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AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR HOMOEOPATHY 
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AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR HOMOEOPATHY

         ORGANON
OF THE
SPECIFIC  HEALING  ART.
            BY


GOTTLIEB LUDWIG RAU, M. D.
            TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN,


                    WITH

AN ESSAY ON THE PRESENT INTERNAL CONDITION

        OF THE HOMOEOPATHIC SCHOOL,


     BY CHARLES  JULIUS HEM PEL, M.D.
                                      *

            NEW-YORK:

WILLIAM RADDE, 322 BROADWAY.
      also : J. T. S. SMITH, 592 Broadway.
      PHILADELPHIA: C. L. Radkmacher.
      BOSTON: Otis Clapp.
      ST. LOUIS, Mo. : F. Franksen and C. F. Wesselhobft.
      LONDON : J. H. Balliere, 219 Reoknt-street.

               1847.
             LIBRARY
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR HOMOEOPATHY 
WritC
         Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by
                          WILLIAM RADDE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York.
MM) 
THE  AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
   What has induced me to devote myself, for the last seven-
teen years, to the study and propagation of the new doctrine,
is not the love of system nor the spirit of party, but an intense
conviction of its high worth.  When after a practice of twenty-
two years, I first commenced studying homoeopathy, it was yet
very imperfect, but even then I saw very clearly that it would
rise  above the character of an empirical art, and would even
take precedence over any  of the existing medical  doctrines.
My gratitude for Samuel Hahnemann, the author of the new
doctrine, has not allowed me, however, to close my eyes to its
existing imperfections.  To aid in removing them, has ever been
my warm desire ; neither the contempt with which the thought-
less partisans of Hahnemann seemed to look upon my effort to
impart to their new doctrine a higher  scientific character, nor
the uncivil denunciations which the blind  champions of the
old dogmatism have hurled against the new doctrine, nor the
insulting names with which its disciples have been reviled by
authors  and editors of medical journals, will prevent me from
accomplishing my purpose.   I have always  endeavored to ac-
quaint myself  with every  new advancement in the medical
sciences, and claim therefore the right of expressing an opinion
on the present character and standing of homoeopathy.  I had
hoped, but  in  vain, that some more  able  man, than  I  am, 
4                  AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
would arrange the existing  materials into a more scientific
system of therapeutics.   The time has come when this should
be done, both for the  benefit  of  beginning practitioners who
require a guide in the more thorough study of our doctrine, and
in order to show to our  vehement opponents, that discovered
principles are superior to those, which have been  excogitated
by human ingenuity.  I  have  called this work " Organon," not
because I consider it the last development of homoeopathy, but
simply because it is a record of my own views and experience.
I am  convinced that homoeopathy is capable of constant pro-
gress, and consider it any body's right to proclaim to the world
the result of his honest and earnest meditations.  Truth be-
longs to mankind, not to the individual man ; what he considers
truth, it is his bounden duty to state.
    Giessen, Jlugust, 1838, 
            0 R G A  N  0  N

                   OF THE

SPECIFIC  HEALING   ART.
                   INTRODUCTION.

   The highest object of medicine is to remove morbid phe-
nomena, or, in other words, to restore health in the safest, quick-
est and most pleasant manner.  A medical doctrine is of no
value except in so far as it fulfils that end.
   It is one of the characteristic features of our age to consider
the usefulness of things, without paying any regard to the age
of an institution, dogma or custom.  It is not our purpose here
to show that people often go too far in measuring the value of
things merely by the material advantages which they procure.
However, physicians would exhibit an untimely  vanity if they
would complain of having their knowledge and talent, and the
value  of their  principles, critically examined,  and of being
asked, "What  certainty have you?  What guarantee do you
offer that we will  not be sacrificed to prejudice, or to the love of
system, by confiding in you?" Questions like these have be-
come much more  frequent lately.  Confidence in medicine has
been destroyed by a blind party  spirit;  by the intolerance
which one  physician manifests towards another, and of which
Hufeland remarked a few years previous : " Every doctor who
loses a patient is accused of having  killed him, by those who
do not think as he does."  In former  times medicine enjoyed a
higher  consideration, and if  a reproach  was uttered, it was
against the wrong application of the principles of the school in
isolated cases, or against the boldness of those who had dared
leave the beaten track, which was considered the only safe one. 
6
organon of the specific healing art.
But now-a-days, the infallibility of a medical doctrine has be-
come the subject of bitter satire; the contradiction which ex-
ists between the different medical doctrines having no longer
remained a secret.  Physicians who are careful observers, and
are not carried away by the spirit  of faction, still enjoy the
reputation of being intelligent and able men.
   I do not  mean to  say that systems  have no  value.  We
ought to look upon them as creations of a poetic ideality which
are sometimes worthy of exciting our astonishment as works
of art.   Like brilliant  stars, their object is to shed  light on iso-
lated observations, in  order  to unite  them in one harmonious
whole, and to guide us safely through the  labyrinth of doubt
and hypotheses.  Systems should guide us in our practice, and
their correctness should be measured by the means which we
derive from the true application of their  principles.
   It is a remarkable  fact that the name of the great physician
of Cos has remained an object of veneration for thousands  of
years past, during the period of conservatism as well as of re-
form in medicine.  Even the dogmatists, when  at the  very
climax of their glory,  have  always spoken of the Hippocratic
medicine with respect, and have never dared tarnish the glory
of its author.  It is not less remarkable that dogmatists, em-
pirics, and eclectics appeal to him as an authority, although his
greatest merit consists in teaching  us the  art of faithfully ob-
serving the phenomena of disease.   This is his greatest merit.
His philosophy is a rational empiricism based upon experience,
his rules of practice are derived from experience.  Avoiding
dogmatism, he has never tried to arrange the results of his ex-
perience into a system.  In his practice  he was an eclectic,
and had no other guide in the  treatment of disease except his
power of observing and individualizing it.
   A number  of distinguished physicians, both ancient and
modern, have taken him as their model in practice, and we
may say that the most successful and the most celebrated prac-
titioners have kept aloof from systems, and have been eclectics.
   In the course  of time, however, the  empirical treatment  of
disease became more and more difficult  and uncertain, for the
simple  reason that the forms of disease are so various  that
even the oldest man could only become  acquainted with very
few of them by his own observation.  The best memory is not
able to hoard all the results of other people's observations, nor
is it an  easy business to distinguish truth from falsehood  in
that  mass  of relations of cures and pretended observations
which are offered for sale every day.  This is the  reason why
the most distinguished empirics are frequently greatly embar- 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.        7

rassed.  In the absence of analogous observations, made either
by themselves or by others, they are obliged to resort to an em-
pirical treatment, which is often very doubtful in its results, or
else  they  have  to be  guided  by general rules of their own
make.  The necessity of analogous principles having been
constantly  felt,  nothing  is more  natural  than  that  attempts
should have  been  made  every now and  then to establish the
practice of medicine upon a solid foundation.
   Justice requires that we should recognize all the importance
of the attempts which have been made for upwards of two
thousand years to  attain  that  end, and that we should honor
with  the  deepest  gratitude the  memory  of those physicians
who have sacrificed fortune, health, life even, to the advance-
ment of medical science.  This is not the place to give a de-
tailed account of their devotion,  of the  services  which they
have rendered to the collateral sciences, or of the different sys-
tems of medicine:  our object is to show in  what manner we
should proceed to reduce  the rules of practice to  scientific prin-
ciples.
   To appreciate the new doctrine which it is the object of the
present work to examine, we have to compare it with the spirit
of the old  school  of  medicine; and,  in  order  to enable  our
readers to accomplish that purpose, we shall, without entering
upon any unnecessary  details, furnish an account of the means
which have hitherto been resorted  to to cure disease.
   By merely casting a glance at history, we perceive  that
medicine has always  progressed apace with civilization.  We
will not inquire  whether  chance or instinct  has first made us
acquainted with the medicinal virtues of certain substances in
certain diseases.   In the first ages of the medical art the know-
ledge of remedies  was  evidently  very  imperfect,  and  the
art of curing consisted merely  in  administering certain reme-
dies which had been found efficacious in certain cases, when-
ever similar cases should occur again.  This was gross empi-
ricism, based exclusively upon a superficial comparison of  the
external symptoms of disease, and adapted only to the infancy
of humanity.  When  the human mind  had been more  de-
veloped, man began to reflect 011  the  first causes of the phe-
nomena of  nature—on the modifications which  they undergo.
In medicine,  attempts were made to establish a rational mode
of treatment, the fundamental principle of which was to re-
move the cause  of the disease, and, in this way, to cure  the
disease itself.
   The principle, " tolle causam," has been followed until this
day, and has only been objected to by some upon the ground 
 8        ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 that the cause, being in most cases hidden from our senses, can
 only be discovered by speculative reasoning.   In such a case,
 it is easy to fall into errors ;  every author of a new system has
 endeavored to guard against  errors,  and all have  succeeded
 more or less, but none of them entirely.
    Inasmuch as at an early age even, the  phenomena of dis-
 ease were considered manifestations of an anormal vital force,
 this view necessarily led physicians to reflect on the vital force
 itself, and to ascend to the causes of the perceptible phenomena.
 Henceforth medicine became subject to the influence of philo-
 sophy, as every one may see by looking at the philosophy of
 Plato.
    The philosophy of that age was a daughter of poesy; and
 a great portion of it had remained poesy.  Hence it  was more
 convenient to  imagine than to discover principles, for  this ad-
 ditional reason, that the physical  sciences were still in their
 infancy, and therefore unable to furnish to speculative  science
 reliable points of support.  In the absence of such points any
 attempt to discover the first principles of things, must necessa-
 rily lead to fanciful speculation. It has been frequently asserted,
 on this account, that medicine cannot gain any thing from its
 alliance with  philosophy.  This  assertion  is  only true, how-
 ever, if one confounds a principle invented by human ingenuity
 with a fundamental truth, and adopts such speculative princi-
 ples as the highest rules in practice. Philosophers have never
 succeeded in discovering the first principle of life, and in lifting
 the veil which covers the  mysterious  existence and  nature  of
 the soul.  Pythagoras and Plato have shown a good  deal  of
 ingenuity by considering the play of'the vital forces as a cir-
 cular or elliptical  movement, or as an  oscillation between the
 two extremities of a line; but their  philosophy has  not ad-
 vanced medicine a single step ;  and however beautiful  and in-
 teresting their speculative reasonings  may  appear, they have
 so far been of  no sort of avail at the bed-side of the patient.
    This is not the place for entering upon a critical examina-
tion of the  different systems of  philosophy,  most  of which
have, in times past, been mere repetitions of the philosophy  of
Plato and Aristotle,  or attempts to conciliate these two thinkers,
the former of whom has become the leader of  the spiritualists,
 whereas the latter has devoted  his efforts to the defence of ma-
terialism.   It may be said in general terms,  that mere specu-
lative reasoning has had  very  little influence on the  natural
sciences and on medicine.  Abstract reason is sufficient to es-
tablish the general  necessity of certain phenomena, but it re-
quires  real, positive observations  to  substantiate  speculative 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
9
doctrines.  The idealists neglect too much the slow and labo-
rious process of observing phenomena to investigate their first
cause by means of analogy^ to derive general laws from facts,
and gradually to rise from the lower to the higher.
   The analytical method is another  system of philosophy,
without which there can be no rational medicine, and which is
at once more practical and more fertile in results.   The object
of the  analytical method is  not to lose  itself in speculations
about the essence of things, but  to observe the changes which
take place in the phenomena, and to avail itself of individual
observations for the purpose of arriving at a  knowledge of the
causes by sound logical conclusions.
   The gigantic steps which have been made in  the natural
sciences invite us to arrange the facts obtained under a general
law and to trace them  to their cause.  Analysis and specula-
tion  are  both busy in  accomplishing that work.   He who is
animated by the desire of attaining a higher degree of know-
ledge, must be rejoiced to see so many men engaged in culti-
vating it.   It is probable that we  shall never arrive at a perfectly
satisfactory solution of the problems of nature ; but the better
we succeed in accounting for the various manifestations of vi-
tality, the better we shall be able to restore health.
   What is more particularly in the way of progress, are the
multiplicity of the questions  which the  study of the  unity of
all the natural phenomena suggests,  and  which have so far re-
mained unanswered, and a tendency inherent in our minds to
study in one direction  only.   Even in pursuing the analytical
method,  wo are led to select among  ihe great mass of natural
phenomena some as more particular objects  of inquby, and to
establish laws as general, which  are not so in realj'y^   Unwill-
ing to give up a favorite idea  and obliged, on the other hand,
to demonstrate  the  pretended   truth of a  theory, the  mind
plunges into a labyrinth of sophisms based upon premises which
are so false that it is  sufficient  to break  down a single one of
them, to overthrow the whole structure.
   Thus we see how dangerous it is to generalize too soon or
too much, whereas by a careful  individualization, and an  im-
partial examination  and observation of isolated phenomena
we shall discover their fundamental laws in the surest manner,
and at the same time become convinced that general principles,
without  losing anything  of  their generality, are  frequently
obscured by apparent exceptions.
   In considering these different methods, we shall be able,
without much trouble,  to account for the various  systems of
medicine.   They all have a common end, which is to remove 
10
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
the known causes of disease; or, in  other words,  to apply a
rational treatment; but they differ in regard to the means
which the spirit of inquiry has pointed out as the most proper
to attain that object.  Idealism and empiricism govern in med-
icine as in philosophy.  The former,  starting from a precon-
ceived idea of the moving forces of things, inquires particularly
into their invisible and occult qualities, and loses itself in fruit-
less attempts to  account by general cosmic principles for the
numerous forms of individual life.
    Recognizing the difficulty, or rather the  impossibility of
constructing a practical therapeutic system in accordance with
the vast conceptions of the idealists, the partisans of rational
empiricism have simply endeavored to elevate medicine to the
rank of an experimental science.
    Huts and houses have been built, and bridges constructed,
long before any one thought of writing a systematic treatise on
architecture.   In a similar manner the materials  of a special
therapeia had first to be collected before it was possible to com-
pare them with one another,  to deduce from  them  the condi-
tions of similar or analogous  phenomena, and to establish the
principles of a general therapeia  by logical reasoning.  This
route, however, does not lead to the  discovery of a system
which is based upon a knowledge of the fundamental princi-
ple of life. Our knowledge is, in a great measure, fragmentary.
Even  those branches of medical science which have been cul-
tivated with the greatest care—osteology and the anatomy of
the soft parts—are still imperfect,  and are enriched every day
with new discoveries.  Physiology  is still  less perfect.  We
do not yet possess an  accurate knowledge of the structure of
the organs-,  we are still less acquainted with  their importance
and their functions.  The majority of the most important phe-
nomena, nutrition and sanguification, are still  mysteries for us.
and our knowledgbof the sympathetic relation of a great num-
ber of organs is still very incomplete.
    Pathology is based upon physiology, because we require
to know the laws of the vhal functions in their normal condi-
tions, before we  can obtain  <x clear  notion of their anormal
changes.  In considering the narrow limits of our physiologi-
cal knowledge, we will not  be astonished at  the obscurity of
pathology, and the vagueness and  uncertainty of our thera-
peutic principles will at once become manifest.  This  uncer-
tainty is denied, it is true, by a great  timber  of physicians,
particularly by those narrow-minded practitioners who accord
an unlimited faith  to the text-books and lectures of  their
teachers, and who, under the cloak of those authorities, think 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
11
of nothing more sedulously than of obtaining a large practice;
or perhaps  by those who have too high  an opinion of their
own wisdom, to admit that  the  splendor of medicine is dark-
ened by extensive spots.  On the other hand, a number of dis-
tinguished  practitioners  and  celebrated writers, have com-
plained of the  imperfections, of our  science, and  have  shown
that those who know  most, feel them most keenly.  The ad-
missions of  such men ought to convince us that every thing
which has been accomplished hitherto on the field of science,
bears the impress  of imperfection.   Nevertheless, we ought
not to despise the efforts which  have been  made,  howso-
ever  unsuccessful, to  enrich our knowledge, and we ought  to
admit that  science gains something by all these attempts  at
establishing order among its  phenomena.  The zeal of those
who cultivate it, will  be reanimated by  publishing that which
is still wanting.
    Objective perceptions which  constitute,  properly speaking,
the foundation of our knowledge, have first revealed to us the
existence of certain anormal modifications in  the  material
sphere of the sick organism, such as general or topical atrophy
or hypertrophy, swellings, boils, nodosities, ulcers, blotches,
vesicles,  rhagades, exanthemata of every kind, changes in the
color of  the skin of certain  parts of the body, increase or de-
crease of animal heat, a greater or lesser quantity of sweat than
usual, or changes in the character of the sweat, gaseous exha-
lations, changes in the breath, tears, nasal or buccal  mucus,
saliva, cerumen, alvine evacuations,  urine, semen, mucus  of
the urethra and vagina ; morbid appearances in the blood, par-
ticularly  the menstrual blood, in the  milk, lochia, etc.  Post-
mortem examinations have revealed to us more or less general
changes of structure,  an irregular development and position of
certain  organs, pseudo-membranes and filaments with unnat-
ural adhesions, interstitial distentions and softenings, complete
changes of substances, indurations, concretions, ossifications,
obliterations, dilatation of vessels, irregular formation of new
vessels, internal swellings and excrescences, polypi, funguses,
tubercles, effusions,  etc.
    By an examination after  death, we  have even discovered
changes in the quality of the blood, bile, pancreatic juice, intes-
tinal mucus, and other fluids.
    By means of chemistry we have discovered  different pro-
portions in the composition of the  tissues,  and all these facts
have been made use of to explain morbid phenomena.   It has
been for  a long time supposed that disease depended on mate-
rial changes in the organism.  It is undoubtedly true that essen- 
 12       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

tial changes in the material  tissues which are the substratum
of the vital forces, must occasion differences in the manifesta-
tions of those forces.
    The physicians who  incline to materialism,  have divided
themselves into  two classes, the iatro-physical (mechanical)
and the chemiatrical  (chemical) school.  The former school
considers simply the structure of the parts representing the bones
as the superstructure, the muscles as so many levers, the heart
as a sucking pump or a compressing apparatus, the small ves-
sels as sucking tubes or a filtering apparatus, &c.  According to
the mechanical school,  disease is occasioned by derangements
in the machine, it leaves the motor force out of all consideration.
The influence which that  school  has had  in medicine, has
been more  sensibly felt in physiology and pathology than in
therapeutics ; and even at this moment, when such great im-
provements have been  made in the physical sciences,  particu-
larly in the study of electricity, galvanism and magnetism, the
modes of the mechanical school are resorted to, to explain in a
more or less satisfactory  manner any phenomena of vitality.
In  a most ingenious  manner  the  vertebral  column has
been compared to the pile of Yolta, the nerves to the  conduc-
tors of the fluid, and the secretions have been considered  re-
sults of the effects of a closed galvanic chain.  This  solution
of the problem of vitality is, however, too little satisfactory to
promise great advantages to the science of curing disease.
    The chemical philosophers have only considered the com-
position of the substances constituting the organism.  They
are divided into solidists and humoralists, the former of whom
consider the  solids as the primary  sphere of the probable
causes of disease, the latter the fluids.   The solidists are more
nearly related to  the mechanical philosophers.  Humoral pa-
thology rests upon the supposition that all organized bodies have
gradually developed themselves  out of liquids by a process of
crystallization and condensation, and  that the solids of the
human body are derived  from the fluids.  They have simply
forgotten, however, that forms, whether they  belong to the spe-
cies, the variety, or the family, are subject to the  mysterious
action  of the vital force  which  causes the oak to spring from
an acorn and not from a coffee-bean, the eagle from an eagle's
and not from a goose's egg, or the rhinoceros from his like and
not from a goat.   They have forgotten that these organized
fluids are the products  of the activity  of the secretory vessels,
and, that the deterioration of the fluids must therefore be owing
to a more deep-seated cause.  The idea, that disease  resulted
from an alteration of the fluids, had become so fascinating, that 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
13
a system of pathology and therapeutics was constructed in ac-
cordance with it, the only object of which was to expel the
vitiated humors, and to correct those which could not be re-
moved, by  means of chemical remedies.  A glance at the his-
tory of this doctrine shows us a heap of hypotheses to which
Anaxagoras and Gallienus, Erasistratus and Aetius  have con-
tributed.  Sylvius de la Boe  was the  first who attempted to
write  a  systematic treatise of humoral pathology; he may
therefore be considered the founder of that school.  Alternately
defeated and triumphant, his doctrine has found opponents and
partisans, even in our time.
    We shall not deny that the humors  have some claim to our
attention, and that they occasion pathogenetic effects  in the
organism (unlike Fernelius,  for instance, who asserts that the
fluids should not be considered as belonging to the organism);
but to consider them the primary cause of disease,  appears to
us  a sad return to materialism, which has  unfortunately found
a number of partisans at the present time.
    It was  reserved to  the  genius of George Ernest Stahl  to
found a new school, the dynamic school, which studies  princi-
pally the motor force in the  organism.  According  to the dy-
namists, it is this force that produces all the organic and func-
tional changes in the organism.  This is not the place to in-
quire whether Stahl is the only author  of that system, or whe-
ther the idea has  been suggested  to  him by Van Helmont,
Perrault,  Descartes, etc.   Nor does it matter whether Stahl's
idea of the soul being the first cause of all organic activity, is
really new, or whether the woquov of Hippocrates, the archaeus
of  Van  Helmont, or vital  force or principle, is the same  as
Stahl's soul.
    But he, as well as a number of his partisans,  has  made
himself liable to the charge of having, like other schools, view-
ed  the matter only from one side.  For  a long time one had
endeavored to  account for all physiological and pathological
phenomena by arguments drawn from the organic structure
and composition of the humors.  The  school of Stahl did ex-
actly the contrary,  and without any more reason; it viewed
the active, moving, modifying force in  the organism as an ab-
straction ;  as if that force could act  and move in the organism
independently of its material forces.
    By giving one's self up to the doctrine  of the vital forces, it
became impossible to avoid falling into a multitude of sophisms
and extraordinary hypotheses. It is not our intention to dwell
upon them here, contenting ourselves with merely mentioning
the purely dynamic system of Brown, the foundations of which 
14
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
 had been laid by Louis Roger* more than a century before,
 who taught that irritability is only a disposition or property by
 means of which the vital force is enabled to manifest itself, but
 that irritability is not the  only and sufficient cause  of those
 manifestations.  This was Brown's explanation of life,  who
 considered incitability the internal, and the surrounding world
 the external factor of the vital force.
    This system commended itself by its simplicity to unexpe-
 rienced physicians and laymen.  For a long time it had a num-
 ber of partisans, and would have lasted much longer, if its no-
 sology had been more conformable to experience, and if a want
 of success in the treatment of disease, agreeably to Brown's prin-
 ciples, had not made their falsehood evident. According to Brown,
 every disease resulted from an excess or deficiency of vital ac-
 tion ; hence he arranged all diseases under two general heads.
    Brown's system gave rise to that of Broussais, who, starting
 from a similar principle, considers every disease as one of local
 irritation.  It is from  this position that all his therapeutic prin-
 ciples were deduced—those enormous depletions, and that mon-
 strous vampyrism which posterity will look upon as one of the
 great errors of our age.
    Another modification of the  theory of irritation is the doc-
 trine of counter-stimulation  by Rasori,  who, like  Brown, ad-
 mits only of two principal forms of disease opposed to one an-
 other:  excessive,, or deficient activity, representing the ancient
 stricium and laxum—contraction and relaxation.   The treat-
 ment which has been deduced from this principle,  consists in
 administering large doses of remedies supposed to be contrary
 to the disease.  These remedies have been divided into two
 classes in the  most  arbitrary manner, and which is  by no
 means justified by experience.   In  spite of the  apparent har-
 mony of this system, it could not be expected that ft would ac-
 quire any considerable influence; the  poverty of that  system
 was too apparent, and the spirit of our age  is totally averse to
 speculative theories, and requires solid arguments to accept a
 doctrine.
   Brown's system  and the  theory of irritation to which  it
had  given rise, had  given a new impulse to speculation,  and
 had furnished  a most favorable opportunity for the construction
of a system in accordance with the dictates of the philosophy of
nature, which was based upon the supposition that the general
  * Specim. physico-logic. de perpetua  fibrarum muscularium  pal-
pitatione,  novum phaenomenum  in corpore humano, experimentis de-
tectum et continuatum.  Gotting. 1660. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
15
laws of the universe controlled the existence of every single ob-
ject, and that we must resort to pure leason, in order to discover
the  therapeutic method which is harmonious  to those laws.
This system is dynamic in its character, since its fundamental
idea is that of force, by means of which the perceptible phenom-
ena of life are accounted for;  this system is less incomplete than
most other similar systems, inasmuch  as it does not omit the
material sphere of the organism, and recommends particularly
the analytical study of the organs ; practical medicine however
has not yet derived any advantage from that system.
    No one will deny that the pathological alteration of the or-
gans, which  we are bound to consider the vehicle of the vital
forces,  must necessarily  modify the  manifestations of those
forces.  But  in spite of the light which the physical sciences
have shed on the dynamic action of things, a retrogradation to
the grossest  materialism  evidently threatens pathology, since
anomalies in the formation and composition of tissues are mis-
taken for the  essential principle and cause of disease ; as though
those anomalies could exist independently of the reproductive
vital force, and as though they could be any thing else than
mere products of an  anormal  activity.   There are pathologists
who are on the  point of overlooking the  existence of a vital
activity, and  reject almost every thing which they do not either
see or hear.   Stethescope, plessimeter, and microscope, are their
surest means of diagnosis, and there are  physicians now-a-days
who know more about the movements and the covering of the
blood-disks, than about the  mode in which morbid  conditions
develope themselves.  The great use of pathological  anatomy
cannot be doubted -, we should guard, however,  against attach-
ing too  much importance to it.
    In the course of a great number of diseases,  material modi-
fications  take place, which  make us indeed  acquainted with
the  course the  disease  has  taken, but  do not reveal to us
the  principle and cause  of the disturbance; hence  it is that
pathologists are all the time disputing about the fact, whether
certain  organic  anomalies are the result of  inflammation, or
the  product  of  a primarily  disturbed, reproductive activity.
Such anomalies are: softenings, relaxations, dilarions, strictures,
obliterations, hypertrophies,  tubercles,  indurations,  etc.  To
this class belong likewise the intestinal ulcers, which some be-
lieve to be the origin, others the result of typhus abdominalis.
Alterations are  frequently discovered in  bodies, which have
taken place  after  death.  I  may mention the  coagulation of
the blood  in the heart and the aorta, which has given  rise to
many errors, the watery effusions  in  the  brain, after  a fatal 
16       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

stroke of apoplexy, and the  changes of color which are ob-
served  in  internal parts, the red  appearance of which is  not
always a proof of inflammation, as has been sufficiently shown
by the observations of Rapp[ and Yelloly.2   The absence of
redness, according to Rapp, is, on the other hand, just as  un-
certain a proof of the absence of an inflammatory disease, par-
ticularly in the intestines,  since the discoloration may have
been occasioned by certain  gases, such  as  the  sulphureted
hydrogen gas.
   Our knowledge of the  modifications which the substance
of the organs undergoes in disease,  is as yet very imperfect.
We know as little  of the changes of the blood and humors, and
we cannot help being astonished  at the boldness  with which
the imperfect and often contradictory results of the  investiga-
tions which have  been made until  this day, and which are
mixed with a great number of hypotheses, have been considered
by some physicians as proofs  that the anomalies in the compo-
sition of the humors are the primary  causes of disease.
   In investigating the causes of the alteration of  the humors,
the attention of pathologists has first been directed to the blood,
inasmuch as it contains the substance which serves to develope
the organism ; for  no one can deny that the composition of the
blood and of the humors is liable to various, sometimes import-
ant modifications.   For a  long time past it has been admitted
that the blood of scorbutic and chlorotic patients contains an
excess of serous particles, and is  deficient in fibrin; and that
the blood of pregnant women contains an excess of coagulable
lymph.  Wittstock has discovered in the  blood of cholera pa-
tients a diminution of from one to  seven per cent, of fibrin,
which was, moreover, less white when washed,  than that of
the healthy blood.   He has, moreover,  discovered in the right
ventricle a blood  resembling tar, and  mixed  with polypous
coagula.   According to Jennings, the  blood  of arthritic  pa-
tients contains an  excess  of  phosphoric acid and azotic sub-
stances.  According to Stevens, the  blood of yellow fever pa-
tients is deprived of its saline particles.  According  to Andral,
the blood becomes more copious in inflammatory fevers ;  and,
according to Scudamore,  it contains three times more fibrin
and less  saline particles.   In a patient affected with pulmo-
nary phthisis, who was bled  when the disease had  reached
   1 Regis Guilielmi festum natalitium'die 27 Septemb. indicit rector
et senatus Tubigensis; pramittuntur annotat. pract. de vera interpreta-
tione observationum anatomic pathological.   Tubing. 1834.
   8 London Med. Gaz. Decemb. 1835. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
17
 a high degree of development, and the patient was as pale as
 death, Zaccarelli observed that the blood had the color  and
 odor of milk.   Sion made a similar observation in the case of
 a man who was bled on account of a profuse hemorrhage from
 the nose and mouth, with tumultuous  movement of the heart,
 anguish  and want of breath.   Carswell says that  he has never
 seen tubercles without a morbid condition of the blood.   Many
 other similar observations furnish such convincing proofs of the
 alteration of the blood, that its existence cannot reasonably be
 doubted.  Nor will  the correctness of these  observations be
 doubted  by the dynamists or  by the solidists: as regards the
 difference of opinion between  the latter and the humoralists, it
 is simply this, whether the changes in  the composition  and co-
 hesion of the blood are the immediate consequences of external
 causes, or whether  they have been occasioned by the instru-
 mentality of the vital force.
    The  organism obtains the materials  for  its  reproduction
 from the surrounding world by means  of the  stomach, the re-
 spiratory organs and the skin.  The transformation into blood
 of the substances which have been introduced into the stomach,
 is principally effected by the process of chylification, which is
 therefore a secondary act, inasmuch as it presupposes the vital
 activity of the  digestive organs.  The  alteration which occurs
 in the blood by the admixture of heterogeneous particles, may
 take place by a shorter route, by the almost evident absorption
 of the capillary vessels in the  intestinal canal, the  lungs  and
 skin.  Contagious diseases invade the organism most probably
 by the  two  latter avenues.   But if   this absorption  simply
took place  in  accordance with the principles of hydraulics,
independently of the vital force, it ought to continue under any
circumstances.   If we consider, however,  that the reception of
the contagium into  the organism  by either of the aforesaid
ways, implies the necessity of a certain predisposition or adap-
tation of  the organism; if we consider  that a great number
of individuals, owing to  the energy of their vitality, can  ex-
pose themselves  to  the  most  pernicious influences without
being infected,and that they remain free from typhus or yellow
fever in the  midst of the Pontinian marshes, and at Havana
as well as in New-Orleans; that others can touch patients dy-
ing of  the  pest;  that others  again are  never infected with
the syphilitic virus  even in the midst of the most licentious
intercourse with prostitutes, we cannot admit that absorption
takes place in accordance with physical laws as liquids ascend
in capillary  tubes, or that the introduction of the contagium
into  the blood  and the corruption which takes place  in this
                          2 
18       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

