ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY

         WASHINGTON
Founded 1836
far-r^'
Section
Number _./__#_-7._?_j?_
             Fohm 113c, W. D., S. G. O.
•»  3—10543    (Revised June 13, 1936) 
 
 
fair            ¥UtSO
EXAMINATION  AND  CRITICISM
9?
OF ALL THB
MEDICAL  SYSTEMS   IN  VOGUE;
BY
              ALVA  CURTIS,  A.  M., M. D.


Founder of the First Phtsio-Medical College in the World, viz : The Botanico-Medi-
  oal College of Ohio; for Nineteen Years President of its Board of Directors,
     and its Professor or the Institutes and Practice of Medicine ; Author
       of "A Synopsis of Lectures on Medical Science," of " Lectures on
          Obstetrics," and for Twenty-one Years Editor  of the
            Botanico or Physio-Medical Recorder, and Member
              of mant Literary and Philosophical Societies.
mulae as fantastically conceived as they are tediously arranged."—Biehat's General Anatwny, re'. 1. pape 17
 " But Medicine is a demonstrative Science, and all its processes should be proved by established principles, and
be based on positive inductions. That th« proceedings of Medicine are not of this character, is to be attributed to
the manner of its cultivation, and not to til* nature of the Scienee itself."—Prof. Samuel Jackson, M. D„ of ih*
University of Pennsylvania.—Principles of Medicine.



                       .<■■ '■'           <2>
                       •f j THIRD EDITION^
                      °". :..:;.  ■ ■■■;\  cr



                       CINCINNATI:

              PRINTED FOR THE  PROPRIETOR.

                             1866. 
WB   J
Oopy Right secured, by E. B. Crans, In the Southern District of Ohio. 
PEEFACE.
    The object of a preface is to give some account of, or reasons for, the pro-
 duction that follows, or the author's motives for its publication.   Ever since
 the true science of medicine was shadowed forth, by Dr. Samuel Thomson
 and other pioneers of reform, a constant crusade has been kept up against it
 by interested men, in the hope of rendering its doctrines and practices ridicu-
 lous and unpopular, and thus preventing that thorough regeneration of this
 noble science, which would greatly  mitigate our sufferings, prolong our lives
 and multiply our  pleasures.   I say,  by interested  men, those who,  having
 studied  long and  carefully, the various systems of error, and found  them
 honorable and profitable in their practice, have  been  therefore unwilling to
 acknowledge  their errors and the worthlessness of  their labors, to give them
 up for truth, and to perform more labor for less profit, for the cause of science
 and humanity.
    Many friends of reform, and practitioners and teachers of medicine, have
 done what they could to develop its  principles and illustrate its practice; but
 no one has yet attempted to furnish a full and safe defence of it, against the at-
 tacks of its enemies—especially has no one ventured to branch out from his
 own fortress of defence, and attack the enemy on  the high seas of his own
 crazy craft, and  to drive him into the whirlpools and the certain destruction
 into which he would gladly persuade us that  we are most  rapidly tending.
 Yet such a work  is very much needed, and, though very conscious that his
 talents, his time and his circumstances all fall short  of the magnitude and
 importance of the undertaking,  the author has  resolved to do what he can, in
 this hitherto little cultivated field; in  the hope that it will be useful to phi-
 lanthropists of every character, grade and condition in life, till  something
 better shall come forth to take its place.
   It is well known that the  author  has had a very large experience in the
 work of  defending the cause of truth, science  and  humanity, and develop-
 ing the true principles of medical science.  And he hopes to be better able
 to fulfill any expectations that may arise in other minds from this knowledge,
 than to satisfy himself that he has done all that he might have done under
more favorable circumstances.
   One of the  most difficult things in the world,  as well as the most import-
Ant, to the sick man, is to ascertain what practice he should  employ for the
                                                          (iii) "■ 
IV                                  PKKFACE.

relief of his physical sufferings.   As it is impossible for uaj person not thor-
oughly "bred to physic," to learn, from any sources within his reach, the true
character of  any system  of practice, I have been careful to give  the true
character of  each system, so that, whoever will make himself thoroughly  ac-
quainted with this little work,  will  have  no one but himself to blame, if he
does not choose  the  best,  at the  commencement of his disease, and continue
it till he recovers or dies.   It is well known that some physicians who belong
to one class, will often practice on the principles of another; thus the Allopa-
thist may give  good medicines,  the wet sheet, the warm  and  vapor bath;
the Eclectic, who pretends to "dispense with all deleterious agencies"  (403),
may bleed, cup, blister  and  give  opium  and  other  narcotics, and  even
calomel;  and  the pretended  Physio-Medical may, to some extent, use  like
agents.   But this work will enable him who is familiar with  it,  to detect all
such hypocrisy,  and guard against its ruinous  effects.
   The subjects discussed are the following:
   1st. Medicine as it is in the  various schools.
   2d.  Medicine  as it should  be.
   3d.  The contrast  between  them.
   4th.  The answer  to the questions, what  is  science and what  is quackery,
and where  may each be found.
   Editors or critics, who may  deem  this work worthy of their notice,  will
confer a favor on the author by sending him a copy of their notices;  and, if
any living  authors   think that  he  has done them injustice, they will please
show him wherein,  and the wrong,  if any, shall be corrected in notes to the
next edition, which will soon appear, *   this is nearly all bespoken.
                      PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

  The unique character of the following work, (no one like it having ever before befin published), and
the manifest value of it to persons of every class and condition of society, caused the sale of a large
edition in a very short time after its publication. Though the circumstances of the past five years have
been very unfavorable to the issue of a new edition, the demand for it has  been and is still so pressing,
that the proprietors have concluded to send it forth.
  From multitudes who obtained and perused the first impression, we have received the most flattering
testimonials to its value, for which we have here no space. Suffice it to say that physicians of every class
have commended it for the extent, variety, and judicious selection of its quotations from distinguished
authors, and the candor and fairness of  its criticisms; ministers of the Gospel have prized it for the aid
it has afforded them in advising their sick friends as to the choice of their physicians; lawyers consider
It a work of great value to them, in selecting facts relating to, and in framing arguments upon, questions
of medical jurisprudence ; heads of families  and other individuals perceive that they have in it a sura
and safe directory to their choice of a system of practice and a class of practitioners ;  students of medi-
cine justly regard it as a key to unlock all popular systems, and to enable them intelligently to choose
among them the one they should pursue; and last, but not  least, the reformer of medicine finds it to be
his beat guide and aid in his efforts to disperse the errors of  medical theorizers, and to disseminate light
on the true science and practice of medicine.
  Every physio-medical (natural) practitioner  will learn,  by a short trial, that a dozen copies of this
work lent, successively, for a week or two only, to the inquiring inhabitants of the city, town, or country
in which he locates, will be the best of all means of breaking down opposition to his practice, of spread-
ing abroad the true light, and of securing to him an extensive, a useful, and a lucrative practice. 
INTRODUCTION.
    To a powerful and well disciplined mind, thoroughly acquainted with the
 truths and facts of the case, it is both painful and  disheartening, to perceive
 how extensively a few comparatively obscure men of moderate talent and
 little  information or  less discrimination  and candor, have succeeded  in per-
 suading a large majority  of  the  talented, intelligent  and refined  of  the
 community, even of  the  professions of religion and law; of the statesmen,
 philosophers, philanthropists and  men  of every trade or  occupation, and
 even thousands of their own profession,  to believe that the Allopathic  system
 of medicine, is based on the solid principles of science, and that its practice
 is worthy  of  the dignified  title of an art; when, in fact, there  can scarcely
 be found,  in the whole ranks of  the profession, in ancient or  in modern times,
 a single man distinguished for his talents, his education, his accurate discrim-
 ination, his candor,  honor and humanity, who  has  sincerely believed its
 doctrines,  or  placed  any confidence in its  practices.    On the contrary,  the
 most of them have publicly denounced its  leading doctrines, as a system of
 "absurdity, contradiction  and falsehood," and  its  practices  as "horrid,
 unwarrantable, murderous quackery."  Prof. N. Chapman,  (142).
   Did  the doctrines  of Allopathy work  only the profit of the deceivers,  we
 might, to some extent, excuse it; but, when  it is demonstrated, that the prac-
 tice daily and hourly works out the life-long ruin of the poor,  frail,  mortal
 bodies of thousands and tens of thousands of our  citizens, .causing them to
 "drag out a few years of miserable existence in extreme debility and emacia-
 tion, with stiff incurvated limbs, a total loss of teeth and appetite," "a loathing
 to themselves and a disgusting spectacle to those around them;" while, with its
 millions of victims of premature destruction, it peoples, yearly, the dark and
 silent regions  of the dead, our sorrow and  chagrin at the deception are  turned
 into deep  lamentation, disgust  and abhorrence; and we are constrained to
 exclaim—"By what  unaccountable perversity of our nature" is it that  we
 can be so wicked as thus to deceive others, or so blind  and  stupid as to  be
 deceived, in such a manner, to our own or their destruction!
  Another  of  the strangest  phenomena which the operations of the universe
present to the contemplation of admiring  man, is the fact that truth and love,
                                                           (5) 
6                           INTRODUCTION.

or Science and Benevolence, though the  brightest Angels that ever left  the
throne of  God, on  an errand of mercy to poor, ignorant and selfish man;
have ever, as a general rule, met the strongest  opposition and the most  un-
grateful  treatment,  from  the very  persons whom they have  so  generously
endeavored to enlighten, to refine and to bless.   Such angels  are the truths
that have heralded  true medical reform, and such have been the  opposition,
slander and abuse  they have experienced.   Yet I hope  that none  will be
startled at the assertion I  now make, that nothing is easier than to prove, by
the most abundant and appropriate testimony, by the most indubitable facts,
logical deductions  and  tabular  results, that this Allopathic  system is  the
most erroneous, absurd, dangerous and destructive system of  quackery,  and
its practice the most wicked as well as the most specious humbug, that the
world  has ever known; and that the very attempt to convince  us  that its
principles constitute a solid science, or its practices a noble art, is an impu-
dent insult to our understandings, or morals, as it supposes us either igno-
ramuses, simpletons or knaves.
  To demonstrate these propositions, is the object of this  work.
  The subject is  systematically and scientifically treated under the following
heads:
  1. Proof that Allopathy and its kindred systems are not science.
  2. Proof that their practice is not art.
  3. Proof that their fundamental- doctrines are false.
  4. Proof that their particular practices are injurious.
  5. The character and tendency of their principles.
  6. The character and tendency of their remedies.
  7. What is true science?
  8. What is quackery?
  9. Where may each be  found.
  When quoting  authors,  the  figures  in parentheses  refer  to the pages of
their  books, or, as at  the  close of the  first  paragraph here, (142),  to some
number of the  book where  the quotation and reference  are found.   In  my
own composition, they refer to the numbers of this work. 
EXPOSITION,  &o.
        General  Denunciations of Medicine as  a Science.


   \.  Dr. J. Abercrombie, Fellow of the Royal Society of  England, of the
Royal College of Physicians in Edinburg, and first Physician to his Majesty
in Scotland, says:

   " There has been much difference of opinion among  philosophers, in re-
gard to the place which medicine is entitled to hold among the physical sci-
ences; for, while one has maintained that it ' rests upon an eternal basis, and
has within it the power of rising to perfection,' another has distinctly asserted
that 'almost the only resource of medicine  is the  art of conjecturing.'"
Intel. Pow., p. 293.

   2.  Dr. John Eberle,  Professor successively in Philadelphia,  New York,
Cincinnati, and Lexington, Ky., says of the fashionable theories of medicine:
   " The judicious and unprejudiced physician will neither condemn nor adopt
unreservedly any of the leading doctrines advanced in modern times."   Pref.
to Prac, p.  1.
   That is, not a tyro, mark  it, but  "the judicious and unprejudiced physi-
cian," the man who is best instructed in them, and the most capable of dis-
tinguishing  between truth and falsehood, even such a man is not certain
whether, not a few wild notions of some idle theorist, but "the leading doc-
trines," the  fundamental principles of modern medicine, are right or wrong!
Shade of Dr. Eberle! you surely will not haunt me for trying  to determine
this unsettled question!

   3. The  "New  York Medical Enquirer," commenced in January 1830, the
name  of which was changed, in July following,  to  the American Lancet,
published in the  city of  New York, and conducted by an association of  Phy-
sicians and Surgeons, vol. 1,  No. 1, advertisement, says:
   "If we take a retrospective view of  the science  of medicine with its alter-
ations and improvements the  last two centuries, the  medical annals of this
period will present us with a series  of learned dissertations by authors whose
names alone are  now remembered, while their writings, under the specious
term improvement,' have left us only the deplorable consolation of knowing
that their  works have heaped system upon  system,  precept upon precept,
error upon error, each  in turn yielding to its follower.   Year after year
produces a new advocate for a new theory of  disease, each condemning its
predecessor,  and each alike to be condemned by its successor.
  "Happy had it  been for the world,  if the  medical systems  which  have
been obtruded  upon it, were  only chargeable  with inutility, absurdity,  and
falsehood.   But  alas! they have often  misledvthe understanding, perverted
                                                          (7) 
8
EXPOSITION.
the judgment, and given rise to the most dangerous and fatal errors in piac-
tice.  A short view of the history of physic will convince us of this melan-
choly truth.
   "We wish a more rational  mode  adopted for the promotion of medical
knowledge, than hair-brained theories and doubtful facts.  Observation, prac-
tice, and experience, in the administration of medicine,  with its effects on
the system, may take the lead  of scholastic learning  and hard  names.  We
must have facts instead of opinions, reasons instead of theory, knowledge
instead of titles and  certificates."

   4. The following is the declaration of Bichat, one of the greatest of French
Pathologists:
   "Medicine is  an incoherent assemblage of incoherent ideas, and is, per-
haps, of  all the physiological sciences,  that which  best shows the caprice of
the human mind.  What  did  I say?   It  is not a science for a methodical
mind.  It  is a  shapeless assemblage  of  inaccurate  ideas, of observations
often puerile,  of deceptive remedies, and of formulae as  fantastically con-
ceived as they are tediously arranged."   Bichat's  General Anatomy, vol.
1, page  17.

   5. Dr. L. M. Whiting,  in a Dissertation at an Annual Commencement  in
Pittsfield, Mass., said:
   " The  very principles upon  which most of what  are  called the theories
involving medical questions, have been based, were never established.   They
are and always were  false, and  consequently, the superstructures built upon
them were as  'the  baseless  fabric  of a vision'—transient  in their  exist-
ence—passing away  upon the introduction of new  doctrines and hypothe-
ses,  like  the  dew before  the morning  sun."   B. M. & S.  Journal, vol.  14,
page  183.
   "Speculation has been the garb in which medicine has been arrayed, from
that remote  period when  it was rocked in the  cradle of  its infancy, by the
Egyptian priesthood, down to the present day; its  texture varying, to be
sure, according to the power and skill of the manufacturer, from the delicate,
fine-spun, gossamer-like web of Darwin, to the more gross, uneven, and un-
wieldy fabric of  Hunter;  its hue also changing by being dipped in different
dyes as often as it  has become soiled by time and  exposure.  And what has
been the consequence?  System  after  system has arisen, flourished, fallen,
and been forgotten, in rapid and melancholy succession, until the whole field
is strewed with the disjointed  materials in perfect chaos—and, amonost the
rubbish,  the philosophic mind may search for ages, without being  able  to
glean from it hardly  one solitary well established fact.
   "If this is a true  statement of  the case, (and let him who doubts take up
the history of medicine);  if that  enormous mass of matter which has  been,
time out  of mind accumulating, and which has been  christened medical sci-
ence, is, in fact,  nothing  but  hypothesis piled  on hypothesis;  who is there
among us that would not exult in  seeing it swept away at once by the besom
of destruction?"   lb. p. 187-8.
   Professor Jacob Bigelow, of the medical department of Harvard Univer-
sity, says:
   "Medicine in  regard to some of its  professed and important objects [the
cure of disease], is still an ineffectual speculation."  Annual Address before
the Massachusetts Medical Society, 1835. 
EXPOSITION
9
   6.  Dr.  Rush,  in  his  lectures in the University of  Pennsylvania,  says:
   "I am  insensibly led to make an apology for the instability of the theories
and practices of physic.   Those physicians generally become the most emin-
ent, who  soonest emancipate themselves from  the tyranny of the schools
of  physic.   Our want  of  success is  owing to the following causes: 1st.
Our ignorance of the disease.  2d.  Our ignorance of a suitable remedy."
Page 79.

   7.  Dr.  Chapman, Professor of the  Institutes and Practice  of  Physic in
the University of Pennsylvania, says:
   " Consulting the records of our science, we can  not  help being disgusted
with the multitude of hypotheses obtruded upon us at different times.  No
where is the imagination displayed to a greater extent; and, perhaps so am-
ple an  exhibition of human  invention might  gratify bur vanity,  if it were
not more  than counterbalanced by  the  humiliating view of  so much absurd-
ity, contradiction, and falsehood."  Therapeutics, vol. 1, p. 47.
   "To harmonize the contrarieties of medical  doctrines, is, indeed a task as
impracticable as to arrange the fleeting vapors around  us, or to reconcile the
fixed and repulsive antipathies of  nature."   lb. p. 23.

   8.  Dr.  Gregory, of London, in his Practice,  page 31, says:
   "All the vagaries of medical theory, like the absurdities once advanced to
explain the nature of gravitation, from Hippocrates to Brou^-ais, have been
believed to be sufficient to explain the phenomena  [of disease], yet they have
all proved unsatisfactory."
   "The  science of medicine has  been cultivated  more  than two thousand
years.  The most devoted industry and the greatest talents  have  been exer-
cised upon it; and, though there have been great improvements, and  there
is much to be remembered, yet upon no subject have the wild spirit and the
eccentric  dispositions of the  imagination been more widely displayed.   *  *
Men of extensive fame,  glory in  pretending to see deeper into the recesses
of  nature than nature herself ever intended;  they invent hypotheses,  they
build theories and  distort facts to  suit their aerial creations.   The celebrity
of  many of the most prominent characters of the last century, will, ere long,
be  discovered  only in the libraries of the curious, and recollected only by
the learned."  Page 29.
   I must  here add that Dr. Gregory's statements respecting  medical  theories,
are indorsed by his American editors, Professor Potter, of the University of
Maryland, and S. Calhoun, M.  D., Professor  in Jefferson  Medical College,
Pennsylvania.   They are therefore sanctioned  by the famous school of Bal-
timore, which disputes with the Pennsylvanian, for the honor of being ranked
the first in the United States.

   9. Professor Jackson, of the University of Pennsylvania, tells us,  in the
preface to his "Principles of  Medicine," p.  1,  that,
   " The discovery of new facts has shed a light which has changed the whole
aspect of  medical science, and the works which have served as guides, are
impaired  in  importance and  value;  they  lead  astray from the direction in
which the science progresses, and new ones  are  demanded, to  supply the
position in which they become faulty.
   " The want of a treatise on the Practice of Medicine, in the room of those
usually  placed in the hands of students and young practitioners, had  long 
10
EXPOSITION.
been felt."  *   *   "At first I contemplated merely a practical book, com-
piled  in the usual  manner, founded on the experience of preceding writers,
compared with,  and corrected  and extended  by my own.   I  had made a
considerable progress in this method, when I was arrested by the conviction
that it was essentially defective; that  it did not meet  the spirit of the age;
that it did not answer  the purposes  of a rational instruction; that  it did
not supply the  deficiency  I had felt  to exist  in the commencement  of my
profession; that  it had been  followed in a servile  spirit, from  the remotest
eras of the science,  and is,  most probably, the cause that, after so long a
period after its cultivation, its practice still continues of uncertain and doubt-
ful application."

   10.  He therefore strikes out an entirely new path, and writes a large book
which is no sooner out of the press than Dr. J. V. C. Smith, of  the Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal, pounces upon it with a  severity  almost equal
to that of Dr. Pattison upon Broussais.   So they go.
   Menzel, in his specimens of Foreign Literature and  Science, says:—
   "The Science of Medicine  enjoys an  immeasurable literature,  which,
unhappily has not  yet been able to be collected into a Bible.  It numbers
creeds and sects enough; and, as Theological parties finally come together in
faith,  Medical parties  unite  at  the most in unbelief."—Menzel's German
Literature, vol.  II, page 223.
   "The history  of  Medicine, which has  been most thoroughly written  by
Kurt  Sprengel,  furnishes  a melancholy proof how  much the human race
have been always  groping about in error, upon one of the most  important
subjects to them.   We need but compare the systems of the most celebrated
and best known physicians, to discover, every where,  contradictions  of the
grossest kind.   What one derives from the fluids another explains from the
solids; what one wants to  cure  with  heat, another does with cold; where an
opposite  is recommended  by one, a  remedy similar  to  the  [cause of the]
disease, is recommended by another.  If one wants to cure the body  by the
mind,  another wants to cure the mind by  the body.
   "But, if it is  asked  how all  these  strangely contradictory systems  could
have come into  being,  the  answer is  almost always to be found  in the pre-
vailing fashion of the times,  which, originally had nothing whatever  to do
with medicine."—lb. page 226.
   Thus,—"The age of vapors, of coquettish fainting fits, interesting paleness
and the like,"—"was the  golden age of the doctors  and apothecaries, and
mankind  were  obliged to let  blood  after  Stahl;  to  vomit after Hoffman,
to purge after Kampf; and exhaust deep alembics after prescriptions a yard
long, full of every stench  of  the old world and the new, in order to o-o back
again  finally to  Helmont's theory, that  the  real seat of disease was the
stomach disordered by doctoring."—lb. page 230-231. See the whole article.

   11.  Medicine  is  still in its infancy.  M. Louis,  see  Paine's Commentary
page 331-2.                                                          J'
   "Men have for ages  devoted themselves to therapeutics, and the Science is
still in its infancy"—"Physicians scarcely agree except on points which are
admitted without any examination, or as established by lono- usage which has
nothing to recommend it  but time."—"The reader will be astonished, un-
doubtedly, that, in the nineteenth century, authority could have  been invoked
in a Science of observation, without remarking that what we call experience 
EXPOSITION.
11
 even now, is nothing but authority!"—"In fact, to what authorities do those
 most celebrated for the wisdom  of  their precepts, refer, unless it  be to  the
 practice of  their predecessors?"—"If the experience  so  justly scorned  by
 Quesnay, is an uncertain guide in practice, it is because it possesses nothing
 of true experience; but the reverse; because it is,  in truth, only the common
 usage, not  justified by rigorous observation."—"The  pretended experience
 of authors is worth nothing, and, after all their assertions and denials, we  are
 no further  advanced than before; the experience  to which he refers, is evi-
 dently tradition, custom, common  belief,—an almost  worthless  thing,—a
 compound of vague recollections."
   C. Hering, in his Introduction to Hahnemann's Organon, says:—
   "Innumerable opinions of the nature and cure of diseases, have  succes-
 sively been  promulgated;  each [author] distinguishing his  own Theory by
 the title of  System, though directly at variance with every other, and incon-
 sistent with itself.   Each of these refined productions  dazzled the reader at
 first with its  unintelligible display  of wisdom, and attached to  the system
 builder  crowds of  adherents,  echoing  his  unnatural  sophistry;  but, from
 which none of them could derive  any improvement in the art of healing,
 until a  new system, frequently in direct opposition to the former,  appeared,
 supplanting it, and, for a season acquiring celebrity. Yet none were in harmony
 with nature or experience,—mere theories spread out of a refined imagina-
 tion, from  apparent consequences,  which, on account of  their subtility and
 contradictions, were practically inapplicable at the bed side of the  patient,
 and fitted only for  idle disputation.
   "By the  side of  these theories, but unreconciled with them  all, a mode of
 cure Avas contrived, with medicinal  substances  of unknown  quality com-
 pounded together, applied to diseases arbitrarily  classified, and arranged in
 reference to their materiality, called Allopathic.   The  pernicious results of
 such a  practice, at variance  with nature and  experience,  may  be easily
 imagined."—Pape 25, 26.
   12. This author  is one of the most distinguished disciples of Hahnemann,
 and advocates of Homeopathy, and  yet he says, page 17,
   "For  myself I  am  generally  considered  as  a  disciple and adherent  of
 Hahnemann, and I do indeed declare,  that I am one amongst the most enthu-
 siastic in doing homage to his greatness; but nevertheless I declare also, that,
 since my first acquaintance with  Homeopathy  (in  1821),  I  have never
 accepted a  single theory in the Organon, as it is there  promulgated.  I feel
 no aversion to acknowledge this, even to the venerable sage himself."

   13.  D'Alembert.—"The following apologue,"  says  D'Alembert,  "made
 by a physician, a man of wit and philosophy,  represents very  well  the state
 of  that science."   'Nature is fighting with disease; a blind man armed with
 a club, that is, a physician, comes to settle the difference.   He first  tries to
 make peace.  When he can not accomplish this, he lifts his club and strikes
 at  random.   If he  strikes the disease,  he  kills  the  disease; if  he  strikes
 nature, he kills nature.'"   "An eminent physician," says the same writer,
 "renouncing a practice which he had  exercised for thirty  years, said, ' I am
 weary of guessing,'"—Abercrombie, Intel.  Pow., page 293.
   Dr. Abercrombie adds:—
   "The uncertainty of medicine, which is thus a  theme for  the philosopher
and the humorist, is deeply felt by the practical physician in the daily exercise
of his art." 
la
EXPOSITION.
    14.  Dr.  James  Graham, the celebrated  Medico-Electrician of  London,
 Bays of Medicine:—
    "It hath been very rich in  theory, but poor, very poor  in the  practical
 application of  it.   Indeed,  the tinsel glitter of fine spun theory, of favorite
 hypothesis, which  prevails wherever medicine hath been taught, so dazzles,
 flatters, and charms human vanity and  follv, that, so far from  contributing
 to the certain and speedy cure of  diseases, it hath, in every age, proved the
 bane and disgrace of the healing  art."—Graham's Electric remedies,  p. 15.

    15. The following is the testimony of Dr. Brown, who was educated in
 Edinburg, Scotland, then called the  Medical Athens  of the world,  a  school
 to which physicians from every country lately went to finish their education:
   Dr.  Brown,  who studied under  the  famous  Dr.  Wm. Cullen,  of  Edin-
 burg, lived in his family and lectured on his system,  (a system that  has had
 as many advocates and practitioners as any other of modern  times), says, in
 his preface  to his own work, "The author of this work has spent more than
 twenty years in learning, scrutinizing and teaching every  part of medicine.
 The first five years  passed  away in  hearing others, in studying what  I had
 heard,  implicitly believing  it, and entering upon the possession as  a rich
 inheritance.   The next five, I was employed in explaining and refining the
 several particulars, and bestowing on  them a nicer polish.   During the five
 succeeding  years, nothing having prospered according to  my satisfaction, I
 grew indifferent to the  subject; and, with many eminent men, and even the
 very  vulgar, began to deplore the healing  art, as altogether uncertain and
 incomprehensible.  All this time passed away without the acquisition of any
 advantage, and without that which, of all things,  is the most agreeable to the
 mind, the light of truth; and so great and precious a portion of the short and
 perishable life  of man, was totally lost!  Here I  was, at this  period,  in the
 situation of a traveler  in an unknown country, who, after losing every trace
 of  his way, wanders in the  shades of night."
   I would here remark, once for  all,  that  I do  not  always  agree with the
 authors in all  the sentiments quoted.   I  receive no man's mere opinions as
 infallibly  true,  till I have demonstrated them by evidences that will not  admit
 of a doubt.   For example, I can not admit,  with Dr. Brown, that  he "had
 spent all that time without the acquisition of any advantage."  He had dis-
 covered many a valuable fact for future use.   If he had not learned, directly,
 what  medicine  was, he had discovered, indirectly, what it was not; and thus
 narrowed the limits of his fruitless  researches, as well as stored up experience
 as the foundation of  his future medical philosophy.

   16.  Testimony of Dr.  Donaldson, a Scotch Physician of hioh  repute:
 "I was educated in  the Gregorian  doctrines of the Edinburg school of  medi-
 cine.   I was  taught  the  theory of  medicine as  delivered in his Conspec-
 tus, and  was exercised  in the Cullenian discipline, divested of all his hypo-
 thetical errors of spasm and atony of the extremities  of arteries.   I learned
all the branches of medical science under the distinguished and erudite pro-
fessors of the most celebrated university and school of medicine in the world-
I always embraced plausible truths, and rejected visible errors, in theory and
practice.  I admitted  doubtful hypotheses to have no place in my mind,  to
influence  my future practice.   Even during my discipleship, I thought for
myself, and digested their instructions with an unfettered  and independent
judgment and  reasoning,  and I had  no sooner completed my studies of the 
EXPOSITION.
13
 theoretical and practical science of medicine, and other branches of learning,
 in the College of Edinburg,  than I  repaired to the schools  of London, so
 famous for anatomy and physiology.
   Having finished my intended course in the metropolis of the British empire,
 I launched  into  practice, under the auspices of a real imitator of the Edin-
 burg school,  and a follower of  Clarke, Lind, Thomas, &c,  and soon had
 ample opportunities of witnessing the  great insufficiencies of the  medical
 practice of the present <day, in the hands of the  most skillful administrators
 and practitioners.   In  this situation I soon had occasion to dissent from the
 doctrines of the schools, but years elapsed before I could bring  myself to
 deviate from the  practice, which they and the  most esteemed authors taught
 in their  instructions and works.  I hesitated in the old road until I should
 discover a new way by experience and obesrvation  to keep me from  stum-
 bling on the dark mountains of doubts and errors.   I consulted all the most
 celebrated  writings of ancient and modern physicians; I  searched for light
 in vain, to direct my steps.
   During my travel in  the East Indies, in the  years 1810, '11, '14, '15, and
 '16, I had many opportunities of  trying every method of curing diseases of
 all descriptions, and of proving the virtues and efficacies of all remedies com-
 monly employed by practitioners, as well as making all necessary alterations in
 former modes of treatment, and in the choice of remedies.   Fevers, fluxes, in-
 flammations, affections of the spleen and liver, apoplexies, palsies, spasms, &c,
 were the great diseases that attracted my attention, being under my own care
 and treatment in those  warm  regions, and I was extremely mortified to find
 all my remedies  ineffectual to reduce inflammation or subdue many of those
 diseases, by  the common  method of treatment; and my pride was humbled
 at the repeated disappointments I encountered, in being baffled to  cure them
 with the common  remedies, carried to  the same extent,  and  administered
 with the same diligence as recommended in books, or by professors of medi-
 cine; I administered purges, barks  and wine,  with  the utmost rigor, in all
 classes of inter and remittent fevers;  I exhibited saline purges, opiates, mer-
 curials, sudorifics and  nutrients,  in cases of dysentery, and  found them all
 ineffectual to arrest the  progress of fevers,  or to cure the affections of dysen-
 tery, in  many severe cases.   I could not  produce  an  immediate crisis  in
 fevers, nor remove  the agonies of fluxes; they still continued to return, or to
 torture my patients,  in defiance of all the remedies  that  have been recom-
 mended  by Drs.  Blane, Lind,  Clarke, Chisholm, Cullen,  Thomas,  Phillip,
 Hoffman, Boerhaave, Brown,  Farriar,  Fordyce,  Currie,  Darwin,  Jackson,
 Wright, Fowler,  Trotter,  Haygarth, Heberden, Lieutaud,  Huxham, Russell,
 Macgregor,  Falconer, Desgenettes,  Milne,  Dewar, Bisset, Warren, Pringle,
 Buchan, Churchill, Friend, McCord, &c, who are supposed to have delivered
 the sentiments of the medical schools in their days.  Neither were the reme-
 dies employed by the most noted of the  ancients,  as Hippocrates, Celsus,
 Galenus, Asclepiades, &c, &c, more successful in curing febrile distempers.
 Having read and studied  medicine of the ancients and moderns, I was able
to choose those remedies, proposed in their writings, best calculated to cure
disorders of  the  human frame, in all climates of the earth, and  to employ
them to the greatest advantages, but, without the knowledge of the real nature
of  fevers and fluxes, I  still  labored  in the dark, and could not effect, in all
cases, by the use of such  remedies, a solution of  the disease under my care,
with  any degree of  certainty  of success  in  the commencement.   I was
unacquainted with the principle on which those remedies acted to bring to a 
14
EXPOSITION.
favorable crisis.   I longed for that day when my knowledge of the nature 01
the diseases, and  of the virtues of the  remedies employed to cure  them,
would enable me to cure the severest of them at pleasure, and to liberate my
fellow creatures from the iron grasp of mortal afflictions,  and I began to
lament the universal ignorance of the professors of  medicine, respecting the
nature of diseases.
  From that day till the present, I never have used the remedies commonly pre-
scribed by writers  on medicine,  neither have I followed the doctrines of the
school in the treatment of  the febrile diseases.   I determined that no other
patient of mine should ever become a victim to  the common old  treatment
pointed out by professors of medicine, and authors of medical books.  In the full
belief of the doctrine which experience had taught me, I soon had the pleasure
of seeing almost all my patients recover from fevers, in the space of two, three,
four and five days; whereas, according to the old method of treatment fol-
lowed by my cotemporaries,  patients labored a month, six weeks, two  or
three months, under a violent fever  and its fatal dregs, and either died 01
were restored by the mere efforts of nature, or languished under the irremedi-
able consequences  of such disease,  during  the  remainder of their lives, in
misery and infirmity.
  Thus it may be perceived, by the foregoing collection of facts, how I
came to possess a new doctrine and  theory of fevers, and to institute  a new
method of treatment on the foundation of a sure and certain principle of prac-
tice, deduced from this doctrine in the application of remedies more rational
and  successful  than  appear in  any system  of  medicine ever exhibited in
ancient or modern  times, as far as I know, by the annals of medicine;  and I
now come forward to open the  discovery for the general benefit  of mankind.
In doing this, I shall  be under the absolute necessity of exposing and reject-
ing all former opinions respecting the proximate  causes or nature of diseases;
I shall have to combat the errors of  the learned and the ignorant, both in the
theory and practice of medicine; I shall be forced to reject all the erroneous
doctrines of the schools in which I was educated; I shall have to defend my
sentiments against  all the invidious  malignities  and contumelies of  my ene-
mies, on  the basis of infallible principles, deduced  from and depending on
the  truths and facts which I have disoovered in  the nature of these diseases,
by experience, observation, reflecting and reasoning, so absolutely necessary
to be known before we can succeed  in practice.   Many self-confident and
ignorant  pretenders to the science and art of medicine,  are inclined to sup-
pose that no errors  can exist, in the present theories  of the  enlightened
schools of Europe and America, to combat, in the treatment of diseases.
  In fact, no physician whose  works I have read, no  professor of medicine
whom I have ever  heard speak on the nature of diseases,  has ever discovered,
or even hinted at the  cure of fever; all have delivered theories, which amount
to open acknowledgments of their ignorance of  it; or have candidly professed
the universal ignorance  of all  physicians  in the world, of the  former and
present times, respecting the  nature of these diseases.
  I observed the plan of cure followed by the East Indians in fevers.  I saw
the practitioners cure the most vehement  cases  of  intermittent fevers in a
single day, with such a mathematical precision and certainty, as I never beheld
in any region of the earth—by purging, vomiting and sweating,  &c.   I per-
ceived that they  also cured without knowing the  nature  of disease, or the
principles of their  practice; and was led to believe all diseases curable, if we
could only discover the remedies against them and would apply those remedies 
EXPOSITION.
15
 in  due time and to sufficient extent, to  effect these possible  ends.   Their
 method of  treatment  consisted  in  the administration of a medicine that
 effectually purged and vomited their patients, who were obliged at the same
 time, to use  the steam bath, and drink abundantly of warm teas, until copious
 or profuse sweat was produced,  and  the  fever was  mechanically reduced,
 leaving nothing to  be done  by feeble nature,  as the  ancient and modern
 practitioners of Europe were accustomed  to do many ages prior to the days
 of Bottalus and Sydenham.
   Having acquired a  knowledge  of these things relative to the  nature  of
 febrile diseases, I was  induced to abandon the common plan of  treatment,
 and to institute a new method of curing them  with  the use of  new remedies."

   17. Dr. W. Henderson, Professor of Medicine  and General  Pathology in
 the University of Edinburg,  in 1847, says:—
   "Some 80 or 90 per cent, of the patients who employ medical practitioners,
 would be better off without them."—Forbes  Young Physic, page 94.

   18. Dr. John Forbes,  (whose titles would fill a quarter of this page,  I give
 here only F. R. S.,  F. G. S., Fellow of the  Royal College of Physicians in
 London, Editor of the British and Foreign  Medical Review, or  Quarterly
 Journal of Practical Medicine and Surgery,  Physician Ordinary and Extra-
 ordinary to  Princes, Hospitals, &c, and member  of  almost  all the medical
 societies in  Europe,) after drawing a close comparison between Homeopathy
 and Allopathy, says:—(Young Physic, page  98).
   "The most important inferences unfavorable to Allopathy  are:—
   1.  That,  in a large  proportion  of the cases treated  by Allopathic physi-
 cians, the disease is cured by nature and not by them.
   2.  That,  in a lesser, but still not a small  proportion, the  disease is cured
 by nature in  spite  of them;  in  other words, their interference  opposing
 instead of assisting the cure.
   3.  That,  consequently, in  a considerable proportion  of diseases, it  would
 fare as well  or better, with patients, in the actual condition of the medical
 art, as now  generally practiced, if all remedies, at least all active remedies,
 especially drugs, were abandoned."
   "We repeat our readiness to admit these inferences  as just, and to abide
 by the consequences  of their adoption.   We  believe  they  are true.  We
 grieve sincerely to believe them to be so; but so believing, their rejection is
 no  longer in our power;  we  must receive them as facts, till they are proved
 not to be so."
   Since I first published the foregoing testimonies, it has been said that  "they
 are the mere declamations of a tew disappointed  men"—that  "others^ have
 found medicine to be a true science,"  "having, within it, the power of rising
 to perfection," (1).  Those who think so, will please to examine, in the index,
 the list of authors quoted, and  they will see  that these are the very men who
 have  made  the greatest attainments in personal  knowledge and  skill, and
 been elevated to the highest ranks in  the honors of the profession and the
 estimation of the world.   They all  were, and many  still are, the  most dis-
 tinguished Professors in the most renowned colleges and hospitals;  or editors,
 or genera] practitioners, whose writings have  been deemed the best authority,
and who had nothing more to ask, (16, 18).
  The influence of  their honest confessions, has  been such, that  several of
their own eminent profession, fearing that medicine would be totally repudi- 
16                            EXPOSITION.
ated and abandoned, have attempted to defend it.  Among these,  I have room
to notice here, only Prof. Elisha Bartlett, formerly of the University of Tran-
sylvania, now of the University of New York.   Prof.  Bartlett  says:
   "I am only stating what every body knows to be true, when I say that the
general confidence which has  heretofore  existed in the science and art of
medicine, as this science has been studied and this art has been practiced,
has, within  the  last few years, been violently shaken and  disturbed, and is
now greatly lessened and impaired.   The  hold which medicine has  long had
upon the popular  mind, is loosened; there is a wide-spread skepticism as to
its power of curing diseases, and men are every where to be found who deny
its  pretensions as a science, and reject the benefits and blessings  which it
proffers them as an art."—"Inquiry into the certainty of medicine," p. 9.
  He  charges that  medicine  has been "blindly  and  unjustly  assailed by
parties who  understand  neither their own strength nor  ours," and,  the next
page, (8), he complains of the distinguished Dr. Forbes as an eminent con-
tributor to this disparagement of medicine!
  He and Prof.  Eve, (who undertook the  same task, of defending medicine,
in "An Introductory to the Third Session of the University of Nashville"),
commence  by showing that  anatomy and physiology have  become, in a
measure, fixed, (which  no body denies).   Prof. B. then comes up, with evi-
dent fear and trembling, to "the practice as an art," pages 16, 17.
  To prove  its certainty and usefulness here, he cites the case of pneumonia,
gives what is known of its lesions and their progress, (p.24), and finally says
that the  profession are  pretty well  united  in the faith  that. " blood-letting"
(p. 29),  and "tartrate of antimony"  (p. 40, 45), are the  remedies.  With
these the profession have cured pneumonia, with wonderful  success,  not hav-
ing lost, in some  instances more than "one-sixth," (p. 40), or "one-seventh,"
(p. 46)!   He does not know what would have been the result had no medicine
been given!   The disease is hardly ever left to itself—experiments of that kind
would be "to sacrifice the interests of humanity to those of science," wThich
"we have no right" to do,  (p. 35).   He quotes a statement of  Dr.  Fleisch-
inann, that 105  cases of peritonitis  had been  treated without blood-letting,
and "with  only  five deaths,"—says this is evidence that no reliance can be
placed on it,  and asks if "any  body will believe it"! (p. 43).
  Space  requires  me to close  here, by saying that this same author com-
mences (page 49) his great work on "the Fevers of the United  States," by
saying that he knows more about Typhoid  than any other  fever; and, after
gathering up almost  every thing that  has ever  been said  on  the   subject,
declares (p.  159) that "the materials for a philosophical theory of fever, or
of any individual fever,  do not exist." (See Nos. 34 to 38).   He gives six dif-
ferent methods of treating Typhoid fever, and two-and-a-half pages of empy-
ricism under the head of "Miscellaneous,"  (p. 104), and concludes  (p. 185)
that  "the  professional  mind" is "in an  unsettled and discordant  state  in
regard to the therapeutics of Typhoid fever," and (p. 186), that, "After the
first few days, in cases  of moderate or average severity, with no special or
urgent indication, it is  quite  clear, I think, "that all  treatment,  in  any way
decidedly active or perturbating,  is  to be  avoided.  The  tendency of the
disease [fever, inflammation], in all  such cases, is towards a natural termina-
tion in health: [natural  for fever to  terminate in health/   What a terrible dis-
ease it must be!  C] and there is no evidence that the dangerous complications
which are liable  to occur,  can  be prevented  by any active interference."
  See Drake on  Diseases of the Mississippi Valley, p. 509, ^J" 2, 3. 
EXPOSITION.                            17
                     THE  PRACTICE  IS NOT  AN  ART.

   The preceding quotations, which might be accompanied by others of a
 similar character to any extent, the  material being unlimited in quantity,
 prove, beyond all controversy, that the medical theories of .the schools  are
 not the doctrines of science—that they " never were  established; but are,
 and always were false."
   The  following quotations will prove that " the superstructures built upon
 them," the practices of medicine, are "baseless as the fabric of a vision,"
 (Whiting,) and wholly unworthy of the dignified title of an art—that what
 is often called "the art divine" in  honor of what it  should be,  is, in fact,
 the most absurd and mischievous quackery in the world.

   19. Experience of little value.—"When,  in the practice of medicine,
 we apply to new cases the knowledge acquired from others, which we believe
 to have been of the same nature,  the difficulties are so great that it is doubt-
 ful whether  in  any case we can properly  be said to act from experience, as
 we do in other departments of science."  * * " The difficulties and sources
 of uncertainty which  meet  us  at every stage of such investigations are, in
 fact,  so numerous and great, that those who have had the most extensive op-
 portunities of observation, will be the first  to acknowledge that  our pretended
 experience  must, in general, sink into analogy, and even our analogy too
 often into conjecture."—Abercrombie, Intel.  Pow., page 299.
   "What is called experience in medicine," says Professor Jackson, "daily
 observation and reflection confirm me  in the conviction, is a fallacious guide,
 not more entitled to the implicit confidence claimed for it, than when  it was
 thus characterized by the great father  of the science—-fallax experientia.  In
 fact, experience can not exist in medicine, such as it is in those  arts in  which
 experiments can be made under circumstances invariably the same," etc.
   Characters or Symptoms of  Disease.—"Since medicine  was first cul-
 tivated as a science, a leading object of attention has ever been to ascertain
 the characters or  symptoms by  which particular internal diseases  are  indi-
 cated, and by which they are distinguished from other diseases  which resem-
 ble them.   But with the accumulated experience of ages bearing  upon this
 important subject, our extended observation has only served to convince us
 how deficient we are in this department, and how often, even in the first
 step of  our progress, we are  left  to conjecture.  A writer of high  eminence
 (Morgagni) has even  hazarded  the assertion  that those persons  are  most
 confident  in  regard  to the characters of disease, whose  knowledge is  most
 limited, and that more extended observation generally leads to doubt.—Intel.
 Pow., pages 294-5.
  Progress  of Disease.—"If such uncertainty hangs over our knowledge
 of disease," says Abercrombie,  "it will  not be denied that  at least an equal
 degree of uncertainty attends its progress.  We  have  learned, for example,
 the various modes in which internal inflammation terminates—as  resolution,
 suppuration, gangrene, adhesion, and effusion  : but, in regard to a particular
 case of  inflammation before us,  how little  notion can we  form  of  what will
 be its progress or how it will terminate !—Abercrombie, page 295.

  20. Action of external  Agents.—An  equal or even a more remarkable
degree of  uncertainty attends all  our  researches into the action of external
agents on the  bodv, whether as causes of  disease  or as remedies; in  both
                                   2 
 18                           EXPOSITION.

 which respects their action is fraught with the highest degree of uncertainty.
 —Intel.  Pow.,  page  295.
   "In regard to the action of external agents as causes of disease, we  may
 take a single example in  the effects of cold.  Of six individuals who have
 been exposed to cold in the same degree,  and, so far as we can judge, under
 the same circumstances, one may be seized with  inflammation of the lungs,
 one with diarrhoea, and one with  rheumatism, while three may escape with-
 out any  injury.  Not less remarkable is the  uncertainty in regard  to  the
 action  of remedies.   One  case appears to yield with readiness to the reme-
 dies  that are employed ; on another which we have every reason  to believe
 to be of the same nature, no effect is produced in arresting its fatal  progress;
 while a third, which threatened to be equally formidable, appears to cease
 without the operation of any remedy at all."—Pages 295-6.  See also p. 23.

   21. D'Alembert.—"The following apologue," says D'Alembert, "made
 by a physician, a man of wit and  philosophy,  represents very well the state
 of that science  :  'Nature is fighting with disease ;  a blind man armed with
 a club—that is, a physician—comes to settle the difference.  He  first tries to
 make peace.  When  he can not accomplish this, he lifts his club and strikes
at random.  If  he   strikes the disease,  he  kills the disease ; if  he strikes
nature, he kills  nature.' "   "An eminent physician," says  the  same writer,
 "renouncing a practice which he had exercised for thirty years said,  'I am
weary of guessing.' "  Dr. Abercrombie  continues :
   " The  uncertainty  of medicine, which  is thus a theme for the philosopher
and the humorist, is  deeply felt  by the practical physician  in the daily exer-
cise of his art."—Intel. Pow., page 293.

   22. Prof. Chapman says :  " Perhaps we shall  ultimately learn to  dis-
criminate accurately  the diversified  shades of morbid action, and to apply to
each its  appropriate  remedies.  As it is, we  are plunged  into a Dedalian
labyrinth, almost  without  a clue.   Dark and  perplexed, our devious career
resembles the blind gropings of  Homer's  Cyclops around his cave."—Thera-
peutics, vol. i, page  49.

   23. Dr. James Thacher, author  of the " American New Dispensary," of
 " The American Modern  Practice," " The Biography  of American Medical
Men," etc., says, " The melancholy triumph of disease over its victims, and
the numerous reproachful examples  of medical impotency, clearly evince that
the combined stock of ancient and modern  learning is greatly insufficient to
perfect our science.   *  *  Far, indeed, beneath the standard of perfection,
 it is still  fraught with deficiencies, and altogether inadequate to our desires."
—Modern Practice,  page 8.

   24. Dr.  Jacob Bigelow, Professor of Harvard University,  says,  in  his
 Annual Address before the Medical Society in  1835, " The premature death
 of medical  men brings with  it the humiliating conclusion that, while  the
 other sciences  have  been  carried forward within our own  time, and  almost
 under  our  own  eyes, to a degree  of unprecedented advancement, medicine
 in regard to some of its professed and important objects, (the cure of disease,)
 is still  an ineffectual  speculation."

   25.  Dr,.  Benjamin Waterhouse, of the Harvard University at Cambridge,
 near Boston, Massachusetts, who was one of the  three professors first appointed 
EXPOSITION.
19
 in the Medical Department of that Institution, after lecturing in it for twenty
 years, retired, saying,of all he had  been so long and so zealously teaching,
 " I am sick of learned quackery."

   26. Dr. Rush,  in his lectures in the University of Pennsylvania, says,
 "Dissections daily convince us of our ignorance of the seats of disease, and
 cause us to blush at our prescriptions."—"What  mischiefs have we done
 under the Belief of false facts and false theories !  We have assisted in multi-
 plying diseases; we have done more—we have increased their  mortality."—
 Robinson's  Lectures, page 109.
   " Our want of success is owing to the following causes :  1st.  Our igno-
 rance of the disease.  2nd. Our ignorance of a suitable  remedy."—Rush,
 Robinson's  Lectures, page 79.

   27. Dr. L. M. Whiting said, in  his  Lecture  at Pittsfield,  Mass.,  "Were
 we to see a sportsman standing  beside a grove, continually loading  and dis-
 charging his piece, without aim, among the trees,  and at the same time  de-
 claring his  intention to be the  destruction of a bird, whose  song he heard
 somewhere  within it, we  should without hesitation  pronounce him not only
 non compos, but also a dangerous individual, and fit only for the strait jacket
 or a mad house.  Yet such, if we mistake not, is very nearly the course pur-
 sued by many a routine practitioner, in the treatment of  morbid conditions
 of the body by medication.  Shoot  away ! is the motto ; perchance we may
 hit the mark ; if  not, the law is our safeguard, and  we have the satisfaction
 of feeling  that we have  done  the best we could."—B. M.  & S. Journal, vol.
 xiv, page 190.

   The above quotations will  suffice for the present,  because I shall treat, in
 following sections,  of the particular means  and processes which constitute
 the art.  It  may be said that Dr. Whiting here  objected only to a " routine
 practice."   True ; but what is a routine practice ?   Is  it  not one according
 to rule or science ?   Are not the  operations of mathematics  all routine ?
 What would be thought of the Surveyor, the Navigator, the  Chemist,  the
 Botanist—any scientific  man  but a doctor—if he should abandon his rules
 and go to experimenting ?  The beauty and excellence of science consists  in
 the fact that all  its operations  are governed by fixed rules,  by strict adhesion
 to which, all desired results are insured.  Medicine is the only exception.
 Talk  to the Astronomer about abandoning his routine method of calculating
 the phenomena of the heavens, and trying this, that or the other experiment,
 as physicians do in the practice of medicine, and what would he say ?  His
 answer would be,  " I know that my rules are true and my tables are correct.
 If I have not correctly solved  my problem, the fault has been mine in the  ap-
 plication.  I shall try no new plan  nor  means ; but  make a perfect applica-
 tion of the old."
  So it will be in  medicine, when medicine becomes a science, and  its prac-
 tice an art.   The routine practice will then be the only one approved.
  Nos. 6, 10, 11,  12,  13, 14,  15,  16,  17,  18, all  prove  the worthlessness
of the practice, as  well as the  errors  and  mischiefs of the theories of  the sys-
tem of the schools of physic. 
20
EXPOSITION.
       THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES OF ALLOPATHY ARE FALSE.

   This is proved by the testimony of its most intelligent and faithful friends :
(Nos. 7,  10, 15, 16,) and by facts and sound reasoning.

   But what are these doctrines ?
   28.  Gregory  says, " The doctrines of fever are of paramounfimportance,
and  therefore constitute,.with great  propriety,  the  foundation  of  all  patho-
logical reasoning."—Practice, vol. i, page 44.

   29. Prof. Marshall Hall says, page 98, No.  362, endorsed  by Profs.
Bigelow and Holmes, of Harvard University, Boston, Mass.:  " The doctrine
of inflammation  is the most  important  in  the  theory of medicine and sur-
gery."  And No. 365, they all refer us to  Profs. Hunter and John Thom-
son's works on Inflammation, as "absolutely necessary" to give us an "inti-
mate acquaintance with this important subject."

   30. John Thomson, page 32,  testifies as follows : "It  has  long been ac-
knowledged in the schools of medicine, that the formation of a rational  edu-
cation in  physic must be laid in a minute and accurate acquaintance with the
appearances and treatment of the different kinds of fever, but that the knowl-
edge of the phenomena of inflammation  is not  less  extensive  in its applica^
tions to practice,  nor less  necessary to  the  acquirement of proper education
in the art or science of surgery,  seems to be only beginning to be  perceived
by medical men.   That this  view, however, of the  subject  of inflammation
is just, must appear obvious, when Ave reflect that, of all the  morbid affections
to which  the human body is  liable, inflammation  is not only one of the most
distinct in its forms, and important in its consequences, but it is also  by far
the most frequent in its occurrence.  Indeed, there  are no external injuries
of which  inflammation is not almost the immediate effect, and but few, if any
local diseases, of which it is not, in some degree or other, to  be regarded as a
concomitant cause, symptom, or consequence."
   Verily, inflammation must be  something  very remarkable to be  a cause, a
concomitant, and an effect of the same thing !
   " It  is but just to the  late Mr.  Hunter, to remark that he appears to have
been among  the  first surgeons who  became fully aware of the importance
of a minute knowledge of those curious and  singularly diversified appearances
which inflammation produces in the different textures and organs of the  body.
We learn from his writings and by his  invaluable collection  and descriptions
of diseased  parts, that he spent upwards of  thirty years in the investigation
of this subject.   The grand results of his  labors have been  bequeathed to
posterity in  his Treatise  on Inflammation,  a work which, by establishing the
pathology of surgery upon  the  solid basis of  observation,  experiment, and
accurate analysis, forms a new era in the history of this art.  In  most points
relative to inflammation, I shall endeavor to  follow that  distinguished pathol-
ogist, as  my best and most accurate guide."
   And Prof. Thomson does follow Hunter,  most  strictly, in these  doctrines,
and from  this fact, and the declaration of Hall, Bigelow, and Holmes,  above
quoted, it is evident that the  testimony of Hunter will  either sustain or con-
demn all later writers on the subject, and the doctrines of the schools which
they establish and sustain.   But first, more about  the importance of fever
and inflammation. 
EXPOSITION.
21
   31. Prof. Watson says, (page 94,) "Inflammation  must needs occupy a
 large share of  the  attention, both of the surgeon and of the physician.  In
 nine  cases  out of  ten,  the first question which either of them asks himself
 upon being summoned to a patient is,  Have I to deal with inflammation here?
 It is continually the object of his treatment, and watchful care."

   32. Prof. Paine says, " The  most important principles in medicine, are
 those which especially relate to inflammation and fever."—Inst, page 464.

   33. Prof. Clutterbuck says,  "Fever is a disease of almost daily and uni-
 versal occurrence."—Work on Fever, Preface, page 17.

               IGNORANCE OF FEVER AND INFLAMMATION.

   34. Dr. Southwood  Smith, physician to the London Fever Hospital, says,
 "Among the objects contemplated in the establishment of this institution,
 two things were conceived to be of paramount importance; first, the accumu-
 lation of  facts by which the true nature  of  fever  might be more certainly
 ascertained; and, secondly, the  cautious trial of remedies by which  a more
 sure and successful mode of treating this fatal disease might be discovered."
 —S.  Smith on Fever, page 1.

   35. Prof. Gregory"  says, "Fever  has  proved a fertile  theme,  on which
 the ingenuity of physicians, in all ages, has been  exerted; and a glanee at the
 attention which it has received from every medical  author, both ancient and
 modern, would be  sufficient to impress  upon any one  the importance of the
 doctrines it embraces.
   " How difficult is the study of Fever, may be  inferred from  this, that,
 though so much has been written concerning  it, there is no one subject in
 the whole  circle  of medical science, which still involves so many disputed
 points."  Still, much as they are disputed, the Doctor  adds,  " The doctrines
 of fever are of paramount importance,  and, therefore,  constitute, with great
 propriety,  the foundation of all pathological reasoning."—Practice,  vol. i,
 pages 33-4.
   "It has been a favorite topic of inquiry  among all writers on fever,  What
 is its nature?   In what particular state of  the fluids or solids does it consist?
 The subject has been prosecuted with great diligence, but the result  of the
 investigation is very unsatisfactory.   *   *   All their theories are open to
 many and strong objections."—lb., pages 49, 50.  "The pathology of fever
 is so obscure,  that it affords  but  little help in  determining the plan of treat-
 ment."—Page 35.

   36. Dr. Thacher, the venerable author of the American New Dispensatory,
 says,  "Notwithstanding the great prevalence of  Fever  in all ages and  in all
 climates, and  the universal  attention  which  it has excited among medical
 observers ever since the days  of Hippocrates, the  disease  still remains the
 subject of  much  discussion;  and its  essential nature,  or the  proximate
 cause of  its symptoms, is still a problem in medical  science."—Practice,
 page  198.
   Further—Numerous hypotheses, or  opinions, respecting the true  nature
and  cause  of  inflammation,  have for  ages been advanced,  and, for  a time,
sustained; but, even  at the  present day, the various doctrines appear to be
considered altogether problematical."—Practice,  page 279. 
22
EXPOSITION.
   37.  Prof. Eberle  says, "The  history of practical Medkjine  consists of
little else than a review of the  doctrines which  have risen and  sunk again,
concerning  the  nature  and treatment of Fever."  *   *   "It  is jn  this
department  that  observation and  research  have  been  most industrious in
accumulating  materials, and that  hypothesis  has luxuriated in  her  wildest
exuberance."—Practice, vol. i, page 13.

  .38.  "Fever," says Gregory, "is the most important, because the most
universal and  the most fatal of all  the morbid  affections of which the human
body is susceptible."   *   *  "The physician must always be  prepared to
expect its occurrence.   It is that  by the presence or absence of which, all
his views of treatment are to be regulated; whose rise, progress, and  termi-
nation, he always watches with  the  closest attention.   [He  surely ought to
have learned something about it by this time, if  he has watched  it for four
thousand  years.]  Some  idea  may be  formed  of  the  great  mortality of
fevers, from the statement of Sydenham, who calculated that  two-thirds of
mankind die of acute  diseases, properly so  called; and two-thirds  of the
remainder, of  that lingering febrile disease, consumption."
   Fever is "one of the most frequent and dangerous affections to which the
body is liable."   *   *   "The  greatest diversity [of opinion]  has prevailed
in regard to  the theory of fever."—Dung. Die.
   " The word Fever, when used,  as it commonly is, to designate  a  disease, has
no  intelligible  signification.  It  is wholly a creature of  the  fancy—the off-
spring of a false generalization, and of a spurious philosophy.   What, then,
can its theory be, but the shadow of a  shade?"—Bartlett  on  Fevers, page
161.
   The above quotations show us, that the  doctrines of fever and inflamma-
tion are  the foundation stones,  or fundamental principles  of the Allopathic
system, and  that they are very uncertain and unsettled.  The following, as
well as many of  the above, show that, in all the books of practice, fever and
inflammation are counted as disease.
                       INFLAMMATION, DISEASE.

  39. Thacher  calls it "the  disease," (28)—Practice,  vol. i, paoe 43.—■
Thomson (22,) says the same  of fever and inflammation.
  "I shall proceed to examine the more direct characteristics of this Protean
disease."—Paine's Inst. Med.  No. 620; see also here no 41.

  40. Watson says,  (Practice page 94,)  Inflammation is "a special form of
disease to wh'ch all parts of the body are liable—a disease that meets  us at
every turn."
  "It  affects  all parts, that are furnished with blood vessels, and it affects
different  parts very variously.  It is more easily excited by many external
causes, and  therefore it  is more common than  any other  special disease.
A great  majority of all the disorders, to which the human frame is liable,
begin with inflammation  or end in   inflammation, or are  accompanied  by
inflammation  during  some part of their course, or resemble inflammation in
their symptoms.  Most of the  organic changes  of different parts of the body,
recognize inflammation as their cause, or lead  to it as their effect.   In  short
a very large  share of the premature extinction of human life in  general, is
more or less attributed to  inflammation. 
EXPOSITION.
23
   41. Paine says, (Institutes page 464,)  "Inflammation  and fever  are the
two orders of disease which make up the great amount of human maladies,
and  form the grand  outlet of life."   "The few diseases  which do not fall
under one or the other of the foregoing denominations,  are least important in
a practical sense, and least understood in their pathology."
   "Inflammation and fever have been generally regarded as one disease, and
they who have  considered them distinct affections have offered no analysis by
which their individuality may be established, and by which each complaint
may be readily distinguished  in  practice.   Important evils to the sick, are
therefore in constant  progress from this source alone."   "Idiopathic  fever is
a universal disease, inflammation always local."
   But why need  I  quote testimony to prove that fever  and inflammation
are called by the allopaths, disease, when every one knows  that all their sys-
tems of Pathology and Nosology, are built upon the symptoms they exhibit?
Answer, because all modern pathologists refer us  to Thomson and Hunter,
for the doctrine of fever and inflammation, (See No. 21,) and Thomson him-
self  refers us to Hunter, (No 22 aboved,) and therefore I am to prove, by
Hunter, that the doctrines are false.

            INFLAMMATION IS A SIMPLE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACT.

   42. INFLAMMATION.  Hunter says, (vol. 3, page 285,)  "Inflammation
in itself  is not to be considered  a disease, but as a salutary operation conse-
quent either to some violence or some disease."   "Inflammation is an action
produced for the restoration of the most simple injury in sound parts, which
goes beyond the power of union by the first  intention."
   Again, page  293:  "Pure inflammation is rather an effort of nature than a
disease."
   Again, page  286:  "From whatever [exciting] cause it arises,   *   *   it
is an effort intended to bring about a re-instatementof the parts to nearly their
natural functions."  " Disease" (page 233) "is a disposition toproduce wrong
action."
   This is not "restoring natural functions;"  of course it is not inflammation.
   Again:  "Healthy inflammation probably  consists of only one  kind, not
being divisible, but  into its different stages,  as being that which will always
attend a healthy  constitution  or part, is to be  considered  rather  a res-
torative action than a diseased one, and would appear to be the effect rather
of a stimulous than an irritation.   The unhealthy admits of vast variety, [the
causes of disease being almost numberless,] and is that which always attends
an unhealthy constitution or part, and  will be according to the kind of health
in that constitution or part, but  particularly according  to the constitution."
*   *  " The simple act of inflammation,  can not be called specific, for  it is a
uniform or simple action in itself: but it may have  peculiarities or  specific
actions  superadded." (page 286-7,) [by the causes  of  disease, C]
   Finally, page 292:  " Fever, in all  cases or of all  kinds, is  a disturbed
action, like inflammation itself."

   43. Here, then, we are taught the real  truth in regard to inflammation and
fever, that they are one and the same thing, accumulated action of the consti-
tution, produced,  by the  vital  force, under excitement, and tending  in all
cases to the restoration of equilibrium in the circulation and nervous actions
—in the  words  of  Hunter,  "an effort intending to bring about a reinstatement
of the parts to nearly [quite] their natural functions."  And that all the 
24
EXPOSITION.
different appearances and results, indifferent cases of fever or inflammation,
are to be attributed to the different states of the constitution, or the specific
character or action of the exciting causes, Hunter's specific action super-
added."  Thus, inflammation in erysipelas, small-pox, scarlet fever,  and
cancer are the same, all proceeding from the action of the vital  force, but
the specific exciting causes are different, each " superadding " its own " pe-
culiarity or specific action," which gives all the different characters of the
specific forms of disease.
  It follows of course, then, that the nosological distinctions in all the systems
of medicine,  should have been based solely on these " peculiarities," and not
on the vital  symptoms of inflammation, partial or general,  as they almost all
are.   The doctrines of Hunter, then, of Thompson, and of all who sometimes
adopt them,  as Watson who says, (Practice page 94:)

  44. "It is by  inflammation that wounds are closed, and fractures repaired—
that parts adhere together when  their adhesion is essential to the preservation
of the individual, and  that foreign  and hurtful  matters are conveyed  safely
out of the body.   A cut finger,  a deep saber wound alike require  inflamma-
tion to  reunite the divided parts.  *   *   The foot mortifies,  is killed by in-
jury or exposure to cold, inflammation will cut off the dead and useless part,"
(page 95.) are proof that inflammation is not disease.

  45. Prof.  Paine  teaches  the same doctrine, when  he  says, (Inst,  page
465, No 711:) "Inflammation takes its rise in purely physiological conditions,
and holds its progress and decline, under the same great natural laws of the
constitution."
  If these assertions are true, and they certainly are, fever and inflammation
being "a simple act of the constitution," always "tending to bring about a
restoration of the system, or its organs, to the healthy functions," can never
be properly  called  disease, and,  of course, the fundamental doctrines of the
schools  which make this  act and its derangements produced bv the action of
the specific causes of disease, and the combined effects of the actions of these
two forces, "the foundation of all pathological reasoning, (Gregory, Thomson,
Hall,  Bigelow, Holmes) must be utterly false and pernicious," "and all  the
superstructures [the practice] built upon them, must be  baseless as the fabric
of a vision,"  (No 5;) nay, more, inasmuch as they are conducted by violence,
bloodshead and poisoning, they must be  "horrid, unwarrantable, murderous
quackery."—Chapman, 141.
  It matters not  that  Gregory,  Watson, Paine, Thomson, and even  Hunter
himself, teach, in  other places, a doctrine the very  opposite of what  I have
here quoted from them.   I have reported  the true; but the systems of path-
ology and practice are  built upon the false;  and they  must be false.

                  ALLOPATHIC REMEDIES MISCHIEVOUS.

  The following testimony proves,  if this kind  of  evidence can  prove any
thing, that the particular practices of Allopathy, are injurious and destructive-
not occasionally so, by misapplication or  mistake, but positively so, by their
very nature and tendency.  I have adduced evidence which proves that accord-
ing to the authorities  of the allopathic schools, (see  Sydenham,  Greo-orv
Thomson, Watson, Paine, etc.,) two-thirds of all mankind die of acute forms
of disease, styled by  them  fever and inflammation.   I have quoted from
Paiue,  Watson, and others, the  statement that fever and inflammation "make 
EXPOSITION.                            25
 up the  great amount of human maladies, and form the great outlets of life."
 —Paine's Institutes, No. 710.

   46. " Therapeutics,  or the application of remedies to the treatment of dis-
 ease, is the great end of all medical inquiries."  Professor Paine says: (In-
 stitutes No. 854.)—

   47. "Remedial agents operate upon the same principle as the remote causes
 of  disease.   They can never transmute the morbid into healthy conditions;
 that is alone  the work  of nature."
   " The most violent poisons are our best remedies." " Ubi virus, ibi virtus."
 Where  poison is, there is virtue!

   48.  Hooper  says: "all our most valuable medicines are active poisons"—
 Dictionary.  The B. M. <fe S. Journal says: (Vol. 9 page 43.)  "All poisons,
 whatever their differences in other respects, agree in this,  they suddenly and
 rapidly extinguish a great  proportion of the vitality of the  system."   Profes-
 sor John P. Parrison says, of one of  the most commonly employed, that it is
 "a powerful depressor of the energies of life."

            BLOOD-LETTING THE SHEET-ANCHOR OF PRACTICE.

   49 Marshall Hall says: (Practice No. 302)  "The doctrine of inflamma-
 tion is  the most important  in Medicine and  Surgery."   And he and others,
 as  I have  already shown,  consider inflammation an  acute form  of disease,
 which must be reduced.  He further says, (No.  819.)

   50.  "The subject next in order,  in treating of the Theory of Medicine, re-
 lates to the use of certain important remedies, and,  among  these, blood-let-
 ting ranks pre-eminently as the first.

   51. Prof.  Clutterbuck, in his "Inquiry into the seat and nature of fever,"
 page 464, says: " Blood-Letting, unquestionably,  is  the  best,  because  the
 most effective remedy we  posess, in  the treatment of   idiopathic fever,  as
 in  inflammation in general."

   52.  Prof. Paine,  Institutes, No.  836, d. says that, for inflammation and
 congestion, "blood-letting is known to be the most efficient  remedy."  " Gen-
 eral blood-letting is the proper mode of  depletion,  in all forms of fever, and
 in all the active inflammations of the internal viscera."—lb. 956.

   53. Professor. J Morehead, of  the Ohio Medical College, in  an Essay on,
 blood-letting published in  Prof. Eberle's Quarterly Journal for June, 1837,
 says, page 24.
   "In  the whole  range  of  medical  science,  there is  probably no  other
 truth better ascertained, or of greater value, than this, that, for inflammation,
 when seated in the  serous  tissues, or in  the parenchymatous portion of any
of the organs contained in  the three great cavities,  free and energetic blood-
 letting  is entitled emphatically to the name of the remedy:  and  all the other
remedial means are to be regarded as but subordinate and  auxiliary to it."
   "Under the conditions of disease for which  in truth it is remedial, no sub-
stitute can be found or admitted for it." 
26
EXPOSITION.
  54. Prof. Paine  says, Medical  and Physiological  Commentaries, vol II.
page 326:  "England has not yet abandoned the lancet, and herein Amer-
ica^ it is as ever, the anchor of  hope in inflammations  and congestive fevers.
  This is  the testimony of a large  proportion of the Allopathic  faculty.  To
quote more here is useless.

            BLOOD-LETTING DANGEROUS  AND DESTRUCTIVE.

  I have said the "first indication  in practice," this "sheet anchor in fevers
and inflammation,"  is dangerous and destructive; and  I prove this by the tes-
timony of the same  men who approve of and use it.

  55. Dr. Hunter  said, "blood-letting is one of the  greatest weakeners,  as
we can kill thereby.

  56. Prof. J.  F. Lobstein says: "So far  from blood-letting being benefi-
cial,  it is productive of the most serious and fatal effects—a cruel practice—a
scourge  to humanity.  How many thousands of our  fellow  citizens  are sent
[by it] to an untimely grave!  how  many families are deprived of  their amia-
ble  children! how many husbands of their  lovely wives!  how many wives of
their husbands!  Without blood there is  no heat, no motion in  the system—
in the blood  is the  life.  He who  takes blood  from  the patient,  takes away
not only an organ of life, but a part of life  itself."—Essay on  blood-letting.

  57. Salmom.—"So zealous are  the Blood suckers  of  our age," says Sal-
mon, in his "Synopsis MedicinEe," "that they daily sacrifice hundreds to its
omnipotence; who  fall by its fury,  like the  children who, of old, passed
through the fire to  Moloch, and that without  any pity, left to commiserate
the inexplorable  sufferings of  their martyrs, or conscience of  their crimes,
which may deter them in future from such villanies—the bare  relation of which
would make a man'sears tingle—which one can not think of without grief, nor
express without  horror!"

  58. Robinson.—  "An eminent physician has said that, after the practice
of blood-letting  was introduced by Sydenham, during the course of one hun-
dred  years, more died of the lancet, alone, than all who in  the same period
perished by war.—page 121.

   59. Dewees.—" It would  appear, that the first or inflammatory stage of
puerperal fever,  the  stage in which  bleeding has been  so eminently successful,
has no discovered character by which it can be distinguished from  the second,
in which this operation is forbidden, after the lapse of a few hours."—Females,
page 441.
   "We would ask:  What is the evidence  that the   first stage has  run  its
course?   This  is an important question, and one from our present data that
cannot, we fear, be answered satisfactorily.   Hitherto this condition  of the
disease has been inferred rather than ascertained."—lb. pao-e 438.
   The same author says, page  372,  "Our bleedings are not always renewed
from the arm,  for,  as soon as we  get  the pulse pretty well down by this
means,  we have leeches  applied over the parts nearest to the seat of the in-
flammation, in  such numbers as shall abstract at least eight or  ten ounces of
blood, and encourage their after bleeding by the application  of moist warmth.
 Should these abstractions of blood  prove  not effective,  and pain, fever and 
EXPOSITION.
27
 other unpleasant symptoms continue, but especially great pain and tenderness
 in  the parts;  if the pulse  does  not call  for general bleeding, we repeat  the
 leeching, nor  stop until the end is answered, or until we are convinced  our
 efforts will  be unavaili^-,  by the approach of the second stage or by the ad-
 dition of peritoneal inflammation.—lb.

   60. Prof.  Morehead already quoted, No. 53, says: "The intelligent phy-
 sician who has learned by the sad  and bitter teachings of the sick-room, to
 judge of the  powers of the lancet, not merely understands, but, without any
 glaring impropriety of phrase, may be said to feel, that it is an agent which
 can never be  neutral in its operation; that, if not productive of actual good,
 it must have an inevitable  tendency towards ill;  that, in its capacity, whether
 for benefit,  or for mischief, it is possessed not merely of great but Herculean
 force; that, under the conditions of disease for which  in truth it is remedial,
 no substitute  can  be found or admitted for it; that, when employed, however,
 in  cases  to which it  is not suited, results always serious, not unfrequently
 fatal, but too surely follow its misapplication :  that, for repairing the conse-
 quences of  using it when  not needed or improper, no other means exist  ex-
 cept the  slow and precarious process of nutrition ; and that,  in the circum-
 stances under which its misuse is most actively and  certainly mischievous,
 such reparative  process is almost always suspended, and consequently no
 remedy  remains  for counteracting or  removing the injuries which it  has
 inflicted!"
   This  is startling language, but  it is  simply just; and we ought not to be
 surprised at the conclusion justly drawn from the facts stated.
   "Having habitually present to his understanding, a strong and lively per-
 ception of these  truths, such a physician  learns  to  regard  a resort to the
 lancet, as of all remedial measures, that which most requires caution, thorough
 consideration, and anxious circumspection ; and to hold, as a solemn maxim
 of professional conduct, that,  if it is not employed with a  judicious and wise
 adaptation  to the cases in which  it is used, it deserves  to be viewed with
 somewhat of the abhorrence that attaches to the knife of the murderer!"

   61. Prof. Marshall Hall says: "The diseases of children  best under-
 stood, are those Avhich arise from  irritation, and principally in the  stomach
 and bowels, and the irritation of teething and inflammation.  I may observe,
 indeed, in this  place, that, of the  whole number of fatal cases of disease in
 infancy, a great proportion occurs from the inappropriate or  undue applica-
 tion of exhausting remedies.  This observation may have a salutary effect in
 checking the  ardor of many young practitioners, who are apt to think that,
 if they have only bled and purged and given calomel enough,  they have done
 their duty ;  when, in fact, in subduing a former, they have excited a new dis-
 ease, which  they have  not understood, and which has led to the fatal result."
 Quoted  and approved by Prof. Harrison.—Therapeutics, vol. ii, page 189.
  Who  taught  the young practitioner to bleed, purge, and give  calomel ?
 Are not these  processes styled, by their "Professors," the "sheet anchors of
practice?"  If  so, why not use them till the case is cured?   But do "some
young practitioners " have and lose a great proportion of the fatal cases of dis-
ease in infancy ?  It  is rather unfair to blame young  practitioners for doing
what the old ones teach and practice.   We  have known  many a little inno-
cent to be killed in this way, by old Professors.

  62. Prof. Hall says—Cyclopedia  of Practical Medicine, vol. i, p. 296 :
" The immediate effects of loss of blood, are, syncope, convulsion, delirium, 
28
EXPOSITION.
coma, sudden dissolution ;  the more remote are, excessive reaction, mama,
coma, amaurosis, and sinking."                                      ,
   "Amongst the immediate effects of the loss of blood, must  be mentioned
that of a sudden and unexpected dissolution.   The  patient does not recover
from a state  of  syncope ; or, without syncope, he may gradually sink, after
blood-letting.  It  has  taken the  most able and experienced practitioners by
surprise."—lb.,  299.
  We  thought the cautions necessary only to " young practitioners /"   The
doctor gives illustrations, numerous and interesting, of the various effects of
the "loss of  blood," to which we refer  the  reader.   It is vain  to  say  that
these results  proceed from ignorance of  the indications for blood-letting, or
inexperience in the practice, as we have proved, and shall do it  more effectu-
ally anon, that the most scientific  and experienced can not tell when blood
should be drawn, nor how much.   See above.

  63. Prof.  J. P. Harrison says—Therapeutics, vol. ii, page  180: "  The
morbid consequences, which spring from  the excessive use or the misdirected
employment of blood-letting, are of  so serious  a nature, that the practitioner
should sedulously guard against them."

  64. Prof.  Maguardic, in his lectures  in the College of France, says :  ib.,
" I assert loudly, and tear not to affirm it, that blood-letting induces, both in
the blood itself and in the tissues, certain modifications and pathological phe-
nomena,  which resemble, to a certain extent, those developed in animals de-
prived of atmospheric oxygen, of drink, and of solid food."  *  *  "Engorge-
ment, oedema, pneumonia, and the entire train  of what people are pleased to
call inflammatory phenomena, are products of loss of  blood."   He considers
the utility of blood-letting, at best, " problematical," while its injurious effects
are at once "positive, frequent, and  widely extended."

  65. " The  sudden abstraction  of blood by the  lancet,  always acts  in a
degree correspondent to the quantity drawn, and  the  ability of  the constitu-
tion to withstand the weakening effect of the remedy."—lb., 183.
  "The  immediate morbid phenomena observed, on  the  sudden loss  of a
large  quantity of blood,  are, convulsions, delirium,  coma, and  apoplectic
stupor."   *   *   " The most common results, when inopportunely or exces-
sively employed, are, vertigo ; a feeble and slow,  sometimes quick, fluttering
or scarcely perceptible pulse ; cold, clammy  perspiration ; sickness of the
stomach, confusion of  vision, dyspnoea,  gasping for breath, great  restless-
ness, a deep sense of sinking, and, finally, syncope."— *   *  *
  " Prostration  without  reaction, may be  protracted for  several  days,  and
then death releases the patient from his  sufferings.   Or reaction  may come
on, and then  Ave  have  a series of  symptoms, closely resemblino-  cerebral
inflammation."  *  * —Ib.

  66. Prof.  Copland, of London, says :  "When carried too far in cases of
excitement, Avhere the nervous or vital power is not depressed, and the blood
itself is rich or healthy, reaction generally follows each large depletion,  and
that often exasperates or brings bacK the disease  for which it Avas employed,
and which had been [apparently] relieved by the primary effects of the evacu-
ation."   *   *  " Thus, every observing practitioner will have noticed,  that
a large depletion, when carried to deliquium, [prostration,] will  have entirely
removed the symptoms of acute imflammation, when the patient has recovered
consciousness; and that he expresses the  utmost  relief." 
EXPOSITION.
29
   "But  it gradually happens that the inordinate depression—the very full
 syncope that is thought essential to the securing of advantage from  the deple-
 tion  is followed by an  equally excessive degree of vascular reaction—with
 which all the symptoms of inflammation  return ;  and the general reaction is
 ascribed  entirely, but erroneously, to the return of the inflammation instead
 of the latter being imputed to the former,  which has rekindled-or exasperated
 it, when  beginning to subside.   The consequence is, that another very large
 depletion is again prescribed  for its removal, and  the patient, recollecting the
 relief it temporarily afforded  him, readily consents.   Blood is again taken  to
 full syncope—again relief is felt—again reaction returns—and the local symp-
 toms are reproduced, and thus,  large depletion,  full syncope, reaction, and
 the  supervention, on  the original disease, of some or all the phenomena de-
 scribed as the consequence of excessive loss of blood, are brought before the
 practitioner, and he is astonished at the obstinacy, cause, and termination of
 the  disease, which,  under such circumstances,  generally  ends in  dropsical
 effusion,  into the cavity on which  the affected  organ is lodged; or in con-
 vulsions, or in delirium  running into  coma;  or  in death from exhaustion, or
 from one of the foregoing  states ; or, more fortunately, in  partial subsidence
 of the  original malady  and protracted convalescence.  Such are the  conse-
 quences which  but too often  result, when blood-letting has been looked upon
 as the only or chief means of  cure—the "sheet anchor" of treatment, as it has
 too  frequently been called and considered during the last  twenty years."—
 Copland's Diet. Prac. Med.,  vol i, page 177.
   On the  supposition that blood-letting is a curative, or even a directly and
 properly  palliative means of treatment, it is passing strange that it should be
 followed by such terrible effects as above.   That, when the nervous or vital
 power is  not depressed and the blood is rich and healthy, it "brings back the
 disease."   Still more  strange, that the "irritation" of "reaction"  should be
 taken for inflammation by the most scientific and experienced practitioners.

