and spasmodic, watery diarrhoea.

In vesicular erysipelas, croton should be remembered,
and be compared with apis , cantharis and rhus.

Herpes zoster. —Here too I have sometimes found
croton afford much relief for the stinging smarting
pains of the eruption.

As a rule I have employed the 8x. dilution of this
medicine with great benefit.

Digitalis. —More than a very cursory notice of some
of the “ characteristics ” of this medicine, would be
beyond my power, in fact all that I attempt will be to
set forth several well marked pathogenetic symptoms of
the drug, and clinical observations by different men
which I have occasionally verified.

First the mental condition. Whatever the general
or particular morbid state of the individual has
been for whom I have prescribed digitalis , depression of
spirits, anxiety, fear and dulness of the senses, have
nearly always been very manifest, and bearing in mind
that this medicine is so often called for in certain
affections of the heart and liver, the mental depression
is what might be expected.

Digitized by AjOOQle

456

.CHARACTERISTICS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1893.

Vertigo , when walking and in the act of rising, is a
u characteristic ” of digitalis , although it is common to
many other medicines, but when attended with a
slow pulse, it is a good “ key-note ” Heaviness of the
head, with a sensation as if it would fall backwards,
confusion and fulness with noise in the head, and
often accompanied with vertigo and slow pulse, are
symptoms indicating digitalis , and may well be compared
with symptoms peculiar to tabacum.

On the eyes and the sense of vision, digitalis
has a very marked action. In some cases of amblyopia
and diplopia, attended with very slow contraction
or dilation of the pupils, I have found this remedy do
great good, more especially in patients who have largely
indulged in smoking the fragrant weed, tobacco; also
for the cardiac debility due to excessive smoking, digitalis
is valuable. While nux vomica or strychnia will often
meet the cerebral and eye affections produced by tobacco,
I have sometimes found digitalis more curative.

In cases of jaundice from induration and hypertrophy
of the liver, and with cardiac debility, a clean tongue,
sinking sensation at the epigastrium, slow pulse, white
stools, the urine loaded with bile pigment, together with
other symptoms previously mentioned, digitalis is a
grand remedy.

On the bladder, its action is not very pronounced,
but when the urine can be retained better in the prone
position, and there is frequent desire for micturition
when standing or walking, I have occasionally found
digitalis do good. Involuntary seminal emissions
during sleep, without erections of the penis. Digitalin
in the form of granules, of one millegramme, three
or four times a day, has been of marked benefit in many
cases.

I never use the tincture prepared from this plant,
but the succus digitalis , in doses of from two to five
drops.

Gamboge .—This medicine is but seldom prescribed
by homoeopathic practitioners, nor have I used it
to a great extent, but some thirty years or so ago,
Dr. Pearce, who was then a resident in Northampton,
occasionally prescribed it with manifest advantage in
cases attended with a particular form of diarrhoea, very

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beyiew, Aug. l t 1808.

CHARACTERISTICS.

457

similar to that which is set forth in the pathogenesis of
croton tiglmm , but in some respects dissimilar to that
form of diarrhoea. From even a cursory survey of its
pathogenesis, there is evidence that it has a very intense
and definite action, more especially upon the gastro¬
enteric mucous tract, shewing that it may be used more
frequently and with greater benefit than it has hitherto
been.

The few cases in which I have prescribed gamboge ,
using the 6x and 12x, dilution, have been characterised
by great irritability of the stomach, burning, smarting
and dryness of the tongue and throat, pain in stomach
after food, tenderness of the epigastrium, pain and
distention of the abdomen from flatulence, borborygmus,
and diarrhoea, with sudden and forcible ejection of
bilious stools, tenesmus after stool and burning at the
anus, relief of the abdominal pain after stool. In some
cases of this nature I have found gamboge efficacious
when other remedies have failed.

Argentum MetaUicum. —At this period of time, I go
back in the order of the alphabet, to notice this medi¬
cine, from the fact that I have very recently had the
confirmation of one symptom peculiar to the drug, viz.,
neuralgia over the left side of the head , occurring in parox¬
ysms daily , at irregular times , and without any apparent
came , the pain beginning and increasing gradually to a
pitch of violent intensity , and then quite suddenly ceasing ,
but leaving the scalp very tender to the touch. For
a patient who had been suffering in this way for
six weeks, I prescribed in April last, argentum , one tablet
of one grain of the 6x strength, three times a day, and
I have just learned that in the course of a week a cure
was effected. On two other occasions some years ago I
prescribed the same remedy for a similar affection, and
with satisfactory results—hence I think the symptoms
in question may fairly be deemed characteristic of the
medicine. Sulphuric acid is credited with curative
action for the same symptom, and I believe that I once
prescribed it with advantage when argentum had been
given without good result—but this I have no note of.

Northampton.

Digitized by AjOOQle

458 THE NEUROSES OP CHILDHOOD.

THE NEUROSES OP CHILDHOOD*

By Edwin A. Neatby, M.D.

Assistant Physician to the London Homoeopathic Hospital.

In thinking over how I might best respond to the wishes
of those who were the originators of efforts at regular
teaching in connection with this hospital, I decided to
abandon the subject at first announced, interesting and
fruitful from a student’s point of view though diseases
of the spinal cord always are. To meet the responsibility
placed upon me by the kindness of my colleagues, I felt
that I ought to choose a subject where medicinal treat¬
ment—and of course homoeo-therapeutics—play an im¬
portant and useful part. It seemed to me that both on this
ground and on that of one’s familiarity with the subject,
owing to their constant presence in our midst, “ The
Neuroses of Childhood” might profitably occupy our
attention for an hour to-night.

Under this heading I propose to ask your kind con¬
sideration of a few conditions most of which we are all
liable to be called upon every day to treat. They are

CONVULSIONS, CHOREA, TETANY and HEAD-NODDING.

And first as to

Convulsions.

I propose to make my discourse a therapeutical one
throughout. Any allusion to etiology or to symptoms and
course of diseases will only be made in order to facilitate
the study of the treatment. One of the first questions
which presents itself to a beginner in the study of
homoeopathy is “ can the new system do anything, with
its small doses for cases requiring prompt measures and
quick decided results ? ” Such measures and such results
are imperatively demanded in a case of convulsions.
What can we do ? Here more than in most cases we
should bear in mind that injunction of first importance,
tolle camam . Let us briefly ask “ what are these
causes?” Firstly, the predisposing causes may be
enumerated as, rickets, anaemia, weakening conditions
and hereditary tendencies. Next the exciting causes:—

* A Post-Graduate Lecture delivered at the London Homoeopathic
Hospital, May 5th, 1893.

Digitized by AjOOQle

the neuroses of childhood. 459

these are mainly reflex. In infancy and early childhood
reflex action is much more prompt and complete than in
later years, and, owing to the absence of the controlling
influence of the highest centres (then largely undeveloped)
the afferent impulse spreads readily to adjacent cells,
producing widespread and violent reflex response—in other
words, convulsions. The afferent or exciting impulses
vary indefinitely; a loud sound, a painful operation,
unsuitable food or foreign bodies in the intestinal canal,
or disease affecting the same part, teething, respiratory
troubles, high temperature due to the above named or
other causes, a poison in the blood, inflammatory
irritation of almost any peripheral part or tissue. Some
of these causes may gradually or at once permit of
removal by means with which you all are or may become
familiar.

Our enquiry deals rather with the treatment of fully
established eclampsia where the cause is either no longer
operating or not at once capable of removal. Baths,
aperients and sedatives, such as bromides, chloral and
chloroform, constitute the chief armamentarium of the old
school. Can we add to or improve upon these ? The baths,
in suitable cases we of course agree with, occasionally
also where we believe a mechanical irritant to exist in
the bowels we might also use a purgative. The
sedatives we should postpone until more specific
medicines had either failed or rendered their use un¬
necessary. The most frequent exciting cause of infantile
convulsions is dentition, attended or not with pyrexia
and the most frequently used remedy is belladonna .
The flushed face, elevated temperature, rapid bounding
pulse, dry, hot skin, excited, frightened manner, starting
or twitching of muscles preceding general convulsions
are exactly paralleled in belladonna poisoning; not less
so are the fully developed convulsions. In such cases
the rapidly soothing effect of frequently repeated doses
of belladonna , in almost any dilution is most gratifying,
and leaves nothing to be desired.

In other cases pyrexia is absent or is only developed
during the progress of the fits. This may happen in
intestinal irritation, especially if the child is reduced by
diarrhoea or ill-feeding. Here the well-known convulsive
action of hydrocyanic acid comes in. In small frequent
doses it rapidly acts “ substitutively” as Trousseau calls

Digitized by ^ooQle

460 THE NEUROSES OF CHILDHOOD.

it, neutralising the fits by occupying their own area with
a similar but different influence.

If gastro-intestinal irritation—not mechanical but
inflammatory—exists, and painful tonic and clonic
spasms are wearing out the child, copper , either the
triturated metal or the acetate, will give prompt and last¬
ing relief. For fits associated with whooping cough too
this remedy is without equal.

Another remedy for convulsions, especially if the cause
of them is not apparent, is cicuta 9 or its alkaloid cicutine,
which I prefer. For the description of a case of
poisoning by this substance I refer you to a report by
Dr. Stonham in the Monthly Homoeopathic Review , and
I cannot do better than read to you, in illustration of
its action, a cure published by the same writer (see
pages 225-7, April, 1898).

Of the value and homoeopathicity of cina in cases of
convulsions there is abundant testimony. It is usually
thought of where worms are present, and although the
medical profession nowadays attaches less importance to
the presence of these parasites than it formerly did and
than the laity now attaches to them, there should be
little doubt that either their presence or the existence of
a condition favouring their growth, does act prejudicially
on the health, and may even excite convulsions.
Dr. Hughes gives the following statement of the effects
of the drug, which will serve as indications for our
administration of it. “There are the dilated pupils,
with dimness of the sight and twitching of the eye-lids,
the ravenous appetite, the pinchings in the abdomen, the
itching at the nose and anus, the frequent micturition,
the spasmodic cough with vomiting, the restless sleep,
the fever and the twitchings in various parts of the
body.”

Gehemium is a remedy which is extremely useful in
the condition of semi-stupor which frequently follows
an attack of convulsions. The patient cries when
roused, as if in pain, soon relapses into drowsiness,
avoids the light and keeps its head pressed against its
mother, readily starts at a slight noise or movement.
There are either cramps or twitchings of the limbs.

For the convulsions due to pneumonia or the exan¬
themata, we shall do more good by taking into consider-

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE NEUROSES of childhood. 461

ation the whole condition, and not treating the
convulsions only, though it must be remembered that
even here belladonna may be of great use. The same is
true of convulsions due to meningitis, though if the
disease be of the tuberculous variety, we may not delude
ourselves with ungrounded hopes.

Chorea.

It is unnecessary for me to detain you upon the
varieties, symptoms, course and prognosis of chorea. To
facilitate the study from a therapeutic point of view, I
shall ask you to divide up cases of the St. Vitus* dance
into the following classes.

1. The first I shall call simple cases. The purposeless
movements common to all classes are, of course, present.
They are not peculiar either in their severity or in their
localization, being of moderate degree and more or less
general in distribution.

2 and 8. The second and third classes own either
fright or traumatism as an exciting cause.

4. The fourth may be called rheumatic from their
more or less definite association with that disorder.

5. The fifth may be styled mental cases on account of
the presence of some peculiarity, more or less pronounced
of the state of the mind. The patient may be
“ hysterical,** or may be suffering with mental hebetude
or even with insanity, maniacal or idiotic.

Now I readily grant that this classification is rough
and imperfect and that the different classes may either
overlap or merge into one another. Nevertheless, I
believe that imperfect as it is, it will materially help us
in making suggestions as to the treatment, unless
indeed I am to content myself with Hahnemann’s
laconic, but comprehensive advice “ study the materia
medica.” It is so easy and so brief a command, and would
refer equally well to the drug treatment of any and every
disease, that it would render, were nothing more required,
a course of post-graduate lectures such as I bring to a
close to-night entirely unnecessary. What we wish to
know, if I am not mistaken, is, “ what has the study of the
materia medica already yielded, which will be of practical
value to us in the treatment of a given disease ? ’* We
require the results of experience, even at the risk of a
certain amount of empiricism.

Digitized by

Google

462 THE NEUROSES OF CHILDHOOD.

Before entering upon the discussion of the drugs
commonly used in chorea, let me remind you that up to
the present, the pathology of this disorder is involved in
obscurity. English authorities rejecting the spinal
theory, mostly regard it as of cerebral origin, due to a
lesion either of the corpora striata or of the motor area
of the cortex—a “ discharging lesion.” This uncertainty
makes it impracticable to select medicinal remedies on a
pathological basis, and affords an excellent illustration
of the applicability of the rule of similars to cases the
nature of which is still imperfectly understood.

Let us now turn to the drugs themselves.

Our first division we termed simple cases. To these
we confidently oppose arsenic , and in this, as you know,
we are at one with empirical medicine. If there are
loss of appetite and flesh, coldness or feeble circulation,
and vomiting with clean tongue and antenna, arsenic will
be additionally indicated. With the use and the utility of
this drug you are all familiar. It only remains for us
to see if there are any grounds for claiming this practice as
homoeopathic. It should be remembered that we are
unacquainted with any drug which produces an illness
entirely similar in character, distribution and course to
chorea. Indeed as no two cases of chorea resemble
each other in all these points, were such a similarity
necessary, we should require a different drug for
almost every case of chorea. It is sufficient that the
drug be working on the same tracts or lines so to speak,
and in a manner similar if not precisely alike. The
chorea producing agent “ lowers and disturbs ” some
parts of the nervous system—so does arsenic. They
both alike produce nervousness, fidgetting and restless¬
ness, they both produce muscular movements of more or
less irregular type and amounting sometimes (often in
the case of chorea, seldom in the case of arsenic) to clonic
spasms. Lessened muscular power also is produced
by both. Acting in the same area, these two forces
neutralise each other when opposed. Experience has
shown that neither the attenuated doses of some of the
followers of Hahnemann, nor the substantial doses of
other practitioners are necessary to ensure neutralisation.
In cases of long standing of almost any variety, ars. or
ars. iod. forms a valuable intercurrent.

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE neuroses op childhood. 463

The second and third classes, where fright or injury are
clearly marked, call respectively for aconite , ignatia ,
argent, nit. or calcarea carbonica and hypericum or arnica.
The aconite is suitable only for immediate use; ignatia
is required also in recent cases if the movements are
pronounced and active, if the changeable or sighing and
weeping disposition with love of solitude are present,
and especially if the symptoms are left-sided. The
calcarea patient is weary and phlegmatic. The muscular
movements have a tendency to be one-sided, and
calcarea affords an example of the symptoms being
present on opposite sides in the upper and lower
extremities. Here chiefly the left upper and right
lower limbs present muscular movements. With respect
to this symptom clinically, I am bound to confess that
in my experience this peculiar grouping is quite excep¬
tional. Still with a malady so varied and multiform as
chorea, in its manifestations, it is impossible to state
that such opposite-sided involvement may not occur.
When present, calcarea , if the condition of the patient
corresponded in other respects, would be additionally
indicated.

Weariness and exhaustion, associated with melancholia,
dislike for solitude, flatulent dyspepsia, with aggravation
of the whole condition after eating, call for argent, nit.
In the pathogenesis of this drug, chorea-like movements
are included, and its power to produce convulsive move¬
ments is well-known.

The relationship of hypericum to cases of chorea
induced by injury, is mainly an empirical one. That of
arnica is strictly homoeopathic. Muscular movements,
feeling of fatigue, aching or bruised sensation, common
in severe cases of chorea, are all represented in the arnica
pathogenesy.

The fourth form—the rheumatic variety—consisting
of by far the largest number of cases, may be related to
that condition either as a sequel of a rheumatic attack of
more or less severe character, or as presenting joint or
muscle pains at the same time as the movements of the
limbs. In either case one leading medicine is at our dis¬
posal ; I refer to actcea raeemosa otherwise called cimici-
Juga. As a remedy it needs no commendation from me,
and it is only necessary that I should point out its homceo-

Digitized by ^ooQle

464 THE NEUROSES OF CHILDHOOD.

pathicity to the condition before us. The power of the
drug to irritate the nervous and muscular systems, and to
cause muscular spasms and tremor, at once brings it into
relationship more or less accurate with chorea. The
drawing, aching, bruised or rheumatoid pain in upper or
lower extremities, in back and in the eyeballs, palpitation,
excited cardiac action, or the presence of a murmur—such
pronounced features in the provings and poisonings with
this drug furnish an admirable picture of the rheumatic
element. To these we must add the restlessness and
nervousness on the one hand and the dejection and
muscular weakness on the other, and its applicability to
a large class of cases becomes evident. Not infrequently
the drug symptoms are more marked on the left side.
Left-sided hemichorea will thus be a condition for which
we should consider the suitability of actcea. Actcea
corresponds both with a depressed anxious mental state,
and with one in which irritability is prominent. In severe
cases mild delirium with illusions may be present, i.e. 9
both in the natural disease and the drug. Finally, the
interference with articulation may be matched in this
drug. That it should be widely used on the principle
of similars is therefore in nowise surprising.

Fifth. The cases I have styled mental cases, where
disturbances of mind are conspicuous may, as already
hinted, require actcea ; restlessness, nervousness, fear of
death, delirium suggestive of delirium tremens, apprehen¬
siveness with sighing, alternation of depression of spirits
with exhilaration would indicate that drug. For hysterical
symptoms ignatia is specially and quickly helpful. For
cases more pronouncedly mental, with much delirium,
amounting even to a maniacal condition in addition to
belladonna and hyoscyamus , I wish to commende specially
stramonium-. The excitability and irritability amounting
even to violence are very great; fear and suspicion are
conspicuous, the nights are much disturbed, food is
refused and speedy exhaustion from loss of nerve and
physical force ensue. The movements in this case also
may occur crosswise, one leg and the opposite arm
being affected while the rest of the body is comparatively
unaffected.

For cases where mental heaviness, difficult or slow
comprehension, forgetfulness of messages, dulness,
general backwardness, bashfulness, difficult or thick

Digitized by ^ooQle

Ss^f^TisSa^ 0 THE NEUROSES OF CHILDHOOD. 465

articulation—where these form the chief symptoms and
the movements are slight and confined perhaps to the
hands and face, I have learned to have much confidence
in calc, phosph. The patients are pale, thin, badly-
nourished children, such as we commonly meet in the
out-patient departments of our hospitals.

You will expect to hear something of agaricus, which
perhaps deserved mention earlier. Its pathogenesy
presents—as far as the muscular movements are con¬
cerned—one of the most perfect pictures of chorea we
have in any drug. In idiopathic cases where the
movements are well marked, where no other features
are prominent, we may use agaricus. Though I have
often used this drug, I have not met with any very
convincing results, and I try to place my case under one
of the afore-named classes or seek for symptoms other
than the movements as guides. If I am unable to do
either of these agaricus comes in usefully.

In contrast to agaricus , which I consider an over¬
lauded remedy, allow me to draw attention to belladonna ,
of which I entertain a high opinion in this disease. It
is only necessary to observe a few cases of bell, or atropine
poisoning to be struck with the resemblance some of
their features have to chorea. Flushing of face, full
headache, and restless, dreamy, wakeful sleep call for
this remedy. It may occasionally be advantageous to
arrest the more specific treatment of the movements,
and to pay attention to the digestion, which is apt to be
deranged, here nux v. or sulphur may be beneficial.

Another group of remedies probably deserve attention
and certainly require to be mentioned here, for the sake
of completeness, although I cannot commend them to
you from personal experience. I allude to the poisons
of several of the spiders, specially the Mygales and the
Tarantulas. Analogous in their origin and effects to the
serpent poisons, they have an effect all their own on the
nervous system, which persists when the local conditions
due to the bite have passed off. Excitability, muscular
twitchings, hands constantly in motion, aggravation from
lively music, and from observation, inability to sleep,
these are symptoms produced by the spider poisons and
likely to be relieved by the same agents. These poisons
will probably repay study, as will also the last medicine
I shall mention, viz., cuprum , useful especially with

Vol. 37, No. 8. 2—a

Digitized by ^ooQle

466 THE NEUROSES OF CHILDHOOD.

spasmodic movements and anaemia. This drug is being
used in the old school.

Though in considering the management of chorea I
have hitherto alluded only to the medicinal treatment,
it is not because we of the homoeopathic school consider
drugs as the only important—or even the most im¬
portant—agents to be used. When carefully selected their
usefulness is unquestionable. General hygienic measures
are common ground to all careful practitioners of medi¬
cine, and I only refer to them to remind you that
while placing more confidence in drugs than do our old
school friends, we value very highly general measures.
Of these I will only mention complete rest at first, com¬
bined with a very nourishing but easily digested diet.
At a later stage efforts of will, regulated gymnastics,
rhythmical movements, especially when accompanied by
music, are of the highest importance. Massage also is
useful.

Chorea is a disease of depression ; everything must be
done to lessen and repair tissue waste. Sleep must be
obtained by some means, and high feeding is one of the
most important means for this purpose.

In anaemic cases we should give iron as a tissue-food,
as do all schools. This in no way prevents or interferes
with medicinal treatment.

One important point I may mention before leaving
the subject—that sedatives and narcotics are but seldom
needed during the treatment of chorea on homoeopathic
principles. In one case only of those I have already
referred to as treated in this hospital did I find that a
sedative had been used. I must here express my
indebtedness to my colleagues for very kindly allowing
me to consult their case-books.

Lest it should be said that the many drugs I have
mentioned serve to confuse rather than to give a
practical idea of the most successful treatment of chorea
I will briefly state my own experience and that of others.
I should rank together actcea and belladonna as the two
most useful medicines; after these I should put together
arsenic and copper. Finally, though I have no experience
with those agents, I should speak very favourably of
the spider poisons. In this hospital the favourite
medicines—which rank far above all the others—are

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE neuroses of childhood, 467

arsenic and actaa . Of sixty prescriptions which I
examined sixteen were of acta a and seventeen of arsenic ,
More recently mygale and tarantula has been occasionally
given with decidedly good results.

I need scarcely remind you that there is really no
question of rival remedies for chorea but of what remedy
is most suitable for any given case. This can only be
determined by the symptoms present, especially by those
relating for example to the mental state or the digestion,
&c., rather that by the movements present. Every drug
useful in chorea should show a power of disturbing the
balance of the motor centres to a greater or less extent.
Hence it is to symptoms or signs outside strictly choreic
manifestations that we must look as guides in the
selection of our remedies.

Tetany.

Arising as it does from a variety of causes this condition
is in many ways analogous to convulsions, and many of
the remarks regarding them are true of tetany. The
spasms are, however, tonic rather than clonic. So
obvious is the relation of strychnine to this condition that
it seems superfluous to dwell upon it. Where anything
is required beyond the constitutional measures used for
combatting the disease at the bottom of this state,
strychnine will do all that is required. Where exposure
to cold has been the exciting cause rapid resolution will
be brought about by the use of aconite .

Head-nodding.

This curious and unexplained neurosis, on which I
wrote a paper in the 1st volume of the London Homoeo¬
pathic Hospital Reports (1891) has, unfortunately, not
proved very amenable to treatment hitherto. In addition
to the suggestions made in that paper, I draw attention
to agaricus as likely to be useful for the shaking variety
(movement of dissent).

Respecting the treatment of this interesting condition
I cannot do better than quote my remarks in the paper
alluded to. Since that was written there is little or
nothing to add. “ The treatment hitherto pursued has
been either by means of general sedatives or by tonics
so-called. Of the first, bromide of potassium has appeared

2 G—2

Digitized by AjOOQle

468 THE NEUROSES OF CHILDHOOD.

to be of use, and in my own patient and that of Mr. Knox
Shaw, belladonna was given, with possible benefit. The
belladonna may have a more specific relationship with the
condition than that of a general sedative. Allen’s Hand¬
book gives 4 Head thrown hither and thither even to
shaking, then again convulsive bending forward of head
and trunk’ (Salaam convulsion?) According to the
same authority the spasmodic eye symptoms are limited
to 4 squinting ’ and 4 spasms.’ Other general anti-spas¬
modic remedies would readily suggest themselves—
ignatia , strychnia , etc.

44 In connection with teething, chamomiUa , our sheet
anchor, may probably be of service. Besides its general
convulsive action, the symptoms, 'wagging backwards
and forwards ’ of head, points to its employment.

“The symptoms of both head and eye are perhaps
better portrayed in the pathogenesy of agaricus than of
any other drug. 4 Swaying back and forth ’ of head ;
4 convulsions of muscles of head and neck ’ (Allen). No
matter whether they are fixed upon an object or not,
4 the two eyeballs revolved to the right and left with a
velocity of half a second, and this continued all day.’
4 Beads with difficulty, type seems to move.’ 4 Tremb¬
ling and jerking of eyelids ’ (Hering). In several of the
cases of poisoning recor ed in the Cyclopcedia of Drug
Pathogenesy , amongst the convulsive symptoms, the
eyeballs are said to have 4 rolled * about. A condition
apparently resembling 4 hippus ’ (produced by muscarin)
is described under the term 4 accommodation convulsions.’
Although in none of these cases an exact imitation of
nystagmus is produced, yet it is evident that considerable
disturbances to the ocular motor centres took place.
Two cases of nystagmus are recorded in the January
number (1891) of the Jnl . of Ophthalmol . Otol. and
Laryngol.y in which the continued use of tincture of
agaricus appeared to act curatively. Under cicuta 4 head
jerking ’ and 4 objects seen to move from side to side ’
and 4 in a circle.’

44 Bachitis is not frequently associated with 4 head
nodding and nystagmus,* but such association to be
present would suggest silica , and the usefulness of that
drug in some excitable conditions of the nervous
system would confirm the choice.”

Digitized by U^ooQle

INDUCTION OP THE MENOPAUSE. 469

ON THE PREMATURE INDUCTION OP THE
MENOPAUSE IN CERTAIN CASES OP
CHRONIC INVALIDISM.

A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE REMEDIAL VALUES.

By Geoboe Bcbford, M.B.

Physician to the Gynaecological Department, London Homoeopathic

Hospital.

A definite percentage of women collapse under the stress
of the functions of the reproductive life . A well-marked
cycle of symptoms is produced , determining a condition
of chronic invalidism which in its severer forms is
arrested only by the advent of the menopause.

Of late years I have accumulated many observations
on an increasingly frequent symptom-series, whose
initiation is invariably after puberty, and whose final
arrest is effected only by the cessation of the repro¬
ductive life.

Varying time of appearance . — This hitherto un¬
described group of phenomena may commence 60 soon as
the incubus of puberty is laid upon an organism with
limited capacity for development. Or by zealous watch¬
fulness the earlier years of puberty may be skilfully
directed, only for the bodily vigour to succumb at a
later date, often without any reason more potent than
moderate mental effort. Or a time of anxiety may
culminate in the same result at any period of repro¬
ductive life, after bodily nutrition has been neglected
and mental stress increased.

Varying grades of severity .—Besides variation in
the time of appearance, the grade of severity attained
varies as the evolution of the symptom-series is checked
or uncontrolled. In the early stages a clear conception
of the drift and tendency of the symptoms will cause
such a re-modelling of routine and environment that
much benefit is to be expected. If time has lapsed
and the condition has made headway, remedial
measures will still be more or less effective—at least,
for a time; but the tendency for symptoms once well
established to recur is the most distressing feature of
this disease. When, however, the diseased condition

Digitized by ^ooQle

470 INDUCTION OF THE MENOPAUSE.

has become well developed, nothing short of the com¬
plete cessation of the functions of the reproductive
life, i.e the induction of the menopause, can bring
either notable relief or permanent cure. And in an
unfortunate remnant, who show the lesion in its most
developed and protracted form, the menopause is
indefinitely delayed, and even surgical measures are
inoperative to hasten its advent. This type of case is
the bane of physician and surgeon alike; and “ not
poppy, nor mandragora, nor all the drowsy syrups of
the East ” are potent to bring more than halting
palliation or temporary ease to the wearied sufferer.

Histoi'y of development of the morbid phenomena .—
What are the distinguishing features of this fateful
condition ? What are the natural history and clinical
course by which the stream of morbid tendency can be
diagnosed ?

Primus inter pares is a form of defective circulation,
so marked and so constant that its presence always
connotes some other of its morbid congeners. The
hands are attenuated, damp and chill, the nails bluish,
the skin an unhealthy dusky red. The feet and ankles
and knees are stonily cold; prolonged massage will
induce a temporary thrill of warmth, but artificial heat
usually brings no sense of grateful glow. The veins are
turgid, the arterial pulse small and of low tension. A
trivial emotion, an unexpected visit will evoke a sudden
clammy perspiration over the whole body, and any
exertion of an unusual or protracted kind induces a
distressing sense of faintness, or of acute exhaustion.

More important than defective vigour in circulation
is a defective quality of the circulating fluid itself, and
the whole congeries of symptoms is largely conditioned by
the anaemic and toxaemic condition of the nutritive
fluids of the body.

Very marked is the woeful disorganisation of
the nervous system, and the brunt of the attack is
borne by the various ganglia of the sympathetic. At
a period anterior to puberty the nervous forces are fairly
equal to the maintenance of the vegetative functions.
So soon as the reproductive life commences the divided
allegiance of the vital forces ebbs, dwindles, and finally
collapses under both burdens. A halting, irregular and

Digitized by ^ooQle

IS^jSS^uvaS^ INDUCTION OF THE MENOPAUSE. 471

painful period, sufficiently attests the difficulty of the
organism in meeting the strain imperiously thrust upon
it. A persistent pain in either flank is developed, to
which in time is superadded a backache, and these pains
persisting during the interval are markedly accentuated
during the period.

As time wears on the spinal pain creeps up, involving
the whole column, and curiously the parts of maximum
intensity are at the level of the last dorsal and first
lumbar, and over the seventh cervical vertebra. Pain in
the latter area is usually associated with an advanced
case, and sometimes it is so marked as to prevent the
patient reclining in a low chair or high-backed sofa.

This condition of “ spinal neurasthenia ” is but the
prelude to a protean series of secondary symptoms, which
undergo an aggravation to an intolerable degree at each
menstrual crisis. Headaches, occipital and vertical, are
of routine daily occurrence. Asthenopia, with contingent
ocular defects, prohibits any attempt at reading or fine
work. All the horrors of confirmed atonic dyspepsia
add themselves to the pre-existing trouble. A loss of
appetite, rising to a positive repugnance to food, flatulent
spasms, or sickness, or prolonged discomfort and pain
attend each meal. Constipation invariably accompanies
the dyspepsia, and the pelvic tenderness being aggravated
by intestinal movement, the tendency to postpone a
frequently painful effort increases the atony of gut.

As if to intensify the tedium of a sedentary life, a
persistent insomnia accentuates the chronic invalidism
which now settles upon the patient as a cloud. Unable
to endure the vibration of exercise, yet consumed by the
monotony of indoor confinement, the unhappy patient
struggles on from month to month, any temporary im¬
provement being remorselessly swept away by a menstrual
crisis more acute than its immediate predecessors.

Underlying changes in Ganglionic Nutrition .—In all
this we see chronic changes in the sympathetic writ large;
and as the precursor of such chronic changes in sympa¬
thetic ganglia we have of late been taught to infer some
defect in the nutritive pabulum with which the proto¬
plasm of the nerve cells is charged. The most erudite
transcendental pathology of recent years dispenses with
the cumbrous mechanism of reflexes, or overflow, or
radiation of nerve impulses, in explaining chronic

Digitized by A^OOQle

472 INDUCTION OP THE MENOPAUSE.

persisting conditions of disease. It attributes their
permanence to deviations from the normal in the
nutritive pabulum with which bodily tissues are
supplied; and however the defective elaboration may
primarily be induced, if not soon rectified the protean
results are manifest in every nerve cell in every nerve
ganglion in the body. A state of nutritive fluid, now
semi-poisonous from arrested metabolism, and now
semi-starved from defective elaboration, alternately
irritates and famishes the nerve centres that control
assimilation. Thus, with a vitiated pabulum on the one
hand, and an unhealthy nervous control on the other,
each and all of the organs and tissues of the body
participate in the general deterioration until just such a
series of symptoms is produced as is seen in an ag¬
gravated case of the condition we have described.

A Tropho-neurosis the cause of the Protean Symptoms .—
The disease we are dealing with, then, is a Tropho¬
neurosis ; and its initiation is due to the diversion of
energies to the maintenance of the reproductive life,
when the whole of such energies is required at the com¬
mencement of puberty, or at some later period of stress,
for the maintenance of the routine vegetative functions
of the body. A girl of limited bodily vigour is trained
at a high school, with its accessories of prolonged
mental tension and limited open air life, when nature
remorselessly thrusts the further burden of puberty
upon her. In a favoured few cases the recurrence of
the period is suspended ; the cycle of events in the organs
of reproduction is arrested, and the bodily energies are
still free to pursue for the present their former wont.
Hard is the fate of those—and they are the larger moiety
—in whom an irritable weakness of nerves prevents the
salutary postponement of reproductive changes! We
have the sad spectacle of vital forces used up in quicker
ratio than their recuperation; and ere long exhausted
nature demands the slackening of the stress of daily
effort hitherto continuously made. If now a correct
view of the tout ensemble be taken, the condition is
remediable; but if the situation be not grasped, and
unwise directions be given, the condition goes from bad
to worse until a climax is ultimately reached when art
is powerless to effect a restitutio in integrum .

(To be continued.)

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1 , 1898.

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

473

THE HEREDITY OF DISEASE, AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS EXTINCTION.

By J. Murray Moore, M.D., M.R.C.S.

0 Continued from p. 897.)

8. Morphinism or the morphia habit, a very modern,
insidious and fatal disease, is in some cases hereditary. A
child may inherit from either parent a nervous system
of unusual instability, and it is upon this favouring soil
that morbid cravings, like ill weeds, may be planted and
grow. Mental ability of a high order may co-exist with
diseased tastes for drugs of even nauseous taste and
odour. In the present day “ chloralism ” and
“ cocainism ” are not rarely known to physicians,
especially in the United States. In his efforts to obtain
sleep, a drunkard flies to chloral, and becomes so dependent
upon its hypnotic power, as to like it and eventually
crave for it. Thus also with the tender, delicate woman
who is “ a martyr to neuralgia ” and “ finds salvation ”
in cocaine. More and more often are its anaesthetic
effects sought—and as Shakespeare says “this way
madness lies.” We ought to inquire into the family
peculiarities of any patient before morphia , cocaine or
chloral is ordered—a contingency which is rare indeed in
homoeopathic practice. Immediate relief from pain is
the urgent cry of sufferers, but we must be firm enough
to our therapeutic principles to insist upon carrying out
the “ more excellent way ” of removing the cause of pain
by the simile or simUlimum. Dr. Dornberger in the Wochen -
schrift (Munich) for July 7th, 1891, reports a curious
case of a neurotic girl of 11 years old, whose mother was
extremely nervous, and addicted to the morphia-injection
habit. At the age of two the child had been greatly terri¬
fied by a carriage accident, and had been affected with
brain fever. After this illness, her disposition became
excitable and violent, and she became subject to visual
hallucination and sleeplessness. Most unwisely and
recklessly her parents commenced! injecting morphia
at night, and pushed it to such an extent that
six or seven hypodermic injections were given in
a day. Yet such was the “ tolerance ” inherited
from the mother’s chronic morphinism that no real

Digitized by

Google

474

HEREDITY OE DISEASE.

Hanthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1803.

sedative effect was produced. When placed under Dr.
Dornberger’s charge, she was “ emaciated, weak and
languid, excitable, nervous and vicious, her memory
and power of learning were impaired, the pupils were
contracted and sluggish.” After three months of treat¬
ment the symptoms of morphinism subsided, but
headaches, almost daily, remained. After a few months
the fanatical mother recommenced the hypodermic in¬
jections to relieve these pains, and the child relapsed
into a hopeless morphinomaniac . It is time, it seems to
me, that the sale of hypodermic syringes and solutions
to the public should be stopped, except where positively
prescribed by a medical man. I suppose this is
utopian, but we can each do something towards the
diminution of the evil by resolutely refusing to prescribe
any of the above three anodynes, unless in a case of
organic or malignant disease in the last stage when all
our homoeopathic remedies fail to relieve. Again, as in
the case of alcoholism in females, I think that we have
perhaps the best resource in treatment by suggestion,
when in the hypnotic state, of a patient who has become
morally weakened by the long and habitual use of any
of these three drugs. Although there are therapeutic
antidotes to all three poisons, and the process of rapid
elimination can by a skilful physician be effected, once the
patient is really under his control and guidance, yet the
will-power is for a long time so diminished that a speedy
relapse will follow (especially in females, and in those
whose family history reveals insane tendencies) as soon
as the individual has regained his or her usual diet and
mode of life. Now I deprecate the giving up of the will to
the operator in every case where there is any other cure for
a disease or ailment. But the perverted will-power of the
victim to opiwm y chloral or cocaine or other brain-destroying
poison, is so depraved from its normal standard, that to
subject it voluntarily to the authority of an honest,
upright, pure-minded hypnotist, for the express and sole
purpose of cure, is to restore it to some, at least, of its
pristine usefulness. Many well-attested facts, recently
recorded, prove that hypnotic treatment, carried out for
a considerable period, has relieved the morbid cravings
of chronic alcoholism and of morphinomania, and has
re-established self-control in the patient, when it had
seemed impossible by any other means. But the will of

Digitized by ^ooQle

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

475

the operator must be strongly fixed upon the one object
of curing the patient, without producing any further
stage of hypnotism (such as entire unconsciousness or
somnambulism) than is absolutely necessary. And this
treatment should follow, not precede, the remedial course
of medicines, diet and exercise. The temptation so
common in this over-driven, over-crammed, competitive,
nervous generation, to the excessive use of afiodynes
and hypnotics, may thus be greatly diminished, and the
next generation saved from this baneful inheritance.

4. Hereditary criminality and abnormal sexuality may
be considered together. It is a sad fact that the
perverted sexual craving which induces masturbation
is often inherited, and has been exhibited by boys at
even so early an age as five, according to Dr. Bernheim.
Dr. Bernheim cured this patient at the age of eight by
hypnotic suggestion. Another boy who had inherited
this tendency (and not acquired it by example) Dr.
Bernheim failed to cure by the same method. Doubtless
the inherited cause is as often physical—a too long
prepuce generally—as moral. A more prevalent custom
of early circumcision than prevails among nations who
are not Jews, would save many boys from acquiring this
bad habit, which in later life leads to insanity. Let
parents who fear any transmission of this vice to their
offspring, observe chastity and self-respect in thought,
word and reading during their married life, and train their
sons and daughters when they are approaching puberty
into this virtue, while delicately conveying to them the
necessary physiological knowledge now generally withheld,
from a mistaken prudery. Public boarding schools are not
an unmixed blessing, and the symptoms of pallor, sallow¬
ness, lassitude, headaches, and constipation with restless¬
ness during sleep in a boy at school should awake our
inquiry and be appropriately treated. The mind must
be occupied fully with worthy studies and reading, while
the body is exercised in pure bracing air. It must be
remembered that in a large family there are usually one
or two children born with deficient mentality or morality,
or perhaps with both below the standard. These need
separate study on the part of both parent and teacher,
and carefully adapted education. In such cases cunning
is the first symptom of moral depravity shown and
falsehood or theft the next. Punishment is necessary,

Digitized by

Google

476

HEREDITY OF DISEASE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1883.

but must be accompanied by reasoning, by the
explanation of the moral law, and by appeal to the
natural love of the child for its parents. Could all
parents be persuaded thus to act, in addition to setting a
good example themselves, we should soon hear no more
of that shame of our civilized nations “the criminal
classes/’ The principal object of education should be, first
to cultivate the morals of each individual of the nation,
secondly his physical vigour, thirdly his intellect. And
the nation is victorious or is vanquished in the struggle
for natural existence, just as its citizens have enriched or
have impoverished their treasure of hereditary morality.
We have a notable instance of this in the dominant
position of the Anglo-Saxon race. But, alas! we have
ever before us the problem of the habitual and occasional
criminal. As a certain old book says “ Sin is lawlessness ”
(1 John III, 4, B.V.), and in spite of all our reforming
agencies we have children born in our large cities trained
to lawlessness from the earliest dawn of their
intelligence. Prof. Cesare Lembroso has ably sketched
for us the “criminal type” in his book “ UAnthro -
pohgie CrimineUe” I condense his principal statements.
The physical organisation of the habitual criminal shows
him to belong to a degraded type of humanity, the
product of hereditary degeneration. The stature is low;
left-handedness is commoner than in honest men; in
some cases the left hand being also longer than the
right, and the stride of the left leg being greater. The
head is small, the ears placed low down, and showing
irregularities in shape; teeth irregular, and lower jaw
larger than usual. The sensibility to pain and the
acuteness of taste and smell is below the normal.
Asymmetry of the thorax, and deficiency in the number
of the vertebra have been noticed. The brain on
post-mortem examination, weighs less than the average,
The cerebellum is larger in proportion to the cerebrum
than in the normal type. Professor Benedikt of Vienna,
an eminent criminal anthropologist, finds various
anomalies of the cerebral convolutions in the brains of
criminals. Among other peculiarities in the brain of
Hugo Schenk, a notorious murderer of women (described
in highly technical language by the learned savant)
were: “ the separation of the gyrus hippocampi from
the lingual lobe by a fissure, instead of conjunction

Digitized by ^ooQle

HEREDITY op disease.

477

by a wide bridge. This is abnormal, and points
to a great disturbance in the balance of the constructive
force. There is arrested development of the frontal lobe
of the left hemisphere, with high development of the
two central gyri. The parietal lobe is markedly hypo¬
plastic, in contrast to the bulky development of the
occipital lobe and adjacent parts of the second temporal
gyrus. This unequal development of the various brain
segments indicates defective cerebral equilibrium. ,, Bear¬
ing in mind the abnormal sexuality of this murderer,
and connecting it with the brain segments showing a
preponderance of growth, Professor Benedikt concludes
that “the most important seat of the cortical sexual
instinct is in the left occipito-temporal lobe . The cranium
was also asymmetrical, the occipital bone bulged down¬
wards and the cranial sutures were almost obliterated.”

There can be no doubt that children of criminals are
born with a difficient physical, mental, and moral
organization. Their intelligence takes the form of
low cunning, evasion of law, decency, and duty;
and they cannot resist temptation. Their heredity
is bad, and their environment worse. These
“gutter-children” are not educated, except in crime.
But far be it from us to regard them, as the
Italian School of Criminal Anthropologists do, as
hopelessly irreclaimable. The statistics of Rescue and
Prisoners’ Aid Societies, and of the Salvation Army,
show many undoubted reclamations of these unfortu¬
nates. To extinguish this terrible scourge of society—
the habitual criminal—we must catch the children young ,
and, as Dr. Barnardo and Mrs. Birt and others (human
saviours of society, the value of whose work is not yet
recognised by us as a nation) are doing, train, educate
lovingly, discipline, and remove them far away from
their natal surroundings and influences. Bring out the
good and repress the bad, in other words, in each
nature. “ They who trust us, educate us,” says George
Eliot, very finely, and the trust and hope given to the
boys and girls trained by these Christian philanthropists
are, next to religion, the most powerful levers in their
elevation from a condition of semi-civilised savagery to
that of self-respect and good conduct. Even the present
adult criminals might be considerably diminished in
numbers if the law permitted each one, after a certain

Digitized by LjOOQle

478

CARCINOMA OF KIDNEY.

number of convictions, to be secluded for the rest of his
natural life, and made to work for the benefit of the
State. There is something defective in our classification
of prisoners, for the criminal classes are continually
being recruited by those who, in a first or second
imprisonment, have been corrupted and hardened by
older “ gaol-birds.”

fTo be concluded in our next.J

NOTE ON PRIMARY CARCINOMA OF KIDNEY.

By A. Midgley Cash, M.D.

A. M., set. 70, a tall, big-boned man, came under my
care in October, 1891. He was a retired lay preacher,
considered to be of gouty constitution, and had a
depressed manner. He proved somewhat hypochondriac¬
al, very closely watching his symptoms. At that time
he complained of dyspeptic troubles, for which I pre¬
scribed nux vom. 9 by a course of which he was benefited.
In December I saw him again. He complained of
irregularity of the bowels, with flatulent distension,
sometimes being relaxed, sometimes constipated, and
again nux helped him. At the end of this month
(December) he had his first attack of pain in the region
of the spleen.

In February, 1892, he began to complain of a certain
sense of fulness in the back of the neck, with a soreness
and aching which was supposed to be of gouty or rheu¬
matic origin; the pain under the left ribs was still
occasionally felt, and he got an attack of hsematuria just
at the end of the month, when, besides the blood, which
was not in very large quantity, some pus was also passed
in the urine but no crystals. This was accompanied by
an aching pain across the kidneys.

On March 11th he was seen, and still complained of
various indefinite pains, and apparent dyspeptic symp¬
toms. He attributed most of these to a chill he got
while staying at Morthoe.

Another attack of haematuria shortly followed; the
blood was intimately mixed with the urine. There was
seen under the microscope tube casts, and large nucle¬
ated cells. Careful palpation at intervals, alone and in
consultation, failed to find any tumour. No decided

Digitized by ^ooQle

MSjtaEtiSf* CARCINOMA OP KIDNEY.

479

symptoms of renal calculus, and no gravel up till now.
A diagnosis of cancer of the left kidney was made.

Terebinth was given, and a non-nitrogenous diet pre¬
scribed. In two days the urine was clear of blood, and
all the renal symptoms were easier. There was, how¬
ever, a good deal of aching pain principally referred to
the nape of the neck, the stomach and the spleen. For
these pains he got ceanothus americanm 9 and in two days
he was able to report himself much better.

Again on the 28rd a beef-tea like precipitate in the
urine, and increase of renal pain marked a somewhat
slighter attack of hematuria, for which terebinth was
given.

On April 2nd, for the first time, uric acid crystals
were found. The urine, which was exceedingly acid,
was crowded with them.

Patient shortly began to get crises of gastric distress
with gastrorrhoea of ropy mucous, provoking a violent
spasmodic cough. Persisting rachialgia, with stiffness
on bending in the nucha and great depression continued
to be felt.

For a time the flow of gastric mucous and the cough
were checked by the use of kali bich. 9 enabling patient to
take and retain a little solid food. By the end of April
some indistinctness in articulation was observed, due
apparently to a partial paresis of the tongue, for which
caustic 8x was given. Insomnia being troublesome from
the pain in the spine, massage was tried. Its first effect
was to give patient a good night’s rest, but afterwards it
seemed to aggravate the pain and was not continued.
Through May he gradually lost flesh and strength, and
the urine continued at intervals to contain uric acid crys¬
tals and albumin.

On June 17th he got his final attack of hsematuria,
the fourth within four months. A pint or more of dark
grumous blood was rather rapidly passed, intimately
mixed with the urine ; the colour shortly changing from
port wine to brown, and so fading back to natural.
Arnica and hamamelis were given, and iced milk as food.
By the 20th June the attack was quite over, but it left
him pallid and sinking.

Numerous crystals as usual were found under the
microscope. Death took place on the 22nd.

Sectio on the 23rd, twenty-two hours after death.

Digitized by ^ooQle

480

CARCINOMA OF KIDNEY.

Monthly HonuBopathio
Reriew, Aog 1,18B8.

Putrefactive changes had begun; over the abdomen a
green discoloration; the rigor mortis was passing off.

On opening the abdomen and turning aside the intes¬
tines, the spleen came into view. It was large, and its
structure was soft and friable; in some parts almost
diffluent.

Searching for the left kidney, a large hard tumour was
felt, firmly attached to the spine, involving also the great
abdominal blood vessels. This was firmly adherent to
the bones and deep structures, and was only detached
with considerable difficulty by cutting and tearing.

The tumour, when removed, was found to be the left
kidney, which had become a carcinomatous mass, the
size of two large clenched fists pressed together, weigh¬
ing probably about 5 lbs. (I was unable exactly to
ascertain this.) It cut up in dense solid sections, in
some parts showing patches of fatty degeneration ; here
some cysts were visible, but little or no normal kidney
tissue remained.

Some similar infiltration had begun in the right kid¬
ney, and also in the liver, when a large patch of the
disease was found invading the normal structure. The
tumour had become firmly adherent to all surrounding
structures and glands; bones and blood-vessels were all
matted together in the hard lobulated mass. There was
no dropsy or jaundice. The gall bladder was moderately
distended with bile. For some time past all work must
have been done by the right kidney. This organ was
enlarged and congested. Its capsule readily stripped off.

Remarks. —The main interest of this case turns upon
the question of the diagnosis. Before the advent of the
haematuria, the symptoms were of a vague and undefined
character, and were fairly interpreted by the constitu¬
tional dyscrasia of the patient. When, however, with
the pain in the back and loins, blood intimately mixed
with the urine, and casts of renal tubes were passed, the
kidney fell under suspicion, and in the absence of gravel,
&c., carcinomatous disease was probable. But later on
the passing of abundant uric acid crystals chiefly corre¬
sponding with the attacks of hfflmaturia, together with
the lumbar pain, seemed decidedly to make for a renal
calculus, fixed somewhere in the calyx of left kidney.

The pain in the back was noteworthy. Instead of
being at the point of the special pressure, where the

Digitized by

Google

Monthly HomoBopathio
Review, Aug. 1,1808.

BEDSIDE RECORDS.

481

tumour bore heavily upon the spine, it was up in the
cervical region, where he always complained of stiffness
and pain. Here there was probably set up some reflected
meningitis of the cord. The lingual paresis had probably
this for its origin. Niemeyer refers to the latency and
gradual advance of this disease ; also saying that there
may be no lumbar pain during its course, and that pain,
if it does exist, is not characteristic.

The absence of obvious swelling was accounted for by
the depth of the abdominal cavity, and by the fact that
the growth had increased upward, and was protected by
the ribs.

Its presence accounted for the early left-sided pain,
and no doubt largely also for the gastric and intestinal
disorders, which more or less in some form accompanied
its entire course.

Even though the cause was irremediable, it is satis¬
factory to reflect how much relief it was still possible to
obtain by the use of the indicated remedies; nux, ceano -
thus, and kali bichromicuin having been specially useful
in treating the pain and gastro-intestinal disturbances,
which the disease had set up.

Torquay.

BEDSIDE BECORDS.

By Alfred E. Hawkes, M.D.

On Feb. 18th 1890,1 was asked to see M. W., aged 26,
a married woman who had received a kick. The story
was that she had fallen downstairs as a result of the
kick, and that she had begun to swell in consequence.
She was thought to be three months advanced in
pregnancy, and the swelling alluded to was not un¬
naturally set down by her attendant as associated with
that condition. She suffered a good deal of abdominal
pain, of a spasmodic character.

On vaginal examination the os was found to be far
back nearly out of reach. Arnica 1.

Feb. 14th. It having been reported that there was
considerable dysuria, a catheter was used and 182 ozs.
of urine were drawn off. It contained no albumen.
The pulse was about 80, and the temperature sub¬
normal. She admitted that she had passed hardly
VoL 37, No. 8. 2—H

Digitized by

Google

482 UNDESCENDED TESTICLE.

any urine since the 10th. On examination the enlarged
uterus was much more easily felt, but the os was still
high up. The posterior wall of vagina was much
swollen.

Feb. 15th. To-day 125 ozs. of urine were withdrawn
with the aid of a catheter.

Feb. 16th. Two quantities of urine amounting to
118 ozs. were withdrawn to-day, but the frequent use
of the catheter was found to have caused some hemor¬
rhage.

Feb. 18th. No blood, no albumen, the urine reduced
to 82 ozs.

Feb. 19th. Some cystitis exists, quantity of urine 84
ozs. Canth. 8.

The urine was not again excessive in quantity, the
catheter was not needed after the 19th, and no albumen
or pus existed after the 21st, and on March 1st she left
the hospital to which she had been admitted three days
after the accident.

These brief notes may serve to show how retention of
urine may simulate graver conditions, and also to
demonstrate the capacity of at least the bladder under
consideration, for which the ward sister as well as the
writer can vouch.

Liverpool.

July 18th, 1898.

UNDESCENDED TESTICLE—HERNIA—
STRANGULATION—SPONTANEOUS REDUCTION-
OPERATION.

By C. J. Wilkinson, M.R.C.S., Bolton-le-Moors.

I first saw J. B. on July 8th, 1891, at the age of nine.
He had on the right side a small undescended testicle,
occupying the middle of the inguinal canal, irreducible
either into the abdomen or scrotum. I ordered a horse¬
shoe truss with a protecting cover for the testicle, and
afterwards tested it and found it efficient. The boy,
however, outgrew this appliance, and it was replaced by
another of different construction, which the event proved
untrustworthy.

On January 24th, 1898, I was hurriedly sent for to

Digitized by A^OOQle

483

Monthly Homceopathie
Review, Aug. 1,1893.

UNDESCENDED TESTICLE.

see him, and found that immediately upon suddenly
stopping after a quick run down a steep grass slope, he
had experienced great pain in the right groin, and had
been found rolling on the floor of a water-closet and
vomiting. Two and a-half hours after this accident
I found him much collapsed, with a large hernia, in the
body of which the testicle was lost. The hernia was
tense, exquisitely painful, received no impulse from
coughing, and was irreducible by such taxis as was
allowable without an anaesthetic. The patient had
already a dry tongue, a clammy skin, and a thready
pulse. As children collapse rapidly under strangulated
hernia, and as there was considerable certainty of a
return even if reduction were possible, I telegraphed for
a consultant, applied an ice-bag (full of cold water until
ice could be obtained), and gave arnica in drop doses
hourly.

About an hour after this treatment had been begun
the pain rapidly diminished ; the patient fell asleep, and
woke to find that the hernia had completely disappeared,
the testicle remaining in statu quo, ante beUum . I wish
that I could believe that the propter and the post
between the treatment and the improvement were
equally certain. Spontaneous reduction of strangulated
hernite is very rare, and certainly should not be waited
upon.

The surgeon who saw this case with me on the day of
the accident, taking the reduction of the hernia into con¬
sideration as well as the excellent condition of the
patient, postponed operation for four days, in order to
allow time for the disturbance to which the intestine
had been exposed to abate. On the 24th the patient was
anaesthetised, the pubes shaved, and the whole region
carefully cleansed. An incision from the lower point of
the testicle along the canal was made, the testicle
isolated by ligature and removed, and all the tissues
entering mto the formation of the cord, including the
vaginal process of the peritoneum, twisted several
times upon themselves so as to make a twisted block
lying in the canal and effectually preventing the
descent of any abdominal contents at the internal ring.
The wound was closed by six silk sutures, and a horse¬
hair drainage left. The dressing was of perchloride
gauze, wood wool and pink mackintosh.

2 H— 2

Digitized by AjOOQle

484

REVIEWS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1883.

All went well till February 4, when the nurse sent me
word late at night that the temperature had suddenly
reached 102°, with a slight rigor. I found that the
dressings had been accidentally soaked with urine up to
the incision, and that there was tension from suppuration
inside the wound. I therefore removed two stitches and
the temperature at once fell to normal. Healing by
first intention was now impossible, and perfect closure
of the wound was delayed by the separation of two
ligatures which long refused to come away with the
discharge. Perhaps a cicatrix which has to support
pressure is the better for being formed from healthy
foundations if they can be allowed time for full con¬
solidation.

The boy is now perfectly well, and there is not the
slightest impulse transmitted from the internal ring on
his coughing. He is, moreover, free from a misplaced
organ peculiarly exposed to injury and specially
susceptible to malignant disease in later life.

REVIEWS.

The Curability of Tumours by Medicines. By J. Compton
Burnett, M.D. 1898. London: The Homoeopathic
Publishing Company.

This is the latest of those interesting autobiographical frag¬
ments with which Dr. Burnett enriches our literature from
time to time. When the last fasciculus has been issued, the
whole series bound together may be fitly labelled Apologia
pro vita mea ,*• and will constitute a not unhandsome monu¬
ment to the genius and originality of the author.

The present volume has all the virtues and all the defects
of isolated work. Dr. Burnett’s modes of treatment are
blessed in their parent’s eyes with ample and phenomenal
powers; but it requires the accumulated criticism of
independent tests, of widespread practice, and of varied
instances during a certain lapse of time, ere the essential
elements can be sifted from the merely contingent. Only that
which can be repeatedly verified by others is permanently
valuable in any scheme of practice; and we regret to note in
this volume the absence of any contributory or confirmatory
observation from other workers, which would indicate that,
in however moderate a degree, Dr. Burnett had gathered
round him a band of disciples as enthusiastic as himself.

In his well-known vivid and trenchant style, the author here

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Ecvirw, Aug. 1,1888.

REVIEWS.

485

relates a large number of cases in which tumours have dis¬
appeared in course of time during internal therapeutic
treatment. But, beyond the citation of a mass of details, we
find no luminous exposition of any new method in the selec¬
tion of the fittest therapeutic force, nor any potent means for
effecting an insight into the mental processes by which, in
each case, the drug was adjusted to the phases of the disease.
The free dilution of the law of similars by “ happy thoughts ”
is scarcely removed from the empiricism of the multitude.
Unless the teachings of experience can be crystallized into
abstract forms for the benefit of others, the results of work,
however excellent, are transitory and ephemeral.

The slender character of the data assigned for differential
diagnosis leaves very much to be desired, for, pace Dr.
Burnett, the natural history of different types of tumours
gives us most important facts for the forecast of the patient's
future, and to ignore the fundamental differences between a
rapidly growing round-celled sarcoma, a slow growing hard
fibroid, a practically stationary dermoid cyst, and an ofttimes
physiologically vanishing adenoma, is neither scientific nor
helpful to the really valuable part of Dr. Burnett’s therapeutic
work. We require the determination of what types and
stages of neoplasm, under what circumstances of bodily con¬
stitution, are likely to resist or to yield to appropriate thera¬
peutic measures. Without this generalisation, much of our
colleague’s work, though very valuable to him as personal
mental drill, is to others without form and void.

A more serious criticism of the author’s methods is that in
this volume no means are given for determining the pro¬
portion of successes to failures. The adjustment of this
proportion is essential in the correct valuation of Dr. Burnett’s
methods. For it must be remembered that the absorption
of time by therapeutic treatment often renders alternative
measures more difficult or impossible. And this element of
average probability is of prime value in advising that
section of patients to whom time is of importance, who can¬
not afford to lead a life of chronic invalidism, and with whom
those measures are most advisable that are most speedy. To
many women the disfigurement of a large tumour is a bar to
employment, and in such cases it is essential to know the
relative chances of cure by drug treatment as against radical
surgical measures. For the solution of this problem Dr.
Burnett’s statistics as published are of absolutely no avail,
unless in all cases a cure has been effected—a consummation
devoutly to be wished.

The author states that this is the Magnum opus, whose
advent in the fulness of time was indicated in an earlier work.

Digitized by ^ooQle

486

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1803.

We are loth to allow such a reflection upon the originality
and mental grasp of our colleague. We might have had
reason to expect, as the outcome of prolonged clinical study,
some vitalising principle, some inspired generalisation which
would amplify and develop the law of similars. But in the
present work, with many evidences of immature con¬
struction, we find only a rehabilitation of crude conceptions,
a re-statement of opinions not fully worked out, a vast array
of facts without cohesion or sequence, and not the finished
product of fact and induction which would have given the
author an enduring title to fame. There is still very much
to be set forth from a due study and digest of the author’s
material, and none so competent to do this as Dr. Burnett
himself.

Apart from these considerations, we must cordially con¬
gratulate our colleague on the wealth of therapeutic result
he has achieved in the treatment of tumours and tumour
diseases. To many practitioners this will come with all the
force of a new revelation, and the quietude of latter-day
homoeopathy needs to be stimulated by the bold initiative and
ample result of original workers like Dr. Burnett. Only, let
us not be content with the incomplete, nor subside into
mutual admiration whilst our weapons are imperfect and our
spurs still to be won.

MEETINGS.

BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC SOCIETY.

The ninth meeting of the Session was held on Thursday, June
1st, Dr. Galley Blackley (President) in the chair.

Dr. John Christopher Staley, of The Mount, St. Anne’s-on-
Sea, having been duly nominated, was elected a member by
ballot.

Dr. E. A. Cook, of Richmond, read a paper entitled
“ Antiseptics, with Especial Reference to the Use of Ozone.”
Dr. Cook having referred to the antiquity of the subject and
the various views expressed at different times as to the nature
and action of antiseptics, combatted the view that it is
necessary to kill all the germs. He said that it was now fully
recognised that the white amseboid corpuscles of the blood
were microbe destroyers, and they can only act best when
individually in the best state of health. Every medicament
which debilitates them acts in favour of the microbe, and
no matter how deadly it may itself be to the
microbe, cannot be a proper antiseptic on ac¬
count of its debilitating influence on the phagocytes.

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1803.

MEETINGS.

487

He would insist that there was a vis antisepsis natures as well
as a vis medicatrix natures. Septic material was attacked (1)
in the air, (2) in the body, (8) on the surface of the body.
Dr. Cook showed from experimental research the futility of
expecting chloride of lime or carbolic acid to act as an efficient
disinfectant in the case of a London urinal in the quantities
used. Having referred to the influence of various climates
on wounds, he showed that wounds did best where the air
was dry, and where every movement generated electricity
and the electricity ozone. The ozonised air, besides being
a disinfectant, was breathed, and invigorated the phagocytes,
and made them more destructive to the microbes. He
believed ozone to be Nature’s own antiseptic. He next
referred to the old ozonisers, and showed the advantage of
those invented by Mr. Andrioli, and exhibited to the meeting
by Messrs. Allen and Hanbury, and urged that they should
be used in the wards of our hospitals. Mr. Andrioli’s ozoniser
consists of a glass plate, on one side of which is a sheet
of tinfoil, on the other, a plate studded with numerous points.
One side of the plate is connected with one pole from an
induction coil or transformer, the other with the opposite
pole. When the current passes the discharge takes place by
glow (not sparks) from every point, and the air, or oxygen,
passing over the points produces a quantity of ozone.

Some interesting additional information having been
given by Mr. Hanbury,

Dr. Byres Mom said that a paper on almost similar lines
was read before the Society, and Dr. Scott had written a
paper in 1874, and published it in the British Journal of
ttomceopathy.

Dr. Dudgeon thought an important question was whether
ozone could be generated in such quantities as to be employed
as a disinfectant.

Mr. Knox Shaw alluded to the practical difficulty of its
application to the treatment of wounds.

Dr. Hughes thought it would be a great thing to substitute
Nature’s own antiseptic for the poisonous germicides now in
use. He was not sure that ozone was a true germicide, but
a mere checker of putrefaction.

Dr. Goldsbrouoh felt information was needed as to the
quantity of ozone needed to produce an effect without pro¬
ducing pathological changes.

Dr. Burford thought the theory required as its correlative
a more developed basis of experiment. He considered that
to prevent bacteria from increasing was far better than the
use of any antiseptic ever discovered.

Digitized by

Google

488

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1.1808.

The President (Dr. Blackley) agreed that it would be
advantageous to do away with some of the very powerful
antiseptics now in use. He had used with success pei-oxide
of hydrogen . He was interested in the mode of application of
ozone. Permanganate of pota*h gave off nascent oxygen,
but to be used in effective quantities was too expensive. It
should be remembered that ozone was something more than
pure air.

THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE LONDON
HOMCEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.

The annual meeting of the governors, donors, and subscribers
of the hospital was held in the board room at the office, 85,
Queen Square, on the 18th ult. In the unavoidable absence
of Lord Ebury, the president of the hospital, the chair was
taken by Mr. J. Pakenham Stilwell, the chairman of the
Board, among those present being:—General Bey non,
Mr. Sydney Gedge, Mr. W. H. TrapmaDn (acting treasurer),
Dr. Dyce Brown, Captain Cundy, Dr. Byres Moir,
Mr. Herman W. Tinn6, Dr. Galley Blackley, Miss J. Duming-
Smith, Dr. Richard Hughes, Miss Notcutt, Dr. Cooper,
Miss Barton, Miss Isabella Barton, Mr. Laurie and Mrs. Willis.

After the meeting had been opened by prayer, the Secretary
(Mr. G. A. Cross) read the forty-third annual report, which
included a statement of the current financial position of the
hospital and a report of the new building fund account. The
Board have the gratification to report that the in- and out¬
patient work of the hospital will suffer no interruption, and
the temporary hospital offers every promise of maintaining
the most important in- and out-patient work of the hospital
during the construction of the new building.

The chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, referred
to the laying of the foundation stone of the new hospital, and
then said : “ With regard to the deficiency of £550, it really
is £650—£100 having been taken from the reserve fund to
supply a portion of that deficiency. I am sorry to say that
£750 less was taken from the Nursing Institution last year
than the year before. I should hope that this is only a
temporary falling-off, and I must appeal to the medical
profession generally to support us in our efforts to obtain
funds from this nursing institution for the work of the
hospital. Their recommendations of our Nursing Institute
are very valuable.

We gladly second this appeal of the chairman. The nurses
of the London Homoeopathic Hospital have in the past been
inferior to none in skill and character. We believe we can

Digitized by Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Bartow, Aug. 1,1808.

PERISCOPE.

489

say for our fellow practitioners that as long as the quality of
the nursing and the character of the nurses is maintained the
demand for their services will not seriously or permanently
fall off. We believe and hope that our readers feel it a duty
and a pleasure to support this branch of the hospital, as it is
certainly to their advantage to do.

PERISCOPE.

MATERIA MEDICA.

Apis Virus.—“ A bee stung me on the helix of my left ear
one hot June day. I give the symptoms in the order of their
sequence, as far as the brain remained clear enough to note
them. 1. Sensation as though a large stick like a broom
handle were thrust through my head from left to right.
2. Swelling of the entire person. 8. Eruption like a nettle-
rash covering the entire surface, even the palms of the hands
and the soles of the feet. 4. Severe nervous chill, with
chattering of teeth and shivering, but without sensation of cold.
5. Complete suppression of urine with pain in the kidneys and
bladder 6. Dull pain in the entire head, with sensation
of weariness of the brain, and a stupid condition with
inability to note symptoms further. (At this juncture my
husband administered a gill of Holland gin. I had taken a
sponge bath of ammonia and water. Was placed in bed.)
Secondary symptoms : After a restless sleep noted the follow¬
ing conditions: 1. Retention of urine, followed after a few
hours by a scanty discharge of red, hot urine. Pain and sore¬
ness in the region of the kidneys, bladder and ovaries.
2. Eruption disappeared, leaving the skin white, waxy, and
a condition of general oedema. 8. Extreme sensitiveness to
touch and soreness on deep pressure. 4. Brain symptoms
slowly relieved. 5. Soreness of muscles and stiffness of
joints, like rheumatism. At the end of a week was restored
to normal condition.”—Julia C. Jump, M.D., North American
Journal of Homoeopathy , May, 1898.

Carbolic Acid. —An Italian tailor swallowed by mistake
80 grammes of carbolic acid. Dr. Moreit, of Ancona, using
a rubber catheter, immediately introduced by slow degrees
into the patient’s stomach a strong solution of sulphate of
soda, which forms with carbolic acid a harmless mixture.
In an hour’s time, the patient, who had been in a most
critical condition, began to revive. Inhalations of ammonia
were then used to hasten up the process, and little by little
the poisoned man rallied so that an emetic, followed by a
dose of lime water, finished the cure .—New York Medical
Times.

Digitized by LjOOQle

490

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1808.

Fluoride of Sodium. — Pitotti (Bull. deUe 8ci. Med.,
January, 1898) has made a study of this question, and finds
that animals can be prepared by gradual dosing to tolerate
without any difficulty doses of sodium fluoride in neutral
solution which would be decidedly toxic at first, and this
without any sensible alteration in either their tissues or blood.
After a time, however, they become wasted, and their blood
is diminished in corpuscular richness. In acute poisoning
there is observed to be degeneration of the renal epithelium,
especially of the convoluted tubules and Henlo’s loops,
the tubes sometimes being blocked with debris of cells,
There is, besides, diffuse fatty degeneration of the liver, and a
granular appearance in the cells generally. The nervous
system shows no histological changes, although the altered
function during life might have led one to anticipate the
occurrence of some change. The gastro-intestinal tract is also
free from change save for a dilatation of its blood vessels.
Injected under the skin, a 1 per cent, solution produces great
irritation and haemorrhage into the deep layers of the dermis.
In acid solution sodium fluoride is more toxic than in neutral
solution, and if the poisoning is subacute there is an
enlargement of all the lymphatic glands of the body.— British
Medical Journal.

Mercury. — Sior ( Berl. klin. Woch., December 26th, 1892)
relates some quite unexpected results of the calomel treatment
in hypertrophic cirrhosis of the liver. A man, aged 80, began
to suffer nine months previously from jaundice, which steadily
increased and was accompanied by much loss of strength. On
admission he was deeply jaundiced. The liver was much en¬
larged ; the hepatic dulness began at the fourth rib, and the
liver could be felt three finger-breadths below the costal mar¬
gin in the nipple line. The surface was regular, somewhat
hard, and not tender. The spleen was enlarged. There was
no ascites or oedema. The urine was deeply bile stained, but
the stools were not completely colourless. The temperature
rose slightly in the evening. There was no history of alcohol.
Various forms of treatment, including potassic iodide , were
tried for a month, but without the slightest benefit. The
patient was then given calomel , in doses of 0.06 g. six times
a day for three days, the drug being then omitted for the
three following days. From this time the patient’s condition
commenced to improve in a remarkable fashion. The jaun¬
dice soon began to diminish, and the appetite was better.
Eventually even the liver became less in size, as well as the
spleen. At the time of his discharge, after three months of
such treatment, the jaundice had disappeared, there was no
bile pigment in the urine, and the stools were pale-yellow in

Digitized by ^ooQle

PERISCOPE.

491

Monthly Homoeopathic
Ueview Aug. 1, 1888.

colour. The liver only extended one finger’s breadth below
the ribs in the nipple line, the upper limit of the dulness
beginning at the sixth rib. The nutrition was excellent, and
the strength good. The treatment was to be continued at
home. The author then establishes the correctness of the
diagnosis, and shows that the hepatic affection was not the
result either of obstruction of the common bile duct, or of
syphilis, or of hydatid disease. He refers to the view of this
form of cirrhosis being due to catarrh of the bile channels,
with polycholia .—British Medical Journal .

Sublimate Poisoning. —The over-addiction of German
surgeons to the use of corrosive sublimate is beginning to
show results in unexpected places. Professor Albert, of
Vienna, after suffering acutely for a long time from dyspepsia,
for which he could assign no cause, was suddenly struck with
the thought that an explanation of his complaint might be
sought in the corrosive sublimate which he was in the habit
of using freely. This surmise proved to be quite accurate.
The urine was found to contain a comparatively large pro¬
portion of mercurial salts, and the fact that the professor lost
three teeth, previously all perfectly sound, within a short time
added further proof to his suspicion that he was suffering from
mercurial poisoning. The death of another prominent
German surgeon is attributed to nephritis caused by the
habitual application, in the deceased’s practice, of the subli¬
mate antiseptic treatment .—Magazine of Pharmacy .

Gnaphalium.— Dr. Clarke, in his little brochure on Rheumatism,
refers to this remedy, giving as the symptom which differentiates
it from other medicines indicated in sciatica “ a feeling of
numbness in the limbs during the intervals of pain.” In The
Hahnemannian Monthly (April), Dr. Macdonald records a case
of sciatica successfully treated with it occurring in a lady 65
years of age, who, as he says, “ had received, as nearly all such
patients do, a very thorough course of medication, all the way
from athlophorous (tie), until she was temporarily deaf, to
quinine in twenty grain doses, until the church and fire bells
were ringing all the time.” The attack had lasted for three
months, commencing in the hip, it settled in the calf of the leg
where, with an occasional return to its original position, it
remained, and seemed to be of the nature of cramp. Either
heat or cold increased it. There was occasional pain between
the tuber ischii and the anus which specular examination of
the rectum failed to account for. Profuse sweating was
frequent during the intermissions of pain, and the patient was
nervous almost to the degree of hysteria. Ten drops of
gnaphalium were given in water every four hours. After the
first day tliere was no return of pain. Half this dose was

Digitized by LjOOQle

492

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aog. 1, 1893.

given for a week, when it was discontinued. A month later
the pain returned two or three times in a modified form, and
on each occasion ceased entirely after a single dose of ten
drops. Another case is mentioned by Dr. Macdonald, where,
as a result of an injury and subsequent exposure in a man 85
years of age, intense pain was felt along the sciatic nerve.
Plienacetinc and salol had been taken for two days before
Dr. Macdonald saw him. Gnaphalium was then given, and the
relief was prompt and permanent.

Dr. W. E. Leonard, of Minneapolis, writing in the Medical
mentions xanthoxyllum as especially useful in pain in the
anterior crural nerve which becomes “ worse in hot weather.”

Cocaine. —Gunnel ( Gaz . Med . de Nantes , February 12th)
reports the following observation: In treating a case of
cracked nipple with a 1 in 50 solution of hydrochlorate of
cocaine , he found that the secretion of milk was stopped by
the application. The breasts became flaccid, and the nipples
lost their erectility. The functional activity of the breast was
restored on discontinuing the use of cocaine .

Poisoning by Methyl-Blue.— Dr. Dryewicki reports a case
of poisoning by methyl-blue , in which the stress of the symp¬
toms appeared in the urinary system. The patient took for
an enlarged spleen and attacks of fever three or four powders
daily, each containing 0.20 grain of methyl-blue. The urine
gradually became more and more coloured till from being
green it became quite blue; the stools also were of a greenish
colour. Pain in the abdomen and strangury ensued; also
diarrhoea. On the third day of taking the powders the desire
to urinate was urgent and uncontrollable, there was great
cutting pain, and the last drops passed were pure blood. The
pain was especially marked at the end of the penis. Stools
several times daily with tenesmus without pain. The desire
to micturate was accompanied with the desire to defalcate,
but this latter symptom disappeared after micturition.—
Medical Record , Feb., 1898.

MEDICINE.

On the Value of Internal Medication in Treatment of
Malignant Disease. —Dr. Jarvis S. Wight, of Brooklyn, dis¬
cusses in the Annals of Surgery (April, 1898) the question
whether medicine, administered internally, can be of any
use in preventing and curing cancer and sarcoma. He
regards cancer and sarcoma as “ local affections at their out¬
set,” and inclines to the theory that “ these diseases are caused
by the presence and the action of some, as yet, unknown
micro-organism.” He further expresses the opinion that ** in

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homcaopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1898.

PERISCOPE.

493

the early stage of cancer infection, a complete and thorough
exsection of the implicated part or structure will, as a rule,
give, or tend to give, immunity. This will be so if we can
find any medicine that will destroy the outlying colonies
of infection.” It is interesting to find an old school Professor
of operative and clinical surgery working on these
lines and a resume of his paper will be an instructive
supplement to the Bayes lectures, lately delivered
at the London Homoeopathic Hospital by Dr. Burford.
Dr. Wight has been working in this direction; he has
medicated in conjunction with operative procedures ; and in
those cases where operation was impossible he has adminis¬
tered various drugs. Bichloride of mercury he used largely in
both sarcoma and cancer apparently without any benefit. He
found the iodide of iron negative in its action, and obtained
no results in sarcoma by the use of the muriated tincture of
iron. He combined the muriated tincture of iron and the
mercuric chloride , and thought that sarcoma was sometimes
mitigated in the severity of its course. The readers of the
Review will be more interested to hear what Dr. Wight’s
experience has been of remedies more closely connected with
the therapeutics of our school. Of iodide of arsenic he says :
“ I have given the iodide of arsenic extensively, alone and in
combination with the iodide of iron and the iodide of
potassium. The following prescription is one that I can
recommend *—

Arsen, iod.
Potass, iod.
Syr. fer. iod,
Tr. calumb.

gr. i.

5 ij-
5iv-
5 xxiv.

M. Siq. Take a teaspoonful after meals in a wineglass
of water*.

The ioditle of arsenic alone has not acted as well as the above
combination. Yet it is just to say that no very marked con¬
trol has been obtained over cancer and sarcoma by the iodide of
arsenic. This remedy, in some cases, has appeared to be use¬
ful. Combined, as above indicated, it has cured enlargements
of apparently doubtful nature, and so I have called them
syphilitic.” One author here appears to be anxious to explain
away, by questioning his diagnosis, what appear to have
been definite curative or ameliorative results. Having had
some years’ satisfactory practical experience of the efficacy of
carbonate of lime and bromide of arsenic in the treatment of
boils and carbuncles, and believing that they have the power

* The dose of arson, iod. would therefore be about gr.

Digitized by ^ooQle

494

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homusoputhic
Review, Aug. 1,1808.

to destroy the micro-organisms that were the irritants in these
cases, Dr. Wight was led to prescribe these drugs in the
treatment of cancer and sarcoma. Not only in cases he had
operated on, but in inoperable cases he gave the bromide of
arsenic and the carbonate of lime; the former in ^th
to ^th gr. doses after meals; the latter in 5 to
10 gr. doses in tincture of calumba before meals. He
says, “ In many cases coming under the head
of sarcoma, there was quite a rapid tendency towards a cure,
and this was generally permanent. Large deposits as a rule would
not yield, but excision of the enlargement was often followed
by a sure cure. As to cases affecting bone, osteo-sarcoma,
the treatment was not so favourable, yet, even then, the
disease was more or less retarded in its progress, and it
would seem as if these remedies were competent to remove
small deposits or small points of infection in the vicinity of
the neoplasm which had been excised.” “ I have seen some
cases yield at once to the treatment I have brought forward,
and I have seen other cases also that would yield only slowly
and under large doses of the bromide of arsenic , and there
are other cases still that defy the action of all drugs.” Dr.
Wight has obtained good results with other preparations of
arsenic , but the best with the bromide . His point is this:
“ Give the bromide of arsenic to all patients as soon as they
come under your care, and continue the use of this remedy
for along time after the operation.” He gives his results in
the following words: “A considerable number of cases
of cancer operated upon by me then, four or five
years ago, and then treated for a time, say from
six to twelve months, have been completely restored to
health, and the scar of the operation is now in every way just
as normal as it would be if we had union of a wound of per¬
fectly healthy tissue. In none of these cases, so far as I
now remember, did the microscope fail to confirm the
diagnosis.”

In these inoperable cases in which bromide of arsenic was
given he is reasonably certain that the progress of the disease
has been modified and its severity mitigated. In one case,
for several months the patient was so relieved of her pain after
she began to take the bromide of arsenic that she left off the
use of morjyJiine internally and cocaine externally. In other
cases of cancer of internal organs the remedy brought relief
and prolongation of life.

Dr. Wight judges the internal treatment of sarcoma to be
more successful than that of cancer, and that in the treat¬
ment of sarcoma he finds the addition of the carbonate of lime
helpful, but is not so sure of this in cancer. Though not in

Digitized by

Monthly HomiBopathio
Review,, Aug. 1,1896.

PERISCOPE.

495

this paper under notice, it will be of interest to record, as addi¬
tional evidence of the influence of arsenic in cancer, that Professor
Lassar presented before the Berlin Medical Society two cases
of cutaneous cancer, where arsenic (Fowler’s solution), either
internally or subcutaneously, produced a complete cure. No
surgical measures were taken, hence the whole credit is to be
ascribed to arsenic alone. He also refers to a third case where
a similar result was obtained.— Annals of Surgery .

LARYNGOLOGY, &c.

The Treatment of Ulcerative Lesions in Laryngeal
Tuberculosis {Lancet, March 11, 1898).—Felix Semon. The
author strongly recommends the local treatment with lactic
acid , and the internal treatment by large doses of creasote .
The latter must be pure, and is administered in rr[i doses,
in pills or capsules, thrice daily after meals, the number of
capsules being increased until the patient takes as many as
twelve or even fifteen daily. The lactic acid is applied
by means of absorbent wool wrapped round rectangular
forceps, and rubbed with a fair amount of force into the floor
of the ulcers. All granulation tissues are scraped away with
the curette.

Petroleum in Diphtheria ( Lancet , March 25th, 1898.)—
Out of 80 cases treated by Dr. Flahaut in the better-known ways
(carbolic acid , sublimate , salicylic acid , &c.), nine died. In the
next 40 cases he adopted local applications of petroleum , by
means of throat brushes, every hour or two, according to the
severity of the case, and all recovered. The application is
said not to be painful, but the smell and taste is unpleasant.

New and Safe Method of Cutting (Esophageal Stric¬
tures. Abbe, R. {New York Medical Record , February
25th, 1898).—By means of a gastrotomy opening a
bougie is passed up the oesophagus (often possible from
below, when, because of pouching, it is impossible from above).
The bougie is made to emerge from the mouth, where it is
withdrawn, bringing with it the end of a string of heavily-
braided ligature silk previously fastened to its lower extremity.
The two ends of the string are drawn tightly upwards and
downwards so as to press and cut through the dense tissue
forming the stricture, while a large bougie is passed up at the
same time. A very striking case is narrated in which things
went on so well that the gastric fistula was closed by opera¬
tion eight weeks after gastrotomy, the patient being able to
pass large bougies and to swallow naturally.

Digitized by

Google

496

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1898.

NOTABILIA.

FOLKESTONE HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.

The third annual report of this institution shows gratifying
progress. The increase of patients during the year has been
88, and the subscription list has extended from £11 16s. in
1891 to £28 16s. 2d. in 1892. The total number of patients
under treatment, 482. Thirty-eight of these were attended
in their own homes, to whom a total of 160 visits were paid ;
the remaining 894 attended at the dispensary, showing con¬
sultations amounting to 1,958. There has been only one
death during the year. There was, however, also a case of
cancer of the liver, which on becoming worse had to seek
admission to a hospital, where he died.

This illustrates the need which the committee has always
felt of having a bed or beds for the reception of such cases,
and they hope that at some time not far distant a cottage
hospital may be added to the dispensary.

Physician, Dr. Murray.

SUTTON HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.

We have pleasure in announcing the opening of a Homoeo¬
pathic Dispensary at 82, High Street, Sutton, Surrey. Dr.
Moir is consulting physician, Mr. Knox Shaw consulting
surgeon, and Dr. Andrew M. Neatby medical officer to the
new institution, to which we wish every success.

JUBILEE OF THE BRITISH HOMCEOPATHIC
SOCIETY.

The election of the officers of the British Homoeopathic
Society had a peculiar significance this year, owing to the fact
that the session 1898-1894 represents the jubilee of the
Society. Founded in 1844, by Quin, on the anniversary of
Hahnemann’s birth, the Society will, next April, have com¬
pleted its fiftieth year. After the lapse of half a century it
enters upon its jubilee session with a largely increased
membership, and with the life and vigour that actuates so
macy of the veteran exponents of homoeopathy. Grey hairs
and advancing years do not seem in the least to dull the
earnestness and enthusiasm of some of the trusted and valued
workers in the homoeopathic cause, and the British
Homoeopathic Society vies with them in endeavouring to learn
the secret of perpetual youth. Though we can still count
several men who have given half a century of their labour to
the advancement of the doctrine of the law of similars, there

Digitized by LjOoqL e

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1893.

. NOTABILIA.

497

remains but one living of those who, with Quin,
were the original founders of the British Homoeopathic
Society. Mr. Hugh Cameron has rendered one more service
to homoeopathy by acceding to the unanimously expressed
wish of those present at the annual assembly of the Society
to become its president for the ensuing session. Mr. Cameron
has unostentatiously done much good work for homoeopathy,
and owing to his retirement from active practice may not be
so well-known to the younger members of the Society. But
his courteous and sympathetic manner, and the charm of his
continued interest in all that concerns homoeopathy, endears
him to all who have the privilege of his acquaintance.

Dr. Madden and Dr. Goldsbrough were at the same
meeting elected vice-presidents of the Society, and Dr. Galley
Blackley treasurer.

AMERICAN NOTES.

The journals received this month contain abstracts of a
portion of the proceedings of the World’s Homoeopathic
Medical Congress, to which we referred last month. The
North American Journal of Homoeopathy says that 44 the impor¬
tance of this gathering to homoeopathy was perhaps greater
than that of any other international meeting for years.”
This is as it should be, and demonstrates healthy progress.
44 The spirit of the Congress,” writes the same journal, 44 was
marked. It was liberal, tolerant, and progressive, but held
firmly to homoeopathic therapeutic truths, and evinced no dis¬
position to seek any surreptitious or entangling alliances with
the old school. The Congress, representative in composition,
judicial in deliberation, calm and temperate in expression,
tolerant in opinion, firm in its beliefs, brilliant in debate,
dignified in action, was a credit to the great homoeopathic
school, and will go on record as the most successful medical
gathering of the year.” This is gratifying.

* * * *

At the opening meeting, on the 29th of May, several ad¬
dresses were delivered. Dr. J. H. McClelland, the President
of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, in the course of
that he delivered, said, 44 This Congress, let me suggest, stands
for more than a report upon the medical sciences in general,
great and as important as they are; it stands for a reforma¬
tion in the science of therapeutics, more far-reaching and
important than any of modem or ancient times. While this
great exhibit represents the advance in every branch of human
knowledge since Columbus touched these shores, 400 years
ago, this Congress will set forth, in some measure, the advance

Vol. 37, No. 8. 2—1

Digitized by LjOOQle

498

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1893.

of medicine since Hahnemann, a veritable Columbus in
medicine, made his discoveries a single century since; and
I am not overstating when I say our changes are equally
great. Not only in the interest of this great principle alluded
to, however, are we assembled here this evening, but for the
advancement of each and every branch of our beloved art;
and we commit this great task to the Congress now
assembled.”

* * $ ¥ *

Dr. Mitchell, the active and energetic chairman of the
committee which took in hand the arrangement of the
Congress, was its president, and, in that capacity, delivered
an introductory address, in the course of which he thus
described the progress that homoeopathy has made : 41 Steadily,
almost imperceptibly, homoeopathy has forced its way into all
forms of medical belief. It has modified the practice of the
old school, compelling it to make its drug-form more
minute and palatable, and even to admit in a
guarded way its cardinal virtues. Homoeopathy has
stood the fiercest Of all tests—time. Medical liberty
is as sacred as political or religious liberty ; every encroach¬
ment on it must be faithfully and zealously resisted by those
who are entrusted with its preservation. The profession of
medicine has but one stigma upon her, and that is her per¬
secution of homoeopathy. Most of this opposition is based
upon misunderstanding. Hahnemann was a full century in
advance of his time ; had homoeopathy been sprung upon the
medical profession of to-day, it would have eagerly seized it,
and investigated it with a calm judicial spirit never yet mani¬
fested. Hahnemann was the first and greatest artist medicine
has yet seen. He recognised the eternal fitness of everything
human. In his abstraction from the crude and everything
coarse, he was far in advance of his age, hence medicine must
yet come to him for inspiration. Homoeopathy stands pre¬
eminently fitted to adapt itself to the finer adjustments that
are coming in all directions. It will blend with all valuable
developments that the medicine of the future will evolve for
its basis of truth.”

* * * *

Other addresses were delivered by Dr. Hawkes, of Liver¬
pool, who referred chiefly to the condition of homoeopathy in
England. On a subsequent occasion Dr. Molson—with
whose name the compositor of one journal takes a ludicrous
liberty, representing him as Dr. Malstrom—spoke on the same
topic. Dr. Bojanus (from Russia), Dr. Majumdar (of Cal¬
cutta), and Dr. Julia Smith also addressed the opening
meeting. The lady, among other good things, said that a in

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homceopathio
Review, Aug. 1, 1803.

NOTABILIA.

499

the eyes of the men who cherish us our only duty is to be
sweet.” And we may add, a very important duty it is; and,
moreover, when well and thoroughly performed its results are
very influential! We trust that our girl graduates will always
retain that sweetness which is theirs by nature.

