MEDICAL SCIENCE AND QUACKERY; A POPULAR DISCUSSION. BY C. M. DAKE, M. D., President of the Livingston County Homoeopathic Medical Society; Mem* ler of the American Institute of Homoeopathy; Honored Graduate of the Homoeopathic College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Etc., etc. The leading principles and truths of the healing art, arranged in systematic order, comprise a brief philosophical definition of Medical Science. Medical—(L. medicus)—healing, medicinal, pertaining to healing; medeor, to cure, remedy, help, be good for or against. Science, (L. scientia,) knowledge, skill, expertness; scio, to know, the comprehen- sion of truth, or facts, by the mind. The boastful pretensions, or mean practice of an ignoramus, particu- larly in medicine, empiricism, Dr. "Webster denominates Quackery. Medical societies of the Allopathic and Homoeopathic schools in the State, of New York, have also defined quackery, in the following words: " The importance of the medical profession requires that it should be exercised with fidelity to its scientific and governing principles, with honor to all its members, and with justice and humanity to the sick. A departure from the above principles constitutes Quackery, which degrades the medical character by ignorance, artifice, unapproved meth- ods of practice, and by the use of remedies dangerous to health and life. "Any physician and surgeon who divides his responsibility with a known quack, and associates with him in medical consultation, receiv- ing a fee, or the usual charges for such services, or practices with nos- trums, secret medicines, or patent remedies, is guilty of quackery. "Public advertisements, or private cards, inviting customers afflicted with defined diseases ; promising radical cures; engaging no cure, no pay; producing certificates and signatures, even from respectable indi- viduals, in support of the advertiser's skill and success, and the like, are all absolute acts of quackery, which medical institutions should also repress, and punish by rejection, or expulsion, of those who commit them." % 2 Some individuals have thought such restrictions in medicine were incompatible with the best interests of the sick; and have regarded the medical fraternity a monopoly, infringing their vested rights. We con- fess medical men'have made mistakes; but they did not make a mistake when they recorded what we have stated of their definition of quackery. Who can say it is not the duty of the medical profession to protect itself against quackery, against ignorance, avarice and knavery; and to establish rules and regulations to advance medical science? Does not the good of our race, the welfare of our brother, our sister, demand a safeguard around the citadel of our beloved art.? Go with me to the sick chamber of vour friend, and behold there the sufferings of one you love; the countenance pale, the body distorted, and hear their cries and importunities saluting your ears, calling for relief. If you would have the full and efficient benefit of medical science in that trying moment, object not to the simple and ample means provided by the wisdom and intelligence of its devotees To check the growth of quackery, is one of the essential conditions in advancing medical science. So long as the ignorance of the profession, or the people, shall allow them to patronize and sustain the empiric, so long will medical science be retarded, the sick cheated, and the profes- sion disgraced. Medical science, like the true Church, contains essential knowledge, saving truth. There is a striking analogy in the science of medicine to the science of religion. That which is the remedy bears in its nature the similitude of the disease it cures. And there is logic in the thought. Sufferings are sufferings, whether of this life or that which is to come ; whether temporal or eternal, they are nevertheless sufferings. And as with suf- ferings so with remedies; whether they remedy the sufferings of this life or that which is to come, they are nevertheless remedies. And inas- much as these sufferings are the sufferings of man, and some of them find a remedy in Him, who is the similitude; who bore in his nature both divinity and humanity—in like manner, some of the sufferings of men find in the remedy the similitude of the sufferings they cure, in man, in this life. There is truth in the healing art; and central truth in the healing art may be defined, Knowledge of the primordial rule of remedial action. That all remedies bear in their nature the similitude of the diseases they cure. Knowledge and truth relating to the healing art may be found wher- ever man is found. The civilized, the uncivilized, the barbarian and heathen, all, have remedies, and some are good and true. But where shall we find the leading principles and truths of the healing art, arran- ged in systematic order ? Wherever are found the leading principles and truths of the healing art arranged in scientific order, there may be found the true medical science; and it would be a fruitless task, ending only in disappointment, to search for it anywhere else. 1 have diligently searched the records of the past, and am compelled to ascribe great credit and glory to the Allopathic school. Notwith- standing their errors, they have been the conservators of a profession we love and respect. When all the branches of the medical profession are considered, wo find in the Allopathic school more knowledge and talent than in any other. They have as much truth, and as many prin- ciples as the circumstances will allow. 