G736F
184-5
 
 
A
FAMILIAR EXPOSITION
OF
HOMEOPATHY,
                     OR THE
      NEW  SYSTEM  OF CURING

              DISEASES.
ILLUSTRATING ITS SUPERIORITY OVER  THE PREVA-
           LENT SYSTEM OF MEDICINE.
         BY. JONAS GREEN, M. D.,
(jfaiUatc of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania,
magna est vrritas et ph.evalebit,

\
   ju j. .ui; v ... v . .
  '-IPC U to  <: -C,-
     •. ," F , •' , . - ■
   WASHINGTON:
J. AND G. 8. GIDEON, PRINTERS.
       1845. 
y\/BK
Q7%f
b^r-j 
PREFACE.
  In presenting the views contained  in the following pages
to the  public, the  author has one principal object in view—
the dissemination of medical truth.   And while  standing
forth  as their advocate, he scarcely indulges the hope of es-
caping the fate of  those more illustrious pioneers of science,
who have so often been assailed by the pointed  shafts of
malevolent criticism.  But  the conviction of their truth and
of their superiority over the prevailing  medical  doctrines
with which,  for more than twenty years, he  has been con-
versant, is a  consideration of paramount importance.
   The effects produced by unjust criticism can be  but tem-
porary, while the influence of truth must  be eternal.  If  the
system cannot withstand the severe ordeal of public opinion,
 based as it  is upon experiments, no effort of mine, I am
 aware, can sustain it.  And I confidently  assert, that it needs
 only to be fairly investigated, and tested according to its own
 rules, to be  cordially embraced.   And if  the majority of the
 physicians of this country are satisfied to look with indiffer-
 ence or contempt upon a system of medicine, which can so effi-
 ciently relieve the ills of suffering humanity as Homoeopathy,
 it is the duty of those who acknowledge its superiority, to pro- 
                            4
 claim its value to the public, in order that the patrons of the
 medical profession may be enlightened, as much as possible,
 upon the subject.  The mystery with which the profession 01
 medicine was once invested has now been removed, and
 every attempt to  deceive the people will be frowned down—
 in the language of the  founder of Homoeopathy,  " a ray of
 light must soon penetrate this Egyptian darkness—the dawn
 of better things approaches."
   Should the perusal of what I have written  induce a single
 member of the  profession to make an experimental inquiry
 into its truth ;  or should it induce any of my fellow creatures,
 afflicted with disease, to seek the aid of Homceopathy, I feel
 conscious that they will not fail in the object of their search.
 As  the system is  not founded on any merely theoretical rea-
 soning, in spite of the  opposition which it has encountered,
 it advances steadily forward, for the  plainest of all reasons,
that it has performed cures which nothing else could  per-
form.
                             J.  GREEN,  M. D.
                                     C Street near 3d.
Washington, Nov,,  1845. 
FAMILIAR   EXPOSITION
                 OF

      HOMCEOPATHY.
  Of the numerous improvements with which science has of
late years been enriched, there are none of more general in-
terest than those which relate  to the preservation of health
and  the cure of disease.  But  it is not a little remarkable,
that  practical medicine has not  kept pace with  the  other
branches—a circumstance wholly attributable to the lament-
able and admitted fact, that this important department has
never been based upon any fixed principle or  acknowledged
law.
  The Homoeopathic system, however, being founded on a
law of nature, is happily exempt from the imperfections in-
cident  to  all preceding ones;  and notwithstanding all the
illiberal opposition, the misrepresentation, and  the derision
and  ridicule that it  has encountered, it is destined, from its
intrinsic excellence and truth, to supersede  all other  modes
of practice, and thus to extend its blessings far and wide  to
suffering humanity.
         ORIGIN OF THE HOMOSOPATHIC SYSTEM.

