J' A JIT.) —/ ^- J THE SMALL, DOSES ' OF HOMOEOPATH CONFIRMED BY THE IStj .Banns T. Alley «?r.»., New \ ork. Tut. mant one fire burns out anothers's rmrnirjg, One i.t tin is lessoned by another's ansj'iitsh ; Turn giddy, and he holp by backward turning ; One de.Mierate grief cures with another's languish ; Take thou some new infection to thy eye. And the rank poison of the old will di<\ Shakespeare.—Romeo ami .,'<,',,+ £?/C& ■ (Reprinted from the American'JF'.maopu'h:: Review.) NEW YORK SMITHS' HOMCEOPATHtC PHARMACY; JOHN T. S. sniTII & SONS, 484 Broadway & 10j> 4».h A venae, I8 60 \ » PREFACE. The following articles were written for, and published in, the August *&4 Beptember numbers of the American Homoeopathic Review, without the lean* anticipation that they would ever appear in any other form. By request how* ever, of several physicians, for whose literary and scientific attainments I hat* the highest regard, and also of a number of influential laymen, who deBir* these plain reasons more widely known, they are thus offered with but slight alterations. Many important points have been but slightly noticed, and many others entirely omitted, because of the limited space allowed in r. monthly medical journal. To further explain what has been said and add other fa«t« would transcend the proper limits of the present pamphlet. The figures and calculations which have been given in the last article «f •ourse cannot be exact, they are merely representative, but they are so mod- erate as to be within the admission of all, so that none may say they are onfa speculative. If the following arrangement of facts helps to enlightin those who are disput- ed to cavil, and satisfy the thousands who, although convinced of the efficacy,. are inquiring as to the reason of our diminutive doses they will fulfill the n«« ■anguine expectations of th» Author. THE SMALL DOSES OF HOMCEOPATHY. TEACHINGS OF PHYSIOLOGY. Homoeopathy is a proven fact, which must soon be admit- ted by every intelligent unprejudiced mind. All who candi- dly and impartially investigate its claims, are sure to be satis- tied, with even its most startling revelations. Even if there was no theory by which we could explain the modus operandi of its remedies, the mere mention of what it does, the bare observation of numberless cases, would be sufficient to give such undeniable evidence^ as to make any honest mind pause and investigate. But thanks to Hahnemann, there is a law discovered, positive and certain, by which we are directed t<> that remedy which will remove disease. The varioxis symp- toms point as so many fingers, to the drug,which by producing a similar condition in the organ diseased, eradicates the mor- bid process. Inseparably connected with this law, though not si part of it, comes the doqtrine of small doses, dilations, and triturations. These dilutions &c, are a necessity arising from the perfect adjustment of the law, and not a codal obligation upon all who believe. We are all prone to materialism. In spite of all the lessens in'dynamics we are receiving from the discovery of imponderable forces, we love to deal with thing* tangible. The homoeopathist, if he could do so with impunity, would give just as large doses as the allopathists, but by reason Of G the tender susceptibillity of the diseased organ,and the specific •operation of his remedy upon that organ, he is compelled by the force of circumstances, to graduate his dose to the acute or chronic, sluggish or irritable character of the disease. The allopathist by giving medicines which act upon other organs than the ones affected may give almost any dose the patient will retain, and yet not aggravate the existing disease. because the medicinal force is spent in disturbing healthy organs. The misapprehension of the reason of the different doses on either side, is the great stumbling block both to the profes- sional and laical in accepting Homoeopathy. What sense, say they, is there in giving the millionth or trillionth of a grain of medicine? What science or analogy is there for using the 3d or 30th dilution or attenuation ? or is there common sense in supposing they have any effect? Without giving the more popular reasons which have been often repeated, we reply : Physiology, Pathology and all" of the collateral sciences not only justify, but make it indis- pensable. The smallest molecular quantity of a drug is in perfect consonance with, and the crude and massive doses which are yet in vogue, are directly against,all the teachings of other departments of science. At present we shall refer only to the facts of physiology, as corroborative of the doses of Homoeopathy. If every physician, before. administering to his patient, would ask himself the-three following questions, they would soon become dilutibnists of some sort. They are these: 1st. AVhat is the organism which I am about to dose'. 2d. What is the cause of the disease?" 