8 This school has erected a gorgeous and splendid Temple, and the World have come to it and presented their oblations. Its glittering dome has attracted the attention of the devoted student, and he has come there to drink in medical science from the fountain embodying the leading principles and truths of the healing art. Medical men of learning and genius have lent their aid in erecting this Temple. Many of them are numbered with the sleeping millions, that in due time will be raised and congregated to receive their reward. May their errors slumber with their dust, while their conscious and im- mortal spirits enjoy the approbation of the God of truth. While we thus speak of the dead and their deeds, and cover their faults with the mantle of charity and love, permit us to call your atten- tion to obligations now resting upon the living. The medical Temple was built by human hands, like that of Solomon. So long as the ark of the covenant rested within the sacred enclosure, so long did majestic glory dwell there. But when the ark departed, its glory departed ; and so it will be with the medical Temple, when cen- tral truth departs its glory will depart. If our Temple is saved, truth must be there; central truth of the healing art must be there. This truth was there, and but for ignorance which covered the mental vision, it would have been observed and regarded, and medical science in- finitely advanced. The central truth of the healing art, which lay at the foundation of every remedial cure, was not regarded by the Allopathic school, at no time, never. And before we pass on to notice this school, we desire all who hear us to understand, that what we have to say relates to Thera- peutics and Materia Medica, and not to the other branches of the pro- fession. We make no attack on the other departments of the profession. It is understood the object of therapeutics is, to heal, cure, remedy. That the meteria medica treats of remedies, their action on the liv- ing economy of man. In relation to these points and the Allopathic school, we bring the following charges: 1. Their therapeutics and materia medica are unscientific. 2. Their therapeutics and materia medica had their foundation in experiment and experience. 3. They have never discovered the ability of drugs. 4. They have not at any time regarded the leading principles and truths of the healing art. Their therapeutics and materia medica are unscientific, because they did not construct them in obedience to the central truth that lay at the foundation of the healing art. As a science, the whole process of healing is governed by a central law, which must be discovered and regarded, before a scientific thera- peutics arid materia medica can be constructed. No amount of experi- ment and experience, however well conducted, are sufficient of them- selves. Without knowledge of the leading principles and truths of the heal- ing art, it were impossible to construct medical science. Nor is knowl- edge of the ability of drugs sufficient in the process. There is a primordial rule of remedial action, and that rule must be regarded. It is truth, all remedies bear in their nature a likeness of the Bufferings they cure. When this truth is observed, then other leading principles and truths that congregate about this truth, may be observed, So this truth becomes the central truth of the healing art. 4 From this standpoint of truth drugs may be tried on the living econ- my of man, and their action known. Proceeding in obedience to the central truth, drugs must first be tried on persons in health, and the sufferings they are capable of exciting noted, before they could be employed correctly in the cure of the sick. Drugs possess the ability to excite on the living economy of man, an ensemble of symptoms like those they cure in the sick Notwithstanding such ability on the part of drugs and other agents employed in the cure, the Allopathic school have not regarded it. It is hardly necessary to remark that the result of such ignorance has been disastrous, not only to medical science, but to the sick. They had propositions, but no leading principles and truths. They proposed to cure disease by the employment of drugs and other agents, whose ability they had not learned. They experimented with them on the sick and on dumb animals, and they have sought the information in other ways. They tried to reason a-priori, and analogically about them, but such