fluid are chemical processes.  On the contrary we are obliged
to look upon these changes as true vital functions, and to sup-
pose that the fundamental condition of their occurrence is a
disturbance of the vital forces.   The breath of an individual
affected with a contagious disease, is sometimes sufficient to
communicate it, and to call out instantaneously morbid pheno-
mena.   It is less possible to admit, that the mass of blood can
be primarily altered with the rapidity of lightning by a contact
with the imponderable contagium, than  that the vital force can
be suddenly disturbed by  means of the nerves, of  which dis-
turbance the reproductive  sphere particularly offers many in-
stances.  Fright,  for instance,  may . occasion'  such a sudden
change, by means of the  nervous system, in the condition of
the nurse's milk, that the  infant may be  thrown into convul-
sions.  The difference  of  the blood in  the different periods of
fever, is a still more  striking proof of the  fact that the altera-
tion of the blood is a secondary effect of a primary disturbance
of the  vital forces.   According  to Jennings the blood  flows
slowly in the first period ; it is of a dark  color, coagulates ra-
pidly, and forms  a  thick coagulum of a dark  color.  In the
second period, the blood flows more  rapidly, does not coagu-
late as rapidly, and forms a more solid coagulum which is some-
times of a lighter color.  In the third  period, at the stage of
collapse, it flows very rapidly, is of a watery consistence, dark,
and coagulates imperfectly.   It is well known that the blood,
according as it is drawn at different periods, forms a coat which
is more or less thick, or does not form any.
    A good deal of importance has been  attached to observa-
tions which have  been  frequently repeated, that the substances
which have been  introduced into the blood, are discovered in
the secretions.  Pereira has given us a large collection of such
observations.   A great  number of experiments,  however, have
shown, that these substances cannot be discovered in the blood.
Schnurrer says,  that  the blood develops in a  latent manner
every thing which penetrates it by the  lymphatic vessels and
the absorbents, and compares, with much ingenuity, the secre-
tory organs to prisms decomposing  the ray  into its primary
colors.
    Some observations seem to show that substances   may
be introduced  into the circulation without undergoing a total
change.  The Courier of New- York*  for instance, relates the
case of a man who  had drunk  two gallons  in five  days, and
whose blood took fire when a match was held to it, and burnt
* See Froriep's Notes, Vol. XLVIII., No. 4. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
19
for half a minute with a bluish flame.  This does not show,
however, that the alcohol was mixed  with  the  blood without
having undergone any alteration.  It is very probable, on the
contrary, that some modification had taken  place, and  that an
inflammable hydrogen gas had been formed.  All attempts to
inject medicinal or heterogeneous substances  into the blood have
shown that the most  violent  and sometimes the most danger-
ous  reactions ensue.   As  similar  reactions  have  not been
observed in  cases where, according to Herr, the most divers
substances which had been introduced into the stomach are
said to have  been discovered in the blood,  such as iodine
hydrothionic acid, prussic acid, turpentine, oil of dippel, rhu-
barb, etc., one is entitled to doubt  the  correctness of those ob-
servations, and to believe that those  substances which had
become latent in the blood, were not  so much  educed as pro-
duced by the chemical analysis.
   A certain corelation between the composition of the blood,
the fluids and the things which are introduced into the stomach,
cannot be denied.  It  cannot be denied, for  instance, that per-
sons  who are badly  nourished have poor  fibrin, or that the
organism may be saturated with certain substances,  such as
mercury, kali, logwood, which tinge  the bones and even the
teeth.   But  all  these changes  do not show that the blood is
primarily  diseased.  The change in the "quality of the  blood
depends rather,
   1. Upon an  insufficient  absorption of the  necessary sub-
stances.
   2. Upon an  anormal secretion of substances which are
component parts of good blood, and which should therefore not
be separated from it.
   3.  Upon  a disturbance  of  the  secretory and excretory
functions.
   These causes, admitted by Herr, of the  morbid alteration
of the blood, show that it arises from a disturbance of the vital
forces, and we know that the disorder can only be removed by
regulating the vital functions, and not, as has been supposed,
by means  which restore the normal  proportion of the ingredi-
ents  agreeably to the  laws of chemical affinity, in the same
way, for instance, as  alkalies are neutralized by acids.  The
difference  between the solidists  and humoralists is  one of
opinion merely,  for in practice they  follow pretty much the
same methods, although they explain the action of the remedies
differently.
   An attempt has been made to class the phenomena of life
under three distinct heads, formation^ motion, and sensation, 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
and for these different manifestations of vitality, different  fun-
damental forces have been admitted : reproduction as the prin-
ciple  of formation; irritability  as the  principle of motion ;
and sensibility as the principle of sensation.   These three
principles have  been  looked upon  as  the primary factors  of
vitality.  Their harmonious relation constitutes health; disease
arises  from the inordinate  influence of any one of them.   As
material representatives, or carriers of these primordial elements
of vitality, three particular orders of organs  are  likewise dis-
tinguished ; hence, also, three orders of diseases: those of the
reproductive, irritable, and sentient sphere.
    Very few practitioners, however,  have engaged in these
speculations ; even the partisans of this system are not always
agreed among each other, and yet they talk of diseases of re-
production, iiritability and sensibility, with as much assurance
as if the correctness of those distinctions and divisions could not
be doubted, although it is sometimes impossible to derive the
least practical advantage from them.
    The organs of the reproductive  system are  liable  to dis-
eases which do by no means show that the reproductive acti-
vity is at fault,  but that there is a disordered sensibility or irri-
tability.  A disturbance of the sensitive  sphere  is frequently
perceived, by the disorder existing in the  reproductive sphere ;
a fright, for instance, causes vomiting or diarrhoea ; jaundice is
excited by  chagrin, etc.  These, and a great number of similar
observations  show  us such an intimate union  between the
three factors of vitality,  that one feels  tempted to admit with
Gauthier,  that the vital force  of the organism  is an unity
manifesting itself differently, according as the form  and
structure of the organs are different, in  the same way  as the
effects of electricity differ amongst each other, according as the
bodies in which the electrical force is perceived, differ in form,
matter,  and density.  Admitting  that  physiology has gained
by such studies, we cannot, however, admit that special patholo-
gy  and therapeutics have gained as much.   Who will deny
the endless difficulties which we encounter in numberless
cases of disease in determining  which of the three systems, or
which of their particular organs, has been primarily invaded?
and who will deny that it is impossible  to define the special
therapeutic indications without resorting  to empiricism ?
    The vehement opponents of the specific method  of treat-
ment which has been cultivated with so  much care and suc-
cess for some years past, seern  to overlook the uncertainty of
their treatment in praising it in such  extravagant terms,  and
designating it exclusively by the  term  rational)  as if the  spe- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
21
cine treatment did not merit that appellation.  Upon beholding
so much partiality, we are led to  ask,  What is rational treat-
ment 1  Rational means  evidently " conformable to reason ;"
rational treatment is a treatment the principles of which are in
accordance  with the  knowledge furnished by pure  reason.
Would it not be wise to prefer principles which have been dis-
covered by observing Nature's facts, to principles suggested by
human ingenuity ? The opponents of  the specific  treatment
forget, in their blind vehemence, that all our works on patho-
logy and therapeutics are filled with contradictions, which can-
not be otherwise, since the knowledge which we possess of the
proximate causes and of the essence of disease, is derived from
our individual perceptions which are liable to constant changes.
Fever, rheumatism, inflammation, and such like terms, are in
every  physician's mouth, and yet physicians have not yet
agreed on one definition of fever,  among the  many which have
been offered, nor upon the essential difference existing between
the different kinds of fever.  Mention is indeed made of  con-
cealed fevers; that is to say, fevers which are not fevers, and
which do not come under any definition.   The same  remark
applies to rheumatism.  The seat even of rheumatism is as
yet  under controversy;  nor do  physicians  adopt  the same
mode of explaining the rapid changes of locality, or the varia-
bility of the  rheumatic pains.
    In regard to inflammation, opinions are just as  much di-
vided.  All that we know of the Asiatie cholera is the manner
in which it shows itself to our  senses: the most  penetrating
observers  have not yet succeeded in observing its seat.  Hun-
dreds of bodies have been  dissected;  the blood of cholera pa-
tients has been analyzed; the  crudest empiricism has been re-
sorted to in  administering piecemeal the most heterogeneous
medicines, and yet, according to the testimony of the public
authorities, no more patients have been saved in this way than
the  homoeopathic physicians have saved  with their simple
method  It might be said in reply to this, that the cholera was
loo reeent a  disease to admit of any profound inquiry into its
inmost nature;  but our knowledge of a great number of other
diseases, which occur very frequently, is  unfortunately  not
much more accurate.  For years past so much has been said,
for instance, about delirium tremens,  that one should think a
satisfactory  explanation  of the  nature of that malady  might
have been arrived at by this time; but, in perusing the differ-
ent works which have been published on that subject, we en-
counter the most contradictory hypotheses by the side of thera-
peutic principles which do not agree any belter with the theory. 
22
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
It is not yet ascertained whether in delirium tremens the brain
is affected primarily or by sympathy.   Armstrong  considers
delirium  tremens a venous congestion  of the  brain  and  liver
consequent upon an increased action of the heart and arteries
occasioned  by a previous irritation. Klapp derives the cerebral
affection from a disturbance of the digestive organs;  Sandwith
from a venous congestion of the abdomen ; Haugthon from an
inflammation of the stomach ; Playfair from a morbid condition
of the liver and the intestinal secretions. According to Goeden,
the seats of the disease are the solar and coeliac  plexuses, and
the cerebral  affection is merely consensual.   Gunther thinks
that the cerebral affection is partly idiopathic, occasioned  by
metastatic deposits, partly consensual, occasioned by the  gas-
tric irritation.  Toepken supposes that the cerebral affection is
consensual, and emanates  from the coeliac plexus.  According
to Perry, the affection  consists in a febrile  cerebral affection,
which is to a considerable extent of an inflammatory  character.
According  to Sutton, it is a particular  irritation  of  the brain
bordering on frenzy. According to Andrem, it is a real inflam-
mation.  According to Bischoff it is an asthenic cerebral  in-
flammation.  Harless considers delirium tremens a superficial
cerebral inflammation,  rather of an erysipelatous nature,  an
asthenic paraphlogosis of the meningeal membranes  and of the
brain.  Blake thinks that it is an indirect  weakness  of the
nervous force, occasioned by a morbid activity of the brain and
nerves,  Hufeland supposes that it  is  nothing  but a passive
nervous  delirium.   Wasserfuhr admits  that the  alcohol is
transformed into blood, whence comes intoxication, until a con-
tinuous cerebral affection  ensues, when  the  organism is  no
longer able to assimilate the  alcohol.   According to Spaeth,
the cerebral affection results from a rupture of the equilibrium
existing between the brain and the abdominal nervous system..
 William Stokes recognizes  two principal  kinds of delirium
tremens, one arising from  the want of irritability, for which he
prescribes a severe diet; the other from an excessive irritation,
which he combats by means of leeches and ice.
    We might go on multiplying these quotations to show the
difference between the opinions; but it  suffices to take the first
best monograph of any disease, to  become  convinced  that,
although we possess a large number of excellent descriptions
of disease, yet all our knowledge relative to the causes of disease,
is scarcely  any thing but speculative, and a tissue of contradic-
tions.  The opponents  of the specific method of treating dis-
ease generally overlook the frank confessions  of such men as
Boerhaavex Peter Frank) Huf eland) Hildenbrand) and  of so 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
23
many other estimable savans, in regard to the imperfections of
medicine; and they do not hesitate  to designate by the term
rational any treatment, even  unsuccessful, which is based
upon a hypothesis, provided it is defended with a show of logic.
That kind  of logic, however, is of less importance to the pa-
tient than his recovery;  the patient cares little about the princi-
ples of the school, an ideal system: he wants to  be cured.*
    The physician  who obstinately pursues  an ideal object,
frequently  loses sight  of the actual  object of his  treatment.
Mesmer was  once asked what  baths were most healthy;  he
answered:  Formerly it made no difference whether a bath was.
taken  in a room or in the open air; but ever since I have mag-
netized the sun it is better to bathe in water that  the sun is
shining upon.  Another  learned man, who is still living  if I
am not mistaken, and  who has made himself  known by his
medical publications, magnetized, some  years previous, the
university buildings of Heidelberg, in  order to inspire the stu-
dents with a higher enthusiasm for science.  Such errors excite
our  mirth, whereas  the daily example of the obstinacy with
which prejudices are defended, excites rather our compassion.
    The celebrated  author of the  work on  " Experience," the
Chevalier Zimmermann,  saw  in every disease visceral ob-
structions, and prescribed to all his patients dandelion, on which
account he was  surnamed the Knight of  the Dandelion.   I
know  a well-informed physician who  imagines that in every
case of disease that  he  treats there is some latent affection  of
the spleen.  Some see in  every disease masked gout; others
lose themselves in the dark region of the piles; others again,
   * Some time ago I lent to a learned friend of mine, who is no profes-
sional physician, a manual of special therapeutics which is in the hands
of every physician.  He wished to consult the work in relation to the
case of a person who was closely allied to him.  On returning it to me,
he told me: " The reading of this book has discouraged me entirely, for
I had a much higher idea of your science; but all I found, was a  variety
of methods according to which this or that disease can be treated, with-
out discovering any specific indications  for one or the other method.
It seems to me, therefore, that it is the  caprice  of the physician which
decides about the method, and that the  patient's life frequently depends
upon the chance of a lucky choice ; if the cure doe6 not take place,
physicians have always some authori'y to shield themselves by."—I re-
plied that a manual of therapeutics could not be as positive as that of a
brewer or  dyer, and that it must be left to the  judgment of the physi-
cian to decide what method is the best in every case.  My  friend,
however, was perfectly right in saying, that too much room  is  left to
the  arbitrary disposition of  ihe physician, and the patient's fate fre-
quently depends upon the school in which he has formed himself, upon
the system he has adopted, or upon the method he follows. 
24
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
 with  Hahnemann at their  head, suspect nothing  but latent
 psora; others, lastly,  trace every disease to  some  rheumatic
 affection, and, whatever the patient may say, they will succeed
 in making out that the functions of the skin had been disturbed
 some time previous.   Upon  this supposition they wrap him in
 flannel, and administer  sudorifics, which make him still more
 sensitive to the disturbing action  of the  air.   At the present
 time,  tubercles in the brain, ulcers in the intestines, inflam-
 mations of the spinal marrow, are all the fashion, and serve to
 account for a great  number  of morbid conditions.  No system
.has as yet succeeded in  limiting this arbitrary mode of gener-
 alizing, and this mania of  tracing certain fundamental dis-
 orders.  Frequently, however, the  wish has been expressed of
 possessing a  therapeutic law which would give us some cer-
 tainty, and would enable us to avoid the  danger of groping in
 darkness,  or losi'ng ourselves in the maze of hypotheses.
   For many years, in order to apply a rational treatment, and
 conform to the principle, tolle  causam, physicians have  en-
 deavored to determine by their reason the proximate hidden
 cause  of disease, and to base their treatment upon  such a,
 cause.  This treatment  has  been more or less successful, ac-
 cording as one started from  premises that  were more  or less
 correct.  The tendency to idealize, to arrive at a knowledge of
 the invisible causes of disease by pure reason,  is the  dangerous
 cliff that Samuel Hahnemann has endeavored to avoid in esta-
 blishing the principle that nothing can be known  of disease
 with  certainty except its perceptible phenomena.  With this
 principle he has coupled the  assertion that this is all that a phy-
 sician  who  is  otherwise  acquainted  with the pathogenetic
 effects of  drugs,  requires to select the proper remedy.  The
 author of this doctrine has developed it with a boldness which
 has  scarcely ever been  equalled; and, in order to make the
 want of fixed principles more keenly felt, he has described the
 weak sides of the old school in the most repulsive colors, deny-
 ing that it has been of any  use whatever. The partisans of
 the old school, called  rational not without a good deal of pre-
 sumption, have used every endeavor to preserve for it  the in-
 fluence it enjoyed, and  to cover the new doctrine with igno-
 miny.  The  revolutionary boldness with which  it  overthrew
 every thing which had been previously admitted in medicine,
 excited an extraordinary sensation.  It would be improper to
 find fault  with the desire implanted in  human  nature,  to pre-
 serve what had been carefully cultivated for years.  Frequent-
 ly, however, that desire  increases to a censurable conservatism,
 betraying weakness, an unwillingness  to  free one's self from 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
25
the yoke of habit, or a condemnable egotism which is averse
to follow the road pointed out by some one else.  Equally cen-
surable are the vehemence with which young and inexperienced
disciples of Hahnemann have ridiculed every thing which had
been  done in science without being able  to appreciate it, and
the presumption with which, after one or two lucky cures, they
have considered themselves capable of curing any case of dis-
ease.   But the doctrine itself ought not to  be confounded with
the weaknesses of its partisans.  The extravagant praise which
is bestowed upon it by some  ardent admirers,  ought  to be re-
ceived with caution, although the unjust  and malignant criti-
cism of its vehement opponents is justly condemnable.
    The new doctrine, such as it has been  presented  by  Hah-
nemann, and  admitted as sacred  by a great  number of  his
disciples, does not, in our opinion, satisfy  a  just and impartial
criticism.  But the homoeopathic principle, which is the corner
stone  of the new doctrine, is so important,  and after careful  ex-
periments,  has  been recognized by so many physicians free
from  prejudice, that the overthrow of the homoeopathic school
need no longer be apprehended,  notwithstanding the hazardous
or uncertain assertions with which the doctrines of that school
are interwoven. We make this statement in the supposition that
no higher principle of  cure will  be  discovered hereafter.
Among the adherents of the homoeopathic school, there  are
some  who  do  not adopt all the opinions  of  Hahnemann, and
who do not follow his precepts without examining them criti-
cally.  I beg  leave to remind my readers of the remarks,
which I have offered in 1824, in the first  edition  of my work,
entitled, on the value of the homoeopathic treatment, and which
were  intended  to  show the necessity of  cultivating  the new
doctrine  scientifically.   Others have felt  that necessity, like
myself;  have  proclaimed it without fearing the reproaches of
those  who delight in servile obedience and have made every
exertion to discover errors, reject inadmissible hypotheses, sub-
mit dubious  assertions  to a severe criticism,  and, above  all
things, develope the new doctrine.
    Attempts  have  been  made, to combine homoeopathy and
the old system of medicine.   But all such attempts must prove
fruitless, for the simple reason,  that the therapeutic principles
of the  old  school  are contrary to those of the  new,  although
the general object of the treatment, the restoration of health, is
the same in any system of medicine.
    The  science of  therapeutics includes three different princi-
ples, and as many  different methods.  They are :
    1.   The antipathic or enanthiopathic  method, based  upon 
26        ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

the ancient principle of Galenus :  Contraria contrariis oppo-
nenda.'  According to Galenus, the rational treatment of disease
consists  in  always  administering remedies which, by their
primary action upon the organism, produce a condition opposite
to that which it is intended to remove.  The  antipathic treat-
ment must necessarily have been the first that suggested itself to
the mind.  He who has burnt his hand,  is impelled by some
internal movement to plunge it into cold water; he who suffers
with cold, endeavors to get in a warm place;  he whose  tongue
is dry and parched, endeavors  to moisten it by drinking cold
water.  Cathartics are opposed to a constipation of the bowels,
astringents to diarrhoea. When the system is heated, and the cir-
culation  is tumultuously agitated, refreshing things, nitre, crea-
mor tartari, lemonade, are administered; if the coldness one expe-
riences is supposed to be owing to a sluggish  circulation, heat-
ing things are  resorted to,  to accelerate the circulation  of  the
blood;  in relaxation of the system,  tonics, astringents, &c.  are
resorted to.
    The  chemical school  teaches the same  principle  in its
fashion, and  of  course, in accordance with  hypothetical as-
sumptions only, applies remedies to restore the natural propor-
tion of the component molecules.   Thus alkalies  are  given
to Correct a supposed hyperoxydation, acids  to supply a sup-
posed deficiency of oxygen, &c.
    The idea of antipathic treatment should  not  be rejected
generally, as has been done by some vehement advocates of
the  specific  method;  peaceful,  impartial and experienced ob-
servers will keep aloof from that blind zeal, and will not deny
the  happy results which have been obtained by the antipathic
method.  To appreciate this method properly,  it is  necessary to
look at practice,  and particularly at the therapeutic indications
in accordance  with the principles of the  antipathic school.
These indications, provided we do not resort to a purely symp-
tomatic  treatment, should correspond to the idea which  we
have conceived of the discord existing between the elements of
vitality.  The symptoms are  mere means to  obtain a correct
idea of the nature of that discord.   It is upon this idea that the
treatment is based.  Isolated symptoms do not require any par-
ticular attention. Like unto rays emanating from a central
fire, they will disappear as soon as their focus is extinguished.
This result is obtained in every case where  the  diagnosis is
surely established, and some apparent contradiction between the
symptoms does not induce one to abandon the original plan of
treatment.  The true physician, for instance,  after having re-
cognized a real plethora, will not be induced by the patient's 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
27
complaints about lassitude, heaviness of the limbs, to adminis-
ter corroborants—or, in a case of carditis, he will not be induced
by the tremulousness of the pulse, the decomposition  of the
features, the fainting spells, to combat  this apparent.siuking of
the vital forces by abandoning the antiphlogistic treatment.  If
we knew the principal disorder in every case,  it would not be
difficult for us to remove  it wherever this is possible.   Unfor-
tunately, however,  we cannot disguise the  deficiency  of our
physiological and pathological  knowledge.  WTe hear it often
said, for instance, that this or that man who has some inflam-
matory disease, might be saved if he could be bled once more,
which his weakness will not allow.  In such cases, physicians
consult, and after all  they do not know how to get  out of the
dilemma.  As  long as pathologists will teach that the principal
seat  of  an inflammation  is in  the  blood, and not elsewhere,
where other remedies might be applied, we shall hear com-
plaints about the uncertainty of our therapeutic indications.
   We  frequently see persons suffer with weakness of  the di-
gestive  organs, and at the  same time with determination  of
blood to the head, with symptoms of congestion.  These latter
symptoms induce us to have recourse  to cooling salts ;  but we
have to fear  that  salts will derange  the stomach still more.
The stomach  might be fortified by bitters, if they did not heat
the blood.   Physicians frequently endeavor to get out  of this
difficulty by mixing the two kinds of  remedies, one  being ex-
pected to fortify the stomach, and the other to diminish the vas-
cular erethism, while the pernicious effects of the  tonics are
supposed to be at the same time neutralized ; as if this mixture
did not constitute a new body acting altogether differently from
what each constituent would do if administered singly.  Would
it not be wiser to endeavor to determine the fundamental cause
which occasions the apparently  contradictory phenomena  of
disease  in the different parts of the organism, and to direct the
treatment against  that cause  exclusively? The  difficulty  of
solving that question in every case, and of following a single
indication in the treatment of disease,  leads us to select  our re-
medies  in accordance with the symptoms manifesting them-
selves in the various systems and organs of the organism, com-
mencing with those symptoms which appear the most import-
ant to us.  This treatment is really a symptomatic  treatment.
However  much we  repel this accusation, it  is  nevertheless
merited, as any one may see who will take the trouble  to read
the numerous so-called cures which  are related in our journals.
   It is not difficult to understand that a disease might be cured
antipathically, provided we knew its  proximate  cause.   A 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
treatment which is only directed against isolated symptoms, is
always  incomplete, and frequently pernicious, inasmuch  as
there is  danger of repressing reactions, by means of which the
organism, if left to itself, might have freed itself from disease.
Moreover, the antipathic method cannot be applied in every
case, because we do not know the contrarium of every anoma-
lous condition of the organism,  and have it only in our power
to remove it empirically, but not in accordance with the prin-
ciple : " Contraria contrariis curahda."  To this category be-
long a  number  of affections, particularly disturbances of the
sensitive sphere,  and a majority  of the dyscrasias,  of  the
essential nature of which we are almost completely ignorant.
   The history of medicine mentions a great  number of cele-
brated practitioners of  the old school, whose reputation no one
would dare assail.  But their reputation rests  less on the strict
observation  of the rules  of  their system  than upon their
talent of observing, and upon the faculty which they possessed
of  determining  in which cases  the  antipathic  treatment
would be salutary, and in which  it would be hurtful, by pre-
venting the curative reaction of the organism.  The  greatest
skill frequently consists in recognizing the necessity of simply
observing the reactive process ;  whereas  on the other hand the
inopportune exhibition  of excessive  doses of heroic antipathic
remedies betrays a lamentable want of pathological knowledge,
an incapacity of comprehending the importance of the symp-
toms. The inadequateness of  the antipathic treatment, which
has  been acknowledged for a  long time  past, has  led physi-
cians to adopt some other method either in conjunction with it or
exclusively.
   2. The revulsive method, which probably owes its origin
to the observation that certain  forms of  disease disappear, si-
multaneously with the  appearance of  some  other  disease.
This fact is accounted  for by the  sympathy existing between
the different systems of the  organism, or  between the different
organs of those systems. This sympathy is one of the essen-
tial conditions of the  antagonistic treatment.   It is useless to
inquire  whether nature possesses a genuine, spontaneous cura-
tive power, transferring the disease from noble and  important
to less important parts, or  whether these transpositions take
place in accordance with the laws of vitality without any par-
ticular object of cure.   It is well known that   the morbid pro-
cess is just  as frequently  transferred from  inferior to more
important parts, and that light and severe affections succeed
each other  by turns.   An inflammatory irritation of the mem-
branes of the brain may go off by a fluent coryza, a diarrhoea, or 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
29
some rheumatic eruption, or by some other favorable  crisis, as
such operations are called.  On the other hand, irritation of the
cerebral membranes may be occasioned by the  suppression of
those affections.   Vertigo,  hemicrania, even apoplexy, may be
cured by the appearance of piles, or may be occasioned by the
suppression of the latter affection.  The doctrine of the curative
power of nature might therefore be very properly looked upon
as a chimera, if it had not other points of support than the above
mentioned observation, from which we might just as well infer a
tendency inherent in the individual life to destroy itself. Be this
as it may, the fact that diseases wander from one organ to an-
other, has given rise to the revulsive method, which consists in
removing an affection from the more  important organs, by ex-
citing an artificial affection  in an  organ of less importance,
which it is supposed will  neutralize the former by the laws of
sympathy and antagonism.  Any  one who has observed the
facts with care, will admit that this method is not as contempti-
ble as some superficial physicians imagine, and the vehemence
with which every thing which does  not directly contribute to
the glory of the specific treatment has been rejected by some of
its blind admirers, can only excite regret.   It may be often
justly said, that every thing is gained by gaining time.  It is
particularly in acute affections of some vital organ, where the
danger is imminent, that every thing  is gained by transferring
the disease to some inferior and less important part. Thousands
of individuals have been saved by frictions, cupping, sinapisms,
vesicatories, artificial ulcers, irritating friction on the skin, foot-
baths, clysters, etc.  The revulsive method has not been limit-
ed to these external revulsions; even internal organs have been
irritated,  and have  been  made sick  by  artificial means, in
order to  free a more noble part of the organism from disease.
The efforts of the revulsive method have been particularly di-
rected  to the  intestinal canal, the  kidneys,  skin.   In conse-
quence, cathartics, diuretics, sudorifics, have been prescribed.
Attempts have even been  made to transfer the affections of one
system to some remote part of the organism, congestions of the
brain or lungs, for instance, to the haemorrhoidal system. When
life was in danger, and it became necessary to choose  the lesser
evil between two, in inflammation of  the brain, for  example,
calomel has been  unhesitatingly resorted to,  to  remove the in-
flammation by exciting a  temporary  state of suffering in the
intestinal canal.   In order to unite the antipathic and  revulsive
methods, medicines have  frequently been  administered which
corresponded to either object.  In cerebral inflammations, for
example, calomel has been  administered especially, since it 
30        ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

acts antipathically  on the  vascular  irritation, increases the
serous secretions of the intestinal canal, and thus manifests, at
the same time, antagonistic effects.  It would not be just to re-
ject the revulsive method entirely.   Of course it cannot be de-
nied that it has frequently been carried too far.
    Not knowing the remedies which act directly against any
morbid condition of the organism, a simple revulsion has fre-
quently been deemed sufficient, particularly when some dys-
crasia  was supposed to be the cause of the affection.   The in-
testinal canal is frequently ruined for life by the abuse of dras-
tic medicines.  Setons and vesicatories are left on a patient for
years,  and these means, as well as cauterization and moxas are
considered so lightly, that hospitals have become real places of
torture. The pernicious effects of the abuse of revulsive means,
particularly of those which  are employed internally, cannot be
denied. Those which are  employed  externally, are likewise
very hurtful frequently.   Frictions with tartar-emetic ointment
frequently occasion  spreading ulcers, and  leave horrible scars
behind.  Issues weaken the limb where they are applied, oc-
casion atrophy of that limb, not to mention the  bad smell which
is occasioned by a constant suppuration.  Vesicatories frequent-
ly occasion dysuria, and cauterization is one of the most dread-
ful operations, merely on account of the pain which is inflicted
on the patient.  Is it not desirable that these tortures should be
abandoned, and that  milder means of healing should be sub-
stituted ? We have a right to expect that result ever since the
discovery of
   3d. The specific method.  Specific remedies have been pre-
scribed for a long time previous; but a specific curative me-
thod, properly speaking, was not known.   Unacquainted with
the  action  of remedial agents, they had to be administered in a
purely empirical manner, and the idea of a rational treatment
was abandoned in despair.   This latter treatment  was gene-
rally resorted to only when any other seemed inadequate to the
case.   Hence it is, that in the therapeutic manuals, any reme-
dial agent which  seems to be suitable to the  disease, is men-
tioned  prior to the so-called specific remedies, of which nothing
was known except that they had  sometimes  proved useful
when any other remedy failed.  It is a matter of surprise that
the  sometimes  inordinate desire  to  explain  and  investigate
things, should not yet have induced physicians to inquire into
the laws which govern  the  action of specific remedies, inas-
much  as  nothing in  nature takes place  contrary  to  laws.
Theophraste talks a good deal about specifics, but  he desig-
nates them by the term arcana, and according to his fanciful 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
31
notions, the effects of those arcana depend, in a great measure,
on the influence of the stars.  In some other passage he rejects
entirely the maxim of contraria contrariis curantur, and says
that diseases are cured by remedies affecting the organism simi-
larly to the disease.  Erastus accounts for the virtues of spe-
cific remedies  by  their form and temperature, which is no ex-
planation at all.  Cardanus likewise doubts the old maxim of
contraria, since a  diarrhoea is frequently cured by  purgatives.
But the idea of homoeopathic treatment has evidently not been
clearly alluded to by any of the  above mentioned authors, ex-
cept by Basilius  Valentinus, who  says  that like  cures like,
but that contraria do not cure. Several later writers, especially
Boulduc, Detharding,  Thoury, de Haen, have explained  the
action of  specific remedies  upon  the ground  of similarity.
Stoerk has gone farther in this view than any other writer be-
fore him ;  he suggests, with a certain timidity, that stramonium
might cure derangement of the mind,  for the reason that it de-
ranges  the reason of healthy persons, interrupts the train of
ideas,  modifies the perceptive and functional  power  of  the
senses.  The  suggestions of this writer,  and similar observa-
tions, have, however,  not been improved ; and the road which
was here  pointed out to inquirers, has never been travelled.
The  reproach of neglect in a matter  of so much importance,
concerns all those who had exerted  themselves for a long time
to advance medical science.   It is frequently the  case, that, by
studying in a certain  direction, we overlook the things in our
immediate  neighborhood.   As regards the value of the  disco-
very itself, it matters not whether Hahnemann has been led to
it by the remark of some author whom he was reading, or by
his own observations and  reflections.  He has the  merit of
having proclaimed the important fact  that any remedial agent
may be a specific, and that any disease can be  specifically
cured by a  remedy which is capable of producing a similar
disease on healthy persons.  AVe  will not examine whether
Hahnemann has  called his doctrine  Homoeopathy for  the pur-
pose of distinguishing it;  we may  slate  it,  however, as  our
opinion, that  the appellation of specific doctrine  of healing,
would have secured a larger number of converts, and that he
has been wrong in designating the old school systems of medi-
cine by the collective name of allopathy.  The revulsive me-
thod is frequently similar to the homoeopathic, inasmuch as its
object is in many cases  to excite similar  affections, though in
different parts of the organism.
    The principle " similia similibns " is the barrier which se-
parates the New from the  Old School.  It is impossible to com- 
32
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
bine these two schools;  any such combination  would consti-
tute a most miserable abortion.  Whether,  however, the study
of the old school system of medicine is made useless by the
homoeopathic doctrine, is a different question.
   However strange this question may appear, it has been pro-
posed a  number of times latterly, and  answered  in  different
ways.  Hahnemann has hurled the empirical principle which
he had discovered, like a ray of lightning in the midst of me-
dicahscience, which he was on the point of annihilating. After
passing a bitter censure  on every thing which had been done
in medicine so far, he hurls every doctrine  of the pure reason
in the dust, shows the deficiency of physiology and pathology,
declares that the physiological and pathological doctrines are a
tissue of falsehoods, and accords to the perceptions of the senses
an absolute pre-eminence over speculative theories, and over
any attempt to obtain by pure reason an image of the dynamic
relations  of the internal  organism  which are hidden from the
senses.   All that he requires is a careful study of the external
phenomena of disease, which, in his opinion, are all-sufficient to
enable the physician to select the proper specific remedy.  It is
needless to say  that a method which  only embraces the exter-
nal phenomena, cannot  be any thing else  than  symptomatic.
It is certainly excusable on the part of Hahnemann, that he
should have been dazzled by the splendor of his own discovery,
and that  he should have even contradicted himself by indulg-
ing speculation in  establishing his psora-theory.   But it is a
matter of regret that less experienced  and less learned men
should, in imitation of their master, have endeavored to over-
throw every thing which had been built for the last two thou-
sand years.  The result of all these endeavors has been, that
the school of Hahnemann has been reproached with arresting
the progress of science by a leaning to empiricism.  Eccentric
partisans of the homoeopathic doctrine  have been led by their
sanguine hopes to deceive themselves and others ; and, to hear
their promises, one might feel tempted to believe that the pana-
cea of Paracelsus had been found, and that henceforth no one
would die except of old age or some violent mechanical disturb-
ance of the organism.   These illusions  have been favored by
the publication  of some wonderful cures,  and by  the sale of
portable medicine-chests and domestic  physicians,  tending to
represent the practice of medicine  as  very easy, and to make
every man his own physician.  Even  laymen began  to treat
disease, and to write in favor of the new doctrine.  This it was
which furnished the opponents of homoeopathy with the means
of bitter satire against the new doctrine; and it is precisely the 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
33
extravagant zeal and the exaggerated promises of some of its
partisans which prevented many from studying it.   Calm ob-
servers, however,  have remained true to the ancient rule, of
abusus non tollit usurn, and have for a long time been endea-
voring to free the  healthy germ of the new doctrine from the
weeds which threatened to choke  it.  In this way the materials
of a new system have been accumulated, which I shall endea-
vor to build up: I shall indulge, however, a few other remarks,
which I deem necessary to enable my  readers to  judge this
Essay with kindness and equity.
    It is  impossible to build up,  by mere  reason, a complete
system of medicine based upon the theory of life.   Every at-
tempt of this kind has so far failed ;  and,  in the present state
of science,  I should not be more fortunate  than my predeces-
sors have been.  We ought to  endeavor, however, and we are
able to show, that  the fundamental principle of our  doctrine is
in accordance with the general laws of life.
    Any combination of precepts arranged into one unit, agree-
ably to one and the same principle, is a system ; and such  a
system, if it correspond to the actual state of  development of
the mind, will satisfy, momentarily at least, every  reasonable
exigency, provided the following conditions are fulfilled by the
system.
    1.  The principle  which unites the  different parts of a
doctrine must be true, no matter whether the doctrine is de-
rived from  repeated experiments,  or from  speculative  reason.
If we  consider the evgnxa of Archimedes, and the  fall of an
apple which revealed to Newton the law of gravitation—if we
examine the forces of nature generally, we will soon become
convinced that it is not by speculative reasoning, but by obser-
vation, that we obtain an insight  into the laws which govern
the phenomena of nature.  Truth, whether historical or empi-
rical, must  be conformable to laws.  If, after repeated observa-
tions, some phenomena should  remain unexplained, this should
induce us  modestly to admit  that we are not yet able to ex-
plain every thing,  and to continue our  investigation  of first
principles.
   2.  The different  parts  of the system must likewise be
true.  It has already been stated  that it is  impossible to con-
struct a system of medicine based  upon one fundamental prin-
ciple and  consisting of an uninterrupted  series of inferences.
But in order that the  different parts of Science may present
an  harmonious whole, they  must be  connected  with  one
another by one and the same general principle.  This scientific
unity is not necessarily endangered by our inability lo'demon- 
34
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
strate it at once to our complete satisfaction, or by the existence
of some apparent incoherence among the details.   Of course a
system commends itself the more  to  our reason, the greater
the correctness of its precepts.  Hahnemann thought he would
make his system much more solid by rejecting every admixture
of philosophy, and by admitting only truths perceptible to our
senses.  This is the  reason  why the materials which he has
made use of for his system, have only been drawn from two fields
of science, nosography, and pharmacodynamics.   In  the
same sense as nosography is a science of the senses, and only
records the  external phenomena of disease, without  tracing
their  internal connection, so is Hahnemann's Materia Medica
nothing but a record  of  the  symptoms, by which  our senses
perceive the action of drugs upon the healthy organism.  The
homoeopathic therapeia is based upon this fundamental princi-
ple :  Administer in  every case of disease a remedy which
will affect the  healthy organism similarly to the disease.  A
system of treatment which regards only the perceptible phe-
nomena of a disease, must  necessarily  be a stumbling-block
to the partisans of the dogmatic schools, who cannot be ex-
pected to forsake the  notion that the principal object  of any
treatment  should be to remove the cause of  the disease.  And
yet, if the symptomatic treatment should  become  perfect and
leave nothing to desire, the so-called causal treatment would
necessarily have to be abandoned. A number of objections have
been raised against this treatment, some of which are important,
others without foundation. It  has been urged, for instance, that
the homoeopathic treatment removes the symptoms without re-
moving the  cause.   This reproach, if it can be made against
any treatment, can only bear upon the possibility that,  in cer-
tain cases, the original form of a disease may be converted into a
different one, without uprooting the disease.  But this remark
bears against the revulsive and even the  antipathic  method
rather than the homoeopathic, for those methods teach express-
ly not to combat isolated symptoms, but the totality of the symp-
toms.  It  is also true that the  physician has done every thing
in his power when he succeeds in  removing the perceptible
phenomena of disease; for these latter, being a reflex  of  a
certain internal anomalous condition  of the organism, which
is generally designated by the appellation of proximate cause
of the disease, the internal cause must necessarily cease to ex-
ist when its external manifestations are removed.  The  fre-
quent and often astonishing  success  of  strict homoeopathic
treatment, shows, moreover, that there is an intimate connection
between the essence and form of a disease.  It may therefore 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
35
be asserted that the symptomatic treatment is generally more
successful than the most energetic  treatment  which is simply
directed against the removal of the supposed proximate cause,
which remains so often hidden from  our  knowledge until it is
revealed to us by some accidental circumstance.
   By following Hahnemann's precepts, failures like these  are
indeed avoided; nevertheless it cannot be denied that the speci-
fic method, if employed exclusively, is imperfect.  This imperfec-
tion is, in a great measure, occasioned by the  imperfect devel-
opment of the science of  pharmaco-dynamics; for  we  know
that our inability to cure, as yet, a  number of affections,  arises
principally from the fact that we are not  yet  acquainted with
their  specific remedies, and the perceptible  symptoms  are in
a great many cases too obscure to enable us to select the specific
remedy with  certainty. > It often happens that the essential
symptoms are so much obscured by the consensual  phenome-
na, that the former are entirely overlooked, unless the physcian's
skill and experience should discover them, and make use of
•them as curative indications.
   It is therefore evident that medicine cannot be  studied like
trade ; and that it is  on the other  hand impossible  to carry it
to such a height of perfection that mistakes become impossible;
the imperfections of the different systems  and  methods are still
too numerous; the impossibility of arriving under the antipa-
thic method  at a certain knowledge of the proximate cause,
occurs still too frequently; the specific method furnishes  yet
too often an imperfect image of the disease; and lastly, any ex-
isting system of Materia Medica is yet very incomplete.  There
have been errors in medicine ever since disease  has been treated,
and there will be errors to the end of the world.  The unintelli-
gent physcian, no matter of what school, will always run  the
risk of deceiving himself; and the well informed physician, who
knows every system, but does not allow himself to be  blinded
by the love of system, will be more fortunate than  others, in
the treatment of disease.   In every school  the physician has
to possess the necessary preliminary knowledge, of separating
the ideal portion of our doctrine from that which has been  re-
cognized as true and practical, of acknowledging the defects of
some branches of medicine, rather than to supply them by unpro-
fitable hypotheses; and, above all, of not allowing himself to
be led by the  apparent importance of certain speculative notions
to maintain obstinately ideal representations of the proximate
cause, and to expose the patient's life by directing an heroic
treatment against supposed  occult qualities,  instead of against
the disease.   Boerhaave esteems the physician fortunate who 
36
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
does not do any positive injury.  In this respect the homoeo-
pathic physician would be better off than  any other.  But  in
following literally Hahnemann's precepts, the physician might
become guilty of the crime of omission, and one might justly
condemn his treatment partially as inefficacious, since he ne-
glected the accessory means, which, beside the symptoms, may
lead to a correct knowledge of the  disease.   We need  not
quote cases to show that the strictly Hahnemannian treatment
of disease has frequently been uncertain.  Conscientious adhe-
rents of Hahnemann have felt that uncertainty for a long time
previous ; they have become convinced that the mere external
symptoms are not the only curative indications, but that they
constitute the reflex of some internal dynamic disorder which
can only  be recognized by the mind's eye, and  requires to be
known,.in order  to base  the treatment upon  as safe a basis as
possible.  It is only in this respect that a union of the Old and
New  School can be thought of.  The latter, proclaiming the
principle, " similia similibus," will always  maintain a distinct
rank,  and will never be confounded with the antipathic treat-
ment, but will cease to  be Hahnemannian. The author of
this doctrine,  who undoubtedly possesses the glory of having
laid  the corner-stone, could not be expected to complete his
work.  It is for us  to perfect it; and  we shall  succeed in so
doing by picking out the particles of truth in whatever system
we may find them, and arranging them, by  means of the spe-
cific principle, into  one harmonious whole.  As we obtain a
deeper and more correct  insight into the modus operandi of a
specific remedy,  the homoeopathic law, which has been dis-
covered empirically, will be more deeply founded in,  and will
finally become identified with, reason. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
37
FIRST  PART.
PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY.
                        Section 1.