  This system, which has interested so many individuals in
all classes of society, owes its origin, its development, and
its successful establishment, to the philosophical genius and
the untiring efforts  of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, a German
physician, who  for the last fifty years  preceding his death,
which occurred  at Paris in 1843, devoted himself to the cul-
tivation  and improvement of the vast interests of  Homoeo-
pathy.
  Hahnemann was a philosopher as well as a physician, and
in common  with his  professional brethren, he had expe-
rienced the wants and  imperfections  of practical medicine. 
6
 But  unlike most  others, who wore willing to  follow m the
 beaten track, he relinquished his profession, and occupied nis
 time in translating medical works into the German language-
  Vnd while engaged in translating the Materia Medica  ot  the
 Scotch professor,  Dr.  Cullen, he was induced, from the  un-
 satisfactory explanation given by the author of the effects ol
 Cinchona in curing intermittent fever, to try that medicine
 upon  his own  person.   He was  then  in  a state of perlect
 health, but  to  his astonishment he  soon experienced many
 symptoms exactly resembling those which occur in cases of
 intermittent fever.   As Cinchona is considered  a specific for
 the cure of  this form of  fever, it occurred  to his  sagacious
 mind that such a result was not a mere accident.  To verify
 such a suspicion, he pursued the same mode of inquiry re-
 specting the effects of several other medicines, whose virtues
 were so well known as to be denominated specifics ;  for ex-
 ample, with Mercury, which produced  many symptoms re-
 sembling those of syphilis, for the  cure of which it has long
 been used as the most efficient agent; with  Sulphur, which
 manifested its  peculiar effects upon the skin resembling the
 itch, for the  cure  of which  it was well known to be an in-
 fallible specific.
   Astonished at the issue of such experiments made by him-
 self  and others, he was forcibly  impressed  with the analogy
 between the effects produced by these substances when taken
 by the  healthy, and  the morbid symptoms in those laboring
 under disease, which they were capable of removing.   The
 truth of that grand  therapeutical law, which had  never before
 been recognised as a principle in medicine, viz: " that dis-
 eases are most  effectually cured  by such medicines as have
 the power of producing, in healt/ty persons, symptoms
 similar to those which characterize the  disease,'''' was now
 fully manifested to the mind of the anxious and delighted
 Hahnemann.   These phenomena made the same impression
 upon the reflective faculty of their observer, that the fall of
 the apple, witnessed by  the great Newton, did upon the
 mind of this philosopher.    The law of nature thus ascertain-
 ed and expressed by the axiom "similia similibus curantur,'-
constitutes the foundation upon which the genius of Hahne-
mann has established  a  system of  practical medicine that
will be hailed by millions  ye"t unborn, as the greatest blessing
ever  conferred  upon suffering humanity.   Upon  this new
system  of medicine, Hahnemann  conferred the appellation 
7
of " Homceopathy,"  a  term at once classical and truly sig-
nificant, being derived from two Greek words, viz :  homoios,
signifying similar,  and  pathos,  disease  or  suffering—indi-
cating the peculiar action of remedies when administered by
the Homoeopathist in the cure of disease.

            CHARACTERISTICS OF HOMOEOPATHY.

         1.   Its basis  or fundamental principle.

   This system of medicine, which cures diseases by such
agents as produce  similar symptoms, when taken by an in-
dividual  in  health, has  for its basis a law of nature, acting
alike throughout the physical and moral world.  The action
of this law is  briefly and  forcibly  expressed by the phrase,
"similia similibus curantur," or in  plain English, that "like
cures like."
   Illustrations of this law are sufficiently apparent in nume-
rous cures, made both by physicians and in popular practice,
but empirically, as the history of medicine abundantly testi-
fies.   Thus, vomiting  has been cured by emetics ; diarrhoea
by cathartics, and  the  disease termed the  sweating fever,
which prevailed in England in the 15th and 16ih centuries,
was best  cured by sudorifics.  Mercury produces ulcerated
sore throat in a healthy individual,  and it will cure a disease
exactly resembling  it.   In like  manner every  medicine is
capable of curing a disease, the exact  image ot which it can
produce artificially  in a healthy person.
   Experience has taught us that such applications as are ca-
pable  of  stimulating the  skin of a person in health, are the
most efficacious remedies  in  the cure  of burns  and scalds;
for example, spirits of turpentine, hot  alcohol, or aqua am-
 monia, are far superior  to  such applications as impart no sen-
 sation but that of coldness.  To  frozen limbs, on the con-
 trary,  what do we  apply ?  Assuredly  not such  stimu-
lating articles as those just mentioned,  for they would at once
 destroy the vitality of  the  part and produce mortification ;
 but we rub them with snow, or immerse them in cold water,
 in order  to restore them to their natural condition.   These.
are a few familiar illustrations of the Homoeopathic law, and
 instances of cures, similarly produced, could  be multiplied to
an indefinite  extent, did such an enumeration comport with
my design. 
8
    Upon  the  soundness and truth of the fundamental law of
 Homeopathy, as thus laid down by Hahnemann, rests tnc
 all important  question, whether the science  is true or false.
 All other points, however necessary  they may be, in order to
 render the practical application of the system available to the
 greatest degree, are  subordinate and of themselves perlectly
 useless
   It  is'apparent, therefore, that in order to  prove  Homoeo-
 pathy untrue, its fundamental principle must be proved to be
 unsound.  This, however, among all  the opponents who have
 assailed the system, has  never been denied or  impugned.
 Besides, the experience of numerous observing  and skilful
 physicians  for the last fifty years, as well as the  steady and
 progressive advance  of the science  in every country of the
 civilized world, afford evidence of the soundness of its basis.
 The  advantage that  it  offers  to the practitioner is, that in
 every case he has a sure and unerring guide for the adminis-
 tration of remedies, and to the patient, that he is  exempted
 from  the too often dangerous effects of large doses of violent,
 nauseous  and  pernicious medicines, dispensed  with  very
 little  prospect of ultimate benefit, but with much probability
 of serious injury.