3d. In the light of these answers how large ought the particles of my medicine to be? 1st. Let us look what is the-organism which requires this unnatural aid, and we shall see that it is not a self-operating- grinding machine,in which.poisonous plants and minerals are to be brought to a certain consistence, but an inconceivably fine, render and delicate mechanism-, fearfully and wonderfully made. The atoms of crude medicine which physicians have been and are still giving, are many times larger than the conduits through which they must pass to reach the part diseased. The capillaries or vessels through which every- atom must pass to its place of destination,are only 7 0\ 0 of an inch in diameter. The blood-globules are the carriers which take and deposit these particles,.an 1 they are Jo\ „ of an inch. The walls of these globules or carriers are in thickness T5|-0 „ of an inch. The fibres in the nerve-centers are TT J „ 0 but be- come so small as to be inmmoasurable when they reach their peripheral distribution. The discoverable solids of the body, according to Majendie, are Vo\ a of an inch, but most of them arc actually so small that they cannot be measured, even by the aid of a microscope. Majendie well remarks that thev are beyond the ken of our senses, as the infusory animals, globules of fluids etc., were before the invention of the mi- croscope. And he adds: He who shall discover an instru- ment by which we may perceive the intricate arrangement of matter, will enrich the field of human knowledge and im- mortalize himself. Seeing then that these parts, each of which however maintains its individuality, are so small'as not to be discoverable by the mic:oscopc, where is the proprietv in that professed science which crowds the system with crude and nntriturated particles, either vegetable or mineral,which must either clog np or break down the delicate texture, in its futile effort to remove a lesser malady. Many of the mineral remedies whicji are commonlv ad- ministered untriturated, consist of particles, each of which are from ^a to the j J0 part of an inch in diameter. These of course cannot undergo solution and absorption in smaller forms, for they are insoluble in the chemicals of the human system. They can only operate as mechanical irritants to the mucous membrane of theintestinal tract, and'thus punish the •unoffendingbowels', for a disease in some other locality. If therefore we desire the atoms of medicine to-reach the place diseased, they must certainly be smaller than the vessels through which they are to pass; that is, they must be less than the 40'00 of an inch in diameter. It is a plain fact in 6 Mechanics, that a larger substance cannot pass through a smaller opening; and yet the dutifnl children of Hippocrates neither heed nor practice upon this philosophy. Our 2nd. question is: How came the disease? For the sake of brevity and illustration we shall here refer only to those diseases which arise from a specific cause; and if we show that they have been excited by the reception of some atoms or particles, so small as to be imperceptible by the micros- cope, it will surely give us some clue as to how large our med- icinal particles should be, tor the one must certainly penetrate to where the other has been lodged; the last should be smaller than the first. As representing one class of these diseases let us take Scarlatina. How is it produced ? By a poison which enters the circulation, at least sufficiently to have its effect upon the nervous system. How large are its particles, or how much has entered the system? Alas no man can set; or approach the calculation of its amount; it is so fine and so sparse as to be invisible and imponderable. During every epidemic which sweeps over the land, we see strong, robust, and healthy men, able to defy the elements, and endure all manner of excess, in a few hours, by the might of an unseen, incalculable amount of specific poison, shorn of their strength and straightened for the grave. So with the violent fevers, which every season prevail, especially those of the south and west, the insidious cause attacks the ^strong man armed,"' and soon leaves him, a trophy of its destroying power.. Parotitis, or mumps, is often contracted by the infin- itessimal quantity of contagious matter received by merely passing in the street. Hooping cough will keep one ailing for weeks, yet the senses have never brought to our comprehension the size of the dose necessary for its production. So with the morbid derangements which arise from contact with animal poisons, as Syphilis, Hydrophobia, the bites of serpents cfec, the molecules necessary to excite these, are so exceedingly small that they cannot be measured, or weighed, and no one can tell how little may produce a ravaging disease and horrible death. The substances which cause these diseases, 9 are not anomalous, either in their formation or action. They are the result of the same law?, which form the most harmless composition. Eaeh poison has an elective affinity for a certain particular organ or tissue, and the organ selected determines the character of the disease. Just so with medicines, each has its specific impress, or more