One of the most important of the addresses was that
prepared by Dr. Hughes on “ The Further Improvement of
our Materia Medica.” This was read on the second day.
After pointing out what we have gained in materia medica by
the Cycloptedia of Drug Pathogene&y and Dr. Dudgeon’s trans¬
lation of the Materia Medica Pura , he turned to what re¬
mained to be done for materia medica, first of all dwelling
upon what ought not to be done. He protested against the
schema, arguing that for readiness of reference an index alone
was needed, and that symptoms divorced from their sequence
and concomitants often conveyed a false idea as to the patho¬
genetic action of drugs, rendering the schema misleading as
well as unnecessary. He also criticised adversely the plans of
constructing our materia medica advocated by Boston and
Baltimore. He further denounced the intermingling of
clinical symptoms with such as are purely patho¬
genetic. The latter, he concluded, should be kept
untainted with matter of clinical kind. Not that he under¬
valued the us us in morbis or despised therapeutic suggestions,
but that they should be kept separate from pure pathogenesy.
Symptomatology should stand alone, and be supplemented by
commentaries elucidating its text, a work to which he earnestly
and specially invited the neurologists, aurists, oculists, and
gynaecologists. The address was, in the absence of Dr.
Hughes, read by Dr. Runnels, of Indianopolis. An animated
discussion followed, during which, we are told by che North
American Journal of Homoeopathy (where the paper appears
in extenso) the author’s views were vigorously attacked by Drs.
J. P. Dake, Conrad Wesselhoft, T. F. Allen, and A. C.
Hawkes, of Liverpool. We regret that we have no record of
this onslaught, but having none, we are unable to gauge its
value and effectiveness.

.* * * * *

Dr. Helmuth displayed his earnestness in, and enthusiasm
for, surgery in an address on Surgery in the Homoeopathic
School , Dr. Dake discoursed on The Future of Homoeopathy %
Dr. Talbot on Medical Education , Dr. Phillips, of Boston, on
Homoeopathy in Gynaecology, and Dr. T. F. Allen on The Selec¬
tion of Homoeopathic Remedies , in which he urged the great
importance of materia medica, and in closing the discussion,
said, 44 1 want to ask a question. What are you doing for our

2i—2

Digitized by

600

NOTALILIA.

Monthly HomcBopathfo
Review, Aug. 1,1608.

materia medical Do you work or do you play billiards ? If
you would all work half an hour a day, I think not one of you
realises the amount of work you would do. For heaven’s
sake do something. It seems to me that most of you would
have a few of us cut up your meat and put it in your mouths.
Wake up and do something.”

It would do us all good here in England if we would regard
this emphatic call to duty as addressed to ourselves.

* * # #

It will be within the recollection of our readers that last
year a committee was appointed at the meeting of the Medical
Institute to arrange for the erection of a statue of Hahne¬
mann in Washington, as a memorial of the Columbian year.
A model of the proposed statue was placed on the platform of
the meeting of Congress. It is to be erected as soon as the
funds come in. These funds seem to hang fire very much ;
considering that America is the land of dollars and of
homoeopaths, we may say very much indeed. A hundred
thousand are asked for, and, so far, hardly five thousand
have been promised.

* * * *

Mr. Ernest Hart has been in Chicago stirring up the people
on the impure nature of their water supply. In an address
before the Chicago Medical Society he demonstrated the
dangerously unwholesome character of the water supplied to
the grounds of the World’s Fair, that derived from fountains
labelled “ Sterilised Water ” being as full of bacteria as any
other. Four times as much water was, he said, passed
through the sewers into the town as was being pumped out
of the Chicago river, and all this polluted sewage was there¬
fore being poured into the lake whence Chicago draws its
water supply. At the same time Mr. Hart said that Lake
Michigan, unfouled by sewage, presented a very pure source of
water supply. Thereupon the Chicago Herald gives as 44 head
lines ” to the report of Mr. Hart’s paper such as the follow¬
ing: “The Best Fluid on Earth,” “ Ernest Hart concludes
that the Supply from Lake Michigan is the Purest in the
World.” Some of the Chicago newspaper men are beyond
question the 44 finest blowers ” in the universe !

❖ * * *

The Chicago Inter Ocean has the following interesting and
instructive story in a recent number:—Last autumn certain
Chicago physicians urged all old school physicians to vote
against Governor Fifer because he had appointed a homoeo¬
path, against whose qualifications no fault could be found,
as surgeon-general of the National Guard, and pledged Judge

Digitized by

MonthljrHomcdopathie
Bariev, Aug. 1,1893.

♦NOTABILIA.

501

Altgeld to a higher appreciation of their school if he were
elected Governor. He was elected, and now Dr. Vincent,
the father of the surgeon-general, has been appointed by
Governor Altgeld and the State Board of Health a member
of that board, while his fellow members have chosen him as
their President ! Anti-homoeopathy wire pulling doesn’t
seem to pay in Chicago, but rather the reverse.

* * a *

During the month of May the Ladies' Aid Association of
the Rhode Island Homoeopathic Hospital honoured them¬
selves by recognising the untiring devotion of Dr. Talbot, of
Boston, to hospital work and hospital extention in holding a
reception in his honour at the Trocadero Hotel, Providence.
Addresses were delivered on “ Hospital Work as a Typical
Philanthropic Work ” ; on “ The Origin and Growth of
Hospital Work " ; on “ The Citizen and the Hospital,” and,
finally, by Dr. Talbot, on “ The Needs and Helps in Hospital
Work.” As a practical result of the gathering $4,000 were
raised in aid of the hospital

ANNUAL HOMEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

The Congress will this year be held in Northampton on
Thursday, the 28th of September. Papers are to be read by
Dr. Pope, Dr. Edwin A. Neatby and Dr. Cash Reed. The cir¬
cular will be in the hands of our colleagues by this time. In
it full particulars are given, with the reason for the unavoid¬
able change of day from the 21st to the 28th.

DR. ROBERTS BARTHOLOW.

Wk learn with much pleasure, from the New York Medical
Times , that this distinguished Professor of Materia Medica,
whose serious mental breakdown, early in 1892, occasioned
such genuine sorrow to all earnest cultivators of therapeutics,
is now perfectly restored to health, both in mind and body,
and is again practising his profession.

MEDICAL INCOMES.

The New York Medical Times (July) informs us that “ from
the official returns of the Director-Geueral of Direct Taxes it
appears that the medical profession occupies the lowest
position of all the professions in point of income. The
notaries come first, advocates next, engineers and architects
are a good third, and last of all come the doctors, with an
average of professional earnings of little more than half that
of notaries.” A similar inquiry in England would reveal

Digitized by

502

OBITUABY.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Be view, Aug. 1,1808.

some startling truths, amply sufficient to make many a young
man hesitate before entering at a medical school. Some
time ago the yearly report of the medical officer of
one of the new-fangled arrangements, known as medical
institutes, for sweating members of the medical profession
for the benefit of the so-called 44 working classes,”
appeared in a provincial newspaper. The income given to
the doctor was £200 in cash—£50 of which represented 100
midwifery fees and £80 for the use of a part of an ill-
drained and inconvenient house in a back street. During
the year, his professional engagements, on behalf the 4,000
members of this medical institute, numbered 19,500! Of
these, 100 were obstetric; 6,500 visits at the patients’
dwellings; 80 surgical operations ; the remainder were con¬
sultations at the surgery, examination of candidates, tooth
drawing, and so on. Being worked out, this gives a pro¬
fessional payment of 2£d. for the performance of each
professional duty!

OBITUARY.

J. KAFKA, M.D.

The Revue Homceopathique Beige (June) informs us of the
recent death at Prague of Dr. Kafka, who had resided there
since 1846, and had been known as practising medicine
homceopathically since 1850 or 1851.

Dr. Kafka graduated at the University of Vienna in 1886.
He commenced the active exercise of his profession at Metnik,
a small town in Austria, removing in 1846 to Prague. An
epidemic of croup occurred in that city in 1850, and baffled
all the resources of the therapeutic methods of the time.
During its course, Kafka was visited by an old fellow-student
who had studied homoeopathy, and who now induced him to
test the value of the remedies it suggested in meeting the
disease which was causing so much consternation. Doing so
successfully, he was persuaded by the same friend to make a
systematic and experimental study of Hahnemann’s doctrine.
From this time he practised homoeopathically, and constantly
exerted himself to promote the further knowledge of the great
truths he had thus been led to adopt as the basis of his thera¬
peutics.

His earliest contributions to medical literature, which were
ever of a practical character, were made to a monthly journal
published at Prague by Dr. Altschul, afterwards to Hirschel’s
Neus Zeitschiift fur HomoopaihUche Iilinik , which was pub-

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HomoBopathio
Review, Aug. 1,1883.

CORRESPONDENCE.

508

lished at Dresden, and then to the AUgemeine Homoopathische,
Z titling, of Leipsic, of which he wa9 from 1871 to 1876 the
editor.

The work by which Dr. Kafka will be best remembered by
Continental physicians, he published in two volumes,
between 1865 and 1869, entitled Die Homoopathische Therapie
auf Gnimllage der PhysiologiscJum Schule ; ein Practischen Hand -
hitch fur Aertzc, welche die homoopathische Heilmethode kennen
lenten tend am Krankbette versuchen wollen. From a patho¬
logical and clinical point of view this important contribution
to medical literature was thoroughly up to date in its
scientific details ; while therapeutically, the indications for
remedies are given with great completness, and he is no less
careful and thorough when treating of the diet and regimen
needed in each form of disease, and in pointing out the con¬
ditions in which the different kinds of mineral waters have
been found useful. “It is,’* says Dr. Marting, in the Revue
Homceopathique Beige, “ a work which was prepared not by a
theorising physician in his study, but by a skilful practitioner
at the bedside.”

For a long series of years his practice at Prague was most
extensive, and his clientele one of the most influential
character. His death occurred on April 80th, in the 85th
year of his age.

His son, Dr. Theodore Kafka, is a physician practising
homoeopathy at Carlsbad, where he has resided for many
years.

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE DATA OF “MEDICAL ETHICS.”

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review. 1 *

Gentlemen,— Now that Mr. Knox Shaw has accepted the
chief responsibility for the circular-and-post-card expedient
(which, in my opinion, Dr. Dyce Brown has very fitly
characterised), and has sought to defend it on the lofty ground
of “ ethics,” it may be not unprofitable to enquire just what
44 ethics ” is. “ Ethics ” is the science of right conduct, but
Mr. Shaw, when he speaks of “ ethics,” evidently refers to
44 medical ethics,” and thus confounds two entirely
different things: “Medical ethics” is no science at all;
it is merely another name for 41 medical etiquette,”
or something even less dignified than that. “ Medical
ethics” is the voice of the medical “Mrs. Grundy,”

Digitized by

504

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1868.

as represented mainly by the British Medical Journal , if that
periodical may not even claim to have invented it. It has
nothing whatever to do with the essential right and wrong in
conduct, but only indicates the prevailing sentiment of the
dominant sect in the profession as to what is expedient from
the standpoint of its own interests. To judge by the
“ medico-ethical ” column of the British Medical Journal , the
first object of “medical ethics ” appears to be to prevent
allopaths from cribbing one another’s patients (which they
would seem to be always endeavouring to do); and the second,
to prevent members of the British Medical Association from
having professional relations with honest homoeopaths, though
it has no objection to their associating with dishonest ones,
who traduce Hahnemann, whilst they are making their repu¬
tations by appropriating the fruits of his labours. In the name
of “ medical ethics,” homoeopaths have been turned out of
societies and denied all the civilities of professional life; and
now we are gravely asked to shape our conduct according to
the bidding of the eminent authority, which has inspired
every species of injustice to which homoeopaths have been
subjected ! I have heard of turning the cheek to the smiter,
but this is something very different—it is blacking the boots
of the kicker—and no previous ethical authority that I ever
heard of was so “ ethically developed ” as to recommend this.

Whilst fully allowing the goodness of Mr. Shaw’s intentions,
I must enter my protest, along with that of Dr. Dyce Brown
and others, against both his policy and his methods. In
homoeopathy we have a public trust. We owe nothing of it
to the profession, which has done its best to prevent our
learning anything about it, and which slanders it day by day.
All we have to consider is how we can best counteract the
misrepresentation of the dominant sect. This is only to be
done by taking the public into our confidence and defying the
medical Mrs. Grundy. The laws of our country as they refer
to medicine I will respect; the unwritten law of the allopathic
sect is nothing to homoeopaths. To my thinking, the
stratagem adopted to crush that most useful and necessary
work, the Howeeopatliic Directory , is as bad in ethics (the
larger kind) as it is in homoeopathic politics. If Messrs.
Keene & Ashwell do not see their way to publish the new
edition they have prepared in the face of the opposition,
perhaps others may undertake to issue it, with the names of
our medico-ethic ally developed colleagues omitted.

Your obedient servant,

, John H. Clarke.

Digitized by L^OOQle

Monthly Hamosopathio
Brriew, Aug. 1, 1898.

CORRESPONDENCE.

505

THE HOMQSOPATHIC DIRECTORY.

To the Editors of “ The Monthly Homoeopathic Review

Gentlemen, —On receiving the circular from our ethical
friends I at once wrote to Mr. Knox Shaw, as the representa¬
tive of the party, expressing my objections to the movement
for destroying the completeness, and to that extent the
utility, of the Directory . But after reading the letters on the
subject in your last issue I feel constrained to ask you to
allow me to express those objections in your pages.

It will be noticed that no question is raised in the circular
as to the utility of the Director, which has been found so
great that one has been called for at intervals for over the last
20 years, and now it is proposed to discard it on newly dis*
covered ethical grounds. If these grounds could be shown to
be substantial I think our junior colleagues would find they
were not alone in their desire to act rightly, but that the
homoeopaths as a body were equally desirous with themselves
to conform to ethical rules.

In the circular it is not stated where ethical propriety is
violated, but in Mr. Knox Shaw’s letter to the Review , he
writes that “ a separation of ourselves from the general body
of the medical profession in the form of a directory, if meant
for the benefit of the public, is a distinct method of advertis¬
ing, to which a body boasting to be guided by a truly scientific
spirit should not condescend; and if it is intended for pro¬
fessional use should be superseded by membership of a learned
society, such as the British Homoeopathic Society.”

This I take to be a succinct statement of the position.

To the first count in the # charge (though qualified by an
“ if ”) that it is a distinct method of advertising—I give a
decided denial. It is no more a method of advertising than
Churchill's Directonj or the Medical Register is. To speak
of a dull little book containing dry lists of doctors and
chemists at home and abroad with nothing ad captandum
about it, and that has withal to be bought of the publishers
for 2s.—to speak of this as advertising is really too absurd.
Think of the writer of a new book confining his announce¬
ment to the pages of the Directory with a view to spreading
his fame abroad! One would suppose that our dissentient
colleagues were living out of the world and did not know
what advertising meant. They have only to look at the
newspapers and journals and other agencies for attracting
attention, to recognise the difference between spreading one’s
wings abroad to flutter and catch the public eye, and shutting
oneself up in a book that offers no inducement for anyone to
look inside it unless for the specific purpose of finding &

Digitized by

506

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1898.

doctor’s address, or what chemists there are in a town to
which a patient may be going*

But there is the second count in the charge, and perhaps
Mr. Knox Shaw and his co-signatories attach more value to
this, viz., “ if it is intended for professional use it should be
superseded by membership of a learned society."

Now, the greater includes the lesser, and the fact that the
Directory in former years used to give a list of the members
of the British Homoeopathic Society along with the lists of
foreign practitioners, of practitioners and chemists at home,
and the public hospitals and dispensaries—all this shows that
a list of the members of a learned society is not in any way
or in any sense an equivalent for the Directory and cannot
take its place. We require more information than any list of
members of the British Homoeopathic Society will furnish.
But underlying this objection of Mr. Knox Shaw there is
the implied condemnation of a separate list of homoeopathic
practitioners for any purposes whatever on the ground of its
being “ a separation of ourselves from the general body of
the profession." Now this separation, unless it be done for
objectionable purposes, can hardly be considered a question of
ethics at all, as no moral right or wrong is involved; it is
simply a question of etiquette, a question of manners and
usage.

Now, let us see how we stand with regard to this point.

The publication of the Register and of Churchill being
accepted, and their pages being open to the profession
and the public alike, how far is a sectional list from them in
accord with modem custom? We must all admit that as
medical science advances it becomes too extensive to be
completely covered by the body of general practitioners.
Specialism in practice is unavoidable—along with this inevit¬
ably goes specialism of mention. One section of the profes¬
sion entitled to registration is already in possession of a
separate list. We have a “ Dentists' Register , printed and
published under the direction of the General Council of
Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom."
Here the principle of sectional publication i3 sanctioned by
authority. Then as to usage. There is a useful Medical
and Surgical Emergency Reference Book , published by
Silverlock, Blackfriars Road, in which, amongst much
other useful information, we find lists of practitioners
in London and the provinces who have written on
special diseases, and who are classified under the
different headings, with their professional titles and
addresses. I should not be surprised in future, to find Mr.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1, 1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

507

Knox Shaw, and some others, appearing there in their own
division, along with other names of note. If our circular
signatories will look over this list, it will probably open their
eyes to what is recognised as professional usage. Further,
would any one object to the lady practitioners of medicine
having a list of their own, and, too, the midwives if they
obtain registration ? So we see that our supposed breach of
professional etiquette is no breach at all, it is common, and
what is more, it is necessary, and will become more and more
necessary as time goes on, and the intricacies of professional
work increase. Our own claim to a separate list is that we
are specialists in treatment, in so far as we recognise and act
upon the law of similars.

In conclusion, I would say that if this little Directory stood in
the way of a reconciliation, and its removal would unite the
two sections of the profession, we should all be willing to
forego what advantages it offers. But can anyone suppose
its suppression would accomplish that desirable result ? Is it
not clear that, as Dr. Dyce Brown says, it would be but the
first concession we were called upon to make, to be followed
by a demand for others of infinitely greater importance ?

As no good is therefore to be gained by suppressing the
Directory , and as it is clearly not advertising, and as it is
quite in accordance with modern usage, I hope the objections
to it will fall through, and that the few signatories to the
circular will withdraw their opposition, and in a spirit of
loyalty to the body of homoeopaths, and in maintenance of
the desirable esprit de corps , refrain from any action of the
kind that does not accord with the sentiment of the majority,
and that can only result in spoiling the usefulness of a work
on which we are dependent for a variety of important and,
indeed, necessary information.

Yours &c.,

Birkenhead, July 15, 1898.

P. Pboctob.

SHALL WE HAVE A DIRECTORY?

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review

Gentlemen,— The circular sent to members of the
British Homoeopathic Society by its honorary secretary, has
had the effect of deterring Messrs. Keene and Ashwell from
publishing an up-to-date edition of their Homoeopathic
Directory , as a large number of the members have refused to
allow their names to appear in that directory.

Digitized by

Google

508

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homooojmthi©
Review, Aug. 1,1898.

It is supposed and alleged that the Annual Supplement of
the British Homoeopathic Society’s Journal is a sufficient
directory for the homoeopathic practitioners of this country,
and obviates the necessity of any other directory. But is
that so ?

What is the use of a homoeopathic directory ? Is it not
chiefly to enable patients to see where they can obtain
homoeopathic treatment in any place where they may be
taken ill ?

Does the Annual Supplement fulfil this requisite of a
directory ? This question must be answered in the negative,
for the Annual Supplement does not contain the names and
addresses of any practitioners who do not belong to the
British Homoeopathic Society. Then the Annual Supplement
is not an independent publication that can be purchased over
the chemists’ counter, but can only be had by buying the first
number for the year of the Journal of the Society at the price
of 2s. 6d., which may be a very reasonable price to the
medical man who wants the Journal and does not want the
Supplement , but is an excessive price for the non-medical
patient who wants the Supplement but does not want the
Journal. Again, the Supplement only gives the names, titles
and addresses of the practitioners entitled to admission to its
pages. But the possible patient who requires a directory
wishes to know at what hours he can see the doctor, and he
might probably desire to know what works the doctors have
written in order that he may apply to the one who has made
a speciality of his own disease. Moreover, the patient may
be about to travel on the Continent, and he would naturally
like to know the names of homoeopathic practitioners in the
places he may visit. But he will find no information of this
sort in the Supplement.

So that on the whole, the Supplement is almost useless as a
directory, and a real directory is of immense importance to
the numerous patients who are in need of a doctor.

Keene and Ashwell’s is a most useful publication, and quite
fulfils all the requisites of a directory. It contains, or might
contain, if practitioners would consent, the names of all
qualified men who practise the homoeopathic system. It
gives their consulting hours, their qualifications, their
appointments and their published works. In addition to
this, it gives as perfect a list as can be obtained of the
homoeopathic practitioners on the Continent and in many of
our colonies.

I have heard it objected to Keene and Ashwell’s directory,
that it is not always correct, especially as regards the addresses
of our continenj&l brethren. There may be some defects here;

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Aug. 1,1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

509

but as a rule I have found it wonderfully correct and conse¬
quently extremely useful to our travelling patients. I have heard
it said that the information conveyed in the Supplement is quite
correct, but recent experience has taught me that this is too.
flattering an estimate of the work. I was wired for one Sunday
morning lately to come to a patient in a popular suburb. I
found her very seriously ill, and sought to obtain the
assistance of the local homoeopathic practitioner, whose
address I had taken the precaution to ascertain from the
Supplement issued this year. I drove to this address, but was
unable to discover my colleague. I interrogated everyone I
met in the locality indicated in the Supplement —inhabitants,
milkmaids, nursery-maids, &c.—but none could give me the
slightest information as to his whereabouts. I had to tell my
patient that I could not find the doctor, and recommended
her to call in an allopath if necessary. Fortunately, some one
in the hotel she was at knew the homoeopath’s address, and
he was sent for, but no thanks were due to the Supplement for
his discovery. He afterwards wrote to me that he had
removed from his old residence, and that if I had only asked
a policeman I should have been told his address at once.
But as a policeman is never to be found when wanted, I had
no opportunity of questioning one, and my reliance on the
accuracy of the Supplement proved illusory.

As we are now practically without a real directory, I would
advise my colleagues in their own interests, and still more in
the interests of actual and potential patients, to assist with
their co-operation, or at all events not to oppose, the publica¬
tion by Messrs. Keene and Ashwell, or any others who may
undertake the task, of a real useful directory of the homoeo¬
pathic practitioners at home and abroad.

Yours, &c.,

R. E. Dudgeon.

To the Editors of “ The Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen, —When I was asked by my colleagues to sign
the memorandum recently circulated relative to the Homoeo¬
pathic Directory , I did so with an expressed reservation. As
I understand from various sources that my name, together
with others, has been influential in determining signatures, I
should like to briefly indicate my attitude on this question.

I do not see my way to concur with my good friends who
desire the abolition of the Directory purely on the ground of
an infringement of professional ethics. Ethics in this co¬
relation, is a borrowed and misleading term; it is conditioned

Digitized by

510

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1, 1808.

by a fluctuating standard of professional use and wont, which
is always undergoing expansion and alteration to meet the
needs of medical men in their professional intercourse. Our
“ ethics,” to carry with it moral obligation, requires that our
conduct be conditioned by an abiding conception of what
homoeopathy requires from us, as its stewards, as well as by
the current limitations that professional usage imposes. We
have thus, in our ethics, a wider purview than that of the
profession at large. I am awaiting with interest a clear
demonstration that our policy, as the administrators of
homoeopathic interests, requires the suppression of such
agencies as directories.

But it is very clear that no progress will be made by
homoeopaths as a body without a well-planned organisation of
forces. The recent rejuvenescence of the British Homoeo¬
pathic Society has therefore my heartiest sympathy and aid:
and on the ground of the support given by the great majority
of British homoeopaths to the aims of the Society, I signed
the circular in question as tending to further consolidate its
influence. I hold it to be a cardinal defect in the working of
small organisations to have energies wasted in competition:
and as the Society now issues an annual printed list of its
members, with accessory information, I would prefer to use
as my Directory the Society’s category. As a Directory issued
by private enterprise contains exactly what names the irre¬
sponsible editor chooses to insert, we have no kind of control
over the inclusion in a heterogeneous list of men whose con¬
nection with homoeopathy is merely a nominis umbra. The
immense advantage of the Society’s list is that every man
whose name therein appears has the imprimatur of the Society
as a homoeopath in theory and in practice; and if Messrs.
Keene k Ashwell content themselves with adopting the roll of
members of the British Homoeopathic Society as their British
list, I for one should have no manner of objection. An
authorised version such as this would command the confi¬
dence of all.

The present controversy has clearly proved that British
homoeopaths as a body are by no means prepared for the
omission of a professional list of somewhat wider circulation
than merely among the members of the British Homoeopathic
Society. A decided majority appears to find use in and help
from such a fully issued list; and our business is not only to
educate the party, but to conserve the professional interests
of the individuals. This question generally indicates a well
marked line of cleavage in the forward policy of our homoBO-
pathic organisation; and it is desirable to have every shade of
view clearly represented that injustice be done to none. I,

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1, 1883.

CORRESPONDENCE.

511

have no sympathy with machine politics, or with the tyranny
of majorities; and it would be an unjustifiable error in tactics
to impose the views, however strongly held, of a section of
men upon the remainder, on a non-essential point.

Free speech will far better solve this difficulty than free
writing; and I have accordingly suggested, and the suggestion
has been received with favour by Dr. Dyce Brown, that oppor¬
tunity be given at the ensuing Congress meeting to talk over
the matter from all sides. Amicable discussion will be much
more serviceable than pen and ink deliverances ; and a Con¬
gress, in which our provincial brethren are well represented,
may present us with points for consideration which London
men are apt to overlook.

Yours faithfully,

George Burford.

20, Queen Anne Street,

Cavendish Square, W.

THE HOMOEOPATHIC DIRECTORY.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen, —As one whose name is appended to the circu¬
lar asking our colleagues not to allow their names to be
published in the Homoeopathic Directory, I shall be glad to
state briefly (1) that I take no exception to the manner in
which Messrs. Keene & Ashwell have published this volume;
(2) that I have no particle of hope that the withdrawal of the
Directory will do anything to check the persecution of those
who openly acknowledge their belief in the value of the
homoeopathic principle, but (8) it is a fact that so long as a
Homoeopathic Directory is published it is open to any prac¬
titioner who thinka it may serve his interest to do so, to put
his name into it, the names of medical practitioners,
who have a proper regard for the dignity of their profession,
as well as for the/truth of the homoeopathic principle, will be
found side by side with those whose names also appear
appended to advertisements in the daily papers. The British
Homoeopathic Spciety has some control over the ethical
conduct of its members, the publishers of the Homoeopathic
Directory have none, therefore I think the majority of
homoeopathic physicians have a direct interest in dis¬
countenancing its further issue.

I am, Gentlemen,

Yours respectfully,

, Percy Wilde, M.D#

Digitized by

512

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE HOMOEOPATHIC DIRECTORY.

To the Editor of the Homoeopathic Review .

Gentlemen,—Will you kindly allow me space in your pages
for a few remarks on the above subject ?

The advocates of a special directory for homoeopathic
practitioners urge that its issue is a part fulfilment of a duty
they, as practitioners, owe to the public. They contend that
that portion of the general public who wish to be treated
homoeopathically, should have a readily accessible opportunity
of ascertaining who are the medical men who can and will so
treat them. No sincere and honest homoeopath denies the
practical necessity of affording this information ; but among
others who have signed the protest against the issue of the
directory, I am one of those who think such a way of
affording the information derogatory to the character of
homoeopathy, and to our position as medical men.
The question is a very important and delicate one
when it is raised and urged as a part of profes¬
sional duty. The position is a peculiar one, and has no
parallel by comparison with the prospective issue of any other
directory. The information desired to be conveyed is
peculiar. Who are the believers in a particular scientific truth,
by comparison with those who do not believe in it ? Who are
the practitioners of medicine who carry on their practice in ac¬
cordance with this belief, by comparison with those who do not ?
This is the information a directory must give. Here are
implied assumptions on the part of a section of the profession,
of a certain standard of truth, and a certain ideal of practice
not reached by the general body of the profession. Are
these warranted ? Do they permit of dogmatic assertions, and
if so, by comparison, is the doctrine relatively or absolutely
true, and is the mode of practice the only reliable one, or simply a
4 * more excellent way ” ? All these questions are implied,and stand
waiting their answers when any corporate action is taken in
view of the spread of information relating to homoeopathy.
And the very fact of these questions having to be brought
under consideration demands an extreme delicateness of
treatment when any proposal is made to impart information
on the subject. It would not do for those who are firmly
persuaded of the truth of homoeopathy to adopt a pharisaic&l
attitude to the general body of the profession, or for homceo-
pathists to borrow any of the trades union tactics which have
been so freely used against them by the profession at large.
To my mind, the issue of the directory lays us open to both
these charges, although there may be no truth in them when
made. In the interests of the truth we have to safeguard
and develop, let us purge ourselves from the very appearance

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, An#. 1,1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

513

of such things, and pursue our faith and practice
consistently and humbly. I use the word humbly
advisedly, because, as yet, homoeopathy has only received a
partial development, and achieved a partial success in prac¬
tice. Or, whence all the existing incurable diseases ? Our
estimate of what it already done by homoeopathy should be
made, not by comparison with what those who will not
believe in it have not done, but by what those who believe
in it may do.

' If this is a true attitude for the professors of a new truth
to take up, the only way they can consistently appeal to the
public and afford information concerning their practice,
is by voluntary association in the pursuit of the truth
they have to safeguard, and let their position and work
as scientific workers by comparison with the general
body of the profession tell its own tale. This homoeo-
pathists do in the British Homoeopathic Society in
their hospitals and dispensaries throughout the country,
and in their distinctive literature. It appears to me to be in¬
consistent with the delicateness of treatment this subject de¬
mands, that medical men, homoeopathists, should allow their
names to appear as such in a special directory issued by a
private firm of chemists. In doing so it seems to me we
lower the dignity of homoeopathy as a scientific truth, andjof
ourselves by contact in a public manner with business enter¬
prise and professional advertisement. It is quite beside the
mark to say that advertising is practised “ under the rose ”
in the higher ranks of the profession. If it is, each man is
responsible for his own acts, and two blacks do not make a
white. In the special nature of the designation “ homoeo¬
pathic " a directory cannot be divested of its corporate
element.

It is also beside the mark, and not true, to say that the
directory is the only way of affording the necessary informa¬
tion. The membership of the Homoeopathic Society is a
nearly complete representation of homoeopathic faith and
practice in the country, and the names of the members are
accessible to the public. But even if this were not the case
the information should be voluntarily withheld until some cor¬
porate plan free from objection could be devised.

When the present “ forward movement ” of the Society has
attained its complete development, which, thanks to the hon.
secretary, it bids fair shortly to do, all objections to the claim
of its being fully representative Tyih have disappeared.

These, gentlemen, are the private opinions of
Yours very faithfully,

July 18. Giles F. Goldsbrough.

Digitized by

Google

514

CORRESPONDENTS

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Aug. 1,1893.

NOTICES TO CORR ESPONDENTS.

* m * We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscript*.

Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. N ratby.

London Homoeopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,
Bloomsbury. —Hours of attendance : Medical, In-patients, 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30, daily; Surgical, Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 : Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.30 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist, Mondays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2 ; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

Communications have been received from Dr. Clarks, Dr. Dudgeon,
Dr. Goldsbrough, Mr. Knox Shaw, Mr. Cross (London) ; Dr. Ord
(Bournemouth) ; Dr. Murray Moore, Dr. Hawkes (Liverpool); Dr.
Clifton (Northampton); Dr. Mason (Leioester) ; Dr. Percy Wilde
(Bath); Dr. J. Wilds (Weston-Super-Mare) ; Dr. Wilkinson (Bolton-
le-Moors); Dr. Cash (Plymouth) ; Dr. Andrew Nratby (Sutton);
Dr. Theodore Green (Birkenhead); Lieut-General S. Phelps
(Birmingham).

Dr. A. C. Clifton, of 65, Abington Street, Northampton, has taken
into partnership Dr. Wm. Ross, who is practising at that address.
Dr. Clifton and Mr. Wilkinson are no longer in partnership.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Homoeopathic World. London. July.

The Clinical Journal. London. July 18.

The Medical Pioneer . London. July.

Medical Reprints. London. July.

The Chemist and Druggist. London. July.

Report Birhheck Building Society.

New York Medical Record. June and July.

The North American Journal of Hornceapathy. New York. July.
The Medical Times. New York. July.

Childhood. New York. July.

The New England Medical Gazette. Boston. July.

The Hahnemann ian Monthly. Philadelphia. July.

Homoeopathic Physician. Philadelphia. July.

Medical Century. Chicago. July.

Daily Medical Century. May and June.

The Clinique. Chicago. June.

The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine. June.

Medical Argus. Minneapolis. June and July.

Pacific Coast Journal of Homoeopathy. San Diego. June.
Homoeopathic Envoy. Lancaster. July.

Bulletin GMral de TJUrapeutiaue. Paris. July.

Revue Homoeopathique Beige. Brussels. June.

Archiv. fur Homoeopathic. Dresden. June and July.

Leipziger Pop. Zeitschrift. fur Horn. July.

Homaeopathisch Maandblad. The Hague. July.

The Annals of Electro-Homoeopathy. Geneva. July.

---— i -

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pops. 19,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dvca Brown, 29, Seymour 8treet, Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby, 161 , Haventock Hill, N.W. Advertiae-
menta and Businem communications to be sent to Meaera. B. Gould St Son, 69,
Moorgaie Street, E.C.

Digitized by

£lS*5Jr^Tiaw? ,lc the homoeopathic congress. 515

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

THE HOMCEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

In our issue of this month will be found full particulars
of the proceedings of the Congress, as planned for the
present year. We have no doubt it will be a very suc¬
cessful meeting, and we trust that all homoeopathic practi¬
tioners, who have it in their power to come, will do so.
It is the more important to urge this, as the annual
Congress is unlike ordinary meetings of societies. At
local society meetings, only the members within a com¬
paratively small circle meet, and even at the British
Homoeopathic Society in London, comparatively few
from any distance are able to be present, and this only
occasionally. But the Congress, being a meeting of
homoeopaths from all parts of the Kingdom, is unique in
its aim. There, men who otherwise would never or
rarely meet one another, make and renew acquaintances
in a most pleasant manner. Thoughts are exchanged,
friendships cemented and pleasant associations revived
in a way that no other means attain. After a well
attended Congress meeting, the general feeling of pleasure
and gratification arising from meeting old friends, and
gaining pleasant acquaintance with new men, is
always most evident, while the combination of business
with pleasure gives a zest to the day that would not or
Vol. 37, No. 9. 2 —k

Digitized by

Google

-516 THE HOMCEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

could not result from a mere reunion at a dinner. We
trust therefore that, as we have already said, all who can
possibly be present will make a point of doing so.

The Address of the President, Dr. Hawkes, of Liver¬
pool, is sure to be interesting and racy, while the papers
are so varied that, in the hands of those who read them,
they will be full of interest, and afford excellent material
for discussion. We understand that a general desire
exists that some opportunity should be given for a round¬
table talk on the matter of the Homoeopathic Directory,
and, in fact, we hear that a numerously signed requisi¬
tion to the President is proposed, requesting that some
time should be allotted to this subject. The time of the
■Congress is already pretty well filled up, and we fear that
if this new subject is brought up for discussion, the time
in the afternoon which has been arranged for seeing the
places of interest in Northampton will be much curtailed.
But the decision on this point must be left to the
President, in accordance with what he finds to be the
wishes of the Congress.

Northampton is a most interesting town in which to
meet. Not only has it been for many years a strong¬
hold of homoeopathy, for which it is largely indebted to
the energy, hard work and professional skill of Dr.
A. C. Clifton, to say nothing of those personal qualities,
which have endeared him to all who know him, pro¬
fessionally or otherwise, but, in itself, Northampton
is intimately associated with many of the most interest¬
ing historical events of the Kingdom. A few of the
places of interest are named in the circular, which
appears in this number of the Review , while the short
sketch of the history of Northampton, which we append
to these remarks, and for which we are indebted to the
pen of our President, Dr. Hawkes, will be read with
much pleasure, and will add to the interest of the
meeting. Those who can remain over the following day,
will be well repaid by the pleasures kindly arranged for
them by Dr. Clifton. The following is the sketch kindly
sent to us by Dr. Hawkes :—

Northampton.

The early history of this town is not well known, but
it is supposed to have been successively occupied by the
Ancient Britons, and the Bomans.

Digitized by AjOOQle

THE HOMtEOPATHIC CONGRESS. 517

For the purposes of this short sketch, it will be sup¬
posed that visitors will approach from the south by way
of Bletchley, and from the north by way of Rugby.
Those arriving from the south, on nearing the town,
will be on the site of interesting historical scenes. They
will pass through the battle-held on which was fought, in
July, 1460, the important engagement between the Con¬
federate Earls, March, afterwards Edward the Fourth,
who married Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Richard
Woodville, of Grafton, Northamptonshire, and the Earl
•of Warwick; and Henry the Sixth. It is said that ten
thousand of the King’s soldiers were either slain or
■drowned in the Nene. Shortly after his defeat, the king
was led as a prisoner to Northampton.

Beyond the battle-field lies Delapre Abbey, which was
•originally founded by Simon de St. Liz, the younger,
Earl of Northampton ; but little of the older structure
remains incorporated with the present mansion.

A little beyond Delapre, about a mile from the town,
stands Queen’s Cross. It will be remembered that many
crosses were erected, one at each of the places where
Queen Eleanor’s hearse rested on its way from Harby to
Westminster. Only three of these remain, but of course
the connection between these ancient crosses and the
new erection at Charing Cross is well known. The
architect employed to carryout the pious wish of Edward
was John de Bello. “ The whole structure is a composition
of peculiar elegance and beauty, and is in the early
English style of architecture in transition to the
•decorative.”

Close to, in the same parish, is an early encamp¬
ment occupying a commanding position, called Dane’s
•Camp. Excavations have rewarded the labours of anti¬
quarians, and have helped to throw much light on the early
frequenters of this spot (in 920).

Passengers from the North, after passing Rugby,
will leave Ashby St. Ledgers on their right, where
Robert Catesby assisted to project the Gunpowder Plot;
Fawsley, famous for its association with the mar-prelate
tracts; and Daventry, near which the famous
Roman and British fortification of Borough Hill,
the Beneventa of the Britons, and the Isanna-
varia of the Romans. The whole district is rich
in Roman remains. The deep railway, cutting here

2 K—2

Digitized by

Google

518 THE HOMOEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

afforded many beautiful fossils from the oolite formation.
But the train speeds on, and passes Althorpe, lying
between Holdenby House, the former prison of Charles
I., with its beautiful arches, which stood in Charles’s
time, and Brington, where is the last resting place of
Laurence Washington, a direct ancestor of George
Washington.

“ Glorious Althorpe ”—for while the well-planned
avenues of trees, the beautiful pictures, and above all the
model agricultural landlord who can boast a family
relationship with the author of the Faerie Queen remain,.
the word Ichabod—where is the glory?—need not be
inscribed above the portals, although the library has gone.

And now the train passes Kingsthorpe, where Charles-
I. used to play bowls, and it, like the one from the
south, stops at Castle Station and the two contingents,
like the two converging streams of the Nene, can proceed
together. “ Castello fortior concordia ” says the town's
motto; may its visitors find it so. The Castle, the last
vestige of which was removed to enable the railway
company to complete their designs, was built by St. Liz
soon after the Norman conquest. Some houses near are
built with stones from the Castle. Here Shakespeare
locates the pathetic scene of Prince Arthur and Hubert

“ The wall is high, and yet will I leap down,

Good ground, be pitiful and hurt me not.”

Had he done so he would have fallen near to the place
where Carey, cobbler, missionary, and oriental scholar—
was publicly baptised in October, 1785.

Hard by is Dr. Doddridge’s Chapel. As the journey
towards the centre of the town is continued, St. Peter’s
Church, which must be critically examined, is passed,
and some old houses where Cromwell slept, it is said
before the battle of Naseby, June, 1645, where

“ . . . hapless Charles beheld his fortunes cross'd,
His forces vanquished, and his kingdom lost.”

A short walk brings the pedestrian to All Saints
Church. A former structure was consumed by fire in
1675. It was begun to be rebuilt in Charles H.’s reign.
He gave a thousand tons of timber towards its recon¬
struction, hence his statue above the ionic pilasters.
Beneath this shelter John Clare, the Northamptonshire
peasant poet, used to sit and watch the children at play*.

Digitized by AjOOQle

E^Sffs^TSS^ 110 THE digestive organs.

519

until a safer asylum was of necessity provided for him.
It saddens one to think that he who loved the fields so
well, wrote the following lines while under the restraint
his mental affliction demanded :—

My Early Home.

• • • • •

The old house stooped just like a cave,

Thatched o’er with mosses green ;

Winter around the walls would rave,

But all was calm within ;

The trees are here all green agen,

Here bees the flowers still kiss,.

But flowers and trees seemed sweeter then;

My early home was this.

St. Sepulchre’s Church; Becket's well; for Thomas
,a Becket was summoned to Northampton a little before
he was assassinated ; Abington Abbey, where Susannah
Hall, Shakspeare’s daughter, spent some of her time;
and, if possible, Naseby field should be visited.

Much more might be written, but the writer must
refer the inquirer to the works of Bridges, Baker, Whel-
lan, De Wilde, Story, Cherry, and to reprints from the
Northampton Mercury .

.ON SOME FUNCTIONAL DISEASES OF THE
DIGESTIVE ORGANS, WITH THEIR HOMEO¬
PATHIC TREATMENT.*

By D. Dyce Brown, M.A., M.D.,

Consulting Physician to the Hospital.

In delivering a post-graduate lecture, one feels the diffi¬
culty of avoiding what is well-known to you all, when at
the same time one has no original investigations to
Teport, or new discoveries to announce. But it is
.possible to place in a fresh light what is not new, and
perhaps to add to the knowledge of gentlemen of the old
school who may favour me with their attendance. I
have chosen the subject of some functional diseases of
the digestive organs, as one which comes to the
front in practice every day, but which demands

* Being the first “ Quin” lecture, delivered January 6th, 1893, at the
London Homoeopathic Hospital.

Digitized by

520

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS,

careful and minute study, in order to be successful in
practice.

In taking up this topic, I shall avoid, as a work of
supererogation, the description of the diseases, such as
one can find in any book, and which you all are familiar
with. There is nothing new to be said here. But it is
the therapeutics of these disorders which distinguish the
new school from the old school, and in a post-graduate
lecture delivered at the Homoeopathic Hospital, it is only
in harmony with the fitness of things that our chief
attention should be directed to treatment. And I hope that
what I have 1 6 say will add to the knowledge, and throw
new light on the practice of gentlemen of the old school.

The disorders of the digestive organs which I propose
to treat of in this and the following lectures, are dyspep¬
sia, and gastric catarrh of the chronic type. It is almost
impossible to separate these two complaints pathologi¬
cally. The one merges into the other, so that the same
case might be styled one or the other, according to the
views of the observer. In gastric catarrh, difficulty of
digestion is an essential feature, while in dyspepsia,
there is almost always present more or less of the catarrh¬
al element. And, in fact, all functional disorders of
the stomach go in a sliding scale, merging insensibly
into one another, from acute gastritis, and acute gastric
catarrh, to chronic gastric catarrh and dyspepsia. When
one speaks of functional disorders, it is to distinguish
them from those dependent on organic, or permanent, or
incurable alterations of structure. But it is admitted
now by all pathologists that no organ can be working
abnormally without there being present for the time a
pathological alteration of the normal tissue. Even in
pure neuralgia, which used to be looked on as the type,
facile princeps , of functional disorder, it is now known
that there is a minute alteration of the relation of the
nerve tissues involved.

In treating of dyspepsia and gastric catarrh, it is
practically useless, from a therapeutic point of view,
to discuss them and their treatment on theoretical
grounds. If we do, we are sure to be led off the proper
tack in treatment. We may believe that it is a case of
“ acid dyspepsia 99 for example, when the gastric juice
is excessive, or altered in composition; or that the
gastric juice is deficient in quantity or abnormal in

Digitized by LjOOQle

521

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1, 1888.

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.

quality, or that the peristaltic action of the stomach is
enfeebled, allowing of the food to lie too long in the
stomach, without being passed on to the duodenum in a
normal way; or that it is arising from excess of flatu¬
lence, or from disordered innervation. It is all very well
to have such a theoretical view of the case, but this does
not lead us nearer to the appropriate treatment in
administering drugs. We do not know in any given
case, why the gastric juice is excessive, or how much in
excess it is, or in what way it is altered in character.
We do not know why it is deficient in another case, or
how much deficient it is, or why in another case the
stomach has lost its peristaltic power, and allows itself
to remain distended with flatus and food. We do not
know these points in such a way as to guide us to drug
selection. And when we look at the symptoms, we
cannot tell why one patient’s tongue should differ so
much in appearance from that of another, why pain of
one kind should exist in one case, and a different pain
in another; why there should be headache iu one case,
and not in another, and so on with all the symptoms.
The only safe guide to treatment is to put aside theory,
and analyse all the symptoms. The objective ones
observed by ourselves, the appearance, complexion and
temperament of the patient, the state of the tongue, the
state of the stomach and heart, and bowels, as elicited
by physical examination, and, very specially, the sub¬
jective symptoms, in minute detail, that we elicit from
the patient himself by questions. Nor is it enough to
observe the symptoms of the disordered organs alone.
We must go fully into every possible detail of the general
health, and the state of every organ in tho body other
than the specially affected parts. For as we are told in
Scripture that if one member suffers all the other mem¬
bers suffer with it, so in practice we can do much
towards selecting the right remedy by noticing what we
might call the outside symptoms, which vary remarkably
in each individual case. We thus form in our minds a
picture of the entire disease as it presents itself to our
view. Having done so, or while in the act of doing so,
we call to mind the drug which causes on the healthy
body an exactly similar picture of disorder. We know
that a medicine which produces a picture of symptoms
closely resembling those of our patient, muBt act on the

Digitized by LjOOQle

522

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS,

diseased organ, and in the same way as the cause of the
disease as we see it, and the more minutely the drug and
the disease so correspond, the more sure are we that the
drug acts not only on the organ but in the most intimate
manner on the structures involved, and in an exactly
similar manner. We thus make the one fit into the
other, and by our law of similars, that will be the remedy
for the individual case. It is therefore absolutely
necessary for success that we individualise each case,
and that we do not treat a name, or by a theory, else
the result will be failure.

With these preliminary remarks, which are necessary
when others than those of our own school are present,
I propose to take up the consideration of the treatment
of cases of gastric catarrh and dyspepsia. The most
graphic way of doing this, and the one I think most
likely to impress itself on our minds is, not to describe
various cases, and mention the drugs which are indicated,
but rather to take up the individual drugs we chiefly
use, and draw a picture of their action. In this way the
corresponding case will occur to everyone’s mind, from
experience. And it is remarkable, and I would beg our
friends of the old school to note how remarkably the
different remedies do correspond to actual cases of
frequent occurrence in practice. Such a relation, or
correspondence cannot be a mere accident, but it is evi¬
dently part of the great “ reign of law ” as indicating
the true remedy in different cases of disease. This rela¬
tion is that of “ similars,” and those of the old school,
who now-a-days have learned to use some of our drugs,
must know that their virtue can be explained in no other
way than the “ similar ” relation, or in other words, the
homoeopathic.

The first drug I shall sketch for you is nux vomica , a
medicine which is now largely used by the old school as
a so-called “ tonic,” but was first introduced, and its
place in treatment pointed out, by the great Samuel
Hahnemann. If used simply as a “ tonic,” it will in
many cases fail, and because its true and accurate sphere
of action is not known out of our school, it is combined
with other so-called “ adjuvants,” which are often any¬
thing but adjuvants.

In the first place, there is a particular type of patient
that is especially benefited by nux , and that is a person

Digitized by ^ooQle

the digestive organs.

523

•of active, vigorous, quick and irascible temperament, or
one of a cautious, phlegmatic disposition. Such persons
are generally thin, or spare, and wiry. The complexion
is brunette, or pale, not at all of the fair blonde type.
This observation was made by Hahnemann, and has
been amply confirmed by all homoeopaths since his day.
It corresponds more to the male than to the female sex,
and it is found practically that it is specially a man’s
medicine, and it suits women whose type approaches the
character I have just noticed, rather than those of the
blonde type, with fair hair, blue eyes, and an easy, gentle,
good-natured disposition. These are important points
to keep in view, as they may lead to a selection of nux
in preference to another remedy, when both seem to a
•certain extent to be indicated. But I need hardly add
that this is not to be made a rule for the selection or
rejection of nux . It is only one of the whole group of
symptoms which form the picture of the drug disease.
The nux patient will come complaining of pain in the
stomach after food. Not only this pain, but the whole
•disordered state is aggravated by eating. The pain does
not usually begin immediately after food, but some little
time after, from half-an-hour to one or even two hours
after. This pain is not of the burning, raw feeling
which corresponds, as we shall see to arsenic , but grades
from the mildest form of heaviness or weight in the
•epigastrium, as if he had eaten too much, to the sensa¬
tion of heavy weight or dead pressure, or to a pain of a
pressive, cramping character. The stomach invariably
feels distended from flatulence, and to relieve this the
patient unbuttons the clothes. With this state there is
more or less tenderness, making pressure with the hand
•or from a tight dress very uncomfortable. A sense of
nausea after food is frequently felt, going on, it may be,
to actual vomiting. Flatulent eructations are a constant
.symptom, which may even have a foul taste, but by no
means always so, and eructations of sour fluid are com¬
mon, giving rise to heartburn. There is little or no appetite
—often a positive distaste for,food. There is a frequent
or constant bad taste in the mouth, especially in the
morning, the breath is offensive, and often certain
articles of food taste bitter. The tongue is important
to notice, as mix shows a most characteristic tongue. It
is clean, or fairly so, in the front half, but at the back it

Digitized by AjOOQle

524

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. fwwt

is covered with a thick, yellowish-white slimy coat.
Whenever this tongue is present nux is almost certain
to be indicated. Headache is an almost constant
element in the nux disease. It is worse in the morning,
as well as after meals. And here let me request you to
note that all the nux symptoms are worse in the
morning as well as after food. The aggravation in the
morning is very characteristic of nux . The sufferer wakes
unrefreshed, with afoul tongue, bad taste, sense of nausea,
headache, and often foul-tasting mucus is vomited. The
kind of headache which nux presents is important to
note. It is felt in the forehead, from temple to temple,,
or often at the back of the head. The sensation is one
of fulness, a hot, congested, heavy aching, or throbbing,
and the eyes feel heavy and full. There is a marked
disinclination for work, especially for mental exertion.
With this condition, constipation is invariably present,
you rarely find diarrhoea, or even regularity of the
bowels. There is a particular form of constipation
characteristic of nux . It is not complete inaction, with
absence of desire for stool, but on the contrary, the
patient feels the desire and a sense of uneasiness from
want of relief, but is unable to get a motion, or perhaps
has a small unsatisfactory one, and has to go again after
a time to find the same result. It would seem, in fact,
that the peristaltic action of the bowels was spasmodic,
or irregular, producing a sense of uneasy desire, with
unsatisfactory result. The urine is usually more or
less cloudy on standing.

The nux patient sleeps badly, and the form of sleep¬
lessness is characteristic. He goes to sleep in the early
part of the night, perhaps heavily, wakes at 2 or 8 a.m.,
lies wide-a-wake for a long time, while thoughts crowd
into his mind, and prevent his getting off to sleep again.
Towards morning he again sleeps, and heavily towards
the usual waking time. When he is called he is sleepy,
unrefreshed and disinclined to get up. He feels heavy
and sleepy also in the evening between dinner and
bed-time. The temper of the nux patient is irritable
and cross, and he worries about trifles.

This picture will at once call to your minds cases that
are constantly occurring in practice, in those who lead
sedentary lives, take little exercise, and at the same
time eat too well or too much, and drink too much

Digitized by ^ooQle

526 -

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Sep. 1,1803.

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.

alcoholic stimulants; and in fact, when one finds that
such are the habits of life of his patient, it is an addi¬
tional reason for the selection of nux , and in selecting
it one will be amply satisfied with the results.

Nor do we require to use large doses, such as are
employed by the old school. In fact, minute, or so-
called “infinitesimal” doses often answer best. The
dose must be determined by the individual case, the
more or less susceptibility to medicines, and the pro¬
minence, or otherwise, of certain of the nux features
over others. My own experience leads me to give a
rough rule, as follows: When the gastric symptoms are
the prominent ones, and the constipation less marked
or less troublesome; when the patient tells you all
about his stomach, and does not mention the consti¬
pation till asked about it, then the lower dilutions, the
2nd or 1st decimal, answer perfectly, rectifying the
constipation, as well as the other condition. But if, on
the other hand, the constipation is the chief trouble, the
one the patient specially complains of, and where you
only ascertain the gastric state and the other symptoms
by questions, then the 3rd centesimal, or even higher
dilutions, answer far best. In such a case you may do
no good at all to the constipation by giving low dilutions.
This is perhaps a rough rule, but I have found it a very
practical one.

I shall now speak of sulphur, as in many cases
especially those of long standing, it greatly assists the
action of nux vomica , although, per se , it is not so special
a remedy in gastric catarrh and dyspepsia.

I think I am not wrong in stating that the majority
of our old school brethren do not understand the action
or value of sulphur . It is generally known only as a.
purgative in large doses, and as a remedy in chronic
rheumatism. But its value in the shape of natural
waters should lead to a more thorough study and under¬
standing of it.

Sir Alfred Garrod, in a recent lecture on sulphur , has
contributed more to the old school information regarding
sulphur , than any one else in his school, and his lecture
might almost read as a homoeopathic one. The source
from which he gets his information is not difficult to
suspect, as in no other than homoeopathic works will
you find similar information.

Digitized by LjOOQle

526

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. M b^®i£m!wwl

Sulphur is essentially a remedy for chronic diseases.
It is hardly ever used or called for in acute illness. It
is the type of certain remedies which show in their
provings the elements of chronicity, and its action is
specially seen in the venous system, and complaints in
connection with venous engorgements. As the late Dr.
Bayes termed it, it has the characteristic of “ venosity.”
There is hardly an organ of the body, or a tissue of the
body which is not affected by mlpltur , and its action is
also of the chronic or venous type. It produces catarrh
of mucous membrane generally, from nasal catarrh to
that of the whole respiratory mucous membrane, causing
chronic pharyngeal and laryngeal catarrh, chronic
bronchial catarrh, and engorgement of the lungs of a
passive type. In the stomach and bowels, the provings
show most of the symptoms of chronic catarrh and dys¬
pepsia, and the same sluggish catarrhal state of the
bowels. The liver becomes engorged, with the portal
•circulation, and constipation and haemorrhoids follow.
In chronic skin affections, and rheumatism, its power is
well known from the action of waters containing more or
less sulphur . So, in practice, there is hardly a single
chronic disorder in which sulphur is not indicated at
some time or other. In fact it is, with us, a remedy of
daily use. Another feature of it was observed by Hahne¬
mann, and the observation is amply borne out by all
practitioners since his time, viz., that it has the power
of rousing up a sluggish state of the system to reparative
action. Gases of a chronic type frequently occur where
the system does not respond, as we expect, to the indi¬
cated remedy, but stands still in progress. Here if a few
doses of sulphur are given, the system is roused to action,
and the indicated medicines at once show their beneficial
effect.

In the cases we are now considering—gastric catarrh
and dyspepsia—if of any standing, the use of sulphur in
conjunction with nux vomica is attended with the very
best results—results such as are not so fully, or so
quickly obtained by the nux alone. Thus if one dose of
sulphur is given in the morning (the morning is the
preferable time, though it will often answer well at bed¬
time) and nux during the day, two or three times, the
effects are excellent, and as I have said, in chronic cases,
better than if nux is given alone. It seems to give a

Digitized by ^ooQle

lU^fSTSSa? 110 THE DIGESTIVE 0RGAN8.

527

fillip to the whole organism. This is especially the case
when constipation is troublesome ; sulphur given alone
for constipation is often quite enough to produce regular
action.

And you will observe, that in curing constipation,
either alone, or as a part of general gastro-intestinal
disorder, it is a cure, and not a mere palliation. There
is no purging—nothing approaching to it. Purging,
however mild, can only be obtained by irritating the
bowel more or less, and hence a purgative never cures.
The dose has to be constantly repeated to the manifest
detriment of the digestive apparatus. But in our treat-
ment the medicines simply stimulate the bowels, the
mucous membrane, the nervous supply, and the muscular
coat, to normal, healthy action. Hence, when once
the normal action is obtained, regularity ensues, and
the case is cured, unless, of course, the patient
from careless treatment of his digestive organs,
allows himself to relapse into his former state.
The dose of sulphur for curative purposes is of wide
range. The crude doses of the old school are
never required, and are only injurious. But in the*
range of minute doses almost any dilution will answer.
The tinctura sulph . fort . is a saturated solution in
alcohol, and dissolves about 1 in 1,000. Drop doses of
this once a day often answer well, but still better
results are got from more infinitesimal dilutions. Thus-
the 3rd centesimal is a very generally used and successful
one. But beautiful results are obtained from the 6th,
12th and 80th dilutions. The latter—the 30th—will
sometimes act at once, when lower dilutions do not
touch the case, and as a general rule, the more chronic
the case is the more likely will the high dilution act
best.

The next drug of which I shall sketch a picture
is one that till lately was unheard of, except in the
homoeopathic school, viz., pidsatilla, or meadow anemone.
Becently some of the leading wholesale chemists have
been advertising it as a uterine remedy, the source of
their information being very evident, as in the first
circular issued quotations as to its action were taken
from four writers, and these four were all homoeopaths.

But though a great remedy in the uterine sphere, this
is by no means its only action. In the first place, it has

Digitized by LjOOQle

•528

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.

like mix vomica , a special type of body and temperament,
which, as Hahnemann pointed out, was pre-eminently
suited for it. That type is the blonde. The complexion
is fair and delicate and transparent, the eyes blue, the
hair fair and soft; the disposition is soft, gentle, and
easy-going, but emotional, and easily giving way to
tears. This you will at once see is the description of
the female contrasted with the male. And so we find
that puUatilla is characteristically the female medicine
as nux vom . is that of the male. One has to prescribe
jmUatiUa almost daily for women, while it is not com¬
monly indicated in males; but, on the other hand, in
men who approach this feminine type it answers
beautifully. When this type of body and temperament
is present, provided the other symptoms indicate
puhatiUa, you may be sure that that is the right
medicine. Besides its action on the ovario-uterine
sphere, in which it causes and cures amenorrhoea, ovarian
congestion and neuralgia, and pelvic pains of uterine
origin, at or before the period, the great sphere of action
of putsatilla is on the mucous membranes. It causes there
a catarrhal irritation of a sub-acute and chronic type,
associated with free secretion of mucus . Thus, beginning
at the head, the pulsatilla case shows tendency to
blepharitis, with free meibomian secretion, conjunctival
redness, with free secretion; in the nose, the
type of catarrh is that after the acute stage is over
and when there is very free secretion of mucus or
muco-pus, not thick, but requiring constant blowing of
the nose. In the respiratory mucous membrane, the
cough is attended by the same very free expectoration of
mucus or muco-pus, which comes away easily and
profusely. There may be some tracheal or bronchial
catarrh, or actual bronchitis, characterised by this free,
easy and rather profuse expectoration. The same type
of catarrh appears in the uterus and vagina. The cervix
secretes mucus or muco-pus freely, a certain amount of
redness being visible at the os, and from the vagina there
is a free flow of leucorrhoea, generally of a bland type, and
of a whitish-yellow appearance. There may be some
catarrh of the bladder, causing frequent desire, some
uneasiness in passing urine, and on examining the
urine, a marked quantity of mucus is found. You thus
«ee what a marked power it has in producing in mucous

Digitized by LjOOQle

^wf^TiS3 th,e THE digestive organs.

529

membranes all through the body, the type of catarrh
which I have described, viz., that associated with a
marked amount of bland free secretion of mucus or
muco-pus.

Coming now to the stomach, and associated organs,
we find the same or a similar condition of matters, a
marked state of mucous catarrh. The pulsatilla patient
has little appetite, sometimes there is a feeling of hunger,
•or rather craving for food present, but this vanishes
when food is placed before her. After partaking of food,
there is a sense of uneasiness or discomfort, not so much
of actual pain, although the food may feel as if it lay
undigested. But a sense of general uneasiness in the
stomach, with feeling of distension, and a desire or
necessity for loosening the clothes is more characteristic
of pulsatilla. Then follow acid or sour risings, with
•eructations of sour flatulence, the gulping up of a taste
of the food previously swallowed, and a sense of nausea.
Heartburn from the acidity, is a very frequent, or almost
•constant accompaniment. The sense of nausea may
•exist simply as nausea, with the presence of the taste of
the food in the mouth, or actual vomiting may ensue;
the vomited matters being sour or acid, and with a
marked quantity of mucus mingled therewith. Especially
is this condition of matters caused by rich or fatty food,
•or by such indigestible foods as pork. The special
relation of pulsatilla to disorders produced by fatty, rich
food and pork was noticed by Hahnemann, and universal
experience corroborates this observation in finding
pulsatilla the remedy for dyspepsia produced by such
food, particularly in women. The mucous membrane of
the stomach is evidently in a catarrhal state of irritation ,
with much mucus secreted; the food ferments and de¬
composes, forming lactic and butyric acids. The tongue
of the pulsatilla patient is a very characteristic one,
■quite different to the nux vomica tongue. It is a white
tongue, not covered all over with a uniform smooth creamy
•coat, which is characteristic of antimony , but it is
•coated thickly with a rough white fur, or in other
•cases, the white rough fur coats only the posterior half.
There is an absence of thirst, but a dry feeling in the
mouth. These two conditions, if we observe closely,
are quite distinct. There may be dry mouth and
marked thirst along with it, but in the pulsatilla patient

Digitized by ^ooQle

530

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. l t 18B3.

the dryness is marked, but with no thirst or desire for
drink—only a desire to moisten the mouth. For this
distinction we are again indebted to Hahnemann’s acute
observing powers. With the dryness there is a bad
taste, rarely bitter, but a foul, sour, or even sometimes
a salt taste. The pulsatiUa patient is always worse in
the evening, contrasting in this with nux vomica , in:
which, as I before stated, the patient is worse in the
morning. The bowels are usually inclined to be loose r
not always amounting to diarrhoea, but a tendency to
looseness rather than the reverse. The stool is soft and
markedly mucous, and the action usually takes place in
the evening, while, if there is actual diarrhoea, it is in
the evening or at night. The pulsatilla patient has
almost invariably headache. The pain is of a heavy,
aching, or occasionally throbbing pain. It is located in
the forehead and over the eyes, or in the temples, and
very often on one side only, and that the left. She is*
easily upset in emotions, and gives way to tears for
trivial causes, or, as she will tell us, for no reason at
all.

Such a condition is the frequent concomitant of dis¬
turbed uterine health, as amenorrhoea with leucorrhcea.

This picture which I have endeavoured to sketch will
recall to your mind many a case in practice. The details*
of the sketch are most important to keep in view, for in
selecting our remedy, we must try to find a drug which
not merely corresponds to the gastric conditions, but to
the totality of all the symptoms, and the more closely we
do this, the more sure are we to hit the mark. Besides,
then, the gafetric symptoms which I have described, if
the patient is fair, gentle, soft, emotional, and easily
given to tears if she has the headaches I have noticed,
if her tongue is the one sketched, if the bowels are
inclined to be relaxed, if she is worse in the evening, if
she is liable to catarrhs, or has one present, in the nose,
or trachea with free secretion of mucus, if especially
the menstrual functions are disordered, in the way of
amenorrhoea, more or less pronounced, with a marked
amount of leucorrhcea, and with more or less pain or
uneasiness at the period, and with corresponding malaise
at that time, your choice of the remedy will be* easy. Of
course, all these symptoms may not be present, but the
type is there. PuUatilla is an unique remedy. No*

Digitized by LjOOQle

^ewf^Ti ^ 6 THE digestive organs.

531

medicine in the old school corresponds to it in the
least, and those who remain wilfully in ignorance of
it, deprive themselves of one of the greatest medicines
that God has given to suffering humanity. I am not
sure if Ringer introduces it in his later editions, but in
Dr. C. D. F. Phillips' work (of Westminster Hospital) on
Therapeutics , in which he ignores Hahnemann and
homoeopathy, though he practised as a homoeopath for
jears before coming to London, we find pulsatiUa named,
.and the indications for it on precisely the lines I have
drawn. The dose of pulsatilla, like most of the
important remedies of our school, varies in the hands of
•different practitioners. Usually the lower dilutions are
prescribed, from the 8x to the lx, and this is my own
practice. But very often, in sensitive patients, the
3rd centesimal, the 6th or the 30th acts most satis¬
factorily.

The further drug treatment of the disorders we have
been considering I must reserve for my next lecture,
-as time precludes my going further at present.
But, in conclusion, you will notice that I have
•devoted my remarks entirely to the drug treat¬
ment, and have said nothing of diet. This is not
because I place little importance on dietary directions,
quite the reverse. It is useless, and opposed to common-
sense, to treat a disease, such as those of the stomach,
we have been talking of, with medicines alone, while we
allow the patient to take any food he or she likes. As
long as the stomach is incapable of digesting ordinary
food, it is simply worse than useless to “ stoke ” and fill
the organs with what must only keep up the irritation
already existing. But dieting and what are called
general directions belong to no school, and the rules are
the same whether the patient is treated homceopathically
or otherwise. I know many men are very careless in
giving full dietary directions, and those who are
so neglect an important part of their duty as
physicians. The role of the physician is to cure
his patient as quickly and thoroughly as possible
and he must advise his patient as carefully and
minutely as to diet and general rules as he does in
the choice of the medicine. Such careful directions help
the action of the drug by giving it fair play, and the
results of those who are careless on these points contrast
Vol. 37, No. 9. 2—l

Digitized by

Google

532 REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS.

markedly with those of men who think nothing too
trivial to notice and advise upon. I do not, therefore,,
go further into this point, as the dieting, &c., must
depend on each individual case, and the savoirfaire and
accurate observation of the physician must be called into*
play, not by giving cut and dried printed rules, as many
doctors do, but by individualising each patient and.
directing what is to be taken and what to be avoided in>
each case. The use or non-use of alcoholic stimulants-
comes under the category of dieting. What is good for
one is bad for another, and must be left to individual
observation and judgment.

One adjuvant I may here notice, as its use is almost
confined to the homoeopathic school, and they learnt it
from hydropathic practitioners. That is, the wet com¬
press. A couple of folds of soft calico, wet with tepid
water squeezed as dry as possible, and covered with oil
silk, and this again kept in situ by a flannel bandage,
when placed on the stomach, or over the whole abdomen
at night, is of immense service. It should be thus
worn every night, till recovery takes place, unless it
causes redness and irritation of the skin. It has a
remarkably soothing effect on the nervous system, pro¬
moting sleep, and removing restlessness, while it, in a
most marked manner, soothes the irritation of the
mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels, promoting
digestion, preventing or relieving flatulence, and also
regulating the action of the bowels.

A PROPOSED HANDY REFERENCE BOOK OF
PROVINGS.

By W. Theophilus Ord, M.R.C. S., Eng., & L .R.C.P., Lond-

In the treatment of a difficult case, when unusual symp¬
toms develop, or where an unfamiliar combination of
symptoms presents itself, a busy practitioner is often
tempted to resort to empiricism in his choice of a drug,,
rather than sit down to a study of provings. This pro¬
cedure, illogical as it is in those who are usually guided
in their practice by the law of similars, has a very
practical origin. The fact is that searching for the
simillimum to a train of symptoms is a laborious task, and
makes a far greater demand on the time at one’s dis¬
posal than many of us can afford to devote to it. The

Digitized by ^ooQle

REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS. 583

more conscientiously the attempt is carried out the
more tedious does it become. This, too, in spite of the
success which has attended the efforts of the able editors
of the Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy in bringing care¬
fully collated and sifted provings within reach of all. A
striking example of the labour occasionally involved is
given in last January’s Review , p. 4, where “ two solid
hours ” are spoken of as the time that was required to*
determine the selection of the remedy in one instance.

A careful consideration of these facts has brought me
to the conclusion that it is quite possible to condense
(without detracting from their value) all the symp¬
toms known to have been produced by the drugs in
common use within the capacity of one convenient volume,,
and this in a manner which makes every symptom not
only immediately accessible, but traceable to its source
for further reference if required. In fact the desideratum
to produce a reliable and handy reference book of
provings for the consulting-room table, a glance at
which would tell us whether the action of the drug in
our mind corresponded with the totality of the symptoms
of the case before us; and which should they not
correspond, would suggest analogous remedies for our
consideration.

The annexed condensation of the provings of arnica ia
a specimen of the method adopted. In this, all the
symptoms from the Cyclopedia are incorporated in
schema form, omitting only those which are obvious
repetitions of previous symptoms in the same proven
To these are added from Hahnemann’s Materia Medica
Pura: (1) leading symptoms ; (2) any symptoms which
accentuate or exemplify those from the Cyclopedia ; (3>
special symptoms, corresponding with the general action
of the drug, which are not found in the Cyclopedia , but
may be of value. To economise space a careful com¬
pression of language has been permitted where neces¬
sary. It would be impossible, I found, to combine all
the symptoms of the Hahnemannian medicines in any¬
thing like the space at our command, hence a selection
was inevitable, the object being to produce a useful and
reliable handy book, not a mere collection of every
recorded symptom.

All the materials so obtained are combined in a
schema which embodies three important departures from

2 L—

Digitized by

Google

534 REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS.

the usual form. These will, I think, redeem it from the
stigma attached to other arrangements of symptoms.
They are briefly: (1) that every symptom can be readily
traced to its source; (*2) that every symptom has its
relative value attached; (3) that the identity of each
prover is maintained throughout.

Following each symptom are one or more small letters
above the line, like algebraical symbols. Each of these
letters corresponds to a certain prover, and is attached
to every symptom experienced by him throughout the
proving. The “ Index to Provers ” heading the schema
gives the number in the Cyclopcedia belonging to each
prover, which corresponds to each of the letters I have
used. Symptoms obtained from Hahnemann are de¬
noted by the capital letter H. Thus, for example, the
letters e p* h after a symptom indicate, on reference to
the index, that it is recorded in each of the provings
numbered 14, 7, and 16 respectively in the Cyclopcedia ,
and also that it occurs in the Materia Medica Pura.

Several varieties of type are used to suggest the rela¬
tive importance of symptoms. The most characteristic
are printed in thicker letters to more readily catch the
eye. Those that are recorded by practically all the
provers have no letters following them, and are indicated
by the largest type. The minor symptoms are in small
type. Following the schema is a list of the leading
symptoms in their usual order of sequence in the provings.
With this as a guide the symptoms of any prover culled
from the schema may be arranged approximately in their
order of occurrence, and thus each proving maybe made
to exhibit its totality of symptoms in perspective. I
have also added details of additional symptoms noticed
in cases of poisoning, of observations derived from post¬
mortem examinations, and made from experiments on
animals, when any are recorded.

I have added, for the convenience of the busy practi¬
tioner, a Clinical Guide side by side with the symptoms,
and also a list of analogues, or drugs which produce
similar symptoms, corresponding with the clinical guide
on the other side of each page. I have to thank
Dr. Nankivell for these two valuable suggestions. They
will, I believe, prove specially of use in refuting that
form of scepticism which, whilst availing itself of our
methods, refuses credit to the fact that the successful
use of a drug is invariably borne out by the provings.

Digitized by

Google

reference book of provings. 535

From six to a dozen proofs of Hahnemann’s dictum will
appear on an average in every page of my schema.

Abbreviations have been avoided as tending to con¬
fuse, the only ones permitted being P. for “ pain,” E. for
“right side,” and L. for “left side.” The brackets are
used to enclose conditions and concomitants of the
symptoms they adjoin.

Several of the polychrests are completed, and I hope
to have all the usual drugs ready for publication as a
Handy Reference Book of Provings in a few months’ time.
Meanwhile any suggestions and advice from brother
practitioners will be gratefully received and carefully
considered.

Bournemouth.

ARNICA.

Arnica Montana, L. Leopard’s bane. Nat. Ord., Composite.

PROTINGS: Numbers are those in the Cyclopaedia; Hahne
mannian provers are denoted by “ H.” “ A ” is No. 12, a

summary of effects on 8 proyers; others are: —a=14,
b==9, c=8, d=6 (Kneschke), e=5, f=3, g=4, m=6 (Seyffert),
n=6 (Strofer), p=7, q=10, x=16, y—17.

CLINICAL TUTT-KT-n. tt . . . . , . u ANALOGUES

guide. MIND: —Hypochondriacal anxiety, —

Depnsaion and over-sensitiverness* — depression,* —disincUntd NuxV .
anxiety from for exertion* or work/” 1 —cannot fix thoughts,
o^afte^n- —want of memory, H —faculties impaired/—
juries. waking drea ms , H —cheerful "* [unusually/— Igna '

gay"]-

HEAD CONFUSION [and fnlness/ Aeon,
body. anxiety*] YERTIGO VivA [dunng dinner,”— Bplud>

whilst walking, H — in forehead , H —on railin'/ 0e i,
head."] PRESSURE"** [slight,*—on R.°] Rush B ryon.
of blood™ [to forehead K ]. Heaviness." HEAT"

B Mif 1 frSnwM [und chilliness in body"],—burning in brain." Lachesis.

“»•. Aching t. apxa [severe, 1 ’—slight on R.,“—BeU»a.

iiflSue uid stupifying,"— worse lying down"]. One-sided s . ^
rheumatic aching. 1

p. ac- FRONTAL REGION PRE88IYE Aconite.
SmpSSns. ACHING PS. VnwH [in orbits/— in orbits and Bryon
temple/—in L. half and eye t with nausea /—
over eyes towards temples as if skin spas-

Digitized by ^ooQle

536 REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS. wfs^lfiws?

CLINICAL ANALOGUES.

GUIDE.

Various Ps. es- medically contracted”] • Shooting P/ H [with Verat.
bSw^J 7 a C ra- stabbing d "—with jerking worse by raising Beiiad.
cuRsioosy etc., eyes"]. Dull P. c Heaviness Constant L.

according to * ^ « vacui*.

symptoms, sided neaemone.

by TEMPLES : (s) P." J “ [stabbing ,*'-throbbimj Mcrc .

and move- aching, increased by warmth — pressive®].

!Sarp an sUi^ Stitches towards forehead P. in L/ M [yVr/.- cham.
natog charac- in 9f footing or tearing*}. Contraction of/
ter- PARIETES : i2) Pressive aching under, and Kb™*

in lachrymal fossse/— aching P. in L. y Wmt.
OCCIPUT: Stabbing P. d Drawing P. 8ulph * u

towards temples* Bar.Car .

(1) Immediate
effects of blows
—swelling, P..
— pallor o f

shock, etc.; (2)
remote con¬
stitutional
effects, subse¬
quent debility,
etc.

Deafness and
vertigo from
falls.

Ophthalmia
from mechani¬
cal injuries
with disturb¬
ance of sight.

FACE*. (11 —Flashed and swollen/ 11 — RhuH '
itching/ 11 — contractions of maxillary China,
muscles/ — heat*—cheeks swollen and painful Hypericum.
as if bruised ,"— pale/—fallen in*

EARS: <3) Noises/”— itching/"— stitches ° eli4 -
and aching,"— singing in R. a P. as from a Quin Sul P h *
blow in L. cartilage* Sod - 881 •

EYES (3) Burning /— stitches,"—contracted Acamte *
pupils* [afterwards dilated and staring "]. ^ .
Sparks before eyes/ R . (2) :—prominence of
ball /— drawing r* — pressive a P. [of inner
half relieved by walking out/— and in
orbitf 1 ]. L. t2) : —itching/ — aching P. ex- Bdiad.

tending to L. half of forehead.®

traces Hamam *

Beiiad.

Epiataxis from NOSE l EPISTAXIS acA “ [ frequent*

Wows. 0 f bi 00( i*]' Occasional sneezing/"—_

0 _ coryza." MSUefl *

Swelling and ul-

vriS^eniarued LIPS*. Burning ami swelling* — angles Nat ' Mur *
gumdaofSeck ulcerate and burn,"—chapped," — pimples* Hhu».

—in middle of lower lip vesicles of clear fluid Baryt.Carb.
drying into scabs , which burn. Al *

MOUTH : <10) — scraping sensation 4/0
[and burnimf] . DRYNESS/" — burning**
[severely 7 *—of palate A ],—acrid feeling lasts Beiiad.
8 days after proving/ —increase of saliva. 1 **

TASTE: BITTER a,h — of rotten eggs*
Dislikes milk and soup,"—desires vinegar." er *

TONGUE :— Burning / — smarting/ — Bry<m.
furred white or yellow/ —dryness of tip.*

* Al signifies that the symptom was experienced by
one only of the provers of the A group.

Digitized by ^ooQle

’Whooping

cough.

&^wr^“?i893? li0 REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS. 537

C GumK. L ANALOGUES.

'^tooth^ache TEETH: ACHING In a sound L. molar." planta « 0 -
/ith p a °and Aching as if roots were being scrapedl ,"— tearing Bryon.

of P. in L. upper molar,"— painless elongation Mere . ^
and loosening. 11

Heartburn, with THROAT I— SCRAPING in gullet [>ind Ar «- Nlt -
emn ^fulness burning* 1 "—with nausea "' 1 — biting, 6 — heart - Merc. Cor.
amihunger. bum ] 6 ". BURNING [severe, descending capcic.

into stomach/ — posteriorly 11 ] . Soreness .' 7 Aconite .

On L. of oesophagus strong pressure up- Alumin
wards and severe stabbing/' Swallowing
difficult 011 [as if from swelling of pharynx, Awen *

.Cough, dry and —from nausea"]. COUGH 0 "" [from obstruction ipecac,
ticidto W and * n larynx an( ^ expectoration of thick phlegm Phoe
blood fron^Si- without relief , a — irritative dry," — in mornings Millefl
jSStfSS dry as from tickling in trachea^—at night
broken ribs, whilst asleep 11 , —with itching irntation m ±5ryon ’

larynx , causing vomiting,' 1 — bloody expec- Hep. Suiph.
toratlon"] • Heemoptysis." Cough with
bruised P. of libs." ^ps.

•Stiff-neck, from N E C K l — P. and stiffness of muscles"" Act . Rac.

? wL”° r l as if bruised"]. Aching P." [ax if collar eon -

sttictedCrampy P. muscles of nape 11 . P. at Bryon.
edge of stemo-mastoid as if in a swollen gland. a
Swelliiui and P. of cervical and submaxittary
glands . H

Ta. and stitches CHEST I— Stifled oppresion as from a Br yon.

ovSexertion, weight/ —twitching of muscles on L., a — Eanunc.

rin middle of L. side,"- near Aconite .
and tender- sternum" J. Shooting P. on sides [on one
new * side with short cough"]. Aching P. lower BhU8 *

end of sternum on breathing." Soreness " 11 Act - Rac *
[and itching in walls*] . Bawness , H blood cheiid.
spat with saliva in walking,"— joints and
cartilages ache as if bruised ."

•Cardiac Ps. from CARDIAC REGION: PRAECORDIAL^ 0 '*-
mu'ftVtTi ANGUISH ' 1 [intolerable, as If heart stopped ]. Spigeiia.
VenVr^cuiVr Bp&sm in praecordla." P- "* if compressed, Gel*®,
hypertrophy or from a blow," Constriction with anxiety Bryonia,
with th so/nk impedes respiration." Stabbing under sternum/
and anxiety. CIRCULATION<»: Stronger heart beats AH Aconite

.Palpitationfrom [afterwards rerg slow"]. PALPITATION/" Veratr.
exertion. p. as if heart were compressed "

shock. PULSE {6) ; Quickened/*'—stronger . 11

JDyNpnocaoffatty Slower and irregularThready , almost
heart * imperceptible. x Ar8 - Iod -

Digitized by

Google

538 REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS.

CLINICAL

GUIDE- ANALOGUES-

Myalgia: EXTREMITIES, IN GENE- Aeon.

... RAL <7) :—ACHING AS IP CONTUSED,” —

miwcieH With inclination to stretch , ?m — weariness , b — trem- Act - R* 0 -

itretch^and b ^ nt Jy —incapable of exertion/ 1 ” Paralytic
stiffness. Ps. in all joints as if bruised on moving , H — Biyon *
tingling P. when shaken or on stepping,' 1
tearing Ps. H 0eK

L S^bii^ d ^ UPPER EXTREMITIES: (3) — bi™.

weari5e«» Sharp twitches towards axillae 11 , p. and
ilto^xdng. ver " ■tifhiess of shoulders" [rheumatic 1 ']. Sore- veratr.
ness under shoulders. 11 Stitches in arms.' 1
Pa. in joints Arms ac l ie (ls *7 heaten/ 1 Tearing” P. [in arms Caust -
from apraina, and hands , H in u rists as if dislocated , M — worse
wer/fatigue* in L/ 1 ] Sharp stitches in wrists and EuU *

RweUiDg w and middle fingers." HANDS : fS) Drawing P»^“—
tendemeaa. feel swollen and tender’' — distended
veins. 11 P. in balls of thumb as if struck.' 1

RIGHT : (l) Tearing P.° [drawing back of Rhus,
hand, ulna side, 0 —violent, on inner side ex¬
tending to little finger and ulna side of fore¬
arm 0 ] . Pressive P. in joints of ring and little
fingers. 0 P. as if bniised in tip of ring finger
on pressure [afterwards tearing P. in arm"].

Sprained feeling and cracldng in wrist/ 1 Merc.

“St. [Muldercold,

hauation. joint to middle nnger,°—as if nerve was
Pa. in bones pulled' 1 ]. A chin g p.° ?/H [i tearing as if in bone Euta -
or^Sows 1 ^ 1 ^ °f arm to r lbow,"—in wrist and palm with itch -
Cramp after vio- mgf —in 1st phalanges of three last fingers°l. Mezer - Merc ■° I -
htitches m foreann as \f broken/ 1 Dramng P.
skin of back of little finger*. Cramp infingers .” Cupr ’

P. in tcrist as if sprained/ 1 Beilis.

^locations ^or LOWER EXTREMITIES/ 0 —Symphytum,
fractures. °* P. in hips as if dislocated,”— in thighs as H ricum
from a blow/ 1 Legs and feet ache/"—sore
on walking." Knees give way.™ Twitching Hr 0 * 5
muscles of thigh / 1 Drawing tension in Mera

Muscular mu8cles °* calf on standing," — dislocation
spasms 0 after P. 171 ankles/ 1 —burning in feet—numb P. Bhus.
Srat£ n ° r imd redness in joint of big toe / 1

RIGHT ; c,) —Tearing P. w " [in hips, ankle
Contusions. and dorsum of foot, 0 — in knee as if struck / 7 —
in calf as if bniised 11 ] . Aching in calf. 11
Drawing P." Shooting P. in tendo Achilles
Sprained ankles, on extension Stitch in big toe." Belli*.

Digitized by ^ooQle

REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS. 539

CLINICAL

GUIDE. ANALOGUES^

LEFT : (3) —Aching P.* u [on stretching Colchic.
leg after sitting ,"— with itching/ — below
°Wo^S d or«er-^ nee ‘ l ] • Pressive P. muscles of thigh. 11
tion. Transient tension buttock and knee.® Tear¬

ing P. a " [ankle, 11 — heel,"—outer leader of foot pula -
with burning on moving , at same time daily, iodum
preceded by creeping 0 ].

burning BACK: — /. IN GENERAL: back- A ctRac -
if ft ^ ui - Hed U) ACHE/ 11 — burning / — P. as if bruised." I » nat -
fai^ cratu- Aching P. as if after continued stooping over Khun.

Strains" * m ^ork/ —cr&mpy P. us if after stooping / Duicwn.

after 1 "’trivial — P* in anterior of spine as if from pressure Ruta

exertion of old 0 f stomach. 1 Rheumatic P. H
people, worse J

£ d 5S5& II' CERVICAL REGION: Aching P. in china,
ing sleep; (3) vertebra on bending forwards . H Tensive

effSs M pressure in spines of last cervical and first phoM P h *

injuries, rail- t W 0 dorsal."
wav accidents

amUock,. ///. dorsal and scapular Aconite.
REGION : Dull Ps/™ 11 Aching y " [between
scapulie," — in L. scapula 1 ']. PressiYc^ 11 P. Coffea *
[superficial between shoulders/ — in R. sub-
scapular," — deep as if from pressure of back of PhoH * Ac '
p £ stomach /— lower angle of L. scapula 0 ]. P.
as if ribs were dislocated from spine. 11 l\ in B. Lgn% ’
scapula as if after a blow." Sore P. in spine chimi .
above and below stomach as if back of stomach
pressed against spine, becoming worst between Act . Rae..
shoulders. 6 Cutting P. into chest. 11 On
pressure, a sharp P. in muscles of nucha and Duicam.

Back-ache from in spines , causing stifling in chest, worst at
^riciS?* ttnd l ast dorsal with constrictive P. like girdle to Bryon.
epigastrium/

Pa. in sacrum IV.—SACRAL REGION: P . as if from a blow,"

from blows, *c — ((S if lacerated." P. shoots on coughing. 11 * P

Nausea with S T O M A C H I—ERUCTATIONS [re-Ant Tart.

peated/"— empty, aH - foul smelling/— like Ac. Carb.
tations like rotten eggs ,”—tasting of drug ° 6 ]. PRESSURE Calc. iod.

crampv AND FULNESS [tension/— after eating, 11 —Coiocyn.

~ as if from a stone 11 —in upper and ant. v>
as from a parts**] . Nausea^"" 1 [and vomiting/"—empty Hydraj ,t.
ing ,ne hunger" r etching"}. Inclination to vomit without Anen
but no appe- nausea. c Emptiness 71 [after meals "]. PAINS (9) „

1116 orf [achiwj/—burning first then pinching and

pressing /—changing to ravenous hunger /— Iodum
undefined, unpleasant”]. Smarting P."

Details of
according
symptoms.

with
Ph. in stomacj
and pressure '

Digitized by LjOOQle

540 REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS. rJJ&t, SepT^u

CLINICAL

GUIDE.

Emptiness after
food.

Crampy Ps. in
back of stom¬
ach to spine,
making back
ache.

' Tympanitis re¬
lie ved by
walking, with
colicky Ps. and
rumbling;
bowels sore to
touch.

Fs. worse by
eating, with
rectal urging
and much fla¬
tus.

Crampy Ps .** 11 [sensation of cramp?—relieved
by a meal ?—with grasping P., n —as if in
posterior wall reaching to spine?—as if walls
were drawn spasmodically together *]. Draw¬
ing" 4 P. Cutting P. c

ABDOMEN; IN GENERAL:—

DISTENSION **” 1 [tympanitic, mth cutting Ps.
and diarrhcca? b —tympanitis relieved by walk¬
ing, *— of small intestines, 6 —very painful on
11. like a sore on touching or moving H ].
Flatulence ,/AH [gurgling, 1 " 1 — rumbling, 11 —
below umbilicus"]. PAINS rp * AH [collicky, rf ' H
—with urging, worse by eating, y —flying/—
constrictive P. in small intestines with much
movement/ — P. on R. as if from con¬
cussion "],

ANALOGUES.

Rhus.

Ignat.

Act. Rac.
Atropine.

Ac. Oxal.

Carb. Veg.
Lycop.

