ADDRESS 
DELIVERED BY THE 
PBESIDE1TT 
OF THE 
Imenc&B Jiptiiiit® of 
WM. L. BREYFOGLE, M.D., 
AT ITS 
THIR1 Y-FIFTH ANNUAL SESSION HELD AT INDIANAPOLIS, 
INDIANA, JUNE 13 to 17, 1882. 
Printed by Order of the Institute 
PITT S BURGH: 
Printed by Stevenson & Foster, 151 Wood Street. 
1882. The following resolutions were submitted by the Committee on the President’s 
Address, and, on motion, were unanimously adopted : 
Resolved, That the resume of events, showing the progress of Homoeopathy 
and of liberal ideas in medicine generally during the past year, is an able effort 
and full of encouragement. 
Resolved, That the practical suggestions for the conduct of the affairs of the 
Institute are timely and worthy of our careful consideration. 
Resolved, That the thanks of the Institute be tendered to President Breyfogle 
for his clear statement of the principles and policy of the American Institute of 
Homoeopathy. 
Resolved, That the General Secretary be instructed to have five thousand copies 
of the address printed in pamphlet form for distribution. PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
Members of the Institute, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
In entering upon the duties assigned me by your suf- 
frages, I am deeply impressed with the responsibilities of the 
work before me, and with profound gratitude for the confi- 
dence reposed in according to me the highest honor within 
your gift. Succeeding in this high office the many who have 
administered its affairs with such marked ability and success, 
I bespeak your kind forbearance, and liberal aid, in my earn- 
est endeavor to carry out the rules and regulations calculated 
to enhance the harmony and expedite the business of the 
session, while 1 promise to put forth my best efforts to accom- 
plish that end and to receive your good opinion. 
With these desires, then, I greet you, and extend a hearty 
welcome to the Thirty-fifth Annual Session of the American 
Institute of Homoeopathy, the oldest National Medical organ- 
ization in America. 
Before entering upon the more general business of our 
meeting, it becomes my duty, in accordance with the rules of 
the Institute, to present you with an Address embracing a 
brief review of the progress made in the science of medicine 
during the preceding twelve months. Besides such review, 1 
shall devote the brief time allowed me to the practical dis- 
cussion of questions of vital and pressing importance to our 
school. 2 
THE PAST YEAR. 
In casting our thoughts back over the time that has elapsed 
since our meeting at Brighton Beach, we are confronted with 
an array of facts that at once stamp the year as a memor- 
able one in the history of medicine. It is safe to say that 
during this time medical doctrines and medical ethics have 
been more generally discussed, both in and out of the pro- 
fession, than ever before. 
In Europe, the meeting of the two International Medical 
Conventions, brought forth delegates from all parts of the 
world to participate in the discussion of scientific questions, 
and to assist in advancing the practice of medicine. Our 
medical literature has teemed with the reports of these meet- 
ings, and with discussions of the subjects brought forward in 
them ; and in consequence every reading medical man in 
the world must have felt a revival of the interest within him. 
MEDICINE BEFORE THE PUBLIC. 
Among the laity, especially in our own country, the char- 
acter and progress of medicine have also been subjects of 
earnest discussion. 
The various announcements of National and State Boards 
of Health, the numerous legislative acts in regard to medicine 
and sanitary measures; and above all, the sad illness, the 
anxious watchings, with alternate hopes and fears, and at 
last death of our President, have made the art of healing a 
familiar one in nearly every household. 
Exactly what effect such discussions have had it is difficult 
to determine. True measure of public opinion is full twelve 
inches to the foot, and may demand of us wdiat we cannot 
furnish, an exact science, and the medical profession may 
have lost in one direction as much as it has gained in another, 
but we are safe in predicting that medical science, in the end, 
loses nothing by public discussions. 
PUBLIC OPINION BENEFICIAL. 
Public opinion may seem at times to deal unjustly, but in 
the main it is nearly correct, and medical science to-day owes  3 
more of its advancement to this cause than to all the accumu- 
lated wisdom of the medical priesthood. 
It is to a great extent due to this fact that Homoeopathy 
occupies its present high position. An intelligent public im- 
pressed with the fact that it was at times compelled to take 
medicine, determined to take as little as possible, and seemed 
ready and anxious to adopt a treatment, which Hahnemann 
had proclaimed to he successful in curing disease, without the 
necessity of hazardous measures. The people cared less for the 
philosophy of Hahnemann’s particular method than for prac- 
tical results, and believing success to be the test of merit, they 
have continued to encourage it with liberal support and pat- 
ronage until its influence has been felt throughout the entire 
civilized world. Its practitioners have not been idle; but 
grateful for such generous encouragement, they have made 
every effort to perfect the new system of medicine and to 
prove themselves worthy. 