 Self-preservation is the first and most remarkable manifes-
                 tation  of individual life.

    The tendency to self-preservation is common to the spe-
 cies, as well as the individual.  This tendency is so much in-
 herent in the vegetable and animal life, that we may, with
 Leibnitz, consider the tendency to preserve one  individuality,
 as  the principal object of life.  One of  the most astonishing
 phenomena of the  organization of the  great whole is,  that
 every organized being produces only its like.   This arrange-
 ment is doubtless necessary to preserve the harmony of nature,
 but the cause thereof is hidden in the mysterious bosom of life.
 All that we know on this subject has been derived from observing
 the species and the  individuals wrhiich perpetuate themselves;
 it is thus that we  have arrived  at the  idea of a vital princi-
ple incorporated in the germ,  and which we  recognize as the
 internal cause of the organic formation  and development of de-
 terminate genera and species.

                      Section  2.

 The tendency of the individual life to preserve  its individu-
  ality manifests itself by opposing the surrounding influ-
  ences of Nature.

   An acting force can only be thought of as existing in con-
 flict with a contrary force.  Even  Aristotle has said that op- 
38
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
position is  the cause of all things.  We become convinced of
this truth so much more as we observe the circumstances in
which forces generally act.  Elasticity, for instance, can only
manifest itself when  the  elastic body is acted upon by some
external force endeavoring to alter the form of the body, and
resisted by  the latter.   The extraordinary effects  of steam are
realized by opposing or limiting the expansive power of that
agent.
   The vital principle in individuals manifests itself by op-
posing the  surrounding influences of Nature,  particularly by
absorbing, transforming, and assimilating certain external sub-
stances to maintain its own existence.


                       Section 3.

The mode  in which the individual life opposes the surround-
   ing influences of Nature, depends upon the  more or less
   perfect  organization of the individual.J

   By " receptivity " we understand the property  inherent in
animated individuals of being modified by external influences;
not a condition of passive submission, as that  of the wheel
which is set in motion by the  fall of the water, or of the clay
which yields to the pressure of a  heavy body, and assumes a
different shape  under its influence.   Animated bodies are in-
deed  influenced by surrounding  nature, but are at the  same
time endowed with a power of resisting that influence.   This
power is generally called, "force  of reaction, reactive force"
and the resistance itself, " reaction."  There  are  different de-
grees of reaction even among the  individuals of the same spe-
cies, and likewise different kinds of reaction, inasmuch as the
various genera and species of animated organisms differ very
much from one another in their relations to the external world,
and to the cosmic, atmospheric and telluric influences by which
those organisms are modified proportionately to their degree of
receptivity.  Every individual life is in need of the external
world, each in its own way, for its preservation.   Rice cannot
grow on the rock which is covered with the lichen parietinus;
and the lion would just as surely perish  on the ice-plains of
Siberia as the sable would in the  deserts  of Africa.  What is
nourishment to one  species is poison to another,  and has no
sort of influence on a third.  Wherever reaction takes place it
is characterized by the nature of the individual.
    In the vegetable kingdom reaction is limited  to the  repro-
ductive functions, to an opposition to the laws of affinity which 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       39

govern the inorganic world, and to the assimilation of  certain
substances which are drawn from the external world.   In that
kingdom we perceive only slight indications of an activity re-
minding us somewhat of the animal irritability; for instance, the
turning of the leaves of certain plants to the light,  the  closing
of certain flowers after  sunset; the  movements of  the dionea
muscipula, of the hedysarum gyrans, of the mimosa pudica, etc.
In  the animal kingdom  we  perceive  a vitality superior  to
vegetable life, and even controlling it; a freer dynamic power
of a superior degree, the material vehicle of which is  the ner-
vous system.

                        Section 4.

Health is the integral action of the vital functions, which
     has for its object the preservation of the individual.

    As the tendency to propagation is likewise  inherent in the
individual life, we might include  the integrity of that faculty
.in the idea of " health."   Health, however, may exist long after
the sexual functions have ceased ; it may even exist  in indi-
viduals who have been deprived  from the commencement  of
the procreative faculty (although the  loss  of this faculty always
indicates a restriction of the vital  activity).   The preservation
of the individual is,  however, not  endangered by that  loss.
Eunuchs and castrated  animals may enjoy perfect health to an
advanced age.

                       Section  5.

The principal condition of health is a  normal  state of the
                        organism.
    This requires:
    1.  Regularity of structure;  and
    2.  Proper combination of the constituent particles.
    It is scarcely necessary to  state  that certain anomalies  of
structure, even if the vital force were otherwise perfect, may oc-
casion irregularities in the functions, and unpleasant sensations.
to such an extent that the  individual  cannot be looked upon
as enjoying  perfect health ;  whereas on the other hand, certain
defects of organization are so little hurtful to  the preservation
and propagation of the individual, and disturb so little  the sen-
sation of health, that we need not pay any regard to them in our
examination of the pathogenetic causes.  The  greater  or lesser
importance of those defects depends upon the organs  affected, 
40       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
 and upon the intensity of the  affection.  Health  would  not
 necessarily be deranged, for instance, by the heart being locat-
 ed in the right side of the chest.   One of the small cutaneous
 arteries may have become obliterated without disturbing health ;
 a similar defect existing in the aorta would endanger life.
    As regards the composition of the constituent parts of the
 animal organism, and the influence which they have on the vi-
 tal force, we must admit that all our inquiries have so far led to
 very unsatisfactory results, which is mainly owing to  the fact
 that animated bodies cannot be subjected to chemical analysis.
 Death occasions results  which  we have no right  to suppose
 existed during life.   Let  me advert, for instance, to the putre-
 faction of the  uterus which is  said to take place in  malignant
 puerperal fevers, upon the ground that in post-mortem examina-
 tions that organ has  been  discovered in a putrid state.  This
 disease has prevailed several times in the lying-in  hospital of
 our city ; and  the director Dr.  Ritgen, has  made the  most
 minute researches on the subject of that disease, on account  of
 its presenting  a particular character of malignity. On examin-
 ing the uterus immediately after death by means of a speculum,"
 no change is discovered.  An hour after, a softening and a suspi-
 cious  color are perceived,  increasing every quarter of an hour
 until  the  uterus is  found in  a  state  of entire putrefaction,
 which some observers have looked upon as an  essential cha-
 racteristic of the disease.   The  results  of such  observations,
 which have been  frequently repeated  with care, lead us  to
 suppose merely a low sinking of the vital force, commencing in
 the uterus, which accounts for the fact that the chemical  decom-
 position after death commences in that organ. Such and similar
 observations should make us cautious against admitting a num-
 ber of the results which  pathological anatomy has furnished
 on the character of disease.  Olliviers describes  cases of sud-
 den death occasioned, as  he'thinks, by the  development of
 gas in the blood, where air-bubbles were discovered. It is diffi-
 cult to decide whether this gaseous development had  com-
menced before death. *

                       Section 6.

 Disease is ananormal vital process which does not correspond
          to the true development of the individual.

   Laymen would be astonished to know that the difference of

   * That great changes take place in bodies after death,  is shown by
 the virus with which dead bodies are infected.  It is said that this virus
is most active and poisonous shortly after death.—Hempel. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
41
opinion which prevails in regard to the forms of disease, like-
wise exists in regard to the nature of disease itself.  A critical
examination of the different opinions which prevail  on that
subject, would transgress the limits of this work.  In order to
avoid unnecessary discussion, I shall not even attempt to reply
to the objections which might be made against my definition of
disease.  This definition is not opposed by the idea which has
been adopted by  some  thinkers,  that disease is a parasitical
being or force which has invaded the individual, and is endea-
voring to develope itself in the same.  However poetical  and
ingenious this idea may be, yet it is of very little avail  in the
treatment of disease.
   It is indeed a remarkable fact  that there are diseases offer-
ing complete series of similar phenomena, which have  in-
duced us to speak of diseases instead of anormal conditions, as
if diseases were something enjoying an independent existence.
This notion has even prevailed among Paracelsus, Van Hel-
mont, Sydenham, and several older physicians, and has led to
a classification of diseases in genera, species, and varieties, and
to the construction of nosological systems similar to the classi-
fication of  animals and plants in natural history.  The ques-
tion with us is:  Why are many forms of disease so similar to
each other ? Not because there is a tendency in diseases to exist
in the order in which they  are described and  collated  in the
books, or because, like unto a grain of seed in the soil, they
take root in the living organism, develope themselves, and final-
ly arrive at maturity in order to become  extinct; but because
similar organisms are governed by  analogous forces and laws.
and will exhibit similar reactions when acted upon by similar
causes.   As long as the individual life has not  become extinct
either in the organism generally, or in a  portion of the organ-
ism, the changes which occur in  the latter are subject  to the
control of its own laws.  There is no such thing as a vital de-
velopment of disease in accordance with  regular laws.  A ce-
lebrated savant (Stark) has said : Disease is either a living con-
dition and at the same time individual, or neither. This dilem-
ma may be replied to by stating that condition means a totality
of properties, and that disease is therefore not so much a living
condition, as a  certain condition  of a living individual; and
that  a condition,  simply because it exists in time and space,
need not therefore  be considered  a  self-existing  individual.
This opinion meets its principal refutation  in the fact  that we
cannot analyze or construct  a form of disease without acknow-
ledging the  validity  of physiological principles, and that we
cannot account for the origin and development of disease, with- 
42       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

out accepting the laws of the organic life of the individual as a
fundamental position to our inquiries and reasonings.   This is
admitted by the most zealous advocates of the  doctrine that
disease is a parasitical being, thus admitting tacitly that their
doctrine is of no avail in practice.   The transposition of a dis-
ease by metaschematismus, is contrary to the notion that every
disease is endowed with a tendency of developing itself agree-
ably to its own inherent  laws;  or else it would  be necessary
to admit that every metaschematismus is the  extinction of an
old, and the commencement of a new  parasitical life.  This
supposition leaves us entirely in the dark, if we attempt to un-
derstand  by its means, the mode in which the process of meta-
schematismus takes place. Kieser has, therefore, very properly
remarked, that it is a great mistake to consider a state of health
and an anormal condition of the vital forces as opposite exist-
ences.  Whatever idea we may attach to the term " inflamma-
tion," whether we consider it  dynamically, or with respect to
the perceptible changes in the inflamed part, the whole course
of an inflammation shows that it is simply an alteration of the
vital functions of a tissue or organ, without the supervention of
new or strange laws, and that the various phenomena of inflam-
mation are governed by the vital force of the general organism
and the life inherent in its single parts.   Swelling, heat, red-
ness, pain, are consequences of what we consider the proximate
cause of the disease, and the various terminations  of an inflam-
mation, dispersion,  suppuration, induration,  gangrene, or the
formation of new filaments, membranes, etc., should be  derived
from an anormal reproductive activity of the organism, but by
no means from an independent principle of disease by which it
had been invaded.  If the existence of such  a principle were
admitted, all attempts to elevate the character of pathology by
establishing it upon a physiological basis, would become unne-
cessary, and it would  be impossible to account for the  various
modifications in the manifestations of the vital force, in a man-
ner conformable to the known laws of nature.


                       Section  7.

Disease  results from the cessation  of the normal state of
                     the vital activity.
    Disease is induced by
    1. Lesion of the vital  force ;
    2. A normal condition, both in the form and composition of
the organism. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
43
   We distinguish therefore :
   1. Dynamic diseases;
   2. Physical diseases, which may again be distinguished in
anomalies of form and composition.
   We must not forget that matter and force  cannot be con-
ceived as two  things essentially  different,  but that they  are
rather two things reciprocally related to each  other  in such a
manner that one can only exist by and with the other ; indeed
matter and force cannot be  modified separately.  On the other
hand, we should not leave out of sight the great similarity ex-
isting between the vital force  and the  imponderable  fluids,
whose dependence upon matter can only be shown very imper-
fectly.  What change takes place in the magnet at the moment
when it loses its power in falling on a hard stone, or when its
poles are reversed ?  We know this  as little as we do why  the
galvanized muscle ceases to react for  some time, and, after a
little rest, recovers the power of performing palpitating  move-
ments.  A number of phenomena justify the  admission of pri-
mary lesions  of the vital  force; for instance, instantaneous
paralysis occasioned  by a violent emotion, the frequent disap-
pearance of serious symptoms by means of some  moral influ-
ence.   King Perdiccas was cured of a consumptive illness by
the sagacity of Hippocrates, who discovered that love was  the
cause of the disease, which  disappeared as soon as that passion
was  satisfied.  In a similar manner was the apparently dying
Antiochus cured by Erasistratus.  The inmates of the orphan
asylum at  Harlem ceased  to be attacked with epileptic fits,
which were brought on by the  sight of a paroxysm, after Boer-
haave had decreed that the first child that would be attacked
with epilepsy, should  be burnt with a hot iron.  These and
many other diseases  are purely dynamic.
   The question here presents itself, whether there are distinct
physical diseases.  Defects  of organization, anomalies of form,
whether hereditary or of later origin, unless occasioned by me-
chanical injuries,  imply an  irregularity in  the reproductive
functions, but  may, from the  moment  they exist,  be looked
upon as organic diseases, provided they disturb the play of the
vital forces.  They are  the objective  phenomena of some dy-
namic affection, although they  may in their turn disturb the vi-
tal force.  Dilatations or contractions of the heart, for instance,
aneurisms, obliterations of arteries occasioning disturbances of
the circulation, are organic diseases.
   There is another still  more important  question, whether
there are primary anomalies of composition, and  particularly
primary diseases of the fluids. 
 44       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

    If we put  the  question in this way:   Are there  diseases
 which manifest themselves in the first place by an anomalous
 composition of the fluids ? we may unhesitatingly say: There
 are.  Every organ and every sphere of the  organism may be
 first invaded by disease.   Disease may commence  in the sen-
 sitive sphere as well as in the reproductive sphere, and may oc-
 casion material changes in the latter, which is more particular-
 ly exposed to  the influences of surrounding nature.   But if the
 question be, whether  external influences can  produce a pri-
 mary corruption of the fluids  by some chemical  change, we
 may as unhesitatingly answer :  No.
    The  form and composition of the organism are the objec-
 tive manifestation  of animal life  in its reproductive sphere;
 hence deviations from the perfect composition of the organism
 are the materialization of an anormal vital process, implying a
 disturbance of the vital force  itself.   This may be  hereditary,
 for instance in scrophulosis, or acquired.  In many cases it may
 be considered weakness; that is, an insufficient quantity of power
 to resist the noxious influences which are constantly assailing
 the integrity of the organism.  There are  noxse which over-
 come even the most powerful  organism, such as gases and poi-
 sons which pass into the organism  by the lungs, or by the ali-
 mentary canal, or by the superficial absorbent vessels, occa-
 sioning death  sooner or later.   The resistance to those noxae is
 proportionate to the intensity of the vital force. Some men en-
joy such a powerful vitality,  that they are able  to exist in the
 closest contact  with noxious  influences  which would destroy
 the life of many others.   The same man is  more or less liable
 to noxious  influences  according as he happens to be in  a
 stronger  or  weaker condition of body.   Overwhelmed with
 care, exhausted by fatigue and watching, badly nourished, he
 is more liable  to the influence of a contagious disease than if
 the contrary condition existed.  He  is likewise more liable to
 that influence  when the  stomach is empty, than after a good
 meal.  Hurtful substances, even  if introduced into the  organ-
 ism, will prove less destructive if the organism is powerful and
 active, and therefore more capable of transforming the very es-
 sence of the noxious agent.
   Strictly speaking, all physical diseases may be  traced to  a
 violation, or, at any rate,  to a relative weakness of the vital
 force ; and all diseases  may, therefore, originally be considered
 dynamic.   It is nevertheless  convenient to inquire which of
 the three spheres  is more particularly affected, the sensitive,
 irritable, or reproductive.  Generally, the anomaly exists in one
 of these  spheres ; in regard to the latter, it cannot be doubted 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
45
that irregularities of composition frequently and primarily take
place in the blood, owing to the introduction of heterogeneous,
gaseous substances,  such as contagia,  miasmata, etc., by the
respiratory organs.   Nor can we deny that substances may be
incorporated in the volume of blood, by means of the absorb-
ents in the intestinal  canal, where those substances may have
been secreted  or introduced.  According to Loewenhayn, car-
bonate of soda, which had been introduced into  the stomach,
has been  discovered in the blood.  Indigo  tinges the milk of
nursing females blue, and madder  imparts a red color to the
bones.  These are facts which  no one denies.   The  mode in
which those changes take place, is explained in different ways.
According  to  Von Pommer,  miasmata,  contagia,  and poisons
affect the blood primarily, alter and destroy the blood, and with
it the being.   Treviranus is of the  same opinion, except that
he thinks poisons act not so much  by  absorption as dynami-
cally, inasmuch as the action  takes place suddenly,  like that
of electricity.  Boerhaave's well-known experiment  with the
opium pill, which was found entire in the stomach of the poi-
soned dog, likewise shows that the  organism may be affected
by  the mere  contact with certain  substances.   Experiments
like these, however, do not show that  parts of the poisonous
substance may not have  been brought  by absorption  in  more
intimate contact with the organism; and, after all, the differ-
ence of opinion is in relation to the  tissue which was  affected
primarily.  Steinheim thinks  that  the  re-action of the blood
against poisons is a dynamic process,  Lobstein, the most zea-
lous advocate of nervous pathology,  maintains that all organic
diseases are in the first place dynamic, and that they all ori-
ginate in a nervous disturbance, because no primary alterations
take place in inferior systems, which must be conceded  in so
far  as the morbid process, when it seems to be confined to the
vegetative sphere, must necessarily depend upon a relative weak-
ness of the higher animal vitality.


                        Section 8.

The different forms of disease are determined by the  laws
        which control the manifestations of vitality.

   The notion that  diseases are parasitical beings in the or-
ganism, must have easily led to the supposition that the multi-
tude of similar forms  of disease depends upon the tendency, in-
herent in those parasites  to develope themselves  in a peculiar
manner, by virtue of the  same  power with which every living 
46
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
embryo is endowed,  to grow up to an  individual distinct in
form and kind. Certain phenomena, indeed, tend to favor this hy-
pothesis, particularly the contagious diseases,which runthrough
their course, proceeding from the same seed, like animals and
plants, and remaining the same in their  fundamental features.
A man infected by the small-pox, suffers for three, four, or five
days, in pretty much the same manner with his companions of
misfortune.  After the lapse of that period he is attacked with
a febrile paroxysm, followed by red spots.  On these spots the
epidermis is gradually raised,  and  blisters are formed, which
fill  with a purulent lymph in the space of eight days,  du-
ring which time the  febrile paroxysms continue.  In three
days the blisters begin  to  dry up,  and  the disease generally
runs through  its course  in from twelve days to a fortnight.
The measles, rubeolar, the  exanthematic typhus, and several
Other diseases run through  such a similar course, in all those
who are  affected  with such diseases, that it  is quite  easy to
foretell, with a high degree of probability, from the first symp-
toms of the  infection, the  whole  succession of phenomena
which  will set in during the course of the disease.  A certain
regular course by stages, characterized by peculiar phenomena
of the same duration, is not only characteristic of acute, conta-
gious, exanthematic, but of many other,  and  particularly epi-
demic diseases.  If at a time when inflammations  of  the pul-
monary pleura  prevail, one should have been exposed to the
predisposing influences of  inflammation, and should then be
attacked with a violent chill, succeeded by heat, stitches in the
side, and oppression of breathing, we know by these symptoms
that the disease has set in, and we are able to foretell that  the
cough  and irritation will increase—that  the cough will at first
be attended with a blood-streaked expectoration, and afterwards
with an expectoration having a reddish tinge  throughout, that
a crisis will set in on the seventh day, which,  if favorable, will
be accompanied with a warm sweat over the whole body, after
which the disease will subside and gradually disappear.  We pre-
dict with tolerable certainty that a splinter which has penetrated
into the fleshy unless extracted, will occasion an inflammation,
and that the splinter  will be expelled during the  subsequent
process of suppuration.   All such predictions  are based upon
the knowledge which we possess by observation, of the succes-
sion of the effects which certain noxious influences produce in
the organism.   Frequently, however, the course of the disease
is different from what we had observed  previously.  Splinters
have remained in the flesh for years, without occasioning either
inflammation or suppuration.  Even acute cutaneous diseases, 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
47
which are particularly distinguished by the similarity of their
forms, frequently differ from one another.  Small-pox has been
seen  resembling measles, and  measles resembling small-pox.
The stages of those diseases have been longer or shorter than
usual.  Such exceptions may depend upon certain peculiarities
of the sick modifying the process of reaction.  In every epide-
mic disease the single cases differ somewhat from one another.
In conclusion, it may now be asked : If disease is  nothing but
an alteration of the vital condition, and  if the varieties of the
forms of disease depend upon the relation existing between the
receptivity and the reactive power of the patient, why should
not this relation be considered  the  sole cause from which dis-
eases derive their particular forms ?
   According to Ferdinand Jahn, the intervals  of rest and the
periods of activity of the earth and the organism are  partially
analogous  to  the  type of diseases,  or  develope themselves as
these do.  Other diseases have  an original type, which is pe-
culiar to themselves.  If we consider life as an original, self-
existing power, and disease as a modified form of life, the cause
of that modification must exist in  the conditions of the  indivi-
dual life ; and there is no reason why every particular modifi-
cation of the individual life should be supposed to be depending
upon some  particular life^principle.  The life  of the great
whole is analogous to that of the individual, because all forms
of life are controlled by certain supreme laws.   A  more or less
distinct type is observable in every phenomenon of nature ;  in
the change of the  seasons, in the tide of the sea, in the growth
of plants and animals, particularly  in the periods of develop-
ment, in the waking and sleeping, in the processes of digestion
and cohabitation,  in the menstruation of females, in pregnancy,
the hatching of eggs, and in diseases, where we frequently ob-
serve a  regular duration of the stages of intermission and exa-
cerbation, particularly in fevers, where not only the vitality of
single organs is disturbed, but  where the reaction takes place
throughout the whole organism, thereby showing the existence
of general laws  of life.  In the  man who  is infected with the
small-pox, the whole of the disease does not develope itself, by
reason of its being endowed with a tendency to do so, but be-
cause the living organism possesses the power of reacting in a pe-
culiar manner: and if the phenomena of small-pox are the same
in those who are infected with the disease, it is because the conta-
 gion of small-pox maintains the same character in all, and calls
 out similar reactions.  We know but little of the nature of con-
 tagia ; but we may consider  it certain  that every contagium
 maintains a certain identity,  and  therefore calls out pretty 
48       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

much the same reactions in living organisms.   Similar things
take place in epidemic diseases which are not contagious. Our
organisms are  exposed to the  influence of unknown agents in
or above the atmosphere, which call out similar reactions in
every invaded organism,  differing from each other only in so
far as the receptivity and reactive power of individual organisms
differ.  Hence  it is,  that in wide-spread epidemic diseases, not
all men are seized with the same violence,  though all  those
who are attacked,  manifest  similar  symptoms of suffering.
Noxae, which act  with less intensity, cannot  induce such con-
stant and characteristic reactions of the organisms. These do
not, in the  first place, invade  a particular organ or tissue,  but
the whole organism is attacked at once, and the morbid  phe-
nomena make  their first appearance in that part of the organ-
ism which  is the  most susceptible.   This is the reason why a
cold will induce catarrh, colic, diarrhoea, nettle-rash, glandular
swellings, rheumatic pains, or other forms of disease, according
as the organism is more or  less disposed to  either the one or
the other.
   A celebrated author has remarked that diseases are  apt to
contract a certain  type.   Diseases are indeed apt to contract a
certain type, but this fact  is not explained by supposing that it
is a sort of  habit or something accidental.  Hohnbaum suggests
that the course of a disease  is in  a great measure regulated by
the nature of the affected  organ.  The more necessary to life,
the more tumultuous and rapid is the course of the disease, as
we may see from the affections of the brain and spinal marrow.
An inflammation  of the heart frequently becomes fatal on  the
third day. Inflammations of the mucous membranes and of other
inferior organs are more frequently disposed to become chronic.
The diseases of those tissues and organs which, in their normal
condition, perform their functions according to a certain  type,
follow  a  similar type in disease.  Reactions of  the vascular
system particularly are distinguished by more or less regular
exacerbations,  because the action of that system is generally
characterized by a certain rhythm. Piles appear in many per-
sons every  four weeks, and in many females fluor albus regu-
larly precedes  and succeeds the  catamenia.  All this shows
that diseases are controlled by  the same laws on which  the
periodicity and the rhythm of the functions in their normal con-
dition  depend. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
49
                        Section 9.

             Every disease is originally local.

   Long discussions have been carried on  to know whether
there are local diseases.  Those  discussions might have per-
haps been dispensed with, if the meaning of the  term " local
diseases" had previously been well  defined.  What I under-
stand by the term " local," is a morbid affection confined to one
place, without occasioning a general disturbance of the organ-
ism.
   It has been stated,  but incorrectly, that there  cannot  be
any  local diseases, because the vital principle is indivisible and
cannot be invaded any where without suffering throughout its
whole extent.   To this we may reply, that it is indeed true
that  a severe local  affection will be sympathetically perceived in
every part of the organism, but that this sympathetic suffering
is frequently so slight that it is scarcely, if any, perceived, and
that  it disappears as soon as the local disturbance  shall have
subsided.   The pain  which  is  caused by a carious  tooth,
ceases as soon as the tooth is extracted.   The  ulcer which is
occasioned by a burn or vesicatory, is likewise a mere  local
affection, since it does  not disturb the general functions of the
organism.  If the cure be prevented by some dyscrasia; if the
ulcer assume a phagedenic  aspect, the  duration  of the ulcer
will  depend upon  the  general morbid state which existed pre-
vious to the ulcer, and requires to be  cured in order that the
ulcer may heal likewise.  The healthier and robuster the indi-
vidual, the greater its power of maintaining an affection within
local bounds.
   There are also  many local morbid phenomena which  do
not  seem to affect  the organism in the least, and which reflect
a more general disease that had become latent in the organism
ever since the vital force had succeeded  in localizing it.  A
rheumatic fever disappears very often as soon as a slight erup-
tion  is seen on the lips, and the appearance of tinea capitis fre-
quently frees children  from  a predisposition to inflammatory
affections  of the brain.   The humoral pathologists consider
this  metaschematismus as a confirmation of their  hypothesis,
that  the matter which disturbs the organism has to be expelled
in order that the equilibrium of the vital functions may be  re-
stored.  We will not deny the excretion of certain hurtful sub-
stances, whether they have got into the  organism from without
or have been produced in the organism by some anormal action 
 50       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 of the vital forces.  There are many such substances, such as
 the musty smell of the sweat in small pox ; the same  pungent
 smell in miliaria; the putrid smell in a cachectic disease; the
 urinous smell in a state of inactivity of the  kidneys.   There
 have been observed alkaline  sweats, sour sweats, or sweats
 that were sweet as honey, or mixed with crystals of phosphates
 or depositing a crust of sand  on the skin.   People with red
 hair have frequently an exhalation of  a peculiar smell  which
 disappears when  they are indisposed, and the re-appearance of
 which is a sign of recovery.  Frequently, however, alterations
 in the secretions take  place, because the secretory organs are
 diseased, not because the organism is loaded with certain mat-
 ters  the removal of which is  required  for  the restoration  of
 health.   This statement is corroborated by the frequent con-
 centration and isolation of a disease in  organs where no secre-
 tion  takes place.   The frequent disappearance  of nervous dis-
 eases and rheumatic pains simultaneously with  the appearance
 of blind piles belongs to this class of phenomena.  Stahl  has
 seen a dangerous miliaria follow the suppression of a varix at the
 anus.   Majon has  observed that deaf people are less than
 others liable to the prevailing diseases, and are more particu-
 larly insensible to the effects of great  heat.   I  may add, from
 my own experience, that men  with hernia or  hydrocele fre-
 quently live to an advanced  age without experiencing any
 other suffering except that which is occasioned by the local
 affection.
   The relation of local to general disturbances can only be
 verified by careful observations, and the idea  of a  general dis-
 ease must always be more or less relative.  Lobstein remarks
 with a  good deal of truth : There are no general  diseases in
 this sense that all the organs and systems are  attacked at once.
 For,  disease being a modification  of the vital activity in oppo-
 sition to the condition of the  individual,  the  extension of the
 disease  throughout  the whole organism would  necessarily re-
 sult in its speedy destruction.  The hostile morbid power in-
 vades in the first place  a single  organ or system; but afterward
 the effects of that invasion extend by sympathy.  Hohnbaum
 says that any disease  commences at and spreads from  a cer-
 tain point.  A good or bad composition of the fluids, a greater
 or lesser receptivity, a  higher  or  lesser degree of sensibility
 and conducting power of the nerves, are the causes which will
either keep the disease within certain bounds, or else cause  it
to extend to other organs and systems.  The torpidity and
want of sensibility of  a muscle will prevent  inflammation or
 suppuration even if a splinter should have lodged in the parts. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
51
Some years ago, a laborer and my  servant lopped off  a few
branches of  Rhus radicans.  The latter peeled the  leaves
and squeezed out the juice without experiencing any bad effects
from it.  The former was attacked in a few hours with  an in-
flammatory swelling of the hands and face, which became cov-
ered with vesicles, as in vesicular erysipelas.   He was very
feverish the whole of the ensuing night.
   Generally speaking those diseases spread the more rapidly
which affect organs and  systems that have naturally a great
conducting power.  If a wound of the  finger should be fol-
lowed by an inflammation of the absorbents, this generally ex-
tends to the axillary glands.   Local phlebitis generally attacks
very rapidly the venous system at a great distance,  and the
morbid affections of certain nerves are  disposed to affect the
whole nervous system in a very short time.  The recent anato-
mical discoveries have taught us that  nervous filaments dip
into the substance of the organs, thus establishing communica-
tions between the nerves and vessels, communications  which
enable us to account for the sympathy that exists between them,
and causes the diseases of one system to pass at once  to the
other.   As shame causes the  blush to rise to the cheeks in a
state of health, or as fright drives the blood from the peripheral
vessels, thereby occasioning a sudden paleness;  so does a vio-
lent  irritation of the nerves  provoke reactions in the  vascular
system which are designated by the term " fever;" and primary
febrile phenomena occasion in the sensitive sphere the most
varied  phenomena of an anormal activity.
   It is known with tolerable certainty where a great number
of diseases  commence.   According to Gruithuisen the start-
ing point of the pest is the cellular tissue;  the influenza com-
mences in the mucous membrane of the windpipe ; yellow fever
in the secretory organs of the bile.  According to Kopp several
forms of asthma in children arise from hypertrophy of the thy-
mus  gland;  typhus abdominalis  from  intestinal ulcers;  a
number of nervous affections from a slow inflammation of the spi-
nal marrow, etc.  In many diseases the starting point  is re-
vealed by the precursory symptoms; for, as a general rule, the
sensations of local disturbance are perceived in the spot whence
the disease spreads in different directions.
   It has often been asked whether there are diseases not de-
pending upon some internal  disturbance of a particular organ.
It is very difficult to answer this question, owing to the  impos-
sibility, in the present state of medical science, of establishing,
in a satisfactory manner, the relative independence  of the
manifestations of the life  of the organs; it is very probable, 
52       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

however, that there are primitive lesions of the vital force, and
hence  also purely  dynamic  diseases.   Admitting, however,
that this is a fact, we cannot  conclude from it that the vital
force is instantaneously attacked in its whole extent.  On the
contrary, inasmuch as we  are  obliged to acknowledge a par-
ticular life of the organs, it  is more probable that the lesions
of the  vital force emanate from a fixed point, and more par-
ticularly from the  point which is most exposed to the hurtful
external  influences.   A great number of accidents, such  as
general reactions of the organism consequent upon moral,  im-
material influences, convulsions and  febrile paroxysms after a
violent emotion, etc., appear indeed to result from a sudden
invasion of the animal life in its whole extent.   However, we
know too little of the physiological importance of every part
of the  brain  to  refute the opinion, based upon a great degree
of probability, that every moral sensation corresponds to a par-
ticular organ of the brain, from which that sensation extends
to other regions of the cerebral mass.
    All these considerations show that it is of the utmost  im-
portance  to  a successful  treatment, that the course of  the
disease which we  are called upon to treat  should be traced
from its commencement to its  least ramifications in  the par-
ticular organs; that, in certain cases, we are able to recognize
with certainty the existence of an isolated, local morbid affec-
tion ;  but that it is impossible, with our unsettled notions about
the general or local character of disease to construct a system
of nosology on that basis.