 2.   The mode of ascertaining the virtues of  medicinal
                       substances.

   Homoeopathy rejects the ordinary  method  of experiment-
 ing upon the sick with remedies, in order  to  ascertain their
 effects.  Such a course is fraught with the greatest degree
 of uncertainty, because it becomes a  matter ot impossibility,
 in most cases, to discriminate between the effects which are
 really those of the medicine, and those which are  wholly de-
 pendant upon  the progress of the disease.
  Hahnemann, therefore, in order to render the fundamental
law of Homoeopathy applicable to practice, accurately ascer-
tained  and defined the  precise effects which medicine was
capable of producing upon persons in health.
  To accomplish this difficult  and arduous  task,  he and his
early disciples subjected themselves, personally,  to the ac-
tion of numerous medicinal articles.  They likewise careful-
ly watched  and recorded their action  upon  other healthy
persons of both sexes and all ages, within the sphere of their
immediate observation.  Thus were tested the great majority 
9
of the  remedies constituting the Materia Medica of Hahne-
mann,  comprising about two hundred different medicines.
Additions have been made to it by the experimental labors of
other physicians ; and it is still necessary for medical men,
who would discover the real curative virtues of any substances,
to devote themselves to this severe and painful ordeal for the
benevolent purpose of advancing their system and benefitting
their fellow creatures.

         3.  Minuteness of Homoeopathic doses.

   Having, in  the  manner  already mentioned, made himself
acquainted with the  specific effects of numerous articles of
the Materia Medica,  and having established  upon the immu-
table basis  of  experimental inquiry the supreme law of Ho-
moeopathy, Hahnemann next, with  the utmost caution and
reserve,  reduced his novel theory to practice.  Seizing upon
all the morbid  symptoms  presented,  in  cases of disease,
which were perceptible to his senses, or which could be felt
and described by the patients, he carefully selected such re-
medies to  counteract them, as experiment  had taught  him
were capable  of producing similar symptoms in the healthy.
Success  crowned  his  first attempts;  he effected cures at
once more certain,  more  complete, and more easily than
could  be obtained by the  old method.   The testimony of
facts, repeated for the thousandth time, by which the  Ho-
moeopathic principle was always illustrated,  emboldened him
to proclaim the universal application of this grand therapeu-
tical law.   He first administered his remedies in the ordi-
nary doses, but soon perceived that these quantities, acting
upon  diseased,  and, therefore, highly sensitive organs, pro-
duced a painful aggravation of the symptoms without any
corresponding advantage to the patient.   To avoid this in-
convenience,  he diminished the size of the doses, and found
that his treatment was equally successful.  Reflection con-
vinced him that this diminution was an inference legitimate-
ly deducible from their peculiar mode  of action.  And more
extended experience induced him to diminish the  size of his
doses, until he  reduced them to  the smallest fractions of  a
 grain, and in these  infinitesimal  quantities they have been
found by  the practitioners  of Homceopathy fully adequate
 to achieve the objects for which they are administered.
   The peculiar method, also, by which Homoeopathic medi- 
10
   cines are prepared, viz:  by long  and laborious trituration,
   which increases  their active properties in an  astonishing
   manner, and  developes others  which  previously were not
   known to exist in them, rendered this diminution necessary.
   This is one of the most valuable, as well as scientific, disco-
   veries of modern times.

  4.  Homoeopathy prescribes only a single medicine at a
                           time.

    The Homoeopathic mode of preparing remedies is such
  as to present them entirely unadulterated to the physician for
  use.   They are also singly applied, and not, as in the ordi-
  nary practice, compounded of several similar and opposite
  drugs, whereby it becomes necessary to give the  main reme-
  dy in such large doses as to render its specific action upon
  the  seat of the disease uncertain, and often to produce pain-
  ful and even dangerous diseases in other parts of the system.
  When only one remedy is given at a time, the practitioner
  can always perceive its operation and adaptation to the case
  in hand ; but if two  or more are mixed together and given,
 although their  separate effects may be known, no human
 mind could possibly determine their joint result; because, in
 case  new symptoms arose, they could not be attributed, with
 certainty, either  to the  disease or  to  the medicine ;  or, if
 they were clearly owing to the action  of the medicine, we
 could not separate the results produced by one ingredient from
 those of the others.