GENERAL STANDING OF HOMOEOPATHY. 
How well they have accomplished their part let its proud 
position to-day in the United States testify. 
Witness its magnificent hospitals and asylums, its numer- 
ous and active societies, its eleven succesful colleges with 
crowded lecture rooms, and its thousands of volumes of med- 
ical literature. Witness the large appropriations made by 
State legislatures for supporting its institutions, and the ap- 
pointment of its professors in State universities. Witness the 
official recognition given Homoeopathy by appointments on 
National, State and Municipal Boards of Health. Witness 
the fact that its practitioners are numbered by thousands and 
its clients by millions among the most cultivated and intelli- 
gent of the people, and then say if Homoeopathy has pro- 
gressed ? 
THE ATTITUDE OF ALLOPATHY. 
Public opinion lias also done much for the old school. It 
has forced its practitioners to abandon old ruts and to travel 
in modern paths ; to leave behind, with heroic medication, 4 
the little instrument, with which Dr. Benjamin Rush claimed 
to have drawn enough blood to float a seventy-four gun man 
of war. 
So great has been this pressure upon traditional medicine 
that it has utterly demoralized its followers. Without a guid- 
ing principle in therapeutics, some have discarded medicine 
and given themselves to the more definite and fixed methods 
of surgery; others have become sanitarians; while the major 
portion, wrangling over conflicting theories, have become di- 
vided into the dogmatic and rational, or as sometimes desig- 
nated, the heroic and expectant schools of medicine. The one 
claims, by right of inheritance, to be the representative of 
traditional medicine. Its practice has been well described by 
Sir Astley Cooper, as “founded on conjecture and improved 
by murder.” The child reflects the image of the parent, and 
although divested of all its former grandeur it stalks forth in 
its naked imbecility, and with the lash of bigotry and in- 
tolerance would drive oht every medical theory which con- 
flicts with the doctrines handed down from their ancient 
masters. 
Its unpitying, relentless malice towards its opponents is no- 
where better illustrated than in the obituary notice published 
in the Dublin Medical Press, at the death of that great physician, 
author and philosopher, Samuel Hahnemann. It says: “It 
appears that old Hahnemann, the inventor of Homoeopathy, 
is dead, having prolonged his existence by infinitessimal 
doses of nothing to eighty-eight years, greatly to the consola- 
tion and edification of the patrons and patronesses of quacks 
and quackery.” 
The only real progress made by the allopathic profession in 
therapeutics during the last century has been by the rational 
school. This so-called “ chip from the old block” is a modern 
school, and, while it retains in its features many of the marks 
of its antique progenitor, still presents many new and promis- 
ing traits. Its practitioners, observing the successes attending 
Hahnemann’s method of treatment, have gradually grown into 
the belief that Homoeopathy, as a reform in medicine, had ac- 
complished its object and must, of necessity, cease to exist. 5 
Deluded by this idea, they have swept down upon a supposed 
victim, like certain historical ornithological specimens, only 
to find a most lively corpse. 
The revelation wrought a miracle, and the rational school 
of medicine, which was to absorb Hahnemann’s method ol 
treatment, has become simply a feeble imitator in the eyes of 
an intelligent public, and a detestable time-server as viewed 
by the medical dogmatists. 
The London Lancet, in a recent issue, in an article headed 
“ Quackery within the Profession,” says, “ Nothing is so much 
needed just now as the rise in our midst of a strong and un- 
compromising apostle of sincerity in science—a man of unpity- 
ing animosity to humbug in all its forms, who will not hesitate, 
at any bidding, to denounce wrong-doing and untruthfulness, 
let who may be the offender. It is time that a spirit of man- 
liness went out in our ranks to chase away the lying spirit of 
mock courtesy—the faint-hearted and time-serving sentiment- 
ality which makes us so ready to look kindly on any pretender 
and so reluctant to expose any pretense.” 
And because certain of these rationals have refused longer 
to wear the iron-clad collar which the American Medical 
Association fastens on the neck of all physicians who subscribe 
to their code of ethics, or who would be recognized as “ physi- 
cians in good standing,” or have dared openly and publicly to 
prescribe remedies in accordance with Hahnemann’s method 
of cure, to use an imitation of the little pellets, to carry their 
medicines in small pocket cases, and to advocate the use of 
triturations sold at homoeopathic pharmacies, they are bitterly 
denouced as traitors. Says the Lancet in the same article, “ we 
have ourselves to thank for this most adverse ‘ feeling’ and 
‘influence.’ It is this stirring of the viper we have brought 
in from the cold, where physicians and surgeons of more robust 
intelligence than those of to-day left it—the viper we have 
warmed, and fed, and brought back to life, and now it is pre- 
paring to rise and sting the hand that caressed it.” 