                       Section 10.

    It is expedient  to designate by particular names certain
morbid conditions which  are characterized by  particular
symptoms.

    It is difficult  to trace this custom, which has prevailed from
time immemorial, to its origin ; its remote date shows that  it
must have been considered necessary.  It is quite natural that
particular  names  should be applied to phenomena of frequent
recurrence, in order to distinguish them from other dissimilar
phenomena; and it is likewise natural  that the name should
have been applied in  accordance with the external  form of
the affections.   The  names  of diseases, particularly those of
remote date, refer principally to that which is most prominent
in  the diseases, even were this merely subjective sensations/
Hence the different diseases which  are characterized  by a 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
53
certain sensation  of  pain, are  designated in accordance with
both the seat  and the nature of this pain ; they are called, for
instance, cephalalgia, hemicrania, prosopalgia, angina faucium.
pains  in the  back, pains in the kidneys, cardialgia, pains in
the  chest,  colic,  rheumatism,  etc.;  or, lancinations,  burning
pains, pressing pains, tearing  or,drawing pains, cramp-pains,
etc.   At all times diseases have been  moreover  named  by
their  predominant objective  symptoms.   In  this way the
fevers: jaundice,  dropsy, chlorosis,  vertigo,  scrophulosi's, va-
riola,  rubeola,  miliaria, scarlatina, erysipelas, vesicular fever,
burning fever, intermittent fever, continuous fever, etc., have
been formed, and it has been deemed fortunate that we should
be in  possession  of  names which  would recall to our minds
the idea, though only general, of the disease.
    As far  as this Avent,  nothing could  be urged against that
custom.  Soon,  however, the  propriety of modifying those
names was discussed, and all  sorts  of sophisms were, resorted
to in that discussion, without first agreeing on the basis upon
which those modifications should  be proposed, whether the
external phenomena of the diseases,  or their type, or what was
considered their dynamic anomalies,  should be that basis.  The
attempts to designate the different morbid conditions as correctly
as possible by names, have been carried farther and farther, and
have finally led to the classification of diseases in genera, species,
and varieties, basing that classification at times upon the ob-
jective organic, at times  upon the  subjective dynamic symp-
toms of the  disease.  The names of  the genera,  species,
and varieties  thus obtained, exhibited the  most striking dif-
ferences.
   It is not my object to offer a complete critical review of the
different nosological systems.   Any classification based upon
the  basis above stated, has both its  advantages and disadvan-
tages.   In classifying and denominating diseases by their ex-
ternal  symptoms, according to PineVs example, we consider
merely the  objective  manifestation of diseases, thus escaping
the  danger of making mistakes through some incorrect idea
of the internal disturbance.  This danger threatens us, how-
ever, from  another quarter; for essentially different diseases
may be juxta-posed on account of certain resemblances of form.
whereas other diseases which are closely related to one another,
may be separated from one another.   In order to obtain some
idea of the errors which have been committed in this respect, we
need only glance at the classification of the cutaneous diseases,
and  we will be  astonished at the arbitrary manner in which
these or those external symptoms have been adopted as a basis 
54
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
of arrangement.  Bichat  has attempted to arrange diseases
according to their locality.  Alibert, Good, and others have fol-
lowed his example.  The defects of this kind of classification are
evident.   Diseases of the most dissimilar character are placed
side by side  simply because  they have the same seat; other
affections are located  in the most arbitrary manner, according
as this or that organ or tissue is supposed to be their principal
focus.   By this  arrangement  we are strongly rerhinded of
Broussais, who considers the stomach and heart as  the points
from which all morbid irritations emanate !—On this occasion
we may likewise mention the sporadic typhus,  which was  for-
merly supposed to belong to the class of adynamic fevers, and
went by the  name of  typhus  lentus ;  at  present it is derived
from intestinal ulcer§, because they have been discovered after
death. I am persuaded that  these ulcers do  not form an es-
sential characteristic of typhus.  At  this moment typhus is
prevalent in  a small village of my district ; among thirty in-
dividuals  whom I  have examined with  the  greatest care, I
have  so  far  discovered three  only in whom  the abdomen is
somewhat sensitive to the touch.  In the remainder all  the
symptoms indicated a  purely nervous disease, and symptoms
of an intestinal affection were altogether wanting.
   To divide diseases according to their type, is likewise  un-
certain.   The division of diseases into acute and chronic, is not
founded upon any essential differences, since the same disturb-
ance  of  the  organism may be accompanied or not by fever,
according as the nerves are endowed with more or less irrita-
bility and conducting power, and are, on this account, either
capable or incapable of occasioning sympathetic  reactions of the
vascular  system.
   Fevers are principally classified according to their type.
There is  some reason in this, inasmuch as the  recurrence  and
duration  of the paroxysm and apyrexia constitute, as a gene-
ral rule, the essential character of those diseases.
   If we believe that disease is an anormal vital activity, we re-
quire particularly to consider its mode and character, and  the
best principle of  classification is that which is derived from the
perceptible difference existing between the normal and anormal
vitality of the part.  It is upon this basis that  the nosological
systems of Hosack and Cullen are constructed-   That this
mode of classification has led to enormous mistakes, becomes
evident by glancing at  the systems of Broum and Rasori.  In
reviewing such mistakes we learn how easy it is to  conceive
wrong notions about the dynamic condition of parts,, as is most
convincingly shown by the fact that the same  disease has  fre- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
55
quently to be looked for under this or that head, according as
the author of the nosological system had this or that  notion of
the dynamic character of the malady.  Typhus, for instance,
has for a long time been arrayed under  the head  of dynamic
fevers, until later observers have shown that  it possesses a pe-
culiar erethic character.  Among other curious things it is sup-
posed that intermittent fevers are simple reactions against slow
inflammations of the respiratory organs, and that  intermittent
fever and typhus are essentially identical.
    Chronic diseases are supposed not to have  any type.   It is
true that the type of those  diseases is frequently entirely con-
cealed, or can only be discovered with great difficulty.  Hence
it is that this large number of diseases has to be classed agreeably
to one or the other of the above named principles ; even in acute
typical diseases the classification has in many cases to be based
upon some other character than the mere type.  In this way a
number of nosological systems have been constructed and have
been termed " natural," simply because their authors have en-
deavored to classify diseases according to their most prominent
and  distinct characteristics.  It is evident that all those systems
have no real objective value; they depend entirely upon the
view which their authors have taken of the dynamic condition
of the affected parts, or upon  what they have individually con-
sidered the most characteristic feature of the disease.  I may
simply mention intermittent fever, which  has, from time im-
memorial, been considered a separate  class of fevers, with va-
rieties such as quotidiana, tertiana,  quartana, etc.   All  nosolo-
gists had agreed to consider the duration of the apyrexia and
the frequency of the  paroxysm the  true  characteristic of  those
fevers.   At  present, however, we have become acquainted with
diseases which seem to be entirely nervous or neuralgic, and have
nothing in common with intermittent fevers except that  they
have, like the latter, regular intermissions, that the paroxysms
of  hemicrania, prosopalgia,  neuralgia  oculorum,  etc, set in
after regular intervals, commence slightly, increase gradually,
then decrease again, and have a certain duration. The difficulty
of curing such diseases has led to all  sorts of attempts.  The
supposition, for instance,  that these neuralgic affections might
be analogous to intermittent fevers, has led to the empirical use
of Arsenic,  China, and Quinine, and the success was at times
so great that the analogy is no longer doubted.   The difficulty
then was to assign to these intermittent neuroses a  place in the
nosological systems,  until the name of concealed intermittent
fevers was  hit upon. A real  contradiction in terms.  Such
contradictions,  however, are nothing new.  Concealed  piles 
56        ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

have likewise been spoken of, that is to  say, piles which are no
piles;  natural philosophers have even spoken of concealed or
latent light, that is to say, light which is no light, which Neu-
mann  thinks absurd.   Schosnlein calls  all these intermittent
diseases neuroses, thus avoiding the inconsistence which  we
have censured.   This combination is deserving of all the praise
which his disciples and all those who admire logical consistence
have bestowed upon it.   It is to be regretted, however, that the
systems of nosology which have been constructed upon the above
named so called natural principles, should have been mingled
with uncertain hypotheses.  Eisenmann, for instance, has de-
rived the diseases termed choloses from a peculiar morbid agent
of a narcotic nature, which he supposes causes an actual poison-
ing of the blood.  The pyroses are supposed to be occasioned
by an agent which may be considered an oxycarburet of hydro-
gen, or a hydro-oxyde of carbon ; the  typhoses  are  supposed
to depend upon an agent composed of carbon, azote, hydrothi-
on and phosphuretted  hydrogen, the only foundation for  that
supposition being Beugman's statement that he has discovered
hydrothion gas  and phosphuretted hydrogen in the atmosphere
of typhus patient?.  If we -would continue in this way  to let our
fancy take its flight, we must expect to be brought back to  the
point which was occupied by Theophrastus with his Sal, Sul-
phur and Mercurius.
   Suppose now I were asked : Has nosology been so far of
any real  use  in the  treatment  of disease ?  I should rather
answer, No.   Nosological systems  might  be useful,  if the
division  of diseases into genera, species, and varieties, were
made with reference  to those differences which diseases  pos-
sess in common, and would therefore constitute therapeutic in-
dications for any form of disease, like the asthenic diseases of
Brown for instance, which remind us of the necessity of using
stimulants for the  purpose of exciting the vital action.  Un-
fortunately a considerable number of physicians, particular-
ly among the young and inexperienced, imagine that diseases
which are classed  in the same category  have to be treated in
the same manner, in the belief that certain analogies have in-
duced  the juxtaposition of those diseases under the same gen-
eral denomination.  This error has occasioned a good deal of
mischief, and has led Hahnemann to  assert  that it is wise
to reject even the ordinary names of diseases, to consider every
case of disease a distinct, independent affection, and,  if  any of
the usual names must needs be used, to" say at  least: A kind
of intermittent  fever, a kind  of dysentery, typhus, cardialgia,
dropsy, etc., in order to express even by this mode of speaking the 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
57
 conviction that the treatment should not have reference to the
 genus, species  or variety, but to the particular case before us.
 Hufeland has  remarked that we might  treat a disease very
 well and the  patient very  badly.   This assertion  seems
 paradoxical,  but it includes  the great  truth, that the most or-
 thodox treatment is  not  worth  any thing when it is directed
 against the  generic character of the disease, instead of being
 directed against the individual symptoms.  A large number of
 skilful  practitioners have expressed the same conviction, and
 Romberg says expressly that the  name  of the disease  con-
 tinues still to exercise a very  pernicious influence on the treat-
 ment.  The  disposition to generalize has occasioned enormous
 mistakes.  For many diseases of children  which were former-
 ly designated by the terms " convulsions or hydrocephalus," the
 collective name of encephalitis is employed now-a-days, and
 this denomination at once induces the physician to resort to
 an  antiphlogistic treatment with leeches, cold  poultices, calo-
 mel, thus destroying  the  patient who might have been saved
 under another treatment.
    It has often  been remarked that the most learned physi-
 cians are  often  the worst practitioners ;  this seems to be a con-
 tradiction, since  it is impossible to know too much to practice
 medicine  successfully.  But  to many savants we may apply
 these verses from Goethe's Faust:
          Was man nicht weiss, das eben brauchte man,
          Und was man weiss, kann man nicht brauchen.*
 Many physicians are  distinguished  in  nosological subtleties,
 and fight against the generic or family-character of the dis-
 ease as Don Quixotte did  against  the wind-mills; but they
 have not  studied the art of understanding the gentle hints of
 Nature in the life of the individual, and  to investigate with due
 attention the  peculiarities of every form  of disease.
    Abusus non  tollit usum.   I do  not mean to condemn the
attempts which have been made to classify diseases agreeably
to a common character, and  to give particular names to the
classes  and  varieties; practitioners  should not consider  col-
lective appellations of diseases  fit therapeutic indications for
special cases, and it were desirable  that teachers of  nosology
would no longer present it to their pupils in such a manner as
might lead them to select a remedy for the name of the  dis-
ease rather than for its phenomena in their true connection.
   *  What one does not know, that is the  very thing of which one
stands in need of, and what one does know, one has no occasion for. 
58       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
                       Section 11.

   This is the place to speak1 of Hahnemann's division of
diseases into acute and chronic.  As he had vehemently cen-
sured the custom of generalizing diseases, and had vigorously
attacked the old names and the innumerable hypotheses about
the essence of disease, it must have been a matter of great as-
tonishment to see him engage himself in a road which he had
condemned as dangerous and uncertain.  His remarks  about
chronic diseases are so peculiar, and have been attacked with
so much vehemence by his opponents and defended with so
much  zeal by his partisans, that  his  opinions on this sub-
ject are well worthy of a thorough examination, more especial-
ly inasmuch as some of his opponents have imagined that they
could overthrow the whole homocophathic edifice by the refu-
tation of a single point in Hahnemann's  doctrine of the chronic
diseases.

                  Hahneman's opinions.
   If the most efficacious specific remedies, and which have
been found of the greatest use in acute diseases, have proved
less  satisfactory in chronic diseases; if those remedies have
not so much effected radical cures as temporary palliations ;
it is owing to the incorrect notions which we possess on the
peculiar character  of those  diseases which  are only incom-
pletely  revealed  to  us by their external symptoms.   It has
been observed that  a chronic  malady does  not  even yield to
the strongest constitution, that it is not  diminished by a regu-
lar diet or mode of life, that it does not disappear spontaneous-
ly, but increases from year to year, and, like miasmatic (pro-
perly called contagious) diseases, exhibits more and more dan-
gerous symptoms.   This observation has led Hahnemann to
suppose that all chronic diseases originate in some miasm.
   This supposition has acquired a higher degree of certainty
by the fact that many of those who suffer with chronic diseases,
have been affected with a scabious eruption, and we know from
innumerable cases that the sudden disappearance or suppres-
sion  of a scabious exanthem has been followed by chronic dis-
eases characterized by analogous symptoms in individuals who
otherwise enjoy good health.   This has given rise to the con-
viction that the itch is  the  fundamental affection  in which
most chronic  maladies originate.  This fundamental itch is de-
signated by the term psora, which means an  internal  malady
with or without  a scabious  eruption.   The  remedies which 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
59
 Hahnemann  recommends for  that  fundamental  psora, are
 called antipsorics.  The  fact of these antipsorics  possessing
 curative powers in innumerable chronic maladies, is considered
 a proof of the psoric nature of these diseases;  hence the con-
 clusion that almost all the cutaneous eruptions, almost all the
 excrescences, from the figwart up to the largest encysted tumor,
 from a simple deformity of the finger-nails up to  the  swelling
 of bones and the curvature of the spinal marrow,  the softening
 and curvature of the bones, the frequent bleeding of the nose,
 the different forms of haemorrhoids, haemoptysis, hsematemesis,
 hsematuria, dysmenorrhoea, habitual night-sweats and dryness
 of the skin, frequent diarrhoea, habitual constipation,  pains in
 the joints, convulsions ; in one word, a host of chronic disorders
 which  pathologists are in the habit of  designating by all sorts
 of names, originate in nothing but psora.   These diseases seem
 to differ all  from one  another;  but  the similarity  of a  large
 number of their symptoms which are common to all,  and ap-
 pear during the gradual development  of the diseases, and the
 fact that all those diseases are cured  by the same  medicines,
 show that they have a  common  origin.  If left to themselves
 they grow worse from year to year,  until the patient dies.
 They never  get well  of themselves.  They  must therefore
 originate in chronic miasms.
    At present we know only  three of those miasms,  from
 which the greater portion of,  if not all, chronic affections origi-
 nate ;  they are syphilis, sycosis, and psora, the origin of the
 itch.
    Psora is the most ancient, the most general, the most per-
 nicious, and, nevertheless, the least known of all chronic mias-
 matic diseases.  Now it assumes the form of lepra, then of St.
 Anthony's fire : etc. if driven from the  skin, it  shows itself in
the form of mental or nervous diseases,  paralysis, consumption,
etc.  Seven eighths of all chronic diseases originate in  psora,
the remaining eighth in syphilis or sycosis, or in all  three com-
bined.
   The great extension of psora is, in a great measure, owing
to the erroneous  notion which physicians  had, that the psoric
eruption was  a mere  local cutaneous affection not affecting
the organism, which had to be suppressed by local  remed es ;
this was possible, provided the cutaneous eruption had not ex-
isted too long on the skin to, be  absorbed  into "the circulation,
and thus to vitiate the blood and humors.  Although the medi-
cal literature  offered numerous  examples of the  sad results
following the suppression of the itch, yet they were not  heeded;
and even to this day the itch continues to be suppressed by 
60       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

ointments and  washes, without  the internal disease being
heeded.
   The infection, takes place in  a moment's time.   As soon as
it is accomplished, washes, ointments, cauterization  even,  be-
come useless ;  the miasm invades  in a moment the whole ner-
vous system, as soon as a single part of it has been touched.
   Chronic miasmatic diseases do not follow the same course
as acute contagious diseases, which disappear again  in two or
three weeks, or as the fever with its specific eruption.   Chronic
miasmatic diseases never cease spontaneously, they only change
their form.
   In  syphilis, the  infection takes  place instantaneously at
the place of contact  or friction, and is  at once communicated to
the whole organism.   Immediately after the  infection the ve-
nereal disease developes itself in the whole organism.   Nothing
is seen for some days at the place  of contact, but  the internal
organism is actively engaged in ingrafting upon itself the sev-
eral miasms.  When the internal  development is completed,
the vital force  endeavors to protect the organism by forming
a vicarious symptom of the internal  disease,  generally at  the
place which had been first invaded, a vesicle  making its  ap-
pearance in the first place and changing to an ulcer called chan-
cre, five,  seven, or even more days after  the infection had ta-
ken  place.   The specific  remedy, if administered internally,
will remove  the whole disease, which cannot be accomplished
by the local  destruction of the chancre.   In the latter case  the
organism retains the disease as venereal miasm, Which never
disappears spontaneously.
   The same remarks apply to the itch, which is communi-
cated much more easily than syphilis, by simply touching  the
epidermis.  Every body is liable  to  be  attacked by the itch.
The external transparent itching vesicle is the product of  the
internal malady, which is not cured by the suppression of  the
vesicle, and  which  increases in violence  after the vicarious
symptom has  been  removed by external  applications.  Left
to itself the itch forms pustules over the whole body, which con-
tinue to increase in number and disturb the general health cor-
respondingly.  The longer the disease has lasted, the more it
is spread in the internal organism, the more does the preserva-
tion of the organism require the  appearance of the  external vi-
carious symptom,  whose suppression under these circumstances
becomes so much the more dangerous.   The pernicious con-
sequences of such a suppression soon show themselves.  In  the
recent itch, on the contrary, when  the entire  organism is  not
yet affected,  the pernicious consequences do not make their ap- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
61
pearance immediately, but they nevertheless exist. The internal
psoric malady spreads little by little, and,  unless removed  by
art, continues until the patient's death, although he may appa-
rently continue to enjoy good health for years.  The symptoms
of latent psora are  often  too indistinct  to  be recognized for
what they are.   These  symptoms are more numerous in some
individuals than in others.  The  most important are :
   Frequent discharge of lumbrici and ascarides, with creep-
ing in the anus, particularly  in children,  frequent distention of
th eabdomen, alternate bulimy and anorexia, paleness of face and
flaccidity of the muscles, frequent attacks of ophthalmia, swell-
ing  of  the  cervical  glands (scrofula), sweats about the head,
frequent bleeding of the nose in boys and girls (seldom in per-
sons of a more advanced'age), coldness of the hands, or sweat
of the palms of the hands, burning of the palms of the hands,
profuse sweat  of the feet, frequent  numbness and going to
sleep of the extremities, frequent spasms of the muscles of the
extremities, jactitation of single parts of muscles, disposition to
frequent catarrhs  or dry and fluent coryzas, stoppage or pain-
ful dryness of the  nose, frequent attacks of sore  throat and
hoarseness, hacking cough,  paroxysms  of oppression  of  the
chest, disposition to take cold, to  sprain a limb, frequent tooth-
ache, or headache, on one side, frequent flushes of heat in the
face which are frequently accompanied with anxiety, falling off
of the  hair, scaly  tetters on  the head, disposition to erysipelas,
irregular menstruation, starting of the limbs when on the point
of falling asleep, lassitude after  sleep, disposition to sweat in
the  day-time, coated, pale or cracked tongue, frequent mucus
in the  throat, bad breath, sour taste, morning-sickness, feeling
of emptiness  in the stomach, aversion to boiled or warm food,
dryness of the mouth, frequent attacks of cutting pain in the
bowels, of constipation or diarrhoea, blind or flowing piles, dark
urine, varices on the legs, chilblains, pain in the chilblains even
without the weather  being  cold, or in  summer, pain  in  the
corns  without being pinched by the shoe, disposition  of the
skin to crack,  cracking of the joints in moving them, drawing
or tensive pains in the nape of the neck, back, limbs, particular-
ly the  teeth, recurrence of the  pains during rest and disap-
pearance during movement, recurrence  and exacerbation of
the  majority of the symptoms  in  the  night, or when the ba-
 rometer is  low, or during a north  or northeast wind, in  the
 winter or spring, vivid or uneasy dreams, difficulty of the skin
 to heal, frequent boils or panaritia, dry skin of the extremities,
 and even cheeks, peeling off of the skin in various parts, which
 is  sometimes  accompanied  with itching and burning, vesicles 
62       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

here and there filling with pus, and occasioning at first a vo-
luptuous itching and afterwards a burning sensation.
   A man may be affected with latent psora for a number of
years without being inconvenienced by it, until the psoric dis-
ease is excited by old age or by external hurtful influences ; it
exhibits different symptoms according to the individuality of
the patient.

                       Section 12.

   The sycosic disease, which is generally compounded  with
syphilis, according to Hahnemann is a peculiar disease which
is frequently, but not always, accompanied with a gonorrhoeae
discharge, and  is characterized by excrescences on the genital
organs.  These excrescences show themselves several days or
weeks after the infection ;  they are  rarely dry and wart-like,
more frequently they are soft, spongy and moist,  readily bleed-
ing, being shaped like the crest of a cock or like a cauliflower ;
if destroyed by cauterization, excision or ligature (by which
operations  the external symptom,  which  is  the vicarious
representative  of the  internal malady, is alone removed), a
secondary, much  more  malignant disease is  the consequence.
Either similar excrescences are developed on other parts of the
body, or else whitish, spongy, sensitive, flat  elevations make
their  appearance in the buccal cavity, on the tongue, palate,
lips, or else large brown nodosities (tubercles) in the axilla, on
the neck, hairy scalp, etc.  Other affections may likewise result
from the suppression of the vicarious excrescences, particular-
ly the shortening of the flexor tendons.
   Mercury is of no avail against this disease ;  it aggravates
the symptoms, because  the secondary effects of the mercurial
treatment  unite with the  symptoms of the sycosic disease
which it has been  unable to control.   Sycosis is the least fre-
quent of the three chronic miasmatic  diseases.

                       Section 13.
   Syphilis commences the moment the infection has taken
place, and the first appearance of chancre is an indication of
the syphilitic disease.   If this chancre be destroyed-by cauteri-
zation or desiccation, the phenomena of a general syphilitic dis-
ease soon make their appearance in the shape of buboes, ulcers
in the throat, etc.   Syphilis  is  less frequently complicated
with sycosis than psora, and if, in this latter case, it be treated
with mercury exclusively,  it  is transformed into  a  horrible
compound called masked syphilis, or pseudo-syphilis. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
63
                      Section  14.

   The classification of all chronic diseases under three gene-
ral heads,  psora, syphilis, and sycosis, has excited such a
warm interest either for or  against it, that we must be permit-
ted to indulge some reflections on the manner in which it origi-
nated.
   Having ridiculed the orthodoxy of the old school;  having
combated with a particular zeal the opinions of the iatro-chem-
ists and humoralists as a tissue of falsehoods; having declared
in favor of the most rigorous vitalism, and having  derided the
doctrine of occult qualities and acrid humors, Hahnemann ex-
cited so  much more astonishment by deviating from his first
opinions, as he had always endeavored to guard against any
inclination of penetrating the mysteries of the internal organism,
and had proclaimed the maxim that the objective  phenomena
are alone capable of furnishing true therapeutic  indications.
The anomalies  of composition, the states  of the organism
which are generally designated by the  term dyscrasias,  were
not heeded by him, although he did not absolutely deny them.
   Hahnemann appears to have been sensible of the mistake
which he had committed in not paying any regard to  the ex-
istence of dyscrasias, and only speaking  of a dynamico-spirit-
ual influence on the totality of the animal life.  The inefficacy
of a treatment which left these material differences out of sight,
led him  to make a step backward, although he might perhaps
not suppose that he did.  He  has preferred startling the world
with the pretended discovery that chronic diseases are so invet-
erate because they depend upon some heterogeneous agent in
the organism, a miasm.
   In order not to recede too far from his ultra-dynamic notions
he was obliged to start the doctrine, that immediately after the
contact of the miasm, the contagion spread  throughout the
whole organism and produced a disturbance in the  nervous
system, which caused the exanthem to appear at the spot which
had been first affected.  In order to be consistent he denied that
contagious diseases were originally local; to confirm that pro-
position  he  showed that  the  suppression of the local erup-
tion of the itch, syphilis and sycosis, has in innumerable cases
been the cause of a general internal  malady which manifests
itself in  the most varied forms, and is much more dangerous
than the original eruption.
   Whether Hahnemann's views in this respect were right or
wrong, they do not affect the homoeopathic doctrine.  The 
64        ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

discussions on  the primitive seat of  these contagious diseases
are not yet closed, and it is no more  my desire to mention the
different opinions which have been expressed on this subject,
than  to express precipitately an opinion on a subject which is
yet under discussion.  I may, however, observe that a great
number of facts tend to show that the contagion does not al-
ways attack  the whole organism  at once, that it may on the
contrary beget  a disease which is kept within bounds for a
shorter or longer space of time, in which case the local  symp-
tom may be removed by  cauterization or corrosive means
without occasioning a general affection.
    We  must admit  that we have no certain indication by
which we can determine whether the itch is still a local af-
fection,  and  that we ought to  avoid  any  treatment  which
might be  followed by a  secondary psoric affection.  Hahne-
mann has collected a large number of such cases from authors
of the last century.   The ancient  physicians  have  never
noticed  any secondary psoric affections, since they treated all
exanthematic diseases, even lepra, with  external  remedies,
which were sometimes composed of very poisonous substances.
Galenus  tells  us that copper, cantharides, and arsenic, were
employed  externally.  Still  he  knew that the itch was not a
local affection, since he supposed that it depended upon  saline,
stagnant humors.  Hildanus attributes a case of melancholy
with suppression of the menses,  in the case of a young girl, to
the sudden suppression of the itch with which she had been af-
fected in her childhood.   In Fred.  Hoffmann's System of Ra-
tional Medicine we  find a  number  of  cases of disease from
varions ancient authors which had  been caused by the sudden
suppression of  the itch, and were partly cured by the re-ap-
pearance of the original itch.  In our age this subject has ex-
cited great attention.   Wagner and  Wengel have written on
the  pernicious effects of the sudden  suppression of the itch ;
Authenrieth attributes to this cause  the greatest number of
cases of phthisis.  Schmidtmann has seen chronic pemphigus
arise  from a  similar cause.  He cured it; but in its place ap-
peared violent cramps of the stomach with general emaciation,
which disappeared after the re-appearance of the  exanthem.
According to Albers the suppression of the itch is frequently
followed by organic  diseases of  the heart.  Elsewhere  he ob-
serves that chronic diseases of  the  skin frequently occasion
diseases of the gullet, particularly strictures, indurations, ulcers,
and that the gullet is frequently attacked with chronic inflam-
mation  while the pustules  are forming on the skin.  This is
indeed, only a  simultaneous sympathetic affection.  Metasta- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
65
sis principally takes place however in organs which have sym-
pathetic  relations with one another.   I  have known several
cases of affection of the throat which could only be cured by the
use of the antipsorics.*  Griesselich has seen the suppression of
tinea, in a  child  of three  years, followed  by coxalgia, which
disappeared after the tinea had  been restored  by  means of
tartar-emetic ointment.  In  a hunter of fifty years he has seen
a cold with suppression of sweat followed by a herpetic eruption,
which  disappeared and was succeeded by anasarca.  Nothing
would  do  the  patient any good.  He was finally exposed to
the heat of the sun; sweat broke out, the  exanthema re-ap-
peared, and the patient was well in a fortnight.   I will add a
few cases from my own experience.
   The pupil of a musician was attacked with the  itch.  He
rubbed himself with an ointment of lard and  metallic mercury.
The exanthema disappeared, but three days after he was seized
with convulsions, which lasted half an hour, and terminated in a
spasmodic  torsion of the hands and feet, which was so painful
that he uttered loud cries.   The exanthem Was  soon brought
out again by the  application of flannel dipped in an infusion
of mustard, and by the use of sudorifics ; after which the con-
vulsions ceased and the eruption was treated with more care.
   A young girl, affected with the itch, suppressed it by washes
and ointments, sulphate of  zinc, etc.  The  consequence  was
that she was  attacked with  an affection of  the  eyes  and
intense photophobia.   After having  used a large number of
remedies without the least  success,  she came to me.  I diag-
nosed chronic retinitis, which was considerably diminished by
small doses of Belladonna and Sulphur administered at short
intervals, and which  disappeared  entirely in six weeks under
the action  of Phosphorus   and Sepia.  In proportion as  the
eyes improved, the eruption re-appeared upon the skin.
   I have  frequently observed that the suppression  of the  itch
   * The following case is deserving of more  particular mention.  A
lady of 48 years, who had been, some years before, with several children af-
fected with itch, discovered some itch-pustules, but no general exanthem,
upon her person, for which she did not take any medicine.  For some
time past she had been suffering with a difficulty of swallowing, which
increased from day to day.   Her throat  had  become narrower; she
had to swallow more slowly from day to day ;  sometimes part of what
she took remained in her throat, and threatened to  choke her.  An old-
school physician advised her to apply a seton  at the nape of her neck,
which was, however, omitted.  I  gave her three doses of Sulphur, one
every three days, followed by several doses of Graphites, one every five
days.  At the end of six weeks she was entirely well, without any exan-
them having made its appearance. 
66       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

is followed  by herpes, salt-rheum, ulcers on the feet, oedema of
the legs, chronic prosopalgia and phthisis.  I admit that the con-
clusion post hoc, ergo propter hoc, is very uncertain, and that
one often sees what one expects to see.  It is  therefore  possi-
ble that we may frequently be induced by a preconceived no-
tion to set down as secondary affections of the itch,  diseases
which are  owing to an altogether different cause.  Some of
these  diseases may have been occasioned by the very means
employed to suppress the itch,  among which we may enume-
rate Mercury, Arsenic, Oxyde of Lead.   Nevertheless the same
diseases have so frequently been known to follow a suppression
of the itch that we cannot help imputing them to this treatment.
    Experience shows that
    1.  The suppression of an exanthem is so much more dan-
gerous as the exanthem is more acute ; hence it is that phreni-
tis,  delirium, convulsions, set in after  the sudden suppression
of scarlatina.
    2.  That the suppression of a chronic exanthem is so much
more dangerous as the eruption  has been longer on the skin
and the  suppression takes place  more rapidly.
    After the suppression  of the exanthem, the symptoms of
the secondary disease frequently manifest themselves so rapid-
ly that there can scarcely be a doubt about their character; there
may be a doubt when the eruption disappears slowly.  It has
been  said that  the irritation of the  skin occasioned  by the
psoric miasm, and characterized by an itching and  burning,
must be of an inflammatory nature ; and, inasmuch as the notion
that inflammations must be combated by bleeding has not yet
been abandoned,  scarifications and  carthartics have  been  re-
sorted to in the treatment of the itch, in order not to omit any-
thing  which is required by the antiphlogistic treatment.  It
is true, the patient feels soon relieved, the itching and burning
diminish, the exanthem ceases to spread, and  disappears even
so much more rapidly as the organism has been more violent-
ly deprived of the means of relieving  itself from  the internal
disease by means of a congestive condition towards the  skin ;
but, on  the other hand, secondary affections make too frequent-
ly their appearance after such a  depleting treatment,  which
cannot be accounted for.
    1 shall not endeavor to lift the  veil  which covers latent dis-
eases.  Are they depending upon some dyscrasia, or do they
simply consist in a disturbance of the vital force ?  We do not
know.   We only know the facts ; we know that the  so-called
latent diseases, are a disposition to certain irregularities which
may be  kept in check for years, by the good state of the gen- 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       (57

eral  health, and only break forth  in  some positive  disorder
when the  vitality of the  organism is depressed by age or by
the influence of certain hurtful causes.   The phenomena of
disease, then, make their first appearance in that part of the or-
ganism which is weakest  and therefore most susceptible.