               5.  Homoeopathic diet, <Src.

   As much stress  is often laid upon the course of diet pre-
 scribed by Homoeopathic physicians to their patients, when
 under treatment, it  may be well to remark, that we direct a
 very simple, natural,  and rational regimen.  Homoeopathy
 imposes no uncommonly rigid  rules  of diet, but requires of
 those who would be benefitted by it, a compliance with tem-
 perance and moderation in the  enjoyment of all things, such
 only being  excepted as the peculiarity of the case may, in
 the opinion of the  judicious  practitioner,  require.  It dis-
penses,  in  its treatment of disease, with all alcoholic tinc-
SSfi "1  ^C1fngfm,ulants' thus recommending itself pow-
erfully to the friends of temperance.  It produces  no violent 
11
or dangerous  revulsions in the human economy, but effects
every change, in a  manner so gentle, as to be almost imper-
ceptible, but not the less positive  and salutary.   It offers to
the sick and afflicted no noxious draughts, no bitter or loath-
some potions, as all its medicinal preparations are agreeable
to the taste, and hence admirably adapted to the  treatment of
children.   Nor  is  the  patient subjected to the  pain and in-
convenience of bleeding, blistering, cupping or leeching.  In
fine, it  is a system which  possesses all, and more than all,
the advantages of the prevalent modes of curing diseases.
   Having thus  given a very brief  and imperfect  outline  of
 Homoeopathy, it is to be recollected, whatever force may be
conceded to the arguments here used, that its discovery de-
 pends upon no a priori reasoning;  that it was not first reared
 by hypothesis,  which invented reasons  to support, and dis-
 torted facts to establish it;  but that it was the simple result
 of investigation, painful and laborious investigation, into the
 causes  and laws of the specific  actions of medicinal agents.
 Whether, therefore, the arguments by which it has been at-
 tempted to  show that the Homoeopathic law is reasonable, be
 correct or not, the fact remains independent of all reasoning,
 that Homoeopathy does furnish complete and radical specifics
 for diseases,  chronic ones  especially, which ordinary medi-
 cine can  not reach; diseases, which are to  the quack a for-
 tune, but to the honorable and upright practitioner  a source
 of deep and heartfelt sorrow.
    To the testimony of hundreds of enlightened physicians in
 Europe and America, who have abjured the old system of prac-
 tice, and adopted,  after an impartial experimental inquiry, the
 doctrines of Homoeopathy, from a conviction of their superior-
 ity, I could add, if it were necessary, from some  ten years ex-
 perience in the practice of this system, the histories of thou-
 sands of cases conducted to a favorable termination by purely
 Homoeopathic  treatment.   Suffice it to say,  that my convic-
 tions in  its  favor strengthen with my opportunities of wit-
 nessing its results.
    Without, however, going into the  details  of treatment in
 any particular case, I will mention some forms of the disease,
 in the  cure of which, Homoeopathy has displayed its efficacy
 in a signal manner: Pneumonia, Scrofulous  Affections, Fe-
 brile Diseases, Bilious and Intermittent, Leucorrhea, various
 forms  of Dyspepsia, Syphilitic complaints, both acute and
 chronic, Rheumatism, Sore Throats, Headaches,  Catarrhal 
12
 Affections, Hepatitis, Sore Nipples, Hemorrhoids, Coughs,
 Constipation,  Diarrhoea,  Epistaxis,  Uterine  Hemorrhage,
 Hemicrania, Typhus Fever, Inflammations of various kinds,
 Croup, Cholera, &c, &c. besides a host of other forms of
 disease, upon which  nosology has not condescended to  be-
 stow a name.  There is one other disease, of a very danger-
 ous character, I  allude  to Scarlet Fever, in which Homoeo-
 pathy displays its superiority over the old system, in con-
 ducting  almost every case  to  a  favorable termination.   In
 " Les Archives de la Medicine Homoeopathique," published
 at Paris, Dr. Kirschleger has published a detailed account of
 an epidemic fever, which occurred in the valley of Munster,
 during the first half of the year 1834 ;  he concludes his ac-
 count by stating, that of 200 patients treated by him Homoeo-
 pathically, only four died, two of whom had been previously
 treated in  the  old way before he saw them.  Homceopathy
 not only cures Scarlet Fever very successfully,  but it fur-
 nishes a. preventive against it.
   In conclusion, I will add, that as a system, it professes  to
cure all  diseases, which in their  nature  are curable, some
surgical ones excepted, in  a certain, easy, safe, and expedi-
tious manner, thus  realizing the  cito  tuto  et jucunde  of
Celsus. 
DIRECTIONS
      REGULATING  THE  DIET OF PATIENTS,

                    WHILE UNDER HOMCEOPATillC TREATMENT.