   67. Prof. John Mason Good says:  "The immediate  effect of profuse
 and repeated bleeding, is exhaustion.  While this exhaustion continues, there
 is a diminution  of action of every kind, and hence an imposing appearance of
 relief to the symptoms of  disease: but it  no sooner takes place, than  an in-
 stinctive  effort  is made by the  vis medicatrix  naturae, to remedy the evil
 hereby produced, and to restore the system  to  its former  balance of power.
 This balance is called  a rallying  or  reaction of  the living principle.  The
 arteries contract to adapt  themselves to the measure of blood  that remains;
 the sensorial organ is roused to the secretion of a large proportion of nervous
 power to  supply the inordinate drain that takes place during the general com-
 motion, all  is in a state of temporary hurry  and urgency, and, for the most
 part, irregularity of  action, Avhile the instinctive effort is proceeding.   And
 hence, no sooner is the immediate effect of prostration, exhaustion, or syncope
overcome, than  the  heart  palpitates, the  pulse beats  forcibly with  a jerking
bound, the  head throbs, the  eyes  flash fire,  and the ears ring  Avith unusual
sounds.   Now,  it often happens that these concurrent signs are mistaken for
proofs of latent or increased vigor, instead  of being merely proofs of  increased
action;  and action, too,  that adds largely to the exhaustion  as the  depletion
that produced it;  and the  unhappy patient is bled a second, a third, and even
a fourth time, until no  reaction follows ; at which time, it is strangely supposed
that  the etona plethora, or inflammatory diathesis, is subdued and lulled into a
 calm, because the patient has been so far and fatally drained of his living prin-
ciple, that there is no longer any rallying or reactive power remaining, and 
30                            EXPOSITION.
gives up the ghost, in a few hours, to the treatment,  instead of the disease. —
Good's Study of Medicine, vol. i, page 407.
   Here Ave have the direction of Dr. Dewees, to  bleed "as long as the un-
pleasant svmptoms continue," and  the declaration of Dr. Good, that those
symptoms will continue "until the patient has been so far and so fatally drained
of his living principle,  that there is no longer any  rallying or reactive power
remaining, and gives up the ghost, in a feAv hours, to the treatment, instead of
the disease."
   Hence, to bleed  scientifically, as taught in Philadelphia and London, and
wherever these text-books of the highest authority are adopted, is to bleed until
the patient "gives signs of \voe  that all is lost."  Or,  in plain English, it is
to commit willful murder.
   But it is said that these terrible effects arise from  the abuse of blood-letting.
That we should mind the indications for its use, and  not employ it improperly.

   The following will sIioav that there  are no sure indications:
   68.   The venerable Dr. James Thacher says:   "We  have no  infallible
index to direct us.  It is impossible, from the state of the circulation in fever,
to point to any criterion  for the employment of the lancet;  the state of the
pulse  is often ambiguous and deceptive.   Circumstances require the nicest
discrimination, as the result is often very different  in cases seemingly analo-
gous.   A precipitate decision  is fraught with danger, and  a  mistake may be
certain  death."—Thacher's  Practice, page 208.

   69. Prof. Mackintosh says :   "Some patients are bled who  do not require
it, and the consequences are injurious; others are  bled who can not bear it,
and who ought to be treated  by cordials, and the result is fatal.".—Mackin-
tosh, page 690.
   "No physician, however  wise and experienced,  can tell what quantity of
blood ought to be taken  in any given  case."—lb., page 418.

   70.  Prof. Morehead says :  "Every body has heard of  practitioners, with
whom, in every case  for which  they  did not know  exactly Avhat ought to be
done, it was a settled  rule of practice to make trial  of the lancet."
   "So often, likewise, have I heard it said, eA-en of physicians counted emi-
nent in their profession, that, to prevent their patients dying, they bled them
to death ; and I fear that such charges have foundation in  truth."

   71.  Opium.—Inflammation  or feA^er, and  irritation, being  styled bv the
Allopathic faculty, the tAvo great forms of disease, to which the human "body
is subject, and the use of  free  blood-letting to  cure the  former, tending to
produce the latter, (see Good and Copland,  Nos. 66 and 67.) the next indi-
cation  to the  reduction of  the  inflammatory action, is  to  subdue the  irrita-
tion.   For this purpose, opium is highly extolled, and as constantly used, as
the lancet is for inflammation or fever.
   " Pre-eminently endowed with the most diversified therapeutic powers, and
more extensiA'ely employed in its A-arious preparations, than  any other sino-le
article of the materia medica, this great drug requires  at our hands  a careful
and extended  inquiry into its preparation, composition, modes of administra-
tion, practical uses, and morbid effects."—Harrison's Therap., vol. ii, p. 530.
   As I  never use it  in any form, nor recommend, nor countenance its use
I shall consider only its "morbid (morbific) effects." 
EXPOSITION.
31
   72. "The  constituents are morphia, narcotina, etc.  The morphia  is the
 only one  employed, to any extent, in the practice  of Medicine.   Narcotina
 has  been extensiArely given in  India, as a substitute for "quinine, and its anti-
 periodic power is attributed to its stimulant property."—lb., 532.
   A stupifying  agent  must be  a glorious  stimulant!   The chill  is a  mani-
 festation of incipient reaction, and it is no Avonder that the deadly narcotine
 checks it.

   73. "Modus curandi of opium, and of the salts of morphia."—For  seven
 separate purposes,  this important and  valuable drug is  in daily, hourly use:
 1. As a stimulant; 2. As a narcotic ;  3. As an astringent;  4. As  a dia-
 phoretic;  5. As an antispasmodic;  6. As an antiperiodic;  and 7.  As a
 modifier of other remedies."—lb., 534.
   In his first volume,  the Professor says, there are but four indications to be
 fulfilled in the treatment of disease!  And here are seven  to be fulfilled  by
 opium!   And the  lancet and calomel will have an equal share.  But this is
 not  the place  for comments and criticisms;  they will come  in due course.

   74. Morbid effects of Opium.—"A very small portion of opium will
 sometimes produce convulsion  in a very young  patient.   We have knoAvn
 the  half of a grain of  Dover's powder, Avhich is but the twentieth part of a
 grain of opium,  [a homoeopathic dose,]  induce fits  in a delicate child of a
 few  days  old.   Christison  relates several  interesting examples of death in
 children, from small portions of opium.  An  infant, three days old, got,  by
 mistake, about the  fourth part of a mixture, containing ten drops of laudanum.
 The child died in twenty-four hours.  The administration of  three drops of
 laudanum  to a stout child, fourteen months  old, was followed by convulsions,
 and  death in  six hours.   Another child, of nine months, died  in nine hours,
 after taking four drops.   The pernicious custom Avhich  many nurses pursue,
 of giving infants laudanum, or paregoric, to still their cries at  night, cannot
 be tAvo severely reprehended.   This practice is  fraught Avith evil results to
 the infant, and should never be permitted."
   In his  essay above referred to, Prof. J. P. Harrison says, of opium: "It
 stupifies for a Avhile, and forces the child into unnatural sleep."   "It enhances
 nervousness."   "If the brain is affected, it  increases the disease.  Inflam-
 mation  in the stomach  or  boAvels, Avill be  made  Avorse,  perhaps incurnbly
 Avorse, by an opiate."   "It is hurtful, because it is contrary to  nature."  "It
 is a  medicine—a foreign substance which nature does not call  for,  or kindly
 receive, as long as she is in her right mood."   "Paregoric, Bateman's drops,
 laudanum, or toddy, lays the foundation for head complaints, such  as inflam-
 mations, convulsions, and  dropsy of  the brain."  A small dose of paregoric
 will  often induce fits.  The intellect of a child will be impaired by it, although
 years may elapse, after the practice is  abandoned.  A permanent, ill-condi-
 tioned state of the nervous system, is induced by the repeated givingof opiates to
 infants, that never, through all subsequent life,  is entirely got rid  of by the most
 strenuous endeavors.  A tendency, we doubt  not, to insanity,  is thus engen-
 dered or  augmented.   Such children pass through the process of teething
 badly.  The  stamina of  the constitution is Aveakened  by it.   The stomach
 and  bowels lose  their tone, and  cholera infantum or  summer  complaint, is
 more apt to fasten on them."—Ther., page  182.
  What  a terrible  warning is this, (also that of Prof.  Eberle, No.  76,)  to
 mothers and nurses, not  to give to their children opiates—"anodynes"—in
any form or for any purpose !   What an  honor to the Eclectics, that they are 
32
EXPOSITION.
so much more enlightened and liberal than Ave are, that they can  still hug to
their bosoms this viper of the poisonous materia medica 1
   The nurses learn this practice from the doctors, who prescribed it "daily,
hourly," for "seven different purposes."  See above.

   75.  "Females are more susceptible than males, to the morbid effects of the
article.   We have met with many instances of great intolerance of the female
system to opiates."—lb., 553.
   That is   because  opium  "acts primarily on  the  nervous system;" and
women  and children being more sensitive and delicate, are less able to resist
its deadly influence.

   76.  Prof. Eberle, in his work on the diseases of children, page 199, calls
opium  a " treacherous palliative," under which "the appetite and digestive
powers  fail ; the body emaciates, and the skin  becomes  sallow, dingy and
shriveled; the  countenance acquires  an expression of languor and suffering,
and  a  general state of apathy, inactivity, and feebleness ensues, which ulti-
mately often  leads to convulsions, dropsy in the head, glandular indurations,
incurable jaundice, or  fatal exhaustion  of the vital energies.   All the usual
soothing mixtures, such as Godfrey's  Cordial, Dalby's Carminative,  so much
employed for allaying the colic pains and griping of infants, contain more or
less  opium; and innumerable infants  have been irretrievably ruined  by these
popular nostrums!"
  Prof. J. A. Gallup, in his Institutes of Medicine, vol.  i, page 187, says:
"The practice of using opiates as anodynes to mitigate pain, in  any form of
fever and local inflammations, is  greatly  to be deprecated;  it is not  only un-
justifiable, but should be esteemed unpardonable."   "It is probable that, for
forty years past, opium and its preparations, have done seven times the injury
that  they have  rendered benefit, on the great scale of the civilized world."
Killed  seven while  they  have saved one!   Page 298, he  calls opium "the
most destructive of all narcotics," and Avishes  he could speak  through a
"lengthened trumpet,"  that he might "tingle the ears of empirics and char-
latans in every avenue of their retreat."   See  B. M. Recorder, vol. vii, p. 332.
  Dr. J. Johnson says : " The whole tribe of narcotics, as opium, hyoscyamus,
hop  and laurel water, or  prussic acid,  are dangerous sedatives,  presenting
allurements  to the unwary, with  all the  suavity and meekness of the serpent
of Eden, and the deception too often  is equally fatal."

  77. Rankin,  in  his Abstract, vol.  iii, page  228, says:  "An  able-bodied
sailor, aged  sixty-two, took, medicinally, two  pills, each containing a  grain
and  a quarter of the extract of opium, and Avas immediately attacked with a
convulsion fit, and died."  " Cases are  on record, Avhich show that a person
may recover  from the first symptoms  of poisoning, and  yet ultimately die
from the effects of a single  dose."   Vol. ii,  page 32,  the  poisoning of three
children, by the sucking of unripe  poppy-heads, is reported.  One died in
four hours, in spite of the effort  of the physician.


                               MERCURY.

   As mercury has, for several centuries, been considered, by the Allopathic
faculty, the most  effectual  remedy for  disease within  the compass  of their
knowledge—as they also admit that it is one of the most mischievous agents
ever used as medicine—that they know not  Iioav it operates  in  any case, to 
EXPOSITION.
33
  cure, or kill—and, finally, declare that it has produced more terrible effects on
  the human constitution than any other article they use—I think it proper to
  quote here pretty largely from  their testimonies respecting this "all-conquer-
  ing Samson of the materia medica."—Harrison.
    It is not my purpose to give  the reader here its  physical qualities,  nor the
  history of its discovery and its various uses.   My object will  be accomplished
  when I shall have presented the best accounts of its supposed medical virtues
  and uses, and its " tendency to mischief Avhen injudiciously  used."   I begin
  with Prof. Harrison:

    78. "First  regarded  as  a poison, then most cautiously employed  in  the
  form of ointment, it [mercury] has, step by step, advanced with the improve-
  ments  of the pharmaceutic art, in a bright carrier of reputation and favor,
  until it has possessed an immense space in the field of practical medicine,  and
  noAv, by  many, it is regarded as the first, greatest, and best remedy Divine
  Goodness has ever revealed, in answer to the  diligent search of man, to mel-
  iorate and cure the bodily  ills  to which man  is subject."—Harrison, vol. i,
 page 233.
    "Mercury was first  employed by the Nubian  physicians, Avicenna  and
 Rhazes;  but  they ventured, to use  it only against vermin and in cutaneous
 diseases.   We are indebted to the renoAvned empiric Paracelsus, for  its ad-
 ministration internally."—Pereira's Materia Medica, page 583.
    " Of all the remedies which chemical  science has conferred upon the art of
 healing, there stands no single article so pre-eminently endowed with a divers-
 ified capability of curing disease as calomel."—Harrison, vol. i, page 168.
    "When Ave declare that  its powers are unique and  unrivaled, Ave only em-
 body the general  testimony of the profession in its favor."—Ib.
    " Mercury is the great anti-inflammatory, anti-febrile alterant of the materia
 medica."—Ib.

    79.  Prof. N. Chapman says: " Of all the purgatives, this is  the most import-
 ant, and is susceptible of the Avidest application in the practice of physic.   There
 is scarcely indeed, any case in which purging is required, that it may not be
 so  regulated, either alone or in combination, as to meet the seAreral  indications.
 It  has  the singular  property of  imparting  force to  many of the mild, and
 moderating the severity, of the drastic medicines.  Whenever we Avish a strong
 and prominent impression  to be made  on  the alimentary canal itself, and
 through it on the  neighbouring viscera, and especially the portal circulation,
 by general consent,  it is consecrated to  these purposes.   It is, hence, chiefly
 relied on  in fevers, especially bilious fevers—in obstructions of the boAvels—in
 cholera—and is unquestionably the  most appropriate purgative in  the early-
 stage of dysentery.   Besides the superior efficacy of calomel in these respects,
 it is recommended by the facility with Avhich  it may be administered.   Nearly
 devoid of taste  and  odor, and  minute in dose, it  will often  be  taken when
 other medicines  are  refused, and may be so disguised  as to be  imposed on
 the most  suspicious or unmanageable of our  patients."—Chapman's Thera-
 peutics, vol. i, page  182.   (See No. 142.)

  80.  '_'As an  adjuvant, to blood-letting, mercury is considered the  most
 powerful  of  all the  antiphlogistics."   "It  is almost universally depended
 upon  in  this  country,  for  the  purpose  of  removing the derangements  of
organization which active inflammation  may have  produced   in many of the
tissues of  the body."—Prof. G. M'Clellen's Surgery,  page 57-8.
                                        3 
34
EXPOSITION.
   81. "Mercury is  the  great anti-inflammatory, anti-febrile  alterant  of the
 materia medica."—Prof. J. P. Harrison, Therapeutics, vol. i, page 147.
   " That it cures Ave knoAv, but how it cures Ave knoAV not."—lb., 261.
   "Next  to blood-letting,' mercury  seems to be our  principal  remedy  in
 inflammation especially of the mucous membranes of the larynx, trachea, and
 iris."—Marshall Hall, BigeloAv and Holmes, No.  577.
   "This mineral [mercury] is a very powerful  agent in  controlling inflam-
 mation, especially acute, phlegmonous, adhesive  inflammation, such  as glues
 parts together and spoils the texture of organs.   It is of the greatest import-
 ance  that  you should accurately inform  yourselves  concerning the various
 effects of mercury upon the system."—Watson's  Practice, page  154.
   It  is "a very potent, but a two-edged weapon."—lb., page 154.
   "Of late years various forms of inflammation  have been most successfully
 combated by the use of mercury."—Pereira's Materia Medica, page  595.
   As inflammation in its various forms is said to  "make up the great amount
 of human maladies, and constitute the grand outlet of life,"  (Paine,  Watson,
 Hall, BigeloAv,  Holmes,) it folloAVs  that  the "most  powerful agent  in con-
 trolling inflammation" must be, indeed, " the most  valuable remedy" in the
 materia medica; and it should not be counted Avonderful  that, by those Avho
 believe this doctrine, there should be "scarcely a disease in Avhich mercury,
 in some of its forms, is not prescribed."—Hooper.

   82. "According to Armstrong,  bleeding is the  right  arm, and  mercury
 the left arm of  medicine."—Cincinnati Journal of Homeopathy, page  81.

   83. " There is scarcely a disease in  Avhich mercury, in some of its  prepara-
 tions, is not exhibited."—Hooper's Medica] Dictionary.

   84. "From its [mercury's] poAver of at once limiting or  removing effusion,
it  is very plain Iioav valuable must be its administration in all  inflammatory
affections  of  important internal organs."—Miller's  Principles  of Surgery,
cage 102. '


                THEORIES OF  THE ACTION OF MERCURY

   85. "Mechanical Hypothesis.—Astruc (DeMorb. Ven., vol. xi, p. 149) and
Barry (Medical Transactions, vol. i, p. 25) fancied that mercury acted by its
 weight, its divisibility, and its mobility."

   86. Chemical Hypothesis.—Some have advocated the chemical operation of
mercurials, and have endeavored  to explain their curative powers in disease
in reference to their chemical properties.   Thus  Mitie, Pussavin (quoted by
Richter,  Ausfuhr  Chzneim, vol. iv, p. 305,) and Swediaur, (Practical  Ob.
on Veneral  Complaints,) assumed  that  mercury acted  chemically on the
syphilitic poison, as acids and alkalies do on each other: Avhile Gertanner sup-
posed  that the efficacy of mercurials  depends on the oxygen they  contain.
Dr. Cullen (Treat,  of the Materia Medica, vol. ii,  p.  446)  endeavored  to
account for the action  of  mercury on the salivary  glands  in preference  to
other organs, by assuming  that it has a  particular disposition to unite with
ammoniacal salts, Avith which it  passes off by the various secretions.   He thus
accounted for the large quantity of mercury which passed off by these Hands
and which, being in this Avay applied to the excretions, occasioned  salivation'
 Dr. John  Meanay substituted another hypothesis, but equally objectionable' 
EXPOSITION.                            35
"Mercury," says he, "can not pass off by the urine, because of the  phos-
phoric acid contained in that fluid, Avhich would form, Avith the mercury, an
insoluble compound.   It must, therefore, be  thrown out of the  system by
other secretions, particularly by saliva, which  facilitates this transmission by
the affinity which the muriatic  acid, the soda,  and  the ammonia of the  secre-
tion,  have  for  the oxyd of mercury, and by which  a compound, soluble  in
water, is formed."

   87.  Dynamical Hypothesis.—Some writers have principally directed their
attention to the quality  of the effects induced  by mercury, and have termed
this mineral, stimulant, sedative, tonic, and alterative.   Those who assume
that mercury is a stimulant or  excitant,  are not agreed  as to Avhether one or
more parts, or the  whole  system, are stimulated ;  and, if  particular  parts,
what these  are.  Hecker fixes on the lymphatics ; Scone, on the arterial
capillary system ; Reil,  on the  nerves.

   88.  On  the other hand, Comodi, Bertele, and Horn consider it a weaken-
ing agent or sedative.   Some think that mercurials, in small doses, are stimu-
lants, but,  in  excessive doses, sedatives.   This is the opinion of  Dr. Wilson
Philips.

   89.  " Dr.  Murray calls  mercury a tonic ;  Voght terms it  an alterative,
sedative  resolvent; Sundelin, a liquifacient;  Mr.  Hunter accounted  for its
action, by saying that  it produced a different action from  the  disease."-—
Pereira's Materia Medica, vol.  i, page 594.
   "For the most part, the local action of the mercurial compounds may be
regarded as alterative and more or less  irritant.  Many of the preparations
are  energetic  caustics.   Mr. Annesly asserts, from  his experience on dogs,
and his  experience with it in the human subject, that calomel is the reverse
of an  irritant; in  other words, that, Avhen applied to the  gastro-intestinal
membrane, it diminishes its vascularity."—lb., page 585.

                  ITS  EFFECTS ON  THE  CONSTITUTION.

   90.  "Mercury, gradually introduced into the system,  seems to exert a tonic
effect  on both the extreme blood-vessels and the lymphatics—that is, on the
exhalents and the absorbents—thus preventing or  limiting impending effu-
sion, and, at the same time, expediting the removal of that which has been
already exuded."—Principles   of  Surgery,  by James Miller,  F.  R.  S. E.,
F. R.  C. S. E., Prof, of Surg, in the University of Edinburgh, page 102.

   91.  "It certainly alters the  red globules, and diminishes the  undue pro-
portion of the fibrin, in a remarkable degree, and will, in a short  time, break
down  the  inflammatory exudations  and adhesions among inflamed  parts,
which have resulted from the preceding stages of the disease."—McClellan's
Surgery, page  57.

   92.  "But the great remedial property of mercury, is that of  stopping,
controlling, or altogether preventing, the effusion of coagulable  lymph;  of
bridling adhesive inflammation."—Watson's Practice, page  155.

   93.  "We regard mercury as an empirical  and perturbatory remedy.  By-
its stimulant property, it deranges the vital and organic forces."—Prof. Gol-
phin, in Revue Medico-Chirurgicale, torn, ii, page  134. 
36
EXPOSITION.
  94.  "Of the modus operandi of mercury Ave knoAv nothing, except that it
probably acts  through the  medium  of the circulation,  and seems, in many
instances, to substitute its OAvn action for that of the disease."—U.  S. Dis-
pensatory,  page 350.                                                 .
  "When Ave produce a mercurial  impression to cure  fever, we substitute
the action of the remedy for that of the disease.
  " The therapeutist will avail  himself of this law of morbid  action  to sub-
stitute an artificial, definite, and  controllable  constitutional  action, for  one
that is abnormal, unlimited and  not corrigible by any power in the system."—
Har. Mat. Med., vol. i, page 157.

  95.  In  the  same volume, Prof. H. says: Mercury "exercises a curative
poAver,"  (194,) and  yet (p. 48,  49) it  " promotes  scrofula  and glandular
diseases, and hastens decomposition." "  That  mercury cures, we know—but,
how it cures, weknoAvnot," (264.)  " There is  some mystery about it," (150.)

  96.  "It is not an excitant, but a most powerful depresser of the energies
of life," (146.)   "It is not a stimulant to the  vascular system,"  (227,245.)
"It irritates the heart and arteries, and invariably depresses  the nerves,"
(228.)   "It excites  the  heart's action, or depresses the poAvers of life, as
the case may be," (146.)   " It is the greatest curative agent," (147, 233.)
" Promotes the secretions, (146.)   " Calomel  subverts nature," (9.)   " De-
molishes the very pillars of human  health," (312.)  "Acts physiologically,
therapeutically, and pathologically,"  (218.)  "I pretend not  to penetrate
into its action further than a  careful observance of the  phenomena it  ex-
hibits."—Essays, page  177.

  97.  " Mercury acts upon the system  as  a  stimulant; but Avhat the pecu-
liar nature of that stimulant is, it  would be  in vain to inquire."—Eberle's
Therapeutics.

  98.  " Mercury produces universal irritability, making the constitution more
susceptible to all impressions.   It quiekess  the pulse, increases its hardness,
and occasions a kind of temporary fever.   It produces hectic fever.  In some
constitutions, it operates like a  poison."—Hooper's Medical Dictionary.

  99.  " Mercury excites  restlessness,  anxiety,  and a  very distressing and
irritable state of the whole body.  In some, it  produces delirium ; in others,
palsy and epilepsy."—Dr.  Bell.

   100. Prof. Drake,  in  the Western Journal of Medicine,  vol. ii,  p. 636,
says:  "Mercury has been found in the bones, blood, brain, and nerves."

   101. Eczema  Mercuriale.—"Alley saAv forty-three cases of this  disease,
eight of which terminated fatally."—lb., page 588.

   102. Ulceration  and Sloughing.—"Ulceration of the mouth is a well-
known effect of mercury.   Ulceration of the throat is likeAvise a consequence
of the use  of this mineral."—lb., page 589.

   103. Neurosis Mercurialis.—"Various symptoms, indicating a disordered
condition of the nervous system, are met Avith in persons who have been  ex-
posed to the baneful influence of mercury, such as wandering pains,  a trem- 
EXPOSITION.
37
ulous condition of the muscular system,  sometimes accompanied  Avith stam-
mering, and occasionally terminating in paralysis, epilepsy, or apoplexy."—
lb., page  589.

   104.  Cachexia Mercurialis.—"This condition is characterized by disorder
of  the digestive organs,  loss of  appetite, wasting, incapability  of much exer-
tion,  with  increased secretion from all the organs, especially from the salivary
glands.   Mr. Travers says mercurial cachexia is characterized by irritable cir-
culation, extreme pallor  and emaciation, tenderness of the region of the pan-
creas, and  the  evacuations are  frothy, whitish, tough, and  often greenish, at
least in the commencement.  These  symptoms  may be fairly  referred to an
affection of the pancreas analogous to that of the salivary glands."—Pereira,
Vol. i, page 588.

             PATHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MERCURIAL ACTION.
   However difficult  the faculty may have found  the task  of  explaining the
modus operandi of  mercury  on  the human  system, the following extracts, as
well as  the preceding, show very  clearly that  they know  something of the
results which follow its exhibition.  The reader will please to be careful, how-
ever, not to be imposed upon,  as the faculty are,  by the fatal error of sup-
posing that all  these results are the legitimate effects of the action of the drug.
He should always bear in mind that  mercury is a simple agent, and can pro-
duce but one effect, and that must be for good or for evil—-for the vital force
or  against  it; and that all other effects than  those that are legitimate of  mer-
cury, must be  attributed to other causes.   Let him especially  remember that
all  the irritation, fever, and inflammation, that follow the exhibition of mercury,
or any other drug,  are attributable to the  vital force alone;  and that the great
business of  the obserA'er  is to ascertain whether the agent  which  excites
them acts in harmony with  this force or against it; and to prescribe accord-
ingly.   He Avill see, if he watches carefully, that mercury  is said to produce
good effects, only when controlled by the  vital  force, and prevented from pro-
ducing bad ones; and that, when it gets  the upper hand, it produces its own
effects, viz., paralysis of the nerves, ulceration, mortification, sloughing of the
glands and the muscles, and caries  of the  bones, which shows  that all the
good ever  done on its exhibition, is done  by the vital force  in  spite of it.

   105. Mercury is  "a Samson to do  evil  as well as to do good."—Prof. Geo.
M'Clellan's Surgery, page 58.

   106. "If it be resorted to as  a constitutional remedy in the first stages of
disease, it  will  be seen to augment the disturbance, and, perhaps, convert the
fever into a morbid form of  irritative excitement."—Ib.

   107. "In some cases the gums slough, the teeth loosen and  drop out, and,
occasionally, necrosis of  the alveolar  process  takes place.   During this  time
the system becomes extensively debilitated and emaciated, and if no inter-
mission be given to the  use  of the mercury, involuntary actions of the mus-
cular  system come on, and  the patient ultimately  dies of exhaustion."   "I
have repeatedly seen  inflammation and ulceration of the mouth and profuse
salivation induced by a  few grains of calomel or some other mercurial."—
Pereira, page 587.

  108. "If you push this  remedy in  healthy persons, inflammation is actu-
ally produced; the gums  become tender, and red, and swollen, and at  length 
38
EXPOSITION.
they ulcerate; and, in extreme cases, and  in  young children  especially, the
inflamed part may perish:  the cheeks, for example, sometimes  slough  inter-
nally.   Not only the gums, but the throat and fauces, grow  red, and  sore,
and sloughy."—Watson's Practice, page 155.

   109. " Patients Avho are kept under the influence of mercury, groAV pale as
well as thin;  and Dr. Farre, who has paid  great attention to the effects,  rem-
edial and injurious, of this  drug, holds that it quickly destroys red blood, as
effectually as it may be destroyed  by venesection."—lb., page 155,
   "The facts I have already mentioned show, that it has a loosening effect
upon certain textures—that it vvorks by pulling doAvn parts  of  the building."
—Ib., page 155.

   110. "Mercury occasionally attacks the bowels and causes violent purging,
even of  blood.  At other times, it is suddenly determined to the mouth, and
produces inflammation, ulceration, and an excessive Aoav of saliva."—Cooper's
Surg. Diet., vol. ii, page 170.

  111. "Mercury, when  it falls on the  mouth, produces, in many constitu-
tions, violent inflammation,  Avhich ends in mortification."—lb., page 170.

  112. "In  1810, the Triumph man-of-war and Phipps schooner received on
board several tons of quicksilver, saved from the wreck of a  vessel near Cadiz.
In consequence of the rolling of the bags, the mercury escaped, and the whole
of the crew became more or less affected.   In the space of three Aveeks tAvo
hundred men Avere salivated, two died, and all the amimals—cats, dogs, sheep,
foAvls, and canary birds, nay, even  the  rats,  mice,  and cock-roaches—Avere
destroyed."—Edinburgh Med.  and Surg. Jour., No. xxvi, page  29.

  113. "A very frequent consequence of excessive mercurial salivation, and
the attendant ulceration and  sloughing, is contraction of  the mucous mem-
brane in the neighbourhood of the interior arches of the palate, Avhereby the
patient is prevented from  opening  the mouth, except to a very slight extent.
I have  met with several such  cases.  In  one it  followed  the use of a  fe\v
grains of blue pill, administered for a liver complaint.   The patient remains
unable to open her mouth wider than half  an  inch.  Several operations  have
been performed by different surgeons, and the contracted parts  freely divided,
but the  relief was only temporary.   In another instance (that of a child four
years of age) it was produced by  a fe\v grains of calomel.   Though several
years have elapsed since, the patient is obliged to suck his food through the
space left betAveen the jaws by the loss of the alveolar process."—Pereira's
Mat. Med., vol. i, page 587.

   114. Mercurial  Purging.—"Violent purging  is a  very frequent  conse-
quence of the use of mercury.  It  is frequently attended with griping, and
sometimes with sanguineous evacuations."—lb.

   115. "Dr. John  Mason  Good, FelloAv of the Royal Society, London, the
learned author of the " Book of Nature," "Improved Nosology," "Studies of
Medicine," etc., says, in  the latter work, vol.  i, page 62:    "Quicksilver, in
Avhatever mode introduced into the system, whether  by the skin, the stomach,
or the lungs,  uniformly stimulates  the salivary glands, producing an  increased
floAV of  saliva, and  is almost, if not altogether, the only substance Ave  know 
EXPOSITION.
39
  of, which, introduced internally, universally acts in this manner."  *   *  *
  "From the general tendency of mercury to produce this specific effect, those
  who are engaged  in working quicksilver mines, are almost continually in a
  state of salivation,  and Avhen, which  is often  the case, condemned as crimi-
  nals to such labor for life, drag out a miserable existence, in extreme  debility
  and emaciation, Avith stiff,  incurvated limbs, and total loss of teeth and appe-
  tite, until  death, in a few years, with  a friendly stroke, puts a period to their
  sufferings.  *   *   *

    116.  "Mercury, however, produces  different degrees of effect, upon differ-
  ent constitutions or states of the body.   In a few rare instances, it has exerted
  no sensible influence Avhatever upon the excretories  of the fauces;  in others,
  a very small quantity of almost any of its preparations  has  stimulated them
  at once to a copious discharge.  In persons of a highly nervous or irritable
  temperament, I have known salivation produced by  a single dose of calomel;
  and that it is sometimes caused by dressing  ulcers  with red precipitate, is a
  fact well known to all experienced surgeons.  *   *   *   Even  the occasional
 application of white precipitate, or mercurial ointment, to the head, to  destroy
 vermin, has often excited salivation."

    117.  Prof. Thos. Graham, of the University of Glasgow, and member of
  the Royal College of Surgeons  in London,  says: "When I recall to mind the
  numerous cases of ruined health, from the  excessive employment of calomel,
 thathavecome to my own knoAvledge;  and reflect on the additional proofs of
 its ruinous operations, Avhich still daily present themselves,  I can not forbear
 regarding it, as commonly exhibited, as a  minute instrument of mighty mis-
 chief, which, instead of conveying  health  and strength to the diseased and
 eneiwated, is made to scatter widely the seeds of debility and disease of the
 worst kind, among  persons of every age and condition."—Indig., page 132.

    118. " There is not in the materia medica, another  article which so immedi-
 ately and permanently, and to so great a degree, debilitates  the stomach and
 bowels,  as calomel; yet this is the medicine Avhich is prescribed and sent for
 on every occasion.  Its  action on the nervous system is demonstrative of its
 being an article in its nature inimical  to the human  constitution; since  Avhat
 medicine besides, in frequent  use, will excite feelings so  horrible and  inde-
 scribable as calomel and  other  preparations of mercury?   An  excessively
 peevish, irritable, and despondent state of mind, is a Avell known consequent
 of  a single dose of this  substance."—Page 134.

   119. "There  is a circumstance, in the operation of mercury, which ought
 to engage  the serious and  attentive consideration of the  profession, as well
 as  all who are in the habit of  taking  it themselves,  or of giving it to  their
 children—I mean the permanency of its deleterious effects.   An  improper or
 excessive use of  the generality of medicines is  recovered from Avithout [com-
 parative] difficulty;  but it  is  not so Avhen the same error  is committed  with
 the mercurial oxyds.  They affect the human constitution  in a peculiar  man-
 ner, taking, so to speak, an  iron grasp of all its systems, penetrating even to
 the bones, by which they   not only change the  healthy action  of its  vessels
and general structure, but  greatly impair and  destroy its  energies.  I  have
seen persons to whom  it has been  largely given for  the removal of different
complaints, who, before they took it, kneAv  what indigestion and nervous de-
pression  meant,   only  by the descriptions  of  others; but they have since 
4.0
EXPOSITION.
become experimentally acquainted with both; for they now constantly complain
of Aveakness  and irritability of the  digestive organs, of frequent lowness of
spirits and impaired strength;  of all which, it appears  to me, they will ever
be sensible.  Instances of this description abound.   Many of the victims of
the practice are aware of this  origin of their  permanent indisposition;  and
many more, Avho are at present unconscious of it, might here find, upon in-
vestigation, a  sufficient cause for their sleepless  nights and miserable days.
We have, often, every benevolent feeling of the mind called into painful exer-
cise upon viewing patients, already exhausted  by protracted illness, groaning
under the accumulated miseries of an active course of mercury, and, by this,
forever  deprived of perfect  restoration.  A  barbarous practice,  the  incon-
sistency, folly,  and  injury of which, no words can sufficiently describe."—
Pages 136-8.

   120.  "I have seen the constitution of such persons [who were supposed to
have the  liver complaint]  irrecoverably ruined by active mercurial courses;
but in no instance did I ever  Avitness a cure effected by  this treatment.   It is
painful to recollect that, in disorganized livers, mercury, carried to the extent
of salivation, is commonly regarded  as the sheet anchor,  the fit and only
remedy; for I will venture to  affirm, that the far greater  number of such cases
grow materially worse, rather than  better by such  use of  it; and that  this
aggravation consists not merely in an increase of the patient's Aveakness and
morbid  irritability,  but that  the existing disease in the liver becomes more
extensive and inveterate."—lb., page 172.

   121.  " If the opinions here set forth, Avith so much force, be correct—and
that they are  so we have not the least doubt—what incalculable mischief must
result from a  practice founded upon  the common notion of  the absolute ne-
cessity of a mercurial salivation, for  the cure of Avhat may be properly or im-
properly named liver  complaint!"   [Note by the  American  Editor.]—lb.,
page 127.

   122.  Abernethy says: " Persons Avho are saliA-ated, have, as far as I have re-
marked,  the functions of the liver and the digestiA'e organs constantly disturbed
by that process."—Surgical Observations, page 77.

   123.  Blackhall says: "On the schirrus or tuberculated state of the liArer, I
have seldom seen mercury make any  [good] impression.  But I have seen the
mercurial habit superadded by continual salivation, and then the disorder be-
comes  more complicated  and  more speedily fatal."—Dropsies, page 70.

   124.  Farre says: "Patients, suffering under chronic enlargements  of the
liver, are  not, so far as I have observed, benefited by  the operation of mer-
cury; for, by the time that the most careful examination  can distinguish them,
the progress  of the  disease has been  already so considerable,  that the  mer-
curial  action tends  only  to exhaust  the poAver that art will, subsequently, in
vain attempt  to restore."—Morb. Anat. Liver, page 21.

   125.  Hamilton says:  "The ordinary mode of  exhibiting mercury, for the
cure of chronic hepatitis, not unfrequently hurries on the disease, or, by im-
pairing the constitution, lays the foundation for paralytic affections;  and it
may be truly affirmed that it thus often shortens life."—Abuse of Mercury
page 79. 
EXPOSITION.
41
     126.  Dr. Falconer, of Bath, in a paper Avhere he forcibly animadverts on
  its abuse, observes: "Among other ill effects, it tends to produce tumors, par-
  alysis, and, not unfrequently, incurable mania.  I have myself seen repeatedly,
  from  this cause, a kind of approximation to these maladies,  that embittered
  life to such a degree, with  shocking depression of spirits  and other  nervous
  agitations Avith which it was accompanied, as  to make it more than probable
  that many of the suicides which  disgrace our country, were occasioned  by
  the intolerable  feelings which  result from such a state of  the  nervous sys-
  tem."—Trans. Medical Society, London, vol. i, page 110.

    127.  Hamilton says:  "In a lady Avho had such small doses of the blue pill
  comWned with opium, for three nights successively, that the whole quantity
  amounted to no more than five grains of the mass, salivation began on  the
  fifth day;  and, notwithstanding every attention, the tongue and gums became
  swelled  to  an  enormous  degree;  bleeding ulcers of the mouth and  fauces
  took place, and such excessive irritability and debility followed that, for nearly
  a whole  month, her life was in the utmost jeopardy."—Abuse of Mercury,
  page 24.

    128. Dr. Alley says: "I have seen the mercurial eruption appear over the
  entire  body of a  boy about seven  years old, for whom  but three grains of
  calomel  had been  prescribed effectually as  a purgative."—Observation on
  Hydrargyria, page 40.

    129. Graham says: "Such instances of the poisonous operation of mercury
  are not  of rare occurrence; they are  common, and only two out  of a  vast
  number that have been  and are still daily Avitnessed, many of which are on
  record."—Page 136.


         THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF PREDICTING ITS MODUS OPERANDI.

   130. "Some patients are  slow to show ptyalism, even under great and sus-
 tained  doses.  Others have their mouths touched, perhaps severely, Avith but
 a few grains.  Some suffer from  pain  and purging,  in  Avhatever  form  the
 mercury  is given, internally.  Some are actually poisoned by the mineral, the
 condition termed erythismus being induced.   The system may not suffer, but
 the surface may—a very troublesome eruption occurring, the eczema mercu-
 riale.   Some systems evince their intolerance of the remedv by gradual loss
 of flesh,  strength,  and  spirits, an asthenic state, approaching  to  hectic, be-
 coming established.  Violent salivation  may  be caused by sudden exposure
 to cold  during the use of the medicine, or it  may depend upon an idiosyn-
 cracy of  the system."—Practice of Surgery,  by James  Miller, page 390-91.

   131.  Dr. Bell states  that he "exhibited  three  grains of blue mass to a
 patient, which caused copious salivation."—Bell & Stokes' Practice, vol. ii,
 page  140.

  132.  "It is important to knoAv that  different persons  admit of, or  resist,
 the specific agency  of mercury in  very different degrees; so that,  in  some
 patients, the remedy becomes unmanageable and hazardous; Avhile, in others,
 it is inert  and useless.  It  is  most grieArously disappointing to watch a pa-
 tient  laboring under inflammation which  is likely to spoil  some important
organ, and to find, after bleeding has been pushed as far  as we dare push it, 
42
EXPOSITION.
 that no impression  is made  upon  his  gums  by the freest use  of mercury.
 Such cases  are not  uncommon; and, unfortunately, they seem  most apt to
 occur when the  controlling  agency of mercury is  most  urgently required.
 On the other hand, there are persons in whom very small  quantities  of mer-
 cury act as a violent poison,  a single dose  producing the severest salivation,
 and bringing the  patient's existence in jeopardy.   This history was told to
 Dr. Farre  by a medical man,  under whose notice it  fell.  A lady Avhom  he
 attended said  to him, at his first  professional visit  to  her, "Noav,  without
 asking why or  speculating upon it, never give me mercury,  for it poisons me."
 Some time afterward she met with  the late Mr. Chevalier, and spoke to him
 about her  complaints;  and he prescribed for her as a purgative once, two
 grains of calomel, Avith some  cathartic extract.  She took the dose,  and  the
 next morning  shoAved  the prescription to her ordinary medical attendant.
 ' Why,'  said he, ' you have done the very thing you were so anxious to  avoid—
 you have taken mercury.'  She replied 'I thought as much, from the sensa-
 tions I have in my mouth.'   Furious salivation came on in a feAV hours, and
 she died at the end of two  years, Avorn  out  by the effects of mercury, and
 having  lost  portions of  her jaw-bone by necrosis."—Watson's Practice,
 page 157.

   133. Dr. Joy says: "We have seen a person salivated severely by  four or
 five grains of blue pill, taken  in divided  doses."—Library Practical Medicine,
 vol. v, page 410.

   134. "Mercury, in any form, excites in  some individuals, and more partic-
 ular^' in those  in whom salivation is not easily produced, a frightful degree of
 erethism, with  most alarming depression of the vital powers.  We have seen
 a complete but  temporary loss of sight,  accompanied by various evidences of
 undue determination of blood to the head, supervene upon the occurence of
 a  violent salivation, induced by the application  of  camphorated mercurial
 ointment, for a few days, to an enlarged testis."—lb., page 411.

   135. Prof. J. P. Harrison, in a lecture on  Diseases induced by Mercury,
 says: "Its vapors salivated a whole ship's crew."—Medical  Essays, page 126.
   " Calomel has inflicted more mischief," etc.—lb., page 128.
   " Calomel, even in large doses, has the effect of  diminishing vascular ac-
 tions."—lb., page 131.
   It produces  "sore, tumid,  and, at length,  ulcerous gums, and a swollen,
 loaded tongue."—lb., page 139.
   "Mercury sometimes produces fatal effects in very small  quantities."—lb.,
 page  147.
   "Mercury is often a most potent engin^of mischief."—lb., pao-e 150.

   136. "An inscrutable peculiarity of constitution  renders  it  a matter of
great peril  for  some persons  to take mercury in any shape.   The smallest
dose of blue pill or calomel will, in such individuals, create  the mostalaimin»
symptoms, and  death will sometimes result from the taking of a few grains
of either.—lb., page —.

   137. "By its rapid irritating impression on the gastric mucous tissue, or
upon the skin, it [mercury] may act as a poison."—Ib.,  page 157.
   "I have seen another case, in which  the child  took several doses of calo-
mel, before the  mouth became inflamed,  and Avas saved Avith the loss of nearly
 all the teeth of  both  jaAvs and a portion  of one cheek."—lb., page 161. 
EXPOSITION.
43
   Another child, of six years, took six grains of calomel, and lost " the Avhole
 left cheek," and "soon died."  Another unfortunate victim of mercury lost
 a part of  his nose and most of the palate of  his mouth, and died of  phthisis
 pulmonalis!"—lb., page 160.
   See the Avhole essay, in  the face of which Prof.  Harrison has the effrontery
 to intimate that mercury is not a poison!


 "IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONTROLLING ITS ACTION WHEN IT GETS  THE UPPER
                                  HAND."

   138. The secondary effects of the poison are manifested in  "caries of the
 skull; ozena  [ulceration  of  the   lining membrane  of the  nose;]  noli me
 tangere [destructive ulcers of  the face;] caries and necrosis of the lower jaw;
 inflammation  of the tongue."—Miller's Practice of Surgery, page 64,  129,
 130,  136, 158.

   139. " Of  the remote evil effects of mercury on the system, much might
 be said."—lb.,  page 391.
   "In all aggravated  cases of periostitis, mercury is usually much to blame.
 No predisposing cause of ostitis is found more frequent or certain in  its ope-
 ration than mercury.   The cachectic state induced  by the mercurial poison
 seems manifestly to faAror  the occurrence of fragilitas ossium."—lb., pages
 230,  232, 262.

   140. Dr. Bell, Avhen referring to the treatment of mercurial salivation  says:
 "Like all kinds of  poisoning, of which this  is one, time is required,  both for
 elimination  of the  deleterious agent from the system and for a subsidence of
 the morbid phenomena, such  as depraved secretions and perverted innervation
 to which  it gives rise."—Bell & Stokes' Practice, vol. i, page 69.

   141. "In producing their effects, all the mercurial preparations are decom-
 Eosed, and the mercury in the metallic form is either thrown out of the  body
 y the skin and lungs, or deposited in the glands and the bones."
   "In Hufeland's Journal, it is stated that a pelvis  infiltrated Avith mercury
 was taken from  a young Avoraan who died of syphilis, and is preserved in the
 Dublin Museum of Midwifery."—lb., Note.   [Dr. Blundell of London, has
 another.]  "In this place we can only contemplate  mercury as a source of
 disease."—Good's St.  Med., vol. i, page 64.
   It is often said that, if mercury does not salivate,  it passes out of  the sys-
 tem and does  no harm.  The  pelves preserved, as  mentioned above, show the
 falsity of  this declaration.
  We sometime ago read of a case (book and page  not  noAv recollected) in
 which, twenty years after its exhibition, mercury Avas  brought  into action,
 produced  all  the above dreadful effects, and destroyed the patient in  spite of
 all the efforts  of the faculty of a Parisian hospital to prevent it.

  142. N. Chapman, Professor  of Materia Medica  in  the  University  of
 Pennsylvania, says: "If you could see, Avhat I almost daily see in my private
practice, persons from the  South in the very  last stage of miserable existence,
emaciated to a skeleton, with  both  plates of  the skull almost completely per-
forated in many places, the  nose  half gone, Avith rotten jaAvs and ulcerated
throats, with  breaths more pestiferous than the poisonous Bohon Upas,  with
limbs racked with the pains of the  Inquisition, minds as imbecile as the puling
babe—a grievous  burden  to  themselves and a disgusting spectacle to the 
44
EXPOSITION.
 world, you would exclaim, as I have often done, '0, the lamentable ignorance
 which dictates the use (as medicine) of that noxious drug, calomel.'   It is a
 disgraceful reproach to the profession of medicine—it is quackery—horrid,
 unwarrantable, murderous quackery.   What merit do physicians flatter them-
 selves they possess  by being able to sali\'ate a  patient?   Can not the veriest
 fool in Christendom give  calomel, and salivate?   But  I will  ask  another
 question: Who is there that can stop the career of calomel Avhen once it has
 taken the reins into its possession?   He who resigns the fate  of his patient to
 calomel, is a vile enemy to  the sick, and if he has a tolerable practice,  will,
 in a single season, lay the foundation of a good business  for  life; for he will
 ever afterward  have enough to do to stop the mercurial breaches in the  con-
 stitution of his dilapidated patients.   He has thrown himself in close  contact
 Avith death, and will  have to fight him  at arm's length so long as one of his
 patients maintains a miserable  existence" (79.)

   143. Prof. Harrison, after saying: " Various explanations have been given
 of the modus  curandi of  this  great anti-inflammatory alterant," [mercury,]
 adds, " That it cures we know, but how it cures Ave knoAvnot" (192.)   " The
 mysteriy  of its precise modus agendi remains  unexplored" (225.)
   He has, however, explored it pretty thoroughly, and given us  the effects it
 produced, which sufficiently demonstrate its modus agendi.   He says:
   "It produces rapid sinking of the vital  powers" (24.)  "Very injurious
 effects upon the mouths  of children—severe  inflammation, sloughing,  and
 death" (46.)   "Palsy, ulceration, and disease  of the bones" (294.)  "Irri-
 tates the heart and arteries, and invariably depresses the nerves" (228. )   "A
 most powerful subduer of  the energies of life" (227.)  "It brings on a most
 afflicting  and  incorrigible constitutional disease, which often defies the  skill
 of the most experienced and enlightened physician to cure"(187.)   "Slouoh-
 ing of the cheeks has risen from Avashes  and ointments  applied to the head
 and other parts of the body" (231.)   "Disastrous effects have sprung from
 these applications" (352.)    "Inflicts incalculable evils on the  patient" (245.)
 "Produces cancrum oris" (305) [dry salivation that rots aAvay the mouth.]
 " The most revolting  mutilation of the face, foul ulcers on the tongue, cheeks
 and fauces" (306.)   " Demolishes  the very pillars of human health" (312.)
   "Eats off the nose and the bony palate of the mouth" (319.)   "When Ave
 produce a mercurial  impression to cure fever, we substitute the action of the
 remedy for that of the disease" (157.)  "Its action  is not controllable under
 the most judicious treatment"  (296.)

   144. Cases and Illustrations.—" We once saw a little girl, four years old, Avith
 an attack of fever, who died from the mercurial cancrum oris".   Other chil-
 dren Ave have seen, more advanced in years, who fell victims to the disease, or
Avho were mutilated  by it, their countenances being shockingly deformed'by
the sloughing and subsequently puckered cicatrization.  Upon this  topic our
thoughts have  been  much  directed,  from the  melancholy termination of cases
of mercurialism  in children, which we have witnessed in our own practice.   We
lost a case, from the ravages of mercury on  the  mouth in a boy of eio-ht years
old, who was apparently recovering  from hydrocephalus.   It has been our lot
 to see more cases in consultation than in our own practice, in which death or
mutilation has  occurred from continuing the  use of calomel too long, or from
giving it  in disproportionate doses  in attacks of sickness in children.   One
dose of eight grains  brought on gangrenopsis  in  a boy of ten years  of  ao-e
 wb ■> had,  several years anterior, been mercurialized.  Death,  under the most 
^
                                EXPOSITION.                            4^i

 revolting mutilations of  the face, took place in  three weeks after he took the
 calomel"  (305-6.)
    In all these cases, the Doctor confesses that the disease produced by mer-
 cury was far worse than the fever, hydrocephalus, hooping-cough, and even
 syphilis, (236,) for which it Avas given.

    145.  Hiram Cox,  M. D.,  a graduate of the  Ohio Medical  College, and late
 Professor of  Surgery in  the E. M. Institute of this city, says: " Thousands
 yearly fill a premature grave, Avho are literally and  legally murdered by the
 reckless administration of mercury; yet that same routine species of murder is
 continued and the community sanction it.
    "I have been called in hundreds of instances to counteract cases of poison
 produced by  men, to many of Avhose names, by some means or  other, the ini-
 tials M. D. were attached," etc.   "Thousands have gone to the grave." etc.
 "I could enumerate at  least fifty cases of poison and  death by calomel, that
 occurred in the practice of physicians Avho were practicing  in  the region of
 country in which I practiced for seven years, many of whom Avere sent to their
 grave mutilated, disfigured  and partially decomposed,  before death released
 them from their sufferings.   Suppose each  physician  of the thousands Avho
 are practicing in the United States, after  the Old  School routine of giving
 calomel, were to  hand  in a list of  deaths  produced b}7 that mineral poison,
 that occurred within  his knowlege and  region of labor, what  a  stupendous
 account of mortality it would make!"  "How revolting to humanity is this
 picture! and yet how listlessly does this community move on and permit this
 state of things to exist!"—W. M. Reformer.

    146.  In the preceding numbers  we have  confined  our quotations to the
 three great, indispensable remedies of Allopathy—the lancet, opium and mer-
 cury, at once the indices to  the character of its materia medica, and the most
 efficient agents it embraces.   But Ave do not mean to intimate  that these are
 all the remedies of that old,  popular practice.   There are others used in con-
 junction Avith these,  or as substitutes for  them.  But  "Avhatever difference"
 they may  present in  other respects,  " they all  agree in  this—they suddenly
 and rapidly extinguish  a great  proportion of the  vitality of  the system."
 "Poisons are, in general, the best medicines,"  saysHooper; and "the greater
 the poison, the  better the medicine," has  long been counted an  almost self-
 evident principle.
   Among the adjuncts to, or substitutes for, the lancet, opium, and mercury,
 we find  a great number  and variety of agents, of Arery dissimilar character
 and tendency, as antimonj', arsenic, lead, zinc, niter, silver, copper, canthar-
 ides, digitalis, hyosciamus, cicuta, strychnine and the most powerful narcotics,
 all Avhich are  classed  among the causes as well as among the curers of disease.
 For example,  of one  hundred and thirty-four forms of disease enumerated by
 Eberle, he says that more than thirty are induced by the agents used to cure
 disease—as mercury,  arsenic, lead, cantharides, stramonium, opium, and other
 "irritating substances;" also by injuries from malpractice.
   Prof. Dunglison also gives us, as the causes of more than  thirty malignant
 forms of disease,  the  same  "great remedial   agents,"  with  blood-letting,
 tobacco,  spurred rye, opium, alcohol, and  other "acrid orcorrosivepoisons."
   These forms of disease are inflammation, acute and  chronic, of all or any
of the organs, as the brain,  the tongue, the tonsils,  the throat, the stomach,
and  the intestines, the lungs, the heart, the liArer, the  kidneys, the pleura, the
pericardium, the peritoneum, the joints,  tendons and muscles, the  degenera-
tion and decay of all these, and the very bones themselves.   The very worst*' 
46                            EXPOSITION.
forms of disease with Avhich the human body has ever been afflicted, are attrib-
uted to  "the most effective Aveapons of  medical aggression" that have ever
been prescribed for them, and to the manipulations of rashness in parturition,
Look to an array of these conditions, causes, and cures.
  First, from Eberle:
Disease.	Cause.		Cure	
Tonsilitis,	Arsenic, Mercury,	Bleeding,	Calomel,	Opium.
Enteritis,	Drastic purgatives,	Do	do	do
Peritonitis,	Injuries in parturition,	Do	do	do
Hepatitis,	Mercury,	Do	do	
Cerebritis,	Do	Do	do	do
Nephritis,	Cantharides,	Do	do	do
Cystitis	Do	Do	do	do
Hysteritis,	Instrumental labor,	Do	do	
Rheumatism,	Mercury,	Do	do	do
Gout,	Do	Do	do	do
Ophthalmia,	Do	Do	do	do
Eczema,	Do		do	do
Hematemesis,	Cantharides,	Do	do	do
Hematuria,	Do	Do	do	do
Paralysis,	Lead, Mercury,	Do	do	
Chorea,	MercunT, Stramonium,	Do	do	do
Dementia.	Do	Do	do	do
Delirium Tremens.	Opium,	Do	do	do
Colica Pictonum.	Lead,	Do	do	do
Jaundice,	Mercury,	Do	do	do
Diabetes,	Do Alcoholic Liquors,	Do	do	do
Dysuria,	Cantharides,		do	do
Hydrothorax,	Mercurv,	Do	do	do
Ascites,	Do	Do	do	do
Anasarca,	Do	Do	do	do
  In Dunglison the contrast is  nerely the same  as above, Avith the addition
of some others.

  147. The reader must be forcibly impressed  by the number and the invet-
erate character of the several forms of disease above indicated, that are often
'produced by mercury.   The  following  note, by Prof. J.  B. Flint, of  Louis-
ville, Kentucky, to  his edition of Druitt's  Surgery (page  114,) will explain
the mystery.

  148. "Genuine tuberculous scrofula is less common  in  the valley of  the
Mississippi than on the eastern coast of the Union.  But a very large portion
of what is  regarded and treated as scrofulous disease, in this part of the coun-
try,  appears to  me  to  be merely the  result of indiscreet mercurialization.
Under the prevalent idea that  biliary derangements either constitute or co-
exist Avith every departure from health, some form of mercury is administered
in almost every prescription, and the whole capillary system of persons who
happen  to  be occasionally unwell, soon becomes impregnated  and  poisoned
by this subtile mineral.

   149.  "So, too, if an  alterative  impression  is desired under  any morbid
condition whatever, instead of  employing regimen, diet, and more  harmless
medicaments, it is  common to resort  indiscriminately to  mercurial agents.
The  consequences  of such  reckless mediation   I more  properly wholesale 
EXPOSITION.
47
 poisoning!] present themselves to the physician in dyspeptic affections, chronic
 headaches,  pains in  the limbs, called rheumatism', etc., and to the surgeon
 in  the more striking forms of alveolar  absorption and adhesions, inveterate
 ulcerations of the fauces and nostrils, Avhere no specific  taint  has been sus-
 pected, and in various degenerations, malignant or semi-malignant, of gland-
 ular organs.

   150. "Moreover, the evil does not stop with the  individual;  for, where
 important elementary tissues  are  so deteriorated in the parents, a constitu-
 tional infirmity will be impressed upon the offspring, Avhich, if  it may not be
 called scrofulous from birth, is the most favorable condition  possible for the
 development of the phenomena of that diathesis,  whenever co-operative influ-
 ences shall assail the  unfortunate subject."
   Graham  says: " There is a circumstance, in the operation of mercury, which
 ought to engage  the  serious and attentive consideration of the  profession, as
 well  as all  who are  in  the habit of taking it themselves, or of giving  it to
 their children—I mean the permanency of its deleterious effects.  An improper
 or excessive use of the generality of medicines, is recovered from without [com-
 paratiA-e]  difficulty;  but  it is not  so Avhen the same error is  committed with
 the mercurial oxides.  They affect the human constitution in a peculiar  man-
 ner, taking, so to speak, an iron grasp of  all its  systems, penetrating even to
 the bones, by which they not only change the  healthy action  of  its vessels
 and general  structure, but greatly impair and destroy its energies.  I  have
 seen  persons to whom it has been largely given for the removal  of different
 complaints, Avho, before  they took it, knew Avhat  indigestion  and nervous de-
 pression meant, only by the descriptions of others; but they have since become
 experimentally acquainted Avith both; for they noAv constantly complain of
 Aveakness and irritability of the digestive organs, of frequent loAvness of spirits
 and impaired strength, of all Avhich, it appears to me,  they "will ever be sen-
 sible.  Instances of  this description  abound.   Many  of  the victims of the
 practice are aware of this origin of their permanent indisposition,  and  many
 more who are at present unconscious of it,  might here find upon  investigation,
 a sufficient cause for their sleepless  nights and  miserable days."—Indig.

   151.  " The interests of humanity, no less than the honor  of medicine, de-
 mand that  those who observe and understand these things should utter, on
 all proper occasions, the  most  unqualified protestations against such abuses
 of a  medical agent,  whose timely and judicious use is so important to the
 healing art,  and thus  prevent it from becoming so detestable that  its employ-
 ment will not be tolerated at all."—Ib.
   Some of my readers haAre already asked Avhy I have quoted so extensively
 from  allopathic authors.   I answer, I have done it for  several reasons:
   1.  To disabuse  the public of their arrogant and impudent  claims to all the
medical science in the Avorld, and to the right of the obsequious  submission
of all patients to their dicta in practice.
  2.  To furnish those  who dare dispute their  pretended Avisdom and  their
arrogant authority, with  ample and effective weapons for defense, and  abun-
dant reasons  for adopting an independent course.
  3.  I have  done it  to give  ample proof to physicians, as well  as their pat-
rons,  that  there  is  neither  science nor consistency in their principles, nor
sense nor humanity in their practice.
  These  extracts, from  the most eminent of their professors  and authors,
demonstrate  as clearly as human testimony and example can do it, that they 
48
EXPOSITION.
 have no faith in the doctrines they teach, either general or particular; and
 that, so far  from having a practice on which they  can confidently rely foi
 safety and efficacy,  they consider their  best remedies "the most potent en-
 gines of mischief"—" two-edged swords," that have slain seven-fold more by
 their abuse than they have cured by their judicious use, on the great scale of
 their most scientific  practice.
   They pronounce "the lancet the indispensable sheet-anchor of their prac-
 tice in inflammation;" "mercury the great anti-inflammatory, anti-febrile
 alterant of their materia medica;" and opium the "magnum Dei donum (the
 great gift of God) for the relief of a great proportion of the maladies of man:"
 and yet they ascribe to each and  every one of these  the destruction of more
 lives than can be attributed to the other  three great curses of humanity—the
 sword,  pestilence, and famine!
   Will not the reader turn in disgust from such a mortifying spectacle?   Will
 not the advocate of Allopathy himself here discover the folly and iniquity of
 longer  binding  his  living spirit to such a  rotten carcass, and  give me his
 attention, while I unfold the cause of all  the errors in theory and mischiefs in
 practice, of Avhich the countless hosts of eminent and benevolent men, some
 of whose statements I have quoted here, complain?   Can the most strenuous
 advocate  of Allopathy longer doubt that there  is, at the very root of  the
 system, some fatal canker-worm that stints the growth and mars the beauty of
its trunk, branches, leaves, and flowers, and blasts its long and earnestly antici-
pated fruits?   Must it not seem  to every one, passing strange, that  medicine
should "still be in Its  infancy," if it  ever possessed, within its lifeless shell,
the elements of manhood?   If it ever had a scientific basis, should Ave expect
to see such men  as Lieutaud, Broussais, Louis, Hahnemann, Brown,  Donald-
son, Henderson, Forbes, Waterhouse, Jackson, etc., surrendering that basis as
worse than worthless—as chaining down the mind to an erroneous, destructive
creed—and setting themselves diligently  to work to " make neAv observations,
out of which to form  a sounder theory?"   Should Ave expect to see "American
and other medical savans" assembling from  year  to year, and makino- it tha
burden  of their business to  strive to ascertain the reason why their once popu-
lar and  venerated system  is losing its authority, and falling into silence and
neglect, if not contempt and ridicule; while multitudes of other systems! with
the title of reform, are rising  up  to crowd  it  out of fashion  and to take its
place, if theirs, as they have made some thoughtless men believe,  were "built
on the solid foundation of everlasting  truth,  and had within it the power of
rising to perfection?"  No, indeed!  Truth  is mighty and will  prevail wher-
ever promulgated  and applied.   That their  system does not answer the end
of its adoption (5, 6, 16,)  is proof irrefragable that its fundamental doctrines
are not  true.   But all the authors I  have quoted admit  this charge, and the
burden  of their  efforts  has been to ascertain and  rectify the error'(9,  19.)
But, as yet, they have failed even  in this.  Allopathy  is  no further advanced
in its fundamental character than it was  three hundred years ao-o; and never
will be further than it is noAv, until its present base is revolutionized.  This
glorious work for  scientific medicine, this desideratum in its universal history,
I shall clearly and thoroughly perform in the sequel of this work.
  As references  mar the"beauty of the page and  interrupt the sense of the
text, I shall make but a few as  I pass; assuring here the reader, that I shall
say nothing that  I can  not amply prove, and that  I will make in the index
copious references to all parts of the work, where  they  will be found by far
the most useful.                                                      3 
CRITICISED AND  CORRECTED.
49
   152.  Views of Fever and Inflammation obscure and contradictory. Who-
 ever has  carefully  perused  the  preceding pages, must  have  been forcibly
 struck with  the  confusion  of ideas, and contradiction of opinions, that  pre-
 vail among the most distinguished  medical men, in relation to the nature  and
 tendency of fever and inflammation.
   While  they all declare  that no other  subject has so  much  engaged the
 attention of  medical philosophers, teachers and practitioners, they also agree
 that " no subject in the whole circle of medical science, still involves so many
 disputed points" (34 to 38).  They are " so  obscure as  to afford  but little
 help in determining  the plan of treatment"  (35, ^[ 3d).  At one stage,
 they regard  inflammation as the  operation that does all the work  of  healing
 (42 to 45) ; at another they pronounce it  and fever the fruitful  mothers of
 all mischief—" the  two orders of disease that make up the great amount of
 human maladies, and form  the grand outlets of life "  (41,  40).
   153.  The  Bases of Pathology and Practice.   And yet these  "obscure
 pathologies," these  "disputed points," these  "problematical"  conclusions
 respecting feA'er, inflammation,  and irritation, "constitute, with great  pro-
 priety, the foundations of all pathological reasoning " (28, 29, 35, 36, 41),
 and are  made the bases of all Allopathic works on the  theory and practice of
 medicine and surgery; and these works alone embody Avhat is called " scientific
 and legitimate medicine."
   154.  Denounce and persecute  all who  disbelieve and  reject  them.  Any
 man who  presumes to dispute their doctrines,  or to practice in opp>osition to
 the  prescriptions based upon them, is  denounced as a  quack and a murderer,
 and A-isited with  a malicious persecution, that " stops at nothiug  short of his
 destruction, root and branch."—Harvey.
   155.  Fundamental Doctrines false, and the practice mischievous.   Hence,
 it is strictly true, that  " the very foundations on which their systems  of  dis-
 ease are built, are and ahvays were false, and baseless as the fabric of a  vision,
 (5) ; and their practice has really been, what  its advocates themselves describe
 it (5,  6, 13, 21,  26, 27), a striking at  a melee of friends  and enemies in (lie
 dark, a  shooting  at random, at a bird whose song they think they hear among
 the  branches  (27); a  multiplication of diseases, and  an  increasing of their
 mortality (26); a practice of "bleeding people to death" to prevent them from
 living till  natural death should remove  them, or the causes of disease  should
 destroy them  (56, 57,  70, 79); a perpetration of  more destruction of  human
 life than is effected  by  the sword of the warrior (58);  a production of seven
 times as much mischief as good on the great scale of humanity (76); a whole-
 sale  destruction of constitution and life, by one of the  remedies the most con-
 fidently relied upon for the  saving of  life (90 to  151).   In short,  a  system
 of " horrid, unwarrantable, murderous quackery" (142, and 105 to 141)!
   156. The "error  of errors" of Allopathy.   The considering and treating
 of irritation, fever and inflammation as disease, has been  the grand  mother
 error of Allopatliists,  ever  since  they  adopted  it:—the  source of all their
 other errors in theory,  and  mischiefs in practice.   It  is the retention of the
same error by many well meaning Reformers, that has prevented them from
advancing  but a  few blind steps out of  the old dark labyrinth of Allopathy,
 to be  plunged directly back again whenever  the slightest obstacles  oppose
their progress. *
   157. I shall present  irritation,  fever and  inflammation many  times, in
varied forms of  speech, and under various circumstances, so that  one well
                                    4 
50
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
acquainted with the subject, or even "apt to learn," may think I repeat  the
same ideas  and principles, and exhibit the same facts  and conditions, with
unnecessary frequency.   But, as the subject  is of vital importance, and no
Allopathic writer, to my knowledge, has yet been able to explain it clearly to
others, or to understand it himself (Bartlett on Fever, p. 159, and  Rec, vol.
18, pp. 113, 129, 161, and vol. 19, pp. 1, 2), I must be excused for  giving
line upon line, precept  upon  precept, and illustration upon  illustration, till
it will not only be understood, but so plainly presented,  and in  so  many dif-
ferent views of it,  that  it  can not  be misunderstood.  Some  may think it
unnecessary to draw inferences from every fact or case.   But let them remem-
ber that Allopathy has long had the  facts before her.  Why did she not draw
the inferences  without  any aid  from Reformers?  To  all objectors  to  my
" repetitions," I would say, I do not ask them to study these  any longer than
till they are thoroughly acquainted with the  character  and tendency  of  the
principles  they involve;  while  I assure  them that, when they  are  complete
masters of these principles, they will be able to correct all the errors of infant
Allopathy, and raise it to the dignity of a full grown science.
  158. I will therefore  now give the true  character, nature and tendency of
irritation, fever and inflammation, in language, and by illustrations, so  sim-
ple that the  common reader can not fail to understand them, avoiding as much
as convenient technical or learned words and  phrases, for the very reason that
those Avho have used them the  most, have,  by this very means, " darkened
speech with  words without knowledge."
  159. Anatomy and Physiology.  The human frame is an organization con-
structed by  the  action  of a  specific  motive power, called  the vital force,
through the  media of nerves and blood vessels, and with materials suited to the
wants of that force  (Lectures on  Medical Science).  This body commences in
miniature, and  is developed and enlarged by the circulation of the  materials
to all parts of it, through the media of a series of  vessels called a heart aud
arteries, and their dependents, called lacteals, lymphatics, glands, and secer-
nents; and  diminished  and purified by the remo\Tal of the effete, worn  out, or
morbific  matter, through  another series  of  dependent  vessels, called veins,
excernents, ducts, emunctories, (capillaries of the surface,) follicles, &c.  For
a complete description of the whole,  see works on anatomy.
   160.  That this motive power, called the vital force, is peculiar, specific, the
generative cause of the  organism, is  presumptively proved  by the fact that
no  other powers without it, are known to have e\Ter produced  an organization
from inorganic matter,  or  from even a seed  from Avhich this  power has  been
expelled by heating or freezing.
   It is demonstrated by the  fact that, in  constructing  and  maintaining the
organization, it overcomes  and controls all  the inorganic forces, producing di-
gestion, vitalization and organization, when they, uncontroled, would produce
fermentation, putrefaction and decomposition, as is the case with  vegetable
and animal  food.