plainly, poisonous influence, upon some particular organ or part The manner of action is the same in both, the difference is only in intensity. To the human system the one is equally as foreign and obnoxious as the other. The material which produces diseases is so per-, meative in size, and sparing in quantity, that it ensures uni- formity and certainty of action. In ature thus gives us lessons in regard to doses and says in every fatal case of the diseases we have mentioned behold the power of high attenuations. If the objection be made that the medicines we give are far less active and severe in their operation than the specific causes of disease, we reply that this is more than counter- balanced by the increased susceptibility of the parts at the time the medicine is given. When the seeds of disease are introduced in the system, all its parts are in healthy action. and comparatively tolerant of the foreign influence, but when the remedy is applied which has its specific action upon the part affected, then the susceptibility of that organ by reason of the disease is increased a million fold, and at least in a greater degree than the activity of the first exceeds that of the last. Again it is also true that medicine has all its specific action even when taken in health, in doses so small as not to be perceivable to the sight or touch. The gardener need snuff' the fragrance of the flower but once, in order to assign it to its particular class. A single grain of musk will scent a room for years and yet lose no perceptible size or weight. Here actual particles are continually being emitted and yet years may elapse without appreciably lessening the bulk. Take a lump of opium or a bottle of laudanum, and merely smell a few times of either, and you will soon begin to feel the heavy head, the dizziness, the dreamy reyery, and all the 10 peculiar effects of opium. Take a small quantity of the powder or tincture of Ipecacuanha, and treat it in the same way and you will soon feel nausea, faintness, and the usual effects upon the membranes of the respiratory organs. Use Belladonna and the peculiar headache, dryness of the throat ifec. will soon be made apparent. So with the whole class of odoriferous drugs, a fact which any physician, or layman must admit to be true. Let us then ask the question again how large are the particles which you thus receive in merely smelling of these preparations? All must answer, they do not know; for they are neither seen nor felt, yet they are just as surely material as the rocks of the earth, and they are - sufficient in size to produce a drug disease. Does not common sense declare that every physician should regard and act upon these physiological teachings,, and doe- not the same common sense declare that if these have an action upon the healthy economy, they should and must be triturated beyond the ken of our senses, wh.cn we desire to have them exert a curative impress upon the tender and im- pressible organ diseased? Xot only is it true in regard to morbid physiological action, that infinitesimals are the moving influence, it is also true in the normal and healtliy operations of nature. .If we watch the secretory and excretory systems in their regular action,wc- see the same truth as plainly taught. The granules which are continually deposited to supply the place of those which are excreted, and the rejected elements of perspiration and o'her secretions accord perfectly in size with the facts we have mentioned. The process of generation illustrates the same principle. The imperceptible dust of the male plant is wafted by the gentlest breeze to its opposite and thus impregnates. Spal- lanzani and Arnold have shown that the millionth part of a drop of frog's semen fecundates the egg as rapidly as more. Harvey has also shown that rabbits are fecundated where not a trace of semen can be found. But" this we cannot farther notice. Our concern is with morbid derangement. To bo 11 brief, it is safe to say that all contagious diseases, are produced by what allopathists are yet pleased to call fanciful doses: yet there is somthing more than the workings of fancy in the effects they show. The various organic diseases which all physicians are called upon to treat are yet supposed to be n-a/, though they are produced by influences which cannot be clutched by the hand, or seen even by the most powerful glass. Since then we find that the causes of disease are 1111- obscrvable by any of the senses, this brings us to our— 3d question. What doses do we need to remove it?. This needs no abstruse reasoning, nothing but the logic which common sense suggests. As has been the cause so must be t\\e cure. This is plain and undeniable. If poison in imper- ceptible doses has been the exciting agent, certainly our remedy ought to be in a like state of comminution; give as much and as often as you choose, but let it be in such form that it may penetrate the finer meshes of the organism in which the disturbance exists. The physiology of the parts. and the minute foreign influences introduced, both