OUR PATH OF DUTY. 
But, I hear you ask, what has all this to do with the progress 6 
of Homoeopathy, and why should quarrels among allopatliists 
concern us? 
I am deeply impressed with the idea that it greatly concerns 
us. While as disinterested spectators, the impressions left from 
our boyhood days would incline our sympathies with the 
weaker party in the fight, we cannot be unmindful of the fact 
that this division in the ranks of our enemy bodes either good 
or evil to our cause. 
It is, indeed, a golden opportunity for medical truth. If we 
stand firmly by our principles, if we tune our instruments 
alike, discard mysterious platitudes, and throw wide open the 
door to investigation, the best of them will, one by one, be 
forced to enter our ranks, accepting the law of similars, and as- 
sisting us in placing the honored name of Hahnemann where it 
properly belongs in the history of medicine. This is inevitable. 
Public opinion will not tolerate a base and transparent imita- 
tion. But, if on the other hand, we do not stretch forth the 
hand of liberality while challenging the most searching inves- 
tigation, if we make no kindly effort to bring them within our 
fold, they may one day dispute with us the rich inheritance 
left by Hahnemann, and, perchance, leave us with nothing but 
the name Homoeopathy while they retain the substance. 
We should meet their objections in the spirit of frankness 
and with candid arguments. They accuse us of practicing 
under an exclusive dogma, and give this as a reason why they 
cannot join with us. We should teach them that, while we 
believe the law of similars to be a general law like the law of 
gravitation, we do not believe it to be an exclusive law in 
therapeutics, and only universal in its own department. 
Pest and food will restore the exhausted energies, chemical 
agents will overcome the effects of certain poisons,, and the 
violent symptoms of an overloaded stomach may be quickest 
cured by an emetic, yet all these do not disprove the univer- 
sality of the law of similars, nor does this law teach us to dis- 
card other requisite methods of removing the causes and effects 
of disease. There are many affections that are absolutely 
incurable under any system of medicine, and in such we claim 
that to the true physician the whole line of palliative treatment  7 
is open. We must endeavor to teach, by practical results, that 
the law of similars furnishes the most effective, as it does the 
most scientific, medicinal curative method. Demonstrate that 
the only proper method of determining the value of drugs is 
by first proving them upon the healthy body, and that the 
administration of the single remedy is safer and more effective 
than the traditional compounds. Show that the true physician 
should never prescribe a remedy unless he knows how it will 
act, and that the compounds of various drugs of unequal 
strength and proportions must be exceedingly uncertain 
well as unscientific. These and other facts have only to be 
]tressed upon candid medical men in order that they bear good 
fruit. Occupying our present strong position we can well afford 
to be liberal. 
Opportunities to accomplish all this are not wanting. The 
right hand of fellowship is already extended to us from the 
other side. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
London, some months ago, passed a resolution permitting its 
members to consult with homoeopathic physicians, while dif- 
fering from them in regard to the action and administration 
of drugs. The Medical Society of the State of New York has 
also placed itself upon a favorable footing by discarding the 
code of medical ethics held by the American Medical Associa- 
tion, and adopting one allowing its members to consult with 
all legally qualified practitioners of medicine. The refusal of 
the American Medical Association to accept these amend- 
ments cannot prevent the liberal and progressive element in 
the old school from asserting its independence, and even sev- 
ering its connection from an organization which holds in 
shackles, forged over thirty years ago, an accumulated mass 
of narrow-minded bigotry. Governed by ideas that were 
hammered and moulded into shape in some of the numerous 
“sky parlor” colleges of traditional medicine, public opinion 
demands this concession, and we must cordially welcome the 
situation. While we do not believe that consultations over 
the therapeutics of a case will often inure to the benefit of the 
patient, we must subscribe to the language of the new code in 
that “ emergencies may occur in which all restrictions should, 8 
in the judgment of the practitioner, yield to the demands of 
humanity.” 
It is not difficult to point out the result. Toleration begets 
friendship, and in the near future we may expect our Annual 
Meetings to be attended by the members of other schools of 
medicine. All restrictions removed, they will eagerly accept 
the opportunity for interchange and consultations in order to 
test practically the efficacy of Hahnemann’s method of treat- 
ment in their more difficult and obstinate cases. It will re- 
main for us constantly to demonstrate the superior efficacy of 
our method of cure, and who may question our ability to do 
it? 