   161.  The heart  is a  great double forcing  pump, constituting the centre of
this grand system of vessels  of  nutrition and depletion.  Its form  is  that of
an inverted  cone, suspended by its base from the  walls  of a cavity called the
pericardium, between the two great lobes of the lungs.
   It consists of strong, muscular walls, lining four large cavities, two auricles,
and two ventricles; the former a sort of porticos or ante-rooms to the latter,
and separated from them  by valves, which permit  the  blood to flow through 
CRITICISED  AND CORRECTED.
51
 theminto the heart, but so close against the sides of the ventricles as to pre-
 vent it from flowing back again in the same direction.
   To understand  this well, go to the  butcher and  get the heart, lungs and
 trachea, and a  portion  of the aorta,  of a  sheep,  hog, or  small  calf, and
 examine well the internal structure of the blood vessels and cavities, and read
 the description of them from books on anatomy.   Its use is to start the blood
 to every part of the body.
   162.  The grand  trunk  artery of the human body, called  the aorta, com-
 mences at the fundus or upper portion of the left cavity of the heart.   In struc-
 ture it resembles the bark  of a tree, from Avhich we  will suppose  the wood  to
 haATe been withdrawn Avithout  splitting or injuring  either the trunk-bark,  or
 any of its branches.  Or we may suppose the wood  to haAre been dissolved by
 some chemical agent, and removed without affecting  the bark.
   From the base of  this trunk onward to its extremities, branches are divided
 and subdivided, and extended to eATery part of the body, generally receivino- the
 name of  the region or of the organs to which they are directed, or on which
 they are distributed; as, the cardiac (heart);  cervical  (neck);  the brachial
 (arm);  the costal (ribs);  the mammary (breast);  the  celiac (abdominal);
 the  gastric (stomach);  the hepatic (liver); the renal (kidney);  the phrenic,
 (diaphragmatic) ; the splenic,  the  mesenteric,  the  hypogastric  (under the
 stomach); the  iliac, (pelvic);  the  crural (leg), &c, &c, through the  whole
 system.   The use of these arteries is to conduct the blood to every part of the
 body.
   163. The pulmonary artery.  Like  this  aortal system  in structure  and
 arrangement, there is another  tree  of  vessels, having  its  base  at  the  right
 cavity or  ventricle  of the  heart, and its twigs in  the  lungs, and  is thence
 called the  pulmonary artery.   Its use is to carry the elements of nutrition  in
 the venous blood to the lungs,  for the last process of vitalization preparatory
 to its distribution to eA'ery part of  the body.
   The roots of tlwse vascular arterial structures, prior to their connexion with
 the  heart, may be  said to consist of two venxe cava;, whose  use is  to carry
 the venous blood into the right auricle of the heart, and two pulmonary veins,
 which carry the arterial  blood from the  lungs to the  left auricle of the heart.
   164.  Internal and external, upper and lower distributions.  Some of the
 arteries are distributed  to internal organs, as the  heart, the brain, the lungs,
 the liver, the spleen, the kidneys, the pleura, the pericardium,  the peritoneum,
 the diaphragm, the stomach, the whole alvine canal, &c.  And thus others ai'e
 extended to  the  external surface, and the subjacent  tissue.   So also,  some
 vessels are  distributed to the head and arms; others,  their opposites or antago-
 nists, to the feet and legs.
   Nor must it ever be  forgotten that the heart throws  all the blood into the
great aorta at the same time, for distribution  to the  inner and  the outer, and
the upper  and the lower organs;  and  that there are no valves  between this
great \Tessel  and  the utmost  extremities of  its  ramifications or branches;
consequently, the blood of each pulsation will be divided between the internal
and  the external  vessels, and the  upper and the  lower, in exact proportion
to the resistance which  it meets from the different  degrees  of  contractility
of the walls of these \-essels, in different loca-tions.
   165.  Warmth and moisture.  We all well know that the warmth and moist-
ure within  the  body keep the arteries and their capillaries of  the  internal ar-
rangement soft and relaxed, so that they will generally  admit  about  the  same 
52
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
quantity of blood  while  the pressure on  them  is the  same.  But with  the
external vessels it is far different.   They are subject  to the  action of very
different degrees  of  heat and moisture, and, of course, are sometimes  so
warm, moist and  expanded,  (as  in a  hot  atmosphere,  or  when  exercising
rapidly in hot Aveather),  that they will admit  and even  invite from  the  aorta
a much larger quantity of blood than usual.
   166. Cold and dryness.  But  the surface may be so cold, dry and con-
tracted, that it will not  admit the quantity  absolutely necessary to keep it
warm.  It is evident that, in this case, the blood will flow to excess inwardly,
where it meets less resistance, Avhile, iu  the former case, it will be  invited from
the internal organs so as to leave them  more free than usual from pressure.
   167. Equilibrium  of pressure, atmospheric changes.   When the surf ace is
only properly tcarm  and  active, the external vessels are properly distended,
and  there  is  no undue  pressure any where,  the circulation is  equalized.
If this equilibrium is perfect, throughout  all the tissues, there may be high
excitement, (fever, inflammation,) but there can  be no  injury or disease any
where, for, as I have just now shown, unless the arterial  circulation  in a
region is proportionately far too great, the absorbents are always able to take
it up and remove it as fast as it comes.  There may  be  full and rapid circula-
tion, but there can be no obstruction,  and of course no disease.   But, since
the contractile pressure  of'the vessels of the external surface varies with  the
atmosphere, being  sometimes beloAV and at others above the healthy standard,
it  is  evident  that vicissitudes of atrn.ospheric temperature  must be fruitful
sources of derangement of the  circulation,  and, of course, disease.
  168. The heart—valves, arteries, capillaries.  The heart  is  constructed of
elastic, muscular fibres, arranged in  such a manner that the contraction of  one
series of them diminishes the cavity, and forces the blood out ; and that of the
other series enlarges the  cavity, and  invites it in.  Like the  gates of a canal,
the valves at the venous connexion open inward, and  those at the arterial con-
nexion open outward, so  that the blood flows into it from ATeins, and out of it
through arteries.   But, unlike the locks of a canal, instead of  the blood forcing
the valves open to make  its way through a cavity of constantly the same di-
mensions, the cavity itself is alternately diminished and enlarged, for the pur-
pose of moving the fluid  onward.  In the canal, the  moving power (gravita-
tion) is in the fluid  that  passes; in the heart, the moving  power (the vital
force,  160), resides and acts in its walls.
  The arteries, through  their  Avhole extent,  are constructed with  a coat  of
elastic fibres, circularly arranged outside of their  inner, mucous coat, so as, by
their successive contractions, like  those of the throat in swallowing, to con-
tinue forcing the  blood  thrown into them by each contraction of the  heart,
along  in its course, to and through  their minutely  ramified  extremities and
pores, called capillaries.   They have each (the aorta and the pulmonary) a
tri-semi-lunar valve at their  base (see anatomy), to prevent the  return of
blood  into the  heart, when it expands.  They have no  more valves through-
out the entire system.
  169. Absorbents—veins, lymphatics, ducts, lacteah.   Similar in structure to
the arteries, are other series of vessels called  absorbents.  They consist of the
minute radicles of veins, lymphatics, ducts, and  lacteals; but their mode  of
action is directly the  reverse of that of the  arteries.   Instead of conducting
fluids  from their bases to  their tips, they  absorb them, as springs  do water*
into  their  minute twigs  called radicles  or capillaries,  (which  commence 
CRITICISED  AND  CORRECTED.                    53
 wherever arteries end), and carry them, as springs do water, into larger and
 larger vessels, till  the veins reach the heart or the liver; and  the ducts  the
 several places of their destination.
   Because all these take up their fluids by capillary attraction, they are called
 absorbents.    But the  different systems are for different purposes.
   The veins  are to take up the dark and impaired, and the lymphatics  the
 light  and still good  portions  of the blood  that  have not been  used in  the
 arterial distributions,  and to carry them back to the heart, to be  sent to  the
 lungs, revived, and circulated  again, " that  nothing be  lost,"   Some of  the
 veins, as I haA-e said, are continuous from the arteries, others open from  the
 parenchymatous substance, and the  surfaces, external  and internal, of  the
 body.
   The veins enter by  the venae cavae, into the right auricle of the heart, and
 the  lymphatics enter into the subclavian veins (see anatomy).
   The lacteals commence in the mucous membrane of the intestines,  pass be-
 tween the mesenteric  fold of  the peritoneum, and  cast their contents, with  the
 lymph from  the lower body, into the receptaculum chyli, the large cavity of
 the  thoracic duct, a vessel which commences  in the abdomen, passes  through
 the  chest and enters the left subclavian vein near its junction with  the jugular.
   The ducts commence in glands, and  carry their peculiar  fluids  to their
 places  of use  (as the  hepatic, the  pancreatic);  or of  elimination  (as  the
 nasal, the renal), or of both, as the lacrymal.   Their coatis are constructed like
 those  of the  arteries, and  they act  in the same  manner, but  in  the reverse
 direction, that  is,  from  twig  to  trunk.   The veins, like the  arteries (162),
 are  antagonistic in their distribution and action.
   170. Balance of sccrenents  and absorbents.  From the above  description
 of the  structure of the absorbents, it is  seen that they take in  their  fluids
 chiefly by the simple power  of  capillary attraction, only  a  portion of  the
 arteries being continuous into  the veins,  and none into any of the other ab-
 sorbents.  It  follows, of course, that  the egress  of the  blood, out of  the
 arteries, which is  aided by  the  strong  muscular  power of the  heart, will
 be   more easily effected than  the   absortion of  fluids  into the  veins, &c ,
 which have  not the  advantage of  any heart power to  aid them, and  that
 some means  should be  devised to keep up a balance between secernents and-
 absorbents.
   Since fluids can pass into a part  more easily than they can pass out of it;
 and  since, under every extra excitement, more blood is sent for a time to that
 part, it follows that the  radicles of the absorbents should be much more  nu-
 merous than the capillaries of the arteries and secernents, in order to insure,
 at all times,  a free circulation of the fluids, and  a proper depuration of  the
 system.   This we find to be the case.
  171. Excess of absorbents  over  secernents.   Tlie absorbents are  so  much
 larger and  more numerous than the arterial  capillaries, that no  sudden and
 not  loug-continued inflammatory distension, can prevent  the absorbents from
 removing the excessively accumulated  fluid  soon  after  the exciting causes
cease to act.   Hence,  though all extraordinary excitements accumulate, for a
 time, an excess of blood in the  capillaries, it is soon dissipated by  the superior
capability of  absorption  over arterial determination and secretion.
  172. Destruction of this equilibrium.   It  is  the destruction of  this general
equilibrium of the  internal  and  external,  upper and  lower circulations,
secretions and  excretions,  that causes all the  disease  connected  with, or 
54
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
exciting irritations, fevers, inflammations, pains, headaches, coughs, sneezings,
vomitings, purgings, &c, &c, and all the derangements of secretions, that
poor human "flesh is heir to."
  173. Antagonisms of  Veins.   As  with the arteries  (164), so with  the
veins, there is an inner and outer and  an upper and lower antagonism in their
arrangement, of which the derangements  also are antagonistic, and liable to
produce all the various forms of irritation, feA'er and  inflammation as sug-
gested in 172.
  174. Balance  of Circulation, health.   When the body is under ordinary
excitement, and all the blood that is thrown by the arteries into  the system,
except what is used for nutrition or elimination  from surfaces,  secreted or
excreted  from  glands, &c, together with the effete or worn out material of
parts, is  readily taken up by the absorbents, and moved away,—this  is the
equilibrium of  the  circulation, and  the condition of  the organs which is
necessary  to maintain all these operations steadily, and in a proper manner,is
health.  Under immoderate excitement the blood  flows more freely  to  and
through every  part that  is free from  obstruction or compression;  the heart
expands boldly and quickly;  the pulse becomes full, soft and gracefully Aoav-
ing; the whole tissue swells with the accumulated  fluid, and all the  power of
all the absorbents is brought  into action.  If the current from the heart and
arteries be not  so  full nor so long continued, as to expand the capillaries to
such a degree  that they will  compress the mouths of the absorbents so much
that they can not take up the  superabundant fluids presented, all  is still well,
and that state  of the system  is still  called health; but  often uhigh health,"
or that degree of it at which we are said to be in danger of disease.
  175.  Obstructions to Absorption—consequences.   But,  when the pressure is
continued and increased till the absorbents become too much collapsed  to take
up and remove the fluids supplied, there is  an obstruction to the  circulation,
the power of secretion is greater than that of absorption;  and, if this  condi-
tion continues long, the capillaries of the arteries are fatigued and prostrated,
and deprived of  their ability to recover their natural and healthy dimensions
and actions; the blood being  the natural stimulus of the arterial capillaries,
Avill excite still further their  efforts to act, and this excitement will generate
more heat.  This heat will still further excite the  nerves and give pain,  and
by  combining  with the blood will sometimes expand and redden  the part,
producing the  four circumstances, heat, redness, pain and swelling, some of
Avhich attend  many of, but not  all the cases of what are called inflammation.
This inability of the arterial  capillaries to contract and of the absorbents to
expand, is called disease; though both may be  capable  of recovering their
healthy state, as soon as the  surface is warmed, relaxed  and expanded, so as
to recover its  proper share of blood, and relieve pressure to the distended
capillaries.
  176.  All irritations, fevers and inflammations, in whatever parts  of the
body,, or by whatever means excited, consist essentially in vital manifestations,
excited  by excesses of nervous action, or derangements of the equilibrium of
the circulation.  Irritation is  excess or derangement of the nervous actions •
for  the nerves too have their  corresponding  internal and  external, upper and
lower distributions and antagonisms, and the same equilibrium  of  vital action
when unobstructed: and  all  their "irritations"  and "pains," "deliriums"
and  insanities,  consist in  the vital  results of simple  derangements of the
equilibrium of  their action. 
CRITICISED  AND CORRECTED.
55
    177. Causes of Disease.-—Disease itself.  Whatever can check the free flow
 of blood through an artery or its capillaries,  or into the  mouths of the ab-
 sorbents;  as mechanical  pressure,  sitting or lying  long in  one  position,
 keeping  the  limbs bent,  or wearing tight clothing; or  whatever can,  from
 within, either block up the capillaries, as morbid secretions, or cause them to
 contract, as do astringent  and gaseous  poisons, may obstruct the circulation
 or nervous  action, and cause disease, the  form of which will depend  not on
 the vital force, but the character of the obstructing cause.  The inability of
 the tissues to recover their  normal condition and action, is the sum and essence
 of disease, no matter in what organ or in what condition of it,  that inability
 consists,  whether in contraction or relaxation, obstruction, paralysis or lesion.
   178. The  Nervous System.  In the human  body, we discover also  several
 organic arrangements styled  collectively the nervous  system.  They consist of
 masses of albuminous and fibrous substances, of different  sizes, appearances
 and textures; located, some within the skull, others Avithin the spinal column,
 others outside of the spine and between it and the pleura or the peritoneum'
 others on the arteries, &c, taking their names much as  do the  arteries, and
 connecting with each other by cords of the same  material, of  different  sizes;
 and with other cords ramified into all parts of the body.   They are divided by
 their  properties or  offices, into  five classes—the  sensitive, the motive, the
 respiratory,  the splanchnic and the intellectual and affective.
   179. The  Sensitive Nerves.  The sensitive nerves have  for their origin, five
 localities or  places from Avhich they seem  to  commence  the performance of
 their functions; viz. the nose, the eyes, the mouth,  the ears and the general
 dermoid (outer) surface.   From  these  localities are extended solid  cords of
 mucous oralbuminous matter, into the cavity of the  skull, to the head of the
 medulla oblongata,  called  the centre of perception.   Their action gi\Tes us
 acquaintance with external objects.
   180. The  Motive (motor) Nerves.   From  the  last  locality  are  returned
 again  other cords of like appearance, and to some extent enclosed in  the  same
 membranes (neurilemma),  to all parts of the muscular structures that perform
 what are  called Aroluntary motions.   These constitute the two anterior, and the
 sensitive  the two posterior, pillars of the spinal  cord, and both together are
 called  the nerves of external relation, because  they  make us acquainted with
 external things, and enable us to move about among them, and to act in rela-
 tion to them.
   181. The Respiratory Nerves.   Another series of nerves is found,  consti-
 tuting primarily the middle and lateral  pillars of the spinal  column,  included
 within  the  neck and chest (cervix  and thorax), and extended  to all  those
 muscles whose action directly produces the expansion and contraction of the
 chest,  and these are called respiratory nerves.
   182. The  Sympathetic  Nerves.  Again,  there  are visible  in the  great
 cavities of the body—the chest and the abdomen—outside of the pleura and
 the peritoneum,  and more  immediately connected with the  circulating appa-
 ratuses, knots, plexuses, or ganglions  of mucous matter,  from Avhich nervous
 cords are extended (at least in their influence) to the heart, arteries, glands,
 veins, ducts, and  surfaces,  wherever the circulation of fluids of  any kind is
 conducted.   This system of  nerves is called the vegetative and the nutritive,
 because it presides  over the  growth and nutrition of the body;  the  sp>lanch-
nic, because it is  found prominent among the  splanchnica  or viscera of the
body, and the sympathetic,  because it is designed to carry impressions  from 
56
ALLOPATHY  EXPOSED,
one  series of organs to another; and  the  fact that it does carry impressions
both from distant organs to the mind, and  from the mind to distant organs;
from the dermoid (skin) surface to the  mucous, and from the mucous (inner)
to the  dermoid or outer, as manifested in  the mental operations of love, and
of hatred or disgust, in the relation  of chills and fever, of perspiration and
diarrhoea, is  proof that this system, like that of external relation, is double,
or active and reactive.
   183. The  Intellectual Nerves.   Lastly, there are large portions of nervous
matter above, before, behind,  beside,  and  below the top of  the  spinal cord
called  the medulla oblongata, all lying in convolutions within the compass of
the skull.  These I call  intellectual nerves.  Their use  is  to perform the
operations of perception, reflection and judgment;  also of affection and all the
animal emotions.   For particular descriptions of all the systems of nervous
arrangements, see works on anatomy, physiology and phrenology;  also my
Lectures on Medical Scienee.
   184. Sympathetic  Antagonisms.  From  this  view of  the nervous system,
we see that it has an external distribution which is affected by external causes;
and an internal, influenced by internal causes, including  the vital  force.   We
also  perceive that its superior and  inferior distributions are opposed to each
other and, through the sympathetic, sympathize with each other.   These are
its antagonisms.
   185. Healthy State of Nerves.  When  all these  systems are  in perfect
order,  and their action is unobstructed,  they are said  to be  healthy  or in
health.  In this case, there is,  or may be, a perfect equilibrium of action, and
therefore can be no such thing as nervous disease.   But,
   186. The  derangements of their ability  to respond with  equal facility  to
the action of the  vital force,  are  the essence of all forms of " nervous dis-
ease,"  and the exciting  causes of those derangements  and the states thus pro-
duced,  are what  the physiologist should ever carefully avoid, and the physician
as carefully remoATe.  But  men who count irritation, fever and inflammation
disease, can never enter even the portico of the beautiful temple of Hygeia and
of scientific and successful  medication.
   187. The  object of these nervous centres or systems, is to constitute the
primary seats of the vital  force; and that of their connexions  and  ramifica-
tions is to serve as conductors of that  force to every part of  the body, and as
instruments through which it moves every part to normal or healthy action.
   188. The  vital force may be said to be fixed in every tissue, to an extent
and degree sufficient, under ordinary  circumstances, to  preserve that tissue
from decomposition, and to enable it to perform the functions  necessary to the
supply of its own Avants.   It manifests itself in  the  healthy condition of all
the tissues,  in the ordinary circulation of the  blood, in  the life sustaining
secretions throughout the system, and  the respiration \vhile asleep.
   189. Vital force,  cumulative by stimuli,  and  available.   This force  is
capable of being accumulated by its  own  action, and made available by the
will, as in thought, speaking, running, the exercise of love or hatred;—or by
external excitants, as electricity,  caloric; or by the application  of  material
substances—all which are  called stimuli.   Thus, if bruised  mustard seed  or
a nettle, or a solution of pepper, or any  acrid drug be applied to a portion' of
the external  surface, or taken  internally, the sensitive nerves are aroused  to
a higher action than before, causing pain which manifests an increase of the 
CRITICISED  AND CORRECTED.
57
vital  force.   This increase may be  propagated or extended to other tissues—
hence I call it available, or capable of beiug used for other purposes than  the
mere  sustenance of the tissue.
   190. How manifested—effects—disease.   This degree of vital force is mani-
fested in the exercise of all  the senses, in  every  locomotion,  in  thinking,
speaking, &c, for all which purposes it can be accumulated at will, and trans-
ferred from one point to another; as from limb to limb in walking; hand to
hand  in  gesticulation; from  perception to  reason and reason to emotion  in
argument: but, while it may be regulated at will, there is no objection to its
use.  It may also be accumulated against the will, as in a burn, or a blister,
but by whatever means excited, it  can not  long be continued in some  parts
without weakening in others,  the power to  preserve an equilibrium of action
in all.  Thus, a  severe  and long continued  concentration of the vital  force
on the brain, so drains the power  from the muscular structures, that the limbs
are unable to perform their proper  offices, while it also over-works and pros-
trates the brain itself, and this inability of both parts of the system to perform
their  proper functions, is disease.
   191.  The over excited action of  the organs of perception and intellect, by
whatever  means  aroused,  is at first called  nervous or brain fever;  if long
continued and intense, it is called inflammation of the brain or phrenitis.   It
is still, however, the same action, and from  the  same  cause (the vital force)
as Avhen  induced by study;  and  is no  more disease in  one  case than  in
another.
   192.  The first great error of medical men consists in their considering this
nenTous and arterial excitement disease, and in making war against  it.
   193.  The second  great error consists in supposing that the different mani-
festations of this vital derangement, are  caused by differences in its  nature,
instead  of mere  differences in the  circumstances under  which  it is excited.
Thus they call grief, anger,  love-sickness &c, different diseases.
   194.  A third  error consists in supposing  that  the  organic locality of the
affection makes a difference in its essential nature: thus they have different
kinds of insanity; instead of  including all cases of it in the general category
of derangement of the equilibrium of nervous action.
   195.  A fourth error consists in their considering the derangement different
because it is found on tissues of different nervous endowment; thus, they count
phrenitis and sciatica and tetanus,  very different diseases, though they are all
simple derangements of  nervous capability of action; and are cured by equal-
izing  their physiological capabilities.
   196.  A fifth error consists  in  their considering and treating derangements
of the circulation as  something different from  those  of the  nervous  action;
when, in fact, they  are  the same thing, essentially, viz. derangement of  the
equilibrium of the vital force, no matter  on  Avhat organ  or tissue (194, 195)
it is observed.
   197.  A sixth great error consists in their considering fever and  inflamma-
tion different  and distinct diseases; when in fact they  are different  only in
stage  and extent, and no disease at all.
   198.  A seventh error, is, like the one of the nerves, the counting and treat-
ing of inflammation  of the  different organs or  tissues as  distinct diseases,
instead  of the same.  Thus, inflammation of the ear, and  gout, are by them 
58
ALLOPATHY  EXPOSED,
called different diseases, and treated  differently, whereas they are  the  same,
and removed by equalizing the circulation.
   199. An  eighth error,  grows  necessarily out of  the first, viz.  That all
these vital manifestations being  disease, must  be treated with  lancets and
poisons, and other means  and processes that ruin  the constitution.   This 'is
the great error of errors of Allopathic Therapeutics.
   200. Health—disease.   Thus  it  is  perceived that the nonces  possess  a
property, quality or capability, or disposition to act  more  promptly and vio-
lently than usual, on the application of their proper stimuli.   To preserve this
capacity for equilibrium,  is to preserve health—to destroy it  is to produce
disease.
   201. Each of the nervous arrangements  is excited to action by its appro-
priate character of stimuli.  Thus, the  general  sense  and the taste, by gross
matter in massive form of irritating and  sapid substances, or by materio-motive
powers, as  caloric  and electricity; the smelling by  matter in its  extremely
minute, elementary or proximate forms; the hearing  by waves of the atmos-
phere;  the seeing by light, and  the  intellectual, the  motor, the respiratory
and the  splanchnic, by the vital force alone (the latter through the medium
of the blood.)
   202. All the nervous manifestations of vital action,  save the respiratory
and the nutritive, may be  quiescent for considerable intervals of time, without
any injury to the organs.   So may some of the functions of the splanchnic, as
generation, gestation and lactation, in which  the available vital power only is
manifested.
   203. Irritability and  excitability are  terms used to  represent the ability,
disposition or property of a tissue to respond to the  influence of its appropriate
stimulus.   It is most commonly applied to nerves,  muscles and blood-vessels,
though properly speaking  it belongs to every  tissue save the  mere  earthy
matter of bone, and the  nails and hair.
   Irritation, excitation and excitement, are used to signify both the applica-
tion of a stimulus to a tissue, and the action of that tissue when so  irritated.
   204.  The means of irritation &c, may be any thing and  eArerythin<* that
can  either invite action, as good food  or medicines,  a good motive, a good
feeling;  or may  provoke  it, as poisonous articles, ill treatment &c, but by
whatever means aroused, whether the action be high or low, regular or irregu-
lar, equally or  unequally diffused over or through the  body, it is  always pro-
duced by the  same  one  cause, the vital farce;  and is, therefore  always sus-
taining, conservative and  curative—never tending, except by  abuse  to  the
destruction of the body or any part of it.

   205.  Healthy State.  Though any  nervous or other tissue  may be excited
for a short time,  to a very high degree of  action, as the brain in thinking and
speaking, the arms in climbing,  or the  feet in walking, yet, if this action ia
not continued till the tissue becomes prostrated by  it,  or till other tissues lose
their power to  receive  and dispose  of the  excess thus raised, the  equilibrium
will soon  be restored,  on  removal  of the  cause  of  the local excitement that
invited or  provoked the derangement;  yet, if every part of this  nervous Cor
other) structure  is free  to act to  its full measure, there is no permanently
excessive  action  of any  part of it, and, of course all is considered healthy
action.   And this capable  condition is the healthy state. 
CRITICISED  AND CORRECTED.
59
  206.  Diseased State.   But, let some part of it be excited  too severely and
too long, and not  only  a derangement of the general action, but a  loss of
power to act takes place.   For example:  If  we pursue  our studies so long
and so intensely that, when we cease, the cerebral excitement, pain  in the head
and cold  feet and  surface continue;  the nerves of  the brain have  lost their
ability to shake  off the excitement, and those of the extremities and  the sur-
face  have lost theirs to call  it off.   The equilibrium of  ability is destroyed,
and the inability to restore it is disease.
  207.  The disease is not often found altogether in the locality of the excite-
ment.   In irritation  of  the brain, for example, there is  a diminution of the
excitability of the nerves of the surface and lower extremities, because of the
withdrawal of the nervous force from them to the brain.   Hence the pressure
of the blood from them, increases the inability of the organs of the  brain to
rid themselves of its mechanical influence, and its  stimulating effects,  gene-
rating heat and  still exciting them to more  fruitless effort.  The disease  then,
is both  in the brain and  on the surface; and both need the aid of art for their
relief, because both have  lost their balance, the one by excessive action, the
other by diminution of the ordinary quantity.
  208.  Counter-Irritation.  As the vital force stimulating the brain, sets and
keeps it in motion, so the same  force can be sent,  by ceasing to study and
taking exercise, to  the surface, muscles, viscera and lower extremities, leaving
the brain comparatively at rest.  The  equilibrium being  restored in both
localities, health is preserved  and established.  The  same thing can be done
by the  vapor bath, friction with  stimulants, and  taking  diffusives internally,
Avhich last much aid exercise.   This is called counter-irritation.
  It is  an established law of the animal economy, that, when any  part of it is
over-excited, by whatever means, the action from  other  parts accumulates  at
the point of excitement, to defend  it against injury, as a poison, or to aid it
in doing good, as in digesting food; and that, if  the exciting cause  (even
the good food), be not soon removed, this accumulated action over-works and
debilitates the part on which  it is concentrated.  It can  be  properly removed
only by removing the excitant and inviting the action to other tissues.  This
restores to each equilibrium  of action, which is healthy.  The  ancients, ob-
serving the uniformity of the first condition, laid it down  as a maxim,

                           "Ubi irritatlo ibi affluzus."

Wherever there is irritation there is a vital and fluid accumulation;  and they
might have  added, " when this  afflux becomes troublesome, it can be called
away by irritating a counter part: and thus, disease  produced by local  irrita-
tion, may be cured by counter-irritation.
  209.  Irritation in  itself  Physiological.  From what has been said and
proved  on this  subject, it is  very  evident that irritation is not disease, but
purely  physiological action, aroused and  concentrated for the purpose of per-
forming some extra duty; as intense thinking, feeling or speaking: or pro-
tecting  the system from  injury;  as  in the closing of the  eye in a mid-day sun
to enable it to bar the light, the  shaking of the  skin of  a horse  to keep off
flies.__or for removing a cause of disease, an offending agent, as in the excite-
ment of the stomach or  bowels to get rid of poisonous drugs.
  210.  How treat Irritation.  Of course the object of the practitioner should
be to let it alone where  both  the excitant and the object  are good, to equalize 
60                        ALLOPATHY  EXPOSED,
if Avhen it is excessive or wrongly directed, and to remove the excitant if bad
But in no case to paralyze  or destroy the power of  the nervous  system  to
produce this deranged and accumulated excitement.
  211.  The false impressions of medical men, that this deranged and  over-
excited  nervous action is disease, or as with many,  that the  organs or tissues
that produce it are diseased,  and therefore should be deprived  of their power
to produce it, has led to the use in medication of  a class of most  destructive
agents called narcotics, which they confess have done a vast amount of injury
in the civilized world (71 to 79).  As these narcotics are known  to  be such
only by their power to depress nervous excitement; and, as nervous excitement
is  called  by  Allopatliists disease,  they must,  of  course,  be counted  good
medicines.   But, since, in actual experience  they often kill, it is found  neces-
sary to limit their supposed good, but really unchangeably mischievous quali-
ties, to  those  cases  in which the vital  force resists their  action, and expels
them from its domains; when their character becomes conditional, that  of
"good medicines in skillful  hands," or  when it cannot expel  them  they are
"treacherous  palliates," "irretrievably" ruinous, " destructiA'e  narcotics,"
"dangerous sedatives," "deceptive as  the serpent of  Eden and  equally
fatal" (76).
  212.  True Anodgnes and Nervines.   Since irritation is purely physiological
(178), the only rational  relief  for the  condition of  the tissues  manifested  by
a permanently deranged nervous excitement (181), consists in restoring equili-
brium to  the  nervous action ; ceasing to excite  the tissue Avhere it  is too
active, and rousing it where  it  is deficient.   And  this can be properly done
only by agents whose innate qualities supply the current demands of  the vital
force.  Thus if a part be irritated, it requires a relaxing and soothing agent;
as water  and relaxing aromatics.   Warm spear mint tea relaxes the tissues
and relieves tension and irritation, the nervous effort to remove Avhich  is called
pain.  Lobelia is powerful to relax and  of course one of the best anodynes,
Avhile it never narcotizes.  So  the vapor bath removes obstructions and hence
irritation and pain.
  213. In common headache from too much study,  the vital force  excites the
nervous structure to  exalted  action, which all  agree is as healthy to the
brain as walking  is to the limbs.   But, if it is continued too long  and too
severely, it overworks the brain which then  complains by aching, as  the feet
do from too fast and  too long continued walking.   Is this irritation  disease ?
and  must Ave give narcotics to deprive the nerves of  the power to tell  us of it,
by aching ?  or shall we call off the  motive power from the brain, by  exciting
other parts of  the   nervous  system to action, so as to  let  the  brain rest
awhile'(   If the latter, can deadly narcotics that stop all nervous action do it?
or shall Ave  use physiological  relaxants, as  rest, and  nervines to  the aching
brain, and stimulate the muscular system to call off the vital force from the
efforts of the brain in study ?
  214.  The true test of remedies is their constant tendency in action to restore
directly the healthy state.  Of course, not those that depress nervous  activity,
but  those that restore equilibrium to it,  are  the true anodynes.  Thus we see
the truth of our doctrine (211), that it is their erroneous opinion in relation to
the  nature and tendency of irritation, &c, that has both dictated  the use of
poisonous agents, and deprived medical men  of the power to determine with
any degree of  nearness  to a  certainty,  what is and what  is not  narcotic  or
poisonous;  and even induced  them to pronounce the best articles of food 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
61
 poisonous when they excite the organs to a full  performance of their  physio-
 logical  functions, as the nerves to irritation, and  the  mucous membrane to
 vomiting and purging, or, in aromatic form, to coughing and sneezing.
   215.   The oppositions to nervous action are  the destruction of the  tissue by
 chemical or mechanical means, the former corroding or narcotizing,  the latter
 simply  compressing; as when  a cord is  tied  tightly around a nerve, or when
 any part of the system is bent for some time much out of its natural  shape;
 as when the arms or legs have been long draAvn up to acute angles, or where
 vessels  are  clogged  by morbific matter.  It is  also sensibly exhibited in the
 shape of corns on the feet, in which cases, the flesh over the joint or projecting
 part of  a bone has been compressed so long that the fluids have been exuded,
 the  solids have  become dry and hard, and have adhered together.  Cellular
 tissues,  muscles, blood-vessels, lymphatics, nerves and skin, are all united in
 one mass, and this ultimately in some cases to the bone.  The circulation and
 nervous action through it are  impeded, the blood accumulates before  it, and
 stimulates the  nerves to an extra effort to remove  the  obstacles and  set the
 tissues  free.   This effort being fruitless, the action returns upon the brain and
 produces a  sense of uneasiness, which,  if slight, we call irritation;  but if
 severe,  we call  it pain, dull,  heavy,  acute,  mild, severe,  lacerating, darting,
 stellate, &c, according to its degree, or mode of  manifestation.   In a  boil or
 an ulcer, the impediment is the pressure of the accumulated blood.
   216.  Pain, then,  in all cases, is  simply the notice  or impression which the
 nervous tissue conveys to the brain that some part of  its structure or arrange-
 ments is enthralled  and other parts are over-excited.   Of course, if it is not
 itself disease, nor are the  nerves that manifest it, performing any other than
 their physiological office of  carrying impressions to the brain, it follows that
   217.   To cure pain, no agent or practice should be used that has a tendency
 to deprive the nerves of the power to produce it;  but that we  should  remove
 the cause of oppression and irritation from the part that is enthralled.   It is
 just as  philosophical to give opium to stop the  pain of a  corn, and leave the
 hard, tight shoe still obstructing vital action; as it is  to give it to relieve pain
 in the head, the heart or the bowels, without  removing  the exciting cause,
 and cleansing the system of obstructions.
   218.  Having established  in their minds the  erroneous  notion  that pain is
 disease,  or at least that the extraordinary physiological action that produces it
 is " morbid," Allopathists have set themselves to devising and discovering
 ways and means to depress and destroy that action.
   219.  Action of Narcotics.   Experience and observation have taught them
 that the whole tribe of  agents  they haA-e called narcotics, of which opium is
 the prince, will, if  they give  enough, infallibly  do  this work, and  hence,
notwithstanding  that  same experience has fully proved  to them that these
narcotics, though  given with  all their precaution  and skill, and only to the
extent of producing the desired effect,  are  often " treacherous  palliatives,"
and "dangerous  sedatives," "deceptive" and "destructive as the serpent of
Eden,"  they still  pronounce them "good medicines in skillful hands"—the
magnum  dei d.onum,—u the  great gift  of  God,  for  the relief of suffering
humanity."—Harrison.  And persist in giving them  to "produce pleasant
sensations," " allay  irritation," " procure refreshing sleep," which they do by
"deadening sensibility," "paralyzing nervous energy,"  &c, &c. (71  to 77).
  220.  Practice, Allopathic and Physio-Medical,  compared.   In the dark-
ness of  such fundamental errors as this, that irritation is disease, how  are the 
62
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
wisest men ever to learn any thing of the true character of  remedies as either
good or bad?  Under the influence  of ttHCommou  sense, the monitor which
gives notice of the thraldom of an organ, must be deprived, by deadly agents,
of the  poAver to give that notice; but,  under the  guidance  of our common
sense, the obstruction to the free action of  the nerve should be removed, when
the pain would cease of itself, because there Avould no longer be any occasion or
exciting cause for it,  Take off the hard  or tight shoe, soak the foot awhile in
hot water, pare off the dead part of the corn, and  wear a buckskin moccasin for
a month.   The waste will be built up, the circulation and nervous action  will
be free, and there will  be no occasion for the use of narcotics to " lull" 01
" deaden the pain."
  221. Irritation  and Pain  are Blessings.  This  physiological  impression
called irritation and pain, is the true "magnum Dei donum," the great  gift
of God to man, to warn  the violators of physiological  laws,  of  the  mischief
they are doing, even in the slightest degree.  Let  any one  take any bodily
position in which the nervous action is in the least obstructed or impeded, and
he Avill  soon feel  " irritated" or uncomfortable,  and inclined  to change  that
position.  If he continues the violation much longer,  the  irritation amounts
to pain.   If he obeys this warning, changes  his  position, he  is soon relieved.

  222.  Destruction of Nerves.   If he change not his position, the obstructions
continue till vitality is lost, and chemical  lesion takes place,  as  in the forma-
tion of an ulcer.   Here the destruction of a part of the nen'es, and the thral-
dom of the rest  in the pressure of the swelling arteries, and  the irritation of
the accumulated blood, all combine to keep up the irritation, soreness, or pain,
till the lesion is healed and  the  circulation becomes free  and the nerves are
released again.
  223.  Effects of Narcotism.   Here too it is evident that the use of a nar-
cotic to deaden the pain, that is, to deprive the nerve of the power to produce
it, must, in  the same degree deaden the power of the nutritive tissues (external
capillaries)  to heal the wound; and  who can  tell how many "old  sores,"
" fever sores,"  "felons,"  " calomel sores," " mercurial ulcers,"  &c, "refuse
to heal," spread Avider and descend deeper, to  the destruction of the bones
and the  loss of the limbs, and  even to  the death of the whole  man, because
of the destructive action of the opium or other narcotics which were given  in
6mall doses " merely to relieve pain and  gain time" ?  It is true that no scru-
tinizing eye can ever see, or calculation estimate, the full amount of this  mis-
chief;  but  all  intelligent and  honest medical  men agree that it  has  been
immense, ever since the first use of narcotics for the relief of pain (see  Nos
71 to 79).                                                        v
   224. Narcotizing Reformers.  Yet, notwithstanding all this evidence against
them, both from  testimony and from personal  observation, even many physi-
cians who profess  to be Reformers—to  use only a  sanative medication__are
continually administering narcotics to " relieATe  pain," while the other tissues
equally  relieved by  the  same  remedy  (?)  of  their power to  perform  their
respective offices, are expected  to be very busy in  curing the  disease !  or at
least much refreshed and prepared for this service!
   Dr. J. R. Buchanan once said  that all true Reformers  would finally unite
on the total rejection of all articles of this kind (406); but,  because we rejected
them from  the first and he "progressed backward, instead  of forward (408) he
 since said that we were  as huukerish as the old school." 
CRITICIjED AND CORRECTED.
63
   225. It is not known whether the vital force is circulated through the nerves,
 as electricity is through metalic  wires, or simply excited  in localities, by the
 elastic action of the centers of nervous globules.  I was of the latter opinion;
 but,  finding, in fact, some strong objections Avhich the  former opinion re-
 moves, I am now inclined to think that  the available vital force,  circulates
 through the nerves as electricity does  through the  Avires of the telegraph.
 On the elastic supposition  I could account for the excitement to action, in-
 stantaneously, of  all the poAver of a single part; but I could not explain how
 that part,  as a hand or a foot,  should be thus enabled to exercise,  for a
 moment, almost the Avhole  strength of the body;  or  hoAv inflammation of the
 brain should deprive the Avhole body of its usual muscular power.
   On the supposition of  the circulation  of the nervous fluid from part to
 part, these facts, as Avell as all others connected with the subject, are easily
 explained.   The  locomotion of the vital  force through the nerves is there-
 fore most  probably the true one.   It is fortunate, however, that the settle-
 ment of this  question is not indispensable to a  full understanding of  the
 effects of irritation or of determination;  nor to a successful treatment of these
 derangements, any more than it  is that we should know just hoAv the corn
 grows to enable us to recognize that it does grow; or to plant, cultivate and
 harvest it.
   226. In No. 161 to 176  I  spoke of the ramifications throughout the body
 of a series of vessels,  tubes, &c, denominated  the circulating system, to the
 action of wdiich and its results I now devote more particular attention.
   Since, by the circulation, the animal frame is formed from the embryo; puri-
 fied and supported in health, and restored from the conditions of disease, it
 follows that a  thorough knowledge of its  actions and tendencies is indispen-
 sable to a scientific and successful sustenance of life and health, and a safe
 and  speedy restoration from disease.
   There is no  subject to Avhich the attention of any  person  in the world can
 be directed, that can  at all compare  writh this in the value  of the benefits
 Avhich it is able to confer.  Of Avhat use  to any  one are all the  other blessings
 of this earth,  Avhen the body is racked Avith pain or the reason dethroned?
   " Very well," says one,  " but is it possible for anyr person to learn hoAv to
 prevent these? "
   227.  As easily learn it, I answer, as  to learn how to prevent hunger, thirst,
 cold, and poverty—aye,  much easier than the  latter, unless this  knowledge
 should be first obtained, for sickness is  a very frequent cause  of poverty.

   228. Let then, him who would obtain the priceless boon, study well what I
 have already written, and still more thoroughly Avhat I  am about to Avrite on
 the subject of the circulation; and, when he understands it, let  him practice it
 at once, and through  all his future life.  Thus,  unless his system has been
 already ruined by disease or  by mal-practice to  cure  it,  or accident should
 cut him off, health and  long life  shall be  his happy  portion, and sorrow and
 sighing shall constitute no portion of his heritage.

   229.  Fever, Inflammation, Congestion.  From the  description I have given
of the structure, arrangement ?.nd functions of  the nerves  and the blood-
vessels, it is evident that the vital force and the blood may  be  instantane-
ously accumulated in any tissue, in a quantity much greater than is needed
for the performance of the ordinary functions of that tissue.  Since the blood
is not, on the  whole, very rapidly increased nor  diminished, and  it is quite 
64
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
 questionable Avhether the vital force is ever increased or diminished, it follows
 of course, that, if they concentrate themselves temporarily in one locality,
 they must be  just to that degree absent from some other locality, and hence
 the constant alternate destruction and restoration of the equilibrium of blood,
 and action in the tissues.
  We are aware that this accumulation and extra  action can  be commenced
 in many parts of the body, as the  brain, the tongue, the limbs, &c, by an
 effort of the "will.  This I call a direct action.
  Or it may be commenced by forcing the blood from other parts to a tissue,
 as the accumulation of  blood  and action  in the pleura, the peritoneum, the
 bronchi, in  the alvine canal, &c, is often produced by the pressure of  them
 from the surface, caused by cold.   This I call indirect or passive accumula-
 tion, congestion,  &c.    This accumulation and  action may be invited  to a
 part by the  direct application  of other stimuli than the  will or vital power;
 but,  by whatever  means accumulated, as  in pleurisy, from cold, or whether
 the blood, or  the  vital  force, as in study, act  first, both being the natural
 stimulants of  the  body, the result is soon the  accumulation  of heat, and a
burning sensation.   Hence  the word/ever, from ferveo, to heat, all the  cases
of Avhich may be said to consist in an accumulation of blood in an extensive
portion  of the body, with an excited state of the  arterial  capillary tissues that
contain that blood.  It may or may not be preceded, attended or succeeded by
a degree of  heat, redness, pain or swelling, manifest  to the  senses, though
heat is generally and the others are less frequently manifested.  If this accu-
mulation and action are confined to a small locality, it is called inflammation.
  230.  This excitement  is always  a vital  action,  the same in  character as
thatAvhich circulates the blood freely, and performs every other physiological
act in a state of health.  All the  differences visible in connection wich it,
arise from the different  structures and conditions of structure in which the
action is observed.
  Loose,  spongy organs,  as glands, mucous membranes, muscles,  receive
much blood and become red  and sAvollen,  but not often very painful, not
being much enthralled.  The serous membranes, the  tendinous tissues, and
the external surface,  are more dense;  and receive less  blood, but compress
 the nerves more, and are, of course, less red and swollen, but  more painful.
  231.  Any excitement above the ordinary degree, from whatever cause, as a
blush, Avill produce an accumulation of blood in a part beyond its immediate
 wants.  Anger will produce redness of the whole face and neck; and severe
 exercise or a vapor bath, and. generally a cold shoAver bath, or effete matter in
the capillaries, will excite a general accumulation of blood on the surface, with
 swelling of  the tissue.  But, if the cause be not  long active,  the  superior
 capacity of  the absorbents,  in number and caliber, over the secernents, will
 soon remove the surplus, and  all "will be  right  again.   It is only when the
 secernents have  lost, by  long distension, their recuperative  or contractile
 power, to recover when the pressure is removed;  and the absorbents  their
expansive force, or capacity for absorption; or when some obstruction exists
 in the vessels, as retained effete matter, or when a strong pressure is directed
 from a closed  surface, as in colds, &c, that the accumulation of blood and
action becomes permanent, and is called  fever, (or inflammation, according
 to the extent of its locality or the stage of its progress.)

  232.  How subsides.   When the excitement, or the mechanical obstacles
 which occasioned the blood to accumulate in apart, is removed, the absorbents 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
65
 soon recover their advantage over the secernents; the excess of blood or
 other fluids is removed, and  the fever or inflammation subsides for want of
 an error or an injury to be corrected by it.   All that is necessary to accom-
 plish this, is to relax the whole system, invite the circulation freely to the sur-
 face, cleanse the stomach and bowels by an emetic, and an enema, if necessary,
 and promote perspiration by a free use of aromatic fluids.   This invariably
 so far relieves  the congested vessels, that absorption or resolution soon re-
 lieves them Avholly, and this depuration is the last process of Avhat is properly
 termed fever, by those who suppose fever and inflammation to be distinct
 affections; or the first mode of  relief by us who consider them only different
 stages of the same process.
   It is called a crisis, as the patient is immediately relieved of the irritation,
 congestion and  offending  matter, and the  circulation moves on again as
 before.
   233. Condition  of  the tissues.  In  the  early stage of fever there  is  an
 increased action of the capillaries and flow of blood both to and through the
 part in a given  time ;  and a fuller, stronger and quicker pulse.   In external
 fever, the  distension  of  the  capillaries admits a predominance of arterial
 blood in the surface, a fullness  and smoothness of  the skin, and  an increase
 of heat, which conditions exist in all cases, and are more or less manifest
 where the obstructions are not so great as much to depress the vital opera-
 tions.  In the second stage,  that is, where the absorbents  become so closed
 by the  pressure of the  arterial circulation,  or by mechanical obstructions.,
 that they cannot remove the fluids as fast as they accumulate, the circulation
 is impeded and  after  much fruitless effort the pulse often  becomes smaller
 and weaker, and even softer,  though sometimes more Aviry and corded, than
 natural, all depending upon the different conditions of the tissues and their
 ability to respond to the action  of the vital force.
   234. Names of fever.  If the concentration  is confined to a small  organ
 and the excitement is severe, it is called  inflammatory fever.  Thus a local
 fever and a general inflammation, are the same; no one having  marked the
 boundaries to which either state shall extend, or given signs by which  the
 one can be certainly distinguished  from the other.   Brain fever and inflam-
 mation  of  the  brain; lung  fever, and  pneumonia;  puerperal fever and
 puerperal  peritonitis,  are  respectively synonymous, or different names  for
 the same affections.
   If  the feArer or inflammation come  on suddenly7 and violently, it is called
 acute, if gradually and  imperceptibly, chronic.  If invited by irritation of
 the part, it is called active ; if forced by sending the blood from some other
 quarter, it is called passive.   The  obstructed states of the system  also give
 it names, as  synochoid, typhoid; so the effects, as eruptive, putrid, &c

   235.  The  cause  of fever  and inflammation, like that of  irritation, mental
and muscular motion, and every other physiological act of  the system is
always one and the same, the  vital force (171, 180), Avhich produces all
other actions in the system that are not chemical, in other Avords that may
not be produced in it after death, by instituting the same chemical  relations.

   236. Example—The eye.  In health, the sclerotic or outer white coat of
most persons' eyes  is of a bluish cast in consequence of the predominance of
venous blood in it.   Put into the eye a little weak  infusion of cayenne and
you stimulate the nerves, and these the blood vessels to action.   This action 
66
ALLOPATHY EXIOSED,
generates heat; this  heat uniting with the moisture of the blood, expands
the arterial capillaries which thus press more than  usually upon the venous
absorbents.   The  result is, the venous blood already in  the absorbents, is
forced away ;  the arterial is accumulated till it predominates, when the eyes
are red, "bloodshot," and they smart with the pain  excited by the irritation,
first of the cayenne, secondly of the heat, and thirdly of  the arterial blood.
This is inflammation.
   As the irritation subsides, the excited action subsides, the  contractility of
the arterial  capillaries recover their tonic or natural and usual dimensions,
the absorbents, relieved of the pressure, expand, take up the excess of  blood
and remove it, and the coat of the eye  becomes white again.   This is  called
resolution.  Any other  irritant than cayenne  in  the eye excites the same
inflammatory  action,  but not every other  excitant allows it so  readily to
subside and without  injury, but rather with the  benefit  of purifying  the
tissue of morbific  materials, and  restoring  its healthy action.   If lobelia be
added  to the cayenne  or used Avithout  it, the vessels are expanded as well as
stimulated, and hence their purification by the more easy removal of morbific
matter, is more complete.
   If we wish  to check  this  inflammatory action, we  can apply to the  eye
moisture in the form of AArater or thin poultices, and it will aid in the process
of relaxation ;  and, by absorbing the heat,  will check the irritation.  If cold,
the Avater absorbs  the heat more rapidly, and, by thus preventing the  irrita-
tion which its excess produces, it aids the contractility of the capillaries in
recovering their smaller dimensions, and thus gives space for the absorbents
which are laboring to expand, to recover their larger size, and to remove the
accumulated fluid.  If the water is cold Avhen applied, it soon be'eomes Avaim
and loses its power to absorb the heat.   It then becomes relaxing instead of
tonic, till it is changed  for cold.   But, if  the cold  water  contain a  solution
of some  powerful astringent, this latter aids in producing contractility and
retains its influence after it becomes Avarm, so as to prevent the accumulation
of blood  and the generation of more heat.    Every pure astringent is able to
aid distended arterial capillaries in recovering their  proper dimensions, Avhile
no one can so far contract the absorbents (against nature) as to prevent them
from  taking  up all the  fluids which  the  arterial  capillaries in health can
supply them.   Therefore no pure vegetable  astringent is poison—but all are
good in their place, or Avhen tissues require their aid.
   The superficial  observer and  careless  thinker may object that the cold
water or the astringent  Avill contract the absorbents  as well as the secernants,
and thus preserve the derangement.   That Avould  be true if nature were
doing  nothing in  the  case.  But  the vital force is striving to contract the
arterial capillaries  and  to expand  the absorbents.  The cold  water  and
astringents acting  in  direct  harmony with the vital force  in the arterial
capillaries, is  kindly received and alloAved  to exert  its full force__the two
united accomplish the object, and this is Avhat is meant by medicines  actinw
in harmony with that force.   The cold and astringents assay to contract the
absorbents also; but here they are  resisted by the vital force.   If the water
is so cold or  the astringents are so strong as to completely or nearlv over-
come that expansive force, they Avould stop absorption and  prove mischievous,
thus very cold Avater sometimes removes the skin.   But water of such a low
temperature,  or astringents of so great poAver should neArer be applied.   The
absorbents are so numerous and  large that an astringent force amply capa-
ble of aiding  the vital  force in reducing the contracting arterial capillaries 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.                    67
 to their proper dimensions, may not be able  to contract the more  numerous
 larger and expanding absorbents (as the arterial pressure is taken from them),
 and prevent them from removing the accumulated blood, and restoring equili-
 brium of the circulation ; and, of course a healthy condition to the tissue.
   Any article in its nature tending to destroy the elastic force of the tissue,
 is poison and should be ahvays discarded.   One that may overcome it only
 by the degree of its poAver, is good and should not be abused; that is, used
 to excess, or Avhen it  is not AAranted.   It is  thus by observing  the tendency
 of substances to aid or oppose vital action,  that Ave determine  the character
 of external agents as medicines or poisons.

   a.   Inflammation.   This term has been  giA'en,  time  immemorial,  to
 certain actions  and  conditions of the animal  tissues, which  no observing
 person can  fail  to discoA-er; but which  many of the  most distinguished
 medical men, in  all ages and  countries, have attempted  in vain to describe.
 They  confess that, notwithstanding their careful and extended observation
 (28 to 48), their diligent search,  their  establishment of fever hospitals (34),
 and other praiseworthy efforts to  "more certainly ascertain its true nature,"
 they have accomplished nothing of their grand object;  their conclusions  are
 "very unsatisfactory" (35), "altogether problematical" (36); and "afford
 little help in determining the plan of treatment" (35).

   237. / consider  it only a circumscribed fever, in its  concentrated forms
 and later stages—simply  accumulation  of blood  and  excitement  in  the
 arterial capillaries of a tissue.
   238. Discussion of it, resolution.   It is not generally customary, among
 Allopatliists, to pronounce  accumulated action inflammation, till  the circu-
 lation  has  become so  completely arrested as "to change someAvhat  the
 character of the  blood and of the secretions."—(Erichsen's Surgery,  p. 36
 to 44).   But this can scarcely be said of a blush Avhich Hunter calls "the
 simplest  form of  inflammation,"—"a simple act of the constitution,"—in
 Avhich the sudden and powerful action of the heart and arteries, distends and
 fills the capillaries of the latter,  so completely as to compress, for a moment,
 the  mouths  of the absorbents  to such a degree as to  prevent them from
 taking up the  blood as fast as it accumulates;  the result (in the face) is,
 redness,  fullness  and  slight heat.  But, the cause soon ceasing to act,  the
 arteries also act less  powerfully and press  less upon  the absorbents which
 now expand more freely, drink in and  remove the  obstructions, and restore
 the equilibrium.   This is called resolution or the first termination of inflam-
 mation, and nature herself effects it, when let alone generally; Avhen properly
 assisted almost always.

   239. Active exercise produces for a time the same condition of the general
 surface that we  see on  the cheek in a blush; and rest from  that exercise
 gives relief  from arterial, diffusive pressure; when the capillaries contract,
 the absorbents expand,  and the equilibrium of circulation is restored.   So
 far, medical men  are not disposed  to regard this accumulation of excitement,
 and of blood and heat  in a part, as anything unnatural or improper.

  240.  But, if this excess or accumulation of  blood is confined  to a small
 region  of the body, and the stasis  is nearly complete and more permanent, it
 is called inflammation, though in truth that Avhich is properly termed inflam-
mation (the action), is almost subdued. 
68
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
  If it extends over a large region, and the  arterial derangements are slight,
the case is called fever.   Hence it is evident that there is no natural dividing
line between fever and inflammation.  In their character they are the same.

  241. Erichsen, the distinguished Surgeon of  the London University Col-
lege and  Hospital, says :—
  "It is  difficult to say, except by the persistence and intensity of the symp-
toms, that the physiological state has ended and the pathological one has com-
menced."   Pray what degree  of  "persistence and intensity  of  the symp-
toms," shall  constitute  the  dividing line  between that increase simply in
poAver and permanence and not in character ?
  As signs of inflammation, he gives, " Alteration in color, in size, in sen-
sation, in temperature and function, of the part  affected."   And adds (page
40th), "Each of these conditions may separately occur, or two  or more be
associated together without the existence of inflammation.    It is the peculiai
grouping together of  them all, that characterizes the  presence of  this patho-
logical condition."

  242. Comments.   No  signs to  distinguish fever  from  inflammation, oi
irritation.   Where, for example, is the change of color in phlegmasia dolena
and synovitis? of  color or size in neuralgia, (inflammation of the nerves,)
of sensation  or temperature (tangible) in  carditis, splenitis  and  hepatitis;
and what of function in the blush ?  Any that can  be so  appreciated as to
"afford any  help in determining the plan of treatment?"  (35), or tell us
"how it will  terminate?"   (119).   Is  there  any   distinction  in  nature
between fever and inflammation as vital acts, other than Avhat is made by the
progress  of one act  from circumference to center  and of the  other from
center to circumference ?   And Avhat changes   the conditions  of  their
approach to each other but the different states of the systems in  Avhich they
are manifested ?  And, if so, why attempt to make two things out of the one
simple act ?   Why attempt to divide even  these two things which are but
one, into a legion  more ?  If  different  constitutions  or states of the  same,
make differences, why not note these and philosophise and  act according to
their  indications ?  How long "will  it  be  before medical men will find out
Avhat disease  is (6), so long as they consider the  physiological acts, irritation,
fever and inflammation the very sum and essence of disease,  and "the founda-
tion of all their pathological reasoning?" (35.)

  243. The  Definition that  covers every case of inflammation is, accumula-
tion of blood and excitement in the arterial capillaries  of a tissue,  as irritation
is accumulation of vital force and excitement in the nerves of a tissue.   They
may or may not manifest an appreciable degree of  heat,  redness, pain or
swelling.   There  may or may not  be changes in  the constitution of the
blood, suppuration, granulation, or gangrene, connected with inflammation.

  244.   But if there are, the obstruction and the swelling are mere mechani-
cal conditions; the suppuration is chemical so far as lesion is concerned, and
vital so far as casting off pus, and granulation are concerned.  Granulation is
the  vital  healing  process, and the  ultimate termination  of inflammation.
 Gangrene is chemical—death !

   245. The  confounding of all these vital,  mechanical and chemical effects,
under one name,  and treating them all as vital, sanative,  "till  the physio-
logical state  ends;"  and, as  destructive  after  it is  merely "guessed" that 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
69
 "the pathological state begins," are the sources of all the errors of Allopathy,
 and all "its kindred systems and branches."

   246. Dr. H. Bachus, of Alabama, in a pamphlet on  fever  and inflam-
 mation, says:—
   " If we take from fever and  inflammation  the condition which they have
 in common,—increased action—nothing will  remain to Avhich  these  terms
 are applicable."   p. 23.
   Williams, in  his  Surgery, says: "Excess of  blood in a part with motion
 increased, is fever.   Excess of  blood in a part Avith  motion partly increased
 and partly diminished, is inflammation."   That is, Avhile  the blood flows on
 freely, it is called fever; Avhen  obstruction prevents the flow, it is inflam-
 mation.   But av° find these conditions  reversed  in many cases of what are
 called fever and  inflammation.
   Dr. Clymer says: "Drs.  Cullen and Brown affirmed  that the distinctions
 which physicians have made about the  differences of  fever, are Avithout
 foundation—that they differ only in  degree.   Dr. Rush called all diseases a
 unit, reduced all fevers to one, differing only in  degree.   Maintaining that
 every f<~rm and variety of disease consists of irregular action [irritation fever
 and inflammation],  that this action is a proximate cause of eA'ery form and
 modification of  disease,  and the  varieties owing to the differences in  the
 state or  predisposition to disease and in the force of the  exciting or  acting
 causes."—Abridged from Clymer, p. 48.

   Remark.  What  a pity that these men had not gone one  step  further in
 the discovery, and seen that all  these fevers or excitements are not disease at
 all, but simple manifestations of  the efforts of the system to remove the causes
 of  disease/  Then would  they have  revolutionized  the whole practice to a
 purely sanative medication.   They could then very  easily haAre learned both
 "what is disease and Avhat is a suitable remedy."   (6.)

   247. Inflammation  Sanative.   In Erichsen's  Surgery, page 33, we  are
 told  that, " Increased vascular  action lies at the bottom  of  all surgical
 [healing] processes  ; no important surgical action taking place without  it.
 No process by which  the  separation of dead  parts is effected, or by Avhich
 the repair of Avounds or ulcers is carried out, can occur without an increased
 activity of  the vessels concerned.  Every tissue is susceptible of it, and  the
 surgeon often excites it intentionally as one of the most efficient of his thera-
peutic means."   Hunter, John  Thomson, Watson (44), and others, say  the
 same thing.  So far as authority is worth anything,  avc have, from the most
 eminent  surgeons of the University  College  and  Hospital in London, and
 others elsewhere, a full confirmation of the doctrine of the sanative tendency
 of inflammation, and of its absolute necessity to  the  healing process.   This
physiological act may be Avrongly directed, or  it  may be entirely obstructed,
 and  thus rendered  powerless for good,  or even injurious to the tissue on
 which it is fruitlessly spent; but no wrong  direction or condition can change
 its character from physiological  to pathological;  or  justify any other treat-
ment of it than the removal from it of obstacles to its free and universal
action.
  This gives us a clue to the true plan of practice,  the nature of the remedies
required,  and the effects of the  remedies on these conditions; and the vital
indications of them, are the only criteria by which the characters of these
agents, as good or bad, can be determined.  Hence the truth of our doctrine 
70
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
that the errors respecting inflammation, &c., are the sources of all the errors
and mischiefs of allopathic therapeutics.

  248. Modes of Access.  There are two ways of exciting or developing irri-
tation or  inflammation.  1st, Attraction, by the application to the organ to be
inflamed, of  some irritating substance; as when pepper is thrown into the
eyes or rubbed on the tender surfaces of the body;  or caloric in  too  great
quantity  attacks the external surface.   In all these cases,  the  foreign  body
invites or provokes excitement; this  excitement develops heat;   this heat
unites with  the  blood  to expand the vessels  containing  it; this  expansion
gives room for more blood, which excites  the vessels still more, and deA'elops
more heat, which, with the blood, produces more expansion and develops yet
more heat, till the vessels are  distended to their utmost degree of extensi-
bility, and the  blood and caloric  become so abundant that no more can be
pressed into or confined in the part.   The absorbents are now compressed to
such a degree that  they cannot  carry off  the accumulated blood,  unless the
excitement in the  locality,  or  the pressure toAvard  it, or  both, be partially
removed.  The proper method of doing this is to absorb away the caloric by
Avater from the locality, and attract the blood to other parts, particularly the
Avhole surface,  by counter  irritation,  as  the  vapor  bath, and friction  by-
stimulants.
  249. Determination.  The second method of inducing inflammation consists
in forcing the blood to central organs by means of the  contraction  of the
surface, as often caused by  the  evaporation too  suddenly of its natural heat
and moisture (a process called  taking  cold.)  The superficial  vessels being
unable to receive their due quantity  of  blood,  an excess is thrown upon the
internal organs (162),  as the brain,  the lungs, the glands, the mucous and
the serous membranes, which are warm, relaxed  and expanded, because not
exposed to the action of the cold, drying and contracting action of  the atmos-
phere,  and  therefore offer  less  resistance  to it  than the  external  cold, con-
tracted vessels do.  There  is  not room  in  the superficial  vessels  for the
quantity  of blood necessary to maintain the proper distension and excitement,
the surface  contracts,  diminishes the  capacity of the external vessels, and
compels  the heart and  arteries to send the  portion of blood which they will
not admit, to the internal,  warmed, relaxed,  and expanded vessels,  which
will therefore receive  it.   This forcing  of the blood from  one organ to
another,  as well  as the inviting of it, is called deranging the equilibrium of
the circulation,  and the consequences are, irritation, fever,  inflammation,
and congestion,  which are always produced in one or the other of these two
ways.
  If only the nervous  system is much disturbed, as in  study, it is called
irritation.  If the general circulation is disturbed, it is called  fever.   If the
disturbance is local, it is called inflammation.   If the accumulation of blood
is attended with excitement of  the capillaries, it  is called inflammation.  If
Avith little or no perceptible  excitement, congestion.   (See 164.)
  Now  it  is evident,  from  what has  been shown, that the organs within,
Avhich are the most irritable, will receive  the strongest impressions from the
influx of blood—will promptly respond to those  impressions,  and be, conse-
quently,  soon inflamed, while those  that are the least impressible will least
readily respond to that impression, and be speedily overwhelmed with blood,
and deprived of the freedom necessary to action, before their excitability is
much aroused.   The former of these states, as just remarked, is accumulation 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
71
 of blood, with  excitement,  in  the capillaries,  and called inflammation ;
 the latter  is accumulation of blood, Avithout excitement, in the capillaries,
 and is called congestion.  When there is  some excitement as Avell as accu-
 mulation,  it is called inflammatory congestion, congestive inflammation, &c.
 Thus it seems that, in all cases of inflammation there is some congestion, and
 it is also clearly evident that, in all cases of congestion, there is, at first, some
 inflammation.
   From the above it is evident that any cause which can  excite a part to
 high action, can invite  or provoke inflammation.   So any cause which can
 prevent the blood from flowing freely to any considerable region of the body,
 can force  it to other parts, where it will produce either inflammation or con
 gestion ; and that  these  again  may  be  relieved  by exciting other less active
 parts,  and inviting the blood away to them.  The  last  process is  called
 counter-irritation.
   250.  The conditions and actions of the tissues  in  all cases characterized
 by inflammation,  are  very Avell described by Fletcher,  as  copied by Dud-
 geon (Lectures, page 35.)  The  words in brackets are mine.
   Fletcher sayrs :  " The first effect of a direct stimulant, such as heat, upon
 the capillaries, causes them to contract.  This contraction represents increased
 action in the capillaries  themselves.  The application of a red-hot iron to the
 skin, is  observed to be followed at first  by a deathly paleness of the part, and
 the alteration in the calibre of the capillaries has been observed, miscroscop-
 ically,  in  the  foot web  of the frog and the  transparent omentum of other
 animals, by  Spallanzi, Thomson,  Phillips,  Hastings, Burdach, Wedemeyer,
 Koch, and many others.   During this contraction, the motion of the fluid in
 the capillaries is quickened,  as noticed by the  increased  rapidity of the
 passage  of the globules [and as may  be  felt by the pulsations of the arteries].
 After a time [when the  tissues become over-Avrought, fatigued, exhausted],
 the capillaries  [yielding to the pressure] become dilated sometimes to double
 their normal state [thus pressing  upon and closing the mouths of the absorb-
 ents, and  preventing them  from taking up  and removing the accumulated
 blood  and secretions].   This dilatation indicates diminished action in the
 capillaries, and is accompanied  by accumulation, tardy circulation, and even
 [finally] stagnation of the circulation of the fluids contained in the capillaries.
 This constitutes inflammation."   [Rather this last is the cessation of inflam-
 mation.]
   "We  may suppose that the contraction and dilatation of the capillaries may
 occur  within  certain  limits  [so  far as they can  without compressing the
 absorbents to such  a degree that they cannot take up the fluids as fast as they
 are presented] without compromising  health.  The primary paleness,  fol-
 lowed by the blush that attends certain  emotions [or appears more distinctly
 in fainting from fright], is a familiar instance of this."
   " But, if a stimulus of too great  poAver be applied, it will contract, first,
 inordinately, and again expand  to such  a degree that it will be incapable of
 recovering its  natural  calibre immediately,  or  perhaps at all,  without the
application of a fresh stimulus."
   251.  The relief of all these  conditions of  tissue, which, when unable to
 correct themselves, constitute the essence of the disease, is easily effected by
simply equalizing the circulation, which is called resolution.
   252.  It  is called "simple inflammation," but it is all the inflammation that
can exist.  " Inflammation is a simple act of the constitution," a "salutary 
72
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
operation."   It "consists of only one kind, not being divisible"—"restora-
tive"— " produced  for  the  restoration of the  most  simple injury,   (fee.
(42,44,45.)
  253. All that is connected with it, as the destruction of tissue in suppuration
and  gangrene, must be attributed  to chemical  affinity.    The formation ol
morbid parts, as tumors, cancers, wens, polypuses,  &c, must be ascribed to
mechanical obstructions to healthy  circulation and depuration
  254. And hence the true practice, in  all cases, consists in keeping nature's
outlets open and  the circulation equalized, for health ; and in removing  the
obstructions and in stimulating the tissues to a healthy action for the removal
of disease in all its forms.   There is  no demand,  in any case,  for depletion
and poisoning.
  255. Active Inflammation.  In all cases in  Avhich the inflammatory action
is induced by the application of the exciting cause to the point of its locality,
as the application of a caustic, a blister,  or vaccination to the surface;  or of
irritating  substances  to the stomach, bowels,  lungs,_ eyes,  nose,  or  other
mucous membranes ; or the severe  application of the vital force to the brain,
as in study ; the accumulation  of blood, Avith excitement, that follows such
applications is called active inflammation, though it is often less energetic than
the  same operation when the blood is  determined to these organs by the
heart and arteries, in consequence  of its exclusion from other antagonistic
organs.   Thus the inflammation in pleurisy, enteritis,  phrenitis,  &c., is as
severe when excited by blood repelled from the surface by cold, as in cases
in which the irritation is first applied to the points  of its final locality.
  256.  Passive Inflammation.   If the external surface  of the body be  ex-
posed to a cold damp atmosphere, it becomes, soon or late, so deprived of its
proper degree of heat and expansion, that the  capillaries contract so much as
to prevent the floAving into them of the  blood necessary to keep them  warm
and  expanded, that is, to preserve an  equilibrium  of  the circulation  and
nervous  action within  and  without, between  the internal  and the external
circulations.   Hence that balance of blood Avhich the outer capillaries refuse
to admit, must be  determined or  forced to those  of the  internal  organs or
tissues, giving to them, if uncommonly excitable, an excessive action (called
acute inflammation), or if not so excitable as usual, overcoming their  feeble
action by pressure ; producing in both cases  congestion—in the first inflam-
matory,  called passive   inflammation, to distinguish it  from  inflammation
invited by the application of the exciting cause to the point of its locality,
which is called  active  inflammation.   Both  forms of inflammation are of
necessity more or less congestive, for theyr consist essentially in the accumu-
lation of blood with more or less excitement.  , It is evident also that,  unless
the  obstacles be  removed  and  the circulation be  relieved, the most  active
inflammation Avill soon  yield to simple congestion,  and this to suppuration or
gangrene.

   257. The Blood.  This  fluid, as Ave find it in the arteries, consists of tAvo
parts, red  globules and white.   When  drawn and suffered to stand a short
time, the former  are condensed into a jelly like mass called crassamentum.
The latter remain fluid and are  called  serum.  Press and wash the crassa-
mentum, and there remains a stringy substance called fibrin.
   Besides these, there is constantly flowing, 1st. in the veins, toward the
heart, and through it to the lungs, nutritive material, from  the lacteals  and 
CRiriCISED AND CORRECTED.
73
 lymphatics;  and venous  blood from all parts of the system ;  and from  the
 abdominal viscera, through the portal vein  to  the liver, and  thence  to  the
 heart, lungs, &c.
   2d. From the arteries to the kidneys, and the skin and mucous membranes,
 are sent the effete matter of the system and many extraneous substances, taken
 as  food, drink  or medicine ; as  salt, alcohol,  turpentine,  garlic, &c,  as
 incapable of profitable use.
   3d. To  facilitate the movement  through the Aressels, of these substances,
 useful or pernicious,  abundance of water is required.

   258. Water in the  blood.   If, with a needle, we draw a little  blood from the
 finger when  the subject  is heakhy and the  surface is moist,  and put it on
 glass and into a solar microscope, we shall see that there is much more water
 than  blood, as  the  former will occupy a much wider  space in the field
 than  both parts of the  latter,  which can be  distinguished by their greater
 opacity.

   259. The object of this water in the blood, seems to be to  prevent the con
 traction of the  vessels and  consequent friction of the blood  globules and
 foreign substances against them; and to act as a medium to float along the
 contents of the vessels, whether blood or other matter.

   260. Deficiency  of water, results.  When, from excessive  and too long
 continued  exercise, or  from irritation  in  the vessels  by  means of offending
 matter, as  alcohol  or spirits of turpentine, or by long abstinence from drinks,
 the  proportion  of water becomes  greatly diminished  by eAraporation,  the
 globules of the blood and the morbific irritants come into closer contact with
 the walls of the  arteries and their capillaries, and excite them to a more rapid
 action.  This may be seen  by confining the web of a young frog's foot in a
 solar  microscope, and  irritating it with a solution of  any acrid substance.
 This  produces,  as before  described, that phenomenon of the  circulation
 denominated fever.  If the water be still further exhausted, the globules of
 blood and  other materials begin  to adhere to the sides of the capillary vessels,
 and thus   to interrupt and  finally to obstruct altogether, the  circulation
 through them.

   261.  Hence we see the importance of keeping  the system well supplied with
 water, internally and  externally, to  prevent and relieve those  conditions of
 the tissues, which are  indicated by the  physiological  acts, termed irritation,
 fever and  inflammation—hoAv it is that water  is said to cure these "affec-
 tions,"  and why it is  that water alone is often more effectual than the  best medi-
 cines  could be without it.  "Fever powders"  may excite or  quell a fever,
 according as they are stimulating  or sedative;  but, without water, the best
 of them cannot  cure  the  disease which  "renders the fever necessary," that
 is, supply  the wants of the  system  and  remove  the irritation  which excites
 the fever.

   262.  Thirst.  The  first indication of the want of water is called thirst,
then  follows an irritated and burning sensation  in  the alvine canal, and
through the whole body, and a dryness of the lungs and surface, all which is
only an increase and  diffusion of thirst.   These should and may, if attended
to in season, be  prevented or relieved by abundance of Avater,  internally and
externally applied.   But  if much morbific matter has accumulated within,
medicine will greatly aid  the water. 
74
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
   263.  If this water is not supplied Avhen wanted, the blood  becomes more
dense, the globules adhere to the walls of the capillaries  and soon arrest the
circulation altogether.—Erichsen,  pp. 36 to 39.
   If the obstructions become general over the  limb, there will  soon be less
blood in it, the limb will wither away, lose  its flexibility, its mobility, and
frequently its sensibility, and become  quite useless, as is seen  in cases cured
of Avhite SAvelling, or after a dislocation of a limb from its superior cavity, or
in cases of paralysis from any cause.
   264.  Delirium  and Insanity.  Whatever  deranges the  equilibrium  of
nervous  and arterial action, may produce delirium or insanity.   Thus, if a
person Avhose mind is highly excitable, takes a severe cold, the circulation is
driven inAvard, (as in all cases of cold,) but the brain being very susceptible,
and some portions of it more  so than  others, the  action will be  the severest
on the latter, and others will be comparatively quiescent.  This irregularity
of action constitutes delirium, which when firmly fixed and long continued,
is called insanity.   The permanent restoration of equilibrium is the cure of
every case, and the only cure of any one.  The difficulty of effecting it, con-
sists in the degree of tenacity of action on some organs and the non-impressi-
bility of others; and the unAvillingness or the inability,  of the patient to aid
in the operation, or  his ignorance, or that of the practitioner  of what is
needed in the case, or in combinations of all these elements.   Delirium is as
harmless  and as easily cured, as  almost  any form of disease,  if  both the
patient and practitioner understand its nature and  indications.   But how can
blood-letting and poisoning  contribute to a cure which requires equilibrium,
fulness and freedom of the circulation?

   265.  Causes are said to be of two  kinds, procuring and exciting, or gen-
erating  and  eliciting.  The  first directly produces an  effect;   the  second
excites the  first to action.  For example, A provokes B,  with saucy words;
for which B strikes A with a Avhip.   The power of B's arm is the procuring
cause of the blow, and the saucy Avords of A are the exciting cause.  Flood-
wood fills up  the watercourse and the water flows over  the meadows.  The
floodwood is the exciting cause and the gravitating course of the water is the
procuring cause of the inundation.

   266.  Cause of fever and  of disease.   So, obstructions  to the  free action
of the nerves and blood vessels, are the exciting causes of those derangements
of vital action called irritation, fever and inflammation; but the  procuring and
only true  cause of them, is  the vital force.   It is evident that the exciting
causes,  or,  as I would  say, the  occasions  of these  derangements, are as
numerous as the ways and means of preventing a free  and full action of that
force, in any  or every organ  and tissue  of  the body.   Hence,  we perceive
that the causes of disease are  innumerable, and many of them, as  in scarlet
fever, measles, small pox,  plague and cholera, entirely beyond  our present
knowledge.   Each of many causes, as above, may give rise to many different
manifestations of the vital actions, appearances and conditions  of the tissues.
The results of the action of causes are called effects.

   267.  But they all produce  one  and the same effect on  the  tissue, that is,
an inability to perform fully its natural functions, Avhich  and which alone!
whether it consists in fixed  relaxation, contraction, or paralysis,  constitutes
the sum and  essence of  disease.   Lesion is death, not  disease.   But the
presence  and  activity  of the  vital  force  is  necessary  to  distribute  the 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
75
morbific agents about, and enable them to develop their peculiar characters.
Without this,  vaccination would never produce a pustule, nor would mercury
produce salivation, nor strychnine a spasm, nor opium nor  brandy delirium
tremens.
   268.   One plan of cure.   Hence, as there is  but one disease, there can be
but one scientific or natural plan of cure, viz., remove obstructions to the
equilibrium  of  vital action, and  stimulate, if  necessary, the tissues to the
performance of their healthy, specific functions.
   269.  The  excitants of increased vital  action,  in health or disease, may be
as numerous and various as  the  wants,  wishes  or motions of man, and the
external agents that affect him for good  or for evil.   They are any  thing and
everything that can derange the equilibrium of vital action.
   270.  Good agents may be abused, that  is, misapplied.  Almost  any, per-
haps every excitant may do this permanently by long and unremitting appli-
cation.   Thus, the vital force itself may excite  the organs to severe exercise,
as running, jumping, &c, and may finally Aveary and prostrate them till they
are no longer able to do their duty.  Thus also electricity,  caloric, cayenne
pepper,  ginger,  &c, all  innocent in kind, may, by excess of  quantity and
constancy of application, do injury to the organs.
   271.  Poisons.   But there are other excitants which, in any quantity and
however seldom applied, have a direct tendency  to deprive the organs of the
power to perform  their healthy functions; as corrosive sublimate,  arsenious
acid, opium, prussic acid, &c.   These are properly termed poisons.
   272.   The  procuring  cause  of Animation.    Whatever may  excite or
arouse it, we must never  forget that the sole producing cause of  all  living
action, that of nerves or blood-vessels, or their dependents, is the vital force.
   273.  Man cannot make a vital product.  All external things and agents
or motive powers, are the mere excitants of that force to action.  No  other
power on earth  is able to produce its  action.   No  poAver but the vital can
form  a globule  of blood,  manufacture  a  secretion  from it, or construct an
organ out of  it, or  produce inflammation, fever, or  the  slightest  irritation.
All human  ingenuity in its untiring efforts to this end, has failed either to
manufacture or to discover the manufacture elsewhere than under the do-
minion  of the vital force,  of a single tissue, or the performance of  any  other
vital function.
   274.  Heat.   All motion of material bodies produces a disturbance of the
equilibrium of caloric,  making it more or less manifest.  Thus the striking
of steel  against flint, or  a horse-shoe  against  the   pavement,  or a match
against a rough  surface, manifests caloric ; while the melting of snow or ice
absorbs it and diminishes its manifestation.   So a stimulating  medicine, as
cayenne ; or poAver, as electricity, applied to the human flesh ; or the friction
of flesh against flesh, as the hand to the  body, manifests heat in that body.
   275.  Effects on  the  System.  Whenever excitants are applied to a  part,
they set its nerves and blood-vessels in motion, and  this motion develops
heat,  which,  combined Avith  the moisture of^ the  blood (Lects. M.  S.),
warms,  relaxes, and expands the  vessels  containing blood, and consequently,
by providing more room for it, invites the heart and  arteries to send a larger
quantity to the special locality of the irritation.  The  consequence, if the part
be very largely supplied with vessels, is swelling, irritation, and more  heat. 
76                       ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
If these A-essels are for red blood in large proportion (as in the muscles) —
redness.   If the part is abundantly supplied  with sensitive nerves—pain.
All these are illustrated in a sore from a splinter run into the end of the
finger, or in a common felon, or boil.

   276.  Different tissues.   If the part to which the blood is invited, and in
Avhich it  is accumulated or  congested,  is composed chiefly or wholly of
serous tissue, as the cartilages,  the ligaments, the tendons, the  serous mem-
branes and muscular fascia, there Avill be heat and pain, but little or no red-
ness nor  swelling.   Such cases are called  pleuritis, peritonitis, synovitis,
fasciitis, phrenitis, &c, the termination "ids"  being  made to the end of the
name of an organ to signify inflammation of that organ.

   277.  Few permanent signs.   If the organ is not supplied, or but partially,
Avith  sensitive  nerves, as  the heart, the liver, the spleen, the  kidneys, the
lungs, the stomach, &c, there may be swelling, redness and heat, with little
or no pain;  so that  these signs  or symptoms, heat, redness, swelling and
pain,  may or may not,  one, some, or all of  them be present in inflammation.
But they cannot be relied upon as always  indicating  it.   The only  true and
constant indication is the fixed derangement of the equilibrium of the circula-
tion or the nervous  action, one of  which is ahvays present at first, and very
soon both appear, in every case of fever and inflammation, no matter where
located, nor by what cause excited.

   278.  The action excited may be of a high or a low grade, or may occur in,
and be  modified by, constitutions affected  by various morbific causes, as the
scrofulous, the tuberculous, the  erysipelatous, the bilious, the mercurial, &c,
&c. ("the unhealthy," 42), but its  essential nature is always the same, viz.,
accumulation of blood in a part, with excitement, of the arterial capillaries
containing it, and collapse or compression of the absorbents, either occasioned
by or finally producing obstructions  to absorption by the venous  and other
radicles Avhose natural office is to remove it.  And the procuring cause of all
this action is one, the vital force.

   279.  Different diseases.  How absurd,  then,  to divide  this  deranged
action into parts, corresponding with the appearance of the exciting cause,
as scarlet, yellow, spotted fever; with the  season,  as  fall and Avinter fever;
the country,  as  tropical and northern, eastern, western and southern ; or
the locality of the body, as brain and gastric fever, &c, &c; to call  them
so many  different diseases (or  disease at all), and  prescribe  for  the  dif-
ferent cases different  principles and  means of treatment.  No wonder that
they who have  considered fever and inflammation  legion in  number  and
chameleon in character, should never have learned anything certain respecting
its nature, or agreed upon any judicious and  efficient plan for its treatment!
(34,  35, 36.)

   280.  Suppuration.   In the cases in Avhich resolution can not be  effected,
the stasis of  blood  becomes nearly or quite  complete, and then the tissues,
unsupported by circulation, become  a prey to the chemical affinities among
them, are reduced to a thick, yelloAvish Avhite fluid called pus, with which
coagulable lymph,  secreted from the still vital  parts,  is commino-led  and
accumulated, constituting the various kinds of ulcers, boils, &c.  The casting
off of ths compound fluid, this mixture of the debris of  the tissues and the
healthy  secretion, is called suppuration. 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
77
   281.   Granulation.   When the injury is thus cleansed, or nearly so, the
 capillaries and coats of the arteries furnish from the blood proximate princi-
 ples of material called  granules, with which, by uniting them to the  broken
 tissue,  it builds up the wastes, and this process  is  called granulation or
 healing.

   282.  Ulcers, Tumors,  &c.  If the local  circulation  be only partially im-
 peded,  and the material deposited by it be not escharotic, but only mechan-
 ically obstructive,  its accumulations  form tumors, hard cancers, <fcc.    But
 if it be very corrosive,  even though not Avholly obstructing the circulation,
 it produces lesion of tissue, suppuration, &c, as in bronchitis and dysentery.
 If the fullness of the blush could be confined on the cheek, or the presence
 of arterial circulation could be retained  in the feet, till the arterial capillaries
 should  lose their tone, and the absorbents, for want of  nutrition, should  lose
 their vitality, or capability of responding to the action of the vital force, they
 would be left to the sole dominion of chemical affinity,  which Avould decom-
 pose them and  destroy  the tissue,  the  debris, or partially disorganized
 elements of which,  now called pus, become  obstacles to the circulation,
 accumulate  in the  cavity formed by the  lesion, and constitute  the various
 kinds of ulcers, boils, &c.

   283.  Suppuration, Healing.   Let a soft  part, through which lie nerves,
 blood-vessels, muscular fibres, &c, be bruised under the  skin, by the severe
 application  of some very rough substance,  as an irregularly broken stone, the
 result is, that the parts of the tissue Avhich  are  broken will  be depriAred of
 the conservative poAver of the vital force, and  hence  chemical affinity having
 full  SAvay over them, will reduce them  to proximate principles called pus,
 which Avill accumulate  in the space that had  been occupied by the tissue of
 which they are the debris or wreck, until a  passage  is effected for its egress
 from the body.  Added to this pus, there is  immediately cast into the cavity,
 from the uninjured parts, a healthy secretion termed coagulable lymph, of a
 character apparently much like the 2ms (except that  the hitter has  lost its
 vegetative degree  of vitality) for the purpose of  building up the  broken
 tissue.   The  discharge of  this pus from the places of its accumulation is
 called suppuration.  If the pus has been discharged through an outlet formed
 accidentally by the  injury, or artificially by the lancet, so that it does not
 press upon and into and  chemically decompose the surrounding vital tissue,
 and  increase the extent of its destruction, the coagulable lymph is, by the
 vital force,  formed into granules,  or elemaats of tissue;  these are attached to
 the  broken tissue,  one after another,  in nearly organic  order (42)  (some-
 times that of an eschar) till the whole breach is mended up, and the circula-
 tion  becomes free and nearly equal; and this is termed the process of healing,
 which is the last termination of inflammation.

   284.   Gangrene or Mortification.  In cases in which  the circulation  is at
 once totally suppressed, as  by ligature,  or the complete  destruction of the
 arteries that nourish it, by whatever  means  produced, the tissues to which
 the blood should circulate, not being nourished nor  defended by that fluid,
 chemical affinity (always resident in every particle of matter connected with
the organization, as well as out of it) asserts its claims, at the same time, to
every atom  of the organized substance, and destroys it all together.  This is
 gangrene or mortification, and is called by  pathologists  " the last stage of  in-
flammation"—pathologists  who  declare that  " inflammation is a simple  act 
78
ALLOPATHY  EXPOSED,
of the constitution," &c. (42)—"purely physiological" (45)—designed to
"close wounds and  repair fractures" (44);  "whhout which no important
curative action can take place !"  (Erichsen's Surgery, page 33.)   _
  It has  been clearly shown, however, that  gangrene or mortification  and
the lesion of suppuration are the work of chemical affinity only, in opposition
to the vital force that produces  fever  and inflammation,  and are, therefore,
no part or parcel of this process, nor consequence of  it.

  285. The error and folly of the Faculty—and yet medical men have com-
mitted the great error and folly  of including  them all in the same category,
and calling them fever or inflammation in their different stages.   When the
vital force, having predominant control, has absorbed away offending matter
and freed and equalized the circulation, Avithout  suffering chemical affinity
to produce  lesion, or  destruction of tissue,  they have  called  the process
resolution or dispersion, and pronounced it healthy. . When chemical affinity
having dominion  over some tissues, involved among other tissues,  destroys
those over Avhich it  has control, and  the vital force, having predominating
power over the rest  of the tissue, preserves that from injury, casts off the
products of chemical decomposition in the shape  of  pus,  throws out a vital
product  termed  coagulable lymph, or  proximate principle  of  tissue,  and
mends up the breach  made by its  adversary, the doctors, not perceiving  that
one series of the phenomena is  the result of the action of the vital force,  and
the other series that of the action of the chemical force, link all these actions
together, and term them, resolution,  inflammation, suppuration and gangrene,
all different results of inflammation.