tell us in unmistakable language, let the antidote be such in size that it can follow the bane. There is or ought to be an adage, , which suys: you cannot send a dog in a rat-hole. Xeither can you eradicate disease, by crude doses of drugs. It may sometimes be held in abeyance whilst nature effects the cure. but never by these radically removed. The true homoeopathist will give enough medicine to obtain the end desired, whether it be the 1st., the 3d., or the 30th. The particles of the 3d, 6th or 10th triturations are more perceptible to the senses than the disease producing atoms. Why then is it unreasonable that we should find, as we do find, that these are quickly curative? It is natural for those who have no knowledge of attenuations to have more confi- dence in 5 grains of the pure drug than in five grains of the 3rd trituration, yet the last contains thousands more of par- ticles than the first, and although they are very minute in size yet each contains all the distinctive characteristics and specific endowments of the original drug with the vast advantage 12 that its parts may enter where they else would not. Accord- in* to Mayrhofer, in one grain of the 3d trituration of Tin or Arsenic, there are 115,200,000 particles of the medicine. The same author by a glass of medium size has seen Platina in the 10th dilution; Gold in the 10th and 11th potency; Silver in the 12th attenuation; Mercury in the 10th; Iron in 7th and Sth; Tin 13th and 14th; Copper 12th. These are facts and cannot be avoided. Yet when we speak of the 3d or 6th attenuation our allopathic friends still stand back with horror and exclaim there is no medicine in them! They forget that rule in philosophy which says there is no limit to the divisibility of matter, or else believe it to be true in every thing else but medicine. They are willing to take the micro- scojkj and search for the minute causes of disease, or for its locality in the system, but when it it proposed to use the same means to observe the atoms which may cure, they are dumb with astonishment at the 'loose reasoners' of the age. Here we see the inconsistency of modern Physiologists. The names of Majendie, Draper and Dal ton, we mention with the highest respect and admiration of their talents, acquire- ments and triumphs. By their devoted labor they have con- ferred an inestimable boon upon science and mankind. They will need no monuments but the fruit of their toil. And yet after having accomplished so much, they refuse to use these facts for their highest end. They have helped to develope a beautiful science, but thus far it has served as much for amuse- ment as use. It is the privilige and duty of homceopathists to take these facts, and appropriate them to their highest and legitimate use, namely, to corroborate the substantial facts conected with our law of cure. TEACHINGS OF PATHOLOGY. Xuiie of the departments of medical science during the last fifty years, have been so rapidly developed as those of Physi- ology and Pathology. Modem investigation has not only given us an idea of the wonders of the human mechanism, but also of the seat and nature of disease. Above we have 13 referred briefly to the facts of physiology as not merely sus- taining but demanding only the doses of our school ; in the following we shall mention some of the lessons of pathology or diseased physiology, with reference to the same. When all the parts of the body are in health, and every condition is supplied for the proper performance of each function, there is nothing more beautiful than the uniform regularity with which each action is maintained, and nothing more wonderful than the endurance of these delicate parts to the irritating, oppressive influences to which they are subject. From the external we have bruises and wounds, cold and heat, such as would destroy even mineral substances, and in the internal, miasm, noxious vapors, specific poisons of disease- artificial stimulants and narcotics, continued violations of known physiological laws, and last though not least drugging the system with crude medicines; yet from the effects of all these it is the natural tendency, for parts to recuperate, to throw off their morbid action, and resume their normal con- dition. This tolerance is the Providential arrangement by which our lives are preserved. This is the peculiarity of the animal formation, that though it is succeptible to the smallest influences and most delicate impressions, yet it will bear and apparently recover from the grossest imposition of foreign substances. These are the facts when in health ; but it is now our inquiry, with how much of an impression should a diseased organ be touched, or how much medicinal force does it require to remove disease. Patholog}T, in a few words will answer this question. In our first article we showed that medicines in doses so small as not to be perceptable to the sight or touch, even on the healthy economy, produced decided and permanent impressions ; now let us see in what ratio the susceptibility of an organ is in- creased