       DIET  ALLOWED.                 DIET FORBIDDEN.
Pure water, toast water, barley water, rice water,   Lemonade  and all other acidulated drinks; all
or gutn arabic water.
  Panada, gruel, carrageen or Irish moss, arrow-root
kinds of fermented  and distilled liquors, mineral wa-
ters, &c.
 sago, tapioca, cream, milk, curds, whey, fresh butter-    Coffee, green tea, spiced chocolate, tobacco, snuff,
 milk, cold custard, mild cheese, good butter, and pure  and segars.
 olive oil.                                            Cabbage, turnips, onions, garlic, parsnips, radishes,
   Weak black tea, cocoa or plain chocolate.         horse-radish, mush-rooms, tomatoes, egg plant, green
   Sweet apples, pears, peaches, apricots, nectarines,  corn, cucumbers,  pickles,  salads, celery, mustard,
 gages, sweet cherries, grapes, strawberries, raspber-  peppers, catsups, vinegar, artichokes, plumbs, prunes,
 ries, and other fruits possessing little or no acidity.   Uamarinds, currants, dates, and acid fruits of all kinds.
   Water-melons, cantalopes, figs, raisins,  and  sweel    Rancid butter, strong cheese, lard, and all kinds of
 oranges.                                          food prepared from pork, smoked  meat, smoked fish,
   Preserved peaches, pears and quinces, raspberry  veal,  geese, ducks, hard boiled  eggs,  omelet, fried
 and strawberry jam or syrup, strawberry and pine-  oysters,  oyster  soup,  pepperpot, turtles,  terrapins,
 apple ice creams.                                  lobsters, crabs, clams, catfish, and eels.
   Sugar, molasses, and salt in moderate quantities.      All kinds of pastry,  buckwheat cakes, highly sea-
   All kinds of light bread and plain biscuit, contain-  soned sauces, soups and broths, and honey.
 ing no potash, soda, &c, and not too  fresh; dump-!   AH spices, herbs, and condiments, aromatic tooth
 lings and puddings made  of  wheat, rye, Indian, rice,  powders, flavoured candies, and other confectionary,
 or bread; hominy, Indian or rye mush, groats and|rich cakes,  and all kinds of nuts.
 pearl barley.                                         All domestic medicines, herb teas,  &Lc, and all
   Potatoes, carrots, beets, salsify, peas, beans, spin-  kinds of perfumery, as well as the external  use of
 age, asparagus, squashes, and cauliflower.            camphor, hartshorne,  turpentine,  vinegar, cologne
   Beef,  mutton, venison, and the lean part of ham ;  water, bay rum, &c.
 raw oysters, stewed oysters, and soft-boiled eggs.        Should any of the articles allowed be found  to dis-
   Poultry,  cooked  without  stuffing, pigeons,  small; agree on account of constitutional peculiarity, or the
 birds, squirrels, rabbits, and wild game generally.      nature of the disease, they must be discontinued in>
   Soups and broths of the above animal and vegeta- '■ mediately.
 ble substances, prepared without herbs or spices.        Fruits and vegetables must not be eaten in colic or
   Fresh perch, rock, sea-bass, and small creek fish;  diarrhoea.
[salt  shad,  mackerel  and  salmon,  after being well                       F   f  K V 1? N  M  T)
 soaked or par-boiled.
 
 
FAMILIAR EXPOSITION
or
HOM  OTOPATHY,

                   OR THE


      NEW  SYSTEM OF CURING


             DISEASES.

ILLUSTRATING ITS SUPERIORITY OVER THE PREVA-
           LENT SYSTEM OP MEDICINE.
        BY. JONAS GREEN, M. D.,

Graduate of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania;
: MAGSA. EST VRRIT4.S ET PR«VALEBIT.
   WASHINGTON:

J. AND 8. 8. GIDEON, PRINTERS.


      1845. 
»*-<
.- -S"
y ?. ■'

■Ov-T «

-r^
/*S|
VrJ&.
?vv:
^