  286. Absurd conclusions.   Hence, Avhen the vital  force prevails they term
the inflammation healthy and  sanative  (Erichsen,  p. 33);  but, when the
chemical  force  prevails they  term  it unhealthy and  destructive.   And
because,  from disproportion of  constitution  or of  circumstantial  relations 6f
the vital  to the chemical force (there being more power in some constitutions
than in others; and in the same constitutions  at  some times and under some
circumstances than at other times and in other circumstances), the vital force
sometimes prevails to save; and at others the chemical force  predominates to
kill; they pronouncing, in the former  cases, the inflammation, a process  that
" takes its  rise in purely physiological conditions, and holds its progress and
decline under the same great natural [that is,  physiological] laAvs of the con-
stitution."   But, when they see chemical affinity prevail  in  the process of
suppuration, sIoav and molecular,  or of gangrene, all  in a mass, they call that
also inflammation, and pronounce  it, in its  several  stages and  successions,
fever and inflammation—"the  two orders of disease which make up the
great amount of human maladies, and form the grand outlets of  life." (41.)
  When they observe that  no  injury can  be healed without inflammation
(44), they excite it,  producing adhesions of tissues to prevent dropsical affu-
sions between them (42, 44,  Erichsen, p. 33).   But if they see the system
in other  cases doing  the very same thing Avithout their aid,"when they think
it should not be done, they administer the  deadly mercury to prevent  it
(81).  With one breath they pronounce it the great generator of all the dis-
eases of  the body; and with the next they  utter the ridiculous solecism,
that " inflammation  is the only disease which the surgeon can excite at his
pleasure"  (Watson),  to accomplish  the physiological process  of healing  a
wound!   (44 Erichsen, p. 34). 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
79
     287  Mal-prachce   It is easy to see how  these  false estimates  of  the
  several processes  and results involved in different cases of disease,  should
  lead them always to a most absurd, and often to a most pernicious practice.
  In the first place,  observing that, in cases in which  fever  is what they call
  high  (frequently low), or unsuccessful, the  patient  often  dies, and, having
  pronounced all the extra phenomena and  their results fever or inflammation,
  they conclude  that it is  dangerous, in any case, to let the fever  "run  too
  high, _ though they often see it "producing a crisis,"  (that is, removing ob-
  structions,  and  making  a cure), without  scientific  or artificial assistance
  (44 j.  Having, without knowing why or Avherefore, attributed to these phys-
  iological operations the  destruction  of eight-ninths  of all the human race
  (J8),they have set themselves diligently to Avork to discover or devise some
  artificial means and processes by which, when their ignorance  pronounces it
  disease, they may most effectually control it.   Notwithstanding they have
  never settled any question concerning it (35), they have all agreed to call it
  disease (33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39,  41); have divided it out  into classes and
  orders, genera and species, and made it the basis of all the false  systems  of
  practice on  the sick (28,  33, 41) (see their works on  theory and practice)—
  and the source  of all  the  confusion  in  doctrines of health  and disease, and
  the character and modus  operandi (action) of medicines, of all the medical
  men who have  found medicine  to be  a "science of uncertainty," and  its
  practice "an art of conjecture" (1,  19).

    288.  Objections.   Medical men will say—If inflammation presses on the
  mouths  of the  absorbents,  and stops circulation, so that  suppuration and
  gangrene (partial or  total death)  folloAv, then  these  must be, as we say,
  "terminations of inflammation."

    289. Answer.   I haA-e  shoAvn that inflammation is a result of vital action,
  and that these are results of chemical destruction of tissue or its vital ability
  to act.  If it is caused by the one it is not by the other.  No suppuration nor
 gangrene is seen Avhen the circulation is free  and full in every tissue of the
 body;  so no inflammatory action  is ever  discovered in  a dead body.   In-
 flammation and lesion must  therefore be results or terminations, of the action
 of opposite causes.

   290.  Depletion.  They will say that by "cupping and leeching external
 parts they remove accumulation from a part," and by venesection they check
 determination to the internal  organs ;  and that, if I strive, by counter relax-
 ation  and stimulation,  as  with a bath,  friction, stimulating liniments and
 enemas, to do the same, I proA^e that I, as Avell as they, consider inflamma-
 tion the disease to be removed.

  291. Answer.  By removing the blood from the body, they do not alter or
 correct the derangement of equilibrium;  but they do so  debilitate the whole,
 that the equilibrium is seldom afterward restored.

  292. By equalizing its distribution in the body, I both correct the derange-
 ment and restore equilibrium and health to every part, and  retain the power
 to maintain them in the future.   They relieA'e the inflammation  by destroy-
 ing the poAver to produce it.  I relieA'e it by removing the obstacles to a free
circulation.   In other words,  they kill  the fever,  Avhich is contending  with
obstructions; I remove  the  disease, of  which  the fever  gives  me the
knowledge. 
80
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
   293.  Objections.   Changes in Blood.  "But," it will be objected,  "there
are changes in the constitution of the blood in inflammation, and these can
not be considered healthy actions."  Answer, that depends on the cause and
character of those changes.  If they are vital, they consist in the formation
of coagulable  lymph to produce "adhesive inflammation,"  "glue parts to-
gether," "close wounds," <fcc, (42, 44).  But,  if the changes are  the re-
duction of  blood  to its original elements, they are chemical, and not only no
part of inflammation, but directly opposed to it.

   294.  But, again it is said, "Inflammation  continues in and about lesions,
until the destruction of the part is completed."   Very true,  and  that is proof
that it is a  vital, conseiwative and healing operation, designed and intended
to mend up the depredation;  and faithful in its efforts to accomplish its mis-
sion, as long as it can do any good.  It  never entirely surrenders a part, till
chemical affinity obtains complete dominion.  Nor can the part wholly die,
so long as the  inflammation in it is general and active.

   295.  Difficulties.   The student, amateur, or professional man who  will
take the trouble to bring all the "difficulties of inflammation," to the test of
myr descriptions of the  conditions in which it is observed, will find them
readily and philosophically solved on the vital or the chemical principle.

   296.  Explanations of Difficulties.   Velocity of circulation through inflamed
parts.   The above vieAvs of the vital processes and conditions termed inflam-
mation,  and of suppuration and gangrene, explain all the  facts witnessed
in all  the cases, and, of course, may be relied upon as essentially true.  For
example: It is said that in some cases the  blood Aoavs more freely through
an inflamed part  than one that  is not  inflamed; and that in others it Aoavs
slower or is impeded.  The first of these statements is true in all cases  that
"cure themselves," that is, cases in which the determination of blood to the
part does not exceed the power of the absorbents to remove it more  rapidly
than it ordinarily flows in, but not so rapidly as it Aoavs in at the time.   In
other  Avords, in all cases in  Avhich  the pressure of the  distended  arterial
capillaries on the  absorbent radicles, does not reduce their excess of absorb-
ent poAver so low  as to prevent them from absorbing  more than the quantity
ordinarily thrown to the part, and soon relieving Avhen the pressure is removed.
   The second  (the stasis  of circulation), occurs in all those cases in which
a tumor or  an ulcer is formed, or a lesion and suppuration are produced.  For
it  is evident that  the blood does  not  circulate freely  through a cancer, a boil
or a  bruised  part.  But even in these cases, the  inflammation extending
around the part obstructed by anastomoses, (the connections of arteries with
each other) the circulation  through the limb,  on the whole, will be greater
than usual, till the obstruction extends so far as to overbalance this conserva-
tive power over  the  Avhole,_ when less  blood than  usual  will  pass through
the whole limb, and it will wither and decay, or mortify and slough.
   297.  Localities of inflammation.   Not being  able  to  draw  any definite
physiological nor  pathological lines  between the different  cases of inflamma-
tion,  medical  men have  attempted  to  name  it  according to  its localities;
general, as ossitis, enteritis, bronchitis,  fascial, tendonous, &c; and particu-
lar, as  dental, maxillary, cranial;  duo-denitis, ileitis,  jejunitis, colleitis,
rectitis, pharyngitis,  laryngitis,  tracheitis,  bronchitis, &c, through every
tissue and  organ of the  body.  (See Dr. Gallup's Institutes, as good  as any
system, and based entirely on this principle.) Thus he  calls every case of 
CRITCISED AND CORRECTED.
81
 inflammation,  disease, and  fastens it first on  the fibrous, the serous, the
 raucous, the muscular, the nervous, the glandular, and the osseous  tissues.
 Then he divided those above into every small locality, and the inflammation
 of each is called a special disease.
   But  it is evident to the most careless thinker, that  inflammation no  more
 changes it character by change of  locality in the body, than a man does his
 by traveling through the country, and resting a short time  in the different
 cities of the land.   Indeed, I have thought that fever and inflammation are
 well  represented by a  man now traveling over the country, and then confined
 to the city.  In the former, he breathes and moves more freely, and is  com-
 paratively at ease; in the latter,  he is incarcerated, and must step and breathe
 short and quick, or he will be overrun and demolished by extraneous forces.
   Inflammation usually commences in some one of the prominent circulating
 tissues; but in most cases, it soon spreads into others,  and involves extensive
 regions.  The modus  operandi of its diffusion is this:  As  one  capillary  is
 filled and distended, its neighbor is compressed, and  the  circulation in that
 is impeded.  It swells, and in the same way annoys its neighbor, and so on.
 As the  obstruction becomes more general, the blood is  forced in greater quan •
 tities to even distant tissues, and excites them to inordinate action, and thus
 the "local inflammation" is soon "attended by general fever," and this  fever
 is said  to be "sympathetic Avith the inflammation."   Presently this fever con-
 centrates on some irritable organ, Avhose high action  invites the Wood from
 the first, and thus the  inflammation is said to be "translated," and the change
 is called metastasis.  Each tissue manifests the action according to its own
 structure  and  plan of operations, yet that action  is  constantly; the same in
 nature  and design, all the differences being explained by reference to the
 structure  and  functions of the tissue and  the character, action  and tend-
 ency  of the exciting cause.   I give illustrations.

   298.  Cases.  Immersing the feet, hands, &c.   Place your hands and your
 feet in  water as warm as  you can  comfortably bear it, wash and  rub  them
 there till they become hot,  red and swollen.   Take them oizt and rub  them
 dry with a towel, and  your feet will feel quite tender  if not even sore.  So
 would  your  hands if they were not  more  accustomed  to  resist  the  heat.
 Now  look at your feet and you see  no venous blood.   It is all forced away
 from  the surface by the inordinate  action of the vessels stimulated by  heat,
 while the  expansion  by heat and  moisture  of  the arterial capillaries, has
 given place to  an unusual quantity of arterial blood, causing swelling; and
 the two processes, rapid absorption  and rapid circulation, combine to change
 the external or chiefly venous blood, to a greater arterial predominancy, and,
 of course, a  brighter red than  usual, and the  stimulus given by the fresh
 arterial  blood to the  nerves  excites soreness.   These results will be  more
 slrikinglv manifested,  when  you immerse in warm water hands or feet that
 have become cold,  blue and numb.
   This accumulation in a part of arterial blood, with excitement, usually mani-
 fested by some or all of the symptoms, heat, redness,  swelling and tender-
 ness,  soreness or pain—three degrees of nervous manifestation—are collect
 ively  called inflammation.
   If the feet,  &c, have not been  very  long kept in the water,  so as  to
deprive  in  a measure  the  arterial capillaries  of  their  power to contract  to
 their proper dimensions, they will contract, and  the venous absorbents  soon
remove  the  surplus  accumulation.   When the  equilibrium is  restored,
                                    6 
82
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
the swelling subsides, the heat escapes, the surface becomes paler and  the
tenderness or soreness vanishes.  This is called resolution of the inflammation;
and it always  takes place in all cases in which the  excessive  stimulus is  not
continued, and there is no internal  obstruction to the circulation.  It is as I
have already said, only when the arterial pressure to a part, and consequently
excessive stimulus of the tissues of that part or  the pressure of  the circula-
tion from other parts toward it, are continued till the  arterial capillaries  are
so overwrought as to lose the power to contract to any thing like  their proper
dimensions,  that the power of resolution is destroyed, and the inflammation
becomes permanent, and fruitless in its efforts to recover equilibrium.

   299.  In the case of a Blush,  the arterial capillary excitement, heat and
expansion produce the fullness and redness;  but, the action  of the exciting
cause being  momentary, the restoration of the equilibrium is also momentary.
In the  case of the bathed feet, the action  is longer continued, more heat,
swelling and a keener nervous sensibility are  induced,  the prostration  of
tissue becomes greater, and, of course, the resolution is slower.

  300.  The external surface.   Treatment.   Inflammation of the surface is
excited  by many causes;  but the disease consists in  a closed condition of  the
emunctories and of the arterio-venous capillaries, checking perspiratory  de-
puration, and  generating and  confining  caloric.   In  this case,  the applica-
tions to the  surface should be  cool  and moist, to absorb the caloric and  re-
lax the tissue, that the   depuration  may be effected and  the  circulation
relieved; and  bland drinks should be administered  to supply the water that
has been removed by the  previous excitement.  All this is effected by simply
equalizing the condition  of the secernent  and  the  absorbent tissues, which
neither blood-letting nor poisons ever accomplish; and  hence, the patient
Avholly recovers  under the influence of the former practice ; but never does
Avhile the latter is  continued.   Blood-letting,  cupping, leeching, scarifying,
calomelizing, narcotizing,  blistering, freezing and starving, which  make  the
ease  the more dangerous the longer and more vigorously they are applied,
must all be stopped, long  before the  patient can recover from disease, or their
pernicious effects;  but lobelia, cayenne, vapor  baths, any  innocent tonics
and  stimulants,  may be  used as needed, till the  patient is perfectly well.
This fact alone shows which practice is what nature  demands, and which is
destructiA'e,  and also shows that nervous and arterial excitement  is not  the
disease to be subdued.

   301.  In  Erysipelas,  the exciting  cause  of the inflammation  is a very
irritating agent (no matter what, but ahvays of the same character), Avhich
keeps up a constant  excitement.    This  causes a burning pain,  much heat,
and, finally, debility,  Avhence folloAv  stasis, suppuration,  <fec. mechanical
and chemical effects.

   302.  In  Scarlatina,  either a similar  irritant,  but not the  same in  all
respects,  or perhaps the same irritant,  under  different conditions of  the
tissues,  provokes the  vital efforts to the production  of different symptoms,
and  gives to chemical affinity an opportunity  to produce different patholo-
gical results.  And similar causes,  all  extraneous to the vital force, produce
the different manifestations of tissue  and its  destruction, in measles,  rash,
small-pox, and all inflammatory and painful  cutaneous derangements. 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
83
   303. Mucous Membrane.  Inflammation of this membrane, Avherever situ-
ated, is excited  by various causes;  but the disease consists essentially in the
too  great relaxation and excitement of  the  secernents, and the consequent
contraction of the absorbents;  so that, instead of discharging mere mucus,
as  in  health, it discharges  coagulable  lymph with  the mucus, and this  is
called muco-purulent matter.   In the eye this can be seen forming abnormal
blood-vessels, and supporting a semi-vital membrane that covers the sclerotic
coat of the inner canthus to the iris, and sometimes extends entirely over the
pupil, producing blindness.  In these cases,  the indication is to equalize the
circulation over the Avhole system,  by means of a vapor bath and  anti-spas-
modic  and soothing drinks,  and  to  check the determination to  the  part
affected, by the  use directly of cold water and astringent lotions, constantly
applied.  A strong astringent to this parasitic tissue, applied for some days,
Avhile the surface is kept freely open and the bowels healthy, will so close it
as to obliterate the  false Aressels, stop the exudation  into them of blood  and
coagulable lymph, when, having lost their vital support, they will decompose,
and may be Aviped  away with a silk handkerchief.    In the  inflammation of
the alvine  canal, aromatics and mild  astringents  should  be used, as drinks
and enemas,  in connection with  the bath.   In the lungs,  inhalation of
astringent aromatics, as witch-hazel.   While these astringents are given,  care
must be taken to Avarm and relax the surface, and invite away the circulation
from within.   If tormina or pain Avithin occur, the astringents should be
omitted, and baths, aromatics and  nervines used, till the astringents give no
uneasiness,  when they may be repeated.

   304. Bronchitis.  This is inflammation of the  lining membrane of the
bronchial tubes.  Here we have access to the part affected;  but what treat-
ment does  it need?  The abstraction of  blood, not from the body, but from
that tissue;  and this is effected by exciting other tissues to high action, espe-
cially the external surface.   Meanwhile, care should  be  taken to soothe the
irritated membrane by  inhaling relaxing and aromatic vapors or gases, and
taking these and mucilaginous substances internally.

   304 a. Enteritis  is a name given to an inflamed condition of  the mucous
membrane of the intestines.   It will do  for the whole alvine canal.  In  this
case, the  blood is  accumulated beyond the necessary, healthful measure,
in the internal canal.  If morbific  agents Avithin have excited and called it
forth,  they should  be removed  by emetics and enemata.   If the irritation
Avas Avithout, as  in a cold, and the blood forced to the  center, it is likely  to
be of the congestive order; but if it commenced by irritation of  the internal
canal direct, it is more likely to be of the active kind.    Both cases require
the same character  of treatment, viz., the relaxation  and stimulation of the
surface and the  soothing and cooling of the alvine canal, and astringing it,
if necessary.

   305.  Serous  Membranes.   In inflammation  of the serous membranes,
having  no access to them, we  must  be content to  depend Avholly on the
o-eneral equalization of  the circulation,  without any  local  applications;  and
we find that the All-Wise " Former of our bodies, and Father of our spirits"
was aware of this, and so constructed  those membranes, and gave them a
recuperative poAArer so great, that if Ave do all we can,  where we can, they will
need  none.   Thus  we find it quite as easy to cure pleurisy or peritonitis, as
bronchit:s  and enteritis; or erysipelas and scarlatina; and, while Allopathy 
84
ALLOTATIIY EXPOSED,
acknowleges that her depleting and antiphlogistic treatment often fails, and
sometimes kills, the  Physio-Medical treatment, faithfully applied, never fails
in cases of a good constitution, taken at the access.   In over twenty years
extensive practice, we have never lost a case of pleurisy, peritonitis, phren-
itis,  bronchitis, enteritis,  erysipelas, scarlatina, rubeola,  nor variola, when
Ave were the only physician in the cases, and only two or three of them all
when we had "any part or lot" in the treatment.

   306.  Pericarditis,  Pleuritis  and Peritonitis are names used to  indicate
the state called inflammation of the smooth  membrane that lines the cavities
containing the heart, lungs, stomach,  and bowels—viz., accumulation of
blood, with  excitement in that membrane.
   It is caused by abstracting, too  suddenly, and in  too great quantity, the
heat from the external surface (and sometimes the lungs, by breathing chilly
air, and even the alvine membrane, by  eating ice and drinking ice water),
and thus contracting the caliber of the external and  the mucous capillaries,
so as  to make them refuse admission to the blood, and compel the heart to
send it to the internal serous membranes.
   Here  it is evident  that  no direct application  can  be made, as in the case
of the mucous surfaces.   The treatment must be  directed  wholly to the
equalizing of  the circulation,  by  the  relaxation of the external and the
mucous  surface.
   Blood-letting reduces the quantity of the blood, but does  not equalize its
distribution.  It also reduces the power of the tissues to recover their equi-
librium  of action, and therefore does much harm and  no good.   Many die
because  of it, who would recover without it.

   307. Arachnitis.  In arachnitis,  inflammation of the arachnoid membrane,
that which divides the cavity of the cranium, so as to present one surface
toward  the  dura-mater, or  lining membrane  of the  skull,  and  the other
toward the  pia-mater, which covers the surface and  the convolutions of the
brain, and involves between its plates nearly  all the blood-vessels that sup-
port and  those  that purify the brain,  we have a locality of  inflammation
entirely  beyond the reach  of any external application.   Blood-letting, to the
utmost extent to which the power of life Avould permit,  Avould reduce the
strength and fullness  of the pulse, but  would not restore the equilibrium,
which is the only cure.  It may be said that many have recovered  under it.
So they  have, but in  spite  of it.   The recovery was effected by keeping the
surface and  lower extremities warm, and giving diffusive stimulants, which
would have  done it much  better before  the blood was  extracted,  and saved
the health and strength of the patient in the cases that  recovered,  and the
lives of thousands that have been wholly sacrificed to this barbarous practice.

   308. In Scrofula  and  Cancer,  the morbific cases are not  so irritating to
the nerves, as those of ulcers and boils, and hence we have the swellings and
chemical  suppurations, and sometimes  gangrene, without much  heat and
pain.  In scrofula the morbid  cause  is somewhat corrosive, and hence we
have often open ulcers and suppuration.   In cancer, the morbific cause is not
corrosive ; it accumulates  and remains  a long time  without producing any
great  disturbance, till it finally checks altogether circulation in the tissues  in
which it is imbedded, Avhen chemical, having  the advantage over vital action
destroys  the tissue.   Hence, too, the  open  cancer often remains  for a  long
time about  at  a stand, the battle between life  and death being nearly equal. 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
85
But, in all these cases,  the inflammatory act is the  same.  In scrofulous
tumors the abscess lancet will  open them, and nature will  cast out all the
matter ;  in cancers, it is  necessary to use  some severe escharotic or astrin-
gent to remove that Avhich clings so tenaciously to its location, that unassisted
nature cannot disengage  it  Hence the cancer plasters, till the morbific
matter is removed, and  the poultices to cleanse, and the salves to heal the
wound,—that is, to protect it  from injury and keep it  soft and moist till
nature heals it.

   309. Cancers.  When the morbific matter is not corroding to the livino-,
healthy and freely acting tissue, it obstructs  only mechanically and  forms a
tumor which  may exist a long time in the tissue, without producing lesion.
This is called the cancer.   Little inflammation is manifest, till lesion is pro-
duced by  artificial means, or  the pressure becomes so  great as to entirely
prevent  circulation, when  suppuration  will  commence  as  in  case  of the
splinter,  and will continue with inflammatory action, till  all  the obstructing
material  is  removed,  when it  will heal as  kindly as  the same constitution
Avould, if a  splinter had  been thrust  there and  withdraAvn.  But all these
distinctions are to be ascribed to the different characters of the exciting causes,
and the different states of the  system in which  they are excited.  All that
can be called  inflammation in any  of these cases, is the accumulation of blood
Avith excitement in the tissues, and whatever of granulation is produced, is
the result of the conservative action of the vital force, designed, as Hunter
says,  to bring about a reinstatement of the parts to nearly their healthy con-
dition  (42).

   310.  Ulcers, Boils.   In cases in which the circulation  is so obstructed by
internal morbific matter, as to induce suppuration Avithout  the aid of a bruise,
&c, the matter so accumulated is sometimes very corrosive, decomposing
promptly, all  the tissues,  even the bones  (142,  143, 148 to 151) and pro-
ducing that species of complete  destruction called an abscess—an ulcer.   If
the material  is not quite so destructive, it  may remove the  muscular tissue
first, and aftenvard the fibrous,  in the shape of what is called a core,  as seen
in boils.
   If inflammation and suppuration occur in some conditions of the system,
they are  called  scrofulous; if in  others erysipelatous ;  in some  cases the
inflammation is  called acute, in others chronic, but the acti;n is always the
same.  Thus  the  Allopathic  faculty call that which is permanent,  one, in-
divisible, ahvays the same under all circumstances, by different names, and
give it different characters and  treatment according  to its circumstances,
instead of calling it always by the same name, and treating it always in the
same manner, and removing every  obstacle  to its free and  universal diffusion.

   311. Let a splinter of  wood be  thrust into the flesh:  the circulation
through that point is impeded,  the blood accumulates in the arteries  broken,
and excites the tissues surrounding the injury to an  inordinate degree of
action.   The blood  rushes by the impediment through anastomoses into other
arteries with  still greater velocity,  producing great excitement and  heat.
This heat, combined with the moisture of the  blood, relaxes and distends the
part, and produces the redness and SAvelling and often the pain, which is only
a notice given to the general system that such  a  department is injured;  and
all  which combined, "are  what are called  the  most prominent symptoms of
inflammation.  Thus the  circulation through the locality of the splinter is 
86
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
arrested, while that round about it is increased, until  the  arterial capillaries
are so distended as to close the absorbents by  pressure, when the circulation
there also is  impeded ;  but  the irritation remains, and, of course,  the  heat,
soreness and  pain continue.   Those  parts of the tissue that are thus deprived
of the support which a free circulation gives them before the introduction of
the obstructing body, now  become the easy prey of  the chemical  affinity
always  resident in their elements, and they decompose  and turn  to pus.
This loosens  the splinter which, if one end be through the surface, the  pres-
sure of the tissues on it forces out.   If deep seated, the destruction continues,
and the pus accumulates, till either  it corrodes its way out or is removed by
artificial means.  This destruction of living tissues, and removal of the debris
or its elements, is effected,  the first by chemical  action, and the second by
vital, and is  called suppuration.   As soon as the splinter  is removed, the
arterial  capillaries  throw into the  vacancy  coagulable  lymph  and blood
globules or proximate principles of tissue, which are arranged in organic
order, and the tissue wasted is rebuilt.

   312.  Fever and Inflammation.  We are now able to  describe in a nutsheli,
Avhat is  properly indicated by these words.  It  consists essentially in the accu-
mulation of blood Avith excitement in a tissue.   Its usual symptoms are heat,
redness, pain and swelling ;  one or more, in many cases, imperceptible.   Its
terminations  are  only  resolution;   the  casting  away of effete  matter in
the course of  suppuration; and  the granulation and adhesion  which are
called the healing process.
   Therefore,  inflammation is not disease, but  nature's efforts to prevent and
cure disease,  and should not be subdued but aided in our practice.
   Suppuration and gangrene often improperly attributed to inflammation, are
the results of chemical action (280,  284).
   Hence it is not wonderful that they who call  it disease and strive  to sub-
due it in practice, should never learn what it is, nor  what is " disease, nor
Avhat  is  a suitable remedy" (Rush 6).
   313.  Fulfillment of my promise.   "Fallacies of the Faculty."   Quackery.
I think  I have noAv Avritten enough  (though under very unfavorable circum-
stances, with a jaded intellect and in odds and ends of time chiefly occupied
with other subjects of thought and  action, as business and professional avo-
cations) to convince all the thoughtful and  candid of my readers that the
great "Error of Errors," the fatal "fallacy of the faculties" of  Allopathy,
has ever been the  adoption in practice of the doctrine that  irritation,  fever
and inflammation are essentially different from each other, and all entitled to
the appellation of disease, and treated according to this doctrine.   I  have
shown  clearly enough,  that the reason why they cannot comprehend  its
nature (35) nor its tendency (19) ;  nor the character and tendency (20 and
78 to 151) of the  remedies  used  to  cure it, is because  they refuse  to recoo-
nize and treat it as "a salutary operation," "for the restoration of injuries,"
"an  effort of nature,"  "of only one kind,"  "curative," &c. (42).  But,
condemning it as constituting the "orders of disease that make up the  great
amount  of  human  maladies  and form the grand outlets of life !" (41), they
must, of  course,  contend  against  its action, with means and "measures"
Avhich their  experience informs them are  the most  effectual to  subdue it.
Hence the deadly narcotics for the nerves ;  the lancet for the circulation, and
mercury to " regulate'the secretions," and " control adhesive inflammation,"
have  ever  been their trinity of remedies for  this tri-headed monster__this 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.                    87
 " irritqtio-febrile inflammation," (all exhibited at once in phrenitis) called
 disease.   Hence,  too, the united Avarfare of Allopathy and  all her dutiful
 children, against giving to a sick patient any thing  that will excite " this
 disease," such as cayenne, ginger, or other spices ;  or even the most pleasant
 drinks, or other nutritious aliment.   Hence their warfare against vapor baths,
 exercise, and even cheerful company—which all " excite that  terrible hydra-
 headed dragon, fever, whose " nature," character,  " course and termination,"
 are "still problems in" their " medical science" (28 to 38).
   Here, it seems to me that I might, Avith a good grace, bid Allopathy fare-
 well ;  but I am met with an ansAver in the shape of an  alternative with which
 I  shall yet haAre  much to do, and therefore 1  may as Avell attack it at once,
 and break the force  of its future opposition.   The alternative to which I
 allude, is the one to which all sensible  and scientific men  repair, wrhen they
 have no true principles to guide them—I mean the final resort:—

   314. Experience.   By experience is meant that  information or those
 conclusions, habits or feelings which we derive from observation and demon-
 stration.   These are,  indeed, the only means we possess of making sure to us
 the knowledge  of any thing ;  and, if conducted on right principles, and in a
 natural or scientific manner, they are infallible.  When perfect in character,
 and sufficient in extent to  grasp examples that illustrate all its  doctrines, thejr
 soon make manifest and certain to the experimenter, the true principles that
 constitute the science.  If therefore, the Doctors have no  science ( I to 18),
 it must be because their experience is false (19), having been conducted with
 one end in view, by the aid  of means that  tend to  another.  They have
 labored to cure disease with means that tend to make it, and to kill. How long-
 must they experiment in  this way,  to  learn the science of life, and the art
 of  healing?  How long  before  they  can say any thing  else than, "fallax
 experienlia /" (19).   Hoav long before they learn any thing of " the action of
 external agents on the body"  (20) ; whether they are killing or curing their
 patient (20, 27);  whether they are  or are not "multiplying  diseases  and
 increasing their mortality ?"  (26).
   But let us not be satisfied with asking such "hard questions."   Let us
 l^ive the ansAver in the one short word—never! and proceed to show them
 Avhat they are slow  to learn—the  character  and tendency  of their chief
 •'remedial agents," and the consequent evil influence of their "Experience."
   Having  no science (4) or  demonstrated principles (5), Allopatliists "go
 for experience,"  (Prof.  Harrison, Rec.  vol. x, p. 10.) and  yet,  notAvith-
 standing their experience  has  taught them that opium, lancets  and mercury
 will surely kill a well man, if they give  them freely, they still  call it false
 (19).  Hippocrates said "Fallax experientia."   And Abercrombie and Jack-
 son repeat the slander (19).   On the other hand, they declare that even the
 most nutritious food and pleasantest drinks may become poison when given
 to a sick person (Dr. Locke on Toxicology).
  Even my excellent friend, and, in many respects colaborer in medical  re-
 form, who has  learned, by experience, most surely, that antimony, opium and
 calomel,  "are absolutely poisons," and  that water and coarse bread, rasp-
berries and cranberries are absolutely nutritious  and  remedial, not having
got rid of the erroneous idea that "fever is both a disease and a sanative
effort," <fec, (Discus) joins them in  the condemnation of the very means by
which  he  acquired all the knowledge he possesses as a guide  to  the true
character and action of any thing between opium and calomel, and "grits" 
88
ALLOPATHY  EXPOSED,
and cranberries!   Experience,  he thinks, has  nothing to  do with settling
such questions.   It is purely "a question of science"  or knowledge.   Pray
what are any sciences but the fruits of discovery and experiments?
   Let us therefore learn from observation and the experiments of somebody,
if not ourselves, what are the character and tendency of the remedial agents
of Allopathy.   But let us not, like others, be deceived by a wrong interpre-
tation of the facts of experience.

   315.  The character and action  of remedial agents.   We  here see clearly
the  reason why medical men of the Allopathic  school,  have never been able
to determine the  character of agents (20), or their modus  operandi on the
system (20, 85 to 89); Avhether they should call them food or medicines or
poisons (98); whether sometimes  one and sometimes the other (96).  Com-
pare 49 to 54, with 55 to 70, also 71 to 73 with 74 to 79.   Lastly, 78 to 84
with 85 to 151, and it will be seen that the greatest confusion of ideas, and
uncertainty of knoAvledge, even of matters that can be observed  by every
body, prevail among medical men of  the highest distinction in regard to the
above subjects.
   As all irritants may excite that accumulation of blood  and action which
constitutes fever,  if any are administered,  in  moderate  quantities,  when
there is power in the system to defend itself against their mischieArous action,
and get rid of  them, they are called "good remedies;"  but, if the system is
feeble and yields to their  deadly grasp, the same agents are called poisonous,
mischievous, destructive.

   316. Remedies  the cause of disease.   Of 135 forms of disease described by
Prof. Eberle in his "Theory and Practice," he gives, among the causes of forty-
two, some of the  very remedies he recommends to cure these and others.
   Dr. Dunglison,  in his Theory  and Practice, gives to a  few of  the Sam
sons of Allopathy, viz:  Mercury, Lead,  Arsenic,  Tobacco, Blood-letting,
Rye-spur (secale  cornutum), Copper, Antimony, Cantharides, Opium, Nux
Vomica, Strychnia, Brucia, Alcohol and Acupuncturation,  the credit of pro-
ducing thirty of the worst forms  of disease with Avhich the human body is
afflicted, and yet he was far too  cautious of the reputation of poisons, and
too ignorant of their real character and action, to do half justice to the sub-
ject.  They are the chief causes of many other forms of disease, as dyspep-
sia, diarrhea, dysentery,  scrofula, apoplexy, herpes, phthisis, and a host of
other forms  of disease  not named among their evil effects by either him or
Dr. Eberle, though each of these gentlemen  enumerates some that the other
does not, and omits some that the  other names as caused by the "remedies."
   How valuable  must be  the remedies  that produce such a list of terrible
forms of disease,  especially as many of them  are  never seen in  persons who
have not had the honor to have  been treated by  the Allopathic faculty!
   Hoav can  they ever learn what  are "suitable medicines"  (6), while  they
persist in treating every form of disease with deadly poisons and destructive
instruments ?

   317. Blood-letting.   As a remedy in fever and inflammation, in the legiti-
mate Allopathic practice, "blood-letting ranks pre-eminently the first" (Mar-
shall Hall  (50).   "The best because the most effective" (Clutterbuck 51).
"The most proper mode  of  depletion" (Paine 52).   "The  sheet anchor of
hope" (Paine  54).  "No substitute can be found or desired for it" (More-
head 53).                                                        v 
CRITICISED AND  CORRECTED.
89
   Can any remedy have higher recommendations?  Would not the Allopathic
 practitioner who neglected to bleed a case of fever or inflammation, deserve
 severe censure  from the  faculty,  whether he lost it or not?  Is it right  in
 any case  to  trifle with uncertain means Avhen we have a remedy for which
 "no substitute  can be found or  desired?"   Thank God, many Allopathic
 doctors haA^e, from  their  observation and  experience  of its deadly results,
 ventured  to reject it altogether, and to resort to means that are  suitable and
 effective.
   But, as this  is not Allopathy, we will examine carefully the therapeutic
 operation of blood-letting, and see how  far it merits our attention.
   In the first place, in fever and general inflammation, the digestion and
 nutrition  are usually suspended, Avhile the wear and tear of the system are
 increased.  It is therefore important that the tissues should have the benefit
 of  all the  nutritious matter already in the blood, till the equilibrium  is
 restored.
   But blood-letting takes away a portion of this nutritious matter, and thus
 becomes,  as Hunter says,  " one of  the greatest weakeners " (55), for which,
 as  Professor Morehead  says,  " no remedy remains for  counteracting  or
 removing the injuries which it has inflicted" (60).
   Secondly.   The removal of blood  permits the capillaries of the arteries  to
 contract  still more, and this contraction  is the  greatest where the vessels
 are the least debilitated by too long excitement;  hence the irregularity of
 the circulation is still the  same if  not greater,  certainly no less ;  and from
 this contraction of the  vessels " to adapt themselves to the measure of  blood
 that  remains,"  there  arise a "nervous irritation," a "palpitation of the
 heart, a pulsation of the arteries," that  "add as largely to the exhaustion  as
 the  depletion that produced them"  (67), till,  by  being bled "again and
 again," by the  ignorant, reckless operator, the  patient expires,  a Arictim "to
 the treatment instead of the disease" (J. M. Good, 67).
   Thirdly.   As the capillaries are diminished by the removal of the pressure
 of  the blood from their elastic coats,  the globules adhere to  those  coats
 and to each  other, and soon block up  these  vessels, and produce  the very
 stagnation which the blood-letting  is perpetrated with intention  to prevent.
   Fourthly.   Immediately on  the stagnation of the blood, a change  in its
 composition commences ;  and, because of  this well known fact, blood-letting
 is recommended to prevent this stagnation  and keep it  pure and healthy !
 It is practiced to prevent  or relieve  plethora in pregnant women, and men
 disposed to apoplexy.   But I  have shoAvn that it tends, by its  weakening-
 influence, to produce  stasis, and of course deterioration, as any  one can
 observe in the cases of persons who are thus bled, or of those Avho  suffer
 often from spontaneous hemorrhage from the mucous tissues.
   Fifthly.   By reducing the quantum of that fluid, blood-letting both dimin-
 ishes an<£ depraves all the  secretions of  the system.   In whatever  light Ave
 view it,  then, blood-letting tends  directly to  the destruction  of some im-
 portant sustenance or function, consequently to death rather than to life.

  318. Mercurializing.   Inflammation  is  indispensable to  the  healing  of a
 wound (42 to 44); but mercury prevents this healing process by "stopping
 the effusion of coagulable lymph," the only means of healing wounds  (92);
 "controlling adhesive  inflammation" (81).    It  "limits or removes affu-
 sions" (84).   "  Deranges the vital  forces"  (93).  Takes the place of the dis-
ease (U. S. Dispensatory, 94).   It " promotes scrofula and glandular diseases 
90
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
and hastens decomposition"  (95).   " It is a powerful  depressor of the
energies of life, and demolishes the  very pillars of human health" (96).  " A
Samson to do evil" (McLellan's Surgery, 105).   "It produces  delirium,
palsy and epilepsy" (Bell, 99).   "Destroys the red blood,  pulls doAvn parts
of the building" (Watson, 109).  Destroys the  glands (124) and  the bones
  100,  141),  and "for ever deprives the patient of a perfect restoration"
  Good,  119).   See Nos.  78 to 151,  particularly  146 and  148 to 151.
   If mercury produces such effects as these,  it may Avell be pronounced
"the great anti-febrile,  anti-inflammatory alterant of the  materia medica"
(78), since all its alterations tend to death, and destruction of even the bones,
which the very grave will spare and preserve, if it  receiA'es them before they
are decomposed  by mercury.  If it is anti-febrile and anti-inflammatory, it
must be so because fever and inflammation tend to health. Be that as it may,
it would seem scarcely  probable that any man Avith  his  eyes open to  the
above effects of this "greatest and best remedy divine goodness ever revealed
in ansAver to the diligent search of man" (78), would desire to enjoy these
effects, as "substitutes" for the fever and inflammation (93, 143).

   318 a. Of the aids to  mercury, in its great Avork of "controlling inflam-
mation," I need only say of antimony, digitalis, &c, that they are merely
humble followers in the same great labor of " demolishing the very pillars of
human health."   They work after the same  manner, and  to the same end,
as their great predecessor, in the battle of disease  and death against  the
powers of health and life.
   319.  Narcotizing—Opium.   But, let us now take  notice  of that  other
"magnum Dei donum (great gift of God), for the relief of human suffering"
(Harrison),  " more extensively employed than any other single article of the
materia  medica" (71) "for the  relief of nervous irritation in its various
forms"—this  "foreign  substance," which is "contrary  to  nature,"  and
"makes inflammation of  the brain  and of the stomach and bowels worse,"
perhaps incurable" (74); " neA-er  to  be  got rid of perhaps  through life"
(74);  a means  by which "innumerable  infants  have  been  irretrievably
ruined" (Eberle,  76); a remedy (?) by which  seA-en times as  much mis-
chief as good hasibeen  done  on the  great theater of its  use (76 b)\  that
" dangerous sedative,  as deceptive as the serpent of Eden, and its effects too
often equally fatal" (76 c).
   Now, as  "irritation" is considered a dangerous "disease," calculated to
"exhaust the  vital poAvers," as much as blood-letting does (67), it seems
rather strange that a drug so mischievously exhausting as opium and its like
are described to be, should be recommended to keep up vital action and restore
health.  If opium  deadens the nervous system, and checks, through it,  the
circulation, including the secretions and  excretions,  and therefore  prevents
the healthy purification of the body,  retaining the morbific and  ino-ested
agents within it, and the  blood to stagnate, and all to be  decomposed, and
thus in their elementary  state  to  become  corrosiA'e agents, eno-ines of mis-
chief to  the system, can it be  desirable  to procure a temporary relief from
suffering, by the substitution of the sedation of narcotics for the "irritation"
of the nerves, by which  alone they and all the rest of the system are pre-
served from destruction?   Yet such is  the uniform—the unavoidable  effect,
whenever opium is given to allay irritation!  Being "contrary to nature"
(74 b),  it can not reasonably be expected to aid nature  in the  removal of
disease.
 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
91
  Here, then, it is manifest, both  from the testimony and the experiments
of its best friends, that opium is indeed "as deceptive as  the serpent of
Eden, and too often equally fatal" (76 c\  Other narcotics are  similar in
nature, and, of course, produce the same effects!
  320.  Of the minor operations of Allopathy, such as cupping, leeching and
blistering,  I  need say but little, except that they are considered  by their
advocates, hand-maids and helps-meet, to the cardinal practice of depleting,
mercurializing and narcotizing.  Except leeching,  they are  based  on the
correct principle  of  counter-irritation, and would be  good but for the fact
that they are  so  circumscribed, and effected by such means, that they do
more mischief than they relieve.  Cupping, leeching and blistering  destroy
texture, and leeching and blistering inflict on the body poisonous effects as
well as wounds Avhich it is often difficult to eradicate.   Phlebitis and stran-
gury are  among  the  very pleasant effects of leeching and  blistering, and
gangrene and death have many a time succeeded  both.

  321.  Good food and medicines rejected.  As good food always excites the
action of  the tissues of  digestion,  it increases a  fever; of course  they Avho
believe fever to be disease, will condemn good food as poison.   Dr. Locke,
in his Lecture on Toxicology, says that even our most approved articles of
food, may become poisonous  by concentration or  injudicious use.    As a
chemist he ought to know that their character  can never be altered  while
they retain the same constitution,  Avhatever  may be the conditions of the
system to which they are administered.  And as a physiologist and a physi-
cian, he ought to know that, to make them act in a  proper manner, that is,
according to their  nature, he should remove the Avrong conditions  of the
system.    Good medicines are condemned for the  same reason.
  322.  The great error of Allopathisls in deciding on  the  character of a
remedy as sanative  or destructive, physiological or  pathogenetic,  consists in
their not ascertaining whether the  remedy invites and aids irritation, inflam-
mation and fever, or  provokes them to make efforts to expel it.  The former
are sanative,   "curative;"  the latter  are  pathogenetic, "destructive"—
" poisonous," not so by quantity and injudicious  use,  but  by nature and
tendency, in any quantity and by any use.
  And all systems that involve the same errors in regard to these vital  mani-
festations, involved the same error,  however circumscribed their action on
the  system.   We  here learn that  all the reform there is in the  systems
that involve any violence or poisons, consists merely in the more limited appli-
cation of them, but not in the correction of the principle, and of course, are
liable at all times to fall back to the old extreme.   These are  not radical and
permanent reforms.
  323.  Medical Reasoning.   Professor J. P. Harrison said, "We do not
reason on medicine as we do  on other subjects."  "Disease  is an unnatural
condition, and must be met with an unnatural remedy."   (Vol. X Recorder,
No. 1).
  It is even so.  Hemorrhage must be stopped by blood-letting, diarrhea by
physic,  salivation by mercury, and stupidity must  be roused by opium ! !
But all these  "doctrines" and practices arise from their ignorance of or dis-
obedience to physiological  laws, and the character and action of  these their
favorite "remedies !"  And all this false or unique "reasoning," arises from
the one fundamental  error inserted as a postulate in  their medical syllogism, 
 92                       ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,

 viz.,  "irritation,  fever and inflammation are  disease"—"the  three  orders
 of it that make up the great amount of human  maladies  and form the grand
 outlets of life" (41).
   They  reason  thus:  "Diseases  should be cured [very true].   Irritation,
 fever, and inflammation are diseases [false].  Therefore these must be cured"
 [false].
   If the second postulate were true, the third  would  be legitimate, and the
 practice of depleting and  narcotizing,  mercurializing,  freezing and  starving
 Avould be scientific and successful.
   I have  proved that these are not the disease, and of course, not the affections
 to be cured.   But they admit the error without proof, or rather against their
 own positive declarations (42,  43, 45) and their  conclusive demonstrations
 (44, 206  b).  Yet they go on—"progress !"  " If disease, fever, irritation,
 &c, must be cured, it must be cured with something that will cure it" (not
 with that Avhich will excite and increase it.  Having no positive  science (4),
 they go in for experience, which is no better (19).   "All experience shows
 that opium and other narcotics will allay and check irritation  (71, 73);  and
 that the lancet and sedative poisons, as digitalis, antimony and mercury, will
 reduce fever and inflammation  (53,  54,  78 to 84), and that ice and starva-
 tion  will  complete the business of  subduing  what we  dare  not effect  by
 depletion.  Therefore,
   " These are our remedies for irritation, fever and inflammation !"
  Again,
   "Vapor baths, air, food,  stimulants,  as cayenne, ginger, spices,  <fec, in-
crease irritation, fever  and inflammation (which are disease), therefore these
are proscribed !"
  But, lastly,
   "We find that sometimes disease (irritation, fever and  inflammation) cures
itself, or is cured by the very stimulants above  proscribed !  Therefore, we
believe that they are sometimes sanative (44)  and sometimes destructive"
 (38, 40,  41),  and that, of course,  lancets and  cayenne,  lobelia and  calomel,
asarum and opium, hot water and  ice, feeding and starvation, are,  like the
particles,  very, large, long, and short, in language, destitute of any  qualities
of their own,  but  dependent on their relations to other things !  They are
all poisons or good medicines, according to the injudicious  or judicious use
made of them  ! that is, as the patient dies or lives, "post hoc" (after their
administration)!   " They are all good medicines in skillful  hands;" that is,
the hands that have never learned  whether they are, in their nature, poison-
ous or destructive, sanative or healing !  But the most innocent of them aro
rendered very dangerous and destructive by the simple rejection, by the ad-
ministrator, of the doctrine that irritation, fever and inflammation are disease
and the using of  them according  to the notion that  these  affections are
 "physiology deranged."    Such is the " reasoning " of Allopathy ! and well
did f rot.  Harrison say it is " not as on other subjects."
  It can  scarcely excite   surprise  in  any reflecting mind  that has  perused
carefully the preceding pages, that from such premises and such a course of
reasoning, medical men should have come to the conclusion that " Allopathic
medicine is not a science for a methodical mind, but a shapeless assemblao-e
of inaccurate  ideas and  deceptive  remedies,"  &c. (4),  and that, owing- to
their "ignorance of disease and of a suitable  remedy" (6),  their  practice
being a dangerous speculation (24), should generally " multiply diseases  and
increase their mortality " (26). 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
93
   324.  Quackery.   Before I dismiss this  part of my subject, I will  most
 cheerfully admit that some of the clinical practice of many Allopathic physi-
 cians  not  only does not deserve the above condemnation, but merits the
 cordial approbation and support of every philanthropist, being attended with
 uniformly good results.   I have seen such; but; when I examined  its char-
 acter, I found it to consist of the judicious application of innocent remedies,
 which wrought according to their nature, whatever  miglit be the notions of the
 doctor who had adopted their use because he had observed that they produced
 a better effect  than the "legitimate" means and processes of the Allopathic
 system, which are  depletion and sedation, or stimulation with deadly agents,
 as narcotics.   But this, in them, is quackery, not being in accordance with
 the doctrines of their science !

   324 a. As to the Allopatliists' using anti-poison remedies, such a course
 does  not prove any thing for Allopathy,  because  they, not being "anti-
 inflammatory" agents, can not cure according to the "regular" logic (323).
 If fevers sometimes cure themselves, it is because they remove the  obstacles
 to their free action, and if good medicines sometimes cure them, it is because
 they remove the obstructions "which render the fever necessary" (Hunter).
 If poisons seem to cure, it is because the system  cures itself by its  efforts to
 expel them!   A pure Allopathy can not use an agent innocent in character,
 because such agents aid fever instead of opposing  it.
   Did  I believe its doctrines  concerning   irritation  and  inflammation,  I
 should not,  in  any case, use the remedies  I  now do.  I  should  call  that
 quackery.   I should obey Dr. Dewees's direction in the treatment of puer-
 peral fever.   I should bleed till " the disease" was " subdued, or the patient
 expired"—both which, admitting the feA'er  to be disease, would occur at the
 same time and from the same cause !

   325. Reform in  Allopathy.  Although many Allopathic physicians reject
 blood-letting in part, and not a few almost,  and some  quite  always;  though
 some reject mercury; almost entirely, and others use far less than they did,
 though even opium is  not used so  freely as it once was, yet such reforms
 have often been made and  abandoned, while the doctrine  has remained the
 same;  yet I am still constrained to believe, with the distinguished Dr. Forbes
 of London, and Professor Henderson of Edinburg, that Allopathic medicine,
 as now practiced throughout the civilized world, and especially in the United
 States,  does far more mischief than  good.   Some persons have taken 250
 grains of calomel and lived, others have taken three grains and died  of mer-
 curialis; while yet  others innumerable, have been ruined for life by taking
 the commonly authorized doses;  and the same is  true  of the lancet  and
 opium; so that, on  the Avhole, no consideration would induce me, when sick,
 to submit my case to the care of a consultation of a dozen of the most learned
 Allopathic doctors  in any city of this country.   I  look upon  the whole Allo-
 pathic  practice as  a source of misery and premature  death,  that has not a
parallel in the sword, the pestilence and intemperance united.   It slays alike
all classes of society, young and old, and fills the land  Avith chronic  and
incurable misery.

   326.  The  modus operandi of remedies not  discovered.  A most deplorable
defect in all medical " proceedings,"  is, that their authors have failed, in their
own  estimation, to  learn the modus  operandi of their remedies (20, 4,  60,
62, 64, 68, 70, 74, 75,  76,  85 to 89). 
94
ALLOPATHY  EXPOSED,
  326 a. Thus blood-letting is pronounced " emphatically the remedy (53),
and yet the same author, Morehead says (60),  " alway serious,  not  unfre-
quently fatal  effects  but too surely follow its misapplication;" then " no
remedy  remains for counteracting and  removing the  injuries Avhich it has
inflicted"—and,  consequently,  " it deserves to  be viewed Avith somewhat
of the  abhorrence that  attaches  to the  knife of  the  murderer ;" and yet
Professor Thacher tells us "Ave have no infallible index to direct us" in the
use of it.

  326 b. Opium  is said to be " treacherous"  (76) and  "deceptive" (78),
and about the modus operandi of mercury there is "an inscrutable mystery"
(130 to 143).

  326 c. Mercury. " Of the modus operandi of mercury, we know nothing,"
&c. (93, 94, 95,  96).

  327.  The modus operandi explained.   Now with all due deference to the
careful  observation and far reaching powers of the constituted guardians of
the public  health, I must beg leave to express  my honest conviction, that
they do themselves  and  the  sciences of  chemistry  and  physiology  great
injustice here.   I think they have learned most clearly the modus operandi
of their medicines.   They  have shown that  the direct tendency  of blood-
letting is to " take away not only an organ of life, but a portion of life itself"
(56), for  Avhich  "injury" no " remedy remains" (60).    That it both kills
by  taking away   "the blood thereof, which is the life thereof ;" and injures
the constitutions of those that escape with life, by so weakening the force of
life in the remnant of the circulation,  that  the balance, not able to overcome
the chemical affinity  resident in its  elements, yields to  that affinity and is so
nearly OA^ercome  by it as to  be  unable  to  perform its duty fully,  of keeping
up  a proper action,  heat and  distention of the  superficial capillaries Avhich
haAre " contracted to adapt themselves to the measure of blood that remains"
(67), till they become so firmly condensed  that this " measure (venesection)
is never able to restore the balance of free circulation ; and the patient finally.
sometimes  after many years, "gives up the ghost to the treatment instead of
the disease" (67).
  I knew an excellent  man, a physician of the Allopathic school, Avho Atas
treated in 1822, Avith blood-letting, opium, &c, for phrenitis, or inflammation of
the brain.  The evil  results of the blood-letting continued with him till 1844,
22  years, when   he left them  in  the  grave !  Whenever  his  general health
began to improve, the blood sought access to the superficial capillaries ; but
they, being permanently contracted beloAV the proper caliber, resisted it.  Of
course  it Avas directed to the soft and relaxed  mucous  membrane  of  the
bowels Avhich, being paralyzed by opium and rotted by calomel, gave way to the
pressure, and to dysentery and flux, and finally gangrene and death !   These
Avere the results of the modus operandi of these three agents combined !
   Mercury acts  by decomposing  chemically the tissue,  as in rotting "the
gums,  the  glands and the  bones," and "demolishing the  very pillars of
health."   It poisons to death the blood,  and thus "prevents adhesive in-
flammation ;" and Avhen it can not kill outright, it so checks vital action as to
 "produce  rheumatism" and "incurable paralysis."
   They have shoAvn that opium is "contrary to nature," "a hurtful sub-
stance" which produces, in infants,  an ill-conditioned state of the nervous
system that never, through  all subsequent life, is entirely  got rid of" (74) ■ 
CKITICISED AND CORRECTED.
95
 but " irretrievably ruins" them, and that it does seven mischiefs where it does
 one good ; being.too often as fatal to the body as sin to the soul (76).
   But perhaps some will say  "this is what it does, but not the how it acts."
 Suppose the objection  were  true, must they, after they have  learned that
 lancets, opium and mercury positively kill Avhen they give enough of them,
 and that this enough is often  but a very inconsiderable portion of what they
 often do  give, and recommend.  After all this, I ask, must they know how
 they kill before they cease to^use them for that purpose ?   If  so, let them
 consult the articles on  the  subject in this work—blood-letting, opium, mer-
 cury, and they will learn how they act, as well as that they do act.
   It is easy to see that  " ignorance of disease" must lead directly to " ignor-
 ance of a suitable  remedy."   While medical  men  count fever disease,°they
 must seek for it " a suitable remedy" (6).   As fever tends  to life and health,
 the suitable  remedies  for it, must  tend to disease and death.   Hence "all
 their best remedies are" and must be " virulent poisons" (Hooper, Die.) is a
 logical  deduction  from their premises that fever is disease, and fever must
 be cured (323).   Lancets and poisons are the only scientific Allopathic reme-
 dies ; all others are both empyrical and improper,  in the hands of a believer
 in the  fever-disease  doctrine, no matter  to  what denomination of medical
 men he may belong.   So long,  then, as men regard the vital manifestations
 termed  irritation,  inflammation  and feA-er, as disease,  so long  they will be
 "ignorant of a  suitable remedy" for disease, or a  means of removing  the
 necessity for  fever—that is, of obeying its commands—satisfying its moni-
 tions to  remove the causes that excite it.   A pure Allopathist can not use a
 single innocent stimulant in fever.
   Let them once adopt our definition of those vital  manifestations, and treat
 them as we do in practice, and they will no longer  be guilty of the absurdity
 of calling an  agent a food, a poison  or a medicine, merely because they find
 it under different circumstances, and consequently differently Avrought upon.
 They will  settle in their minds  at once the principle, that food is whatever
 is adapted to supply the wastes of the organism ;  that poisons are Avhatever
 possess  an inherent tendency to paralyze or destroy a tissue, or impede its
 action, and that remedies are all those agents whose nature  is to directly
 excite the organs to the due performance of their  protective, their defensive
 or their health-preserving offices.
   They would test  all these agents on the healthy state, and mark their char-
 acter in accordance with their  direct  tendencies.   They would discover no
 "secondary action"  to any  "simple remedy."  That  A\diich purely sustains
 the body, they Avould ahvays call food.   That Avhich has a native tendency to
 paralyze or destroy tissue, they would always call a poison.   And that which
 simply aids the vital force in  the performance of exalted action, or in  re-
covering its disturbed equilibrium by promoting relaxation or lubrication, or
by removing or neutralizing foreign and  injurious  irritants, and " leaAres no
sting behind," they would call " a medicine ;" and  they would neither forget
 these conclusions,  nor  change their minds concerning them.    The things
 they Avould strive  to alter, Avould be the  circumstances wdiich give rise to
 what they noAV suppose to be  the varied effects of those remedies, as primary
 Dr secondary, good or bad, as  they are Avell or ill, timely, or untimely admin-
 istered.

  328.  What  the  Faculty have done.  The attentive  reader will perceive
 that, notwithstanding the declarations of medical men that they have learned 
06
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
 and established nothing  reliable  in relation to inflammation or fever, they
 really have carefully observed and accurately described, all its essential charac-
 teristics, concomitants, modes of action  and results ;  also the consequences to
 the system when it fails  to accomplish its objects.
   As its characteristics, they have given us irritation, contraction, accumulation
 of  blood and heat in, and expansion and debility of, the arterial capillaries;
 collapse  or compression of the  venous and other absorbents, and consequent
 check to absorption  and secretion ;  first excessive and then diminished Aoav
 of  blood through a part, Avith  sometimes redness and pain; resolution, the
 effusion of coagulable lymph and  finally granulation or healing.
   As concomitants, they have given the various  constitutional or accidental
 manifestations of  the results of its action, as the scrofulous, the tubercular,
 the bilious,  the erysipelatous, the  scarlet, the spotted, the yellow, the vario-
 lar, rubeolar, &c, &c,  and, as  results to the system,  when inflammation fails
 of  its object, they have carefully described chemical lesion,  in the shape of
 suppuration and gangrene.
   They  have even regarded inflammation in its true light, as "a reaction of
 the vital power," for the defense of the system against the  depredations
 of  the causes of disease, "an act of the constitution," "a  sanative  effort,"
 "not to be called disease," but as "a salutary effort of  the  constitution
 consequent  upon some disease."  They speak of it as essentially "a unit,"
 and declare that its object is  the  protection  of the system against injury
 threatened, and to mend up the Avounds already inflicted (42-44) ;  and this
 they affirm that it always actually does, unless prevented bv the  action or
 opposition of some superior extraneous cause.
  They pronounce it the only remedy with which a surgeon can ever heal a
 wound (Watson,  p. 95), or a physician can ever cure a cold or any other
 malcondition of  the system,  as  there is no  restoration from prostration
 without the  aid of that  " reaction " Avhich they call fever and inflammation.
  The foregoing  quotations prove every one of these positions, to all which
 I am happy  to say, I most cheerfully subscribe.

  328 a.  What then is  the error of the faculty?  Why haA^e they declared
that they knoAv not the nature of fever, and  that  inflammation is still a
problem  in medical science ?
  I answer, again and again, they have summed up all these characteristics,
 concomitants and results of  fever or inflammation ; and the  consequences to
 the system from chemical and mechanical causes when it  fails of its object,
and given to the mass a  single name.  When the inflammation prevails, they
pronounce it defensive,  sanative, good ; when it fails, and extraneous power
prevails,  they pronounce it "the great mother  of human  maladies and the
grand outlet of life."   When  they guess  that inflammation or fever  will
succeed,  they encourage it; Avhen  they  fear it will  not, they  destroy the
power of the system to  produce it, and then attribute to the fever the evil of
their own doings !   Hoav can men ever learn the true nature and use of any
thing by constantly violating its nature in their experiments  upon it ?

  328 b. In short, the Allopathic faculties have believed and taught all sorts
of doctrines, true and false ;  they have tried all sorts of practices, and used
all sorts of agents, good and bad,  and have come to the conclusion that they
have  established  no principle on  which  they can rely (5) and found no
 remedy that is uniformly good in  its action (20), and  that their practice is 
CRITICISED AND CORRECiED.
97
 no better now than it was fifty years ago (24).  They have devised the use
 of the lancet, which, "for a hundred years, destroyed more lives than all that
 in the same period perished by war" (58); of mercury, which "powerfully
 depresses the  energies of life," and "demolishes the very pillars of health
 (96);  which enters the  brain and the nerves (109), and sloughs off the
 gums and cheeks (113, 108, 107), destroying "the glands and the  bones,"
 and  finally produces death under  the  most revolting circumstances "  (115,
 142), and of opium, which slays seven where it saves one, and continually ruins
 "innumerable infants," that it does not slay outright (76).  Thus they have
 "multiplied diseases and increased their mortality" (26).

   329 a.  What  the Faculty have not  done.—They have not learned any
 method of determining whether a principle or doctrine  is true or false (1,
 2,  5, 8); they have learned nothing certain of the nature of disease (6), nor
 of the nature of remedies (20); nor have they gathered any practical expe-
 rience  from the past, that is worth a rush for the future (19, 20, 21);  and,
 consequently, they have  not done  any thing in the way of medication that
 has, on the Avhole, detracted one iota from the  great amount of human suf-
 fering (16, 17,  18).  They are not so good practitioners as were Hippocrates
 and Galen.  They are no more scientific (in the healing art) than was  Para-
 celsus, nor so good Eclectics as was Boerhaave.   They are not half so suc-
 cessful in practice as the  "herbalist," " root," " Indian" and "old woman"
 doctors, whom they affect so much to despise.  In short, they have not,  in
 "the healing art," come  up within "four thousand years" of the spirit and
 improvements  of the age in which they live !   If they dispute this, let the
 community challenge them to compare notes  publicly with the  "irregular
 practitioners"  alluded to.
   329 b.  What the faculty should do, and the consequences.  They should sepa-
 rate the vital force and its effects from the mechanical and chemical forces
 and their effects; that is, separate irritation, fever  and inflammation from
 obstruction, lesion, and mortification.   They should seek  to aid those and
 oppose these, and then they would soon learn  to a demonstration what  is
 irritation, fever, and inflammation,  and what are its antagonists; Avhat is dis-
 ease,  and what are suitable remedies.  Then the doctrines of medicine would
 cease to be an "incoherent assemblage of incoherent ideas " (4), and would
 become as  intelligible and  "demonstrable as those of any other  natural
 science"  (Jackson), and its remedies, and  their character  and action, would
 no longer be " fraught with the highest degree of uncertainty" (20), but fixed
 on a basis that  would "stand a toAver of strength amidst the rude shock of
 opposition's bursting wave through  all succeeding time" (Whiting).   The
 lancet and poisons would be abandoned at once, and for ever, and the  pro-
 cesses of  cure would be conducted  with means tending only to health, and
 the results of their practice would be as sure as their best ordered chemical
 experiments are no,v.   They would cure disease whenever they had a good
 constitution to  work on, suitable  remedies for the case, and  knowledge, skill
 and energy in the application; and  would become indeed, what they have so
 long most unjustly claimed to be,  "guardians of the public health," and the
 elements of "an honorable and beneA'olent profession"—men to whom the
 miserable  sufferer, writhing in pain, might look with some good grounds of
 confidence for relief  from his wretched condition!—and  last, but not to be
wholly overlooked—then  would " ignoramuses, quacks, nostrums, pills  and
powders" all be laid aside—rooters, herbalists, and "old women" would be
                                  7 
98
ALLOPATHY EXPOSED,
rejected, and all the business, honor and profits of the healing art would be
returned to the "legitimate" custody of those who would  then well deserve
to be styled,  "the regular medical faculty!"  Is  not  this "a  consummation
devoutly to be wished?"

   330.  What I have done.   In early life, with most others of that day, /
supposed that the  Allopathic system of medicine involved all the science,  and
the most judicious practice,  of which the subject would admit; but, seeing in
practice  what appeared to be not only signal failures, but evidently destruc-
tive effects, I  determined to give the system a most thorough  and extensive
study, though with  the full expectation that, on  the  whole, it would  prove
itself good,   however individuals might,  from  ignorance or carelessness,
abuse it.
   But, taught by the "absurdities,  contradictions  and  falsehoods (7) of
"the doctrines of  the  schools" (6), and the "horrid, unwarrantable  and
murderous quackery" of the practitioners (142), I formed, thirty-five years
ago,  the resolution never to suffer it to be practiced upon me.  For ten years I
suffered much for the Avant  of a true medical practice, till at last, in  1832,
through  Doctor Samuel Thomson, my mind was brought to recognize the
mother error of all medical mischief.   I made at once the proper distinction
between fever and its opponents,  and entered the battle on the side of the
former and against the latter.   I have ever found this doctrine of the sana-
tive nature and tendency of irritation and inflammation, a sure detector of all
the errors of every system, both in theory and practice ; and a true test of all
the agents of the  materia medica.
   I now  feel  the same assurance in the truth of medical principles  and the
prospective results of remedial efforts, that I do in the principles of chemistry
and the results of its experiments.   In each case,  where the proper conditions
sxist, I am  alike sure, by conducting the experiments on, to me, fixed and
well  known  principles,  to produce the desired  results;—that is, if, in the
treatment of  disease, I have a constitution capable of recovering, and my
well  selected  means at command,  I am as sure  of the cure as  I am of the
success of a  Avell-directed  chemical experiment.   Indeed, I have actually
failed far more frequently in the latter than in  the former.   See  " i hysio
Medical Practice."
   In 1832, I entered the medical  service, as aid-de-camp to General Fever.
With his implements of warfare, in the shape of innocent relaxants, stimu-
lants, astringents, emollients, tonics,  anti-septics, &c, &c, propelled by the
vital force, by electricity, by caloric, &c,  I  am  happy to say that Ave  have
almost always been  able, in the light of his gloriozis torches, to see clearly
the opposing combatants, and their positions and relations,  and to aim a sure
and deadly shot at our enemies, without injuring our  friends.
   Our  Allopathic  friends  (for, as men of  talents,  amiability and general
scholarship,  we esteem  many of them  most  highly) appear  to us like the
Hessians of  the English army of our Revolution, "surrounded by the foo-s"
of mental blindness, shooting  at  random their  deadly "blue"  metal (21),
thrusting forth their pointed steel blades  (60), and paralyzing Avith  their
narcotic arrows (76) as many of  their friends as of their  enemies (patients
as well as diseases).  From our soul we pity  them ; but can scarcely forgive
them; for, if they would study our science  as carefully, honestly, and thor-
oughly as we do their "incoherent assemblage of incoherent ideas"(4), their
"absurdity,   contradiction,  and   falsehood"  (7),  and  their   "horrid 
CRITCISED AND CORRECTED.
99
unwarranatble, murderous quackery" (142), they Avould "know Avhat they
do," and " what they ought to do."   They would " cease to  do  evil and
learn to do Avell," and become a blessing instead of a curse  to  suffering-
humanity.

  331. Before leaving the subject of  Allopathy, it is  but just  to its advo-
cates, to say that many of them—very many, in all ages, have not only dis-
covered its defects, errors and  injurious tendencies and results, but have set
themselves most diligently and praiseworthily to Avork to reform the system,
to supply its defects and  correct its errors and abuses.   A place for all  the
names of these would require a large volume.
  Of those who have remained among the faculty, we may name Hippocrates,
Galen, Celsus,  Boerhaave,  Lieutaud,  Broussais,  Louis,  Alibert,  Bichat,
Andral, Velpeau,  Cullen,  Brown,  Graham,  Abercrombie,  Hunter,  Good,
Bell,  Blundell, Clarke,   Elliotson,  Hall,  and  hosts of others  in  Europe;
Thacher, Waterhouse, Mitchell, Hosack, Paine, Carnochan,  Gallup, Tully,
Rush,  Jackson,   Eberle, Caldwell,  Drake, and  hundreds  of others   in
America, AArho have striven  to reform medicine more or less extensively.
  Of those who have  endeavored to revolutionize  or Avholly supplant it, we
may name, as the one who did it the greatest injury, the famous Paracelsus,
the true Father of Allopathy as it now is.   Of those who have rejected this
system in part, are Brown, Hahnemann, Graham, Lieutaud, Broussais, Louis,
and Dixon, Avho adopted neAV  plans and published new systems of  medicine
differing more or less  widely from  Allopathy.   All these have professed to
be, to some extent Eclectic, gathering from every source Avhat they believed
to be the best.  A writer in a late  medical journal of Philadelphia  says that
two-thirds of the  profession in America have  shaken  off the trammels of
authority, and "become essentially Eclectic"  (Am.  Jour,  of  the Med. Sci-
ences).   Donaldson (16), Bichat (4), Forbes (18), Hahnemann, Lieutaud,
Louis (11), Waterhouse  (13), and very many other medical men of the first
eminence, have rejected'the Avhole  system as nothing, whether a substitute
be found or not (18).  Such was my course before I decided "that any other
system was any better.   Allopathy is itself the strongest evidence of its own
demerits and of the justice of its condemnation.  Out of its own mouth it is
justly judged, and it is its own severest executioner. 
MEDICAL   REFORM.
  332. Most nearly allied to Allopathy, (E. M. J., Vol.  1, pp. 178 to 83),
is a practice whose advocates declare that they are "trammeled by no dog-
ma" (principle), nor " precedent" (example) ; that they select from all other
systems what  they please, adding  "the  astounding  discoveries" made by
themselves ;  that they are bound by no authority and responsible to none for
their faith or their acts.  (See 397, 418, 421, also circulars  and addresses
"to the public," of the Cincinnati E. M. Institute).
  They claim that this practice commenced with Dr. Wooster Beach of > ew
York, and progressed through Drs. T. V. Morrow, I. G. Jones, A. H. Bal-
dridge, L. E. Jones, J. H. Oliver, H. Cox, B. L. Hill, H. P. Gatchell, John
King, G. W. Bickley, R. S. Newton  and other minor lights, for the last eight
years under  the special tutelage of  the superior "literacy," " science" and
" respectability," of J. R. Buchanan, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine
in the E. M. Institute  of Cincinnati—the "leading school" of that practice,
and he the leading  writer for that school!  (397).

  332  a. Having selected, from various  practices, the remedies which  his
observation  and experience had induced  him to believe were the most effi-
cient, and the  least  objectionable  in the  treatment of disease,  Dr. Beach
commenced in the  city of New York about the year 1829, (W. M. Ref., vol.
1 p. 5), the  instruction of yToung men in the curative art, according to his
practice, as exhibited in his office and infirmary, and generally in that city.
  In the course of time, the doctor  gathered materials from  his own expe-
rience  and that of others, in  quantity sufficient to make a book, which first
appeared in  1831,  entitled  "Beach's American Practice," in 3 vol. 8vo—
W.  M. Ref., vol. 1, p. 42, and vol 5, p. 119.
  This work, making great pretensions to  scientific and practical reform, in
the latter particular not without some good degree of merit, was pretty exten-
sively  distributed  among reformers of every class, and among many of the
old  school Avho, sick of the arrogance, quackery and mischiefs of Allopathy,
were disposed to look  into any thing that promised better for the  profession.
The work Avas afterwards abridged and published with the title of " Beach's
Family Physician."
  From this work  we gather the following, as the principles that constituted
his  system of reform, and governed  his practice in it.

  333.  In his  seventh  edition  (Intro,  p. xi),  Dr. Beach says : " The Re-
formed or American Practice,  combines every thing  useful  of every other
system, and  maintains that the physician is to act as the servant of nature."
  I like much  this declaration; but, on  reviewing his practice,  I find that
he rejects the best portions of some practices, and selects some of the worst
          (100) 
CRTriCTSED AND CORRECTED.
101
of others.  For example,  he rejects the transcendently "useful" course of
medicine which constitutes the greatest excellence of the Thomsonian Prac-
tice, and selects the most deadly narcotic poisons of Allopathy.   I like the
principle of " aiding nature," but am sorry to see that it is often to be main-
tained by blistering and poisoning, as I proceed  to show.

  334.  On page 201, he says, "The wide, the radical, the irreconcilable
difference,"  between his  system and  Allopathy, " consists in the various
means made  use of to fulfill the indications of  cure," which Ave find to be
"cupping," "leeching,"  "blistering," <fec, and on page 710, he says that
mercury in an ointment "for sore eyes and eruptions generally, is superior to
all others."   It is also to be applied to other parts, " swelled and inflamed,"
in an elm  poultice  (p. 549).   Will   mercury  be absorbed in such cases
(115, 101), and if so, is it not  given "internally"?
  Has it not often salivated when applied to the  head to destroy vermin,  and
to ulcers to cause them to heal? (81, 92, 102, 109,  111).
  It is true that there is a wide difference between  recommending mercury
for  "almost every  disease" (83) and  recommending it but  very seldom,
as Dr. Beach does (710, 549);  but it is not "irreconcilable," for the prin-
ciple is  the same, whether little or much is  used,  and Dr. B.'s recommen-
dation of some (p. 710, 549) has been and is, and  may properly be, by his
followers, taken as authority for using as much as they may think proper.
  Many allopatliists have discarded it in  toto,  but that has  not  reformed
Allopathy.
  The same is true of blood-letting (55 to 70).
  Lastly, the old school use  narcotics freely, but not more freely, nor recom-
mend them more highly, than does Dr. B., (see  pages 440 and 441), where
" ten grains were prescribed every hour, till forty grains were given."  Even
the  quantity  here, as  well  as the means  (the article) is scarcely "irrecon-
cilable" with  Allopathy.  Opium is recommended  as successful " Avhen all
other means fail" (p. 427).   Is it not the magnum DeiDonum, of Beachism
as well as Allopathy?  "  Irreconcilable"—" radical difference," indeed !
  But then there is the Spanish fly (711) recommended—also cicuta  and
deadly nightshade  (p.710); croton oil (715, 440 and 441); digitalis (366,
370); hyosciamus (344); tobacco  (706); niter (724); white vitrol  for eye
water (702); red lead (721), and mercury (710), in salves ; corrosive subli-
mate in  yellow wash  (730).   What  an  "irreconcilable difference" there
must be between the use of all these and other deadly  poisons by the faculty,
and by Dr. Beach, when he recommends them as freely and in as large doses
as they do!

  335.  Health.  " When  all the functions of the system are duly performed,
a person may  be said to be in health " (p. 206).
  It is very true that a person is then  in  pretty good health,  generally, but
not ahvays.   A very sick person  may take  lobelia, warm  teas and a vapor
bath, after Avhich,  often  for hours  "all  the functions will  be  duly  per-
formed:"  but, when the medication is spent,  the functions will cease to be
duly performed.  These functions also may cease to be duly performed,  and
a person continue in health,  not perceptibly impaired.   Are all the functions
duly performed in the chest and abdomen of  the laced lady? or in the foot-
joints of the tight-booted gentleman ?  or the stomachs of those who have
eaten nothing  for six hours ?—yet are they all sick ?   Health is not the due 
102
MEDICAL REFORM--BEACH
 performance of the functions, for this is interrupted at every motion; but it
 is the capability of those organs to perform their healthy functions, that consti-
 tutes health.   They may or may not be active.  The nerves of the  brain and
 the muscles of locomotion are inactive during sleep; but they are in health,
 because they are capable of action.

   336. Disease.  Says  Dr. Beach:  "Any alteration  from this  state, or
 when any part ceases to perform  its office or function, disease is the  conse-
 quence (a).   It is a salutury effort of nature to  repair an injury to the system,
 or re-establish health (#).   What is termed disease, appears, in reality, to be
 nothing more than an inherent principle in the system to restore healthy action,
 or to resist offending causes (c).   Pain or disease (d) is like fever, a healthy
 or conservative power of nature to expel noxious agents, or restore health" (e).
 "Is it irrational or unphilosophical to  consider disease a unit? (f)  all its
 innumerable forms Or symptoms  being derived  from  one  cause, acting upon
 different  organs or tissues of the  body?"  (g) page 206.

   336. Remarks,  a.  I have just shown the  incorrectness of this position.
 Disease must be the opposite of health;  of course it is the inability of an organ
 or tissue  to perform duly its function.

   336 b.  How can this  effort be made, wdien the organs cease to perform
 duly their functions ?  Is it not one of the proper functions of the organs to
repel or remoA'e disease, or its cause ?

   336 c.  Then it seems that the vital force is disease, for this is the "inher-
ent principle" of all vitality, or living motion.

   336 d. Pain is the notice that the nerves give  to  the  consciousness  that
there is,  somewhere, an impediment to  their healthy action.

   336 e.  How can a symptom of suffering be a power to relieve it?  Fever is not
a power of nature, but an effect of the  action of that power (the vital force).

   336/.  Yes, if deficient functional actions, fever and pain, are disease, and
especially, if  it is  both an effort of nature to remove a thing, and the thing
to be removed, it is very unphilosophical to consider it a unit.

   336 g. So, then, all disease is constituted of the different symptoms or
effects produced by disease, in its efforts to remove disease !! or those  efforts
themselves ! (g).   Is not all this  "clear as mud ?"
   On  page  268, he rightly says :  "Fever is a remedy, not a disease, and
ought to  be promoted as a  friend  to destroy an enemy, when  itself will  dis-
appear.  It is nature's restorative," (very good).
   Thus we see, the Dr.,  that he may be true to his plan of "selecting from
all systems," takes from the old school the fever  disease  doctrine lb, c°,d, e),
and from Dr. Samuel Thomson the true doctrine, that "fever is a friend  and
not an enemy."  He that takes all sides  of a question, must, sometimes, be
right;  but  he has not, above, settled for us the question  which of his, "use-
ful from  every other system," is the true and good.

   337. Dr. Beach's statements of facts and his Practice, are as  contradictory
as his principles.   On  page IX of the introduction, he quotes from W. M. R.
that "his system originated before Dr.  Thomson was known," and "was 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
103
improved and developed Avithout the least reference to his  (Dr. T.'s) system.
Yet Dr. B's book contains not  only the  above doctrine  from Dr. T., but
copies the treatment of congestive fever (234) from Dr. J. It. Canon, and of
milk sickness (426) from Dr. Levi Houston, both Thomsonians ! and he took
their reports from the Thomsonian Recorder!  (See Rec. vol 9, p. 309).
  On page 195  he says:  " Non-professional readers may imagine that in-
formation  in regard  to depletion  and sweating,  is annually taught in our
medical schools.  Such is not the fact."   Yet on  page 58, he had said: "the
vapor or  steam bath may be applied with advantage in every case which is
attended with a  torpid state of the vessels of the  surface and extremities of
the body."
  This is true, and he took it from the Dr. Samuel Thomson of whom he
professed  to knoAV nothing.   He also  recommends such a bath for every
family; and on page 60, commends it in language so nearly like  what may-
be found in our lecture in  Baltimore, published in the Medical Discussions,
as to leave no doubt of the source whence he obtained it.   (See also p. 555.)
  On page  554 Dr. B. complains of the  malpractice of giving brandy and
opium in a case of irritation of the eyes.  But he gave stramonium and opium
to cure it.   What an "irreconcilable difference!"
  On page  556, he recommends  Dupuytren's powder for "specs on  the
cornea," viz :  " oxide  of zinc, calomel and loaf sugar."   On the  same page
he condemns the use of mercury in the case; and  on 547, he says  "mercury
is frequently itself a source of cutaneous diseases, soar throats, and symptoms
which, without its baneful influence, would never have occurred."
  Dr. Beach  devotes  a  large portion of his work  to denunciations  of the
course of Allopathists, and the means they use; but, Avhen he presents his
practice, he uses the same course, except blood-letting, and so many surgical
operations, (though, like theirs, his rule is to operate where he can not cure
without), and he uses  the same "means" that they use, except, perhaps, anti-
mony and arsenic, and mercury very sparingly.  He rails against poisons when
used by Allopathists, but recommends them himself as superior to all  others
(710).  Thus, his "anodyne" pills and poAvders, composed largely of'opium
(721, 719), " afford relief when all other means prove  unaAailing."  His
healing salve, with red  lead (721), and his  brown  ointment,  with mer-
cury (710), are "superior to all  others."  No caution seems necessary, even
when the deadly poison is recommended  alone, and in large doses (441). The
old school tell us that  four grains of opium is a deadly dose; but Dr. Beach,
who is death on poisons,  can recommend  "three grains every hour, or six if
necessary"  (715), and even ten grains at a dose  (441).
   " Tobacco is a virulent poison" on page 68,  but he can recommend it as
an injection for incarcerated  hernia (706), though the lobelia he selected from
Dr. Thomson  is far better (570, 307).
   On page IX.  Intro., he is out  upon Dr.  Thomson's course of Medicine; but
on page 636, he gives  a miserable mutilation and  dilution of the same course,
as his own.                                                 .  -.
   On page IX. of the F. P., the Doctor says:  "Dr. Thomson s principal treat-
ment is all good, if properly used ;" but abuses Thomson as too " illiterate,"
" conceited," <fec, to use it properly.   Yet, on page 558, he reports a cure,
by himself,  on Dr. T.'s plan, and says,  the cayenne pepper " operated like a
charm,"  " but of the manner  in which this  article acts, affording relief in such
cases, is not easy to determine."   Very " literary and scientific," is it not ?
and  "properly understood." 
104                  MEDICAL REFORM--MORROW

   Query : Who is the most likely to use it " properly," the man who devised
it, and suitable ways and means to use it, and, from forty years' experience,
pointed out the cases in which its use is indicated, and gave all the necessary
directions and cautions;  or he who seldom uses it, and objects to its use,
merely because he was not  the first to recommend it?