Arg. Nit.
NuxMor.
Dioscorea.
Colocyn.

Cham.

UMBILICAL : Transient stitch as if inverat. a.
small intestines ?—pressive throbbings to Q^b. Am.
epigastrium."

EPIGASTRIUM : Digging and Drawing "•
Cardialgia ",— Flying Ps. A Pressure as if
xiphoid was pressed in? Tightness like a
girdle.

? Ts. during preg- HYPOGASTRIUM : Deep digging P«» Collins,

movements of tightness and distension," — sharp P.
child. through from side to side." Puisat.

HYPODHONDRIUM : Pressive P. on ^ Mur<
R. c " [as from a stone in hepatic region—in
St u v^r ftb o U n Iter or duodenum*]. Flying P. in R. A Pinch- Bryon.
breathing. ing [ n L. splenic rerfion t,H [with stitches," —
under false ribs on breathing"].

URINARY ORGANS:— Frequent Bciiad.

increase ^of micturition, m — urging to urinate" [ineffec-
^ty urine tua1 ’ from strangury"]. Retention. 11 Stran-
after violent gury and involuntary dnbbling ." Stitches in
SSi, or urethra."

URINE: Quantity increased®" [after- canth.
wards lessens#*] . Scanty/ Colour normal, m
—sulphur yellow. a Watery®" [afterwards Aeon.

deposits dark san<l a ].

High sp. gr.“

Phosphates increased."

Bellad.

Dysentery with RECTUM *. — Frequent escape of Mer. Cor.

tenesmus. flatus 11 [smells of rotten eggs n J. Urging *” 1 Colocyn.

[relieved by flatus, small hard stool or suiph.
diarrhoea, 6 "—induced by eating"]. SWELLING Nux Vom.

Digitized by

Google

toriwf^TiSa ? 10 REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS. 541

CLINICAL

GUIDE.

OP HJBMORRHOIDAL YEBSELS A " [and
induced * by aching"], Blind Piles. 11 Pressure in anus
rowing ° r whilst standing*

Constipation in
athletes or
after unusual

exercise.

STOOLS : Dlarrh«a, 6/rM —sluggish,'"'—
rather constipated bx " [firmer and less fre¬
quent^. Irregular b " [small hard faeces and
flatus, 6 * 1 —or liquid 0 ]. Thin and dark , 0 —
pappy." Constipation. 11 Involuntary escape
during sleep.*

ANALOGUES.

Verbase.

Ham&m.

JEsc. hip.

Sulph.

Hydras.

Bryan.

Opium.

Verat. A.
Alum.

■"qSKGENITALS* MALE :—Violent Hyperic.

stitches in glans aH [with itching and rash* 1 ]. Calend
Causeless excitement . 1v Erections without,

^ _ _ «. desire,* 1 —nocturnal emissions. 11 Feeling of

corenew after «
labor, violent weakness in morning.* 1

*orenippies,&c FEMALE: Menses accelerated."

Cauloph.
Act. Kac.
Calend.

Boils in constant SKIN Perspiration. /AH [free*** 1 ]. Itch- Sul P h *
succession, ^ah j- on c best back,"—head and fore- Beiiad.

Erysipelatous head, 11 —outer side L. thigh, leg and foot, silica -

^to" I?, afterwards general*']. ERUPTIONS'"'" [pain- ^7
pimples on face;’ 7 " on lips ,"— pustular acne v J^ t v

-,**?*' burning in R. comer of mouth, 0 —pustules on _ er f '

itlS with 8ide °f forehead "-like small-pox on cheeks"^
perspiration, under eyes"'].

Restlessness SLEEP.’— Disturbed , ka " — restless.™" GelKem -

fati^e ° Ver ’ dreams ,,AH [vivid xn — frightful," — disturb-
ing*'"]. Wakeful till midnight/ Sleeps with
Sleepiness by mouth open/ Sleepy by day. aWru Yawn- Bryon.
in/an ing* AH [which provokes cough,* 1 or shiver- °P ium -
ing"]. Starting and jerking head backwards.” Lycop *

bilityfrom £ GENERAL SYMPTOMS:- AcPh0B .

a^on ^weari- qreAT LASSITUDE [indescribable malaise, m
ew ’ ^wiSi — weariness, 6 —general sinking of strength"]. China.

aching, chilli¬
ness of body.

DISINCLINED FOR EXERT10N, —for

work. bm Incapable of working long/ Great

Ignat.

muscular debility/" Weariness, headache and Aeon.
Hunger, but no sweat on forehead. y INTENSE GNAWING
appetite. HUNGER.*'" RAVENOUS APPETITE,BUT
NO DESIRE FOR FOOD. 61 *' 11 Appetite <li-

vanished, 1 ** 1 —loss of appetite. dy " Appetite Iodura *

C ^ H tS'mc^ increased.^" Chilliness in bed" [on R. side,"
ing. — in whole body,"—rigor**]. Morning fever Arwn '

Traumatic Fever preceded by chill." Dry heat in bed in morn-

ing, worst in head with thirst." Heat in L mp *

Digitized by t^ooQle

542 REFERENCE BOOK OF PROVINGS.

CLINICAL

GUIDE. ANALOGUES.

head but chilliness in body." Sharp pinching g*u.
and shooting all over, worst in face and
M tn>mor U 1 ft r k an< ^ s - H General twitching of muscles. 11 Act * R
p«. a» if braided. Painful over-sensitiveness of body.’ 1 Ps.aggra - Bryon.
rated by speaking, or noise.' 1 Symptoms con¬
tinued for three days after proving.*' Ruta *

ADDITIONAL SYMPTOMS from CASES OF POISONING
WITH ARNICA.

[Numbers refer to cases in Cyclopaedia.]

MIND : From being kind and genial became waspish and peevish
with hypochondriacal anxiety for over one month/ 3 ’

HEAD : As if brain were sore and tender/ 3 ’—oppression and droop¬
ing of eyelids, as if they could not be raised/ 3 ’ Diplopia and
hallucinations of vision for some days. ll7)

CHEST: Tonic contraction muscles of respiration, (10) —distress
about heart, stitches, faintness, feeble and hurried pulse, horror of
instant death. 10

STOMACH : Obstinate vomiting [with vertigo and convulsions]
some days/ 6 —violent Ps. aggravated by hot poultices/ 9 ’—hiccup fo
two days [relieved by Nux Vom.] (15 ’ — gastro-enteritis P.M. (,)

EXTREMITIES : Powerlessness of L. wrist and ankles/ 3 ’—thighs
livid with blue and yellowish marks like a black eye/ 3 ’—hardness of
nates with swelling and tenderness/ 3 ’

SLEEP: Dreams of dying/ 3 ’—deep sleep for 11 hours,—excessive
sleepiness/ 4 ’

GENERAL SYMPTOMS : As if bruised all over/ 3 ’—general tetanus-
of R. side/ 1 *’

SKIN—BY OUTWARD APPLICATION OF ARNICA:— Vesicular
eruption with redness and swelling like phlyctenoid erysipelas/ ,S) —
miliary vesicles like croton oil rash but smaller/ 1 * 0 —may be accom¬
panied with fever/ 1S) Like erysipelas.' 19 Erythema with general
infiltration of cellular tissue about a wound, invading other parts,
with itching and blebs/* 0 Small semi-transparent vesicles with red
bases, heat and itching/* 0 Erythema and pustules/ 30 Applied to
an old sprain of many weeks’ standing produced black discolouration
changing to green and yellow/ 23 ’

TABLE OP SEQUENCE OP SYMPTOMS [/*

0RDER1 :—Burning in throat and mouth,—eructations,—burning in
stomach, — headache, — nausea, — fulness in stomach, — general
malaise,—cutting Ps. in bowels,—hunger but loss of appetite,—
anxiety and depression,—P. and stiffness in some muscles or joints
[probably the site of a previous blow or sprain],—heat and fulness of
head with chilliness of body, — epistaxis, — oppression of chest,—
yawning and sleepiness,—itching of skin,—aching in back,—extreme
muscular prostration as if from over-exertion.

Digitized by ^ooQle

CASE 0F ENGLISH CHOLERA.

543

A RAPIDLY FATAL CASE OF ENGLISH
CHOLERA.

By W. Spencer Cox.

On the 30th of April, 1898, I was called to Mrs. H-,

a lady 62 years of age, of a strong, wiry constitution,
who generally enjoyed good health.

Previous health .—Always had a slight tendency to
diarrhoea, and some years ago had a serious attack,
from which, however, she recovered in a few days. Had
been a little out of health lately, and was suffering from
leucorrhoea.

Present illness .—Till the day before I was called to
see her she was in her usual state of health; at dinner
time she partook somewhat freely of pie made from
bottled cherries. This pie was eaten by other members
of the family and household.

This morning at 6 a.m. she informed her husband
that she had had a bad night, the bowels having acted
six times. She insisted, however, on dressing and
coming down to breakfast, and refused to have medical
advice.

At breakfast she could eat nothing, and vomited
several times.

The diarrhoea continuing, I was sent for at 10 a.m.

When seen the patient was sitting in a chair, bent up
and looking very ill. She was evidently in pain, but
would not admit it. The temp, was 101°. Pulse 90.
Being evidently too weak to move, I carried her up to
bed, and ordered ipecac, lx and camphor pills every half-
hour alternately. Brandy in ji doses. Milk and lime
water to be given in small quantities, and a nurse to be
obtained at once.

About 1.30 p.m. she was seen again. The sickness
had now stopped, the bowels had been open about three
times. The stools were perfectly liquid and of a peculiar
bright saffron colour; patient was lying on her right
side, the legs somewhat flexed, and the face pale and
somewhat shrunken, eyes half open, occasional moaning.
Temp. 102° F.; pulse 100. On palpation of the abdomen
no specially tender spots could be made out; patient
could only be got to answer questions with difficulty,
and would only admit that the pain was bad “ at
times.”

Digitized by ^ooQle

544 CASE OF ENGLISH CHOLERA.

Hot stupes sprinkled with iq xv. of tinct . opii. were
applied and seemed to give some relief. The ipecac .
was now changed for belladonna lx, given in alternation
with the camphor ; and Benger’s food in dessert¬
spoonfuls occasionally substituted for the milk and lime
water. The extremities, which were very cold, were
surrounded with hot bottles and wool.

The patient was seen again at 10 p.m. The nurse
reported involuntary evacuations of the same character
as before, but no vomiting. Extremities warm, general
appearance as before. Temp, had gradually risen to
104’4°; pulse 96 per minute and of fair quality; respira¬
tion 56. Did not answer questions now, but as she
seemed to be suffering more pain, a hypodermic injection
of morphia gr. 1/3 was given, which in ten minutes pro¬
duced sleep. At 11 p.m. the pulse was fair in quality,
the extremities kept warm, and a slight normal perspira¬
tion had appeared. Dr. Blackley kindly saw the patient
with me at midnight, and agreed in the diagnosis
and treatment, suggesting, however, the exhibition of
arsenicum later on; he was inclined to take a hopeful
view of the case. The diarrhoea had now apparently
ceased, and the patient appeared to be sleeping quietly
The case was watched all through the night, and for
some time the slight improvement noted was maintained.
By 2 a.m. the temperature had gradually fallen to 102°.
About 3 a.m. there was a decided change for the worse,,
the extremities began to get cold and a cold perspiration
broke out. She swallowed the brandy, etc., with great
difficulty, pulse getting weak and thready. Hands and
feet were rubbed and hot applications continually
applied, and a hot brandy enema administered. Aether ,
hypodermically, was also tried. Though there was a
very slight temporary improvement, it was not main¬
tained, and gradually sinking she died at 6 a.m., exactly
24 hours after her first complaint of illness.

Points of interest.—Rapid course of the disease with
very slight help from medicine.

Previous health of patient good, though lately she had
suffered from leucorrhoea and a general tendency to
diarrhoea.

Time of year .—April.

Absence of exciting cause .—The only discovered error
of diet being the tart made from bottled cherries,.

Digitized by ^ooQle

PECULIAR cause of urticaria. 545

and of which everyone else partook with perfect
immunity.

Terribly rapid course of the disease and the cessation*
of vomiting and then of diarrhoea, without general
improvement.

Character of stools. —Curious bright saffron colour,
offensive and perfectly watery. The vomit was un¬
fortunately not saved, but I understand it consisted of
the contents of the stomach with some bile.

Treatment. — Ipec. and camphor every half-hour
alternately for six hours, beU. and camph. every half-
hour for six hours. Afterwards bell, alone.

Milk and lime-water in 5 ii. doses.

Brandy 5 ii. every hour, increased to every half-hour^

Hot stupes with mx—xv of tr. opii.

Hypodermic of morphia.

Hot brandy and zcater.

Hot brandy enema.

Hypodermic of ether.

A PECULIAR CAUSE OF URTICARIA.

By Rowland Wilde, M.B.

William S—., aged 60, admitted April 21st, suffering
from an extensive granulating ulcer of the right leg,,
had a linseed poultice applied to a portion which was.
sloughing on May 19th.

Half-an-hour after the application, the man presenting,
a peculiar facial appearance, I was called to examine
him. There was acute cedema of the eyelids, so that the
eyes were scarcely visible, and the sides of the abdomen
were found covered with wheals of various sizes, some
being two inches or more in length. Itching only slight.

The man stated he had once had a bread poultice-
applied to the leg, and a similar eruption (resembling
that he had once had from eating mussels) had appeared
very soon afterwards, accompanied with great itching,,
but all signs of the eruption quickly disappeared after
the removal of the poultice.

In the present instance the poultice being removed,,
on examination some three hours afterwards no wheals
could be detected on the abdomen, although there still
remained some cedema of the eyelids (which had not
even quite disappeared the next morning).

Digitized by AjOOQle

546

REVIEWS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1898.

Dr. Gordon, of Liverpool, mentioned to me a similar
instance in which an acute attack of nettlerash in a girl
had resulted from the application of a linseed poultice
to an abscess of the pudenda, the eruption in this case
being all over the body. There was also the history of
the girl's mother having had a similar attack produced
in the same way. The exciting cause in one of these
instances being a bread poultice does away with
the theory that there may be some irritating or toxic
material in linseed which can produce the eruption. It
is therefore possible that the poultice is the means by
which some septic product from the sore is rapidly
introduced into the system, and which is capable in
certain susceptible subjects of producing an attack of
urticaria.

That the effect is due merely to the heat of the
application, acting in a reflex manner, is not likely.

REVIEWS.

A Report on Certain Experiments Undertaken to Ascertain the
Disinfecting and Germicidal Power oj “ Sanitas ” Preparations
and Appliances. By A. B. Griffiths, Ph.D., F.R.S., Ed.,
F.C.S.

This is a pamphlet brought to the notice of medical men, and
therefore, we presume, is an appeal to them to justify, by the
knowledge it communicates, their recommendation of Sanitas
and its compounds as disinfecting media. But the author
either imagines that his readers are not capable of apprecia¬
ting the details of experiments, or he imagines that it will be
sufficient to state his asserted results without proof, to induce
medical men to accept them without cavil. It appears to us
that any writer wishful to have his statement of results
accepted should, in simple courtesy, state them in such a
manner that they can be independently repeated. In this
pamphlet are mentioned seven sets of experiments, and in no
one of these is sufficient detail given to enable an earnest
seeker for truth to imagine even the process by which the
results were obtained. In the first set for instance, it is
stated “ silk threads were impregnated with certain microbes
which were then immersed in Sanitas oil, and the microbes
were destroyed in a. b. c. seconds.” This bald statement is
aggravating. There are many questions one would like
answered. How, for instance, was the action sharply checked
at the end of a. b. c. seconds? Was the Sanitas oil washed

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
.Review, Sep. 1,1883.

REVIEWS.

547

away, was it destroyed, or what happened ? If this observa¬
tion is to have any scientific value this information must be
afforded, but at present it is left to the imagination, and this
is so greatly to be regretted that it takes away all value from
the results.

When oil of turpentine, or other essential oil, is exposed to
air in presence of moisture, it is a well known and accepted
fact that ozone is produced, and from ozone and water, perox-
yde of hydrogen, and it needs no proof whatever in these days
that this latter substance is a prince of antiseptics. But the
question of the value of Sanitas compounds absolutely depends
on how much of such HO or ozone is produced from a given
quantity in practical application, and it would have interested
the medical profession vastly if a comparative series of experi¬
ments had been stated, giving the results on bacilli with weak
HO solution and Sanitas oil side by side. It is claimed, we
believe, by the Sanitas makers that the active ingredient in
■their preparations is peroxyde of hydrogen, and it is also
claimed that such peroxyde of hydrogen is constantly being
reproduced as it is used, and therefore it has great advantage
over a pure solution, even if this latter be much stronger, for
once used it is done for, and there can be no reproduction.
We do not deny that this is so, but in this professedly scien¬
tific pamphlet we have no statement by which proof can be
made. The author has failed to give us the details by which
we can repeat, and so prove or disprove his results, and hence
in their present state they are valueless.

The question of an absolutely reliable antiseptic which has
no poisonous properties is one of such moment to medical
men that no amount of detail given in proof would be out of
place; and while we are willing to be biassed in favour of
these compounds on the ground that such mixtures are
capable of producing hydrogen peroxyde, yet we must decline
to accept this as sufficient to justify either their use or recom¬
mendation. A solution or emulsion of oxydised turpentine
is not unirritating, especially on raw surfaces, and any such
mixture so acting would be objectionable. Yet there must be
a point of dilution at which the irritating action like that of
mercuric chloride solution is so small as to be a negligible
quantity ; the question is of what value as a germicide is the
solution at this stage of its dilution ? We have no hesitation
in saying that if it can, at such a stage of dilution, reproduce
its active constituent, there is no doubt of its value both
in medicine and surgery. If ozone be produced in an infected
room, we can detect its odour so long as it is present; even
in very dilute state there can be no mistake, and while we
detect that odour we can have absolute confidence that infec-

YoL 37, No. 9.

2—M

Digitized by

Google

548

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1, 1893.

tion is being combated. With Sanitas there is a difficulty
the odour of oxydised turpentine is not equal in value to that
of ozone, and no amount of special pleading can make us
accept it as one and the same thing. While you smell ozone*
you are safe ; the danger is in accepting the soft insinuation
that with the odour of Sanitas you are equally safe.

NOTABILIA.

ANNUAL HOMOEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

The Annual Congress of Homoeopathic Practitioners will be
held this year in Northampton, at the Guildhall, on Thursday,
September 28th, at 10 o’clock punctually.

Note .— The date of meeting was fixed for Thursday, the*
21st September, but it was subsequently found that on account
of a great public demonstration on that day in Northampton,,
we could not have the suitable rooms for meeting, nor could
many friends in Northampton, who wished to be with us, be*
present. In fact, our meeting would have been swamped,,
and on the advice of Dr. Clifton the day was altered. The
following day (Friday, the 22nd) was found for various
reasons, to be equally unsuitable, and the Secretary (Dr.
Dyce Brown) took the responsibility, with Dr. Clifton’s
advice, of changing the day of meeting to Thursday, the
28th September, as Thursday is the day in the week which in
former years was decided to be the best one. It is hoped that
this necessary alteration will not inconvenience any of our.
colleagues.

The Presidential Address will be delivered and the meetings
will be held in the Old Council Chamber at the Guildhall.

The business of the Congress will be opened by an address*
from the President, Dr. Hawkes, of Liverpool, on Should
Likes be Treated by Likes ? Any strangers, ladies and
gentlemen, who may desire to hear the President’s address,
will be welcome.

After this a short interval will allow the Hon. Treasurer to>
receive subscriptions.

A paper will then be read by Dr. Pope, on The Selection of
the Homoeopathic Specific. Discussion is invited on this and
the other papers.

Should there be time before luncheon, a short paper will
then be read by Dr. Edwin A. Neatby, of London, on
Ouabain in Pertussis.

The Congress will adjourn for luncheon at 1 o’clock.
Dr. Clifton, of Northampton, very kindly requests that ihfe

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, Sep. 1,1898.

NOTABILIA.

549

members of Congress will consider themselves as his guests
at luncheon, which will be laid in the Large Hall of the
Guildhall.

At 2 o’clock punctually the Congress will re-assemble, and
receive the report of the Hahnemann Publishing Society, pro¬
ceed to select the place of meeting for the next year, elect
officers, and transact any other business which may be
necessary.

A paper will then be read by Dr. W. Cash Reed, of Plymouth,
on Uterine Deviations , and their AiLciliary Treatment,

After this and the discussion thereon, Dr. Neatby will read
his short paper, should there not have been time for it before
luncheon.

The members and their friends, ladies as well as gentlemen,
will dine together in the Large Hall of the Guildhall, at 7 p.m.

During the interval between the conclusion of business and
the dinner, it is expected that there will be time to visit
certain places of great interest in Northampton: (1) Queen
Eleanor’s Cross; (2) St. Peter’s Church, one of the best
examples of enriched Norman architecture in the kingdom;
(8) The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (St. Sepulchre’s
Church, one of the most remarkable memories of the Crusades
to be found in the kingdom—it is one of the four round,
churches still existing in England; (4) The extensive boot
and shoe manufactory of Messrs. Manfield and Sons, the
largest in the kingdom. Dr. Clifton has kindly promised to
provide intelligent guides for these places, who can give full
information.

The Vice-President of the Congress is Dr. A. C. Clifton,
and the Hon. Local Secretary is Mr. A. Wilkinson.

A meeting of the Hahnemann Publishing Society will be
held at the Guildhall (the Old Council Chamber) at V a.m. on
the morning of the 28th.

The subscription to the Congress is 10s., which includes
the dinner ticket. The dinner ticket alone, for guests, will
be 7s. 6d.

Those members of Congress who can remain over Friday
may visit Althorpe House, the seat of Earl Spencer, and the
adjoining village, the residence of some of the Washingtons,
the family from which the great George Washington came.
The Althorpe collection of pictures is reckoned very fine.
The famous library is now no longer there. Several residents
in Northampton have most generously offered their hospitality
to members of Congress. These kind and hospitable friends
will arrange with Dr. Clifton, and he will communicate with
such members as may have the good fortune te be invited.
For others, rooms will be provided at the George Hotel and

2 m—2

Digitized by Google

660

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, 8ep. 1,1883.

the Grand Hotel. Members who wish rooms to be retained
for them at these hotels will please communicate with
Dr. A. C. Clifton, 65, Abington Street, Northampton.

Any member of the profession who has not received a
circular should apply to Dr. Dyce Brown, 29, Seymour Street,
London, W., and all proposing to be present should intimate
their intention as soon as possible, but not later (if possible)
than September 15th.

Synopsis of Papers.

Dr. Pope’s Paper.

The Selection of the Homccopathic Specific.

The method of Hahnemann.—The object aimed at by
him.—Symptoms.—State of Physiology and Pathology in
1810.— Study of Medicinal Action.— Interpretation of
Symptoms arising from disease and produced by drugs.—
Differentiation of similar drug effects.—Use of the Repertory.

Dr. Cash Reed’s Paper.

Uterine Deviations and their Auxiliary Treatment.
syllabus.

Introduction.—Frequency of deviation—at home—in the
Tropics.—The term “ deviation ” generalises, hence applic¬
able. The prime factor in deviations.—A case of “tight-
lacing.” —Treatment: Essentially by (a) Atmospheric pressure,
(ft) Gravitation. To apply these.—The genu-pectoral position.
— “ Un mouvement de bascule.”—The inflating Air Pessary.
—The Author's ditto , adapted to :—(a) r^ro-deviation. (ft)
Purposes of continuous irrigation without removal (with
Eguisier’s irrigateur). (y) Introduction with the sound.
(6) Inflating from time to time by patient herself without
removal.

Illustrations and Apparatus.

Dr. Edwin A. Neatby’s Paper.

Ouabain in Pertussis.

1 . Source of the Drug. 2. Physiological and Toxicological
Action. 8. Therapeutic Uses. 4. Clinical Cases.

HAHNEMANN PUBLISHING SOCIETY.

The general meeting of this society will be held at the Guild¬
hall (the Old Council Chamber), Northampton, on Thursday,
September 28th, at 9 a.m. punctually. Gentlemen having
any suggestions or communications to make to the Society
will please send them to the honorary secretary, Dr. Hayward,
61, Shrewsbury Road, Birkenhead, Cheshire.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1888.

NOTABILIA.

551

HAHNEMANN’S “CHRONIC DISEASES.”

We recently referred to Messrs. Boericke and Tafel’s announced
proposal to reprint Hempel’s translation of The Chronic
Diseases. We regretted that a translation containing so many
errors, and moreover a work needing as careful a revision
as that the Materia Medica Pura received ere it was
republished by the Hahnemann Publishing Society, should be
simply reprinted. Messrs. Boericke and Tafel have found that
many authorities were of our opinion, and we are glad to learn
from them, through a correspondent, that they have concluded
to abandon the plan of reprinting the Hempel translation, and
have made arrangements to have an entirely new translation
made by an accomplished professor of languages. This is an
improvement on the original plan, but to make this important
work thoroughly reliable and practically useful, it requires
not merely to be re-translated by an accomplished professor of
languages, but to be edited by a physician competent, as we
remarked in our July number, to give information as to the
sources drawn upon for the symptoms, and to illuminate the
cases cited from authors by reference to their record. If the
re-publication of this work is done, it ought to be done
thoroughly, and the United States of America contain both
men and libraries quite capable of enabling it to be done
thoroughly, and Messrs. Boericke and Tafel are perhaps better
able than most other publishers to secure that it is so done.

It is not a little curious to notice that it is the liberal homoeo-
pathists (styled “ mongrels ” by the straiter sect) who are
zealous for the faithful reproduction of the master’s work, the
Hahnemannians (so-called) being less careful on this point.

AMERICAN NOTES.

The periodicals received from the United States continue to give
reports of the proceedings of the World’s Congress. The North
American Journal of Homeeopathy for August, presents us with a
very carelessly reported account of the discussion on Dr. Hughes’
paper on Materia Medica, which in the July number they
summarized as “ a vigorous attack.” To us, it appears of a
singularly feeble quality, while in some points Dr. Hughes
was undoubtedly misunderstood. Dr. Dake, for example,
forgets apparently that Dr. Hughes, while denouncing the
schematic arrangement is, at this moment, actively engaged
in preparing an Index which will fulfil all the legitimate
purposes of the original Schema. Dr. Dake did not agree
with Dr. Hughes’ criticism of the Boston and Baltimore
methods of studying materia medica, and thought that an

Digitized by

552

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homasopathie
Review, Sep. 1,1883.

abstract of materia medica, comprising the characteristics of
the more pronounced and persistent of the symptoms of each
drug, was useful. But that was not the question. Our
friends in Boston and Baltimore would have us reject all
symptoms recorded as having been produced by a drug,
except the more prominent and persistent. This is rather
too “large an order.” With Dr. Dake’s desire that all
future provings should be made and recorded with all the
care to be found in any other department of science, we are
sure that Dr. Hughes would sympathise. Dr. T. F. Allen
has, it appears, all along objected to the plan upon which the
Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy has been constructed.
He thinks, indeed, that the narrative form is most valu¬
able for study, but in prescribing for patients he uses
the Schema . This may do perfectly well for a physician
who, like Dr. Allen, has acquired an enviably thorough
knowledge of the action of drugs, but for the average
practitioner it will not suffice. He must go first to his Schema
or Index and then back again to the narrative in order to be sure
that he is right in the selection he proposes to make. Again,
Dr. Allen objects to the exclusion of isolated provings and of
single cases of poisoning from the Cyclopedia. Doubtless
these isolated provings and poisonings may be found useful by
a physician now and again; but, in a work like the Cyclopedia
of Drug Pathogenesy , a line must be drawn somewhere; and to
attach the same value to isolated instances of pathogenetic action
as to that of those cases where the effects of disordered health
producible by a drug have been tested in several instances
would not be justifiable. Dr. Hughes protested against the
mixing up of purely clinical symptoms with those that are
purely pathogenetic. What does Dr. Allen say to this ? He
says: “ We cannot yet dispense, I will not say, with clinical
symptoms. I do not believe in them. But we cannot dis¬
pense with our experience obtained from the application of
drug symptoms at the bedside.” Of course not, but clinical
confirmations of pure drug symptoms are not what Dr.
Hughes was speaking of, but symptoms which have dis¬
appeared during an illness when a patient was taking a
medicine not known to have produced similar symptoms in
health.

Dr. C. Wesselhoeft defended his repudiation of the idea that
cactus has any medicinal action, on the ground that provings
of it by himself had been entirely negative in their results.

Dr. Hawkes, of Liverpool, brought the discussion to a close
by testifying from his own experience to the value of some
little known and slightly proved drugs.

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1883.

NOTABILIA.

653

With reference to Dr. Wesselhoeft’s failure to feel any
effect from cactus , the following extract from the New York
Medical Times for August will be found interesting:—

“ Action of Cactin. —Sultan (D. Med . ZeituwJ) has
-extracted an active principle, which he terms cactin , from the
young flowers of the Cactus grandiflorus , and from experiments
upon animals concludes that, (1) Cactin augments the energy
of the cardiac contractions. (2) It heightens arterial tension
and greatly increases the height and force of the pulse-wave.
(8) It exerts an influence upon the nervous system through a
direct action upon the motor centres of the spinal cord, pro¬
duces reflexes, and increases the general nervous tone. It is
efficacious in functional disturbances of the heart, while it is
particularly useful in valvular disease, above all in aortic
insufficiency, since this occasions a short diastole. For the
same reason it is not indicated in mitral stenosis. It can be
used for a long period without causing gastric symptoms or
cumulative effect.”

* ❖ * *

During the Congress two associations of considerable
interest were formed. One, which we trust will prove of great
Talue, has for its object the proving of drugs upon women ; it
is to be called the International Provers’ Union. We heard
.first of all that it was to be known—and, as we think, more
appropriately known—as the Woman’s Provers’ Union. The
name of the body is, however, of little consequence. Dr.
Martha A. Canfield, of Cleveland, is the President, and
Dr. Sophia Pennfield, of Danbury, Conn., the Secretary.
The other is designated the Woman’s Social Union, and con¬
sists of the wives and daughters of members of the American
Institute of Homoeopathy. Its object is to promote socia¬
bility and provide entertainment for the ladies accompanying
the members of the Institute. The President is Mrs. Emily
Talbot, of Boston ; the Vice-Presidents, Mrs. W. T. Helmuth
<N.Y.); Mrs. T. Y. Kinne (Paterson, N.Y.); Mrs. F. H.
Orme (Atlantic, Ga.); Mrs. S. H. Talcott (Middletown,
N.Y.); Secretaries, Mrs. C. S. Hoag (Bridgeport, Conn.) and
Miss Emily F. ‘ Paine (Albany, N.Y.); Treasurer, Mrs.
C. E. Fisher (Chicago). The Union lost no time in com¬
mencing its operations, and “ a delightful afternoon tea ” was
its opening function.

❖ # * * *

Never do we remember reading the reports of a medical meet¬
ing where ladies, who have entered our profession, have
been more en evidence , either on the platform or during the
discussions of the papers and addresses, than they were at

Digitized by U^ooQle

554

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review, 8ep. 1, 1893.

Chicago. Dr. Martha Canfield (Cleveland) delivered an
address—purely American in thought, in composition, in dic¬
tion, and (as it appears in print) in spelling—on The Develop¬
ment of Medical Science Through Homoeopathy, Everything,,
not merely in therapeutics, but in physiology and pathology
that has been made known to the profession, has come through
homoeopathy! “ Rokitansky, Virchow, Klebs and Koch are

indebted to Hahnemann for the principle upon which they
elaborated their thought”!! We wonder whether any of
these pathologists ever read a line of anything that Hahne¬
mann wrote!

Gynaecological surgery is such a prominent feature in
American practice, such a large proportion of the young men
who come to Europe to complete their medical education do
so with the intention of returning home to become gynaecological
specialists, that we have sometimes wondered where patients
can be found for them! On this occasion Dr. Charles Walton
of Cincinnati delivered an address on The Relation of Surgery to
Gynacology, “ Gynaecology ” we are told “ was but a
stumbling and halting child before the strong hand of surgery
led its wavering footsteps firmly by the pitfalls of uncertainty,
and developed its unsteady gait into the sturdy pace of athletic
progress.” Then follows a catalogue of diseases, to which the
generative organs of woman are liable, in the treatment of
which the knife is everything, extirpation of this, that and the
other the gynaecologist’s chief mission, while medicinal means
count for next to nothing, and the cure of disordered tissue is not
thought of.

* s>: * # ={<

Here was a legitimate field for the lady doctors of the
homoeopathic persuasion, and right merrily they occupied it.
After an excellent speech from Dr. Henry E. Beebe (Sidney,
0 .) in which he laid great stress on the responsibilities
accompanying gynaecological work, and on the necessity for a,
surgeon to undergo a thorough training before assuming
them, saying “ about one third of all physicians claim to be
gynaecologists. To fully ninety-nine hundredths of this num¬
ber, the teachings of diseases of women have not been
thorough and practical,” and Dr. Hanchett (Omaha) who
advised physicians in general practice to send their “ operative
surgery in the line of gynaecology” to a specialist, on the
ground that he had “ seen many a life lost by foolish operative
surgery on the part of so-called gynaecologists who did not
understand their business,” then the women physician a
struck in. Dr. Phoebe Wait (New York) admired surgery,
but made a plea for medical treatment. She had seen too

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1803.

NOTABILIA.

555>

many young women who had passed under the surgeon’s-
knife, from whom the ovaries have been removed, who, in
her opinion, might have been spared such an infliction. She
related the case of a young wife who, nine months previously,
had come to her in great distress from having been told that
she could obtain no relief from her suffering except by the
removal of her ovaries. Dr. Phoebe Wait took her case in
hand and cured her. Dr. Martha Bipley (Minneapolis)
while acknowledging the value of operative surgery in cases^
of dire necessity, said 44 I should not be true to my convictions
as a physician and as a woman, if I did not say call
a halt on your operations on woman. It is high time that
you did so, because to-day many a woman is being operated
on in all our large cities, and in some of our small ones, who
needs no operation at all. Practise and study your Materia
Medica. It is well that some of you do live in small towns-
where you cannot get skilled surgeons, or I fear there would
be very few of your women patients left. I call a halt upon
operations upon women that are being done to-day. Turn ta
your own sex and see if they don’t need it too.” A final shot
that was received with applause and laughter.

Dr. Boothby (Boston) replied to these observations by
saying that 44 it is not the skilled surgeon, nor the skilled
gynaecologist, that operates when he ought not to. It is in
those cases where there is a diseased ovary, or a diseased tube
that is beyond curative measures.” Dr. Roby (Topeka)
pleaded fora just discrimination between medical and surgical
cases, and said. 44 homoeopathy has a grand field on which it
may be successful, but outside of that field there are other
possibilities, other capacities and other powers. If you have
given time and attention to medical practice, do not be too
sure that that is all there is within our command for the relief
of a suffering community.”

* * * * *

That in very many of the cases noticed by Dr. Walton,,
relief can only be obtained by surgical procedures, and that,
when directed by skill and experience, such procedures are
attended by a remarkable degree of success, has been
abundantly proved. On the other hand, in a country where
one third of the surgeons undertake operations of this kind,
ninety-nine out of every hundred of whom (on American
authority) have undergone no thorough nor practical training
in this department of surgery, it is as certain as most things
that great abuses will be practised, that surgery, instead of
being regarded as a dernier retsort , will be substituted for
medicine, and mutilation for cure. Dr. Martha Ripley was
perfectly right in saying that, while these operations are

Digitized by ^ooQle

556

NOTABILIA.

If onthly Homoopathio
Review, Sep. 1,1898.

needed, surgeons should beware how they practised them
upon women who did not need them ; in other words, in cases
•where recovery could be procured by means obtainable through
a careful study of the Materia Medica alongside of a careful
study of the conditions to be remedied.

* * * * *

In another paper on the same subject, one by Dr. Philips, of
Boston, the wide possibilities open to homoeopathically indi¬
cated medicines were earnestly contended for, and fully
•endorsed, in the discussion which followed, by so largely expe¬
rienced and successful an operating surgeon as Dr. Ludlam ;
we are also glad to find that England, as represented by
Dr. Hawkes, as the result of his personal experiences, sup¬
ported him. Dr. Phillips, in the course of his paper, said:
“I think I am safe in claiming that in the practice of
homoeopathic gynaecologists, fully one-half of the cases which
under old-school treatment would remain uncured or be
•subjected to surgical operation, are cured by homoeopathic
treatment. Not every case is thus curable, and many demand
surgical treatment. But we do, by combining homoeopathic
medication with the needed mechanical measures, cure
many pathological conditions; such, for example, as me¬
tritis and endo-metritis, pelvic peritonitis, ovaritis, uterine
•dislocations, fibroid tumours, salpingitis, &c. We have
some well authenticated cases in which ovarian cysts have
disappeared during the continued application of the indi¬
cated remedy; and not only this, but very many who have
endured for a longer or shorter season the attempts of the old-
school specialists to cure, come to us and find the relief they
had previously failed to receive ; and certainly not because we
are better mechanics than they are, but because we have the
homoeopathic remedies to aid us; and this is equally true in
cases which require surgical treatment. While the knife
removes the cause of the difficulty, the remedies remove many
serious effects, and afford relief to the suffering nerves un¬
known to any other method of treatment. And not only this,
tout the healing of wounds and convalescence are more rapid
and perfect when thus treated than when opiates and poison¬
ous drugs and dressings are used.”

*****

We regret to see the announcement of the departure from
amongst us, albeit at an advanced age, of Dr. H. D. Paine,
of New York, whose death, in his 78th year, took place on the
11 th of June. Dr. Paine was one of the founders of the
American Institute of Homoeopathy in 1844, of whom only
three or four now remain. He graduated at the College of

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, Sep. 1,1898.

NOTABILIA.

557

Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1888. After prac¬
tising a short time in Newburgh, N.Y., he settled in Albany,
N.Y., where he was the first practitioner of homoeopathy.
Early in the sixties he left that city to reside in New York,
to assist the late Dr. Gray. Here he continued until his
retirement ten years ago. He took an active part in the
founding of the New York Homoeopathic Medical College,
where he was a Professor of The Practice of Medicine. He
was a frequent contributor to the medical journals, and
greatly beloved by his professional brethren.

PRESENTATION TO DR. CROUCHER, J.P.

As the year of office of the Mayor of Hastings goes on, the
sense of gratification on the part of the burgesses of the town
•at the way in which he is fulfilling his very onerous duties finds
frequent expression. On Saturday, the 29th of July, at a
large meeting held in the Council Chamber, Dr. Croucher was
presented with a handsomely illuminated address by the
•Council of the Sunday School Union, congratulating him on
his elevation to the dignity of Chief Magistrate of the
Borough, and at the same time thanking him for his frequent
professional services to the inmates of the Teachers’ Home of
Rest.

In commenting upon this event, the Hastings Observer
remarks that “ some of those who knew Dr. Croucher
intimately indulged in the prophecy at the time of his election
that he would, long before his year’s tenure of civic office had
expired, be acclaimed one of the most popular Mayors that
Hastings has ever known. The forecast has been realised.
Radicals, equally with Conservatives, join the chorus of
applause raised to the public merits and amiable personal
•qualities of Hastings’ present Chief Magistrate, the gentleman
who was publicly honoured by the Sunday School Union on
Saturday last.”

THE DEATH OF DR. CARL F. FISCHER.

An account of the illness which resulted in the death of
Dr. Carl Fischer, to which we referred in our July number,
was communicated to the Clinical Society of Chicago, at
their meeting on the 26th of June, by Dr. G. F. Shears, who,
with Dr. Ludlam and Dr. R. Ludlam, Jun., attended him. A
bunion on the left great toe had caused more or less pain for
a week, when the foot became generally inflamed, the swelling
extending above the ankle. When first seen by Dr. Shears

Digitized by

558

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review. Sep. 1. 1809.

his temperature was 102*5, pulse 122, the face flushed and
the breathing laboured.

“ Around about the metatarso-phalangeal articulation of
the great toe—at which point the bunion was located—the
swelling was most marked. On the dorsum of the foot, over
the fourth metatarsal bone, there was considerable ecchy-
inosis, and on the inside of the leg a bluish red line extended
along the course of the internal saphenous vein as far as the
groin.

“ Feeling the case a critical one, a nurse was procured at
once, and every effort made to place our friend in as com¬
fortable a position as possible. The bunion was opened and
cleansed and the more tense portions of the foot incised.
Pus was found about the joint, but only dark venous blood
came from the other incisions. The next morning he felt
much improved, but by evening the temperature had mounted
to 105° and he was delirious. The ecchymosed condition of
the dorsum of the foot was more marked and the infiltration
extended up to the middle of the leg. Thirty-six hours after
my first visit the parts were devitalized and cold, and gan¬
grene had supervened. He died on Wednesday morning, a.
little less than sixty hours from the date of my first visit.
The pathological phenomena present were, inflammation of
the bunion, with septic infection, as witnessed by the red
streak to the groin, septic thrombi in the veins, gangrene and
death.”

He was 72 years of age.

AN INDIAN HEMP COMMISSION.

In accordance with a request of the India Office, made in
pursuance of the answer given in the House of Commons to a
question of Mr. Caine, M.P., Lord Lansdowne has appointed a
Commision to enquire into the cultivation of the hemp-plant
in India, the preparation of drugs from it, the trade in those
drugs, the moral effect of their consumption, and the desira¬
bility of controlling the cultivation of hemp and the
manufacture, sale and taxation of hashish, bhang, gunja and
similar products. The Commission is to visit and take
evidence in most of the provinces of India. It consists of
the Hon. W. Mackworth Young, C.S.I., First Financial
Commissioner of the Punjab; Mr. H. T. Ommanney,
Collector, Bombay Presidency; Mr. A. H. L. Fraser,
Commissioner, Central Provinces; Surgeon-Major C. J. H.
Warden, Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College,
Calcutta; Baja Soshi Sikhareswar Roy, Bengal; Kanwar
Haraam Singh, C.I.E., Kapurthala ; and Lala Nihal Chand,
of Mozaffamagar .—Chemist and Dmggtit.

Digitized by ^ooQle

.Monthly Homoeopathic
fie view, Sep. 1,1893.

NOTABILIA.

559

ANOTHER CURE FOR CANCER.

"We learn from The Hahnemann Monthly (August) that
Dr. Cooley, of New York, has, in the American Journal of the
Medical Sciences , recorded a series of cases in which an attack
of erysipelas, coming on either accidentally or from inocu¬
lation, has appeared to retard or arrest malignant disease.
Connecting this arrest or retardation with the appearance of
erysipelas, he made injections of a pure culture of the strepto¬
coccus of erysipelas into the substance of tumours of a
malignant type. In many the malignant growth appeared to
be checked, and sometimes entirely disappeared. If re¬
currences followed the inoculations were repeated. Occa¬
sionally erysipelas could not be produced. The action he
found to be three times as great in sarcoma as it was upon
carcinoma. The consequent artificial erysipelas was not a
dangerous condition. When erysipelas was not produced, a
febrile reaction (104° F.), lasting for one or two days, usually
followed. The effect of the injections was more marked when
erysipelas did result.

These observations appeared, we believe, in the July
number of the Journal of the Medical Sciences. In the Standard
of the 12th of August appeared the following cablegram,
dated New York, August 11th:—

“The physicians attached to the New York Cancer Hospital
officially report that the inoculation of erysipelas strepto¬
coccus into malignant tumours has proved curative in twenty-
five per cent, of the cases of carcinoma which have been tried,
and in forty per cent, of the cases of sarcoma, and that it is
specially applicable to cases in which operations cannot take
place, but is generally useful. Caution is advised in resorting
to these remedies pending further clinical study. It has been
found that the erysipelas resulting from the inoculation is
usually mild, and may possibly be wholly avoided by injecting
.simply the toxic products of streptococcus/’

INCREASE OF INSANITY.

At the recent meeting of the British Medical Association,
Dr. Hack Tuke, after introducing for discussion the alleged
increase of insanity, gave his conclusions as follows :—There
has undoubtedly been since 1880 a large increase in the
number of patients in asylums and workhouses, but more in
the former than the latter. There has not been so great,
but still a considerable, rise in the “ admissions ” of patients
in asylums during the same period. After deducting
transfers and readmissions, the advance in the number in
detention holds good, after allowing for the increase in

Digitized by

560

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1893.

population, but does not prove the increased liability of the
community to insanity, seeing that there is a vast accumula¬
tion due to a lower death-rate, the chronicity of the disease,,
and its lamentable tendency to relapse. Nor does the
advance in admissions prove increased liability to insanity,
as the value and comfort of asylums are increasingly appre¬
ciated and there has been a very large number of patients
drafted from workhouses to asylums and an increasing
encroachment on the mass of unregistered lunacy which the
census shows to exist. The increase in the numbers of the
insane has taken place among the poorer rather than the
higher classes of society, though if an increase in insanity
were due to the growing stress and complexity of civilized 1
life, the statistics might be expected to show a rise chiefly
in regard to educated patients. While, however, Dr. Hack
Tuke could not accept ljanacy figures as conclusive proof that
insanity is on the increase, he lamented the undoubted fact
that it had not decreased in spite of all the efforts of'
physicians and social reformers to improve the conditions of
the race.

FOREIGN VERSUS ENGLISH COCOA.

Some very significant facts came out at the trial in Paris
recently of the managers in that city of the largest Dutch
cocoa concern. An action was brought against them for
selling cocoa that had been adulterated by the addition of
“ potash and other matters, the said cocoa further containing
mixtures injurious to health/*

The case came before the Eighth Correctional Tribunal in
Paris, and the proceedings have been reported at much length
in the Temps newspaper and commented fearlessly upon by M.
Emile Delage in the Steele. It was asserted by the prosecution,
and frankly admitted by the defence, that the widely advertised
Dutch cocoa in question—a cocoa advertised on the labels as
absolutely pure, as the presiding judge significantly pointed
out in the recent French trial—contained 8 per cent, of added
potash salts, asserted to be highly injurious to health The
eminent chemist, M. Riche, drew marked attention not only to
the startling excess of potash salts in the well-known Dutch
preparation, but to these potash salts, consisting largely of'
sulphate of potash, a deleterious compound, and most injurious
to persons with any tendency to kidney disease and to young
children.

M. Flandrin, the president of the court, concisely stated the
charge as follows, that “ as the result of analysis it is proved
that the incriminated cocoa contains potash in such quantity

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1898.

NOTABILIA.

561

as to render it dangerous, and if a child took several cups of it
in one day serious consequences might result/’

Professor Brouardel, the famous doyen of the Faculty of
Medicine, and one of the recognised leaders of the profession,
not only in France, but on the wider stage of the world,,
confirmed the evidence of M. Riche, whose eminence as
Professor of the School of Pharmacy and Chemist to the*
French Mint is above all question.

M. Brouardel’s words were significant:—“ The addition of
salts of potash to articles of food is always harmful. The*
quantity in which they are found in this cocoa causes it to be
a danger to health. Salts of potash are the more dangerous
according as the persons partaking of them may be young an<L
have weak kidneys/’ He then explained that the sulphate of
potash in alcoholic beverages is much less dangerous.

Now as the finest cocoa in the world is prepared without any
addition of potash salts, it is surely incumbent on the medical
profession to recommend no preparation of cocoa the use of
which may be attended with considerable peril; and as some
English makers, notably Cadbuiy Brothers, are famous for
their absolutely pure and delicious brands, it may be con¬
tended that there is no possible excuse for using foreign
preparations the purity of which has been openly disputed in
a French court. It is perfectly true that a conviction was not.
obtained, but as M. Emile Delage has ably pointed out in the
brilliant Siecle article, this good fortune was not due to any
doubt as to the extent of the adulteration, but in consequence
of some unfortunate conflict of opinion among the medical
experts. And the court, as is usual under such circumstances,
gave the benefit of the doubt to the defendants, who, as*
M. Delage adds, were probably much surprised at their
acquittal.— Hygiene .

OBITUARY.

EDWARD WYNNE THOMAS, M.D., Lond.

It is with deep regret that we have to record the death of
Dr. Wynne Thomas, of Birmingham. Dr. Thomas had gone
to the Isle of Man for a rest and change, but became ill while
there, and had to return home. From that time he never
left tiie house. He discovered that his illness was due to*
Bright’s disease, which rapidly increased. He soon became
unable to retain his food, uraemic coma supervened, and he
he died on 26th of July. Edward Wynne Thomas was bom
November 20th, 1880, at Oswestry, was educated at the*

Digitized by

Google

OBITUARY.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, 8ep. 1 , 1808.

Oswestry Grammar School, and having resolved to take up
the profession of medicine, he commenced his studies at the
Edinburgh University, and subsequently went to University
College, London. His career as a student was a very
distinguished one. He took the gold medal in Anatomy
and also in Materia Medica in 1854, the gold medal in
Surgery in 1855, and the silver medal in Ophthalmic
Surgery in 1856. He also obtained the Longridge Exhibi¬
tion of £40, which is given to the student who takes
the greatest number of medals during the four years* course
of study. He received the diploma of M.R.C.S. Eng. in
1857, and graduated M.B. at the University of London
in 1858, when he was awarded gold medals in Anatomy and
Medicine. His first public appointment was that of house
surgeon and demonstrator of anatomy at University College
Hospital, after which he was appointed house surgeon to the
South Staffordshire Hospital, Wolverhampton. When his time
of office there had expired, he was elected surgeon of this
Hospital, and commenced practice in Wolverhampton in 1859,
as an allopath. He was an intimate friend of Dr. Gibbs
Blake of Birmingham, who often pressed on him the duty of
looking into homoeopathy, Dr. Thomas at first pooh-poohed
the idea, but as Dr. Bl&ke persisted in urging on him this
duty, he at length agreed to investigate it. He read Sharp’s
Tracts and other works introductory to the study of the subject,
and having mastered the principles and the Materia Medica in
order that he might make intelligent and honest trials of the
treatment, he began to feel his way quietly in the use of
homoeopathic medicines. In this enquiry, he was himself sur¬
prised at the, to him, unexpected results he secured, so that as
an honest man with a high ideal of the responsibilities of his
own profession, he saw no other course open than that of
quiet perseverence till he should have made up his
mind on the subject. With such an earnest, thoughtful,
and decided mind as he had, one result only was possible, and
having become fully convinced of the truth of homoeopathy,
and of its immense superiority over the old system and practice,
he resolved to come out openly as a homoeopath, resigned his
appointment as Surgeon of the South Staffordshire Hospital,
and acting upon Dr. Gibbs Blake’s advice, removed to Bir¬
mingham in 1865 to practise homoeopathy. On leaving
Wolverhampton his friends entertained him at dinner, as a
token of their esteem and regard. On his settling in
Birmingham, Dr. Blake offered him the Surgery and Mid¬
wifery which he was then taking, and this formed the
nucleus of the large and influential practice which he
■subsequently obtained. Dr. Thomas was at once appointed

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1, 1803.

OBITUARY.

563

Honorary Suigeon of the Birmingham Homoeopathic Hos¬
pital, and he, in 1869, put the top-stone on his honours, by
taking the degree of M.D. London.

Dr. Thomas’s high standard of professional knowledge and
attainments is sufficiently shown by the numerous honours
conferred upon him, while practically, as a physician in
diagnosis and skilful treatment, he stood in the highest rank.
As a surgeon, his large experience in Wolverhampton
produced an operator of great skill and success. In Wolver¬
hampton he was greatly trusted, as he was also in Birmingham,,
for his medical and surgical skill, and his loss to the latter city
and to the cause of homoeopathy will be, and is, deeply felt.
But besides his professional skill, his personal charms
were such as to endear him to all who knew him.
The writer of this notice had the privilege of his intimate
acquaintance for a year in Wolverhampton, and found in
him not only a very kind friend, but one whose qualities of
mind and disposition raised a friendship to a feeling of
admiration and love. During his time of testing homoeopathy
practically he confided all his results and thoughts to his
young friend, who then knew nothing of homoeopathy, and so
interested him in a subject then quite new to him, that he followed
the council and example of Dr. Thomas in studying the new
system, testing it quietly and for a long time, and finally
adopting homoeopathy as the true scientific medicine. Ho
thus feels ever grateful to Dr. Thomas for so cautiously and
steadily leading him on in a path which otherwise he might
never had trodden. He can also bear personal testimony to
the feeling of love that Dr. Thomas evoked in the hearts of
his patients by his gentleness of manner and his refinement
of mind, and the kindly interest and earnestness which ho
brought to bear on his work. We know that in Birmingham
the same feelings were evoked, and that his numerous friends
bewail his removal as much from a personal feeling as for
the professional loss it involves.

Dr. Thomas did not contribute much to literature. One of
his papers was entitled How I became a Homoeopath ,
another was On some forme of Diabetes . At one of tho
Annual Congress Meetings he read an able paper on Homoeo¬
pathy in Suryery .

Dr. Thomas leaves a widow, two sons and three daughters
to mourn their loss. His eldest son, Mr. Harold Wynne
Thomas is practising at Bromley, Kent, in partnership with.
Dr. Edward Madden.

YoL 37, No. 9.

Digitized by

Google

664

OBITUABY.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1808.

DR. J. H. SMITH.

We regret to announce the death of yet another of the early
confessors of the truth of homoeopathy in this country in the
person of Dr. J. H. Smith, who died on the 7th of August,
in his 88rd year, at his residence in Eastbourne.

John Harmab Smith was apprenticed to a surgeon in
Sheffield and at the Medical School of that town, at University
College, London and at the London Hospital received his
medical education. He was admitted a member of the Royal
College of Surgeons and a licentiate of the Apothecaries’
Society in 1840. Commencing general practice in Sheffield,
he was for some time the lecturer on medical jurisprudence
at its medical school. He also held a medical appointment
under the poor-law.

In 1867 or 1868, he was led to make a clinical investigation
of homoeopathy, with the result of finding that, through
homoeopathy, he could cure disease more frequently, more
pleasantly and more safely than by pursuing the measures he
had been taught to trust to. He had thus ventured to
enquire into a subject which medical societies and the
medical press had decided that no medical man ought to
enquire into, but, au contraire , should uniformly protest
against without making any enquiry at all. The medical
men of Sheffield at once banded themselves together to deprive
him of his poor-law appointment, and though the Poor-Law
Board refused to remove him at their request, they made
sufficient interest with the Board of Guardians of the Sheffield
Union to obtain his extrusion. He was also a member of
the Medical Book Society of the town. In order to get
him out of this, the society was broken up, and afterwards
reconstructed, minus the man who had the audacity to think
for himself, and, worse than all, had the courage of his
opinions, and openly declared that his experience had proved
to him that homoeopathy was true.

Not long afterwards he removed to the neighbourhood of
London, and for many years practised at Blackheath. In
1876, he became a licentiate of the Edinburgh College of
Physicians. Several years ago he retired from practice and
went to reside in Eastbourne, where, after a long and often¬
times painful illness, he died, as we have stated, on the 7th
August.

He was a man of sterling honesty of character, one who,
whatever the phase of that which commended itself to him as
truth, was ever ready to espouse the cause of that truth,
however inimical that espousal might be to his personal
interests. Unfortunately some peculiarities of manner, and
a total inability to recognise what is termed conventionalism,

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1883.

CORRESPONDENCE.

565

too often obscured, alike to professional colleagues and to
patients, the many real excellencies of his character and the
genuine kindliness of his disposition.

To our Review, to the British Journal of Homoeopathy , and
to the Homoeopathic World , Dr. Harmar Smith has been a
frequent contributor for more than thirty years, chiefly of well
reported clinical observations ; and some years ago he was a
regular attendant at all the meetings of the British Homoeo¬
pathic Society, and took an active part in the discussions
thereat.

EDWARD VERNON, M.D.

We have heard with regret of the death, after a short but
severe illness, of Dr. Vernon, of Yeovil.

Edward Vernon was born in London in 1831. He studied
for his profession at the Middlesex Hospital, and shortly after
obtaining his first diploma, that of the Royal College of
Surgeons, he was appointed as Assistant Medical Superin¬
tendent of Hoxton Asylum. A few years later he was
induced to study, and ultimately to adopt and practise,
homoeopathy, by the late Mr. Trotman, of Clifton. For
some years after doing so he resided and practised in
Liverpool. Eleven years ago he succeeded to the practice
•of the late Dr. Tudge, of Yeovil, where he has since
enjoyed the friendship and confidence of a considerable
clientele , by whom his loss is deeply felt.

On the 20th of July he was, apparently, in his usual
health, and driving his customary professional rounds*
when, during the following night, he was seized with
violent spasmodic pain in the region of the gall bladder;
hepatic congestion and nephritis became established, and,
after much suffering, death took place on the 3rd of
August.

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE NEW DIRECTORY.

To the Editors of “ The Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen, — I have now practised homoeopathy for thirty-
’three years, and during that time I have watched the behaviour
of the allopathic section of our profession towards their homoeo¬
pathic colleagues, and I have keenly observed the various
shifts and excuses they have from time to time offered for
their conduct to our suffering body. I have noticed the change
in the mode of their attack from one year to another, and-

IN—2

Digitized by

Google

566

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic *
Review, Sep. 1,1898.

have noted the utter uselessness of our submissions, and of
any attempt to propitiate them.

We have lost ground; we have suffered injury to the extent
of the public losing confidence in us, because we have not
made the stand we ought to have made.

And now it seems we are to submit to another incon¬
venience for the sake of meeting their last absurd charge
against us, viz., that we have a separate medical directory,
which, it seems, is an offence against “ medical ethics.” I
have long thought that the “ ethics ” (why not say morals) of
our profession are, to say the least, peculiar! We seem to be
capable of offending against the moral law where other people
can sin with impunity!

Will any one tell me why it is an “ advertisement ” to have
one’s name in a directory containing the names of all the
other men who profess the same principles as ourselves? If
there be any disgrace in professing these principles, then I
agree with those who say a special directory is an ethical
offence.

The main ground for a special directory lies here: Churchill
would not allow the word “ homoeopathic ” to be placed after
our names in his directory, which would be a means of ascer¬
taining who was a homoeopath and who was not. I am
aware this is the very thing the allopaths want us to avoid,
but it is utterly opposed to common sense to pretend that a
medical directory is not intended for the use of the public as
well as of the profession, and what the public sometimes want
to know is this: Where can I find a homoeopathic practi¬
tioner ? Is there one in such and such a town ?

Suppose one of the public wanted to go to an oculist. He
turns to the Directory , and under the names of certain men
he finds the words ophthalmic surgeon to such and such a
hospital, author of certain works on the eye, &c., and this is
just what he wants to know.

But suppose another of the public, with homoeopathic con¬
victions, wanted to consult a homoeopath in a certain town to
which he was going. Has he not as much right to find the
information he wants as the man who wants an oculist ?

If Mr. Churchill will not help the public to this convenience
then let other persons undertake to do it, and. for myself, I
feel personally obliged to Messrs. Keene & Ashwell for furnish¬
ing us with so useful a littlo work.

As for what the allopaths think of it, or call it, who cares ?'
We know all about their hypocrisy in this matter, and that
the real reason why they will not have anything to do with
us is a bigoted hatred of our principles, and a desire to snuff
us out altogether.

Digitized by

CORRESPONDENCE.

567

HonthlyHomceopathio
fieri ew, Sep. 1,1883.

Let me warn my younger brethren not to be misled by the
pretentious statements of the allopathic journals as to their
reasons for tabooing us. They have been beaten all round
upon former occasions, and now this is the last absurd ground
of objection, viz., that we separate ourselves by being placed
•in a special directory.

Go on, Messrs. Keene <fc Ash well, and may your undertaking
prosper.

John Wilde.

Weston-super-Mare.

THE HOMOEOPATHIC DIRECTORY.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen,— The discussion in your valuable journal on
the above subject has, so far, been confined to the professional
part of the believers in homoeopathy. I think the other two
branches (patients and chemists), who are equally interested,
should give expression to their views in the matter. With
your kind permission I should like to offer a few points for
consideration. In the first place, may I draw your attention
to the enclosed circular, dated from the London Homoeopathic
Hospital, and issued under the auspices of the British
Homoeopathic Society, which I (no doubt along with others)
have received.

In this we are requested to insert our names and addresses
in a list of homoeopathic chemists, which is to appear in the
Society’s journal as an insert or supplement, at the modest sum
of one guinea. This is to be issued, because, forsooth, “several
members of the Society have felt the want of a list of homoeo¬
pathic chemists,” whilst all the time one was obtainable \nj
«any one for the small sum of one shilling. It is quite certain,
I think, that these gentlemen will get anything but a complete
list, as many, I doubt not, will politely refuse the offer,
seeing that it is in a journal circulating solely amongst
medical men, most of them at too great a distance to become
customers, and not obtainable at a moderate price by any
one else.

A complete list of homoeopathic chemists is, in my mind;
quite as important as a list of homoeopathic doctors, for this
reason: a patient may fail to obtain the full benefit from a
visit to a homoeopathic physician, by having to take the
prescription given him to an ordinary chemist to dispense
{who unblushingly tells him all homoeopathic medicines are
alike), because he has no cheap means of obtaining the
addresfi of the nearest homoeopathic chemist.

Digitized by ^ooQle

568

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, 8ep. 1,18ML-

So far as the ethical question is concerned, I quite agree
with Drs. Burford and Clarke, and I think the orthodox
practitioners who refuse to meet a homoeopath will fail to see
any difference between having your name in a directory and
in being a member of a society, formed and carried on to
disseminate homoeopathic principles, and which publishes a
list of its members alongside a list of homoeopathic chemists,
the entree to the latter being due, not to ability or reliability,
but by the simple payment of a guinea, which renders it a
pure advertisement.

So far as endeavouring to satisfy in any way the orthodox
members of the profession is concerned, I think we may as
well give it up altogether unless we are prepared to acknowledge
that we have been wrong all along, trading, as they say, on
the credulity and ignorance of the British public.

If we give up our Directory we shall have to give up our
league. Give up the league and we must haul down the
homoeopathic flag at our hospital and schools, and even that
will not satisfy them unless we agree to bury altogether and
for ever the hated word “ Homoeopathy,” and the memory of
its illustrious founder. Homoeopathy we are told constantly
is either dead or dying, and one cannot wonder when we find
men who profess it willing to act as we are wanted to act
simply to please our irreconcilable opponents.

We find the same boycott extended to gentlemen who refuse
to join the British Homoeopathic Society, or to have their
names inserted in the Directory , as to those who do these things
because they are either known to be, or supposed to be in the
habit of using homoeopathic remedies in their practice, these
same boycotters meanwhile not hesitating to filch from our
journals and literature remedies without any acknowledgment
as to the source of their information.

Homoeopathy has had a great deal to thank the lay believer
for in the past, and I sincerely hope that the means of know-
ing where to find either doctor or chemist will not be taken
from him.

In conclusion may I just say that I think the time for
aggressive action is not yet past and instead of giving up our
outposts, we ought to be pushing strongly into the enemy's
territory, so as to compel them to acknowledge the right of
every man to freedom of thought and action in this most
important matter of the treatment of disease.

Bradford, Yorks.

I am yours sincerely,

Alfred H. Waddington.

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1898,

CORRESPONDENCE.

569

THE HOMOEOPATHIC DIRECTORY.—A SUGGESTION.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homceopathic Review "

Gentlemen, —The annual directory circular from Messrs.
Churchill contains two paragraphs which fully express the
objects and uses of a medical directory, as follows :—

“ In compiling this work our object is to afford such informa¬
tion as shall, at a glance, present the status of each member
of the profession. The name, address, qualifications, places
of study, scientific associations, present and past appointments,
published works, papers, &c., form a brief biographical and
bibliographical record which can be found only in The Medical
Directory .

“ As The Medical Directory is continually consulted by the
public for the full information which it affords respecting each
member of the profession, it is highly important that the slip
be regularly and punctually returned, and any particulars
furnished which will assist us in our endeavours to make The
Medical Directory complete and accurate.”

I would draw special attention to the remark that the
Medical Directory u is continually consulted by the public.”
This is exactly what homceopathic patients do with a
Homoeopathic Directory especially when they are flitting from
place to place.

Now for a suggestion—that a sheet list of registered
homoeopathic practitioners and chemists be printed by the
British Homoeopathic Society for free distribution. I should
suggest an alphabetical list of towns, with the names and
addresses only, in this style, say :—

Liverpool, Drs. A.B., and address.

„ C.D., „

Mr. E.F , „

Chemists , Messrs. G. & H. „

„ J. & K.

If no funds are available, a very moderate donation from
each of the gentlemen who object to the usual form of our
Directory would pay the cost. A few copies should be sent to
each practitioner, and the public could be supplied through
chemists.

Faithfully yours,

August 10th. S.M.

THE HOMCEOPATHIC DIRECTORY.

To the Editors of “ The Monthly Homceopathic Review."

Gentlemen, —It is difficult for those of us who agree with
Mr. Knox Shaw on the Directory question, to find anything
important to add to his excellent letter in your pages.

Digitized by

570

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eeview, Sep. 1,1888.

. The ethical question has been considered at length, and my
contribution will be confined to the expediency of the issue.
From this point of view the subject may be thus summarized.
If we have nothing to consider but the convenience of ourselves
and the public, then by all means let us continue the Directory;
if however there are drawbacks to the examination and spread
of homoeopathy associated with the publication, let us search
if there be not some less objectionable plan by which
homoeopathic practitioners can be kept en rapport , while the
disadvantages to homoeopathy may be removed.

The Directory question is, really, only a branch of that of
our relation to the general body of the profession; and,
according to our views on the larger subject, will be those on
the smaller question. I am afraid I hold unpopular views on
this knotty point, and that, in what I am about to write, I
shall trench on dangerous ground, where my devoted head
will invite and receive the shillelagh of scorn.

Those of us who still believe in some sudden open conversion
of the profession to homoeopathy in the future, and who think
that the best way to obtain this is the continuance of the
bitter professional war, which our little band has waged since
Hahnemann's day, do not need to consider the obstacle to a
truce which the Directory presents, and need only regard the
matter from the point of view of temporary convenience. To
them anything that offends those whom they call the enemy
is for that very reason to be commended, and ethical argu¬
ments have no weight. Even of them, however, I would ask
does it advance homoeopathy to offer to criticism such an
imperfect and humiliating sample of its position ? Is it not
a fact that the number of legitimate practising medical men
appearing in our directories is year by year diminishing. If
this indicated that homoeopathy itself was losing ground it
would simply be matter for regret; but, if there is a more
energetic and enlightened activity in our body, our institutions
and our literature, and a greater adoption of our remedies by
the profession at large, how can it be for the good or glory of
homoeopathy to continue a publication which gives no true
indication of our position, from which many practising and
some avowed homoeopathists are omitted, and which many,
even of us who appear therein, believe has helped to impede
our progress. After these years is there a more depressing
study to the homoeopath than the so-called Homoeopathic
Directory ?

In contrast to the above class are those of us who do not
share the animus so loudly expressed by some against the
crypto-homoecpath, but believe that it is by the gradual
conviction of the general body that homoeopathic truth will
finally prevail, at least in the Old World. These have no

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1, 1808.

CORRESPONDENCE.

571

faith in an early medical millenium, with the canonization
♦of the avowed homoeopath and his triumphant procession,
with drums and dags, before a converted and penitent
profession. This body of homoeopaths prefers a crypto¬
homoeopath to an ignorant allopath and believes that, as we
•cannot breed our own “ avowed ” homoeopaths, we must
proselytize from the general body, and any hindrance to such
mission, however convenient to ourselves, is a stumbling
block to the spread of therapeutic truth. As the crypto¬
homoeopaths become more convinced and more numerous,
they will cease to be, or to desire to be, hidden ; they will
join homoeopathic societies, and at long last Hahnemann and
his disciples shall receive their true position in the history of
medical progress.

Some of your correspondents deny that the Directory is any
real rock of offence; to them, if you can afford me space, I
will relate my personal experiences on the subject, in the
belief that they are germane to the question and are not
uncommon.

In Liverpool, publicly and privately, we have been told
that the Directory is the main .stumbling block to professional
courtesy between us and the general body. For some time I
refused to have my name inserted in the Homoeopathic
Directory of Messrs. Thompson and Capper; during that
period I was elected to membership of the Liverpool Medical
Institution although my homoeopathic origin, practice and
beliefs were perfectly well known to the members and were
referred to at my election. I showed cases and specimens at
the meetings of the Society, joined in the discussions, used
its library and reading room, and talked over Ringerism
and homoeopathy with individual members, several of
whom were and are crude and crypto-homoeopaths. Now I
believe that, if other young homoeopaths had joined the
Institution we might have done something for our therapeutics,
•and even for the “ flag,” for motions to make the avowal of
therapeutic faiths no bar to membership have several times
since been brought before the Society. However, it was
pointed out that, for some reason or other, it was my duty
•to allow my name to be inserted in the Homoeopathic Directony ,
and this was done; a copy was produced at a meeting of the
Society, and I was promptly expelled. Soon afterwards I
was told by one in high authority, who was very friendly to
me and whose house-physician I had been at the Liverpool
Royal Infirmary, that the appearance of my name in the
Chemists’ Directory was the sole reason of my rejection, and
that for the same cause, I was ineligible for the local branch
of the British Medical Association. He added, “ You may give
any medicine you like, for any disease you like, in any dose you

Digitized by

Google

572

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review, Sep. 1,1888.

like, however minute, and we are unwilling and even power¬
less to object; but we cannot associate with, one who permits
his name to appear in a distinctive medical list issued to the
public.” Now the sting of this is, that all I want is the liberty
to give what medicine and dose I believe best, and, there¬
fore, for a ticketted list I have had to relinquish opportunities
for professional friendship, discussion and profit. I agree
with Dr. Burford, that the Directory question is one rather
for discussion than correspondence; and I feel that there is
much to be said on both sides. I should welcome the cessa¬
tion of the issue of the Directory , chiefly, because I look for a
new plan of campaign among the coming generation of
homoeopaths, in which there will be less wagging of the flag
and more effort to remove the unessential obstacles to free
professional amity and discussion. The militant spirit was
natural in the early days of persecution, but the old warriors
die and few recruits now appear. Arbitration or an honourable
peace is before us. Freedom in essentials may be secured by
the sacrifice of some unessentials, which give cause for offence
to the enormous majority of our fellow practitioners. Amongst
these unessentials I class the Directory . I may be rash and
Utopian, I write for no other individual than myself, and I
only wish for a little more rapid and more evident progress
towards the general examination and acceptance of the true
therapeutics ; for which, in different ways, we are all longing
and striving.

John Davey Hayward.

THE DIRECTORY QUESTION.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homeopathic Device,"

Gentlemen,— A temperature of 80 ° in the shade, and the
difficulty of finding time to do anything when one is enjoying
the languid laziness of a summer holiday, make me shrink
from endeavouring adequately to reply to the voluminous,
correspondence excited by the Directoi-y question. Further¬
more, there is a strong temptation to procrastinate, as it has.
been hinted that the subject will probably be discussed at the
Homoeopathic Congress in September, when it will all have
to be gone over again. Still, some comment will doubtless be
expected from me, as I am so often alluded to in the corres¬
pondence, in acknowledgment of the criticisms expressed
therein. We have only to read the letters to see that there
are very different standpoints from which men view this
question. Take, for instance, the practice of medicine simply,
without any regard to its orthodoxies or its heterodoxies,
is it not obvious that there is a fundamental diverg¬
ence of opinion from which this is regarded, and that

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Hoinceopathio
lie view, Sep. 1,1803.

CORRESPONDENCE.

573

the tone in which this present question is discussed
is largely influenced by the manner in which the profession
to which we belong is regarded, and that the ethics which
should guide our conduct is modified according as the
professional or trade element dominates our actions and our
thoughts *? Whether it is the over-crowding of the medical
profession, with its consequent struggle for existence or what
not, there appears to be an unfortunate tendency to the
development of a spirit of commercialism to the degradation
and exclusion of the finer instincts of a professional life. The
more the trade element enters into the medical profession, the
more debased becomes the ethical tone of our lives, and the
removal of the barriers erected by a highly developed line of
professional conduct allows the blatant puffer to adopt the
methods of the much advertising pill-maker. “ Ethics,” as Dr..
Clarke writes, “ is the science of right conduct,” conduct that
fulfils its obligations for the sake of doing what is upright and
good, and not because of some ultimate benefit that
may accrue. By “medical ethics” I mean the science
of right conduct that should guide medical men
in the practice of their profession, and whilst advo¬
cating that the standard of this right conduct should be
of the highest character, I am not in the least deterred from
doing so because some men have, under the aegis of “ medical
ethics,” countenanced actions which I may consider unjust
and unfair.

The Directory question is no newly discovered one. Many
of us have not had our names inserted in the Homoeopathic
Directory for some time, some never ; but not till the present
time has it appeared opportune to take steps to give expression,
in an unmistakable form, to the feeling that it were better
for homoeopathy were men’s names omitted from that list. It
is still open, as Dr. Clarke says, to any man to put his name
in a special Directory if he so desires it, but our hope is that
as few as possible will be found to perpetuate that error.

Dr. Proctor considers that I am wrong in designating the
issue of a special medical Directory a separation of ourselves
from the general body of the profession, and in a letter he has
kindly addressed to me, supplementing his letter to the licvieu\
he says: “ The question is only, have we the right to com¬
bine to advance a special object ? It is combination, and not
separation, that we aim at.” The quotation is so vital to the
question at issue that I have ventured to use it and to express
my cordial agreement with it, as it is for this end I labour.
But would Dr. Proctor tell me of what effectual use as a com¬
bination is the collection of a number of names in a Directory ,.
a thing without a head, without voice, a mere lifeless agglomera¬
tion of entities, with absolutely no organisation whatever. T <y

Digitized by

Google

574

CORRESPONDENCE.

be of any service we must combine effectively, and at present
the British Homoeopathic Society offers the best means of
doing so. Dr. Percy Wilde’s contribution to the discussion
expresses briefly and to the point what I believe to be the
sentiments of many others as well as my own.

I am afraid the Supplement to the Journal of the British
Homeopathic Society has not been as carefully studied by many
•■of its critics as it deserves, for it certainly fulfils most of their
requirements, and it can easily be made use of as a reference
by those who need it, outside the organisation of the Society,
by the purchase, from the publishers, Bale & Sons, of the
January number of the Journal.

Dr. Dudgeon will allow that even the most perfect directory
cannot be prophetic, and he will, I am sure, forgive the
compiler of the Supplement for not knowing in December
that a member of the Society would be at another address in
the following July. I am, Gentlemen,

Yours respectfully,

_ C. Knox Shaw.

THE HOMOEOPATHIC DIRECTORY.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Ilevieic .”

Gentlemen,— I write in the first place to disclaim author¬
ship of a letter in your July issue, written by my cousin, Dr.
Andrew Neatby, as I understand it has been attributed to me.
In the second place I venture to ask for space to say a few
words on the Directory question myself.

At the outset let it be granted that the profession exists
for the public, and that we must act with this in view.
If a special Directory and an “aggressive policy” of “appealing
•to the public,” will bring “ the greatest good of the greatest
number,” it is our duty to support such methods, however
distasteful they may be to our professional instincts. Now it
lias appeared to me that some means of communication
between homoeopaths (I use this term throughout for brevity’s
sake) is necessary on the ground of our duty to mankind. As
long, therefore, as no other means than the Directory was
available I permitted my name to appear therein, and spoke
in favour of it. But because I do not believe that the
“ aggressive policy ” is the best for the ultimate spread of
homoeo-therapeutics — in other words for the greatest
good of the public—I welcome another means of inter¬
communication and approve of the suppression of the
Directory. I disapprove of the appealing to the public
policy ( i.e. of appeals on the part of the profession
or members thereof) because I am persuaded that homoeopaths
can better serve the cause of the public, of truth and of
themselves by spending their time, brain-power and money

Digitized by

Google

bMSTS? 1- CORRESPONDENCE. 576 -

quite otherwise. The urgent need of the present is not a
blatant advocacy of a principle we have reason to trust and to
be proud of representing, but the strengthening of our position
on two parallel lines. Firstly —and I put it first advisedly—
we must maintain individually and collectively (to adopt an
expression from the leading article in your August issue) “ the
highest possible educational level. 11 We are hampered in this
by our isolated position, but we must therefore bring
more care and effort, and not less, to ensure its attainment,
than if all the facilities of the dominant school were at
our disposal. Secondly , though the rule of similars is a
“ golden rule,” the gold will soon be dim if, with the advance*
of knowledge, we do make constant efforts to precisionize and
facilitate its application. The study and cultivation of our
Materia Medica—including much weeding and pruning—is an
imperious necessity if homoeo-therapeutics is to hold its own
in the face of opposition on the one hand and the constant
advancement of other branches of therapeutics on the other.
After diligently supplying these primary essentials we shall
have neither energy nor need for popular aggressive methods.
It is unquestionably on the basis of these essentials that
homoeopathy and homoeopaths will stand or fall. So much
for the general principle of appealing to the public by the
profession.

As regards the subsidiary question—the greater includes the*
less. We must aim at the highest standard of professional
conduct as well as professional education to ensure the greatest
good to the public. If we respect ourselves we shall be
respected by others. Now, it is clear that advertising is not in
conformity with the highest standard of professional conducts
A sectional professional Directory , whose chief virtue and
whose chief advantage over its rival is that it is meant for and
rendered accessible to the public, is incontrovertibly a
form of advertisement. In spite of Dr. Clarke’s sarcasm
and Dr. Proctor’s sophistry, most plain-thinking people will
call this advertising, not primarily of individuals, perhaps, but
certainly of a system and of a section of the profession. Dr.
Proctor would have us believe that because the Homoeopathic
Directory is not Sequah’s gilded car, heralded by trumpeters
on gorgeously trapped chargers, therefore it is not adver¬
tisement. He reduces his position to an absurdity by gravely
suggesting that because some tradesman has compiled a Direc¬
tory of specialists, therefore we, medical men, may legitimately
do the same. Dr. Clarke, with his impatience of all control,
and his fixed aversion to all that pertains to “ allopathy,” asks
in effect “ can any good thing come out of the British Medical
Journal ? ” and himself almost believes that the?e cannot.
Surely it is childish to quarrel with the Journals etiquette

Digitized by ^ooQle

•576

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1893.

if it is founded on sound ethical principles. But really may
we not leave out of calculation in this matter, the “ allopaths”
and their journals, what they will say or what they will
think ? Why bring them forward in every letter on the sub¬
ject ? We are offering no “ sop,” and we expect no favours.
Let us remember that this is no question of sect or “ pathy.”

Finally, then, it was in time past ethically justifiable and
laudable (on the ground of our duty to suffering humanity) to
make use of a sectional Directory ; for the same ethical
reasons, now a substitute is found, it is justifiable and laud¬
able to suppress the Directory , whose work is done. The
argument that the Society’s list forms no adequate substitute
is not sufficiently serious to need refutation. As to the phar¬
macists, there can be no objection to their compiling a Direc¬
tory of themselves if such is required. For the addresses of
foreign homoeopaths Dr. Villers’ Directory is available.

Faithfully yours,

Edwin A. Neatby.

VACCINATION.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review
Gentlemen. —Permit me, as an ardent disciple of Hahne¬
mann, to implore you to pause before you commit the
Homoeopathic Review to a support of vaccination. The fact
that a Royal Commission, on which not a single anti-vaccinist
was appointed, has taken four years to receive evidence, and
is still apparently unable to report finally on the question,
should inspire caution. Vaccination is not homoeopathy, it
is not even isopathy, but a conjectural isopathic prophylaxis,
which rests on no scientific basis. Careful study of the
evidence taken before the Royal Commission will show that
no one knows what vaccine is. That any protection given
by it is (as Dr. Gavton admits) “very fleeting indeed.’*
That thousands of vaccinated persons have suffered from
small pox, and that so little modified as to be fatal. That a
child a week has, according to the Registrar General’s returns,
confessedly died of it for years past in England and Wales.

The statement which you reprjnt from the Times as to the
old rate of mortality in London being 8,000 per million
living has long since been exploded. But if it be true,
vaccinists are impaled on the horns of this dilemma. If
vaccination has caused the reduction in the death rate from
small pox, which has undoubtedly occurred among us in this
century, then unvaccinated communities should be suffering
at the old rate. Leicester, Keighley, Dewsbury, Gloucester,
places where the vast majority are unvaccinated, should be
-eaten up with small pox, whereas Manchester, Sheffield,
Warrington, and all the places where large bonuses are still

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Sep. 1,1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

577

earned for “ successful ” vaccination, should be exempt. But
it, is notorious that these latter well vaccinated towns have
suffered worse than those where Jenner’s contrivance has
fallen into disuse.

Again, compare Leicester, where vaccine disasters brought
about a revolt against the compulsory law 20 years ago with
itself. In 1871-2, when all were vaccinated, they had an
epidemic of thousands of cases, and 846 deaths. In 1698,
when a small minority only are vaccinated, an epidemic
occurs with 160 cases and 10 deaths. Many of these deaths
were due to an unlucky mistake in diagnosis. And of the
160 cases, the vaccinated population contributed 16 more than
their fair share.

The article on vaccination in the last edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica has never yet been answered, nor has
Professor Crookshank’s great work on The History and
Pathology of Vaccination. Until these weighty indictments
are answered it would be wiser for all homoeopaths who have
not made a special study of the subject to suspend judgment
on this much controverted question.

Yours faithfully,

Edgbaston, 21st July, 1898. A. PHELPS.

[That vaccination and re-vaccination constitute a safe and
•efficient prophylactic measure against small-pox is, we believe,
proved beyond the power of controversy. Further, they con¬
stitute the only means known by which protection against the
development and spread of the disease can be secured. Our
correspondent is mistaken in supposing that no opponents of
vaccination are on the Commission ; Dr. Collins and Mr. Pic-
ton, M.P. for Leicester, both members of the Commission,
are vehemently opposed to it. The dilatory method of taking
evidence before a Royal Commission, and the necessity for
•carefully sifting by cross-examination the oftentimes very
loose and inaccurate statements of anti-vaccinationists—who
Alone have been examined so far—sufficiently account for the
length of time during which the Commission has sat. The
wast amount of evidence to be adduced in support of vaccina¬
tion will doubtless render the delay in issuing a report con¬
siderable. Primary vaccination saved Leicester in 1872, and
has done so again in 1898. Three hundred cases have
occurred there, the unvaccinated suffering much more severely
than the vaccinated. Of the 16 deaths that occurred there
only one of the sufferers had been vaccinated. The deaths
were not due to an unlucky mistake in diagnosis; the occur¬
rence of small-pox possibly was so in one or two instances,
but had these unfortunates been vaccinated they would, in all
probability, not have contracted the disease at all, or, had they
done so, would have recovered.— Eds. to. H. 2i.]

Digitized by

Google

578

CORRESPONDENTS.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review, Sep. 1,1803.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

* m * We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscript*.

Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. N eatby.

London Homceopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,.
Bloomsbury. —Hours of attendance : Medical, In-patients, 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30, daily; Surgical. Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.30 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist. Mondays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays^ 2.30.

Communications have been received from Mr. Knox Shaw, Dr. S..
Morrisson, Liquor Carnis Co. (London) ; Dr. Priestley, Dr. G.
Clifton (Leicester); Mr. Waddington (Bradford); Dr. Hawkes,
Dr. J. D. Hayward (Liverpool).

Erratum. —Page 501, line 7 from the bottom, after “Direct Taxes”
insert “ of Italy.”

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Disease* of the Skin : Their Constitutional Nature and Cure . By
J. C. Burnett, M.D. Second Edition. Revised and Enlarged. London :
The Homoeopathic Publishing Company. 1893.

Modem Household Medicine , $c. By Chas. Robt. Fleury, M.D.
Third Edition. Revised and Enlarged. London : E. Gould A Son. 1893.
The Homoeopathic World. London. August.

The Provincial Medical Journal. Leicester. August.

The Chemist and Druggist. London. August.

The Monthly Magazine of Ph irmacy. London. August.

The North American Journal of Homoeopathy. New York. August,
The Xeto York Medical Time*. August.

New York Medical Becord. July and August.

The New England Medical Oazette. Boston. August.

The Hahnemannian Monthly. Philadelphia. August.

The Homoeopathic Becorder. Philadelphia. July.

The Homoeopathic Physician. Philadelphia. August.

The Medical Century . Chicago. July.

The Medical Advance. Chicago. July.

The Journal Orificial Surgery. Chicago. July.

The (Unique. Chicago. July.

The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine. July.

The Homoeopathic Medical Becord. Calcutta. May and June.
Homoeopathic Envoy. Lancaster. August.

Annul* of u Electro-How otopathy." Geneva. August.
ltevue Homoeopath ique Beige. Brussels. July.

Bulletin General tie Therapeutique. Paris. August.

Leipziger Pop. Zeitschrift. fur Horn. August,

Birista Omiopatica. Rome. June.

Homoeopath isch Maandblad . The Hague. August.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pora, 19,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dtck Browx, 99, Seymoor Street, Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr. Enwix A. Kbatbt, 161, Haverstock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould 6 Sow. 69 .
Moorgate Street, B.C.

Digitized by Google

KT?r “ MODERN HOMCEOPATHY.

579

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

“ MODERN HOMCEOPATHY.”

What is termed “ Modern Homoeopathy ” forms the sub¬
ject of a short article in the August number of the
Provincial Medical Journal , a periodical published at
Leicester. “ Modern Homoeopathy,’* the Editor assures
his readers, “ does not rest on the foundations laid by
Hahnemann.” On what it does rest he is silent. If
homoeopathy, as taught and practised in 1898, does not
rest on the foundations laid by Hahnemann in 1796, on
what we would like to know does it rest ? This question
suggests another—what were the foundations of homoeo¬
pathy laid by Hahnemann in 1796 ? These have often¬
times been stated in our Review, but as they can
scarcely be re-stated too frequently, we will once more
recite them. We do so by quoting a passage from an
article that appeared in this journal 80 years ago, a
passage which gives at once the foundations of homoeo¬
pathy as laid by Hahnemann, and the foundations of
that therapeutic method of drug-selection which is
understood by the term homoeopathy to-day.

“ True homoeopathy consists, simply and solely, in
the prescribing for disease such remedies as are com¬
petent to produce similar disease in a healthy person.
This alone is homoeopathy. To carry out homoeopathy.

VoL 37, No. 10.

2—0

Digitized by

Google

580

“ MODERN HOMCEOPATHY.”

it is obviously necessary that drugs be proved. It is
further necessary that the amount of drug given to
cure be less than that required to produce disease.
These are the corollaries of homoeopathy. They are
inseparable from it; no one can satisfactorily practise
homoeopathy without seeing their necessity or availing
himself of them.”— (Monthly Homoeopathic Review,
Jan. 1st, 1864, p. 8.)

To this ought to have been added, that medicines, pre¬
scribed homoeopathically, should be given in the form in
which they were proved, viz., singly, uncombined, that
is, with any others. With this addition, the passage
represents the whole basis of homoeopathy, as taught by
Hahnemann ; it represents the principles which those
medical men, who, to-day do not shrink from declaring
their faith in homoeopathy, endeavour to put into
practice.

It is not, however, in order to enlighten “ some of the
younger members of the profession [who] may not be
familiar with the grounds on which homoeopathy rests,
deeming homoeopathy to be altogether unworthy of atten¬
tion,” that the Editor of the Provincial Medical Journal
prints this article on “ Modern Homoeopathy,” but rather
to endeavour to draw a red herring across the scent of
any inquirer into homoeopathy by introducing to the
notice of his readers a travesty of homoeopathy, and of
the practice of those who believe in it, recently published
in the United States by Dr. Browning, of Brooklyn,
entitled “Modern Homoeopathy, its Absurdities and
Inconsistencies,” for the manufacture of which the
author has been rewarded with $100 by Dr. George
Gould, of Philadelphia, the editor of a medical journal
which rivals the Lancet of 40 years ago in the coarseness
of its invective whenever it refers to homoeopathy.