It may be urged by some that this measure will eventually 
bring the two schools together and extinguish Homoeopathy 
as a special school. That practitioners of all shades will adopt 
what is of value in the teachings of Hahnemann and forget 
distinctive names in professional fraternity. Believing as we 
do in the stability of the law of similars, and in its sufficiency 
for our guidance in medicinal therapeutics, we do not fear the 
result. 
If our method of treatment cannot stand the most rigid and 
searching examination, and if the light of science and accu- 
mulated experience proves it to be defective, then, as honest 
men, we should abandon it. Have no fears, for our method 
embraces so much that can attract honest seekers after medi- 
cal truth who have never had a fixed guiding principle, and 
is in such full accord with the modern developments of 
science, that it can but commend itself and its faithful follow- 
ers to general favor. 
THE BENEFITS OF HARMONY. 
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the position of the medical 
profession of to-day. It does seem as if the dark cloud which 
has so long cast its shadow over a great part of the medical 
field, rendering the pathway of therapeutics a darkened maze, 
so unlike the well defined paths of the collateral branches of 
’the art, is soon to be lifted so that the sunlight of truth may 
brighten and perhaps lengthen the life of man. 9 
IT ADVANCES SURGERY. 
The more definite and fixed rules of surgery are due to the 
absence of opposing systems. The common interest taken in 
this field by the physicians of all schools of medicine has re- 
sulted in a degree of advancement, or perfection, that argues 
strongly for the cause of unity in the profession. Great opera- 
tions in surgery, which were regarded as impracticable, are 
to-day performed with comparative ease and remarkable suc- 
cess. It is but a few months ago that the medical world was 
amazed at the report of several cases of resection of the stom- 
ach, and yet Billroth and his assistants have performed the 
operation some half dozen times, and clearly demonstrated 
the advisability of the same under certain conditions. Just 
prior to this report, Czerny gave a detailed statement of these 
cases in resection of the intestines ; in one subject six and one- 
half feet were removed. The credit of having first performed 
this difficult and dangerous operation is due, and should be 
given, to the late Dr. Beebe, of Chicago, a homoeopathic phy- 
sician of great learning and a surgeon of rare ability. For a 
full report of which case I refer you to the New York Trans- 
actions, 1809, page 169. 
You are aware of the fact that both the spleen and uterus 
have been successfully removed. A few months ago, Dr. A. C. 
Post, of New York, enucleated the parotid gland, and Mr. 
Walter Whitehead, of Manchester, England, lately performed 
the triple operation of gastrotomy, tracheotomy and excision 
of the tongue with perfect results. Dr. J. H. McClelland, of 
Pittsburgh, and others, have extirpated the kidney, and a 
transatlantic surgeon has taken out the trachea. Enucleation 
of the ovaries is of frequent occurrence, and the aspiration of 
the different organs almost a daily practice. To the frequent 
operation of ovariotomy, lithotomy, colotomy, the tying of 
large arteries, the amputation of limbs, transfusion of blood, 
trephining, extirpation of cancer, &c., may be added those of 
laparotomy and gastrotomy. 
In other special departments the advancement has been 
equally great. The operation for cataract, once so difficult, is 
now one of the most successful known in surgery, and in dis- 10 
eases of the ear and throat equal proficiency has been made. 
Verily do the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, and 
the lame walk, through the aid of the skillful surgeon. 
IT ADVANCES SANITARY SCIENCE. 
The united stand taken by the medical profession in sani- 
tary matters has also contributed greatly to the advancement 
of public health. With firm belief in the truth of the old 
adage, that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” 
we together have set to work to erect barriers in the pathway 
of the ruthless destroyers of our race. The American Public 
Health Association, with doors wide open to sanitarians of all 
schools of medicine, has steadily progressed until to-day it is 
a large body, wielding an immense influence, and numbering 
among its members the most distinguished names in the med- 
ical profession. It affords me great pleasure to note the fact 
that our own physicians have contributed greatly to this result. 
At the last meeting, held at Savannah, Ga., through the 
earnest effort of the efficient chairman of the delegation sent 
by this body, Dr. M. T. Runnels, of Indianapolis, our school 
of medicine was well represented. The papers presented by 
our delegates, and published in the volumes of Transac- 
tions, not only reflect honor upon their authors but likewise 
credit upon the cause they represent. These Transactions, 
together with the report submitted to Congress by the National 
Board of Health, embracing in a volume of four hundred and 
seventy-seven pages, most valuable statistics and general in- 
formation, are sufficient evidence of the good quality and per- 
manency of the work already accomplished. It is also gratify- 
ing to note that the papers and discussions have not been con- 
fined exclusively to the “ outside sources” of disease. In the 
report to Congress, the National Board of Health has given 
considerable space to the discussion of the “ deteriorations, 
adulterations and substitutions of drugs.” And at the last 
meeting of the American Public Health Association, one of 
the best papers presented had for its title exactly the opposite 
line of thought, “ The Inside Sources of Disease.” These sub- 
jects have received so little attention from the medical pro- 11 
fession, and are so imperfectly understood, that we are glad to 
see sanitarians disposed to grapple with them, and we express 
the hope that they will he successful in their effort, if not to 
diminish the number of inside sources of disease, at least to 
make plain and provide for many of the evils resulting from 
them. 