reasoning was illogical. That they have not understood the curative action of drugs and other means they employ, is not surprising, when we consider from whence they sought information. Without any knowledge of the action of drugs to start upon, either on persons sick or in health, or any other knowledge of their virtues, they prescribed them for the sick, simply because they chose to do so; and so they have been torturing the sick ever since to make drugs reveal their curative action; and, for the sake of suffering humanity, we would have had their action so revealed, if it were possible. But it was not possible for drugs to thus reveal their action. We would not make so great lamentation over the millions that have been tortured and slain, if such trials had resulted in permanently es- tablishing theraputics, or if the materia medica had, by the process, con- tained a record of the ability of drugs. Their trials of drugs, as we have stated, have been mainly on individ- uals when sick. They never thought to try them on persons in health ; though it is truth that every drug capable of curing disease, is also ca- pable of exciting similar sufferings in the healthy. That this ability on the part of drugs to excite sufferings like those they cure, the Allopathic school have not regarded, is also truth. When they prescribe drugs, they are compelled to select from a ma- teria medica sadly deficient in its record of the ability of drugs. The only record of the action of drugs on persons in health the Allo- pathic school possess, may be found in works on Toxicology, that treat on poisons. With the preceding facts before us, it will not be difficult for any one to observe some of the mischief which results from such ignorance. If physicians are ignorant of the effects of drugs on persons in health, how is it possible for them to know their action so as to distinguish drug symptoms from natural symptoms ? Prescribing as they do one or more drugs, singly and compounded at each visit, day after day, how is it pos- sible for them to distinguish the sufferings presented at each successive visit, so as to understand which are the sufferings of the natural disease, and which the sufferings excited by the drugs they have employed ? Now, if Allopathic physicians cannot tell what part of the sufferings denote drug disease, and what part natural disease, how can they avoid prescribing for symptoms excited by the drugs they employ in the cure ? Is it not evident, from the facts in the case, that the Allopathic school 5 are subject to the error of prescribing at each successive visit for disases their drugs have excited ? Under these circumstances, when and where would their treatment end ? So long as they administer drugs, so long will the sick have sufferings. Their sufferings could not end, they would continue conjoined to the natural disease unless the natural disease had ceased; in which case the sufferings excited by the drugs employed would continue; and when, in the name of reason and suffering human- ity, would their treatment cease ? Not until physicians thought, or fan- cied, they ought to stop, or the patient, or friends of the patient, com- pelled them to stop; or until the patient died, would they stop. We have heard the objector say, " We understand the action of the drugs we employ; we know their efficacy ; we know the curative abil- ity and powers of the drugs we employ." It is to be presumed those persons believed what they said. We are willing to concede to them as much integrity as we claim. But we know they have made a mistake, and we claim the privilege of politely calling their attention to the mistake. We have the right of calling their at- tention to any mistake they make in the healing art. They have made a fundamental mistake. When they supposed they understood the ac- tion of drugs, they were mistaken. And so long as they neglect to find out the action of drugs on persons in health, so long will they be igno- rant of their ability to cure. The Allopathic school made a mistake, when they declared that their system alone deserved the titles "Kational," and "Kegular." They should remember, they have not regarded the leading principles and truths of the healing art; that they are ignorant of the action of drugs on persons in health, and that what they have arranged in relation to therapeutics and materia medica, is not arranged in scientific order. Their knowledge of the action of drugs on the animal economy, is too limited. They ought to know their action on persons in health. They have also made a mistake in relation to the dose they employ. Keason and observation, without the help of revelation, should have taught mankind and the profession, that the authorized doses of the Al- lopathic school are too large for the purposes designed, or for the pur- pose of cure; that they excite disease in parts that are well, doing mis- chief to sound organs and tissues; and that the atoms that compose the bulk of the dose, are too crude to