The most laboured point which the Editor of the Pro¬
vincial Medical Journal derives from Dr. Browning’s
paper is a skit upon some of the substances in the
Materia Medica, which he says €€ remind us of some of
the formulas in use in the rudest ages.” The chief of
them are, indeed, very offensive substances, substances
which have rarely, if ever, been used by any one except,
perhaps, Dr. Mure, of Bio de Janeiro, who pub¬
lished provings of them thirty or forty years ago, and,
having been published, Dr. Allen injudiciously and

Digitized by ^ooQle

“ modern homoeopathy . ’ ’ 581

unnecessarily included some of them in his Encyclopedia .
Of some which Dr. Browning appears to attribute to
Dr. Allen’s work, but which it does not contain, such
as lyssa, spriggum ? martini , and tela aranece, we never
heard before. The most repulsive named by Dr.
Browning is, at the same time, far less so than that ad¬
vocated and used by Dr. Brown-Sequard, the celebrated
scientist of Paris, to rejuvenate the aged! Among other
substances, the employment of which is mentioned to
excite the smiles and provoke the ridicule of the ignorant,
are the poisons of the crotalus horridus , of the lachesis
trigonocephalus , and of the honey bee. The study of the
effects of these several animal poisons, and their use as
medicines by those who have been guided by the results
of such study, has been instrumental, time and again,
in saving from death numbers who would otherwise most
certainly have died. Cases of septicaemia, of diphtheria
in its most fatal form, and of acute dropsy, have among
others repeatedly been snatched from the jaws of death
by crotalus virus and apis virus . Surely this is justi¬
fication enough for using them. Dr. Lauder Brunton, in
an early edition of his Index of Diseases and Remedies ,
named apis meUijica as a remedy in cedematous sore
throat. But, when it was pointed out to him that, so
far, this medicine had only been used by homoeopaths,
he withdrew it from the list in the next edition! In
such a condition it is a valuable remedy, notwith¬
standing Dr. Lauder Brunton’s time-serving repudia¬
tion of it; and further, but for homoeopathy, and the
researches of those who practise homoeopathically, this
therapeutic fact, and many another suggesting the real
value of this and the serpent venoms, could never have
.been known.

One more point which the Editor of the Provincial
Medical Journal makes out of Dr. Browning’s essay he
expresses as follows :—“ Dr. Browning then considors,
and shows clearly, how far homoeopathic conditions (sic)
-can go in assimilating their practice to that of regular
medicine, though still preserving the name of homoeo¬
pathy.” Parenthetically, we may notice, that what
Dr. Browning here terms “regular medicine,” when
put into practice, is described by Dr. Lauder Brunton,
one of the examiners at the College of Physicians, in the
following terms:—“ Our ideas are often hazy and inde-

20—2

Digitized by

Google

582

MODERN HOMOEOPATHY.”

finite. We give medicine at random, with no defined
idea of what it should do, and trusting to chance for
good results. When a remedy fails in its work, we can.
give no reason for the failure. We do not even seek out
a reason.” This so-called “ regular” medicine is, in all
sober truth, without any therapeutic regula or rule
whatever. The non-homoeopathic physician can only
describe himself as “ regular ” on the principle of lucur
a non lucendo .

To return to Dr. Browning : what is intended to be
understood by the not very clearly expressed sentence
that we have quoted is, we presume, that he “ makes
clear ” that when patients have not “ the requisite
degree of faith,” and suffer from “ diseases which tend to
a fatal termination * * * the majority of homoeo¬
pathic practitioners abandon their theories, discard
their dilutions, fall back upon the researches of rational
medicine, and administer drugs in full doses.” Dr.
Browing appears to be fully conscious that this is not
true, for he cautions his readers to notice " that all
homceopathists are not charged with being false to
their professions.” Rapidly, however, reverting to and
enlarging the scope of his slander, he says : — “ It
cannot be denied, however, that the practices of most
homceopathists warrant the inference that they have
no faith in their professed theories, and have assumed
their distinctive title merely for the sake of obtaining
business.” Now the Editor of the Provincial Medical
Journal tells his readers that Dr. Browning makes this
accusation “ clear ” ! How does he perform this opera¬
tion ? He says, in the first place, that homoeopathic
physicians have “ their libraries filled with the works of
those whose methods they decry.” This we gladly believe
is true enough, and it is to their credit that it is so.
Shakespeare truly says that there are

“ . . . . Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.'’

Homoeopathy relates, simply and solely, to the
method of selecting medicines for the treatment of
disease. The duties of the physician are not limited
to prescribing medicines. It is his duty to be as
intimately acquainted with the whole range of studies bear¬
ing upon the prevention and cure of disease as time and
opportunity admits of his being. In therapeutics, no less*

Digitized by

Google

*^ 3 F % S ^ “ MODERN HOMEOPATHY.” 583

than in pathology, he requires to be well furnished with the
views of all earnest enquirers, of all honest seekers after
truth. Hence he fills his library with the works of men
from whose therapeutic methods his experience has led
him to differ widely, and the more he studies these
methods, as set forth by their authors, the more is his
faith confirmed in that he has adopted. The homoeo¬
pathic physician is, on Dr. Browning's own showing, a
widely read, and therefore a broad-minded, well-
instructed man, who keeps himself abreast of the literature
of the profession of which he is a member, and not the
narrow-minded sectarian he is commonly represented to
be.

He next asserts “ Their laboratories are stocked with
a full line of official drugs and pharmaceutical prepara¬
tions.” This is an assertion which we know, and Dr.
Browning knows, that he could not prove. Individual
instances—though as a matter of fact we do not know of
one—there may be, of men who represent themselves as
practising homceopathically, when they do nothing of the
kind; but to say, as this Prize-essayist does, that the
majority do so, is a foul slander uttered deliberately
and “ of malice aforethought.”

Then, again, we are told that “ The inspection of the
prescription files of apothecaries will abundantly sustain
the charge that homceopathists use drugs in the same
manner as rational physicians.” The word “ rational ” is
here employed as a euphemism for “ non-homoeopathic.”
Its natural meaning would not hold good at all if applied
to physicians whose therapeutics “ have not,” as Dr.
Wilks, of Guy’s Hospital, has said, “ a scientific basis,
but, on the contrary, is formed out of the fancies of the
human mind.” That the prescription files of an ordinary
apothecary may here and there contain an order for an
hypnotic or a narcotic in a dose large enough to procure
sleep or prevent the sensation of pain, is probable enough.
When disease is of the incurable and at the same time
intensely painful order, homoeopathists in a very large
proportion have admitted the necessity of falling back
on medicines of this kind—medicines that are merely
palliative of irremediable suffering, not curative of curable
disease. Beyond this, Dr. Browning’s statement is
utterly untrue ; and we feel perfectly sure that he has

Digitized by ^ooQle

584

MODERN HOMOEOPATHY.’’ K

neyer made any inspection of apothecaries’ prescription
files that would bear out his imputation.

The next paragraph is devoted to declaring that the
author was called in to visit a lady dying of arsenical
poisoning, the result of the prescription of Fowler’s
solution of arsenic by “ a prominent homoeopathist ! ”
Credat Judceus !

Following this is a request to know, “Where is the
homoeopathist who abstains from the use of lotions,
liniments and salves ? ” Well, we cannot inform him.
But we can assure him of this, that the use of such
medicaments is not “ contrary to the very essence of the
system,” that essence solely consisting in the similarity
between the symptoms of disease and those produced by
the drug prescribed and directed to be taken by the
mouth, hypodermically, or as applied to the skin. That
such applications are, as he says, contrary to the explicit
teaching of Hahnemann is true enough, but the experi¬
ence of his followers, generally, has not sustained him
in this matter of detail.

As a further illustration of his assertion that the
majority of homoeopathic practitioners do not prescribe
homoeopathically in serious illness, Dr. Browning men¬
tions that Dr. Ludlam in reporting a case of ovariotomy
in The Clinique of August, 1880, says that he gave the
patient material doses of quinine and morpliia , and
dressed the wound antiseptically. We have not this
number of The Clinique within reach, and so cannot
say how far Dr. Browning’s quotation is accurate. But
we feel perfectly certain, that if Dr. Lijdlam saw such
palliative treatment to be necessary, he would explain
in his report why it was necessary, why it was to be
preferred, in that individual instance, to such as con¬
sisted in prescribing homoeopathically selected remedies.
That he would dress his patient’s wound antiseptically is
certain, and that every surgeon who is a homoeopathist
would do the same is equally certain. Can Dr. Browning
point to a single article, written by a homoeopathist,
protesting against the antiseptic treatment of wounds,
or can he show that adopting it is inconsistent with
prescribing homoeopathically for peritonitis or septicaemia,
when these follow a laparotomy ? Of course he cannot.

Another instance he gives of the desertion of homoeo¬
pathy in dangerous illness is a paper upon Inflammation

Digitized by A^OOQle

KWaS?* “ modern homeopathy.” 585

of the Bladdery by Dr. Moffat, of Brooklyn, which he
says appeared in the North American Journal of
Homoeopathy for August, 1887, where 55 homoeopathic
preparations are recommended. His point, however,
weak though it be, seems to consist in Dr. Moffat
having advised that, where the practitioner fails to find
the homoeopathic specific, he ought to use “such other
treatment as has proved beneficial.” Well, most
unquestionably he ought to do so, but, he must fail to
find the curative medicine first of all, if he desires to do
the best he can for his patient. This is very different
from trying “ to ride the fence and practise both ways.”

In further illustrating the same point, Dr. Browning
repeats, on the authority of the New York Medical
Gazette and “ a medical friend,” a couple of apocryphal
stories regarding the statistics and practice pursued (in
one instance) at the Ward’s Island Homoeopathic Hospital.

On such evidence as this, Dr. Browning endeavours
to bolster up the malignant slander that homoeopathic
physicians in serious cases abandon homoeopathy and
revert to that experience which Dr. H. C. Wood,
in the preface to his work on Materia Medica
and Therapeutics describes as having been to medicine
“ a blind leader of the blind.” The people of the United
States, where, as he admits “ this so-called system of
medicine commands so large a following,” have had too
much experience of the value of “this so-called system
of medicine,” are too thoroughly conscious of the vastly
superior results which have followed its adoption in the
treatment of disease, especially of such as, like yellow
fever and cholera, “tend to a fatal termination” to be
ever likely to be induced to lose their confidence in it
by such trashy nonsense as that which Dr. Browning
brings to support what he endeavours to per¬
suade them are the “absurdities and inconsistencies” of
homoeopathy. He has failed, and failed utterly, to show
that there is any absurdity in homoeopathy, or that the
large majority of the 12,000 qualified practitioners of
homoeopathy in the United States are guilty of any
inconsistency in their treatment of disease.

This, and about thirty pages more of the same sort of
stuff constitutes the red herring which the Editor of
The Provincial Medical Journal endeavours to trail
across the line of the enquirer into homoeopathy !

Digitized by ^ooQle

586

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

SHOULD LIKES BE TREATED BY LIKES?*

By Alfred E. Hawkes, M.D.

Gentlemen, —My first and most obvious duty this morn¬
ing is to extend to those of you who have come from a
distance, and especially to any who may have crossed
the sea, a very cordial welcome to the ancient borough
within the boundaries of which we are assembled. I
should like at the outset also to express the hope that
your visit may be profitable, that the reunion of old
friends and the meeting of new ones may be pleasant,
and that the proceedings of the entire day may be
memorable. My thanks are due to those who, by their
vote at Southport last year, placed me in the high posi¬
tion which I am grateful to have been spared to occupy.

Before proceeding with the subject which has occupied
my thoughts since your vote imposed this duty upon me,
I must refer to the encroachments death has made upon
our ranks since the last Congress.

To Dr. Carl Fischer, who was well known at home and
abroad, I have referred elsewhere.t His energetic advo¬
cacy of the principles we profess will ever entitle him to
our admiration.

Those who have met the late Mr. John Potts at our
Congresses, will not be likely soon to forget him. I do
not refer to him at any length, as ample justice was done
to his memory in the July number of the Homoeopathic
Rcviewy but it is surely due to one who for so long a
time adorned our ranks, that I should give expression to
the regret we feel that his genial presence will never
again cheer his comrades in arms.

By the death of Dr. Henry Blumberg a still greater
gap has been made. As Vice-President of our Congress
last year, he placed us all under great obligation to him.
The esteem in which he was held in the town where he
resided so long, the learning which he brought to bear
upon the profession he was so much attached to, and his
great skill, recognised alike by his colleagues and his
patients, render his loss all the more difficult for us to

♦The Presidential Address, delivered at the British Homoeopathic
Congress, held in Northampton. Sept. 28, 1893.
t The Homoeopathic World , Aug., 1893, p. 359.

Digitized by

Google

587

.Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1893.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

bear. Perhaps the delicate state of his health for some
time past ought to have prepared most of us for the
inevitable, and to those who saw Dr. Blumberg at South-
port in September last, the sad news of his death could
hardly have come as a surprise. Thus another who did
so much for suffering humanity, has at length been
released from the distress which baffled the efforts of
sympathetic colleagues to relieve. Those who think that
a medical man’s duty to society does not solely consist
in writing prescriptions, will be encouraged to note that
our recently deceased friends were prominent public men
as well as trusted physicians. The sad news conveyed
to us by the September journals is too recent for me to
refer to at any length. No words of mine are necessary
to enable you to realise the loss we have sustained by
the death of Dr. Wynne Thomas.

I will leave intact for your future delectation the
touching address delivered at Chicago* by Dr. Bushrod
James, contenting myself with quoting from the Rural
Muse by our peasant poet Clare, the following lines:—

“ I fain would have some friend to wander nigh
And find a path to where my ashes sleep—

Not the cold heart that merely passes by,

To read who lies beneath, but such as keep
Past memories warm with deeds of other years,

And pay to friendship some few friendly tears.”

I would now proceed to lay before you some of those
reasons which prompt me to desire that homoeopathy
should be more fully recognised and be still more widely
resorted to in directing the treatment of disease.

In the first place, I feel it to be incumbent upon me to
demonstrate that we are fully alive to the responsibility
attaching to a departure from the older methods of
utilising the powers of drugs. I know that our oppo¬
nents speak and act as if we were in the habit of leaving
our patients to die, like Alexander Pope, “ of a hundred
good symptoms.” I verily believe that the majority of
them think we are accustomed to employ totally inade¬
quate means, when the pallid visitor whose step is
equally unwelcome in the castles of the rich and the
cottages of the poor, threatens to approach. But, gentle-

♦ World’s Congress of Homoeopathic Physicians and Surgeons
Memorial service.

Digitized by C^ooQle

588

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

men, against such an allegation I protest, and assert that
we are deeply conscious both of the importance of our
office and of the potency of our measures. Ours is no¬
light and simple duty. We recognise that we have to
take our part, in company with our non-homceopathic
friends, in ministering to the welfare of fellow-beings
who represent the highest form of development, concern¬
ing whom in his recent Lowell lectures* Professor Drum¬
mond, quoting Dr. J. Clelland, the physiologist, said:t
“ Thus you see there is anatomical evidence that the
development of the vertebrate form has reached its limit

by completion in man.The development of

the animal kingdom is the development of intelligence
chained to matter. The animals in which the nervous
system has reached the greatest perfection are the verte¬
brates, and in man that part of the nervous system which
is the organ of intelligence reaches as I have sought to
show the highest development possible to a vertebrate
animal, while intelligence itself has grown to reflection
and volition. On these grounds I believe, not that man
is the highest possible intelligence, but the human body
is the highest form of human life possible, subject to the
condition of matter on the surface of the globe, and that
the structure completes the design of the animal king¬
dom.” All this is equivalent to saying that we are not
veterinary surgeons, or as Carroll Dunham expressed
it:t “The subject of your lifelong study will be, not
fabrics, nor wares, nor stocks, the works or machinations
of men, but the noblest of God’s creation—that which
He made in His own image—the body and mind of
man.”

The reason for introducing this extract is in order that
I may emphasise the statement, that we depend for our
therapeutic knowledge upon exact experiments made
upon the very class of individuals we have to treat. As
is well known, we use the results obtained by experi¬
ments on animals in dealing with coarse lesions, and in
cases where exact observations on healthy human beings
are not available, but the main source of our symptoma¬
tology is the very class of beings to which I have just
referred.

* British Weekly, April 27th, 1893.
t Journal of Anatomy, vol. viii., p. 361.
j Lectures on Materia Med tea, vol. ii., p. 419.

Digitized by AjOoqL e

589 *

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew, Oct. 2,1883.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

In this exalted region we claim to have played our
part, and, guided by the splendid example of Hahne¬
mann, we, his disciples, constantly strive to furnish
those coming under our care with remedies, the choice
of which his genius has lifted high above the level of
mere empiricism. Some of us are compelled to admit
that we have done little or nothing to perfect the system
he designed, counting it our chief mission to follow as
closely as we can the lead of one who has raised our art
into the region of almost an exact science.

Philanthropists, scientists, statesmen, logicians of the
first rank, have lent us their countenance, and abetted
our designs, and I submit that it is against these, as
well as against the practitioners of homoeopathy, that
the criticism of our opponents should be directed.

I am, however, fully alive to the consideration that it
is often not we, but our patients, who have to bear the
brunt of the attack, and it is well for them and us too r
that much has been done to educate them and to prepare
them to defend our method against the attacks of its
opponents.

As we all know and gratefully acknowledge, a number
of well-informed observers have striven to gather from
the action of drugs on their own bodies, and the bodies*
of others, the latent capabilities of medicinal materials-
with a view to carry out the system of therapeutics w &
to-day are here met to advance.

It is no part of my intention to weary you with
references to provings with which you are familiar, but
to mention one or two substances by way of illustrating
our meaning of the term “similar” will render my
argument clearer. I therefore would draw your atten¬
tion to the action of three medicinal agents we use in
acute, subacute, and chronic ailments.

My first example is ailanthus. It will be remembered
by many that Dr. Wells, of Brooklyn, related a case of
poisoning by the exudation of this tree several years
ago.* Two young friends, while amusing themselves
with the bark, had, in so doing, partaken of a quantity
of the juice of the tender shoots of the tree, and the
following day they both suffered severely. One, whose
symptoms are detailed more than those of the other, was
the daughter of Dr. Wells, whose skill as an observer no

* Monthly Homoeopathic Review , 1867, p. 288.

Digitized by

Google

•590 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS,

one will be likely to question. “ She rose in the morn¬
ing feeling slightly ill, dressed, and immediately went to
the breakfast table. She could take no food, the sight
of it made her feel so much worse. She immediately
left the table and went to her room. She was seized
suddenly with violent vomiting, severe headache, intole¬
rance of light, dizziness, hot red face, inability to sit up,
rapid small pulse, drowsy, at the same time very rest¬
less, great anxiety; two hours after the first attack the
drowsiness had become insensibility with constant mut¬
tering delirium, did not recognise the members of her
family ; she was now covered in patches with an eruption
of miliary rash with effloresence between the points of
the rash all of a dark almost a livid colour, the patches
between the points of the eruption were of a dingy dull
almost opaque appearance, the eruption was more pro¬
fuse on the forehead and face than elsewhere, and
specially on the forehead. The whole aspect of the
eruption, and the whole condition of the patient, were
just like those so many times seen in cases of this variety
of scarlet fever, and the case was unhesitatingly recog¬
nised as an example of it, and in its most violent and
helpless form. The pulse was now small, and so rapid
as hardly to be counted, the surface had become cold
and dry, the livid colour of the skin when pressed out
by the finger returned very slowly; the whole was a
complete picture of torpor, and seemingly a perfect
instance of that manifestation of it which immediately
precedes dissolution in these rapidly fatal cases of scarlet
fever. There was apparently no prospect of the patient’s
living more than a few hours. Such cases in the prac¬
tice of the writer had always gone to a fatal termination,
and this had been more rapid in its progress than any
he had seen. The patient being his own child he had
•opportunity for most carefully watching the case. In
about three hours from the first appearance of the erup¬
tion the livid colour began to lose something of its dark
hue ; the restlessness and anxiety diminished ; the pulse
became more distinct and less frequent; consciousness
partially returned ; the eruption became a brighter red;
and the whole train of symptoms similar to this per¬
nicious form of the fever gradually gave place to a train
of phenomena scarcely less remarkable, but not at all
like those of any variety of scarlet fever.”

Digitized by ^ooQle

Sjri‘J^r^tTlS thiC PRESIDENTIAL address.

591

It is unnecessary to say much more, let it suffice to
remark that this extraordinary case has led to a diminu¬
tion, and frequently an abandonment, of similar anxiety
on the part of many a parent since Dr. Wells suffered so*
much on account of the illness of his child. I may be
permitted to say, that since I have administered ailanthus
which I use in the first decimal dilution, for cases closely
simulating the above accidental proving; cyanide of mer¬
cury , in the sixth dilution, for diphtheritic complication ;
and the serpent venoms, lachesis and crotalus , in the
sixth dilution, in cases of profound adynamia, I have not
lost one, unless you not unreasonably ask me to include
a dispensary case which I had seen through the earlier
stages for one of our visiting staff, but which was sub¬
sequently carried off by uraemia, and I have treated
about eighty of all types of severity.

I trust I have sufficiently directed attention to the
value of the so-called law of similars in at any rate one
acute malady. I hope to send some notes of cases to the
Review , which will go to confirm, if confirmation be
necessary, the observations of Drs. Pope, Dyce Brown,-
and Chalmers.

Perhaps the most signal service this drug has rendered
me was in the case of a young man B—. He and his
brother had scarlet fever, the younger one very mildly,,
the elder one very severely, towards the end of 1886..
The mild case was subsequently complicated with
albuminuria, uraemic convulsions and coma, and is
referred to in another part of this address. The elder
brother began with high temperature, 105° F., dusky
rash all over the body, and low muttering delirium
reminding one somewhat of typhus; in short, his case
was an excellent counterpart to the accidental proving
related above. Ailanthus was administered and no other
remedy was required.

The next medicine I would ask you to consider with
me is corrosive sublimate , in its relation to renal mischief.
Dr. Hughes,* who is, I find, cited as an authority on
Materia Medica, from India to the Rocky Mountains,
and Dr. Allen, t whom I have recently met in his own
country, refer to the action of this poison on the kidneys.

* Pharmacodynamic 4th edition, p. 659.
t Cyclopadia of Pure Materia Medica.

Digitized by A^OOQle

592

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

It causes acute congestion and inflammation of the
secreting structure of these organs. The renal excretion
is sanguineous and albuminous, and in one case in addi¬
tion to the dryness of the mouth and throat with intoler¬
able thirst, the quantity of the excreted fluid was
diminished, sometimes to the extent of anuria, and
•contained more or less albumen with epithelial cells and
^asts. * * * § “ The kidneys were enlarged and pale in colour,
the canaliculi were blocked by deposits of oxalate of lime,
and there were signs of parenchymatous inflammation.”
It is not my intention to make any comparison between
this and other remedies in renal disease, such as canthari*
or arsenicum , but who is not aware of the splendid effects
of the medicine in certain forms of trouble at the ocular
fundus ? Choked disc as it used to be called, with other
symptoms of optic neuritis, clear up under its influence,
and in choroidal troubles and albuminuric retinitis,
others besides Allenf and Norton can vouch for its
■efficacy.

Allen and Norton say “ in retinitis albuminurica no
remedy has been employed with better success in such
a large number of cases; the inflammatory process is
often seen to rapidly subside, and the exudations into the
retina disappear under the influence of the remedy. The
prescription is chiefly based upon the pathological
changes, as the symptoms are so few in this disease.”

But I need not remind my audience that this drug
is chiefly used in our school in that form of albuminuria
which is associated with the gravid uterus, not that it
has been relegated exclusively to that condition, but it is
purely somewhat suggestive that Nettleship J should affirm
that it is in the very form of albuminuria we are referring
to, that retinitis frequently occurs. He says that it is
about equally met with in this and in chronic granular
kidney. Thus, gentlemen, the drug that Professor
Ludlam § and others find most useful in a certain definite
and well-known form of renal disorder, is found as a
remedy to act favourably in the interesting complications
with which oculists and physicians are alike familiar.

I venture to express the opinion that the close relation-

* Cycle media of Drug Pathogenesy , vol. iii., p. 256.

t Ophthalmic Therapeutics, 2nd edition, p. 115.

X Diseases of the Eye , 2nd edition, p. 192.

§ Lectures on Diseases of Women, p. 555.

Digitized by LjOOQle

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

593

ship between the drug and the disease is sufficiently
made out.

Such search as I have made affords me no evidence
of the fundi oculorum having been examined while a
sufferer has been under the influence of corrosive
•sublimate . Case 10 in the Cyclopaedia of Drug Patho-
genesy would surely have furnished some information,
or perhaps some more diligent seeker than I may fill up
this pathogenetic hiatus. Of course I do not suggest
that the medicine ought to be continued under the
grave circumstances referred to by Drs. Fancourt and
Robert Barnes, Bantock, and Mr. Lawson Tait,* whose
more energetic method of treatment I have seen
successful.

The remaining substance I wish briefly to refer to on
account of its close relationship to certain morbid
changes, is lead. Those of you who have watched the
course of the habitual drinker, an opportunity for doing
which our own country so amply yet so sadly affords,
will have noticed in addition to the ordinary symptoms
of alcoholism, the absence of the patellar reflex, certain
ill-defined rheumatic pains, numbness of the feet,
difficulty of maintaining the equilibrium closely simu¬
lating locomotor ataxia, but with the absence of the
Argyll-Robertson pupillary symptoms, and as a rule of
the girdle pains and other well known manifestations of
posterior sclerosis. Both Ferrier t and Lancereaux \
remark upon the paralysis of the extensor muscles
giving to the feet the attitude of equino-varus. Both
observers state the likelihood of such a case being mistaken
for lead or arsenic poisoning, and reference is made to
the different effects on the upper and lower extremities.
Into these differences we need not now enter, but the
more closely one follows the clinical progress of a case
of so-called peripheral neuritis due to alcohol, and the
pathogenetic effects of lead, the more he is likely to be
convinced of the similarity of the two conditions. I
have enough clinical material of this kind to establish
my thesis, and when I am able to prepare it for the
press I intend to do so. In a paper read at the

• British Qynacologieal Journal , vol. 1, p. 312 et seq.
t International Clinics , vol. 1, p. 256.

J Quoted in LArt Medical , Tome lxxii, p. 140.

Digitized by ^ooQle

594

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

Liverpool Medical Institution, and published in the July
number of the Journal , Dr. A. W. Campbell gives us a
further insight into the pathology of alcoholism. He
cannot admit that the terms which confine the disease
to the peripheral nerves are correct, and quotes high
authority for looking upon the disease as associated
with “ changes in the central nervous apparatus as well
as in the peripheral parts.” It is far beyond the scope
of these remarks to go deeply into the pathology of this-
form of disease, a course Dr. Campbell’s paper makes
both easy and tempting, but I would refer those
interested to two remarkable coincidences in regard to
the effects of alcohol and lead. In a case of alcoholism
mentioned by Dr. Campbell, phthisis was developed
and the patient’s heart became weak, rapid and irregular r
due, as was observed by Sharkey and others, to
involvement of the vagus. In the Cyclopedia of Drug
Patliogenesy we read that Dr. Carson observed ten well-
marked cases of lead poisoning, where much alarm was
excited by the great feebleness of the heart, with
palpitation, consequent fainting, weak and soft pulse.

He regards the cardiac action as similar to that of
digitalis , tending specially to paralysis of that organ.
As a counterpart to the effect of alcohol on the lungs, we
read under plumbum * “ it is characterised by dry cough
in violent long intermittent paroxysms which wholly
prevent sleep. The cough is often attended with
dyspnoea which at last becomes severe, complicated with
chronic bronchitis and oedema of the lungs. The
autopsy reveals cirrhosis of the lungs.” I do not
think that it will be difficult in view of all this, and much
more might be brought forward, to show that something
much deeper than peripheral changes takes place in both
alcoholism and plumbism, and that the latter is a very
close similar to the former, and I may add in a word its*
exhibition has afforded me very much satisfaction in the
cases of alcoholic paralysis I have seen.

As an example I may cite the following case.

Mary M—, aged 44, the subject of chronic alcoholism,
was admitted into the Hahnemann Hospital, February
17th, 1892. She had been suffering for a month with
languor and a feeling of fatigue on slight exertion.

* Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogencty, vol. iii., p. G70.

Digitized by AjOOQle

SSri^f^tlTiaM! 110 presidential address.

595

Flying pains were felt all over the body, and her legs
felt as if they would give way under her; loss of power
in the hands, especially the right, and pains in the
•calves of the legs were complained of. There was no
history of delusions. Enquiry as to specific disease
elicited nothing satisfactory, but her hair was inclined
"to fall out. Absence of patellar reflex, and the charac*
teristic talipes equinus were well marked. Some little
time after admission plumbum was administered in the
sixth dilution. On March 25th it was remarked that the
equino-varus simulation was less observable, although
the patellar reflex was still markedly absent. The
■extensor muscles were beginning to gain strength. On
April 6th, it was recorded that the patient could walk
about with ease and safety, and without fear of falling.

The abnormal attitude of the feet gradually disap¬
peared and the patient went home nearly well.

You have followed the very simple line I have taken.
I trust it will be admitted that if search is duly and
•carefully made, a substance capable of setting up a
condition similar to that accompanying most of the
diseases known to us may be found. The use of such
knowledge will depend on the therapeutic principles
followed by the practitioner making the search. It
follows from what I have said, that whenever a number
-of symptoms pertaining to a patient are narrated, the
listener, if he be a homoeopathic practitioner, almost
involuntarily runs over the pathogenesy of the correspond¬
ing drug, and it may be fairly alleged that one distinc¬
tion between our opponents and ourselves is this, that
they do not have flit through their minds pathogenetic
counterparts when eliciting, subjectively and objectively,
symptomatology in the widest sense of that term. Does
this habit of ours which corresponds to the linguist’s
thinking in the tongue he has acquired, really serve us
in case of need ? For although many admit the possi¬
bility of discovering drugs which will set up a condition
similar to that of a morbid process, there are those who
strenuously assert that we have no right to formulate a
law of cure from such observations. If those who argue,
in this direction intend to impugn our rule, because it is
not so absolute as the law of falling bodies, I have
nothing to say. I may send a messenger with my stop¬
watch to a well whose depth I know, and anticipate with
VoL 87, No. io. a —v

Digitized by

Google

596

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

certainty how long he will have to wait to hear the^
splash occasioned by his falling missive, but vital phe¬
nomena hardly lend themselves to such accurate prog¬
nostications.

I once suggested to Professor Crocq, under circum¬
stances which some here are not unfamiliar with, that
pneumonia had been likened to a seven-day fever.
•* How often have you observed the disease take such a
course ? ” was the examiner’s warning that I was a little
too accurate to please him. It must suffice for the
present for me to remark in the words of Hahnemann,
which most of us from experience can endorse, that * “ We
have only to rely on the morbid phenomena which the
medicines produce on the healthy body as the sole
possible revelation of their indwelling curative power, in
order to learn what disease-producing power, and at the
same time what disease-curing power, each individual
medicine possesses.”

Dr. Dyce Brownt pertinently asks “ Was Newton the
first man who saw an apple fall ? ” He goes on to say,
44 yet he was the first to whose genius it occurred that
the falling of the apple was an illustration of the great
law which was till then unperceived.” But the homoeo¬
pathic law, which you must permit me to speak of under
that designation, is surely not more difficult to realise
than some other occurrences in nature, and we trust
that the time is coming when the rule of practice it
formulates may be allotted its true place in the treatment
of disease, to the vindication of those who have laboured
to promote and extend the knowledge of it, and to the-
benefit in tantum of suffering humanity.

We have the utmost confidence in suggesting, as
Hahnemann did, to those who conscientiously differ
from us, that they should fairly study the matter, put
it to the test according to the directions laid down, and
shape their future course of practice and their attitude
towards homoeopathy accordingly. Let them after
accurately writing down, as doubtless is their wont,
the symptoms and signs of disease, proceed, with the*
aid of manuals which any of us can lend, to administer
in a suitable dose the drug which most surely produces*

* Organon of Medicine. Dr. Dudgeon’s translation, p. 57.
f The Feign of Law in Medicine, p. 11.

Digitized by ^ooQle

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

597

such a train of symptoms in the healthy, and I venture
to say that conviction will almost certainly follow-
Thus have nearly all of us become followers of
Hahnemann, whom, had we rested content with the
one-sided dictates of our teachers, we should have
continued to disparage.

But while thus proclaiming my own adhesion to thia
method, and taking yours for granted, I must be allowed
to remark that the activity of our friends who are
guided by the rule of contraries for the most part*
should lead us to that form of self-examination which
theological teachers are ever inculcating, so that every
professional act of ours may have the endorsement of a
tender conscience, which partisanship on the one hand
and self sufficiency on the other must never be allowed
to deaden. Am I not correct in asserting that those
opposed to us have been too much disposed to ridicule
our pretensions,, to admit of their carefully studying the
means we employ? I know of some who have con¬
scientiously watched the practice and have not been
convinced of its value, but I have never personally known
any one who has carefully read the works allotted to his
consideration, and followed up with reasonable zeal
concomitant clinical opportunities, who has remained
sceptical.

Mr. Birrell,* after running over a number of things a
literary student ought to be familiar with, says: “All
these things you know, else are you mighty self-denying
of your pleasures.’* My experience is that the medical
practitioner of our time is wonderfully self-denying in
this regard, and that considering his almost Quixotic
zeal for tilting at any sail that does not help to grind
his grist, he should do himself the pleasure and afford
himself the satisfaction of hearing the other side. I
have never met one of our opponents, and among them
I have many friends, some of whom have gone far out of
their way to render me needed help, who could have
passed in the first standard of homoeopathic teaching.
Our friends have been far too busily engaged in casting
ridicule upon our theories to carefully weigh our facts.

We invite them, as did the savant at that early meet¬
ing of the Royal Society, at which it was being alleged

• Obiter JHcta . Second Series, p. 177.

2 p—2

Digitized by

Google

598

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

Monthly HomcMiwthie
Eoriew, Oct 2, 1863.

that a live fish displaced no water on being immersed, to
institute experiments themselves.

Permit me in a few words to refer to the dose question.
I am quite of opinion that nothing has hindered so much
the progress of homoeopathy as the ridicule that has
been brought to bear upon the quantity of the drug that
most practitioners have found sufficient to be adminis¬
tered, unless it be the method in which until quite
recently the pathogenetic effects of drugs have been pre¬
sented to enquirers by our school.

But, gentlemen, although most of us have discarded
the globules which years ago were much more commonly
used, and with which my own earliest recollections are
associated, but few of us have discarded infinitesimal
•doses. I can fancy some sick man on having two or
three of these globules administered to him exclaiming
with Hiawatha—

“ Must our lives depend on these things ? ”

but only last year no one dissented from Dr. Hayward’s
•statement made at Southport that crotalxie 6 sufficed for
the usual purposes for which the drug was administered.
My own experience is to the effect that he who confines
himself exclusively to either end of the scale, does not
get all that can be got out of homoeopathic medication.
I reckon a stock of lachesis 6 among the most precious of
my possessions, although it may require a dozen ciphers
to represent its dilution on paper.

A system of medicine which took its origin from the
well-found intellect of him whom we are proud to call
the master, will require something more than ridicule to
destroy it, and if the knowledge of our critics in other
matters relating to homoeopathy is of a piece with their
dilution-making their criticism can hardly be considered
worthy of notice.

It is beyond my present intention to enquire how high
one may get in the dilutions before he ceases to obtain
unequivocal results from the exhibition of homoeopathic
medicines, but I unhesitatingly ask if you would not
rather employ the dilutions I have mentioned of cyanide
43 f mercury in diphtheria, or of crotalus in certain forms
of septicaemia, to any quantity of crude material selected
by other and less accurate methods?

In relation to minute sub-division I may be permitted

Digitized by ^ooQle

599

Monthly Homoeopathic
Boriaw, Oct. 2,1888.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

to quote the following :* “ In a cubic inch of the ordinary
air of Glasgow Mr. Aitken found no fewer than 7,500,000
of dust particles. In a large hall in which the gas had
been burning for some time a sample of air taken near
the ceiling showed 49,000,000 particles in a cubic inch.
Most of the dust is derived from purely terrestrial

sources.Many of the particles alas are

germs of disease.”

An argument I should like to use in favour, not only
of the effects of our medication, but in proof of the action
of minute quantities, is to be found in the custom many
of us adopt of administering medicines for the benefit of
the foetus in utero. The best known instance of this
kind of medication is of course the administration of
mercury —a method of practice often unsuccessful. At
least one reason for its want of success was revealed to
me during the discussion of Dr. Millie Chapman’s paper
at the Chicago Congress. My attention was first directed
to this important subject by a perusal of the late
Dr. T. R. Leadam’s work.t Dr. Leadam says “ Numerous
observations|have been made of mothers, who having lost
their children at an early age, or having seen them
afflicted with serious scrofulous affections, have submitted
themselves throughout their pregnancy to the conservative
prophylactic treatment, and have thereafter borne robust
healthy children, whose growth was regularly and
unusually progressive, and who have been insensible to
the influence of the vaccine virus, and equally unaffected
by the ordinary diseases of childhood.” Almost all of
this written some thirty years ago I can endorse, but I
must confess that since I have exclusively used the calf
lymph, which I believe is supplied by a well-known
colleague, failure in vaccination has become a thing of
the past. As to the modification of the exanthemata by
pre-natal medication, I am able to state that such a result
has appeared to me to follow its adoption. By an easy
transition we are carried back to Hahnemann’s writings.

I do not need to translate into terms more consonant
with modern views the following passage from The
Chronic Diseases : X “ During pregnancy the anti-psoric

* The Freeman. Science Notes. August, 1893.
f Disease* of Women Homoeopath ically Treated , p. 142.

J The Chronic Diseases , by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, vol. 1, p. 176.

Digitized by ^ooQle

600

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

treatment is more necessary than at any other period,
because then the chronic ailments are more fully
developed, the organism and the mind of the pregnant
female being highly susceptible of receiving impressions.
During the period of pregnancy—which is altogether an
essential and natural condition of the female—the
action of the anti-psoric remedies is more marked and
precise.” All this sounds very old-fashioned, and of a
piece with globule swallowing and sniffing at infinites¬
imal quantities, but I have put it to the test on many
occasions. Ample opportunities of trying it under
appropriate circumstances have occurred to me, and
only he who has done that deliberately and fairly is
entitled to rebut my statements and question my
conclusions. I need only refer in a word to Dr.
Burnett’s paper presented to the Leeds Congress in
1880, before going on to state that I have been much
more successful in preventing the recurrence in families
of acute hydrocephalus, laryngismus stridulus, and
rachitis, than I have of specific disease. In short, I can
much more cordially endorse the remarks of Hahnemann,
Leadam and Burnett, than I can those of Tanner,*
when the latter speaks of the pre-natal exhibition of
mercurials for well-known reasons. In the circum¬
stances last referred to, I have of course used almost all
ordinary doses. When following out Leadam’s directions,
I have used sulphur and calcarea chiefly, if not solely,
but I should like to say that in my view much care is
required—a care I have not been often able to bestow—in
the choice of the so-called anti-psorics under these circum¬
stances. A perusal of the paper read at Chicago t will
be helpful to those interested in the subject, as indica¬
tions for other drugs, such as calcarea phos . and silica ,
are there given with scientific accuracy. I venture to
submit these statements as evidence of the beneficial
effects of minute doses of appropriate medicinal sub¬
stances.

Even our failures afford us some evidence of the
potency of our measures. Who of us has not at times
failed from having taken a too superficial view of the
case under consideration, but on being compelled by

* Practice of Medicine, by T. H. Tanner, M.D., 6th edition, voL 1 , p. S34.
f North American Journal of Homoeopathy, Sep. 1893, p. 557.

Digitized by ^ooQle

PRESIDENTIAL address.

601

the non-improvement of the patient, to hark back, so to
speak, in order to remove the deeper constitutional
symptoms as directed by Hahnemann, has not only
succeeded in removing these deeper manifestations of
disordered health, but the more superficial maladies as
well ? Cases recur to my mind as I write, in which
carefully selected medicines have proved quite inopera¬
tive, because, although homoeopathic to the existing
conditions, the prescription failed to take cognisance of
the underlying dyscrasia, which, on being dealt with,
speedy recovery ensued.

I trust I shall be excused for having gone into these
matters at such length, and that no one will think me
vain enough to consider it incumbent upon myself to
keep to the front some of the chief lessons Hahnemann
taught U8» His thoughts, his directions dominate our
conduct, and although he most emphatically pronounces
ior surgical interference whenever necessary,* and I beg
to direct those who question this to Hahnemann’s own
writings, it is as a physician, and especially as a teacher
of materia medica, we revere him and would have others
.follow hie lead.

But it may be asked, is homoeopathy sufficient for all
medical cases ? In the great proportion of maladies I am
abundantly pleased with it. In cholera, yellow fever,
and the various forms of septicaemia, in the exanthemata,
peritonitis and other inflammations, it has served its ad¬
herents .well.

It would take too long to enquire into the views of
homoeopaths as to the need for some other than the
usual remedies in the hyperpyrexia, say, of rheumatic
fever, and in regard to the new light being thrown on
the late febrile attacks incident to enteric fever. Do we
need to exhibit antiseptics in this disorder, and do the
newer febrifuges present advantages over our well-tried
.remedies ? These questions must be met; doubtless our
hydropathic friends will not unfrequently help us out of
the difficulty in cases of hyperpyrexia, but of this I am
.assured, that, with lew exceptions, the new remedies of
to-day will gradually be made to reveal their homoeo¬
pathic potentialities, like chloral in urticaria, iodoform in
.tubercle, salicylate of soda in Meniere’s disease, and only

*Ilahnemann's Letter -Writing*. Translated by Dr. Dudgeon, p. 500.

Digitized by ^ooQle

602

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. M R^fo^?wSr

so will they acquire a lasting place in the physician’s
armamentaria.

To surgery I must not again refer to any extent, but
whereas it was formerly said that homoeopaths did not
do surgery, it is now being said that they do nothing
else, especially in America, where Talbot it is believed
performed the first successful tracheotomy in diphtheria
in 1855.

Another statement to which I feel I must give some
little attention is, that homoeopaths do not appreciate
pathology. One of the most genial of those opposed to
homoeopathy often makes that assertion. I have read
that once upon a time a homoeopathic doctor was
Professor of Pathology at Edinburgh University, and I
am glad to possess a book on pathology edited by
Drs. Drysdale and Russell 51 years ago. That may not
prove much, for mine is, I almost regret to say, a very
clean copy. What does our friend mean by pathology ?
Does he mean morbid anatomy, or does he mean the
medical and surgical pathology of the Continental
Schools, which includes, at any rate if you are going
to be examined there, all you can get to know
of the course, progress, and termination of any given
disorder, together with the concomitant anatomical
changes ?

I contend that what is meant in this connection by
pathology would be included in the far-reaching term
symptomatology as we use it. Whatever pertains to
man should be of interest to his fellow. Nothing that
can happen to the economy of the patient is a matter of
indifference to the homoeopathic physician.

To pursue the subject somewhat—as I write I have
under the microscope a slide shewing the condition in
croupous pneumonia. The alveoli are for the most part
filled up with fibrinous exudation, containing many cells
easily taking up the stain each alveolus visible in the
field is so filled forming the well known consolidation of
lobar pneumonia. I have also under the microscope an
equally well-prepared section of a broncho-pneumonic
lung. Most of the alveoli are equally full of exudation
and cells, but there is more sign of fatty degeneration.
Many of the alveoli are not so mathematically shaped,
and as in this morbid condition it is known that a
tendency to collapse exists, such a result may be easily

Digitized by A^OOQle

PRESIDENTIAL address.

6oa

imagined, but the difference, though marked, is less obvious-
than one would expect, save as regards the marked
number of cells undergoing fatty degeneration.*

Dr. Coates says, “As the disease begins in the
bronchial tubes, and is propagated to the lung tissue, it
follows in its distribution the arrangement of the
bronchial tubes, that is to say it comes in a lobular
form. Although the disease is thus primarily lobular,
it is clear that it will often occur in several neighbour¬
ing lobules, and so a considerable tract of lung may be
involved.”

I need not pursue this enquiry as regards the two-
conditions under consideration. Symptoms obtained by
proving of drugs, and cases of poisoning direct us to-
phosphorus , bryonia , tartar emetic and iodine , but ex¬
perience alone can determine which is to be relegated to
a precise pathological state, and although Hahnemann
protested against it, and some of his followers do the
same, practitioners have their favourite medicines for
these disorders, and their routine practice seldom fails
them.

But perhaps the changes in the kidney in different
morbid conditions of that organ, afford us the best
illustration of the accuracy of the observations of those
who have acted as the guides of such as myself in the
practice of our calling. On examining early the section
of a kidney, the subject of glomerulo-nephritis, we find,
the malpighian tufts crowded with round cells, which
are also seen in the interstitial substance ; there is also
blood in the uriniferous tubules. Is it to be wondered
at that the glomeruli being the seat of the secretion,,
uraemic symptoms are apt to occur ? Dr. Coates statest
that Rosenstein found that “ in the nephritis caused arti¬
ficially in animals by cantharides there is a similar appear¬
ance of leucocytes around the glomeruli and elsewhere.”
I beg to draw your attention to the effects of cantharis as
recorded in the Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogencsy , vol. 2,
p. 21, where, in the absence of minute microscopic
examination of the kidneys after death in human
subjects, we find the glomerulo-nephritis, the migration
of leucocytes, and the swellings of the cells of the

*Manual of Pathology , p. 531).
^Manual of Pathology , p. 689.

Digitized by AjOoqIc

*604

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. % 1808.

urinary tubuli leading to blocking, the lumen becoming
full of exuded cells, and at the end of the article, the
kidneys of the animals are said to have presented, post
mortem , all the lesions which are observed in an acute
or sub-acute albuminous nephritis in man.”

Let the sceptic now turn to the pathogenesis of ter'ebin-
thina with which cantharis will clinically often have to
be compared. How comparatively meagre are its
pathogenetic and pathological effects, and how clearly
•has Dr. Wolston* differentiated clinically between the
two drugs. Dr. Hughes drew attention to this, and
stated during the discussion that “ He went with Dr.
Wolston in his endeavour after a pathological and not
merely a symptomatic similarity, and thought the
•excellent results he had obtained a good answer to those
who would only admit the latter as true homoeopathy.

Of other renal remedies I need scarcely speak, but it
may be stated that arsenicum , mercurius , and others
ilend themselves to the same kind of discrimination. In

this connection I should like to refer to the case of B-

the younger brother of my ailanthus patient.

His attack of scarlet fever was very mild, and at first
irequired the simplest treatment, but albuminuria occurred,
suppression of urine supervening. Here Dr. Wolston’s
•differentiation between cantharis and tercbinthina served
me well, and although the boy lay in a comatose state
tfor two or three days, and had many uraemic convulsions,
he recovered, heUeborus 9 like a cavalry charge, com¬
pleting the rout of the enemy. Due credit must be
^assigned to hydropathic adjuvants.

Headers of Washington Irving’s Old Christmas will, I
fear, bring against me the same charge as was brought
Against the old clergyman who, when all were busy
.amidst Christmas festivities, evolved from his well-stored
library a variety of reasons for keeping up the sacred
festival, “ a proposition,” said Irving, “ that no one
seemed likely to dispute.” Like that worthy, I have
had before me a number of unseen opponents whom in
your hearing I have striven to answer, but I am keenly
Alive to the fact that had you only been interested in
•this paper, I might have spared myself the trouble and
you the weariness.

* Annals of the British llomaopathie Society , vol. yiii.. p. 535.

Digitized by ^ooQle

presidential address.

605

I close this portion of my address by quoting Pro¬
cessor Banks,* who said after scrutinising a tumour of
the breast he had just removed and pronouncing it
non-malignant, “ I do not for a moment wish to under¬
rate or sneer at the value of a microscopic examination,
but the microscopic appearance of a piece of chronically
inflamed gland tissue, and those of a piece of cancer*
ously infiltrated gland tissue, are so very much alike,
that I will back the judgment of any surgeon of long
experience upon a naked eye inspection of a fresh section
against any microscopic slide.”

Only the other day I heard a similar pronouncement,
where a practical surgeon had convicted a well-known
pathologist of error.

You will, I trust, agree with me when I say that
whether the erudite touch be administered by an Opie,
-a Paget, or a Bceninghausen, the value of such touch
depends on the quality of the cerebral convolutions
directing it, and that whether we pay as much attention
to pathology, or not, as we ought to, there is ample scope
for those who profess to know all they can get to know
•of the tissue and other changes due to disease, of similar
•changes due to medicinal agents, and to the relationship
which they allege exists between the two.

Having thus expressed my views upon this matter
with all the earnestness I am master of, bearing in mind
.James Russell Lowell's dictum that “ no man without
intense faith in something can ever be in earnest,” I
desire in a few words to refer to our numerical status.
I do not feel at liberty to touch here upon matters which
amongst ourselves are still sub-judice , but does anyone
suppose that there are no more medical men who have
•confidence in homoeopathy than those who appear, or
who are likely to appear, in separately published lists ?
In my opinion there does not exist at present any
adequate method of counting those who believe in, and
more or less practise, homoeopathy. The inducements
for practitioners to come forward and join our ranks are
not great. The prospect of being looked upon as a self¬
-seeker, and an unworthy member of an honourable, and
in great measure a learned profession is not inspiriting.
We in Liverpool are nearly always advertising for men

* The Clinical Journal, vol. 1, No. 9, p. 134.

Digitized by ^ooQle

606

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

to fill our various stipendiary posts, offering a salary
which would constitute no mean start in life for those
recently qualified, but such inducements scarcely ever
win men over to our side, although there must be many
to whom such an appointment would be helpful.

But if we can but guess at the number of qualified
men practising homoeopathy, what must we say as to
the number of those who trust to it in simple forms of
sickness, and would trust to it in more severe forms if
practitioners were available? From my own observa¬
tions, from correspondence, from the reports of nurses
going to and coming from a distance, from the enormous
demand for domestic manuals on homoeopathic principles,
I am bound to infer that homoeopathy is employed by a
very large number indeed of our fellow countrymen. I
cannot refrain from stating that I think it a great testi¬
mony to the honour of the medical profession that this
demand does not tempt many to come over to our side.

In the hope that even in this country something may
be done before very long in the way of teaching homoeo¬
pathy, and getting such teaching recognised by the
Examining Boards, I venture in a few words to direct
your attention to America. There, 20 colleges, 16 of
which grant degrees, are manned by homoeopathic
professors. Students are brought up to revere the
names of Helmuth, Talbot, Ludlam, Mitchell, Fellows,
Crawford, and others. I do not wonder that the lofty
ideal our colleagues in America seek to place before
their students, constitutes a stimulus of a very high
order to those who are fortunate enough to be placed
under such guidance.

Those of you who have read—and who has not ?—the
valedictory address at the end of his volume on Materia
Medica by the late Dr. Carroll Dunham will know what
I mean. Like the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford
the friend and admirer of Michael Faraday, like some
of the Edinburgh Professors and others, these men pro¬
fess to be, and are guided by the highest possible
principles.

Several years ago I copied into my repertory an extract
from a vsdedictory address of one of our American
colleagues.

On my return from the United States recently, I was
not surprised to find that the words which had excited

Digitized by UjOoqIc

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

607

my admiration were uttered by Professor Pemberton
Dudley. After describing the responsibility of a
physician, and stating how far he was entitled in
his judgment to trust to Providence, he says : * “ This
•day, this hour, God is placing this burden upon you, and
heavy as it is He expects you to bear it, and will not
allow you to throw it back upon Him, neither will He
work out a miracle to compensate for culpable human
laziness. There is but one way in which the conscientious
physician can bear up under such a burden, for in no
way can he throw it off, and that is by such constant
and thorough preparation for his business as will enable
him to know of a surety that he represents the know¬
ledge and skill of the whole profession, and that it is
not in human power or wisdom to do more than he is
doing or to do it better.” This, then, is the spirit of the
teaching as far as I can understand it in America. I
am not saying that every one one meets in America
lives up to the ideal of our Philadelphia brother. There
are men in our ranks who represent the combined
capabilities of all modern medical thinkers; men to
whom a junior colleague can turn with every satisfaction.
The number of these representative men must be in¬
creased. Knowing only too well the scarcity of homoeo¬
pathic practitioners in this country, I asked on the other
side of the Atlantic, if some could not be spared to take
our curriculum and settle in this country, but the answer
was, that there were openings in America for all successful
students. There are more practitioners of homoeopathy
in Chicago, or New York, than in all the British Isles
together. A large new hospital and a new medical
school with nearly 20 lecturers and professors are
available for the 200 students at Chicago. Bacteriology
and other modern methods of research are taken up.
All the very latest abdominal work, including the open¬
ing of the abdomen in tubercular peritonitis, is done at
the hospital. In New York the Ward Island Homoeo¬
pathic Hospital contains about 600 beds, and during 1890
about 4,000 patients were treated therein. The Medical
Board number about 80, almost all of whom take some
form of active duty. In Boston, as I gather from a
letter just received from Dr. Talbot, an attempt is being

• Hahnemannian Monthly, Not., 1879, p. 704.

Digitized by ^ooQle

608 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

made to occupy one of the large hospitals of the city-
In the United States there are 48 general and 45 special
homoeopathic hospitals. Last year upwards of 6,000
beds were available for the 40,000 patients requiring
treatment, of whom 80,000 were cured, and 8.6 per cent,
died.

Numerous dispensaries, and 27 journals flourish, the
former dealing with 160,000 patients per annum. And
so the good work goes on. All concerned therein are
active, and just as an American colleague will drive you
along with his hickory wheels now in a rut up to the
bush, and now shooting the rapids between two laden,
vans, so in his own sphere he brooks no impediment-
Emanating from seminaries of which they are proud,,
fostered by the unceasing interest of kindly-disposed
teachers, the boys—a term applied to the alumni of both
sexes—carry on their work, none daring to make them
afraid.

Are we to abandon all hope of obtaining by similar
methods a status for homceopathy in this country—a-
status which on the one hand would give us all we need
if we were found fit to exercise it, but which would
assuredly hasten our discomfiture if we were only half¬
hearted in our efforts ?

Gentlemen, I must bring this too lengthy address to a
close. I have striven to show the meaning which we
attach to the term “ similar ” and have given instance*
of the so-called law of similars in its relation to practical
medicine. I have touched upon the allied topics of
pathogenesy and pathology, and I have, I trust, demon¬
strated our deep interest in both these important depart¬
ments. I have reminded you how the rapid progress of
the Hahnemannian doctrine has been brought about in
America, and I have hinted at the efforts that seem to
me to be necessary in order that others as well as our¬
selves, may participate in the advantages our method of
practice offers to those who adopt it. That this con¬
tribution will help forward our cause I am not sanguine
enough to hope, but I cannot feel that I shall have
thrown this great opportunity away, if I have succeeded
in offering you valid reasons for my conviction that
Likes should be treated by Likes.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HomcBopathic
Review, Oct. 2, 1893.

(ESOPHAGOTOMY.

609’

REPORT OF A CASE OF DENTAL PLATE IN
THE (ESOPHAGUS; (ESOPHAGOTOMY; DEATH..

John D. Hayward, M.D. (Lond.)

Surgeon to the Hahnemann Hospital, Liverpool.

Foreign bodies impacted in the pharynx or oesophagus
are common accidents, but a lodgment of such a
nature as to call for prompt oesophagotomy must be a
comparatively rare occurrence, for during a prolonged
acquaintance with hospital practice no such case has
come under my notice, nor have I ever seen the
operation performed. Objects in the pharynx I have
generally been able to remove with the fingers; in the
oesophagus the probang has generally sufficed either to
raise the foreign body or to push it harmlessly into the
stomach. In a case of fish bone in the oesophagus
under my care the obstruction could not be moved, andi
a surgeon friend advised the operation of oesophagotomy.
Neither the patient nor myself, however, sanctioned the
proceeding, and the bone probably softened, was passed
into the stomach and digested, for it is two years ago*
and nothing has been seen or felt of it since.

In a case which has just recently been under treat¬
ment, although the termination was unsuccessful, there*
are points of interest worthy of a short record.

The case was one under the care of Dr. Thomas
Simpson, of Waterloo, to whom I am indebted for some
of the following notes, and for permission to report the*
full details. To this gentleman’s prompt diagnosis and
skill also the patient owed what chance he had of a more
fortunate result.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, August 16th, Mr..
P. S. had an epileptic fit; he was so comatose during
the day following the attack that he was unaware of
having lost the teeth, but finding some pain and diffi¬
culty on swallowing, Dr. Simpson was sent for on
August 18th. He found Mr. S. hawking up and ex¬
pectorating a large quantity of tough mucus, the fauces
were inflamed, and there was marked difficulty of
breathing and hoarseness of voice, while he could only
swallow liquids. By means of an oesophageal bougie
Mr. Simpson detached a hard body, lying low down
in the oesophageal tube; this he endeavoured to ex-

Digitized by

Google

610

CE80PHAGOTOMY.

Monthly Homapopatbie
Renew, Oct. 2,1809.

tract with long forceps, but found is too securely
jammed to allow him to do so. On the afternoon of
Saturday, August 19th, the doctor kindly asked me to
see his patient.

Previous History .—Mr. S. is aged 56, is tall, spare and
of a nervous temperament; a ventilating engineer by
profession. He has long suffered from chronic dyspepsia
And epilepsy, but otherwise was healthy. The eclampsic
attacks have been rare of recent years. For five years
he had no attack, and it is again three years since the
fit previous to the one that has just taken place. Married;
family.

Present State .—August 19th.—Mr. 8. is lying in bed
breathing rapidly ; temperature, 102; pulse, 108. He
is constantly coughing and reaching, both of which acts
bring up large quantities of mucus and whitish muco-
pus. The cough is noisy and spasmodic, and the voice
is very muffled and hoarse. He complains of no pain,
but feels ill and distressed, especially in respiration; he
has taken no food for three days except a little beef-tea
And some milk and water. The right side of the face is
much bruised and the right eye is black; results of the
fall during the fit. A small gold plate, with hooks, and
supporting three lower incisors is missing.

Treatment .—The obstruction was first localised by
means of the oesophageal tube from a stomach-pump;
it was found to be low down in the oesophagus, quite
beyond reach of the fingers. Mr. S. being a man of
firm will, painstaking efforts were made with the long
forceps and with the probang ; nothing could be in¬
serted past the obstruction. This gave a metallic thrill
to the forceps, could only with difficulty be grasped,
and then refused to stir, while the attempt caused the
pharyngeal mucus to be tinged with blood. A neighbour¬
ing practitioner (Dr. S., not & homoeopath) was called in
in consultation; he agreed that prompt operation was
•called for, and gave most efficient assistance during that
proceeding. There being only an hour more of daylight,
it was unadvisable to send for further assistance or
instruments, as the patient’s house was some
miles in the country. I had a small pocket
dressing-case, Dr. Simpson supplied some cat-gut
and a director, our conf rere lent a pair of retractors and
a Pean forceps. Pr. Simpson gave the anesthetic-.

Digitized by ^ooQle

"Monthly Homoeopathic
fiaview, Oct. 2,1808.

(ESOPHAGOTOMY.

611

chloroform—an anxious duty considering the laryngeal
irritation. The patient being ansesthetised, further
attempts were made with the forceps, in vain. The plate
was fixed so low down in the passage that a large and
deep wound (about 4^ inches long) was necessary; this
was made as rapidly as safety and the waning daylight
would allow. There being no prominence to be felt on
external palpation, the left side was selected for operation.
A superficial vein, at the upper part of the incision, bled
a few drops; beyond this there was absolutely no
haemorrhage, and no vessel was either tied or twisted
throughout the operation. During the dissection, the
•omo-hyoid was cut across, the carotid vessels held back
with the sterno-mastoid, the stemo-hyoid and sterno¬
thyroid were retracted forwards and the trachea slightly
rotated. The plate was readily found just above
the stemo-claricular articulation; even after the
oesophagus was incised over it there was difficulty
in removing the body with dressing forceps, one
of the long sharp processes on the plate had pene-
irated through into the trachea, and one was firmly fixed in
the oesophageal wall; a little air whistled in and out
through the small tracheal perforation. The patient’s
condition had been very bad all through the operation,
and during the latter stages, especially when the larynx
was interfered with, it became desperate. A small
stitch was put in the upper part of the wound, the
remainder being left open and gaping; a little iodoform
being dusted on and a piece of linen, covered with
vaseline, laid over it.

The patient rallied well, and in half-an-hour was
•breathing and talking better than before the operation.
Aconite and arnica were administered alternately.
During thenighthe became very restless, and the breathing
very laboured; the aeon., given alone and frequently,
relieved this with the assistance of steam inhalations.
He was fed by means of rectal suppositories.

Next day (20th August) temperature, 108.4 ; p., 120;
breathing better ; wound looking well; but a little
mucous welled up and when the patient coughed a little
air was driven through. Evening temperature 101.

21st August. — Bestless night, but better than the
previous one; patient’s condition good; wound healing
nicely; breathing easy, much less cough and hawkipg ;

V«L 37, No. 10. 2—Q

Digitized by

612

MATERIA MEDICA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2, 1888.

voice only slightly hoarse; temperature 98.4. A large gum-
elastic catheter was passed down the oesophagus, and half
a pint of milk mixed with soda water was poured into*
the stomach through a funnel and tube. This waa
repeated in the evening, and a soap and water enema
was given.

22 nd August .—Patient seemed very well this morning
but there was pain and difficulty on passing the oeso¬
phageal tube, and its further use was abandoned. He
was not so well in the evening, and the temperature rose*
to 100.

28 rd August. —Mr. S. had a restless night, and is dis¬
tinctly worse this morning. The breathing is quick and
difficult, air and mucus escape by the wound ; there is*
more cough ; he is drowsy; complains of severe pain in
the right iliac region in front, especially on movement;
no lump or swelling can be felt in this region, but the
pain there was his chief complaint all day.

In the evening the temperature rose to 108; respiration
became rapid and rattling ; face blue and cold ; and death
ensued during the night—just over a week from the
accident, and four days from the operation. Through¬
out the progress of the case the respiratory symptoms
were the more prominent,, and death was apparently
due to pneumonia and exhaustion.

The plate (of which I enclose a photograph a shade
smaller than itself) is of gold, supporting three incisor
teeth with two sharp pointed wings, and with two edged*
hooked processes to fit round other teeth ; it is 1J inch
across from wing to wing, and is about as objectionable*
a thing to swallow and as liable to firm impaction as.
could possibly be devised.

THE FURTHER IMPROVEMENT OF OUR
MATERIA MEDICA.

By Richard Hughes, M.Di, Brighton, England.*

I have been asked to speak to you on this occa¬
sion regarding the “ Further Improvement of our
Materia Medica.” The term “ further ” implies that
some improvement has already taken place, from which*

• Read before the World’s Congress at Chicago, Tuesday, May 30th.
1893. Reprinted from The North, Arwrbean Journal of Htmmopathgj
July, 1893.

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 3,1803.

MATERIA MEDICA.

61S

as a resting-point, we may note progress and survey the
ground yet beyond us. The reference is obviously to the
“ Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy,” and upon this I
would say a few words at the outset.

The work in question consists, as you know, of a
collection of the provings of drugs not contained in
Hahnemann’s own volumes, with a selection from cases
of poisoning by them and of experiments made with
them upon the lower animals. These provings, poison¬
ings and experiments have been carefully translated or
transcribed from their originals, and are presented in
the primary narratives wherever these are given. The
provings themselves are a selection made upon rules
approved by the two National Societies of America and
England, and so framed as to exclude, so far as possible,
all dubious matter. We thus have, in the four volumea
of the “ Cyclopaedia,” pathogeneses of as many hundred
medicines,* as trustworthy as careful choice can ensure,
and as correct as knowledge and painstaking can make
them, with the additional advantage that, wherever prac¬
ticable, they are presented in an intelligible and inter¬
esting form.

The result gained by the completion of this work is
that the lamentations over the unsatisfactory state of
our Materia Medica, which for the last forty or more
years have been heard from all parts of the homoeo¬
pathic world, may now sink to silence, or rather be
exchanged for gratulation. They were well warranted
when Jahr’s ** Manual,” in its various forms, was our
sole collection of pathogenesy. Symptomatology was
there presented in a form most incredible, unintelligible*
and repulsive, without ground for its statements or clue
to its mazes ; it was, as it has been called, “ nonsense
made difficult.” Nor were the groans evoked by it
altogether assuaged by the appearance of the “ Ency*
clop®dia” of Dr. Allen, great advance though this was*
Our scattered provings were there, indeed, brought
together and referred to their authors, besides being
much enriched from general medical literature; but
they remained unsifted, and were all broken up into tho
categories of the Hahnemannian schema. Our Materia
Medica, even in “ Allen,” continued to be dubious and

* The exact number is 413.

2 Q—2

Digitized by

Google

614

MATERIA MEDICA,

Monthly Hom®opatMe
Review, Oct. % 1868.

unattractive. Now it is neither. The student can read
the narratives of proving, poisoning and experiment
contained in the “ Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy”
with as much confidence and as lively interest as if they
were cases of idiopathic disease; and the practitioner
can, with firm reliance, utilise them in Ins practice.
If doubtful matter still remains, as where, with little
or no information as to their origin, we merely have a
list of symptoms, the statements made as to their
character, and (generally) the inferior type in which
they are presented, will suffice to warn off from possible
quicksands or quagmires.

But I must not leave the " Cyclopaedia ” without a
word as to the pathogeneses given by Hahnemann him¬
self, to which it contents itself with referring, evidently
implying that they also should be possessed by the reader.
Those of the “Chronic Diseases,” indeed, are still a
sealed book to most, from the lack of an adequate and
accessible version. The “ Materia Medica Pura,” how¬
ever, has been now re-translated for us by the com¬
petent hand of Dr. Dudgeon, and can be obtained by
any. There may be read the result of the Master’s
primal essays at drug-proving, with his own illumina¬
tive introductions and notes. The symptoms are
arranged in schema-form, indeed, and there is little
information as to how they were elicited ; but the latter
deficiency is supplied from other sources, and many of
the individual symptoms are themselves groups which
have association and sequence. When I speak of our
Materia Medica, as we English-speaking nations have
it, it must be understood that I include these two volumes
of Hahnemann’s as well as the four of the “ Cyclopaedia ”
which supplement them.

And now, from the standpoint of what has been
gained, let us enquire what remains to be done towards
the improvement of this Materia Medica of ours. Let us
clear the way by seeing what should not be done.

The first thing to be deprecated is the view that the
narratives of the “ Cyclopaedia ” constitute so much “ raw
material ” only, and must be worked up into a schematic
symptom-list before they can be made available for
practice. Why should this be ? For readiness of refer¬
ence, it is replied; when we want to know what spinal

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Renew. Oct. 2.1803.

MATERIA MEDICA.

615

symptoms cicuta induces, we can turn to them at once in
Allen, but in the Cyclopaedia we have to hunt them
through a number of records. My answer is, that thia
need should be provided for by an index, as it is in other
books. We do not, in these, cut up the text into
categories that individual items may be the better
discovered; nor should we do so here. Hahnemann
unfortunately took this course with his own provings;
and nothing, I think, has done more to rob him of hia
honour in the profession at large, to hinder conversion to
homoeopathy, and to drive practitioners of the system
into empiricism, than the distortion which has resulted.
I maintain further that symptoms placed singly, divorced
from their sequence and concomitants, often convey a
false idea as to the pathogenetic action of drugs: so that
the schema is not only unnecessary but misleading.*
The abandonment of this mode of presenting our Materia
Medica is one of the most important features of the
“Cyclopedia;” and it would be no *‘further improve¬
ment” if we were to build again that which we had.
destroyed.

It is under the influence of these considerations that I
do not feel as sympathetic as otherwise I should be
towards another plan for re-constructing our Materia
Medica—that advocated from Boston by Drs. Wesselhoeft
and Sutherland, and taken up (with some modifications)
by the Baltimore Investigation Club. It is mainly a
trying of the symptoms of our pathogeneses by the test
of their recurrence in more than one subject of the
drug’s influence, only those which stand the ordeal being
retained. I am not sure about the soundness of the
method; there must be some flaw in a mode of
proceeding which leads to the rejection of cactus as inert,
and to the reduction of the symptom-list of gehemium
(upon one proposed method) to four items only.f The
principle, however, is excellent; it is that upon which
I am to a large extent acting in making the index to the
“Cyclopaedia.” I am referring only to such apparent
effects of drugs as “ by the force of their occurrence or

* These theses are defended in detail in a paper on “ The Presenta¬
tion of the Materia Medica,” read by me at the International Homoeo¬
pathic Congress, 1886, and published in its Transactions, p. 121.

t See N. Engld. Med . Gazette for Deoember, 1888, and TV*
American Journal of Homoeopathy for June, 1889.

Digitized by ^ooQle

616

MATERIA MEDICA,

Monthly HoszKBopathfe
Review, Oct. S, 1868.

the constancy of their recurrence witness to organic
connection with their assumed causes.”* But suppose
I were to write down these symptoms as I index them,
and, casting them into the categories of a schema, were
to publish them as the tried residuum of our sympto¬
matology. Genuine they might be: but a Materia
Medica so constituted would retain all the remaining
faults of those of old; it would be as unintelligible, as
repellent, as misleading as these were.

One of our journals, in noticing the “ Cyclopaedia,”
says that “ it totally ignores a hostof old homoeopathic
landmarks.” By this is probably meant the “ clinical
symptoms” which swell the bulk of so many of our
Materia Medicas, meaning by this term morbid states
which have (not appeared, but) disappeared while their
subjects were taking certain medicines. Hahnemann
made some, though sparing, use of such symptoms—only,
however, when they occurred in provers of drugs, t
and always noting that they were Heilwirkungen .
Jahr introduced them more freely, and took them
from patients treated with the medicines; but he also
indicated their character by affixing a small circle (o) to
each. So far little harm, if little good, was done. More
recently, however, the practice has grown up of mixing
pathogenetic and clinical symptoms, together with
guesses, therapeutic suggestions and hypothetical infer¬
ences, in one indiscriminate mass, and calling this
conglomerate the Homoeopathic Materia Medica. Men
imagine that they are applying the law of similars when
they work with such books, whereas they are very often
practising the merest empiricism.

I do not wish on the present occasion to go further
into detail on this subject. I have often expressed my¬
self upon it, and always feelingly; for I deplore the
procedure in question as one of the greatest calamities
that has ever befallen us. My sole reason, however,
for mentioning it now is to support the opposition I
would make to any vitiation of our symptomatology
with matter of clinical kind. It is not that I under¬
value the U8U8 in morbis or despise therapeutic sugges-

* See “The Index to the Cyclopaedia” in the Monthly Homoeopath ir
Review for November, 1890.

f The symptom list of Iodium in the “ Chronic Diseases ” is the sole
exception to this statement.

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
'.Review, Oct. 2,1893

MATERIA MEDICA.

617

tions; but I would have these kept separate from the
pure pathogenesy. They may appear in prefaces and
notes as in Hahnemann^s publications; or they may
occupy a separate volume, as must be in our case. There
they find scope for abundant usefulness; but mixed up
with the results of provings and poisonings they are
confusing, illusory and destructive of all scientific
thought and practice.

Not therefore by schematising, by reducing in number,
or by blending with clinical materials, the drug-effects on
;the healthy we have brought together, do I conceive that
ithe Materia Medica of Homoeopathy will receive further
improvement. In fact, I am of the same mind now as I
was in 1879, when, reviewing attempts at re-construction
by Dr. Jousset and Dr. Espanet,* I deprecated any
■attempt to substitute such studies of drugs for our
existing symptomatology- “ Let this,” I wrote, “ stand
;as it is,t and let our work upon it be something like that
of theologians upon their sacred books. As with them,
let our best endeavours be made to enrich, to purify, and
to illuminate the text. Then let those competent for the
task give us commentaries upon it, elucidating its
language. Let the teachers of materia medica in our
schools publish from time to time their systematic
lectures, embodying (as these must do) all the side-lights
which from toxicology, from the physiological labora¬
tory, and from therapeutic experience they can bring to
bear upon its study. These will answer to treatises on
doctrinal and practical theology; and then, for the
eermons which expound and apply particular texts, let us
have clinical records showing the bearing of pathogenetic
symptoms upon the phenomena of disease. In this way,
while we shall lose no grain of fact which can be made
.available in the comparison of drug-action with morbid
conditions, there will be supplied to every student of the
Materia Medica a general knowledge of its constituents,
of their sphere and kind of action, of their characteristic
features and ascertained effectiveness, which shall send
him forth fully equipped for using them in the treatment

• See British Journal of Homoeopathy, xxxvii., 257.
f Of course, neither there nor here am I minimising the need of
freeh provings. But on this score I spoke so fully at the International
Homoeopathic Congress of 1891, that it is needless to repeat myself on
■the present occasion.

Digitized by ^ooQle

618

MATERIA MEDICA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2, 1868.

of disease. There is thus abundance of work for all who
desire to labour in the field of Materia Medica, and the
more there is done of the kind the better for the future
practitioners of our method.

Now that, in the “ Cyclop»dia,” the text of our Materia
Medica has been enriched, purified and illuminated, I
the more earnestly urge its being left alone, and no
attempt being made to substitute for it the result of any
extractive or other process. The rest of the work sug¬
gested remains open ; as it is adequately performed, the
further improvement desiderated will accrue. I would
especially call for commentaries, elucidative and
exegetical; and would suggest that those most com¬
petent for such a task are the specialists of our school
—the neurologists, the oculists, the aurists, the gynaeco¬
logists. To the study by such men of the symptomato¬
logy of disease, aided by post-mortem examination and
experiments on animals, we owe the great advances
in pathology which have marked the last sixty years.
May not similar investigation, when directed to
pharmacology, achieve like results ? The pheno¬
mena of drug disease have also their meaning,
and lend themselves to patient interpretation. They are
not themselves to be forgotten, and the phrase which
explains them substituted, any more than the clinical
features of idiopathic disease are to be merged in its
nosological name. But the explanation illumines them,
makes them coherent, intelligible, memorable; they
become part of our mental furniture, and are not mere
strings of symptoms to be learned by heart. A series of
studies, by experts in each department, of the neurotic
phenomena of the oxalic and picric acids , of agaricxu ,
bisidphide of carbon , Hypericum , lathy rus, osmium , phos-
plwrus , pliysostigma, secale , zinc; of the eye symptoms of
ammoniacum , a arum, digitalis , euphrasia , macrolin, naph¬
thaline, ruta , santoninc , and spigelia; the tinnitus of
quinine , the salicylic a, coca and chenopodium; and the
pelvic disorder occasioned by ferrum , lilium , mures ,
sabina and xanthoxylum ,—a series of such studies, I say.
would enrich the very life-blood of our practice, and
make us all better fitted to deal with the morbid states
that come daily before us.

Digitized by LjOOQle

^-“«, y <St°Tw£ U,1 ‘ OVARIAN DISEASE CURED.

619 '

OVARIAN DISEASE CURED WITHOUT
OPERATION.

By Arthur Roberts, M.D.

Reading your report of the American Conference, and
the remarks on removal of the ovaries, reminded me of
a case in point. A married lady, aged 81 years,
consulted me for very painful menstruation. The pain
was chiefly over the left ovary. She had been married
two years, but had never been pregnant. I felt on
examination an enlarged left ovary. I sent her to a
leading gynaecologist in the north of England, who
carefully examined her. He agreed with my diagnosis
as to an enlarged left ovary. He told the husband that
she could not have any children, and that she would go
on suffering until the menses ceased, and that he did
not know of any medicine which would do her any good.
He recommended that the ovary should be removed,
as her life would only be a burden to her.

Though she herself did not believe in homoeopathy,,
her husband—a highly educated analytical chemist—
was a firm believer in it. He said that he was sure that a
homoeopathic remedy could be found, and I must
find it. After a deal of searching and reading, for
I was then ignorant of what homoeopathy could
do, I found all her symptoms except the pruritus
under hamamdis. We gave this in the lx dilution, and
the next menses were almost painless. The pruritus was
still very troublesome, but after studying all the medi¬
cines which caused pruritus, I found the one which
covered her symptoms in xanthoxylum fraxineum . Dr.
Massy, in Dr. Hughes 1 Phamuicodynamics, says that
“the prolongation of the pain along the crural nerve^
is an indication for it. This pain or itching along the
crural nerve was markedly present. We gave the mother
tincture, which caused an aggravation but completely
cured the patient. She subsequently became pregnant,
and in due course was delivered of a fine healthy baby-
Thus homoeopathy saved another poor woman from the
surgeon's knife.

Harrogate, Sept., 1898.

Digitized by AjOOQle

620

HEREDITY OF DISEASE. wfo?tTl8M°

THE HEREDITY OF DISEASE, AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS EXTINCTION.

By J. Murray Moore, M.D., M.R.C.S.

[Continued from p. 478.)

Group D.

It will be more convenient to review certain neuroses in
this group, instead of malformations, as originally
planned, seeing that we have just considered certain
aberrations of moral constitution and of physical con¬
formation, more or less hereditary in their nature, or,
let us say, in many instances distinctly transmissible.
In the present day the old-fashioned name “ hysteria ”
is more correctly and scientifically defined by the term
“ neurasthenia.” Congenital nervous instability in
cither parent produces children, some of whom exhibit
neurasthenia, or epilepsy, or some form of “insanity,”
used in its widest sense. The worst heredity of all is a
combination of mania and epilepsy. The ascending scale
of serious disease is, 1st, neurasthenia; 2nd, hystero-
epilepsy; 3rd, true epilepsy; 4th, insanity of various kinds.

1. Neurasthenia.—This disease is manifest in both
sexes, and has in recent years been increasing more in males
than in females. I am accustomed to regard it in my own
mind as a semi-involuntary dynamic erethism of the
sympathetic nerve-ganglia in a person whose self-control,
or will-power, is congenitally weak. In adult life the self-
control may be so improved that the onset of a nervous
explosion of hysteria may be absolutely checked. But
the environment is too often unfavourable to this. One
has seen neurasthenic attacks in children of two or
three years old, born of neurasthenic mothers, who
sympathised and coddled them, instead of chastising
them. Judicious severity (not cruel in degree) will
often arrest this morbid tendency. A fit of “ hysterics”
is really a short attack of modified mania, although
the patient is partially conscious and decidedly
anxious to arouse the attention and sympathy
of those near her at the time. A physical or
psychical shock to the nervous system ; a long fast; a
pathetic story; the mixed emotions produced by an
exciting ball or opera; involuntary imitation ; or even a
hearty fit of mirthful laughter will upset the equilibrium

Digitized by A^OOQle

621

Beriewfoctl^iaW.

HEREDITY OP DISEASE.

of the inhibitory nerve-centres, and, commencing with
Automatic movements, may, if unchecked, extend into
•epileptiform convulsions, terminated by the sleep of
exhaustion. Medical men are now aware of better
methods than the old one of dashing cold water upon the
face, in order to excite a deep inspiration and arrest the
fit: a simple compression of the nostrils by the hand
suffices. And then we homceopathists have our ignatia ,
moschus , gelsemium , and other appropriate remedies to
•check further manifestations. But firmness on the
part of both doctor and mother, nurse, or whoever may
be in charge of a neurasthenic sufferer (for they are
sufferers), and the repeated efforts at self-control on the
part of the patient, these are the potent elements of cure.
There must be a certain’ ascendancy of will-power
•exercised by someone over the patient. And here again
the new hypnotism—soon to be recognised as a legiti¬
mate addition to the resources of the art of healing—is
the most safe and rapidly successful means, by

suggestions ” of curing this protean disease. I recom¬
mend my readers to study the interesting cases, Nos. 1,
*2, 4, 17 and 28, narrated by our colleague, Dr. C. Lloyd
Tuckey in his Psycho-Therapeutics . There would be
nothing dangerous in this treatment even if carried out
•on children of tender age, if they, manifested hysteria,
And had plainly this feature of the father’s or mother’s
temperament. The eradication of inherited neurasthenia
is the more important in the present day inasmuch as,
1st, it does not appreciably shorten life, nor prevent
child-bearing (though, it is true, many hysterical wives
.are barren), bo that hysteria, like poverty, will, if
unchecked, be always amongst us; 2nd, it counterfeits
genuine spiritual emotions, thereby bringing ridicule on
true revivals of religion, and counteracting the power of
the Word of God.

2. Hystero-epilepsy is a further and more alarming
titage of neurasthenia, and its diagnosis from true
•epilepsy is sometimes difficult. The distinctive points in
an attack of hystero-epilepsy are, chiefly—gradual onset
•of attack, tonic rather than clonic spasms of voluntary
muscles: the face is red ; the patient shouts, uses coarse
•or vituperative language, grips articles with her hands or
teeth; falls, but not usually so as to hurt herself; and
after the fit does not pass into the profound slumber

Digitized by

Google

622

HEBEDITY OF DISEASE.

characteristic of true epilepsy. Most unfortunate an
occurrence is it when a child takes a fit of this kind in
school, for imitation on the part of some others born
with the hysterical heredity is sure to follow. Prompt
isolation of the first case , and a firm promise by the head¬
master or headmistress of punishment may stop the
epidemic. But I do not wish it to be understood that I
consider hystero-epilepsy a voluntary or “sham” disease.
Having observed, in many such cases, one symptom, a
peculiar fixed glassy stare of the eyes, which I have seen
in real attacks of acute mania, in puerperal mania, and
even sometimes in ordinary hysteria, I consider that
there is a temporary , but real loss of consciousness . A
powerful effort on the part of the hysteric when the
attack is first felt might prevent this unconsciousness.
In the majority of cases it is anger, or chagrin, or fright,
that brings on hystero-epilepsy.

Besides inculcating self-control on these two classes of
invalids, we must improve the nutrition of the nerve-
centres by special dietetics. Dr. Weir Mitchell has
shown in his Essay on Fat and Blood what wonderful
success can be attained in curing emaciated neurasthenics
by massage, fattening and isolation. Enforced rest for
the overworked, excitable, restless woman, and enforced
(but graduated) movement for the woman who has laid
on the couch for years, declaring that she is paralysed,,
along with a regulated fattening diet and a sensible
nurse, have restored very many chilly, feeble, anaemic,,
thin, listless patients to warmth, colour, plumpness, and
cheerfulness. Massage, in skilful hands, stimulates the
secretions of the skin; increases the flow of arterial
blood to the muscles and other subcutaneous
tissues; restores to the muscular fibrilla the tonicity
they had lost; and provides exercise without demanding
from the patient the exertion of volition, or the aid of
the nerve-centres. When a Mrs. P., aged 52, of New
Jersey, who had been in bed for fifteen years, was brought
to Dr. Mitchell for treatment, by this massage, and feed¬
ing, and by winning her full trust and confidence, she
actually made the effort to get up at the end of the first
week. She had to be down again at once, from heart-
feebleness ; but at the end of only one month she could
sit up, sew, read and walk.

I have personally witnessed cures in progress by the

Digitized by

Google

tt^rocTHSf 10 HEREDITY op disease.

623

Weir Mitchell method, in the practice of Dr. W. Play¬
fair, of London, of the most satisfactory kind. One
lady was gaining in weight exactly 1 lb. per day.

It is very necessary to cure neurasthenia before
marriage. Fully half the troubles between husband
and wife arise from the morbid notions and habits of
hysteria. Derangements of the menses, and disorders of
the uterus or ovaries, are not always at the root of hys¬
teria, despite its etymology. These organs must be
attended to certainly, but we must go further, and adjust
the balance between the higher and lower nerve-centres;
between nutritive demand and supply; between accumu¬
lation of effete matters in the blood, and defective elimi¬
nation ; and, lastly we have to try to displace old bad
habits of life, thought, and emotion, by new and pure
habits. Maternity is the turning point for good or evil
in the life of a neurasthenic woman. If she marries a
man of calm, placid, self-controlled temperament, whom
she truly loves, their children may escape this baneful
heredity altogether, or only the first-born may be
slightly affected. When these children are grown up,
and become parents, the neurasthenic or hystero-
epileptic heredity will be extinct.

8. True epilepsy is very often hereditary, and is
sometimes the result of consanguineous marriages
as mentioned on p. 86. A parent suffering from
any organic disease of the cerebrum or cerebellum,
or from a lifelong neurosis, or from any form of in¬
sanity, is liable to have epileptic children, the malady
usually showing itself between the ages of 10 and 12
(Brown-Sequard). Alcoholism in the parent is also a
potent factor in hereditary epilepsy. But the most
fruitful source of inheritance is a serious fright, or
bodily injury, or succession of powerful nerve shocks
occurring to the mother during pregnancy. In one
oase, known personally by myself, a murder in the
vicinity so frightened the pregnant (two months ad¬
vanced) lady that her son was born with this disease,
first shown during dentition. Convulsive attacks
occurred at intervals up to the age of 14, when he fell
into the grate where a fire was burning and got severely
burnt. This great shock extinguished the epilepsy.
Hasse has given a table of 995 epileptics, which shows
that in more than one-third, viz., 864, the disease com*

Digitized by

Google

624

HEREDITY OF DISEASE. M< SeWewfortTl8wT

menced between the ages of 10 and 20, that is, about
puberty. Masturbation is a frequent cause. I have
two female patients, one hysterical in a high degree, the
other epileptic for twelve years past, the daughters of a
stout robust mother, who was congenitally hysterical
and has aggravated her morbid condition by alcoholic
indulgence. It is a poor prospect for the grand-children
of this mother. Dr. Brown-Sequard remarks that
hereditary epilepsy is very rarely cured, but that it is
curable. He instances two cases, both treated in 1852
and 1858. “ The patients were first cousins, and had
inherited the disease from a grandmother.” Subsequent
to the course of treatment, one patient had no attack for
five years previous to his death from a fall, while the
other had none for seven years before typhoid fever
carried him off in China. Whether we can so thoroughly
cure the hereditary epileptic as to destroy the propagation
tendency in him of his disease is, in the present state
of our knowledge, doubtful. Appropriate medicines,
selected homceopathically, must be given for years, with
intervals of rest, before we can pronounce the patient
absolutely cured, for the inter-paroxysmal intervals are
often very long. Although a large proportion of epi¬
leptics die eventually in lunatic asylums, there is no
prospect of the extinguishment, in our generation, of
true epilepsy.

4. Insanity is one of the most markedly hereditary of
diseases, in one or other of its multitudinous forms.
From genius, “ which to madness is allied,” of an
eccentric manifestation, down to raving mania or
lycanthropy, any form of mental derangement may bo
transmitted to the offspring even from three and four
generations back. I have pointed out that the prevalent
habits of indulging in excess in alcohol, morphia, chloral
or cocaine in the present day, conduce to insanity in the
victim himself (or herself), and still more to the children
that may be born after the acquired insanity has been
generated. The high-pressure rate of living; the over¬
study, the late hours in crowded rooms and halls, certain
exciting “ missions ” carried on till after midnight, and
erotic literature and art; all these, with the perturbing
changes in the human body of puberty, the climacteric,
pregnancy and child-birth, tend to upset completely the
mental balance of those persons (an ever increasing

Digitized by AjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1883.

REVIEWS.