by disease, or how much more impressible it is than when in health, and then we shall have the ratio by which the dose, even of these imperceptible medicines, should be dimin- ished in order to produce a like impression. Take the first example from the external. The hand when 14 hualthv, with proper surroundiugs. may bear the weight of 3<»o lbs. upon it without injuring a tissue or causing severe pain. But let it become diseased; let all the muscles, nerves. tissues occ. be brought to a high state of inflammation such as we constantly see by tumors, boils, and other local or consti- tutional affections, and what is the coudition then. The sensibility is so far increased, that the weight of a leather cannot be borne, even £ a grain of the softest substance is really painful'to the touch. This is not imaginary, but some- •thing which every one knows who has experienced these ills. What.part of 300 lbs. is £ a grain? It is 5TjJ-0? part of it. We find then that these tissues, which, when in a normal con- dition will bear a certain impression, when they are excited by inflammation will only bear the Ifj|j?7 of that im- pression. This brings us unavoidably to the logical deduction", that where in health one grain of medicine has only a moderate action, there, when diseased, the Hjin5 of a grain will pro- duce even a painful sensation. If we now take the case of Opium, mentioned before, which in common with many other medicines produces all its characteristic effects even in health, by merely smelling of the drug, in which process we perhaps receive the -g^ part of a grain, we shall find that when the impressibility of that part of the brain, on which Opium has its specific action, is aroused by active inflammation, then the tts soVooo o 0T' n grain, will make quite as perceptible an impression, as the j^o of a grain did when in health. These figures cannot lie, and no one can object to the process by which they are reached, for if there is this vastly increased susceptibility in the tissues of the hand, in disease over that of health, then there is certainly a corresponding increase under like circum- stances in any of the tissues of the body. As another illustration of this principle let us look at the stomach. When that organ is in health, and ready for the digestion of food, it will receive and retain all that its size will admit; but when from either local or other causes there arises acute inflammation of its tissues, then it will not retain lo a particle of food. Every physician must have been at the bed-side of patients when they have said, I cannot take a drop of water without vomiting. It is common to sec cases where even the smell of food produces nausea and emesis. It is needless for us to compute the fractional part of the food thus received from the smelling, in respect to the quan- tity the stomach might contain, for invisibly small though it is, it is sufficient not only to more than satiate, but to be s<> repugnant as to be instantly dismissed. Another illustration we might take from the eye. When all its parts are well, and naturally formed, it is able to bear any quantity of light necessary for the most perfect vision, but when acute Ophthalmia ravages its parts, then every beam must be shut out from the apartment, if even a reflected ray enters the room where the eye is protected by the most care- ful bandage, the patient is immediately cognizant of it and cries out with pain. It is perfectly safe to say that the billionth part of the light'which is agreeable and necessary in health, will produce excruciating pain during the inflam- matory stages of disease. In fact we cannot compute the quantity of light which is actually painful in Ophthalmia, that is ; figures would fail us to tell what fractional part it is of that deluge of light which flows upon us in the ordinary process of vision, just as they say figures fail to tell what part of the crude mass is the 30th dilution. Just so with the ear. The soldier, when in such health as allows him to be on the field of battle, receives the continued and most terrific peals of the cannon, as only a pleasant ex- citement, which soon fails, even to produce enthusiasm; but let the same soldier be stricken with any malady which affects the brain, so as to produce irritability of the auditory nerves, and he will then be in such condition, as to be greatly dis- turbed by the impression of the softest whisper, or the sound of the lightest footstep. These are not isolated cases, but representative instances of an universal law which governs not four only, but all the organs and tissues of the human frame. The action of this 16 law furnishes what we may call the i?idieative half of the con- ditions of medical science; the corresponding half being sup- plied by the curative powers of the drugs we now have, and those which are yet to be discovered. In the examples given, we have selected those which are plain and cannot be misunderstood or misconstrued, and they surely prove all that we ask of them, or else Pathology and Mathematics