None but medical men can fully appreciate the importance 
of this subject. Perhaps none but the “family physician” 
may divine the cause of those sunken cheeks, that hectic 
Hush, that gradual relaxation from the full vigor of health ; nor 
comprehend the secret which consumes all desires, destroys 
all pleasures, and finally welcomes death as a long sought 
relief. Even he dare not state the truth in his burial certifi- 
cate. Who of us has not seen the dissipated husband, ren- 
dered wifeless by a broken heart, stung for the moment by 
a pang of remorse, drowning his thoughts in the cup that 
has caused all his suffering, and which now enables him 
to believe his loss was occasioned by an act of divine Provi- 
dence ? 
How little does the brilliant society woman, admired, flat- 
tered, and courted by every one, believe that the slight prick 
of the little instrument, and the injection of a few tiny drops 
of a solution of morphine, is but welding the chains that will 
bind her fast, and finally drag her to a permature grave a 
physical and mental, if not also a moral wreck ? If the 
youth of our country could be instructed fully in the evils 
resulting from their dissolute habits, suicides would be less 
frequent, insane asylums less crowded, and the social evil 
would no longer require special legislation. 
These are matters that require careful and judicious hand- 
ling ; but being firmly rooted, we shall expect our sanitary 
boards to make headway against them slowly, remembering, 
however, “as the drop of water wears away the stone,” so will 
repeated and constant efforts finally remove the greatest of 
evils. 
HOMCEOPATHIC PROGRESS. 
But, as our time is limited, 1 will leave these general sub- 12 
jects and confine my remarks to matters more directly per- 
taining to Homoeopathy. I must first say something of the 
grand gathering in London, England, during last July, “ The 
International Homoeopathic Medical Convention.” It would 
be proper, perhaps, to give a more extended account of that 
Convention than I shall do, on this occasion; but, as our 
medical journals have already, so fully, presented it in all 
its bearings, and as the volume of its Transactions (which 
through the characteristic energy and ability of its President, 
Dr. Richard Hughes, was, in less than sixty days after the ad- 
journment of the Convention, placed in the hands of the 
medical profession in America), has given you a complete re- 
port of the papers and discussions, I shall only venture to 
refer to its principal features. You have learned that the 
Convention was largely attended and ably conducted, that its 
doors were thrown open to “ qualified medical men and wo- 
men from all countries,” and that it adopted for its standard 
the broadest liberality of thought and freedom of medical 
opinion. 
HISTORICAL REPORTS. 
Aside from the many able and interesting papers read and 
discussed, reports were received on the condition of Homoeo- 
pathy in nearly every country, which, I am glad to say, indi- 
cated progress in all directions. 
The strong opposition brought to bear upon Homoeopathy 
in foreign countries through the machinery of different gov- 
ernments ; the restrictions thrown around its practitioners 
and the absence of special educational facilities, had prevented 
the rapid development and brilliant achievements which have 
attended its progress in America. In one or two instances 
these restrictions have encouraged emigration to such an ex- 
tent that there is danger of an insufficiency of fresh material 
to fill the vacancies made by time among the veterans in the 
service. But, notwithstanding this fact, wherever Homoeo- 
pathy has been properly represented, it has not failed to win 
the confidence and respect of the people, and to secure a 
strong following among the educated and intelligent. 13 
PAPERS READ. 
The papers read were of a high order. The Address of the 
President of the Convention, Dr. struck the key-note 
of true progress in the science of medicine, and its logical 
conclusions, no less than its charming delivery and eloquent 
language, could not fail to impress the Convention with the 
great strength and ability of the writer. 
The discussions were marked throughout by that freedom 
of opinion, considerate courtesy to one another, and general 
harmony which must always result in developing the greatest 
amount of good. 
PERSONNEL OF THE CONVENTION. 
To do justice to the perso7inel of the Convention would re- 
quire more time and space than belongs to this Address, but 
I can assure you that it was highly creditable to the pro- 
fession. Side by side with the distinguished Dudgeon, Drys- 
dale, Pope, Hayward, Black, Blackley, and Dyce Brown, of 
England; Meyerhoefer, of France; Cigligiano, of Italy; von 
Dittman, of Russia ; and a host of others, sat our own Dake, 
Talbot, Helmuth, Wesselhoeft, James, de Gersdorf, Sawyer, 
McClelland, Owens, Cooper, Shearer, and others of equal 
prominence. 