625

number) who have inherited an excitable and unstable
nervous system. In early life note the children who
have narrow and retreating foreheads, who are passionate,
easily angered, and disposed to strike their playmates,
and to destroy articles m fury. They have a tendency
to insanity, and must be carefully trained. Their food
should always include a large proportion of fats and of
phosphates. Often a fit of passion may be arrested by
diverting the attention to some strange and striking
object, or by showing the child a mirror. Every furor
brevis thus arrested, is a step gained towards control,
and therefore towards the arrest of the family tendency^
A physician must be extremely careful in giving any
prognosis in these cases, or even in the case of excitable
children one of whose parents is already in an asylum.
If the father or mother has acquired insanity (through
grief, misfortune, drink or other personal cause) and the*
family history is clear of the taint, it is scarcely right to
prognosticate a tendency to mental derangement in thfr
children bom before the parental break-down. I have
known instances of insanity coming on in persons-
wholly free from any family tendency thereto, from
prolonged solitude (as on New Zealand farms) absorbing
grief; and the shock of sudden bereavement. As we*
pay the penalty of the highly-cultured civilisation by
the increase in diseases of the brain and nervous system,
I fear that we cannot contemplate the speedy extinction,
of this heredity, although our modern methods of
treating the insane are remarkably successful. The*
supply of patients coming in will for a long time exceed
those going out cured. The soothing or cheering effects
of music and colour on the mentally deranged forms a.
promising field of therapy, as yet almost unworked, but.
promising results as yet unattained by other means of
cure. fTo be concluded.)

REVIEWS.

Diseases of the Skin: Their Constitutional Nature and Cure .
By J. C. Burnett, M.D. Second edition, revised and en¬
larged. London: Homoeopathic Publishing Co., 12, War¬
wick Lane, E.C. 1898.

This is a considerably enlarged edition of Dr. Burnett’s
“ Diseases of the Skin from the Organismic Standpoint,”
which was reviewed by us in January, 1887V The views.

Digitized by

•626

REVIEWS

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1888.

which it is here sought to impress upon the profession are
the same as those expressed in the former edition. The en¬
largement consists in the addition of reports of a considerable
number of cases treated in harmony with the author’s prin¬
ciples, which occupy the latter half of the volume. Dr. Bur¬
nett, it will be remembered, regards the healthiness of the
skin as conditioned by the general healthiness of the
•organism; that its diseases come from within, sometimes
even when they infringe upon it from without, and that,
therefore, they must be treated from within. That all
external applications, from lead lotion to Umoline , are
pernicious to the patient, do not cure his disease, but merely
prevent its peripheral expression. That this is largely, very
largely, true, we do not doubt, but that it is universally so we
'do question.

The reports of cases are so far interesting as showing that
they were cured without external medication; but, as Dr.
Burnett in scarcely any case points out the connection
between the pathogenetic action of the prescribed remedy and
the condition its administration is regarded as having cured,
their clinical value to the practitioner is but small. In two
instances, however, we have a relationship pointed out
between the disease and its remedy. In reporting a case of
pityriasis rubra of the chest, “ a big patch composed of a
series of smaller patches, all more or less circular or segments
qf circles,” that he had treated, “ off and on for five years,”
unsuccessfully, he gave erythrinus. He did so, because he
remembered * 4 reading in an old German book that some
sailors, many years ago in some of the Pacific Islands, ate of
a fish called erythrinus, and came out with a peculiar red
rash which the doctors took for a form of syphilis.” Through
Dr. Heath, he procured this erythrinus, from which a tincture
was prepared of the first dilution, of which he gave the
patient an ounce, directing him to take four drops morning
and evening. He did not see his patient again for two years
and a half afterwards, and when he inquired after his “ big
patch ” he found that he was perfectly well, and had been so
since taking the erythrinus . A second case, treated with the
preparation, “ is greatly improved, but by no means cured.”

In a case of gouty urticaria in a lady of 70, “ taking her
suddenly now in one part and now in another, and com¬
pelling her to hasten to her own apartments to apply hot
wraps to allay the furious itching,” he found that urtica
urens <f>, in five drop doses, taken three times daily for
some months, proved curative. The point of interest here is
that this lady who had frequently been under homoeopathic
physicians of repute, at once recognised urtica as having

Digitized by

PERISCOPE.

627

Monthly Homoeopath!*
Review, Oct. 2, 1893. £

been fruitlessly prescribed for her by two of them, and as
one of these two was the late Dr. Hilbers, the probability is
that he ordered a dilution of it, while Dr. Burnett gave the
fairly material dose of five drops of the pure tincture.

PERISCOPE.

MATERIA MEDICA.

From the very excellent Summary of Pharmacodynamics and
Theraveutics , prepared by Dr. Hughes for the last issue of
The Journal of the British Homoeopathic Society , we select
the following:—

Aubum given in the 15th trituration three times daily, for
six weeks, proved curative in a case of sarcocele of the testicle

Calcabea Fluorica.— Dr. T. M. Barton, Boston, U.S.A.,
commends as relieving the tickling of the throat arising from
elongated uvula.

Dolichos Pruriens. —Dr. Jean de W6e, of Brussels, de¬
scribes as having proved useful in the distressing itching
which accompanies jaundice. In one case he gave the
mother tincture, in another case the 3rd dec., both were equally
effective.

Hypericum was the only internal remedy given by Dr. E.
P. Colby, Boston, U.S.A., in a case of monoliform neuroma
with consequent neuritis, rendering the whole hand useless
and very painful. In three weeks the tumours upon the
nerve trunk could hardly be found, and the neuritis had
perceptibly diminished.

(Enanthe Crocata. —In cases of chronic epilepsy, Dr.
Talcott of the Middletown Asylum for the insane has found
ananthe more effective in reducing the recurrence of attack
than any other medicine he has used. The attacks have
become less frequent (by 40-50 per cent.) and less violent,,
and the mental state before and after them, and in the
intervals between them, has been notably improved. The drug
was given in the mother tincture 1-6 drops a day.

Acid. Fluoricum was found curative within two months
by Dr. Villers in a case of cystic thyroid. The cyst—firm and
elastic—was the size of a walnut, and in the left half of the
gland, the structure of which was everywhere thickened.

*»* ^ *»*

Arsenic in Skin Cancer. —The following observations
quoted by The British Medical Journal , June 17th have an
especial interest when read in connection with the conclusions

Yol. 37, No. 10. 2-*

Digitized by

628

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1803.

of Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson on the action of arsenic on the
skin (Monthly Homoeopathic Revietc , October, 1890, p. 681)
Mr. Hutchinson describes cases as having occurred, in which
•after large doses of arsenic long continued, all gradations
were seen from thickening and cracking of the skin of the
palms, productive of corns, and finally, the development of
genuine epithelial cancer. Per contra we are told that Lassar
(Berl. hlin. Woch ., June 5th, 1898) relates some remarkable
cases in which the new growth disappeared under the use of
arsenic. He first refers to the exceedingly rare but possible
spontaneous disappearance of cancer, and to former ex¬
perience of the action of erysipelas upon cancer of the skin.
He also quotes opinions to show there is no sharp distinction
between cancroid and other cancerous growths. Two cases
are then recorded which were treated three or four years ago.
(1) Inoperable epithelioma of the face. There were three
separate tumours (proved microscopically to be epithelioma)
which underwent involution and cicatrisation, with total dis¬
appearance of the most recent of the three. (2) Rodent
ulcer in an old woman who declined operation. This became
so much smaller that the patient, satisfied, withdrew herself
from further treatment. The author then relates three
recent cases. (1) A woman, aged 75, came under observa¬
tion in October, 1892, with a tumour on the cheek of six to
eight months' duration, and half as big as a walnut. It was
•deep red in colour, irregular on its surface and in contour,
And a small ulceration was present. A piece extirpated
showed the typical structure of epithelioma. She was then
treated with arsenic . In December the growth was shrunken
and cicatrised. (2) A woman had a rodent ulcer on the nose,
which skinned over and cicatrised step by step under the
use of arsenic. Treatment was discontinued four
months ago. The case was shown before the Berlin Medical
Society. (8) A man, aged 06, noticed a tumour on his nose
three months previously. It was thought to be either a
gumma or epithelioma. Antisyphilitic treatment had been
tried without effect. A piece excised showed the usual
characteristics of epithelioma. Treatment with arsenic ,
both subcutaneously and internally, was begun last March,
but the injections were soon discontinued. In five weeks'
time the tumour had diminished to one-third its former size,
and complete involution subsequently occurred. This case
was also shown to the above society. Lassar discusses fully
all the possible aspects of these cases, and concludes that the
treatment and involution of the growths were cause and
effect. Thus, contrary to all previous views, it is shown that
under the internal use of arsenic certain suitable cases of

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2, 1803.

PERISCOPE.

629

cancer of the skin can be made to cicatrise. He adds that
these facts have weight in relation to the causation of cancer.

Opium Bash. —Dr. Lanz reports two successive occurrences
of opium rash in a woman of 29 years of age suffering from
acute bronchitis, to whom ordinary doses of Dover’s powder
were given. The attacks were not unlike severe scarlatina.
—-Magazine of Pharmacy .

Coccus Cacti. —In the course of a short study of this
medicine by Dr. Janney, of Baltimore, in the Hahnetnannian
Monthly , the author points out as the most prominent and
persistent symptoms provoked by it in the respiratory organs,
the following which have suggested its utility in whooping
xough:—

Irritation in the larynx, causing cough ; hoarseness; irrita¬
tion in the trachea; painful sensations in the lungs ; cough,
caused by persistent irritation in the bronchi, short, dry,
frequent, in short paroxysms, disturbing sleep at night, and
tendency to cause vomiting. Expectoration easy and in large
amount, or viscid and clinging; yellow, in grayish lumps; and
dyspnoea.

Dr. Janney adds that he has had so much success in using
this medicine in whooping cough that he now places his chief
reliance upon it.

It has been in cases where the spasmodic cough and vomit¬
ing were especially severe at night that we have found coccus
cacti more advantageous than drosera .

Guiacum. —Dr. Ivins, of Philadelphia, in the course of
an address on Rhinoloijy and Laryngology at the recent
Congress at Chicago, says that he has used this medicine
extensively in both acute and subacute pharyngitis. His
indications for prescribing are, he admits, partly empirical.
The appearances which guide him are the congestion
which is less bright than that suggesting belladonna , and
is on both sides of the throat; the pharynx is at times
slightly glazed, at others infiltrated; much follicular involve¬
ment; and the patient complains of a smarting, especially
burning, likening it to the effects of pepper. When, in such
cases, it is, he says, given early in the 2nd or 8rd decimal it
acts promptly; and in a large number of cases has cut short
acute pharyngitis in patients who are accustomed to have long
sieges from similar beginnings.

LABYNGOLOGY, &c.

Amttpyrin as a Local Anesthetic. —Neumann (Buda Pesth)
has applied this drug as an insufflation in 50 per cent, strength
with 60 per cent amylum in cases of ulcerative tuberculous
laryingitis and pharyngitis with excellent analge sic effects.

2—a 2

Digitized by

Google

630

PERISCOPE.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review, Oct. 2,1803.

The Prognosis of Hay Fever. —GreviUe Macdonald
(Practitioner f April, 1898).—The most unsatisfactory cases are
those in which there is no objective disease or malformation
of the nasal fossae. Blocking of the lower nasal channel, e.g. y
by exostoses of the septum, or enlarged lower turbinate bodies
are the most favourable for treatment.

The treatment of acutely hyperaesthetic tumefactions of the
mucous membrane of the septum is also very beneficial^
True polypi are seldom met with as concomitant, and when
present must be considered the consequence, not the cause.
The symptoms most frequently relieved are the sneezing and
the accompanying flow of mucus. The restoration of the
patency of the nasal passages relieves the dryness of the
throat of which patients so commonly complain. The relief
of the accompanying asthma is, unfortunately, not so
frequent.

Myx(edbma and its Treatment by the Internal Us* of the
Thyroid Gland. —Laache (Christiana).— The patient was a
male aged 49 years, who presented all the characteristics of
the disease which he had suffered from several years—
temperature lower than normal, and the blood corpuscles
reduced in quantity. Treatment with boiled thyroid gland
of sheep, and later of calf, was adopted. A reaction occurred
with urticaria and headache. In a short time the patient
was much improved, the swelling of the face had nearly
disappeared, and the hairs increased. The patient improved
also in his mental condition, and three months later he could
be considered as cured.

Vermehren, of Copenhagen, adopted a similar plan of
treatment in two cases. The first was a patient aged 42
years, who had suffered for seven years. Treatment with-
the internal use of boiled calf s thyroid was adopted, and in
about four weeks cure resulted. The second patient, aged 29,
had suffered since the fifth year of age, and was treated with
pills of an extract of the thyroid gland. Shortly after the
beginning of the treatment, increase of the temperature and
attacks of stenocardia followed. The pills were, therefore,,
discontinued, but by-and-bye much improvement occurred.

A Remedy for Stertorous Breathing (Rand, N.W.,
Medical Record , March 4, 1898).—The chin is propped up by
a card-board support placed on the chest. By this means-
the stertor of an old man dying of apoplexy was quite stopped,
to the great relief of the relatives, and possibly of the patient
as well.

Dudley Weight.

Digitized by ^ooQle

NOTABILIA.

JMonthlyHomceopathic
HReriew, Oct. 2,1863.

631

NOTABILIA.

LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.

The buildings which have for so many years served the pur¬
pose of a hospital are now numbered among the things of the
past. The clearing of the foundations upon the splendid site
which the removal of the old structure has revealed is going
rapidly forward, and at an early meeting of the Budding
Committee various essential points in the tenders for con¬
tracts will be decided. Meanwhile the all-important system
of drainage to be ultimately adopted will come under the con¬
sideration of the medical staff, who will advise the committee
:as to that which it will be best to accept. To enable them to
do so, the architect has, we understand, procured different
plans for the drainage system of the new hospital from six
well known experts upon sanitary arrangements. These will
^be submitted to them, and we have no doubt that the joint
efforts of the architect, the medical staff and the Building
'Committee will result in providing the new hospital with the
.most perfect sanitary plan that ingenuity can devise.

Looking at the fine site now displayed in Great Ormond
Street, we feel sure that the amount of £10,000 which is
being appealed for will be no more than is required to carry
<out the re-building.

THE DANGERS OF “ SAFE ” HYPNOTICS.

Thebe are some medical men who prescribe hypnotics with a
very light heart; there are others who never prescribe them
•ut all, except under the sternest compulsion. Among the
latter class Sir Andrew Clarke may be included. In our
judgment, Sir Andrew Clarke, and all those who agree with
his practice in this matter are entirely right; while the too
ready prescribes of hypnotics, even of the “safest'’ class,
deserve the severest professional reprehension. Dr. Frank
Ashby Elkins, senior assistant physician to the Royal Edin¬
burgh Asylum, has just published an account of the case of a
man who has experienced extraordinary sufferings as the
result of the “ paraldehyde habit." The victim, in addition
to his profound miseries, was for a long time within sight of
death’s door. The case is published as a warning both to
doctors and patients. The patient, A. B., was a steady,
respectable coachman, 65 years of age, and last November he, in
desperation, voluntarily sought admission into the Royal
Edinburgh Asylum, in order, if possible, to be cured of the

Digitized by LjOoqL e

632

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2, 1893.

habit which, besides driving him to desperation, was killing
him by inches. For seven years A. B. had been subject to
insomnia. Under medical advice, and in a fatal moment he
tried paraldehyde. Beginning with occasional small doses,
the unfortunate man rapidly proceeded to frequent large ones.
In a few months he could not live without the drug ; and in
a very few years it became painfully evident that he could
not live with it. Life became an agony, and the appre¬
hension of death a terror which was intolerable. Physically
he became pale and emanciated, losing two stones in weight
in six months. So weak was he that he had to be confined to
bed, and could not even lift his food to his mouth. His wife had
to feed him with a spoon like a child. In course of time the drug
lost its power, and sometimes as much as seven teaspoonfuls
of paraldehyde procured no more than half an hour’s sleep.
The heart’s action failed, and the sounds often became almost
inaudible. Peculiar shivers ran through the body. “ Strange
beasts,” the patient deolared, paced about his room, and he
felt certain that the doctors and nurses were leagued together
to poison him. He constantly walked up and down his room
by night as well as by day, in terror lest he should die if he
lay down in bed. He was certain the house was on fire.
Tremors, agitations, suspicions, delusions, liarrassed him day
and night, until finally he lost his reason, and
was certified as a lunatic requiring restraint. Such
is the story. After a few months of asylum life
recovery commenced, and in time the man was released and
returned to work. But his constitution is permanently
impaired, and he never again will be a sound and healthy man.
The case is one which should impress upon every medical
practitioner and every patient that hypnotics of every class are
dangerous remedies, and must never be resorted to except
occasionally and under the compulsion of the most absolute
necessity.

The foregoing striking illustration of the danger of
paraldehyde appears among the “ Annotations ” of The
Hospital for the 12th of August. In the number of the same
journal published on the following Saturday, under the
division “ New Drugs and Preparations,” of which the editor
requests that manufacturers will send him specimens of all
that may be brought out from time to time, we are told that
paraldehyde “is certainly one of the safest, and probably
one of the most reliable of the ordinary hypnotics.” Again, when
comparing this with sulphonal we are assured that it produces
no unpleasant after effects of any sort. And yet again, and only
a week after publishing Dr. Elkins’ report of his patient, the
editor asserts that “ the use of paraldehyde appears to be

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1893.

NOTABILIA.

63 $

practically devoid of danger.” Should a physician who,
in the absence of scientific therapeutic knowledge, is
unable to relieve his patient without advising an hypnotic,
turn to these two numbers of The Hospital in order to glean
some information about the most recent and the safest
hypnotics, he would, on reading them, find himself in a fog as
thick as any experienced by a sailor off the banks of New¬
foundland. Will he accept the asylum “ warning ” voice of
Dr. Elkins, or the optimistic and theoretical utterances of the
gentleman who writes up “ New Drugs and Preparations ” for
the columns of The Hospital ?

ARE WOMEN BETTER INVALIDS THAN MEN ?

This is a subject which has given rise to correspondence in
the columns of a contemporary, and we think the reply of one
lady who signs herself Sister Aline, and writes from Leaming¬
ton, is so very good that we append it. She says : “ This is
a question which interests everybody, and which I, as a pro¬
fessional nurse, have no hesitation in answering in the
affirmative. I have nursed both sexes during the last ten
years, and my experience tells me that there is no more agree¬
able and graceful invalid than a woman. A woman who can
afford to be ill positively delights in it. She revels in a dreamy
sorts of existence, in which little cups of beef tea, spiced jellies,
and hothouse grapes mingle with the comforts of a fleecy
white shawl, an easy chair, and a warm room perfumed with
pastilles and roses. She smiles at every little attention, and
looks so sweet and gentle that her husband is compelled to
think how nice it is to be an invalid. I know a lady who
has played this interesting role for fourteen years, and she
enjoys it so much that I am afraid she will never play any
other. But what a pitiful object is a sick man—I mean a
man who is confined to his room by some simple ailment, for
which good food and rest are indispensable. How differently
he behaves. Instead of enjoying the rest which his wasted
energies demand, he frets and fumes about the room,
longing to cast off the manacles of medicine and
misery. He finds fault with his food, grumbles at his wife,
or the nurse when she appears with the inevitable
phial, and generally behaves like a man imprisoned for con¬
tempt of court. He walks with fidgety step up and down the
room, audibly murmuring at his lot, and when he throws
himself on the sofa, he does so with tbe dejected air of a man
who thinks that life is not worth living. What a difference
there is in the behaviour of sickly men and women ! Why is
it ? Why cannot a man be ill gracefully and agreeably ? My

Digitized by ^ooQle

634

OBITUARY.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eerie*, Oct. 2,18B8.

hospital experience has taught me that when a man is
thoroughly ill he is a splendid invalid. He is then so tractable
and patient that all hospital nurses prefer the men’s ward to
the women’s. It is only when the noble creature is kept at
home for three or four days that he becomes the miserable
being I have described .”—Magazine of Phannacy.

OBITUARY.

SEVERIN WIELOBYCKI, M.D.

In our February number we announced that our old
colleague, Dr. Severin Wielobycki had completed his 100th
year on the 8th January, and now, eight months after attain¬
ing the dignity of a centenarian, we have to record his death,
which took place on the 81st of August. Two attacks of
influenza in successive years had weakened him considerably,
and though he still continued to take his walks in the early
morning, a good portion of the day was spent in repose.
Four days before his death he complained much of chilliness.
He could not get warm, and his appetite fell off completely.
He grew more feeble, and the lamp of life went out without
suffering or apparent disease of any kind. He was buried in
the Paddington cemetery, and his funeral was attended by a
number of representatives of temperance and sanitary societies;
Dr. Burford also represented the British Homoeopathic Society.
During most of his long life Dr. Wielobycki had been a staunch
advocate of total abstinence from alcoholic beverages, and if
his longevity was not due to his teetotalism, as the temper¬
ance advocates asserted, at all events his abstinence did not
prevent him attaining an age allotted to few of his fellow
men. Up to 1874, when he retired from practice, he practised
homoeopathically in London. He was a member of the
British Homoeopathic Society and on the staff of the London
Homoeopathic Hospital. We have already recorded how his
homoeopathic colleagues presented him with an address on
the completion of his 100th year. Dr. Wielobycki was a
man of very retiring disposition, and was seldom seen in
the gatherings of the homoeopathic body. He made no con¬
tributions to homoeopathic literature, for the paper he read
before the British Homoeopathic Society was concerned with
the mechanics of midwifery and not with therapeutics. Dr.
Wielobycki married an Edinburgh lady in 1861, he has left
no family, and his widow, who is 85 years old, is confined
to her couch with an ununited fracture of the neck of the
femur.

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

635

CORRESPONDENCE.

ETHICS, HOMOEOPATHY AND DIRECTORIES.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Beview."

Gentlemen, —There has been going on in the Times of late
an amusing correspondence on the misuse of words. I have
not noticed the word 14 ethical** among the misused words
which have called for comment, but certainly some interesting
examples might have been quoted from the letters of your
correspondents. The word 44 ethical” is used again and again
as if it meant 44 moral;” as a fact, it has no such signification;
it means 44 pertaining to ethics.” 44 Ethics ” is a relative word,
and those who use it should define whose ethics they refer to.
There is an ethics of Aristotle, another of Plato, another of
Epicurus, another of Kant, another of Comte, another of
Schopenhaur, another of Herbert Spencer. All these names I
know; but the names of the signatories to the famous circular
are not known to me as authorities in philosophy, or as the authors
pf some hitherto unknown absolute ethics. When, therefore,
on their sole authority, they seek to dictate any line of conduct
to their fellows and elders, I must point out that they are
arrogating to themselves a right which they have not earned;
and when further they (or any one of them) pronounce my
actions, or proposed actions, to be 44 an error,** I must respect¬
fully demand their philosophic proof.

Mr. Knox Shaw is, I believe, an upholder of the right of
majorities to rule. Now it is largely on the ground of his
infringement of this right in the matter of the post-card-
and-circular expedient that I find fault with him. Instead of
openly canvassing the homoeopathic body on this matter, and
obtaining a clear voice of the majority, he and his co¬
signatories have persuaded a minority to withdraw their names,
sufficiently large to render Messrs. Keene & Ashwell*s work
futile. Coercion of the majority by a minority may be a very
moral proceeding, but it does not excite my admiration ; nor
do I think Mr. Shaw will succeed in rendering his flock more
moral and less 44 commercial ** by any such tactics.

The real complaint Mr. Shaw seems to prefer against the
poor little Directoiy is that it is a means of advertising. I
: should like to ask him this: How much a year did it bring
him in when his name was in it ? And how much did he
lose by taking it out ? Again, supposing it were regarded as
.an advertisement, and supposing Messrs. Keene & Ashwell
were to charge £1 Is. for the insertion of each name (the price

Digitized by LjOOQle

636

C0BBE8P0NDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review, Oct. 2,1893.

at which it seems, from Mr. Waddington’s excellent letter,
Mr. Shaw generously offers to admit the names of chemists),,
how many names of doctors does he think Messrs. Keen and
Ashwell would obtain ?

But after all, what is the harm in advertising ? Every man
who puts a name-plate on his door advertises. If the signa¬
tories to the circular would forego this form of advertisement,
they would be allowed to take houees in Great Cumberland
Place, or even in Portman Square itself—but not otherwise.
There are certain acknowledged ways in the profession by
which a man may make himself known. The door-plate is
one of them ; in the United States and some of the Colonies,
paid announcements in the public or professional press are
allowed. The Galignani Messenger publishes from time to time
among its advertisements, along with the names of bankers,
chemists and dentists, a list of most respectable English medi¬
cal men practising on the Continent. In this country other
means are adopted, such as the obtaining of posts on the staff
of hospitals, for which there is generally such a keen struggle,
not, it will be allowed, entirely in the interests of the sick poor.
Again, there are dispensaries. A young man starting practice as
a homoeopath in a new field must set up a homoeopathic dis¬
pensary if he is to make any success. This is a very good thing
for the poor, no doubt; but it is also a necessary advertisement
for himself. A medical man is a public man, and he must be
at the disposal of the public; the only thing for him to
remember is that all he does must be done in ways that are
fair to all. Advertising is not a bad thing in itself, though it
is open to abuses. The limits of advertising open to a medi¬
cal man are purely conventional, depending on the district or
country in which he lives.

Mr. Shaw is afraid of “ commercialism.” I am not aware
that commerce is a bad thing in itself. There may be, and
there is, perfectly upright and honourable commerce; so I
do not think Mr. Shaw has any right to use the word in an
offensive sense. Fraudulent commerce is, of course, bad; and
I will not deny that there is some danger of fraudulent com¬
mercialism creeping into the medical profession. But it does
not come in through a directory, and it will not be excluded
by the suppression of any number of directories. The danger
of this comes from greed: when the love of fees takes the first.
place and the care for patients second.

Dr. Neatby has cogently put the duty of homoeopaths in
this sentence of his letter: “ The study and cultivation of our
Materia Medica is an imperious necessity if homoeo-therapeu-
tics is to hold its own in the face of opposition on the one
hand and the constant advancement of other branches of

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

63T

therapeutics on the other,** This is very true; the study of
the Materia Medica (not as an end in itself, but as a means of
curing our patients) is our only raison d'etre ; and, I may add,
the curing of patients is the only advertisement that is of the'
least real and lasting use to any homoeopathic medical man.
The curing of patients and the communication of our expe¬
rience so as to make it helpful to others, is the beginning and
the end of our duties ; and how the occurrence of our names
in a Homoeopathic Directory is going to hinder this I am at a
loss to divine.

Mr. Shaw wants combination. But combination, to be of
value, depends on the bond. The only bond that is of any
use to homoeopaths is that mentioned by Dr. Neatby, namely,
enthusiasm for our Materia Medica. On any other basis com¬
bination means stagnation. Such a combination may possibly
contain a large number of elements, but it is not vital; and I
should not like to see the British homoeopathic body afflicted
by myxoedema. It would be far better to make a thin
appearance to the world.

Yours &c..

Sept. 8, 1898. John H. Clarke.

P.S.—I have not cared to mention it before, lest some
might suppose my objection to the new Homoeopathic Society
Directory arose from personal grounds ; but why, I may be
permitted to ask, has my name been left out of the list of
London members ? I ask out of pure curiosity, as I am not
aware that I have lost anything by the omission.

J. H. C.

VACCINATION.

To the Editors of “ The Monthly Homoeopathic Be view.”

Gentlemen, —The note that you append to my letter in the
September Review is a proof of the need for caution on our
part lest we imprudently connect our scientific system of
therapeutics with the hotly controverted question of vaccina¬
tion. If it were “ safe and efficient ** beyond controversy, the
Royal Commission need not have sat for over four years, and
have failed, so far as their published reports go, to establish
either its safety or efficiency. I was quite accurate in saying
that not a single anti-vaccinist was appointed on the Com¬
mission. Dr. Collins was appointed as a sceptic seeking for
information, and Mr. Picton, M.P., as opposed to compulsion;

Digitized by

■638

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1808.

if they are now anti-vaccinisfc, this development has been due
to what they have heard before the Commission, but, as far
as I know, has been avowed by neither. Instead of its being
true that the anti-vaccinationists “ alone have been examined
so far,” the fact is that of the scores of witnesses examined a
large proportion are vaccinist. The first report is exclusively
filled with the evidence of vaccinist witnesses. If you will
peruse the first three reports carefully, you will see that the
44 loose and inaccurate statements ” which have been crushed
by cross-examination are not those made by anti-vaccinists.
Dr. Barry’s famous Sheffield report has collapsed; so has
Dr. Hopkirk’s evidence as to the Prussian failure of vaccina¬
tion ; and, after careful perusal of the reports, I assert that
the case for vaccination has failed so far. How can primary
vaccination have saved Leicester in 1872 (when practically all
were vaccinated), and again 1892, when practically all
Leicester was unvaccinated ? In the first mentioned year
there were thousands of cases and 846 deaths. In the second
there have been some 800 cases and 15 deaths. Contrast
this with the prophecy contained in Dr. Mac Vail's Vaccination
Vhuluated, 1887, p. 149: “In Leicester, when its time
arrives, we shall not fail to see a repetition of last century
^experiences, and certainly there will afterwards be fewer
children left to die of diarrhoea.” Its time has arrived; we
•do fail to see the repetition. How can the presence of primary
vaccination have saved Leicester in 1872, and its absence have
saved it still more in 1898 ? The mistake to which I alluded
was that respecting Evelyn Kerrad. It is undisputed that
she was put into a ward with three children who had chicken-
pox, under the impression that sh6, too, had chicken-pox. it
turned out to be small-pox, which she gave to the others, one
of whom died of it. The disease spread to the next ward,
where children debilitated by scarlet fever took it, and of these
three died. These four children would in all probability not
have taken—much less died of—small-pox, unless they had
•come in contact with her. Their deaths were, therefore, due
to this unlucky mistake in diagnosis. Thousands of unvacci¬
nated persons in Leicester escaped. Mr. Summers, M.P.,
and Mr. Clarke, Inspector of Nuisances to the Blaky Union,
have both, though successfully vaccinated and re vaccinated,
died of malignant small-pox. At least 18 or 19 revaccinated
persons have had the disease at Leicester. To say the least I
have shown that it is undesirable to commit our glorious
cause to a verdict on such uncertainties as these. The scien¬
tific precision which the great Hahnemann has bequeathed to
us should not be mixed up with a process which has no
scientific basis at all, and which has no possible connection

Digitized by UjOoqIc

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2,1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

639'

with the great homoeopathic law. And a perusal of the reports-
issued by the Royal Commission will more than justify the
caution I recommend.

Yours faithfully,

A. Phelps.

Edgbaston, 8th September, 1898.

[With regard both to Dr. Collins and Mr. Picton, we believe
that our correspondent is mistaken, both having been opposed to
vaccination under any circumstances for many years past. The
Royal Commission is at present, we believe, engaged in hear¬
ing evidence from vaccinists rebutting that already given by
the anti-vaccination party, and we have heard that the Regis¬
trar-General has lately made some statements about infantile
mortality at Leicester in its supposed relation to vaccination—
statements which do not bear out those already given by the
opponents of vaccination. We have submitted General Phelps’
reflections upon Leicester, in its connection with small-pox and
vaccination, to Dr. G. Clifton, from whom we have received
the following reply.— Eds. M. H. it.]

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Reriew .”

Gentlemen,— The letter from General Phelps, inserted in
your September issue, had, I thought, been sufficiently
answered by you, more especially in regard to the extraordinary
statements with respect to the Leicester small-pox epidemic.
It seems, however, from the letter which you have kindly
forwarded, that General Phelps returns to his attack upon you
for presuming, as editors of the Review , to have an opinion on
the side issues of medical treatment (whether isopathic or
allopathic) in connection with our scientific system of
therapeutics.

With regard to General Phelps’ statements about Leicester,
I am in a position, I think, to speak with authority, not only
as a general medical practitioner in Leicester of over twenty-
three years’ standing, but also as the chairman of the present
Small-pox Hospital Committee. In my latter capacity, I may
state that I have been intimately connected with our 1892-8
epidemic, having myself practically seen and examined all
our cases in their various stages, and I am now prepared to
say that the benefits of vaocination have been proved up to*
the hilt by those cases. Of the 112 children (unvaccinated)
who have been in the hospital, 95 have had severe attacks—
many of them disfiguring and loathsome to the highest
degree. Of these 95 severe cases 14 have died. Sixteen
vaccinated children have been admitted, but all have had

Digitized by ^ooQle

640

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Oct. 2, 1893.

mild attacks, the majority so mild as to leave doubts in the
minds of many who saw them as to whether they were
genuine small-pox attacks! Further, I may state that not one
vaccinated child under 10 years of aye has yet been hrouyht to the
hospital.

Primary vaccination saved Leicester in 1871-2, because,
in spite of the complete absence of isolation , there were only
.about 8,000 cases and 846 deaths with a population of
100,000. It makes one shudder to think what would happen
during 1892-8, if isolation were not so rigorously and
strenuously carried out as it is to-day. As it is, we have had
already about 800 cases and 17 deaths. It is unfair to
compare Leicester 1871-2 (well primarily vaccinated as
regards adults and children) without isolation , with Leicester
1892-8 (well primarily vaccinated as regards adults, but
un vaccinated as regards children) with the strictest compulsory
isolation. I think I am right in saying that our child
incidence is already greater than that of any other town
lately affected with small-pox, and this, too, when small-pox
has not caught hold on our children. It has caught hold on
our adult population, and thanks to primary vaccination has
been prevented from spreading. When I state that, despite
the strenuous efforts at isolation put forward by my committee,
there have been 112 unvaccinated children stricken down
with small-pox (84 per cent severely so) the anxiety still
appertaining to the position of Hospital Chairman in a
town unfortunately unprotected by vaccination will be
readily understood, for I need not say that I am of opinion
that a cultivated vaccine virus, whether from a human or
animal source, is a sure protection from small-pox. Both
Leicester epidemics (1871-2 and 1892-8) have convinced me
Kjf that.

You will thus see, gentlemen, that the writer of the letter
dated September 8th has given a very garbled and inaccurate
statement of our present outbreak. He speaks of Evelyn
Kerrad. Let me give the bare facts. Evelyn Kerrad (whose
father sickened with small-pox) was brought up to the hospital
quarantine and developed first scarlet fever and afterwards
spots, which at first any one might have mistaken for
chicken-pox. She was accordingly placed in a ward with
•three other chicken-pox cases. Her spots developed into
modified small-pox (we had well vaccinated her at the time),
with the result that the other three patients in the same room
eventually contracted small-pox (all being unvaccinated), and
«one died. About this time small-pox broke out in our other
wards (undoubtedly in a great measure due to the fact that
Leicester has endeavoured to treat the two diseases, small-pox

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathio
Review, Oct. 2, 1883.

CORRESPONDENCE.

641

and scarlet fever, in a hospital, the wards of which are only
separated by a few feet), and, extending over a period of six
weeks, 10 other cases arose—making a total of 13 children
who caught the small-pox. General Phelps does not tell you
that there were 158 children in the wards at the time of the
•outbreak of small-pox, and of these 74 were vaccinated. Our
Medical Officer of Health also vaccinated 10 others within 24
hours of their having been exposed to the contagion, so that
we may reckon 84 as protected,” and of these not one sickened;
74 were, unfortunately, 44 unprotected,” i.e ., unvaccinated,
And of these 18 sickened and four of them died!

Whichever way you look at it, Evelyn Kerrad only caused
one death from small-pox, and it is a libel upon our medical
■officer (whose strenuous exertions, by the way, alone have
prevented the epidemic blazing far and wide) to state that the
four deaths in unvaccinated children were the result of con¬
tact with Evelyn Kerrad.

But this is not the worst 44 loose and inaccurate” statement
in the letter of September 8th, for it is stated also that
44 Mr. Clarke (sanitary inspector) died of malignant small¬
pox, though successfully vaccinated and re-vaccinated.” As
a fact, Mr. Clarke refused re-vaccination, which was offered
by the Medical Officer of Health, and I have in my possession
now an official report stating that Mr. Clarke never had been
re-vaccinated .

As to Mr. Summers, M.P., I did not know him personally,
but a friend of mine tells me that he (Mr. Summers) was
Always violently opposed to vaccination, and certainly would
not have been likely to have submitted openly to re-vaccination
before he went to India.

In Leicester, so far, we have had during the epidemic only
10 (not 19, as stated by General Phelps) re-vaccinated cases
(done at 2, 6, 8,10, 20,25, 80, and 40 years ago respectively),
and with one exception the attacks have been so mild as to
give rise to considerable doubts. The one exception was the
man M. R., who had a severe attack of small-pox, but, from
his own account, it is exceedingly doubtful if he had been
xe-vaccinated at all.

Whilst apologising for my inordinately long letter, I must
crave your indulgence whilst I give you our startling Leicester
nursing statistics. They are as follows :—

At the time of our out-break there were at the hospital 28
officials—22 44 efficiently ” protected by re-vaccination, or a
previous small-pox attack ; whilst the other six were 44 ineffi¬
ciently ” protected (having only been vaccinated in infancy,
And having refused re-vaccination, which was offered them by
the Medical Officer of Health). Of the 22 44 efficiently ” pro-

Digitized by

642

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic-
Review, Oct. 2,1893.

tected, not one has yet sickened; whilst of the six “ ineffi¬
ciently ” protected, five have since sickened and one has died,
so that one only still remains unattacked, and it will, as our
medical officer says, “ be interesting to watch her future his¬
tory.” We have since added to our hospital staff 12 new
officials (all well ro-vaccinated) and not one of these has
sickened yet. With such statistics before us (and I vouch for
them all as Hospital Chairman) comment is unnecessary.

Believe me,

Yours faithfully,

George Clifton, J.P., L.R.C.P.E.,
Chairman of the Leicester Small-pox Hospital Committee.
Leicester,

Sept. 20th, 1898. -

NOTICES TO CORR ESPONDENTS.

%* We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts.

Authors and Contributors receiving- proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby.

London Homceopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street,
Bloomsbury.— Hours of attendance : Medical, In-patients. 9.30 ; Out¬
patients, 2.30. daily ; Surgical. Mondays and Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases
of Women, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 ; Diseases of Skin, Thursdays,
2.30 ; Diseases of the Eye, Thursdays, 2.30 ; Diseases of the Ear, Satur¬
days, 2.30 ; Dentist. Mondays, 2.30 ; Operations, Mondays, 2; Diseases
of the Throat, Mondays, 2.30.

Communications have been received from Dr. Dudgeon, Dr. Clarke,
Mr. Cross (London) ; Dr. Hawkes, Dr. J. D. Hayward (Liverpool) t
Dr. Clifton (Northampton) ; Dr. G. Clifton, Dr. Priestley (Leices¬
ter) : Dr. Roberts (Harrogate) ; General Phelps (Birmingham):
Dr. Bushrod James (Philadelphia, U.S.A.), kc.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The Homoeopathic World. London. September.

The Chemist and Druggist. London. September.

Medical Reprints. London. September.

The Monthly Magazine of Pharmacy . London. September.

The Dire iogham Gazette. September 15th, 1893.

The Xorth American Journal of Homoeopathy. New York. September
The Xew York Medical Timex. September.

5 The Xew England Medical Gazette. Boston. September.

The Hahnenmnnian Monthly. Philadelphia. September.

The Homoeopath ic Recorder. Philadelphia. August.

The Clinique. Chicago. August.

The Minneapolis Magazine. August.

Revue Homoeopathique. Beige. Brussels.

Ricixta Omiopatica. Rome.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pops, 19 r
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire ; Dr. D. Dyck Brows, 29, Seymour Street, Port-
man 8quare, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Nratbt, 161, Haverstock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. K. Gould k Sox, 50,
Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by

Google

643

Monthly Homoeopathic:
Review, Nor. 1, 1893.

HOMEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

THE MONTHLY

HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

-:o:-

THE BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC CONGRESS, 1893.

The Congress, recently held at Northampton, was in
every way a worthy successor of those that have pre¬
ceded it. All who were present must have cordially
re-echoed the sentiment of Dr. Cash Reed when, in his
speech after dinner, after recalling the advantage of such
a gathering, he said he felt “ how important it was to
let nothing interfere with their meeting again for
similar purposes next year. Through the press and toil
of the coming winter his mind would constantly revert
to that delightful day and look forward with pleasure
and anticipated profit to their next meeting.”

The address of the President was one of ability, the
work of a skilful, largely experienced, and constantly
occupied practitioner. It was then, as might be
expected, thoroughly practical in its scope. Our readers-
have, ere this, perused it for themselves, and cannot
fail to have observed how forcibly the truth of the
homoeopathic doctrine of drug selection was borne
testimony to by Dr. Hawkes* twenty years experience in
hospital and general practice. This—the clinical—is

the only test by which the worth and reality of this or
any other therapeutic doctrine can be tried. One cannot
entertain any wonder that, after such an experience aa
he has had, Dr. Hawkes should regard the medical
Vol. 37, No. 11. 2—8

Digitized by

Google

644 HOMOEOPATHIC CONGRESS. “SSSSrSSSTMBL

practitioner of our time as being wonderfully self-denying
in not examining the subject of homoeopathy and
clinically testing the principles involved in it.

The first paper read—that by Dr. Pope on The
Selection of the Homoeopathic Specific —will, we hope,
stimulate all to study constantly and closely the
pathogenetic records of our Materia Medica, as these are
presented to us in the Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy ,
as well as to bring to bear upon the art of drug selection
—the real secret of our success at the bedside—all the
sources of knowledge which so many hard-working and
earnest students of disease have placed within our reach
during the last fifty or sixty years.

The second and very short paper, by Dr. Neatby, intro¬
duced to notice a powerful drug which he had found
useful in whooping cough. The paper itself and the
two brief speeches upon it of Dr. Percy Wilde and
Mr. Gerard Smith convey a therapeutic lesson of some
importance. Dr. Wilde had suggested from the
similarity of the effects of ouabain as a poison to the
generic symptoms and pathological basis of whooping
cough, that it would prove a remedy in pertussis.
Dr. E. A. Neatby accordingly used it in whooping cough,
and he did so successfully. Mr. Gerard Smith also used
it, but without deriving any advantage from it. We
learn from these experiments, physiological and thera¬
peutic, that while it is homoeopathic to the genus
whooping cough, just as drosera, coccus cacti , citia, and
ipecacuanha are, to be curative it must also be homoeo¬
pathic to individual instances of the disease. The cases in
which Dr. Neatby prescribed it were probably illustrative
of such ; those in which Mr. Smith ordered it were not.
Until we have a well conducted series of experiments
made with ouabain upon human beings it will be
impossible to differentiate those where it will be curative
from those which require drosera , coccus cacti , or one of
the other medicines. All that we know about the drug
at present is that it will cure whooping cough sometimes.
Before we can certainly predict when it will do so we
must have a proving of it.

At the afternoon meeting, when the executive business
had been completed, and a strong expression of opinion
had been evoked that members of the British Homoeo¬
pathic Congress ought, as they always have been, to be

Digitized by ^ooQle

R°ri«fl£STi^ e HOMOEOPATHIC congress,

645

restricted to registered members of the medical pro¬
fession, Dr. Cash Reed read his ingenious and well
illustrated paper, On Uterine Deviations and their
Auxiliary Treatment . The use of pessaries is a question
which divides gynaecological practitioners into two
parties—one like the late Dr. Mathew Duncan, rejecting
all, of whatever sort, in all cases, of whatever kind, the
other using pessaries of different makes in cases adapted
to each. That of Dr. Casii Reed’s was, on all hands,
regarded as ingenious and likely to prove effective in
certain kinds of uterine deviations.

At the conclusion of this paper, what, for some reason
or other, has come to be regarded as a “burning
question,” viz.: whether Messrs. Keene & Ashwell
shall be supported in publishing a list of medical men
who practise homoeopathically, or whether they shall
not be so supported, and the list of members of the
British Homoeopathic Society be held to represent the
medical adherents of homoeopathy in the United
Kingdom, gave rise to an animated debate.

Those who supported the publication of the Directory ,
did so on the ground that the public had a right to
know who those medical men were who practised
homoeopathically; and, to the public, it was urged that
the supplement to the Society’s journal was not readily
accessible. It was further argued, that withdrawal of
support from the Directory would be interpreted by non-
homoeopathic practitioners as an indication that we felt
that homoeopathy was losing ground, while it would not
lessen the animosity with which homoeopathic practi¬
tioners were regarded. Some of the members would
seem here to have remembered the declaration of the
Lancet , in June, 1877.

“ We would remind all who call themselves homoeo¬
paths that nothing less than the most unreserved
renunciation of all the dogmas of homoeopathy, in name
and in deed, can be accepted.”

On the other side, Mr. Knox Shaw, on behalf of the
anti-directory party, protested that he had no idea of
propitiating or attempting to propitiate anyone. He
regarded all special directories as a phase of advertising,
and therefore as a mode of obtaining practice which was
repugnant to professional usage; he thought that if
we, as homoeopaths, conformed strictly to professional

2 s—2

Digitized by

Google

646 HOM(EOPATHI<J CONGRESS.

usage our influence with the dominant section of the
profession would be greater than it is. He also thought
that a list of the members of a learned society was a very
different thing from a list of medical men published
without any control whatever. The existence of control
in the one and its absence in the other constituted the
distinction. It was further argued on the same side
that any list from which a certain number withheld their
names would, as representing the homoeopathic practi¬
tioners of the country, be partial and misleading.

These were the chief arguments employed on both
sides, and as the result of the discussion the desire that
no special directory of homoeopathic practitioners should
be issued was expressed by a majority of three out of the
84 votes recorded. “ Under the circumstances,” we
trust that the ample discussion of this question which
has been carried on in our pages and which was debated
so warmly at Northampton, may now give place to
some other subject better calculated to improve our
therapeutics, and to reflect credit upon us as a united
body of homoeopaths. The vote which was taken at the
Congress clearly shows that if any enterprising firm of
chemists or booksellers should undertake to issue a list
of homoeopathic practitioners, the number of men who
will refuse to allow their names to be inserted in it is
sufficiently considerable to render it misleading as an
indication of the number of homoeopathic practitioners
in this country and untrustworthy for any of the purposes
for which such a work is ordinarily needed.

We cannot leave this notice of the Directory discussion
without expressing our deep regret that Dr. Murbay
Moore, in a letter to the North American Journal of
Homoeopathy , should have given, or apparently en¬
deavoured to give, an impression that Mr. Knox Shaw
and those who have co-operated with him in this matter
are, as regards homoeopathy, “weak-kneed colleagues.’’
While in contradistinction to these unworthy homoeo¬
pathic Britishers, he says : “ Thank Heaven, there are
still some hundred or more staunch homoeopaths with a
backbone , who, like your correspondent, will not bow the
knee to the Baal of the British Medical Journal and
the Lancet .” He concludes by saying: “ The only
way to counteract the persistent misrepresentation by
the dominant sect of our glorious medical reform is

Digitized by ^ooQle

HOMOEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

647

to defy the medical Mrs. Grundy (within proper limits
of self-respect of course) and take the public into our
confidence . I hope shortly to bring out my popular
pamphlet, entitled Common Sense Homoeopathy , with
Scientific and Clinical Illustrations .” What are “ the
proper limits ” of professional self-respect is a question
which will probably be decided differently by different
physicians. But when we find a man like Dr. Hughes
described as “ weak-kneed 99 by Dr. Murray Moore—
well, we think.it is time to protest. Our American
colleagues know Dr. Hughes, and they know something
of his work for homoeopathy, and we can safely leave the
matter with them. Those who, like Mr. Knox Shaw
and Dr. Hughes, have joined in the crusade against the
Directory , have, in undertaking it, been animated by as
pure a zeal for what they believe to be for the best
interests of homoeopathy in this country, as have
Dr. Dudgeon and Mr. Harris in striving for the support
of this little guide book. It is solely a question of
policy, and to describe the opponents of the Directory as
bowing the knee to the Baal of the non-homoeopathic
medical press can only be regarded as offensive and
impertinent.

The speeches after dinner were interesting and enter¬
taining. That of Mr. Harris was especially exhilarating.
The determination, the confidence and enthusiasm,
which animated him, as he referred to the facts which
spoke of the progress of homoeopathy, were inspiring.
Nothing, however, we venture to say, that occurred
after dinner gave so much pleasure to all present
as hearing the frequent expressions of regard for
Dr. Clifton, which fell from Northampton speakers,
and the hearty way in which every one responded to
them. After what had fallen from some of the speakers
in the afternoon, it was especially gratifying to hear the
Mayor of Northampton say, “Whatever might be the
feeling entertained towards homoeopaths in some other
towns, there was but one feeling of universal esteem
and respect in Northampton for Dr. Clifton.” Our
colleague, Dr. Croucher, the Mayor of Hastings,
rendered emphasis to this testimony, when he referred
to him as having “ resided in Northampton for more
than forty years, and that during that time he had
done the work of a dozen men in propagating the truths

Digitized by LjOOQle

648

HOMOEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

of homoeopathy far and wide in the Midland counties.”
Six years ago, when proposing Dr. Clifton’s health,
as president of the Liverpool Congress, the late
Dr. Drysdale described him as “constantly endeavouring
to bring the great principles of homoeopathy to the
forefront, and in doing so he never thinks of himself,
but is solely actuated by the desire to advance the best
interests of the profession to which he belongs.” During
the earlier part of his career in Northampton, he with¬
stood as severe an opposition from his professional
neighbours, as any one of us has had to encounter.
This he has, as many another has done, lived down.
He has achieved his position, not by sacrificing his
opinions or obscuring them; on the contrary, no one
has been more outspoken in his defence of what
he believed to be the truth in medicine than
Dr. Clifton has been, no one has shown greater
determination in defending the interests of homoeopathy,
or in extending as far as possible a participation in the
advantages to be derived from it to the poor, than he has
been. He has been ever firm but always courteous in
his intercourse with' those who differed from him in
medicine. He has by this course, a course of conduct
which never fails to bring respect to the men who
pursue it, secured respect and esteem from the whole
body of his fellow townsmen. It is a proud position for
any one to acquire, and we heartily congratulate him
on occupying it. We do so the more, inasmuch as
we have had abundant opportunity for knowing how
thoroughly it is deserved. To those of our colleagues
who wince under the ungenerous and unprofessional
conduct of their medical neighbours we would say live it
down as Dr. Clifton has done.

The Hahnemann Publishing Society, we were glad
to learn from its energetic secretary, Dr. Hayward, is
fairly prosperous. During the past year it has published
The Organon of Hahnemann, translated by Dr. Dudgeon.
We regret to find that little or no progress has been
made with the Therapeutic Tart of the Repertory , and
are the more surprised that workers for it have not
presented themselves more freely, because it is really
interesting work, and calculated to be of great and
lasting advantage to those who take a part in it. We
are promised the Ear Chapter of the Repertory very

Digitized by

Google

E^riew, y i^ l n^ hle THE HOMCEOPATHIC SPECIFIC. 649

soon, and Dr. Hughes has the Index so far done as to
be able to look forward to its completion within two
years. We should be glad to see this Society well
supported. It has an important mission to fulfil, one
which it shared, till recently, with the British Homeo¬
pathic Society. Now, however, that the Society’s funds
are so considerably absorbed by the publication of its
proceedings, we can no longer look for any help from it
in the publication of books of value to the professional,
but of little or no worth to the commercial man. To
provide such is the work of the Hahnemann Publishing
Society, and we trust that it will receive increasing
support both literary and pecuniary. Unusual pressure
on our space obliges us regretfully to defer publication
of the report of the Society until our next issue.

ON THE SELECTION OF THE HOMOEOPATHIC
SPECIFIC.*

By Alfred C. Pope, M.D.

Late Lecturer on Materia Medica at the London Homoeopathic
Hospital.

When commencing a course of lectures on The Practice
of Medicine, at St. Thomas’ Hospital in 1871, the late
Dr. Murchison, while acknowledging that “it is to the
strong advocacy of homoeopathy that we are indebted
for the common use of more than one excellent remedy;
and [that] homoeopathy must also be, to some extent,
credited for directing our attention to the affinities or
predilections of certain drugs for particular tissues or
parts of the body, a subject where careful investigation
may be expected to lead to great results,” said that “ it
requires no medical education to treat disease as the
homoeopathist does.” The first part of this quotation
represents the extent of Dr. Murchison’s knowledge of
homoeopathy, the second enables us to gauge the
measure of his ignorance of it. It reminds me of a
saying, attributed to Sydney Smith: “Every man
thinks he can write a leading article in a newspaper, or
drive a gig—until he tries.” Now, I venture to say,
that Dr. Murchison never tried to treat disease homceo-
pathically. Had he done so, he would have found, as
we all have found, that the selection of the homoeopathic

•Read before the British Homoeopathic Congress, Northampton,
September 28,1893.

Digitized by ^ooQle

650 THE HOMOEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

specific is not the simple matter that he assumed it to
be. It is in the hope that this, a question of so much
importance to the increased adoption of homoeopathy by
medical men, may be rendered clearer and simpler by
the discussion of it here, that I have undertaken to
introduce it to you to-day.

I would remark, in limine, that the teaching of
Hahnemann as conveyed to us in the Organon der
Heilkunst may be divided into two parts:—1st, funda¬
mental principles, and 2nd, the details of the practical
application of these.

The fundamental principles comprise the definition of
a specific remedy. “Whichever of these medicines,”
writes Hahnemann, “ that have been investigated as to
their power of altering a man’s health, we find to
contain, in the symptoms observed from its use, the
greatest similarity to the totality of the symptoms of a
given natural disease, this medicine will and must be
the most certain homoeopathic remedy for the disease;
in it is found the specific remedy of this case of
disease.”—§ 147.

A second fundamental principle is that the action of
all drugs must be ascertained by means of experiments
pursued upon healthy human beings. A third , that the
dose in which a homoeopathic specific is prescribed, must
be smaller than that necessary to procure its antipathic or
palliative effect. The fourth and last, that the homoeo¬
pathic specific must be prescribed in the form in which
its properties were ascertained by experiment.

Secondly , Hahnemann in the same work set forth the
details of the practical application of these principles,
such as the method to be adopted in selecting the
remedy for individual cases, the size of the dose in which
it should be given and the frequency with which it
should be administered.

Nothing that has developed from the study of thera¬
peutics since Hahnemann enunciated the fundamental
principles I have recited, has tended in the slightest
degree to throw so much as the shadow of a doubt upon
the absolute truth of either one of them. They repre¬
sent to-day, as they did nearly a century ago, the
highest peak to which the science of therapeutics has
attained. Experience, clinical experience, has but con¬
firmed and consolidated them.

Digitized by

^Nor^ THE homceopathic specific. 651

When we come to consider the details of the practical
application of these principles, we find that clinical
experience, researches in minute anatomy, in physio¬
logical science, in etiology, and in some other directions,
have together tended to modify much of, what I may term,
Hahnemann’s technique . His principles remain un¬
touched ; improved methods of scientific enquiry, the
increased knowledge that we have of the tissues and
functions of the body in health, of the history and
processes of diseases, have, on the other hand, compelled
us to revise and, by the additional light a century of
scientific and clinical work has shed upon medicine and
surgery, to improve upon methods which a hundred
years ago presented themselves to Hahnemann, as what
—as at the time they were—the best, the only, available.

The question then which I ask for your consideration
this morning concerns one of those points of detail in
the practical application of Hahnemann's fundamental
principles—how can we best, most surely, and most
completely discover the specific remedy for the individual
cases of disease that we meet with at the bedside and in
the consulting room ?

What then, I would first of all ask, was Hahnemann's
method of ascertaining it.

44 The physician,” he says, “ takes note of nothing in
every case of disease except the changes in the health
of the body and of the mind (morbid phenomena,
accidents, symptoms) which can be perceived externally
by means of the senses ; that is to say, he notices only
the deviations from the previously healthy state of the
now diseased individual which are felt by the patient
himself, remarked by those around him, and observed
by the physician; all these perceptible signs represent
the disease in its whole extent—that is, together they
form the true and only conceivable portrait of the
disease.” § 6.

I ask you to notice here that Hahnemann refers to
these subjective and objective symptoms as representing ,
not as constituting, the disease.

In another passage he recognises, and illustrates in
the clearest manner, that disease may depend upon an
exciting or maintaining cause which is manifest and
being manifest “ every intelligent physician would first
remove.” Foot-note to § 7.

Digitized by

662 THE HOMOEOPATHIC SPECIFIC. “^w^NSrTifiSa!

Then again he writes, 44 the sum of all the symptoms
in each individual case of disease must be the sole
indication, the sole guide to direct us in the choice of a
remedy,” § 18. And lastly, he describes the search for
the homoeopathic specific as making 44 a comparison of
the collective symptoms of the natural disease with the
lists of symptoms of known medicines.” §153.

Hahnemann, you will remember, protested uniformly
and frequently against all attempts at 44 explanations
regarding the phenomena of disease and their proximate
causes ” as being mere 44 learned reveries.” (Foot note
to § 1.) And so, at the time that he worked and wrote,
they were. The fact, that not one of the then current
pathological speculations survives to-day, is proof that
they were so.

Pathology, the study that is of the causes, the course
and the effects of disease, was so much of a terra
incognita at the beginning of this century, that it was
not until in 1830, or a year or so later, that the pro¬
fessorship of general pathology was instituted by the
Crown in the University of Edinburgh; and even at
that date, it was so instituted in spite of the determined
opposition of Christison and Syme. Morgagni had, it
is true, so far back as 1760, published his great work,
De Causis et Sedibus Morborum per Anatomen indagatis ;
but morbid anatomy alone, morbid anatomy without any
exact knowledge of normal function, was useless as an
interpreter of the symptoms of disease. Bayle, the
eminent French pathologist during the early portion of
the present century, wrote: 44 One would have a very
false idea of pathological anatomy if one imagined that
it could throw any light upon the essence of organic
diseases, or their immediate causes, or on the mechanism
of their production.” Andral, in 1823, was probably
the earliest pathologist who sought to connect post
mortem appearances with their causes, to endeavour to
raise the study of morbid anatomy from being a simple
record of facts disclosed to the naked eye to a science
explanatory of the symptoms that had been noted during
life.

At a time, then, when pathology consisted of little
else than 44 learned reveries,” when there was a total
absence of ascertained facts from which the physician
could deduce an interpretation of the symptoms of

Digitized by UjOoqIc

THE homeopathic specific.

658

disease detailed by his patient, or the objective pheno¬
mena which he himself could note, Hahnemann, as a
therapeutist, acted wisely in rejecting any attempt to
“ discover the alterations that had occurred in the
invisible interior/* and in relying for the information he
required to enable him to treat disease with specific
medicines, solely on the narrative of symptoms made by
the patient, together with the facts of the illness com¬
municated by his friends, and the observations the
physician himself could make. Doubtless, an exami¬
nation of this kind might, in some cases, involve errors
both of diagnosis and of prognosis, that many symptoms,
which, with the added light of later years, we now
recognise as reflex, would be liable to be mistaken for
such as were direct. This was inevitable. But here,
be it remembered, Hahnemann guarded himself against
serious errors—at any rate, in drug-selection—by in¬
sisting on having a record made of the totality of the
symptoms, of everything that was abnormal in the
condition of the patient. If you would understand and
appreciate the full significance of the word totality , as used
by Hahnemann, I would urge you to read and study his
“instructions to the physician for investigating and
tracing the picture of disease,” as given by him in the
Organon , §§ 84-99. Nothing more thorough, nothing
more complete in the way of directions for case-taking,
was ever penned; anything, in the state of knowledge
at that day, better calculated to avoid error in pre¬
scribing and, in the absence of modern means of physical
research, anything better adapted for framing an exact
diagnosis, or more adequate at that time to enable the
physician to make a forecast of the issue of a disease
than these instructions had not been published when the
Organon appeared in 1810.

Having thus secured a picture, as it were, of the case
of disease to be cured, Hahnemann proceeded to seek for
a similar picture of disordered health resulting from
drug action—a medicine “ which has the power and
tendency to produce symptoms the most similar possible
to the disease to be cured.” §148. The pursuit of
this end Hahnemann described as “ a laborious—some¬
times very laborious—search.” If such a search were
laborious at a time when the effects upon human health
of but a few medicines were known, what must such a

Digitized by

Google

654 THE HOMOEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

search be esteemed now, when Allen’s Encyclopaedia of
Pure Materia Medica records the effects of 768 sub¬
stances, and finishes off with a supplement containing
additional observations regarding 274; while his Hand¬
book of Materia Medica and Therapeutics introduces us to
898, and The Encyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy pro¬
vides us with therapeutic material from—including
varieties of the same plant—418 sources.

To mitigate the laborious character of searching for
the real specific to an individual case of disease, Hahne¬
mann must have felt was essential to the practical
working of his doctrine. As the result of his study in
this direction he, as Dr. Hughes remarks, became fully
sensible that “ quantitative dealing with symptoms
proved insufficient; they must, he said, be weighed as
well as counted, they must be treated qualitatively.”
Accordingly, we find that while insisting upon the
necessity of taking into consideration, of carefully
examining and thoroughly studying the totality of the
symptoms, he, at same time, points out that “ it is the
more striking, singular, uncommon and peculiar,
(characteristic) signs and symptoms of the case of disease
[that] are chiefly and almost solely to be kept in view;
for it is more particularly these that very similar ones in
the list of symptoms of the selected medicine must correspond
to, in order to constitute it the most suitable for effecting
cure. The more general and undefined symptoms : loss
of appetite, headache, debility, restless sleep, discomfort
and so forth demand but little attention when of that
vague and indefinite character, if they cannot be more
accurately described, as symptoms of such a general
nature are observed in almost every disease and from
almost every drug.” § 153.

Again, much as Hahnemann inveighed against making
therapeutic knowledge derived ex usu in morbts being
regarded as affording an ultima ratio for drug selection,
he was far from objecting to the usus in morbts as an aid
in making a drug selection. Indeed, we find in many of
the prefaces to the medicines in the Materia Medica
Pura the names of diseases in which they had been
found homoeopathically indicated, and in which they had
proved curative.

Thus, in writing of aconite , he tells us that, ” it reveals
to the thoughtful homoeopathic physician a prospect of

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE homceopathic specific. 655

relieving the so-called inflammatory fevers.” That “in
measles, in purpura miliaris, and in the acute pleuritic
fevers, its curative power is marvellous.”

Argentum , he tells us, “ can cure permanently some
kinds of diabetes, when the other symptoms correspond
in similarity to the other primary symptoms of the
disease.”

With aurum , he says, he has “ cured quickly and per¬
manently of melancholia, resembling that produced by
gold, many persons who had serious thoughts of com¬
mitting suicide.”

The symptoms produced by bismuth , he writes, “ show
how the commendations of oxide of bismuth in a kind of
stomach-ache and gastralgia, by Odier, Carminati,
Bonnat and others, are solely based on homoeopathy.”

Of camphor he says: “ As camphor , when applied
externally excites a kind of erysipelas, so, in acute
diseases, accompanied by erysipelas, it is useful as an
external application if the other symptoms of the
internal malady are present among the symptoms of
camphor .”

Cinchona , we are assured, is “ at once the most appro¬
priate and strengthening remedy when the sufferings of
the patient are solely or chiefly owing to weakness from
loss of humours, from great loss of blood, profuse sup¬
purations,” &c. “Some cases of diarrhoea,” and “a few
icteric diseases, are of such a character that they resemble
the symptoms of china .”

Of cina 9 we are told that, “ experience of what it can
do in whooping cough, in certain intermittent fevers
accompanied by vomiting and ravenous hunger, will
excite astonishment.”

Cocculus 9 again, is “ indispensable for the cure in
many cases of common human diseases, more especially
in some kinds of lingering nervous fevers, in several so-
called spasms in the abdomen and so-called spasmodic
pains of other parts,” &c.

Of colocynth 9 Hahnemann writes, that “ many of the
most violent colics may, under the guidance of symptoms
69 to 109, be often very rapidly cured, when at the same
time, the other characteristic symptoms of the disease,
or a portion of them, are to be found in similarity among
the symptoms of colocynth .”

After reading the numbers attached to some of the

Digitized by

Google

656 THE HOMCEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

symptoms recorded as the effect of coni urn, Hahnemann
says: “ There are primary actions which 6eem to be
corroborated by some of my own homoeopathic cures—
glandular induration on the lips, breasts, &c. arising
from a bruise, and two cases of cataract produced by an
external blow.*'

Drosera is named as “ sufficient for the cure of epidemic
whooping cough.”

“ A peculiar kind of fever, some dropsical affections and
mental derangements,” are described as conditions in
which hellebore will prove useful.

We are told that “ we may learn from its symptoms”
that ipecacuanha “ can relieve some cases of vomiting
similar to its own, and, as experience has shown, exerts
a specifio curative action in haemorrhages, a paroxysmal,
spasmodic dyspnoea and suffocative spasms.”

Of acetate of manganese , it is remarked that it will be
found to be “ very efficacious in some intolerable pains
in the periosteum and joints, diminution of the senses
and diseases of the larynx and trachea.

Oleander , Hahnemann says, 14 will be found to be if
not a complete remedy yet an indispensable intermediate
remedy in some kinds of mental derangements, e.g. 9
absence of mind and in certain kinds of painless
paralysis, in eruptions on the head, and some external
head affections.”

Pulsatilla is pointed to as being particularly suitable
in cases of delayed menstruation.

The homoeopathic relation of ruta to asthenopia is
referred to.

Of spongia it is said, “ homoeopathy has found the
most remarkable remedial employment of roasted sponge
in that frighfully acute disease membranous croup.”

Thuja also is named as “specifically useful” in
venereal warts and in gonorrhoea.

These and other clinical confirmations of homoeo-
pathically selected medicines made by Hahnemann
nearly a hundred years ago we have all tested and found
to be genuine helps in the selection of the specific
remedy.

Further, the homoeopathic prescriber in Hahnemann’s
time derived assistance, as we do to-day, from books of
the nature of Repertories and Indices . In 1880 and
again in 1888 books of reference of this kind were

Digitized by ^ooQle

THE HOMCEOPATHIC SPECIFIC. 657

completed and published by Boenninghausen, and
received Hahnemann’s warmly expressed appreciation.

Hahnemann’s method then of finding the homoeo¬
pathic specific may be, I think, correctly described as
consisting of the following steps:—

1. He required a very thorough examination—reduced
to writing—of all the symptoms subjective and objective
described by the patient.

2. The removal of any obviously exciting or maintain¬
ing cause of disease.

8. The study of the record of the totality of the
symptoms and the extracting from it of the more
striking, singular, uncommon and peculiar signs and
symptoms of the disease.

4. The comparing of these more striking, singular,
uncommon and peculiar signs and symptoms with the
lists of symptoms of known medicines.

5. In making this comparison, in selecting for con¬
sultation the most probable medicines for supplying it,
he relied

a . On the physician’s knowledge of each drug acquired
by his previous study of each.

b. On recorded experience in making homceopathically
indicated selections, which had been confirmed ex mu in
morbi8.

c. By consulting such Repertories and Indices as had
been published.

Such, I apprehend, was Hahnemann’s mode of pro¬
cedure in searching for the homoeopathic specific. To it
we, with the resources of a century of scientific work at
our command, are able to make use of additional means
for studying the therapeutics of a given case of disease.
But while we gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness,
in the large proportion of the cases we meet with to the
labours of the students of health and disease of com¬
paratively recent years, and gladly avail ourselves of the
results of their work, let us at the same time remember,
particularly when failure to achieve the success we have
sought for tempts us to fall back upon the antipathic
palliative, let us remember that there axe cases in which
we can in no way find the homoeopathic specific save by
treading precisely the same path that Hahnemann trod.
Gases of this kind will doubtless recur to the minds of
each of us—certainly they do to mine. As a typical

Digitized by ^ooQle

658 THE HOMEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

illustration of the kind of case to which I refer, let me
recall to your recollection, that brought under our
notice last year at Southport, by Dr. Wolston, of Edin¬
burgh. The disorder for which it was sought to find a
homoeopathic specific was, you will remember, vomiting,
which had persisted for six weeks, in spite of the
administration of many medicines which the prescribers,
most anxiously working for the recovery of their patient,
had believed to be homoeopathic. Dr. Wolston’s own
efforts, made through falling back upon his knowledge of
drug action and upon his clinical experience, were equally
futile. The method Hahnemann would have adopted
was then put into operation, the “ striking, singular,
uncommon and peculiar signs and symptoms ” connected
with the vomiting, were tabulated and sought for in
The Repertory , and there found to be recorded as the
effect of silica! Silica was given to the patient, and
within a few hours she, who previously was exhausted
to a degree that seemed to render the saving of her life
impossible, was on the high road to recovery.

The lessons taught us by this case appear to me to
be at once striking, important and encouraging. We
rejoice, rightly rejoice, in those greatly increased stores
of learning which have accumulated during the last
half-century, and assist us so materially in our efforts
to prescribe medicine for the cure of disease with com¬
parative facility. This case teaches us, for one thing,
that we have yet much to learn, and that we must go
about our daily work with the full recognition of this
fact before us. Here, the exciting cause of the vomiting
was undiscover able, or, we may be sure that two well-
cultured young physicians, constantly watching the
patient during six weeks, would have found and removed
it. Knowledge of the actions of drugs, diligently
acquired, failed to suggest, not only the remedy, but the
most suitable medicine to consult in the printed record
of its effects. The cause and precise nature of the con¬
dition exciting the powers-of-life-exhausting vomiting
being unknown, memory refusing to come to the aid of
the physician to provide a remedy, the Repertory , the
Index of the Materia Medica, is appealed to; the answer
it gives is, perhaps, about the last medicine any
physician would have thought of. The records of the
effects of this, apparently improbable, medicine upon

Digitized by <^.ooQle

EEZSZTSS? the homoeopathic specific. 659

the human economy confirm the Repertory, and present
a picture of the “ striking, singular, uncommon and
peculiar symptoms ” of the patient. It is given, given
probably enough, and I will add excusably enough,
with but little hope of its utility; it is given and
repeated and all further anxiety is dispelled. By no
other method that I, at least, know of could this remedy
have been found. The method may be sneered at as
mechanical, may be looked upon as humiliating to our
therapeutic and pathological learning, it may be
ridiculed as mere “ symptom-covering,” but it was
successful, and not only so, it was successful when more
scientific, more intellectually satisfying methods had
failed. Moreover, it may be objected that it required
“two solid hours” of diligent study to find thievery
improbable, but highly successful remedy. That is
true; but a human life was spared, health was restored
by that two hours' work. Who is there who would
grudge the labour ? Who is there who would not rather
be thankful for possessing the knowledge of how to
undertake it ?

Such cases are I know, and rejoice to know, very
exceptional, and as the developments of science increase
will become still more rare ; but so long as they occur,
and whenever they occur, we must fall back upon the
only method of finding the remedy that is possible, that
which in all cases was alone possible to Hahnemann.
In the vast majority of cases, the only method that was
possible to him of discovering the homoeopathic specific
in all, is not the only method that is possible to us.
Many things have happened since his day, the occurrence
of which he never dreamed of when, assuming the ever
dangerous role of prophet, he wrote that “ explanations
regarding the phenomena of diseases and their proximate
causes must ever lie concealed.” The range of exact
knowledge within the domain of physiology, in all that is
comprehended within the scope of pathology has vastly
widened. Our insight into the causes which occasion
disease, into the changes in structure, and the alterations
in function which mark its progress, into the nature and
meaning of symptoms which reflect its processes, has
largely, very largely increased. The framers of “ learned
reveries ” have been superseded by investigators—in the
words of William Harvey—“ searching out the secrets of
Yol. 37, No. 11. 2—t

Digitized by

Google

660 THE HOMEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

nature by experiment.** Of the light which this increase
of knowledge has shed upon our daily work, it is alike
our duty, our privilege and our interest to take
advantage, in order to simplify our methods, to render
our practice more accurate, and therefore more success¬
ful, and, I may add, more attractive.

In selecting a medicine, our aim is precisely the same
as that Hahnemann had in view, viz., the choice of one,
the symptoms produced by which in health are in all
respects similar to those the disease reflects in our
patients.

First of all, we are called to examine the symptoms
themselves—to learn what has caused them, what is
their meaning, of what they are the expression. Are
they, for example, reflex or direct? On these points
accurate and important decisions can be arrived at now
which were impossible of acquisition 60 years ago. The
study of the etiology of disease, based on a multitude of
careful observations, has contributed to this increase of
our powers. Take, for example, the large number of
patients who consult us on account of headache. How
variously is this symptom “headache** caused; how
many are the disorders of which it is the only expression ?
and yet, unless we ascertain and direct our remedial
measures specifically to the fundamental lesion provoking
the headache, we have but small chance of relieving it.
For instance, there is the headache due to errors of
refraction, to long continued strain of the muscles of the
eyeball. However much a medicine may resemble the
pain, either in its character, locality, or concomitant
symptoms, it is yet no remedy. The correction of the
error by suitable glasses alone will cure such a headache.
It is equally true that the condition of neurasthenia,
which the long continuance of a headache of this kind
sets up, and the perversion of nutrition and of functional
disturbance which may have ensued from this depression
of nerve power will remain for a greater or less length
of time after the eyesight has been corrected, and it is
equally true that this length of time may be abbreviated
by medicine homoeopathic to such perversion of nutrition
and functional disturbance, but without the correction of
vision first of all, any medicinal measure will be
nugatory.

The following instance illustrating both of these points

Digitized by

Google

1SX&ZZ3SF* THE homceopathio specific. 661

came under my observation during the past summer.
A girl of eighteen, an operative in a cigar factory, was
brought to me on the second of June by her mother,
complaining of headache. On enquiry, I found that
she had suffered from headache since early childhood;
from the subsequent history, I suspect it must have
dated from her first going to school. The pain of which
she complains is chiefly frontal, is described as a weight.
She admitted that she was near-sighted. She is very
nervous, startled by the smallest trifle. Her sleep is
good. Her appetite is poor and she complains of a
constant sense of nausea and sickness. Bowels regular.
Catamenia thin and scanty, and frequently delayed foi-
two or three weeks. During the last three weeks the
pain in the head has been more severe and continuous,
than usual and the sense of sickness has been consider¬
able. Her parents originally intended her to be a teacher
in an elementary school, but the requisite study so-
increased the headache that the plan was abandoned,
and she went into a cigar factory, an occupation scarcely
less detrimental to a headache of this kind than reading,
for the examination of the tobacco leaf, especially under
the strong light of the gas, involves not only a great strain
on the muscles of accommodation but forms a source
of irritation to the retina, while the impurity of an
atmosphere where a large amount of gas is burning only
adds to the degeneration of the general health.

I advised her to go to the Nottingham and Midland
Eye Infirmary in order to get fitted with suitable spec¬
tacles, and, at the same time, gave her pilules of ignatia 1
and of pul8atiUa 1 to take alternately every four hours.

Five days later I saw her again. She had been to
Nottingham, and there Dr. Charles Bell Taylor had, after
examining the eyes, provided her with appropriate
glasses, which have rendered vision clearer and her
work much less tiring. The headache is now greatly
diminished and her nervousness also. The same medi¬
cine was continued.

Seven weeks afterwards I found that the headache,
though very much relieved, had not quite ceased. Her
appetite was still small, the feeling of sickness trouble¬
some, and she continued nervous. The catamenia had
appeared at the normal time and was healthy.

After taking the same medicine for another three

2 T—2

Digitized by

Google

662 THE HOMOEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

weeks, she called to tell me that all pain in the head
had ceased, and the gastric and nervous symptoms were
greatly lessened. She was, in short, practically well,
and I have not seen her since.

Again, headaches have been found to depend upon a
retroverted uterus, and no medicine has given relief to
them; while replacement of the womb has at once been
followed by their cessation.

Dr. Lawrence, of Bristol, recently published in The
Clinical Journal notes of several very suggestive cases
illustrating the same principle. In one, a case of chronic
<liarrhcea, the disorder was found intractable until a
ruptured perinaeum was discovered and repaired. This
being done the diarrhoea ceased. In another, an asthma
became cured on the removal of an intra-uterine polypus.
An obstinate vomiting was permanently checked by the
cure of a lacerated cervix uteri and so on.

Again, attention has of late been drawn by Dr. Janot,
of Paris, to the frequency with which disease of one or
other of the tissues of the eyeball depends on severe
uterine disorder, and experience in the treatment of
these cases has shown that, so long as the uterine
disturbances remain uncared for, neither medicine nor
operation relieved the eye, while cure of the former was
at once followed by recovery of the latter.

Dr. Ludlam and Dr. Vilas, of Chicago, have in The
Clinique (May 18th, 1893), brought together a series of
very interesting clinical facts relating to the inter¬
dependence of disease of these two organs in many cases.
While Dr. C. H. Evans, in the next number of the same
journal, has pointed out from pathogenetic records the
symptoms of disordered health produced by ten medicines
on both uterus and eye, showing that an interdependence
which exists in natural disease is also to be met with in
the artificial diseases set up by drugs.

Reflex symptoms are numerous in a variety of cases,
such for example as a cough, the real origin of which is
not in the respiratory organs but perchance in the
stomach, or maybe in the liver or the rectum, and is
incurable until the gastric, hepatic or rectal disorder has
been set right. These cases are, however, too familiar
puzzles to all of us to need my further enlarging upon
them. They teach us the importance of so carefully
sifting the symptoms of a given case, as to assure

Digitized by ^ooQle

the homoeopathic specific. 668

ourselves of their real seat and source, before utilising
them for prescribing purposes.

Parenthetically, I would observe here, that the removal
of reflex symptoms by the cure of the organic disorder
setting them up, supplies a strong objection—were there
no other—to the inclusion of what are called “ clinical
symptoms ” among our pathogenetic records. It is
asserted by those practitioners who would have us regard
them as pathogenetic, that the administration of a given
medicine having been followed by the disappearance of
certain symptoms, ought to be regarded as capable of
being produced by that medicine, although we have no
experimental evidence of their being so. These certain
symptoms being probably reflex, their removal did not
depend directly upon the given medicine, but upon the
action of that drug upon their remote source, and, there¬
fore, only indirectly. Similar symptoms, when in another
case actually arising from the superficially apparent
source of origin in the former instance, would remain
unaffected by that medicine.

The symptoms of a patient demand also our study as
indications of his constitutional condition. Do they
reflect a dyscrasia? Is it tubercular, cancerous, or
syphilitic ? The answer to this question will have great
weight in determining the class of medicine from which
we may most advantageously select the homoeopathic
specific. Such medicines for example as carbonate of
lime , sulphur , silica , arsenic , thuja , nitric acid f bichromate
of potash , and many others will at once suggest them¬
selves to you under this head. This is a large and
important branch of my subject, and worthy of much
greater consideration than I can devote to it to-day. I
must indeed content myself with this mere hint at it.

To pass on, I would ask you to note that the minute
anatomical changes which mark the progress of disease,
and result from drug poisoning, contribute considerably
to our knowledge of the action and progress—the evolu¬
tion—of the symptoms of both. The additions which
have been made to our knowledge of minute anatomy,
both healthy and morbid, during the last half-century
being therefore utilised in the study of drug pathogenesis
help us in our power of localising the influence of drugs
not only in their seat, but in their kind of action.

Digitized by ^ooQle

664 THE HOMOEOPATHIC SPECIFIC. ^^ew^N^law!

Medicines have now been prescribed homoeopathically
for nearly a century. Throughout that long period of
time—unprecedentedly long for the life of a therapeutic
method, or system, or theory—the number of medical
men, who have so prescribed, has been constantly on the
increase, while that of the sick who have resorted tp
homoeopathic methods has long since passed beyond
any approximate calculation. The clinical material
which they have supplied has illustrated, on an
enormous scale, the usus in morbis of all our best proved
medicines. The records of these in our journals in this
country, in those on the continent of Europe and in the
United States of America, present us with confirmation,
not only of symptoms, but of clinical indications for the
selection of medicines in concrete forms of disease and,
to some extent, with opportunities for the differentiation
of drugs, and with assistance in the individualisation of
remedies. Some of these results of recorded practice
are to be found in Dr. Hughes* Clinical Index at the end
of his Pharmacodynamics, and in that of Dr. Farrington
in his Clinical Materia Medica and constitute a very
suitable source of reference in the first stage of the
search for a homoeopathic specific.

What these clinical indices are for concrete forms of
disease, the Repertory is for individual symptoms of
individual cases of disease. Through the Repertory we
find the names of medicines which are recorded to have
produced those “ more striking, singular, uncommon
and peculiar signs and symptoms,** which assist so
much in determining our preference for one of two or
more medicines, whose pathogeneses are more or les3
nearly allied. The Repertory, or Index , is by no means
an entertaining volume, not more so, indeed, than is a
dictionary, but to the prescriber, who uses it aright, it
is a very valuable aid, at the same time let us never
fail to remember that, like the Clinical Index , it is only
an aid.

To the records of drug action, as presented to us in
The Cyclopcedia of Drug Pathogenesy, and, I may say,
in Allen’s Handbook of Materia Medica , we must finally
resort in order to assure ourselves of the precise remedy,
the true homoeopathic specific. The hints we have
derived from the Clinical Index , from the Repertory , or
from those which past experience and research have

Digitized by A^OOQle

fS & ST & S ? THE homeopathic specific. 665

enabled us to store in our memories, direct our thoughts
to a group of, perhaps, three or four drugs, each of which
we need to examine in one or other of those records of
drug action upon healthy individuals which we term
Materia Medicas.

That such an examination may be at once rapid and
useful, the previous study of individual drugs is all
essential. A study which has enabled us to obtain a
clear conception of the sphere of action of each, which shall
enable us to determine whether it is the nervous system,
the circulation, or the function of nutrition that is most
affected by it; for what tissues, whether mucous, serous,
fibrous, muscular, or nervous, it has the fullest degree of
affinity. A study which will further discover for us the
particular organ, and par t of the particular organ, on which
it exerts its influence, and very especially the nature and
kind of action which it sets up, and the condition under
which its action is increased or diminished. In propor¬
tion as the various drugs have been studied in this way
will the examination of the Materia Medica, in search of
the homoeopathic specific be rendered easy and satis¬
factory.

In proportion also to the extent and accuracy with
which we have by such study become possessed of the
pathogenetic action of the best proved drugs, shall we be
independent of the Repertory or the Index. In a large
majority of clearly defined cases of well-known diseases,
the results of such study admit of our prescribing both
rapidly and effectively at once, without reference to
either aid. Dr. T. F. Allen, of New York, defines
this as the “ impressionist method.” Dr. Conrad
Wesselhoeft, on the other hand, speak3 of it as the
“ intuitive method ”—a term I much prefer, denoting,
as it seems to me to do, engrained knowledge, that kind
of knowledge which has become a part of oneself.

As the physician proceeds with the examination of
his patient, while making his diagnosis, three or four
drugs whose actions resemble the case before him will
come to his recollection, and, in proportion to his
familiarity with them and his experience in prescribing
them, will he be able to differentiate them on the spot,
to individualise ex tempore . Failing to do so, a
reference to the Materia Medica , and a comparison of
the members of the group of medicines that have

Digitized by ^ooQle

666 THE HOMOEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

occurred to him will afford him an opportunity of
making a study of the symptoms, not only in their
“ concomitance, but in their evolution,” as Dr.
Hughes has said. In some cases this differentiation
may have ultimately to depend upon symptoms that
appear to us trivial—symptoms which, were we only
deciding which of several antipathic palliatives we should
prefer, would be truly regarded as trivial. Each of these
symptoms has, we must remember, a pathological basis;
we may not know what this basis is, but it is there
nevertheless. There can be no effect, however small,
without a cause. In prescribing homoeopathically, espe¬
cially in some cases of obscure and complex chronic
disease, I am sure that attention to these apparently
trivial symptoms does make a difference, at any rate in
the rapidity with which such cases are cured. At the
same time, particularly in acute disease, I am not pre¬
pared to follow Hahnemann when he says that “ there
can be, in a medicinal point of view, no equivalent reme¬
dies whatever, no surrogates.” Theoretically, and to
carry out in practice the highest ideal in drug selection,
it may be so. But I am sure that a simply generalised
or closely approximate selection of the homoeopathic
specific has led to many successes at the bedside. As
Dr. Allen said at Chicago, “ the exigencies of business ”
alone prevent minute differentiation and individualisation
in most instances. Hence I conclude that were this
microscopic symptomatology a sine qua non at all times,
many of us would not have—from sheer lack of time—the
success we do obtain. Still more do I doubt whether
our non-homceopathic medical brethren, who increasingly
derive many of their therapeutic hints from the clinical
reports of homoeopathic practitioners given in our litera¬
ture, would enjoy the success in utilising them that they
are well known to do if this minute individualisation
were in all cases necessary to success.

Our first stage in the selection of a homoeopathic
specific is, then, one of generalisation ; our second, one
of individualisation. In discussing the question of this
mode of selection at an International Congress of 1881 ,^
Dr. Hughes asked, “ What are we to do in cases where
we cannot cover the totality of the symptoms ? Are we
to fall back upon generalisation *? that is, referring the
morbid condition before us to the type to which it

Digitized by C^ooQle

THE homceopathic specific. 667

belongs; or are we to resort to individualisation pure and
simple, finding certain minute symptoms in which the
disease and drug correspond, and hoping that they will
do for the rest ? ” Such cases are, I apprehend, extremely
rare, while in all of them a certain degree of individuali¬
sation is possible. At the same time, I would, with Dr.
Hughes, trust rather to generalisation—that is to a
medicine which could create a condition fundamentally
like that to be cured—rather than to a medicine that was
merely credited with having produced some of the appa¬
rently, if not obviously, unimportant symptoms men¬
tioned by the patient, but which had not been shown to
excite a disturbed state of health in the organ, or tissue,
or part which was the source of the illness. In most
cases of the kind such symptoms would be reflex, and
would vanish with the cure of the fundamental disorder.

Our greatest difficulty in selecting the homoeopathic
specific arises when we are confronted by some anoma¬
lous form of disease—cases where we experience a
difficulty in arriving at a diagnosis which is satisfactory
to ourselves—and consequently, cannot realise or trace
the symptoms to some clear and definite error in
function or change in structure. The difficulty is,
doubtless, considerable; but there is no doubt in my
mind as to the surest way of proceeding to overcome it,
and that is the way that Hahnemann would have pro¬
ceeded, viz., making a list of the characteristic symptoms
and tracing them through the Repertory or Index to
the drugs that have produced them, examining these in
the Materia Medica , and deciding on that which has
the greatest number of symptoms corresponding to
those in our patient. Such cases as these are, by the
progress of clinical knowledge, of clinical methods of
enquiry, constantly diminishing in number. Most of
them, indeed, belong to the category vaguely defined as
“ nervous,” and rarely repay the labour bestowed upon
them.

I conclude, then, that the ascertainment of the homoeo¬
pathic specific demands as accurate a knowledge of the
history, nature and effects of disease—in other words, as
correct a pathology as does the diagnosis of disease.
Nay, more. It obliges us to bring the results of
pathological study to bear not only upon the investigation
of natural disease as met with at the bedside, but upon

Digitized by ^ooQle

668 THE HOMOEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

artificial disease as seen in the drug prover and in
poisonings, both in human beings and in the lower
animals.

Further, and very especially, it demands an exact
knowledge, a careful study of the individual drugs, a
study which must be sustained continuously throughout
the whole of a professional career.

Becourse to Bepertories and Indices, though not
required in all cases, is undoubtedly very frequently so :
while by novices in the art of selecting homoeopathic
specifics, such aids cannot be too frequently employed.
But let us all remember that such works are but aids,
guides, sign-posts, directing us not to what medicine to
prescribe, but which to study in the Materia Medica .

The lesson I would here venture to impress upon our
younger colleagues, the seniors amongst us have I am
sure long felt its importance, is the absolute necessity of
studying the action of individual drugs.