   338. Dr. Beach and his System.   Dr. Beach is  a man  of  very  ordinary
talent, and very little literary or scientific attainment.  The most of his Avorks
have been "selected," or Avritten by others at his suggestion, as any  one may
be assured by comparing their diflerent parts with each other, and the most
of them Avith his miserable letters and advertisements.
   He was,  however, devoted to the practice of medicine, for which the mod-
erate  talents he had seemed the best adapted.   He made no scruple to appro-
priate  the  ideas  of  others, or even  their language, to himself and his use,
without giving any credit for them,  or even a quotation.  But he was ambi-
tious and active, and hence  he practiced much, from which he acquired some
skill and much useful knowledge.  I have shown that he lacked that  discrim-
ination which  is indispensable to the separation  of truth from error,  and that
memory and judgment which were necessary to his  consistency.  That, for
Avant of cprrect principles,  he was often guilty of glaring inconsistencies and
absurdities.  Yet he  is as honest in his intentions as most men, and did much
for the cause of reform.
   As it Avas for a long time the only Eclectic work in the market, his Family
Practice has been extensively circulated, and, were it stripped of the  errors
and contradictions in principle Avhich  I have pointed out, and purified of the
follies and poisons recommended in practice, it would be a very good book;
better far than any that has since appeared from that class of reformers.
   Though  I have not given all the  latest works a  thorough perusal, yet I
know, from other sources,  and from  reading some parts  of them,  that the
sentiments of their authors  are more erroneous  than his are.   Their books
maybe more  "literary and scientific,"  but their practice is  little if any
better, in any  case, and in many cases not so good.   But, as this system of
" science  is progressive," we will next trace it through Dr.  B.'s most distin-
guished pupil,  Dr. Morrow.

   339. Dr. Morrow.   Among the early pupils  of Dr. Beach in New York,
was Dr.  Thomas Vaughan  Morrow, a native of  Kentucky.   That Dr. Mor-
row highly appreciated the instructions  of Dr. Beach, and very closely ad-
hered to them  to nearly the termination  of his life, is evident  from  the fol-
lowing declaration quoted from his address to a  Cincinnati  audience, on the
introduction of Dr. Beach to them, in  December, 1845.  See W. M.R., vol.
4, pp. 118, 119.   Dr. Morrow said:
   " Nearly twenty years  ago,  I had  the satisfaction of attending  two full
courses of lectures on each of the departments of Medical  Science, delivered
by my present friend," &c, " from which  I unhesitatingly acknowledge, I
derived more substantial benefit and real advantage, in the treatment of dis-
ease, than from any and all other sources."

   340.  Wortkivgton College.   In 1830 (W. M. R., v.  1,  p.  97), the Trus-
tees of a dormant literary institution in Worthington, 0., established a Med-
ical Department, and appointed Dr. Steele President.   But,  soon after, Dr.
Morrow succeeded him, and he and others commenced lecturing, under the
title  of Professors of the  Reformed  Medical  College  of Ohio, to  which 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
105
resorted, for several years, a considerable number of students.  Some of these
Avere graduated, and sent out as members of "the Reformed Medical Society
of the United States," established in New York in 1829 (ib., pp. 6 and 63).
   From the year 1836, when the college had four professors, the number of
students gradually declined, till the  spring of 1841, Avhen only about a dozen
Avere present.   Circumstances having  caused the abandonment of the col-
lege, Dr.  Morrow proposed to unite Avith  the  Botanico-Medical College in
Cincinnati.   But, as he refused to give up his liberty to use lancets, leeches,
cups, blisters, opium, &c, we could not harmonize.

   341.  In 1842-3, he commenced, in Cincinnati,  efforts to establish another
College, and,  in  1846, by the aid of  others,  obtained  the charter of the
"Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati," (W. M. R., v. 5, p. 118; or, E.
M. J., vol. 1), of Avhich he was the main support, and the most generally and
perhaps deservedly approved exponent, to the day  of his death, in 1850.

   342.  Other Eclectic Colleges have since been established in different parts
of the United States,  but they were mostly conducted by men who had been
in some Avay connected Avith  this, or who at least acknowledged this as the
best authority of that practice, though they have had a few able men in their
Faculties.  Not more than two or three of them being now in existence, and
they being secondary to this  in reputation, / shall select my authority on
Eclecticism from the Professors of  " The Eclectic Medical Institute of  Cin-
cinnati."

   343.  Non-committalism.  And now, as I have  a difficult task to perform,
Ariz : to  present the principles and practices of a  class of medical men, who
reject all systems  of  principles,  and individually select what remedies they
choose, and practice as they please,  acknowledging no authority and holding-
no man  responsible, but constantly progressing from one principle and  prac-
tice to another (E. M. J., 1845, pp. 359-63, and  their circular for 1855-6).

   344.  I will just  say,  at  once,  that  / shall  most faithfully select from
these published sayings and doings,  that which I think will present them to the
reader in the truest light;  and, if  they  complain that  I do them  injustice, I
shall cast back on them the blame of it,  for withholding from me and the rest
of mankind the means to enable us to represent them fairly.   I wish  it dis-
tinctly understood, that I have no prejudice against the name Eclecticism, nor
the men Eclectics.   My judgment  is founded upon what I know to be their true
character and merits.

   345.  Dr. Morrow's Medical Reform.  For this I refer, first, to his  pub-
lished declarations, the first of Avhich that I  know of, are  found in  "the
Western Medical Reformer," a monthly journal commenced by him in Worth-
ington, O., January, 1836.   Page 3d, the Doctor says, he has "become thor-
oughly convinced  of the fact that mercury, antimony and arsenic, ought to be
totally discarded from the Materia Medica," ^[2.   " That the remedial agents
we employ are chiefly derived from the vegetable kingdom," ^f 6.

   346.  Pao-e 5.  That  "Scientific. Medical Reform is not identical, nor inti-
mately connected with, nor fundamentally depending  upon, the Thomsonian
or steam system," ^[ 4 and p. 100.   " We believe that a  physician ought to 
106
MEDICAL REFORM — MORROW
be intimately acquainted with everything belonging to his profession—that
he ought to be a scientific man," ^[ 6.  (Ah?)  Who does not believe this?
How characteristic of a sect!

  347.  Russelville Lecture.   The next article, from Avhich Ave have a  right
to derive positive information, is  "A lecture delivered by Dr.  T. V. MorroAV,
in the Court House at Russelville, Ky., on the 20th July, 1835, on the sub-
ject of  Reform in Medicine," page 65, W. M. Ref.

  348.  In this, he says of his Reform,  " It is due to the dignity and impor-
tance of the enterprise,  to the public,"  <fcc, " that at least a brief outline of
its fundamental principles, and some of the main points of difference  [from
Allopathy]  should be distinctly and clearly set forth," p. 55.   "A full, fair
and candid avowal of the principles  by which we are governed, and the motives
Avhich  actuate  us  *  * * * will, as a matter of consequence,  be demanded."
•[2, 3.

  349.  Tie premises, and gives ample evidence to prove, that "there  is an
imperious necessity for  a reformation,  based  on scientific and enlightened
principles, more especially so far as remedial agents  are concerned," p. 67.
  After deploring the degraded condition of medical science and practice,
he asks, "What is the remedy for the various morbid actions  of medical sci-
ence?" and  ansAvers,  "Scientific Medical Reform" (p.  81, ^[  1, 2), viz:

  350.  " To dismiss from the catalogue of remedial agents all those which,
under the ordinary circumstances of their administration, are liable to injure
the stamina  of the  constitution  *  *  and to substitute in their places arti-
cles derived from the vegetable kingdom,  Avhich are  not only  as powerful in
their operation, but infinitely safer and  more salutary in their immediate and
ultimate effects on the human system."   P. 82, ^[ 2.
  "It is further proposed to  dispense,  in a great  measure, if not entirely,
with general blood-letting,   *    *  and to substitute a system of evacuating
through nature's grand outlets."   ^[ 6.
  " It proposes, also, a reformation in surgical practice, the leading measure
of which is  to  supersede the necessity of performing so many surgical opera-
tions; and lastly, to heal all diseases in a manner more safe and successful,
so that the constitution  shall escape unimpaired by the means employed."
J. • OOj   ]  Z •

  351.  The great rule of Scientific Medical Reform.  "I now  ask  in all
candor and honesty, is there, under  any  circumstances and at any stao-e of the
treatment  of any disease to which the human  body is  subject, any necessity
to make use of means which have  a  tendency to injure, either immediately
or ultimately, the permanent health of any individual who may submit to a
course  of treatment  Avhile laboring under the influence of disease of any
description?"
  "Searching  and comprehensive  as this question is, I,  for one, am com-
pelled,  bythe  irresistible force of the evidences  deriA^ed  from a very exten-
sive experience, to ansAver this question  in the negatiA-e."   P. 83, W 5, 6.
  To the above, though indefinite, we said, most cordially, " Amen !'' ' But,
when we looked at the practice, we exclaimed, alas for consistency!

  352.  In accounting for the superior success of the  Reformed over the  Allo-
pathic practice, he says, p. 84, % 3 (see also p. 102 and 103):  " The only 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
107
 difference being in the nature of  the means used, and the  manner of using
 them, as well as in the difference  of principle involved in their use."  (See
 also vol. 3, p. 43, and Dr. Beach  just noticed).

   353. Though the above differed in nothing essential from the reforms pro-
 posed by John Jacob Hansel, Boerhaave, Salmon, &c, of past centuries, and
 hundreds of Allopathic practitioners of  the present day, /  was pleased with
 even these, and sought, in 1835, further information respecting the doctrines
 of this school, that I might add my mite to its prosperity and usefulness.
   In an Extra  to the  Ohio State Journal, published November 19th, 1833,
 which fell into my hands about October, 1835, (T. Rec,  vol. 4, p.  28), I
 hoped to find at least a synopsis of the positive and fixed principles  of  "Sana-
 tive medical reform."   But here again I was told, first, that
   " There is not, there never was, and there never can exist, any connection
 between   *   *   the  Reformed  System  of Medical Practice and  those of
 Thomson and Howard," though " it is very true that most  of the  articles, if
 not all, used by Thomson and Howard, as medicines, are also used by us !"
 (W. M. R., p.  100).
   4. "We believe the present deplorable  state of the science  is, in a great
 measure,  owing to the nature of the means employed in the treatment of dis-
 ease."  (P. 101, J 2 and 102, 103).
   "Another objection, in my mind, to the present practice of medicine,  is
 that it inculcates the too frequent use of the knife and the lancet.   I would
 not, however, be understood as insisting on their universal proscription under
 all possible circumstances  and modifications  of  disease and accident, for I
 have no doubt they are occasionally necessary, and  in some cases indispen-
 sable, in the present state  of  medical science.  It  is  against  their very fre-
 quent and  almost indiscriminate   use,  so much advised  by many  of the
 authorities of the present day, that I desire to enter my protest."   (P. 103,
 ^[2).   "It is more particularly against the frequent use of the lancet in the
 treatment of fevers and diseases of an  inflammatory character that I should
 wish to bear my decided testimony."   *   *   " There cannot exist a doubt
 that in nineteen cases in twenty in which we are directed to call to our aid the
 lancet, in the reduction of febrile or inflammatory excitement, this desirable
 object may be accomplished without the adoption of that measure, which so
 invariably injures the  stamina of the constitution."   (P. 103, ^[  3).

   354. Blood-letting,  principle of.  So it seems that, in one case in twenty,
 Prof. Morrow  Avas then willing to concede the  necessity of " injuring the
 stamina  of the constitution" by  a pernicious practice.   I think that feAv
 Allopathists  would  agree  to  more than this.   He  says, as  do most Allo-
 pathists:
   " It would seem to  me more in  consonance with nature's  method of reliev-
 ing  herself,  to  evacuate  the  system of its  morbid contents by the use  of
emetics, cathartics, sudoriflcs,  diuretics,  &c."   (P. 104,  ^[  1).
   355. Mercury.   He also, in said circular,  question 7th,  as elsewhere, (p.
 114), objects to the "internal use  of calomel or other form of mercury, or
any  preparation of arsenic  or antimony."   Does he mean to sanction the
external use?    If not, Avhy use the word  "internal?"
   Again,   I  should,  from the above  negatives, have  supposed that Dr.
Morrow's practice was at  least innocent,  but  for  the  frequent  occurrence in
his prescriptions of such of the following from the W. M. Ref., vol. 3, p. 26. 
108
MEDICAL REFORM--MORROW
  356.  "A Remedy.   Capsicum  5 grs., Ipecac 1  gr.,  Opium half gr., all
powdered and mixed.  Experience  has satisfied us  that  this powder is one
of the best internal  remedies in passive  hemorrhages of every description
furnished by  the materia medica.   In active  hemorrhage we never think of
any other internal remedy if this be in  our  pocket, and we feel  almost as
certain of its  having  the effect desired, as though it were  an  absolute specific.
It may  be repeated  every twenty minutes, half-hour, hour, or two or three
hours, according to the  urgencies  of the case.   If repeated often  the quam
tity of opium should  be  diminished."
  Did Dr. M. suppose that opium " has no tendency to injure, either imme-
diately or ultimately, the permanent health of an individual?"  (76, 79.)
  357.  Scarifying and  Cupping.  " The treatment of this  case  Avas com-
menced by applying the scarificator and cups, both above and  below the
knee joint, as often as once in two  days, and sometimes  oftener,"  &c.  W.
M. R., vol. 3, p. 59, where he gives other cases similar.
  Again, W. M. Ref., vol. 3, p.  41,  I find  this same Dr. Morrow "Deter-
mined to try the effects of a large blister plaster; accordingly, one sufficiently
large to cover one-half of the chest from  the  spine  to the sternum,  and from
the clavicle to the lumbar region, was prepared;  and the right lung being most
affected, this plaster was applied over it."  "Small abscesses over the whole
extent of this surface,"  appeared and "proceeded  regularly to suppuration,
and when opened, discharged large  quantities of purulent matter."
  Wonder if this "did not  tend  immediately  nor ultimately to  injure the
permanent health of the individual?" &c.   I  once saw a Mr.  Poore, on
whom he had placed  a blister from side to  side and from sternum topubis, and
then told him to settle his affairs for  he  must die !    The whole surface was
not only denuded but deeply  corroded, some  of the very  muscle  having sup-
purated away!  Was  no  "injury" done here?   I cured  him with "the
steam practice," which  he, Dr. M., said  "must fail in such cases."
  358.  Dr. Morrow's Practice.   I  have shown that Dr. Morrow admitted
that one lancet might be proper in twenty cases of general  fever, and eight
might be in every case of " incipient white swelling." As he recommended and
used opium and cantharides,  capsicum and lobelia,  &c, and as in  pathology
he agreed with the old faculty (353), Dr. M.  must have been "all  sorts of  a
doctor;" the only difference between him and others, being his superior liberty
to bleed, blister and poison, or to " steam, pepper, and  lobeliaize" when he
pleased; and in a superior wisdom, peculiar  to himself,  by  which  he could
determine in each case,  whether to act the Allopathist or the Steam  Doctor,
or to give a dose of that peculiar and all-potent compound, " Scientific Med-
ical  Reform."   W. M. R.,  vol. 1, p.  81,  ^[ 2.
  359.   Principles.   "As  the practice taught and  recommended  in  the
Worthington school, differs from that taught in other medical schools in the
United States, chiefly in the means made use of in the  removal of disease,
rather than in any new  pathol  gical views, the  term Reformed Practice  has
been very appropriately applied to it."   " The tendency of  the Thomsonian
system  is  a  total subversion of all  medical science," <fec, [rather systems],
" The title of Medical Revolutionists, assumed by some of the most  prominent
individuals of that fraternity, is very appropriate   *    *   to the advocates
of the steam and pepper system.   For such individuals to be  styled Medical
Reformers, is slanderous, and calculated grossly to  deceive the public mind.**
W.  M.  R., vol.  3, p. 43. 
CRITICISED AND  CORRECTED.
109
   360. Non-committalism.   In 1845,  some  one made of  Dr. Morrow the
 following inquiries.   In  what  does  your reform consist?  What  objects do
 you propose  to  accomplish?  What changes  do you desire to see effected in
 the condition of the healing art?

   361. Dr. Morrow answers (W. M. R., vol. 3, p.  22); also vol. 7, p. 296.
 "In the first  place  we wish it very distinctly understood that the scientific
 medical reformers of this, as well as of every other country, advocate a reform
 and not a revolution in the existing state of what is called medical science."
 (a) (page 23).
   "In the proscribed portions [of the Practice], may be included  all those
 means and measures which, * in the treatment of disease, are liable to produce
 injurious effects on the constitution of patients, both immediate and remote,"
 &c. b. * " We  desire to effect such changes in the *  healing art, that one
 half or one third of the present number of physicians  * will  be altogether
 sufficient to  attend  to all the  medical  practice of the country, and above
 all, we most ardently desire to see  the healing art practiced in such  a manner
 as  Avill render it no longer obnoxious to the shameful, but just charge of
 being  instrumental in  hurrying any of our  fellow citizens to a premature
 grave, or in any  manner inflicting the slightest injury on their constitutions,
 or their future health."

   361 a.  Here it is  distinctly admitted that the main doctrines of Allopathy
 are correct.   These I have shown to be "the doctrines of fever and inflam-
 mation" (30). Of course Dr. Morrow's Reform was not radical and perma-
 nent.

   361 b. What objection could the most ardent advocate of sanative medi-
 cation make to this ?  Is it not most scientifically definite,  and  clear as
 crystal ?
   We certainly did not charge it with  mischief till we saw in the practice of
 that same " distinguished teacher," and just about that time, a patient that
 had had a diarrhea, whose whole abdomen from pubis to sternum,  and from
 rio-ht  to left  side, as  far  as the bed would  permit, not only denuded, but
 corroded almost  to the  peritoneum,  by a blister from the hand of Dr. Mor-
 row ! and a vial of laudanum on the mantel-piece to ease the pain!   We had
 never  seen but one Allopathic  blister  that  could at all compare with it for
 length, breadth or depth.

   362. Union College.  In the  spring of 1841, after the disbanding of the
 Worthington  College, Dr. Morrow made propositions to the faculty of the
 B. M.  College, to unite with us in establishing a Union College  in Cincinnati.
 With  this we expressed our willingness, provided he Avould adhere strictly,
 in teaching and practice, to the doctrine of his Russelville lecture (347), as
 we understood it to exclude lancets, scarificators,  leeches, blisters, animal
 and mineral poisons,  and all narcotics, &c, sign our platform (B. M. Re-
 corder vol. 9, p.  346), and  go with us in  good  faith.   We were willing to
 forget  all personal matters for the sake of union in  doing good.  He " con-
 curred  so far as  he could then determine"  (p. 351).  He lectured  to our
 students in 1841-2, on anatomy and surgery;  but, not being pleased with his
 course, Ave obtained, in the  fall, Dr. Hill in  his stead,  and he commenced
again/what he and his successors afterwards  called "a one-horse concern,"
on his own strength and responsibility. 
110
MEDICAL REFORM--MORROAV
   363. Iii June,  1844, he resumed the publication of the Reformer; pro-
 fessing to " discuss freely and fearlessly, and expose without stint, the errors,
 abuses and  defects of the prevailing systems, and, to commend whatever is
 true and of substantial  value  in each and all of them," &c, vol. 4, p. 2—
 "All  right," but

   364. On page  21 of this volume, we find him reporting his Allopathic
 application of "the scarificator and cups to the shaved scalp of a young lady
 thoroughly once or twice, and immediately thereafter applying the irritating
 plaster, and  renewing it  each day, Avith a view of  exciting as speedily  as
 possible, a free and copious discharge  of  purulent matter, Avhich should be
 continued as long  as the pains [neuralgia  fascia,] manifest any tendency to
 return;" Avhich they ceased to do, "after a course  of the treatment which
 continued from six to eight Aveeks;" and he says he pursued "a similar course
 in several other cases, which resulted in a like success!"
   All this I suppose was in strict accordance with the doctrine of the Russelville
 Lecture (351).  Can it be possible that a suppurating ulcer over the Avhole
 head or face, can be produced and sustained for "six or eight weeks," with-
 out injuring either immediately or ultimately the permanent health of any
 individual who may submit to it?  (351).   These surely can not be classed
 among the " average cases of  which not more than one or two in ten would
 ever require more  than one or tAvo visits  at most," certainly not of those who
 "Avould not require to be visited at all," (W. M. R., vol. v., p.  140, ^[ 3).

   365. Principles and practice.   In his College circular, Dr. Morrow  says :
 " the course of instruction in each of the departments, Avill be full and com-
 plete,  embracing every thing  of any value, known  and taught in  the old
 regular medical colleges; as  well as in all the Reformed or  Botanical  Schools
 of medicine," W.  M. R., vol. 5, p.  65.
   To this end, he  recommends as  text  books  the regular Allopathic works,
 including, Beach and Eberle on Theory and Practice  of Medicine; Meigs  on
 MidAvifery; Beach, Eberle and U.  S. Dispensary on Meteria Medica, as well
as other standard Avorks.

   366. "Dr. Morrow disapproved  of the use of chloroform, because he was
opposed to the use of any article, which, under its ordinary use, was  liable to
produce any bad effects," E. M. J., 1850, p. 292.
   This is every where set forth as one of "the great principles of the  Eclectic
School" (390)and Ave certainly admire it "in the abstract."  But when  they
tell us  that they have not discarded the  " cupping, leeching, and blistering,"
(E. M. J., 1849, p. 18). that opium, digitalis,  belladonna, prussiate of  iron,
acitate  of lead, &c, are among their best remedies, Ave respectfully  suggest
that their conduct  does not harmonize Avith their professions.

   367. Blood-letting.  Dr. Morrow objects to the too frequent use of the
lancet  (350), and his colleague,  Dr.  Cox, quotes from Dr.  Lawson "the
remarkable fact that out of 792 cases treated in the London fever hospital,
during the last year, general  blood-letting Avas  not  employed in a single
instance, and local bleeding  (to  which  Dr.  Morrow does not object) was
seldom resorted to," W. M.  R., vol. 5, p. 69.
   The  old school of London  then, were much further advanced in the reform
of blood-letting than Dr. Morrow was.   See W. M. R., vol.  4, p. 103, where
he says, "every physician of common  sense  would  use  it  to prevent the 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.                  Ill
 immediate dissolution of the patient, before other agents could be brought to
 bear on the case."
   I do not mean to be  understood to  say that Dr. M. Avould have used the
 lancet often or seldom.   I object to the admission that blood-letting is good at
 all—that it "will prevent the dissolution of the patient in any case that would
 live without it.   One admission of this proposition as true and good, may be
 the means of its application to hundreds of cases which would directly sink
 under it.   I object also to his claim to more reform than Dr. LaAvson exhibits
 in the Allopathic ranks.

   368. "Posthumous works of Dr. Morrow."  In the first volume of a work
 entitled "The American Eclectic  Practice of Medicine, by I. G. Jones  and
 T. V. Morrow," 1853, are 178 pages of matter, entitled "Posthumous Wrhings
 of the late T.  V. MorroAv on  the Theory and Practice of Medicine."  Here
 I hoped to find some synopsis, at least, of the "distinctive  doctrines of Scien-
 tific Medical Reform."  But he gives us no description of disease nor the laws
 of life and health; of the  nature of symptoms, as vital, mechanical or chem-
 ical;  nor  any  other display from Avhich his ideas on these subjects  can be
 gathered.   He commences,  page 603:

   369. Febris intermittens,  d'c.  "This is a form of disease of great frequency
 of occurrence,  and is  characterized by a  succession  of regularly recurring
 paroxysms, each of which is folloAved by a distinct  intermission," &c. ^[ 3d,
 he says, "like  other forms of fever," &c.

   370. Page  613.  Remitting fever.   Here he says:  "There seems to be
 quite a striking similarity between this and the intermitting;  they are doubt-
 less  the result of  the  same  cause," &c.    At p. 618-19 he says  that all
 intelligent medical men  agree as to the indications of the disease, but differ
 widely in  the  modes and means of  fulfilling them.   He recommends for an
 emetic a vinegar tincture of lobelia and sanguinaria,  an  ounce  of each  to a
 quart of vinegar, [vinegar retards vomiting].

   371. Page 626,  "Continued fever  is a term applied  to those forms of
 fever," <kc; page 628, "This form of fever," <fcc;  page 646, he calls the
 yellow fever a  "form of fever;"  page 651, "Phrenitis is a  disease,"  <kc;
 page 658,  meningitis is called a "form of  disease."

   372. Disease.   From the above, and similar, one would suppose that  Dr.
 MorroAV believed in the unity of disease, and in fever and inflammation as the
 essence of  that unity.  But, on page 662, he calls otitis "one of the  phleg-
 masial diseases;" and  665, he says:  "Glossitis  is by no means a frequent
 disease."   " This inflammation,"  <fec, page 669, he calls "quinsy a  form of
 disease;"  and  page 675, croup "a disease;"  page  682, mumps is " one of
 the inflammatory diseases;" page 685,  peritonitis "is a disease;"  page  689,
 bronchitis  is "a very frequent disease;" page 693,  laryngitis "is pretty Avell
understood as a distinct disease;"  page 697, phrenitis is  "an inflammatory
disease," &c;  page 704,  "pneumonia  is a  disease;" page 711, "pneumo-
nia biliosa is a form of disease;"  page 718, gastritis is "a disease;" page
 726, can't  distinguish the acute from the chronic; page 732, enteritis is "a dis-
ease," covering all, or a part,  of the intestinal canal;  page 732,  "more  fre-
quent than we are in the habit of suspecting;" page 742, acute  bronchitis is 
112
MEDICAL REFORM--MORROW
"a disease of remarkably frequent occurrence;" page 748, "dysentery," or
"inflammation of the mucous membrane," is called "disease," "marked by
small bloody and mucous stools, griping tenesmus, pain, fever;" 750, "acute
hepatitis is  a disease," Avhich Ave occasionally encounter;  and, page 762,
" chronic hepatitis is  a disease of remarkably frequent occurrence;" page
769, nephritis is "a disease;" page 773, cystitis is "a disease;" page 776,
mercurial fever is a " horrible malady," &c.

  373.  All these "diseases" and  "forms of disease" being "characterized"
by given "symptoms," we are shut up to the conclusion that Dr. Morrow
believed that  some fevers and inflammations are distinct diseases, and others
are  forms or varieties of fevers or inflammations; but that all fevers and in-
flammations, and forms of fever and inflammation, are  the  essence of dis-
ease, rather than its symptoms.   For, he gives these as the diseases, and  the
circumstances and conditions of the system as the  signs or symptoms of dis-
ease;  and he advises a specific treatment for these various "diseases."

  374.  All this agrees with a report once made to me, of an answer he gave
to the question—"What is the difference  between your system of practice
and that of Dr. Curtis?"   "Why, Dr.  C. believes that disease is a unit,
exhibiting various forms  according  to its causes, and  the  conditions and
circumstances of the patient, &c, and he treats them all on general princi-
ples.   /  believe diseases to  be many, and specific, and I treat  them with
specific remedies appropriate to each case."

  375.  Conclusion from Dr. Morrow's published  sentiments.   I may now
be asked whyr I have quoted from Dr. Morrow so much on various  subjects,
and  so  little that throws any light  on the important questions—What is
health?   What disease?  What are the true characters of remedies?  What
is  irritation,  fever, inflammation?   What are  suppuration and  gangrene ?
What are poisons ?   What are medicines?  &c.
  I answer :  Because, so far as  I have ever been able to learn, he was stu-
diously non-committal on all these subjects.  I have done the best  I  could,
that is,  gathered from  his remarks every thing I could find that seemed to
savor of a principle  in medicine,  and from his practice that which seems to
give a meaning to  his panacean " remedy for the removal of the various mor-
bid actions of medical science," viz :  "Scientific Medical Reform."  W. M.
R., vol. 1, p. 61.
  Even his great  rule (351), so often repeated,  is one to which  the most
ultra  Sangrado and  Paracelsus might conscientiously subscribe.  No Allo-
pathist believes that  his remedies  " are liable, in the judicious application of
them, to produce any permanent injury to the constitution."

  376.  The great  test of Scientific Medical Reform.  On a certain  occasion
(1849)? the Eclectics sought, through Dr. Kost, a union with the Botanico-
Medicals.  Always ready for a union on correct principles, the Professors of
the latter school cheerfully met those of the former in consultation.
   Clearly perceiving that the object was, first, to charm us, then SAvalloAV us,
then  "spew  us out," we  proposed that the recommending or giving of
poisons as medicine  should forever exclude any man from a professorship in
the Union College.  To this Dr.  M. would agree;  but how should Ave know 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
113
Avhat is, and what is not poison?   We answered—"Whatever is calculated
directly to destroy irritation, feArer, or inflammation!"
   " But that was just Avhat the practice of  medicine ought to do!"
   Here we caught him on the false foundation in principle—the doctrine that
these modes of vital manifestation, are  "the orders of disease," &c.  (41).
We next proposed, that, "if any Professor in the contemplated Union College
should recommend in his teachings, or use in his practice, any agent that has
been to him certainly known, in authorized medicinal doses or degrees, to have
directly destroyed human life, he  should be, by that act, forever deprived of
his professorship."   This was the  very "Sword of the  Spirit."   It "divided
asunder the soul and body, joints  and marrow," of Dr. Morrow's  "Scien-
tific Medical  Reform."   It cut  away, at  once,  all his favorite cupping,
leeching,  blistering and narcotizing, and left him almost as  badly off as  the
old school would have been without the lancet and mercury!   Thus ended
the  conference, and thus were discovered the "glorious principles" of the
great champion of  "Scientific Medical Reform."   They were essentially
the same  as the Allopathic, but not quite so  severely and boldly carried out in
practice.
   An incident here  is worthy of preservation, as it illustrates the "cardinal
Eclectic principle"  called "policy."  In the  Eclectic selection of Profess-
ors  for the Union College, four were to be taken from each school. Our  Prof.
Hill, the ablest anatomist of the West, must have that chair.   Curtis  must
be admitted, or the B. M. College might sprout again as soon as the "policy"
should be discovered.   Kost having labored faithfully for the negotiation,
ought to  be paid; but where  to  put him,  was the question.   He must not
supplant  L. E. Jones, for  he was "one of the ablest teachers of  materia
medica in this or any other country!" and could not be released.
   We then strongly  suspected that this ability consisted, in  their estimation,
in a money interest in the college that could not be dispensed with, and that
the ingenious transfer of this interest to  great professional ability Avas a mas-
terly stroke of Eclectic  Policy.   See Buchanan's and  Dolley's Principles
(411 and  435).
   Be this  as it may, the poison "test" we offered, most happily relieved them
from the  sad  dilemma;  and Buchanan's more modern description of  the
literary, scientific  and professional  abilities, and personal  character of  Dr.
J. and others,  has clearly unfolded the "disorganizing machinations" of the
"selfish and unprincipled " "platform" schemer  in that negotiation, which
was doubtless to  sAvallow  the B.  M. College alive, and, when poisoned to
death in their stomachs,  to "speAV it out of  their mouths."

   376.  Remarks.   Dr. Morrow and his Practice.   Dr.  Morrow was a man
of mediocral talent, but of indomitable energy and perseverance.   He acquired
a considerable  amount of what is called  medical knowledge and experience;
but he either did not possess the qualifications necessary to  constitute him  a
good critic, or he wanted the moral honesty to exhibit them.   He was very
"ambitious,"  and, though  apparently benevolent, he  always  intended that
his charity should bring home more than it  carried away.   On the supposi-
tion that he desired to  do "equal and exact  justice to all,"  it  is difficult to
assign  his motives  for his conduct toward those who differed from him in
policy and practice.   His writings  against Dr.  Terry, and  those  against
others that might have been  referred to, show a bitterness  of  spirit and  a
revengefulness of conduct entirely unbecoming such a man and  such  a 
114
MEDICAL REFORM--1. G. JC NE3
subject, and did himself and his cause much more harm than good, in the eyes
of candid and reflecting men.
  His practice was, as he declares, "untrammeled" by theory or precedent.
It was just what Dr. Morrow chose to  do, without being called on for a rea-
son for his course.   Having no principles to give, he did not  feel bound  to
give any; hence our inability to find any among his writings.   He used  to
tell his students, who questioned him as to the modus operandi of his reme-
dies,  "I've  tried it, and found it so;  you try  it, and you will find it so.
We do not know how they operate — we go for the facts."   How easy  it is
to see that these apparent facts would greatly vary in different cases (19,  20),
and therefore afford no light to guide the practice in the future; and hence
the reason why Eclectics  are  constantly changing their notions and their
practices.
  Still, the agents Dr. M. used were mostly more mild than those of Allo-
pathy, and generally more  suitably applied.   I do not believe  that he used,
for  several of his  last years, "general blood-letting," nor mercury in any
form, nor, so freely as his associates, opium and some other narcotics; though
I know that he used them frequently", for I found them among his prescriptions.
He was devoted to his practice, and was, I think it probable, the best prac-
titioner of the Institute.   He surely ought not to have died of dysentery—
for he had "specifics for that disease."
  Though by  no means a fluent, an interesting,  or even  an instructive  lec-
turer, he was  always prompt  at his post, and  labored  hard  to do what he
could; and hence Avas the warmest friend and  firmest supporter of the E. M.
Institute.

  377. Professor I. G. Jones, of Columbus,  was a colleague of Professor
Morrow in Worthington, a partner Avith  him in practice, well acquainted
with his principles,  and, in 1850, succeeded him in the Chair of Theory and
Practice, in the Eclectic Medical  Institute of  Cincinnati.  His  course of
Lectures  has been published.

  378. In the preface, he says  his object was  "to embody at once  the gene-
ral principles  and  the modern  improA'ements in practice  advocated by the
Eclectic School," page V.

  379. He says:  "Dr.  Morrow, the moving  spirit  of the Eclectic  Medi-
cal  Institute at the time of his death,  had  contemplated preparing such
a work, but had written  only his treatment of a few important diseases, with-
out any separate discussion of the pathological phenomena or general princi-
ples, indispensably necessary in a work proposing great changes in the theory
and practice of medicine" (373).  But that,  "in every other respect than
in malarious diseases, their views  of treatment were essentially the same,"
VI.   Here,  then, we thought Ave should surely find the Eclectic Platform.

  380. In the first lecture  on the "Principles of Medicine," we are told,  as
by Allopathists, that the doctrines of  fever are of paramount  importance.
So they undoubtedly are; but what are those of  Dr. Jones, that "constitute
the great changes in the theory" (379)?

  381. "Fever is a disease."   What a startling change in the theory of Al-
lopathy! ^ But the next is something new, to Allopathy in general, though some
Allopathists have suggested a part of it! 
CRTTCISED AND CORRECTED.                   115
  382.  Causes of fever.  The causes of fever are infusorial from decompos-
ing vegetable and animal substances.  " I recognize but two causes of fevers,
the vegetable malaria, or koino-miasmata, and the animal malaria,  or  idio-
miasmata;  the first producing intermittents, the second  typhoid"  (36).
"All forms of fever may be safely referred to one of these as their primary
cause"  (39).

  383.  Eclectic reform imaginary.  We have  often said that the Eclectics
were, in principle, just one remove from Allopathy toward the physio-medi-
cal system; and here Dr. Jones proves it.  Allopathy ascribes fever to inani-
mate  causes;  we, to the vital force, and Dr. Jones to animalculae, so little
removed from inanimate matter, that he confesses he is not able to detect
them.   He only supposes their existence!

  384.  Periodicity of fever—Ignorance  of the cause.  " I must acknowledge
almost total ignorance  of the laws that operate in producing the  regular pe-
riodical return of the paroxysms  in this form of disease" p. 50.   Well he
may "regard this science as yet in its infancy—just emerging from the dark
ages," p.  53.  But then he does  account for it thus:

   385.  "Periodical change is a peculiarity of animal Life."  " It must have
its rise, progress and decline."  As "animalculee  produce intermittents, theyr
must have periods of labor and rest," 57.

   386.  A great discovery.   "Intermittent may  be associated  Avith  almost
every other form of disease to which humanity is subject," ib.,  53.   "May
surprise you, indeed!"

   387.  Practice.   "As soon as the intermission  comes on, administer  reme-
dies to prevent another paroxysm," 54, see Dickson.

   388.  " In a debilitated condition, there is not so much resisting force cal-
culated to throw off disease as  in  a vigorous constitution," 57.   Then it
must be very unscientific to  use debilitating agents during the period of
lassitude.

   389.  " The more severe the symptoms  and complicated the disease, [fever],
the greater  the necessity for promptitude and efficiency in your  efforts to
arrest it," 58 [Avith sedatives]!

   390. "In the cold stage," "simply make the  patient  as comfortable as
possible."   "For pains in the back and very hot head, sinapisms  the whole
length of the spine,"  &c. [very mild].

   391. The hot stage requires little treatment  [need  not  "assist  nature"].
For "vomiting and purging," "neutralizing physic;v  if that  does not re-
lieve, one-half to one-eighth grain  morphine, 59.  If this does not answer,
give stronger "opiates," 60 ["assist nature"]!

   392. To  prevent determination to the brain, ligatures round  the limbs,"
61  [stop the blood from flowing elsewhere].  Quinine and whisky, 62.
   Practice.   Sulph. quin. and prussiate of iron,  &c. 
116                 MEDICAL REFORM—I. G. JONES.
  393.  Remarks. We here find Professor Jones with the Allopathists as to
the nature of fever (disease), its causes (an unknown something) and the
plan of treatment (reducing it by sedatives), differing from them only in re-
jecting the lancet and mercury, and using with quinine and opium, prussiate
of iron; very few Allopathists now bleed "in this disease."
  Strange that  he should be so ignorant (384) of  the  cause  of periodicity,
Avhen he knoAvs (385) that all animals must have their periods of labor and
rest!  How could he  expect those infinitessimals to be always wide awake,
up and doing?  They want sleep sometimes, as well as the animal on whom
they operate!  Doubtless the anticipated agues are  to be  attributed  to  their
having  some restless leaders among them who wake  them  up  too early!
and then, the postponements may be consequent  on  their prostration and
drowsiness, caused by their dissipation and carousals during the seArerity of
the paroxysms,  and  their sitting up too late o' nights preceding!  Again, the
Doctor says:  "There should be  no difficulty in referring all  fevers to this
one cause  (infusoriae), as the difference in the symptoms may arise from idio-
syncrasy,  predisposition, <fec, and the temporary circumstances of the pa-
tient."  0, yes, Ave can readily understand that.   The little fairies will not,
of course, find  it convenient to enact the same farces, cut the same capers,
and make  the same  number and character of windings and countermarches
in large houses  and  small, well and ill arranged, and they will be much  more
likely to keep themselves mostly "in doors" in cold weather than in warm.
  They may not, either, walk so willingly  out at the invitation of a cold
bath as a warm one, and they may even be less annoyed by a sedative drag
than by cayenne.   Who knows but that's the reason why cayenne  rouses a
fever and the vapor bath disperses it!—and hence the different kinds of medi-
cal practice excite very  different symptoms in the progress of  a fever;  some
medicines (stimulants) chasing the little vermin out speedily—kicking, biting,
and scratching  as they go—while others (narcotic) put them quietly to sleep
within,  to rise,  when refreshed, to fight the battles Avith the doctor and his
patient yet again!  And this may cause the relapses and the changes of diag-
nosis and prognosis!  But, jesting  apart, the  Doctor  has really approached
the true theory of the cause of fever.  He attributes it to vital force  His error
is, that he attributes it to the vital forces of  animalculse that may or may not
exist as exciting causes, instead of the vital  force of the patient, which alone
produces fever in all its  manifestations.

  394.  It is singular that, to a mind as well trained to thinking as Professor
Jones' certainly is, two of his own facts do not upset  his whole theory: 1st,
that all fevers  are  caused by animalculse arising from  decomposition (382).
2d.  Decomposition  cannot take place at a temperature  below 60 degrees, and
even the animalculse generated, are killed by the first  frost!   Now, Doctor,
what produces the " fevers " that occur in the heart of winter  along the  beau-
tiful  Scioto, where, you are aware, they are frequently  very prevalent and
obstinate?

   395.  Again: his practice is not consistent with  his theory.  If the par-
oxysm is caused by the carousing of the young invisibles, that would be the
lucky moment to scatter among them " fire brands, arrows and death," in the
shape  of  opium and prussiate  of iron!   But perhaps  the  Doctor counts
them bees  with stings, and therefore makes his onslaught as we do on honey
bees—while napping! 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
117
    Again, he says (388) the debilitated condition is non-resisting to the Lil-
  liputian army, yet he recommends using, in that state, the most debilitating
  remedies  to prevent "the resisting force  from throAving off the  disease"
  (the fever)?

    396. The doctor may object that we do not understand his philosophy, but
  we  think  we  do as Avell  as he does (384).   We say not  Avhat we do, to
  wound his feelings.   We respect the  man who works so hard and long in
  search of truth,  even though he comes no  nearer to it than is an animalcule
  to a man.   We Avould only jostle him from his wrong positions, that he may
  be ready to listen to us when Ave  "lead him into all the truth."
    We now leave Prof. Jones, and pass on to the selection of the doctrines and
  practices of  Eclecticism, as developed by its  present self-styled  "leading"
  "literary,  scientific  and respectable"  "organ," J. R. Buchanan.

'   397. In "An Address  to the Public" (E.  M. J. for 1853, p. 139), Prof.
  J. R. Buchanan says:
    "From  the time [1846] of my first connection with this school    *    *
  its claims and character were fully set forth;  the  influence of the press was
  enlisted in its behalf, and  its slanderous opponents publicly met and refuted,
  Avhenever they dared to assail its reputation.    Whatever appertained to the
  relations of the school to the public, or required the exercise of literary capa-
  city, devolved  upon myself."  The trustees of the college  shamefully
  acknoAvledge these  arrogant and insulting claims  of  their "Big man me,
  Joe," in their College announcements.
    398. Knowing Dr. B. to be very fond of theorizing, we looked, with inter-
  est, for the claims  of that school  to public  patronage, in the shape of a
  synopsis of the principles it taught.   While Dr. Morrow  lived, opposed
  "theorizing," and  put forth  the apparently plausible  doctrine of sanative
  medication (351).  Dr.  B. seemed  restrained from magnifying much his
  office of putting forth whatever  appertained to the relations of the school
  to  the  public.   Itching,  however,  to  render himself notorious,  and yet
  not permitted to condemn, altogether, the poisons used by his colleagues, we
  find him, in 1849, coming forth as follows,  (E. M. J., p. 178—R. 17, p. 68):
    399.  1.  "He believed  that a perfect system of medical science, never
  allows disease to exist at all, but prevents  it, by proper diet and  modes of
  life."
    This is not medical science, but physiological.
    2. " The  next best system promptly meets disease by the use of agents  in
  perfect harmony  with the laws of  health, physiological in their action;  as
  water, air,  hot and cold baths and frictions, magnetic manipulations, mechan-
  ical  remedies, food, drink, ptisans, and other articles which  are not usually
  regarded as either medicines or poisons."—Part of the true Medical System.

    400. 3.  "We believe  that the next system goes beyond the materia alimen-
  taria, and uses only those  articles which most nearly approximate  the char-
  acter of food;  such as  stimulants,  tonics,  nervines, laxatives, demulcents,
  diaphoretics, anodynes,  aromatics, acids, alkalies,  salines, saccharines, anti-
  septics,  rubefacients, stomachics, diuretics, emetics, hemostatics,  expector-
  ants,  sorbefacients,  alteratives,  cholagogues,  emenagogues,  fomentations,
  embrocations, antiperiodics ; but aims, in all these measures,  to select for use
  those Avhich experience has proved  to be  the most congenial to the human 
118
ECLECTICISM—BUCHANAN
constitution, and  least liable to the production  of  any injury"  (p. 180,
abridged).
   Here is the balance of the Physio-Medical practice : relaxants, stimulants,
tonics, anti-septics, and lubricants.
   401.  4.  The fourth system is " that which  not only sheds the  blood of
the patient,  but employs  all substances indiscriminately, no matter how
dangerous their  properties or tendencies; and thus frequently either destroys
life, or permanently poisons the constitution, no matter how  judicious the
practitioner."  E. M. J., 180-1, vol. 3, p. 543.   [A combination of 3  and
4 constitutes the Eclectic practice].
   402.  As, in the above, the doctor had expressed himself rather too clearly
for "the policy" of Eclectic non-committalism, he found himself obliged to
mystify a little, and open a door to back out through.   He adds:

   403.  " Our aim is to depart, as far as practicable, from the debilitating, or *
pathogenetic practice, and  to approach, as near as possible, to the hygienic
or sanative practice.  The question  naturally arises, whether  disease can be
safely treated without disease-creating agents?   We think it can.   We do
not believe that we  can, as  yet, dispense with medicines; but we are  un-
doubtedly able to dispense with deleterious agencies," (fee.

   404.  " Our doctrine is, that whenever any medicine manifests a  tendency
to act as a poison, in its ordinary administration, we should look upon it with
a jealousy proportioned to the probability that it would so act," &c.

   405.  " Our practice keeps pace with our knowledge."  "We  have  no
attachment to any remedy which experience shows unsafe;  but, on the con-
trary, Ave rejoice in the  success  of every attempt to substitute sanative for
pathogenetic medicines," &c.
   406.  " Whatever be their errors at present, we are  satisfied  that reformers
will ultimately meet on a common platform—the true sanative system."   E.
M. J., p. 181-3.
   407.  To these doctrines of therapeutics, we  felt that we could most cor-
dially subscribe; but, as though just then jogged on the shoulder by the non-
committal spirit  of Eclectic "policy," and the  non -conforming character of
its practice, he adds :
   408.  "As to  the doctrine  that all poisons  should be rejected  from the
materia medica,  we reply that, according to our understanding of terms, that
Avould involve nearly the whole  materia medica, as there is scarcely a  medi-
cine that will not act as a virulent poison, if administered in a sufficient dose."
   Here is taught the false doctrine of Allopathy, that medicines and poisons
consist not in their inherent qualities, so much  as in their quantities, and the
circumstances of their uses; and this doctrine justifies the use of any thing and
every thing that the prescriber may "judge" to act innocently " when judi-
ciously given."   Hence, he  says : "As to opium,  we can say  that our expe-
rience in its judicious use, shows that, although it is liable to abuse, its value
is too great to justify its exclusion from the materia medica," &c.   See 411,
No. 4—Progress Backwards !
   This is the plea of Allopathy for the lancet, mercury, antimony, arsenic,
and every other  poison.  ( Compare  this with 398 to 406, which all condemn
it directly.) 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
115
   409. " There are several other articles, such  as digitalis,  strammonium,
 hyosciamus,  <fcc,  which are objected to by  the  more  ultra reformers."
 [The  i hysio-Medical].   "We are clearly of the opinion that, if all  this
 doubtful class of agents could be expunged  from the materia medica, and
 their place fully supplied by others more congenial to life, the reform would
 be most beneficial!"   (408).

   410. Here we find  the doctor's mind "tending" again in the right direc-
 tion, but his popularity and place in the college, compelled him to bolster up
 a practice with  deadly narcotic agents!  In  the  Physio-Medical  Recorder,
 vol.  17, p. 68, the  reader will find a full  review of the doctor's views here,
 and  the backward "progress" of his mind from  1849 to 1851.

   411. In his introductory to the class of 1851-2,  this "leader of the E.
 M. Institute," asks:
   " What are the reforms  by which  American Eclectics are distinguished
 from old'school men?"  And  he answers—" They are eight."
   " 1.  We  deny the Papal  infallibility of the profession."
   "2.  We  deny that it is impossible to produce satisfactory results without
 the lancet."
   "3.  We  deny that mercurials are ever necessary."  (They are in Beach's
 liniment and Cleaveland's solvent).
   "4.  We  deny the propriety of using any injurious remedies" (408)!
   Multitudes of Allopathists join in all these denials, yet they and you pre-
 scribe the most deadly poisons (408), calling them injurious  only by quan-
 tity  and injudicious use !
   "5.  We  deny that a physician should  be allowed to lose more than  two
 per cent."
   In this you deny  to yourselves the privilege of practicing at all, in which
 Allopathists will not agree with you.
   " 6.  We  deny that we know enough of the materia medica."
   Nobody ever charged you with the affirmative!
   "7.  We  deny that  the functions of the brain should be  omitted in our
 systems of physiology."
   So do all  physiologists.
   "  8.  We deny that physicians should be the last to learn new truths."
   In all these " denials," save the 5th, all medical men agree with you—
 no reform here.

   412.  As all the differences  between Dr. Buchanan's system and the Allo-
 pathic is the 5th denial above ! it folloAvs that he believes irritation, fever
 and  inflammation to be disease; and  that  cupping, leeching, cantharides,
 (answer to  Harrison), opium, digitalis,  and other narcotics, &c., are the
 proper means to cure it!   If  these are not the fairly inferred principles'of
 this  negative lecture, then it contains none.

   413.  In the third vol. of the E. M. Journal, p. 537 and onward,  we find
 another address of Dr. B., quite  retrogressive from  that of 1849.   In  this,
 he complains that Physio-Medicals "denounced Eclectics for using poisons,"
and says:  "There is no substance in nature which is not poisonous, if  used
with sufficient freedom!"                                        ...
   " The distinction  between medicines and  poisons is merely a distinction
of degree not of kind.   Any medicine,  if sufficiently concentrated, would 
120
ECLECTICISM--B UCH AN AN
 be called a poison;  and any poison, sufficiently subdivided  or  diffused, may
 act as a medicine.  Snake poison is converted into a medicine by the home-
 opathists; and the most harmless medicines Avould be pronounced poisons, if
 we could concentrate their energy till a single grain would be a fatal dose!"
 [Wonderful prediction]!
   Compare this with his opinions two years  before (403-7), and see " what
 a falling off was there!"—"Progress" backward.

   414. In vain have we searched through succeeding articles from Dr. B.,
 for the exhibition of any scientific medical principle.  We see no description
 of health, disease, irritation, fever or inflammation, nor any systematic classi-
 fication of diseased conditions, or vital symptoms; or of food,  medicines, or
 poisons.  If he has written any thing on  these subjects, we regret that it has
 never  fallen under our eye.

   415. He boasts much of having  introduced  into that school, the "liberal
 policy of protesting against all  prescriptive rules, designed to enforce  any
 species of doctrine of any medical sect."
   In this it is clearly evident that he means  to oppose the recognition of any
 scientific principles, as  the teachings of a college or society, such as our Bal-
 timore platform  (671).   He insists  that every doctor should be "thoroughly
 instructed in the science and art of  medicine"—"enjoy the right of private
 judgment"—"examine real or supposed improvements"—"adopt what  he
 finds beneficial," and "lay aside measures or remedies, found, on examina-
 tion, to be unscientific, dangerous, or destructive!"    Ann. Announcement.

   416.  Now, he says:  " Every mineral, eArery plant, every part and product
 of the  plant, every simple and compound  substance in nature, are [is] in
 some way medicinal to  man."   (E.  M. J., 1855, p.  300).
   Pray, how can he find out  what is good or bad, if every thing may be
 made poisonous by condensation, or a  good  medicine by attenuation?  He
 has everywhere condemned the trammeling of the mind with principles; and
 yet,  in 1855, he justly says:
   "It  is chiefly those Avhose intellectual incapacity unfits them for the
 development of  principles,  Avho are disposed  to deny  their  importance."
 And elsewhere,  that the "mere recipe system," then taught in  the  E.  M.
 Institute, " does not answer the demands  of this enlightened age."  (I quote
 this from memory).

   417.  Does any one ask an explantion of this gross inconsistency? Let him
 read Jones' and Balridge's exposition of his neurological moonshine.  Who
has abused medical  principles  ("creeds") more  than  he?  and who  is
more bitter when his own are  assailed?   He must have liberty of opinion
and  speech;  so must  others,  while  they will be  tamely led by him—no
longer!

  418.  In an editorial in the E. M. Journal for 1854, p. 359, we are told
that " Eclecticism is not a special, exclusive  theory of medicine, based upon
one principle;  it is a comprehensive system, Avhich tolerates all ideas, and
 recognizes all contributions to  science."  "It is a system  of  Panto-pathy"
 (360),  whose "votaries have the largest liberty to choose, and denies the
 right of any society or college to dictate a medical creed or a limited routine
 of practice."   "It  is not a matter of philosophical theory,  but rather of
 clinical experience" (361). 
CRrTICISED AND CORRECTED.
121
   419. This is just what we have ahvays said of it—that it is a grand  sal-
 magundi of any thing, every thing, and nothing (negatives), wholly destitute
 of any scientific, philosophical, or common  sense principle.
   A committee of Eclectic physicians of Cincinnati and Covington, say that
 "The same member of the original faculty upon whom devolved, from the
 first, the duty of  defining the doctrines and platform of t^e school, is  still
 vigilant, as dean of  the faculty, in maintaining a liberal and consistent (?)
 course, and in teaching the same Eclectic philosophy in medicine (p.  16).
   This same Buchanan says:

   420. " The doctrines taught in this school  [the E. M. Institute], and car-
 ried out by its  graduates in their practice,  may be justly considered  the
 practical embodiment of  the American  Eclectic system.   These doctrines
 are the following:"

   421. " 1. That every physician has a right to exercise his own judgment,
 and that, no society has a right to prescribe  and enforce a medical creed."

   422. "2. That the physician is bound to preserve, with the utmost care,
 the vital power of his patient;  to aid nature in the cure of disease, and to
 avoid every measure in practice which experience proves to be deleterious or
 dangerous  to the constitution."   [From Thomson and the Physio-Medicals].
   We like this doctrine much; but it is a direct violation of  the first, and is
 itself violated every time that the " graduates" undertake to " carry it out"
 with  cups,  leeches, blisters, drastic physic,  opium,  or any narcotic, lead,
 iodine, prussiate of  potash or of  iron,  niter, <fcc, <kc, (409).   What right
 has the E. M. I.,  alias Dr. B., or the Am.  Ec. Med.  Ass., to prescribe such
 a "creed"  or "duty," or to bind the  physician to obey it, in  opposition to
 No.  1?

   423. " 3. That the practice of blood-letting has  been  proved, by ample
 experience, to be generally injurious, and often dangerous to life; and ought,
 therefore, to be discarded from a  system of medical practice."  [Violation
 of doctrine  1.  No one is to be controlled by the experience of others! Each
 graduate should be allowed  to  kill, till he  is satisfied that the  lancet is
 dangerous]!

   424. "4. That the use of mercurial remedies (?) has  been shown, by
 ample  experience, to be productive of a vast amount of disease and mortality,
 and that such remedies should  be laid  aside  Avhenever their object can be
 obtained by other remedies and measures."
   This is the genuine Allopathic doctrine.  " Mercury has done great mis-
 chief "—"lay it aside whenever," &c.  But  Prof. C. H. Cleaveland, of the
 E. M.  Institute, tells us,  in the  Am.  Lancet, p.  63, that "the  objects of
 the mercurial remedies can not  be obtained by other remedies," " in those
 cases where the  solvent property  is  demanded, as  in  inflammatory  adhe-
 sions [healings] of the tissues of the eye, or in pleural or other adhesions of
 serous surfaces."  Neither does he believe it [podophyllin, the great  Eclectic
 substitute]   will  " remove  deposits of inflammatory exudations  following
 syphilitic  infections, as calomel  will."  He  thinks that podophyllin, with
muriate of  ammonia, may serve  all the  purposes of mercury, "except to
 counteract the syphilitic virus!" (p.  63).
  So here we have Buchanan  framing a platform  that will admit mercury,
and  Cleaveland  bringing  in the  timber and fitting it to its  place!  Is this 
122
ECLECTICISM--BUCH AN AN
"tending to a purely sanative medication" (406), or re-progressing into rank
Allopathy,  where we always told him he would land at last?

  425. " 5. That the new remedies which have been introduced by American
Eclectic  (?) practitioners, are entirely sufficient to accomplish all  the pur-
poses which have heretofore been accomplished  by mercurials,  in a much
safer and more efficient manner!"
  So  says the  "theorist"  B-----;  the "medicine  man," Cleaveland, says,
"No!" and neither they nor their  pupils are to be trammelled  by creeds,
nor held  responsible  by colleges, nor societies, nor public opinion,  for their
conduct!   Principle, No.  1.

  426. "6. That all other unsafe  remedies, which, like  the  mercurials,  are
subject to great abuses in their use, and which  are capable of being substi-
tuted by  better and safer remedies, should  be gradually  laid  aside,  and  im-
proved remedies introduced  as  rapidly as  the  progress of  science  and
experience  will  permit."   The  Allopathic doctrine most non-committally
expressed!   But what does the Platform Builder mean by unsafe remedies?
Has he forgotten his doctrine (415), that all substances are remedial; and
(413) "unsafe by quantity, not by quality!"   And is it  not as easy to give
an  infinitessimal  dose of  antimony, blue stone, calomel, digitalis,  ergot or
opium, as of  anise, bergamot, catnip, dittany, cranberries or figs?    Where
was the "literacy" (397) of the great Platform Builder (see italics), that he
did not "prevent" this wanton murder of the king's English?

  427. "7. That all new truths [proposed  hypotheses]!  should be  received
and investigated  in a spirit of candor,  and  that numerous  errors  and defi-
ciencies in medical science and practice, in surgery,  obstetrics, materia medica,
physiology and  pathology,  should be corrected  as soon as possible"—as
"policy" will permit (*405-6).

  428. What  a  "vast" and "irreconcilable  difference," between these doc-
trines and  those on the same subjects,  of all the  true  Allopathists alive!
What "astounding discoveries" are developed by this unique  neurologico-pa-
thologico-politico-circumlocutico-ambiguitico-non-committico Eclectic Medi-
cal  Creed-Maker!
  We have been  told  by Eclectic physicians  of Cincinnati,  (Report)  by
Buchanan  (397), and by the Trustees  as  his mouth-pieces  (circulars) that
he  is the  definer of the  platform of American Eclecticism.  He tells us,
(E. M. J.,  1855, p. 338), that—
  " In the programmes of medical colleges,  *  *  we find [in "the  institutes
of medicine]," a recognition of the  paramount importance  of philosophical
principles,  without which  facts alone constitute no reliable guidance.  It is
chiefly those  whose  intellectual incapacity unfits them  for the development
of principles, who are disposed to  deny  their importance, and exaggerate the
value of  mere facts."  [All true and good.   Now for the illustration].

  429.  Buchanan tells us that he  rejected the prospect of the highest honors
and profits of an honorable and popular profession, "fairly within  his reach,"
and "sacrificed his personal respectability"  in joining himself to a faculty,
"one half of whom were  without  talent, attainments  or notoriety; and the
other half  possessed little more to recommend them than a willingness to 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
123
learn (E. M. J., 1853, p. 142, &c), that he might develop the great  prin-
ciples of anthropology, and  its relations to  collateral sciences, which, of
course, must "include all the institutes of medicine in theory and practice."

   430.  He has now spent nine years in making out a "platform," during
which time all he has done is to give to any body and every body, full liberty
to prepare timbers for it, to prescribe the  places and manner in Avhich those
timbers  shall be located; and has promised to "accept all contributions to"
this platform (418).  He has sent out his  graduates to prepare the timbers
(420), each in his own way, or according to Morrow's plan of blistering the
whole abdomen, and giving  morphine; or to  I. G. Jones', of tying up the
limbs  and  giving prussiate  of  iron; or to Newton's,  of  giving morphine,
strychine and opium;  or to Cleaveland's, of giving  mercury as a solvent to
dissolve  tissues and prevent  adhesive, (healing) inflammation;  or to King's,
of rotting the flesh with ergot;  or to the steam and lobelia system,  or to the
water-cure plan, or to the homeopathic art of converting "snake poison into
medicine" (413);  or his own theory of fingering and smelling—but time
and  space  forbid  further enumeration of  the objects of his  far  reaching
liberality.

   431. We ask, when all these timbers and modes of  union, none  of Avhich
are to be rejected (418),  are brought to the great  architect of the  plat-
form, on what grand scientific principle he will make them come together?
Either our "incapacity to develop principles," or the impossibility of harmo-
nizing such heterogenous materials,  deprives us of the power to answer; and
therefore we will ask of the Architect a more reasonable, if not a less difficult
question.   We observe that this platform definer has not only  given orders
to others hoAv to work, but has provided some materials himself.   He has told
us that he had developed the  science of mind; that  this science  involves
physiology; that physiology involves the institutes of medicine, and, finally,
that medicine is a system of clinical experience—not of philosophical  prin-
ciples (418)!  How does he reconcile these contradictory  statements?

  432. He  has told us that the true practice would consist of purely sanative
ao-ents; and that all classes of reformers would finally unite on this platform,
rejecting all agents of an injurious or poisonous character (406).   Then he
told  us that nothing is, in its nature, injurious (409)—"agents are poison
not by quality but  by quantity."  Lastly, he tells us that "every mineral,
every  plant, every part and  product of  a plant, every simple  and [every]
compound substance in  nature, are, [is]  in some way, medicinal to man."
(E. M. J., 1855, p. 300).

  433. It  is  annoying to be  so often obliged to correct the  "illiteracy,"
"false philosophy," and "supposed  hypotheses"  of an author;  but we may
properly do it for  the  boasted  prince  of "literature,  science,  philosophy,
and respectability, whose solidity of judgment and range of reasoning power
are insufficient to lead him to sound conclusions in matters of principle and
philosophy," and  who  is therefore  "suspicious of all other deductions but
[than] his own, and ready to raise the cry of  theoretical and visionary" ["nar-
now," "limited," <fcc],  against every development of the principles  of medi-
cine [such as the  Baltimore platform], however correct and  comprehensive
its philosophy."—[E. M. J.,  '55, p.  339]. 
124
ECLECTICISM—BUCHANAN
   434.  Again, we ask, what are  the "scientific principles" of "American
Eclectic Medicine?"   What are its  "teachings"  concerning life, health,
disease, the causes of disease, their modes of attack  and the effects they pro-
duce; Avhat are its  symptoms,  irritation,  fever, inflammation, conjestion,
suppuration, and gangrene?  What is the nature of food, poisons and reme-
dies?   What  their  modus  operandi, effects on  the  human  body?   Echo
answers—what?  Oh, "they are taught [in the E. M. I.] as thoroughly
as in all the schools,  Allopathic, Homeopathic, Hydropathic,  Botanic, and
Physio-medical" and yet the graduate is not assured by any scientific demon-
stration,  that  one "supposed hypothesis" is any better  than  another!  He
must try first  one,  then another,  till his patient dies  or  recovers;  and
conclude, in the last  case, that the last dose given was the right one.
   These instructions are very injurious (E.  M. J.,  '54,  p.  363).  "The
Eclectic physician is especially taught never to use any thing that cannot be
safely given (409); never to allow poisonous materials to become  lodged in
the  constitution," <fec.  He can give poisonous materials as much as he
choses (398, 409); but, after they are down the throat,  he  must not allow
them to be lodged in the system! (142).   Will any one  inform us what are
or are not the  "philosophical and distinctive principles of American Eclec-
ticism," as taught by the platform builder,—ihe literary, scientific, politic,
arbitrary, insolent, mountebank leader of the Cincinnati E. M. Institute?

   435.  But certain Eclectics who deny the declaration of the platform builder
(420), offered  a premium for the  best  exposition of Eclectic Principles.
Essays Avere written and Prof. L. C. Dolley, of Rochester, one  of the pupils
of the E. M. Institute,  gained the prize!
   According to Prof. Dolley "the  fundamental and distinctive  principles of
the Eclectic system," as understood by those who originated the same,  may
be said to relate—
   "1st. To its  policy,  referring to the sources of knowledge.
   "2d.  To the  methods of investigation.
   "3d.  To Pathology—Theory and Practice.
   "4th.  To Materia Medica."
   Explanations—1st. All systems and all nature.
   2d. "The investigation and practice  should  be entirely untrammeled."
Governed by no scientific rule nor practical experiments! (418, 421).
   3d. "It  is not  claimed  that  Eclectics advocate views of pathology and
practice Avhich  are wholly novel and original with themselves."
   4th. They "reject in toto, the most pernicious features of the old  school
practice."   And who does not reject them?

   Professor D.  says,  "medicine is not a fixed science, because  it has to deal
with frail  man, Avhose existence is   limited; whose organization  and vital
force are often defective, and influenced  by the errors of  education and
habit."
   That is, man is not built up and   sustained on fixed principles, because,
like all other organized bodies, his is  subject to extraneous influences, which
may mar or destroy him!   Alas for  Geology,  Astronomy, Chemistry, Bo-
tany,—any science!  all  whose  compound  elements  are changeable!  Sec
review of this "Prize Essay," Rec, vol. xix, p. 167.
   What are the "distinctive principles" of Eclecticism? 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
125
   In the announcement of the E. M.  I., for 1855-6, it is  said  that "in
 attending their  lectures, the student is made familiar with the established
 facts and principles of medical science (45), as it has been developed by the
 distinguished physicians of the present and past centuries ("literacy!") and
 is thus carefully and efficiently taught  all that is necessary to constitute a
 sound and  thorough medical education (5), in the  judgment  of  the  great
 mass of  the  profession throughout the civilized world.   In this respect, the
 Institute presents  litle  that  is different from other  respectable  meuical
 colleges."
   Hence, we see that the Eclectic School is essentially Allopathic.
   But they present, also, a vast  amount of " improvements Avhich can not be
 found  in any other school"—among which stand "first," the  transcendent
 system of brainology, neurology  and psycology, of that  prodigy of  "phi-
 losophers," Professor  "B."  Next, the  use of a vast number and"variety of
 remedies of their own discovery  or invention; and lastly,  the "bold and
 manly style" in which they "realize those reforms which the  profession has
 long been urged to mature."

   436. Policy.   Lastly, there is a "principle  of Eclecticism,"  called policy,
 that must have been selected from the secret instructions of the St. Aloysian
 Society,  to its missionaries among Protestants.   It consists in telling all sorts
 of fibs for the benefit of the E. M. I., and to the injury of every thing and
 person that  stand  in the Avay of its being considered the largest college in
 the west, and the best college in the world;  and J. R. B.  the most  talented,
 literary,  scientific, philosophical, benevolent, truthful! influential, and indis-
 pensable man in that college, or the Avorld!  This "settled policy" has shoAvn
 itself from the first, in praising to the skies men Avho are connected with the
 College,  and the means and measures which its existing faculty recommend;
 and in degrading both to the  lowest point of infamy, the moment that the former,
 no longer able to endure their unrighteous and  immoral course, remonstrate
 with or abandon them; or the latter (their policies) are by other persons turned
 against that faculty itself.

   437. As proof of this assertion, witness the  praise bestowed on the Worth-
 ington College  while  Dr.  D.  L. Terry was  a member.   "The system of
 instruction pursued here, combines more  advantages, and  is better calculated
 to advance the student in the acquisition of a knowledge of the intricate and
 important science of medicine, than any other hitherto  in use," W. M. R.,
 v. 1, p. 9.  Signed T. V. Morrow and others, and dated Jan.  11th,  1836.
  Dr.  T., a young Professor, talented, honest, and energetic, soon discovered
 that  much of this teaching and practice Avas wrong, and remonstrated against
 it.   This brought on him,  in August of the  same year, the ire of  his col-
 leagues, and he  resigned (ib.,  p. 116).   Let the reader now examine the de-
 scription of his character by the same hand that drew up the  above report
 of the capacity of  Dr. Terry, with others.   "That apostate  and mongrel
 Thomsonian ex-Professor, D. L.  Terry," whose "course is unparalled in  igno-
 miny and disgrace," publishing "barefaced falsehoods and base fabrications;"
 "a designing apostate" (120), because,  "without the science  or the talents
 necessary to eleA'ate him to a stand among those of the first  eminence"(?)
 &c.  (121);  that is, he was guilty of the "unreasonable ambition"  of being
counted  equal  to his  older colleagues!    What  a  sin!  Let him who would
know which was the  superior  of  those two men, read "Terry on Fever" 
126
ECLECTICISM—BUCHANAN
(pamphlet), and Morrow's lecture at Russelville (W. M. R., pp. 69, 81), with
Terry's review (T. Rec, vol. 4, p. 337).   Let the reader compare the honest,
manly criticism of the Worthington doctrines (T. Rec, v. 4, p. 287), with the
Billingsgate that was heaped upon this author for it (W. M. R., v.  1, - o. 8).

  438. Dr. H Cox.  Passing to Cincinnati, we find these extra liberal Re-
formers praising to the skies Dr. H. Cox, because, like Chapman and others, he
had dared to rail against mercury, and, like Morrow, to "enter his solemn pro-
test" "against the Aery frequent and almost indiscriminate use of the lancet,
so much advised by many of the authorities of the present day"  (W. M. R.,
v. 1, p. 114).   See also vol. 4, p.  103; also page  85,  where he  is called "a
highly talented and distinguished physician," and  his renunciation of the old
school practice [only mercury],  "able, manly and dignified."

  439. Dr. W. Beach.   On page  30th, v. 5, W.  M. R., Ave find Dr. Beach
"a gentleman  who is, beyond  all  question, one of the  most distinguished
and able medical men of the present or any other  age; of exalted  reputation
as a  writer and teacher,  and successful practitioner; a brilliant ornament of
his profession;  an honor  to mankind, as well as one  of the  greatest bene-
factors of  our  race."  Vol. 6, p. 266, he was highly toasted in  Buchanan's
presence.   1853, p. 310.

  440. With the faculty, consisting of B. L. Hill, Jas. H. Oliver  [old school],
L. E. Jones, H. Cox, A. H. Baldridge, W. Beach, and T. V. Morrow,  "the
course of  instruction in  each of  the departments will be full  and complete,
embracing every thing of any value known and  taught in the old regular
colleges, as well as in the Reformed and Botanical schools of medicine," W.
M. R., vol. 6,  p. 110.   Compare this Avith Avhat Professor Beach says. Fam.
Phi., p. 195:  "Non-professional readers may imagine that information in
regard to depletion and sweating is annually taught in our  medical  schools.
Such is not the fact."
  441. Now compare this with Avhat is afterward said of Cox, Beach, Jones
and Baldridge, in general, E. M. I., 1853 (and of Jones and Baldridge in
particular,  page 315):   "Unworthy of notice,"  "regardless of  truth  and
honor," "monomaniac of mendacity," "convicted slanderers and traitors,"
&c.  "Mortifying" this  self-conceited, Jesuitical deceiver, by "making public
parade of  his  want of good  sense, decency, and moral  principle, and pro-
claiming to the world a fact that he  (B.) would  gladly conceal, as in his
address to the  medical public, that the Institute has heretofore contained an
individual void of the sentiment of honor and a proper self-respect."  Better
attend to the one still in it—charity begins at home.

  442. In an   address to the  public in 1853, p.  139, Prof. Buchanan, who
was a member of the committee of negotiation (362), and ostensibly approved
of the testimony for Professor Jones, says, of half of that same  faculty, they
were "men Avho had little talents,  less reputation, and nothing  to lose," E
M.  J., 1853,  p.  142.   Of Dr.  Jones  (362) he says, in substance, he was
persuaded  to write  communications for the press, and to  lend his  name as
author to a book, in his contributions to which his " ignorance and illiteracy
were corrected," &c, p. 142.   His "ideas of medical reform were adapted
only to furnishing  recipes  to  half-educated physicians" (p. 140), and his
moral character was that of "stupid mendacity, a selfish and animal nature, 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
127
impelled by  ungovernable passions,"  "disorganizing machinations," with
whom "his (B.'s) association was a sacrifice of personal respectability," E.
M. J.,  1853, p. 142.
   What confidence can be placed in the word of a man who will deceive and
lie, and contradict himself after this sort?
   With what grace and meekness Messrs. Jones and Baldridge receive their
castigation, how just it was in itself, and how worthy the source from Avhich
it emanated, may be fully learned  from a brace of pamphlets in defence,
which they Avill furnish gratis to any anxious applicant.

   443.  Thus the remark of Dr. M., vol. 4, p.  106, that, "No sooner does
any man renounce the old school practice of medicine" (or the objectionable
parts of it which the Eclectics retain), "than his reputation as a man and a
physician  is  assailed with a violence and a malignity truly astonishing," is
abundantly illustrated in the course of himself and his colleagues toward Dr.
Terry, Dr. Curtis, Dr. Cox, Dr.  Baldridge, Dr. L. E. Jones, and others,
merely  for differing from  them  in medical doctrine, or for objecting to  the
"policy" of  their "course," private or public, or for all these united.  This
is enough to  sink them to the lowest depths of "intellectual and moral degra-
dation," W.  M. R., vol 1, No.  8.

   444.  As the Trustees not only made no defense against the degrading in-
sinuations of B. (442), but forthwith lauded their detractor to the skies, as
the greatest of medical discoA'erers (see Annual Announcement), we presume
they very meekly treasured up the insult to their judgment in selecting, and
their  moral responsibility and honesty in recommending, such men as Jones
and Baldridge,  as Avorthy to be  teachers of the future guardians of the public
health.  Were those trustees merely putting their names to what that unprin-
cipled platform motive had prepared for them? (as Dr. B. L. Hill said they
would consent to whatever the  union committee should agree upon), instead
of trying to secure the public against impostors, and provide them Avith com-
petent teachers of medicine.

   445.  The policy of the E. M. Institute's Eclecticism, is not confined to the
praise of undeserving men, and the abuse of either the undeserving or  the
eminently good.   It extends to every species of deception and  meanness;
such  as the sending of advertisements through the country, stating that they
haA-e  been the means of doing what was done as  much by others; as  the
breaking down of the monopolizing medical laws in the State; the efforts to
gain admission  to the Commercial Hospital;  the curtailing of the use of poi-
sonous druo-s by Allopathists, and of the introduction of all the  "new reme-
dies;" including "lobelia," and fifty others introduced first by Dr. S. Thom-
son.'  In  making out false statements  that  they have  more than half  the
students in all the  medical schools  in  Cincinnati,  by the omission^ of two
schools  and over sixty students.  In reporting themselves, and sending run-
ners to the steamboats and hotels, in October and November, to report, that
other schools are "dead," or "have but one  Professor," and to persuade the
young men Avho may be coming in, to go to their  schools.   In pretending
that their graduates know every thing, when  they themselves haA'e no prin-
ciples to  teach; are accomplished  physicians, when  they haA-e not a single
settled medical  principle,  nor an established rule or  means of practice.   Of
all which, and a hundred  times as much more, we have the  record and  the 
128
ECLECTICISM—BUCHANAN
testimony of living witnesses to prove!  Finally, with B.'s "liberal policy"
of "tolerating all ideas," and clasping to the bosom all "honest and enlight-
ened reformers" (Announcement), contrast his late  "protest" against the
doings and  persons of  his friends in New York (E. M. J., 1855, p. 341),
and Ave shall see the truth of our assertion, that nothing is "American Eclec-
tism" that does not magnify the E. M. I. above all other colleges, and J. R. B.
above all other men.  His contradictory opinions  respecting his principles,
and the  character  of medicines and poisons,  and the literary and scientific
qualifications of his quondam colleagues, show that his judgment in matters
of science, can not be safely trusted; and his acknowledgment that he strove
to put forth  one of  his colleagues  as an author, of wrhose "illiteracy"  and
lack of scientific attainments he was ashamed;  his  misrepresentations of the
number of pupils in his own school, as well as in others; and his false asser-
tion, in his address to the public, that "we once offered him the use of our
charter"  and the privilege of making up a faculty to suit himself, which,
failing to do, he abandoned  it;  when the truth is, as will be partly seen by
reference  to  the  publication of his  name among  us, that he was only per-
mitted to be one of a faculty whom there was no danger that  he would be
able to lead astray;  and when we discovered, by a letter of his from Boston,
that he was deliberately  deceiving the people, we rejected him, instead of his
abdicating his chair, prove  that his  pretended statements of facts are not
worthy of credit.
   Take him  all in all,  his  miserable mangling of the King's English, his
heterogeneous medical doctrines, his false statements respecting facts which
he knows, and  his  scandalous abuse of every one who presumes to question
his infallibility, or  unite with him  in sustaining his "Eclectic policy," his
arrogant and impudent pretensions to superiority; or of non-committalism and
humbuggery, point him  out  most clearly to the public as "eminently quali-
fied" to instruct the future guardians of" the public health!
   The grounds for the everlasting boast of the great number of Eclectics in
the United States Avill be understood, when it is considered that, in the first
place, a few ambitious men,  observing that, on one hand, were a "large and
respected profession" of  men who sustained the Allopathic system, and, on
the other, a great number of Thomsonians who believed in a system and  a
practice diametrically opposed to it; that other  systems, as the Homeopathic,
the Uroscopian, &c, had many adherents;  and that many reflecting people
were displeased on the one hand with Allopathy, and not sufficiently enlight-
ened and independent to adopt,  on  the other hand, a thorough reform, deter-
mined on that master stroke of "Eclectic  policy," of  rushing in  between
error and truth, Allopathy and a genuine reform, and becoming all things to
all men (418), giving poisons to those who demanded them, and  medicines
to those who refused poisons (408, 409), pretending to " select the good from
every  system" (418, 421), thus ensnaring alike those  who were disgusted
with Allopathy and those who were not fully prepared  for reform, and pro-
nouncing all  "Eclectics" Avho denounced "the indiscriminating use of  mer-
cury and the lancet," or who, to avoid the abuse always heaped upon the
advocates of  a good cause, were disposed to be silent on the virtues of cay-
enne, lobelia  and the vapor bath.   Of such ignorant and unstable  malcon-
tents,  a pretty large army has been raised, and are commanded by a leader
(418) worthy of their composite and ever-changing character.
   In speaking of  Beach, Morrow, and I.  G.  Jones, we gave a sketch of the
character of the men, as distinct from their medical systems.  If any thing 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
129
of this kind respecting Buchanan is wanted, more than  is clearly inferred
from his " principles and his policy," may be found in his publishing to the
world, as " science,"a "system of anthropology," based chiefly on his expe-
riments on a young man who, he knows, was continually feigning nearly all
the "demonstrations" he exhibited!  See Rec, vol. XIX, p.  129, and the
pamphlets of Jones and Baldridge, once his  worthy colleagues in teaching,
and coadjutors in "Eclectic polifcy."  See, also, a review of his " Anthro-
pology," in American Med. and Surg. Journal of this year, particularly July,
August and September.