The presence of several female delegates was also a note- 
worthy feature, especially as during the session of the Inter- 
national Congress of old school physicians, held in London 
one month later, they were refused admission as delegates. 
The hospitality extended to the visiting brethren was most 
cordial and lavish. Societies and individuals alike seemed 
vicing with each each other to render attentions that actually 
made us forget that we were in a foreign country and among 
strangers. There were pleasures that will live and keep fresh 
in our hearts while all else grows old and faded. 
In many respects the International Homoeopathic Congress 
was a model medical meeting. Through the wonderful exe- 
SOCIAL FEATURES. 14 
cutive ability of its presiding officer, a brief synopsis of each 
paper was presented, and the discussions thereupon were led 
by regularly appointed debaters, who had previously read 
the full text of the papers under discussion, thus avoiding 
confusion while insuring full criticism. The American Insti- 
tute would do well to imitate the example, and, indeed, any 
medical society would find it greatly to its interest to adopt 
this plan, thereby saving the time usually consumed in read- 
ing lengthy papers and affording greater opportunity for 
thorough discussion. 
OUR HOME INTERESTS. 
We now turn to the consideration of home affairs, or matters 
more directly connected with the growth and prosperity of 
Homoeopathy in our own country during the past year. Evi- 
dences of progress are not lacking. The rapidly growing 
literature, the increasing number of hospitals and dispensaries, 
and the increased attendance at our colleges all attest this. 
Of new works on Homoeopathy we have the pleasure of re- 
cording numerous additions during the last year. Prominent 
among these I will mention : 
Special Pathology and Diagnostics. A new and enlarged 
edition. By C. F. Raue, M.D. 
Lectures, Clinical and Didactic, on Diseases of Women. By 
14. Ludlam, M.D. 
Insanity and its Treatment. By S. Worcester, M.D. 
A Treatise on the Decline of Manhood. By A. E. Small, M.D. 
Ophthalmic Therapeutics. A new and enlarged edition. By 
Geo. S. Norton, M.D. 
Text Book of Materia Medica. A new and enlarged edition. 
By A. C. Cowperthwaite, M.D. 
A System of Surgery. By E. C. Franklin, M.D. 
Diseases of the Ear. By W. H. Winslow, M.D. 
The Ophthalmoscope. By C. II. Vilas, M.D. And a 
Method of Memorizing the Materia Medica. By A. L. 
Monroe, M.D. 
I desire also especially to refer to a work (of 280 pages) by 15 
Wm. M. Cate, M.D., “The Child of Promise.” This little work 
treats on the rival schools of medicine, and will be found in- 
tensely interesting to the physician, and one of the most valu- 
able works in the hands of the non-believer. 
Of the progress made in hospital practice, we note the 
surrender to Homoeopathy of the Binghampton Insane Asylum 
in New York, which, together with the State Homoeopathic 
Asylum, at Middletown, N. Y., gives us ample opportunity and 
accommodations for the treatment of this distressing malady. 
A movement was set on foot some months since, which has 
grown rapidly in favor, to establish a National Homoeopathic 
Hospital at Washington, 1). C. A new homoeopathic hospital 
has also been established in Kansas City. A new hospital is 
in course of erection in Pittsburgh, at a cost of one hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars; one-third of this sum having been 
appropriated by the Legislature of Pennsylvania. The Hahne- 
mann Medical College, at Chicago, has greatly increased its 
hospital practice, and the Chicago Homoeopathic Medical 
College has secured a portion of the Cook county hospital, 
one of the largest and finest hospitals in the United States. 
The homoeopathic hospital at Brooklyn, X. Y., has also added 
sixty beds to the already existing eighty. A number of dis- 
pensaries have also sprung up in the larger cities, while 
those already in existence have greatly increased their means 
of usefulness. 
Our homoeopathic, medical colleges are improving each year 
in their facilities for instruction, and in their number of 
students, and while there may have been, through some im- 
proper rivalry in the struggle to graduate large classes, a few 
candidates turned out that were not quite up to the degree of 
excellence called for, I am glad to be able to say that the high 
standard of medical education adopted by our colleges without 
exception, and the thorough course of instruction given, afford 
to the student equal, if not superior, facilities compared with 
those of any other schools. Tt is important that this high 
standard should be maintained by every possible means at 
our command, and that the profession generally should interest 
itself more in the welfare of the colleges. It is to them that 
we must look for reinforcements. It is through such institu- 16 
tions that the student must enter into the vast field of medical 
practice, and it behooves us to watch vigilantly all who pass 
their portals. That Homoeopathy is generally judged by such 
representatives should warn us to be only the more careful in 
selecting material for these colleges, and in exacting from them 
the most thorough examinations. 