And as a final suggestion, let me urge our younger
friends not to be content with being “spoon-fed”
students of Materia Medica. “ Spoon-fed ” you must be
to begin with, and most excellent nutriment you will
derive from the study of such books as Dr. Hughes’
Pharmacodynamics , Dr. Farrington’s Clinical Materia
Medica and the Materia Medica Physiological and Applied ,
of the Hahnemann Publishing Society. But to acquire
a thoroughly sound, practical, and at the bedside,
readily available knowledge of the Materia Medica, there
is no method so fruitful and so permanent in its results
as studying the provings and poisonings as they stand
recorded in the Cyclopedia of Drug Pathogenesy , and
deducing from them the morbid condition each excites,
and the peculiarities of the symptoms in which each
manifests them, and then putting your conclusions upon
paper—so forming a written study of each drug. Let
each do it for himself, and not be content with reading
what others have done for him.

I can conceive of no exercise better calculated to make
a successful and facile prescriber than this, and I do not
believe that there is any.

Discussion.

The President said they must all have listened with the
greatest interest to the paper they had just heard from
Dr. Pope. It was no mean compliment to them that a

Digitized by

Google

S. r N H orr&f° THE HOMCEOPATHIO SPECIFIC. 669

gentleman of Dr. Pope’s experience should have spent so
much time in preparing such a paper on their behalf. (Hear,
hear.) They had shown their appreciation by the attentive
manner in which they had listened to it, and he now asked
them to give further proof by discussing it. He hoped he
should not produce that curious symptom known to some of
them as “ aggravation ” on hearing music, if he rang the bell
«t the end of seven or ten minutes. (A laugh.)

Dr. Blackley (Manchester) said he had been particularly
struck with the latter part of the paper, in which Dr. Pope
referred to the younger practitioners as being “ spoon-fed.”
Unfortunately, at the commencement of their career it was
the only process of nutrition that they could very well adopt.
At any rate, it was one of the first processes to which they
were all subject. He had been reminded, however, of one or
two examples of the other process which had come within his
own experience. In his early experiments in the treatment
of hay fever, which extended over a considerable time, he
remembered using quinine as one of the drugs that was
thought by some authors to be serviceable in hay fever. He
had had no attack of acute gout at that time, but he developed
some of the minor symptoms of gout in various parts of the
system. He did not know then of any connection between
quinine and gout, and he did not know from whence the
inspiration came with regard to the use of quinine , but it
developed a pain in the joint of the great toe very much
resembling a subsequent attack of gout some years after¬
wards, and also in the eyeball. Now, whenever he had
those gouty symptoms, he found no drug that was so effi¬
cacious in small doses as some form of quinine . He had
already said he was particularly struck with the remark of
Dr. Pope that they should not depend upon being “ spoon¬
fed.” He only regretted, for himself, that his labours
in that direction had not been much more extensive. He
remembered on one occasion, when botanising in early years,
he found the polygonis hydropiper growing, and plucking
some of the plant, he chewed a considerable portion of some
of the leaves. He afterwards experienced urinary symptoms
—pain at the neck of the bladder developed. Since then,
when he had come across cases of that kind, he had found
that particular drug exceedingly useful. That, of course, was
a very limited proving. He had never been able to extend
the proving throughout; but it appeared to him to be a very
valuable suggestion that they should not trust too much to
being “ spoon-fed.” Let them adopt the plan of each taking
one medicine only, if need be, and proving, or reproving it.
So many of their medicines had only been partially proved

Digitized by

670 THE HOMOEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

that there was abundance of work for both young and old
practitioners for the next quarter of a century in going
through them and proving them more thoroughly. He felt
sure such work would well repay any trouble and time given
to it. (Applause.)

Dr. Hayward (Liverpool) said they were greatly indebted
to Dr. Pope for the very excellent paper they had heard, and
he was particularly grateful for it in that it bore so
unmistakably the stamp of homoeopathy. (Hear, hear.)
Their Congress assembled but once a year, and they should
not spend their time merely in discussing points of surgery
and general professional knowledge. It was incumbent upon
them to devote the small amount of time at their disposal
to really homoeopathic considerations. Dr. Pope’s paper
fulfilled this condition. He was pleased to find the point
taken up by Dr. Blackley that they should not be content
with mere secondary knowledge, but he thought Dr. Blackley
had rather mistaken the drift of Dr. Pope's remarks. He did
not understand Dr. Pope to suggest that they should go on
reproving medicines. (Dr. Pope : Hear, hear.) They had
in the Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy a vast fund of pure
material, and they could avail themselves of it without bother¬
ing about new provings. They had provings sufficient to
enable them to treat diseases much better than Hahnemann
might have been expected to do. It altogether drove out of
the market anything that was available in Hahnemann’s day.
He thought that if they did as Dr. Pope recommended—took
the original Materia and studied that, and obtained a true
knowledge of the general bearing and pathogene9y of each
drug, they would have less need for the use of repertories.
Still, very few of them were able to carry the Cyclopadia of
Drug Pathogenesy in their heads. (Hear, hear). They must
have repertories and indices, and at the present moment they
were looking forward with very great anxiety to the production
of the Index promised them by Dr. Hughes. With its aid
they should be able to practise homoeopathy more thoroughly,
and more rapidly cure their patients. Mere guessing and
practising from pathology was what they ought to shun.
There was no doubt that had pathology and physiology been
as far developed in Hahnemann’s day as now, Hahnemann
would not have inveighed against them as he did. In his day
it was necessary to throw physiology and pathology to the
winds in prescribing medicines. It was not so in their day.
They had a good knowledge of the pathology of their patients,
and a good knowledge of the pathological effects of drugs. If
they met the pathological condition of the patient with the
pathological condition of the drug, they would be going

Digitized by ^ooQle

the homoeopathic specific. 671

directly to the root of the disease. They were not always
able to do so. Patients came to them with a congeries of
symptoms, and they were compelled to take the symptoms
presented and the list in the Pathogenesy and compare the
one with the other. But he thought they must throw away
the idea that they had necessarily to make all the symptoms
match one another. (Hear, hear.) There were essential
symptoms and non-essentials. Dr. Pope referred to the
reflex effects on the eye. A patient took a bad cold. The
cough brought on a headache. To think of treating the
headache and neglect the cough was not real homoeopathy.
The patient complained of the headache, but the thing to
treat was the cough which produced the headache, and this
cured the headache would disappear. They must select
their drugs, as Hahnemann said, in accordance with the
essential and characteristic symptoms, and by removing those
they would act not only satisfactorily to themselves, but
scientifically homoeopathically. (Applause.)

Dr. Dudgeon said he would make one or two observations
on the pathological part of Dr. Pope’s paper. Dr. Pope
stated very correctly that Hahnemann insisted upon the
totality of the symptoms being the sole guide for the
physician. He (Hahnemann) said in effect in one part of the
Organon that the disease consisted of the symptoms presented
by the patient and the internal change which was only known
to the eye of omnipotence. The physician must content
himself with the observation of the symptoms. Now it was
all very well to say, let us get at the pathology of the case.
But it struck him that the pathological anatomical changes,
the minute anatomical changes, which were not pathology,
but pathological anatomy, would not help them to cure a
disease unless they could ascertain that the medicines
produced the same pathological changes. For instance, they
knew that corrosive sublimate produced certain pathological
changes upon the kidney. But when they found a case
presenting symptoms that led them to infer that the same
disease existed in the kidney, this pathological anatomical
change was an additional symptom as it were, part of the
totality of the symptoms, which guided them to a
selection of the remedy required. Hahnemann, indeed,
inveighed against pathology, but the pathology of his day
was mere speculation, like hot and cold and dry and moist
states of the body, and as medicines were arranged
in similar categories, diseases were to be treated by drugs of
opposite qualities to those attributed to the diseases. That
was a pathological theory. Again, Cullen’s theory of spasm
was a pathological theory, and so was Brown’s theory of

Digitized by ^ooQle

672 THE HOMEOPATHIC SPECIFIC.

sthenia and asthenia. These theories were never pro¬
ductive of any improvement in therapeutics. But although
Hahnemann denounced pathology he was a great patho¬
logical theorist himself. In his theory of chronic diseases
they had a pathological theory. That was pathology;
it was not pathological anatomy. It was a pathological
theory that he invented to account for the existence of
chronic diseases. Again, in his later years, in 1888 , in
the last edition of the Organon he invented or rather
resuscitated Van Helmont’s “ Archeus ” under the name of
“ vital force.” He said, in the last edition of the Organon ,
that “ the disease is a derangement of the vital force,” putting
a regular daimon or spiritual entity into the human body
for the purpose of being deranged, and by its derangement
morbidly affecting particular parts of the body. That was a
pathological theory of the most antique classical mould, and
one which nowadays would not bear examination. (Hear,
hear.) Any theory of that sort, not founded on fact or
supported by reasoning, would not help them in the treatment
of disease. It was true that Hahnemann’s theory of chronic
diseases bad been useful as a sort of good working hypothesis,
but it certainly was a pathological theory of the same descrip¬
tion as those Hahnemann denounced in his earlier writings.
The other observations of Dr. Pope he would not allude to,
because he thought most of them would agree with all he
had said with respect to the action of and selection of the
drug. (Applause.)

Dr. Wolston thought they ought to be careful lest the
pendulum should swing a little too far in the direction in
which Hahnemann undoubtedly impelled it, i.e ., to the
neglect of pathology. He agreed thoroughly with Dr. Pope's
paper—and he enjoyed it exceedingly—as to the method of
obtaining a suitable remedy for a malady, but he thought,
and he said this for the sake of the younger men present,
they must not forget that they were physicians as well as
homoeopaths. They were apt to do so. But unless they got
to the bottom of the pathology of a case he did not think
they would cure the patient. Dr. Pope referred to the eye in
relation to headache. Numbers of cases of severe, long-
continued headaches had been cured by sending the patient to
an oculist. In a number of cases, particularly in young
people, there was astigmatism either on one side or both,
and the adjustment of proper spectacles cured the headache.
He remembered an interesting case, in which a middle-aged
woman was seized with intractable vomiting. Many drugs,
homoeopathic to emesis, were tried, but none would cure in this
case, and at length the practitioner informed the patient that

Digitized by

Google

THE homeopathic specific.

673

her case was hopeless. However, further advice was taken,
and examination led to the discovery of a strangulated hernia,
the reduction of which immediately cured the vomiting and
saved the patient’s life. He remembered another case of a
gentleman from New Zealand who came to him with a dis¬
tressing cough of a year’s duration, which an allopathic
physician had been unsuccessfully endeavouring to cure. The
man had been under treatment for six weeks. To begin with,
he looked at the man’s nose, and found a condition of steno¬
sis. He said, “ you are deaf.” The man admitted that he
was, and expressed surprise that he should have found it out.
It had been very much worse, he said, during the last twelve
months. Of course, he looked at his ears. He found the
left meatus plugged with a hard mass of cerumen. Looking
into the right, he found the faintest speck of blackened wax
lying on the floor of the meatus. Almost instinctively, with
knee forceps, he attempted to take it out, and the barking,
harassing cough immediately started. He told the patient,
much to his surprise, that he would cure his cough before he
left his chair. He simply washed out the plug of wax filling
up the left ear, and the man was cured on the spot. He did
not think the Repertory could have helped him in that case,
although he had not a word to say against it. He merely
wished to point out that they ought to look all round the case
in investigating the most suitable treatment.

Dr. Gibbs Blake said the paper read by Dr. Pope rather
reminded them of the enthusiasm of their former years. It
was really quite refreshing to hear Dr. Pope again. The
point that struck him as most interesting was his contrast
between the pathology of the present day and the opposite
state of things a pentury ago. Pathology being now looked
upon as a perverted physiology, and pathological anatomy as
very often coming into the sphere of the professor of human
anatomy, they had developed much investigation which was
of very great value to practitioners like themselves. He
referred especially to the amount of experimental pathology
that was being carried on in connection with the study of
physiology. They had received a great addition to their
knowledge of the subject, especially from the school of
Strasburg, where a considerable volume of experimental
research on the action of drugs was published every
year. He had found it exceedingly helpful in studying
the action of drugs. But it had one great fault. Not only
was it in another language so far as the voice was concerned,
but it was in another language from a physiological point of
view. What they objected to in these experiments, and the
reason why they were of so little use to them, was that they

Digitized by ^ooQle

674 THE HOMEOPATHIC SPECIFIC,

were couched in the language of the physiologist. They did
not help them at the bedside as they could wish, but they
were nevertheless of great service in helping them to a know¬
ledge of drugs such as he agreed with Dr. Pope in
recommending as of great value in practice. Dr. Wolston’s
point in reference to the cough must have been confirmed by
general experience. They must all have noticed how often
syringing the ear produced a cough.

Dr. Hughes said, in common with the rest of the members
present, he had listened with great pleasure to Dr. Pope’s
paper, which had appeared to him to be a very appropriate
sequel to that which Dr. Hayward brought before them at
their last Congress. Dr. Hayward showed them on that
occasion what materials they had for working the homoeo¬
pathic law, and his conception of its working was evidently
the same as Dr. Pope had set before them that day. Dr.
Pope had gone more minutely into the selection itself, and he
(the speaker) thought that the moderation with which he had
stated the true principles of selection, the way in which he
had shown how we might err on either side, but should not
so err, must have commended itself to everyone who had
listened to him. It was a reasonable, sensible way of taking
up Hahnemann’s method, without any extremes either one
way or the other. It would be well for all homoeopathists to read
this paper—a good thing for those whose tendency was towards
a rough, empirical style of prescribing, and perhaps still more
useful to those who called themselves Hahnemannians, but who
often departed from the leading of the master, being guided by
incidental and trivial symptoms occurring in the patient, and
circumstances of aggravation and amelioration, rather than by
the essential morbid condition as a whole. Comparing this
lucid and rational setting forth of Hahnemann’s method with
their own hap-hazard and unscientific practice, he hoped
they would “tak’ thocht and men’.” As he listened to
Dr Pope one question occurred to him. He wished to ask
Dr. Pope what reason he had for believing that Hahnemann
expected his disciples to make a previous study of drugs and
to utilise that in their choice of medicines. It was one of the
things that most impressed him (the speaker) when he came
to study Hahnemann’s writings, that so far as he could make
out Hahnemann seemed to have had no conception of this—
that the use of drug provings was to be altogether d posteriori
on the part of his followers, and that it was for this reason he
had no compunction in cutting up the records of the provers into
the schema. The schema was very useful for a posteriori selection,
but it was utterly damaging to any attempts at previous
study. Continuing, Dr. Hughes said he listened of course

Digitized by

t £$ SSZBS !‘ THE homceopathic specific. 675

with great pleasure, as they all did, to Dr. Wolston’s story,
and to his warning based thereupon. But that, he thought,
would come under the head of Hahnemann’s Instruction in
the fourth section of the Organon —that they must search for
the causa occasionalis and remove it. A fish-bone, for
instance, stuck in the throat, causing pain; they must find
the cause and remove it. But putting such conditions aside,
the method of totality of symptoms remained as the best
method of treating all disease. Let them throw all the light
they could upon the symptoms, but keep that as the ideal
standard, and approach to it as nearly as they could. Then
would they be true practitioners of the method of Hahnemann,
and perpetuate the good which he and his followers had done
for all time. (Applause).

Dr. Pop*, in reply, expressed his appreciation of the very
kind attention with which his paper had been received.
Not much had transpired in the discussion to call for
additional observations. Dr. Hughes had asked him on
what grounds he formed the opinion that Hahnemann
required his followers to study individual drugs. He could
not point to any particular passage, but he gathered
from the general instructions in the Organon , with reference
to the study of drugs, that they should be so studied. It was a
general impression. Of course, the method of study then
and the method of study now were totally different things.
He fancied Hahnemann’s idea of studying drugs was that of
learning off the symptoms by heart to a very large extent.
Adverting to his advice to the younger practitioners not to be
content with mere “spoon-fed knowledge,” Dr. Blackley had
remarked that they must be “spoon-fed” to begin with. That
was perfectly true, and he believed he said so in his paper.
At the same time, the principal object of studying Dr.
Hughes’ lectures, for instance, and of hearing lectures at the
school, was not so much to learn the action and uses of the
particular drug as to learn how the study of drugs could
best be carried on. Dr. Hayward mentioned the cough
and the headache, and pointed out that they could not
cure the headache unless they cured the cough. That,
of course, was also quite true, but the case was totally
different to some of those he had mentioned, such as the eye¬
ball and errors of refraction. In the case of the headache
and the cough, they got in the provings certain medicines
which served to excite the cough and the headache at the
same time. The cough brought on the headache and they
could not treat the one without treating the other. They were
part and parcel of the same disorder and they must prescribe
a medicine which applied to both. Dr. Dudgeon described

Yd 37, No. 11. 2—u

Digitized by

Google

676

REVIEWS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nor. L, 188$,

pathological anatomy as not being pathology. He did not, so
far as he remembered, say that it was. He certainly never had
the impression that it was. It was a very important sub¬
stratum of pathology, but general pathology included a great
deal more than the mere anatomy. Dr. Wolston, too, must
have misunderstood him, or else he had been a great deal less
clear than he intended to be, for his impression was that
throughout the paper he endeavoured to point out that the
ascertainment of the cause of the symptoms to be treated was
a tine qua non to efficient treatment. (Applause.)

REVIEWS.

A Practical Treatise on Materia Medica and Therapeutics.

By John V. Shoemaker, A.M., M.D. Second edition.

Thoroughly revised. Two vols. The F. A. Davis Com¬
pany, Philadelphia and London. 1893.

In order to do justice to a work of this nature it is necessary
that we should endeavour to place ourselves in the author’s
position and to consider the matter from his point of view.
The great question in settling the merit of a book is whether
the author has fairly attained his own object in writing..
Here we have nothing but praise for Dr. Shoemaker’s book.

The first volume deals with such subjects as dietetics,
climatology, and the therapeutical applications of water, cold,
heat and electricity. This is common ground to both
schools, and we can cordially recommend this volume to our
readers. It will not merely interest them as the work of an
able and experienced physician, but will, we are confident, be
of no inconsiderable practical value.

When we turn to the second volume, which treats of drug
therapeutics, we cannot altogether ignore our own point of
view. This volume will be most useful to any of our readers
who care to keep up their knowledge of “ scientific ” thera¬
peutics. For this purpose the work is most useful, and it
must, of course, be remembered that this was the author’s
object in writing it.

It is scarcely necessary to say that there is a good deal of
homoeopathy in this work. We cannot, however, regard this
with any complacency. It seems as if the “ scientific ” mind
could never grasp the fact that homoeopaths do not teach that
(e.ff.) phosphorus is “ good for neuralgia,” but that it is useful
in the treatment of the kind of neuralgia it produces. And
the fallacy on this point, to which our opponents cling so
closely, vitiates everything they pilfer from homoeopathy.

Probably this is why phosphorus has no place under

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nor. 1, 1898.

REVIEWS.

677

pneumonia in Dr. Shoemaker’s clinical index. A remedy is
stolen from homoeopathy, said to be “ good for pneumonia,'*
and is forthwith administered to every case of pneumonia that
turns up. The dose used is almost poisonous, and the results
are, of course, unsatisfactory. Some do this without knowing
that the remedy came from a homoeopathic source, and
simply pronounce phosphorus a failure in pneumonia. Those
who know where the suggestion came from will declare that
homoeopathy has been thoroughly tried and conclusively
proved to be useless. If they had given phosphorus 4x or
higher in cases to which it was strictly homoeopathic, the
results would have been very different.

For this reason it affords us very little satisfaction, though
considerable amusement, to observe that with all Dr. Shoe¬
maker’s contempt for ‘* irregular practitioners of German
proclivities," his work contains such recommendations as the
following:— Arsenic in cancer, ailanthus in malignant scarla¬
tina, aloes , collinsonia , nux vom ., and sulph. in haemorrhoids,
cupmm in epilepsy and chorea, drosera in phthisis and
whooping cough, phytolacca in pharyngitis and mastitis, rumex
in laryngeal cough, bnjonia in rheumatism and pleurisy,
aconite, ars., bellad . and ipecac . in asthma, canth . in Bright's
disease, lycopodium in bronchitis, euphrasia in catarrh, canth .
and terebinth in cystitis, ars., mere., and podoph. in diarrhoea,
ars . in gastric ulcer, canth . and tereb. in haematuria, ipecac . in
haemoptysis, aeon., ars., bellad., capsicum, cimicif. cuprum ,
hyoscy ., phosph ., and strychnine in neuralgia, and strychnine in
tetanus.

We are aware that many of the foregoing have appeared in
previous works on orthodox therapeutics, but on the other
hand our list is by no means exhaustive.

In the case of some remedies, however, Dr. Shoemaker
displays an ignorance to which we are thoroughly accustomed,
but which is, nevertheless, most deplorable. Strong indeed
must be the prejudice which leads an otherwise intelligent
and well-informed author to treat contemptuously such
remedies as ignatia , cham ., pulsat., rhus , and silica. He tells
us nothing about ignatia beyond that its medicinal uses are
the same as those of nux vom.. except that the dose must be
smaller, and that it is employed almost exclusively for the
preparation of the alkaloids. Chamomilla is said to be
“highly prized amdng the common people in Germany," and,
moreover, “in a form of sectarian practice which arose in
that country toward the close of the last century, 0 this
remedy “occupied a prominent place in company with such
agents as charcoal , silica , and milk sugar —all administered in
infinitesimal doses."

2—u 2

Digitized by

Google

678

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1883.

In the account of rhus far., Professor Wood is quoted to
prove the uselessness of this drug in rheumatism. We
suspect that if these cases were thoroughly gone into, it
would be found that all they prove is that we are right in
what we have said above as to the manner in which the
action of our remedies is “tested ” by the orthodox.

“ Pulsatilla has been used principally by irregular practi¬
tioners of German proclivities,” etc. Is there no danger of
Dr. Shoemaker affronting his orthodox colleagues in Germany
by this method of describing practitioners who “ trade on a
designation?”

Under silica, Dr. Shoemaker gives us some information
about window glass and precious stones and the manufacture
of dressings for fractures, but he prudently makes no reference
to cases of chronic suppuration being cured by silica after the
“ scientific ” physician had doomed them to the undertaker.

We repoat that, although we have dwelt at some length on
the points of this work in which we dissent from the author,
we have nothing but praise for the book when we consider it
from the author’s point of view, and for the purpose for which
it was written we most heartily recommend it.

MEETINGS.

THE BRITISH HOMEOPATHIC CONGRESS.

The annual congress of British homoeopathic practitioners
was held on Thursday, September 28th, at the Guildhall,
Northampton. The President, Dr. A. Hawkes, of Liverpool,
occupied the chair, and there were also present Dr. Clifton
(Northampton) Vice-President; Dr. Dyce Brown (London),
General Secretary; Mr. H. S. Wilkinson (Northampton),
Local Secretary; Dr. Madden (Bromley), Treasurer; together
with Dr. Dudgeon, Dr. Galley Blackley, Dr. Byres Moir,
Dr. Burford, Mr. Knox Shaw, Dr. Washington Epps, Dr.
Edwin A. Neatby, Dr. Roberson Day, Mr. Dudley Wright,
Mr. Gerard Smith, Mr. H. Harris, Dr. Powell, Dr. Jagiblski,
Dr. Bennett, and Dr. Morrisson (London); Dr. Walter
Wolston (Edinburgh); Dr. Hayward, Dr. J. D. Hayward,
Dr. C. W. Hayward, Dr. Gordon Smith, Dr. Peter Stuart,
Dr. Capper (Liverpool); Dr. J. Gibbs Blake, Dr. J. Craig
(Birmingham); Dr. Blackley (Manchester); Dr. G. Clifton,
Dr. Mason (Leicester) ; Dr. McKechnie, Dr. Percy Wilde,
Mr. Norman (Bath) ; Dr. Stopford, Dr. Storrar (Southport);
Dr. Croucher, Dr. Frank Shaw (Hastings); Dr. Hughes
(Brighton); Dr. Pope (Grantham); Dr. Cash Reed (Ply-

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1893.

MEETINGS.

679

mouth); Dr. Collins (Leamington); Dr. Nicholson (Clifton);
Dr. Proctor (Birkenhead); Dr. C. Wolston (Chislehurst);
Mr. Pincott (Tunbridge Wells); Dr. Murray (Folkestone);
Dr. E. J. BLawkes (Ramsgate); Dr. Stonham (Ventnor);
Dr. Gilbert (Reigate); Dr. Roberts (Harrogate); Mr. Bowse
(Putney); Dr. Mitchell (Stoke-on-Trent); Dr. A. H.
Croucher (Eastbourne), and Dr. Ross (Northampton).

The meeting having been called to order, the President
proceeded to deliver the Address, which appeared in our last
number (page 586).

At its conclusion,

Dr. Blackley rose and said: I am sure that after listening
to the address just concluded you will very cordially join with
me in giving a very hearty vote of thanks to our President.
(Applause). I have often felt myself, under various circum¬
stances, how necessary it is that the followers of homoeopathy
should have its principles “ line upon line and precept upon
precept.” We are constantly in danger of allowing our
knowledge to grow a little bit hazy, and our studies to become
less industrious than they should be. Such a paper as we
have just heard tends to bring some very important points
forcibly under our notice. I have been very much impressed
with its value in this direction, and I am quite sure you will
all very readily endorse, and more than endorse, all I can say
in its favour. (Applause). I beg to propose that the best
thanks of this meeting be given to our esteemed President.
(Applause).

Dr. Wolston seconded. I have listened, he said, to many
presidential addresses, and, while they have all been exceed¬
ingly helpful in certain directions, I do not think we have
ever had a more practical presidential address than the one
we have just heard. There is only one drawback, that we
are not allowed to discuss it. But we shall have the pleasure
of doing that when it appears in print. As to the knowledge
of pathology which our President has touched upon, it is
important that we should keep ourselves abreast of that sub¬
ject. We look upon pathology as giving us light by which to
treat our patients. Happily, we are not in the position of
two of the old school of doctors, who having discussed the
pathology of a case of disease, differed about it, and in the
end naively said to each other—“ Oh, it doesn’t matter, the
post-mortem will reveal.” (Laughter). Unlike them, we are
able, in the light of pathology, to employ our drugs with the
greater certainty of curing our patients. (Applause).

The President, in acknowledging the motion, which was
carried by acclamation, remarked that it was deeply gratifying
to him to receive this fresh evidence of their good-will.

Digitized by U^ooQle

680

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1883.

Letters of Apology.

Dr. Dyce Brown then read several letters of apology for
inability to attend. The first was from Dr. Burwood, whose
only son, the Congress, he said, would hear with deep
sympathy, was recently taken seriously ill, and he had just
received a telegram informing him that he had died that
morning. He was a most promising young man, and had
been studying medicine at Edinburgh, giving every prospect
of becoming a very successful student. Dr. Nankivell, of
Bournemouth, Dr. Redpath, of Huddersfield, Dr. Guinness,
of Oxford, and Dr. Murray Moore were also unavoidably kept
away. Dr. Aston, of Eccleshill, and Dr. Hayle, of Rochdale,
subsequently telegraphed their apologies, as did Dr. Buck, of
London, Dr. Ellis, of Liverpool, and Dr. Douglas Moir, of
Manchester.

The President asked Dr. Dyce Brown to convey to Dr.
Burwood an expression of the sincere sorrow with which the
Congress had heard of the sad bereavement that had befallen
his family, Dr. Madden seconding the request, which was
sympathetically endorsed by the meeting.

The President then called upon Dr. Pope to read the paper
on “ The Selection of the Homoeopathic Specific,” a report of
which, with the discussion that followed its reading, appears
at page 649 of our present issue.

The discussion of Dr. Pope’s paper having closed, the
President called on Dr. E. A. Neatby to read a communica¬
tion on “ Ouabain as a Remedy in Whooping Cough,” which
he had promised. This, with the discussion that followed,
will appear in our next number.

Luncheon.

The Congress then adjourned for luncheon, at which the
members were very generously entertained by Dr. A. C.
Clifton, in the Old Reading Room of the Guildhall. The
tables were laid in recherche style, and the hospitality of
the Vice-President was much appreciated. After the good
things provided had been discussed,

The President expressed the acknowledgments of the
company. They would all agree with him that their venerated
friend had laid them under an additional obligation by this
kind entertainment. (Applause). It was an additional in¬
ducement to many of them to come to Northampton that
their old friend Dr. A. C. Clifton had so long resided and
practised in the town. They knew that he would do all that
it was possible for him to do, and a great deal more than it
was possible for anyone else to do, to make the Congress a
success* He had done all that, and he had got together men
from all parts of the country, whom he would now ask to join

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1898.

MEETINGS.

681

in cordially drinking Dr. Clifton’s health, and in showing
their appreciation of his hospitality. (Applause).

Dr. Galley Blackley had great pleasure in seconding the
proposition, and (adverting to a remark of Dr. Clifton’s in
welcoming his guests, that he had provided them with the
wherewithal to combat the microbes) expressed the hope that
he would long be spared to carry on the warfare against those
microbes from which he was so anxious they should be
spared.

Mr. T. H. Meyrick, veterinary surgeon, of Northampton,
asked to be allowed to support the proposition on behalf of
the veterinary profession in that town, explaining that their
thanks were due to Dr. Clifton for having courteously invited
them to listen to the interesting papers that had been read,
and at the same time to partake of his hospitality.

The toast was drunk with much enthusiasm.

Dr. Clifton, replying, remarked that he had attended every
Congress except three since the first gathering at Cheltenham
in 1850, and he knew the majority both of the older and
younger members of the profession, whom he was glad to see
present in such large numbers on the present occasion. He
thanked them cordially for coming to Northampton, and
thanked also the members of the veterinary profession in the
town and non-professional friends for their attendance. The
veterinary practitioners did him the honour of inviting him,
with other medical men, to their congress, on a recent occa¬
sion, and he was pleased to welcome them in return, as well
as other friends present who had the cause of homoeopathy at
heart. (Applause).

Annual Report.

On the resumption after luncheon Dr. Hayward read the
following report of the

Hahnemann Publishing Society.

44 The general meeting of this Society was held this morn¬
ing, in this room, and a good number of members were
present. The accounts were certified as correct; they showed
an income of £119, and an expenditure of £108. The
Secretary notified that the new edition of Hahnemann’s
Organon , prepared by Dr. Dudgeon, and by him presented to
the Society, had been published, and presented to members,
and that, now funds were sufficient, the 44 Ear ” chapter of
the Bepei tory would be also published. The President drew
attention to the fact that, as the Organon was the standard
work of the great medical reformer, it ought to be of interest,
and, in fact, necessary to be possessed, not only by all
homoeopathic practitioners, but by all medical men, and he
proposed that it should be advertised in their journals. The
Secretary expressed the hope that more of their colleagues

Digitized by

Google

682

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1898.

would join the Society, and thus obtain the Organon at the
reduced price. In reference to the article on Colonjnth, pre¬
pared by Dr. Ellis, and published in the Journal of the
British Homoeopathic Society, the President thought, though
very excellent, that it did not come up to the ideal of the
Society’s Materia Medica. Dr. Hughes was re-elected Pre¬
sident ; Dr. Hawkes was elected Vice-President, and Dr.
Hayward was re-elected Treasurer and Secretary. The
various Committees were re-appointed, and the time and
place of meeting, it was agreed, should be those of the next
Congress.”

The report was adopted.

Place of Meeting Next Year.

The Congress then proceeded to consider the place of
meeting for 1894.

Mr. Harris, in accordance with the usual policy every
second or third year, proposed London.

Dr. Dudgeon seconded.

Mr. Pincott, on behalf of Dr. Neild and himself, proposed
Tunbridge Wells.

Dr. Burford seconded Tunbridge Wells.

Dr. Hughes reminded the Congress that the International
Quinquennial Homoeopathic Congress met in England, and
he presumed in London, in 1896. It might not be convenient
for them to meet in London two years running.

A vote was then taken, with the result that London was
selected by 24 votes to 17.

Dr. Hayward remarked that if Tunbridge Wells would
renew its invitation next year they would give it every con¬
sideration. (Hear, hear).

Election of President.

The Congress next turned to the election of a President for
the ensuing year. Ballot papers were distributed, and sub¬
sequent examination showed that Dr. Galley Blackley was
elected by a substantial majority.

Dr. Galu:y Blackley said he was very much obliged to the
Congress for the honour they had done him, and he could
only add that he should do his best to justify the confidence
they had reposed in him, and employ whatever qualifications
for the post he possessed to the best of his ability.

Election of Vice-President and Officers.

Dr. Hughes proposed that Dr. E. Madden be asked to
become Vice-President. It was possible to combine the two
offices of Vice-President and Treasurer.

Dr. Madden said, as the Vice-President had nothing to do,
he believed, he should be happy to accept the additional office.
(Laughter).

The President moved the re-appointment of Dr. Madden

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1893.

MEETINGS.

683

as Hon. Treasurer, and Dr. Dyce Brown as Hon. Secretary,
and said Dr. Dyce Brown had also kindly promised to under¬
take the duties of Hon. Local Secretary. (Applause).

The appointments were unanimously confirmed, and duly
acknowledged.

Date of Next Congress.

A discussion then took place with reference to the date of
the next Congress. Dr. Dyce Brown first moved, and Mr.
Harris seconded, the first Thursday in July. After some
discussion, Mr. Knox Shaw reminded the meeting that they
had a very successful Congress in London on one occasion by
joining the annual assembly of the British Homoeopathic
Society, and it might be a good thing to do the same again.
He accordingly proposed, with this object, the last Thursday
in June. This was agreed to.

Unregistered Practitioners.

Dr. Dyce Brown asked the opinion of the Congress upon
certain action which he had taken as honorary Secretary. He
had a letter from a gentleman, formerly a member of a firm
of homoeopathic chemists, asking whether it would be open to
him to attend the Congress. The gentleman in question had
some years ago a single winter session of anatomy at Charing
Cross Hospital. That was all the medical education he had
received. About a year ago he wished to have a diploma, and
applied to a well known Homoeopathic Medical College in the
United States. In reply, he was informed that if he would
come out, stay six months, and pass the examinations, he
would get the degree. He did so, and came home with an
M.D. In this country, of course, it was requisite that a
registered practitioner should have gone through a thorough
course of medical training at one or other of the medical
schools. He received a letter from this gentleman saying
that he had not received a circular, and would like to attend.
In reply he (the Secretary) wrote that the Congress was sup¬
posed to consist of registered practitioners only (applause),
and as his correspondent’s diploma was not registerable in
this country, he had not sent him a circular. He then
received a letter in which this gentleman said that he should
like to know on what authority he had made his statement.
Personally, he said, he had no desire whatever to attend.
(A laugh). He was asked by the editor of an American
homoeopathic medical journal to go and send him a full
report, and in consequence of the reply he had received had
written to say that he was not eligible to attend. He would
not do so on sufferance, especially when he knew that chemists
were to be at the meeting. As to the American degree giving
no qualification in Great Britain, the letter pointed out tha
the Medical Act of 1866 stated that the Medical Registe

Digitized by

684

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1803.

would now contain separate lists of foreign and .colonial prac¬
titioners ; only such colonial and foreign corporations would
be included as offered to registered practitioners of the United
Kingdom such privileges of practising as might seem just.
The United States allowed Englishmen to practise all over
the States ; therefore the American degree, according to the
Act, was registerable. In reply to this letter, he (the Secre¬
tary) stated that he would bring the matter before the Con¬
gress, and added, as to chemists being at the meeting, that
they would be there, if at all, as guests.

Mr. Gerard Smith : Has the diploma been registered ? (No.)

Dr. Dyce Brown also mentioned cases of ladies who had
obtained American degrees in a similar manner. One, who
went to Cleveland for six months and came home with an
M.D., had undergone no previous training whatever, except
that she had attended the lectures of the Homoeopathic
Hospital on the practice of medicine and materia medica.
If one in his correspondent’s position were eligible these would
be also.

Dr. Gibbs-Blake said he had had a great deal of trouble,
when he was Secretary, over a similar matter. The members
were quite unanimous that it would not do to open the So¬
ciety to men who only had degrees that were not registerable.

Mr. Harris thought the Congress had no alternative but to
endorse the action of its Secretary. Although they might
not all of them acknowledge the justice of the law at present
in force with regard to the holders of American diplomas,
whilst it was the law he thought they were bound to obey it.
If they once relaxed their rule with regard to registered
practitioners they would open the door to some who would be
no credit to their body. (Hear, hear.) He sympathised very
much indeed with any Englishman or Englishwoman who had
gone out to the United States and had passed through the
whole of the medical curriculum there provided, and obtained
a diploma in a fair and legitimate manner. He sympathised
with them in that they were not able to be registered here,
and consequently could not take part in their proceedings.
But in this case they learnt that the holder of this diploma
had obtained it on certain insufficient—according to their idea
—medical training. (Hear, hear). It was therefore specially
a case in which they should not relax their rules. He accord¬
ingly moved that the Congress endorse the action of its Secre¬
tary in this matter. (Hear, hear).

Dr. Burford seconded, and said a man who took one
winter course of anatomy, and sought to supplement it by six
months’ residence abroad, had no claim upon their suffrages,
and in a case of this kind the most tender susceptibilities of
their American brethren could not be offended by the action

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1803.

MEETINGS.

685

they proposed to take. Did they reject men who had qualified
in the usual way, and then simply changed the locale of their
practice, such action would, perhaps, be unjust as well as
ungenerous. But this was not a case of that kind.

Dr. Jagielski referred to the practice in Berlin, Paris,
Vienna, and other foreign medical schools, and pointed out
that it would be unjust to make exceptions.

Dr. Madden thought there were far too many of these
American Medical Colleges that were willing to grant degrees
on quite insufficient evidence of training and qualifications,
and anything they could do to put a spoke in their wheel they
should do. They ought not to accept such a degree, or
recognise it in any way whatever.

Dr. Wolston quite endorsed what had been said. He was
going to suggest that the Secretary write to this institution
and point out the incongruity and unfairness of granting
degrees under such circumstances.

The action of the Secretary was accordingly unanimously
confirmed and the matter dropped.

A Requisition.

A requisition signed by thirty-two members of the Congress,
exclusive of the President and Secretary, was read, asking
that the subject of a Homoeopathic Directory should be
considered at this Congress, “ on broad lines of policy, with a
view to promote unanimity in aim and solidarity in action/’
and it was resolved that the matter be brought forward at the
close of the ordinary business.

The President then requested Dr. Cash Reed to read his
paper On Uterine Deviation h and their Auxiliary Treatment .
This, which was well illustrated by diagrams and apparatus,
will appear, with the discussion to which it gave rise, in our
next number.

At the termination of the discussion on this paper,

The President congratulated the members on having got
through the ordinary business of the Congress in good time,
thus enabling them to carry out the request for a discussion
of the subject of a Homoeopathic Directory. Dr. Hughes would
introduce the subject.

Dr. Hughes : I have been asked to open the discussion on
this subject. As I have not hitherto taken part in the fray, I
come to it with a fresh mind, or at all events fresh views. The
position, as most of you know, is just this. Messrs. Keene
and Ashwell announced their intention of re-publishing their
Directory. A number of gentlemen, some of whom had refused
to put their names in the Directory , and others of whom had
unwillingly suffered their names to appear therein, took the
opportunity of asking whether this publication could be
suppressed. They drew up a circular expressing their dislike

Digitized by

Google

G86

MEETINGS.

Monthl j Homoeopathic
Review, Now. 1, 1893.

to it, and their hope that it might be suppressed, and they
asked their colleagues, to whom they sent this circular, to
support them by writing to Messrs. Keene and Ashwell, in
reply to their application for information, that they preferred
their names should not appear. Thereupon, this action being
known, much discussion has taken place in the pages of the
Monthly Homeopathic Review. The subject is an important one,
and perhaps I can best open the discussion by saying what my
own action has been, and the grounds on which it has been taken.
I was not one of those who signed this circular, but I was one
of those who, influenced by the considerations brought
forward, replied to Messrs. Keene & Ashwell that I did not
wish my name to appear should they publish their Directory.
I confess that I should not have done this had I any reason to
believe that the Directory would appear. If it had gone forth
as a testimony, however feeble, to the existence of a number
of medical men in this country, who believe in the method of
Hahnemann, I would not have stood apart from that body.
But as I had good reason to think that a sufficient
number of gentlemen would reply in the same sense as
myself, and so the Directory would not appear, I allowed
the distaste I had long felt to the existence of this
Directory to have its full scope, and I was glad to
participate in the steps taken to suppress it. On what ground,
then, you will ask, did I have this distaste for the Directory !
I can best explain it by reminding you of the action taken by
the College of Physicians in London some twelve years ago.
You will remember they had a meeting in which the question
of homoeopathy, and their attitude towards it, was discussed,
and they passed a resolution to this effect: that they did not
want to put any restriction upon their Fellows, Members or
Licentiates as regards theories of medicinal action or the
quantities of medicines they might give. They were quite
free in that respect, but the College objected to trading upon
a name, and for that reason discountenanced consultations
and fellowship generally with those avowing themselves
homoeopathists. What was the answer we made to this
resolution of the College of Physicians? Did we challenge
the position they took up ? Did we defend the trading upon
a name, and say it was for the convenience of the public and
of those practising homoeopathy that we should use the name,
even though it exposed us to the reproach of trading upon it ?
No, we did not challenge their position, but we denied their
allegation. We said that while we were not ashamed of our
name, we in no way pushed it forward in the eyes of the
public. We did not put it upon our door plates. We
did not inscribe it upon our professional cards. In
no way, therefore, were they justified in saying that

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1893.

MEETINGS.

687

we traded upon the name. Well, that was a very good
answer. But then came in the question of the issue of a
Directory. Was this not calling ourselves, in a published list,
open to the public for sale, by our distinctive name, for the
obvious purpose of enabling those who preferred our system
of treatment to know where they could get it, and thus employ
us ? I could not but feel that it was such, and from that time
the smouldering dislike which I had always felt for the Direc¬
tory blew up into dame, and I cherished a very strong distaste
to it. Then came, I think immediately after that, Dr. Percy
Wilde’s action in endeavouring to form a Society in which all
the English homoeopaths should have a part, and substituting
the membership list of that Society for the Directory. It was
with the hope that it might have that end that I took part in
this movement; but the Society did not prove a success.
Dr. Percy Wilde’s well-intentioned measures failed, and
nothing was done. But now once more there is the oppor¬
tunity whereby we can get our names in a list without ex¬
posing ourselves to this reproach. The British Homoeopathic
Society now embraces, thanks to the exertions of its present
Honorary Secretary (applause), the great bulk of the British
homoeopaths, and its list of members, I think, is a suffi¬
cient manifesto, whether to the profession or to the public,
of our faith in homoeopathy, while it nevertheless takes a
perfectly legitimate form. Therefore I .requested Messrs.
Keene and Ashwell not to put my name in any Directory they
might publish, and therefore I would urge that the rest of us
should do the same. Since that time, and since the discussion
of the matter has arisen, two strong arguments have presented
themselves in addition to those which have influenced me
hitherto. Dr. Percy Wilde has very justly pointed out that
this list of ours is an uncontrolled list. Anyone who chooses,
for his own interested purposes, to call himself a homoeopath,
little as he may know of the true principles of homoeopathy,
and little as may be the loyalty he displays towards it in his
practice, can advertise himself to the homoeopathic public as
ready to supply them with what they desire. That is
one additional objection. Another is that which has been put
forward in an excellent letter by Dr. John Hayward. He says,
and I think we must all realise the force of the objection,
that the reading of this list is a depressing study,
that it is an imperfect and a humiliating list, mainly
owing to the paucity of numbers it displays, but to
other causes as well. It is not a list that does us credit and
honour, and which gives us satisfaction in the reading of it.
These reasons, then, positive reasons, seemed to me such as
justified the suspension of the Directory and reliance upon a
more legitimate mode of making known our medical faith.

Digitized by

Google

688

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1888

But before sitting down I would notice two or three of the
arguments that have been used in the controversy on the
other side. We have said that it is 14 medical ethics ” that
iufluences us in thus desiring to put ourselves right with the
main body of the profession, and sweep away the last relic of
apparent trading on a name. The answer is that there is no
such thing as “ medical ethics ”—that ethics is the science of
right conduct and that medical ethics simply means the
opinions of Mrs. Grundy. Well, of course, Mrs. Grundy will
intrude in the question of ethics in every sphere, social as
well as medical, but we must keep her out. As there are
real social ethics, so there are real medical ethics. (Hear,
hear.) Every body of men having a certain corporate standing
and a certain object in life have not a different standard of
ethics from those which exist among ordinary men, but some
additional code that influences them. There are ethics of trade
as well as of professions. There is conduct which is “ untrades¬
man-like ” and recognised as such, and there is conduct
which is tradesman-like and yet would not be professional.
All recognise that. So there are medical ethics, and I think
we must not be frightened because those ethics are called
etiquette. Etiquette, of course, ought not to bind us slavishly,
but much of the grace and charm of ordinary life depends
upon the observance of the rules of social etiquette. So, I
maintain, the peace and order of medical life depend upon
the recognition and observance of the rules of medical
etiquette. Then, another objection has been made, to this
effect—that it is not advertising ourselves as homoeopaths to
have our names in a special Directory , because dentists have
a Directory of their own, and because there are certain
unauthorised lists, I believe, published by London people, of
oculists and other specialists. I don’t think the case of
dentists is any answer. The dentists’ list is just a list of
those practising dentistry, as the Medical Directory is a list of
those practising medicine. It is not an analogous case. As
to the list of specialists, I have never heard that oculists
of London have ever allowed a special list to appear to which
they have sent their names and furnished their hours of con¬
sultation. The only way we have of finding out who are
oculists is the legitimate mode of looking in the general
Medical Directory, and finding those who hold appointments as
oculists to medical schools and hospitals, and who have
written works upon ophthalmic medicine or surgery. The
third answer that has been made is this—that the demand for
the suppression of the Directory, which has been made, explicitly
or implicitly, by the profession at large, is not a genuine one
—that it is only one of a score of demands they are making
upon us with the view of getting us to strike our flag, and

Digitized by

Monthly HomcBopathio
Renew, Nov. 1,1893.

MEETINGS.

689

abandon our distinctive position—(hear, hear)—and that if we
yield they will not be satisfied, but will at once
call upon us to yield still other points. (Hear, hear.)
Here, again, Dr. John Hayward’s letter seems to me
to furnish the answer to the objection. You will
remember, some of you, that in that letter he tells us he was
admitted to the membership of the Liverpool Medical
Institution and was allowed to take part in their discussions,
no one said him nay, no one found fault with him. Directly
he allowed, in a weak moment, his name to appear in the
Directory , this document was brought before the Society and
the result was his expulsion. He had been assured by the
members of the Society that the Directory was the sole reason,
and that if his name had not appeared there nothing would
have been said. I think that is the answer. I think the
demand is a legitimate one, whether it is a genuine and a
loyal one I cannot say, but I feel we should be putting
ourselves in a genuine and loyal relation to our standing in
the profession if we abandoned this, which is declared to be
the one ground of offence, and refused to allow our names to
appear in any special list advertised before the public. It
would be quite legitimate were anyone to publish something
in the nature of a Homoeopathic Annual, in which he would
give for the information of all who desired it, a list of
homoeopathic societies, hospitals, dispensaries and institutions
of any kind, with the members and officers. No one could
object to that, and it would convey almost all the information
necessary. At present, for the convenience of the public and
of ourselves, we are doing an act which gravely compromises
our professional position, which exposes our method to
reproach, and which, I think, we should endeavour to clear out
of the way so that we may stand unblameable before the
world. (Applause.)

Mr. Harris : I shall not detain the Congress many
minutes. It requires no slight amount of courage to follow
so good a homoeopath as Dr. Hughes, especially when one is
about to speak in opposition to the opinions he has expressed.
I feel that this is only part of a very large subject—(hear,
hear)—with which we have not time to deal, in all its fulness,
to-day. We stand, I think, at the parting of the ways as
regards the history of homoeopathy in this country. (Hear,
hear.) I hope on some future occasion, and perhaps in
another field, I may have an opportunity of taking up this
question and dealing with it in all its branches. I will
confine myself now to this one question of the Directory .
First of all, I would say that I am perfectly in sympathy and
harmony with the efforts that have been made by Mr. Knox
Shaw to enlarge the membership of the British Homoeo-

Digitized by

Google

690

MEETINGS

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1893.

patliic Society, so as to include every practitioner of
homoeopathy in this country. (Applause.) We are told that
having our names published as members of a learned Society
would not give offence to our brethren of the other
school. I am very glad to hear it. They can distinguish
a great difference between a list of gentlemen published
as practitioners of homoeopathy and a list of gentle¬
men who belong to the British Homoeopathic Society.
Well, I am willing to give way, and get harmony by that
means. But there is another factor in this question that we
must not lose sight of. It is all very well to talk about the
ethics of the medical profession, but there is another field of
ethics which we must keep in mind. I feel that on our
shoulders lies the heavy responsibility of spreading the
knowledge of homoeopathy in this country. (Applause).
Dr. Hughes says every body of men add to the code of ethics
those rules which apply to their special interest. Then I say
it is not a question of morals; it is a question of expediency
.and policy. If it were a question of morals it would be
universal in its application, and I find that in other countries
this principle does not prevail. (Hear, hear). I sup¬
pose that what is moral in London would be moral
in Hamburg, and vice versa . If it is immoral for a
gentleman in London to call himself a homoeopath, it
must be immoral for a gentleman in Hamburg to put on his
plate that he is a consulting surgeon, or a specialist for
diseases of the eye or ear. I do think that if we give way in
this matter we must insist on two or three things. We must
insist that this list of the British Homoeopathic Society shall
be published in such a form and at such a cost that it should
be available for the use of our chemists and for the use of the
public. (Hear, hear.) I say distinctly, as I have said before,
that the public have an undoubted right to know where they
can get a homoeopathic practitioner. (Hear, hear, and
applause.) That right is infringed upon by no code of
medical ethics propounded by a body which is, I believe, only
using this matter as another means for our degradation.
(Hear, hear.) If we give way on this point their next demand
will be that we shall strike out the word homoeopathy from
our hospitals and societies—(hear, hear)—in the hope that
they may quietly absorb us into their body, and the name of
homoeopathy shall be a thing forgotten. (Hear, hear, and
applause.)

Dr. Dudgeon: The question has only been discussed in
reference to the Directory published by Messrs. Keene & Ash-
well. But perhaps gentlemen may be aware that there is
another Homoeopathic Directory published by Leath & Boss,
which is very extensively distributed, being sold at a very

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly HomcBopathlo
Review, Nov. 1, 1883.

MEETINGS.

691

small cost. If we put down Keene & Ashwell’s, which is
much better conducted, and contains a great deal more infor¬
mation, I think we should try and put down that of Leath &
Boss as well. (Hear, hear.) But I am not for putting
down a Directory . (Hear, hear.) I think a Directory is of
the greatest use to the homoeopathic body. (Hear, hear.) I
do not think there is any reason to suppose that the animosity
of the old school will be in the slightest degree diminished—
(hear, hear)—by putting down a Directory. I remember that
on one occasion, before Directories were published, I was
admitted one evening to the meeting of a medical society in
London, at which there was a discussion on homoeopathy.
After the reading of the paper I asked permission to be
allowed to reply. Immediately there arose from all parts of
the room cries that they would not hear a homoeopath. The
chairman put the question whether I should be heard or not,
and a majority decided that I should, but the recalcitrant
minority, instead of accepting the opinion of the majority
as they should have done in a democratic country, got up.
made a great row, and walked out, making use of expres¬
sions regarding homoeopathy which I fortunately did not
hear. (Laughter.) On another occasion I appealed to the
society to be allowed to read a paper, and received a letter
from the Secretary asking if I practised homoeopathy. I
replied, in a humorous sort of manner, asking if the same
question was put to every gentleman who applied to be a
member of the Society, and at the same time was it necessary
that a man should be a homoeopath in order that he might be
admitted to membership ? (Much laughter.) I then received
a polite letter to say that the Society would be very happy to
hear the paper. The feeling against me in those cases had
nothing to do with a Homoeopathic Directory. The practice
of homoeopathy it is which constitutes the ground of offence.
(Hear, hear.) In every country I know of there is a
Homoeopathic Directory published. There is a very useful
Directory , published by Dr. Villers, in Germany. He calls it
a Homoeopathic Annual , but it is practically a Directory. Now
I think it would be rather a good thing, in place of putting down
and stiffing our Directory , to publish a Directory for ourselves,
edited by some responsible person, who was either a member of
the Society or holds some distinction in homoeopathy. From
1867 to 1874 Mr. Turner published a Homoeopathic Directory ,
a sort of annual, edited by a gentleman of the highest
respectability. Dr. Atkin was the editor of the first. Dr. Pope
edited the Directory for several years, so did Dr. Shuldham
and Dr. Blackley. Such a Directory , somewhat smaller,
published as a sort of annual, and giving a list of homoeopaths

Vol. 37, No. 11. 2 —x

Digitized by

Google

692

MEETINGS.

Monthly Honunoptthic
Review, Nov. 1, ISM.

in this country and abroad as far as possible, would be a very
useful publication. Messrs. Keene & AshwelTs Directory is
not only useful to patients in this country but to those who
are sent abroad. (Hear, hear.) I do not see that the ethical
question comes into question at all. 1 think the conduct of
the allopaths towards us deserves no consideration from us.
{Hear, hear.) They have treated us with contumely and
contempt in every possible way, and I do not see why on
account of this idiotical resolution of the College of Physicians
in 1881, we should succumb to the demand that we
should renounce all our homoeopathic titles. The General
Medical Directory was compelled a few years ago to
admit homoeopathic titles and names of works of those
whom they registered. This was brought about by the
energy and courage of the late Dr. Alfred Drysdale, who
threatened legal proceedings unless his homoeopathic works
and appointments were inserted. Since then it is only
necessary to request, in reply to the circular asking for the
name, that these particulars should be added. I think we
should consider the desirability of reviving the former
Directory , making it a sort of medical annual, and I do not
see why registered practitioners who do not belong to the
Society should not be admitted. Members of the Society
could, of course, be distinguished. I would have a Directory
on the style of the General Medical Directory , giving the works
and appointments of all medical men. In the list published
as a sort of supplement to the journal of the British Homoeo¬
pathic Society, there is a great want of information which
would be useful to the medical public. The hours of atten¬
dance of the medical men, and the works they had published,
are not given.

Dr. Hayward : I agree with Dr. Dudgeon that there are
two difficulties to get over. In Liverpool we had a Directory .
We were appealed to by the members of the Medical Institu¬
tion to drop it, and we could then be admitted. We dropped
our Directory , but we have not been admitted. (Applause.)

Dr. Hughes : How did your son get in ?

Dr. Hayward : He was in before it was known what he was.
{Hear, hear). Before his name appeared in the Directory he
was warned, and when his name did appear he was excluded.
I would ask Dr. Dudgeon how he would accomplish his
proposal. He cannot force the homoeopathic practitioners to
enter their names, and the best we can do will only be a sham.
It will be a pretended Directory , with possibly half the homoeo¬
paths who are real homoeopaths, and none of the cryptos. It
will be a very bad representation at the best.

Mr. Knox Shaw : But for the fact of my having to leave
early I would have preferred to wait and hear what

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1893.

MEETINGS.

693

others have to say, as I have already appealed to the
homoeopathic body of this country through the medium
of letters to the Homoeopathic Review. Still, I feel that
there is something more to be said. First, I would like
to clear away one or two misconceptions. The action
I have taken in this matter has nothing to do with the
British Homoeopathic Society. I love that Society and work
for it, but in this matter I represent only myself. Secondly,
I care not a single brass farthing what the allopaths may say
or do. They may abuse me—and 1 think I have had as much
abuse as any man present, so that I am not inclined to pander
to the allopathic school—but it will not affect my action in
the least. I am simply actuated by the desire to do what
I believe to be for the best in the interest of homoeopathy.
(Applause). Reference has been made to lists of specialists
published in London. I am happy to say that the general
body of the profession, allopathic as well as homoeopathic,
entirely condemn the action of irresponsible persons who issue
private Directories, whether of specialists or anyone else. I
would do all in my power to prevent my name getting into
these Directories, as I have done in others. I hold in my
hand a periodical which I trust will bring a blush of shame
to the cheek of any homoeopathist who finds his name in it.
Talk about the cheapness of a Directory! Here is one
which can be got for a penny! Plain directions for the
treatment of common complaints; advertisements of hair
restorers; common complaints of the dog and cat! (Laughter.)
I grieve to say that in this list we shall find the names of
a great number of gentlemen present. (Laughter.) Many
of them will be utterly astonished to know that over their
chemists’ counters this little thing can be given away. Dr.
Dudgeon asks whether anything can be done to suppress
these publications. To my horror and astonishment I
discovered one day that I was in this thing. (Laughter.) I
immediately wrote to Messrs. Leath & Ross, and told them
that on no consideration would I have my name appear in
that thing, and begged them to take it out at once. After
one or two letters I am happy to say that I succeeded, and I
can now show you this with a clear conscience. This I con¬
sider is derogatory to the homoeopathic body. (Hear, hear.)
It is said that we are not anxious to fight, that we are ready to
haul down the flag. I say the men who are organising this
movement are some of the best fighting homoeopaths we have.
But our object in fighting is not to appeal to the public, but
to advance ourselves from a professional point of view. We
want to appeal to the profession through our hospitals,
through our dispensaries, through our journals. By that

2—x 2

Digitized by

Google

694

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1898.

means we shall attract the young men to our body. To
advance homoeopathy we must advance ourselves. We can
only do this by the very best work, eliminating everything
that may be due to the trade element in our body. This
movement of suppressing the Directory, of appealing to the
profession instead of the public, is a movement which we are
endeavouring to advance on these lines, and I can conclude
with no more apt sentence than one which fell from the
President this morning, “ Every professional act should,
have the endorsement of a tender conscience.** (Applause.)

Dr. Blackley (Manchester): If from my professional ex¬
perience I were convinced that the opposite school of
practitioners were perfectly honest in declaring their opinions,
and perfectly competent to ensure the adoption of their views,
I might coincide in this suppression of the Directoty. But I
am thoroughly convinced that they have no more power to do
that than they have to fly to the moon. (Hear, hear). The
head and front of our offence is that we practise homoeopathy.
(Hear, hear.) I have been appealed to more than once by
older men of the opposite school to abandon the name, and
practise what I liked. “ Then,” I have said, “ you believe we
are a set of humbugs ? ” They would not admit that. “ But,”
I have said, “ some of you believe we are practising a fraud
upon the public, and yet you would permit us to practise
that fraud if only we will abandon the name.” I will
never give up the name as long as I live. (Applause.) It
is close upon forty years since I entered the profession as a
student, and again and again I have heard it said that we
were dying out. Homoeopathy has not died out yet. I
believe it never will die out. (Applause.) They found their
prophecies unfulfilled, and now they want us to suppress
ourselves by rendering it impossible for the public to know
where they can get the aid of a homoeopathic practitioner.
(Hear, hear.) Quite recently I was appealed to by a patient
removing to another town to recommend her to another
homoeopath, and I could not have done so without the aid of
the Directory . We shall be adopting the worst possible
policy if we give way on this point. It will be merely the
thin edge of the wedge. For myself, I am not ashamed of
the fact that I practise homoeopathy, and for that reason I
am not ashamed of the public knowing it. (Hear, hear.) A
gentleman comes to me and asks if I practise homoeopathy,
because he has been employing a sort of “half-and-half”
practitioner, who “ does not even have his name in the
Directory ,” and who sometimes gives a small dose and then a
big one. I say it is perfectly honest and legitimate for the
public to know where they can get a man who practises what
he professes.

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Aerie w. Nor 1 , 1893.

MEETINGS.

695

Dr. Charles Haywabd : I have for some time had a very
strong feeling that we were doing ourselves injury by having
a Directory . This was brought under my notice in a special
way when I applied for membership of the British Medical
Association. My application was accepted, but before the
meeting attention was drawn to the fact that my name was
in the Directory . My election was allowed to stand over, and
I was asked if I professed homoeopathy. I replied stating
what my practice was, but I received a second and underlined
letter stating that what they wanted to know was whether I
professed the way I practised. As my name was in the
Homceopathic Directory I could not entirely deny that I
professed homoeopathy, and the consequence was that I
received a polite note to say that I was not elected. As to
there being no difference between a list of members of a
society and a Directory , personally I think there is a very
great difference. I should have the same objection to a
Gynacoloyical Directory as to a Homceopathic Directory . It is
trading on a name. Homoeopathy describes one part of our
practice just as much as gynaecology describes one part of any
other man’s practice. (No.) We are not fit to practise
unless we are a great deal besides homoeopaths. There
is no objection to a man having his name on a list of
membership of a society, but not in a Directory . There was
an attempt a short time ago to start a specialist Directory .
We might have been put in a homoeopathic section of that,
but as that was voted against medical ethics, I certainly think
the cap fits us as well as any one else, and that we should
keep out of a specialist Directory until specialist Directories are
allowed by the profession. I feel that we are standing in our
own light. I have personally taken my name out of all Direc¬
tories, so far as I am aware. I am much obliged to Mr. Knox
Shaw for calling my attention to the one he has produced,
and I will take care my name shall not appear in it next year.

Dr. Percy Wilde : Are we discussing the suppression of a
Directory ? I think the question before the meeting is what
form the list of homceopathic practitioners, which I believe we
all admit to be necessary, shall take. It seems to me very easy
to publish that list in a manner which shall not meet with any
professional objection whatever, and in a form which would
induce almost all practitioners to add their names. To force
a Directory means to force a list which will be merely partial
and incomplete. The only difficulty that appears to me
to be involved in the adoption of Dr. Dudgeon’s proposal to
have a Directory , edited by some gentleman on whom we can
rely, is this. While a list of members of a society could only
include those who had been elected, it would be impossible to
exclude from a Directory , however carefully edited, names

Digitized by

Google

696

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopath ie
Review, Nov. 1, 1893.

which we might not care to have side by side with our own.
A man would have a legal right to demand the inclusion of his
name unless he had been struck off the register. Let it be a
list of a society, so that we may have some control over the
names. I do not think that Mr. Knox Shaw and others wish
to suppress the Directory in the sense of its being a Directory .
What we want is to do away with a list over which we can
have no control.

Dr. Dyce Brown: I am sure we all appreciate the fact
that Mr. Knox Shaw is seeking no personal motive in this
matter, or working for any object in which he is interested
other than the good of homoeopathy. We are all working for
the good of homoeopathy, but on this question it is well
known that there are two distinct views. Certain men may
think they are doing the best for the cause that we all have at
heart, and a yet larger number may think they are taking the
very worst course with the very best intentions. As to the
practical aspect of the question, I have a letter from Messrs.
Keene & Ashwell, in which they state that according to the
opinion of an experienced counsel anyone has a perfect right
to publish a list of any profession or trade, and put in any name
he likes, provided nothing is said which might compromise
or do harm to any person’s professional interests. Under
these circumstances they fear that if their present Directory is
not supported someone else will take it up in a cheap and
possibly worse form. In sending out circulars for the
Congress, I made a special point of observing what assistance
the list of the British Homoeopathic Society could afford me.
I had both that list and Keene & Ashwell’s Directory . Had I
relied on the list simply, there would have been a great many
omissions. There was a remarkable difference between the
two. One is totally incomplete, the other very fairly
complete. Mr. Knox Shaw, who I am sorry to see has been
compelled to leave, said the Directory was intended to appeal
to the public. I must entirely object to that; I maintain
that it is not intended to appeal to the public. It is simply
that we ought to let the public have the opportunity of
knowing where they can obtain true homoeopathic treatment.
As to the question of ethics we must really bear in mind the
distinction between ethics in general and so-called ethics as
regards the allopathic section of the profession and ourselves.
We have been treated from the first in a most unjustifiable
manner, and our conduct must not be regarded as that which
might be expected to obtain between men equally fair and just
the one to the other. We have been tabooed from the
beginning. We have a strong point in their change of tactics.
First, we were treated with violence, pure and simple.
Presently, they found that would not do, and it began to be

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homceop&thie
Review, Nov. 1,1898.

MEETINGS.

697

somewhat relaxed. They found that would not do, and so lately
as the Birmingham Congress we had evidence that they were
endeavouring to find something else. Then they resorted to
the most convenient charge available—that of trading on a
name. The Directory is simply a cat’s-paw. If we gave way
on this point we should only find a fresh ground of attack
taken up. As soon as they are prepared to yield us our rights
in every respect, then we may think of it. But not till then.
(Applause).

Dr. Stopfobd : I think that a list or a Directory , whichever
you like to call it, is an absolute necessity. I find it so in my
own practice. The list of the British Homoeopathic Society
does not cover the ground, and even if it did it is not readily
accessible. Dr. Stopford then referred to some grossly unpro¬
fessional conduct that he had met with from some allopaths in
liis neighbourhood while he was precluded from practising for
several weeks in consequence of an accident. The allopaths
he said will constantly endeavour to find some ground for
excluding us from societies under their control. They have
always given me the cold shoulder on some pretence or other.
It has not been on account of the Directory , because I
have never heard of that before. We must have some
means of enabling the public to recognise us, or we shall go
to the wall in the long run. As for pandering to the
allopaths, I should be sorry to see any of us do so. I believe
we are too good homoeopaths for that. But there is a very
easy way of getting over this difficulty. If anyone will join
with me I will undertake to bring out an Annual which shall
have nothing unprofessional about it. I will put down £25
for the purpose if five others will do the same. We want
something practical before us.

Dr. John Hayward : I should not have intervened in this
discussion but for the last speech. The tone of that speech
is what has done homoeopathy so much harm. I took down
one sentence, to this effect: 11 It is the public we want. We
must appeal to the public.” Now, I hold that is not what we
want to do. We want to get at the profession. Many
gentlemen present have done me the honour of reading a
letter I wrote on this subject, so I will not traverse the whole
ground. Dr. Dyce Brown says he found the Directory infi¬
nitely more useful than the list of the British Homoeopathic
Society. Had he confined himself to the list of the British
Homoeopathic Society he would have done equally well.
Every member of the Congress present, except two, is a mem¬
ber of the Society. Two or three are not in the Directory .
As Mr. Knox Shaw has said, we are as anxious for the spread
of homoeopathy as any of our fellow practitioners; but we
desire that it should be amongst the profession. Some new

Digitized by

Google

<598

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eeriew, Nov. 1,1898.

line must be taken. I do not believe in fostering the spirit of
animosity towards professional brethren; they are too many
and too strong for us. (No.) I have had the honour, young
as I am, of converting four or five members of the allopathic
school to homoeopathy. I have never done it by opposition,
I have done it by making them crypto-homoeopaths first, and
letting them work out their own salvation. I hold that we
should support any means, be it that of a Directory or any
other, of doing this, because after all it is the half-way stage.
We were all crypto-homoeopaths once. I trust that any plan
which may be devised of spreading our principles will receive
general support.

Dr. Burford : I do not think it is of any use whatever to
appeal to the bulk of the profession. They are in one respect
like the public, victims of authority, and they believe exactly
what their professors and teachers choose to tell them. Nine
out of every ten allopaths you meet begin by professing an
entire knowledge of homoeopathy. You enter into a conversa¬
tion on the subject, and the colloquy usually ends up with—
“ Well, I find I do not know quite so much about it as I
thought I did, but I do not think it is a useful object of
study.” The point we have to bear in mind is this : Shall
the public be admitted to this Directory or shall they not ?
So far as I can understand, the central point of Mr. Knox
Shaw’s speech was that the public have no right to the pro¬
fessional list we issue ; it was not intended for sale, and if
chemists obtained it, they did so by devious and unusual bye-
ways. I certainly am inclined to give the public the option
of obtaining some such accredited list as the Society’s list.
There is no reason why we should not take them into our
confidence to that extent. I had the honour once, before my
homoeopathy was very much known, of being nominated to
the Obstetrical Society of London; I was asked, not if my
name was in the Directory 9 but “do you intend to practise
homoeopathy.” I replied that I did. 1 was not elected.

Dr. Gordon Smith : The question seems to be whether we
shall have a list available for the public, or one simply
accessible to practitioners and chemists. I do vow that I
believe homoeopathy is the only little bit of therapeutic truth
in the world at the present time; but with us it is only a
speciality ; it is only a part of our practice. We are surgeons
as well as physicians, and we have other things to do besides
administer homoeopathic medicines. Then if we have a
special Directory announcing ourselves to the public as homoeo¬
pathic practitioners, we are announcing ourselves as adherents
of a speciality. (Hear, hear). Is there anything laudable,
honourable, and advantageous in advertising ourselves as
specialists? Do you respect and admire any man for so

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homceop&thlo
Review, Nov. 1,1893.

MEETINGS.

699

doing ? I cannot. Mr. Harris mentioned one point that has
weighed very strongly with me. We are accountable for the
spread of homoeopathy. If any of us think homoeopathy is
to be spread by directories, or brass plates, or anything of
that kind, I am sorry for homoeopathy. (Hear, hear.) Homoeo¬
pathy is to be spread by the cures which we perform, in our
private practice, in our dispensaries and in our hospitals. So
far as trying to appease the rancour of the allopathic part of
the profession is concerned, I do not care a straw for it. I
would not turn my foot to do it, and I never hope to do it by
taking my name out of a Homceojwthic Directory . But it is a
right and honourable thing to do. (Hear, hear). And
whether we get the public or not, let us do right. Let us do
the most honourable thing. It strikes me that by withdrawing
our names from this Directory we shall be taking a more honour¬
able course than by allowing our names to go into a Directory
that is to fall into the hands of the general public. (Applause).

Dr. Murray : Mr. Knox Shaw divided the Congress into
old and new homoeopaths. I am not a very old homoeopath,
but I am certainly very much in sympathy with the older
homoeopaths so far as regards keeping the position which they
have hitherto occupied, as I think most of them are still
inclined to do. We have been accused of allowing our names
to appear in a not very respectable Directory . How mine got
there is very remarkable. I find I still live at London Road,
St. Alban’s, although I have been removed from there for
four years. If we are to have a Directory at all, let us have
some means of correcting it. 1 did not know that my name
was there at all. Dr. Gordon Smith has said : If it is a right
thing let us do it. I quite concur in that; but is it not at the
instance of the College of Physicians, in pointing out that
having a Directory was the offence of which we were guilty,
that all this discussion has arisen ? (No). I think it is.

But it is all very well to put it in that way. That is not our
offence. When I went to Folkestone four years ago I acted
upon strictly ethical principles, and in strict accordance with
the etiquette of the profession. I called upon all the medical
men there. Most of them returned the compliment. One of
them, a Fellow of the College of Physicians in London, did
not ask me whether my name was in the Directory , but asked
me whether I intended to practise homoeopathically. I said
“ Yes.” “ Very well,” he said, “the College says I must
not know you professionally. I will be glad to know you
socially, but I cannot know you professionally.” Another
asked me the same question, and that was the position of the
majority towards me. I am very glad to say that during the
four years, and particularly during the last twelve months,
several of them have given up that position. They know me

Digitized by

Google

700

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1808.

professionally as well as socially, and have come very willingly
to render me assistance. We shall not get rid of the oppro¬
brium that belongs to homoeopathy by getting rid of the
Directory . (Hear, hear). We must not imagine that tnere
is no longer any opprobrium—that it has gone, and ceased to
be. It still exists, perhaps not so bitterly, in large towns, but
in smaller places there is a great deal of it, and it is only by
firmly standing by our principles that we shall ever make any
headway in their propagation.

Dr. Neatby : I agree with much that has been said, but
when it is said that we must consider the convenience of the
public I think it would be more to the public interest to consult
their own medical men when they are removing to other
towns than to take from a book the name of a man of whom
they know nothing.

Dr. Hughes, in reply, said: Dr. Dyce Brown has stated
that if he had relied upon the Society’s list he would not have
reached many of the members whom he has reached by means
of the Directory . Mr. Knox Shaw has compared the two
lists, and found that excluding all who had died or retired
from practice there were only twelve more names in the
Directory than in the list of the British Homoeopathic Society.
Two gentlemen have said that the list of the British Homoeo¬
pathic Society is not accessible, that it is not for pale. My
answer is that it is distinctly for sale, for the small price of
2s. 6d., together with a quantity of good medical matter, and
may be obtained from the publishers by the public of course ;
arrangements will be made to print it separately if desired.
I did not think by taking this step the animosity against us
would be removed, but I thought we should be removing the
one reproach which, on the allegation of the College of
Physicians, rested upon us, if we swept away this sole
remnant of our trading upon a name. As to medical ethics,
I quite admit that they are not morals in the strict sense of
the word, and that is why “ ethics ” is used, because ethos is
custom, or manner, in the first instance, rather than a matter
of right or wrong; but I do hope medical ethics will not
include the principle avowed by two speakers in this dis¬
cussion, much to my regret, that because the dominant section
of the profession has behaved so badly to us, we should
behave badly to them. Let us at least be without reproach
in that matter. (“ Vote ”).

The President : There is no motion before the meeting,
but I will put it as it stands. Those in favour of a Directory
as at present issued, or as amended and made correct, and
those against.

The voting was as follows:—For the Directory 17; against 20,

The proceedings then closed.

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1893.

MEETINGS.

701

Congress Dinner.

Members of the Congress and friends, including a number
of ladies, dined together in the evening in the Old Reading
Room at the Guildhall. The President, Dr. Hawkes, was
supported on this occasion by the Mayor of Northampton
(Councillor Henry Martin), and the Mayor of Hastings
(Dr. A. R. Croucher), among those also present, in addition to
names already mentioned in connection with the business of the
Congress, being: Mrs. A. E. and Miss Hawkes, Mrs. N. Hawkes,
Mrs. M. P. Manfield, Mrs. A. C. Clifton, Mrs. and Miss
Pope, Mrs. Cash Reed, Mrs. McKechnie, Mrs. H. Harris,
Mrs. G. Clifton, Miss Clifton, Rev. J. T. Brown, Mr. W. R.
Adkins, C.C., Mr., Mrs. and Miss Butterfield, Dr. Priestley,
Mr. H. Henderson, Mr. Philip C. Pope, Mr. G. N. Tebbutt,
Mr. W. Westley, Mr. F. Clifton (Derby), Mr. E. Clifton
(Ipswich), Mr. F. Cowdery, &c.

Mr. Manfield, M.P., was unable to be present, in conse¬
quence of indisposition, and the Mayor and Mayoress of
Grantham (Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Gamble) telegraphed that
they were prevented joining the dinner party through un¬
fortunately missing their train.

The dinner was admirable and well served. During its
progress, Mr. Walter Ashton, of Northampton, discoursed
most excellent music on the piano, and in the intervals between
the speeches afterwards Mr. Gerard Smith gratified everyone
by his rendering of “ My Queen ” and “ A Chain,” by Carl
Deichmann; while Mr. P. C. Pope created great amusement
by singing, in a most effective style, “ The Coster’s Court¬
ship,” “ The Amateur Yachtsman,” and “ Under the Circum¬
stances.” To this last he added an impromptu verse, a propos
of one of the discussions in the afternoon, this being as
follows:—

The Directory now, as you’re all aware,

Is in curious circumstances,

I hope it won’t be so next year,

Under the circumstances.

For when the Supplement fails, you know,

And to a medical man you want to go,

You must ask a policeman, don’t you know,

Under the circumstances.

The applause with which this was greeted was simply
immense.

At the conclusion of the repast,

The President proposed : “ Her Majesty the Queen, the
Prince and Princess of Wales, and the rest of the Royal
Family.” He gracefully expressed the wishes of the Con¬
gress that Her Majesty’s reign might be prolonged beyond
the existing record of British Sovereigns. Speaking of the
Prince and Princess of Wales, he remarked that in ancient

Digitized by

Google

702

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review. Nov. 1,1883.

days an ancestor of theirs, not wholly unconnected with that
town, went into the Danish camp, for some purpose well
known to himself, at any rate—(laughter)—and in later years
our own Prince also went into the Danish camp, from whence
he returned with the “ fairest of the fair.” (Applause.) He
made further appropriate reference to other members of the
Boyal Family, and the toast was received with musical
honours.

The Memory of Hahnemann.

The President, again rising, said : I rise this time to ask you
to drink in solemn silence, as is our wont, to the “ Memory of
Samuel Hahnemann.” Whenever we gather together in this
way we cannot but think of him who has taught us so much
of the method of practice we meet to carry on. I never hear
of this toast without thinking of the well-known verses on
the burial of Sir John Moore. In quietness we carry out our
design as they did on that solemn occasion. But in one
respect we differ from them. They had occasion to “ bitterly
think of the morrow.” With us there is no such necessity.
The name of Hahnemann will live as long as medicine is
necessary, and the doctrines which he originated, and which
we carry on, will in some form or other always hold a place in
medical science. Most of us feel that enough is not known about
our hero, and you will excuse me if I spend a moment or two in
reading those memorable words, almost his last:—“ Providence
owes you,” said a sympathetic bystander, “ a mitigation of
your sufferings, since all your life you have alleviated the
sufferings of so many, and yourself endured so much.”
4< Me,” replied the dying sage, “ why, then, me ? Each man
here below works as God gives him strength, and meets with
a greater or less reward at the judgment seat of man. But he
can claim no reward at the judgment seat of God. God owes
me nothing, but I owe God much—yea all.” We cannot
meet on this occasion and think of Hahnemann without
thinking of others: Drysdale, Wynne Thomas, Blumberg, who
was present with us, in moderate health at any rate, last year.
I ask you to bear these brethren of ours in your minds, as you
rise, in solemn silence, to drink “ To the immortal memory of
Samuel Hahnemann.”

The toast was drunk in silence.

Mr. Harris proposed “ Prosperity to our Homoeopathic
Hospitals and Dispensaries.” It was not simply hospitals and
dispensaries, but homoeopathic hospitals and dispensaries.
(Applause.) He was pleased to find that the number of
homoeopathic hospitals had increased since they last met. A
list had been put into his hands which showed very fair
progress. There were hospitals in London, Liverpool,
Birmingham, Bath, Bournemouth, Tunbridge Wells, Bromley,

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1893.

MEETINGS.

703

(in memory of one of their lamented colleagues, Dr. Phillips),
Plymouth, &c. The last was a comparatively new one, but
it was not likely to be left behind in the race for prosperity.
The public dispensaries were very numerous; the private
dispensaries were more numerous still. As homoeopaths,
they should wish these institutions success for three
reasons. First, for the good they did to their

patients. Secondly, as medical men, they wished

them success, because they provided the best field for
the study of the progress of disease, and the curative action
of drugs. In no other way he could call to mind could the
rising generation of medical men become possessed of the
knowledge necessary to fit them for their future career. The
students learnt, not as by common repute they were charged
with doing, by making experiments upon the patients, but by
watching the treatment adopted by the most cultivated
intellects of the medical profession, who gave their time and
energies without remuneration for thG benefit of the
patients. But there was another ground on which they
as homoeopaths ought to see that their hospitals and dis¬
pensaries did not languish, viz., as being one, and perhaps
it might be soon the only standing public testimony to the
progress of homoeopathy in this country. (Hear, hear.)
He trusted it might be a long while before their dispensaries
and hospitals were the only testimony, but while they had
hospitals, as well managed and as well officered as those
which at present existed ; whilst they had public dispensaries
where inquirers from the other school might, if they wished,
learn something of true homoeopathy ; whilst they had in
every town where a homoeopathic practitioner resided a private
if not a public dispensary, he did not despair of the future of
homoeopathy in this country. (Hear, hear, and applause). He
was glad to know that in Northampton, although they had no
hospital, and had perhaps had a very up-hill fight, by the
strenuous exertions of their friend Dr. Clifton, aided by his
colleague Mr. Wilkinson, for many years—(applause)—the
number of patients on the dispensary roll had reached the
very respectable figure of 2,500. (Renewed applause.) Think
what the effect of that must be on the health of the town, and
what the effect must be of this constant testimony upon
the attitude of their allopathic friends. He could not
help thinking that although the progress might be slow, in
the end the constant dripping must wear away the stone, and
those stony hearts must be turned to repentance and regret
for the way in which they had so long treated the practitioners
of homoeopathy. (Hear, hear.) Personally, he most heartily
wished success to their hospitals. He augured great things
from their new hospital in London. He hoped it might not

Digitized by ^ooQle

704

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, lfiBS.

be a dream and nothing more ; but he did dream that before
long, out of that new hospital, officered by the new homoeo¬
pathic division if the old ones died off, they might eventually
succeed in establishing a School of Medicine in which they
might be able to train up the younger generation, and perhaps
enable them to escape some of those disagreeables and draw¬
backs which their predecessors had to endure—drawbacks and
disagreeables which the younger generation were apt to
forget. It was an old saying that every man must buy
his own experience, and he fancied it held true here. They,
the older members of the profession, had bought their
experience. They had passed through bitter times, and
although there might be a little brightening in the prospect,
even yet the odium honutopathicum was strong and telling.
Their young friends hoped to escape a little of it, and he
trusted the time was coming when they might. But he
believed that the best way to escape from it, the best way to
progress, the best way to further the spread of homoeopathy,
was to educate the younger men. Apart from the ignominy
which had been cast upon the practitioners of homoeopathy of
the present generation, apart from the temptations and
allurements of polite society, appointments and other
influences which tended to prevent the younger men from
joining their ranks, ho had great hopes from this educational
process. It was on that account, as well as from his sense of
duty as a citizen and a medical man, and from his firm and
earnest conviction as a homoeopath, that he asked them to
drink to the health and prosperity of homoeopathic hospitals
and dispensaries. (Applause.)

Dr. J. D. Hayward, who was called upon to reply, said he
attributed his selection to the fact that he was associated with
what was, he supposed, during the temporary effacement of
the London Homoeopathic Hospital, the primary homoeopathic
hospital of Great Britain. (Oh!) He did not say it would
not be the primary hospital even when the London hospital
was finished. (Laughter.) They had an excellently-built
hospital, containing 50 beds, where provision was made for
every speciality, even down to the extraction of teeth “ while
you wait.” (Laughter.) One department was ably and
efficiently attended to by their worthy President. He thought
they would all agree as to their best work being that done in
association with their various hospitals and dispensaries, and
especially, he quite agreed, in connection with their dispen¬
saries. In order to show that in Liverpool they did not
neglect the dispensaries, he might mention that in very few
years were there less than 60,000 attendances at those two
dispensaries. (Hear, hear.) He also agreed with Dr. Harris
as to the importance of these institutions from an educational

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1893.

MEETINGS.

705

point of view. Those who had not yet given up the Utopian
idea that they would some day have a school, would find that
a staff of very able practitioners and teachers were being trained
at the various hospitals, and especially at the one in London.
They in the provinces looked forward with great interest to
the new building which was to be raised in the metropolis.
Mr. Harris did not allude to the admirable and efficient
hospital at Hastings. (Dr. Stopford : And at Southport).
An interesting event was shortly to take place at their hospital
in Liverpool. A bed had been endowed and named after their
late friend Dr. Drysdale, and it was to be opened in a short
time. (Applause). He thanked them on behalf of their
homoeopathic hospitals and dispensaries for their good wishes.

Dr. Gibbs Blakb proposed “ Homoeopathic Literature and
our Medical Societies/ 1 He said their societies and their
literature were principally responsible for propagating homoeo¬
pathic truth before hospitals and dispensaries were established.
For many years the British Journal of Honueopathy did good
service in helping forward the cause and obtaining recruits,
and now the Monthly Homeopathic Review and the Homeopathic
World had taken up the running and were rendering equally
valuable assistance. They had amongst them the past and
present editors of those periodicals. (Applause). The old-
established British Homoeopathic Society, which had done so
much in the past, was still doing, under the present manage¬
ment, a very active work, not only in London, where almost
the whole of the practitioners were members, but by stimu¬
lating the establishment of branch societies in the provinces.
To these he looked for the extension and development of the
good work so long carried on by the parent society. He had
much pleasure, therefore, in proposing “ Success to Homoeo¬
pathic Literature and Societies, 11 and called on Mr. Knox
Shaw to respond. (Applause.)

Mr. Knox Shaw said he had been requested at the last
moment by Dr. Neatby, who had done so much, with Drs.
Pope and Dyce Brown, for the Review, to respond in his
absence for this toast. He felt some diffidence in so doing,
because his connection with homoeopathic literature was not
of long standing, nor, he thought he might say, of a very
high order. In every newspaper office, as they might be
aware, there was such a person as the “ devil, 11 and he rather
fancied, as regards homoeopathic literature, he was about
that person. (Laughter.) At any rate, he was very glad to
do what he could for the advancement of homoeopathic
literature. When he came to the latter part of the toast
he began to see the propriety of asking him to respond,
for if there was one thing more than another in which
he was interested it was the British Homoeopathic Society.

Digitized by

Google

706

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homosopathic
Beview, Nov. 1 , 1883.

His friends told him he was “ Society mad.” Dr. Oibbs
Blake had told them what an extremely successful Society
it was, and he was proud to tell them that it was still
going forward. Though they could not possibly hope
to emulate the success they met with last year, which
was phenomenal, they at all events hoped for another
year of progress, and trusted to see the formation of still more
of those branch societies to which Dr. Gibbs Blake turned
with so much satisfaction. He suggested to the Manchester
men the desirability of forming a branch forthwith.

Dr. Dudgeon, who received quite an ovation (the Pbesident
remarking that he could not tell them how disappointed their
American colleagues were that Dr. Dudgeon could not attend
their Congress, while the company greeted Dr. Dudgeon on
rising with : “ For he’s a jolly good Fellow ”), proposed the
healths of the readers of papers at the Northampton Congress.
He said he had attended a good many Congresses, but he had
never read a paper at any one of them. (Laughter). He
had been all the time studying to see how the thing was done,
and he did not think he had made himself master of the art
yet, because he did not feel that he should ever give the Con¬
gress a paper equal to those which they had heard. The
Congress would be no Congress at all if they had no readers
of papers. This time the readers had been only three. Well,
the German proverb said: “All good things are three,”
and those three papers were very good ones. They had a
most eloquent, learned and excellent discourse from Dr. Pope.
Dr. Neatby read an interesting paper on a new remedy for
whooping-cough, the name of which he had forgotten.
(Laughter.) He remembered, however, that Mr. Gerard
Smith had the greatest contempt for the remedy which
Dr. Neatby enthusiastically praised, and used it for the
purpose of flushing his sewers. (Laughter.) Dr. Cash Reed
also read an excellent paper; and they had a discussion apart
from the papers, from which it appeared to be the prevailing
opinion that by suppressing the Directory they would ingratiate
themselves with the rest of the medical profession—that a
Directory was the barrier which stood between them and the
admiration and enthusiastic regard of the Royal College of
Physicians of London. He had lived before the days of
Directories^ and he did not find that their allopathic friends
were very cordial in their reception of them. On the contrary,
he thought they were much more bitter than now. He had
done a deal of fighting in the early days of homoeopathy.
(Hear, hear.) Homoeopaths in some enlightened towns, at
all events in Birmingham, had flourished pretty well along¬
side of their allopathic friends in spite of the Directory . Be
understood that at the Medical Institute homoeopaths were

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1883.

MEETINGS.

707

cordially received, and admitted to all those professional
courtesies that were denied to most of them elsewhere. He
coupled with this toast the name of Dr. Cash Beed.