   446.  Apology.  To those who may feel disposed to call us to  account for
the manner in which we have presented the  Eclectic system,  we can  only
say it is the manner in which we  find it, and we are not to be  blamed.   To
him who would ask  why,  if  we  find no  scientific  principles laid down
by its authors, we present such a quantity of trash in their stead, we answer,
this is the material of which Eclectics boast that their system is composed.
To him who would ask us why we do not  exhibit some order in  our presen-
tation of it, we answer, for the same reason that we should  not expect order
from him in  a description of the inmates  and the operations of bedlam.  It
would "misrepresent" the whole idea of their bedlam itself, and make it appear
to be  what it is not; and thus we should really have deserved, what we haAre
often  most innocently received, a "severe castigation" (in Billingsgate) for
"slandering and abusing the Eclectics and their system."  B. L. Hill to J.
A. Rowland.
   When Eclectics boasted  of their superior liberality in  "tolerating" all
other  classes of  medical men; in condemning no man for his honest opin-
ions, but in giving aid and comfort  to every man to investigate every subject,
and to question the infallibility of every dogma; of their generous and digni-
fied fraternity of all honest and inquiring men of every sect; we  have felt as
though  we would like  to be " one of them."   But, when we have observed
that this liberality and this generosity extended only to those who professed
to belong to their fraternity; that men (as well as "remedial agents")  were
good only while  in their skillful hands, and forthwith became "intellectually
and morally" "degraded," as soon as they questioned Eclectic wisdom, con-
sistency, morality, supremacy, infallibility or exclusive  right to  all science
and medical improvement, no language was too vulgar to designate them, and
the best position to be assigned them Avas, "the lowest depths of intellectual
and moral degradation."   (W.  M. Ref., vol.  1, p. 113),  we have preferred
to maintain  our  "independent  position,"  and carry on reform  as best we
could.
9 
HOMEOPATHY.
  447. On this subject I was about to  copy the doctrines from its founder,
Samuel Hahnemann, when I thought it best to consult my worthy friend,
Dr. Pulte, who informed  me  that many errors in Hahnemann had been
detected, and that the  true doctrines are  more clearly developed by Dr. R.
E. Dudgeon, in his " Late Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Homeop-
athy," delivered at the Hahnemann  School of Homeopathy, and published
in Manchester,  England,  1854.  Referring to this work, I find, page 219
and onward, the advice of Dr. Pulte worthy of particular regard.

  448. Dr. Dudgeon says: "It cannot escape any student  of  Hahnemann's
works, that an idea once entertained or  an opinion once broached by him, is
rarely entirely abandoned or formally rejected in his works, even though it is
virtually  suspended  by another idea; and  the consequence is, that, in his
writings, and more  especially in the  Organon.  and particularly the  later
editions of it, we find statements, side by side, almost  diametrically  opposed
to each other.   He seems unwilling to efface what he had previously written,
but retains the older  notion, though the more recent one virtually extin-
guishes  it."    *   *    *    " Though    *   *    he  does occasionally
solemnly recant an opinion he previously  held," &c.   "Knowing this pecu-
liarity of his mental organization, we have  less difficulty in understanding
his virtual abandonment of the doctrine of secondary actions, Avhile it retains
a place in the systematic exposition of his doctrines" (p. 220).

  449. Something similar to the  foregoing statements was our opinion, and
therefore we had copied many of the  contradictions, intending to  present
them for comment; and we must still do it,  especially, because, looking more
deeply and carefully into the matter, though Hahnemann was often wrong,
we  find  that Dudgeon has often condemned what  Hahnemann correctly
stated.

  450. For example, page 212, he quotes  Hahnemann's  doctrines on the
action of medicines, thus:  " Most medicines have more than one action, the
first a direct action, which, gradually changes into the second, which I call
the indirect secondary  action."   Example, opium.

  451.  "A  few medicines  are exceptions to this  rule,  continuing their
primary action uninterruptedly of the same kind,  though always diminishing
in degree, until no trace of it can be detected, the  normal condition of the
organism being restored."   Example, mercury, arsenic, lead.
  Page 216, he quotes:  "In experiments with moderate doses of medicines
on healthy bodies, we  observe only their primary action."
         (130) 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
131
   Page 213, he says:  "The discrimination of primary and secondary action
 was a point of some importance according  to Hahnemann, as the choice of
 specific, Homeopathic medicine, Avas dependent upon it."

   452.  Now, with all due deference to the critical acumen of Dr. Dudgeon,
 in rejecting these doctrines  of Hahnemann, they are, when properly inter-
 preted, positively true.  They are absolute facts, and  it is because their nature
 and character are not understood, that either Hahnemann, Dudgeon, or any
 body else, has ever been or ever Avill be obliged to abandon them.   It  is
 simply because  Hahnemann  did not understand  them, that he did not bring
 the principles of medication to absolute perfection.   We agree with many
 medical  men, that our knowledge  of  the  practical  art is accumulative, not
 progressive; but the principles, if  we ever find them at all, must be perfect
 and unchangeable, and so must be the best appliances of the art.

   453.  We agree, therefore,  with  Hahnemann,  that these several primary
 and secondary actions (not always of medicines, but that often  follow the
 use) of medicines, are real; and Ave add, that the true understanding of them
 Avill  completely  revolutionize, not only  Allopathy in all  its  phases but
 Homeopathy itself.  Well might Hahnemann say it was important, and there-
 fore we shall attempt to show its importance—to explain the hidden mystery.

   454.  The whole  error and mystery has its  foundation in the  "mother
 error" of  Allopathy,  that irritation,  inflammation  and fever  are disease,
 which Homeopathy still hugs to her bosom.  It deprives all who  adopt it,
 of  the power to learn any thing certain about  either  the  primary or the
 secondary action of remedies, or the reaction of the system upon them.   It
 compels  Allopathy to exclaim, " Whether as causes of disease or as remedies,
 their action is fraught with the highest degree of uncertainty" (20).   " It
 caused Hippocrates to exclaim, " Fallax experientia;" and Abercrombie and
 Jackson  to repeat the exclamation.  It caused Hahnemann to lightly esteem,
 if he did not abandon, the everlasting  truths above put forth, and Dudgeon
 to reject them, saying, p. 560, " There are  still vast difficulties attending the
 selection of the remedy," " the appropriate dose," and "the best period for
 repetition"—the  all of therapeutics!

   455.  Let them  all abandon that same  mother error; adopt the true doc-
 trine that irritation, fever, and inflammation are but vital manifestations of
 the efforts of nature to expel the causes or  remove the conditions of disease;
 let them learn that disease is not a "derangement of the equilibrium of vital
 action," but the state of the  organs that prevents its equilibrium; and, Avith
 this glorious lamp in their hands, the truths above quoted from Hahnemann,
 Avill sparkle in their eyes like the diamonds and crystals which glisten in the
 caves of the earth,  on  the approach of  the explorer with his torch light.  Let
 us see:
  456.  "Most medicines have more than one action," <fec  Most medicines
 are compound, possessing different elements; as gums and resins, the acrid
 principle and the astringent, as bayberry; the aromatic and the astringent,
 as witch-hazel; the bitter and the laxative,  as bitter root; the bitter  and the
astringent, as birch bark, &c.
  Now, if each of these principles or active powers, acts on the system (and
it does), and if both can not be manifested at the same time (and, where 
132
HOMEOPATHY  EXAMINED,
they are opposite, they can not), then it follows that one action must be rela-
tively primary and the other secondary.  Thus the resin of  gums stimulates
first, then the gum lubricates; in bayberry the  acrid,  and in  witch-hazel
the aromatic effects are first  developed, then  the  astringent; in bitter root,
the bitter effect is  manifested primarily, and the laxative secondarily;  in
birch bark, the bitter first, then the astringent.

   457.  Hahnemann  saw  these facts, and though, afterwards, he  saw other
facts  that seemed to contradict them; as  that  some medicines did  not pro-
duce  any secondary  symptoms, he did not deny the first, because they were
facts.   Not being able  to explain both  in harmony, on  his established (?)
dogma, "similia similibus curantur," he abandoned the sound principles (Org.,
§12, note), and based his system on the doctrine that we are to regard the
totality of the symptoms as all we know of the disease, as eA'en "the disease
itself" (Organon, §  6), and  to  treat them  with remedies Avhich have been
observed to be followed by these symptoms,  on their administration to the
healthy  body, thus confounding all sorts of remedies  that either  invite  or
provoke vital action  to its derangements; or  that produce different effects
according to their qualities; or that produce now one effect and then another,
according to the relations  of the  different qualities  they possess;  and, in this
respect, securing,  over Allopathy, little advantage beyond  a negative one,
that of doing less mischief.

   458.   But there  is  another kind of "secondary effect," which the dis-
criminating eye of Hahnemann discovered was  not  the same as that which
followed the use of "some remedies."  This  effect, being  directly opposed
to the character and  tendency of the remedies, he called "indirect action,"
and he found it to take place after the use of nauseants, as antimony, ipecac,
&c, and  before the direct action of sedatives,  as opium.   This he clearly
perceived was produced by the  vital force;  hence he called it a "reactive"
effect.   Here,  too,  he was right,  and hence he  "retained"  this, to Dr.
Dudgeon, seeming contradiction, not, as Dr. Dudgeon unjustly charges him,
because  he was unwilling to recant what he knew to be an error,  (p. 220, for
he often frankly did that), but because he knew them both to be facts (as they
truly are), which, on Avhat he supposed to be an  infallible principle, he could
not explain.   Is Dudgeon  more wise or candid in  rejecting  these  facts,
because he cannot^explain them?  Let him  learn  the  error of similia, and
then these facts will appear to him as philosophical as they are real.

   459.  In the use of some relaxants, as antimony, Dr. Hahnemann observed
that the medicinal or nauseating action was primary, and the vital, reactive,
Avas secondary.  But, in the  use of opium,  he found that the  reaction was
primary, and the narcotic was  secondary.   He could not reconcile these facts.
But as  he  knew them to be  facts,  and  as  his rule  was  to prefer facts  to
theories or explanations, he saved them all.    Dr.  Dudgeon can not explain
them, so he charges Hahnemann with a kind  of disengenuous "virtual" aban-
donment of the doctrine of secondary actions, while, to avoid confessing a
former error, or the charge of present inconsistency, he suffered the  reaction
to "still retain a place in the systematic exposition of his doctrines." p. 220.

   460.  We leave it  to the candid  to say which is the  most noble, disin-
terested and self-sacrificing,  to stick to what we knoAv to be true, though it 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
133
seems to be contradictory, or to abandon a known truth or fact, because  we
can not explain it?   We do not say that Hahnemann was altogether faultless
in this  particular—who is?  But we do admire  his strict adherence to  his
general  principle, to let facts be admitted, be the explanation Avhat it may.

  461.  We shall prove that, had Hahnemann bestowed the same criticism on
his  " dogma," similia, &c.) that  he did on his facts, he himself would haA'e
given the explanation that would  have reconciled all  seeming contradictions,
  He would have seen that  the "action which continues the same to the end
in health," ("produces no secondary,") is the action  of that class of reme-
dies which  harmonize with  the demands of the  vital  force, as just enough
of a pure relaxant to relieve spasm, or a pure astringent to restore tone, or a
pure stimulant to  revive  from syncope; or  his  trouble or "difficulty" that
these sometimes produce  only primary and sometimes secondary actions,
would have been solved by observing that,  in  the first instance, they were
used in  the very cases in which the conditions  of the system called for their
use, and in quantities just equal  to the demand; and in the second, mis-
applied, either in the  case  of  the  patient, or the quantity administered, or
mode of application.

  462.  Examples.  1st, constriction of the throat.   Drink a little warm water
or weak boneset tea, and the medicinal action harmonizing with the  demands
of the system, it "gradually diminishes till it ends in  the healthy state;" no
reaction ("secondary effect") follows.

  463.  Give to a  case  iu  which  this constriction  does  not exist, large
draughts of the same fluids, and the same medicinal, primary, relaxing action
commences; but, "after a time," reaction or vomiting takes place.   Hahne-
mann saw these  facts,  and, at  first, he  called them primary and secondary;
but  it was soon  clearly evident to him that  the reaction could  not be pro-
duced by the same cause that produced the  relaxation; hence he gave it the
better name, "reaction," and ascribed it justly to the vital force as its cause.

  464.  Give to  an  irritated stomach,  a minute dose  of boneset, lobelia or
warm water, and the primary (medicinal) effect will be simply quieting; no
reaction will follow, the relaxing  effect  will gradually diminish till it ends in
health.   Give a very large dose of  either of these, and the primary or medi-
cinal effect will still* be relaxation;  but, when this effect is overcome  by  the
vital force, reaction will take place.
  Give  to  the  same case, a dose  of  the salts of copper or zinc, or of  any
powerful astringent or stimulant, and  the  primary medicinal  effect will be
vomiting, after which  relaxation  will take place, either from the fatigue of
the act, or from the debilitating influence of the medicine, or both.

  465.  Hahnemann saw these things  as facts,  and he did not reject them
because he could not explain them.  But he failed in  not  perceiving here a
rule for distinguishing medicines from  poisons, and he erred in using indis-
criminately all the agents whose administration was followed by such effects,
instead  of ascertaining wrhat remedies directly fulfilled the demands of  the
case, their action "terminating in  health;" and in using these, to the exclusion
of those that produced a "primary,"  "direct  effect" that was unnecessary
or injurious, before the "secondary"   or "reactive"—curative effect could 
134
HOMEOPATHY EXAMINED,
occur.  And the same is true of  Dudgeon, and of Allopathists, and every
other class and individual of a class, who adheres to the old error of errors—
the "fever disease" doctrine.

   466.  It  amounts to this, then, that, whenever a poisonous drug is given,
or a good  one  misapplied, in  quality, quantity or manner, a reaction  must
take place before the disease is cured.
   But sometimes both  the primary and the secondary actions of the system,
or those of several  medicinal qualities are wanted.  Say the stomach is foul
and  inactive; the fluids being absorbed  into the  system,  the more  solid
portions of the ingesta and of the  secretions are enveloped in its corrugated
folds and gastric secernents, so that the ordinary action will not easily expel
them.   That state  demands first, relaxation to  loosen the tissues of the
mucous membrane;  secondly, stimulation to set the stomach in motion;
thirdly, contraction to diminish its  caliber, so as to expel its morbific con-
tents.   Warm  water or aromatic  teas will do the first, ginger or cayenne
the second, and tannin or any pure astringent the third.   Here are not only
primary and secondary, but a tertiary  action, or a combination of the  pri-
mary and secondary—the primary  being the relaxing, the  secondary, (3d in
order here), the astringent or opposite of the primary,  and the third the
stimulant  or a  combination of the other two.   And these are all the purely
medicinal  actions that the practitioner of medicine  can directly induce upon
the system.  The when, the how and the with what, to produce these, con-
stitute the chief skill of the healing art.   The rest is prophylactic, chemical
and mechanical.

   467.  But I digress.   " In experiments  with moderate doses of medicines
on healthy bodies,  we observe only their primary action."
   I  have said this is true when properly understood.   First, it is true of all
true medicines, used in very minute quantities;  for the system, not needing
their action, is not disturbed by it.  They are like a little cool or a little warm
air or water, a little aroma in the nose,  or a very little dust in the lungs, not
sufficient  to produce  any considerable  derangement or hindrance  to the
equilibrium of vital action.

   468.  But, secondly, it is  true of even injurious agents or good ones misap-
plied, when used in extremely minute quantities; thus we  breathe both bad
and  good  air,  drink both  pure and impure water, and eat both  pure and
impure food, and are not, when in  health, sensibly affected by them.

   469.  We must take them in  large  doses to know their influence upon us,
and  consequently, whether  they directly aid or oppose physiological action,
in other words, whether they are medicines or poisons!  " And hence  the,
not homeopathic, but physio-medical rule of "proving them on the healthy
body" (which Thomson taught before Hahnemann did), is the only sure test
of the character of remedies.

   470.  But how can  they determine this question who count physiological
action disease ?  If they count irritation, fever and inflammation disease, they
must pronounce all the agents that excite them, whether  directly or indi-
rectly, pathogenetic; and all those whose administration is followed by their
removal, curative, whether  they remove their exciting causes or destroy the 
CRTriCISED AND CORRECTED.
135
power of the system to manifest them.  Hence, Avell might "the discrimi-
nation  of primary  and secondary  action  be  a point of some  importance,
according to Hahnemann,  as ti.e choice of all true medicine is" really, "de-
pendent on it."


  471.  If, then,  Hahnemann, though  he could not see how nor why, was
really right in all these positions, what should Dudgeon have done?   Instead
of condemning what was right, he should have attacked and exposed what
was  wrong.  He should  have  opened  his batteries on  Hahnemann's false
doctrine of disease.   " The totality of  the symptoms constitute the disease,"
(Organon, § 6).  He should have shown that  the symptoms are not the dis-
ease, and that therefore  they are  not  that  which  is to  be  cured.   He
should have shoAvn that an agent which  causes the disease, whether a bad
one in its nature, or a good one misapplied, is  not  the proper  agent to cure
it.   That, when a disease is cured, after the administration of both poisons
and medicines, the similia non similibus curantttr;  because the similar symp-
toms are not cured by similar agents, for similar agents are  not used.   Or, if
he object to this, and say that similar symptoms are cured by agents that pro-
duce them, whether those agents are  similar  or dissimilar (Org., § 26), I
answer, that dissimilar agents have no  power to produce similar effects, for
it is only by their  dissimilar effects that we  know them to be dissimilar.
Therefore, where the same effects are produced on  the body by the applica-
tion  of dissimilar agents, we must look for the  cause of those effects to some
other poAver which produces them all, whether in harmony with those agents
or in opposition  to  them,  one,  two, or all  together.   And thus, he would
have found the fundamental error of Homeopathy involved in its fundamental
dogma,  similia similibus curantur, almost the only one on which all its advo-
cates agree, as a settled principle; and the one  in which she is still the infant
daughter of her venerable mother,  Allopathy, a  chip of the  old block, inherit-
ing the  same nature, and only a little modified  in her manners!
  I know these are bold assertions, but I proceed to demonstrate their truth.


  472.  Constantine Hering says, (Organon, p. 3):
   "1.  All Homeopathic physicians are united under the banner of the great
law of cure, similia similibus curantur; however they may differ in  regard to
the theoretical explanation of  that law,  or  the extent to  Avhich it may be
applied.
   "2.   All Homeopathic physicians acknowledge  that provings upon  the
healthy, are indispensable in ascertaining the unknoAvn curative  power of
drugs.
   "  3.  Finally, all  Homeopathists concur  in  giving but one medicine at a
time.  Never mixing different drugs together, under the absurd expectation
that  each will act according to their dictum.   This is the glorious tricolor
of our school, which will  make the circuit of the world, and in these we are
as the heart of one man."  He adds, p. 4:
  "  There will always be a  large  number of physicians  who either do not
understand or will not learn, how to select  for each particular case the one
only proper medicine;  and such will always find it more comfortable to em-
ploy massive doses.  There will always be, perhaps, as large a number, who
will, by-and-by, know how to hit the nail upon the head, and they will learn
to prefer the higher potencies," (473). 
136
HOMEOPATHY EXAMINED,
   473.  After a long  course of  critical lectures on  Homeopathy, Professor
Dudgeon comes to the following conclusion, p. 558:
   "1 believe I have touched on  (imperfectly in many instances it may be),
every point of practical and theoretical importance relating to the Homeo-
pathic system of medicine, and 1 shall  now bring this course of lectures to a
close, by recapitulating, in a very brief summary, the chief points that have
engaged our attention during the past weeks.   The three  cardinal points of
the Homeopathic  system, that are acknowledged by all the disciples of Hah-
nemann, however they may differ in other matters, are:
   " 1st. The proving  of medicines on the healthy, in order to ascertain their
pure pathogenetic effects.
   " 2nd. The administration of  the medicines so proved, according to the
therapeutic maxim,  expressed in  the phrase, similia similibus curantur.
   " 3rd. The administration of the  proved medicines according to this prin-
ciple, singly and alone.
   "All who hold these articles of faith, and practice accordingly, are Home-
opathists, and acknowledge, as their master, the great  medical  reformer of
the nineteenth century, Samuel Hahnemann.
   " I have shown, in the course of  my lectures, that the most rational views
on the subject of Pathology, lead to the recognition of the Homeopathic the-
rapeutic principle, as  the only plausible guide in the administration  of the
curative agents termed medicines;  that the  recognition of this  principle  as
our therapeutic guide, invokes the necessity of proving medicines according
to the method laid doAvn by Hahnemann, and that the practice of giving but
one medicine at a time is a necessary corollary from the other two maxims,"
(p. 559).
   "I am very far from agreeing  *  *   that the doctrines of Hahnemann
are an unimprovable s}Tstem.   *   *   Medicine is and ever must be a pro-
gressive science.  *  *   There are still vast  difficulties in  selecting the
remedy. The rule for the administration of the appropriate dose remains yet
to be discovered,  the  best periods for repetition of the medicine are still un-
certain, and  there are still many diseases that are not amenable to the very-
best treatment,"  (p.  560.   See  No. 472).

   474.  It has been  a  matter of surprise to me that all the revieAvers of Home-
opathy, its friends as  well as its opposers,  have  passed  over its fundamental
errors, and spent  their force on its matters of minor importance.   They have
skirmished about  its outposts, and now  and then taken a redoubt or  jostled a
weak sentinel from his post; but not  one of  them, even  the great Forbes
himself, has  ever shot a  ball of any consequence  into the main garrison.
This is  explainable, only on the  fact which I have exhibited, that the great
and fundamental errors of all  are the  same.   The  inability of Forbes, the
most learned and candid opponent,  to see  the error of Homeopathy, was his
inability to see that  of Allopathy; the error, I  repeat, no matter  how often,
of considering and treating  irritation, fever and inflammation as disease;
which error,  as I shall show, is involved in the "dogma," " similia similibus
curantur."

   475.  First, then, I most cordially agree that the true way to ascertain the
pathogenetic or the curative nature, properties or qualities of any agent, is
to  try it on  the  healthy subject, in doses sufficiently  powerful  to "disturb
the equilibrium"  of the healthy state,  or vital action.   But this  doctrine is 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
137
not peculiar to Homeopathy.  It has been recognized by many eminent phy-
sicians,  in all past times.   Dr. Samuel Thomson,  the greatest American
medical  reformer, published it to the world eighteen years  before Hahne-
mann did.

   476.  If we try an agent on the sick, and  he gets well, it may be that the
vital force cured him, either by the aid of that agent, or in spite of its oppo-
sition.   If he dies, it may be because of the action of the agent or because
of the disease, and we have no means  of certainly ascertaining which is the
case.

   477.  Thus, thousands  upon  thousands regularly die by the lancet, mer-
cury, opium and other deleterious agents, and their death is ascribed to the
disease for which those agents were prescribed, while thousands more recover
after the use of the same agents, and the recovery is ascribed to these same
instruments of death!

   478.  But,  if persons at a Avedding, drink  tea or coffee, or eat cake, or pies,
or puddings, into  which arsenic and  other regular medicines have  been
mingled, and they immediately sicken and  die,  there is no doubt as  to the
character of  the medicines or  the cause of death;  and,  if  the doctor who
administers them is caught, he  is not treated quite so honorably and affec-
tionately as the young M. D., who administered the calomel and arsenic a few
days before,  to cure the chills and fevers, in  the case of the dear and lamented
young friend, who was  thus effectually prevented  by "a most inscrutable
Providence,  for wise and gracious purposes," from bearing him company to
that same wedding!

   479.  Let us learn the  character of remedies by their action on the healthy
system, and there  will be no longer "a vast difficulty attending the selection
of the remedy."  " The appropriate dose"  will be that which produces all
the action that is wanted, "the best period  for its repetition"  will be when
it has spent its  force, and the  "cases which are not amenable to the best
treatment," will be only those  of  fatal lesion of function or tissue.   They
will be few and far  between.  A few persons will  be slain  by accident or
design, but the vast majority of mankind will be preserved to the end of the
race, and restored to the care of old Time, who long ago gave up his regular
business  and hung up his scythe to the rust, having  been  supplanted by the
lancets and the poisons of medical quackery!

  480. But I shall be asked, why, then, are not Homeopathists right? as they
prove their medicines on the healthy?
  I answer,  first  because,  their fundamental doctrines (fever disease,  and
similia)  teach  them to  call both  medicines and poisons  both  pathogenetic
and curative, and to use  them all as remedies.

  481. Secondly.   The  doctrine that but one remedy is  to be used at the
same time, is a great error in fact, and one  which the Homeopathist seldom
does or can regard in practice, for,

  482. Most remedies, especially vegetable, are  compound, involving  many
distinct  and  often opposite principles.  These,  taken  into  the  system, 
138
HOMEOPATHY  EXAMINED,
produce the primary and secondary,  and sometimes tertiary effects, noted
by Hahnemann,  (450 to 464).

  483. For example, in a case of bleeding at the stomach, I desire to diffuse
the blood to the  surface,  &c, and astringe the bleeding vessels.   If I give
a pure aromatic, as spearmint or  lobelia, I do the former but  not the latter.
If I give a solution of pure tannin, I do the  latter but not the former.  If I
give the aromatic astringent, witch-hazel (two properties  in one article), I
do both.   So  I  could give  the tannin  in spearmint or lobelia tea, and do
both;  as I  have  many a time done, and effected my object in a few minutes.
  In these cases, the relaxing effect is primary and the astringent secondary;
all relaxants acting more promptly than  astringents, as the former excite the
nerves instantly, while the latter bind up more gradually the vascular tissues
with the nerves.   I use  the same compound treatment in all the excessive
mucous secretions; as diarrhea,  diabetes, menorrhea,  &c, that is, I use
general, diffusible stimulants, combined with local  astringents.   Will  any
one say that it would  be better to use the diffusible  and wait till its relaxing
influence is fully spent before  he attempts to close  the open  vessels of the
diseased part?   If  so, it  is  no wonder that he  should not yet have found
"the best period for the repetition of the medicine," or "the proper time to
change it for another," (p. 550).

  484. Do Homeopathists suppose that,  when they give  their  "acro-nar-
cotic," or  "acro-astringent," or "acro-nauseant," or "bitter astringent,"
or " bitter  nauseant," vegetable remedies, they " give but one medicine at a
time?"   When  they  give tart, ant.,  or tinct. fer., plumb., sulph. ac, or
zinc; caps., tinct. camp., canth., sars., samb., scilh, in short, almost the whole
catalogue  of their preparations,  do  they suppose  they are giving but one
remedy at a time?  Do they not know that  the most of their organic agents
are  easily separable into proximate principles, and the  inorganic  into their
elements by the vital chemistry, and then the  principles act differently, ac-
cording to their  natures?  Are  not, in the above ca:es of hemorrhage, exces
sive secretions, <fec, more effects  than  one  needed, and will not compound
agents, that act in harmony with the vital indications, produce those effects?

  485.  I  reason with you, my Homeopathic  friend, candidly.    I have no
prejudice, that is,  blind objection, against yours or any other system.   I am
open to conviction.  Give me either facts or sound reasoning, to  prove your
system better than mine, and I  will adopt it  at once.  But I can not complain
that "medicine  must be a progressive science"  (p.  560) to those who have
not yet discovered its true principles.    I join with the advice of Professor
Dudgeon, that you " rest not contented with what has been done, but ask
yourselves  what is still to do," and watch me carefully while I pull down the
old castle  of error yet remaining, whose  inscription  is  similia  similibus
curantur.

  486. It  is seen  before, that there are  differences of opinion  as to the theo-
retical explanation of this law,  or the extent to which it may be  applied.   I
ask, if they do not know the explanation of  that law, nor the extent to which
it may be applied, how much good can it do them? may they not be liable
to misapply it, either in manner or extent, and thus do mischief instead of
good? 
CRITCISED AND CORRECTED.
139
   487. But it is explained by Hahnemann thus:  Sec  26, "a dynamic dis-
 ease in the living economy of man, is extinguished in a permanent manner,
 by another that is more powerful, Avhen the latter (without being of the same
 species) bears a strong resemblance to it, in its mode of manifesting itself."
 Again, Sec. 27:  " Disease can  not  be  destroyed or cured  in a  certain,
 radical, prompt and permanent manner, but by the aid of a medicine that is
 capable of exciting the  entire  group of  symptoms, which bear the closest
 resemblance to those of the disease, but which possess a still greater degree
 of energy."
   This would show that nature is trying to do all that should be done, and
 that the doctor should aid all her efforts,  by therapeutic means.

   488. As  Hering and  Dudgeon do not tell us what is either disease or
 health, we must inquire  of Hahnemann  on these subjects; for how shall we
 restore from disease to health  without knowing what either is?   Till these
 two points of information are gained, "medicine must" indeed "be an em-
 pyricalart," (561).
   Hahnemann says:
   Health  is that condition of the body in  which the vital force has full com-
 mand  of it, (§ 9, 19), and (§ 6) "the totality of the symptoms;" § 11, "the
 irregular  actions;" § 19, " nothing more  or less than changes in the human
 economy," "is the disease."
   Disease.   What?   "For the  physician,  the totality  of  the symptoms
 alone  constitute the disease."   "They represent to its full  extent the dis-
 ease; that is, they constitute the true and only form of  it  which the mind is
 capable of conceiving,"  (Organon, § 6).
   " The symptoms announce themselves to us as the objects of cure!  What
 is there in disease besides these which physicians have  to cure? (Org., § 6).
   "The totality of the symptoms is this  image of the immediate essence of
 the malady," (Org., § 7).
   " A single symptom is no more the disease itself, than a single leg is the
 whole  body," (§ 7, note, p.  98).
   " The irregular actions of the vital principle we call disease," (Org., §11).
   "The suffering of the vital power, is the entire morbid  affection," (§ 11,
 note).
   " Disease is an aberration or a discord in the state of health," (§ 31, note).
   "Diseases are solely spiritual and dynamic changes  in the  animal econ-
 omy," (Org., note to § 31). "The balance of vital action constitutes health;
 the loss of this balance is disease," (Dudgeon, p. 30).
   Here is a great error.   Disease is a state, or condition, not an action. And
 this error generates another on the

   489. Cause of Disease.   " Only the vital principle disturbed by the dy-
 namic  influence of a morbific agent, can  give to the organism its abnormal
 sensations, and incline it to the irregular actions which we call disease," Sec.
 11.—"It is solely the morbidly affected vital principle, which brings forth
 diseases," Sec. 12.

   490. From  the above quotations, we see  what the "similia" are,  that
 curantur,  are to be cured, viz., the "irregular  actions," "the disturbances
of the  vital principle," caused  by its own action as excited by the dynamic
influence of a morbific agent (Sec.  11); in other words, it  is irritation, fever 
140
HOMEOPATHY EXAMINED,
and inflammation that "constitute the sum  total of disease," (Sec. 6, 12),
Avhich identifies, in this respect, Homeopathy with Allopathy.  It is a "fever
disease" system, and of course its advocates must, with Allopathists, count
those articles "remedies," that, being given in fever, &c.  are followed by a
cure, whether in harmony with their action,  as asarum, or against  it, as
arsenic  Yet they declare that, in both cases, the cure  is effected by these
entirely different means, on the  mysterious, unexplainable principle (Org.,
§  12, note), similia  similibus curantur.

   491.  It seems to me that every one ought to see clearly,  that, even if it
Avere admitted that similia curantur—similar symptoms are cured—it can
not, in these cases, be done similibus, that is, by agents  producing similar
effects;  for, surely, asarum and arsenic do not act much alike on the system.

   492.  The cause of disease.  "The spiritual essence, the vital power  pro-
duces the disease," (Org., note to § 6.)  " Disease is produced by a morbid
derangement of  the vital force," (note to § 8).  "Only the vital principle
disturbed, can give to the organism its abnormal sensations, and incline it to
those irregular actions which we call  disease," (Org., | 11).  "It is solely
the morbidly affected vital principle that brings forth diseases," (§ 12).
   So the vital force is both the cause  and  the curer of disease!  If so, how
can it be said that any similia, that is, material agents, either cause or cure it?

   493.  "Homeopathic  medicines are  those agents that produce symptoms
similar to those of the malady," (§ 34).   " The curative virtues of medi-
cines depend solely upon the resemblance that their symptoms bear to those
of the disease,"  (Org., § 27).

   494.  Remedies always  act in the  same manner, and  produce, so  far as
they produce any, the same effects upon every individual, (Org., § 32).
   " The morbid symptoms which medicines produce in healthy persons, are
the only indications of their curative virtues in disease," (Org., § 21, caption).

   495.  From the foregoing extracts,  which give us a full and a fair view of
the doctrines of Homeopathy, we clearly perceive that, however different from
it in some respects, this system has the same canker at its root, that we have
discovered  and  condemned in Allopathy, viz., the fatal doctrine that the
vital symptoms of disease are all we know of its essence or nature  (Organon,
No. 6);  that they are, in fact, the disease itself (ib. 11,12);  hence, that irri-
tation, fever and inflammation are disease;  and that the  treatment must be
directed to the cure of these symptoms, by means the use of which, in health,
will be folloAved by their  production.   Now, although they seem to agree
that all the  vital  symptoms of what they call acute diseases, are of dynamic
origin (Org., §  12),  yet they also maintain  that the remedies produce them
(Org.,  § 1,21), or  at  least excite them (Org., §  12), and adopt the mis-
chievous Allopathic  error,  that all the remedies whose  administration is fol-
loAved by the same effects, are sanative; perceiving no difference and making
no distinction, between those that provoke and those  that invite the  vital
manifestations.  If, in one case, they give a small dose of opium, and in another
one of  cayenne, and the system acts against the opium to remove it,  and
in harmony with the cayenne, to increased physiological results,  the symp-
toms  in both cases  are the same; hence they  explain it  by their theoretical 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
141
position, similia similibus curantur, though it is quite evident that, even if a
cure is, in both cases effected, it is not by similia, for there  can scarcely  be
found two agents in nature more dissimilar than opium and cayenne, as may
be easily demonstrated  by giving tAventy grains of each to a healthy person.
The fact, then, that the administration of certain remedies, either in large
or small doses, is followed by certain vital  manifestations, is  no proof that
those remedies are similar, or, what is  equivalent, that they  produce similar
effects on the living tissue.   Such a conclusion  ignores in toto both the dis-
similarity in the nature of the agents, and the existence in the system of the
very dynamic  power to produce  the symptoms which  they ascribe to that
agent,  (Org.,  § 9, 10,  11,  12).

  496.  Let  any one compare the various "remedies" which,  according  to
the Homeopathic Repertories, are said to have been "proAred" to produce
given symptoms, and he will find them to be  of the most heterogeneous char-
acter imaginable.  Take, for example, the following: which are "proved"  to
have produced the symptom or  disease called "Exanthema;"  inflammation
of the surface.
Aconite,	Capsicum,	Hyosciamus,	Fox Glove,
Alum,	Asarum,	Elder,	Ergot,
Bismuth,	Bryony,	Senega,	Phosphorus,
Colchicum,	Copper,	Valerian,	Stramonium,
Iron,	Hellebore,	Verbena,	Zinc, &c
   Suppose, for the sake of this view of the argument, that, on  the  admin-
istration of any of the left-hand agents in some cases, and those of the right
in others, the Exanthema ceases.  All admit that the similia curantur, (sim-
ilar  affections are  cured); but who will agree that curantur  similibus,—
the cure is effected by similar agents ?  No one; all must  see that the cure
effected  by the vital  force, aided  by some of the  agents, and provoked by
others.
   Compare the various agents recommended in  the Repertories, for the cure
of any other symptom of disease,  and Ave shall see a  like dissimilarity in
their nature throughout.  Hence  the very foundation stone of the Homeo-
pathic system is so rotten that we  have picked it to pieces with the point of
our pen!

   497.  "But," says the Homeopathist, "our system was not  built upon
theory but upon facts.  The remedies do thus act—they cure disease; and,
therefore they are similar."
   I answer, so also says the Allopathic advocate of facts.   But all the cura-
tive actions are produced in all cases by the vital force, sometimes by provo-
cation, and sometimes by invitation; as men are induced to act sometimes by
enemies and sometimes by friends; to the exhibition of love and good works.
In the Homeopathic practice, so little medicine is used that its pathogenetic
action is seldom manifested.

   498.  "But," says the Homeopathist  again,  "all remedies possess two
qualities, pathogenetic and curative."  So says the AUopathist of his, and
thev and you aoree that these two  qualities depend on the quantities admin-
istered,  the condition of the  patient  and  the  circumstances of the admin-
istration. 
142
HOMEOPATHY  EXAMINED,
   499.  The scientific chemists, of all parties, know that all elements, simple
or compound, possess certain definite properties which the simples can never
change, nor the compounds, till they themselves are  changed; and  that, of
course, these properties, when acting as  causes, must  always produce  the
same effects, (Org., § 32).   Noav  the production of disease and  its cure
are opposite effects; they cannot proceed  from the same inanimate causes;
therefore, if cures follow the administration  of different dissimilar agents,
they must be attributed to the action of some other power than those agents;
and the agents must be regarded as mere excitants of that power, either in
a friendly or an unfriendly manner, (Org., 11).   One system may prescribe
largely of these exciting agents, and another sparingly.   That which pre-
scribes the least of the mischievous  ones  will do the least  mischief, while
that which  prescribes the requisite  quantity of the good  ones will do the
most good.

   500.  But both  systems are wrong, because  they count  the  same vital
manifestations disease, and prescribe the same heterogeneons agents, "reme-
dies," to  cure it!  It is not a little  singular that  Homeopathists  declare,
Avith one breath, that their system  is  based  on a  principle totally different
from the Allopathic, and, with the next, quote the universal similarity of the
doctrines  and practices of Allopathy and Homeopathy, to prove its truth.
(See "Dudgeon's Lectures," § 1).

   501. We  see  not how Homeopathists  can complain of Allopathists for
bleeding to cure hemorrhage,  purging to cure diarrhea, giving mercury to
cure "morbid secretions," cayenne to cure inflamed throat, or nux vomica to
cure tetanus.  In fact, they do,  themselves, the second  and third.  It does
not avail to say they prescribe  smaller doses,  for the true meaning  of Home-
opathy involves the principle; it does not limit the size of the dose, which, in
both systems, is left to the best judgment of the practitioner, as to how much
is  required in given cases.

   502. Thus, as I have often said, it is clearly demonstrated that  Homeopa-
thy  is but  the infant daughter of Allopathy, and has  no other  reason to
quarrel  Avith her mother  than simply that  the old  lady has become rather
hardened  in iniquity, and giAres with a  more liberal hand  the  nauseating
doses.   Homeopathy is Allopathy,  for  a similar disease is not the same dis-
ease, therefore it is another disease;  and because it professes to cure the
same disease with remedies of  a very different character.  If these remedies
produce specific results, it must be because they possess specific, that is,  de-
finite and unchangeable qualities, (Org. 32).
   If different agents possessing  different  specific properties, really cure  the
same  affection, it  must be simply because they excite  or provoke the vital
force to an action  of its organs Avhich produces  the  cure Avithout reference
to the character of the exciting causes, and this  is the fact.  Stimulants or
astringents,  or even poAverful  relaxants—the nux vomica or too much of  a
good dinner, may so excite the already irritated  stomach that it will  reject
them.  If, after the emesis, the irritation ceases, there is a cure; but  it is  r.ot
effected similibus, that is, by agents all calculated to produce the same effects.
   One who observes  and reasons, Avould  think that the very  fact that  the
"provings" have  taught Homeopathists  that specific symptoms can be  re-
lieved by such a multitude of  agents  of a very different specific  character, 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
143
and that such a host of different symptoms can be relieved by the same Ac.
or Cup. should teach  them  also that it is  not always  the medicine that
cures in these cases.

   503.  But we are told that Hahnemann was  no therorist, that he never
allowed  theory to question his "proved  facts," and  his  followers seem  to
closely imitate him.  Hence,  alone, can a philosopher  account for their swal-
lowing such palpable absurdities as the proposition that a similar  disease is
not another disease;  and that when  the  cure of a  specific affection in a
hundred  different  cases follows the  administration of a  hundred different
agents,  of as many different specific  properties, qualities, or capabilities of
action, that cure is effected,  in each case, on the principle and  by the law,
similia similibus curantur.

   504.  But, asks  the Homeopathist, if they are  not  so cured, by what law
are they cured?  I answer, 1st. He, of all men in  the world, should be the
last to ask me to explain what he considers it folly to examine,  (Org. § 12,
note).  He accepts his  apparent  [false]  facts,  without  a question,  con-
demns me for testing them by observation and experiment, and then requires
me to  explain  their essential character!   But, as I reject this  ignoring of
every thing that does not  appear plain to the  most  superficial sense, I diso-
bey his caution not to reason against nor question supposed facts, and plainly
and clearly answer his query.   It is because all agents that affect the system
for good or for evil, if they do not disorganize nor paralyze it instantly, ex-
cite  it to acts  of  a physiological character;  conservative, defensive,  and
sustaining; which acts are the procuring causes of  cure in every case, no
matter Avhat be the character of the medicine.  And  this  is the  reason why
Allopathists,  Homeopathists,  Eclectics,   Physopathists,  and  all  pseudo
reformers who despise  theory (science),  and use, promiscuously, medicines
and poisons of every shade  of character and grade of power, sometimes cure
by inciting or provoking a due degree of  vital action; and Avhy the big dose
men of  all these parties or sects, often kill outright,  by giving more poison
devils than the system can cast out, and the little dose men sometimes do the
same, and that others do no good  by not  giving enough  to excite the sys-
tem at all.
   504 a.  The  dynamic or vital manifestations are not disease, but efforts of
the system to remove the causes of disease; of course they should not be
silenced and subdued, but aided.   If, then, a febrile effort is in operation  to
remove some obstruction, the  use of a diffusible stimulant, like ginger, sage
or catnip, in moderate quantities and  with much water, will  loosen and re-
move the obstructions to regular action, and set the fever  free, when it will
equalize and diffuse  itself,  and disappear.  Thus,  that which will  induce
excitement, when used alone and in large measure, will, in  smaller quantities,
increase or diffuse an excitement already started by  another cause; as catnip
tea which, when given strong, to a healthy person, exites a febrile,  that is,
an increased physiological action, will, when given  in weak dilution, aid  an
already excited  action or feA-er to  remove  obstructions and to equalize and
diffuse itself, in bringing up to the standard of full  health, the action of the
parts  debilitated.   Now it  is apparently true, that, in this case, "similia
similibus  curantur," that is, a febrile action is dispersed  partly by  the aid
of an agent (catnip) which, given  in  large doses, would  excite the system
to a moderate febrile action. 
144
HOMEOPATHY  EXAMLNED,
    But the error consists in this, that the fever is not the disease, neither ia
 its subsidence the cure.  Fever is  the accumulated action of the vital force,
 when its equilibrium is opposed by the presence or action of the causes of
 disease, or roused by the remedial  agent, and the disease removed is the dis-
 tention and excitability of the arterial capillaries, and  the collapse and  in-
 capability of  expansion, of the absorbents.  Thus direct homeological (not
 pathic) cures, are made whenever  innocent and sanative remedies, like cat-
 nip,  sage, balm,  pennyroyal, ginger,  &c, are  given; but, when poisons,
 as aconite, belladonna,  opium and  mercury are given,  the cure, if it follow,
 is effected by the reaction of the system against the combined  influence of
 the causes of  the disease, and the drug administered to cure  it;  and this
 cure should  be represented or expressed thus:  Two  enemies, if  their  com-
 bined influence is not  so great as  to overcome the object of their injurious
 attacks, are more likely than either  one alone to provoke that injured opponent
 to a resolute exertion to remove them both, and get rid of their annoyance.

   504 b. The Homeopathic system,  like the Allopathic,  pronounces fever,
 &c, disease,  and legion, and aims at its  destruction.   Also, like the Allo-
 pathic, it uses promiscously and without discrimination both medicines and
 poisons  to effect its objects.   All the  real difference, then, between  these
 rival  systems, consists in the quantity of the doses recommended and pre-
 scribed, (which neither has any definite, established law to regulate), and  the
 manner of  preparing and administring their remedies; their diet,  regimen,
 &c   Hence the mother should be  tender with her infant daughter, who  ex-
 hibits in small measure her defects, and the daughter should not be saucy to
 her mother from whom she has derived  her living and  support.

   504 c. Disease is not,  according to  Hahnemann,  disturbed  vital action
 (§ 11), ft»r that exists  as  a consequence of every physiological motion of
 the body.  But disease is that  condition which deprives the vital  principle
 of the power to restore its equilibrium of  action.  Health is the capability
 of the organs of maintaining an equilibrium of  vital action  (Org., 8 9),  not
 the mere equilibrium itself, which is not constant  in health, and may often
 for a time, exist in disease.
    Cause of disease.—As  the derangements of  vital action  are  not disease
 (§ 11), so the vital principle  cannot be  the direct cause of any disease, how-
 ever its derangements or misdirections  may contribute  to that end, (8 12).
   The true causes of disease are those "morbific agents" which "derange the
 equilibrium"  of vital action.
   Before Homeopathists will  be able to  explain their absurd  principles, that
 a cause of a disease is  the  proper  agent to cure a similar  one,  and that a
 weaker  power, under the same  circumstances, can overcome a  strono- one,
 (rejected by many), they must correct  their error in regard to  the essence
 of disease and its causes, and must  prefer  always the  correct definition of
 health in Org. § 9.  to the false one frequently presented, that it  is the mere
 equilibrium of action,  instead of organic power to act.   Here, as elsewhere,
% it is seen that this "fever disease"  error lies at the bottom,—is the very basis
 of all the other errors,  absurdities, mysteries and mischiefs, of  all the sys-
 tems of practice save the physio-medical which  alone rejects it.

   505.  The power  of  small doses.—Much unjust ridicule is cast, by many,
 on the pretended power of infinitesimal doses of medicine.   But that power 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
145
is often manifested to the most stupid observer.   How great a dose of cam-
phor, ammonia, musk, chloroform,  &c,  does it  require to  produce the
most powerful effects, when inhaled?   Yet one can take, internally,  a con-
siderable quantity  of these agents  in a  concentrated form, without feel-
ing their effects.  Why?   Must  it not be because,  in their  concentrated
forms, all their atoms  can not act at once?   If small doses were sufficiently
diluted to pervade the whole volume of blood in the system, would they not
act as powerfully as they do when inhaled?   Who  does not  know that one
small cayenne pill when  infused  in a quart of water,  will warm the system
or promote perspiration, better than a teaspoonfull in  its concentrated form?
Or that the simple smelling of warm lobelia tea,  will often relax the  system
sufficiently to excite the "reaction"  of emesis?  Who does not know that
chemical actions are more  prompt and violent,  when the substances are re-
duced to fine powder or weak  solutions?   It is true that, being more speedily
spent, their effects are more evanescent; but  this is often no objection to a
nedicine; as, in many cases, a prompt  and powerful action is all  that  is
wanted;  the vital system maintaining the action once  set up.   When a mod-
erate but permanent action is required, it is evident that the  pill or concen-
trated dose,  or, what is better, if it can be done, a frequent repetition of the
diffused dose, is required; but this large or small dose, and the reasons for it,
belong as well to Allopathy  or  any other system, as to Homeopathy.   It
is not the quantity  given but the modus  operandi, that constitutes  Home-
opathy; and that is the same, whatever be the quantity, (Org.,  § 32).

   505 o. Although most Homeopathists contend that "the high potencies"
as they are called, meaning the most numerous dilutions, are generally the
most suitable, yet they admit  that, in some cases  quite large and tangible
doses are required, and they administer accordingly.
   It is not the quantity of  medicine  administered,  but its supposed  modus
operandi that constitutes Homeopathy.
   Still, it is contended that,  whatever, in  any  quantity and  concentrated
form, will produce, in a well man, those deranged vital actions (Org., § 11),
which they  call disease, will, in a sick one, when administered in very small
quantities and properly  diluted and  diffused, affect a cure.   They contend
that nearly all simple agents possess at least two properties, one pathogenetic
(disease making) and the other curative.   The over  dose being more than
is wanted produces more excitement than is wanted, Avhich  overcomes and
prostrates'—and is  therefore injurious: the  proper  quantity,  producing just
the  degree  of excitement  wanted, proves beneficial  and does not exhaust.
This is true of all good things; food,  caloric, electricity, exercise, air, water,
medicines (not poisons) of  every kind.   But this does not prove that any of
these agents possess two  qualities.  The character of  all the action being the
same (Oro-  8 11) the nature of the cause that produces it, must be the same.
The  disease that follows  the action  of  good agents must be ascribed  to
other causes, than the character of those agents.

   506  Homeopathists themselves do not seem  to understand this subject,
anv better than their opponents  do, or we should  not see them engaged  in
eivinff for the same  purposes, substances of diametrically opposite qualities
and actions- and hear them declare that the quietus that follow their admin-
istration, is' produced by  the action of these agents, according to the prin-
ciple "similia similibus curantur." 
146                    HOMEOPATHY EXAMINED,
   There may be a cure of similar symptoms,  but it is not effected by the
action of  the  dissimilar agents as opium and digitalis, and ginger  and
cayenne.   It is effected by the vital poAver in opposition to the one class of
agents and in harmony Avith the other.

   507.  The fact is, in the case of the opium nature feels the action of some
cause tending to disturb her equilibrium, and to deprive her of the power to
restore it.  In making a proper resistance to this foreign invasion, she mani-
fests  certain signs or symptoms.  Now, if we give her a medicine which,
when she is in health, induces her to make like efforts and exhibit like symp-
toms, it may aid her in accomplishing her object, and a very small  portion
of such medicine being often sufficient, is better than a large one; (for it is
evident that more of even a good excitement  than is necessary,  tending to
exhaust the vital force, is objectionable.)   But  poisons of any description,
whose legitimate action is in opposition to life, are objectionable, even in the
smallest dose—the atomic pill, if one could be made; because, in this case,
the system must act against two enemies instead of one, and without a friend
to aid her.  She must fight the cause of the disease and the remedy, instead
of the former with the aid of the latter.   This she often does successfully,
and  thus Allopathists, Homeopathists, and all other "fever disease" advo-
cates, are deceived into the false notion that poisons are "good medicines in
skillful  hands;" and because  medicines may be  improperly used, as to
character, quantity, time, and circumstances, they become  "poisons when
unskillfully applied."

   508.  From this it  appears that all  supposed simple medicinal substances
act either pathogenetically or curatively; but that none act in both ways; the
pathogenetic  effects  that  follow  the  use of  physio-medical agents, being
properly attributable to the misuse or abuse of the remedies, not to the nature
or properties of the remedies themselves.   The  pathogenetic effects  of poi-
sons, are the  results of their direct actions in opposition to the indications of
the vital symptoms in the given case: but the curative  effects are produced
by the vital force  and against the "remedy."   Thus,  when  a solution  of
tannin is used to stop  hemorrhage, or warm lobelia tea to remove  obstruc-
tions to the natural secretions, the action is  in direct harmony Avith the vital
efforts, the disease  being cured and no injury resulting.
   But reverse these same remedies in the two cases, and the result would be
bad, in  both, from the  abuse,  not the nature  of the remedies.   On  the
other hand, suppose we attempt to stop the hemorrhage with acetate of lead,
and to promote the secretions Avith mercury.  The vital force may in warring
against the poisonous agents, effect the cure; but the  direct tendency of the
agents is to deprive the tissues of the  power to perform their  physiological
offices; and they do it, so  far as they do any thing.   For these effects,&thus
cured, are very apt to return with greater violence, and to be less controllable
than before.
   To their inability to appreciate the action of the vital force in both cases,
is therefore justly attributable the  inability of  all physopathical,  or fever
disease doctors,  of every name, to distinguish  between medicines and poi-
sons; also their disposition to pronounce food poisonous Avhen not demanded
by nature in the case;  and lastly to say that nothing  is poisonous except by
quantity and injudicious use, while the venom  of the rattlesnake  may be
made a good medicine by  judicious use.   Here is the  "error of  errors" 
CRLTCISED AND CORRECTED.
147
  the basis of all  their  "ignorance of disease, and of  a suitable remedy."
  Homeopathists differ from others only in the amount of the  power they use
  to "multiply diseases and increase their mortality," and their better diet and
  regimen.

     509 a. I have iioav so far cut loose the Homeopathist from his blind and
  slavish  submission  to  his apparent facts, that  he puts to me a "stumping
  question."   " You  admit, says he,  that a large dose of lobelia will produce
  vomiting and a very small one Avill  stop it.   Now explain this fact  on any
  other principle than the Homeopathic action of lobelia."
     I will.  In the first  place, lobelia never produces vomiting at all, in any
  dose, large or small.  It is a pure relaxant, and does  nothing else to the vital
  tissue but relax it.  When there is  given a dose  large enough to produce
  a degree of relaxation beyond what is for the time pleasant to the nerves of
  the stomach, <fec, they call the aid of the muscles concerned in vomiting to
  react against that relaxation, and this is often done so  promptly and effectu-
  ally as to  eject the  other contents of the stomach, Avhen the relaxing  influ-
  ence of lobelia  is  felt  and opposed, again and  again, till  its power  is no
  greater than the system demands.   At this point, the relaxing  influence of
  lobelia is  universally diffused  through  the  system, and  perspiration  takes
  place, and so do all other secretions flow; excretions are effected, dryness of
  the nose, mouth, lungs, eyes, ears, and surface  vanishes,—dysuria, biliary
  obstructions, constipation,  asthma,  cramp, rheumatism, in  short  irritation,
  spasm, fever and inflammation, in every part of the body, and all derangement
  of the vital action vanish.

     509 b. With a dose of lobelia, I  have cured at the same time, in many a
  case,  dysuria, dysmenorrhea,  strangury and hysteria.  Is lobelia a  Homeo-
  pathic specific for all these varied, opposite and  specific  conditions? ("dis-
  eases"?) or are all  these "diseases" a unit? or did it, by the simple process
  of relaxation, relieve the vital force from bondage, and  enable it to cure them
  all?   I beg pardon, we  must "not reason as on other subjects," but practice
  according to "provings" Avith some of those  contradictory agents whose use
  has been known to  be followed by a cure.
     "But," says the  objector, "it stops vomiting when given in an  infinitesi-
  mal dose,—how do  you explain that?"   "Very scientifically.   In the cases
  in which lobelia,  in minute doses, stops vomiting, the cause  of that vomiting
  is not always an offensive agent in the stomach, but is  frequently a mere ir-
  ritated condition, which a  proper  quantity  of lobelia's relaxing influence
  will allay.  That amount is not always the highest nor the lowest "potency,"
  the 1st, the  10th nor the 30th dilution.  It is just  enough to meet the de-
  mands of the present case.  Sometimes with a single snuff  of the vapor of
  weak, warm lobelia tea, I have relieved the spasm in cough or dry asthma;
  with three  drops of such tea I have stopped vomiting and relieved cramps
  and spasms, in cholera, and, with a table spoonfull of the  powder in  water
  I have arrested  the same  symptoms in parturition.  In all  these  cases it
  acted homeologically, or in harmony with  life, for even the vomiting was a
  physiological action deranged, Avhich the lobelia  equalized.   In some cases,
  small doses are wanted, because there is little resistance to be overcome.  In
  other cases, as the parturition, and some severe ones of cramp, cerebral inflam-
  mation,  <fec., large doses will be needed to overcome the extra tension, and re-
*  duce the tissues  to the natural standard.  In parturition, the relaxing power 
148
HOMEOPATHY EXAMINED,
is all spent in dilating the cervix uteri to the required  degree, while the re-
action is spent upon the fundus, and other tissues which, being for the time,
more impressible than the stomach, spend it in their efforts to expel the fetus.

  509 c.  Action of Medicines.  The  idea that medicines act in one manner
for  Homeopathists,  and in  another for Allopathists,  is too  silly to be enter-
tained a moment.  They might be more  properly applied by the one than the
other.  But it is not a fact  that they are.  There is scarcely a form of disease
in Avhich both clases of doctors do not use all sorts of drugs, good and bad;
and generally the same articles to a great extent.  Look at the Homeopathic
Repertories, and see where  there is an acute symptom that  does not demand
aconite, belladonna,  nux vomica, &c,  and  see these beside capsicum,  asa-
rum, arsenic, antimony, alum,  opium,  with a hundred more articles  equally
dissimilar in character, each of which Hahnemann justly says (§32) acts in
a specific manner, and always in the same manner as recommended by Okie,
for  "itching in  general!"
  But  "the stubborn fact stares us in the face, that  these have  been known
to cure it."  Well let us look at this supposed fact.   Ghosts will not hurt us.
Suppose that cures do follow the use of cayenne and  opium,  alum, nux vom-
ica, mercury and belladonna, asarum and  arsenic,  are they the legitimate
results of the specific action of these dissimilar agents?   Did any one ever see
alum relax a tissue and  belladonna astringe it ?   Will capsicum, just as well
as opium, destroy the power to feel itching? Do nux vomica and mercury
act  on the same principle?  Will asarum and arsenic cure the ague on the same
principle?  Ought not the  most thoughtless observer to perceive that, when
cures follow the use of such heterogeneous agents, it is because they all excite
the  system to the performance of its own specific actions, Avhich cure in  har-
mony Avith some agents and in  opposition to others?  and therefore to select
the  good, or those whose actions "gradually diminish till they terminate in
health," and reject those whose actions begin, like sedatives,  or end like mer-
cury, by destroying health, in  opposition to the vital efforts to defend the
organism against their specific action?   EAren  those  non-discriminating dis-
criminators, called Eclectics, have perceived that the "secondary effect" (real,
specific, destructive), of .mercury, are worse than those (sedative) of opium,
provided that  the latter are not so great as to kill at once.   But they have
stupidly  contended,  Avith the Homeopathists,  that, in small doses, opium
changes its specific, pathogenetic and destructive nature to a curative.   And
so of many other deadly poisons.

  509 d. In cases of simple irritated stomach, a large dose  of cayenne, or of
bayberry, or of any other direct  stimulant or astringent, will excite vomit-
ing.  Why is  it that even "the  highest  potency of the  same agents will
rather  increase than  allay  it?"   This  is a fad that has been  "proved "a
thousand times by myself alone, and I  knoAv not how many times by others.
Why will  sulphate  of copper or zinc,  though of the highest  potency, not
allay the  irritation,  when  we know that in large  doses it Avill  excite  it?
Does the Homeopathic law fail here? If so, it is not true, for laws always act in
the same manner.   Cohesive attraction was never knoAvn to split a rock, nor
caloric to condense  charcoal into a diamond, gravitation to  send a bullet up-
ward, nor magnetism to arrange a balanced  needle parallel with the equator.
Why should the life power produce death, or poisons cure disease?   Are these ,
questions too   "theoretical" for Homeopathic philosophy?  If  so, / will 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
149
answer them.   It is the peculiar specific property of cayenne to stimulate, that
is, to excite action, and of astringents to contract;  of course neither of them
will produce that relaxation Avhich is necessary to relieve an irritated stomach,
no matter how small the dose.   But their  use is  improper in this case, be-
cause  their  specific  action is not wanted.   A Homeopathist would call their
action pathogenetic.  If the stomach Avere relaxed and inactive, they would
be demanded, and would prove curative.   Would their character or action
be changed by these circumstances?

   509 e. The copper and zinc  (alias  blue stone and Avhite vitriol) excite
A'omiting in this case, and any other where there is impressibility to recognize
them and power to react against them, and this they do in small doses as well
as in  large.   "But,"  says my Homeopathic friend, "it may have been
"proven" that the highest potency of these agents has allayed irritation and
vomiting."   To please you I will admit this as a fact, though I believe it to
be an error, notwithstanding you or I may have seen the  appearance of it a
thousand times.  I know it to be an error, because these agents, in atoms as
Avell as masses, possess an astringent power, and no relaxing power, which  is
indispensable to the relief of the irritation; the latter being caused by contrac-
tion of the tissue.  Whence,  then, comes the relief?  Let us see.   You
dilute  your  astringent with  water, so that the stomach cannot appreciate its
specific action.   You administer this water in small doses frequently repeated,
till it absorbs the irritating caloric generated by the excitement  of the stomach,
when it relaxes the tissue a hundred times as much as your infinitessimal dose
of the astringent would  contract it.  The  irritation  is allayed by the water,
not  the  zinc or copper, Avhich never, in any case  or quantity, tend to allay
irritation.   And here  is explained  the real fact  as you  understand  it
the manifest absurdity, that "the higher the potency (the less of an agent)
the better."  But you say, "then the cayenne and astringents are improper."
TheyT are improperly applied, and Ave never use them in such cases.
  Again you say, "If they would do harm  in such cases, they are as poison
as zinc or copper."   I answer, we "prove" that they kill no  man, nor make
any  well man sick,  while our Allopathic friends  have often proved, and so
would you if ycu had used enough of them, that the very nature of the poisons
is to do both.   You ask  how I knoAv that tannin  contracts the  stomach?  I
answer, it contracts  the  mucous  membrane of my mouth, which is made of
the same material.

  509/.  You ask how I know that tannin is not poison?  Because I have
both chewed it much, (in birch-bark, choke-cherries, &c.,) and seen others
do it, and never knew it to produce a pathological condition.
  Again you ask, "Why is Homeopathy so much more successful in curing
disease than Allopathy?"  I answer, first, because it never cures at all with
poisons, because, to  make a disease, whether similar or dissimilar, is  not to
cure one.  But more patients recover under the former treatment than under
the latter, because it does less  mischief with  poisons, and more good Avith
medicines,  diet, regimen, &c.   It not  only applies the rod  very sparingly,
but,  by its multiplied and constant kindnesses and encouragements,  enables
them triumphantly to bear it.
  Again you ask, "Why, then, is not Homeopathy worthy of all acceptation?''
I answer," because  it retains  fundamental errors in principle,  perpetrates in-
finitesimal   mischiefs in practice, and neglects to apply with a liberal hand 
150
HOMEOPATHY EXAMINED,
the means in its power to do good.  Homeopathy is a delicate and ignorant
but amiable little  girl, but I hope that, with the instructions here given her,
she will cast off her errors, lay aside her wrong  doings, grasp with a firmer
faith her truths, and practice with a more vigorous hand her right ways, till
she shall become so intelligent and  vigorous as to be a worthy companion
and help-meet  to her more  motive physio-medical  brother, to which end I
shall watch her course carefully, and claim a large  share in the  labor and
the honor of her training.

   510.  Truth  and facts admit of rational explanation; whatever of Home-
opathy or any other pathy will not admit of them, can not be true nor real.
   It will be said that, if I use lobelia homeopathically, I am a Homeopathist.
I ansAver, I will as cheerfully receive a truth from Homeopathists as from any
other  source.   But I use  it homeologically to aid nature  in  curing the
present disease, not homeopathically nor  allopathically to produce  a disease
similar to the present, nor another disease of any kind.  And I have shown
that when the Homeopathists use  it in the same cases and the same manner,
he cures, as he says the Allopathists do diarrhea by physic, and  sudoresis
by sudorifics.   The only difference between us all is,  that, "not reasoning on
medicine as on  other subjects," (Harrison, Hanhemann, Hering,  <fec.,) they
know not Avhat they do, but "go it blindly" with all sorts of agents, sometimes
killing,  sometimes curing; they that  use the largest  doses doing the greatest
execution, while I, reasoning on medicine as I do on other subjects, have learned
the character of remedies and the wants of the system, knoAV what I should
do; therefore always rejecting what  is improper, and using what is  good,
adapting the agent and the dose,  and the manner of application to the case
before  me, direct all my "exertions" to the heads of the disease  to be re-
moved,  and cure all cases that are capable of cure.

   511.  Artificial and Natural Disease.  We are  frequently told, by Home-
opathists, that the disease produced by the  medicine is slight and transient,
while  "the natural  disease" is  more severe and persistent.  They seem to
forget, at this moment, what  they often tell us elsewhere, that "the natural
disease" is often caused by the  very medicines which they prescribe to cure
it.  Why should it be more  severe and persistent, when  taken by accident
or given by Allopathists to cure disease, than when given by Homeopathists
to cure it?   Why should one be called artificial and  the other natural?

   512.  They speak often of the  "aggravations of  disease," as being pro-
duced by its causes, or by their medicines; and  tell us that the  latter will
soon subside if we cease to administer, while the former  are  to be dreaded
and speedily removed.   Why  should  mercurialism, or  narcotism, be any
more dreaded when produced by Allopathists, than  when  produced bv Ho-
meopathists?  It will not do to say that the former are more difficult" to be
removed than the latter; for, if so, they could not be cured or supplanted by
the latter,  and hence, the very foundation stone of Homeopathy would be
crumbled to the dust—that  a mild medicinal action  can, subdue a seArere one
not intentionally excited!

   513.  The Goliahs of all these systems may fight as they will against these
"theories," and him who has the "daring impudence"  to boldly set them
forth; but truth is stronger than  they all, and he who seeks a shelter  under
her expanded,  mighty wings, is best  of all  protected. 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
151
   514. What, then, is the true lesson to be learned from  all these  facts?
Evidently that, to cure  disease, we should use  the  remedies whose specific
qualities harmonize with  the  demands of nature in every given case,  and
use them in the quantities  and  all the different ways which she demands.
   Homeopathy has no more reason for giving poisons than has Allopathy or
Physio-medicalism.

   515. The  sum of the whole matter is this:  In  all cases of disease,  Na-
ture makes  the proper efforts to relieve herself; consequently, whatever  -will
aid her in these efforts, will be likely to cure the disease.   Even whatever
will maliciously provoke her to them, may be overruled to the same end;  and
hence, the similar results that  folloAV the  use  of different drugs, of hygienic
or pathogenetic agencies, led Hahnemann, as  they ever have the rest of the
Allopathic school,  into  the error of supposing that the agents themselves
were similar.   And from this mistake proceeded the Allopathic doctrine  that
medicines are good or bad according to the quantity or use;  and the equally
erroneous Homeopathic dogma, similia similibus curantur.
   It is only by knowing that substances are essentially different in their na-
ture or constitution, that we know, a priori, before  we  try them, that they
will produce different effects on the body;  and, on the other hand, we know,
by their  different effects on the body, before  we test them  chemically,  that
they are different substances.   In very many cases, as what are called isomeric
bodies, or compounds, as the oil of turpentine, of bergamot,  of lemons, &c;
the physiological test is the only one by which we can distinguish any  dif-
ference.   Substances  very different, as ginger  and alcohol,  cayenne  and
opium, may  excite the  system to action; but it is only those  whose action
passes off physiologically, and leaves no ill effect behind, that are innocent.

   The Good of Homeopathy.   No system of  unmingled error and mischief,
can ever be palmed upon a general public credulity and favor.  Man never
was so perfectly depraved  that  he could be made to believe a palpable lie, or
love unmitigated evil.   Whatever would gain our faith and favor must present
prominently, something, at  least apparently, true and good.  And such, to some
extent, has every popular system of  medicine  presented.  The Homeopathic
system presents a large share of those excellencies that commend it deservedly
to public favor, the most of which I proceed to cite.
   First.  Negatively.   Though its errors in principle are of  the same nature
as those of Allopathy (56), the practice  built upon  them is comparatively
harmless.  Poison, indeed, it  uses, and on the Allopathic  principle, (for a
similar disease (omoion pathos) is another disease  (alios pathos); but, in
quantities so small  that the system scarcely acknowledges their presence, or
even recognizes it, while its directions for diet  and regimen, air, exercise,
<fec, are excellent, and worthy to be adopted,  almost wholly, by practitioners
and patients  of every faith.
   Second.  It is a practice  easily prescribed, and  pleasant to be  taken,  and
its operation  is nearly imperceptible.   Of course it  meets  little opposition
from the patient or the public.
   Third. Although its principle, "similia similibus  curantur,"  is false,  (for
the medicines are not similar, neither are  the vital symptoms—fever, &c,—
the disease  to be  cured),  yet  the cure is often effected on truly scientific
principles which the doctor does not understand:  for it matters not whether
he knows the nature of  the disease  or the character and adaptation  of  his 
152
HOMEOPATHY EXAMINED, ETC.
 remedies, provided  he happens to use in the proper manner  the  remedies
 required.
   Fourth.  By  doing little or nothing to disturb nature, it  gives her  an
 opportunity to  do all she can for herself.
   Fifth. By inducing the patient to believe that the medicines  are powerful,
 and the most  useful  when followed by no  other perceptible  effect  than a
 gradual  diminution of the  unpleasant symptoms,  it converts every feeling of
 real relief into an encouragement  to expect more, the  beneficial  action of
 which is almost sure to secure them.
   Sixth. It generally avoids the error of over-dosing, which is too common
 among all other classes of physicians, and of  entailing much mischief on so-
 ciety by the action, whether primary or secondary, of  its poisonous  drugs.
   Seventh. When it shall  cast off  its "feArer disease" doctrine, and  conse-
 quently  all its  errrors of similia  similibus curantur, and all  its poisonous
 drugs, it may  then,  and  not before, claim the  true standard of medical
 science and practice.

   Hahnemann.   From all that I have read of the writings of Hahnemann, I
 am disposed to  rank him among the most honest and conscientious of Medi-
 cal Reformers.   I have shown that, contrary to the accusation  of his ardent
admirer,  Dudgeon, he  did  not allow even his strong  love of consistency to
prevent him  from presenting facts apparently inconsistent;  nor to compel
him to force all forms of disease into either of his classes of dynamic or of
psoric origin.   His folloAvers will do better to search out some means of  ex-
plaining  his well presented  facts, than  to accuse him of inconsistency, or dis-
honesty in presenting  them.   Though his  theory and his practice will  be
greatly modified, yet so much of both will be found worthy of  preservation,
that his labors will not very soon   be forgotten.  He  was a real  benefactor
of his species.  Long may  he live in their grateful remembrance. 
THE  CHRONO-THEMAL  SYSTEM  OF   MEDICINE.
   This medical system was devised by Dr.  Samuel Dickson, of London.
 It is published in a work entitled "Fallacies of the Faculty and Principles
 of the  Chrono-Thermal System of Medicine," 13th edition, New York, 1850.
 Introduction and notes by Dr. Wm.  Turner.
   From this work I derive the  following :

   516. "Fifteen  years ago  it was  my fate—I can scarce call it my  for-
 tune—to make two most important discoveries in medicine, viz:  the perio-
 dicity  of movement of every organ and  atom of all living bodies, a, and the
 intermittency and unity of all diseases,  b, however named and by whatever
 produced.   To these two add a third, the unity of action of cause and cure,
 c, both of which involve change of temperature," d.  Pref. p. 5.
   a. The heart moves periodically; so the  chest in respiration, the stomach
 in digestion; the senses waking and  sleeping, and the voluntary muscles in
 their action,  &c.   Doubtless, too, the most of "the atoms of living bodies"
 move  periodically: but the periods of some of these  movements are as long
 as life  itself—witness those that retain the stains of the letters and figures on
 the arms of sailors, Indians,  &c  So do those that retain constitutional  pre-
 dispositions.
   b. Here we have the  old error of  disease consisting in an act,  instead of
 a condition, and  that act, one  of the nerves  and blood vessels  moved by
 the vital force, of course  it is  one;  and,  as  the  organs must have repose
 sometimes, it must be "intermittent,"  though  that of the circulation  is a
 perpetual succession of action and reaction.   Is this idea new?
   c. This doctrine was adA'anced  by Hahnemann, (Org., § 12).   It is  also
 Thomson's fever unity doctrine, under  the name  of friend, instead of  dis-
 ease.   Not new!
  d. All the world has  always  known that every motion disturbs the equi-
 librium of caloric.  There is, therefore,  above,  no new discovery, but there
 are three old errors, a, b and c.   For Dr. D. himself quotes, from Hippoc-
 rates, the doctrine of the unity  and periodicity of  disease (ix. 25), and adds
 that posterity will award this  discovery to  himself!  Drs. BroAvn, Rush,
 Alibert, and hosts  of others, taught the  unity of disease in the same sense as
 did Hippocrates and Dickson.  Dr. Turner should know better than to  call
 it "Dr. Dickson's new doctrine," p.  xvi.

  517.  "2. Such is the ground work of the Chrono-Thermal System, so called
from Chronos, time or  period;  and  Therma,  temperature or heat.   This  I
         (153) 
154
CHRONO -TIIERMALISM,
gave to the public in 1836.  Then, for the first time,  I  announced the ap-
palling fact that up to that hour the  Professors of the  healing art had been,
to a man, in all  but utter darkness on the subject they  pretended to teach,"
p. vi. (7, 22, 26).
   In this discovery  and announcement,  Dr.  Dixon was centuries behind
his Allopathic brethren, see the first fifty pages of this Avork, where Dr. D.
is completely outstripped by "startling revelations" and professional "thun-
der-bolts."

   518.  "3. The lancet and the leech must hereafter give way to bark and
tonics, even in inflammation of the chest," p.  vii.
   If his doctrine that inflammation is disease,  were true, this using bark and
tonics would be  a murderous practice, and the lancet would be the best rem-
edy ever discovered.

   519.  "4. Forms of disease change, types are immutable,"  p. vii.
   "From the beginning of time there never Avas a continual disease—a con-
tinual tempest of the  human body," p. viii.
   Predicated on the doctrine that irritation,  fever and inflammation, are dis-
ease, this would  be true; but, as that doctrine has been proved false,  the truth
is just the  reverse.   There never was a disease begun, that did not continue,
without intermission, till cured, or relieved by death.   The reactions of the
system against obstructions, are  periodical, because, as  Prof.  Jones has dis-
covered (385), they are of vital origin, and must have rest; but disease is a
mechanical or a  chemical condition that needs no rest, and the system has
none but by its removal!   The pain and soreness of a boil may intermit, but
do  the  swelling and lesion cease till the boil  is cured?  Do the lungs in
phthisis become  sound and corroded periodically during the progress of the
disease?  Does white SAvelling cease when the inflammation and pain cease?

   520.  "5. Dr.   Dickson says:  "The modus or type, of Hippocrates, is
fever and ague, or intermittent fever," p. 24.
   Dr. Turner says: "The following are the conclusions to which Dr. Dick-
son arrives on the subject of health and disease."
   "1st. The phenomena of perfect health consist in a regular series of alter-
nate motions or events, each embracing a special period of time," Pref.  p. ix.
   The phenomena, signs, or'evidences of health, are not health itself; and,
if they were, they embrace no special period of time.   The mental manifest-
ations, the  secretions and  excretions, though periodical,  are not, even in
perfect health, limited to special minutes or hours.  Nothing new here.

   521.  "2. Disease, under all its modifications, is,  in the first place, a sim-
ple exaggeration  or diminution of the amount of the same motions or events,
and, being universally alternative with  a period  of comparative health, strictly
resolves itself into fever—remittent or intermittent, chronic or acute—every kind
of structural disorganization, from tooth decay to pulmonary consumption,
and that decomposition of the knee joint, familiarly known as white swelling,
being merely developments in its course: tooth-consumption, lung-consump-
tion, knee-consumption."
   This is the some old fever-disease doctrine with which we have become so
familiar; also the sthenic and asthenic doctrine of Brown and Rush, and the
unity and type of Hippocrates.   Nothing new here. 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
155
   522. "3. The tendency to disorganization, usually denominated acute or
 inflammatory, differs from the chronic or scrofulous, in the mere amount of
 motion or temperature, the former  being more remarkably characterized by
 excess of both, consequently exhibits a more rapid progress to decomposition
 or cure; Avhile the  latter approaches its respective terminations [decomposi-
 tion or  cure~\ by more subdued,  and  therefore  slower  and  less obvious
 terminations of  the  same action and temperature.   In what does consump-
 tion of a toothache  differ from consumption of the lungs? except in the
 differences of  the tissue involved,  and the degree of danger to life arising
 out of the nature of  the respective  offices of each,"  p. ix, x.
   Dr. D. here puts  together Professors Paine and Watson's two notions (41
 and 45; 40 and  44), and makes inflammation both disease  and a healing ac-
 tion—"tending  to  disorganization or cure."  Yet he calls it a unit.   Hoav
 can a unit of power  tend both to life and death?  Nothing new or reforma-
 tory here.

   523. "The  remedies used, Dr. Dickson  terms Chrono-Thermal, from the
 relations which they bear to time and temperature."
   A most strange idea!  Medicines are  not living animals that their  power
 should  become weary, and should vascilate witli certain periods of time!
 Nor can temperature do more  than  prepare the system and  them, for a more
 perfect exhibition of the poAver they always inherently possess.
   "They are  all treated of in the  various works on materia medica.   The
 only agents this  system rejects, are  the leech, the  bleeding lancet and the cup-
 ping instrument."
   Then  it differs from "American Eclecticism," only in  rejecting leeches
 and cups, and retaining antimony, arsenic and mercury,  and Dr. Dickson
 must be fraternized  by them,  and not called to answer for his opinion or his
 presumption, (398).

   524.  "Other  distinguished features of the Chrono-Thermal System, are,
 first, a  demonstration  of the fallacious character of  the ideas entertained by
 the profession in reference to  inflammation and conjestion, those  fruitful
 sources of error.  2d, That calomel is no longer in the first rank.  3d, That
 all medicines are given generally in minute doses; and 4th, That all  medi-
 cines act primarily  on the  brain, and thence, electrically or magnetically,
 through the system," xi.
   Dr. Dickson is not  the only man who has shown many "fallacies of the
 faculty" respecting fever and  inflammation, and then built his  whole system
 of reform on these same fallacies.   What is the difference betAveen the con-
 clusions of  Professors Watson  and  Paine, (40,  41, 44, 45), and Dr.  D.'s
 inflammation terminating in  decomposition or  cure (5)?   Thousands of
 Allopathists have driven mercury  and the lancet,  not only from the  first
 place, but almost out of any place  in their therapeutics; and,  lastly, Dr. D.
 does not equal Hahnemann in minute  dose reform,  nor  James Graham in
 electric therapeutics.

  525.  "Disease being thus simplified, it is amenable to a  principle of treat-
 ment equally simple.    Partaking, through all its modifications, of the nature
 of ague, it will be met by a practice in accordance Avith the proper principle
of treatment of  that distemper.  To apply warmth  or administer cordials,
in the cold stao-e; in  the hot, to reduce the amount  of temperature by cold 
156
CIIROKO -TIIERMALISM,
affusion and fresh air; or, for the same purpose, to exhibit, according to cir-
cumstances, an emetic,  a purgative, or both in combination.   With quinine,
arsenic opium, <fcc, the interval of comparative health,  the period of medi-
um  temperature,  may  be prolonged to  an indefinite  period; and, in that
manner,  health may be restored in all diseases, whether, from some  spinal
local development, the disease be denominated mania, epilepsy,  croup, cyn-
anche, the  gout,  or influenza.   In the early stages  of  disease, to arrest the
fever is,  in most instances, sufficient for  the reduction of every kind of local
development," xi.