are a delusion, and pain a freakrof the imagi- nation. In the foregoing instances Ave have shown that the suscep- tibility of an inflamed tissue, is, to the susceptibility of a healthy tissue, as 3,456,000 to 1, it consequently follows, that the medicinal impression upon the diseased tissue, must be to the medicinal impression upon the healthy tissue, as 1 to 3,456,000. Let us now apply this principle to a few cases of disease, and see how large a dose Pathology tells us to give. Aloes and Colocynthare acknowledged by writers of the old school to have their principal, or specific effect upon the bowels, the first more especially upon the larger intestines and rectum. They give these medicines in doses of 2 or 3 grains each, and even in these doses they are comparatively harmless, for the reason that the bowels are in health at the time of administer- ing. They prescribe according to the principle of Contmria Contra nas Ourantur, and -consequently purge the bowels when the disease is in the head, lungs, heart, throat, or any other part of the body. They can give these doses therefore with impunity, as the bowels are in a condition to tolerate oven a larger amount. The Homoeopathist also gives Aloes and Colocynth, but he gives them, when the disease is in that portion of the bowels on which these medicines have their specific action, that is in irritation and inflammation of the larger bowels and rectum, or in Diarrhoea, Dysentery, ecc; and because of the acute inflammation of these parts, their sus- ceptibility to medicinal impression is increased in the same proportion as that of the hand we have mentioned. Conse- quently, if the healthy bowel is only moderately affected by 17 two grains of Colocynth, the inflamed bowel will be just as much affected by the TTaioT* of a grain. This we find not merely true in theory but also in practice. Those who give the 3d dilution or trituration of Colocynth, in Dysentery, (a dose of which is about equal to f *T JTirT part of a grain,) find that it is very surely curative in the cases where it. is indicat- ed, unless the parts are too much inflamed, in which case it will be entirely too strong, and evidently aggravate the existing disease. Ipecac will often produce nausea in the healthy person, in doses of one grain. According to the law of impressibility then, when the stomach is already diseased and nauseated, we can only give ?Tjetttttt of a grain. I have just seen a case of intensely violent neuralgia, affect- ing the right side of the head, and face. The patient had taken huge doses of Narcotics, Stimulants, and Nervines, but with no effect, excepting to leave her in a more tremulous condition. She had slept none for 48 hours and was almost distracted with pain. A few doses of the appropriate remedy, amounting to not more than the T „ 0 0\ 0 0 0> * of a grain, re- lieved and cured in the space of two hours. The reason why the massive doses of Valerian occ, had no effect was, because they did not touch the part diseased. Their action was upon other and healthy parts of the system. But the homoeopathic dose was as nearly as possible the Shnilimum. It had its specific impress upon the parts affect' ed by Neuralgia, and therefore the smallest influence only was necessary to cause a response from the tender tissue. I have no predilection for the above or any size of dose, but gave that which, considering the conditions, would be most quickly curative. 1 might mention other cases of disease illustrative of the same principle, enough to fill a volume, but this is unnecessary as they will readily occur to any one who will follow out these reflections. Every new convert to Homoeopathy is astonished at the effi- cacy of the small doses we employ, and many at first suppose they must be the most active poisons ; but here we may see. that it is not because of any corrosive action or brute force IS belonging to the medicine, but because of the acute sus- ceptibility to the slightest impressions, which is always a consequence of an inflamed organ or tissue. We often hear loquacious " doctors," in order as tfiey sup- posed to show the inconsistency of Homoeopathy, relate the case of some child who swallowed a whole bottlefull of little pills without producing the least unpleasant effect. This may sometimes excite a laugh, but it shows a woful ignorance of the laws of disease, such as no medical man should be guilty of. It is true, that a child when in health, or when the organ on which the medicine ljas its action, is in health, may take not the contents of one bottle only, but the contents of a do- zen bottles, without being seriously disturbed, and yet when the impressibility of that organ is excited by inflammation. then six pellets from the same bottles will produce all the im- pression desired. This is so perfectly in accordance with the other instances we have given, as to need no further notice. Why then, does the Allopathist continue to ridicule our doses, and say there is nothing in.them? Let him discard the theory of administration if he choses, let