Dr. Cash Heed, in responding, offered some remarks
suggested by the initials of those who had read papers at the
day’s Congress. P. B. and N. formed a combination with
which they were well acquainted. Taking Dr. Pope’s initial
separately, his thoughts flew to Plymouth, and the word
progress was instinctively suggested. Thirteen years ago-
they had to climb up two flights of crazy stairs to a room
above a chemist’s shop, where they found a handful of
patients waiting for advice. This was at that time their
dispensary. They had then about 4,000 attendances during
the year. No accidents were admitted, because they had no
facilities for dealing with them. At their present hospital the
attendances during the past year were upwards of 10,000. A
large and commodious house had just been purchased, and
fitted up with every necessary appliance. That was indeed a
model hospital, with wards, operating room, &c., and
accommodation for about twenty patients. It was to be
opened on October 10th by the Countess of Morley, and they
would be glad to welcome any of those present. Thirteen years
ago it was said that homoeopaths knew nothing of surgery.
Within the last two or three years many important operations
had been performed at their little hospital, and attended with
the happiest results. They had received and treated 800
accidents during the past ten months alone. Surely all this
meant progress. (Hear, hear.) On the letter B he would
say a word concerning re-union. There was seldom a
re-union untouched by sorrowful memory, and that evening
they could not but miss the commanding figure, so conspicuous
at their last meeting at Southport, of Dr. Blumberg. In
the west their ranks had been thinned by the loss of Dr.
Mackintosh, the pioneer of homoeopathy in that part of
England, and for so many years its able representative. But
a brighter thought was suggested by the word. Not only was
it good and pleasant to meet their brother-practitioners in
this social way, but he might say on behalf of all the-
gentlemen present how delightful it was to welcome ladies to*
their gatherings. (Applause.) The wives of medical men shared,
much of their toil, and but a small portion of their reward,
unless it be the consciousness that much of their husband’s
success lay in their hands. He hoped the number of ladies
present would be doubled next year. The letter N suggested
their next meeting. He thanked them on behalf of the
readers of papers for their kind and sympathetic attention.
For himself, he had learnt much, and could only feel how

Vol. 37, No. 11.

2—v

Digitizi

r^t^OOglC

708

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Not. 1.1893.

important it was to let nothing interfere with their meeting
for similar purposes next year. Through the present toil of
the coming winter his mind would constantly revert to this
delightful day, and look forward with pleasure and anticipated
profit to their next meeting. (Applause.)

The President in calling upon Dr. Cboucher, J.P., Mayor
of Hastings, to propose the toast of 44 Prosperity to the Town
of Northampton,” expressed regret that M. P. Manfield, Esq.,
M.P., one of the Members of Parliament for the borough, had
been prevented from attending through indisposition.

Dr. Croucher said that, representing as he did, in the
capacity of its chief magistrate, the premier Cinque Port , it
was perhaps appropriate that he should propose prosperity to
the ancient borough in which they were assembled amid
such pleasant surroundings. This being his first visit to
Northampton he was unable to speak at length of its merits,
but they were all glad to know of the eminent position
which it had attained as a manufacturing centre ; while
from the earliest times of English history Northampton had
occupied in many respects a prominent position. He
believed their genial old friend, Dr. Clifton, had resided there
for more than forty years, and during that time had done the
work of a dozen men in propagating the truths of homoeopathy
iar and wide in the midland counties. (Applause.) He was
very happy to have made the acquaintance of his Worship the
Mayor of Northampton, and it gave him great pleasure to
propose the toast of health and prosperity to the town, coupled
with the name of his Worship the Mayor. (Applause.)

The toast was cordially received.

The Mayor of Northampton, in responding, said he regretted
that their distinguished Member of Parliament was prevented
from attending. He assured them that the people of North¬
ampton would be very pleased to know that they had
assembled there, and he thanked them on his own behalf for
the opportunity of hearing men of science like themselves
speak concerning the progress of the cause in which they
were interested. They had done honour to Northampton in
making it their place of meeting. Dr. Clifton was no stranger
to the people of Northampton. (Applause.) Whatever might
be the feeling entertained towards homoeopaths in some other
towns, there was but one feeling of universal esteem and
respect in Northampton for Dr. Clifton. He was well known
for his kindly disposition, both to his fellow-men and to the
lower animals. Speaking of the trade of Northampton, the
Mayor humorously pointed out that it was of a kind which
was encouraged by being trodden under foot, and said he
believed that Northampton possessed some of the best shoe
manufactories in Europe. He thanked them for wishing pros-

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1803.

MEETINGS.

709

perity to Northampton, and, in return, he hoped they would
have another prosperous year themselves. (Applause.)

Dr. Dyce Brown proposed “ The Visitors/* and expressed
the pleasure with which they welcomed both ladies and
gentlemen to their annual gatherings. They were glad to see
his Worship the Mayor, Mr. Butterfield, whose influence,
through the Press, was widely felt in that locality, Rev.
J. T. Brown, whose fame as a preacher extended beyond
Northampton, Mr. Adkins, whose reputation as a barrister
was fast rising, and whose literary reputation was already
well established. He (the speaker) possessed a charming
book of his entitled Our County , full of the most racily-
written sketches. They were especially pleased to welcome
the ladies, who furnished the sunshine of their gathering.
They would all admit that the annual dinner had been a
much more delightful gathering since the ladies had honoured
them with their presence. (Applause.)

The toast was received with enthusiasm.

Mr. W. R. D. Adkins, C.C., whose health was drunk in
connection with the toast, responded. He said he had always
found it a most difficult part of the art of lite to interpret
accurately the sentiments of ladies, but he thought he might
venture to say on behalf of those present that they were very
glad to have been present to shew courtesy to the distinguished
gentlemen who formed the Homoeopathic Congress, the
professors of that divine art of healing with which in
practical life ladies had so much to do. There was not a
visitor present who was not glad to have had the same
opportunity, and he thought he was not going too far when
he said that some of the visitors were not only glad to have
been able to shew courtesy to distinguished visitors to
Northampton, but also to shew sympathy and interest with
that particular form of opinion, and those particular
scientific truths with which the name of homoeopathy was
associated. (Hear, hear.) As a humble and sympathetic
spectator of the events of to-day, and one given to occasional
meditation, he had been reminded by the visit of the
Homoeopathic Congress to Northampton, and the position of
homoeopathy at present, of a famous lecture he heard delivered
at Cambridge eleven years ago by Mr. Matthew Arnold, in
which he laid down the doctrine which had since become
rather popular—that of “ the remnant.” If they would seek out
truth, and find out what forces had a future before them, they
must not look among the fashionable opinions of ordinary
people, nor among the solitary crotchets of isolated sages.
They would find them, said Mr. Arnold, in the ranks of
considerable but yet distinct minorities. If they found a number

2 y—2

Digitized by

Google

710

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1883.

of people sufficiently large to have a certain momemturn about
them, and sufficiently numerous not to be overlooked, they
were much more likely to have got hold of valuable truths
than those who lived in ignorant conventionality or pinned
their faith to isolated crochets. He could not help thinking,
as one who sympathized with the history and prospects of
homoeopathy in this country, that the doctrine of “ the
remnant,” as enunciated by so distinguished a professor of
the higher culture, was one which might well be remembered
by the adherents of homoeopathy when reflecting on the way
in which they had been treated by the more conventional
majority whom they had not the pleasure of seeing there that
evening. (Applause.)

Dr. Galley Blackley gave the health of “ The President,”
and referred to the coincidence that he was the first to offer the
right hand of fellowship to Dr. Hawkes when the latter
gained his diploma and commenced to practise. He (the
speaker) went to Glasgow to stay with some friends, just as
he was about to leave Liverpool. He had a letter of intro¬
duction to Dr. Hawkes, and went to his lodgings to see him.
The result was that Dr. Hawkes went to Liverpool to succeed
him, and he thought if ever he had deserved well of any town
he had deserved well of Liverpool for having introduced to
it Dr. Hawkes. Their President had worked his way upward
steadily for almost twenty-one years, and in his special metier
was now almost at the very top of the tree. He had only
one regretful thought, and that was that they did not get more
from Dr. Hawkes’ pen, probably because he had so much to
do. He hoped, however, that as time went on his labours in
other directions might be relaxed, and that he might have,
not otium cum dignitate , but opus cum dignitate , using the term
in a literary sense. (Applause.)

The toast was accorded musical honours, its reception
being marked by the greatest cordiality.

The President, in rising to reply, said if he was embar¬
rassed last year at Southport, when selected to the position
he had filled up to that evening, he was doubly embarrassed
on the present occasion. He thanked Dr. Galley Blackley,
who certainly did him a good turn when he introduced him to
Liverpool, for his kind remarks, and the company generally for
their kind reception. He was exceedingly grateful to them for
the honour they did him in placing him in that position. He
should carry about with him a lighter heart when that day’s
work was over, but he must acknowledge that throughout his
year of office they had supported him much more than he
deserved. He thanked them most sincerely for their kindness,
and thanked all besides who had done anything to make the
position he had occupied a possibility. (Applause.)

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1803.

NOTABILIA.

711

Dr. Hayward (called on by the President as one who had
shown him more kindness than time would allow him to
state), proposed the last toast, viz., “ The Secretary, Treasurer,
and Local Officers.” He spoke of the admirable way in
which the business of the Congress had been conducted, and
the excellent local arrangements, and coupled with the toast
the name of Dr. A. C. Clifton.

Dr. A. C. Clifton, who was received with cheers and musi¬
cal honours, expressed his acknowledgments, and thanked his
colleague, Mr. Wilkinson, for his assistance. He also uttered
the wish that the proceedings of the day might have had the
effect of cementing old friendships and creating new ones.
(Applause.)

Dr. Dyce Brown remarked that Dr. Clifton had taken from
his shoulders almost the entire responsibility for the organi¬
sation of the gathering, down to the minutest detail.

The President said it would be in accordance with their
wish that he should wish their new President, Dr. Galley
Blackley, a pleasant and successful year of office. He asked
them to drink his health. (Applause.)

The President-Elect, who said his election had come as a
great surprise, thanked the members of the Congress in appro¬
priate terms, and said the best reply he could make was to
hope that his health might enable him to discharge the duties
of the office to their satisfaction.

The proceedings then terminated.

NOTABILIA.

CONSULTATION DAY, LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC
HOSPITAL.

Consultations on cases of interest in the hospital take place
on the first and third Fridays in the month, at the hospital,
Great Ormond Street, at 8 o’clock in the afternoon. Medical
men not connected with the hospital are cordially invited ta
be present. Any gentlemen having cases of interest which
they would care to exhibit, or upon which they would like an
opinion, may send their patients on these occasions.

THE DEVON AND CORNWALL HOMEOPATHIC
HOSPITAL.

A very interesting meeting was held in Plymouth, on the
10th ult., when a building, recently purchased by the Committee
of the Devon and Cornwall Homoeopathic Hospital, and under
the transforming hands of Messrs. King and Lister, the former

Digitized by

Google

712

0B1TUABY.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,188*.

being the treasurer of the hospital, converted into what the
chairman said he thought “ might with becoming modesty be
called a model cottage hospital,” was opened with some
ceremony. The history of this institution, from its occupation
of an upper room in 1858, its removal in 1881 to Pnncess
Street, the purchase of a house in Union Street into which
patients could be received in 1888, to its entrance upon the
present building in Lockyer Street, given by Professor Chapman,
was deeply interesting; each step having been necessitated by a
large and rapid increase in the number of patients. Last year
there were no less than 4,061 patients, embracing 10,218
attendances and 8,840 visits by the medical officer to patients
at their homes, and at the same time the supply of hospital
patients was ever on the increase. Hence this last removal,
where no pains have been spared to render the hospital replete
with all modern conveniences and sanitary arrangements.
There are twenty beds in the four wards, with ample
accommodation for operating purposes, dispensing arrange¬
ments, &c.

The ceremony was to have been performed by the Countess
of Morley, a lady whom her husband, Lord Morley, (who
officiated in her absence,) described as being 11 by education and
experience a confirmed homoeopath,” but illness prevented her
ladyship being present. Lord Morley, in an interesting speech,
declared the building open in the Countess’ name ; the Rev. M.
Vickers offered prayer for the divine blessing upon the institu¬
tion, a vote of thanks to the Earl was moved, seconded, and
supported in brief speeches by the Revs. G. B. Berry, W. E.
James and Dr. Cash Reed, and when this was carried his
Lordship was presented by the daughter of Dr. Cash Reed with
a handsome bouquet for Lady Morley. With an inspection
of the premises and the distribution of light refreshments the
proceedings terminated.

OBITUARY.

BASIL BURWOOD.

It is with much regret that we have to record the
death of one of our most promising students. Mr. Basil
Burwood was the only son of our colleague Dr. Burwood,
of Ealing. He was studying medicine at Edinburgh,
and had passed his first professional examination with
honours, besides having taken pnzes in all his subjects
at the University. His teachers have written to his father
letters of sympathy, and speaking of their pupil in the very
highest terms as regards his work and his character.

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1,1693.

OBITUARY.

713

Mr. Bur wood had been ailing for some time, but made little of
it, till be got a chill at Eastbourne, when seriously acute
symptoms supervened. He passed away within a week from
the date of bis chill. We sympathise deeply with bis father
in this heavy blow, shattering the cherished hopes of years.
He was a charming character, and greatly beloved by all who
knew him. Such promising young men we can little afford
to lose.

ALFRED HENRY BUCK, M.D.

It is with deep regret that we have to record the loss of
another colleague in the person of Dr. Buck, of Camden
Town. He had been in apparently perfect health till the
time of his illness, and had read a very interesting paper on
Rheumatism at the last meeting of the British Homoeopathic
Society on the 5th ultimo. He was a few days later attacked
by peritonitis, and passed away after three days’ illness, on
October 14th, at the age of 50.

Dr. Buck was a son of the late Mr. Henry Buck, a well-
known member of the medical profession, who practised
homoeopathy for many years in Camden Town. Our deceased
colleague studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital, where
he gained distinction as a Prize Medalist and received the
appointments of Resident Medical Officer and House Surgeon
to the Hospital. He was admitted a member of the Royal
College of Surgeons in 1867, and during the following year
obtained the license of the Royal College of Physicians of
Edinburgh. In 1887 he proceeded to the degree of M.D. at
the University of Brussels. He was for some years attached
to the London Homoeopathic Hospital out-patient department.
For 15 years he was surgeon to the 17th Middlesex Rifle
Volunteers, and practised at Camden Town and Primrose
Hill for 24 years, having a large and important practice, a
worthy successor to his father, the late Mr. Henry Buck. In
his practice he was most energetic and untiring, and was
much beloved by all his patients, who have been most sympa¬
thetic and affectionate in their consolations to his widow in
this great loss. At the meetings of the British Homoeopathic
Society he was a very regular attendant, and read several
papers there. Only a few weeks ago he published a very
useful and well arranged missionary tract entitled A Few
Facts about Homoeopathy , showing a thorough knowledge of
the subject and appreciation of its scope as a therapeutic
method. He will be much missed by us all, and his genial
kindly manner will render his loss much felt by his colleagues,
whose sympathies will go to his widow in this deep affliction.

Digitized by

714

CORRESPONDENTS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Nov. 1, 1883.

NOTICES TO CORR ESPONDENTS.

*** We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts.
Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. Neatby.

Dr. H. A. Eaton has succeeded Dr. Kennedy in practice at New-
castle-on-Tyne.

Dr. C. W. Withinshaw, of Tooting, has removed to Cromarty House.
Lewes Road, Eastbourne.

Dr. Leo Rowse, lately Resident Medical Offioer at the London
Homeopathic Hospital, has commenoed practice at 114, Upper Rich¬
mond Road, Putney.

There is a vacancy for a young homoeopathic practitioner in one of
the Eastern Counties, of which we shall be pleased to give information.

The meetings of Congress have occupied so much of our space that
we are obliged to defer the appearanoe of some papers of interest and
also of some important letters. For the unfortunate but unavoidable
delay we can only express our sincere regret.

Communications have been reoeived from Mr. Knox Shaw; Mr.
Gk A. Cross ; Mr. Gerard-Smith ; Dr. Blackley (Manchester);
Dr. Wilde (Bath). Lieut.-Gen. Phelps (Birmingham); Dr. Edward
Blake (London).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Sciatic Neuritis. By Robert Simpson, L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S V Bristol:
John Wright & Co. 1893.— The Therapeutics of Cholera. By P. C. Ma-
jumdar, M.D. Philadelphia: Boericke & T-tfel. 1893.-7%/? Clinical
Use of Prisms and the Decentering of Lenses. Second edition, revised
and enlarged. Bristol: John Wright & Co. 1893. Deport of the
Bristol Homoeopathic Hospital and Dispensary , 1892.— The Nurse*
Journal. London. August.— The English Illustrated Magazine. Lon¬
don. October.— The New York Medical Record. August, September,
October.— The Neto York Medical Times. September, October.— The
Medical Century. Chicago. August. September.— Prospecting Chicago
Homoeopathic Medical College. 1893-1894.— The Medical Advance.
Chicago. August, September. —The Homoeopathic Envoy. Lancaster.
September, October. The Minneapolis Homoeopathic Magazine. Sep¬
tember, October. Annals of Electro-Homoeopathy. September, Octo¬
ber. Pacific Cocut Journal of Homoeopathy. San Francisco. August,
September, October.— Archiv.fiir llomdopathie. Dresden. September.
October.— La Homoeopatia. Ciudad. Madrid. September. —Leipziger
Pop. Zeitschrift. fur Horn. September, October. —Homoeopathisch
Maandblad. The Hague. September, October. —De Cholera en hart
Homceopathische Schandtung. By Dr. N. A. Voorhccve Zwolle. 1893.
—The Medical Times and Oazette.—The Homoeopathic World. London.
October.— Medical Reprints. London. October. —The Chemist and
Druggist. London. October. —The Monthly Magazine of Pharmacy.
London. October. —The New England Medical Oazette. Boston.
October.— The, Hahnemannian Monthly. Philadelphia. October. —The
Homoeopathic Recorder. Philadelphia. September. —The Clinique.
Chicago. September.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Poes, 19,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dtcs Brown, 39, Seymour Street, Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr. Edwin A. Nbatbt, 178, Haverstock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould A 8ov, 59,
Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Sf^TJSf 10 ERNEST HART IN AMERICA.

715

THE MONTHLY

HOMCEOPATHIC REVIEW.

MR. ERNEST HART IN THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA.

Mr. Ernest Hart, the editor of the British Medical
Journal , has recently paid a somewhat lengthy visit to
the United States. When in Chicago he lectured the
citizens on the impurity of their water supply; and,
out of the fulness of his knowledge of sanitary engineer¬
ing, he instructed them how they might acquire a
constant supply of the purest water. At Milwaukee he
kindly endeavoured to teach a meeting of a hundred
editors of medical journals how periodicals of this class
ought to be conducted. Later, at the Pan-American
Medical Congress, held at Washington, in September,
he strove to fill the role of censor morum medici , and to
point out to the nine hundred physicians there assembled
how they ought to behave one towards another and,
especially, towards those who practised homoeopathy,
and towards their patients. This was very thoughtful
of Mr. Hart, and showed great consideration for
members of the medical profession, who live and work
at so great a distance from the happy influences of the
British Medical Association, the inspirations of its self-
constituted censor monm (as conveyed in the “ medico¬
legal, medico-ethical ” columns of its weekly Journal) 9
the control of the Royal College of Physicians, and the
rules of the various medico-ethical societies of the
United Kingdom. It may be true that the American
Medical Association has a “ Code of Ethics,” but it is
equally true that the State of New York, perhaps the
most important in the country, will have nothing

Voi. 37, No. 12.

Digitized by

716

ERNEST HART IN AMERICA.

to do with the Association, simply on account of the
narrow-minded and inhumane character of this code.
Mr. Hart describes this want of sympathy with the
Association by saying: “ New York, which is heretical
on the question of consultations with homoeopathy, still
holds aloof.” Probably sympathising deeply with a
body of physicians living at so great a distance from
influences, inspirations, control, and rules so necessary
to living a good professional life, he so far yielded to the
temptation to withdraw himself from “ the ancient paths
of modesty and self-effacement ” as to lecture the mem¬
bers of the Pan-American Congress on the impropriety
of dealing in secret medicines, of medical men advertis¬
ing their own works in non-medical journals, of their
prescribing for patients under the care of other physi¬
cians, of assuming any special designation of a thera¬
peutic method, on the infamy which attaches to con¬
sultations with homoeopaths; and then, after some
elaboration of the objections to secret medicines and
professional advertising, he concluded his homily with
“ a word or two of what is known as the etiquette of
consultation,” of which physicians in the United States,
so far removed as they are from the teachings of the
medico-ethical Britisher, could scarcely be supposed to
know anything! The last sentence of this address is
such a beautiful specimen of the “ modesty and self-
effacement,” from the “ ancient paths ” of which he
deplored the temptations nowadays presented to medical
men to wander, that we must quote it. “ I infer,” said Mr.
Hart, “ from the applause with which you have honoured
me, that the opinions and conclusions which I have
ventured to bring before you have agreed with your senti¬
ments, and are accepted by you sympathetically, and that
you consider them opportune and useful.” What a
privilege the members of the Pan-American Congress
must have felt it to be, that they should have been so
eloquently taught how they ought to behave themselves,
that they should have been reminded how (professionally)
wicked it is to own or use secret formulae, to advertise
for practice, to take opportunities, accidentally pre¬
sented, of “ cribbing ” one another’s patients, and then
to be warned against the degradation—in Mr. Hart’s
opinion—of meeting a homoeopath in consultation, and
of “ a surgeon accepting the responsibility of acting as
sawbones for a quack.” But Mr. Hart’s benevolence

Digitized by

Google

ERNEST HART IN AMERICA.

717

was not restricted to consideration for his supposed
scarcely awakened sense of professional morality of the
audience, for he undertook in addition to enlighten their
intelligence upon the, to him, most hateful of all
subjects—Homoeopathy. This is the way he did it:—

“ We do not believe, and we cannot appreciate, the medical
capacity or fitness to undertake the treatment of disease of
those who hold that drugs which, given internally, will pro¬
duce certain symptoms of disease are the appropriate remedies
for those maladies. For instance, medicines which produce
skin reddening for erysipelas; leucorrhine for leucorrhoea;
syphiline for syphilis. We do not agree that all chronic
maladies arise from syphilis, sycosis, or the itch, and that
medicines act with an intensity proportionate to the infinite
diminution of the dose, or that there is any utility in pre¬
scribing in accordance with these principles, say, a decillionth
of a grain, when we all know that a dose so small, if taken
by every being on the globe, once a minute, would not finish
the grain in thousands of years. Nor again, do we believe
that the activity of medicine increases in the ratio of the
number of the shakes given to the vessel containing it. We
hold that we have nothing in common with those who assume
to base their practice and theory on this kind of
therapeutics.”

That the Editor of the British Medical Journal should
misrepresent homoeopathy in the columns of the periodical
he directs, circulating as it does chiefly amongst those
who are ignorant of homoeopathy, and who do not think
it worth their while to enquire into the correctness of his
account of it, is natural enough. We have, by long use,
become so accustomed to his doing this kind of thing
that we expect nothing else from him ; but to give such
a gross travesty of homoeopathy as genuine truth in a
country where 12,000 of the physicians practise homoeo-
pathically—a country where the Legislatures of twelve
States have entrusted homoeopathic physicians with the
medical education and graduation of future practi¬
tioners of medicine—a country in which the State Medi¬
cal Examination Boards are, in every instance, partly
officered by homoeopathic physicians—a country where
a knowledge of the principle of homoeopathy and of the
results of putting that principle into practice is more
widely diffused than in any other—to endeavour to pass
off such a fiction as this as homoeopathy in a country
so circumstanced is a piece of sheer audacity. Not
satisfied with trying to palm off upon his audience this

2 z—2

Digitized by VjOOQiC

718

ERNEST HART IN AMERICA.

product of his imagination as homoeopathy, he vehemently
declaimed against the physician who met homoeopaths
in consultation for the purpose of diagnosis, and the
surgeon who assisted homoeopaths in operations. The
former, he said, “ would be infamously wrong, and he is
always wrong when he gives the cover of his accepted
position, of his recognised ability, and his professional
sanction to what becomes, under such circumstances, a
dangerous farce or a deliberate fraud.’*

Against the idea of a surgeon performing a difficult
operation upon the patient of a homoeopathic physician,
he is, if possible, more contemptibly bitter still. “ If,"
he says, “a surgical operation meant only cutting,
sawing and sewing, it would be a plausible excuse for
the surgeon accepting the responsibility of acting as
sawbones to a quack. But there is no surgical operation
which does not in its preliminary stages, and may not in
its various phases and sequels, require concomitant
medical consideration and treatment, or in which septic,
constitutional or accidental complications may not arise.
The surgeon cannot honourably, in the interest of his
client, divest himself of the responsibility for the wise
and faithful treatment of these as an essential part of
his operative interference. I have used," he continues,
“ the word ‘ quack.’ It is a word often used now in too
restricted a sense. This is Dr. Johnson's definition of
a quack: ‘ A boasted pretender to arts which he does
not understand ; a vain, boasting pretender * to physic,
one who proclaims his own medical abilities in public
places; an artful, tricking practitioner in physic.’
u This,’’ said Mr. Hart, “ strikes at the root of the
matter now as then. Observe, there is no distinction
between those who have degrees and those who have
none. The great lexicographer makes no distinction;
neither do I.’’ How flattered Dr. Samuel Johnson would
have felt had he been able to look forward to the time
when Mr. Ernest Hart would express his agreement
with him in the meaning of a word! What a record
Boswell would have made of the occasion when the
revelation came to his hero !

Referring to this, the Chicago Post says :—“ When
Dr. Ernest Hart quacks of the wonders of Allopathy, he
is getting dangerously near the line himself.” The
Chicago Herald urges that, “It will not do to call Homoeo¬
paths quacks.” Hence Mr. Hart does not like the

Digitized by

Google

ERNEST HART IN AMERICA.

719

American daily press, and in his Journal vilifies it
accordingly.

The self-congratulatory sentence in which he concludes
the version of his address, published in the British Medical
Journal (October 21)—it is not contained in that given for
the benefit of American readers in the New York Medi¬
cal Record (September 28) or in the October number of
The Forum (New York)—would scarcely prepare one for
the account of the reception of these attacks upon
homoeopathy, and those who practise homoeopathically,
sent to us by a physician residing in Philadelphia, who
says that he was present and heard the whole of the
attack on homoeopathists. ,, Our correspondent tells us
that Mr. Hart “ at that meeting broke through all the
rules of ordinary, gentlemanly and social ethics in his
attacks upon those who entertained any favourable con¬
sideration for homoeopathy. He had to be called to order
by the President of the Congress, having exceeded the
rules of American societies in this regard, and, even after
being so called down, continued to speak for several
minutes. Subsequently he had the assurance to intro¬
duce a resolution or two before the Convention, or a
section of the same, when President Pepper had to call
him to order again and inform him that he was not a
member of the organisation, but simply an invited guest,
and assure him that he had no right to introduce
resolutions, as such rights were only the privilege of
registered members of the Congress.’* Dr. Pepper, the
Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, who thus
exercised his authority as President, is described by
“ Our Special Correspondent ” in the British Medical
Journal (September 28) as “a physician and a gentle¬
man of great organising power, of imperturbable good
temper, and considerable decision of character.”

The report sent to us by our correspondent, widely at
variance as it is with Mr. Hart’s account of the reception
of his address, and with a subsequent description of its
effect, given in the Journal of the 11th ult., is amply con¬
firmed by a passage in the Buffalo Medical and Surgical
Journal , quoted by the Washington National Medical
Review for November. Writes the Editor of The Review:
“ We clip the following from the Buffalo Medical and
Surgical Journal in reference to Mr. Hart’s address:—

“It seems a pity, that the otherwise harmonious pro¬
ceedings of the Congress should have been disturbed by such

Digitized by

Google

720

EBNEST HART IN AMERICA.

an address. However much we may be willing to tolerate a
discussion on ethics in our local societies, we have always
held that a national or International Congress was not the
place to deal with this question. It applies entirely and
totally to the local societies, and Mr. Hast makes a mistake
when he comes to America and drags in such questions gra¬
tuitously, as he did both in Milwaukee and in Washington.”

Notwithstanding this “ a correspondent ” in Mr.
Hart’s journal emphatically supports the self-laudation
of his chief. He tells us that “ almost every sentence
was punctuated with applause ” and at frequent intervals
the lecturer had to stop to allow the rounds of applause
to subside as he developed his argument and illustrated
his points.” And, moreover “ at the close of the dis¬
course the orator received shoals of congratulations
from some of the leading physicians of Cincinnati,
Philadelphia, Boston and all parts of the United States.”
Then again, this correspondent tells us that Mr. Hart
“ in his denunciation of the daily press of America,
openly declared that many of the leading organs
were ‘detestable’ for their venality, the unconcealed
obscenity of their advertisements, the encouragement
and facility which they gave to the obscene vultures of a
debased medical quackery, and for their habitual de¬
rision and defiance of the elementary laws of ethics in
all that related to medical practice and professional
conduct.” This part of the address produced, we are
told, “ a profound sensation.” Is it not a little strange
that of this attack upon the morality of “ the daily press
of America,” which is represented to have been at once
so vehement and effective, there is but one single, and
that very slight, indication in the version of the address
published in the Journal , while to this venality, corrup¬
tion, and so on there is no reference whatever in that
which appears in The Forum, or in The New York
Medical Record! In the Journal he solely alludes
to this matter in the following words:—“Self ad¬
vertisement is the note of the quack. It is as dan¬
gerous to the public as it is hateful to the profession,
for it misleads the masses by substituting easily-
purchased notoriety for merit, and covering by loud talk
and bombast and plausible pretences the emptiness of
the shallow pretender. It covers also with a pseudo¬
respectability the venal corruption by which whole
columns and pages of reading matter of the newspaper

Digitized by

Google

&^S£TvSlt e ERNEST HART IN AMERICA.

721

are very frequently devoted to quack nostrums and treat¬
ment—save the mark!—often of the most fantastic,
false, and dangerous character. It destroys the land¬
marks of honour and reticence when in successive
numbers of the daily and weekly papers are found the
lucubrations of these pests of society, and alongside of
them the interviews, the explanations, and the descriptive
narratives put forth for the public good by reputable
physicians, apropos de bottes , which are but hardly veiled
self advertisement.” In the Medical Record and The
Forum , as we have said, the character of the daily press
of America is not even remotely alluded to!

If Mr. Hart does not like the daily press of America,
neither have some, at any rate, of the leading news¬
papers of that country, as well as some of the chief
organs of medical opinion there, any very great apprecia¬
tion either of him or of his address. One of the latter
—The National Medical Review , published at Washing¬
ton, under the editorship of Dr. C. H. Stowell, in its
November number (of which we have received some
“ advanced sheets”), refers to Mr. Hart’s visit in a
style sufficiently contemptuous and sarcastic to render
the opinions entertained perfectly clear and comprehen¬
sible. We will give a few extracts from these “ advanced
sheets.”

“ We feel greatly honoured in having the opportunity
of gazing upon the face of one who wields the editorial
pen of the greatest medical journal in the world. The
celebrated editor of the British Medical Journal con¬
descended to pay us a visit, and to teach us the
alphabet from his mighty book of learning.

“ We wish to express our gratitude to our British
visitor for telling us how we should behave towards our
brother practitioners, and for informing us that we
should always treat each other as gentlemen. We are glad
that we now know how to conduct ourselves towards
those of other schools of medicine. It is so satisfactory to
know, how we can make the American Medical Associa¬
tion nearly the equal of the one across the water. It
will be our fault now if we do not excel that old and dis¬
tinguished body.

“ The address, which Mr. Hart gave in this city
before the Pan-American Medical Congress, is just such
a one as would be expected from a person who enters his
name on the register of his hotel, as follows:— 1 Ernest

Digitized by ^ooQle

722 ERNEST HART IN AMERICA.

Hart, F.R.C.S., D.C.L., London, editor British Medical
Journal , Dean of St. Mary’s Hospital.’ Of course, any¬
thing coming from so many letters of the alphabet must
carry immense weight with it.” In another passage he is
spoken of as “autocratic, despotic, conceited and self-
important.”

With Dr. Hammond, of Washington, he seems to
have had a somewhat angry correspondence in the
medical press. A reporter of the New York Herald
appears to have got hold of this, to have interviewed Mr.
Hart, and published the result in the Herald . In the
course of the interview he alleged that Mr. Hart charged
Dr. Hammond with being “a private physician who
makes public the facts of his practice.” Upon seeing
this in the Herald , Dr. Hammond instructed his attornies
to demand a written withdrawal and apology, or to sue
Mr. Hart for libel, placing the damages at §50,000.
In reply, Mr. Hart denies that he ever authorised any
one to make the statement objected to, or that he
ever stated anything of the kind to anyone. WTiat the
interviewer’s comments upon this disclaimer may be we
have not heard.

Notwithstanding the scenes at Washington, and the
criticisms of the medical and general press, Mr. Hart is
so anxious that his visit should be thought to have been
a thorough success, to let it be supposed that his esti¬
mate of his personal and professional importance was so
fully recognised, and the value and weight of his public
addresses were so entirely endorsed by every one that,
once more, he sacrifices his disposition to “modesty
and self-effacement ” by addressing a farewell letter to
his hosts through the columns of the New York Medical
Journal , whence some of the most effective passages are
duly transferred to the British Medical Journal of the
4th ult. These are as follows :—

“ I have enjoyed since June the pleasure of a series of
friendly and courteous receptions by the leaders of the
medical profession in the centres of medical education and
activity in this great country, in conference on subjects of
professional organisation, State medicine, and public hygiene.
On each occasion of the addresses which I have been privi¬
leged to give by invitation before large professional audiences
at the American Medical Association, at the Association of
Medical Editors at Milwaukee, the Chicago Medical Society,
the Pan-American Congress, and the State Medical Associa¬
tion of New York, the opinions and views which I have ventured

Digitized by ^ooQle

723

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beriew t Dec. 1,1893.

ERNEST HART IN AMERICA.

to express on subjects, such as waterborne cholera, medical
editing, and medical code, in its relations to professional and
public interests, etc., have been received with plaudits of un¬
usual warmth. They have been emphasised by overwhelmingly
kind expressions of approval from representative men on the
spot, and subsequently at Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Cincinnati, Detroit, and other cities which I have visited
with the Pan-American delegation. I have received more
numerous, more enthusiastic and grateful endorsements of the
views expressed by me in the Washington Congress than of
any other of my utterances on this soil, warmly and univer¬
sally as they have been applauded—far beyond their merits,
no doubt, but with the gracious and widespread cordiality which
makes my visit to America one of the most delightful memories
of my life. Let me now take this last opportunity, since I am
leaving these hospitable shores to-morrow, of expressing once
more the delight with which I have enjoyed this opportunity
of making the personal acquaintance of such great numbers of
my American colleagues. Let me record my deep sense of the
high honour which they have everywhere done me, and my
gratification at their assurances that my visit has not been
without usefulness. Let me add the expression of my respect
and admiration of the marvellous growth and development
of medical skill and education, and of the great medical
institutions in all parts of this vast country. I bear away
with me many treasured friendships and innumerable assu¬
rances of friendly esteem, which I hope will long be continued.
I carry with me to my English home associations and recol¬
lections which will always bind me in gratitude and affection
to the great English-speaking profession on this side of the
Atlantic, whose brotherhood we all in Great Britain so highly
prize, and with which, now for many long weeks, I have
been privileged to be in close, happy and never-to-be-forgotten
communion.”

If we may place any reliance on the Washington
National Medical Review , the Buffalo Medical and Surgical
Journal , and the other sources of information to which
we have referred, Mr. Hart must be one of the most
easily gratified of guests ! We are thoroughly assured
of one thing by the extracts we have made from the
Journal, viz., that Mr. Hart is quite “up-to-date/' and,
being so, is convinced that “ modesty and self-efface¬
ment ** are, so far as a medical editor is concerned,
altogether “ played out/’ and that to be a real all-round
success, or at any rate to appear to be so, which answers
the purposes of some persons equally well, the true maxim
to follow is L'audace, Vaudace , toujours Vaudace.

Digitized by

Google

724

ON OUABAIN IN PERTUSSIS.

By Edwin A. Nbatby, M.D.

Assistant Physician, London Homoeopathic Hospital.

(Bead at the Annual Homoeopathic Congress at Northampton, Sept. 28.)

It is now four or five years since our colleague Dr.
Percy Wilde introduced to the notice of the profession a
new drug, from a quite exceptional source, for use in
that distressing malady, whooping cough. Ouabain ,
for so the drug is termed by Europeans, is prepared
from the leaves of the carissa schimperi or an allied
plant, and constitutes the active principle of the poison
used for their arrows by the warlike Somali of East
Africa. The enterprising firm of Messrs. Christy of
London have imported this poison, and have prepared
the crystals and solution used in this country. To
their courtesy I am indebted for being able to show you
specimens of the preparations.

The crystals, represented by the formula C 30 H 46
0 12 i, are rectangular, white or colourless, transparent
and slightly bitter. They are not easily soluble in cold
water, but dissolve readily in hot water and sparingly
in alcohol.

Beyond a passing allusion to the subject in extracts
from current literature, I am not aware that ouabain
has been noticed in homoeopathic periodicals either in
this country or abroad.

Dr. Gemmell, of Glasgow, who wrote the first im¬
portant paper on the therapeutics of ouabain , quotes
from Gley and Armand, of Paris. I have read the
account of their investigations on frogs, rabbits and
dogs, and they are of even less service in determining
the use of the drug in disease than such experiments
commonly are. In brief they tell us that in frogs gr.
kills by arresting the heart’s action. No cardiac dis¬
turbances occur in dogs, but doses of gr. stimulate
respiration, while larger doses slow and then stop the
breathing. One sixty-fifth of a grain is said to be fatal
to man. In its toxic action it closely resembles strophan -
thus , with which it is botanically allied.

Dr. Gemmel’s own observations (Brit. Med. Jnl. 9 v ol. i.,
1890), however, are valuable, and subsequent writers
corroborate, in the main, his conclusions. He states
that given in the first stage ouabain cuts short an attack
of whooping cough; in the second it reduces the fre-

Digitized by

Google

ON OUABAIN IN PERTUSSIS.

725

quency and violence of the paroxysms; the third hastens
convalescence. The bowels remain regular, the urine
is increased in quantity and perspiration occurs. Bespi-
ration may be reduced even as low as 16 per minute.

I do not advance ouabain as a homoeopathic remedy,
for our knowledge of its physiological action is too small
to enable a conclusion to be arrived at as to its mode of
action. That it is a valuable remedy in whooping cough
I have no doubt, and for this reason I think it is probably
homoeopathic. But I readily allow that this is hardly
scientific evidence ! It is in the hope that other observers
will investigate the question that I have ventured to
bring before you a paper obviously incomplete and
introductory.

One of the most recent cases I have, gives a favourable
illustration of the action of ouabain . Eric E., set. 8£,
had been whooping for 9 or 10 days, he was very sick,
vomiting with every cough, and his face showed to an un¬
usual degree the puffy appearance seen in children with
whooping cough. The fits of coughing occurred on an
average every hour, and the night’s rest was in con¬
sequence extremely disturbed. He had had the usual
pertussis remedies and good nursing. Ouabain was
commenced at once, 8 drops of a solution of being
prescribed every two hours. After a few doses the
vomiting became less frequent, less distressing, and
in two days it had ceased. In a week’s time from the
first exhibition of ouabain , the whooping had practically
ceased, though occasional paroxysms of cough occurred
for a short time longer.

During August or September of last year, a, lady
wrote up to me from the country describing a paroxysmal
cough which her little girl aged 5 had had for twelve or
fourteen days. I at once prescribed ouabain , whooping
began in two or three days, but only lasted some four
or five days and the cough speedily disappeared. This is
the shortest case of whooping cough, which was unmis¬
takably so, that I remember. How much this was due
to the ouabain I cannot unfortunately prove. But the
instances in which the drug has appeared to act promptly
have been too many for me to doubt its effects in many
cases. One of the last cases I saw at the hospital before
leaving for my holidays was that of a child aged six, who
had whooped for seven days when she was brought to the
out-patient department. When she returned, having

Digitized by

Google

726

ON OUABAIN IN PERTUSSIS.

taken ouabain in doses of 10 3 0g gr. every three hoars, I
was told that there had been very little whooping for
several days, and the patient was in every way improved.
Epistaxis, which had been present, ceased at once, and
the appetite became good.

It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that every
case is cut short in two or even three weeks. Daring
this year, when I have been giving the drug more fre¬
quently, and unfortunately very indiscriminately, a few
cases have lasted four or even five weeks. But even
these cases have been mild, and on the whole free from
complications.

In two cases only do I remember capillary bronchitis
or broncho-pneumonia having set in. It has appeared
at once necessary to suspend the treatment on account of
an unusually rapid development of cyanosis and a
diminished expulsive power. One of the patients in
whom this happened was a boy of four, and the other a
baby boy of about 12 months. Unusual pallor lasted
some time in both these cases. I have never seen
marked slowing of respiration or quickening of pulse,
even where doses up to gr. have been frequently
repeated. My experience corroborates that of Dr. Gem-
mell as to the infrequency of diarrhoea ; but I should be
sorry to ascribe this specially to the ouabain for it is not
within my knowledge that diarrhoea is of frequent occur¬
rence in pertussis even when other (homoeopathic) reme¬
dies are being given.

In two instances the paroxysms appeared to be
aggravated by doses of gr., while improvement
occurred on lessening the dose.

Discussion.

Dr. Percy Wilde said he suggested the use of ouabain in
whooping-cough and some forms of asthma, after reading of
the effects of the drug when used as an arrow-poison by the
natives of Obock. It caused severe spasm of the respira¬
tory organs in the victims shot with these arrows. It would
be in accordance with the homoeopathic law, and also with
Claude Bernard’s dictum respecting the action of nerve
stimuli, that a small dose of the same substance should slow
the respiration when excited by disease. It was hi3 know¬
ledge of the homoeopathic principle which enabled him to
suggest its use. Physiological experiments on frogs had since
proved that the small dose did produce slowing of the respira¬
tion, and he had been interested in reading the report in the
medical journals of the success met with by those who had

Digitized by

Google

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

727

used it in whooping-cough, a disease which he had few oppor¬
tunities of seeing in his practice. It was those who had used
the drug in the minute dose of grain who had accom¬
plished good results, while those who had tried to increase
the effect by increasing the dose reported failures.

Mr. Gerard Smith said he made a trial of ouabain some
three years ago in a number of cases of whooping-cough, and
came to the conclusion that there was nothing homoeopathic
about it at all. The very smallest dose he could give acted as
a kind of sedative to the cough, and a very unsatisfactory one,
and when enough was given to produce a decided result the
effect produced on the heart was such that he had to give it
up. In the end he uncorked the bottle and put the contents
down the drain, as being very dangerous indeed to meddle
with. (Laughter).

UTEEINE DEVIATIONS AND THEIR AUXILIARY
TREATMENT.

By W. Cash Reed, M.D., C.M. Ed.
Introduction.

For long I have felt dissatisfied with the usual treat¬
ment of so-called “ uterine displacements,” and have
for a twelvemonth set myself to inquire whether there
be, or be not , a more excellent way of dealing with these
essential disorders of the female sex than by the more
usual forms of pessary and plug, to which we have
become accustomed. It is undoubtedly true that in an
occasional case the application of an indiarubber ring,
e.g ., leaves nothing to be desired, and one is disposed to
cry “Eureka,” and to feel for the time that one's
dissatisfaction has been ill-judged. Time passes and
other cases arise in which failure is only too apparent,
and one’s successes stand conspicuous beside one’s
many defeats. I do not propose to weary you with a
description of the causes of non-success. First and
foremost perhaps, a tender or inflamed ovary must be
held responsible, it will not bear the pressure of a
pessary, however slight this pressure be. Of course
there are many other conditions which contribute to a
like unsatisfactory issue. I only mention that which in
my own experience has been the most frequent.

At our Hospital and Dispensary—the Devon and
Cornwall Homoeopathic—we have a large number of
uterine cases which demand careful study and treatment,
and it is principally during the evenings devoted to such

Digitized by

Google

728 UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

cases that I have gained the experience which I venture
to lay before you this afternoon. I think it best to say
at the outset that this paper proposes to deal with some
mechanical aids alone in the alleviation of uterine
deviations. That medicines are powerful auxiliaries to
treatment no one can deny, and as I, for one, am
abundantly convinced. As, however, the oculist treats
errors of refraction by the proper adaptation of glasses,
so the gynaecologist must be prepared to treat errors of
uterine position by the suitable application of support,
calculated to maintain at once a 'physical and a physio¬
logical equilibrium.

Frequency of Deviations. —It is not necessary to
plead the importance of a right understanding of this
class of cases as justification for occupying your time
just now. Their wide prevalence both at home and
abroad—more especially in the Tropics—the protean
symptoms to which they give rise, and the many reflex
ailments resulting therefrom more than justify our
closest attention. I have just referred to the prevalence
of uterine disorders in the Tropics , and have a word or
two to say on this point. I am indebted to my friend
and former colleague, Dr. Seelenmeyer, of Melbourne,
for some notes with which he has been good enough to
furnish me. Any who know our distinguished confrere
will recognise the authority with which he speaks by
reason of extensive experience in these special cases in
the Antipodes. The causes of uterine disease which he
specially refers to are three. (1st.) Subinvolution , which
I mention but to dismiss with a word of caution as
regards treatment. Beware lest laceration co-exist, and
in treating the former remember to treat first of all
the latter. The means , viz., by Emmet’s operation, do
not come within the scope of this paper. (2). Riding:
Where this exercise is carried on so extensively as it is
in the Colonies, no wonder that it should have a very
injurious effect in certain cases, especially when we
remember the early age at which menstruation begins,
often at 11 years or younger. Want of rest, too, during
the “ periods" has much to answer for. (8). Relaxation ,
owing to heat in summer. Sudden climatic changes
cause congestion, and the uterus gets over-balanced.
“ Often,” says Dr. Seelenmeyer, “ a frightfully hot wind
is succeeded right away by a pretty cold one,” and if, in

Digitized by ^ooQle

nXS^SSTlSu^ UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

729

a patient dressed in light costume, the catamenia be
present, cellulitis is very apt to occur.

The term “Deviation.” —You will observe, gentle¬
men, that I have called this paper, “Uterine Deviations.”
This advisedly, because the term is comprehensive, and
being so, lends itself with peculiar suitability to a class
of cases which are essentially due to one prime factor,
viz., want of balance. This want of balance is, of course,
due to great number of causes , which vary according to
the special deviation under review, and are too numerous
to go into within the limited space of this paper. My
desire just now is not to speak of each separate deviation in
particular, but rather to generalise, and to endeavour to
show the points of contact between the various forms of
displacement, rather than their points of divergence.
To this end, let us enquire what are the chief causes of
this want of balance. I think they will be found to be
mainly, the action of gravity and misdirected ultra -
abdominal pressure. Permit me now to give an example,
familiar to each one of us, as illustrating these forces
acting perniciously, and then proceed to discuss the
practical lessons derived from their study in their appli¬
cation to treatment. A patient consults us for some
“ bearing-down,” some difficulty or delay in micturition,
leucorrhoea, and probably also, pain at the “ periods.”
We suspect a deviation and proceed to examine. The
forefinger comes too soon into contact with the os,
which looks forward, the vagina is found to be thrown
unnaturally into folds, the fossa of Douglas is oblite¬
rated, and we find filling that space, and occupying the
sacral concavity, a tender fundus uteri. In Diagram
No. 1 is shown, after Auvard, the arrangement of parts
dependent upon retroflexion of the uterus, the jamming
of the fundus into the sacral concavity, and there main¬
tained chiefly by the pressure of the abdominal viscera
above. The pressure also upon rectum and bladder
is observed. This diagram fitly shows the general
incarceration of the pelvic organs in such a deviation,
and I have taken the liberty of directing your attention
to this well-known pathological condition, because of its
bearing upon what I am about to put before you. As
to the causation of this state of things, perchance a
little congestion, from one of the many causes of the
latter and consequent weight, began the chain of events,
and gravity thus came into play. Intra-abdominal

Digitized by

Google

730

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

pressure further aided and abetted the morbid process,
and now we have before us a well-established case of
retroflexion, with prolapse. What then, is to be done
as regards treatment ? We deem it desirable to ad¬
minister an anaesthetic, with the object of “ reduction,”
as it is somewhat ponderously called. The patient
lying in the left obstetric position and under the anaes¬
thetic, we introduce once more the examining finger,
somewhat more freely now that the parts are completely
relaxed, and find to our astonishment that the uterus
is nearly, if not exactly, in its normal position, and we
are almost disposed to doubt if an error of diagnosis have
not been previously made. What I have thus described
has too often happened with me to be without its
teaching, and from the lessons learnt by this apparently
trivial circumstance, I have ventured to formulate this
paper, and to devise a method for more effectually
dealing with uterine deviations in general. What has
occurred to give rise to this spontaneous cure ?

Essentially two things: (1) Atmospheric pressure .
Air has been introduced into the vagina, by which intra¬
abdominal pressure has been diminished.

(2). Gravitation has come into play, so that our lightest
manipulation—an almost unconscious impulse to the
fundus by the finger—has caused the former to assume
once more its rightful position. Proceeding now to argue
from the less to the greater, how much more advantageous
for the calling into play of these two forces, viz., atmo¬
spheric pressure and gravity, would the genu-pectoral
position be ?

And here it is but fitting that one should pause to say
a word in admiration of some of those who have given
an impetus to this particular form of gynaecological study,
viz., the postural treatment of displacements. I would
call to your minds the names of Marion Sims, in America,
whose duckbill speculum speaks volumes of the inventor’s
appreciation of the rational treatment of deviations; of
Campbell, also in America, of whom I shall have occasion
to speak by-and-by. The names of Yerrier, Bouilly,
Auvard, and Lefert in France, and of Schultze, in Ger¬
many, also come conspicuously to mind.

I must now come to the practical treatment of the test
case put before you, and in the first place let me again
ask your attention to Diagram No. 1. As clearly shown
here, the vagina, especially in virgine, is to be regarded

Digitized by

Google

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

731

essentially as a potential cavity, and as such it acts as a
barrier to the effectual treatment of uterine deviations.

In Diagram No. 2, I have sought to show the genital
canal of one in the genu-pectoral position, its patency
caused and maintained by the adaptation of a Sim’s
speculum. Air fills the space completely, and passes
freely in and out through the ostium vaginae. Figure S
is after Campbell, to whom I have before alluded ; per¬
mit me to say, however, that it is a long way after this
writer, for the copy of his diagram, to which I have had
access in Munde's Gyncecology , shows a terrible distortion
of the human figure, in a quite impossible position.

Here then is shown a retroverted uterus in about rneso-
section, the fundus occupying the sacral concavity, and
the cervix the potential vaginal cavity. The intestinal
viscera here seen are represented as it is supposed, in
their position, at a given moment of time when the body
is in the act of assuming the knee-chest posture, before
they shall have fallen forwards in obedience to the dic¬
tates of gravity. Before passing on to the next diagram,

I will ask you to assume that the uterus here represented
is in the third month of pregnancy, and is, as shown,
incarcerated in the sacral concavity. I ask this so as
the better to illustrate the action of the two forces alluded
to above. We have doubtless, however, all known the
same effect as that immediately to be described, pro¬
duced in the case of the non-pregnant organ. To cure
the malposition the patient has been placed in the pos¬
ture represented, and a Sim’s speculum introduced, as
in diagram No. 2. This permits a rush of air into the
no longer potential cavity. At the same moment the
abdominal viscera falls forwards in obedience to the law
of gravity. What now has occurred to the uterus ? That
organ has not been touched, even in ever so slight a
degree, yet it will be found to have executed what Lefert
very graphically describes as “ nn movement de bascule .”

Its fundus has glided gracefully and imperceptibly
through part of the arc of a circle. The vis a fronte
is the rush of air into the vagina, the vis a tergo the
falling forwards of the abdominal viscera dragging the
uterus with them.

And now to the practical application of what has been
said. In casting about for some contrivance which
would combine at once the two essentials of treatment,
viz., the permanent inflation of the vaginal canal with

Vol. 37, No. 12. Digitize&sy-Google

732

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

air and the maintaining upwards and forwards of the
fundus uteri in opposition to the intra-abdominal
pressure, I accidentally came across the figure of an
indiarubber ball pessary. I had not heard of such
before nor have I since known of any practitioner who
has used one, nor did any lecturer on gynaecology in my
student days recommend them.

It seemed to me that here was the right sort of thing,
however crude. Before going further however, in the
discussion of the efficient pessary, let me observe that I
am aware that Yerrier in France, has contrived various
gymnastics for a patient suffering from displacement in
order to bring into play the action of gravity and the
effect of posture. It is also well known that Campbell,
in America, has advised the frequent admission of air
into the vagina by the patient herself, in order to
overcome a displacement, and the sufferer is advised to
resort periodically to the genu-pectoral position and to
separate the labia more sud, or to use a tube to allow the
admission of air into the vagina with the same object in
view. This plan does not commend itself at all to me;
there is something allied to indelicacy in it. Moreover,
it is in the highest degree important to keep the patient’s
mind from her troubles and to divert the attention.
This treatment would have precisely the opposite effect,
and I have never advised a patient to resort to it, how¬
ever certainly it may be based upon sound principles.

I venture however, to think in what I am about to
describe and show will be found an instrument which
meets the three-fold need of these cases, viz.: (a) the
distension of the vagina with air; (b) the maintenance
of the right pqsition of the uterus, when once this has
been attained by the method already referred to; (c) the
prevention of the injurious effects of intra-abdominal
pressure. I obtained, accordingly, some of the ordinary
india-rubber inflating air pessaries, some circular, some
pear shaped, of which I show you examples, and pro¬
ceeded to use them in cases of retroversion with prolapse,
of retroversion without prolapse, and of procidentia uteri.
To a certain extent they acted well, that is to say, the
pressure symptoms on rectum and bladder were not
apparent as is the case frequently with other forms of
pessary, because the india-rubber ball gives to the dis¬
tended viscus, be it rectum, or bladder, or both, and regains
its normal shape when this pressure is withdrawn. The

Digitized by

Google

E^&lSf 10 UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

733

ball pessary however, did not support the misplaced
fundus in cases of retroversion, not even as well as an
ordinary ring will frequently be found to do, and more¬
over the ball soon became highly offensive. Hence,
some modifications were essential, and the first point
gained was by having a secondary and smaller air cavity
superadded to the large one, as shown here in Diagram 4.
Fig 5 shows it in situ. This second ball is to fit into the
fossa of Douglas, and support the fundus above. How
now was the pessary to be purified and kept pure without
disturbing its position ? I devised a spiral raised india-
rubber ridge with this object, and shall refer to it imme¬
diately. You will observe, too, that there is a tube
traversing the diameter of the pessary, and which does
not communicate with its interior in any way. This is
to convey the passage of all excretions, and is so adjusted
that they pass through it in obedience to gravity, the
upper end of the tube lying opposite to the os uteri, and
thus receiving all secreta from that organ. Further, the
tube is so placed that the lower opening lies close to the
vaginal orifice and may be easily felt on introducing the
finger through the ostium vaginae. Guided by the finger,
the nozzle of an Eguisicr’s irrigateur is introduced from
time to time into this lower end, either by the patient
herself or by an assistant, and a weak solution of warm
Condy allowed to traverse the hole. Owing now to the
spiral cord of india-rubber above referred to, the fluid
finds ready access to all parts of the sphere, which it
thoroughly cleanses, irrigating in short the whole surface
of the pessary, and of the vaginal canal also.

This spiral has a still further advantage in that it
tends to retain the pessary in position, and this because
it is not made of india-rubber, of which the transverse
section is circular, but of which it is square , or nearly
so. Thus one gains an advantage by opposing to the
vaginal wall a soft rectangular surface, which tends to
increase friction, and thus lessen any tendency to slip.
In both pessaries there is a small pocket in the upper
part, the object of which is to facilitate introduction by
inserting the point of a sound into it.

Lastly, as regards inflation . This is done by means
of an air syringe through the long tube, which has a
stop-cock at the end. I am indebted to Messrs. Bichard-
son and Co., of Leicester, for carrying out instructions,
which they have done with the utmost care, yet many

Digitiz^j t^-Go

734

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

and long delays have been unavoidable, and these, it
must in fairness to myself be confessed, have somewhat
hampered one’s efforts. Experience of the pessary,
however, as far as it goes up to the present time, leads
me to be more than satisfied with it.

I am well aware that in this paper I have omitted to
refer to many points of vast importance in uterine
pathology, and without a thorough appreciation of which
it were useless to attempt to decide upon the advisability
of the pessary described, or indeed, of any pessary in a
given case. So few cases of deviation are uncomplicated
that it behoves us often to deal with the complication
first and leave the actual displacement for the time to
take care of itself. How frequently for example a dis¬
placement is associated with a laceration—as before
mentioned—and possibly with erosion or with some
ovarian trouble (prolapse, inflammation, cystic disease,
&c.) In such cases these require attention, and the
successful treatment of the deviation will depend in a
very large measure upon the right dealing with the
complication.

To conclude, gentlemen, the chief advantages which I
venture to claim for this pessary are :—

1. It is essentially scientific, in that it follows nature’s
indications.

2. That it is elastic and yielding, and hence adapts
itself to the changing form of the cavity in which it lies.

8. Whilst it retains the uterus in position, it still
allows much of the support to come from the natural
ligaments.

4. That it permits the uterus to conform to the
various motions of the body.

I have now to thank you, gentlemen, for your kind
attention to this paper, and to observe that we must
beware of orer-much treatment with pessaries, lest
perchance a case of re£ro-version be “ cured ” into one
of ante- version.

Plymouth, Sep. 28th, 1898.

Discussion.

The President said they must all have listened with the
greatest interest to Dr. Cash Beed’s presentation of the sub¬
ject, and as there were members present who made a special
study of this form of practice they would naturally look to
them to initiate discussion.

Dr. Dyce Brown said the paper had been a very interesting

Digitized by

Google

1^. 7 iST?8&“ C UTERINE deviations.

735

one, and at the same time had fulfilled an important require¬
ment in being thoroughly practical. The question of pessaries
had long been a debateable one, and there had been a good
deal of controversy as to whether their use was beneficial or
otherwise. Opinions were still divided, but he thought the
majority was clearly in favour of the use of certain pessaries
as means of support—not as in themselves a means of cure,
but as giving medicines a fair chance. They were useful on
the same principle as a splint for a fractured limb. The
question they had rather to consider was what were good
pessaries and what bad ones. A great many of those brought
forward were essentially bad in principle and unsatisfactory
in their results. The principles which Dr. Cash Reed had
enunciated were essentially correct. What they wanted was
to get the air by the vagina as an external pressure, and if
possible an alteration in the position of the intestines above
the uterus. Any instrument which could satisfactorily accom¬
plish that must undoubtedly be of great service. The system
described by Dr. Cash Reed was a very ingenious one. It was
free from the objections which many pessaries had, of being
hard and bulky, and causing distension of the cavity from
their hardness and non-yielding qualities. It was, on the
contrary, very soft and yielding, and could not, he thought,
cause any distension of the vagina beyond what it was per¬
fectly well able to bear. The double ball also involved much
advantage which the single ball could not give. The method
of irrigation was extremely ingenious. He was not in the
least surprised to hear that Dr. Cash Reed had found the
apparatus exceedingly useful. He should like to try it in
certain cases, as he thought it promised to be a very useful
form of pessary, and, as he had said, it was certainly extremely
ingenious.

Dr. Madden remarked that this pessary, although intro¬
duced to them as an artificial means of getting the air
pressure, certainly could not do so. It filled up the cavity of
the vagina. They did not get the column of air which would
produce the elastic pressure of fifteen pounds per square inch
from the atmosphere. It could not more give them the air
pressure than if it were made of solid indiarubber.

Dr. Cash Reed said he did not mean to imply that this
pessary did give the air pressure. That was impossible. The
air pressure was obtained when the parts were open, as he
pointed out in his paper. All he claimed was that it main¬
tained the cavity in such a position that its continuous action,
by distending the walls, caused the uterus to remain in the
same position. He never claimed that it actually caused the
air pressure.

Dr. Madden said there was a point which he presumed

Digitized by LjOOQle

736

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

Dr. Cash Reed had thought so obvious that it was not neces¬
sary to mention, but it was important in introducing a pessary
from below to instruct the patient to avoid pressure from
above. Under the usual conditions of a woman’s dress, when
a pessary was put in, the womb was between two pressures.
(Hear, hear). To his mind, it was more important to take
the pressure from above than put in the pressure from below.

Dr. Bukfobd reminded the Congress that when, soon after
the commencement of the present century, the pessary era
came in, there was hardly a single affection of the uterus that
the pessary was not said to put right. That stage of intense
enthusiasm subsided. Then they had men of the type of the
late Dr. Matthews Duncan, who when once asked what his
principal occupation was in London, rose to the occasion
by replying that what he chiefly did was to take out pessaries
that other men had put in. (Laughter). This question of
pessary-mongering had been threshed out again and again in
London. .The latest discussion took place so recently as a
couple of months ago at a society of which he had the honour
to be a member, the British Gynecological Society. There
the unanimous opinion was that it was utterly impossible to
conduct successful special practice without the persistent use
of properly adjusted pessaries. He (the speaker) began
his medical career with a very wholesome scepticism as
to the desirability of the frequent use of pessaries. A
great part of his latter experience consisted in observing
for himself how necessary it was in a great many
instances, how absolutely dangerous in some instances,
to apply pessaries for the relief of uterine deviations.
He had seen cases—not one, two, nor three merely, but
manifold cases—in which the patients had expressed themselves
in unmistakable terms as to the immediate relief afforded by
the introduction of a properly-adjusted pessary, a relief which
no amount of medicinal treatment seemed to procure, but
which was permanent so long as the pessary was retained.
When patients came and said that they had experienced a
great deal of relief from the pessary, and did not feel nearly so
well without it, and when vaginal examination convinced that
it was chiefly a uterine deviation to be treated, that man was
a very hopeful mortal indeed who would continue to do
without the instrumental aid which a very little mechanical
genius would afford both to him and the patient. While,
however, there were very many kinds of uterine deviations
which were capable of being easily remedied, some were
immensely difficult to treat successfully. Dr. Cash Reed
very wisely left out of his purview any allusion to the
chief class of difficulties which beset one in the reduction of
uterine deviations, viz., those accompanied by ovarian

Digitized by

Google

737

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

adhesions to the fundus, or adhesions of the fundus to some
contiguous part, generally the sacral wall. Such cases were
very common and very difficult to manage, and all contra¬
indicated the introduction of the pessary. The patient came
back, sometimes in a day, sometimes in an hour, saying that
life was more intolerable than ever, and begged them to take
the instrument away. What was to be done? No amount of
distension of the vagina or of insertion of an inflated india-
rubber ball would have any effect in cases of this kind.
In the use of such measures they were restricted to that
kind of case, comparatively easy to deal with—the case
of simple deviation of the uterus capable of easy re¬
duction, and therefore capable of being somewhat readily
maintained by such means in the normal position.
He had not had the advantage of trying the excellent instru¬
ment shewn by Dr. Cash Reed, but he had for some years
tried one very analogous—the old Cariel indiarubber ball, a
very simple thing, but one which, in the majority of instances
where it was desirable to apply it, answered the purpose very
well indeed. There were very many refinements and fine
adjustments about the instrument introduced by Dr. Cash
Reed, which would commend themselves to all. He (the
speaker) felt very much inclined to try it at an early oppor¬
tunity. Still he wished to suggest that they were not limited
to this means of correcting uterine deviations, even if they
chose to use a pessary. There was a very great deal
that the much-belied ring was able to remedy in the
phenomena of the feminine organism, and a properly*applied
Hodge, with or without a pad, would end the woes of
a great many women who would otherwise find their
lives unbearable. Quite recently a young lady of twenty
came to him. For something like seven or eight years
she had been a victim of chronic sciatic pains and
pains in the back—in short, the usual category of pains to
which they were accustomed in such cases. She had been
told she had congenital dislocation of the sciatic nerve, chronic
sciatica, and what not. What she really had was retroflection
of the uterus, which was very easily rectified in the ordi¬
nary way, and the uterus maintained in position by the
ordinary Hodge pessary. Two days after that was applied
the girl’s pains vanished; her sciatica entirely disappeared.
This was done with the ordinary pessary. The one objection
to this class of ball pessary was that it did not allow the vagina
to return to the status quo . It maintained it in a state of
chronic distension, it induced atony of what muscular tissue
there was in the vagina, and he could not see that the
introduction of a globe such as this could allow the uterine
ligaments to return to their normal vigour and tone. He

Digitized by

738

UTERINE DEVIATIONS,

was convinced that a normal perinaeum and tolerably
tonic vagina were the two best pessaries any woman
could have, and anything over and above these ought
to be simply transitory and ephemeral. The proper idea of a
pessary was that of a properly-applied splint. There were two
types of pathological condition which led to uterine deviations,
and he was convinced that they were two perfectly distinct
types. It was necessary to recognise them in giving medicines.
One was that condition of general atony of muscular fibre
which they so frequently saw after parturition, in the
abdominal walls. They found the uterus flabby, not necessarily
bulky, but twisted into any position practicable. It was not
necessarily overcharged with blood, the circulation might be
tolerably satisfactory, but still the uterine tone was defective.
The application of the constant current, in the majority of
cases, would bring about all that was necessary io convert the
uterus into a healthy organ. There was another deviation
which was conditioned almost wholly by defective circulation.
No doubt there was a condition, both of the vagina and uterus,
in which the lax tissues contained very much more blood than
was usual or normal. The whole parts became succulent. No
amount of pessary-mongering would remedy this unless
accessory methods be used. The same principle as had been
advocated by Dr. Cash Reed might very well be applied to the
ordinary Hodge pessary. The upper end of the Hodge might
be easily distended, and the lower end of the lever arms made
as inconspicuous as possible, and all the support that was
necessary would be given. Of course, one was bound to
admit that an immense amount of ingenuity had been
displayed during the last ten or fifteen years in the
manufacture of pessaries, but he found when in Germany that
the tendency there was to use fewer and fewer pessaries in the
treatment of uterine deviations, and more and more to adopt
pelvic massage. Over there they had ladies who practised this
massage treatment. The patients were relegated to them,
and they certainly did the thing remarkably well. A patient
who had come in with very marked procidentia would go away,
after a few week’s treatment, without a pessary, happy and
rejoicing. He had tried the same plan now and then. It
took up a good deal of time and gave a good deal of trouble,
but when faithfully carried out he believed that it would beat
any pessary yet invented. (Applause.)

Dr. Stopford said in Southport they had a good deal of
gynaecological work, through what cause he was unable to
explain. As regards pessaries, he had almost come to believe
that they were a delusion and a snare, and he trusted almost
entirely to the hot douche and sitz baths. If the cases would
not yield to treatment of this kind, he generally placed them

Digitized by ^ooQle

Itol&SxFhflSt 1 * UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

739

in the hands of a specialist and gave him credit for what he
did.

Dr. Jagiblski said he hardly knew whom to congratulate
more on his remarks on the subject of pessaries, the reader of
the paper or Dr. Burford, who had just given them in abbre¬
viation the history of pessaries and of his own experience.
He agreed entirely with Dr. Burford in the opinion of the
Continental progressists, that all pessaries were undesirable,
although temporarily necessary; but he thought that the
greatest advantage in deviations of the uterus and the sur¬
rounding organs was to be obtained by massage, internal and
external, and bimanual; and, after having been occupied with
this subject for over ten years, he was pleased to state that
the results obtained by thorough massage in uterine deviations
and intra-pelvic sufferings had been very satisfactory, some¬
times beyond expectation. He had mostly followed Brandt’s
suggestions, and he had found that these manipulations,
after a few sittings, were borne by the patient with great ease.
From the first they were followed by soothing of pain and
alleviation of great discomfort. In the first figure, for
instance, of Dr. Cash Reed’s diagram, it was easily seen how
the fingers of the hand employed internally had to slide along
the back of the os uteri in order to try to separate the two
walls, i.e. t the posterior wall of the cervix from the posterior
portion of the body of the uterus and the agglutinations which
might be encountered; at the same time placing the other
hand flat on the corresponding abdominal wall outside, pres¬
sing it downwards towards the internal fingers, and so com¬
pelling the uterus to stretch out into a more straight line, and
by degrees do away with the retroflexion and replace it into
its normal condition and position. They were, of course,
aware that during these deviations the walls of the uterus
suffered more on the posterior side, where the body and neck
touched in full length ; and that the posterior wall, with its
internal mucous membrane, touched the opposite side of the
mucous membrane of the anterior wall of the womb; that
this produces a corresponding thinning of the tissue of the
wall of the uterus, and that the further treatment must be
directed towards the strengthening of those parts of the tissue
by further appropriate manipulation of the uterus itself and
the ligaments and surrounding tissues. By pressure, friction,
kneading and irritation of the uterus they were enabled to
arrest haemorrhage after confinement or in uterine tumours,
to bring on absorption of exudations and swellings. In some
cases they were obliged to introduce a finger into the anus,
and from here they could, by putting the other hand on the
hypogastrium, make sufficient movements, such as succussion,
vibration, and oscillation, as were necessary to obtain the

Digitized by

740

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

desired results upon the intra-pelvic organs, the neck of the
bladder, the hsemorrhoidal plexus, etc. The examination of
the uterus did not require the tedious introduction of the
speculum in dealing with deviations of the uterus. They
were able, by pressure on the pelvic nerves and on the diseased
ovaries, to immediately arrest paroxysms of great suffering
from ovarian hysteria, as shown by Brandt, Professor Charcot,
Georgii, etc. The manual replacement of the uterus was often
very difficult and tedious, but by perseverance with the lifting
movements and the manipulations inside the pelvis they were
able to succeed in attaining their object. His experience in
the treatment of deviations, prolapsus, &c., had led him to
believe that many women who had suffered for years, and
others who depended always on rings, pessaries and other
supports, might be perfectly cured and enabled to dispense
with all these mechanical contrivances, which so frequently
caused them constant discomfort. All the younger members
of the profession would do well to make themselves acquainted,
both theoretically and practically, with the use of these
massage movements. They would find such treatment, in
combination with other means, very useful in their private
practice in many chronic and painful internal and external
complaints. They would not object to the use of movements
in pregnancy and uterine complaints, nor would they readily
feel inclined to employ orthopaedic instruments for the cure of
their patients; while they would not have to depend upon
ignorant rubbers, shampooers and bone-setters, but would be
enabled themselves to arrest the progress of many diseases.
These few observations he had thought appropriate as an
addition to Dr. Burford’s concluding remarks on massage-
treatment instead of the use of pessaries. Dr. Burford’s
statement in reference to Continental experience, and his
recommendation to those present to resort to massage in the
treatment of uterine deviations, were, in his (the speaker's)
opinion, the best and most practical advice that had been
given during the discussion that had just taken place.
(Applause.)

Dr. Wolston joined in congratulating Dr. Cash Reed upon
the pessary he had introduced, as he felt sure that in certain
cases it would be very useful. He did not say in all cases. It
was quite true that so long as it was inserted the vaginal wall
was permanently distended, but there were a great many cases
where the maintenance of the uterus in position was of im¬
mense importance. He had no doubt Dr. Matthews Duncan
did good by the crusade he carried on against pessaries. He
(Dr. Wolston) knew a lady who once went to see him, and
from whom he withdrew a pessary. She asked him what was
the matter with her. His reply was: “ There is nothing the

Digitized by

UTERINE DEVIATIONS.

741

Beriewf DgS^I^IbSs.

matter with you. Go home, and don’t you let doctors fiddle
with you. My fee is two guineas. Good morning.” It was
all very well to send one’s patients to a specialist if necessary,
but there was nothing in which the ordinary practitioner
could score a greater success, or, on the other hand, appear to
greater disadvantage, than by the proper management or mis¬
management of these cases. Anything that would assist them
in rectifying the condition of the uterus and keeping it in
position, was of great value. He had found immense benefit
in cases of retroflexion, where the uterus was almost always
hypertrophied, from a preliminary course of vaginal douches,
followed by the introduction of glycerine plugs with a little
carbolic acid and perhaps some sulphate of alum in the solu¬
tion. He had found this of immense benefit where repeated
abortions had been going on. They might not all recognise
the value of internal douching with medicated water, but he
had found no place so beneficial as Ems. The very mild
saline waters of Ems were exceedingly valuable in this class
of cases. Last year he had mentioned to the Congress an
exceedingly interesting case of hystero-mania, in which abla¬
tion of the ovaries had been followed for a few months by
decided dismissal of the fearful attacks from which the lady
suffered. Only three days ago he had met Dr. Halliday
Croom, who operated, and who said he had heard from the
patient constantly, and she was in the enjoyment of perfect
health. She was now living on a fruit farm in California,
and was in absolute health, after having for eight or nine
years suffered from attacks of mania which eclipsed anything
they had ever met with in their previous practice.

Dr. Robebts referred to the value of the waters of Harro¬
gate, and said Dr. Krauz, of Wiesbaden, described the same
results as having been obtained by the use of the sulphur
waters there. He was proceeding to enlarge on the subject,when

The Pbesidknt gently intimated that the Congress was dis¬
cussing “ Uterine Deviations.”

Dr. Robebts : I was thinking more of the Ems waters.

The Pbesidbnt : That is a Continental deviation. (Laughter).

Dr. Roberts passed on to point out how, in a case of retro-
flexed uterus, when released from what appeared to be holding
it back, it came up with quite a jump. It seemed to have a
natural tendency, when the withholding influence was re¬
moved, to return to its proper position.

The Pbesident added a few remarks. One saw, he said, a

f jood many of these cases, and he could confirm what Dr. Bur-
ord had said as to the adhesions being the principal source of
difficulty. As for treatment, a surgical rest applied to the
uterus was of the greatest possible service. The question
naturally suggested itself, how often do you depend upon

Digitized by

Google

742

UTERINE DEVIATIONS. “aJItewfSSSoiwu

pessaries ? One could hardly give figures, but the answer was,
not very often. It was perfectly astonishing what medicines
would do, such as stannum and sepia , and so on, but of course
they must have a start. He had used the ball pessary, and
the most signal service it ever rendered him was in a difficult
case of retroversion of the gravid uterus. They wanted to get
the uterus into position, and keep it there for a time if they
could, but afterwards they would find the homoeopathic medi¬
cines, properly selected, of the utmost value. Perhaps the
female genital part of the Cypher Repertory, which they owed
almost entirely to the late Dr. Drysdale, was about as good
a work as they could have at their elbow. (Hear, hear).

Dr. Cash Heed, in reply, remarked that what had been
said as to pressure from above was undoubtedly of the utmost
importance. In the course of his paper he made reference to
a case of tight lacing, especially with the object of emphasising
the point referred to, but he omitted it in reading the paper
in order to save time. For the very interesting remarks of
Dr. Burford he personally felt extremely grateful. They
tended to enlarge one’s views, and give one a fuller and
deeper understanding of the treatment of this special class of
cases. Dr. Burford referred to the effect in cases of adhesion.
He ventured to think that in occasional cases (he did not say
frequent cases, he would say not many, but he felt sure in
some) this kind of support had been of great comfort to the
patient. How long it would have to remain in situ , what
alterations would have to be adopted with regard to it, and
what auxiliary treatment besides, were outside the scope of
the present discussion. At the same time, he fully acknow¬
ledged that there was no form of external support which met
the majority of the cases to which Dr. Burford had alluded.
He thanked them for the moderate language in which they
had couched anything they had felt it incumbent upon them
to say derogatory to this particular form of pessary. At the
same time he wished to point out that he did not for a moment
venture to claim, he had not the audacity to claim, that this
would do more than meet the demands of a certain number
of cases. He had, however, seen cases in which it had been
the means of giving comfort and a tolerable existence to per¬
sons who had been in the greatest discomfort before the appli¬
cation. He had been particularly interested in what had
been said on the subject of massage in relation to uterine
disease generally. The reason, as it seemed to him, that
they could not carry out this form of treatment oftener was
that they had not the facilities for doing so. He was per¬
fectly sure it was a very valuable form of treatment—the one,
perhaps, above all others, from which the best results might
be expected, and which would probably by-and-by be the
most frequently resorted to. (Applause).

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1, 1883.

REVIEWS.

743

REVIEWS.

Messrs. Keene <& Ashwell's “ Physician's Diary and Case Book."
1894.

We have much pleasure in noticing the above for 1894, and
heartily recommending our colleagues to obtain a copy. It
is of the greatest use for daily work.

Modem Household Medicine . A Guide to the Mode of
Recognition and the Rational Treatment of Diseases and
Emergencies of Daily Life. By Charles Robert Fleury,
M.D. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. London:
E. Gould & Son. 1898.

Dr. Fleury’s work is probably known to most of our readers,
so that we shall do little beyond informing them that a new
edition is published, which claims to be up to the level of
our present day knowledge. After reading a number of these
popular works which are submitted to us from time to time,
we conceive that the great difficulty in compiling them is to
arrive at a sound judgment as to what to say and what not
to say—as to what subjects to introduce to the lay reader and
how to introduce them. In this we cannot say that Dr.
Fleury has been more happy than authors of similar produc¬
tions usually are. Opening his book at random we come
upon a paragraph headed “ Paralysis of the Insane.” This is
a sufficiently uncommon disease and one so unlikely to be
recognised by the public that no one would have complainedhad
it been omitted altogether. It serves, however, the useful
purpose, with other similar material, of swelling the size of
the volume, and we will, for the moment, concede its right
to a place in a domestic medicine. We should have thought
it a much more useful piece of information to the public to
warn them that the grandiose ideas common in the earliest
stages of general paralysis, were the beginning of a serious
bodily and mental disease, than to state merely that it is “ a
form of gradually increasing paralysis, with loss of mental
power.” Again, it is a somewhat speculative assertion that
the complaint is due to “ gradual softening of the brain,”
which can never be any use to anyone (should it ever be
proved to be true), while a plain statement that the patients
sometimes develop dangerous mania might be a valued pro¬
tection to those concerned. The therapeutic information
conveyed is sound, although the doses recommended are, to
say the least, unnecessarily large. With the general hygienic
and dietetic sections we in the main agree.

Digitized by

Google

744

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dee. 1,18BS.

MEETINGS.

HAHNEMANN PUBLISHING SOCIETY.

The animal meeting of the Hahnemann Publishing Society
was held at the Guildhall, Northampton, on Thursday,
September 28th, prior to the business of the Homoeopathic
Congress. Dr. Hughes, of Brighton, president of the Society,
took the chair, and the members present included Mr. Harbis,
Dr. Stopford, Dr. Hawkes, Dr. Croucher, Dr. Croucheb, Jun.,
Dr. Burford, Dr. Dudgeon, Mr. Bowse, Dr. Powell, Dr.
Madden, Dr. Neatby, Mr. Knox Shaw, Dr. Roberts, Dr. Geo.
Clifton, Dr. Wolston, Mr. Norman, Dr. Stonham, Dr.
Hayward (Secretary and Treasurer), &c.

Proceedings of the Year.

Dr. Hayward gave an account of the proceedings of the
Society since the last Annual Meeting. In accordance with
the request recorded in the Minutes, he applied to each of the
members for a renewal of his subscription, in order to provide
funds for printing the “ Ear ” chapter of the Repertory and
the new edition of the Organon . Out of 104 members only
61, or not many more than one-half, responded to the call,
although he had written to the defaulters several times. He
had, however, succeeded in procuring fourteen new members.
The Society therefore now consisted of 75 members, this
number, however, being not many more than half the number
at one time belonging to it. There being thus only about
£100 at the disposal of the Treasurer, which was not sufficient
to print both the works offered to the Society, the Publishing
Committee decided to print only the new edition of the
Organon , prepared by Dr. Dudgeon, and by him presented
to the Society. This new edition had therefore been
printed, and each member had been supplied with a copy.
Three copies were presented to the author, fifteen copies had
been supplied to libraries and editors, nine had been sold by
Messrs. Gould & Son, and 100 had been taken by Messrs.
Boericke & Tafel, of America, in sheets, so that 806 copies
remained warehoused at the printers, at a charge of 10s. 6d.
per annum for warehousing, and 4s. 6d. for insurance. At
the last meeting the members were promised also the “ Ear ”
chapter of the Repertory , but the printing of this had been
postponed from want of funds. The result had been so dis¬
appointing to the gentlemen engaged in this work that they
had suspended operations. Partly, also, for the same reason,
the article on Colocynth , prepared by Dr. Ellis, of Liverpool,
for the Materia Medica , Physiological and Applied , was pre¬
sented to the British Homoeopathic Society, and was published
in the April issue of that Society’s journal. As to the thera¬
peutic part of the Repertory , that Dr. Hughes had promised

Digitized by

Google

Be view, Deo. 1,

MEETINGS,

745

M>p*thio

1898.

to edit if gentlemen would assist in collecting clinical material
from the journals, Dr. Hughes reported that the only promise
of help he had received was from Dr. Neatby, who offered to
look over the Monthly Homoeopathic Review from the 21st
volume onwards. Dr. Hughes had, however, promised to go
on with the work after he had finished the Index to the Cyclo¬
pedia of Drug Pathogenesy . The Secretary had communicated
with Messrs. Lahiri & Co., of Calcutta, respecting the Society’s
publications, and hoped shortly to succeed in opening an
account with that firm. The income of the Society amounted
to £87 17s. 10d., which, with the £81 10s. lid. remaining
from last year, made a total of £119 8s. 9d. The expenditure
amounted to £108 8s. 4d., leaving a balance in favour of the
Society of £16 5s. 5d.

Work Past and Present.

The President said there could be nothing but a general
feeling of satisfaction at receiving the Organon in the form in
which Dr. Dudgeon had now given it them. It had all the
merits of his former translation, with a good many superadded
thereto. The translation had been revised—it exactly repre¬
sented the original in the body of the work now, instead of
having a good many added notes, as was the case with the old
edition, while in the appendix there was a mass of most valuable
matter illustrating the text of the Organon in its various
editions, and the growth of Hahnemann’s mind and opinions
on the various subjects connected with homoeopathy. So
that it was more than a new edition. It was not an edition de
luxe in its form, but in its substance and material it was, and
they were all very grateful to Dr. Dudgeon for the pains he
had taken in preparing it—(hear, hear)—pains which, as they
knew, were entirely gratuitous and disinterested on his part.
On the other hand, they must all regret the non-appearance
of the “ Ear ” chapter of the Repertory. First of all, they
were sorry on account of Dr. Hayward, who had taken a
great deal of trouble in its preparation, and so diligent and
enthusiastic a worker deserved all the recognition that could
be given him. On their own account they were also sorry
that they could not refer for their “ Ear ” symptoms to a
collection which they knew would be correct and free from
anything untrustworthy. The result was, however, inevitable,
for they would all agree that the Organon was the more
urgent of the two. They hoped now that special subscrip¬
tions would come in sufficient to enable them to publish the
“ Ear ” chapter as soon as possible.

Dr. Hayward said at the present moment they had £84
in hand. He was expecting £5 or £10 from Calcutta, and
when this had come in they would have nearly enough to
publish the “ Ear ” chapter, leaving a very small debit balance

Digitized by

Google

746

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1883.

which they might trust to the sale of the Organon and other
works to provide for.

The President : Then I may congratulate the Society on
the prospect of seeing ere long the “ Ear ” chapter in print.
Passing on to refer to the so-called therapeutic part of the
Repertory , Dr. Hughes made an urgent appeal for more energy
to be thrown into this work. Except for the reply from
Dr. Neatby, they were at present without workers.

Dr. Hayward said he heard from Dr. Ellis that their
colleagues at Bristol went through the British Journal for
clinical cases some time ago, and he supposed the result might
be forthcoming if needful; while Dr. Ellis wrote that he began
wading through the Monthly some years ago, but gave it up, as
the results only came up in so few cases to his perhaps high
standard of what constituted a cure.

The President said under the circumstances he was unable
to do anything in the matter, as his time was fully occupied
with the Cyclopaedia of Drug Pathogenesy. The latter was more
than half done, and in another year or two he hoped to have
it complete and published.

Dr. Hayward, in reply to a question, explained that they
only asked for a new subscription when about to issue a new
work, or when works to the value of the subscription had
been issued to the subscriber.

Dr. Hayward asked the Society’s opinion on the work on
Colocynth , presented by Dr. Ellis. The Society was unable
to publish it, and presented it to the British HomoBopathic
Society. It was now being published in their Transactions.
Some opinion should be given as to the plan of the work.
The Materia Medica , Physiological and Applied , was really the
Society’s plan for Materia Medica work, but it was objected to
as being too elaborate. Dr. Ellis had adopted a different
plan, and another had been proposed by Dr. Ord, of
Bournemouth.

The President said, with all due respect to the work of
both those gentlemen, he thought their plans hardly came up
to the standard which the Society had adopted. He thought
their work must be more primary, as it were, and more
exhaustive. It must be a complete treatise upon each drug,
with all the materials required, more like Dr. Hayward’s
Crotolus , if they could imitate so ideal a representation of a drug.

Dr. Hayward said Dr. Ellis had added a therapeutic
commentary and also therapeutic applications. Dr. Ord
dropped both, and merely gave them the schema epitomised
and concentrated, which was a mere act of memoiy, and he
was afraid that such boiling down as this of their Materia
Medica would not commend itself either to their homoeopathio
or allopathic colleagues.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Deo. 1,1893.

MEETINGS.

747

Dr. Hughes : He calls it a handy reference book of pyovings,
and hopes to have all the drags ready in a short time. It is
a private matter on Dr. Ord’s part, and will be welcomed on
its own footing.

The President urged that the new translation of the
Organon should be advertised. Were it known not only to
the homoeopathic body but to the profession at large, that a
new and well-edited edition of Hahnemann’s Organon was
to be obtained at a moderate price, a good many would be
desirous of having it. He proposed that it be advertised
regularly in each of their three journals, the Review , World
and Journal of The British Homoeopathic Society for twelve
months.

This was agreed to.

Election of Officers.

The election of officers was then proceeded with. Dr.
Hughes was unanimously re-elected President, and Dr.
Hughes proposed as Vice-President, Dr. Bawkes, which was
seconded by Dr. Stopford and carried. Dr. Hayward was
unanimously re-appointed Treasurer and Secretary, and a
vote of thanks was accorded to him on the motion of the
President, seconded by Dr. Dudgeon who acknowledged Dr.
Hayward's offers of assistance in publishing the Organon .

Next Meeting.

It was decided that the time and place of the next meeting
should be those of the next Homoeopathic Congress.

BRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC SOCIETY.

The first Meeting of the Session was held on Thursday,
October 5th, at the College of Organists, Bloomsbury.

Mr. Hugh Cameron, the President, occupied the chair.

The President, on the occasion of the first meeting of the
Jubilee Session of the British Homoeopathic Society, heartily
welcomed the members. He expressed his gratification at
the realisation of the hopes which animated the little band of
devoted men who rallied round Quin fifty years ago when he
laid the first stone of the foundation of the Society, and of
which band he was the sole surviving member. He felt that
the present prosperous condition could not be more enthusi¬
astically hailed by those present than by those first members.
He trusted that the lofty spirit of honour which ruled them
would be the guide of every colleague whom the Society
admitted to its ranks. He alluded in feeling terms to the
circumstances which caused him to occupy the chair on this
occasion, and how he had been urged to accept the office by
his old friend Dr. Yeldham. He refrained from entering fully
on the history of the career of the Society ; that would come

Vol. 37, No. 12.

3—B

Digitized by

Google

748

MEETINGS.