While it may not, at present, seem practicable, there is cer- 
tainly no doubt but that it would be infinitely better for 
Homoeopathy if our eleven medical colleges could be condensed 
into not more than two or three large institutions, and the 
chairs filled by the best material, selected from all the present 
faculties. On this plan, the professors might receive salaries 
sufficient to render them independent of the cares of practice, 
and to allow more time for extensive research in the branches 
taught, besides removing the temptation of graduating incom- 
petent students. 
INSTITUTE AFFAIRS. 
The affairs of the Institute must also be briefly considered. 
The little plant so tenderly set out just thirty-nine years ago, 
has become a giant of the forest, its branches extending in every 
direction, and throwing its protecting influence over a vast 
area. Time has only improved its vigor, and each year has 
added new beauties. Storms and vicissitudes have left its 
strength unimpaired. Here and there may be seen unshapely 
limbs or evidences of decay, and the primer’s knife may be 
badly needed, but the grand trunk of this stately king of the 
forest is as sound as ever. No “ dry rot” can ever affect its 
growth, for the germ of its life is an everlasting principle. 
As our national organization has grown in dimensions, so has 
it extended its influence until it is felt in every part of the 
world. It is to-day the largest association of homoeopathic 
physicians in the world. This should make us more careful 
if possible, in our utterances, and the Committee on Publica- 
tion more particular to examine the material that enters into 
our Annual Transactions. It should reserve for the action of 
the Institute the privilege of re-publication of the proceedings 17 
of bureaus as well as of single papers. The right of appeal to 
the next Annual Session of the Institute should also be allowed 
to the author of rejected papers. Reports of bureaus should 
be made through a synopsis of the various papers to be pre- 
sented, by the chairman of each, so that longer time may be 
allowed for discussion. The necessity for sectional meetings 
would then cease to exist and the full object of such an organ- 
ization be attained, viz.: the gathering together of the gems of 
thought and experience from many sources for the improve- 
ment of the medical art. 
The usefulness of the Institute can, by such means, be 
greatly enhanced. New bureaus can be created, and a more 
general interest taken in the special departments of medicine. 
A BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 
The permanent organization of a Bureau of Medical Educa- 
tion could, to some extent, harmonize and govern the require- 
ments of our medical colleges, and, while it might not directly 
prevent all differences between rival schools, it would do so in- 
directly by affording an opportunity for the more quarrelsome 
to settle their differences without disgracing the profession by 
newspaper discussions and libelous pamphlets. 
The worthy chairman of the Committee on Legislation has 
collated a large number of most interesting facts relating to 
the legal status of Homoeopathy. In his circular he has not 
only requested information both favorable and unfavorable to 
our interests, but has invited suggestions as to ways and 
means by which the American Institute can officially aid in 
the local and national struggles of our school everywhere, 
at home or abroad. Such thorough reports must greatly 
strengthen our organization and enhance our usefulness. 
A CONDENSED MATERIA MEDICA. 
I would suggest also that the American Institute instruct 
the Bureau of Materia Medica to revise and condense our 
pathogenesy, and, as soon as practicable, to furnish to this 
body a full report of their labors. We can then publish a 
“Condensed Materia Medica” in a separate volume, at an ad- 18 
ditional cost to the members and others sufficient to re- 
imburse the Institute. Through this bureau a system might 
be perfected for the more thorough proving of drugs, the 
necessity for which is growing daily more apparent. 
A BUREAU OF PHARMACY. 
I would also urge upon you the necessity of separating 
pharmacy from materia medicaj giving it a separate bureau, 
which shall take upon itself the work of examining into, and 
reporting to the Institute the value of the drugs and attenua- 
tions sold by the various pharmacists, and of suggesting some 
method by which reliability and uniformity can be secured. 
I am moved to offer this suggestion, not through any ill feel- 
ing toward dealers in homoeopathic medicines, nor with a de- 
sire to impugn their motives—for, as a class, I believe them to 
be generally honest and truthful in their dealings—but be- 
cause science lias at last demonstrated, what many of the pro- 
fession have long believed to be true, that there are influences 
operating in the preparation of attenuations that are not yet 
fully understood. 
Our distinguished colleague and scientist, Prof. J. Edwards 
'Smith, of Cleveland, Ohio, whose reputation is above re- 
proach, and whose teachings have never been successfully 
questioned, has, during the past year, laid aside his “ micro- 
scope,” and with delicate instruments and labor that con- 
sumed time due to rest and recreation, has succeeded in assay- 
ing the different triturations of Aurum met., up to the 30th 
decimal, and with the most startling results. When Prof. 