                       Section  15.

   It is well known that syphilis, when neglected, badly man-
aged, or  incompletely cured, leaves pernicious consequences,
which  frequently last during a man's lifetime, and are even
transmitted to his children.  The syphilitic miasm is  very dif-
ferent from psora, although the syphilitic exanthema might, in
some cases, be  confounded with the common  itch.  It is less
volatile, and is  therefore less easily communicated.   Healthy
persons may for months sleep in the same bed with  venereal
patients without being infected.   The syphilitic miasm attacks
principally the less noble organs, the mucous and serous mem-
branes, and, in more serious cases, the periosteum  and glands,
whereas  the itch, being more volatile than the syphilitic con-
tagium, invades more frequently the nervous system, occasion-
ing epilepsies, spasms, dementia, melancholy, or diseases of the
organs of the senses.
   If, as Hahnemann pretends, the whole organism is invaded
at the moment  the infection takes place, there  is no difference
between  primary and  secondary syphilis ; in this case secon-
dary syphilis is simply the symptoms of the syphilitic disease
having  become general, previous  to which the syphilitic dis-
ease, which  was general  from  its commencement,  was con-
centrated within  certain  limits.  We may, on this occasion,
mention  the revulsions by means of which the disturbances
affecting the whole system are vicariously represented by the
affection  of a single organ. Hunter has likewise maintained
that  every  chancre is the  reflex of a general disease, and that
the symptoms of  general  syphilis only make their appearance
after the destruction of the local symptom.  In another work
I have related the case of  a young man who had been affected
with a chancre for four years without having done  any thing to
remove it, and  without noticing any derangement in his gen-
eral  health.  A few days ago I had a similar case.  I was
requested to examine  a  young woman of 28 years living in
the country.  She was said to be affected with  syphilis. I dis-
covered  a  horrible  destruction caused by primary ulcers that
spread a truly  cadaverous smell;  but there was neither bubo
nor ulcers in the throat, nor any other  symptom of secondary 
 68       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 syphilis.  She had been affected in this way for  six months,
 and had not yet done any thing to get well.  Cases where
 chancres are left to  themselves, are certainly rare, but even
 those rare cases show that the affection may remain circum-
 scribed within the same bounds for a long time.
    We have many examples of general  syphilis occasioned
 by the  destruction or desiccation of  a primary chancre.  But
 there are also a number of cures of primary chancre by local
 means  without any untoward  secondary symptoms.   I  sus-
 pect that most of  those cures  are illusory.  I know, for in-
 stance, positively, that a certain physician  boasts of having
 cured a chancre by lead-washes, without suspecting that the
 young man, mistrusting these applications, had  been  all the
 time taking  corrosive  sublimate by the advice of some other
 physician.  The great point  is to know by  what means a
 primary chancre has been cured.  Was it  by mercury ?  by
 Bellast's liquor, or  by the mercurial ointments ?  From these
 remedies a specific cure may be expected.   As for myself, I am
 so  much less disposed to deny the possibility of curing a pri-
 mary chancre by other than the above means, without  any
 secondary syphilitic infection, as such  a cure is frequently
 accomplished by the  antiphlogistic  treatment  without mer-
 cury.  However  there are  so many  examples of secondary
 syphilis  after the destruction of the local symptom, that  this
 mode of treatment  should be looked  upon  as a very doubtful
 proceeding.

                       Section 16.

    Until now the appearance of the sycosic excrescences has
 been looked  upon  as  a progress of the  syphilitic  disease.
 Hahnemann  considers sycosis a disease siti generis.  This
 opinion  is  founded on many facts.  There are cases of ex-
 tensive  general  syphilis  without figwarts, and on the other
 hand figwarts  without syphilis.  This  fact has been noticed
 by  Glason in Archiv.  X, 1.   Newmann likewise  asserts that
 the inveterate acuminated  condylomata arise from a miasm
 which  is different from that of syphilis, but is equally trans-
 ferable by coition.  I   have  frequently observed condylomata
 with or without syphilis ; very lately I have treated two young
 men and a girl  of nineteen,  for simple sycosis.   The two
young  men were in the first place attacked with  gonorrhoea,
 which  would not yield to the most celebrated remedies.  The
cause of this  obstinacy was  discovered in about  a fortnight,
where the condylomata made their appearance on the prepuce 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
69
 and  glans.  In the case of the young girl they had appeared
 immediately without any other symptom.   They were cured
 all three in a very short time by the specific remedy, Thuya,
 which has been first recommended  by Hahnemann, and the
 efficacy of which has been verified by others.   Vossen of Aix-
 la-Chapelle has likewise remarked  that condylomata are not
 always indications of some previous  syphilitic affection.  But
 have  they no sort  of relation to syphilis ?—Numerous obser-
 vations have shown that diseases may degenerate.   A badly
 managed itch frequently leaves herpes, and if this herpes is
 communicated to  others, as  will take  place  among persons
 who  sleep  in the same bed, the disease retains the secondary
 form of herpes.  Sycosis seems to have sprung from syphilis,
 retaining a separate form.  Sycosis may however become com-
 plicated with syphilis, as well as with psora or some herpetic
 dyscrasia, and will, in this case, be so much more difficult to cure.
    Diseases belonging  to  the same family as  syphilis offer
 many varieties.  Gonorrhoea is not necessarily a syphilitic
 disease.  There are three kinds of gonorrhoea which may be
 communicated by infection.
    1.  Pure gonorrhoea,  urethretis, with  increase of the mu-
 cous  secretion, which  never changes to syphilis, even  when
 neglected or badly  managed,  although it sometimes leaves
 strictures and other painful affections.
    2.  Syphilitic gonorrhoea, with  accompanying  syphilitic
 symptoms.
    3. Sycosic gonorrhoea, which is distinctly recognized  only
 by the accompanying condylomata.
    The difference  of opinion which  prevails on this  subject,
arises  from the  fact that these three,  kinds of gonorrhoea
have been confounded with one another.  This mistake is so
much more unpardonable as the success of the treatment de-
pends upon this distinction.  Gietl has seen tubercles appear-
ing after a mismanaged gonorrhoea ;  according to Autenrieth
and Ritter such tubercles are incurable.  I presume that these
tubercles were of a sycosic nature, and that they might have
yielded to  Thuya and nitric acid.

                       Section 17.

    This is the place to examine the question : Is there a la-
tent syphilis? By a latent or disguised malady I mean a dis-
ease whose internal nature is  not distinctly recognized by its
external phenomena.  This is  doubtless  the case with some
forms of syphilis, and it is needless to mention  cases  in  proof
of our assertion.  But here  another question presents  itself, 
70       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

which is more difficult to solve :  Can syphilis exist in the or-
ganism without manifesting its presence by morbid phenomena?
The nature and properties of a contagium and its  mode  of
action are as yet unknown to us.  What little we know of it
is altogether empirical; experience has simply revealed  to us
the fact that the contagious virus of acute diseases manifests its
effects upon the organism very speedily.   After the inoculation
of the small-pox small blotches make their appearance on the
third or at latest on the  fourth day.  Chronic  contagia  show
their effects  after  a  longer and irregular  interval.  Of two
young men who were  infected by the  same  woman, in the
same  night, and in the same  bed, one perceived the symptoms
of the infection on the third and the other on the eleventh day.
The period when the rage  breaks  out  after the bite,* is still
less uncertain.  The causes of this difference are not seated in
the contagium, but in the organism, which reacts sooner or la-
ter.  If it be possible that a contagium should remain latent in
the organism, it must also be  possible that the disease which
springs from that  contagium should make a pause in its de-
velopment, during which the condition of  the patient resem-
bles that which existed between the  moment  of the  infection
and its first external appearance.  The interval between  these
two periods being of an  uncertain duration, the pause which
the disease makes in its  course may likewise be more or less
long.
   I  have never  seen a case of latent syphilis or  psora left to
itself; what I  know on this  subject refers to cases which had
been cured, and where the eruption appeared again afterwards.
Doctor Bcehr  of  Berlin has  published some remarkable  cases
of latent or disguised syphilis in Hufeland's Journal.   After
having been slumbering for years the disease manifested itself
under different forms, for instance as blepharopthalmia, iritis
with contraction of the pupils such as is  peculiar  to syphilitic
iritis,  hemiplegia, insomnia,  cephalalgia, amaurosis, violent
rheumatism, epilepsy with dorsal consumption, hepatitis,  pneu-
monia, etc.   Walther has seen caries of the cheek and a poly-
pous excrescence of the  bladder appear, after a state of health
of 12  years, in an individual who had been cured of a chancre
by corrosive applications.   1  know cases  where men who had
been  syphilitic, and who had enjoyed  perfect  health for
years after the removal of the  disease, have  communicated
to their wives a disease characterized by erosions in the vagina
with  corrosive leucorrhoea.   One of them has had a son, who
shortly after his birth, was attacked with flat, fetid ulcers on the
scrotum and under the arms,  and who died of atrophy.  The
father continued in good health for some years, when he was 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
71
frequently attacked with  strangury.  The  mother was cured
by Thuya and nitric acid.  An imperfect cure, a simple neutral-
ization  of the syphilitic or sycosic contagium had probably
been effected in those cases.   It appears that the organism can
gradually accustom itself to the irritation of the modified mor-
bid  principle to such a degree that no sensible  reaction is per-
ceived in the organism, although  it  may constantly possess the
power of communicating the infection to others.  Thus it is
that herds of cattle from Podolia, even when in a state of per-
fect  health,  spread  the anthrax in those foreign  countries
where they are  transported, and  that in the court of Oxford
the prisoners who came out of the dungeons filled the hall with a
smell of corruption, which caused  a  fatal putrid fever in all
those present, although the  prisoners  themselves  remained
well.
                       Section 18.

   Athough a large number of chronic diseases originate in
psora, syphilis and  sycosis, yet this does not justify the in-
ference  that these are  the only  sources of chronic maladies.
Hahnemannn's reasons  for restricting the origin of chronic
maladies to  those three  miasms are  the following :
   1. The universality of the itch. This cannot be denied, and,
since I  have observed it more closely, I  have been astonished
to find that so many men are  attacked with it.   A large num-
ber of families, however, have never had the itch, particularly
in the higher order of society, where there is more cleanliness
and  less contact with other people.  Nevertheless those fami-
lies  suffer with  chronic maladies ;  the supposition that these
spring from  some previous, unnoticed contact with itch-patients
is indeed probable, but nevertheless  too hypothetical to be con-
sidered a sufficiently sound basis for Hahnemann's theory.
   2. The resemblance existing between the symptoms which
generally make their appearance after the external suppression
of the itch, and the symptoms of  chronic  maladies.  There is
scarcely any form  of disease  which has not been supposed to
spring from suppressed  itch.   Supposing even  that the  re-
semblance is  as  general as is supposed, it would be an im-
proper stretch of logic  to infer that all chronic diseases origi-
nate in psora.  We  might just as  well suppose that, because
the indigo tinges  blue, all  blue  colors come from the indigo.
As certain  it is, however, that there are many blue colors be-
side  the indigo-blue, as certain it is likewise that a great many
chronic  diseases, even cutaneous eruptions, spring from other
causes than  psora.  Batemann,  for instance, describes  a ca- 
72       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

chectic itch observed among  sickly children, and even adults,
when their constitution is broken down by some other chronic
or by an acute  malady; this itch is not contagious, which
would be the case if it were of a psoric nature.  Girtanner relates
that hundreds of poor  children from the county of Derby, who
are brought  up with oatmeal, are attacked with a slow scrofu-
lous  disease, and either die or else live in a wretched state of
weakness.   A large number of women come to Giessen to be
confined in the lying-in hospital of that place, after which they
place  their infants with nurses in the city or country ; I have
frequently observed that these  little  creatures, from  want of
cleanliness and  good  food, are attacked with atrophy and en-
largement of the abdomen,  a cutaneous eruption frequently
supervening.  It would seem as though the cause of this de-
cay should be attributed to the want of care, without seeking
any more remote causes.
   3.  The obstinacy of chronic maladies  cannot well be ac-
counted for except by the presence of some miasm.  Hahnemann
admits, indeed, that there are many chronic conditions which
are similar to those described by him, although they result from
different causes, particularly from irregularity of  diet or from
some  external noxious influence ; but he  does not  consider
such conditions  chronic, inasmuch  as  they  may cease of
themselves as soon as  the cause is removed.  This is some-
times  the case,  but not always.  Incipient atrophy may be
cured by simply improving the diet and  mode of life of the
child, by giving it small quantities of light and nourishing food
and keeping it clean.  But if atrophy becomes  chronic, if tu-
bercles have formed  in the  mesenterium,  diet alone is  not
sufficient, and the cure will  be slow, even with  proper treat-
ment.  Are there not  many obstinate chronic diseases which
do not originate in psora, such as dorsal consumption brought
on by venereal excesses, dropsy occasioned by excessive bleed-
ing, hypertrophy and  induration of the spleen  from  abuse of
cinchona in intermittent fever, the mercurial  diseases of miners
and looking-glass makers, the phthisis of stone-cutters, the hy-
pochondria of savants, the hysteric diseases of delicate females,
and  those numerous nervous diseases caused by moral influ-
ences and frequently incurable, melancholy, epilepsy, etc.  As
we understand by chronic diseases all  those which do not run
through a regular course, we cannot admit  the arbitrary clas-
sification of Hahnemann, who excludes from  the number of
chronic  diseases  all those which do not  originate in one of his
three miasms.   It is likewise untrue that  the diseases which
he terms chronic never get well of themselves.   1 know seve- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
73
ral families where the children were affected with scrofulous
symptoms, glandular swellings, eruptions, etc., all of which
have disappeared afterwards. A large number of anormal con-
ditions disappear at the age  of pubescence,  and a predisposi-
tion to phthisis  frequently disappears after the age of thirty.
Nature is frequently more powerful than art.
   4. The cure  of chronic diseases by the antipsoric remedies.
This proof is the weakest of all.   If the  itch  and all  chronic
disorders were cured by one  or several remedies, Hahnemann
might be somewhat justified in supposing that most  chronic
diseases originate in the itch.  It happens, however,  that  the
antipsorics do not cure the  itch.   It might  be asked: What
right has Hahnemann to  call these remedies  antipsoric ? The
only answer to this question is that he has denominated them
antipsorics in accordance with the hypothesis that most chro-
nic diseases originate in psora, and that those diseases are cured
by the remedies  called antipsorics.  A number of chronic dis-
eases, however, yield to other remedies  than  the antipsorics.
Besides, it is illogical to infer an identity of forms from the fact
that one  and the same remedy cures different diseases. Even
if diseases have  any thing common in their origin, as is the case
with encephalitis, croup,  and syphilis, which have  an inflam-
matory character, the resemblance is altogether too general to
constitute identity, unless the genera, species, and varieties of
all sorts of diseases are to be  considered  identical.  Sophisms
of this kind have frequently  been indulged in, because in  the
first place,  nosological generalizations have been carried too far,
and, in the second place, because the fact that every remedial
agent affects the organism  in different ways, has not been
properly  considered.  One and the same remedy may excite
the activity of one system, diminish that of another, and may,
in this way, manifest curative  effects of an  opposite nature,
provided the systems and organs  upon which the remedy is
intended to  act,  are  in opposite polarity.  Hence it  may be
readily understood why the same  remedy  removes morbid
states which are characterized by the most  dissimilar symp-
toms.  Calomel, for instance, at times induces vomiting, at oth-
ers diarrhoea, at  times  salivation,  and then  again a  copious
secretion of urine ; it  frequently stimulates the activity of the
internal absorbents, resolving indurations  of the liver,  glandu-
lar engorgements, causing plastic effusions to disappear, curing
hydrophobia and other nervous or inflammatory diseases.  At
other times calomel is employed for rheumatism, and, if used
for any length of time, it frequently  excites  a mercurial  ery-
thema on the skin.  Who would undertake to assert that all 
74       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

those diseases are identical because  they frequently yield to
calomel ?

                       Section 19.

   Although the psora doctrine  of Hahnemann is too sweep-
ing a generalization, yet it has had considerable influence on the
development of the specific method of treatment, and has led to
the discovery  of truths  which  have long remained  hidden
from the eyes even of the most  devoted  partisans of Hahne-
mann's doctrine.
   These truths are:
   1.  Although the animal life, in its highest form and develop-
ment, seems to be endowed with regulating powers,  yet it can-
not be denied that the vegetative system exercises a reactive in-
fluence on the vital functions. Either of the three principal man-
ifestations of vitality may be morbidly affected, which  is prin-
cipally the case with the vegetative sphere for this reason, that
the exchange of matter between the organism and the external
world is going on uninterruptedly.
   2.  We  know from  experience   that organic  lesions  in
the reproductive system may, in many cases, be directly act-
ed upon by remedial agents  with a view of correcting  the
anormal composition of the affected part.   Such agents do not
act chemically, since chemical action is subject to the laws  of
vitality ; but they determine the vital force to react principally
in the direction  of the reproductive  sphere, they direct the pro-
cess  of exchange of matter, and so modify both  the quantity
and the quality of the secretions.  These agents therefore act
dynamically, although affecting more directly the  local disor-
ganization than other dynamic remedies which affect  princi-
pally the sensitive and irritable sphere, although likewise pro-
ducing local changes which are, however, too delicate to be per-
ceived by the senses.  From a dose of sulphuric ether, for in-
stance, we perceive a general acceleration of the vital functions,
whereas mercury seems to affect less the vital functions than the
secretory process, occasioning perceptible local alterations in
the secretions themselves.
   Hahnemann having  become convinced that it was essential
to observe with due care  the local  changes supervening in a
variety of morbid conditions,  he expressed his testimony to
that  effect in his psora doctrine, which has indeed dazzled a
number of his disciples, but, on the other  hand,  has induced
many ardent admirers of the homoeopathic healing  art to  de-
vote  all their efforts  to the  development of true  pathogenetic
principles. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
75
   The truth is that there are a great many diseases the invet-
erate character of which is owing to a disturbance of the vital
action  of the vegetative sphere,  whence  spring anomalies of
composition which are generally designated by the term dys-
crasias.   It is likewise true that syphilis,  sycosis and psora
occasion many  diseases, and that diseases which are occasioned
by a miasm, unless radically cured, frequently leave a  morbid
principle  in the organism which manifests itself in different
forms; but it is also true  that diseases greatly resembling  one
another and exhibiting the known form of dyscrasias, frequent-
ly arise from other causes, and are extremely obstinate without
originating in a miasm.
   It is  therefore incorrect  to apply the term antipsoric to all
those remedies  which cure chronic non-syphilitic or non-syco-
sic diseases.. In a therapeutic point of view the name, it is true,
is indifferent; but it is not indifferent to have false names which
may lead to the adoption of the false notions which these names
embody.  The term "antipsoric"  should be abandoned;  it is
of no avail, and may become a source  of mischief.  By those
remedies, we understand remedies which are more particularly
intended to  remove anomalies of the vegetative sphere  and of
the composition of organs.  The object of those remedies being
the substitution of eucrasia for dyscrasia,  they might  be pro-
perly called " eucratic remedies."

                       Section 20.

   The  division of diseases into acute and chronic is of very
little use in  practice.  Even if all should agree on the meaning
of fever, (which is unfortunately not the case,) it is pretty gen-
erally  admitted that fever itself is not the  object  of the treat-
ment, since, as  John remarks, fever is not the disease  but its
shadow,  that is to say, a sympathetic disturbance of the  vas-
cular system occasioned by some primary local affection. The
question whether there is any essential primary fever, has  not
yet been resolved, and will not  be  until the other  question is
solved, whether there are local  diseases.  A large number of
phenomena  seem to show that certain conditions of the blood
may excite general reactions of the vascular system, or what
is called  a  pure  vascular fever; and, inasmuch as the blood
circulates through the whole body  and the diseases  of  the
blood may therefore be considered general, the admission of
essential fevers is by no means objectionable.   It is yet doubt-
ful  whether the  alteration of the mass of blood which  we
suppose  is  formed in the capillaries, arises from  a general 
 76       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 disturbance of the metamorphosing process, or, which is more
 probable, from some local affection of the existence of which
 we have as yet no positive evidence.  This is the reason why
 the treatment of all so-called essential fevers is purely symp-
 tomatic.   Our object in treating such a fever is. to remove the
 reaction against something unknown ; whereas in every other
 form of fever, the treatment is directed against the fundamental
 affection whence the fever arises.  Hence we distinguish in-
 flammatory fevers, suppurative, gastric,  hectic fevers, etc.;
 and, if we  mean to pursue  a  rational treatment, we proceed
 not so much against the fever as against its causes, the discov-
 ery of which is sometimes the touch-stone of a good diagnos-
 tician.

                       Section 21.

   Disease becomes manifest by reaction, the same as life.

   Great confusion  has arisen from the notion that  disease is
 something abstract, something heterogeneous, against  which
 the organism  reacts;  in  distinguishing, in accordance with
 that notion,  the symptoms of the disease from those indicating
 the reaction, cause and effect are confounded with one another.
   No individual  life  can  exist without the contact of the
 external world.  For life  is not the  inmost power;  it is  the
 activity and existence through this inmost power.  This power
 it is which reacts against the macrocosm.   The reactive process
 takes  place  in the organism, and is therefore an anormal con-
 dition of the organism's own  life, but not of a different life.
 The phenomena which characterize the process of reaction, take
place agreeably to the laws of the organic vitality.  Now, if
disease be a mere modification of the organic  activity, or, in
other words, an alteration of the reactive process, it is impossi-
ble that the  organism should react against its own reaction.  A
 careful analysis  of  the pathological  process gives  us  a still
 clearer insight into  that subject, and leads  to the  following
 conclusions.
   Death ensues instantaneously when hurtful influences act
upon the organism in such a manner as will attack it at once
in every part, and cause a general disturbance of the conditions
upon  which the individual life depends.   Disease arises from
 a more or less local  primary disturbance, manifesting itself at
times   by  a  derangement  of  the functions, at others by a de-
 rangement of the sensations, as in neuralgia, and being recog-
 nized   by  more  or  less distinct symptoms  according as  the 
          ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       77

 affected organ is more or less important, or more or less sensi-
 tive.   The organism being a unit composed of different parts,
 the local disturbance must necessarily affect every part of the
 organism, though at different degrees.  This difference depends
 partly upon the  nature of the general sensibility of the  organ-
 ism, and partly upon the nature of the affected organ, upon the
 greater or less intensity of its nervous life, and upon the fact of
 its being a conducting agent, as is the case with the canals
 through  which  the  blood courses or other fluids are trans-
 mitted.
    The morbid  sensations, or the  functional derangement, of
 certain organs at a distance from the primarily invaded part,
 are termed  sympathetic symptoms;  the pain in the shoulder,
 for instance, which is a  concomitant  symptom  of hepatitis,
 arises from  the  conducting  property of the nerves,  and is a
 purely sympathetic  pain.   A whole system may react sympa-
 thetically : convulsions, tetanus,  trismus  consequent upon a
 lesion of the  tendons; febrile  paroxysms,  tumultuous move-
 ments of the heart and the whole  vascular system in  conse-
 quence of a primary affection of the nerves,  are  sympathetic
 reactions.
    The subtlety has been carried so far as  to distinguish  the
 symptoms of the disease, and symptoms of symptoms.   These
 latter, however,  cannot be any thing else except  a farther de-
 velopment of the disease, or a manifestation of the same affec-
 tion  in other parts than  those  which  had been primarily
 invaded.
   It is very natural and convenient, however, to distinguish
 idiopathic and sympathetic affections.   The former claim  our
 principal attention, for if they are removed,  the latter frequent-
 ly disappear of themselves.  Sometimes it is very difficult to dis-
 tinguish those two kinds of affections, because  the idiopathic
 affections,  when seated in organs that are  poorly provided
 with nerves and are therefore endowed with  little sensibility,
 are less distinct   than  the sympathetic affections, which  are
 sometimes perceived sooner than the former.  The sympathetic
 pain in the shoulder is frequently more quickly perceived than
 the affection of the liver which had given rise to it; the pain
 in the knee is perceived sooner  than the affection of the  hip-
joint which is the cause of the spontaneous  limping;  and  the
 vertigo, which is induced by the  gastric derangement, is felt
 sooner than  the more characteristic symptoms of  an indiges-
 tion.
   By symptoms we understand the totality of the symptoms
 of an idiopathic disturbance, as  characterizing the reaction of 
78       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

the organism against the morbific influence.  What is  termed
symptoms of the reaction refers to the sympathetic affections :
this denomination is incorrect, unless  we  understand by it
that reactions  take  place  in  different  organs  by sympathy.
Reactions against the disease can only he understood when the
disease is represented as a  local disturbance exciting reactions
in other organs or systems, so that one organ  reacts against
another.   The  individualizing  physician should consider all
those phenomena of reaction as  belonging to the disease, and
the only distinction is between the idiopathic and sympathetic
affection, the latter of which may be very different in different
organisms  (from reasons  which we have shown above), al-
though the symptoms may originate  in the same cause.  We
shall hereafter speak of the reaction of the organism against
the primary effects of external agents.


                      Section  22.

    The reaction of the organism against external influences
is of different kinds.

    Medicine would become the  most wretched empiricism, if
we  were  guided in  the  exhibition of our remedies by no
other  principle than because they had been found efficacious
in certain cases of illness characterized by similar symptoms,
and if we would not inquire into the cause why those remedies
had produced salutary changes.  But, since disease is simply
a modified vital state, we have to apply to physiology in order
to ascertain under what circumstances those  changes  take
place ;  the discovery of those circumstances will lead us to the
development of a physiological pathology which will at the
same time be the basis of a true system of therapeutics, and
will indicate the course we have to pursue in the treatment of
disease.  This  shows  that it is of the utmost importance to
know how disease originates.
    The effect which external influences exercise on  the liv-
ing organism, provided that effect is not purely chemical and
therefore destructive of life, depends partly upon the nature of the
external agent, and partly upon the degree of susceptibility man-
ifested by the organism. The activity which is excited in the or-
ganism by the action of external  influences, is gei.erally termed
reaction.   We are so much in the habit of confounding the reac-
tive powerof the organism with its vital power, that.no particular
mention is made of the latter in speaking of the modifications
which certain external influences excite in the  manifestations 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
79
of the organic life;  we  content  ourselves,  on such occasions,
with designating the external agent as the cause of those mod-
fications.   We express  ourselves in  this fashion:  This thing
is heating, cooling ; it is a cathartic, sudorific, etc.; having refer-
ence merely to the result p'roduced, the increase of heat,  cold,
alvine discharges, perspiration. Physiologists and psychologists,
however, use such expressions with  reference to the reactive
power of the organism ; their object is to determine the relation
of that power  to the external agents  or stimuli, with a view  of
measuring the different  degrees of  reaction both quantitatively
and qualitatively. Our knowledge of the quantitative nature of
the reactions of the organism is purely empirical; we know too
little of the laws of life  to account  for the quality of those reac-
tions.   We know from experience that Ipecacuanha  occasions
vomiting, that Rhubarb relaxes the bowels, that Morphine lulls
one to sleep, and that Sambucus excites the perspiration. In ob-
serving the form of reaction we have arrived at  a general per-
ception of the principle of dualism, which leads  us to suppose
that the substances which excite a  peculiar action in certain
organs, hold  certain polaric  relations  to  those organs which
we are as yet unable to designate more  particularly.
    Every animated individual is endowed with  an inherent
tendency  to  maintain its  integrity in  the  contact with the
external world, in which it succeeds, more or less completely,
according to the measure of its reactive  power.  These  quan-
titative differences of the reactive powers of the organism de-
 serve to be more particularly  inquired into.

                        Section 23.

    Among the different kinds of reaction on the part of the or-
ganism against external influences,  we distinguish :

    1. Direct and entire opposition  to those influences.

    The organism opposes them in order to maintain the integ-
 rity of its  sensations and functions ; it endeavors  to destroy
 the noxious influences by which it is threatened.   To oppose
 those influences  successfully, the organism, or at least  those
 parts of it which are immediately exposed to the hostile agents,
 must be endowed with a fullness  of vital energy.   If the vital
 force and the external influence are  equally powerful,  they ex-
 cite each other into a state of tension which exists wherever
 opposite forces  neutralize and equilibrate each other.   There
 are vigorous  organisms that  can expose themselves to a va- 
 80       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 riety  of hurtful  influences without being disturbed by them.
 In most organisms, however, the vitality of the single  organs
 differs in degree, rendering certain parts of the organism more
 liable to disturbances  than  others.  In one the vitality of the
 digestive organs is so powerful that the grossest violations of
 diet do not injure him, whereas the least cold may make  him
 sick.  Another exposes  himself, dripping with sweat, to a cur-
 rent of air, without suffering any inconvenience from it, where-
 as the least chagrin will  give him a bilious fever.   The more
 the vital force is, in its fullness, equally distributed throughout
 the whole organism, the more successful are the  efforts  of the
 organism to maintain its  integrity against hostile influences.
    There are constitutions whose equilibrium  is not  easily
 disturbed, on account of a want of susceptibility on the part of
 the organism to external influences.  It  does  not follow, how-
 ever, that this organism must, on  that account, possess a vast
 amount of  vital energy.  It  is insensible  to  such influences,
 and is therefore very little disposed to  reactions.   This defi-
 cient receptivity is peculiar to torpid natures, where we frequent-
 ly notice a predominant reproductive activity, a well-fed body
 endowed with great muscular power, but on the other hand a
 phlegmatic, peaceful disposition, and a limited development of
 sensibility.
    This is a proper place to insert a few remarks on idiosyn-
 crasy.  By idiosyncrasy we  understand  a peculiar degree' of
 susceptibility in different individuals, to certain external influ-
 ences.  Idiosyncrasy may either be general or limited to single
 organs, and may depend either upon an excessive sensitiveness
 or torpor.  Such idiosyncrasies either induce violent reactions
 against particular external objects,  or else  there is a perfect
 absence of  reactions where they would be experienced by any
 other being of  the  same class.  If the odor of a rose induces
 syncope in some persons; if the exhalations emanating from a
 cat cause anguish and palpitations of the heart;  if the smallest
 dose of camphor occasions sickness of the stomach  and vomit-
 ing ; if a large dose of rhubarb, instead of affecting the bowels,
 induce a profuse perspiration and a copious secretion of urine:
 all that we can  say in relation  to  those  phenomena  is, that
they exist without being  able to ascertain their cause in the or-
ganism.   We do not explain  any thing by designating  that
cause by the vague terms of specific irritability or  specific  in-
sensibility.  These phenomena are however too  important  to
a physician to be passed  silently over. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
81
                       Section 24.

   If the organism be neither insensible to noxious influences,
nor capable of resisting entirely the hostile influences  of the
external world, there will be

   2. Reactions differing from those of the vital force in its
normal state.

   There are  external noxae which appear to  attack a whole
system at once (for the local affection spreads too rapidly to be
perceived), and where the general disturbance is afterwards re-
flected again in one or the other  organ.   I may mention alco-
hol as an  instance.  When swallowed it excites  in the first
place the nerves of the buccal cavity down to the stomach ; this
irritation soon affects the whole nervous  and vascular system,
and finally causes various local disturbances, vertigo, epistaxis,
haemorrhoids, jactitation of single parts of muscles, etc. according
as this or  that organ shows  a particular  disposition to  reflect
the general irritation.  The majority  of noxious influences,
however, exercise a more  marked primary effect upon a single
organ.  In scarlet fever, for instance, the throat is  affected  be-
sides the skin ;  in the measles the mucous membrane of the re-
spiratory  organs and  eyes.  A large number of substances
which are inhaled in the shape of gases,  absorbed by the  sur-
face of the body, or incorporated in the organism by the stomach
and  intestinal canal, or which affect  the organism by their
mere contact,  produce analogous disturbances in the functions
of certain  organs  or in a whole  system, if the vital force, strug-
gling for  its integrity,  although  strong  enough to repel the
chemical influence of the  external agents, be too weak to resist
their dynamic action.  This conflict results  in reactions, the
external manifestations whereof indicate  to us the nature of
the disease.

                       Section  25.

   The duration  of the  primary hurtful  effects  of  external
agents, and hence of the diseases  themselves, is extremely va-
ried.  The continuance of the morbid condition requires

     (a) A continuance of the external morbific agents.