Monthly Homceopathie
Review, Dee. 1,1803.

more appropriately on the anniversary of the foundation, the
10th of April. Mr. Cameron referred to the great increase in
membership of the Society, and said that it now numbered
193, and that no less than 79 of these had joined in the years
1891—1892—1893, and expressed the hope that before the
jubilee anniversary (April 10th), the total would exceed 200.
He put this question: “ How am I most effectually to
advance the interests of the Society.” The short and practical
answer to that question was: 1st, by doing everything in
one’s power by throwing one’s self, heart and soul, into most
earnest efforts to increase the number of the members ; and
2ndly, by spreading as widely as possible the circulation and
perusal of the Journal of the Society . He believed that in no
other way could we promote the progress of the Society at
this moment so effectually as by steadily prosecuting these
two aims. There are many declared homoeopathic practi¬
tioners scattered over the kingdom, who decline to enter our
fold; they are isolated, solitary, without a colleague any¬
where, exposed to every kind of petty annoyance from pro¬
fessional opponents and obliged to bear their insults in silence.
A child can snap the feeble twig that he draws from the
bundle, while no ordinary force can injure it when bound up
with its fellows in the faggot. “ Union is strength.” Besides
the great professional advantages that flow from co-operation,
membership confers lasting friendships, social intercourse and
fellowship of untold value and enjoyment. He next referred
to the intimate relation between the Hospital and the Society,
and felt that congratulations might be offered on the position
of the former to-day, both as regards the educational work
undertaken there, and on the present position of the new
building.

A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Cameron, on
the motion of Dr. Yeldham, seconded by Dr. Edward
Hamilton.

Dr. Buck read his paper on “ Our Triumphs and our
Failures .” He had to confess that he was unable to record
many brilliant cures with one remedy in a high potency. He
quoted Dr. Ernest Sansom as to the pemiciousness of such
hasty generalisations as the dicta, similia similibus curentur 9
and contra ria contrariis as they are based on the treatment
of symptoms. He, Dr. Buck, considered Dr. Sansom took
too narrow a view of the word symptom, and urged that
both objective signs such as the dull note on percussion, and
the subjective signs described by the patient were really the
symptoms of a disease. Dr. Sansom alluded in particular
to the absence of symptoms in some forms of heart disease.
Dr. Buck adduced cases to illustrate this point.

Case 1 was a little child two years old, with no objective

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homnopathio
Review, Dec. 1,1808.

MEETINGS.

749

symptoms, and who yet had a marked pericardial bruit which
he considered to be of congenital origin. When twelve she
had an attack of influenza with broncho-pneumonia, with
an accession of the peri-cardial mischief. She made a good
recovery under the influence of medicines which he indicated.

Case 2 was that of a lad aged 8 with acute arthritis and
pericarditis.

Case 8 was an interesting case of rheumatic endo-carditis
and pleurisy in a man aged 26, with most severe symptoms,
who ultimately made a good recovery. The salient points
being the mental condition, the absence of any real acute pain
during the pleurisy and pericardial attack, and the absence of
any friction sounds. Dr. Lees {Lancet, 1898) observes that
pericarditis may exist and run its course, especially if it
accompany pleurisy and pneumonia, without any rub being
observed. He (Dr. Buck) compared the past with the present
treatment of pericarditis, and quoted Dr. Lees to the effect
that ice is a very effectual local application in pericarditis.

He thought that it would be interesting to have the experience
of the London Homoeopathic Hospital on the treatment of
these diseases.

The next case was one of articular rheumatism in a man aged
28, complicated with hyperpyrexia and meningitis. During
the stage of delirium and unconsciousness stramonium was
used in alternation with phosphorus with marked benefit. He
had not obtained any good results in his chronic cases from
hryonia 80. He alluded to a case where treatment at Matlock
had removed the rheumatism.

Dr. Byres Moib thought the absence of symptoms was due
to want of care in making observations. He thought there
was a congenital pericarditis. In rheumatic fever pericarditis
occurred most frequently in children under ten. He spoke
strongly in favour of the salicylate treatment of rheumatism.

Dr. Galley Blackley felt a comparison was needed of the
treatment of acute rheumatism with the truly homceopathically
indicated remedies and the salicylate . He, too, thought there
was a congenital pericarditis and instanced cases in support of
this. In obstinate rheumatic cases he advised Matlock,
Buxton or Bath or the use of the Turkish bath.

Dr. Vincent Green detailed a case lately in the hospital
treated by the salicylate .

Dr. Dyce Brown referred to the Hon. Alan Campbell’s
observation on the use of lycopodium in these cases.

Dr. Hughes has lately lost his first case of hyperpyrexia
which he thought was due to a co-existing pneumonia; the
patient was progressing well under aconite and spiyelia and
then the temperature suddenly rose to 107° when she died.

Mr. Dudley Wright questioned the value of comparative

3 B—2

Digitized by VjOOQlC

760

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1888.

statistics as it was difficult to ensure that all the conditions
were the same, as hospitals varied in the length of time they
allowed patients to remain in the wards.

Dr. Goldsbrough had examined a number of patients who
had left the London Homoeopathic Hospital after treatment
for acute rheumatism and had found the hearts free from
disease.

Mr. Harris confirmed the use of lycopodium , and spoke of
the use of mercunus in those cases where no relief followed
sweating.

Dr. Dudgeon alluded to a case of rheumatic fever with
hyperpyrexia and delirium, which yielded to agaricus .

Dr. Epps said from personal experience sweating brought
no relief.

Dr. Thomas quoted a case lately under his care where he
had found mercurius vivas 8x helpful. He had used salicylate
of soda in occasional doses to relieve pain whilst continuing
hryonia.

Dr. Lough urged the use of vcratrum viride in the early stage
of pericarditis. He deprecated in cases of acute rhematism
going outside pure homoeopathy for the remedies.

Mr. Knox Shaw wished to draw attention to the injurious
effects of the salicylate in causing haemorrhages, and referred
to the abstracts of paper by Dr. Shaw, of Guy’s Hospital.

Dr. Yeldham wished those taking part in the discussion had
mentioned the dilution used.

The President, as a very old practitioner, urged that what¬
ever could be done by allopathic medicines could certainly be
done by homoeopathic treatment, and a great deal more. He
thought the old school were not so enthusiastic in the use of
the salicylate as they were.

Dr. Buck having replied the meeting closed.

NO TABIL IA.

NORWICH HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.

Annual Report, 1892-8.

The year has been free from any extensive epidemic, and the
health of the city has, on the whole, been unusually good, as
shown by unusually low death rates recorded. Taking this
condition of things into consideration, the number of cases
treated has been fully maintained. The home visits have
been 1,669, while the consultations at the Dispensary have
been 2,297.

The example set by Messrs. J. and J. Colman, as large
employers of labour, is worthy of imitation, in supporting a
charity which does good and extensive work amongst the

Digitized by LjOOQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1898.

NOTABILIA.

751

labouring classes, and it is hoped that support may be forth-
coming from other firms.

The financial position is good, a small balance to the
current account being carried to next year, and a substantial
sum being invested.

THE LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL
NURSING INSTITUTE.

At the present time, when the work of the Hospital is being
actively carried on in the temporary Hospital, at the
rate of about 500 in-patients and 10,000 out-patients per
year, it is most essential, both for the income and the reputa¬
tion of the hospital, that the private nursing work should be
fully maintained.

The present staff of nurses is about 40, including nurses for
medical, surgical, special surgical, and monthly cases.

Unfortunately the receipts from that source were much less
in 1892 than in 1891.

It is the earnest hope of the Board of Management that
this very important branch of the hospital work, which
can be fully carried on under the special arrangements
made during the re-building, will be well supported by the
members of the medical profession, upon whose requisitions
for nurses it depends for its success.

BRISTOL HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL AND DIS¬
PENSARY.

Report for 1892.

The work of the Dispensary was actively carried on during
the past year in both branches of the Institution. There were
1,068 fresh patients at Brunswick Square, and 809 at
Queen’s Road, making 1,877 in all, an increase of 74 on
1891. The attendances were 6,554, an increase of 700, and
there were 220 visits paid to patients at their own homes,
who were too ill to attend at the Dispensary. Amongst the
latter there were two deaths only, one from cancer, the other
from phthisis.

These figures show the increasing appreciation amongst
the sick poor of the mild system of medical treatment prac¬
tised here, and the very small percentage in mortality.

CONSULTATION DAY, LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC
HOSPITAL.

Consultations on cases of interest in the hospital take place
on the first and third Fridays in the month, at the hospital,
Great Ormond Street, at 8 o’clock in the afternoon. Medical

Digitized by

Google

752

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Eeriew, Dee. 1,ISM.

men not connected with the hospital are cordially invited to
be present. Any gentlemen having cases of interest which
they would care to exhibit, or upon which they would like an
opinion, may send their patients on these occasions.

DRYSDALE MEMORIAL BED.

On Tuesday evening, the 24th of October, a representative
assembly of Liverpool citizens gathered together in the Tate
Ward of the Hahnemann Hospital of the city to present the
memorial — an endowed bed—which had been raised to
perpetuate the name and services of the late Dr. Drysdale.
The Lord Mayor of Liverpool (R. D. Holt, Esq.), who was
accompanied by the Lady Mayoress, occupied the chair, and
after stating in a few words the object of the meeting, called
upon the Rev. Canon Armour to make the presentation. In
doing so, Canon Armour said that the cost of the memorial
had been defrayed by hundreds of persons in Liverpool and
other parts of the country whose hearts had been stirred by
an earnest desire to perpetuate the name and services of Dr.
Drysdale. This honoured man had for 45 years been
connected with the medical science of Liverpool. His name
was held in high respect throughout tbe length and breadth
of the land, and his memory was one of which
Liverpool ought to be proud. He was an ideal
member of the profession whose powers and skill were
devoted to the relief of human suffering. Possessed of un¬
wearied capacity of investigation, and an inexorable logical
faculty, he was a bom man of science, sitting like a little
child at the feet of nature, and desiring only light and truth
for their own sake. Never, however, did he allow his work
to undermine his faith in God and man. He did his work,
and then fell asleep full of years and honour. For the pur¬
pose of perpetuating his memory £1,000 had been raised by
subscriptions to endow a bed in that hospital—a more fitting
memorial than a statue or a monument of brass, since it was
a living force which extended aid towards weakness.

The Lord Mayor, in accepting the presentation on behalf of
the hospital, observed that having for 80 years known the
distinguished man they were met to honour, he could from
personal knowledge speak of Dr. Drysdale as so genial, kind-
hearted, and confidence-inspiring a man that one had seldom
met his equal. He had left a name which had added to the
lustre of the medical profession of the city. In handing over
the gift to the authorised officers of the Society he felt that in
their charge it might safely be left. His Lordship then
presented to Mr. Bacon a brass plate bearing the inscription,
“ Dr. Drysdale Memorial Bed. Endowed by Public Subscrip¬
tion, 1893.”

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Beview, Deo. 1.1883.

NOTABILIA.

753

Mr. S. S. Bacon (Chairman of the Hospital Committee), in
response, said that the committee sincerely trusted that
through what had been done that day many afflicted men
would be restored to health and their prdinary avocations.
He might say that they were inaugurating not one but three
free beds—one being provided by the noble but untitled donor
of the hospital and placed in the Tate Ward, another by the
Misses Moore, each being of the value of £1,000. They were
most urgently needed, and would be extremely serviceable.
Mr. Bacon proceeded to read a letter which had been received
from Mr3. Drysdale, and which concluded thus—“ It com¬
forts and pleases me very much that this memorial of my
husband should be given by his friends in a way that would
have been most acceptable to himself; and that in years to
come his name should be associated with the relief of
suffering is the best memorial of one whose life and talents
were spent in so doing.’*

Dr. Hayward, on behalf of the medical staff, expressed the
grateful feelings with which they received the memorial, and
proceeded, at the request of the committee, to give the following
simple, but clear, explanation of what is understood by
homoeopathy—the practice introduced into Liverpool by Dr.
Drysdale. He spoke as follows:—As it has been intimated,
we are met together to do honour to the memory of the late Dr.
Drysdale, who was, so to say, the father of the hospital, inas¬
much as he was the originator of the first homoeopathic
medical institution in this town, the original homoeopathic
dispensary, out of which the hospital has grown. He was
also to a great extent the life and soul of the institution from
its birth in the dispensary, which only a few of us remember,
to its maturity, winch all of us now see in this beautiful, com¬
modious and sanitary building. As is well known Dr. Drysdale’s
starting the homoeopathic dispensary was the signal for his
persecution by the medical men of the town. They did all
they could to deprive him of his membership in the Medical
Institution, and to hound him out of the town. However,
his quiet, persistent and scientific advocacy of the truth of
the homoeopathic law of medicine, together with his continual
demonstration of its practical efficacy and superiority over
the old system, convinced several of the then practitioners of
the town—myself amongst the rest—of its truth, disarmed
the persecution, and ultimately won for him the universal
respect and honour of his professional brethren. The
majority of the practitioners of Liverpool, however, refused,
and still refuse, to examine into the merits of the
homoeopathic way of using medicines. They also did what
they could to prevent the public from doing so, so that even
now, after nearly 50 years, I fear only a small portion of the

Digitized by

Google

764

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1803.

people of this city really understand the difference between
homoeopathy and the old system of medical practice. I will,
therefore, my Lord Mayor, by your kind permission, and in
a very few words, just point out what homoeopathy really
is. I will say nothing about the old system, because all
understand what that is.

Well, to begin with, we are all liable to be ill sometimes;
and when ill, we expect the doctor to order medicine to cure us.
Now, what medicine shall the doctor give us for our particular
ailment ? Certainly we would not like him to give us just
what was ordered by old Dr. Abemethy for similar ailments,
because such treatment would be quite out of date, and
might be very unsuitable, leave our ailment untouched, and
perhaps let us die of it. The same objections apply to the
treatment of all the other great doctors of our early days.

Nor would we like him to merely repeat for us the prescrip¬
tions of the late Sir William Gull, of Sir William Jenner, Sir
Andrew Clarke, or other popular practitioners, for similar
reasons ; and because, like the commerce of 20 or 80 years
ago, the travelling, the education, the lighting, the electric
science, &c., so the medical practice of our early days was
not, and is not, at all up to the practice of the present
day. Now there are, so to say, a thousand and one
ailments that we are subject to, and at least a thousand and
two medicines, each of which has power to cure some parti¬
cular ailment. But how shall the doctor find out which
particular medicine will cure any particular ailment ? He
cannot guess this. Neither can he take up any unknown
substance and say of it that it is a medicine ; nor can he take
up any particular medicine and say beforehand what particular
disease it will cure. These are impossibilities. Now, to cure
disease in any particular part of the body, common
sense dictates that the medicine should be applied
to that part. Say it is the foot, the medicine should be
applied to the foot, not to the hand. Say it is the stomach,
the medicine should be put into the stomach, not applied to
the back. Say it is the lungs, the medicine should act upon
the lungs, not upon the bowels ; for this purpose it will have
to be put into the blood, so as to circulate to the lungs. Say
it is the brain, the medicine should be such an one as opium or
belladonna , which, even when swallowed, will operate on the
brain, rather than such a medicine as ipecacuan . 9 that operates
on the stomach, or castor oil , senna, jalap, or aloes, which
act upon the bowels. Certainly, to cure disease in any
particular part the medicine should be chosen, because it
is already known that when introduced into the blood it will
act upon the part that is diseased.

Now, we know by experience or experiment and reading

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1^1893.

NOTABILIA.

755

that different medicines act on different parts ; for instance,
ipecacuan. acts upon the stomach, causing nausea and vomiting;
castor oil acts upon the bowels, causing purging; canthaiides
and turpentine act upon the kidneys, inflaming them ;
sulphur and arsenic , even when taken into the stomach,
act on the skin, causing eruptions; mercury acts on the
salivary glands, the gums and the teeth, causing salivation
and loosening the teeth ; belladonna , hyoscyamus, and other
medicines act upon the throat, drying and inflaming it;
jihosphorus and bryonia act upon the lungs and pleura,
inflaming them; colchicum acts on the joints, inflaming them,
like rheumatism and gout; and so on—every medicine on
some special part and in some special way, producing some
special ailment, showing itself by some special effects or
symptoms.

Well, supposing a patient has some particular ailment of
some particular part, the wise physician will select for him
the medicine that will act directly on that part, and thereby
cure the disease, not one that will act on some other part
that is not diseased. But how does the doctor know which
medicine will act directly on the part that is diseased ? How!
Why, just by learning beforehand that when taken by
accident or in large doses by persons in health they produce
a similar complaint. The properly educated physician knows
that ipecacuan ., tartar emetic and tobacco , for instance,
produce nausea and vomiting, the wise doctor therefore gives
one of these to patients complaining of nausea and vomiting.
So he knows that castor oil , senna , jalap , blue pill , &c.,
produce purging, he therefore gives one of them to
patients complaining of diarrhoea. So he knows that
phosphorus , bryonia , tartar emetic , &c., produce irritation
and inflammation of the lungs and bronchial tubes,
he therefore gives one of them to patients with
pneumonia, bronchitis, &c., from taking cold; he knows that
aconite , belladonna , hyoscyamus , &c., dry and inflame the
throat, so he gives one of them to patients with sore throat
from taking cold; he knows that mercury produces inflam¬
mation of the mouth and gums, with salivation, he therefore
gives it to patients with inflamed mouth and gums and loose
teeth; he knows that camphor , veratrum t tartar emetic ,
arsenic , copper , colchicum , &c., produce icy coldness and
collapse with vomiting, purging and cramps and speedy death,
very like Asiatic cholera, he therefore gives one of these in
cases of cholera; he knows that aconite , gelsemium t and
some other medicines produce shivering and feverish¬
ness ; he therefore gives one of these in cases of fever;
and so on with all medicines and all diseases—he gives
just the medicine that goes to the part, and, in persons in

Digitized by ^ooQle

766

NOTABILIA.

Monthl y V H om owpathk
Review, Dec. 1,18M.

health, produces a similar ailment, as shown by similar
effects or symptoms, because he knows that in sick persons it
goes to the part, and in trying to produce a similar ailment
it cures the patient; just as the sun shining into a fire puts
it out.

This is homoeopathic medical practice; the medical practice
that was introduced into Liverpool by Dr. Drysdale, and that
is carried on in this hospital.

The surgical practice is just the same as in the old school
—in the Royal Infirmary, for instance; and, I venture to
say, equally good, and, in consequence of the medical treat¬
ment, more successful.

Homoeopathy is treating a disease by a medicine that—in
a healthy person—would produce a similar disease, not one
that would produce the same disease; it is not giving brandy
to an intoxicated person; or opium to a person poisoned
with laudanum or morphia; or arsenic to a person poisoned
by arsenic; it is giving a medicine that produces only a
similar , not the same, disease.

Nor is homoeopathy simply giving small doses of medicines;
small doses are given, certainly; they are given because it
has been found by experience that when the proper medicine
is given, small doses cure the disease surely and rapidly;
more surely and rapidly than large doses do.

This, then, is homoeopathy. Homoeopathy is the medical
practice that is based upon a law of nature.

At the conclusion of this address a brass plate was affixed
by the Lord Mayor to the wall of the Tate Ward above the
endowed bed. Tea and coffee were served, and afterwards a
programme of music was rendered by Miss Jepson, Miss
Thomas, Mr. J. C. Sutherland, and Mr. Hellawell.

DR. CROUCHER, J.P., EX-MAYOR OF HASTINGS.

As our distinguished colleague has just concluded his year of
office as Mayor of Hastings, it affords us the greatest gratifica¬
tion to show to our readers, from the local press, the very
high opinions he has gained from all, Mends and foes alike.
His year of office has been the greatest success, and we feel
proud of him. We cannot do better than quote a passage
from the “ Local Notes " of the Hastings and St. Leonards
Observer , for November 4th, which saves the necessity of
comment.

“ If it be true that Dr. Croucher cannot see his way clear to
accept for a second year the office of Mayor, his Worship's
decision will be received with general regret. Happily it has
rarely, if ever, happened that a chief magistrate of Hastings
has doffed the trappings of state amid feelings of general

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathio
Review, Deo. 1,1808.

NOTABILIA.

757

dissatisfaction npon the part of his townspeople. True, we
have had mayors and mayors. We have had occupants of
the civic chair who deserved in differing degrees, the thanks
of the ratepayers for the manner in which they performed the
onerous duties of their office, but of not one of them has it
ever been said at the close of his Municipal tenure that he
was unworthy to occupy the position to which he had been
elevated by the voice and vote of the Town Council. I agree
that this admission might in one sense be used against the
theory that has been so repeatedly put forth in this paper, to
the effect that the party system of government gives us, if not
the worst, at any rate not the best representatives of the
town’s interests that we could find. But without discussing
this question at the present moment there is no gainsaying
the fact that of the several occupants of the chair known to
the present generation Dr. Croucher stands in the first
rank for the zeal, the energy, the spirit of self-sacrifice,
and, above all, the impartiality with which he per¬
formed his functions. Elected undeniably by a party
vote, and amid one of perhaps the greatest scenes of party
excitement within the memory of the oldest inhabitants,
stormed at—almost howled at-—by Radical members of the
Corporation, as he took his seat for the first time as Presi¬
dent of the Council; deserted at his dinner by a section who,
no matter what party provocation, what the degree of their
irritation and disappointment, had never before failed to
appear at the banquet, where opposing politicians, victors and
defeated, are accustomed to assemble under a flag of truce,
and for the moment forgetting their divisions, make merry
with toast and speech, and song, he had not been long in office
before he had disarmed the hostility of his antagonists and won
the esteem of all men, while he now retires from the post to
which it may be said he has added new dignity and lustre,
amid the regrets of all, save perhaps those few who are
Radical partisans before all and everything. Here surely we
have a Ml vindication of the wisdom of the choice of the
majority responsible for the election of Dr. Croucher, as also
it is possibly the highest tribute which could be offered to the
Mayor’s public and individual virtues. But while I thus
advert to an exhibition of party feeling which, even at this
distance of time, and under greatly changed circumstances, I
cannot help saying was as petulantly childish as it was wholly
unwarrantable, it must in common fairness be admitted that
even in their moments of wildest excitement the protesting
section not only disclaimed all personal hostility to Dr.
Croucher but they even went out of their way to do honour to
him in his private capacity. If I recall these things to-day it
is out of no desire to revive unpleasant memories, but simply

Digitized by

Google

758

NOTABILIA.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1898.

from the wish to show the kind of man the retiring civic
chief is who has not only lived all this down, but who, by his
zeal for the public good, his generosity of sentiment, his
kindness of heart, and the spirit of strict justice marking his
every step, has won at once our respect and our admiration.

“It is often said, and in truth, in Hastings we have
evidence almost daily of the accuracy of the remark, that if
anything is to be done for the public we have usually to seek
for the doer among the busiest men of the community. Dr.
Croucher is a striking illustration of the pertinence of the
observation. Notwithstanding the pressing calls upon his
time as a medical practitioner he has yet managed to show a
devotion to his public duties which is above all praise. In
earlier days the Mayors of Hastings held a comparative sine¬
cure compared with their successors, say, of the last ten or a
dozen years. But the present Mayor has proved himself
almost facile princepx of these modern civic workers. And in
a special degree has he endeared himself to all by his modesty,
his gentleness, his readiness to lend a helping hand to every
good and deserving cause for which his aid was solicited. A stout
Churchman, we have yet seen him preside at Nonconformist
gatherings, at one of which gatherings within the last week or
two he delivered a speech marked by the spirit of true Christian
catholicity, while if any further indication were needed of the
breadth of his mind upon religious matters it would be found
in the fact that at this moment his name as Mayor stands as
that of President of the testimonial which is being raised to
the Rev. Father Foy. I could say much more of Dr.
Croucher, but I confess I am restrained by the fear lest a
recital of the many obligations which he has placed us under,
and the feelings not merely of respect, but affection, in which
he is held by the townpeople whom he has so faithfully
served, should be distasteful to him. Yet, even at the risk
of saying that which may be unpalatable to the native
modesty of our still premier citizen, I feel it incumbent
upon me to place on record this offering of the
public’s appreciation of the manner in which he has
done the work, nay, done very much more than the
work, that, on the 9th of November last, he undertook to do.
As no Mayor of Hastings ever entered upon office more
unselfishly, more patriotically, more courageously than he, as
no man was met with more serious difficulties at the outset,
so he has won the highest reward which it was in the
power of a Mayor to win—the conversion even of poli¬
tical enemies into admiring friends, and the universal
acclaim of his townspeople. But while offering this meed
of public appreciation and thanks to his Worship it would
ill become me, as representing the sentiments of the

Digitized by

Google

Month*; Homoeopathic
Be view. Dec. 1,1883.

NOTABILIA.

759

inhabitants, if I did not say how impressed we all are with
the grace, the dignity, the affability, the kind-heartedness
which Miss Croucher brought to bear upon the assistance,
which she, as Mayoress, lent her father in the carrying out
of his municipal mission, as president of certain social
religious functions, and as a host of almost prodigal, or, as
the borough member put it recently, lavish hospitality. As
both the Mayor and the Mayoress have earned our best
wishes, these wishes will accompany and long attend them in
their retirement. From the days of Alderman Scrivens down
Hastings has had several mayoralties, which she has
chronicled in red letters in the municipal records, but one of
the most memorable of these, one to look back through years
in the future with respect, gratitude, and affection, will be that
of Dr. and Miss Croucher.”

Such a career is fitted to benefit homoeopathy to no small
degree, and we offer our congratulations to the ex-mayor on
his masterly official career, which he has not allowed to inter¬
fere with his professional work. A still further proof of his
unique success, and of the esteem of his fellow townsmen,
takes the form of an illuminated address of congratulation on
vellum, which is to be presented to him. It is the first time
in the annals of Hastings that such a step has been taken,
and it speaks volumes.

WRIGHT’S IMPROVED PHYSICIANS’, SURGEONS’,
AND CONSULTANTS’ VISITING LIST.

Compiled by Robert Simpson, L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S. 1894.
Bristol: John Wright & Co. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.

This is one of the best visiting lists we have seen; for those
who prefer to write a list of their patients only once a month
instead of every week it is distinctly the best that has been
presented to our notice. Why, however, it should be only
for “ improved physicians and surgeons ”—and what these
gentlemen might be—we are not quite clear. The book is
light, thin, contains the maximum of room and information
in the smallest space, and has a neat flexible leather cover,
with flap. The only alteration which would appear to us an
improvement would be making the book about an inch shorter.
We think everybody would be pleased to exchange the ordi¬
nary heavy and cumbersome pocket visiting lists for this truly
improved one.

Digitized by LjOOQle

760

NOTABILIA,

]fonthlj TTnwmwtptM*
Bariew, Dec. 1.18M.

THE MEDICO-ETHICAL MISSIONARY.

I am the well-known Ernest Hart,

Editor of the B . M.

In ethics I am awful smart,

On etiquette I’ve much to say.

My ethics means just to abuse
The homoeopaths with all my force ;

My etiquette is to refuse
Them all professional intercourse.

Of wallowers in my ethic slime
In England I’ve a goodly crop;

Of medical deportment I’m
The iEsoulapian Turveydrop.

To teach the Yankees etiquette
I crossed the wild and stormy ocean ;

Of high-toned etiquette, you bet,

They haven’t got the slightest notion.

I swore that true esprit de corps
Bound them to hate the homoeopath—

They simply voted me a bore.

And set me boiling o'er with wrath.

I said if patients of that sect
An operator’s aid should lack,

No surgeons, who themselves respect.

Should “ act as sawbones to a quack.”

I said rank fools were all who held
Similia Similibus.

44 A blooming bigot you ! ” they yelled,
Likewise 44 You rasping little cuss 1 ”

I shook the dust from off my feet,

Cursed the obtuse American,

And now I’m back in Wimpole Street
A sadder if a wiser man.

L’ENVOI.

May Hahnemann, and all his ways
Confounded be in every part
Of Britain, is, as Shakespeare says,

A pious 44 prayer of earnest heart.”

THE PARALDEHYDE HABIT.

In the Edin. Med. Jnl. (July) Dr. Elkins gives a detailed
description of a case of the paraldehyde habit. His report
is most instructive, but we have only space for the useful
summary he gives :—

General Symptoms .—Great emaciation; anaemia; slight rise
of temperature in the evenings.

Circulatory System. —Heart’s action weak and irregular;
pulse intermittent and soft; palpitation.

Alimentary System .—Stomach derangement, especially
flatulence; costiveness; boulimia.

Digitized by

Review, Dec. 1,

OBITUARY.

761

Respiratory System .—Breath smelt of paraldehyde.

Nervovs system. —1. Motor symptoms; general muscular
weakness ; general tremulousness, especially in tongue, facial
muscles, and hands; gait feeble and unsteady ; general rest¬
lessness. 2. Sensory symptoms: “ strange feelings ” running
through body. 8. Mental symptoms: insomnia; great
mental anxiety and agitation; discontent; unreasonableness ;
mental confusion; mental excitement; temporary loss of
memory and incoherence of speech; shouting; tendency to
strip himself; hallucinations of sight (he saw “ strange
beasts ”); hallucinations of hearing (he heard his death would
appear in to-morrow’s paper, he heard his wife had said she
wished he were dead); delusions (that he was being poisoned,
that his milk was drugged with laudanum, that a woman was
in his bed, preventing him from occupying it; that people
were tormenting him, that the doctors meant to kill him,
that the house was on fire, that harm was about to happen to
him). It will be noticed that the hallucinations of sight and
hearing and the delusions, were all of an unpleasant kind.

OBITUARY.

LORD EBURY.

The death of Lord Ebury, which occurred on November 18th,
at the patriarchal age of 92, will be deeply regretted by all
interested in the history of homoeopathy in this country, as
he was always a staunch champion of the therapeutics of
Hahnemann, from a period beyond the memory of most of its
present adherents. It was in 1828 that his attention was
first called to it by his brother, the late Earl of Wilton, and
since that time he has never swerved from his allegiance to
the therapeutic rule of similia similibus. Hiq connection
with homoeopathy was not limited to his personal belief in
its truth and its employment for himself and family, but
he zealously entered into any scheme for a propagation
of a knowledge of it, and an application of its benefits
among the public at large. He was President of the English
Homoeopathic Association, which, during its short career
did much propagandist work by means of meetings, pam¬
phlets, and books of a popular character. He was President of
the Hahnemann Hospital, which had a short existence of three
or four years. Lord Ebury then joined the Board of Manage¬
ment of the London Homoeopathic Hospital, whose President
he remained till his death. His presidency was not merely an
honorary one, for he frequently attended the meetings of the
board, and helped them much by his sagacious advice and

Digitized by

Google

762

OBITUARY.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1883

suggestions. Until the last year or two he presided at the
annual meetings of the Governors of the Hospital, and
charmed all by his genial manners and interesting addresses.
But his services to homoeopathy were by nomeans limited to
these functions. He was a tower of strength to homoeopathy
in both Houses of Parliament. When m the Lower House,
as Lord Robert Grosvenor, member for Middlesex, he suc-
nficded in defeating the anti-homoeopathic machinations of
thePresident of the Board of Health appointed by Govern¬
ment to collect statistics of the cases of cholera treated in the
London Hospitals during the epidemic of 1854. It was
found, when the returns of the Board were presented to Parha-
ment that the statistics of the London Homceopathic Hospital
fwhich was one of the hospitals set aside by Government for
cholera cases) were suppressed. The subject of our memonr
induced Parliament to order a special return of the suppressed
report of the Homceopathic Hospital, which revealed at once
the reason for its suppression by the allopathic Board of
Health for it showed that while the mortality in the allopathic
hospitals was about 68 per cent., that of the homceopathic
hospital was only about 16 per cent.

In 1856, when the Crimean War was raging, Lord Ebury
headed a deputation of noblemen Mid gentlemen to the
Secretary of State for War, in order to induce him to
appropriate some portion of the hospital accommodation in
the East for the purpose of giving our sick and wounded
soldiers the benefit of homceopathic treatment. Their
request was not granted, but it was right to make the attempt.

A still greater service to homoeopathy was rendered by
Lord Ebury in the House of Lords in 1858, when the famous
Medical Act was passing through Parliament. When it was
on the point of being read for the third tame in the House of
Lords it was discovered that it afforded no protection against
the rejection of candidates for degrees and diplomas if they
were suspected of homceopathic leanings. When this was
brought to the notice of Lord Ebury, he entered warmly into
the matter. With the aid of Mr W. Cowper (afterwards
Lord Mount Temple) and Dr. Dudgeon, who had brought
the matter to his notice, a clause was hastily drawn
ud and Lord Ebury hurried off to the Secretary of State who
had charge of the Bill, and after much persuasion induced
him to allow the clause to be brought before the House at that
Sto period This clause was inserted in the Bill by Lord
Eburv’s energetic action, and is familiar to all as Clause
w hich is regarded as the charter of the rights of
homceopathic candidates. It required no little trouble and
persevering energy to do this invaluable service to homoeopathy,
and not only the present but future generations of homceo-

Digitized by

Google

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1893.

OBITUARY.

763

pathists will feel a high sense of gratitude for Lord Ebury’s
services on this occasion.

The homoeopathic body, at the instigation of Dr. Yeldham,
endeavoured to give expression to their recognition of Lord
Ebury’s great services to the cause of homoeopathy, by pre¬
senting him with a testimonial, which took the form of his
portrait painted by Mr. Cyrus Johnson. A few of the
subscribers met to make the presentation at Lord Ebury’s
house in March, 1882, and the late Major Vaughan Morgan,
the energetic and ever regretted chairman of the Board of
Management of the London Homoeopathic Hospital, was
appropriately chosen to speak for the subscribers. Lord
Ebury delighted all by the hearty way in which he thanked
his visitors, and he gave an interesting account of his expe¬
rience of homoeopathy, and declared his continued faith in
the truth of the therapeutic rule we owe to Hahnemann.

We should mention that Lord Ebury took a warm interest in
the London School of Homoeopathy, and that from the first he
was President of the Homoeopathic League and was much
interested in the tracts of the League which he used to
distribute among his friends.

The homoeopathists of the present day cannot feel the same
need of an influential friend in the upper social ranks which
was so useful in the earlier years of its introduction into this
country. But those of us who are old enough to remember
the time when the practitioners of homoeopathy in Britain
could be counted on the fingers of one hand, know well how
useful to us was the advocacy of the system by highly-placed
and intelligent laymen, and among all these few can compare
with the late venerable nobleman in zeal and courage, in
advocating and defending the homoeopathic system, in season
and out of season, through good report and evil report, for
the long period of seventy years of an active and useful life.

We leave to others more competent than ourselves the
pleasant task of enumerating the great services of our
deceased friend to the cause of philanthropy, of which, no
doubt, he considered homoeopathy a branch. Of his private
charities and benevolences, which were numerous and
munificent, we have no authority to speak. His contribu¬
tions to the funds of homoeopathic hospitals and institutions
did not exhaust his homoeopathic benevolence, for he was
always ready to assist with his purse any case of pecuniary
distress among the widows and families of poor homoeopathic
practitioners.

That one who had so earnestly pressed the value of
homoeopathy upon his friends, had shown his sense of it by

Yol. 37, No. 12. 3—C

Digitized by

Google

764

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Honueopathie
Review, Dec. 1 , 18B3.

contributing to institutions and projects for extending its
benefits and propagating a knowledge of it, should himself
have availed himself of its advantages is only what would be
expected, and so it was with Lord Ebury, his medical
attendant for many years past and during his last hours
having been our old friend and colleague, Dr. Dudgeon.

CORRESPONDENCE.

HOMOEOPATHY IN NORTHAMPTON.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homeopathic Review."

Gentlemen, —The Congress at Northampton has done good
service by drawing attention to the early struggle maintained
with the opponents of homoeopathy 40 to 50 years ago. I
cannot, however, allow the statement of Dr. Croucher, as
reported in your Review (p. 708), to the effect that “ Dr.
Clifton had done the work of a dozen men in propagating the
truths of homoeopathy far and wide in the midland counties/'
to pass without the following comment, viz., that the intro¬
duction of homoeopathy to Northampton and several other
midland towns, was effected by my father, the late Dr.
Charles T. Pearce, 42 years ago, before Dr. Clifton com¬
menced his medical curriculum. By lecturing, by defending,
with the valuable aid of Dr. Sharp, homoeopathy in the
columns of the local newspapers, and by publishing the
Homeopathic Record , my father waged the battle of homoeo¬
pathy in the Midlands in 1851 to 1861. I shall be happy to
show my copies of the Homeopathic Record to any friend of
the cause who may call upon me. It forms an interesting
compendium of the writings of several well-known early prac¬
titioners of homoeopathy. I do not desire to minimise the
meed of praise given to Dr. Clifton for his well-sustained
efforts to propagate a knowledge of homoeopathy, but claim
justice to the memory of my father, whose work should not,
I think, have been passed over in silence. It cannot be
ignored, for it is bound up with the history of homoeopathy
in this country.

Yours truly,

Alfred J. Pearce.

19, Queen’s Road, Twickenham,
November 10th, 1898.

Digitized by

Monthly Homoeopathic
Be view, Dec. 1,1893.

CORRESPONDENCE.

7C5

AN APOLOGY.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review .**

Gentlemen,— The paragraph of the leading article of your
current number, which animadverts severely on certain
expressions in my letter of August 5th to the N. A. Journal
of Homceopathy , demands some explanation from me, for
which I ask the favour of a few lines* space.

As readers of the Review probably know, I am an en¬
thusiastic supporter of “ the ” or “ a *’ Directory of Homoeo¬
paths. The recent controversy having, naturally, occupied
much of the “ Medical News,” I am engaged, quite
honorarily, of course, to furnish to American readers,
possibly, my strong views may have coloured my monthly
notes—generally written in haste to catch the Saturday mail.

Let me assure my colleagues who oppose the Directory that
the unfortunate epithet, ‘‘Weak-kneed*’ was not intended to
apply to the faith in homeopathy of these gentlemen, but to
the supposed readiness to bow to the dictates of the rank and
file of our allopathic confreres in respect of our distinctive
titles and institutions.

However, your remarks on p. 647 (line 18 onward) re¬
assure me that this supposition is groundless ; and I, there¬
fore, frankly and unreservedly withdraw the phrases objected to,
and shall note the matter in my next American communica¬
tion. 1 deprecate the introduction of names into your article,
especially as I was not aware up to the date of writing that
Dr. Richard Hughes, my esteemed teacher in homoeopathy,
had taken a stand adverse to the Directory . In a very
friendly letter, dated November 8rd, he remarks : “ There was,
indeed, nothing personal in your characterisation of those
who differed from you on the Directory question. ... It
is one which admits of difference of opinion between the best
friends, and consistently with the utmost respect.’*

I quitG admit that Mr. Knox Shaw, and those who act with
him, have, as I have, the sincere desire to promote the cause of
homoeopathy. As regards the British Homoeopathic Society,
I am in hearty sympathy with its aims, principles and work,
and expect that during its jubilee year it will include all
qualified and avowed British homoeopathic practitioners. In
that case there would be no need for a Chemists* Directory.

One word in reference to my little treatise (still in MS.) to
prevent misconceptions. Common-sense Homceopathy was
begun in 1877. it is written on the lines of the League
tracts, and is an attempt to bring before intelligent laymen

3 c—2

Digitized by

Google

76(5

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly HomtBopathie
Review, Dec. 1,1808.

the essentials of homoeopathy, supported by statistics, scientific
proofs of the infinitesimal, common-sense reasoning, &c., and
to disassociate true homoeopathy from colourable imitations of
it, such as Matteism, Schusslerism, Dosimetry, &c.

Yours faithfully,

J. Murray Moore.

Liverpool,

November 6th, 1898.

THE TREATMENT OF ACUTE RHEUMATISM.

(Letter from the Honourable Allan Campbell, M.D., Adelaide,
South Australia.)

To the Editors of the 41 Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen,— The following letter was addressed to me per¬
sonally, but the subject is of such interest that I think the
object of the letter will be best attained by its publication in
the Review.

D. Dyce Brown.

44 Adelaide, 25th August, 1898.

lt Dear Dr. Brown, —By No. 8 of the new issue of the Jour -
nal of the British Homoeopathic Society , I see the members of
the Society have had an interesting discussion on “ Rheuma¬
tism.” This revives an intention I formed some time ago to
write to you and ask you to carry out a series of cases of
rheumatism in the hospital, treated with the trituration of
lycopodium 8x. You may give a dose of aconite if you choose,
and when you choose, but begin lycopodium at once and stick
to it, giving 8 grs. every three hours. I think you will find
that in lycopodium you have a remedy unequalled for fair
uncomplicated acute rheumatism. If endo-carditis arises,
even then stick to it, but give any other remedy indicated with
it. I have treated at least half-a-dozen cases lately with it,
but I don’t wish to presume upon my very limited experience.
In fact it is difficult in private practice to take the notes
necessary to determine precisely the use of a drug like this.
Will you, therefore, kindly institute a fair trial in the hos¬
pital, and I shall be disappointed if your results are un¬
favourable.

“ You knowhow lycopodium covers the symptoms of copious
uric acid (brick dust) sediment. This is generally a very
prominent symptom in acute rheumatic fever. There are
other symptoms, but apart from details I hope you will put
my suggestion to the test. We have not in this Colony so
many nor so severe cases of rheumatic fever in private practice

Digitized by

Monthly Homceopathio
Review, Dee. 1,1693.

CORRESPONDENCE.

767

as in the old country, hence I think you have more oppor¬
tunity at command to try a remedy. It seems to act so
effectively in restoring the vegetative system that the rheu¬
matic fever takes its leave accordingly. When the functions
of the liver are fully restored it seems to me there is complete
elimination of the rheumatic element. However, I shall be
greatly pleased to learn from you that numerous trials have
been made and with success, shortening the period of attack
by two or three weeks.

“ Yours most sincerely,

“ Allan Campbell.”

VACCINATION.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen, —We all have confidence that you will not
allow us to enter into the hopeless mazes of a statistical
warfare in this matter of vaccination ; yet 1 venture to think
that homoeopaths can take their part in the reform and
purifying of the present crude methods of conferring
immunity to small-pox.

Starting from the argument, now pretty well established,
that vaccine lymph must have some actual pathological
descent from smallpox for it to be successful in giving
immunity; we may feel that in our calf lymph, smallpox
virus, attenuated by passing through an animal body, we
probably have in a crude and indirect way, got hold of some
impure form of ptomaine, such as is produced by the small¬
pox bacillus in the blood of patients suffering from the
disease.

Bacteriology has given us very many fads, many unproved
theories; it has done great damage to medicine by taking
hold of the professional brains with one idea, to the exclusion
of drug studying; it has enabled many young aspirants to
professional eminence to attain their ambition at a leap,
without the long years of struggle and careful application of
practice amongst actual suffering men and women; for the
discoverer of a new germ now-a-days takes the top seat at
once, whether his germ be a real or sham one, and notwith¬
standing that he may not be able to diagnose and to treat the
simplest ailments; but bacteriology seems to have given us
one or two facts of practical importance, and these reflect
upon our present method of vaccination. I take it that it is
now ascertained that the bacilli of infective diseases do
produce in the blood certain poisons, that these poisons
produce the symptoms of the disease, including the rash;
that with the full development of these poisons the work of
the bacilli is over, they are destroyed by their own produc-

Digitized by ^ooQle

768

CORRESPONDENCE.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1883.

tions, they die, and the disease ends, in recovery, if the
organism lias been able to stand the strain of being the battle
ground of the struggle between disease and the vis medicatrix
nature (in which I still believe, in spite of arguments against
“ vital theories,” &c.). Further, bacteriology has proved that
these poisons, if prepared in an isolated and pure form, not
only act curatively in disease, but also confer immunity upon
the animal into whose blood they are injected; if there be
any substance in vaccine lymph capable of conferring this
immunity to smallpox, it is the special ptomaine of the
bacillus of that disease, or some analogue of that ptomaine.

Considering the vast care taken in isolating other ptomaines
for laboratory experiments and the difficulty in isolating them,
it is a little strange that we are content to prepare our
vaccine in so crude a way as we do; vaccine lymph is not an
isolated single substance, but a complex one, quite capable,
whilst conferring immunity to one disorder of also conferring
receptivity to others, a serious matter when we use the
tuberculous animal par excellence for the breeding ground of
our lymph.

I have spoken of analogues, and I will venture here to urge
what I have already been discussing in a certain lay scientific
ioumal, that these poisons producing the symptoms of the
disease, and acting curatively and as preventives, may have
everyone of them, anologues in the vegetable or mineral
kingdom, if so, it is the work of the homoeopath to discover
them, for we know as no other men know, the action of drugs
on the animal body, to name two only which would appear
hopeful, belladonna , producing all the symptoms of scarlatina,
and preventing it as many of us believe, and antim . tart.,
acting in the same way with smallpox, though we have very
few facts to prove the preventive power of the drug. Last
week I vaccinated a child with pure tartarised antimony , the
operation was completely successful and the vesicles resembled
perfect vaccine vesicles. Bow can I tell if antimony be as
good a preventative as calf lymph when the whole population
for generations is under the influence of another fluid ?

Yours obediently,

Gerabd Smith.

UNREGISTERED PRACTITIONERS.

To the Editors of the “ Monthly Homoeopathic Review .”

Gentlemen,— As I am the one referred to at the Congress
at Northampton, I trust you will allow me to say a few words.
The remarks made respecting me are calculated to do me
great injury, as I was not there to answer them. It was

Digitized by ^ooQle

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dec. 1,1888.

CORRESPONDENCE.

769

stated that I had some years ago passed a single session at
Charing Cross Hospital, that it was only anatomy, and that it
was all the medical education I had received; and that about
a year ago I wished to have a diploma, and applied to a well-
known homoeopathic college in the United States, and that I
received a reply that if I would come out, stay six months,
and pass the examinations, I should get the degree. All the
above-mentioned statements are untrue, and you have been
misinformed by some one. I did not study at Charing Cross.
I did not go to America with only one year’s study at a
medical school. I did not study only anatomy, but physio¬
logy, midwifery, diseases of women, surgical anatomy, &c.,
and homoeopathic medicine and therapeutics I had studied 30
years. I also passed a full examination nearly four years ago
at the largest and first homoeopathic college in the United
States, and thoroughly satisfied my examiners.

I feel sure that, in justice, you will # allow this letter to
appear in the next issue of the Homoeopathic Review, and do
all in your power to undo the mischief these remarks did me
in the minds of those present.

I am, Gentlemen, yours faithfully,

M.D., U.S.A.

In accordance with the wish of the writer we publish the
foregoing letter. The statement that he had had only one
winter session of anatomy at a London medical school was
made to Dr. Dyce Brown by himself. He now states that
this is incorrect in fact, and that Dr. Brown must have mis¬
understood him. This Dr. Brown is quite willing to believe,
and he therefore withdraws the statement, and regrets that he
should have been found capable of so misunderstanding what
seemed to him plain language.

Dr. Brown finds, with regret, that his dates are wrong.
Instead of the degree referred to being a quite recent one, he
finds evidence to show that it was obtained nearly four
years ago.

While thus gladly withdrawing statements which he
finds are incorrect, he would suggest to “ M.D., U.S.A.”
that it would render his position much stronger and clearer
with the public, if he would state categorically when and
where he passed through the curriculum of study he delineates
in such very general terms in his letter, naming the hospital
at which he studied, and the dates at which he attended the
various courses of lectures he mentions. All this we shall be
happy to publish.— [Eds. 3f. H . 22.]

Digitized by ^ooQle

770

CORRESPONDENTS.

Monthly Homoeopathic
Review, Dej. 1,1988.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

* # * We cannot undertake to return rejected manuscripts.

Authors and Contributors receiving proofs are requested to correct
and return the same as early as possible to Dr. Edwin A. N katby.

Dr. C. Wolston, formerly of Croydon, has now settled in practioe at
Summerhill, Chislehurst.

We regret that, owing to pressure of space, we have been obliged to
postpone till next issue, Dr. Tuckey's paper, and letters from Dr. Percj
Wilde, Dr. A. C. Clifton, Mr. Gerard Smith, and Mr. G. A. Cross.

Communications have been received from Dr. Berridge (London);
Dr. A. C. Clifton (Northampton); Dr. E. Clifton (Leicester);
Dr. J. Capper (Liverpool) ; Dr. C. Wolston (Chislehurst); Mr.
G. A. Cross (London) ; Mr. Knox Shaw (London); M.D., U.SJL;
Mr. Phelps (Liverpool) ; Messrs. Keene & Ashwell (London).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

~ The Surgical Treatment of Epilepsy. By Dr. Gowing Middleton.
Paris. 1893. —Rheumatism : Some Investigations Respecting its Cause,
Prevention and Cure. By Percy Wilde, M.D. London : Jno. Bale and
Sons. 1893.—Keene & Ashwell’s Physician's Diary and Case Book
1894.— Wright's Improved Physicians' and Surgeons' Visiting List.
Bristol : Wright A Co. 1894.— L'Homeopathic et les Maladies drt
Enfants. By Dr. James Love. Paris. 1893. —Quest re ans dans un
Dispensaire <T Enfants. By Dr. Jame9 Love. Paris. 1890. — The
Bulletin. London. Nov. —The Court Circular. London. Sept.—“ To-
Day.” London. Nov. —Homoeopathic League Tracts. No. 47. J. Bale
A Sons. London. —The Homoeopathic World. London. Nov. —Medical
Reprints. London. Nov. —The Chemist and Druggist. London. Not.
—The Monthly Magazine of Pharmacy. London. Nov.— Baby: The
Mother's Magazine. London. Nov. —Food and Sanitation. London.
Nov. —The Hastings and St. Leonards Oherver. Nov. 11. —The Indian
Homoeopathic Review. Calcutta. Jan. —The Xorth American Journal
of Homoeopathy. New York. Nov. —The Xew York Medical Timet.
Nov. —The Xew England Medical Gazette. Boston. Nov. —The Hahne¬
mann ian Monthly . Philadelphia. Nov. —The Homoeopathic Recorder.
Philadelphia. Nov. —The Clinique. Chicago. Oct. —The Minneapolis
Homoeopathic Magazine. Oct. —The Medical Argus. Minneapolis.
Oct. —The Xew York Medical Record. Oct. and Nov. —The Chironian.
New York. Oct. —The Homoeopathic Physician. Philadelphia. Nov.—
The Medical Century. Chicago. Oct. and Nov. —The Medical Advance.
Chicago. Oct.— The Medical Envoy. Lancaster, U.S.A. Nov.— EUctro-
Homoeopathy. Geneva. Nov.— Let Bouchons et les T'tiw. Boulogne.
Nov.— Bulletin Generate de de Therapeutique. Paris. Nov.— Archir.
fur Homoopathie. Dresden. Oct. —Leipziger Zeitschrift. fiir Hem. Nov.
—Homoeopath itch Maandblad. The Hague. Nov. —La Homeopath.
Mexico. Oct.

Papers, Dispensary Reports, and Books for Review to be sent to Dr. Pops, 19,
Watergate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; Dr. D. Dyck Brown, 29, Seymour Street, Port-
man Square, W.; or to Dr- Edwin A. Nbatbt, 178, Haverstock Hill, N.W. Advertise¬
ments and Business communications to be sent to Messrs. E. Gould 4 80 s, 89,
Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by ^.ooQle

t sod
8t chinooK

BEE# "rEA.jTURUE gblJP JilEttlTv

o .—„tvisat Lozenges

NEW REMEDIES.

HYDRAST1NINE (Merck I •—As used in cases reported in London
Homoeopathic Hospital Reports.

HYDRASTININE HYDROCHLORATE.— Employed success¬
fully by Falk, and others, in haemorrhages.

HTDRASTINE. —White alkaloid and hydrochlorate.

E. GOULD & SON, 59, Moor gate Street, London, E.C.

' EXCELLENT—OF GREAT VALUE.” Lancet, June 15th, 1889.

Peptonized

Cocoa

LPATENTJ

& Milk.

Most Delicious, Nutritious A requiring no digestive effort

m -2 _ a ^

** It. M-

December 1] MONTHLY HOMEOPATHIC EE VIEW.

WALTHAM BROTHERS, LTD.,

THE “HALF-GUINEA” ALE BREWERY, LONDON, B.W.

[1893.

In Casks, 12/6 per 9 gals. In Bottles, 3/3 per doz. Impl. Pts.*

• Bottles, corks or stoppered, charged 1/6 per doz.,
stoppers 1/ per doz. extra, ana allowed for at the
same rates if returned; but bottles and stoppers must
be paid for with the Beer.

Neither sugar, saocharum. nor any of the many new
Brewing Materials are used in the manufacture of the
“ 8.N.” Stout; it is Brewed entirely from the finest
Malt and Hops; it is, too, more hopped than Stout is
generally, therefore, besides being very nutritious, it
is an excellent Tonic and particularly suited for
invalids, ladies nursing, or anyone requiring a good
strengthening beverage. It is a “ Sound Nutritious ”
Tonic, and very much recommended by Medical men.

December l] MONTHLY HOMEOPATHIC REVIEW.

LIEBIG “ COHPEHY'S "

EXTRACT OF BEEF.

MAKES THE PUREST, CHEAPEST, & BEST BEEF TEA.

Highest Awards at all the Principal Exhibitions since 1867.

AND DECLARED

ABOVE COMPETITION SINCE 1885.

Finest meat flavouring Stock for Soups, Sauces,

Made Dishes, &c.

Perfect Purity
Absolutely
Guaranteed.

A Medical comfort of
the highest efficiency, ren¬
dering all other foods more
digestible and nourishing.

KEEPS FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME.

See Signature (as annexed) in Blue Ink ncrosi tte
Label on each Jar of the Genuine Extract

BEWARE OF IMITATIONS.

COOKERY BOOKS (INDISPENSABLE FOR LADIES) SENT ERE

ON APPLICATION TO

Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company, Limited,

9, FENCHURCH AVENUE, E.C.

Digitized by Google

Decbmbeb 1] MONTHLY HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

[1893.

Now Ready. Price 7s. 6d., post free.

ORGANON OF MEDICINE,

By SAMUEL HAHNEMANN.

Translated by 11. & DUDGEON, M.D.

London: E. GOULD & SON, 59, Moorgate Street, E.C.

T ING’S CURATIVE MOVEMENTS AND HYGIENIC EXERCISES.—
Miss Leffler-Arniin, in addition to her ordinary private lessons and
classes, is now prepared to teach Special Graduated Courses of Homo
Exercises to semi-invalids. A course consists of six weekly or fortnightly
lessons.—2, Hinde Street, W.

t IlHE CESTUS GIRDLE.—Miss Leffler Amim’s patent substitute for stays
may be obtained from, and seen at, Donegal House, 43, Wigmore Street,
W., or illustrated circular by post from Miss Victoria Arnim, 2, Hinde Street.

T17ANTED, for a suburban practice, a qualified assistant. Apply Henry
* * Harris, 111 , Denmark Hill, S.E.

TT7ANTED, a Dispenser accustomed to homoeopathic pharmacy. Apply
* * Henry Harris, 111, Denmark Hill, S.E.

W ANTED, a Non-Resident Stipendiary Medical Officer for the Liverpool
Hahnemann Hospital and Dispensary. He must be qualified and
registered. Salary, £100 per annum.—For particulars apply to the Secretary,
Thos. Cooper, at the Hospital, Hope Street.

E ASILY - WORKED HOMOEOPATHIC PRACTICE in S.W. Suburb,
amounting to about £800 per annum, for Sale cheaply, on deferred
payments or otherwise. Very good opening. Excellent House on lease.
H.C., care of Messrs. Gould & Son, 59, Moorgate Street, E.C.

mHE NUCLEUS OF AN OLD-ESTABLISHED AND LARGE PRACTICE
for Sale. Capable of being much increased. Easy terms.—Apply F.,
care of Messrs. E. Gould & Sox, 59, Moorgate Street, London, E.C.

H AHNEMANN PUBLISHING SOCIETY’S WORKS.—Wanted copies of
Parts IV. to VIII. inclusive of British Repertory .—State price to
E. Gould & Sox, 59, Moorgate Street, E.C.

M ENTAL DISEASES.—A medical man, who has just discharged a patient
who has resided with him for two years, is prepared to undertake the
care of a lady or gentleman suffering from mental disease—not being suicidal.
—For terms, &c., address Anglicanus, care of Dr. Pope, Grantham.

for disposal.

A COMPLETE SET of the Monthly Ilornceopathic Review , from its
commencement, consisting of 36 vols. cloth. Offers are solicited. Apply,
E. Gould and Sox, 59, Moorgate Street, E.C.

FOR DISPOSAL-

A COMPLETE SET of the British Journal of Homoeopathy . Offers are
solicited. Apply E. Gould & Sox, 59, Moorgate Street, E.C.

Now Ready. Vols. I. to X. Price 28s. each.

G uiding symptoms of our materia medica. By Dr. c.

Hering. This work is now complete in Ten Vols. of about 50C pages
each. Subscriptions are respectfully solicited by E. Gould & Sox,
59, Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by Google

December 11

MONTHLY HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

[1893.

NEW AND STANDARD WORKS.

Notice* of Bookt Published during the last Ttcelve Months are inserted under this
heading at the same tariff as Short Pre-paid Advertisements.

Now ready. Post Free. Price One Shilling.

Homoeopathy: Its Principle, Method and Future. By

Alfred C. Pops, M.D., late Lecturer on Materia Medica at the London School of

Homoeopathy. _

Just Published. Fourth Edition. Price 3s. 6d., post free.

Homoeopathy in Venereal Diseases. By Stephen Ykldham,

L.R.C.P. Ed.,M.R.C.S. Eng., Consulting Surgeon to the London Homoeopathic
Hospital, Fellow, and late President of the British Homoeopathic Society, etc. Edited,
with additions, and an Original Chapter on Spermatorrhoea, by Henry Wheeler,
L.R.C.P. Lond.. M.R.C.S. Eng., late Surgeon to the London Homoeopathic Hospital.
This work is based on experie nce gained during half a century of active practice.
Second Edition, Revised. Price Is.

Headaches: their Causes and Treatment. By E. B.

Shuldhax, M.D., Tri n. Coll., Dublin, M.R.C.S.; M.A. Oxo n.

Now Ready. Price 2s.

Dogs in Health and Disease, as Typified by the Grey-

HOUND. By John Sutc liffe Hubndall, M.R.C.Y .S.

Now Ready. Seventh Edition, enlarged, and revised. Post free, Is. 6d.

Taking Cold (the cause of half our diseases); its nature,

CAUSES, PREVENTION, AND CURE: Its frequency as a cause of other
diseases, and the diseases of which it is the cause, with their diagnosis and
treatment. By John W. Haywa rd, M.D. , M.R.C.S. , L.S.A.

Now Ready. Third Edition, enlarged and revised, pp. 728, price 5s.

Modern Household Medicine, a Guide to the Mode of

RECOGNITION AND THE RATIONAL TREATMENT OF DISEASES AND
EMERGENCIES INCIDENTAL TO DAILY LIFE. By Charles Robert
Fleury, M.D.. Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, London; Member of
the Royal College of Surgeons, England; formerly Clinical Resident at the
Richmond Surgical, Whitworth Medical, and Hardwicke Fever Hospitals, Dublin;
and late Medical Officer to the Peninsular and Oriental Company, in the East
Indies, China, and the Mediterranean.

Now Ready, Second Edition, strongly bound, cloth boards. Price Is. 6d., post free.

Chronic Sore Throat, (or Follicular Disease of the

PHA RYN X.) Its Local an d C onstitutio nal Treatment, wi th S pecial Chapters
on THE ART OF BREATHING, and HYGIENE OF THE VOICE. By
E. B. Shuldham, M.D., Trin. Coll., Dublin, M.R.C.S., M .A., Oxon.

Now Ready. Sixteenth Thousand, revised and enlarged, pp. 264. Price 2s. 6d.

The Principal Uses of the Sixteen Most Important, and

FOURTEEN SUPPLEMENTARY HOMCEOPATHXC MEDICINES. Arranged
according to the plan adopted in Physicians’ Manuals, and designed for those who
require a full ana comprehensive Guide, in a condensed and easy form. Compiled
from the Standard Me dical Works of J a hr, Hull, Hempb l, Bryant, Hale, &c.

Just Published. Fourteenth Thousand, enlarged and modernised. Price 2s. 6d.

Family Practice; or, Simple Directions in Homoeopathio

DOMESTIC MEDICINE. Compiled from the Standard Medical Works of Jajlr,
Hull, Hexpel, Bryant, Hale, &c.

“ This little Work differs from most of the Guides for Domestic Practice, in having the treat¬
ment of each disease so arranged and divided, that each particular aspect of the complaint baa
its own special medicinal and accessory treatment distinctly stated. The medicines are not
confined to a fixed number, but in every case the best remedies are given, and the dose is clearly
indicated in each instance.” _

Now Ready. Seventh Edition. Price Is. post free.

The Family Homoeopathist; or, Plain Directions for

THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE. By E. B. ShutiT)Ham , M.A., M.D., etc.

"We have no hesitation in saying that Dr. Shnldham's little book is both interesting and
useful. It is thoroughly practical, moreover: and without confusing the reader with a boat at
remedies, only a few of which are of frequent use, he points to such as have been well tested ia

e of alii* * *‘* "

practice and have reoeived the confidence c

1 who have used them.”— Ilomatopatkic Review.

E» GOULD & SON, 59, Moorgate Street E.C-

Digitized by VjOCK^lC

December l

MONTHLY HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

[1893.

GOULD’S

EUCALYPTUS

DISINFECTANT.

Prepared from the true Eucalyptus
Globulus of Tasmania.

Sold in Bottles, at 1/- k 2/- each.

E. GOULD & SON,

59, Moorgate Street, E.C.

E. GOXJLD Sl SON,

Chemists by Appointment to the London Homoeopathic Hospital,

Manufacturing Homeopathic Chemists,

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL.

American, German, and British Fresh Plant Tinctures, recently Imported and Prepared.

HoDKBopathic Pharmacies fitted up with every requisite.

59, MOORGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C.

DR. RUDDOCK’S WORKS.

For the use of the Professional Student, the Clergyman, the Missionary,
the Colonist, Heads of Families, do.

A Text Book of Modem Medicine and Surgery on Homoeopathic

PRINCIPLES. 8vo, cloth. Prioe 21&. or half-bound morocco, 25s.

The Homoeopathic Yade Mecum of Modern Medicine and Surgery.

Ninth Edition, with “ Clinical Directory.” Crown 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d. Half*
bound morocco, 14 s.

The Homoeopathic Yade Mecum of Modern Medicine and Surgery.

New and Cheaper Edition. Cloth, 5s.

The Stepping-Stone to Homoeopathy and Health. Twelfth Edition,

with a Clinical Directory. Cloth, Is. 6d. “ Cheap Edition,” without the Clinical
Directory, &c., Limp Cloth, Is.

The Lady’s Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment in the Yarious

DERANGEMENTS INCIDENT TO HER SEX. Ninth Edition. Crown 8vo.
Cloth, 3s. 6d.

The Common Diseases of Women. Abridged from the above, cloth Is. Gd.
The Diseases of Infants and Children, and their Homoeopathic and
General Treatment. Fifth Edition. Uniform with “The Lady’s Manual.”
Crown 8vo. Cloth 3s. 6d.

The Common Diseases of Children. Abridged from the above, cloth Is.
Essentials of Diet; or Hints on Food, in Health and Disease. Second

Edition. 12mo, cloth, 3s. <>d.

On Consumption and Tuberculosis of the Lungs; their Diagnosis,

Caoses, Prevention and General Treatment. Second Edition. Cloth, Is. 6d.

LONDON : The Homeopathic Publishing Company, Warwick Lane, E.C.

Digitized by njOuVIL

December l] MONTHLY HOM<EOPATflIC REVIEW.

[1893.

AMERICAN HOMIEOPATHIC MEDICAL WORKS.

Allen, Dr. T. FA Hand-Book of Materia Medica and HomcBopathio

Therapeutics. Strong leather binding, £3 15s.

-The Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medina. 10 Vols. £15.

-A General Symptom Register. £S.

Arndt, Dr. H. R.—A System of Medicine based upon the Lav of

Homoeopathy. 3 Vols. £5 12s. 6d.

Baehr, Dr. B.—The Science of Therapeutics according to the

Principles of Homoeopathy. By C. J. Hempel, M.D. 2 Vole. 45s.

Bell, Dr. J. B.—The Homoeopathic Therapeutics of Diarrhoea, and

other Complaints. Third Edition. 7s. 6d.

B mnning hausen, Dr. C.—A Therapeutic Pocket Book for Homoeo¬

pathic Physicians. Limp binding, 20s.

Bryant, Dr. J—A Pocket Manual, or Repertory of Homoeopathic

Medicine. Third Edition. 7s. 6d.

Cowperthwaite, Dr. A. C.—A Text-Book of Materia Medica and

Tnerapentics. Characteristic, Analytical and Comparative. Entirely rewritten
and revised, with Clinical Index. Cloth, 30s. Sheep, 35s.

Eggert, Dr. W.—The Homoeopathic Therapeutics of Uterine and

°Yaginai Discharges. Half-bouna, 17s. 6d.

Farrin g ton, Dr. E. A.—Clinical Materia Medica. By Dr. Lilibnthal.

Second Edition. Large 8vo., 30s.

Guernsey, Dr. H. N.—The Application of the Principles and
Practice of Hommopathy to Obstetrics and the Disorders Peculiar to Women
and Young Children. Third Edition, with an Appendix. Half-bound, 4Us.

Hale, Dr. E. M.—Materia Medica and Special Therapeutics of the

New Remedies. Revised and Enlarged. Fifth Edition. In 2 Vols.

Vol. I. Special Symptomatology. Half-bound, 30 b. Cloth, 25s.

VoL II. Special Therapeutics. Half-bound, 30s. Cloth, 25s.

Hale, Dr. E. M.—Lectures on Diseases of the Heart. Third

Edition, with a Repertory. 16s. Gd.

Hale, Dr. E. M.—The Medical, Surgical, and Hygienic Treatment

of Diseases of Women. Second Edition. 12s. 6d.

Hering, Dr. C.—Condensed Materia Medica. Third Edition.

Half-bound, 35s.

Hull’s Jahr.— A New Manual of Homoeopathic Practice. Edited by

F. G-. SPELLING, M.D. Sixth American Edition. With an Appendix of the New
Remedies, by C. J. Hempel, M.D. 2 Vols. Half-bound, 45s.

Jahr’s Forty Years’ Practice.— (Therapeutic Guide.) By C. J.

Hempel, M.D. 15s.

T. iHnntlml, Dr. S.—Homoeopathic Therapeutics. Third Edition. 86s.

Raue, Dr. C. G.—Special Pathology and Diagnostics, with Thera¬

peutic Hints. Third Edition. Half-bound, 40s.

Richardson, Dr. W. C.—A System of Obstetrics on Homoeopathic

Principles. With 109 Illustrations, including 11 Plates. Half-bound, 25s.
Cloth 20s.

Southwick, Dr. G. R.—Practical Manual of Gynaecology. 20s.

LONDON:

GOULD & SON, 59,

Moorgate Street, E.C.

Digitized by

Google

December 1] MONTHLY HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

[1893.

BULLOCK’S PEPSINA P0RCI..&

Bullock’S Acid Glycerine of Pepsine

In this preparation advantage has been taken of the solubility of Pepsine in
Glycerine to produce a convenient and desirable liquid form of this valuable
medicine; whilst the preservative qualities of the menstruum confer upon the Acid
Glycerine of Pepsine the property of keeping for any length of time.

May be prescribed with most substances compatible with acids .

In 4 oz., 8 oz., and 16 oz. bottles, and in bulk.

The published experiments of G. F. Dowdeswell, Esq., M.A. Cantab., F.C.S.,
F.L.S., &c., Dr. Pavy, Professor Tuson, the late Professor Garrod, Dr. Arnold
Lees, and others, conclusively demonstrate the excellence, high digestive power,
and medicinal value of the above preparations.

in prescribing either of the above preparations , it is suggested to Insert in parenthesis
as follows (BULLOCK).

J. L. BULLOCK So CO.,

3, HANOVER STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, LONDON, W.

The “LANCET” »▼*;—” Dr. Thcinhardt's Infant** Food is ch in carbohydrates, the greater proportion of which is
soluble. Valuable mineral constituents occur to a remarkable extent.”

The “EDINBURGH MEDICAL JOURNAL” *ay»:-" We can confidently recommend this Food as an excellent
substitute lor mother’s milk. It is pleasant to the taste, easily assimilated, and will lx- found most nutritious.”

Dr. THEINHARDT’S FOOD FOR INFANTS.

Ad ingeniously constructed and ABSOLUTELY UNRIYALLED FOOD.

Fully complies with the latest demands of eminent Physicians and Chemists.

PREVENTS and CURES RICKETS.

The highest aggregate of blood and flesh-forming, force and heat-giving, bone and teeth -
producing matter (see Official Analysis on each box ).

Cures DIARRHEA and other Digestive Disorders without the aid of drugs. PREVENTS FLATULENCE.
Price 9/- per Box.

The "LANCET” ■*y»:— “These Foods are doubtless of high dietetic value, and the ingredients of which they are
composed are evidently derived from the best of materials. Dr. Theinhardt's Hygiama possesses a pleasant malt-like
cocoa flavour, and is calculated to stimulate even a feeble appetite. It is well suited for Invalids and Infants, ur
for general use." ___

Dr. Theinhardt’s Hygiama,

A new dietetic remedy, warmly recommended by the medical profession for brain workers,
growing children and invalids.

NUTRITIOUS . INVIGORATING. EASILY DIGESTED .

Especially valuable in cases of dyspepsia, nausea during pregnancy, and prostration after
illness or operations. Contains four times the percentage of digestible albumenoide
as the best Chocolates. Price 9/8 per Tin.

Samples of Dr. THEXVHABDT’S IMPACTS’ POOD and HYGXA.MA free
to Xedloal Men on application.

Digitized by

Google

Decembeb 1] MONTHLY HOMCEOPATHIO REVIEW.

[1893

PHARMACEUTICAL PREPARATIONS,

Technical & Scientific Chemicals,
&llsaloide, etc.

ESSENTIAL OILS,

Suites—Apparatus—Instruments.

PATENT MEDICINES.

BUR60YHE, BURBID6ES
& COMTAHT,

Offices :-12. COLEMAN STREET,

Laboratories and Warehouse: 16, COLEMAN STREET,
LONDON, E.O.

Tinctures in Bulk.

flcfo liemtincs. preparations of all pfrarmacopcehs.

SAMPLES AND SPECIAL QUOTATIONS OS APPLICATION

PRIZE MEDALS:

| CALCUTTA, 1884.
| EDINBURGH, 1886.

^Google

Digitized by *

PARIS, 1867.
PARIS, AS7S.

December 1] MONTHLY HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

[1893.

LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL,

Great Ormond Btreet, Bloomsbury, V«C«

President—THE LORD ^URYTJtc^Ch^m^^PAKENHAkl 8TILWELL, Esq.

Supported by Volu ntary Contributioufl. Donatioua and Annual Subscription!
ARE EARNESTLY SOLICITED. The Hoapital is always open to the inspection of
Visitors, and Clinical Instruction is given in the Wards and Out-patient Department
to Medical Students and Practitioners, affording a valuable opportunity of acquiring a
knowledge of Homeopathic Medioine. Clinioal Assistants to the Physioians and
Surgeons are appointed half-yearly, and Certificates granted by the Medical Staff.
The In-patients numbered over 700 last year; the Out-patients over 11,000. The
number of Patients treated since the inauguration in 1848, approaches 800,000. Thu
Hospital has a staff of 40 Nurses for Ward Nursing and Nursing Invalids at their
residences.

G A CROSS. Secret 'try-Superintendent.

WINE DIRECT FROM THE VINEYARD TO THC CONSUMER.

“MOUNTAIN ZINFANDELi”

A Choice Californian Rnby Wine. At 24s. per doian Bottles,
Direct from our Fountaingrove Vineyards, Santa Rosa, California. Delivered free to any Railway Station.

M MOUNTAIN ZINFANDBL” Is a first-class Wine. It is pore. It Is a Wine that one oonld
drink as one would a French Wine, as a dinner beverage. The iron soil on which it is grown
renders it specially valuable in cases of anaemic tendency.—“ Homoeopathic Review .”

This Wine is more largely used by medical men who know it* value than any other wine—without exception.

FOUNTAINGROVE BRANDYs

AN UNADULTERATED SPIRIT. DISTILLED WHOLLY FROM 8RAPES.

Prloe 60*. per Dosen Bottles, Carriage Paid.

This Brandy is made at the n Sonny Slope ** and “ Fonntalngrove ” Vineyards, California, and is
anunmixed grape spirit; equal in every respect to the French Brandies of twenty years ago, that is—
when they also were distilled from grapes.

A Special Ditcount off our List price allowed to the Medical Prqfftion. Sample* tent on application.

C. V. PEARCE ft Co., 16, Hark Lane, E.C., London; 206, Vest George Street, Glasgov.

_AND FOUNTAINGROVE VINEYARDS, SANTA ROSA. CALIFORNIA._

SI LIGATED CARBON

Patent Self-Aerating

Movable Bl?ck.

FILTER

The Silica ted Carbon Block can be Instantly remored
leaving the whole of the interior of the Filter
open for inspection and cleansing. The
water is Aerated and filtered
simultaneously, rendering
it Pure, Bright and
Palatable.

cleanse the
Block, place it In a
saucepan full of Altered
water and raise to boiling point

Prices from 12/-.

Glass Table Filters, from 2/6.

SILICATED CARBON FILTER CO.,

Works: BATTERSEA, LONDON.

Maybe had of E. GOULD Sc SON, 59, Moorgate Street, London.

Just Published. Price 14s.

A PRIMER

MATERIA MEDICA,

FOB

PRACTITIONERS OF HOMEOPATHY,

By TIMOTHY FIELD ALLEN, M.D.

May be obtained from

E. GOULD & SON, B9, Moorgate Street, London, E.C

2 )

December 1] MONTHLY HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

[1893.

HAHNEMANN

MEDICAL COLLEGE AND HOSPITAL

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

Established 1848.

OVER 2,000 GRADUATES.

Bend your address for announcement 1883-94 to

A. R. THOMAS, M.D., Dean, 113 South Sixteenth St., or J. E. JAMBS, M.D., Registrar, 1621 An* St
The FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL 8B88I0N of the College will begin on Monday, October 2, IBM.
Entrance examination will take place on Saturday, September 30, unless otherwise specially provided for*

THE PATENT

“ONE MINUTE”

CLINICAL THERMOMETER.

In consequence of the expiry of patent rights, this and other Clinical

Thermometers are

CONSIDERA BLY SEDUCED I N PRICE.

PATENT BARTS FOOD, BATH.aho CLINICAL THERMOMETER

»p

ITH BABY'S FOOD TEPID IAT1

BABY'S TEMPERATURE
_ W4HM BATH. _

This ingenious Thermometer has been expressly designed for nursery use, and
should prove an invaluable instrument in the treatment of young ohildren, as by
its aid the nurse can regulate the temperature of the baby's food and of ite bath,
and can also tell whether the child is well or unwell.

SUPPLIED BY

E. GOULD & SON, 59, Moorgate smWTOWw E.C.

December 1J MONTHLY HOMCEOPATHIO REVIEW.

[1893.

HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL WORKS.

Allen, Dr. H. C.—The Therapentios of Intermittent Fever.

Second Edition. Large 8vo, cloth. 14s.

Antfell, Dr. H. C.—A Treatise on Diseases of the Eye. Sixth

Edition. 8vo, cloth. 15s.

Boericke and Dewey, Drs.—The Twelve Tissue Remedies of

8ohussler. Third Edition. Large 8vo, doth. 14s.

Bnffnm, Dr. J. H.—The Diseases of the Eye, their Medioal and

Surgical Treatment. 8vo, cloth. 22s. 6d.

Burt, Dr. W. H.- Physiological Materia Medioa. Fourth Edition.

Cloth, 35s. Sheep, 40s.

Eaton, Dr. M. M.—Treatise on Diseases of Women. Large 8vo

bound. 32s. 6d.

Franklin, Dr. E. C.—A Complete Minor Surgery. The Practitioner**

vade-mecum. Illustrated. Cloth. 20s.

Gatchell, Dr. Ch.—The Key-notes of Medical Practice. Fourth

Edition. 18mo, leather. 10s.

Gilchrist, Dr. J. G.—Surgical Emergencies and Accidents. Large

8vo, cloth. 22s. 6d.

Hahnemann, Dr. S.—Materia Medioa Pura. By Drs. Dudgeon and
Hughes. 2 Vols. Large 8vo, cloth. 36s.

Hempel, Dr. C. J.—Materia Medioa and Therapentios. Third

Edition. By H. R. Abndt, MJ). 2 Vols. Large 8vo, cloth. £2 15s.

Johnson, Dr. J. D.—Therapeutic Key. 16th Edition. 18mo, cloth. 9*.

Kippax, Dr. J. R.—Lectures on Fevers. 8vo. cloth. 22s. 6d.

Kippax, Dr. J. R.—A Handbook of Skin Diseases. Fourth Edition.
Cloth. 108.

Leavitt, Dr. S.—The Scienoe and Art of Obstetrios. Introduction

by Dr. Ludlam. Large 8vo. 30s.

Marsden, Dr. J. H.—Handbook of Practical Midwifery and
Incidental Diseases. Large 8vo, cloth. 11s. 6d.

Minton, Dr. H.—Uterine Therapeutics. 8vo, bound. 80s.

Heidhard, Dr. C.—Pathogenetic and Clinical Repertory of
Symptoms of the Head. Large 8vo, doth. 7s. 6d.

Horton, Dr. G. S.—Ophthalmic Therapeutics. Third Edition, with

Introduction by Prof. Allen. Large 8vo, doth. 17s. 6d.

Perkins, Dr. D. C.—The Homoeopathic Therapentios of Rheumatism

and Kindred Diseases. 8vo, cloth 7s. 6d.

Winterburn, Dr. G. W.—Repertory of the moBt Characteristic

Symptoms of the Materia Medioa. As Pocket Book. 12s. 6d.

. GOULD & SON

LONDON:

, 59, Moorgate Street, EX

Digitized by VjOL

3 8 l

December l] MONTHLY HOMCEOPATHIC REVIEW.

THE NATURAL MINERAL WATERS OF

VICHY

(STATE SPRINGS).

CELESTINS. —For Diseases of the Kidneys, Gravel, Goat, Rheumatism,
Diabetes, &o.

GRANDE-GRILLE. —For Diseases of the Liver, Biliary Organs, &c.
HOPITAL. —For Stomach Complaints.

HAUTERITE. — An excellent Table Water.

CARLSBAD

feU, karlsbaIIJ

F(KRVSTAlUSIRT
, erzeugt Ml
^EigenverwaJtunj

* DER i|

NATURAL MINERAL
WATERS

Are imported in Bottlee and used in treatment of
CHRONIC GASTRIC CATARRH, HYPER2EMIA
of the LIVER, GALL STONES, CHRONIC CON¬
STIPATION, DIABETES, RENAL CALCULI,
GOUT, and Diseases of the Spleen, arising from
residence in the Tropics or malarious districts.

THE NATURAL

CARLSBAD SPRUDEL-SALT

Is Alkaline, and readily soluble in water, In
small and frequent doses it is an efficient diuretie „
but as an aperient it should be taken before break -
fast, in doses of from 1 to 2 teaspoonfnls dissolved
in water. To increase the aperient action of the
Carlsbad Mineral Water, a teaspoonful of the
Natural Salt dissolved in water should be added.

SOLE IMPORTERS-

INGRAM & ROYLE, 52, Farringdon Street, London, E.C.

Samples and Pamphlet ton Application.

Digitized by VjOOQLC

The Monthly

Homoeopathic Review

ol. 37, No. 1.] JANUARY 2, 1893. [Price

EDITED BY DRS. POPE, DYCE BROWN & EDWIN A. NEATBY.

(Jonfpnfs ♦ PAGE

Prescribing Homoeopathically .. .. .. 1

The Canary Islands as a Health Resort. By John W. Hayward, M.D .. 6

On the Resistance of the Human Body to the Electric Current. By E. L. Pope 22
“Characteristics,” “Key Notes,” and “Guiding Symptoms,” together with

Clinical Observations. By A. C. Clifton, M.D. 27

Lobelia: Its Therapeutic Effects and Mode of Preparation. By T. G.

Vawdrey, L.R.C.P. Lond. 31

Reviews.

The Science and Art of Obstetrics. By Sheldon Leavitt, M.D. 35

Meetings.

British Homoeopathic Society .. .. .. .. .. .. 37

Liverpool Branch, British Homoeopathic Society.. .. .. 42

Peri scape.

Materia Medica .. .. .. .. .. .. 43

Medicine .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 45

Diseases of Children .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 48

Notabilia.

Lectures at the London Homoeopathic Hospital .. 49

“ Irregular Heart ” at the Londou Medical Society .. .. 51

American Notes .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 51

The World’s Columbian Exposition.—Department of Medicine .. .. 54

Pittsburg Training School for Nurses .. .. 56

Pharmaceu ic Piracy .. .. .. 61

New Work oy Dr. Wilkinson .. .. .. 62

New Zealand .. .. .. 62

Visiting Lists .. 63

Dr. Stonham on Hygiene . .. 63

New Journals .. . .. 64

LQNDON:

<3. (Jould %* $on, 59, ®oorgate Street

May be had fivm

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL 8c Co., STATIONERS’ HALL COURT, E.C., AND
Edinburgh —J. C. POTTAGF. | Dublin —J. A. RAY.

NEW VORK. U.S — BOERICKE TAFEL. 145, GRAND STREET.
MELBOURNE—MARTIN 8c PLEASANCE, 180, COLLINS STREET.

[.Registered for transmission abroad.']-1

MONTHLY HOMCEOPATHIC REVIEW.

Tanuary 2

SOU A VDMSF

tftucsar.

,Z£S- YeA^TURUE SOW *« JE»f'
_ „-MEAT L0Z&Ha5S^:c-

“ The Typical Cocoa of English O udm*
Manufacture, Absolutely Pure.” r !K

The Analyst.

S. XT,

*n Casks, 12/6 per 9 gals. In Bottles, 3/3 per doz. Impl. Pts.*

• Bottles, corks or stoppered, charged 1/6 per doz.,
stoppers 1/ per doz. extra, and aUowed for at the
same rates if returned; but bottles and stoppers must
be paid for with the Beer.

Neither sugar, saccharum, nor any of the many new
Brewing Materials are used in the manufacture of the
“8.N.” Stout; it is Brewed entirely from the finest
Malt and Hops; it is, too, more hopped than Stout is
generally, therefore, besides being very nutritious,it ^

Si an excellent Tonic and particularly suited for
invalids, ladies nursing, or anyone requiring 8°°J;
strengthening beverage. It is a “ Sound Nutritious
Tonio, and very much recommended by Medical men.

WALTHAM BROTHERS, LTD.,

THE “ttat.F-GUINEA” ALE BREWERY, LONDON, 8 .W.
" JxCELLENT^OF GREAT VALUe 7' Lancet, Tune 15th, 1889.

CONCENTRATED

gold medals

1884, 1886.

DELICI0U8

FLAVOUR.

MOST

NUTRITIOUS.

REQUIRING
NO DIGE8TIVE

PEPTONIZED ^
COCOA ”

AND MILK

Tins

Is. 6d- A ts. 6d.
OBT AINABLE
EVERYWHERE.

FOR TRAVELLERS

DELICATE

CHILDREN.

AND ALL OF
WEAK
DIGESTION.

December 1J MONTHLY HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW'. [1893.

SALYfflE

DENTIFRICE

In OollapsiUe
Tubes.
Prices,

“SALYIHE”

TOOTH

BRUSH.

LADIES', SENT.’S

AND

CHILDREN’S.

i/-, _

\/0 4 2/6 I 1/ each.

«« BERYLINE ” CREAM. —Now Ready.—For the Skin
and Complexion. Unequalled for Sore Lips, Chapped Hands, Irritation, Eruptions,
Eczema, 4c., 4cc. Price 1/3 per box. Prepared by

W. S. PULLEY & CO., 36, Red Lion Square, London, W.C.

TO MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS, CHEMISTS, SHIPPERS
AND COLONIAL BUYERS.

NEW ISSUE—WITH IMPORTANT ADDITIONS.

E. GOULD & SON’S

W holesale Price List

HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINES,

POST FREE to any part of the World on application.

FIRST ESTABLISHED 1825.

NEAVE’S FOOD

Xn Patent Atr-tigbt Tina.

“ADMIRABLY ADAPTED TO I "Sjjjjl 'formIN ? 1 BM
THE WANTS OF INFANTS.” | STITUENTS’’ G '
“PROMOTES THE HEALTHY ACTION OF THE BOWELS.’
BEST AND CHEAPEST.

Laboratory, 7, South Square, W.C., June 29th, 1874.
Messrs. J. R. Neave & Co.,

Gentlemen,—My analysis of your “ Farinaceous
Food ” has proved very satisfactory. It contained :—

Moisture ... .. ... 5.1 per cent.

Proteinaceous flesh>foiming matters 14.7 „

Starch f Gum, &o. 75.5 „

Cellulose. 3.5 „

Mineral Salts containing Phosphates 1.2 „

(Signed) H. C. Bartlett, Ph.D., F.C.fi.

NEAVE’S FOOD

FOB

INFANTS, CHILDREN,
INVALIDS and THE AGED.

Digitized by ^ooQle

Decbmbeb 1

MONTHLY HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW.

[ 189 &

HORLICK’S

Malted Milk

A PERFECT DIET FOR

INFANTS, INVALIDS and DYSPEPTICS.

Prepared by dissolving in water only.

Contains no STARCH or CANE SUGAR.

PALATABLE & HIGHLY NUTRITIOUS.

SA MPLES ON APPLICATI ON.

OF ALL CHEMISTS.

HORLICK’S DR Y EXTRAC T RF MALT.

The value of Malt Extracts is proportionate to the diastase they oontain.

Lawk shoe Brunt, f.o.s.. f.r.m.s..

MBM9ER OP THE SOCIETY OF PUBLIC ANALY8T8
ANALYTICAL A CONSULTING CHEMIST.

LABORATORY,

24, Holbom Viaduct, London, E.C.,

Telegraphic Addretr: ** Consultation, London .”

Oct. 14, 1891.

Messrs. The Horlick Food Company,

Dear Sirs, — I have analysed and examined your Dry Extract of Malt, with the
following results:—

I find it to have a diastasic value of 257°. This shows tho sample to oonta in B IX
TIMES as much diastase as the ordinary extracts on the market, and MORE THAH
DOUBLE the amount contained in any malt extract which I have ever analysed.

Its form as a dry powder is very convenient, and it forms an exceedingly agreeahlt
medium for the administration of diastase in cases where the ordinary liquid is found

It contains all the unaltered constituents of malted grain, as shown by the following

anal ysis:—

Maltose . 74.40

Dextrine .. .. .. .. 10.36

Albuminoids .. .. .. .. .. 8.56

Mineral Matters (phosphates) .. .. .. 1.66

Moisture .. .. .. .. .. 2.60

Intermediate carbo-hydrates .. .. .. 2.63

100.00

In my opinion it is the best preparation of diastase yet offered to the public.

I am, yours faithfully,

LAWRENCE BRIANT, F.C.8., F.B.MA, te

Price 2s. and 4s. per Bottle.

A SAMPLE cent free to any Medical Practitioner on application to

MALTED MILK GO., 39, SNOW HILL, LONDON, E.C.

FOR SALE BY ALL CHEMISTS.

fciKAKhK IIkoihkks & Co., 11 The Bishopsgato Press,** Bishops^ate Without, London. L

Digitized by ^ooQle

Digitized by

Digitized by t^ooQle

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The Monthly Homoeopathic Review 37.1893 Michigan"

See other formats