   526.  " Disease is neither a  devil,  nor  an acrimony  nor a  crudity  to be
expelled, nor any fanciful goblin to be chemically neutralized; but  an  error
of action [irritation, fever, inflammation], of which inflammation is  not so
commonly a cause as a coincident part,"  p. 31.   "The difference between,
disease and health, consists in mere A-ariation of the sum or amount of partic-
ular corporeal motions;  and in difference  in the effect of external agency on
the matter and functions of the  body."    "The cause of all diseases, varied
in name, place, and degree, one  only in their real nature, is either a depriva-
tion or  a Avrong  adaptation  of  the  identical forces which continue life in
health."   This is Hahnemann's  doctrine,  (Org., § 6 to  12).
   " The unity or identity of all morbid action" (is fever); and the unity and
identity of  the  source of poAver, of the various agencies by which diseases
bf every  kind may be caused or  cured"  (is electricity).  Hippocrates  said:
"The type of all disease is one and identical," p.  24;  "and  from this, you
may learn the absurdity of nosological distinctions," p.  23 (40 to 45).

   527. Here, as in Allopathy, the disease is the chill and the fever, and opi-
um and quinine are the remedies.  No  improvement  in  the principle and
very little in  the practice.  As to simplicity, it does not compare at all with
Allopathy! which may be expressed in a  very few words,  viz:  "Irritation,
fever, and inflammation are diseases, and opium, the lancet, and mercury are
the remedies, aided by blisters, cups, setons, and poisons in general."
   These  remedies  are not, like Dr. D.'s, variable in their character and liable
to fail.   They  have no  "dual action."   They are  "adapted  to the cure of
'those diseases.' "  and will never fail if the  practitioner  only  gives  enough
of them !   All  the failures are caused by stopping  the  practice  before the
diseases are  subdued!   Who  can ask for a system more simple, or  more
easily learned or practiced than the Allopathic ?

   528. Remedies.  "Peruvian bark, quinine, in fact its essence, arsenic and
opium,, hydrocyanic acid,  iron,  silver, copper, strychnia, musk,  assafcetida,
valerian,  colchicum, zinc, bismuth, turpentine, and there are doubtless others
in nature, Avhich time and accident  may yet discover."   " These agents are
generally most effective  when taken during the intermission," 36, 114.
   "The principle upon which these  substances can cure or cause disease, is
one and the same, viz:  their power of electrically altering the motive  state
and thermal conditions of certain parts of the body\"  Quinine is "generally
the most efficient of all remedies."

   529. " There is no substance in nature that may not be turned to  good
account by the wise and judicious physician," 28.  "Poison signifies any
thing in nature  that,  in a comparatively  small  quantity,  can  shorten or 
CRITICISED AND  CORRECTED.
157
 otherwise prove injurious to life.  It is a term of relation, depending entirely
 on degree, volume, or scale.  What is there in nature that, tried by this test,
 may not become a poison?  Poison and physic are identical, for any earthly
 agent may become both, by turns, according as it is used or abused.  Every-
 thing depends on the scale  or degree in which  you  apply a given substance
 to the body, whether it be a remedy or a poison," 181.
   This is the Allopathic, the Homeopathic and the Eclectic doctrine.   See
 index and references.

   530. Action of Remedies.  Dr. Dickson attributes all  the action of exter-
 nal  agents on the body, to their power to excite  electrical changes in that
 body.   "The action of these medicinal substances, is purely electrical," p.
 184.  " The primitive agency of the purely medicinal substances, is one and
 the  same, namely, the power of electrically moving some of the various parts
 or atoms of the body, inwards or outwards, according to the previous state of
 the  vital electricity of the brain of the different individuals to whom  they may
 be administered.   For, through the medium of the brain and nerves, do all
 such substances  primarily  act.   The  ultimate and apparently unlike results
 of the action of the different substances, depend entirely  on the apparent dis-
 similarity of the functions of the organs they respectively influence," p. 184.
   "If electricity can produce,  take away and reverse the polarity of the needle,
 so also can it give, take away and reverse every one of the particular func-
 tions and motions of  the various parts of the living body, to which it may,
 under particular  circumstances,  be applied," 184.

   531.  As each  special agent either  increases or diminishes electric force,
 and as the derangements (that is,  increase or diminution from  the healthy
 quantum), of this force constitute disease, (35),  Dr. D. teaches that every
 agent may produce or cure disease, according as it is adapted to the particu-
 lar state present, (which he ascertains by cautious trials of small quantities
 of each article till he  finds the one adapted, p. 209).  Thus he says, "Elec-
 tricitv is the source of power by which opium and arsenic kill and cure, and
 by precisely the same power mercury salivates, antimony vomits, and rhubarb
 purges, and may all produce the reverse effects," 184.

  532.  How strangely a smart  man will allow himself  to be  led  into  the
 grossest blunders when striving to bolster up a favorite hobby!  He asserts
 that there are  no specific remedies, but admits the fact that "opium and
 strychnia manifest a choice  of parts—the elective power of one substance  be-
 ino- shown by its  influence on  the nerves of  sense,  and that of another by its
 effect on the muscular apparatus," 185.

  533.  But this raised a difficulty of  accounting  for the fact that "opium
 sometimes vomits and sometimes allays vomiting—sometimes produces sleep
and  sometimes prevents it," (186).  This would require the different  parts
of the nervous system to be in different states (positive and negative) at the
the  same time, (which every school  boy knows is impossible)! and hence he
adds : "How cautious you ought to be  in every new case of disease for which
you  may be consulted; and  how necessary it is to exercise all your powers of
circumspection in practice !   When you prescribe  medicines of any kind,
you  ought to feel your way (No. 22) with the smallest doses from which you
might, from  your experience, expect an  appreciable effect,  whether for good or 
158
CHRONO-THERMALISM,
evil; for, remember,  not only do all medicines occasionally manifest a differ-
ent elective affinity from that which they usually exercise, but even Avhen they
act in their more ordinary course, they have still the double power of  attrac-
tion and repulsion—of aggravating or alleviating the symptoms for which you
prescribe.  Indeed,  by this duality of movement—attraction and  repulsion,
and no other—we are compelled to ascribe  every change which the body
assumes, Avhether in  health or disease," 186.

   534. This assumes that  every substance in nature  (181)  is electrically
either positive  or  negative, or both!  to  the  human body, and positive  to
some  parts and negative to  others, (p.  191), when it is well known that,
whatever be the quantum  of electricity in  the  body  at any  one  time, it is
ahvays equal in all parts.
   But suppose the doctrine were true, (and it is so  nearly true that we wish it
were quite), why so necessary to be always cautious in  selecting the remedy?
Could it not be ascertained which articles are ahvays positive or always nega-
tive, and when  the  body requires  one  and  when the other; and thus we
might adapt, scientifically, the  one to  the  other, and not always practice
empyricism, as in cases 48, 49, 52, 53, 61, 109, 186?

   535. Dr. Dickson  counts disease a derangement of the electrical conditions
of the brain, and through it of the organs, and assumes that all medicines are
either positive or negative to those conditions,(196), and therefore produce
their  curative or pathogenetic effect by their  proper or improper application
in each case.
   He contends that these elective conditions are continually changing, pro-
ducing the phenomenona called intermittency or periodicity, and that, there-
fore, the  specific remedy for one state, should be substituted  by others,  as
the progress  of the electric  changes demands.   That the present  state is
known only by trial, (p. 209);  and, therefore,  in eATery case, begin cautiously
with the least appreciably effective dose,  and change  as  soon  as it does not
produce the desired result,  p.  186.

   536. Thus le gives to every medicinal substance what he calls a duplexity
of action, sometimes one Avay,  sometimes the other,  and  sometimes both
Avays.  "Iodine  cuts  both Avays."  " One way or the other according to the
electric  conditions of the brain," (191).  Thus  the  electric state  of the
body, which can  not be known but by an experience of their effect  upon it, deter-
mines Avhether  squill or digitalis proATe aggravant or remedial," 192.
   " Colchicum,  like all other medicinal agents, is a motive power; and, if it
fail to move matter the right way, it must occasionally move it the Avrong,"
(192), and thus "produce the very symptoms or effects it was given to cure."
(See Homeopathy).   So  of the other remedies cited, p. 191.

   537. Chrono-Thermal Remedies.  Bark, quinine, prussic acid,  arsenic, opium
and morphine,  <fec,  are those  that are supposed to destroy the "memory of
the system" of the last  chill,  and  make it forget to repeat the ao-ue!
   Those that act on  particular organs or  tissues of the  body, he supposes
have some chemical  affinity for  those organs or tissues, and  these he calls
[not specifics,  but]

   538. Symptomatic Remedies.  Of these are, iodine for glandular affections;
colchicum or guiac for rheumatism; squill or digitalis for dropsy; cantharides 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
159
or copaiba for leucorrhea or gleet; squill for catarrh;  purgatives for costive-
ness;  cardamoms,  &c, for flatulency,  (198), and  mercury  for  glandular
affections, &c,  (72).   To one  or  both of these classes of remedies, he
supposes "everything in nature"  to belong,  38.

   539.  Dr.  D.'s "Gi-eat Abstract Law," is  "Any given  power  applied in a
particular degree and at  particular  periods, may cause, cure,  aggravate or
alleviate any given form of disease, according to the constitution of the par-
ticular patient," 179.
   This is one of the absurdities and follies  to which  all men are driven who
base their system on the false notion ih&t fever is disease, (35).  Alas for their
common sense !  Comment on this great law  is superfluous.  Its absurdity
can scarcely be rendered more apparent than it is.

   540.  It is based upon the assumption, contrary to chemical and physiologi-
cal demonstration, that medicines are all constituted alike, as to the elements
of which they are  composed; that they possess no inherent qualities and pro-
duce  no specific action on  the system,—all the results of their presence
depending  on circumstances!   Opium  and  mercury  may  sometimes be
removed from the system by an action which they provoke; but that is not
their action.   The only action produced by them is destruction of function
and tissue!  which they  always effect when  not  overruled by the superior
force  of vital defense.

   541.  "It  never seemed to enter the head  of any medical writer before me,
that these diseases have each something in common  which establishes  their
unity of type.   One remedy cures them all, and physicians either can not or
will not see  that the action of that remedy  is  only one—the motive power,"
(p. 194).   If one remedy cures all, why run through all the catalogue?
   So  that motive power is one but not electricity.  How near you are to the
iruth, yet hoAv far from it!

   542. When you give  baik to continue  the electric (vital) action  during
the interval, of  febrile action, you do right,—for  then its aid is needed.  If
you give it  when the fever is on, you aid where that  aid is not wanted; but,
you do not "reA-erse the  action," for  you  have justly  said that  all  simple
medicines possess but one specific  poAver.   If, then, the bark, as you say,
(p. 196), prolongs the intermission as well  as the exacerbation,  you must be
wrong in your notion that these are different electric  states; for the  power
of the bark does not change!   The fact is, you  are in the same old  error
with  the Allopathists, in treating fever as disease.  And you  will never be
able to learn "the modus operandi of external agents" (20), till you  correct
that  error.   You  must  "feel your Avay"  in every case, and never know
before you  try (p. 209), what nor how much you  ought to prescribe, nor
what  produces  the  results that follow.  You will never know Avhether the
causes of the disease, the vital force, or your medicines, or all together, are
the agents  to  which you should  ascribe  the symptoms.

   543  This explanation of the modus  operandi of bark in preventing chills
and fevers  shows that Dr. D.'s mind  is shrouded in total  darkness on the
nature of that form  of disease,  as well as  the remedial  power that cures it.
He seems to think that his notions of it are peculiar; but, let him compare 
16.0
CHRONO-THERMALISM,
his doctrine that "these fevers, however mild in themselves, are sufficiently
powerful in many cases, to avert the return of  the more  dangerous morbid
motion," (p. 197), with the Homeopathic doctrine  of cure, or the Allopathic
(Watson, p. 95), and point out the difference, if  he can see any, and be wel-
come "to all that is peculiar to himself."

   544.  Dr. D. asks (197), "what medicine acts  invariably in the same man-
ner?"   I  answer, every medicine acts  invariably in the  same manner, and
Dr. Dickson agrees Avith me.  "The  primitive  agency of the  purely medi-
cinal  substances,  is one and the same," (184).   How can it be otherwise?
He says again, justly,  (196),  "that the same atom can not work in two dif-
ferent  directions."   But,  he also says,  "if  a medicine always acted invari-
ably, that would  prove it specific,"  (197).  Well, what of that?  Oh, he
has said—"but that we shall never discover!"   What does he say of others
who presume to set limits  to discovery?

   545.  But it is discovered—tannin produces invariably an astringent effect,
and lukewarm water a  relaxing effect on animal tissue.   They never produce
any other effect;—they are physiological specifies, and will  invariably cure
all those "diseases,"—wrong  states of living tissue,—that  need no  other
action than theirs.  Other effects that follow their use, must be attributed to
some other power than theirs—as the  debilitating or the astringent cause,  or
the vital force, one, two, or all.

   546.  Prussic. Acid.   In giving its properties,  Dr. D. says: "Combined
with lobelia inflata,  I have found it one of the most generally effectual reme-
dies for asthma with Avhich I am acquainted,"  198.
   What an experimental philosopher!   Here is an effect,—relief from dysp-
noea.   The  vital  force, lobelia inflata,  and prussic acid, are combined  to
produce this effect,  either  in harmony with, or  in opposition to, each other.
"One drop of the  prussic acid Avill kill a well man,"—(Christison).   You
cannot  give to a well  man enough of lobelia in any form, to kill or injure
him.   But, lobelia,  without the acid, "almost  invariably" relieves asthma.
"A twelfth or a sixteenth  of a drop" of the acid  is "combined  with lobe-
lia" and given—the asthma is cured—and—wonderful  "discovery!" the acid
is a "most efficient remedy!"

   547.  But,  suppose prussic acid did allay  the  irritation in asthma, cough,
chills, &c, how does it allay it?  As  all deadly  narcotics  do; it so paralyzes
the nerves as to deprive them of the power to feel the impression that excites
the irritation, and, if much is given, to respond  to it, if it did feel!  Dr. D.
is welcome to even  his cures  by  prussic acid.—Some cures are worse than
killing.—We have no doubt that prussic acid will "allay excessive irritability
even in cancer,"  (197-8), if you take enough of it

   548. Opiates.   Of  opium Dr. D. says:  "The most obvious effect  is the
control it  exercises OA'er  the nerves of the senses.   *   *  A minute dose
generally  heightens the perceptive poAvers, while a large dose generally di-
minishes them,"  199.
   Here is  the  same old  Allopathic  doctrine of the  "dual action"  of
remedies—no account  taken of the vital force!—whose reaction against the
small dose produces, the  "heightening of  the  perceptive powers," and the 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
161
 yielding of which, to the large  dose, permits the blessed "allaying of the
 irritation."

   549. The same is true of all poisons.   Their action is only one—tending
 invariably to death; so the action of  simple medicines, is  only one, tending
 invariably to life.   The use or abuse, increase or diminution of either, does
 not  change  their nature nor the character of  their  action.   Poisons are
 falsely  called medicines, because they diminish those vital actions that are
 falsely  called disease.

   550. Hence, the argument that sustains opium and  prussic acid, with the
 AUopathist, the Eclectic, the  Homeopathist, the  Chrono-thermalist, is just
 as good for "antimony, arsenic, mercury and the bleeding lancet," for these
 are "among the most effective remedies" for fever and  inflammation,  "with
 which Dr. D.," or any body else, "is acquainted."  They have only to give
 "a sufficient dose" and  the  work  is  "invariably" accomplished! (No's.  51
 to 54, and 78 to 84).

   551.  Dr. D. asks, (199),  "who can tell what may  be  the  effect of any
 remedy till  it  be tried?  In practice,  we  find opium gives sleep in one
 case and precludes all sleep  in another."   We answer.   The invariable ef-
 fect  of opium  and all pure  narcotics, is  to  destroy nervous  impressibility
 and  action.  The nerves battle successfully  against small doses; and yield
 submissively to large  doses.   If, in any  case, you do not see the "invari-
 able" effect  of narcotics, it is simply  because  you  are  afraid to give  as
 much of tho:e "invaluable remedies," as  the case demands! and  for which
 you are very blameworthy, for your  doctrine is  that  "the dose required is
 always  safe," and "the scientific physician can always  ascertain it."

   552.  "Alcohol, wine and malt liquor, like every other medicinal agent, act
 upon the body beneficially or the reverse, in no other manner than  by chang-
 ing the existing temperature of the brain," 199.
   But,  "bark  operates  by  changing the  electric  conditions" of the  brain
 (196).   Are electricity and caloric the same?

   553.  "See how differently alcohol effects different men?"  You just now
 said  it only  changed  their temperature.   If, therefore, they act differently,
 this  difference must be ascribed  to something else than alcohol,—viz: their
 natural  temperaments, Avhich, on alcoholic provocation, act out  themselves!
 Alcohol has but one nature; therefore it produces but one  action,—viz: pri-
 vation of nervous power to act, which the drinker  "invariably" suffers when
 fully under its influence—"a sufficient dose!"

   554.  It acts in a different manner from  corrosive sublimate and nitrate of
 silver, because it is a different substance.   The common  result—death—of
 the full action of poisons, no  more proves  them "identical,"  than that the
 same  "result" of  a bullet or a sword, fire  or frost, proves them identical.

   555.  "Wine makes" no man "braA'e" nor "cowardly;" it only provokes
to action  the powers  which  each man possesses, and those  respond first
which  are  the most sensative at the time,  while those  which are depressed,
are the most easily paralyzed;  and this  impressibility, or the want of it, is
owing to the differences of vital, not  electric action." 
162                       CHRONO-THERMALISM.
   556.  " It throAvs them into a  state of fever."  "Does not  this unity of
result argue unity of mode of  action?" (200.)  Most assuredly a unity of
result generally, though not ahvays, argues a unity  both of  mode and cause
of action, and therefore so shrewd a man as Dr. Dickson, Avhen he saw that
fever was a result of the administration  of such heterogeneous materials as
his materia  medica, bark and arsenic, valerian  and strychnine,  beer and
mercury,  musk and zinc, should haAre looked for the cause of this  "same
mode of action," not to those  differently constituted agents which could not
possibly produce it, but to something permanently  in the system, that was
always able to produce  it.   That something is the vital force; and the cause,
not only of that (febrile)  "mode of action,"  but of  every other physiolog-
ical  action in the system.  He would then have learned that, not only  "the
lancet, the leech,  and the cupping glass,"  but arsenic, mercury, opium, and
prussic  acid, and everything  that directly depresses irritation, fever, and
inflammation are,  in their nature, in all quantities and circumstances deadly
poisons, hostile to life and health, and  should be rejected from all medical
practice; while those that act in harmony Avith these vital movements—(that
is, aid  the system in increasing or equalizing them)  and produce no "sec-
ondary effect"  (that is,  prostration or injury),  such as cayenne, ginger,
lobelia,  valerian,  tannin, Peruvian bark, cherry bark (in which there  is no
more quinine nor prussic acid than there is of  alcohol in a wheaten loaf or a
roasted ear of corn), should be regarded and applied  as  the only legitimate
remedies for  disease.

  557.  How such a man as Dr.  Dickson  could bring his mind  to  belieA'e
that
       Bark and arsenic,               Fir-balsam and cantharides,
       Prussic acid and valerian,        Earths and alkalies,
       Opium and ginger,              Sulphur and bismuth,
       Morphine and quinine,           Digitalis and squills,
       Musk and  strychnine,            Iodine and turpentine,
       Zinc  and camphor,              Lead and belladonna,
       Nit. silver and tinct. of iron,     Lobelia and tobacco,
                    Mur. of mercury and assafcetida,
and  "every  other agent in nature," can "act in  the  same manner and pro
duce the same effects upon the human body," should  puzzle any one to divine,
Avho has not observed that a favorite hobby like the  Doctor's notion of  "the
Electric  action"  of "all  agents  in  nature,"  sometimes completely narco-
tizes the most discriminating poAvers of the brightest men, and makes  them
talk  as if  they had neither talent nor knowledge, nor scarcely moral honesty.

   558.   How could Dr. Dickson quote from Hippocrates (p.  24) the  doc-
trine of the  unity and type of fever,  and then  declare that he was the dis-
coverer ?
   Can it be supposed that he never  read  Brown,  Rush, nor  hundreds of
eminent Allopathic authors on the unity of fever, called  by them and  him
disease?  Did  he never read Gregory, Armstrong,  Southwood Smith,  Mar-
shall Hall,  nor Watson, avIio all treat fevers as a unit?  Has he never read
our  learned Paine who says (Inst.  p. 464), "They  who  have considered
inflammation and fever distinct affections, have offered no analysis by which
their individuality may be established" ? and that they are "the two orders 
CRTTICISED AND CORRECTED.
163
of disease that make up the great amount of human maladies and form the
grand outlets of life"?

   559.  Can it be supposed  that Dr. D. ever read the total rejection of the
lancet  by Salmon,  BroAvn,  Donaldson, Graham, Louis, and  Hahnemann in
Europe;  and  Samuel Thomson,  Wooster  Beach, and  Lobstein  in Amer-
ica, and  kneAV  how  much Avas done here by the latter gentlemen and  there
by the former, to curtail  its use; and how much it  is still  used,  notAvith-
standing all their and his efforts; and then had the assurance to publish to
the world? p.  209,
                                    *
   560.  " Gentlemen, to say blood-letting  is a bad remedy is one thing—to
prove it  to be bad is another—to force the world to believe and  act  upon
your arguments in the teeth of the  opinion of  the world,  is a still greater
achievement.   That merit I distinctly claim.   With Coriolanus, I  can say,
alone  / did it"!!  (209).
   Alas for human  frailty!

   561.   The pretending medical scholar who could pen  such a declaration,
reminds  me of the boasting geographer who asked if Massachusetts was not
somewhere about  Boston!   If he  will study  medical  history,  the Doctor
will find, in the works of John George Hansel, an  Englishman,  a century
ago, the  doctrine of the Chrono-Thermal  system,  all but  the electricity,
and in Dr.  Samuel Thomson's work,  the same doctrine,  purified of  its
fever disease,  unity of medicinal action and poisonous medicine errors; and
that, with all his boasting that "he alone did it," he has scarcely a score of
folloAvers in America, while there is more radical medical reform in the Uni-
ted States than in all the rest of the Avorld  put  together!

   562. Absurdities and contradictions.  Dr. Dickson says, (page 54,) "The
only test of medical truth and treatment is successful results."  But, on page
190, he says,  " That individuals  occasionally recover from serious disease,
after the  unsparing use of calomel in scruple (20 gr.) doses, is no more an
aro-ument in favor of such  a mode of treatment, than that many a man has
been knocked  down by a blow and lived,"  is in favor of such  Woavs.  "To
reason in this  manner is to argue that bloAvs are good things."   Yet such is
the only  reason that  could be given forgiving poison of any kind!

   563. He says, (page 37), "Quinine is generally the most efficient of all
remedies; but others are  sometimes better on account of  their better adapta-
tion to the electrical conditions  of  the  brain."   Yet, he says,  "The only-
reason why any article acts  as a medicine is its  power to change the electrical
conditions of  the brain!"   Here is a direct  contradiction.  If any  other
remedy is on this account ever better than  quinine,  it must ahvays be: for
he says in another place that the medicines  do not change their conditions.

   564. He prescribed 3 grains of opium (p. 81),  and,  (p.  181),  he  says:
" Only let So-and-So put down in Avriting,  that any of these substances ever
poisoned any body, in the dose and at the age  for Avhich I and  others pre-
scribe it, and I shall have the pleasure [!] of publishing the  fact (!) to the
professional world for their  future edification." 
164
CHRONO -THERMALISM,
   Did he never read the authors from Avhich I have  quoted Nos. 71 to 77,
where he would have learned that one grain of opium often kills ?
   On  105 and 116, he says  "there are no specifics,"  and yet he devotes a
good  oart  of section ix,  to  the  consideration of  "particular remedies that
affect particular parts."

   565. He abuses  "the profession" by wholesale, for "wielding daily,  such
power, without the smallest idea of  the principles on which  they act," and
on p.  191,  199, asks,  "Who can tell what effect  any remedy may have till
it be tried?"  And on page 209, "Perceiving the utter impossibility of  fore-
telling, in many cases, the particular agent by which  you are to obtain  ame-
lioration; and, as in almost every case, when an agent does not act favorably
it does the  reverse; you must see the necessity of commencing your treat-
ment with the smallest aA'ailable [effective] doses of the  more potent remedies
of feeling your way, in short, before you venture upon the doses prescribed bj
the schools."

   566.  If this is not "arrant quackery,"  we must have a new definition of
the term.   You cannot know by examination the "electric state," "dis-
ease" (181), nor by experience  what remedy  will correct it (181).   You
must  guess at it: try first one and then another, of "powerful agents," that
"cut  two ways," perhaps half a dozen that cut backwards,  and "nearly ex-
haust all your best  resources," before you hit the one that cuts forward (46).
"Physic and poison are identical,"  (179) "till they are  tried,"  and no
matter hoAv many times they have been tried (Nos.  46  to 151), they must
be tried again, not  only in the commencement of every case, but during its
entire progress as the  "electrical state" changes  from chills to fevers and
backwards!  May  we not justly style Dr. D. "the prince of quacks"?
On his principles blood-letting should be tried over and over, for nothing is
more effective in changing the "thermal" and "electric states" of  the body!
The experience of the past against it is of no more value than the same expe-
rience against mercury!  (78 to 151).  "Who  can tell the effect of any
remedy" [in any case]  "till it be tried?" (199).  Success in each case  (54)
must be the test, though many recover from  blows on  the head, and  "the
reparative power  of nature will cure nineteen cases out of  twenty  without
the assistance of any physic  at all," (178).

   567. In general  Dr. D. seems to count opium, prussic acid, &c,  "nega-
tive"  or depressing remedies.  He considers the "period" of intermission a
degree or two  beloAV par; and yet he administers in this state  the negative
agents to raise it up.  "Lower him up," said Pat, when he wanted the coffin
lifted from the grave!  But we will not do the Doctor  injustice.  He is not
sure beforehand Avhether  the stage of lassitude is negative or positive.   He
tries his generally negative remedies, opium, prussic acid, &c, in the  smallest
appreciably effective doses (209), "feels his Avay;" and if they provoke the
system to an action sufficient to both drive away the drug and prevent the
chill,  why, then, "he is justified" (p.54) in continuing this blind and  dan-
gerous quackery with opium, (81, 3 gr. doses),  prussic acid, Ac, "by suc-
cessful results," which, however, are  no more  justification  to  a "regular,"
(118), than "recovery from  blows on the head" is for repeating the blow's!
And this he proves by an equal success with  his generally positive remedies,
bark, wine, camphor, &c.   He does not know till he tries it, whether cayenne, 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
165
will increase the heat or digitalis diminish it, in any given case !  The "elec-
trical conditions of the system may, "for aught he knows till he tries," be such
as to directly reverse the action of these remedies!" (52, 199).   An article
may be generally good for "a particular type of disease in one locality, and as
generally prejudicial when applied to the same type in another," 191.   The
gout in the first toe and gout in the second may require different remedies !

   568. Before  telling us what  "never entered into the heads of any medi
cal writer before him," (194, 24), he should at least have read some of those
things that have been  recorded  by many of  the most distinguished medical
men who ever lived !  Or he should have  remembered, when writing page
194, what he himself said on page 24, that Hippocrates taught the doctrine
of  the  unity both of disease and its type.  But let  it be remembered by the
reader, that all those writers, Dickson  included, (35), have taught the erroi
that this unity consists in fever!!! and hence, all their other errors in theory
and mischiefs in practice—their inablility  to define either medicines or poi-
sons,  or to learn  their  modus operandi, (No. 20), or "the shade of  morbid
action," (22), or the "electrical states of the  system to which they are appli-
cable."  Dickson, 186, 209.

   569. On page 179,  the Doctor  says:  "If the Homeopathists will  put in
print  the instances  in which I have  neglected to acknowledge any thing I
have borrowed  from them or others, I will  very much thank them," &c

   570. Having found the Doctor either  very culpable  in this respect, or
very ignorant of medical progress, I will not say what he has borrowed from
others; but I will say that he claims the discovery of the unity and periodicity
of disease [fever] though he quoted it from Hippocrates, (24).  The univer-
sality of feA-er in all forms of disease,  though he might have quoted it from
Gregory, (No.  38), or  from  Paine,  (No. 41), or Marshall Hall on Infl.k
(No.  302),  or  Hahnemann,  every where.   He claims the discovery of the
electric action of remedies and the rejection of the lancet—though he might
have quoted both from his countryman, Dr. James  Graham of London, and
J. S.  Olcott of  Boston.   He claims the discovery of  the  unity of disease,
though he  might have read it in  Brown, or in Gregory, in Hahnemann, in
Graham, in Rush, in Samuel Thomson, in  W. Beach, in  fact in one half of
the ablest works of the profession.   His "discovery," (195), that "whatever
can cure disease can cause it," is the  basis of Hahnemann's system!  He
claims to have discovered the periodicity of all disease and the proper time
for medication;  and  yet his favorite, Hippocrates, taught the expectant treat-
ment—the waiting for the favorable moment to "aid nature."  He claims the
discovery of the doctrine that the true treatment of disease consists in regu-
lating the temperature of the body; but, if he read  the book from which Avas
derived  the doctrine that lobelia is the best remedy for  asthma, (198), he
would have learned  that doctrine  far more perfectly than he has taught it!
He would have learned before trying, Avhether the heat is too high or too low,
and what remedy to begin with in each and every case!  He would have
learned also, sure "rules" by which he could "tell what effect a medicine
will have on'diseased states" before it has been tried on any one!
  If I  had  never read any book  but  Dr.  D.'s, I might  have supposed  that
some of his claims  to discoveries are  just; and if I had never "tried" nor
thought for myself, I might have supposed  that his  doctrines of disease were 
166
CHRONO-THERMALISM, ETC.
true and his practices good; but as it is, I am skeptical on all these  points.
Still I esteem the man  for his moral courage in combatting what he  believes
to be wrong, and boldly advancing "in the teeth of public opinion," what
he believes to be right; and for putting forth, in his work, much that is true
and good, (as on page 40, second  paragraph), which may be very useful to
those Avho have the  true philosophy of medicine, that  will enable them to
know the right  and the wrong, and to separate the one from the other, before
they "exhaust nearly all their best resources," p. 46

  571.  While  we thus criticise  Dr.  D. as in duty to science, justice and
humanity we are bound to do, we most cordially assert that in many of his
criticism on Allopathy and modifications of its practice, he, like Hahnemann,
has done a signal service for reform,  and assure the reader who is on the true
foundation of medical  science and practice, and therefore can  not  be lead
astray by its "bewitching theories," that he will find Dr. D.'s "Fallacies of
the   Faculty,  and   Principles of Chrono-Thermal Practice  of Medicine,"
a most deeply interesting book, by carefully reading which, he will be able
to judge of its value  and of the justice of our criticisms on it. 
WATER   CURE.
   Thus far, I have presented the efforts to reform the practice of medicine,
 on the basis of the Allopathic  doctrine  that "irritation,  inflammation and
 fever are diseases," by men who belonged to the profession, and desired  to
 remain in social and scientific harmony with its members; and Avho left  it,
 if at all,  only because  of its ill treatment  of  them,  on  account of their
 reformatory efforts.

   572. I have shoAvn that, for the want of  a new and sure foundation prin-
 ciple to start upon, their  reforms  have been but superficial at the best, and
 have mostly fallen back again entirely to Allopathy; that Eclecticism, Ho-
 meopathy and Chrono-Thermalism, have no principle that will prevent them
 from being again swallowed up by Allopathy, and  poisoned and  reduced by
 its errors and practices, till they can no longer be distinguished as reforms.

   573. It  now becomes my pleasure to speak of men who, out  of the pale
 of the Profession, uninstructed in its plausible  and " bewitching theories,"
 and  unbiassed by the influence of a powerful'profession and temptation  to
 honor and  profit, could look on the practice  as it AA'as  exercised by its advo-
 cates, and  justly scan and measure its results; and Avho had the moral inde-
 pendence to  break all restraints, to reject what they believed  to be Avrong,
 and  adopt what they found to be good, Avithout  the fear of consequences.

   574. The first of these that I shall notice, though not the first in time, is
 Priessnitz, the pioneer of what is called, The Water Cure.
   This system of  medication was devised  by Vincent Priessnitz, a peasant
 of Graefenburg, Germany.

   575. It is based upon the proposition that, by eating and drinking what
 he should not;  by neglecting the proper use  of water, exercise and air; and,
 finally, by taking poisonous  and exciting drugs to cure disease, man has
 departed very far from his original health: and  that he can return to it only
 by reversing this course.

   576. He must  eat moderately and at proper  times, of that  which is the
most suitable to sustain and the  least liable  to injure him—must drink only
water and use it  freely on his person; must breathe fully of  fresh air, and
take  the amount and character of exercise the best  calculated  to give health
and vigor to every organ of his body.
         (161) 
168
WATER CURE,
   577. It is  generally the case that, when a man becomes disgusted and
displeased with a part of a system of principles or practices, he is inclined
to reject the whole, the good as well as the bad features of that  system, and
fly off  at once to  the opposite  extreme.   Hence, it  is quite natural  that a
peasant who has seen little else than misery and death as the result of drug
medication, should exclude everything that bears the name of drug or medi-
cine from any system which he may devise.
   It is equally natural  that men  like Johnson and Gully,  in Europe, and
Shew,  Trail,  &c, in this country, who, from their unfortunate adoption of
the " fever disease doctrine" were never able  to distinguish  medicines from
poisons, should take the same leap from the practice of using indiscriminately
medicines and poisons, to that  of  using nothing that  is called a medicine.

   578. Hence, the fact that nearly all the men who have embraced hydropathy
exclusively as their practice,  have  been eithei  persons who, like  the peasant,
Preissnitz, never knew much of medicine; or who, like Johnson, Forbes, Shew
and Trail, had been through the allopathic routine, and become entirely dis-
gusted by it.

   579. Others Avho have seen  much of what is called domestic or sanative
practice, and its effects, have turned their attention towards the use of innoc-
uous stimuli, and the rejection of only what they have considered inimical
to life.  These are found  among Eclectics,  Botanies,  Thomsonians,  root
and herb doctors, Indian doctors, <fcc   The most sensible, philosophical and
honest among them being Physio-medicals, using only agents whose  action
harmonizes with the vital  functions and  benefits  the  tissues, among which
water is  so conspicuous that many of them  enter the existing water-cure
establishments or provide its appliances in their Infirmaries, so  that patients
can have the benefit of those convenient combinations of Avater with medicine
in cases in Avhich neither Avould be so effectual alone.

   580. The pure water cure establishments are mostly conducted by converts
from the allopathic faculty, who have had a large experience in practice, and
who, from their  false views of  disease and of  therapeutic  action, have never
been able to estimate aright or duly to  appreciate, the purely physio-medical
agents  of the materia medica, whose action  is as innocent as that of  water,
and often far more speedy and efficient.

   581. Thus, Dr.  Trail, of  NeAv  York,  says: "Of drug remedies in any
sense,  from  calomel and antimony  down through lobelia and  nervines,  to
raspberry leaves and catnip—all or either, we dispute  their innocency," and,
"all drug remedies, lobelia and cayenne, as AArell as calomel  and opium, are
absolutely poisons."   W.  C. J., 1854, p. 85,  and  P.  M. R.,  1854, p. 161.

   582. But there are  other  establishments  under the name, conducted by
men who have learned, from the Physio-medical system, that many of these
"drug remedies" are more prompt and efficient, in many cases, than water;
always as innocent in their nature and often more so in their effects, and they
use them as they think proper.   We are acquainted with a number of such
establishments.

   583. This course is not sanctioned by Preissnitz, nor any of his strict fol-
lowers.  Dr. Joel Shew,  Avho spent some time with  him,  says:  "No one 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
169
deserves the name of hydropathist who does not practice according to the
principles of the  immortal founder of  the new system.   It is well knoAvn to
be a standing rule with Priessnitz, with which all must comply, that no
patient is allowed to take medicine Avhile undergoing the cure."   W. C. Man.,
p. 28.   Neither does Priessnitz allow the vapor bath, but Dr. Shew uses it.

   584.  I find, nowhere, any set platform  of  principles  from the hand of
Preissnitz, though he may have Avritten one that has not come under my7 eye.
Yet, from reported remarks, I infer some of his doctrines; for example:

   585.  Dr. Shew reports  a  case of "liver complaint," to cure which the
lady had been treated with mercury.  Under Preissnitz's treatment in a short
time " she had  a crisis of boils, through which the  mercury  evaporated."
Immediately after these had healed, "the  inflammation of the liver returned.
'Now you may consider yourself cured,' said Priessnitz;  and she was indeed
cured in a few weeks,  when the liver complaint left her."  W. C. Man., p. 25.
   From this, I infer that Priessnitz did not consider inflammation disease.

   586.  Dr.  Edward Johnson, who spent some months  with  Priessnitz in
1842-3,  for the  express purpose of observing the facts of water cure and
learning its  principles, says:
   "There is  no well educated medical man in England  who will refuse to
admit that a remedy which can produce (at will) the  most profuse perspira-
tion, and which can (also at will) lower the temperature, and the velocity of
the heart's action to any given degree, (even the extinction of life), that such
a remedy must possess an  immense power  over diseases of all kinds."  Prin-
ciples of Hydropathy,  Pref., p.  11.

   587.  Hence, I infer that the scien«e of Hydropathy consists  in regulating
the temperature, or, in other words, the action of the system, with the tem-
perature for a guide.

   588.  Again, I find several pages devoted to the processes of  nutrition and
purification, at the close of which Dr. Johnson arrives at the conclusion that
the process of waste is quite as important as that of nutrition,  and that the
promotion of  this,  chiefly  through the skin, is "even more important  than
that of nutrition" [?]  p. 87.   Hence, an important doctrine of  Hydro-thera-
peutics  is to  remove all the waste from the body as fast as it  accumulates.
So that,  as nearly as I can deduce them from all that I can find written on
the subject,
   589.  The water cure consists in the grand propositions:   1.  Put into the
body that and that only which  is useful to it as food or drink.   2. Keep the
body in those circumstances of air, temperature, exercise and  rest, that will
enable it to make the most profitable use  of the first.  3. Remove from the
body, as fast as separated  from its tissue,  or by any means accumulated in it,
everything offensive to its Avell-being.

   590.  To all these propositions, in the  abstract, all sensible  men, profes-
sional or not, most cordially assent.   The only questions are:

   691.  What is the condition of the body (called health) in which all these
things are fully and perfectly regarded ?  What are  the conditions (called 
170
WATER-CURE,
disease) that result from the neglect of any of the  aboA'e ?  What  are  the
signs or symptoms by which those conditions may  be  known ?  What  are
the agents of No.  1, (589), the circumstances of No. 2, and the best means
and  processes of No. 3? on  all which  there is  a  vast  diversity of  opinion
among men, even the strongest advocates of water cure.

   592.  In searching among their writings,  I  find that the leading authors,
Johnson,  Gully, Shew, <fec, adopt nearly the same doctrines of disease, viz:
that  its  distinct forms are legion, and its essence irritation, fever, and inflam-
mation.    Shew's Manual, p. 126.

   593.  Dr. Trail says, (Cyc, vol. 2, p. 74), "Fever is an abnormal disturb-
ance of most  or all  the bodily functions;" and  (p. 78),  "The paroxysm
is  a  remedial effort."   But,  speaking of ague  and  fever (p. 91),  he says,
"We find this disease," &c, (Dr.  Dickson's type of all  disease).   In  his
discussion with me on the modus operandi of drugs, he says:  "Fever is both
disease and an effort  of nature."

   594.  In the department of nosology,  Drs.  Shew and  Trail follow  the  de-
scriptions of  "disease" by the Allopathic writers.
   But, vol. 2, p. 72,  Dr.  Trail's "judgment" is with  mine that these "Nosol-
ogies are all unphilosophical and absurd," and in vol. 1, p. 33,

   595.  That "The only foundation of a true medical  practice, is correct phys-
iological principles," or those "based  upon the laws of life."   "And here
[not in  their notions  of the  modus operandi of remedies] is precisely where
the whole orthodox medical system utterly and totally fails."

   596.  "It has no physiological science upon which to practice the  healing
art."  [This is the "error of errors."   They  count irritation, fever, and
inflammation—mere  disturbances of physiological action—disease;  and, in
practice,  seek to destroy the power that produces them, instead of removing
the obstacles to their equilibrium].

   597.  What then are the distinctive doctrines of Water-cure or Hydro-the-
rapeutis ?  I answer:
   1st. That vegetable food and  pure air and water  are the only substances
proper to  be received into the human economy,  in a state of  health.
   2d. That  daily, universal bathing in  cool water,  is indispensable to  the
preservation of perfect health.
   3d. That pure water is the only proper remedial agent to be administered
or applied to the body for the cure of disease.
   4th.  That  all substances  called medicines or  pure stimulants are more
or less  poisonous, and do more harm than good,   f See Discussion.  Also
No.  575).                                        V

   598.  To the first proposition I remark: It is seldom that we can find veg-
etable substances so abundant and so pure, that we may not find some animal
food preferable to the vegetables before us.   Thus the imperfectly developed
grain, fruits, and roots, are often quite deleterious to  health, while good ven-
ison, wild fowl, fish,  <fec, are nutritious and wholesome.  I prefer good dried 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.                   171
beef or venison to sour bread,  Avet potatoes,  gnarly apples,  &c  Yet, as a
general proposition, I believe that vegetable food is preferable to animal.
   I believe that feAv bodies are constantly in such a condition even when we
call them healthy, that  the addition of a little acid, sugar,  ginger,  or spice
of some kind,  or aromatic stimulant may not sometimes be beneficial.
   To the second proposition I  give my full sanction.
   3d.   I cannot admit that pure water is the only substance properly admis-
sible as medicine, nor do I believe that  there is,  in  the civilized world, a
Water-cure establishment in which  actively medicinal  substances are not
used.   For example, Dr. Trail says, (vol. 2, p.  84), "Indian or wheat meal
gruel promotes the action of the  bowels."  "Crust-water, corn  coffee, lem-
onade, apple tea, &c,  (p. 85), [and he might just as well have added, pep-
permint, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, or cayenne tea],  "are both grateful and
harmless."
   A medicinal action is one that is calculated to remove obstructions,  or to
correct the wrong conditions  of the  tissues  in  disease.  If wheaten grits,
barley cakes, rye mush, stewed apples,  pears, plums, and  tamarinds  excite
the bowels to action and remove  costiveness (and they do),  they  act medic-
inally; and it were just as sensible to  object to them on account of the extra
labor they  provoke, as to  oppose leptandria  or juglans  when  used for the
same purpose.   If lobelia and  boneset,  by relaxing the system,  excite it to
A'omiting to remove pernicious  substances (and they do), they do just what
warm water does in the same cases.   The question, which is the best means,
depends on the answer  to another question, viz: Which does it the best and
Avith the least expenditure of vitality to the system?   Having tried them all,
/ much prefer to put lobelia into the warm water.  If my Water-cure friends
prefer to make  the system do all  the  labor without any  assistance,  let them
do so.   I will neither imitate them, nor commend their course.
   4. This I deem a very great mistake in theory, which leads to a great
defect in practice—that of rejecting from the materia medica a multitude of
therapeutic agents as innocent  as  water and far more efficient.

   599.  It is surprising to what an extent persons will go, to  sustain a dogma
which they suppose they have  discovered to be true.
   The application of water in  any Avay, bath, shower, or wet pack, so cold
as to produce a chilliness of  more than three minutes duration, is as great an
abuse of water as the continuance of  the vapor bath to fainting, or of lobe-
lia to entire prostration, or cayenne to a strong fever,  is  of  these invaluable
and equally innocent remedies.   The liability to abuse of either is no objec-
tion to its legitimate use.  It is not liability to abuse that constitutes poison,
but the  intrinsic character of the article and its  tendency to a wrong action.

   600.  Water  is indispensable, to keep the blood thin and sufficiently abund-
ant to distend the vascular systems, to prevent organic and tissual irritation,
and, above all,  to absorb the extra heat and regulate  the temperature of the
body under great excitement.

  601.  Licbig's notions, indorsed by  so many learned men, about the veget-
able food of the tropics and the  train oil of the north regulating  the animal
temperature, should not be received without great deductions.
  If it  is the mere burning of such food in the animal body, that keeps up
the heat, how does the  bear keep up his heat  during winter, while he  sits in 
172
WATER-CURE,
a holloAv  tree, without food, and  comes out late in the spring ?   How is
the flesh  of  those  men sustained who eat no animal food in any climate?
and how is the heat of those sustained who eat nothing but lean flesh?  A
friend of mine once spent four years among the buffaloes of the west, living
almost wholly on their lean flesh.  Yet he retained all his health and vigor.
And it is notorious that the hardiest plebeians  of  the northern countries of
Europe, seldom eat any meat.  How is their flesh sustained ?

  602. The fact is, that much of the heat in animals, is generated, as  it is
around pivots in machinery, by  friction alone,  and  its degree is regulated
almost wholly by the  elastic power of the surface which, when too much
accumulates, expands to let it escape; and when too little, contracts to retain
a sufficient quantity.   The irritation, called thirst, which an excess of caloric
excites, induces the animal to drink, and the fluid absorbs the caloric,  and
carries it out in the form  of perspiration.   When excitement  is great  and
Avater deficient, the result is a contraction  of  the  surface that  retains too
much heat.   This excites  the nerves and blood-vessels to  the  production of
that  condition which  is  termed fever and inflammation.  Now,  common
sense  tells us that this  condition  demands cool  water,  internally  and exter-
nally : and hence the  reason why water is so  effectual, as a remedy*, in  all
acute  forms of disease.  If applied, of the  proper temperature, and in the
right  quantity and manner, it is  often all that  is necessary; and  even when
morbific matter has accumulated and the action of the system is low, warm
or hot Avater is an indispensable aid to medicines that more speedily  raise
the action and purify the body.

  603. But,  when used cold internally or externally as a stimulant,  to  raise
healthy action in a case of chronic debility, as in packing a dyspeptic or
consumptive  patient in a cold wet sheet, and keeping him  there two hours,
with his teeth chattering with cold, or even in  bathing him in cold water in
the  hope that,  after this very disagreeable, fatiguing, and prostrating  pro-
cess, he Avill be blessed with a free perspiration, is  little if any better  than
to expose him to cold,  and then to ague and fever, for the same purpose.

  604. It should be no wonder to the reflecting mind, that morbific matter
should thus be confined in the tissues till it forms deposits and  breaks out
in "sore boils from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot."

  605. If the object  is to purify the body by  perspiration, why not put it
into a vapor bath,  and let it have the benefit  at  once, of artificial warmth
and moisture, instead of compelling it, in  its  debilitated state, to labor tAvo
hours in chattering its teeth, and suffering all the torment  of  a universal
chill,  till,  by this  severe  goading provocation, it  shall raise heat enough to
Avarm the  water, relax  the tissues, and  relieve itself from "duress vile?"

  606.  I am not a little amused at the hue and  cry of the Hydropathists
against the  "extra labor"  necessary to remove stimulants (such as ginger,
sage,  and  catnip),  over and above what is necessary to remove the disease
for  which I  give them, connected with the recommendation of two hours
chilly labor in the cold pack, to heat water enough to make the patient as
comfortable as hb was when they put him  into it, before a perspiration, not 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
173
 so good as that produced by  my ginger and vapor bath, can  be started to
 relieve  it!

   607. I am glad to see that some Water-Cure advocates are becoming sen-
 sible of this absurdity  and folly, and are giving,  in  such cases, Avarm and
 vapor baths at once.   Dr. SheAv has given us a full chapter (viii) on the use
 and value of the vapor bath, and it is the most valuable chapter in his book.
 It is exceedingly rare  that "boil crises" follow the use of the vapor bath,
 for the  plain reason  that the morbific material which forms them, under cold
 pressure, is carried out through the natural channels opened by the combined
 influence of  warmth and  moisture in the vapor bath.
   I was pleased also that,  when about to advocate the superiority of a vapor
 over a cold bath in cold chronic cases, in preventing  chills, boils, &c, the
 pupils of Dr.  Trail assured me that they  already agreed with me in  this.
 And Dr. Trail himself, (p. 37, vol. 2),  speaks of the vapor bath as superior
 in many cases  to the cold  water bath, and attributes all the evils of its use
 to its abuse (599) by "steam doctors," whom he represents as ignorant of its
 proper  management.   He tells us how  it should be used!  If he will only
 allow us as much  science  and  common sense  as he possesses,  I  suppose that
 we ourselves may use it properly hereafter!
   I think the Doctor is hardly fair in saying that  the steam  doctors  haAre
 brought the vapor bath into disrepute.   Was it in scientific and popular use
 and credit, before Dr. Samuel Thomson revived its use in this country?   And,
 if it is in some places less respected now than it was twenty years ago, is it
 not  because  pseudo reformers  have joined with Allopathists  in abusing it,
 for the purpose of putting doAvn the strong opposition to their craft, of  those
 who then the most judiciously and effectually applied it ?

   608.  Principles.  Priessnitz and his folloAvers seem to have disregarded, in
 a great measure, all platforms  of principles as well as systems of nosological
 arrangement;  and devoted themselves  chiefly to the  business of regulating
 the  heart's  motions and the temperature of  the body, with  water,  applied
 according to the dictates  of their judgment in each particular case.  Still a
 few  of them have laid down what they conceived to be the main foundation
 stones  of their edifice.  I quote them  here  for inspection,  and add a feAv
 comments.  Dr. Edward Johnson, who spent some time with Priessnitz, says:

   609.  "Health consists in that  state of the  body in which the transforma-
 tion of  food into the living tissue, bears the natural proportion (as regards
 their activity), to the activity of the tansformations of living tissues into life-
 less  amorphous compounds of oxygen—in other words, when the conservative
 vital force  offers the proper amount of resistance to the destructiA'e  force of
 oxyo-en—or in language simpler still, the supply is in due proportion to the
 waste.   An adult animal is in  health when these two forces exactly counter-
 balance each other." [Good].

  610.  "Disease is a disturbance of  this equilibrium or balance, [fever, an
error I, consequently, Avhatever  causes this disturbance is a cause of disease,
 [good].  The vital force offers a perpetual resistance to all causes of disturb-
ance [o-ood].   When this  resistance is stronger than the cause of disturbance,
disea'se°does not  occur.  But  when  weaker,  disease [inability] ensues, the
condition in which this resistance entirely ceases is death," p. 118, 119. 
174
WATER-CURE,
  611. Dr. J. proceeds to show,  by very apt illustrations, (an issue  and
a caustic), the healing tendency of inflammation, and the importance of keep-
ino- up healthy action.  As cold water is by all, himself especially, (page xi),
pronounced a poAverful sedative, capable of "lowering the temperature and
the velocity of the heart's action to any given degree, even to death," it fol-
lows that it is not a proper remedy for  great deficiency of temperature and
cardiac action, and, of course  that, when, in such cases, it does good, it is
by the reaction  it provokes, not the  direct action it produces, and in this
respect is no better  than the "stimulating drugs" Ave often use.

  612. Dr. ShcAv, page 127, describes  "inflammation generally" as "disease,"
and giA'es us, as  the causes, "exposure to great heat and cold, cold and mois-
ture," &c.   He  gives the symptoms, "heat, throbbing, and violent pain,"
&c   "This disease, [phrenitis], when severe, is exceedingly dangerous, and
must be treated Avith promptness.   Cool thoroughly the head and reduce the
general feArer," Avhich  he  effects with cold water and pounded  ice, p.  128.
So "pneumonia  is one of the  most dangerous of all diseases,"—to be cured
in the same manner.
  Here are only  four errors, first, inflammation is not disease; second, the vital
force alone is its  cause; third, inflammation is a unit, not "diseases," if it were
many, and fourth, the practice should be to remove obstructions to its action,
not to "reduce" the power of the system to make it.

  613. The  only difference between  Dr. Shew and Allopathists is, that  he
acts contrary to  his theory, confining  his practice to one inherently innocent
remedy, Avhile they  act consistenly with their theory of inflammation, in sub-
duing it with remedies appropriate to  their notions of it.

   614. One would think the fact that the Water-Cure men use but one medi-
cine for all cases, were enough to convince them that disease is a unit.   But
Dr. S. has as many diseases as Allopathists have, and  they are  the same—
irritation, inflammation, and fever  in  their various forms.
   Dr. SheAv does not confine  his materia medica to cold water,—he gives a
merited and  generous  credit to the vapor bath, page  96, and we assure him
he needs not put ice  on the head.   It Avill fare quite as Avell if he envelopes
it entirely in the vapor.

   615.  Dr. Trail gives the symptoms of several different forms of fever, and
then comes the  "rationale" of it, which amounts to "a general effort of all
the vital energies to relieve the system  from the influence of some offending
cause.  That this effort is made periodically, the system requiring intervals
of  rests, until victory or death results," and he adds, "If  this view of fever
is right, the drug system of treatment must be wrong," p.  78.

   616. This vieAV of fever is nearly right, and,  of course, proves  that the use
of poisonous drugs must  be Avrong.  But  some of the agents called drugs,
have a direct tendency to aid  "the vital powers" in  removing the obstacles
to their free  and equal action, consequently these are right instead of wrong.
 The good Doctor's "foggy" idea that "fever is both the disease and an  effort
of nature,"  preArents  him from yet  seeing  clearly  the  difference  between
medicines and poisons,—"hygenic agencies" and "deadly drugs."  His treat-
ment is  so much like that of Dr. Shew, that we  hardly need to repeat it 
                      CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.                  175

here.   As he uses no poisons he can do no mischief, except (as he says the
Thomsonians do  with their  steam  bath, p. 37), he, being ignorant of its
powers  and adaptations,  may not make  a proper use of his  cold bath!—
may "over do it," or use ice Avater with it, or not use the vapor bath first! or
may commit  some other blunder for want of a little instruction from some
Thomsonian who does not abuse  it by making it a universal hobby.   Dr.
Trail says,  (vol. 2, p. 51), "There are some delicate individuals of bloodless
skin and feeble vitality, who  find it extremely difficult to get comfortably
warm in the wet  sheet, and such may be very much assisted by  a [warm]
fomentation to the abdomen for five minutes before and after the pack."
  According to our observation, nearly all chronic cases are just such "deli-
cate individuals," and we are of  the  opinion that a full  vapor  bath, and a
gentle cold shower after it, to close the pores and keep the heat in, is as much
better  than the "fomentation on the abdomen," as it is more general over
the system, and  that the cold dash is as much better than the intermediate
"pack" as  it is adapted to the purpose  of preventing exhaustion and regulat-
ing the  temperature; and we haA-e a great mind to go and learn of Dr. Trail
how to use  it judiciously, and not to abuse it, as he thinks the ignorant steam
doctors  are in the habit of doing!  Seriously, this regularly casting slurs on
"steam doctors" for  ignorantly abusing steam,  reminds us of some great
literary  characters on a railway,  condeming  the engineers as unfit to manage
the locomotive, because they can not translate a passage in  Homer  or Caesar,
nor repeat a single page of Shakspeare, Milton, or Byron.
  As one of Dr.  T.'s doctrines is, that Ave must cure disease by  "aiding na-
ture,"—hygienic agencies alone—and another is,  that "fever is both disease
and an effort of nature," lam curious to knoAv how he will cure disease with-
out opposing  the efforts of nature?  And how the adoption  of the double
doctrine that fever is and is not  disease, does not  make him wrong, let which
ever doctrine may be true.  At  all events he believes, with Dr. Beach,  that
"disease is a salutary effort of the system to remove disease!"   That is as
bad as making the stomach Aromit up itself!   I would not turn the mind of
the reader from  the works  of  Drs. Shew  and Trail, but only guard  him
against  their errors and inconsistencies.   He will find in them much that is
worthy  of  his careful attention.

  617.  The Water-Cure,  then, as an important department of medical prac-
tice, can not be too highly estimated;  and, unlike any of the  systems here-
tofore examined, all the  harm  it ever does, results solely from improper
applications of  it, and  not from any inherent tendency in water to  injure  the
human system, Avhenever and wherever its action is demanded.  No system
of medical practice  can  ever be fully effective without its aid.  Though its
processes are by some  carried to unjustifiable extremes,  yet the Water-Cure,
or Hydro-therapeutic system, is to be commended more  than any of the  pre-
ceding  for the greater and more judicious attention to diet and exercise, on
which it continually insists,  especially in its  public establishments.   The
mere  regular daily  cleansing  operations, diet and exercise of these institu-
tions  do much, independent of  what is considered  medical, to aid the vital
force'of almost any patient to recover its equilibrium of action, and the organs
their  proper  impressibility and  .activity.   When they add to what is there
applied, the judicious use of other purely sanative medicinal agents and pro-
cesses, and that direct aid to the vital  force which electricity and extra vital
power' can  apply, they will do all that has been yet discovered for  the relief 
176
WATER-CURE,
of physical  suffering.  On this system of practice,  Drs.  Johnson, Gully,
Shew, and Trail are good authorities.

  618. In view of the preceding exhibition of it, is it wonderful that Bichat
should say, (4), "Medicine is not a science for a methodical mind," but "a
shapeless assemblage of inacurate ideas"?—That Whiting should call it (5)
"nothing but hypothesis piled on hypothesis"?—That Bigelow should  style
it (5) "an ineffectual speculation"?—That Abercrombie should call it (1)
"the  art of  conjecturing"?—That Waterhouse  should call it (25) "learned
quackey"?—and that Rush (26) and Chapman  (141)should call the practice
"horrid, unwarrantable, murderous quackery"?
  Since, as I have shown, they all retain the fundamental, Allopathic errors,
that "irritation, and inflammation are diseases," and that the symptoms which
follow "the  action of external agents  on the body, whether  as causes  of
disease or as remedies," (20), are produced by those agents, is it at all won-
derful that  Homeopathists should  never have learned how, in any case, to
"choose the  proper agent, the dose, or the time of repetition?"  (473)—That
Eclecticism  and Chrono-Thermalism should be guility of the  inconsistency
of railing against one mode of depletion, (the lancet),  and adopting another,
(physic),—of rejecting one poison  (mercury) or three, (mercury, antimony,
and arsenic), and prescribing all others—that they must be sometimes obliged
to try many agents, (418), even their Avhole catalogue  (533), before  they
hit the right, and never know, but by their success, whether  they have hit
the right or  the wrong—killed or cured? (531).  Is it strange that none of
the sects should be able to distinguish between food, medicines, and poisons?
(408), or that all should so stupidly adopt the  absurdity that "food may be
made  poison by  concentration," and  "snake poison a medicine" by  dilu-
tion? (413,  550)—and  that  no one can give a good reason why he diflers
from the rest in his selections or his rejection?   Is it strange that even our
good  friends of the Water-Cure tribe, while they are confused with this
"fever disease" doctrine,  can not determine what agents  are sanative and
what  are  poisonous, and therefore  "pronounce them  all, from calomel and
antimony, through lobelia to sage and catnip tea, absolutely poisonous?"
See Dr. Trail against Dr. Curtis.
   No!  The wonder is, that any well  instructed medical man should be so
stupid as to count that  absurd doctrine (fever  disease) science for himself,
(4), or have the impudence to publish it as science to the world!
   But says Whiting:  "Because all systems hitherto promulgated, have been
false,  and consequently transient, it by no means  follows that there may not
be  found one which will  stand a tower of strength, unharmed by the jude
shock of opposition's bursting wave, through all succeeding time."   L.  M.
S., page  7.
   Says Prof. Samuel Jackson of the University of Pennsylvania, Principles,
page 11:  "The true science of medicine is a demonstrative science, and all its
processes should  be  proved by established  principles,  and based on posi-
tive inductions.  That the proceedings of medicine are not  of  this character,
is to be attributed to the manner of its cultivation, not to the  nature of the science
itself."  L. M. S., p. 15.
   These sentiments of Dr. Whiting and  Prof. Jackson,  are my own, and I
now proceed to develop this "demonstrative science,"  that proceeds from
 "established principles," is "based on positive inductions," and will "stand*
unharmed through all succeeding time." 
THOMSONISM.
    619.  In the latter part of the last century, in the town of Alstead, New
 Hampshire, lived a farmer's boy named Samuel Thomson.   He was a keen
 observer of men  and things, particularly the practitioners and the practices
 of medicine.  He watched, closely, both the men who studied at the colleges
 and  gave drugs by the prescriptions of Professors, and of books sanctioned
 by law; and the less pretending but more useful doctors who practiced what
 was called " Domestic Medicine;" and he carefully noted the different results.
 After he became a man and had a family, he had abundant opportunities for
 painfully witnessing disease, and the empyrical and barbarous treatment of
 it, by "the legally constituted guardians of the public health," whose con-
 duct appeared so strange and inconsistent, that he commenced comparing it
 carefully with experience,  reason, and common sense.  Trammeled  by none
 of the "bewitching theories of medical professors,"  blinded by no self-inter-
 est that should lead him  to attempt to sustain ancient, time-honored  and
 popular  errors, his mind played freely over the field of observation and ex-
 periment before him, and soon discovered the fatal error of Allopathy—the
 doctrine that irritation, fever, and inflammation are disease.

   620. "I found  by experience," says he, "that the learned doctors Avere
 wrong in considering fever a disease, or an enemy.  The feA'er is a friend
. and cold the enemy.   This I found by their practice in my family, till they
 had five times given the patient over to die.  Exercising my OAvn judgment,
 I followed after them, and  relieved my family every  time."

   621. "After  finding a general principle  respecting fevers,  and  reducing
 that to practice, I found it sure in  all disease, Avhen there was any nature
 left to build on;  and in three years constant practice,  I never lost one patient.
   "I attended all  'the fevers' peculiar to our country, and always used fever
 as a friend, and  it returned the gratitude by saving the patient."   Guide to
 Health, p.  10.

   622. Here was  a grand discovery in medicine,   viz: that  fever  is  not
 only sometimes but always  a friend; and that friend  is a unit, an effort of
 the vital force to protect the organism from the aggressions of  the causes of
 disease, "The struggle of  nature to throw off disease," G. to H., p. 14.
   Others  had discovered  that, in mild cases, fever  is a friend; but  it was
 left for Sam'l. Thomson to maintain this doctrine consistently throughout.
 Not only once a friend but always  a friend, was his doctrine.  But  this
 was  not  all.
         (177)                       12 
178
TI10MS0NISM,
   623.  Sam'l. Thomson's conduct was consistent Avith his principles.   Hav-
ing discovered  this great general  principle, he  "reduced it to practice."

   624.  This was no Allopathic,  Homeopathic,  Eclectic,  nor Chrono-Ther-
mal  patching up of an old rotten system  of error and mischief.  It was,
indeed,  as the Eclectics pronounced it, "a complete revolution in medicine,"
and the  flrst and the only one that has ever been well planned, and completely
carried  out, since the murderous devices  of Paracelsus  came into vogue.
Nothing else is Avorthy to at all compare with it.

   625.  But how did he make the discovery?   "Possessing a gift for exam-
ining the things of nature,  my mind was left  entirely free to follow that
inclination,  by inquiring into  the  meaning of  the great variety of objects
around  me," p. 8.

   626.  Thus he discovered that "much of what is at this day called medi-
cine, is  deadly poison; and were people to know  what is offered them of this
kind, they would absolutely refuse to receive it even as  medicine."

   627.  " This  I  have  long  seen and knoAvn to be true, and have labored
hard, for many years, to convince them of  the evils that attend such a mode
of procedure with the sick; and  have turned my attention to those medi-
cines that grow in our country and which the God of Nature has prepared for
the benefit of mankind."

   628.  "Long has a general medicine been sought for, and I am confident
I have found such as are universally applicable,  in  all cases of disease, and
which may  be used by the people with safety  and  success.   After thirty
years study, and repeated successtul trials of the medicinal vegetables of our
own country, in all forms of  disease incident to our climate, I can, with well
grounded assurance, recommend my system of practice  and medicines to the
public,  as both salutary and efficacious," p. 8.

   629.  Here AAre  find the true  foundation  principle of  all scientific medica
tion, whatever be the particular remedy used, or  the mode of application, viz
   Whatever, in its  specific  nature, tends directly to aid  the  efforts of the
vital force in protecting herself against the aggressions  of the causes of dis-
ease, or in removing those causes or the effects  of their  presence  or action
from her domain;  whether by directly exciting her to a higher action,  or by
relaxing her tissues and enabling her to act more freely, or to remove offend-
ing matter or conditions; or by lubricating, or by toning up her tissues, is  a
medicine, each  particular character or article of  Avhich,  if  used in the cases,
quantities, and modes, in Avhich  it  is demanded,  (all  wrhich  this doctrine
clearly  indicates), is innocent and sanative;  that  is, it  is  intrinsically harm-
less, an aid  to nature in the prevention and cure of disease.  The  misappli-
cation of it,  is properly termed its abuse, and is the mildest form of quackery,
and the most excusable.
   The ascertainment of the conditions and Avants of the system, the  judg-
ment as to the  kind of medicine wanted, the quantity,  and mode  of appli
cation,  &c, fall within the scope of physiology and pathology, materia
medica, and the knowledge and skill of the physicians;  all which being now
rightly  based on the true doctrine of  deranged vital action (irritation,  fever, 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
179
and inflammation), are no longer mysteries and guess work, speculation and
recklessness (5, 6, 21, 27),  but positive sciences, capable of being learned
and successfully practiced by ordinary mental power and industry.

  630.  On  the other hand, whatever, in its nature, tends  to destroy the
organized tissue, or to deprive it of the power to respond to the action of the
vital force, in  its efforts to  preserve health or to  raise a  fever (Avhen one is
necessary for self-defence), no  matter in what special article found nor hoAv
applied, is a poison, ahvays injurious to the system, eAren Avhen used to pro-
voke it to a physiological action to  remove the causes, the conditions, or the
effects of  disease.
  The use of  these for any medicinal purpose, is an abuse, both of the arti-
cles and the patients, and a disgrace to the medical profession.  It is the
Avorst form and character of quackery—"horrid, unwarrantable, murderous
quackery," (142).

  631.  Observing that,  in all  cases  of health, the  heat is fully and equally
distributed,  and, in  disease, deficient and unequally diffused, the  farmer
adopted and proclaimed  the doctrine that the great duty of the physician is
to "raise  the  heat," and to "keep  the inward  heat above the  outAvard,"
(p.28).   So strenuously did he maintain this doctrine, that his Allopathic
opponents charged him  with burning and scalding his  patients  to death.
He, in  return, charged  them with freezing  theirs to death—adding, figur-
atively,  as they killed their patients by freezing them, and he cured  his by
Avarming them, it must folloAV that  "heat is life and cold is death," p. 8.
  That  this expression was intended to  mean nothing more than  that  "the
preservation of the equilibrium  of heat,  is the preservation of life;  and the
destruction of it produces death," is evident from  the  fact that  he every -
Avhere says that, the  raising of  the heat,  by artificial means, will  restore the
patient  "Avhenever there is nature enough to build upon," p. 10.
  It  must not  be denied that, so  strongly Avas  he impressed with the idea
of the deficiency of heat in  all cases of  disease, that he sometimes labored
to increase the  quantity, when an equal  distribution of  that already pres-
ent,  would  have been  much better.  But let  him give his principles for
himself:

  632.  "Led to inquire into the component parts of Avhich  man Avas  made,
I found him composed of fire,  air,  earth, and water.   The earth  and water
are the  solids, the fire and air the fluids.   The two  first  are  the component
parts- the tAvo last keep  them in motion."   This is, indeed,  not very defin-
ite  but about as useful as  that  of the  scientific Simon, or Carpenter, or
Biinde, or others of the present day.   "Heat  I found  was life,  and cold
death- and that all constitutions are alike."  [He means, as I learned from
himself, in regard to their anatomy and  physiology, their powers and their
wants].
  633  "I  shall now describe the fuel Avhich  continues the fire or life of
man   This is  contained  in  two things,  food and medicines, which  are in
harmony with  each other, grow in the same field, to be used by the  same
people  [A  very important  doctrine].   They  who  are capable  of raising
and  preparing  their food, may as easily learn to collect and prepare all their
medicines and administer them when needed." 
180
THOMSONISM,
   634. "Our life depends on heat; food is the fuel that kindles and continues
 that heat.  The digestive powers being correct, consume the food; this con-
 tinues the warmth  of  the  body, by continually  supporting the fire.   The
 stomach is the deposit  from which the  whole body  is supported.   The heat
 is maintained in the stomach  by consuming the  food; and all the body and
 limbs receive their proportion of nourishment and heat from that source; as
 the whole  room is warmed by tee fire which is consumed in the fire-place.
 The greater the  quantity of fuel consumed in the fire-place, the greater the
 heat of the room.   So  in the body;  the more food, well digested, the more
 heat and support through the whole man," p. 8, 9.

   635.  This  doctrine may seem erroneous to some, but Dunglison has copied
 it almost verbatim, and Liebig has risked his reputation on its truth, except
 that he prefers the lungs to the stomach for his fire-place, and allows the lit-
 tle salamanders called  arteries to scatter the coals all over the room, and set
 fire to all the  combustibles they may alight upon.

   636.  Thomson continues: " By constantly receiving food into the stomach,
 some of which is not the best for nourishment, the stomach becomes foul so that
 the food is not well  digested.  This causes the body to lose its heat—then
 the appetite fails, the  bones ache, and the man is sick in every part of his
 whole frame.   This situation  of  the  body shows  the need of medicine,  and
 the kind needed; which is such  as will cleanse the stomach  and bowels and
 restore the digestive powers.  When this is done  the food  will raise the heat
again and  nourish the  whole man.   All the art  required is to know what
medicine will  do this and how to administer it, as  a person knows how to
 clear a stove  and pipe  when clogged with soot, that  the fire may burn free,
 and  the whole room be Avarmed as before."

  637.  "The body, after being cleared  of whatever clogs it, will consume
double the food and the food will afford double the nourishment and heat that
it did before.   We know that our life depends on  food, and  the stomach be-
ing in a condition to receive and digest it.   When the stomach and bowels
 are clogged, all that is needed is the most suitable medicine to remove obstruc-
tions from  the system.   All  disease  is caused by clogging  the system,  and
all  disease is  removed  by restoring  [as above] the digestive  powers so that
food may keep up the heat on which  life depends,"  p.  9,  10.

  638.  Hence it is evident that,  as the Doctor puts both food and heat in the
capacity of poAvers "on which life depends," he  does  not mean to say, lit-
erally,  that heat is life,  any more than  that food  is  life.  They are both
used figuratively,  to signify that  they are  indispensable  sustainers of life;
and here all philosophers and sensible men agree with him.

  639.  Those who haA^e  been willing to put down  Dr. Thomson's system,
 have perverted his doctrine, "the more food well  digested the  better," to a
 license to patients to "eat as  much  as they please of anything they want."
 But, as he  has here  said "the more food" ('suitable for the best nourishment,'
 page 9,) and  "well digested,"  the  better.   Neither  he  nor his system is
 chargeable with this error.   Again, of medicines  he says:

   640.  " There  are two great principles in the constitution of things—the
 principle of life and the principle of  death.   That which contains  the prin-
 ciple of life can never  be tortured into an administration of death.  [Here he 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
181
is wrong.  We can kill ourselves by eating good food].  If, then, a medicine
is good in any case, it is because it is agreeable to nature, or this principle of
life, the very opposite of disease.   If agreeable in one case, it must be abso-
lutely so in all.   [Not if unsuited to  the case, as an astringent  where a
relaxant  is required].   By the active operation of nature, the whole animal
economy is carried on."   [But here he is sound and true].

  641. "If, then, heat is life, and its extinction  death, a diminution of this
vital flame, in every instance,  constitutes disease,  and is an approximation to
death.   All then that medicine can do, in  the expulsion of disorder, is to
kindle  up the decaying spark, and restore  its energy till it  glows in all its
wonted vigor."   [He means, of course, by removing obstructions, and stimu-
lating the system to a healthy action].

  642.  " If a direct administration can be made  to produce  this effect (and
it can) it is  evidently immaterial what is the name or color of the disease,
whether  bilious, yellow, scarlet or spotted; whether  it is simple  or compli-
cated; or whether nature has one enemy or more.  Names are abitrary things;
the knowledge of the  origin  of a malady, and  of its antidote, makes  the
genuine physician—all without this is real quackery."  (p. 11, 12.)  [Most
excellent doctrine].

  643.  "The study of anatomy, and  of the  whole animal economy, is
pleasing and useful; but it is no more necessary to mankind at large to qualify
them to administer relief from pain and sickness,  than to a cook in preparing
food to satisfy hunger and to nourish the body."

  644. This has been  ridiculed  by many; but nothing is more certain than
that neither anatomy nor physiology ever taught us, a priori, what is good
for either food or medicine, nor what is or is not poison.   Experience alone
has taught these lessons.  And both history and observation tell us that many
very accurate anatomists and physiologists are  miserable  practitioners  of
medicine.  The Doctor continues:

  645.  " There is one  general  cause of  hunger and  one general  supply of
food; one general cause of disease and one general remedy.   One can  be
satisfied and the other  removed, by an  infinite variety of articles, or a  tew
the best adapted to those different purposes.  That medicine, therefore, that
will remove obstructions, promote perspiration, and restore digestion, is suited
to every patient, whatever form the disease assumes, and is universally appli-
cable, and will relieve acute disorders, such as fevers, cholics,  dysentery, &c,
in twenty-four or forty-eight hours at most."   p. 13.

  646. To these doctrines, except the one cause  of disease, I can  most cor-
dially subscribe.   I have demonstrated them as surely as I ever did a problem
in Euclid.

  647  The Doctor, not being a literary critic, calls heat life,  and fever, heat;
and he shrewdly asks—' Is there in the human  frame  more than one kind of
heat9'   'Yes' says the physician, 'there  is the pleuritic heat,  the slow,
nervous heat, 'the  putrid heat, the hectic heat, the yellow heat, the spotted
or cold  heat, the  typhus or ignorant heat,  and  many other heats, and, 
182
THOMSONISM,
sometimes (calamitous to tell) one poor patient has the most or the Avhole of
these heats, and dies at last for the want of heat!"

  648.  "Is fever, heat, or nature, disease ?  Surely not.   What is commonly
called fever, is the effect and not the cause of  disease.   It is the  struggle of
nature to throw off disease."   p.  14.

  649.  This is the true doctrine.  It is the struggle of nature to remove the
causes,  conditions, or effects of  disease.  It is  the "effect," not of disease,
but of  the vital  efforts to get rid of  disease, its causes,  or its consequences.
It has but one cause, and that is not "heat," but the vital force.   Its tendency
is one, the cure of disease; though extraneous causes  may obstruct that ten-
dency,  and  direct  its  power to the  prevention  of  the cure,  or even the
production of  injury.

  650.  The duty of the physician is to remove those "extraneous causes,"
and give to fever the opportunity to fulfill its mission and disperse itself again.

  651.  " The cold causes obstruction, and fever arises to throw it off.   This
is universally the case." p. 14.
  The Doctor was much mistaken here.   Cold is  not the cause of small pox,
nor measles, nor scarlatina nor erysipelas, nor  many other  forms of disease-
In another place  he  said, "all disease is caused by clogging the  stomach;"
[not quite], and in another, "all disease is caused by obstructions."

  652.  Only the last of these three is true; all disease is caused by obstruc-
tions, of some kind, to the free and universal action of the vital force, through
nerves,  blood-vessels, or any other tissues of the system.   Cold, and clogging
of the stomach, are only two means of producing disease; but the agents that
obstruct the vital action, are innumerable.  On the next page he says,  "cold
is the cause  of fever."  He means the exciting cause, and  it is one, but not
the only one.   He  says, "remove  the cause (cold) and  the effect (feA'er)
Avill cease."   True: hut the  cause of fever is the vital force; we do not Avish
to remove that, nor did he, for he says:

  653.  "No  person ever yet died of a fever,  for, as death approaches the
patient groAvs  cold, till, in death the last spark of heat is extinguished.   This
the learned  doctors  cannot deny, and therefore  they ought, in justice, to
acknowledge that their  whole train of depletive remedies, such as bleeding,
blistering, physicking, starving, Avith all  their refrigeratives,  their  opium,
mercury, arsenic, antimony, niter, <fec, are so  many deadly engines combined
Avith the disease, against the constitution and life of the patient.   Using them
to cure  disease, is like throAving a part of the fire out of  the house, and put-
ting upon the balance water, snow, and ice,  for the purpose of increasing the
fire and heat in a room."

  654.  Instead  of this, "The great principle  is to assist nature, which  is
heat."  [That is, whose visible  sign is heat].

  655.  "At the commencement of fever, by direct and  proper  application
of suitable medicine, it can be easily and  speedily removed, and the patient
needs not be confined long.    In twenty-four or forty-eight hours to the extent,
often short of the final time, the fever may be removed,  or that Avhich is the 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
183
 [exciting] cause of it.   But  when the patient is  left unassisted, to struggle
 with the disease, until his strength [fever] is exhausted, and, more especially,
 when the most unnatural and injurious administrations are made,  if a recovery
 is possible it must require a longer time.  These declarations have been often
 proved, and can be again,  at the hazard of any forfeiture the  faculty may
 challenge."   p. 15.

   656. Dr.  T. says: "The balance of power between  heat within and cold
 without, or heat within and  heat without, or cold within  and cold without,
 produces cessation  of motion which is death."

   657. And, of course, he bases all his treatment on the doctrine that "the
 inward heat should be kept superior to the outward,"  and that the current
 outward, or  "determination to the surface," should always be maintained.

  ^ 658. This,  he  contends, cannot  be done by any agent or  process that
 directly destroys fever; hence his  whole practice is directed to the aid of the
 "heat" or vital force in passing outward,  removing obstructions  and pro-
 moting healthy action;  and he contends that the most favorable  time to "aid
 nature" is Avhen nature is making a strong effort to help herself.

   659. Hence, he  says: "when the fever fit is on," give diffusive stimulants
 to aid it in the removal of  obstructions, and, at  the same  time, by relaxing
 enemas,  cold affusions, warm and vapor baths,  "open the  pores," to "let
 out  the obstructions," &c.

   660. Thus, he was a Chrono-Thermalist of the first water,  but just the reverse
 of Dr. Dickson, who believed that  the cold stage is  the most  favorable for
 treament, and then gave poisons  to lower the  heat, instead of stimulants to
 raise it!  But Dr. T. did not refuse to practice or "aid nature" when  she
 was  tired and languid.   He  then gave her the  more aid.  Instead of  Dr.
 Dickson's deadly opium, prussic acid, quinine and arsenic, he gave cayenne,
 ginger, cloves, the aromatic mints, &c, and thus he cured his patients "in a
 very short time," and lost a smaller  per centage of like cases treated, than, I
 believe, any other man  that ever practiced medicine; for he seldom left  one
 patient to attend to another till the first was out of danger.