   Many of these, whether  spiritual Or material,  are merely
temporary ; for instance, a fright, chagrin, sudden cold, an indi-
gestible article of food, intoxication, a stroke of the sun,  an
                         6 
82
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
excessive exertion, watching, a volatile miasm which soon be-
comes extinct, although it may excite violent temporary reac-
tions, such as the contagium of small-pox,  scarlatina,  measles,
etc.   The pendulum which has been set in motion by a touch
of the hand, will soon cease to vibrate provided it is not touched
again ;  in the same manner the equilibrium of the organism  is
soon restored by the vital force, provided this has not been too vio-
lently disturbed. In such cases the duration of the disturbance
depends upon the condition of the vital force generally, or upon
the inherent vitality of the affected organ in particular.  Upon
these circumstances depend  likewise the difference in the dura-
tion of the acute contagious diseases, and the frequent increase or
decrease of the duration of the single stages ;  whence we may
infer that the duration of the disease is  not determined by the
disease itself.
   Other morbific causes are so  permanent or recur so fre-
quently that they represent a continuous series  of noxious in-
fluences,  which make it impossible for the  organism to free
itself from the disturbance it  had suffered.  Such  influences
are,  for instance, grief, care,  jealousy, daily quarrelling, un-
healthy climate, sojourn in damp air, or in houses which are
exposed to currents of air, excessive heat or cold, inhalation of
hurtful  vapors,  gases  or  fine dust,  bad food,  food or drinks
which are absolutely deleterious, excesses in eating  or drink-
ing, irregular sleep, excesses of any kind, etc.
   Some individuals are endowed with such a powerful vitali-
ty that they can gradually accustom themselves even to the
use of poison  without being affected by it.  Mithridates had
accustomed  himself to the daily use of poison to such an  ex-
tent that it had lost all effect on  his organism, and that he had
to destroy himself with  his  sword.  Strong  constitutions are
acclimated much more rapidly than weakly, and a variety of
pernicious influences lose their power if the organism be strong
enough to get used to them.
   Strangers are soon affected with goitres  in those parts of
Switzerland where  the  disease is  endemic,  although  the
difformity does not remain in  all cases.  Many are cured by
the use of specific remedies.  Sometimes the affection reappears,
and finally stays away on account of the patient having become
used to the climate or the water.   In all cases, however, where
the vital  forces are constantly overpowered by the external
noxious agent, a cure is impossible as long as the patient re-
mains exposed to the morbific cause. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       83
                       Section 26.

   The continuance of a morbid condition depends

   (b)  Upon the continuance of the internal cause.

   It is inconceivable that the truth of the axiom "causa remota
cessat effeclus" should ever have  been disputed.  Those who
deny this proposition, have failed  in perceiving the true cause
of disease.  It has been  observed  that diseases continue even
when the external morbific agents no longer exist.  The rheu-
matism  continues even when the current of air which  had
occasioned it, ceases to affect the organism.  The epileptic fit
after a fright, the inflammation of the brain after a stroke of the
sun,  the bilious fever after chagrin, continue after the exciting
causes have passed over.  But there is  still an internal cause
of disease,  an alteration of  the  organic  relations which had
been occasioned by the external morbific causes, and now con-
tinue to keep up the disturbance.  Bearing this  truth in mind
we shall guard against the mistake  of confounding  the  inter-
nal proximate cause of the disease with the disease itself, or
with what has been termed  the essence of the disease.  The
proximate cause is the real object of cure, and must necessarily
vary on account of  the variety of the forms of disease. This va-
riety  may  be reduced to  two  principal divisions : dynamic
and  somatic jdiseases.

                         Section 27.

   The dynamic alteration or violation of the vital force
may be of various kinds.

   (a) The vital force may be equally impoverished throughout
the organism. A man in that condition does not exhibit any par-
ticular symptoms of disease ; he is simply said to be weak, as in
marasmus senilis, where life  gradually becomes extinct even in
the absence of external morbific causes.   The internal vitality
has  been  consumed and ceases, as  the lamp would cease to
burn from want of oil.   This adynamic condition is  not alone
met  among old people.  It  may be hereditary,  it may result
from poverty and misery, from poor diet,  excessive  exertions,
watching, wasteful expenditure of strength ; or it may remain
as a consequence of some severe disease, where the vital force
had been so completely exhausted by violent reactions that its
restoration became impossible.   Although such  an adynamic 
84
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
 condition may not be  characterized by any definite morbid
 symptoms, yet it is a painful state  of weakness, an anormal
 condition of the organism, and, as such, is  liable to medical
 treatment.
    (6) A disproportionate distribution of the vital force  among
 the single tissues and organic systems is of  more frequent oc-
 currence.  This may either be  hereditary or acquired, and is
 extremely varied.   Each of  the  principles  of vitality  may
 either be anormally excited  or depressed.  The  reproductive
 power may either be too active, or too weak to prevent a state
 of general atrophy.  Sensibility is at times excessive, at others
 depressed, occasioning too acute or too feeble sensations  from
 external impressions.  An excess of irritability manifests itself
 by too violent, a deficiency of irritability by too feeble reactions.
    There are few beings in whom the vital force  is not  more
 or less unequally distributed  among the different  organs  and
 systems.   An excessive action of the  vegetative  principle
 causes hypertrophy or atrophy of single parts.  The secretion
 of bile, saliva, gastric juice, semen, mucus, is at  times too  pro-
 fuse, at others too scanty.  We perceive frequent differences of
 sensibilityin the cerebral, ganglionic and peripheral nerves-, and
 likewise  among the organs of sense.   The hysteric  female
 may faint from the sight of a drop of blood, from the noise of a
 jammed door, from the smell of musk.   Differences of irritabil-
 ity may at times  occasion palpitation of the heart, at others in-
 termissions and collapse of pulse, tonic and clonic  spasms, etc.
 An alteration of the true dynamic relations indeed takes place
 in every disease ; frequently, however, it is merely temporary,
 and disappears of itself.  In many cases it  is  constitutional,
 and occasions either protracted or incurable sufferings.

                       Section 28.

    The continuance  of a disease frequently depends upon
 anormal local changes.

    It is  not my intention to trace all  bodily changes to, a dy-
 namic cause; I  simply wish  to  examine  the  consequences
 arising from the reaction of those local changes upon the vital
 functions.  Anormal formations  are either congenital  or ac-
 quired ; frequently they remain after other,  particularly  after
inflammatory diseases, where the plastic functions are particular-
 ly excited, and are therefore apt to occasion hypertrophies, ad-
 hesions, indurations, contractions of cavities and canals ; some-
 times the anormal reproductive process leads to opposite results,
desiccation, softening of organs, etc.  Many defects of this kind 
          ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       85

 are obviated  by a restorative reproductive process ; others, by
 the fact that the function of the disabled organ is vicariously car-
 ried on by some other organ, as in the case  of an obliteration
 of large blood-vessels where some anastomosing vessel is dilated
 by the  current of blood and  conducts it onward, or as in the
 destruction of one kidney, after which the other kidney enlarges
 and is enabled to secrete  the necessary quantity of urine alone,
 etc.  There  are also anormal formations which remain  the
 whole life, occasioning painful  sensations and  functional dis-
 orders.   Many of those  defects become known only after death,
 and then account for  the  unsuccessful treatment of the appa-
 rent disease.   These occult anormal alterations  frequently de-
 pend upon a congenital disturbance of the reproductive activi-
 ty, or upon some external deleterious influence, or lastly, they
 may remain as consequences of some other disease, particu-
 larly of a chronic exanthem.  Hohnbaum mentions with great
 correctness that many  chronic  diseases  are consequences  of
 acute disorders, from  which they arise either directly or indi-
 rectly, in consequence of the alterations which the acute disease
 had occasioned in the structure, texture, or functional activity
 of one or more organs.   Sometimes an acute disease terminates
 critically in a  chronic disorder.  In other cases the  chronic
 disease is simply a continuation of the acute  disorder, as am-
 aurosis after typhus, asthma or hydrothorax after pneumonia.

                       Section 29.
    Another cause of the continuance of a disease is the absence
 of a dynamic resistance.
    Many things in life would occasion  a  disturbance of the
 normal activity of the organism, if circumstances or art did not
 create some counterbalancing  influence.   In  investigating  the
 fact why certain anormal  relations do not occasion any disease,
 we shall be led to observe that things which are capable of pro-
ducing morbid states, are likewise capable of removing them.
I can here offer only a  few illustrations  in  reference  to that
subject.
    Many men continue well only as long as  they remain in a
region where the climate,  though injurious to others, seems to
act as a preservative of their own health.   Many persons who
lead sedentary lives, would get sick if they were to suffer all
the exposures of a stage-driver, and this  one feels  probably
well only because his  torpid nature  requires  such violent con-
 cussions.   Such constitutions thrive under the effects of brandy
 which would ruin the majority of men.  There are individuals 
86
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
 who do not feel well and digest badly, if they are deprived of
 chagrin ;  a fit of anger restores the harmony of their functions.
 Their illness probably arises from an adynamic condition of the
 liver  with the acholia, which is suspended for  a time by a vio-
 lent  irritation of the biliary system.   I have known a young
 lady  who seldom  spent  a  few weeks  without being attacked
 by a  species of nettle-rash,  but never had a symptom of it du-
 ring the season of sweet-water crabs, of which  she consumed a
 large quantity.  It is well  known that crabs occasion  such
 eruptions  in many persons.  Many men are seized with  cuta-
 neous eruptions on changing their places of residence or drink-
 ing different water.  Many kinds of water may indeed possess
 the_ faculty of rousing the  latent disposition to cutaneous dis-
 eases.  My observation  leads  me, however,  to  believe that
 those eruptions arise from discontinuing the usual water, which
 has the power of counterbalancing a  certain innate tendency to
 eruptions on the skin.  There are short-breathed horses which
 continue in good  breath as long  as they drink soft, flowing
 water. If transported to some other region, they become useless.
 Many men feel well as long as they drink a  certain  kind of
 mineral water, or take a certain kind of medicine, or smoke a
 certain kind of tobacco, or  take snuff, for no other reason than
 this, that those substances counterbalance the habitual anormal
 dynamic relations existing in such  individuals, and maintain a
 state  of equilibrium which  is necessary to the existence and
 continuance of a state of relative well-being.


                       Section 30.

    The living organism is  endowed with

    3. A tendency to reactions that are in polaric opposition
 to the action of noxious agents.

    This tendency corresponds perfectly to the  highest idea of
life.   This highest idea implies that the individual life  should
 possess the power of offering a polaric resistance to the  macro-
 cosmic influences, which threaten to  destroy the individual.
 The idea of force throughout nature  has an empiric founda-
 tion ;  this however does not detract from its value.  We  should
 be ignorant of the force of gravitation  and the centrifugal force,
 and of the principle of light, if we  had not observed the mani-
 festations of those forces,  and, if out of those observations, the
 idea of the forces  had not  been developed ; and yet we are
proud of the  consciousness  of  being able to  construct solar
and planetary systems by means of that idea. 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       87

    The tendency which is inherent in the living  organism, to
 oppose the macrocosmic influences, is founded upon the gen-
 eral law that forces, after they are freed from all restraint,  will
 become so much more active, as is shown by many things in in-
 organic nature ;, for instance by the effects of elasticity, in con-
 sequence of which certain bodies are endowed with an endeavor
 to resume their original forms after they had been compressed by
 violent means,by expanding at first beyond the limits of their ori-
 ginal space, and gradually resuming their original dimensions.
 After rubbing a piece of glass, amber, sealing-wax or some other
 isolating electric body, those bodies attract small pieces of paper,
 and after a while repel them again with force.   A similar phe-
 nomenon has been observed by" Nobili, in the development of
 electricity by rotation.  If a neutral wire be  laid  parallel to
 the voltaic circle, the electric current which is thus excited, has
 an opposite  direction to the existing  current.  On removing
 the wire in the same  position, its electric current  becomes like
 that of the voltaic circle.   Murray has observed that the mag-
 netic needle undergoes certain  fixed deviations on being held
 near a flame, that it deviates in an  opposite direction after the
 removal of the flame, and only gradually resumes its  original
 position.
    The  same law holds  good in spiritual matters ; pressure
 calls out counter-pressure.  The liberated prisoner  is most in-
 clined to abuse his freedom, and many an artist owes his skill
 to the oppression which he had suffered in his youth.
    The hand which  had been dipped in cold water, becomes
 cold, and remains cold as long as the water is  cold enough to
 overcome the natural  warmth of the hand.  This is a positive
 primary  effect of cold.  On withdrawing the  hand from the
 water, the warmth not only returns gradually to  its  former
 degree, but rises beyond it, so that the hand becomes burning-
 hot.  The face becomes  hot  and red  after  returning from a
 walk in severe cold ;  this, is a reaction  of the organism which
 endeavors to overcome the effects of cold.
    After having got heated by dancing or by some other vio-
 lent exercise, and the first effect  has passed off,  the  skin be-
 comes cool, and  one feels chilly.  The  same kind  of chilliness
 is experienced after an intoxication.
    A cold or  a cathartic  occasions  a diarrhoea,  which is
 succeeded  by constipation, with  which those  are  especially
affected who have taken a good deal of cathartic medicine.
    The primary effect of China -is  tonic, after  that it has an
expanding, relaxing effect, which is manifest by the bloated
face, the swollen limbs and the distended spleen of those who
have taken a good deal of that drug. 
88       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

   Many people feel very ill while using the baths ;  they be-
come nervous and  imagine they are afflicted with all sorts of
ailments which they never had  before.  If the water corres-
ponds to the  morbid condition of the patients, they get  fre-
quently much better than they were before, after the primary
effect of the baths has passed off.
   Shortly after a venesection the reproduction of the blood
takes place very rapidly; on this account congestions which
have been removed once or twice by bleeding, are much more
difficult to cure,  than they would be in  persons who have
never been  bled.  For the same reason a suppression of the
hsemorrhoidal flux is attended with much more painful symp-
toms than the mere hsemorrhoidal pressing down, and females
suffer much more from a suppression than  young girls from a
retention of the first catamenia.
   Starvation-cures emaciate one a good deal; but persons
who have gone through them incline to  get very fat.  The
same fact  is observed on patients who are  recovering from an
attack of fever  with prostration of the reproductive powers;
children  grow  with astonishing rapidity  after having gone
through an acute disease with great emaciation.  It has  been
a matter of surprise that many remedies should have evinced
an action contrary to what they generally are supposed to
possess.  Some have contended for one, some for another ef-
fect of  a  drug.   Camphor, for instance, is  by some  supposed
to possess cooling,  by  others heating qualities.  It possesses
either  only  at  different periods.  The first action  of Cam-
phor is rapidly cooling, followed shortly  after by heat and
sweat.   Saltpetre acts similarly,  but  more slowly.   The  pri-
mary effect of Digitalis is to increase the beats of the heart
and to suppress the secretion of urine ; the secondary effect or
the  reaction  of the organism induces collapse of pulse and
copious secretion of urine.
   We know that the first effect of spirituous drinks is to heat
one and make one feel lively ; but after this effect has passed
off, one feels languid and drowsy, on which account it is very
dangerous  to drink brandy while exposed to severe cold,
whereas a little cold beer or water has an  unpleasant effect at
first, but  afterwards occasions a pleasant feeling of increasing
warmth from within outwards.   Cold feet are  most  speedily
got warm by dipping them in cold water or rubbing them with
snow.  Small doses of the primarily cooling camphor, or small
doses of  ice or cold water re-excited the  animal heat of
cholera-patients, even  in cases where  rigidity and death-like
coldness  had already set in.
   A little  brandy,  or  a cup of coffee  or tea occasions  a 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       89

pleasant feeling of coolness  in those  who have  been very
much heated.
   Men and  animals who have become rigid from exposure
to great cold, perish in a warm room, but recover again under
a cover of snow.

                      Section 31.
   The power of the living organism to oppose noxious influ-
ences,  is considered the vis  medicatrix ttalurce.  The term
reaction, by which that power is sometimes designated, is not
sufficiently specific, inasmuch as the primary positive effect of
the morbific agents  likewise  arises from a reaction of  the or-
ganism.  The term " secondary  effect"  reminds, us  of  the
action of the drug rather than of that of the organism.  Reac-
tion  and counter-effect  have  been  until  now comprised con-
jointly under the collective appellation of reaction ; I shall take
the liberty to distinguish the  two.
   Reaction is an activity of the organism primarily  excited
by the influence of some external agent.
    Counteraction is  synonymous with secondary action, and
is contrary to the primary action.
   Hahnemann has designated- the secondary  action  by the
term curative action.  In the enanthiopathic method  the pri-
mary action is considered curative, though it is undoubtedly
true that the secondary action  is  the most brilliant manifesta-
tion of the power of the vital principle.

                       Section 32.
               A  crisis is a  true vital process.
   As in the universe, so  in the individual, the life-principle is
subject to laws even in disease whose course and issue  depend
upon  those laws.   There is  no such  thing as a spontaneous
effort of the disease to  terminate critically.  The  termination
of the disease depends upon  the organism.
    1.  Upon  the  condition of the vital forces, either generally
or in single systems and tissues.  A favorable crisis is  a suc-
cessful resistance of the  organism to  the disturbance which
the  hostile  principle  had  occasioned.   If the vital forces
generally, or those of the  affected organ in particular,  be
too weak, the counteraction  which the  organism requires  to
make in order to  restore  its  equilibrium, is impossible.  The
morbid cause acquires a predominating influence, and  the dis-
ease becomes either chronic or else the organ is destroyed, and,
if it be an organ  indispensable to life, the individual perishes. 
90       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

The most common fatal terminations of pneumonia are paral-
ysis or gangrene of the lungs.  Paralysis  arises from an en-
tire exhaustion  of the nervous  life  by violent  reactions; in
gangrene  the exhaustion  involves  moreover the vegetative
sphere.  Single organs are  sometimes affected sympathetically
on account of an unequal distribution of the vital force, an ex-
cess of conducting power  in single  nerves, or  an excessive
irritability ; such sympathetic sufferings are just as real as the
primary affection.  The organs which are affected sympatheti-
cally may likewise go to destruction, and occasion the death of
the individual.  If the organs which are thus affected be of
secondary  importance,  their  affection  assumes  a vicarious
character, and the organism is  preserved  by the sacrifice of
one of its parts.   In other  cases sound organs react against
affected ones  ; this kind of reaction frequently results in a sup-
pression of the. morbid phenomena.   In  this way metastasis
and metaschematismus take place,  which  are either favora-
ble or unfavorable to the restoration of health.   The most fa-
vorable termination  of the disease  is the appearance  of an
opposite state in  the primarily or secondarily affected organs,
provided the  vital  forces remain otherwise unimpaired.   Dry-
ness of the skin is followed  by .sweat, constipation by diarrhoea,
dysuria by increased secretion  of urine, raging  delirium by
rest and sleep.  This transformation scarcely ever takes place
in the whole  organism at once, but in the same order in which
the organs  had been invaded by the  disease, unless one organ
should have been more intensely affected, and should, on that
account, remain so much longer in a  state of dynamic disturb-
ance. Such an imperfect counteraction of the vital forces against
the dynamic disturbance might be designated by the term "half-
crisis."  A. fore-crisis (precursory crisis) is a state of dynamic
oscillations arising from an  equal struggling  of  the morbific
agent and the vital force.  Slow restorations of the equilibrium
of the  organism without any perceptible sign of oscillation,
are termed " lyses."   By "false crises " we mean the efforts
of sympathetically suffering organs to restore their dynamic
equilibrium, whilst the vitality of the  more violently affected
tissues is still too much depressed to accomplish a similar result.
   Secretory  organs are frequently those that are  first affected,
or else  they  suffer sympathetically.  If the  secretions had
been interrupted during the morbid state of the organ, they
must be so much more copious when the normal  functions of
the organ are about to  be restored.   Formerly this increase of
the secretions was considered the cause of the  simultaneous
return to health,  whereas both are  simultaneous consequences 
          ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       91

 of the altered dynamic relations of the organism.  It cannot be
 denied that injurious substances which had penetrated into the
 organism from without, or which had been formed in the organ-
 ism in consequence of a disturbed state of the reproductive func-
 tions,  are frequently spontaneously excreted by the organism.
 This, however, is not always the case. In many cases recovery
 takes place without the secretions being altered or increased ; it
 is accompanied with phenomena denoting a disturbance of the
 nervous  system, such as fainting fits, epileptic attacks, etc.
    The  termination of  a  disease depends likewise
    2.  Upon the nature of the affected organ, whether the affec-
 tion be primary or secondary.  The  more delicate  organs are
 generally  the more  easily destroyed, and  the diseases with
 which  they are . affected, generally  terminate  the more
 speedily.  Alterations of structure are of the utmost impor-
 tance.   An inflammation  of tuberculous lungs terminates most
 readily in suppuration, least frequently  in  gangrene; an  in-
 flammation  of  the  cellular tissue   generally terminates in
 dropsy, that of a muscle in dispersion or suppuration ; a stone
 in the bladder is never superinduced by St. Vitus' dance, but fre-
 quently by the gout, which is likewise rooted in secretory tissues.
    There are cases of disease which terminate  in a manner
 that leaves it doubtful whether the recovery  results  from an
 endeavor of the organism to invert the polarity of its dynamic
 relations, for this reason, that no active reaction is apparently
 going on, and that we simply perceive a cessation of the  for-
 mer anormal development.   A violent inflammation, attended
 with great swelling, particularly orchitis, is sometimes followed
 by atrophy.  This is not owing to an inherent  endeavor of the
 organism to produce a state contrary to an excess of reproduc-
 tive activity, but the atrophy, in that case, results from the fact
 that the  reproductive powers had been exhausted or paralyzed
 by the excessive irritation of a  naturally irritable organ.
    Many dynamic disturbances terminate in a manner which
 seems  to be a mere  negation  of the original condition.  If
 pains or convulsions abate, the patient becomes  quiet;  this
 quiet seems to be  a sort of negative condition.  Nevertheless
 there is  opposition.  The former  dynamic relation, which oc-
casions pain or convulsions, has been superseded by one that
is opposite.   Contraction is  replaced by expansion, expansion
by contraction.  The opposition is therefore not limited to the
 mere external phenomena, but  extends over the internal con-
dition which is reflected by the  external symptoms, and which
the physician must take cognizance of, if he wishes to conduct
the treatment intelligently. 
SECOND  PART.
DIAGNOSTICS  AND  THERAPEUTICS.
                      Section 33.

The safety of the treatment depends upon a correct diagnosis.

   We will not deny the possibility of now and then perform-
ing a successful cure without  a correct diagnosis.   Such  a
cure depends upon mere chance, which  indeed  sometimes es-
tablishes  the  reputation of the  most miserable quack.  We
cannot expect ever to penetrate the mysteries of nature, but we
ought nevertheless to endeavor to know as much of disease
as possible.


                      Section  34.

        The object of diagnosis is to know disease.

   Disease is an internal vital process which  manifests itself
to our senses by symptoms.
   The particular kind of  that anormal vital process is the
nature of the disease, which ought not to be confounded with
the proximate cause ; this is the inmost cause of the disease,
hence the real object of cure.
   The nature of  ascites is an effusion of serous fluid into the
abdominal cavity.  The proximate cause  of this disease  is
either an  increased secretion or diminished absorption.  Kurt
Sprengel observes very justly that the  proximate cause de-
termines the particular kind of the disease, and  that the gen-
eral nature of the disease  constitutes the  genus to which it
belongs.  Vomiting, as a general thing, consists in an antiper- 
         ORGANOIN OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       93

istaltic motion of the  stomach.  The  proximate cause of the
vomiting  may be  an  idiopathic irritation of the stomach by
an emetic, by overloading it  with food, by am excess of bile.
inflammation, or by sympathetic irritation of the nerves of ihe
stomach in consequence  of  concussion  of  the  brain.   The
symptoms which indicate the nature of the  disease, are too
general to guide us in  the selection of a remedy.  Ascites is
not cured by tapping.   Vomiting may perhaps be suppressed
for a time, but not cured, by so-called sedatives.   If the vomit-
ing is occasioned by the accumulation of noxious substances
the danger is increased by sedatives.   Help can only be af-
forded by removing the cause.  To  discover the proximate
cause of the disease, a vast amount of pathogenetic and physio-
logical knowledge is required. The physician has to analyze the
morbid process and to trace it to its commencement. Pathologists
have distinguished the proximate, remote and remotest cause.
In ascites diminished absorption may be the proximate cause ;
the remote causes  may be a  pressure on venous trunks by a
tumor, paralysis occasioned  by an excessive irritation from
abuse of China, or by  spirituous drinks, or by a suppression of
cutaneous eruptions, etc.  He who is not acquainted with these
remote causes, will not remove them, and will not be able to
cure the disease.

                       Section 35.

   The means  of diagnosing disease are,
   (1.) Etiology, the doctrine of morbific causes.  This  doc-
trine has  arisen entirely from empiricism.  As  the  develop-
ment of the human mind  progressed, attempts were made to
establish a connection between the morbific causes and their
effects, and to invest the hitherto empirical doctrine of etiology
with a scientific character. Our present science of pathogenesis
is a sort of practical etiology, and is intimately connected with the
doctrine termed " anamnesis" or the doctrine of the deleterious
influences which exist previously to, and  open a  road for, the
disease.  Both those doctrines, etiology and anamnesis, are in-
dispensable to the  diagnostician, inasmuch as a correct diagno-
sis is frequently impossible without a knowledge  of the causes
thafhave occasioned it.  For  instance,  there are cutaneous
eruptions that cannot be distinguished from the real itch by the
mere external appearance.  There are  genuine  and  spurious
syphilitic ulcers that resemble each other in the highest degree,
and the true nature of which  can only be determined by the
presence or absence of a previous infection.  A child sudden- 
 94       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 ly commences to limp; but even after the most careful investi-
 gation we do not  discover  any symptoms of a constitutional
 disturbance.  Upon being told that  the child fell, and that a
 pain in the hip was experienced immediately after the fall, we
 obtain  a  more  correct notion of the proximate  cause  of the
 child's affection than if we were merely told that the child had
 taken cold.  Two individuals are in a state of coma.   One
 had poisoned himself with opium, the other  had a fall  on his
 head.   The latter would he killed by an emetic, which would
 save the life of  the former.
    Physiological etiology teaches  that  there are two agents
 co-operating in  the formation of disease ; an external, which is
 the morbific cause, and an internal agent,  which is the organ-
 ism itself.  The dynamic susceptibilities of the organism have
 to be carefully studied in  order that the intensity of the disease
 should neither be over nor underrated. There are  but few noxae
 which affect organisms of the same kind in the same manner.
 Of this number are miasms  and poisons.  These agents have
 been variously defined, but those definitions have  been rejected.
 It is a characteristic property of those agents to occasion a de-
 finite disturbance of the organism, more or less independent of
 the modifying influences of the peculiar nature of the individ-
 ual.  It is not very difficult to discover the action of poisonous
 substances in the organism.  Etiological inquiries are valuable
 in another respect; they frequently lead us to the discovery  of
 some remote cause which keeps up the action of the proximate
 cause of the disease, and the  removal of which is in  many
 instances  sufficient to a cure ;  such remote causes are, for ex-
 ample, the presence of a quarrelsome person, a damp sleeping-
 apartment, a smoking stove, a hurtful favorite dish,  a certain
 prejudicial occupation, etc.  A painter cannot expect  to remain
free from colic as long as he continues to poison himself with
lead by the introduction of the brush into his mouth ; nor will
 a worker  in looking-glasses remain exempt from mercurial
 symptoms until he discontinues his business.


                      Section  36,

    The morbific power of external agents, except miasmata
and poisons, is altogether relative, and an unsafe basis for the
ideal construction of a morbid  condition.  We are frequently
unable to  ascertain the  cause why morbific  agents act with
 such  different  degrees of intensity in different organisms.
There is a certain disposition to some anormal condition in every
 individual, which is a preventive against other diseases.   The 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       95

susceptibility to disease  is, in a  great  measure, modified by
temperament and mind, advanced or retarded development of
the moral  sentiments and bodily strength, size, fleshiness or
thinness, greater or lesser development of single organs, length
of the neck, shape of the thorax,  firmness or  flaccidity of the
muscles, age and sex, acuteness  or dullness of the organs of
sense, greater or lesser irritability of the general organism or
of single organs.   Even  actual defects may sometimes serve
to neutralize relatively hurtful influences.   If the heart be lo-
cated in the right side, a dagger plunged into the left will not
reach it.  Some time ago I read  of a case of hydrocephalus
which was accidentally cured by  a nail being  thrust  into the
anterior fontanelle of an infant.  The opium-eater is pleasantly
excited  by a dose  of opium which might  destroy  another
man's life.   If  an organ  be in a  polaric condition opposite to
that of health,  its normal  condition may be restored by an in-
fluence which would subvert a state of normal polarity.   In
some cases, certain diseases  may act as  preventives  against
others.   Syphilitic patients are seldom attacked  by the orien-
tal plague.  Children who are affected with tinea are less fre-
quently attacked by  encephalitis ;  open ulcers and suppurating
herpes frequently protect one against acute contagious dis-
eases.  It is well known  that habit and the mode of life are
capable  of increasing or diminishing the power of certain
agents.  A delicate nurse would perish in three days, if she were
to be exposed  during that period of time to the  hot sun in a
cornfield.  The tailor would lose his health by working at the
furnace,  and the  miner  by crossing his legs  on a tailor's
board.  What  is injurious to one, may be useful to another.
Not all men are similarly affected by the same  hurtful influ-
ences ; even if everybody had become sick inconsequence  of be-
ing exposed to those influences, yet it would not follow that the
sickness must be the same in every case.   Chagrin may  occa-
sion apoplexy as well as  bilious  fever; a cold may induce  a
simple catarrh, ischias, or typhus.   The value  of etiology is
extremely  relative, although a knowledge of the  causa occasi-
onal'^ of the disease must be very useful to an observing phy-
sician and one  who  is well versed in physiology.


                       Section 37.

    A disease cannot be treated as long as it does not manifest
itself by perceptible  phenomena.   The  principal means of di-
agno sis is, therefore, 
96
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
   2. Symptomatology,  or the doctrine  of the  symptoms.
The lowest form of symptomatology may be termed nosogra-
phy, a doctrine Which  teaches  the  mode  of taking a correct
record of the external perceptible symptoms of the disease.  A
higher form of symptomatology is the doctrine of the  internal
acceptation of the symptoms, semeiotic, which in conjunction
with  nosography, has  elevated diagnosis  to a  higher  rank.
Our most estimable pathologists and therapeutists  have com-
plained of the imperfections  of semeiotic.  Girtanner com-
plains of the darkness which surrounds us in the investigation
of disease.  Choulant says, that we know  nothing of disease
except the proximate cause  and the  totality of the symptoms.
Most  rejects the doctrines which we learn at the universities as
trash  which is useless to suffering humanity, and puffs up the
learned fool like the toad in the fable.   However, we can  no
more  approve of the unqualified condemnation which  Hahne-
mann and Krueger-Hansen have pronounced on medicine, than
we can be blind to the imperfections of semeiotic. The follow-
ing are some of the reasons why it is difficult and frequently
impossible  to  infer the nature of a disease from the  mere
symptoms.
   1.  In some cases the  symptoms are either wanting or too in-
distinct. Organs that are scantily provided with nerves, and are
on that account rather insensible, such as the liver,may contain
tubercles or even abscesses, or portions may be in  a state of soft-
ening, or may have been affected with other defects for years,
without any external phenomena of disease.  Even in nobler
organs, the brain, heart  and large vessels, disorganizations have
been  discovered  which were not suspected by any body.   Of
this number are cases of sudden death from the bursting of the
heart  or the aorta at a place  which had become thinner.  Mor-
gagni mentions a number of cases illustrative of the above re-
marks.  Sebastian made a post-mortem examination in  the
case of a man who had  been sick with typhus abdominalis and
had felt quite well for two years after, after the lapse of which
period he died of acute  pleurisy with purulent effusion  into the
cavity of the chest.  The intestinal  ulcers  which are  charac-
teristic of typhus abdominalis, were found to exist yet in a state
of integrity ; only two of them were distinctly cicatrized.  Sev-
eral years ago I found the whole right lung of  a  man trans-
formed into a sac of pus. The man had never felt ill,  had un-
dergone many fatigues  on horseback and foot, and had been
hunting two days before his death without feeling in  the least in-
convenienced.    He  died with the symptoms of suffocative
asthma within five days. It cannot be supposed that the purulent 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
97
transformation should have taken place in that short space of
time, so much more as inflammatory symptoms were entirely
wanting.
   2. Many symptoms are deceitful, for this reason, that the
phenomena by which sympathetic affections  manifest them-
selves, are frequently more distinct than the fundamental  dis-
turbance ; sometimes the more important disease is complicated
with affections that are of less importance, but whose phenomena
are more marked, and, on that  account, engage our principal
attention. Errors of diagnosis are frequently discovered  only
after death.  De Haen discovered gangrene of the stomach in
the body of a female who had  been sick for  only five days,
during which time she  took food, and drank barley-water, and
had neither nausea, nor vomiting, nor any of the most essential
inflammatory symptoms.  According  to Huguier, a woman
was treated for two years in the  hospital St. Louis for hypertro-
phy of the heart; on making a post-mortem examination, the
heart was found sound, but the lungs were studded with tuber-
cles.  Huguier likewise mentions a case of supposed tracheal
phthisis, whereas the patient died  of  aneurism of the aorta.
Fricke observes that, if the sensory be affected in  tuberculous
phthisis, the characteristic cough is frequently wanting.  Bag-
livi remarks that the most experienced men are frequently de-
ceived by pulmonary diseases, even in spite of the  stethescope.
Philipp of Berlin relates a case where auscultation pointed to a
defect of the valves, dropsy of the pericardium and oedema of the
lungs; in the place of all this a post-mortem examination disclos-
ed a partial thickening of the pericardium, dilatation of the left
ventricle, and thickening of its walls, together with oedema of the
lungs.  Wynn of Glasgow discovered, in a man who died of
dropsy, a complete degeneration  of the kidneys, which could not
be diagnosed by any external symptoms; and Horst speaks of
a case of complete destruction of both kidneys, where the urine
continued to be emitted with perfect ease until the last  days of
the patient's life.  De Haen found the spleen, subsequently to an
inflammation of the lungs, transformed into a pappy substance,
without any external phenomena pointing to the degeneration.
He has frequently seen cases of enlargement of the liver extend-
ing to the left hypochondrium,  where other viscera were sup-
posed to be affected.  There are many morbid conditions, the
characteristic symptoms of which are still very obscure.  Of this
number are tubercles in the brain, the affections of the pancreas.
Some author lately spoke  of an  oedema of the spleen, of which
nothing was known before.  We know likewise very little of
the asthma thymicum.   It is particularly a matter of great un- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
certainty whether it  is occasioned by hypertrophy  of  the
thymus gland, as is maintained by Kopp and denied by Staub,
who mentions a  case  of gastrobrosis where  every symptom
pointed to asthma thymicum.