him say there is no such law of cure, but for his own honor and intelligence, let him no longer disregard the invincible, unmistakeable teachings of Pathology, which should be stronger than even his own prejudices. He does not sit down by the bed-side of a patient when suffering from Gastritis and say, "you are foolish and imagi- nary to vomit the few drops of water you have taken." lie knows this irritability is an effect of the disease, and marvels not at the vomiting of the smallest quantity of water, even though he has seen him drink a quart of it when in health, He does not say to the patient with Ophthalmia, " you only tancy you cannot bear the light, but he knows the fact that what was before pleasant and necessary, is now in the bil- lionth part of its strength excruciatingly painful to the eye ; accordingly he sends him into a chamber perfectly darkened until the peculiar susceptibility is removed. Since then, he regards these pathological conditions, and graduates the dis- 19 turbing influences to their impressibility, why should we not in every disease regard these eloquent teachings and graduate the strength of our remedies to the sensitiveness of the organ affected. Admitting that we are sometimes compelled to carry our dilutions so high as not to be calculated with figures, why should Ave any more doubt their efficacy, than we do the numberless analogous facts in nature, and the lessons of other departments of Science to which medicine is so closely allied. In the present state of Homoeopathy, it may very occasionally be expedient to use medicines as low as drop doses of tho tincture. But these can only be used as expedients, and we trust that soon this apparent necessity will be removed by the development of powers of the other drugs which will be nearer the similimum than any we now possess, and con- sequently can be given in doses^ar removed from the tinctures. Those who use the attenuations, high or low, will cure their patients much more surely and promptly than those who use the crude drug. 1st. -because they who find it a necessity to use the crude have not selected the truly indicated remedy, and 2nd. because of the permeative size of the preparations of which we have spoken. There are also other reasons which we cannot here notice. It is undoubtedly true that the untri- turated doses of the Allopathist, with the few medicines, which he calls specific, do cure some cases of disease and that without producing medicinal aggravations but these cure not because of the large quantity given, but by virtue of the very few atoms contained in the mass which happen to be sufficiently small' to reach the part diseased. The bulk of such a dose is of no specific value and were better not admin- istered, as it only acts as a foreign substance in disturbing healthy parts,*ancl the few comminuted particles which wise nature selects are all that is necessary to produce a healing impression. If physicians will regard the lessons of Pathology and exercise a proper carefulness in selecting the remedy indicated, they may even now be done with the grosser 20 materials with which the human system is still abused, and pr actice that which alone is rational medicine. We are aware that some who have half investigated Homoeopathy are looking and waiting for the day when its doses shall become more appreciable. They desire that it shall be "liberalized," so as to meet the concessions of modern Allopathy. This can never be done. If allopathists change, they must drop arms and march in our ranks. No con- cession can be made. On the contrary, the size of the dose will continue to recede from that of all other systems of medicine, until the true rem'edies are found which meet every condition of disease. The Homoeopathy of Hahnemann and of to-day is the Medical Science of all time. It will be shorn of the inconsistencies which have gathered around it, and pruned of some imaginary powers of drugs, but its principles will govern all future discoveries, and" appropriate them to their proper itse. This is not sectarian or illiberal. It is not the invention of any man or class of men ; but the imperative demands of the arbitrary laws of Nature. The dose is but the consequent; the law of healing and the pathological conditions are the antecedent. The homoeopathist, for reasons which we have mentioned, could not if he would, give any larger doses than are now employed. On the other hand, the allopathist, if honest, can never give smaller doses than those he is now, and has been using for years. It takes the same quantity of Bhubarb to purge, the same of Ipecac to vomit, the same of Cantharides to blister, the same of Nitre to produce diuresis, that it ever has, in any age of t^e world, and unless the constitution of man is changed, their doses can never be altered until they give up the contrary and adopt the similar doctrine. , All reduction in the strength of their drugs then, if there be any, is either merely catering to the good-will of the patient or a step in forsaking the doctrines they profess.