reach the infinite atoms of which dis- ease is composed. When man conceived the notion of curing disease by trying drugs upon the sick in massive doses, singly and compounded, regardless of their ability to excite diseases similar to those they cure, his imagination must have been the cytoblastema; in the nucleated cell, which supported the blastema, or germ, from which empiricism has luxuriated in its wildest exuberance. If God, the Creator, designed that man should suffer in this life, His purpose, in that respect, has been measurably accomplished by physi- cians of the Allopathic school, in their trials of drugs, in attempting to cure the sick. The object of remedial treatment being to cure, and not to kill, phy- sicians should proceed with that understanding, and adopt rules and regulations which embrace the object proposed. The Allopathic therapeutics and materia medica were founded in pro- positions purely emperical, and they have been continually augmenting, until they contain a mas's of error truly astounding to a scientific mind. It is true some scattered truths may be found here and there, amid-the lumber and rubish of three thousand yean. « From the boasting occasionally observed, one not conversant with the facts, would be led to believe that the Allopathic therapeutics and ma- teria medica embodied the leading principles and truths of the healing art, and that they were arranged in systematic order. Such boasting is a shame to their literature; it is all vain pretension. Some of them know it, and the remainder ought to know it. Having touched as many points in the Allopathic therapeutics and materia medica as our time will permit, let us pass on and notice an- other school of medicine, another doctrine in therapeutics and materia medica. The school we propose to notice has been denominated Homoeopathic; its doctrines, Homoeopathy. The leading principles and truths of Homoeopathy were the product of discovery ; and we have been informed by him who made the discov- ery, how it was. When Dr. Hahnemann announced his discovery to the world, he told them that while translating Cullen's Materia Medica, he had come to that part where the febrifuge virtues of cinchona, peru- vian bark, were recorded, and that while thus engaged, the mighty truth flashed upon his mind: Drugs possess the ability to excite on individuals in health, sufferings similar to those they cure in the sick. And from that moment, that learned and good man went at the work, to prove the thought; and as he proceeded, he penetrated the darkness which had been gathering for ages, and rolled back the waves of error that threatened to crush the ark which contained an embodiment of the lead- ing principles and truths of the healing art. He succeeded in con- founding the Doctors of Medicine, as the Divine Teacher of the Chris- tian religion had the Doctors of the Levitical law. He saw that the Doctors of Medicine had lost sight of the great central truth; that the innermost principle had been neglected; that the splendor and glitter of the Temple, with its pompous rights and ceremonies, were a dead letter; that the external types and shadows, which were symbolical and em- blematical, had been misapprehended and regarded, in place of the cen- tral truth within. Such a mind as Hahnemann possessed was not to be diverted by any such show. He fixed his eye steadfastly upon the nucleolus which con- tained the blastema or germ He saw in drugs an efficacious nature and desired to learn enough of them to enable him to cure diseases accord- ing to knowledge. He saw in drugs a two-fold nature, that they could excite disease and that they could excite a cure. I think I see, said Hahnemann, a rule of action in this : that drugs bear in their nature a similitude of the diseases they cure. If I am correct,perhaps drugs will reveal an ability to excite on persons in health, a train of sufferings like those they cure in the sick. He now com- menced trying drugs on persons in health, and thus commenced the first trial, the first systematic trial of drugs on individuals in health, ever attempted. He tried drugs on male and female, old and young, and carefully noted the sufferings they excited, under the varied circum- stances, necessary to learn their range of action, and, on comparing, he found each drug capable of exciting an ensemble of symptoms in all respects like those the drugs had cured. Animated by the radiating light beaming forth from the central truth ; he tried more drugs on persons in health, and carefully noted the sufferings they excited, as before. He then administered these drugs separately to the sick, who had similar sufferings, and found them 7 to cure in a mild, prompt and efficient manner. And thus did he doubly prove the ability of drugs. First by observing their ability to excite sufferings similar to those they were able to cure ; and, Secondly, by observing their ability to cure diseases similar to those they were capable of exciting. This great German, and