                       Section 38.

   As it would be unjust, on the one hand, to  reproach a phy-
sician with the impossibility of establishing a correct diagnosis
when  the means for so doing are wanting, so  it would, on the
other hand, be unpardonable to  base  a vigorous antipathic
treatment upon a purely speculative view of  disease.  I will
not here recapitulate the horrors  which speculative  theorists
have made themselves  guilty of.  in the treatment of disease.
The worst homoeopathist may be considered innocent in their
presence.   Two things may occur, if the realization of a wrong
theory in practice should lead to bad results.  Either the phy-
sician is too vain to admit his error, and he continues to heap
sin upon sin ; or else, aware of his  mistake,  he changes his
view of the disease, and modifies the  treatment accordingly.
In this way he continues groping in the dark, and modifying
his method of treatment from day to day.  The pure effects of
drugs, particularly those of the darling  compounds, being very
little known,  the most prominent symptoms of the remedies
that are used in a case, are frequently mistaken for  new phe-
nomena of the disease.  This leads to  new views  about the
character of the  disease and to  a change of treatment.   Our
journals are filled with reports of cases  by the  most celebrated
physicians which betray the most woful vacillation between
a  pretended rational  and  symptomatic treatment.  At times
the disease is derived from infarctions of the intestines, at others
from latent gout, at times again from  a supposed rheumatic,
herpetic, or some other acridity.   There is much  talk about la-
tent haemorrhoids; that is, haemorrhoids which are not any, and
can only mean a congestive condition that may, under certain
circumstances, occasion a hasmorrhoidal flow, but may just as
well cause  a bleeding of the nose, a haemorrhage from the lungs
or oesophagus, and might be termed latent bleeding of the nose,
with the same propriety as it is termed latent piles.   The
doctrine of latent piles has been the hobby of the school of
Stahl.  For any irregularity of  the circulation, a discharge
from the haemorrhoidal veins was supposed to be the sovereign
remedy.  A man living abroad, who is  affected with a chronic
malady, sent me some time  ago a large  bundle of prescriptions,
together with the opinons  of five celebrated  physicians, who 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
99
 had examined his case.  All those physcians differed in opin-
 ion, for  the simple reason that each took a different  view of
, the nature of the disease.  All of them were mistaken.

                       Section 39.

    According  to Hahnemann we  cannot know any thing of
 disease except the symptoms.  The symptoms, in their totali-
 ty, reflect the internal disease ; that is, the affection of the vital
 force.  A disease is cured as soon as the symptoms  are, each
 of them, permanently removed.   I shall examine this doctrine
 more particularly in the following paragraphs.

                        Section 40.

    The symptoms are the external, objective manifestation of
 the morbid process which is taking place in the internal or-
 ganism.

    Every disease must necessarily manifest itself by a corre-
 sponding  alteration  of  structure,   sensations,   or  functions.
 Symptoms, however, are  only one  portion of the  clue which
 leads to the perception of the true nature of the internal mor-
 bid process.
    In many cases of disease, the  symptoms are so evident,
 that we are at once able to judge of the true nature of the dis-
 ease, and to determine the remedy.   In some cases,  however,
 the symptoms are not so clear, and the real  nature of the dis-
 ease  has to be determined  by a process of a priori reasoning.
 By establishing his psora-doctrine,  Hahnemann has admitted
 the necessity of speculative reasoning to determine the true na-
 ture of many forms of disease.

                      Section 41.

    To form  a correct  diagnosis,  we have to  employ every
 available and requisite means.

    It is of especial importance
    1. To ascertain the influences by which the disease has
 been occasioned.  Such an investigation can only be instituted
 by a well informed  pathologist.  A physician who is well
 versed  in pathology will not inquire, in replacing a fractured
 bone, whether at some former period the patient has been affect-
 ed with syphilis;  but he will make  such inquiries in a case of
 compound fracture, if the soft parts do not heal, if the wound
 discharge  a badly colored ichor, and the  edges of the wound 
] 00      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
 assume a lardaceous appearance : all  these symptoms point to
 some latent dyscrasia, the character  of which  he desires  to
 know.   If a child should be attacked with simple influenza,
 the  physician  will not find it necessary to inquire  whether *
 the child has been scrofulous.  Such inquiries would be neces-
 sary if inflammation of the eyes should supervene, which does not
 yield to the ordinary remedies for catarrhal ophthalmia.   Some-
 times children are attacked with  swelling of the cervical glands
 in consequence  of a  cold; they feel  like small  peas, and are
 speedily reduced to their  ordinary size  by keeping the parts
 warm.   If the physician  should be informed, however,  that
 the older sisters or brothers of the child have had  scrofula, he
 would at once resort to  the proper remedies to prevent the de-
 velopment of the scrofulous affection.  The scientific physician
 will always endeavor to investigate  every thing which may-
 shed light on the case before him, hereditary disposition, tem-
 perament and  constitution, idiosyncrasy, defects from  badly
 directed education, effeminacy, injudicious  attempts to harden
 the constitution, excessive efforts  in studying, want of exercise,
 hard working at too early an age, bad or irritating nourishment,
 abuse of perfumes, excitement of the fancy in consequence  of
 reading novels, onanism, violent suppression of excessive de-
 sires, excesses in venery, occupations favorable to the develop-
ment of disease, irregular waking and sleeping, bad habits such
 as smoking, chewing, or taking  snuff,  unhealthy situation  of
 one's house and particularly of one's sleeping apartments, want
 of cleanliness and fresh air, unhealthiness of the climate or lo-
cality, hurtful mode of dressing, tight  lacing, tight cravats or
garters, too light or too heavy covering inducing either a defi-
ciency or excess of perspiration.  I am acquainted with a man
who has  coryza with perspiration as long as the corn is in blos-
som, and who remains free from those complaints if he does
not walk in the neighborhood of cornfields.   Passions disturb
the health in a definite but different  manner.  We know that
anger causes a rush of blood to the head, chagrin an increased
secretion of bile, jealousy, grief, and care depress the reproductive
and  sensitive functions.   In many cases it is of the utmost im-
portance  to inquire into the diseases with which the patient may
have been affected previously.  I content myself with mentioning
suppressed haemorrhages and dried-up ulcers.   Syphilis and
psora ought likewise to be alluded to.   Schlegel has related  a
case of hemicrania of  thirty years' standing, for which he pre-
scribed corrosive sublimate,  after ascertaining the syphilitic
origin of the affection ; the disease was cured.  Thirty years
ago I cured a pharmaceutist of cardialgia by means of Guaja- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
101
 cum, which I selected on account of the arthritic origin of the
 disease; he had consulted many physicians, but in vain.  At
 the same period I performed another cure which created some
 noise.  A young girl was affected with  jaundice, and had
 used for six weeks so-called dissolvent remedies, agreably to
 the prescriptions  of some other physician.  Being consulted,
 suggested that the disease might originate in a spasm of the
 liver, inasmuch  as  the patient  had  previously suffered with
 hysteric spasms, which had now ceased. I gave her Castoreum
 and she was well in eight days.  Disturbances  occasioned by
 the former abuse of medicine and by depletions require to be
 considered.   We are fully acquainted with the destructive ef-
 fects of mercury upon the animal economy which often remain
 until death.  The abuse of Iodine is likewise very dangerous.
 John has seen it  cause  nervous  consumption.   D'urr  has ob-
 served from frictions with the iodine-ointment for the removal
 of goitre,  convulsions of  the limbs and face, anguish, oppres-
 sive anxiety, palpitation of the heart, vomiting, violent head-
 ach,  spasms  and foam at the mouth.  Vogel  has seen a yel-
 lowish complexion  turn suddenly blue in consequence of the
 use of Iodine.   Busse mentions a case of slow poisoning by the
 flowers of zinc, of which  a man of 43 years, affected with epi-
 lepsy, took 3246 grains within  five months. He became an
 idiot and consumptive.   Tangueral speaks of a case of  fatal
 colic arising from the abuse of lead in hypertrophy of the heart,
 and of a cerebral  affection in consequence of an accidental poi-
 soning with lead.  I may mention the delapidated condition of
 the  nervous  system of the opium-eaters  and  of  those  who
 use the haschisch,  a  favorite  drink  prepared from hemp;
 the leucophlegmasia and swelling of the spleen from the abuse
 of China ; the cachexia and blackness of the skin occasioned
 by  the nitrate of  silver: the scarlet  eruption  from the balsam
 of Copaiva ; the dyspepsia arising from the injudicious use of
 iron-water, and the bad effects from any improper use of min-
eral waters generally.  Krimer  says : I am convinced  that
the abuse of mineral waters occasions the very ailments which
 the  rational  use of those waters would remove.  The health
of persons who keep a domestic  pharmacy, and prescribe for
 themselves or their  relatives a dose of medicine for every little
 trouble, is generally very poor. Some time ago the Frankfort im-
 perial pills were considered a panacea for every  disease ; now
the universal  remedy is Morisson's pills, who has attempted to
 show in a special treatise that all diseases can  be cured with
 purgatives.   The abuse  of worm-seed  and Chamomile-tea
 gives likewise rise to many disastrous results.   Passionate 
 102      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 drinkers of chamomile-tea are frequently affected with bilious
 troubles, vexed mood, and morbid irritability of the peripheral
 nerves, with a disposition to inflammatory cutaneous affections.
 Lyine-in  women frequently have  rash and sore nipples from
 the abuse of chamomile.   The infants suffer still more, partic-
 ularly if they too take  the  chamomile.    Winter considers the
 abuse of chamomile one of the causes of  gastromalacia.  The
 most ordinary consequences of an inordinate use of chamomile
 are green  stools, colic, flatulence, restlessness, tendency to start,
 rash, soreness  under the  arms,  and in the neighboorhod of
 the sexual organs.   These consequences  are not seen in lying-
 in hospitals where chamomile-tea is the usual  beverage of  the
 mothers:  they  make their appearance after the patients leave
 the institution.   Other physicians might see those facts just as
 well as one of our school;  but in their estimation  every thing
 emanating from Hahnemann is  deemed unworthy of any se-
 sious consideration.
    It is of great importance to ascertain whether influences
 which have occasioned a  disposition for certain diseases, do
 stilJ exist, or whether all that remains of them, is their after-
 effects.

                      Section 42.

    It is likewise of great importance to observe,
    2. The ruling character or disposition of disease, designated
 in the German books by " genius of disease."   We know from
 experience, that the general character of disease is modified by
 various sideral, telluric and meteorological influences.  This
 is particularly  the case with epidemic,  and  sometimes also
 with sporadic diseases.  If we know that the  character of a
 prevalent  disease is inflammatory, or rheumatic, gastric, bilious,
 typhoid, or putrid, this character will appear more or less in
 every single case.  This would not do away with the necessi-
 ty of studying every case, and prescribing in accordance with
 the perceptible  phenomena of the disease.


                      Section 43.

    We derive some of the best means of diagnosis from
    3. The history of the case.  In every  case which is not en-
tirely clear, we  have to inquire into the  first symptoms  of the
disease, of the patient himself, or  of those who had an opportu-
nity of watching him.  Sometimes it seems at first  as if we 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
103
could  not  learn any thing about the case; however, every
new question leads to a new answer, and we  finally succeed
in obtaining the desired information.  I have frequently observed
that those  of whom we  expected the  least information, can
furnish us  most.  The servant is not apt  to overlook the ill-
humor with which his master may be  tormented  previous  to
an illness.   The barber notices the bad smell from the mouth,
and the cook, on hearing frequent complaints about  the insi-
pidity of the food, is easily led to suppose that her mistress's ap-
petite is deranged.  It is highly instructive to investigate the suc-
cessive appearance of all the symptoms of a disease ;  this kind
of inquiry makes us acquainted with the starting point of the
disease, and with the manner in which  the morbid process has
developed itself in the organism.  It is frequently a difficult busi-
ness to trace a disease to its cause, or to connect all the symptoms
into one series of effects.  Wherever the series seems to be in-
terrupted,  we have to supply the omission, by studying the
physiological relation of the symptoms.   We know that  a de-
ficiency of nervous power  may prevent the manifestation  of
symptoms in some parts of the organism, and that other parts are
more intensely affected on account of the acute sensitiveness
with which they are endowed.
                      Section 44.

   We ought not to neglect
   4. The old rule, to notice the influences which are injurious
or advantageous to the patient.
   In inquiring  into the precursory symptoms, it is  advisable
that  we  should  inform  ourselves of the external influences
which aggravate or  ameliorate  the condition of the patient.
If we have reason to suspect that the disease is  of an inflam-
matory nature, our suspicion will be confirmed if we are told
that  stimulating  influences  aggravate, and cool  air, cooling
nourishments and drinks ameliorate the condition of the pa-
tient.  If the symptoms should be very uncertain, and we should
be told that wine is of decided benefit to the patient, we would
then conclude that  the disease has an adynamic character.
The useful or hurtful action of certain  remedies, from profes-
sional or  domestic practice, may likewise throw light on the
nature of the disease.  Without going into details, letjme state,
by way of example, that a herpetic  dyscrasia manifests  itself
by the little vesicles starting up around the red  surface induc-
ed by a vesicatory ;  that  the sudden prostration of strength 
104      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

after venesection betrays a real debility of the vital forces ;
that our suspicions of the syphilitic nature of an ulcer are jus-
tified by the fact of the ulcer healing under the action of mer-
cury ;  that our suspicion of an organic defect increases to a
certainty, if remedies  of a  positively different nature do not
seem to affect the case in the least.  Here, too, mistakes may
occur, particularly with physicians, whose powers of logic and
observation"are deficient.

                       Section 45.

   An indispensable condition of a correct diagnosis is,

   5. Appreciation of the existing symptoms.

   Hahnemann asserts that the examination of a case requires
nothing but impartiality, sound  sense, close observation, and
a  faithful record of the symptoms.   I think  that this is not
sufficient.  We ought  not only to know the  symptoms indi-
vidually, but in their true relation.  To study the true scientific
connection of the symptoms, we  have to institute

   A correct examination of the patient.

   Such an examination can only be instituted by a physician
well acquainted with physiology, pathology, and pathogenesis,
provided he  is otherwise endowed  with  sound  sense,  and
sufficient powers of observation.  The manner in which a
physician conducts the examination of a case, is the best touch-
stone of his  natural capabilities as a physician.  So much is
said  of practical  tact.  The true practical tact consists in the
talent  of obtaining, at the first glance, a correct idea of the pa-
tient's  illness.  Practice may develope that talent; but, it can
never be acquired by mere study.  There are many men who
are unable to improve the teachings  of  experience.  There is
an immense difference between erudition and practical wisdom,
and the most learned physicians, are frequently very bad prac-
titioners.
   There are many diseases that are at once  known by their
symptoms.  Anasarca  cannot well be  confounded with  an-
other disease ;  nor  can hydrothorax, to  which the oedema of
the eyelids, the keeping the mouth open, the dropping of  the
blue  lower lip, and the difficult breathing, with the shoulders
drawn forward, point sufficiently to induce us to direct our ques-
tions with reference to that disease.  Good observers are capable
of discovering the nature of the case, even when the symptoms 
          ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      1Q5

 are not well marked.  This talent is particularly valuable in
 treating sick children.  A description of the general features of
 the disease, either by the patient or by those around him, is fre-
 quently sufficient to lead the careful observer to such questions
 as have a direct bearing  upon the case.  If possible, the patient
 ought to be seen and examined by the physician personally.
 I  have frequently found that the report which had been sent
 to me  of a  case, gave  me an idea entirely different from the
 real state of things.  It is frequently stated in such reports that
 the patient has fine red cheeks, whereas  the cheeks are suf-
 fused  with the hectic flush.   If country-people  complain of
 pains in the chest, it is generally cardialgia, and by pains in the
 stomach, the most varied sensations are frequently designated.
   It  is well to know the character and temperament of the
 patient, lest we should  either over  or under-rate the value of
 his subjective symptoms.  Anxious and sensitive persons are
 apt  to describe  their sufferings in the strongest language.
 Hysteric  novel-readers   talk about  spasms, when they  have
 only cold feet.  Torpid  and  phlegmatic patients fail in the
 other extreme, and frequently do not even take the trouble of in-
 forming their physician of serious indispositions.

                       Section 46.

   Hahnemann directs that the symptoms of a case should be
 recorded in the words of the patient.  This proceeding is par-
 ticularly advantageous to a physician who is unable to select
 a remedy except by comparing the symptoms of the case with
 those of the remedy.  I do not comply with Hahnemann's di-
 rections in this respect, in the first place because I like to avoid
 the appearance of  an affected conscientiousness,  and  in the
 second place because I do not think  it necessary that the  case
 should be recorded in the manner prescribed.   In  a complicat-
ed and doubtful case it is of great use to note every thing
concerning the disposition of the patient for the disease,  the de-
velopment and characteristic features of the disease, and to
base one's opinion about  the  case upon a  careful  study and
combination of the details of the record.

                        Section 47.

   In examining a patient, it is not  advisable to commence at
the head and end at the feet, which  is the order of the  symp-
toms in Hahnemann's Materia Medica.
   The proper method is to let the patient state his case as he 
 106      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 recollects it, in the order in which the symptoms  have devel-
 oped themselves.  This will give the physician a general idea
 of the character of the disease and of the organs  which  are
 more particularly affected, and  will  enable  him  to give his
 questions a more definite shape and direction.
    The physician seldom succeeds in obtaining a correct idea
 of his patient's illness after one examination.  At the first visit
 of the physician the patient is generally somewhat excited;
 he does  not  show his real condition until  he has become
 somewhat accustomed to the doctor.
    No one has paid more attention to symptoms than Hahne-
 mann.  It is undoubtedly true that the symptoms  of a disease,
 in all doubtful cases, at least, are a safer guide than speculative
 reasoning. Under the term " symptoms" I  comprehend  every
 thing which  indicates a deviation from the former healthy
 condition.


                      Section 48.

    We have  to consider

    1. The conditon of the sensitive sphere.

    This  sphere comprises the phenomena of the mind and
 disposition, including imagination, judgment,  feeling, tempera-
 ment.  Many diseases are characterized by an increase or  de-
 crease of certain  faculties, by  an inability to form correct
 ideas of things which may give  rise to  delirium.   In such  a
 case we have to inquire whether the  delirium proceeds from
 mental derangement or from an illusion of the senses.
    In other diseases the affective sphere is particularly invad-
 ed.  The patient is either mOre cheerful or  more gloomy than
 usual, he is more sensitive, disposed to anger,  chagrin, distrust
jealousy, malice, or he is more indifferent, even to those  things
 or persons that are dearest to him.   Of particular  importance
 are : a complete change in the disposition and  desires  of the
 patient, excessive anxiety, desire to die, suppression or increas-
 ed  excitement of the sexual instinct, satyriasis,  nymphoma-
 nia, etc.
    Under this head belong the functions of the senses, increase
 or diminution of the visual power, illusions  of sight.  I have
 known a  hysteric girl who fell into convulsions at  the sight of
 a bright-red color.  We have to notice an increase or decrease
 of hearing, and  the various kinds  of noise perceived  by the
 patient,  such as  whizzing, humming,  roaring, ringing,  etc. 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       1Q7

Changes occurring in the other senses have likewise to be no-
ticed.
   Dreams should not be omitted.  Coherent dreems about his-
torical events are generally experienced  only by persons in per-
fect health.  It is well known that we are apt to dream of dead
men when  rainy weather threatens to set in; this indicates, in-
deed,that the state of the weather has an influence on the mind,
but does not admit of any further explanation.  Jean Paul ob-
serves that we are more inclined  to fly  than to walk in our
dreams.  This is quite natural, as the imagination is  particu-
larly active in dreams, and  it is much more natural and plea-
sant for the imagination to fly than to walk.   Anxious dreams
are generally  induced by a  deranged digestion or  irregular
circulation.  Dreams filling the soul with bliss at the termina-
tion  of a severe illness, are frequently precursors  of approach-
ing death, and the transfigured expression of the countenance
indicates a desire on the part of the soul to enjoy higher
freedom.
   We  must not  omit to  consider the increase  or decrease of
the sensibility of the organism in general as well as of  single
tissues  and organs,  and have to observe with  particular atten-
tion the relation of the cerebral and  ganglionic systems of
nerves.   The physician should  study the physiological rela-
tion of the symptoms, in order to understand them correctly.
   The subjective symptoms deserve particular attention.  Un-
der  this head belong the various kinds of pain, the easy or dif-
cult  performance of  certain motions and works, general weari-
ness, or weariness of certain parts, heaviness, numbness and
going to sleep of the limbs, titillation and  itching, disposition to
stretch, etc.  In regard to the pains, we have to investigate the
seat, violence, duration, and peculiar nature of the pains, whether
they are stinging, burning, aching, gnawing, corrosive, boring,
tearing, drawing, throbbing, cutting, etc   The temperature of
the  body, or the  feeling of  heat or coldness, which is often in
direct opposition to the temperature of the atmosphere, requires
to be noticed.   In the case of insane persons and infants, the
symptoms  can only be studied  from the  features and  gestures
of the patient.   If the patient experience pains  in  the chest,
the breathing  is short and deep, inspirations are painful.  In
violent paroxysms of cardialgia, the trunk is generally bent for-
ward, and the drawing up of the knees, and the stamping with
the feet, generally betray colicky pains.   If children suffer with
pains in the ears, they generally cry constantly, and with a never
varying degree of violence.  Headach is frequently discovered
by an  increase of heat and sweat about the head, and by the 
108
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
fact that the little patient frequently grasps at his head.  Cata-
lepsy, fainting turns, spasms, and convulsions, (although mus-
cular motions take place in the latter),  are nervous affections,
together with  many others which cannot all  be enumerated
here.
                       Section 49,
   2. The symptoms of the irritable sphere are likewise of
great importance.
   The heart, which is the central organ of the irritable sys-
tem, appeals more particularly to the attention of the physician.
The pulse and the beats of the heart tell us whether the func-
tions of the heart  are normal or anormal.  This  is not the
place for a doctrine of the pulse.  Physicians of every school
should be familiar with it.  The doctrine of the pulse has been
cultivated by  some  with  a ridiculous care.    The Chinese
speak of a " stomach," " bowel," " liver," and " kidney-pulse, " by
which  they pretend to ascertain the diseases of  those  organs.
The Spaniard Francis Solano  de Lugue, speaks  of a hae-
morrhoidal pulse, of which Sauvage likewise  makes mention.
Borden has indicated the rhythm of the different kinds of pulse
by means of musical notes, which is  not an  improper mode
of designation.   Wetsch has furnished a good compilation of
all  that has been said on the pulse.   Delius calls the inter-
mittent pulse accompanied with abdominal irregularities, bow-
el-pulse.  This is an incorrect  designation, since the inter-
mission of the pulse likewise occurs in diseases of the heart, and
in pneumonia.  Argentier himself suffered for some time with
intermittent pulse, in consequence of excessive study, and is
said to have been cured by a bleeding.   Prosper Alpin speaks
of this  pulse  as  the precursor  of some  crisis by the urine.
Physicians now-a-days are less prone to such subtle specula-
tions, although in many cases the condition  of the  pulse is
considered more  important than it really is.   Later observa-
tions have shown what great influence the time of  the day or
night, motion  or  rest, and the position of the body have upon
the pulse.   In typhus, the pulse frequently does not reveal any
thing ; hence the old remark in typhus : " Pulsus bonus, urina
bona et aiger moritur."  Irregularities are so natural to many
men, that  they constitute  a part of their well-being.   I have
known persons in whom the usually intermitting pulse became
regular when they were sick.   Such peculiarities may easily
misguide  a physician, unless  he was acquainted  with them
previously.  Repeated attacks of  venous  pulsation could  not
well be overlooked, and would lead one to suppose that certain 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       109

properties of the arterial system have been transmitted to the
venous circulation.
    Thejdiagnosis of the diseases of the heart has been facili-
tated a good deal by the still imperfect doctrine of auscultation,
although  there are cases where auscultation leaves us in the
lurch.  Physicians  without natural aptitude for that art, will
never become skilful auscultators.
    The  general  condition of the  irritable sphere is not only
determined by the rhythm and force of the beats of the heart
and pulse, but  also by the energy with which the reactions of
the irritable  system generally, or of some parts in particular,
take place.  No  attentive observer will fail in noticing the al-
terations occurring in that system.

                       Section  50.

    3.  The anormal  symptoms  of the  reproductive system
deserve the same attention.

    Under this head belong,
    (a) The symptoms of the digestive functions, canine hun-
ger and excessive thirst, or decrease of appetite and thirst;  de-
sire for or aversion to particular things, coated tongue, altera-
tion of taste, eructations, bitter, sour,  sweet, putrid, greasy or
rancid, hiccough, regurgitation of food,  nausea, retching, and
vomiting, having regard to the substances which  are thrown
up; feeling of emptiness or fullness in the stomach, retraction or
bloatedness of the epigastrium or hypogastrium or of the hy-
pochondria, hardness, elasticity,  fluctuation, or softness of  the
distended abdomen ; anormal alvine evacuations, constipation,
costiveness or diarrhoea, with discharge of the most varied sub-
stances which require to  be examined with care ; relaxation
or spasmodic stricture  of the rectum, tenesmus, etc.
    The  nature of the urine and the mode of emitting it, ought
not to  be overlooked.   The emission may be involuntary, im-
peded, or entirely arrested.  In acute diseases, a copious watery
urine  shows that the disease is not of an inflammatory na-
ture ; from a scanty, dark, and hot urine, an inflammatory cha-
racter  may be inferred ;  and a  dark urine which tinges  the
linen yellow would induce a belief, even if we did not see the
patient, that he is suffering with jaundice.  In diseases of the
urinary organs a careful examination of the urine is a matter
of course.
    b. The symptoms of disturbed respiration, both of the lungs
and skin,  difficult, deep,  slow, anxious, short, and hurried
breathing, or breathing which is only possible in certain posi- 
HO      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

tions of the body, observing moreover whether the inspirations
or expirations are more difficult, whether the breathing is car-
ried on with a certain regularity,  whether the breath is fetid,
whether  the  fetid odor  from the mouth  proceeds from the
teeth, or from a deranged  stomach,  whether the breathing  is
attended  with a particular noise,  etc.  The  different kinds  of
cough, require  likewise to  be  inquired into with great care.
The symptoms of an anormal cutaneous action are  likewise
of great importance; these are, for instance, increase or de-
crease of the exhalation from the skin, dryness or moisture  of
the skin, alteration of the general or  partial sweat,  whether
it is cold  or warm, wTatery or greasy, oily, bloody, sour, pungent
and biting, musty or putrid, including the kind of stain which
the sweat leaves on the linen.  The symptoms  of the repro-
ductive system include likewise,
    (c) The symptoms of an anormal metamorphosis generally,
which takes  place principally in  the  whole capillary system.
Such  symptoms are,  general or  partial  hypertrophy, obesity
or emaciation, brittleness or softening of  bones, rigidity or re-
laxation of the soft parts, changes  of the hair, falling out or ex-
cessive growth, dryness or greasiness of the hair, rapid and pre-
mature whitening of the hair, etc. I ought not to omit speaking of
the process of sanguification, a subject which has been discussed
with much bitterness by the opponents and adherents of homoeo-
pathy. Hahnemann's assertion, that no one has ever had a drop
of blood too much, has surprised the medical world the more  as
it was uttered at  a period when scarcely any physician would
admit that diseases attended with great vascular  action, or dis-
eases of an inflammatory nature, could be controlled otherwise
than by depleting means.  Chrysippos of Knidos, Erasistra-
tus, Baptist van Helmont, Cornelius  van  Bontekoe, and a
number of ancient and modern authors, have maintained the
same doctrine.   Without reviewing the reasons which have
been  given for  or against the propriety of  abstracting blood,
I shall confine myself to an examination of the question.  Can
the process of sanguification be carried on to  excess ?
    No unprejudiced observer will deny that  any vital function
may exceed its proper limits ; that sensibility, irritability, and
the reproductive functions  may  be excessive.   If this were
not so, no disease could ever exist.  Hypertrophies have been
observed  in every part of  the organism.  There may be ex-
cessive secretions of mucus, gastric juice, bile, semen, ceru-
men,  sweat,  urine, serum;  why not of  blood?   There is no
physiological reason why  the blood should  be  an exception.
We know from experience that some men have an abundance 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
Ill
of blood, and that in others there seems to be a scarcity of that
fluid.  This condition of the organism is frequently the result
of a congenital disposition.   There are whole families in whom
a plethoric disposition is  hereditary.   There  are  families  in
whose members the least wound occasions a  dangerous hae-
morrhage, although it is doubtful whether this is owing to  an
excessive sanguification.  Plethora, even  where there is  no
marked constitutional disposition, may result  from a rich diet,
if the digestive functions be otherwise good and a person take
too little exercise, or from the use of beer, from too long sleeping ;
it may be likewise occasioned  by repeated depletions,  by
means of which the volume of blood is  indeed diminished  at
first, but a new tendency excited in the organism to reproduce
the wasted fluid.
   Symptoms of plethora are : Glistening of the eyes, frequent
obscurations  of sight  with  vertigo, particularly on  stooping,
and  when getting  heated by some cause or other; feeling of
fullness in the chest ; difficult breathing ; slow, full beating of
the heart and arteries ; increased temperature in the whole  bo-
dy ;  feeling of  heaviness  and indolence;  frequent  going  to
sleep of the limbs  ; snoring during sbep. with  hard breathing
and  anxious dreams; frequent dropping of blood from the nose;
great relief from the above mentioned complaints by bleeding, or
by meagre diet, drinking  water,  lemonade,  and other cooling
drinks.  In true plethora, the above symptoms are almost con-
stantly present; their occasional presence, or their sudden recur-
rence after a long intermission, only denotes a  temporary irrita-
tion  or congestion, which may come and go suddenly.  Plethora
iomes on gradually and is more permanent.  It is of the utmost
 mportance in  practice  to distinguish plethora from temporary
congestion, inasmuch as the propriety or impropriety of bleeding
depends in a great measure upon that distinction. I shall recur to
this subject hereafter.
   It has alreadybeen stated that  the other fluids of the organism
may be secreted in excess.  This is  easily seen,  particularly
when the substances are excreted from the  organism.  The
symptoms of  an excessive or deficient secretion of bile require
a somewhat closer examination.  It is a matter of course that
the alterations in  the quality of  the secretions  should be care-
fully noticed.

                       Section 51.                  t

   There are many morbid symptoms which do not seem to be-
 long to either of the three spheres of vitality  exclusively, and 
112
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
seem to denote  a general disturbance of  the vital forces  col-
lectively.
   Among these symptoms we  class an increase  or  decrease
of animal heat,  either in the whole  or  part of the organism ;
changes of features ; alteration  of the lustre and turgor of the
eyes, of the color of the face,  lips, tongue, palate, and gums ;
nature of the different coatings of the tongue ;  moist or parch-
ed appearance and rhagades of the tongue; alterations of the
voice, faculty of swallowing, sexual functions ;  morbid charac-
ter, first appearance and cessation of the menses ;  and finally
all the morbid phenomena relating to pregnancy, confinement,
and lactation.   It is scarcely necessary to mention the different
haemorrhoidal affections.  In cutaneous eruptions, their shape,
and the changes through which they run at  different periods,
together with the accompanying general or local phenomena,
such as itching, burning, etc., have to be examined with great
care.   This rule  applies likewise to excoriations, vesicles, tu-
bercles, aphthae and scurfs in the mouth and nose, ears, on and
in the genital organs, rectum, etc.  Children have to be ex-
amined repeatedly, and with one's  own eyes, in order that
their  ailments  may be correctly ascertained.   We ought not
to overlook dentition, although it is my belief that its pathogen-
etic influence is generally overrated.  The phenomena at the
period  of pubescence," and the influence of age and sex general-
ly, should be carefully considered.
   The aggravations or ameliorations which take place in the
condition of the  patient, deserve a  particular consideration.
They occur at a particular hour of the day, or at a time when
the stomach is empty, during  and after eating or  drinking,
during motion or rest, warmth or cold, in the open air or in the
room, in damp  or dry weather, in or out of bed, when sitting,
standing, walking, lying, riding  on horseback, or in a carriage.
The manner in which certain symptoms  succeed one another,
or alternate with one another, the type of a fever, the appearance
of some symptoms while others disappear, for  instance the
alternate occurrence of gout and haemorrhoidal complaints,
diarrhoea and megrim, have to be carefully inquired into.   If
symptoms of different diseases exist simultaneously, it is neces-
sary to ascertain which have existed first, for instance in head-
ache and nausea, which may depend each upon the other.

                      Section 52.

   It has been deemed of importance, and justly so, to  dis-
tinguish essential from non-essential symptoms.  This is not
always an easy business. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
113
    By essential symptoms we mean those that belong more
 or less to all the diseases of one class, and characterize a mor-
 bid process  which, no matter in what individual it may take
 place, manifests itself in a great measure by similar symptoms.
 Such symptoms are therefore also termed pathognomonic.
    Non-essential symptoms may depend upon various causes.
 They may depend upon a disposition to sympathetic affections,,
 which may be different in different individuals, and, according
 as it is either present or absent, determines the presence or ab-
 sence of those affections ; or those non-essential symptoms may
 depend upon some  incidental complication, developing them-
 selves as a totally distinct affection which, in its turn, is an es-
 sential morbid state in reference  to its own  particular  ex-
 citing cause.  If  one be  at the  same time affected with  itch
 and intermittent  fever, the essential symptoms of the former
 are the eruption  and  the itching, and those of the latter,  the
 symptoms occurring during the paroxysms.  Incidental symp-
 toms only claim a moderate degree of attention; I prefer calling
 them accidental.   Sympathetic affections are not accidental, ex-
 cept with reference to the class under which they are arranged
 in nosological systems,  but  not  in regard to the individual
 whom we are called upon to treat, inasmuch as  in the treat-
 ment  of no  matter  what case of disease, every  symptom is
 a therapeutic indication,  and, as such, deserving of considera-
 tion.
    There  is  no  perfect  certainty any where, except in pure
 mathematics.  The  physician is bound,  however,  to obtain as
 much certainty as he can in his art.  A superficial observer
 will always remain a blunderer ; nor will the fool  who has no
 other claim to his diploma than the  knowledge which he com-
 mits to memory, rise above mediocrity.