Smith sent me a “button” of pure gold, obtained from assay- 
ing the 30th trituration of Aurum, large enough to handle 
and examine, which resisted boiling in nitric acid ; and when 
I remembered how diligently our distinguished colleague, 
Dr. Wesselhoeft, and others, had been for years searching for 
this valuable article with the assistance of the microscope, and 
that the 30th decimal trituration of Aurum, properly prepared, 
should not contain gold at all visible, I believed that there 
must have been some mistake in the labeling of this particu- 
lar preparation. It was then suggested that, as President of 
the Institute, I should furnish the triturations for examina- 19 
tion. Ordering from nine reputable homoeopathic pharma- 
cies preparations of the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th and 30th of 
Aurum, I carefully removed all labels and evidences of their 
origin, marked the corks by letters and numbers, carefully 
registering each in my book, and forwarded them to Prof. 
Smith. The results of these examinations will be given to 
the Institute at the proper time, and prove conclusively that 
triturations of gold, as sold above the 7th decimal, are 
totally unreliable, the 30th and even the 60th yielding the 
same amount of gold as was found in the 7th. It would seem, 
from the results of these examinations, that Hahnemann 
thoroughly understood the subject when he advised a limit to 
drug attenuations. Other discoveries have also been made. 
Not only are there many inferior triturations sold to physi- 
cians, but in some instances the preparation was found 
to contain large quantities of matter foreign to the formula 
of pure sugar of milk. In some triturations the foreign 
matter was in excess of the original drug. There are other 
reasons why such a bureau should be organized and some 
uniform standard adopted. Through its investigation may 
be discovered a method of reconciling the differences of 
opinion which have existed among us in regard to drug 
attenuation and the divisibility of drug matter, and I am 
sure that every physician, not actuated by prejudice or a 
desire to trade upon an issue worn threadbare, will cordially 
welcome the result. Another strong argument in favor of the 
proposed investigation is contained in the fact that the ab- 
sence of a uniform standard in the preparation of drug atten- 
uations has afforded the opportunity for the surreptitious 
introduction of methods that were never dreamed of by Hahn- 
emann, and that should have no place in scientific medicine. 
Homoeopathy, in its struggle for scientific recognition and 
place, can ill afford to be “ handicapped ” by bottle washings 
and other absurd vagaries; nor can we hope to answer satis- 
factorily the questions propounded by honest enquirers—who 
are even now knocking at our door for admission — if we are 
unable to give some scientific reason for the belief that is in 
us. Shall we not, then, investigate for ourselves rather than 
allow others to attend to that matter for us? Everything 20 
points to a final resolve on the part of modern Allopathy to 
enter the clinical arena against Homoeopathy. When con- 
sultations begin, then will begin scientific investigations of 
our provings, of pharmacological processes, and also of our 
preparations. Our pharmacists cannot escape much longer, 
and the American Institute of Homoeopathy will be com- 
pelled to make a record on the subject. 
As a chief hindrance to the general and candid considera- 
tion of the truths of Homoeopathy is the absurd doctiine, 
never taught by Hahnemann—of infinite dilution, we should 
endeavor to adopt some standard or limit for drug attenua- 
tion, and refuse longer to assume any responsibility for tritu- 
rations and dilutions made in defiance of all reason and to 
suit the caprices of men who are satisfied only when sur- 
rounded by impenetrable clouds of mysticism. There can be 
no reasonable objection urged against such action on the part 
of the Institute. When we remember that ninety-nine out of 
every hundred homoeopathic practitioners rely upon tritura- 
tions and dilutions within the range ending at the tenth 
centesimal, and that the great clinical conquests of Homoe- 
opathy have been made, and nearly all the favorable legis- 
lation secured by them, wre are astonished that some'such 
action has not been taken long ago. 
With these suggestions, then, I will close my Address, only 
detaining you long enough briefly to call your attention to 
the Necrological Report, which records the losses sustained by 
the Institute in the removal by death of several of its mem- 
bers during the past year, and to pay a feeble tribute to the 
memory of one of our members who, although with us at the 
last meeting of the Institute, apparently in the full enjoyment 
of health, has fallen a victim to the enemy which he had for 
many years averted from others. I allude to the late Dr. J. J. 
Youlin, of Jersey City, N. J., an ex-President of this Society. 
Respected not less for his noble qualities of heart than for his 
great professional worth, he has left us the pleasant recollec- 
tions of a well rounded and lovable character. 
Ladies and gentlemen, thanking you for your kind atten- 
tion, I now declare the Institute in readiness for the transaction 
of business.