medical philosopher, did not stop here and close his eyes against the truth, like the great Grecian and medical philospher, Hippocrates. Hahnemann not only opened his eyes but his heart to the truth. Whoever will take the trouble to follow him through his medical pilgrimage of half a century, may learn of his faith by his works. He searched the records of the healing art, in every lan- guage, in every tongue, from the time when he lived, back to the time when medicine was first recorded, to Grecian days where cures were recorded on tablets of marble in heathen temples dedicated to Escula- pius, or to Hippocrates the accredited father of physic. What, think you, was the object in that long search amid the dusty volumes of ages ? I will tell you what he sought, what his object. He sought for knowledge and truth concerning the curative ability of drugs separately employed in the cure of disease. His object was to prove his doctrine, to try each of these drugs separately on persons in health, and see if they were capable of exciting a train of sufferings similar to those they have cured in the sick. He put such remedies to the test. He tried "them singly on individuals in health, and found them capable of exciting a train of suffering similar to what they were able to cure. Of all the drugs he tried upon the healthy, he made a record ; and that record comprises the best part of the true materia medica of the healing art. With such a record before him he proceeded to prove his doctrine, inversely, in the following way. In place of regarding some symptoms, usually termed diagnostics, he regarded all the symptoms of a disease. He regarded all the symptoms of a disease the only infallible expres- sion of it. In order to know the disease, that no mistakes should occur, he noted all the symptoms of the natural disease. With such a totality or ensemble of symptoms before him, he turned to his materia medica, and selected a drug which was capable of exciting on persons in health a similar totality or ensemble of symptoms; and the drug which bore this analogy, when properly prepared and administered, was found curative in the case. And so Hahnemann continued year after year, noting symptoms and selecting and applying drugs that corresponded; and also in trying drugs on the healthy. But say some : " How did he try these drugs on the sick, in the cure ?" I will tell you how he employed them in the cure. At first he admin- istered them in large doses, such as would have been called orthodox in his day by the Allopathic school, and which the same school call in this day "authorized doses." But he soon saw the mischief of such doses, and commenced decreasing their size, and still he found them too inefficient and also occasionally injurious. He then went at the matter like him- self, like a true philosopher. He separated their crude atoms and thus removed from themtheir ability to injure the delicate tissue, in which vitality and the immortal principle dwells. Taking away their power to kill the body, and leaving only enough to cure disease And this he accomplished by Trituration, and dynamization ;—a process by which he made the atoms so small and potent, that their latent ability became infinitely developed, so they could attack disease itself, and control the disturbed foras of which disease is composed. _ Homeopathy, then, embraces and teaches the leading principles and truths of the healing art, and 8 First. The primordial rule of remedial action: that all remedies bear in their nature the similitude of diseases they cure. Second. Drugs possess the ability to excite on individuals in health, Bufferings like those they cure in the sick. Third. Substances apparently inert, and others very poisonous and destructive, are made efficient in the cure of disease by trituration and concussion. Thus it may be seen that the leading principles and truths of the healing art, were discovered by Hahnemann. And that they are to be found in Homoeopathy. Hahnemann in contemplating the advantages to be derived from the discovery of Homoeopathy, could not have failed to express the rever- ential emotions, gratitude, and glory thrilling every fibre of his soul. He must have remarked : " O, Father of truth, is it possible thou hast permitted me to behold the fundamental truth in the healing art. Is there a Balm in Gilead for the sufferer ? Has the time come when truth is to conquer the error of ages ? When in medicine shall be observed the fundamental principle of salvation ?" "I believe the time has come ; that Thou ha«t revealed this great truth to me, and for the world. Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done." Hahne- mann was a scholar, a philosopher, a discoverer, and a christian. Homoeopathy is a great discovery, and while we join with Hahne- mann in adoring the God of truth for the revelation, we may also say : Let the world be joyous and jubilant. Let the echo of this great truth salute the ears of the sick, in every place, in every land.