   661.  Though he said,  "Disease could be remoAred by  an infinite variety
 of articles," he generally preferred "a feAv of the best adapted to the pur-
 pose," and  pointed out about a hundred others, that any one who chose,
 might use instead of them.   He saw that, in  disease, the system  required,
 1st.  Relaxation; 2d.  Stimulation;  3d.  Astringency;  4th.  An alterative and
 tonic effect;  5th. A restorative;  6th.  An antiseptic influence; and he selected
 the best articles for these purposes and arranged  them under these numbers,
 so that any person  could readily refer to them in practice.   The index arti-
 cles  of these numbers, selected as  the best of their kind, were,  1st. Lobelia;
 2d.  Capsicum;  3d. Bayberry; 4th.  Chelone  Glabra; 5th.  A compound of
 peach meats, astringents, and aromatics, and 6th.  A tincture of gum myrrh
 and  capsicum; and he enumerated under each head, other invaluable articles,
 in variety of number and  power,  sufficient for the judicious and  effecth-e
treatment of every form of disease  to  which the human  family are liable.
 To aid these, he adopted the use of the inAraluable vapor bath, a means more
effectual than any other one in medication. 
184
THOMSONISM,
   662.  He has been laughed and sneered at, despised and abused, for using
so few  remedies: but Professor Harrison  says, in his  materia medica, that
he can  find but six indications in disease, and even these may be  reduced
.to four!  Prof. J. R. Coxe, of the  University of Pennsylvania,  said that
feAv practitioners  in America used more than fifty different articles,  and the
best of them  did  not use a third of  that number.   Lastly,  the Allopathic
faculty  en masse have but three  systematic remedies, the lancet, opium, and
calomel!  All besides these are either subservient to them,  or suggested by
a pure empjTricism!

   663.  I do not desij-e to conceal the fact that Dr. Thomson adopted some
crudities, contradictions,  and absurdities,  in  theory;  such  as that man is
made of fire, air, earth, and water, the two latter being the solids  and the
two former being the fluids, and the first of them all, life, if the reader will
have it  so;  that cold is the cause of all disease, and all disease is caused by
clogging the stomach; that the internal heat of the body must always be kept
above the outward;  that  a fever turns inAvard instead  of outward;  that we
must sometimes stimulate in high fever, and force as well as invite  a crisis,
and  put cold water on burned feet and then a steaming  stove to them, (p.
116).   I say, though he committed some  such errors and mistakes as these,
they were all of minor importance.

  664.  The great fundamental doctrine that "fever is an effort of nature to
remove disease," (42), kept him almost always right in  practice.   (Dr. Wa-
terhouse said,  "Had John Hunter, whom  I well know, been born and  bred
where Samuel Thomson was, he would have been just  such a man," letter
to Prof. S. L. Mitchell).   John Hu:;ter did not carry out his principles (42),
because  his mind was not "emancipated from the tyranny of the schools."
That doctrine blew, for Dr. T., to the winds the lancet, narcotics, and mercury,
and every other poison in all its forms;  and established,  in his mind, a purely
sanative medication.

  665.  It is a Avonderful, a most "astounding" fact,  that  such  a man  as
Samuel  Thomson should  have prescribed a hundred different remedies for
disease, (many7 of which had never before been used),  and  yet among them
all is not a single deadly poison,  nor even  a dangerous article!

  666.  The only reason  that can be  given why reformers called  Eclectics,
Homeopathists, Chrono-Thermalists,  and  some  Physopathists, have never
been able to separate poisons from medicines, while Dr. Thomson succeeded
so completely, is, that they  adhere to the "fever disease" doctrine, and  he
rejected it.

  667.  I most conscientiously declare that, no matter  what my disorder,  I
Avould rather he treated in strict accordance with the directions contained in
Dr. Samuel  Thomson's  little " tAventy dollar" "Guide to Health," though
some of them are quite objectionable, than by a council of one of  the best
practitioners from all the sects of medicine, who reject the great Thomsonian
doctrine, and follow what is Avritten in their books!

  668.  I do not deny that, to him who is  able to separate the true and good
from the false and mischievous, the Eclectic, the Homeopathic, the  Chrono-
Thermal, and the  Physopathic books  contain much valuable matter that  is 
CRITICISED AND CORRECTED.
185
not in Thomson's work; but they contain also enough that is pernicious, to
more than counterbalance all that value, to him who can not make the proper
separations, but must take the doctrines and the treatment as he finds them.

  669. This conviction is the reason why I  did not, long ago, review those
works, and recommend them to the  readers of the P. M.  Recorder, and the
students of the Physio-Medical College of Ohio.

  670.  Once, when very sick of phrenitis, I called a true Thomsonian to cure
me.  He has since "progressed" into Eclecticism, and I Avould not trust him
now to cure a diarrhea or a common  cold! which any Thomsonian can cure
in a few hours, or days at most, more surely than David Crockett could kill
a buck with his rifle, at a hundred feet! 
THE   PHYSIO-MEDICAL  PRACTICE.
  671. Lastly.   There is a true science and practice, called the "Physio-
Medical," the  character of which is  indicated by its  title.   Its "leaders"
are not men, but the immutable laws of nature.
  It is the system of principles  properly called physiological, or those that
govern the formation and preservation of the organized body.

  672. Its  doctrines are, that the human body is formed and  controlled,
preserved and  defended, and, when  injured,  restored, by the action  of an
invisible agent called the vital force; that, when all its parts are in such a
condition that this force can act  freely and fully through them, this body is
said to be in health.

  673. That any thing which may in any way interrupt this full, free, and
universal action through the body, may be a cause of disease;  that the  states
of the tissues in which  this  action is permanently interrupted, is diseased
itself; that any such interruption is  manifested by certain signs or symp-
toms, consisting of 1st.  Disturbances  of  the equilibrium of the action of the
vital force, called irritation,  fever, and inflammation;  2d, of a destruction
of the tissue by chemical action, called  gangrene; 3d. of  a combination of
these two, vital and chemical, called suppuration;  4th. of certain mechanical
conditions called congestion, cramp, spasm, &c, and 5th. of the effects that
follow or accompany these several disturbances,  called heat, redness, pain,
swelling, tumors, ulcers, cancers, <fec.

  674. It maintains that these manifestations of deviation from the healthy
state, dictate to the person affected, or the practitioner of medicine, the pro-
priety of avoiding  contact with  or  coming under the dominion  of, all  the
causes that tend to permanently derange, or long and  seriously disturb, the
vital equilibrium.

  675. And when,  by ignorance,  inadvertency, or unavoidable  exposure,
the conditions called  disease have occurred, it  teaches the duty of aiding the
vital force,  in its exciting, irritating, and inflammatory efforts to remove the
obstacles to  healthy action, by means and processes that do not  further de-
range it, but tend directly to restore it, and to heal the breach, if any.

  676. It rejects from  its remedial means and processes, every thing in its
nature calculated to do violence  to the healthy state, as lancets,  leeches,
cups, blisters; and  all poisons, narcotic, escharotic, and mechanical.  And
         (186) 
PHYSIO-MEDICALISM--APPROVED.                187
  677.  It uses those articles and those only, which, in their nature, harmonize
with the organic tissue and the vital force;  and, in the measure and mode of
application required in any given case, directly aid that force in restoring its
equilibrium; by judiciously  removing or helping it to remove, all the obsta-
cles to its free and universal  action.

  678.  It calls the ability of all  the organs of  the body to admit  or mani-
fest the full and free action of the  vital force,  Health.

  679.  The inability of  any  organ to perform its healthy functions, it de-
nominates  disease.  It teaches  that this  disease consists, essentially,  in a
fixed contraction of tissue; as cramp, tetanus, stricture;  nervous, muscular,
or capillary erethism or tension:  or, in undue and permanent relaxation of the
same tissues, as in syncope, or any great prostration; or, in a composition of
these two, called an irritated or excited condition, as manifested in phrenitis,
mania, fever,  &c, in which  the organs are unable to perform  properly  their
offices;  or, in a suspension of responsibility to the action of the vital force,
as in  paralysis, narcosis, &c;  or,  lastly, in partial lesion, as in the process
called suppuration.  Entire destruction, or gangrene, is death.

  680.  It regards any thing and  every thing that can, in any way, directly
or indirectly, by  use  or abuse, deprive the organs of  the  poAver to respond
fully and freely to the action of the vital force, as causes of disease.
  It reo-ards the vital force as the only cause of  so much  of the manifesta-
tions or  symptoms of  disease,  as are  properly termed irritation, fever, and
inflammation.

  681.  It  regards as poison,  any thing and every thing that is  certainly-
known, in authorized medicinal doses or degrees, to have directly destroyed
human life, or is,  in its  nature calculated to deprive the organs of the power
to respond to the action  of the vital force in the  production of  irritation and
fever;  as, antimony, arsenic, mercury, belladonna, cantharides,  cicuta,  digi-
talis, opium, <fcc,  <fec, and rejects them in toto  from its remedial means.

  682.  It adopts,  as remedial means and measures, only those which Allopath-
ists, Homeopathists, Eclectics,  Chrono-Thermalists,  &c, &c, suppose to pro-
duce but one action, a  direct tendency toward, till  it finally vanishes in, health.
In other words, only those whose inherent tendency, like that of food,  exer-
cise, warmth, electricity, and the influence of  pleasant company, harmonizes
with the organic  and conservative  force of the system, and like  food and
water, may and should  be given or applied, in the quantities and modes  re-
quired,  till  the objects of  their  use are fully accomplished—till perfect
health returns.

  683.  It rejects, as unsuitable and  mischievous, any thing and every thing
that can not be continually administered, with impunity and with benefit, so
long as the conditions requiring its use, remain.
  It does not use opium for irritation, nor the lancet  for fever and inflam-
mation  nor mercury  for defective secretions;  because it must not  use  these
means till  the irritation, fever, and inflammation subside, the secretions be-
come natural, and the patient healthy and strong.

  684.  The principles of  this Physio-Medical (or natural) system of science
were shadowed forth  in the B. M. Recorder, vol.  4th, p. 227; vol. 9th, p 
188
PHYSIO-MEDICALISM -APPROVED.
 346;  vol. 17th, p. 130; vol.  18th, p. 108.   They are very well embodied in
 the platform of the Baltimore Convention of October 1852, see P. M. Re-
 corder, vol. 18th,  p. 155, and  fully developed, and applied  in practice,  in
 "Curtis' Lectures on Medical Science and Practice."

   Platform of Principles adopted by the National Convention, at Baltimore.
   " Whereas, There have arisen in different ages and countries, and of every
 sect in  medicine,  men of noble minds and benevolent  hearts,  who  exerted
 all their energies to reform the errors and abuses of what was called  the sci-
 ence and practice of medicine.
   "And whereas,  The men of this description of the Allopathic  school, are
 still compelled to  pronounce their principles an "incoherent assemblage of
 incoherent  ideas;" and their most efficient medication "horrid, unwarranta-
 ble, murderous quackery;"
  And whereas,  Many modern New School Reformers of the  same honest
intentions,  have few fixed principles of  practice  in which they  can agree,
and no firm bond of union in effort for the promotion of medical  reform;
   "It evidently appears to be the  first and  most important duty  of this
 convention, to point out the generative errors of all the popular systems  of
the day, and to  lay down in clear and unmistakable terms the fundamental
principles of true  Medical Science and practice,  as guides to all who may
desire to attain to  perfection in the knowledge of  the Healing Art, and as a
common creed, which all  can advocate and  defend, and as a bond of union
in effort for the promotion of this most glorious cause of science and human-
ity; therefore,
  "Resolved, By  the Reformed Medical Association of the United  States,
 that medical science, pertaining altogether to natural subjects, must be in
 itself  as fixed and  definite as any other natural science.
  ft Resolved, That the reason why medical  men have not  learned it, is they
have attempted to base it upon the violation of physical laws, which are ever
variable, instead  of those  laws themselves, which are immutable:  they haA'e
built  their  systems on Avhat  they call pathology—or rather they have pro-
nounced that pathology which is only deranged physiology, and built upon
this error.
   "Resolved, That the Reformers of past times have failed to perfect their
practice, because of the impossibility of  doing it  Avhile  they  retain the false
 notion that the science is based on pathology, or the doctrine that physiolog-
 ical derangements  are disease.
   "Resolved, That the  fundamental principles of true medical science are
 not pathological but physiological.
   "Resolved, That disease is not vital action  deranged  or  obstructed,
 increased or diminished,  but any condition  of the organs  in which they are
 unable to perform  their natural functions: a  condition that  permanently de-
 ranges, obstructs,  or diminishes vital action, and in this sense is a unit.
   "Resolved, That  irritation,  fever, inflammation—terms used  to  signify
 increased, deranged, obstructed, or accumulated vital action  in the  nervous
 or vascular systems—are not disease, but  physiological symptoms  of  disease;
 and are not to be  directly subdued, but always to be aided in their ultimate
 design and intention in removing obstructions and restoring the nervous and
 circulatory equilibrium.
   "Resolved, That suppuration is to be  encouraged and promoted whenever
 there is accumulated morbific matter to  be removed; that gangrene, being 
PHYSIO -MEDIC AI.ISM—APPROVED.                189
no  part of inflammation,  but a  purely chemical process in  opposition to all
vital action,  and occurring  only when vital action has wholly ceased,  the
associating of it with inflammation, and treating the latter as tending to ter-
minate in the former, has been a source of immense mischief in medication.
  "Resolved, That it is the duty of the practitioner to reject in toto every
means and process, which, in its nature and tendency, in authorized medic-
inal quantities, degrees, or modes of application,  has been  known  to have
directly destroyed human life, or permanently injured the tissue, or deranged
the  physiological action, and  to use those, and those only, which have a direct
tendency to aid the vital organs in the removal of causes of  disease and  the
restoration of health and vigor.
  "Resolved, That the agents of this character are not confined to the A'eg-
etable kingdom,  but  are  found in every department of nature, and  to be
' seized upon  wherever found.'
  "Resolved, That though we shall exercise charity towards the ignorance
and prejudices of all men, we can count no  one a true medical reformer who
rejects the doctrines of the foregoing resolutions."
  These  resolutions were  thoroughly examined and discussed, in a commit-
tee,  consisting of  Professors L.  Bankston  and J.  T. Coxe of the S.  B.
M.  College at Macon,  Ga.; I. M. Comings of the  Metropolitan Medical Col-
lege of New York;  Wm.  F. Smith of Philadelphia;  H.  F.  Johnson  of
Mass.; A. Curtis of the P. M.  College of Ohio;  Dr. S. L.  Swormstedt of
Maryland, and Dr. Samuel J. Watson of  Virginia.   Also, separately in  the
general convention, (P.  M.  Recorder, vol.  17), and  adopted with but  two
dissenting voices, [Drs. P. John and H. F.  Johnson].
  They have since  been adopted, in substance, by the Middle States Medical
Association,  at Philadelphia, (in which Dr. John coincided); and by  the
Eclectic Medical Society of the  Eastern States, held  in  New York in  1855.
Individuals professing to be true Reformers, sometimes erring in  practice,
will not destroy the principles.

  685. In Physio-Medical estimation, the indications of  disease are:
  1st.  To relax constricted tissues so as to favor secretion and depuration.
  2d. To stimulate them, if necessary, to healthy action, to promote secre-
tion and  remove offending matter; and,  at  the same time, to lubricate dry
surfaces and  neutralize morbific agents.
  3d. To restore and maintain healthy tone or condition.

  686. The first of these indications,  is fulfilled by water, warm or cold, in
fomentation,  tepid, or vapor baths;  or cold wet cloths,  baths, or  affusions,
as required;  aided by anti-spasmodic medicines, such as lobelia, eupatorium,
catnip, asarum, sage,  and the bland and soothing aromatics generally.
  The second indication is fulfilled  by heat,  moist or dry, as required;  by
capsicum, ginger, xanthoxylon,  cloves, pennyroyal,  or any  innocent, acro-
aromatic or exciting substance suited to the  case.   The lubrication is effected
by  water, mucilages, oils, <fec, and the neutralization by alkalies, acids, and
innocent'astringents, as bayberry, and by resins, as myrrh.
  The third  indication is  effected by gentle, steady,  and  permanent  relax-
ants and  stimulants, good food, pure air, suitable exercise, cheerful company,
variety of scenery, <fcc  As to  the manner in which the  various curative
agents and processes are to be applied, the true Physio-Medical science gives
us the following general directions: 
190
PHYSIO-MEDICALISM
:--APPROVED.
  687. Aid nature.—There are three Avays to aid man in the accomplishment
of his objects or wishes:  The first is to remove the obstacles to his efforts; the
second is to supply him Avith the means best adapted to enable him to effect
his purposes; and  the third is, to inspire him Avith  a desire to exert all his
own power and means in the right direction.  So of every part, organ and
tissue, of the man.

  688. Remove obstacles.—In all cases of disease, there are, in the diseased
parts, obstacles to  the free and universal action of the nerves and circulating
vessels, Avhich the  vital force is endeavoring to remove.  The whole science
of Physiology consists in  the knowledge  of the  character and uses of the
organs and poAvers of the system; that of Pathology,  so far as it is a science,
in the knowledge of its conditions and wants; and the Avhole art or practice
of medicine lies in the knoAvledge of the modes and the means of supplying
those  Avants.   In some cases nature wants only one,  in others  two of the aids
above indicated; in others  all.  In  some cases, all  can be supplied  by one
means; in others more are wanted.

  689. The clear and  prompt discernment  of  Avhat is present and  what is
wanted, and how to apply it, constitute the  perceptive skill of the physician.

  690. In  all cases of disease, or of obstruction to healthy action, the system
indicates her condition and Avants by certain irregular actions  of the nervous
or of  the circulating system, and generally of both.    These deranged  actions
are properly called  vital signs or symptoms of disease;  Avhich are very improp-
erly called, by allopathists, "diseased morbid actions."  She also sometimes
gives  mechanical symptoms, as obstructions to  circulation or nervous action,
or muscular motion;  and sometimes  chemical symptoms, as  suppuration
and gangrene.

  691. The discovery of these symptoms, and the conditions they indicate,
is called diagnosis, that  of their course and termination  prognosis.   That
which they demand, as a corrective, is called their indication of cure.

  692. In  all  cases of  disease, then, the  practitioner  should  direct his
attention to all  parts  of  the system, having it in  his mind  to  detect any
obstruction to, or irregularity in,  the action of the nerves or the blood vessels.
He should  attend,
  1st. To the general irritability, impressibility and tenderness of any part; the
derangement of the senses, or the mental and moral  manifestations.   2d.  To
the respiratory and the sympathetic.   3d. To the feverish excitement of the
whole system or  any portion of it, as  manifested  by irregularities in the
circulation, the secretions or  excretions; the temperature,  the  color, the
swelling or flabbiness,  the smoothness or corrugation.  4th.  To the suppura-
tion or gangrene of any part.  5th. To the character of all these, as modified
by the tissue affected, the velocity of  action, the time of continuance, and
to the specific agents that produced  the  disease (if  discoverable).   6th.  To
the state of the tissues, as  contracted, relaxed, irritated, paralyzed, &c  7th.
To the demands of the tissues, that is, Avhat character of means they want
to relieve them from their present ill condition.   8th.  To what are the articles
adapted to  supply those demands; and, 9th.  The most proper Avay to apply
them. 
PHYSIO-MEDICALISM--APPROVED.
191
   These are the things present  and the things wanted; the knowledge  and
application  ot  Avhich  constitute,  as above  remarked,  the chief medical
knoAvledge and skill of  the  practitioner.

   693.  The Allopathic  School  have  discoA^ered  and used many of these
modes and means of curing disease; they occasionally use them and do good.
But their erroneous views of vital action require them to subdue it—a work
which nature's means or true medicines and processes will not do.   Hence,
they have devised unnatural means—the lancet and poisons—the use of which
accords Avith  their pathological  science, and can not be  rejected till they
acquire correct views of irritation,  inflammation and fever.

   694.  The Reform Schools, seeing the great mischief which the lancet and
some of the most  virulent poisons  produce, haAre rejected those agents, and
undertaken to cure disease by the use of the milder, and of opposite means,
under the influence of the same  false principles.   These agents, acting, some
for and others against nature,  produce effects  which they can neither foretell
nor explain; hence  they despise and reject nearly all principles, allopathic and
physio-medical, and practice  a blind empyricism; sometimes curing, some-
times killing the patient, not knowing, in  either case, the Iioav or  why they
do it.   Hence they all tend back to Allopathy; as every sensible and honest
man will obey the  dictates of what he believes to  be correct principles.

   695.  Simplicity.—The simplicity of the Physio-Medical practice has been
considered an objection to its  universal application and  efficiency.  It is
rather a recommendation.   The beauty and excellence of all science, consist
in its ability to reduce confusion to  order, to extract philosophy from mystery,
and to  bring all  the  operations of art Avithin  the comprehension of  the
ordinary mind.  The human body  is supported and health sustained, by the
beautiful  operation of  the  digestion, circulation and deposition,  of a feAV
organized substances, composed chiefly of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,
phosphorus, sulphur and lime.   All the motions of all the organs are produced
by the  simple contraction and relaxation of their constituent fibers.

   696.  Disease is a condition that  prevents this full, free and regular action.
Of course, all that is necessary to cure any case of it, is to remove obstacles
to this action, and  excite the organs to their proper motions.   WhateA-er will
invariably, promptly, powerfully and permanently, relax, contract and stimu-
late, Avill remove all obstructions to vital action, and cure all forms of disease.
As 'stimulation  is  nothing more  than rapidly  alternating  relaxation  and
contraction, it follows that the tAvo motions in different ways and degrees of
rapidity,  sometimes relaxing, sometimes contracting,  with greater or  less
velocity, are all that is needed.
   Now, if it can be proved that any one article will, by different  modes of
application, produce all these effects, it will folloAV that this article will cure
all forms of disease.

   697  The next step will be to prove that this is the best single article for
the Wneral purposes; and the last,  that different modes of applying this  one
article are better than different articles for the different purposes.

   698.  To all questions on these three points, Allopathists answer: 
192
PHYSIO-MEDICALISM--APPROVED.
   Disease, though  in some mysterious particular which we have not  dis-
covered, unless  it be fever,  (fee, is evidently a unit; and  it would seem as
though a few  good remedies ought to cure it.   Well, gentlemen, what are
your remedies?

   699.  AUopathist.—The lancet, opium and calomel.   If these do not cure,
try something else; (the best medicines are virulent poisons), always remem-
bering to confine your experiments to means and processes recommended by
"the Profession!"

   700.  Eclectic.—Well, I—hardly know what.  Podophyllum, saline baths,
opium,  irritating plasters, leeches, cups, &e, I guess will do, generally.  But
we "do not limit our resources."   Every thing in nature is a medicine or  a
poison,  according to quantity and the circumstances  of its administration.
Food may be made poison by concentration, and "snake poison a good medi-
cine" by dilution.   We must try the medicine.  Nor  are we bound  by the
experience or opinions  of others, or by any established creed  or principles.
Medicine is a  progressive science.   What may suit  a case of disease to-day
may not suit one to-morrow.  We must  try one medicine  after another till
our patient is cured, when we shall know that Ave were right; or till he dies,
which will prove that he  was incurable!   For we have the best of  all  the
remedial means of other systems, and much of our own discovery that is far
better!

   701.  Homeopathist.—There are great varieties of symptoms,  for each and
each group of which, called disease, there are specific remedies: as Ars., Bel.,
Colch.,  Dig., Eup., Gera., Hell., Ignat., Jad., Hah, Sam., Merc, Nux.  V., 01
Ric, Plumb., Ran., Sa., Tart. Ant., Ulm., Verat.,  *  *   Zinc.  But these
are not  one in a hundred.   I  can't enumerate for you; go to Jahr, there you'll
find them, with all the diseases they have cured.  For each case of disease,
you must select the remedy that has cured the greatest number of the symp-
toms present, and change it as these symptoms are cured and others arise:
or, as the symptoms are reduced to those for which it is not suitable, remem-
bering that your medicines are pathogenetic as well as curative, and of course
that, if  you don't select the right you do injury.  Remember, too, that, if
you choose the right remedy, the less you give of it the better.  (Hering).

   702.  Chrono-Thermalist.-We\\, there now; disease  is simply a derangement
of the electrical or of the thermal equilibrium.   It consists in actions, called
irritation, fever, &c, which come and go by fits, as agues and fevers.   Every
agent in nature has power both to derange and restore this equilibrium.  The
best agents to  cure agues and  fevers are  quinine, prussic acid, opium, arsenic,
colchicum, mercury, copper,  lead, zinc,  (fee;  "everything in  nature is in
some way medicinal to man," "either positive or negative" to the system, in
both health and disease.   But, the difficulty is to knoAv what are the rela-
tions of the medicines to the system in any given case of disease.  Who can
tell what will be the action of any remedy till  he tries it?   We must beo-in
with a small dose, somewhere between Allopathic and Homeopathic, and "run
sometimes through the whole catalogue," ("feeling the way," for each remedy,
"if not appropriate does harm!") till  we come to the right one, which we
will always know by "the results!"  [Empyricism from beginning to end in
every  case of practice]. 
PHYSIO-MEDICALISM--APPROVED.
193
   703. Hydropathist.—I believe in the simplest  form of simplicity; that
disease is a unit,  (feA'er, &c,) and that one medicinal agent, water, is enough
and the best means to cure it; or rather, I choose a^the "hygienic agencies,"
air, exercise, diet, (fee, with water of different temperatures and  modes  of
application, by which I can produce relaxation, contraction, excitement and
tonicity, all that is required.  I want nothing else.

   704. Dr. Thomson.—I taught, before Chrono-Thermalistdid, that derange-
ment of temperature is disease, and  before Hydropathist did, that water, in
different  temperatures  and modes of application, (vapor bath,  <fec), would
cure it.   But I found  many simple articles  that Avould produce relaxation,
stimulation and astringency, much quicker, more powerfully and permanently,
and with  less  expenditure  of vital  energy  to the patient.  A great  many
articles Avill very much assist water to produce these  several  effects; and I
use, in each case, any that  are convenient, safe and sufficient.   But, when I
can't relax a  man Avith lobelia  and the mild vapor bath, "raise the  heat"
with  cayenne  and  the hot vapor bath, lubricate Avith mucilages and oils,
neutralize  with alkalies and acids, contract  the fiber with tannin and cold
water, and "tone it up"  with "No. 4, 5,  &c, the patient Avould do well to
make his will!"  See "Guide to health."

   705. The Physio-Medicolist.   In the main old Sammy is right.   He only
takes heat, the manifestation, for life,  the cause of fever, (fee, and cold an
effect, for obstructions,  the causes of disease,—mere metonymic figures, quite
excusable in an illiterate philosopher—and  commits a feAv minor blunders.
His agents, lobelia, nervine, slippery elm, cayenne,  bayberry,  gum myrrh,
and the like, with plenty of Avater, of a  temperature suited  to the cases, prop-
erly applied and judiciously selected, as to time,  quantity  and  manner, with
all the* hygienic agencies combined, constitute the true healing art—the ne
plus ultra of medication.

   706.  We may discover neAV means of carrying them out, and new modes
of application,  but the  principles are the laws of man's nature,  and  they can
not "progress."  Let  these be adopted  and consistently obeyed, and  no
longer is there any trouble  about the "secondary action" of the remedies  for
disease; no longer is  the physician compelled to guess at the  circumstances
in which  his "remedies may be converted into poisons," nor poisons made
"innocent as breast-milk;"  no longer to "lift his club and strike," (21), nor
raise  his  gun  and  fire  (27) "at random," thus "multiplying  diseases and
increasing their mortality," (26).  No longer must he "grope Avithout a clue,
like Homer's  cyclops  round his cave," (22), but "emancipated from the
tyranny of the  schools of physic," (6),  and guided  by the true Physio-Medi-
cal priniciples, he sees, at a glance, the character and conditions of disease,
knows for a certainty the means and processes by  which it may be routed,
and o-oes to work in a scientific manner, with the same fixedness of principle
and certainty of success,  that he would bring to bear upon the practices of
any other art, derived from the  principles of its  appropriate  science.   He
can not  indeed, expect to prolong human  life  forever, nor  to reconstruct
the organs of  the body that may have been fatally marred; nor restore the
functions of organs that are totally deprived of the power to perform them;
but he  can learn to restore that which is capable  of restoration, and  he is
blame-worthy if he  eA'er does any thing to hasten dissolution,  or entail upon
his patient any chronic  malady. 
194
PHYSIO-MEDICAI.ISM--APPROVED.
   The Physio-Medical school commends the use of heat and moisture, bland
 diffusive stimulants, innocent astringents, of the character that may be taken
 in perfect health, in all the Avays and to the extent ever required in disease,
 Avithout seriously deranging  the physiological state.   Thousands of  means
 and many processes are of this character, and may be used almost indifferently;
 but some of the  best have been selected, as those that mayT be relied upon,
 since, Avith them alone, disease is treated and cured with as much directness
 and certainty as  philosophical and chemical experiments are performed.
   Indeed, it can be easily proved that the best philosophers and chemists fail
 more frequently  in the performance of their projected experiments, than do
 the  well instructed  and faithful  Physio-Medical practitioners in  the cure of
 disease.
   The conditions of  their experiments being right, and the operators  intelli-
 gent and skillful, both classes of operations are sure to produce the  expected
 results.   But sometimes the instruments or agents  of both are defective, and
 then the results in neither case can succeed.  The  chemist can do nothing if
 his  instruments  are imperfect or his agents  impure.   So  the doctor can not
 cure a far gone consumption Avith any medicine, nor any disease with spoiled
 medicines.

   707. Thus, some of the differences between the Physio-Medical system and
 all others, have been pointed out.  It has been shoAvn that,  first, it counts irri-
 tation,  fever and inflammation as so  many modes of manifesting an interrup-
 tion of the free action of the vital force,—of course not disease, but a sanative
 effort.   Secondly, it never seeks to diminish the power to produce these symp-
 toms,  but  always to remove  what  prevents an equilibrium of vital action,
 whether that obstacle  be a positive  substance, as  in  retained secretions or
 excretions; or a mere condition, as  in cramp, tetanus,  the  contraction  of the
 surface in the incipient stages of fever, &e
   But, most of all, this science explains all  "the doctrines of fever," in such
 a manner, that they are no longer "difficult to study,"  nor are the results of
 that study "very unsatisfactory," (35), nor are "the doctrines of inflamma-
 tion" at all "problematical," (36).  In  the light of  these glorious truths,
' (these foundation stones of  the  beautiful temple of  true  medical science),
 "experience" is no longer "false,"  (19), and "the action  of external  agents
 on the body is" no longer "fraught  Avith the highest degree of uncertainty,"
 (20).

   708. The Physio-Medical science and practice is not the gift or hiA'ention
 of  any man nor company, nor succession of men.  It is the eteraal truth
 and good, science and art of  God, and His inestimable and unequaled trift to
 all who will thankfully receive it and properly apply it.
   Different individuals, in all ages  and countries,  have discovered and pro-
 mulgated more or less of its principles,  and means and modes of practice, for
 which we should render to each due  honor and gratitude.   And since,  amono-
 them all, I know of no one Avho  has given us so much that is true and good,
 connected Avith so little  that is false and bad, as what Ave find in the little
 "Guide to Health," so I know of no one avIio is entitled to higher  honor or
 deeper and more lasting gratitude from all the sons and daughters of afflic-
 tion, than Dr. Samuel Thomson, the farmer doctor of Alsted, NeAv Hamp-
 shire, who presented to the world his chief medical discoveries and inventions
 in the ninth year of the present century. 
PHYSIO-MEDICALISM--APPRO \*ED.
195
  Other men may more clearly develop these God-given principles, remove
from them errors and crudities that still hang about them, and discover and
devise better Avays and means of  putting them in force.  But, I repeat, the
doctrines  themselves, the general  deductions from them, and the character
of the means and processes of medication, Avhich constitute the Physio-Medi-
cal  science  and practice, are the  immutable truths and art devised by the
unchangable God for the benefit of the unchangeable constitution of man, and
can never "progress" nor be supplanted while man shall inhabit this earth,
and disease continue to vex him.

  709.  We are now ready to answer our last  questions, What is medical
science?  What is quackery? and where can each be found?
  Science is knoAvledge; of course, Avhat is not well knoAvn to exist can not
be science.  Erroneous  theories  are not  science.  " Science," says Aber-
crombie, "is the established relations of things."   But he calls medicine the
"art of  conjecturing," (1).   The  science of guessing,  (1).  Prof. Jackson
says it is what is "proved by established principles and based on positive
inductions."   "Demonstrable."   Of course, Allopathy,  or "a shapeless
assemblage of incoherent ideas," (4), "hypothesis piled on hypothesis," (5)
"ignorance of disease and of a suitable remedy,"  (6), "absurdity, contradic-
tion,  and  falsehood," (7), can not  be  called science, or  knowledge.  Of
course Allopathy is not science, (4).
  Neither  is that a science which "knows nothing more of disease than its
symptoms," (457), which has not learned to "select the proper article, the
proper dose, nor time of repetition," (473).  Nor is that a  science which is
not a matter of fixed principles but only  of clinical practice, (418), Avhich is
based upon no rule "proved by positive induction," Avhich "has no par-
ticular principles to promulgate,"  (Moitoav), which has no  test but quantity
by which food and medicines can be distinguished from snake poison, (413).
  Nor is that science Avhich can not determine the "electrical states" [health
or disease] of the system, (533), or a character of a medicine as  good or bad
till he tries it."
  Nor is that science which  counts "fever both disease and a remedy,"  or
ranks ginger, sage and catnip, Avith calomel, antimony and arsenic, and is
compelled to fufill all the indications of disease Avith one remedy!
  But that is medical science Avhich is "based on the laAvs  of physiology,"
(684);  namely7, of the formation, sustenance and defence of the animal frame,
and on the relations which external agents bear to that frame and its laws,—
a science proved by demonstrations,  and positive  inductions from established
principles,  (   ).   It teaches that  natural laAvs and their poAvers and modes
of action;  and material  substances  and their  qualities,  are  invariably and
always  the  same, and  that apparent differences of modes and qualities, are
to be attributed to the circumstances surrounding them.
  That  health  and disease are positive states, not variable actions;  and that
food, medicines and poisons are such by virtue of their immutable properties,
not the  quantities nor circumstances of their use.   This is the Physio-Medi-
cal system.   It is made up of principles demonstrated  and promulgated by
individuals, and embodied and set forth  in the "dogmas of colleges" and the
" platforms'of  societies," for the benefit of those Avho  have  not the time nor
the  means to discover, demonstrate and arrange for themselves, so that they
may each  learn, in a feAv Aveeks, what it cost many others centuries to dis-
cover, demonstrate and develop. 
196
THYSIO-MEDICALISM—APPROVED,
   What is Quackery?   Answer.  It is practice without the guidance of any
therapeutic principle.   (19, 68,  69, 70, 93, 94).
  Where is it to be  found?  Answer.  In the practice on disease  without
a knowledge of its  character (19, 22, 26, 27), and with  agents, whose
action is fraught with the highest degree of uncertainty, (20,  59, 60, 76, 94,
105); which  cut  two Avays, (81, 60,  105, 74); of those who knoAV not the
proper article, dose, nor time for  repetition, (473); of those who use agents
of which they do not know the action in any case till they try them, (566),
and yet use them, though they believe them mischievous when not appro-
priate, (533).  In short, quackery is found wherever men use, to cure disease,
whatever in its nature tends to the destruction of life  and health.
  JJ^~ Directly following  this work, there is another by the  same hand,
entitled "Synopsis of Lectures on Physio-Medical Science and  Practice," in
which the author has embodied the chief of these glorious principles as he
understands them,  and the  best means and modes of practice whfch he  has
approved and used, and which he  recommends to the careful study and appli-
cation of all persons, sick or well, young and old, male and female, heads of
families or communities, teachers and  practitioners  of medicine, till they
can find a better in the work of some  one who, more talented  and learned,
more discriminating and industrious, shall more clearly develop the principles
of nature in the healing art, and more perfectly remove from them all that is
erroneous in doctrine or mischievous or inefficient in practice. 
INDEX   TO   AUTHORS.
Allopathists                         No. 1
Abercrombie on medicine         1, 13, 21
    Experience;  symptoms,  progress
      and termination of disease       19
    Remedies                        20
Abernethy vs mercury                122
Alembert D' on practice            13, 21
Alley vs mercury                101, 128
Armstrong.  Lancet and mercury, the
    two arms of practice
Authors, sundry
Bachus on fever
Bartlett on medicine
Bell condemns mercury
Bichat on medicine
Bigelow on "speculation"
    Inflammation
    Commends mercury
Blackall vs mercury
Brown on medicine
        82
       331
       246
        18
99, 131, 140
         4
        24
        29
        81
       123
        15
Medical Reformers
Beach.  Reform combines all good
    The irreconcilable difference
    Health
    Disease, pain, fever
    Practice.  Ignores   Thomsonism,
      quotes true Thomsonians, other
      contradictions
    Character of
  332
332-3
  334
  335
  336
337
338
408
409
411
413
416
With
"Literary" specimen
"American Eclecticism,'
  M. D.
 2Vb.441,2, 3
      441,2
J. R. B.,
        445
Eclecticism                          397
Buchanan J. R.,1he "literary" and "sci-
      entific" defender, <fcc.          «*»/
    Doctrines         399,400,403-6,408
    Medicines made poisons by increase
      of quantity, opium too good to be
      rejected
    Narcotics
    Eight denials
    Medicine and poison the same
    Evei-v thing medicinal
    No principles           411,414,418
    Only  blockheads  deny their  im-

      P°rtance             „o oo 5bf?
    Platform builder       419, 22, 424-7
    "Sacrificed"  the  highest  profes-
      sional honors, caste, and "person-
      al respectability." joined himself
      to  an "illiterate" and "unscien-
      tine" faculty                  ***
    That he might finish the platform 430-4
    Compare
Allopathists
Chapman on doctrines
    Diagnosis
    Commends mercury
    Condemns it
Cleveland on mercury
Clymer on distinctions of fever
Clutterbuck on fever
    Blood-letting
Cooper vs mercury
Copeland condemns blood-letting
Coxe, J. R., few remedies
Cox, Hiram, vs mercury

Allopathists
D' Alembert on practice
Dewees on blood-letting
Dispensatory, TJ, S., on mercury
Donaldson on medicine
    No cure for fevers
Drake on Typhoid fever
    Mercury
Dunajlison's chart
     1
     7
    22
    79
   142
   424
   246
    33
    51
110,11
    66
   662
   145

     1
 13,21
    59
    94
    16
     5
    18
   100
   316
Eclectics
Dolly's Eclecticism

Homeopathists
Dudgeon against Hahnemann
    Principles

Chrono-Thermalists
Dickson, discoveries
    Disease, fever
    Type of disease
    Remedies
    All substances remedies
    Poison same as medicine
    Action of remedies
    Disease
    Great law
    Unity of disease
    Fever—disease
    Medicines do and do not act
      same manner
    Lobelia
    Prussic acid
    Opium
                       (197)
      397
      435

      447
      448
      473

      51G
  516,517
      516
   520-24
      528
      529
529, 537-8
530, 531-6
      535
      539
      541
      542
in the
  544, 552
      546
      547
      548 
198
INDEX  TO  AUTHORS.
    Who can tell effect of remedies till
      tried?                         551
    Alcohol                     552-3-5
    TJnitv of action              556, 557
    Egotism                   541,560,4
    Inconsistencies            562-3-4-5
    "Feel your way"                 565
    Practice                         567
    Not given credit for articles    569-70
Dr. D.'s character                  570-1

                                       1
  2
 37
 97
146
316
 76
Allopathists

Eberle on doctrines
    Practice and fever
    Mercury
    Diseases caused by "remedies"
    Chart
    Opium
Enquirer, NeAv York Medical, systems
      changeable                       3
Erichsen on inflam.  238, 241, 247, 284, 286
Eve on medicine                       18

Allopathists                             1

Falconer vs mercury                   126
Farre vs mercury                      124
Fletcher on inflammation              250
Flint, mercury produces scrofula 147 to 151
Forbes, Dr. John, on Allopathy          18

Allopathists                             1

Gallup on opium                       76
    Diseases                         297
Golphin condemns mercury             93
Good, J. M., describes blood-letting      67
    Mercury                      115-16
    Condemns it                116, 141
Graham, Jas., on theories               14
Graham, Thos., curses mere. 117 to 120, 129
Gregory on disease and theories          8
    Fever                  28, 34, 35, 38
Water-Curers	572
Gully on disease	592
Allopathists Hall, M., on blood-letting Dangers of Condemns mercury Inflammation Hamilton vs mercury Harrison, J. P., on blood-letting	1 50,61 62 81 29 125, 127 61,63
    Opium                  71 to 75, 219
    Mercury—a great blessing     78, 143
    Controllable                       94
    Condemns it   81, 95, 96, 135-7, 143-4
    On medical reasoning             323
Henderson on practice                  17
Hering on systems                     11
Holmes on inflammation                29
    Commends mercury                81
Hooper, poisons best medicines          48
    Condemns mercury                 97
    Universally prescribed
Hunter on inflammation, sanative
    Blood-letting kills
Hunter's character
No.
 83
 42
 55
664
Homeopathists                         447
Hahnemann's doctrines  450-2, 456-9, 461,
                            465, 470, 471
    Similia similibus curantur          471
    Cure                             487
    Health and disease       488, 490, 492
    Causes of disease                 489
    Medicines                   493,496
    Error                            495
    Dual action pathogenetic and cura-
      tive                            498
Hahnemann's character                515
Hering on principles               12, 472

Allopathists                             1
Jackson on medicine                9, 618
Johnson on narcotics                   76
Journal, B. M. & S., on poisons         48
Journal, Edinburg M. <fe S. vs mercury 112
Joy vs mercury                     133-4

Medical Reform                       332
Jones. I. G.                 -         377
    Fever disease               381 to 396

Water-Curers                         572
Johnson on perspiration               586
    Irritation                        588
    Disease                     592, 610
    Health                           609
    Inflammation, cold water          611
Allopathists
Liebig in error                   601,
Lobstein on blood-letting, murderous
Locke on Toxicology
Louis on medicine
Mackintosh on blood-letting
McLellan commends mercury
    Condemns it
Maguardic, blood-letting mischievous
Menzel on medicine
Miller commends mercury
    Its effects
    Can't stop its action
    Uncontrollable
Morehead commends blood-letting
    Condemns it

Medical Reformers
Morrow, disciple of Beach, introduces
      him in Cincinnati
    Establishes  Worthington College
    Proposes union with Botanies
    Rejects mercury, antimony and ar-
      senic
    1
  635
  156
  314
   11

    1
   69
80,91
105-6
64,65
   10
   84
   90
  130
138-9
   53
60,70
332

339
340
341

345 
INDEX  TO  AUTHORS.
199
                                     No.
Morrow, sundry others indefinite       350
    The great rule of S. M. Reform    351
    The medicine to cure Allopathy    349
    Dif. of means and principles        252
    Nothing to do Avith Thomsonism  346,
                                353, 359
    Principles, from 0. S. Journal      353
    Rejects—what?                 353-5
    What retains                   356-8
    No revolutionist, principles        359
    No new pathological views     359-61
    Non-committalism              360-2
    Severe practice                   364
    Principles                      361-5
    Teaches every thing               365
    Rejects chloroform                366
    Justifies blood-letting             367
    Confusion of ideas about fever and
      disease                      368-72
    "Recipe doctor"                  374
    No fixed principles                375
    His reform tested, and Eclectic poli-
      cy detected                     376
    Morrow and his practice           376
    The moving spirit of the E. M. I.  379
    Teaching, treatment of Terry      437
    Commendation of Cox            436
    Beach                            439
    Baldridge and Jones              440

Allopathists                             1
Paine on inflammation and fever        32
    A disease                         41
    A cure                            45
    Therapeutics                      46
    Action of remedies; poisons best
      remedies                        47
    Blood-letting                      52
    "Anchor of hope"                 54
    No difference between fever and in-
      flammation                     558
Pereira commends mercury             81
    Its modus operandi               85-9
    Effects of                  101-4, 107
    Condemns mercury            113-14

                                     572

                              574, 584-5
                                     608

                                     186
                                     684
                                  671-83
Water-Curers

Priessnitz
    On principles

Physio- Medicalists
Baltimore platform
Principles

Allopathists

Rankin on opium
Robinson, blood-letting, murderous
Rush on theories and practices
    Diagnosis and practice

Medical Reform

Reformer, W. M.
  1
 77
 58
  6
 26

332

332
Allopathists		1
Salmon on blood-letting, villa	iny	57
Smith, Southwood, on fever		34
Water- Carers		572
Shew vs medicines		583, 614
Disease	592	594, 614
On vapor bath		607, 614
Inflammation—disease		612
Science, quackery, where found? 709		
Allopathists		1
Thacher on medicine		23
Fever and inflammation		36,39
Blood-letting		68
Thomson, John, fever and inflam.		30
Trail on fever and action of r	emedies 314	
Against drugs		581
Chrono- Thermalists		516
Turner on health and disease		521-2
Remedies		523-4
Treatment		525
Water-Curers		572
Trail vs'"drug remedies"		581
Fever and disease		593
Not disease		615
Nosologies		394-6
True doctrine		595
In favor of medicines		598
"Action of"		598
    On vapor bath, vs "steam doctors"
      use of it                  607, 616
    "Foggy" ideas, treatment         616
    Poisonous                       618

Thomsonians                         619
Thomson, Dr. Sam'l., the reformer  475, 619
    Fever                         620-2
    Revolution                      624
    Poison                          626
    General medicine            62S, 645
    On heat                         631
    Component parts of the body      632
    Support of                    633-4
    Derangement of the system  and
      correction                   636-7
    Food                            639
    Medicine always good         639-40
    Heat, life                        641
    One disease                     642
    Anatomy                        643
    One cause of disease [error]       645
    Heat, fever                      467
    Not disease                      648
    Cold, cause of disease            651
    Of fever                        653
    Assist nature                    654
    Fever  don't kill,  depletion  and
      freezing mischievous           653
    Fevers cured                    655
    Heat balanced, death             65(j 
200
GENERAL INDEX.
Thomson, aid fever	No. 659	Whiting on popular medicine		No. 5
A Chrono-Thermalist	660	Practice		27
His remedies	661	True science		618
His errors and crudities, contradic-		Williams, description	of fever and	in-
tions and absurdities	663	flammation		246
Great doctrine of fever	664			
Keen discrimination, no poisons	665	Medical Reformers		332
Difference betAveen him and other		Worthington College	established	340
reformers	666			
Better practitioner	667	Treatment contrasted.		
Reformer	708	AUopathist Eclectic		699 700
Allopathists	1	Homeopathist		701
Watson on inflammation	31	Chrono-Thermalist		702
A disease	40	Hydropathist Thomsonian		703
A cure	44			704
Commends mercury 8	1,92	Physician Differences		705-6
Condemns it 108-9,	132			707
Waterhouse on learned quackeiy	25	Source of Physio-Medicalism		708
Hunter and Thomson
664
GENERAL   INDEX.
  No.
  169
  173
  170
  171
  172
286-7
Absorbents
    Antagonism of
    Balance secernents
    More numerous
Absorption and secretion balanced
Absurd conclusions
Absurdity             3, 7, 556-7, 562-3
Abuse, of a thing            270, 416, 529
    Eclectic, of persons          437, 441
Access of inflammation              248
Action of vital force in inflam.    250, 278
    Allopathic remedies     20, 315, 544-5
    Eclectic remedies
    Chrono-Thermal
    True, of remedies
Agents
    Aggravate disease
Aids to mercury
      416, 450-512
      529,531,533
            544-G
           20, 270
          512. 533
             3186
422, 654, 675, 687-8
            552-3
Aid Nature
Alcohol, hoAv acts
Allopathic reform                325, 331
Allopathy                        1,331
All drugs poisonous                  581
"Alone I did it," Dickson             560
American  Eclecticism              445-6
    Practice                        3?2
Anatomy                           159
    Dr. S. Thomson on               643
Animal heat                      274-5
Animation, cause of                 272
Animalcule, Jones's
Antimony
Antimony and arsenic rejected
Anodynes, the true
Anthropology, Buchanan's
Apology for  Eclecticism
Arteries
    Capillaries of
    Antagonisms of
    Structure and action of
    Effect of cold Avater on capil.
Asthma cured Chrono-Thermally
Balance of heat and cold, death
    Secernents and absorbents
Baltimore platform
Basis of Allopathy, Ir., Fev., Infl.
    False, never established
Believed and taught, (Al.)
Blistering, Eclectic
Blood in inflammation
Blood-letting, approved
            ned
Condemi
Anchor of hope
Best remedy
Experiments with
Eclectic, approAred
    "     condemned
Murderous
No criterion for it
Sure only for evil
             No
          382-95
            3186
             355
             212
             428
             446
           161-3
             168
             164
             168
             166
             546
             656
             170
             684
             153
       5, 155, 185
            3286
     320. 357, 361
257-9,261,316-17
           47-54
           5.r-70
              54
            \, 53
           68,70
             367
             s 53
      55-6, 68, 70
           59,68
            63-4
49, 
GENERAL  INDEX.                           201
Blood-letting worse than war           58
Calomel, antimony and ars., rejected    355
Capillaries, and their action       166, 168
Causes              265-6, 269, 272, 308-9
    Of  disease      177, 266, 316, 325, 329,
                             489, 492, 504
Cause of fever                191, 204, 278
    Exciting cause                 231-2
    Of  suppuration and gangrene      253
Cause and cure of disease             696
Candid  investigation                 427
Cancer described                   308-9
Changes in the blood                 293
    Described by Dr. Morrow         361
Character of remedies         20, 315, 706
Chrono-Thermalism                   516
    A fever disease system    516, 522, 524
    Principles                    516,557
    Remedies                  528, 537-8
    Improvement on Allopathy        571
Circulation                           166
    Equilibrium  of           174, 226, 292
    Uses of                          226
    Through inflamed parts           296
Counter irritation                     208
Corns described                      215
Confusion of notions            245, 285-6
Conditions, of tissue in inflam.        250
    Of  disease                   673, 696
Congestion described                  256
Conclusions, absurd                   285
    Not strange                      618
Contraction of capillaries              166
Crisis                                262
Criticism, Dr. Thomson's          647, 653
Cure, Homeopathic                487, 496
    Our plan, a unit                  268
"Cuts both ways" (iodine)             536
Cupping, Eclectic                357, 364
Creed maker (Buchanan)              428
Death, balance of heat and cold        656
Deception, by Buchanan             441-2
Definitions of inflam.  243, 250, 253, 255-6
Defence of  Eclecticism by Buchanan    397
Deniers  of principles, numbskulls      428
    Buchanan is  one                  418
Denunciations of  dissenters, Al.        154
    Eclectic                    437,441-3
Delirium, what
Depletion, Allopathic
Determination of  inflammation
Diagnosis
Difficulties solved
Different practices
Difference between Al. and Ec
    264
  290-1
    249
  691-2
  295-6
699-705
  352-3
Eclecticism and Thoms'ism  352-3, 359
    Allopathy and
    Homeopathy and Allopathy
    Neither understands it
    Allop. and Chrono-Thermalism
Digitalis, aid to lancet and mercury
Discussion of  inflammation
Distinctions of fevers, wanting
Dissimilarity of  medicines
     359
    5046
    524c
     523
     318
     238
242, 246
     496
                                     No.
Dickson in the fog                   543
Discovery, real, valuable      622, 673, 693
Distinction bet. fever and inflam.    240-2
    Medicine and poison      20, 413, 529
Dissenters, abuse of   154. 437, 441-3, 565
Disease          175,206,521,525-7,672
    Ignorance of      13, 16, 19, 22, 34, 36
 *   Not fever                    42, 504«
    Opinions of 32-8, 372-3, 336, 471, 488,
         490, 496, 504c, 511, 521, 610, 612,
                                673, 679
    Aggrava. or diminution of action  521
    Causes of     177,  489, 492, 504c, 673
    A unit         336, 246, 266, 673, 679
    To produce                  146, 200
    Locality of                      207
    Conditions of                    673
    Ir., fev., inflammation  372-3, 490, 496
    Artificial and natural             511
    Intermittent             381, 393, 516
Diseases different                     279
    Intermittent                  519-20
    Aggravations of                 512
    Changes of                      535
    Progress of                   19, 566
    Symptoms and names of          673
    Produced by medicines           146
    Indications of                   674
Diseased actions                     690
Doctrines worthless 2, 7, 16, 404, 408, 413,
        418, 420, 422, 424, 430-2, 672-692
    Eclectic                      411-35
    Fundamental                     664
Doses small, often good,  explained     505
Done, what Allopathists  have         328
    What thev have not done         329
    What they should do             330
    What I have done               330a
Drugs all poisonous                  581
Ducts described                      169
Dual action of remedies               450
Eclecticism, American              445-6
Eclectic principles                347-51
    Med.  Institute established    341, 420
    Reform combines  every thing use-
      ful                        333, 359
    Differs from Allopathy           334
Effects of  causes of disease         266-7
Egotism, Eclectic                     397
    Dicksonian                  560, 564
Electricity causes  and cures dis. 526, 530-1
    Makes agents kill or cure         531
Embodimentof Ec. principles 411,420,435
Enteritis                            304
Equalize circulation                  292
Equilibrium of pressure           166, 174
    Derangement of           165-6,291
Error of errors  156, 165-6, 186, 192-9, 222,
                            245, 285, 619
    Of Beach, &c.                   336
    Of Reformers                    156
    Of Hahnemann   454, 474-5, 488, 495,
                            496-501, 504
    Of Dickson                     521 
202
GENERAL  INDEX.
                                     No.
 Error of Thomson                    663
 Excitement, vital                   230-1
 Exciting causes          204, 239, 265, 269
 Excitation—ability—ment      203, 230-1
 Exercise induces fever and inflam.  239-40
 Eye, inflammation of                  236
 Experience false               11,  19, 314
 Explanations of difficulties       296, 327
 Faculty, what they have done        327-8
    What believed and taught        328c
    Errors of                 192-9, 328b
    What not done                   329
    What, should do                  330
 Faithful report                       344
 Facts false, facts not understood   487, 497
    Explained                     495-9
 Fever, ignorance of                  34-8
    Opinions of               30, 41, 152
    A unit                           246
    Basis of Allopathic practice  28, 30, 35
                                  38,41
    Described      153, 176,197, 229, 336
    Distinctions of                 246-7
    Names of                         234
    Bachus on                       246
    Cause of       235, 266, 278, 382,  680
    Jones on                       380-1
    Disease                30, 32-8, 612c
    No  cure for                   16,  IT 5
    Nervous, cause of    191, 204, 235,  382
    How subside                     232
    Confusion respecting         245,  615
    Clymer on                       247
    Morrow on                  " 369-72
    Periodicity of           384, 516,  521
    Not disease                504a, 612b
    Sanative                   504a,  616
    Does not kill                     653
    Trail on                          615
    Beach on                         336
    True character                    229
    Objections to                     288
    Its  indications                    685
    Remedies  for                     550
Feet, inflamed                         298
"Feel your way"                 533,  565
Fog, Dr. Dickson in                   543
Face, inflamed                        299
Food, what?                          321
    Made poison by concentration      413
    And medicines rejected            321
Follies of the faculty                285-7
Force, vital                        159-60
    Fixed                            188
    Available                         189
Freezing patients                      631
Fundamental doctrines of true medical
      science                         664
Gangrene, chemical, death        244,  284
    Cause of                         253
Good of Homeopathy                  515
Good agents abused                   270
Grade of fever                        278
Granulation                 244, 281, 284
                                     No.
"Guide to Health," good               667
Hahnemann                          515
Headache                            213
Health    174, 200, 205, 335, 283, 488, 504c,
                        521, 609, 672, 678
    Beach on                         335
    Dickson on                       521
    Hahnemann on                   488
    Water-Cure                       609
    True                       672, 678
Heat, animal                      274-5
    Life sustaining                   631
    Effects of                         275
    Equilibrium of              634, 641
Heart described                  161, 168
Homeopathy, cannot condemn Allop.    501
    Asks how do medicines cure       504
    Errors of                    444, 448
    Good of                          515
Human body                  159,632-3
    How  sustained            634, 636-7
Identity of fever and disease           526
    Of cause and cure                526
    Medicines and poisons            526
Ignorance      6, 7, 8 26-7, 384, 403, 418,
                            473, 536, 565
Illustrations of inflammation      298-311
Importance of  water in the blood       261
    Sanative doctrine            247, 252
    Principles                   428,418
Ignorance of disease and remedy   26, 473
    Cause of                    508 509
    Dickson's,  of authors  and  sys-
      tems               558-61,564,568
    Of cause of periodicity of disease  384
    Cause explained                   509
Impressions, false                     211
Impudence of Dr. Dickson    565, 568, 570
    Exposed                    568,570
Incapacity to develop  principles        428
Inconsistency, Jones's        395, 565, 616
    Hahnemann's                  44Q-9
    Dickson's                     565-6
    Trail's                           616
    J. R. Buchanan's        416, 418, 428,
                              430-2, 434
"Ineffectual speculation"          24, 26-33
Inflammation, disease                40-1
   - Not disease                      42-5
    One                        522, 246
    Tends to disorganization or cure    552
    Destructive                    40, 41
    What 28-32, 36,  41-3, 237-4, 298-304
    True character 229-32, 235-7, 240, 312
    Vital action                 176, 250
    Curative               42, 444-5, 247
    How commences  229,231,248-9,298
    Subsides            232, 238, 244, 283
    Resolution                       238
    Suppuration and  granulation       244
    Healing                          283
    Localities of                      191
    Brain                           191
    Eye                             236 
GENERAL  INDEX.
203
                                     No.
Inflammation, feet and hands          298
    Invited                 236, 248, 298
    Forced                           229
    Active                           255
    Passive                          256
    Simple and sanative      42, 252, 611
    Tissues in                       250
    Blood in                         257
    True cause of                    235
    Exciting causes of            204, 239
    Erichsen on                      241
    Bachus and Williams on          246
    Trail on, disease                  612
    Illustrated           236-40, 298 304
Inability to  act physiologically  and
      fully, disease                  175
Infancy, medicine in          11, 313, 384
Indications of disease             674, 685
    How and with what fulfilled      686
Insanity, what                       264
Institutes of medicine                 428
Inquiries of Dr. Morrow               359
Investigation, candid                  427
Iodine cuts both ways                 556
Irritation                         176,203
    A blessing                   209, 221
Irritability                           203
    Treatment of                     210
Irritants, excitants                    204
Irritation, inflam.  and fever, in cause
    and character identical            176
Kills if it don't cure 3,13,27, 56-7, 60-7, 69-
      71, 74, 76-7, 96, 117-21 142, 512, 536
Labyrinth, practice a                   22
Lacteals described                    169
Lancets and leeches rejected           523
    In part rejected  *            353, 369
Laudanum and leeching prescribed by
      Dr. Morrow    353, 357-8, 3616, 364
Law, great Chrono-Thermal            359
Leaders of Eclecticism   331, 337, 419, 441
Learned quackery  25, 418,473, 533, 70, 78-
      84? 95-7, 117, 142, 353,  356-9, 364,
                   376,384,413,551,565
Liberality of Eclecticism 408, 415-16, 418,
                      421,424,437,441-2
Ligatures to prevent phrenitis          392
Literature, specimens of    397, 432-3, 437,
441-2
  456
  287
Lobelia cures asthma
Mal-practice,
    Allopathic, see learned quackery
    Eclectic         376, 392, 408, 418, 424
    Homeopathic            _„ „^  479
    Chrono-Thermal     533, 536, 551, 565
    Water-Cure                 C06, 616
    Thomsonian                      bbJ
    General, and its cause            MB
Manifestations of vital force        *B™
Materia medica    20; 332-3; 403 408, 416;
      493-523, 528; 529; 581-2, 584; 588;
      629-30, 640, 645, 661; 665; 676, 677,
            '               682; 699-706
Medicine, principles of, incoherent ideas  4
    Baseless                           5
   , Ineffectual speculation           5, 24
    Rejected               5, 6, 11, 15,18
    Allopathic       1, 4-6, 8, 16b, 18, 327
    Beach's                   333-6, 618
    Morrow's                  353,361-5
    Jones's                       381-96
    Buchanan's                  399-430
    Hahnemann's                 472-94
    Dickson's   516-17, 520-4, 528-9, 535,
                              539, 541-2
    Water-Cure 589, 591, 592, 597, 608, 617
    Priessnitz's                    583-5
    SheAv's       583, 575-7, 594, 607, 612
    Trail's       531, 593-5, 598. 607, 615
    Johnson's            586, 588, 609-11
    Thomson's                   620, 661
    The Physio-Medical 330, 475, 665, 671,
                        -696, 705-6, 708
Medicines and poisons, same   493-4, 413,
                                    526
Medicines, see remedies
Mercury, greatest and best remedy   78—84
    Anti-inflammatory                81
 •   Prevents healing 81, 84, 91-2, 318, 424
    How it cures  81, 136, 138-141, 143-5
    Theory of its action             85—9
    Effects       90-106, 132-144, 148-51
    Buchanan and Cleveland on       424
Membranes, mucous, inflam. of      302-4
Mean business          436-7, 441-3, 445
Minor practice                       320
Murderous quackery   55—6, 68, 70, 76, 142
Mortification                         284
Nature, aid her        422, 654, 675, 687-8
Negatives, eight Eclectic              411
Nervous system              178-187, 222
    Fluid                           225
    Action                          214
Nervines,  the true                212, 214
New vieAvs of pathology, none        359
    Truths received                  427
Non-committalism 342, 360,375,424,403-5,
                                408, 424
Nosologies condemned    5, 15, .19, 22, 527
Objections, Dr. Morrow's            350-3
    To the true theory of infl.  288, 293-4
Obstructions                   175-6, 668
Opium                            71-'?7
    How acts           319,327,507,543
    Used  by Dr. Moitoav              356
One remedy cures all                 561
Organization, cause of                273
Pathogenetic  and curative not under-
      stood                          508
    Explained                       509
Pain, what                          216
    To cure                         217
    Wrong notions of            218, 336
    Is  a blessing                    221
Periodicity, Jones on               384—5
    Dickson on                      516
    Explained                       393
Perfect system               399, 406, 671 
204
GENERAL  INDEX.
                                     No.
Pericarditis and peritonitis            306
Phrenitis, what                       191
    Ligatures to prevent              392
Philosophv, Eclectic 408, 416, 418-19, 424,
                                430, 432
Platform, Baltimore                   684
    Eclectic, rejected            418, 421
    Adopted   403-6, 408-9, 411, 413, 416,
      418, 420-8, 430, 432, 435-6,  440-2,
                                     445
    Homeopathic                  472—3
    Hahnemann's                488-94
    Sanative                    406,432
      Reformers unite on              406
    Chrono-Thermal                  516
Plaster, Moitoav's                     364
Poisons                     271, 630, 681
    Wrong notions of                 581
    All drugs                        581
    Excluded                 403-4,406
    Admitted                        409
    Can't dispense with          408, 413
    Every substance poison   413, 416, 507
    Or not poison                    375
Policy, Eclectic               375, 436-45
Practice, reformed               3616-62
    Jones's                      387-92
Practice, general             220, 699-705
    Allopathic                  155,220
    Beach's                          337
    Morrow's                    356,358
    Jones's                      387-92
    Dickson's                 575,565-7
    Buchanan's                      405
Prescription                          568
    Dickson's                     562-6
    Priessnitz's              583, 585, 608
    Water-Cure                  589, 617
    Thomson's       641-2, 645, 655, 667
    Best time for                 387, 659
    Adopted                    416, 6^2
    Rejected                415, 418, 683
Preserve vital force                    422
Principles, not new             358—9, 365
    Of reform, none              414-15
    Importance of                    428
    Distinctive                       435
    Error of Homeopathy              474
Prognosis, what                       691
Promise fulfilled                      313
Procuring cause                       265
Process  of inflammation            248-9
Progress of disease                     19
Quackerv   25, 155, 324, 330, 702-10, 287,
      357-8, 405, 430, 496, 523,  557,  562,
                 565-9, 599, 616, 618, 663
    Learned                     25,55-6
    Murderous       55-6, 68-70, 76, 142
Reasoning, Allopathic                 323
Reform, by Allopathists          S25, 331
    S. M. rejects        332, 348, 351, 361
    The means                  352, 359
    Morrow rejects                 350-3
    Buchanan's                   411-29
Reformer, W. M., revived
Reformers, Avhy not pure
    True, reject poisons
    Use medicines
    The  greatest
Relief of inflammation
Remedies described
         No.
         363
    666, 694
    676, 683
         677
         708
251, 315, 326
         682
    Action of    20, 47, 315, 326, 450, 470,
                          493-6, 499, 509
    Explained                        327
    Unknown 20, 226-7, 509, 640, 529, 115
    Dual                456, 494, 529, 557
    Different action of         491, 556-7
    Pathogenetic and curative         508
    Rejected, lancets, leeches and cup-
      ping, Dickson                  523
    Food and medicines               321
    Ignorance of                   326-7
    Who can tell till tried    551, 554, 556
    True action  of    337, 414, 548-51, 629
    Aggravate disease                512
    Causes of disease                 316
    Every thing a    416, 453, 529-39, 553
    And poisons the same             529
    Eclectic                     364,366
    Allopathic                      330a
    Chrono-Thermal             52^. 528
    Contrasted                  490,557
    Quinine best                     563
    General                   •      628
    Thomsonian             661, 665, 682
"Respectability sacrificed"             428
Resolution of inflammation            238
Revolution  in medicine           359, 624
Russelville lecture                  '  347
Sacrifice of respectability              428
Sanative, irritation, fever, inflam.  247, 252
    Medication          406, 677, 682, 706
Secretions and absorptions             170
Serous membranes                  305-7
Scrofula                              308
    Produced by mercury         148-51
Scarlatina                            302
Scarifying                       357, 364
Science, what C.                      709
    True  medical, demonstrable and
      immovable                     618
Sclerotitis, Avhat                      304
Signs of inflammation        241-2,  277-8
Similia similibus curantur an error  457, 461,
                              471,495-6
Similarity  between Homeopathy and
      Allopathy                   500-2
Simplicity of science                  695
Slate or condition                185,205
Slanderous opponents refuted           397
Small doses                          505
Snake poison made good medicine      413
Speculation, medicine a              5, 24
Specimens of Eclectic literature 437,  441 -3
State or condition, healthy             205
    Diseased                         206
Suppuration                     244,280
    Causes of                        283 
GENERAL INDEX.
205
         No.
         300
         166
         167
          19
         277
     673, 690
         666
399, 406, 671
        328c
         436
Surface in inflammation
    Cold and dry
    Warm and active
Symptoms, deceptive
    FeAv permanent
    True
Systems, good in all
    Perfect
Teachings, Allopathic
    Eclectic
Temperature, changes of
Test of remedies
    S. M. Reformers, or Eclectics
    Of practice, Allopathic, Eclectic,
       Homeopathic,  Chrono-Thermal,
       "successful results"
Theory rejected
    Adopted            472
    And Practice, J. & M's
    In trouble
    Not proved
    Allopathic
Thirst, what
Therapeutics, what
Tissues, condition of in Infl.
Modify inflammation
Thomsonism, the first radical reform
    Beach on
    Morrow on
Treatment, see practice
"Try it,"               376,551,553,565
Tumors, what                        282
Type, unity and identity of           526
Ulcers, tumors, boils            282—3, 310
167
327
376
         562
         503
3, 488-9, 492
      377-92
         394
       6,7.8
      328-30
       262-3
          46
233, 250, 276
         276
         622
         337
         359
                                     No.
Uncertainty of Medicine         1-18, 20-1
Unitv of disease             246, 336, 526
    Power of cure                526,541
    Poisons and remedies             529
    Remedial action explained         556
Union College                    362, 376
Unsafe remedies                      426
Use and abuse                    413, 529
Valves of  the heart                   168
Vapor bath, Trail on                 . 607
    Shew on                         614
Veins described                      169
Velocity  of circulation through in-
      flamed parts                    296
Vital force,  specific power         159, 160
    Fixed                           188
    Hoav diffused                    225
    Available                        185
    Manifested                       190
    Produces  irritation, fever and in-
      flammation           191, 204, 272
    Power, preserve                  422
Warmth and moisture                 165
Water in the blood                    258
    Object of                         259
    Importance of                    261
Water cure                       575,617
    Basis of                       575-6
    Rejects all medicines         581, 583
    Establishments                 580-2
    No platform                      584
    By whom adopted                578
    Improving              579, 582, 607
    Important part of medical practice 617
  The above Index may seem formidable to the reader; but, if he will take any line of it and
read all the references in order, he will have a complete view of the subject implied by the
word.  Take, for example, " Policy, Eclectic."   If he should not find all he wants under one
head, let him seek it under another of like import, as Platforms, Systems; Doctrines, Princi-
ples; Medicines, Remedies; Eclectics, Reformers;  Mean Business, Policy; Science, System
Mai-Practice, Quackery, &c.  By this means any one can select a whole Lecture for either
instruction, criticism or defence, and connect the parts together with  a very few words of his
own.  Full as the Index is, it does not contain complete references on all the subjects.  For
example, to refer to all the qvackery, would be to cite nearly all the  practice of the pathological
systems.  Only a few "striking" specimens, (as 13, 27, 70, 74, 76, 117-20,142-51), are pointed
ont.  The Reader  must study the whole hook,  and make himself master of every  section
Then he will be able to determine what practice he should choose, and what refuse. 
   BOOKS  BY  A.   CURTIS, M. D.,
VINO-AUBURN,  CI1VCI1VTVA.TI,  OHIO.
           "A Cyclopedia of  Medical Doctrixks," being an  Exposition of Allopathy  and its
         kindred  systems and branches, or "A Fair Examination and Criticism of all the  Medical
         Systems in vogue," viz., Allopathy, Scientific Medical Reform, Eclecticism, Homeopathy,
         Chrono-Thermalism, Hydropathy, Tliomsonism, and the True or Physio-Medical Science
         and Practice.  By A. Curtis, A. M.,  M. D., Professor, for thirty years, of the Institutes
         of Medicine, in the Physio-Medical College of Ohio.
           This is unlike any  medical Avork  ever published.  It is designed to make the reader
         acquainted with all the peculiarities of every popular system, and to enable him to select,
         from'them, Avith a clear understanding of their character, that which he will study or
         practice or patronize.
           The knowledge of the best means of preventing and curing disease, is, to every human
         being, only  second in  importance to  any other to which he can devote attention; and it is
         believed that this will, on the whole, contribute more to the attainment of that knowledge,
/         than any other work ever published.
           "It is  one of the most keen, pointed, vivid and truthful dissections of Medical Systems
         that it has ever been our pleasure to read."—Physio-Medical Recorder.
           Price,  bound, $2  00;  when sent  by mail, post paid.

           "Curtis's Lfctitrks on Obstetrics and the forms of Disease peculiar to Women and
         Children."—More than twelve thousand copies of this very popular work have been sold.
         According to its principles and  directions, the Author has  practiced, very extensively,
         for twenty-three years, without the loss of a single mother or a healthy child; and with-
         out permitting  in his practice the occurrence of a single case  of phlegmasia dolens (milk
         leg), or puerperal fever. Nor have there occun-ed but two cases of broken breast;  one in a
         mercurialized constitution afflicted with ulcers all over the body, and the other that of a
         lady who had lost the nipple from a previous abscess.
           This work has also been equally  useful to very many other  practitioners,  not only in
         its particular sphere,  but in the treatment of most other forms of disease.  A friend in
         Alabama, who had  purchased many copies for his acquaintances,  says:   "It is a given
         up case, that the instructions in your Obstetrics, enable us to cure summer complaints,
         dysentery, scarlet fever, measles, chills and fevers, <fec, with almost absolute certainty."
         450 page's 8vo.  Price, bound, by mail and post paid,  $3.
           " The Botanico and the  Physio-Mkihcal Recorder."—We have yet some odd volumes
         of this valuable periodical, which has done more than any other  single agent  to break
         down Medical  Tyranny and Quackery, and to disseminate and establish truth, and a safe
         and scientific practice.
            This work is made up of contributions from the pens of the ablest and best Reformers,
         and has the rare merit of having been so guarded throughout by the  same Editorial eye,
         as to render it a safe guide to the student, and reliance to the practitioner.  All its articles
         having been carefully criticised and  their enors corrected, its pages are, and ever must
         be, deeply interesting and instructive.   No where else can  be found so much  valuable
         medical matter so little contaminated with error.
            Of this work, the Editor of the Middle States Medical Reformer says:
            " This is the oldest and  most faithful advocate  and defender, in  the world, of the true
          principles of medical reform.   While too many others have swerved and  faltered and
          dwindled and  died, the Recorder has always remained firm and unyielding in its war-
          fare  against quackery and error, and its advocacy of sound  medical truth.   Through
          good report and evil report, it  has out-Hoed the  malignity and slander of its  enemies,
          having now reached its twentieth volume; and promises to do as much service in the good
          work as in  days gone by."
            Price of past volumes, by mail, bound, 75c; stitched in paper covers, 50c.   416 pages,
          double column 8vo.  Price of  current volumes, $2.


             Still on hand and for  sale  a few copies of "A  Synopsis of  Curtis's  Lectures on
          Medical Science;" fourth edition, (the second edition  was published  in England).  This
          work develops the fundamental doctrines of true or  Physio-Medical Science and  Practice,
          and points out ample ways and means of preventing  and curing disease "with hygienic
          agencies alone."  Not only a part of, but all its principles and practices are free from erroi
          and entirely reliable; and  its remedies are all  purely sanative (406).  It will be out in
          the course  of this winter.  About 430 pages, 8vo.,  price, bound, single  copies, $5; when
          requested by mail, post paid.  Address, A. Curtis, M. D., Cincinnati, Ohio.
                     (206) 
THE  PHYSIO-MEDICAL  COLLEGE.
  This Institution, the first of the kind in the world, was Founded, Feb. 3rd, 1836, Char-
tered  by the Legislature of Ohio, March 6th,  1839, and established,  perpetually, in
Cincinnati, by act of March, 1840.  It, steadily acquired facilities  for Instruction,  and
prospered in patronage and usefulness, under the superintendence  of its founder, aided
by his able and faithful co-laborers, Professors Samuel Curtis, Hardy Wallace Hill, James
Courtney, and others, till the year 1849, when, with eighty-seven students in attendance,
its management was resigned to the care of the whole Faculty.
  The session of 1849-50 was prosperous, but not equal to that of 1848-9.  In the Spring
of 1851, it was resolved to remove the Institution from its location, whereupon Dr. Curtis
resigned his Professorship.   New Professors and new doctrines were introduced, and the
result was, that bad counsels and teaching killed  the new movement the first session,
(Spring of 1851.)  Not willing that the Institution he had spent so much time, strength
and money to rear; and which had done so much  good, should become extinct, Dr. C.
called to his aid other able men, and revived it in the Fall of 1851. It was now compelled
to encounter a new opposition, that of some of its old friends, turned enemies by unholy
and disappointed ambition, and that of a scheme of the Eclectics,  whose "Policy" was
to ruin all other reform schools by reducing the prices of tuition so low that few could be
sustained.  But the Old  College stood firm on its first ground of correct principles and
a pure, sanative practice, rising gradually above all opposition and depressing circum-
stances, till now she is again supplied with an  able Faculty as well as  every necessary
convenience for instruction and illustration;  and  offers to students facilities for the attain-
ment  of true medical knowledge and  skill not  surpassed by those of any other in the
world.
  By  the liberality of its friends there have been founded some hundreds of scholarships,
which will both give permanency to the Institution and provide the means of  Free
Instruction to as many talented but indigent Ladies and Gentlemen who could not other
wise obtain it, and who, when thus educated, generally become the most useful members
of society.
  This Institution has been in successful operation for twenty years. It was chartered by
a special Act of the State Legislature, and enjoys all the  rights, privileges and powers
belonging to a University.
  The principles taught are the great Laws  of God, as observed in nature; and its prac-
tices,  based upon extended and accurate observation of facts, prove them to be as positive
and demonstrable as those of any other natural Science.   Its leading doctrines are:
  1st. That disease consists in an inability of the organs to properly perform their natural
functions, and hence is a unit.
  2nd. That irritation, fever and inflammation  are not diseases, but physiological an 1
sanative efforts of the system.
  3rd. That no a°-ent should be used in medication that does not act in harmony with the
natural  functions0; all articles that, in authorized medicinal doses,  have been known  to
destroy life, being discarded.

  Apparatus.__The friends  of the College  have liberally supplied it with means for
illustrating the several branches  of instruction.  Skeletons, Manikins, Models, Plates,
and wet and dry Preparations, are among the facilities in the  Anatomical and Surgical
Departments, and enable the respective  Professors  to teach these subjects in  the  most
familiar and  instructive  manner.  A very extensive collection  of  dried plants, a large
assortment of  Anatomical Plates, and of natural Preparations  to be used with the  solar
Lantern and Microscope; and a Museum of the commercial articles of the Materia Medica,
aid the lecturer upon these subjects.   Electrical,  Chemical,  Philosophical, and other
appropriate scientific Apparatus, belongs to the Institution, and is used as required.  A
large and very choice Library is also open to the reference of students.

  The Institution, having been restored to  its original  buildings,  on  Third Street, has
ao-ain the advantage of an Infirmary  in which  students  can  witness, at all times, the
vastly superior efficacy of its practice.   This Infirmary is superintended by Dr. Curtis,
and is supplied with most important cases for medical and surgical treatment, and  with
students to be prepared for college. 
208
THE PHYSIO-MEDICAL COLLEGE.
   Females are admitted to all the privileges of the Institution, which was the first in
 the world to advocate the Medical education of Woman.  Ladies attend every session,
 and several have graduated with marked credit.

   In the ability and experience of Professors, the value and truthfulness, thoroughness
 and clearness of instruction, extent and quality of apparatus, variety and value of clinical
 advantages, and in liberality of sentiment, on all doubtful questions, this school does not
 acknowledge any superior among the Reformatory Institutions of America.  Though the
practical ability of the graduates who have, for twenty years, gone forth from its Halls,
bears the most convincing evidence of the extent of the education here  imparted,  it is
intended that, with the multiplied facilities now possessed, the classes of the future shall
be still better qualified than those of the past.

  The Annual Winter Term of Lectures in the  Physio-Medical College of Ohio, com-
mences on the second Monday of each October,  at  the  College Hall, Cincinnati, and
continues sixteen  weeks.

  Circulars and further information can be obtained by addressing the Dean, at whose
office all students  should apply on their arrival in  the City, without giving credit to the
report that the Physio-Medical College has discontinued its operations, a report which is
constantly circulated by opposing schools.
                                                        A. CURTIS, M. D.,
                                                             Dean of the Faculty,
  Cincinnati, Jan, 1865.