                      Section 53.

    The  highest  object of therapeutics  is  to remove every
symptom of the disease.
   When the art of healing was yet in its cradle, all the efforts
of the physician  were directed to remove the most prominent
symptoms.  These constituting in  many cases the essential
character of the disease, such a method of treatment must have
very frequently led to a perfect cure.  A number of remedies
which have  been thus empirically used  for headache, tooth-
ache, vomiting, uterine diseases, etc., have been handed down
to us, and are now  used in  domestic practice.  For  a  long
time past, however, it has been felt that the removal of single 
114
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
symptoms does not constitute a cure, any more than we can ex-
tinguish the flames of a burning house by directing the stream
against one side  only.  The fruitless attempts to combat the
totality'of the symptoms by a combination of remedies produc-
ing opposite effects, finally led to the conviction that every dis-
ease, in order to be cured, must be seized by the root.   In. this
way the  idea  of  rational  medicine has first been started, and
will ultimately triumph, in spite of  the sneers and arguments
of its opponents.

                      Section 54.

    The science of therapeutics is  based  upon a knowledge
of the object of cure,  and of the remedial agents.

    The  necessity of studying  the  object of cure, has  been
dwelt upon with sufficient length in  the chapters on diagnosis.
We therefore  pass at once to a consideration of  the Materia
Medica, under which name we comprehend every thing which
we require to know for the cure of disease. The Materia Medica
is divided into the following branches :  pharmacognosy, or the
doctrine of the physical properties, and the external character-
istics of  drugs ; pharmacy, or the doctrine of the preparation
and combination of  drugs; and pharmacodynamics, or the
doctrine of the effects of drugs upon the living organism.  In
a therapeutic point of view the last branch is undoubtedly the
most important.

                       Section  55.

    To combat forces by forces, we must  in the first  place
know  what  they are.  In endeavoring to establish a rational
system of  medicine, its  authors were not content with ascer-
taining the phenomena which generally make their appearance
after the administration of one or the other drug ;  they wished
to know  the laws which govern those  phenomena.  An inves-
tigation  of those laws has not only given us a deeper insight
into the mechanism of the vital forces, but has likewise led us to
consider the relation which the forces  of the organism and the
opposing physical agents hold to  one another.  Our attempts
in  this respect have only been partially successful.  In spite
of  our endeavors to infer the dynamic relation of drugs to the
living organism  from  their physical properties,  their shape,
chemical composition, polarity, electro-galvanic  or magnetic
 nature, we have not succeeded in establishing the science of
pharmacodynamics  upon a priori principles.  This science, 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
115
however, ought to be something more than a mere juxtaposi-
tion of facts which have been committed to memory.  It be-
hoves us to examine the nature of the effects which the drug
produces upon  the general organism, or upon single organs and
tissues, to combine those effects into  a physiological unit by
tracing their material or sympathetic connection from organ
to  organ, and, in  this way, to invest the empirically dis-
covered facts with the dignity of science.  Hence it is that we
do  not content ourselves with establishing a  general classifica-
tion of drugs,  but  we endeavor to point out the organs which
are specifically affected by the drugs, and the manner in which
the drug acts.  An increase or decrease of the pulse shows
that the irritability  is either  increased or depressed.   The idea
of  contraction  or expansion has been  inferred from a dimin-
ished or increased secretion of serum or mucus, from an arrest
or  increase of haemorrhage, from a contraction  or dilatation of
the vessels.   The reaction of organs that  secrete fluids, is dis-
tinguished into alkaline and acid.   We  have remedies which
correct the secretions and the composition of the tissues, remedies
which excite or restrain the  reproductive process, and remedies
that increase or diminish the sensibility, and are therefore able
both to remove and produce nervous irritation or torpor.  Ex-
periments have been  made  to determine  the difference in the
action of larger or smaller doses of a drug upon an organ, and
the peculiar train  of symptoms which is set up in one or the
other organ, according  as  a drug  is administered in large or
small doses.
    Many drugs act at first upon a certain tissue in such a strik-
ing manner, and  thence extend their  action over the whole
organism in such  a  steady progression, that it is pretty easy
to describe their  permanent physiological effects with a  good
deal of accuracy, and to point out the alternate  exaltation and
depression which drugs occasion in the organic spheres in po-
laric opposition to one another.  In  many cases  it is extremely
difficult  to indicate the dynamic condition reflected by the ex-
ternal  phenomena.   The desire to account for those phenome-
na, has frequently led to the most fanciful theories.  I am far
from desiring to lessen the merit of other authors, and therefore
refrain  from quoting examples.  Any one may convince  him-
self of  the correctness  of my remark by looking even at our
best classifications of remedial agents, where the most heteroge-
neous substances, such as Moschus  and Carbo vegetabilis, are
found side by side. 
116
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
                       Section 56.

   The incompleteness of our  knowledge of the effects  of
drugs is owing :
   1. To the difference of views about the physiological action
of drugs generally.

   For a long time, it was supposed that drugs acted mechan-
ically, hence the notions of diluting,  inspissating, dissolving,
boiling, filtering, of a  falling back or  pushing forward of the
humors, etc., the existence of  a vital  power being entirely
overlooked.  For the last twenty years  the  mechanical notions
have been, it is true, abandoned ;  nevertheless they have made
an impression on the mind, which, like a  nursery-tale, clings
to us in spite of our better convictions.
   The chemical doctrines even, have not yet been abandoned,
although chemical agents destroy the vital functions, and every
chemical  product in  the organism  is  entirely  destitute  of
vital action.
   What has been said of chemico-vital action has no sense,
except in so far  as we understand  by that action the  simul-
taneous presence of vital and chemical laws in the organism;
this, however, is not intelligible, as those two orders of laws are
opposed to one another, and the  preservation  of life depends
upon an absolute control of chemical action.
   The attempt to account for the effects of drugs  by stcechio-
metric principles, has  been still more unfortunate.   Such prin-
ciples apply to dead substances only.  We have already shown
that it is impossible to represent life as an electro-galvanic pro-
cess, and to account for the re-actions of the organism upon
such grounds.
   All those modes of explaining the vital process  having been
found imperfect, we have been induced to designate the power
of drugs  by the term dynamic,  basing  that power upon the
presence of some occult self-existing force.  We know  this
force by its phenomena only, which show that all the  other
forces which seem to be active in the organism, are subordinate
to that highest power.  The vital process is neither  mechanical,
nor chemical, nor stoechiometric,  nor electro-galvanic, but is a
higher power which avails itself of these subordinate principles
in the performance of its functions.  The idea of the dynamic
action of drugs is therefore  more  comprehensive than  any
other, inasmuch as every sensation and function can be ration-
ally accounted for upon such a ground. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
117
    The deficiency of our knowledge of the effects of drugs  is
owing:
    2. To the impossibility of accounting for every phenomenon
in the present  imperfect state of our  knowledge.  Who can
satisfactorily account for the fact that diabetes and cataract,
pulmonary phthisis and  fistula of the rectum, co-exist so fre-
quently in one  and the same individual ? or why Belladonna,
which acts  primarily upon the sensitive sphere, or turpentine
and the  balsam  of  copaiva, which effect primarily the uro-
poetic system, occasion at the same time an inflammatory red-
ness of the  skin?  Our  provings upon the healthy furnish a
number of symptoms, the physiological connection of which it
is scarcely possible to account for.
    3. To the one-sided study of the effects of drugs in disease,
which frequently differ from their true action on account of the
alteration which has taken place in the conditions of  the sen-
sitive sphere, of the conducting power of certain nerves, or the
reactive  force of the organism.  Hence it is that one and the
same remedy will produce different effects, in different diseases;
quinine,  for instance,  occasions at times diarrhoea, at times
constipation; calomel  at  times ptyalism,  at others vomiting
and diarrhoea, etc.   The proving of drugs upon the sick leads,
therefore, to the  most contradictory results.  The curative
powers of a remedy in certain affections  are extolled to the
skies ; if used by others in similar cases it is found unavailing.
When a new remedy is discovered, it is employed at random
in various forms of disease to find  out its  curative properties,
and years elapse until they become somewhat remotely known.
Kreasot,  for instance, is  used in this fashion by many phy-
sicians,  very much to  the  prejudice of more trustworthy  re-
medial agents.  Another  cause of our deficient knowledge of
the pathogenetic and curative powers of drugs is,
   4. The habit of mixing up a number of drugs in one pre-
scription.  This habit has existed from time immemorial, and
has probably originated in an endeavor to attain  several the-
rapeutic objects at once.  Agreeably to the principle : "corpora
non agunt nisi soluta" solid bodies are mixed with  liquids in
order  that the former may be administered in a  liquid  form.
The feeble action of some remedies is supposed to be strengthen-
ed by the addition of similar drugs.   Unnecessary secondary
effects are supposed to be prevented by the admixture of other
agents.  Other agents are added in order to restore the various-
ly misdirected vital forces to their  original channel, or to re-
move sympathetic affections, or to make the medicines more
palatable. 
118      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

   Many physicians have spoken for and  against the mixing
up of drugs.  The greatest practitioners have generally been
in the habit of using simple prescriptions.  Hufeland has  de-
fended the  use of compound prescriptions, without, however,
carrying it to excess.
   My own opinion on these subjects is as follows :
   (a) It would be strange if the simple chemical  substances
were  the only ones in nature endowed with medicinal  pro-
perties.  Mineral waters, which have  such wonderful thera-
peutic properties, are compound substances.  Plants and salts
are no simple substances.  Hepar sulphuris, metallic oxydes,
compound acids, etc.,  are compound artificial  preparations of
great therapeutic value, the effects of which we know from re-
peated provings.
   (6) We possess several pharmaceutic compounds, which we
cannot reasonably reject in practice, provided they are always
prepared in the same manner,  and their  physiological effects
are well known.
   (c) There are compounds  which have become  standing
preparations in our pharmacopoeia, and which we have  a right
to retain because we are fully acquainted with  their therapeu-
tic use.  Such  preparations are,  for instance, Calomel  and
Opium,  Ammonia and  Tartar emetic, Nitrum and  Lauro-
cerasus, Cinchona and Sulphuric acid, etc.
   (d) On the other hand it is  entirely wrong to make medi-
cal compounds as we  sum up numbers, and to  suppose  that
the effect of all  the substances united contains the  effect of
each in its  genuine form.  Some of those  substances  may act
in the compound as they do singly ; but as a general rule, the
effect of the  substances combined, is different  from what it is
speculatively intended. We know that acids and alkalies neu-
tralize each  other ; but we know very little of the modifying
influence which the various ingredients of a medical compound
exercise on one another.   Any  one who has an opportunity of
seeing a number of prescriptions, may convince himself of the
many mistakes which are committed in writing.them.  I will
mention some of them.
   Opium is decomposed by Ammonium,  the extractive mat-
ter and the narcotin being precipitated.
   Salts of copper are decomposed by syrup,  and still more
certainly by honey.
   By adding Prussic acid or  even Laurocerasus to Calomel,
we convert this substance into  the cyanite of mercury, a vio-
lent  poison which has most  probably caused  the  death of
many. 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      119

   Calomel is frequently given incombination  with magnesia,
which changes the former substance to the well known Mer-
curius cinereus.
   Calomel and the golden sulphuret of antimony in combina-
tion, give rise to sulphate of mercury (iEthiops mineralis).
   The union of tartaric acid and nitre is likewise condemna-
ble, since it gives rise to nitric acid and tartar, the latter being
precipitated in the shape of a white salt.
   It is  as yet very little known that the action of Nux vomi-
ca and Chamomilla is neutralized in a great measure by the
simultaneous use of coffee, and that the action of Belladonna
is increased to an extraordinary degree by vinegar.  Chemists
will probably account for  this fact by stating that acids dis-
solve the  atropin as easily as quinine  is dissolved  by sulphu-
ric acid, which if added to a decoction of Cinchona, increases its
effects considerably.  Alcohol, however, is likewise an ad-
mirable  dissolventof Strychnine, and yet spirituous substances
and Nux are  in polaric opposition to one  another.  Chemistry,
in spite  of its  wonderful advancement in  modern times, is  un-
able to account for every thing.  Hahnemann  has recommend-
ed small doses of the tincture of Belladonna as a preventive
against  scarlet fever, which  has  been confirmed by a great
many physicians.  By others, on the contrary, it has  been de-
nied. This will not appear strange, however, if we  consider
that the dissenting physicians, instead of using the tincture as
recommended by  Hahnemann, have employed the  extract of
Belladonna dissolved in  Cinnamon-water.  It is difficult to
understand why that mixture should have been selected, unless
it is to follow the rules of a blind routine which condemns the
administration of single, unmixed medicines as want of skill.
    If physicians would  endeavor to understand the fact, that
the powers of remedial agents, are modified by  mixing up a
number of them, we should have a great many less reports of
cures by means of compound prescriptions, leaving it  doubtful
what remedy effected the  cure.  Such reports are ridiculous,
and yet our journals are constantly teeming with them.
    Physicians who are in the habit of using compound medi-
cines, cannot comprehend the efficacy  of single medicines,
even when administered in very small doses.   They can easily
convince themselves of the power of those medicines  to"affect
the organism. Every day we use the common table-salt in our
food without distinguishing its peculiar  properties,and yet a very
small portion of  that substance, dissolved in pure water, would
affect us  very sensibly.   Facts like  these have led Hahne-
mann to the theory of dynamization, or development of power 
120      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

by the progressive  trituration and succussion of the  drug.
This doctrine will be examined hereafter.

                       Section 57.

    Hahnemann has pronounced against all  compound pre-
scriptions, without, however, rejecting compound substances
which are  chemically united.  By mixing up one drug with
another, we modify their characteristic modes of action.   Some
homoeopaths have attempted to mix remedies, but this proceed-
ing has entirely failed.   There is no doubt, however, that com-
pound prescriptions might be used with advantage  in  some
cases, provided we had  previously ascertained  their  pathoge-
netic effects upon the healthy organism.
    The method of preparing homoeopathic remedies  is so pe-
culiar, that it requires a notice in this place.

                       Section 58.

    The principal object in the  preparation of homoeopathic
remedies,  is to divide and dilute them.

    Dry substances, such as earths, salts, sulphur, metals, ani-
mal and vegetable charcoal, lycopodium, and some  liquid or
half-liquid substances, which are  neither soluble in water nor
alcohol, such as balsam of copaiva  and oil of turpentine, are
divided by triturating them with sugar of milk.  One grain of
the solid, and one drop of the liquid substances, is mixed with
ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk,  and triturated for one hour
in a porcelain  mortar with  a porcelain pestle.  Hahnemann
lays down a certain number of minutes which is to be devoted
to every stage  of the triturating  process.  This seems to be
somewhat pedantic.  After  one hour's trituration we obtain
the first trituration.  The  second trituration is prepared by
triturating one grain of the first trituration with  an  additional
ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk.   The third by triturating
one grain of the second in  a similar manner.   Of this  third
trituration we mix one grain with  one hundred drops of alco-
hol or water, and, by shaking the  mixture a number  of times,
obtain  the fourth  dilution.  Every  successive dilution is ob-
tained, by mixing in a similar  manner, one drop of the pre-
ceding dilution with ninety-nine drops of alcohol.
    Hahnemann has laid  down the general proposition, that
the medicinal powers of drugs are developed by trituration and
succussion, and  therefore  recommends ten strokes of the arm
to make the first dilution, and two strokes for each succeeding 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      121

one.  It has been inferred from  this minute  indication of the
number of strokes that any additional shaking would develope
the medicinal powers of a drug to excess.  Hahnemann  him-
self has asserted that the 30th dilution or attenuation of Drosera,
if prepared  with twenty strokes, might prove fatal to a child*
Pious  believers  scarcely dared to set down  a vial containing
medicine, with any force, or carry it about with them in a car-
riage, lest the  shaking  should impart to the medicine poison-
ing powers.  All this is mere  imagination.

                        Section 59.

    It is an undeniable factdhat the medicinal virtues of drugs
are developed by dividing or breaking up their substance.
    This fact is  abundantly confirdlfed in the case of oyster-
shells, earths, metals, and  other  substances, which either do
not affect the organism  at all in their crude  form, or affect  it
very  differently  from what they do when  properly divided.
This phenomenon is too curious not to inquire into it a little
more closely.   In triturating and shaking a drug, two things
take place :
    1.  Rapid movement of the particles.
    2.  Breaking up of the cohesion of the particles.
    We know from  experience that these two processes, and,
in many cases, each of  them alone, develope  the effects of the
imponderabilia,  light, heat, electricity, and magnetism.   Light
and heat  are  obtained by  compressing  the air suddenly.
Phosphorescence is frequently the result of friction. Friction and
sudden compression, as takes  place in firing off a  percussion
gun, cause fulminating  oxydes  to  explode;  in  striking  steel
against flint the spark is obtained by means of friction.
    Friction developes the electric property of idioelectric sub-
stances, silk, glass,  resin, etc.
    Iron bars are magnetized by passes.   The concussion by a
stroke of lightning produces the  same result; another stroke
across the  line of the magnetic poles, neutralizes the magnet-
ism so produced.  Becquerel  has shown that in  splitting a
regularly crystallized mineral, which is a non-conductor of
electricity,  the  two  surfaces  so  obtained show an excess of
opposite  electricities ; that the glass  which  has  been pound-
ed in a mortar of agate, tinges the juice  of violets green ; that
   * These doctrines have been considerably modified by Hahnemann.
See his preface to the fifth volume of the Chronic Diseases, translated
by Charles J. Hempel, M.D. 
122      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

electricity is set free by rubbing  a plate of mountain-crystal
with  a stopper covered with the deutosulphate of tin.
   The fact of powers  becoming latent, is a remarkable phe-
nomenon which we are not always able to trace to a principle.
This phenomenon likewise occurs in animal nature.  Passes in
one direction  quiet one, or put one  to  sleep; counter-passes
neutralize that effect.
   We are not able to  show the extent of the influence which
the movement of the particles in triturating or shaking a drug
has on the development of its medicinal powers.  I think, how-
ever, that that influence has been overrated.  I have  become
convinced,  by  repeated experiments,  that the first trituration
is sufficient to develope the medicinal virtues of a drug, and
that  the alcoholic dilutions which are prepared from  the first
trituration,  are just as  powerful  as those, which  are prepared
from the second and third. The great  point  is to  break up
the cohesion of the particles.
   With but few exceptions we  may lay it  down  as a rule,
that the denser substances which  it is most difficult to  dissolve
and to oxyclize, earths, gold, silver, and platina, manifest  the
smallest amount  of medicinal power in  their natural form.
This may likewise be  said of vegetable or  animal charcoal,
which has  lost the properties of an organic substance in conse-
quence of the burning.   Metals which are more easily oxydiz-
ed, copper, tin, iron, lead, arsenic,  antimony,  quicksilver ;  the
combustible substances, phosphorus, sulphur, petroleum ; iodine
and the organic animal and vegetable substances, which, being
products of a higher formative power, have on that account a
greater dynamic affinity to the  vital forces, are more capable
of acting  upon  the  organism  in • their  natural  condition.
There are also organic substances whose latent powers require
to be developed by division ; of this number is the lycopodium,
which,t in spite of the looseness of its particles, requires to be
triturated and  shaken in order to  become  an active remedial
agent.
   Our chemists do not know that platina, gold,  silver, silica,
and various other substances,  can be dissolved in alcohol and
water, after having been previously pulverized and mixed with
other easily soluble substances.  Any one may convince him-
self of this  fact at any  time.  Three grains cf the first tritura-
tion of any of those substances, can be dissolved  in one hun-
dred drops of  distilled  water or  dilute alcohol so completely,
that, after shaking the solution for a time, it becomes perfectly
clear ; no sediment or  turbidity is perceived,  even through a
microscope, and the medicinal powers of  such a solution are 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
123
undeniable.  This same observation  has been abundantly
verified with oily and resinous substances, the balsam of copai-
va, oil of turpentine, petroleum.  Whatever reasons  chemists
may bring against the solvability of those substances, they are
effectually met  by practical experiments.  Iron, tin, lead, cop-
per, zinc, and other substances, are more or less oxydized du-
ring the triturating process by the  contact of the atmospheric
air ; this renders them still more soluble.  This is not the case
with silica and the so-called  noble metals; if these undergo
chemical changes during the process of trituration, we are not
as yet acquainted with them.

                       Section 60.

    Hahnemann applies the term " dynamization, or potency,"
to any attenuation, because, in his opinion, the medicinal pow-
ers of a drug are developed by attenuating it.  This term ap-
plies  properly  only to the earths, and to metals of  difficult
oxydization,  which contain their curative virtues in a  latent
state.  It is my opinion, that these virtues are completely de-
veloped in the first,  clear,  transparent dilution.  Converted
into such dilutions, the  earths and metals are like other medi-
cinal substances,  which  possess,  in their  natural  form,  the
power of deranging  the  dynamic relations of the organism.
Some agents possess  this power in an extraordinary degree,
compelling even alioeopathic physicians to prescribe very small
doses, lest the organism should be injured.  This circumstance
is of itself sufficient to  show that the power of a drug  is di-
vided in proportion as  the  drug is attenuated.   If that power
were increased by the  attenuating process, every  remedial
agent would be converted into a deadly poison.
    Hahnemann calls the effect  of a highly  attenuated drug,
" spiritual-dynamic."   It would seem as if this meant an
actual separation  of the  dynamic power from its material sub-
stratum, and a transfer of that  power to the attenuating vehicle.
Such separations do exist.   Warmth escapes from heated sub-
stances, and is  communicated  to others.  The electric fluid is
transferred from the glass cylinder to the conductor, and from
the conductor to the Leyden battery.  An iron-bar is rendered
magnetic by passing a magnet over it.  The moon transmits to
our earth the light which it had received from the sun, and there
are substances which  possess the power of absorbing light and
shining in the dark.   We are not yet certain, however, whether
the basis of imponderabilia is a volatile substance sui generis, or
whether imponderabilia are properties of substances excited into 
 124      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 action.  It is therefore premature to consider the action of highly
 attenuated drugs analogous  to that of the imponderabilia, so
 much more as we  are conscious of a communication of sub-
 stance in taking an attenuated drug.   Such a communication
 takes place likewise  when old  people derive  strength from
 sleeping with children.
    On the other hand, it would  be  wrong to  consider high
 attenuations  as nothing, because the  medicinal  substances
 which they contain do not  react chemically.   The chemical
 relations of magnetized  iron are  the same as those of other
 iron.   The pestiferous miasm which poisons  a bale of cotton,
 and converts it into a carrier of the plague, is no more capable
 of chemical reaction than an arsenic-atom in  the tenth atten-
 uation, which we know to act with decided benefit in. the pro-
 per place.  I say,  in  the proper place;  for high attenuations
 only act when the nerves are in a proper state to receive their
 influence.  Forces act most intensely, where  dynamic opposi-
 tions and polaric relations take placce.   The magnet does  not
 act upon a grain  of gold, but it  draws  a molecule  of iron
 from amidst a heap of gold-dust.  The multiplier is not moved
 by light or warmth, but the feeblest galvanic current is sufficient
 to set it in motion.   The  chloride of silver  is not altered by an
 electro-galvanic current, nor by heat; a ray of light, however,
 blackens it.  Sulphuretted hydrogen  acts upon the smallest
 portion of arsenic or sugar of lead contained  in  a solution.
 Because nitric acid does  not act upon the  cyanite of mercury,
 would we maintain on that account that it does not react at all?
 Or would we deny the fecundating power of the spawn of frogs,
 which retains this power even if highly diluted, for no other
 reason than because other animals are not  fecundated by it ?
   There is no doubt that in  some instances the attenuating
 process has been carried too far.  It has  been asserted  that
 medicines do  still act in the 1500th attenuation.
   The effects of such high attenuations  seem to me rather
 imaginary  than real.   The  efficacy of the 30th  attenuation of
 many drugs has been  confirmed by too  many observations to
 admit of any  doubt. Even the 45th and the 60th attenuations
 of Belladonna have cured encephalitis in my own practice.  I
 may here observe that by lower attenuations I understand  the
 first, second,  third,  and  that I consider attenuations higher
 as we progress in the scale of numbers.

                      Section 61.
   It  has  been  known for  a long  time, that large doses act
differently  from  small ones.  Large doses produce  primary 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
125
effects more rapidly  and more distinctly;  the  more so,  the
more heterogeneous the medicinal substance is to the organism.
Large portions of a drug excite violent reactions in  the repro-
ductive sphere, which do not occur after giving small doses,
though they may have sufficient  power to act dynamically
upon the sensitive sphere.
   Hahnemann thinks that the dynamized homoeopathic agent
acts  like a spiritual substance.  This term " spiritual" is badly
chosen.  By a spiritual thing, we understand something  im-
material,  something  purely psychical.   The  homoeopathic
agent  is something  material, though it may be ever so little.
The action of a homoeopathic agent has been compared to that
of a  miasm.  This cannot be considered objectionable.  Mias-
mata are substances, no matter whether their existence can be
proved or not.  The  atom of pest-miasm, which is  detached
from the clothes of the  patient by merely touching them, and
infects a  healthy person  with that  disease, cannot possibly
pass at once into the circulation, and poison the whole volume
of the blood.  The blood is  indeed altered,  but  not  primarily.
The alteration proceeds secondarily from the sensitive sphere
by which the dynamic disturbance is first perceived.  Schur-
rer, who is a well known opponent of the specific school, says
in his " Theory and Practice of Medicine," that medicines act
most powerfully  when given in small closes.   In this case,
their direct action upon the intestinal canal is very inconsider-
able  ; they effect  the  secundae viae of  the organism, the blood
for instance, wThere they become latent, and give rise to changes
which resemble a reproductive process.  This reminds us in-
voluntarily of the phenomenon discovered  by Berzelius,  and
known in English books on chemistry, by the term " action of
presence;" by virtue of this law (" catalysis" or catalytic action)
certain substances occasion, by their  mere  presence, changes
in other substances without being themselves changed, or with-
out being intimately  combined with  the latter.   According to
Runge's discovery, lead delays the solution of other metals,
and particularly of zinc, in sulphuric acid, without being itself
altered.   Drayer remarks  that  the affinities  of  inorganic
chemistry have no effect in animal chemistry.   The kidneys
secrete the urine from the blood without the intervention of a
reagent.  Inorganic chemistry acts by substituting one element
for another.   This  is  quite different in organic  chemistry.
The  decompositions are effected by  means of the peculiar
arrangement of the organic tissues, or by the mere presence of
an inherent  substance which remains unaltered itself.   The
principle of catalytic action is still  very obscure;  but there 
i 26      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

can be  no  doubt that  the atom of a contagium and the 30th
potency of a grain of arsenic  do not act analogously to  a
chemical reagent, and that their influence is first perceived by
the sensitive sphere, whence it gradually invades the whole
organism.

                      Section  62.

   It is important that the quality of  our remedies should
not be subject to changes.
   The medicaments from  our pharmacies frequently show
great differences, and therefore act differently.  A slight omis-
sion  in  the  preparation of a remedy frequently changes it to
something entirely different  from  what it was intended to be.
Of great importance is the temperature of the water used for
infusions, the length of time  employed for the preparation of a
decoction, or for the evaporation and inspissation of an extract,
the nature of a glass  stopper, which, if  it does not fit tightly,
allows volatile  substances to evaporate, and does not prevent
the injurious access of the atmospheric  air.   Hence so many
complaints  about the  uncertain effects of remedies.  Hahne-
mann has proposed a very simple  proceeding to remedy those
defects.   He tells us that remedies prepared according to his
rule, will keep  for years without  undergoing any  change.
Even a  powder moistened  with  the  30th potency of Phos-
phorus is supposed by Hahnemann to remain unchanged for
years.   This seems in the highest degree improbable and con-
trary to  the laws of nature.   It is inconceivable that we should
have it in our power to separate a  property from its substance,
and  to  communicate that property to some other substance,
without it  being in any degree altered by the nature of the
latter.   Reason tells us that power and substance  modify each
other, and we know from experience that the transformation
of a substance  occasions a  modification of its virtues.  The
life of nature consists in a perpetual alteration and transforma-
tion of substances and powers, which can only be arrested un-
der certain circumstances, for instance, by keeping a thing in
a hermetically sealed bottle.   Otherwise every thing changes,
either by its own nature, without any other apparent cause, or
by the disturbing influence of some foreign agent.
   It is  the duty  of the pharmaceutist to  furnish remedial
agents in as pure a condition as possible.  He ought therefore
to know what influences are hurtful to them in order that he
may be able to afford them the  necessary protection.  This
seems to have  been overlooked by Hahnemann and by some 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      127

authors of homoeopathic pharmacopoeias.  Nevertheless a con-
siderable number of our remedies are liable to great changes.
Many of them are by no means what they are supposed to be.
The Calcarea carbonica which  we prepare from oyster-shells,
is by no means pure lime, but contains phosphoric acid. Hav-
ing been used in the provings upon the healthy body, it would
be  wrong to substitute in its  place pure lime, the effects of
which would be somewhat different from the above named
preparation.
    I will state a few facts to show how  necessary it is  that
our remedies should be prepared with more  care  than seems
to be deemed necessary by the pharmaceutists of our school.
    Metals from different mines are alloyed with  various  sub-
stances, which require to be carefully separated lest the metals
should not exhibit the same effects.
    The gold and silver used by binders are  pure substances,
which, if triturated with sugar of milk, will always furnish the
same preparations.
    It, is more difficult to obtain  Platina pure. It can be ob-
tained, however, by boiling the chloride of platina with  alcohol,
the pure metal being precipitated during the process of ebullition.
It is perfectly proper for use after it has been  washed  a num-
ber of times with distilled water.
    The pulverization of Zinc is a difficult thing.  It is laid
down  as a  rule to rub zinc under water on  a fine stone, and
to collect and dry the powder which falls to the bottom of the
vessel.   This powder is mingled with impurities from the stone.
It is much better to use a fine English file in  pulverizing zinc;
I have convinced myself that  the zinc thus prepared remains
entirely unmixed.  At any rate,  a magnet dipped into  the pow-
der does not attract a single particle. The zinc thus pulverized
can be triturated with sugar of milk ever so finely, and may
afterwards  be dissolved  in water.  Stannum is generally
mixed with Arsenic, from which it is separated with difficulty.
The most certain way to accomplish this is to triturate tin-foil
with the nitrate of potash into a  fine powder and to  detonize
the latter.   In doing this arseniuretted potash is formed, which
is removed by frequent washing.   The remaining substance
is heated in a crucible, and the pure metal Stannum remains
behind.
    Pure Lead is obtained by heating and shaking the acetate
of  lead  in  a glass  retort, the pure metal being precipitated
during the shaking.
    Copper is obtained pure with great ease.   The acetate of
copper is to be heated and a stream of hydrogen passed upon it. 
 128      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

    Pure Iron may be obtained from the substance known as
 Crocus Mart is aperitivus, which is to be freed from copper by
 passing a stream of hydrogen upon it.  That preparation is so
 susceptible of  oxydation that it burns spontaneously unless at
 once put up in a well-stopped flask.
    Mercurius solubilis is an extremely uncertain preparation,
 and is  never  the same, wheresoever  and howsoever  it  may
 have been prepared.
    Corrosive sublimate is changed to calomel when triturated
 with organic substances. The triturations are condemnable, and
 no preparations of that substance ought to be used  except the
 dilutions with  distilled water.
    Iodine undergoes  essential  alterations by mixing  it  with
 alcohol or by triturating it with  sugar of milk, and therefore
 ought  to  be diluted with  water.  Water, however, dissolves
 only a small portion of Iodine.  A thousand drops of the  most
 carefully prepared solution of Iodine in water contain only one
 grain of this substance.
    Hepar sulphuris is easily decomposed by attracting oxygen
 from the atmospheric air, and gradually changes to the sulphate
 of potash.
    Hepar sulphuris  calc.  is  likewise a  very sensitive sub-
 stance.  An alcoholic  solution of that  substance in small glass
 flasks with narrow necks and hermetically sealed, keeps a long
 time.   The Spiritus nitrico-aethereus has to be preserved in
 the same way.
    Phosphorus is a very changeable substance.  If triturated
 with sugar  of milk, it changes to phosphoric  acid in a  very
 few hours.  Phosphorus keeps longest in a solution with sweet
 oil.  1 employ a solution of phosphorus in ether, kept  in  a re-
 tort the neck  of which is closed by melting;  I  prepare the
 attenuations at the time when I wish to use them.
    Mineral acids ought to be attenuated  with distilled water,
 not with alcohol.
    Sulphuric  acid with alcohol changes to Acidum sulphuri-
 cum vinosum.
    Nitric acid with alcohol to iEther nitricum.
   Muriatic acid with alcohol to light iEther muriaticum.
   Phosphoric acid is readily changed to Acidum  phosphori-
cum vinosum by an admixture with alcohol.
    In  triturating medicinal substances in  porcelain mortars
particles of the latter are rubbed off.   This  is  of  no im-
portance, however,  since  our provings have been instituted
with the  substances  so prepared.  Messerschmidt proposes
to  make the triturations  in vessels  made of sugar of milk. 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      129

By adopting  this  ingenious proceeding, all  admixture of he-
terogeneous particles would be avoided.
    Distilled water from the shops cannot be relied upon, be-
cause every kind  of distilled  water is prepared  in the same
apparatus.  A physician who wants to be sure of having his
medicines pure, ought to  distil the water he uses, in his own pri-
vate retort, and ought likewise to distil his own alcohol.  He will
be sufficiently rewarded  for his trouble, by  the consciousness of
having  reliable preparations.  As regards sugar of milk, it  is
a matter of course  that none but purified sugar should be used.
    On the other  hand,  we  can  be too fastidious in preparing
our medicines.  Hahnemann advises to use a  particular vial
for every attenuation. If the vials be properly washed, boiled,
wiped  with a sponge attached  to a whalebone, then  washed
again and heated in a stove, they are perfectly clean, and may
be used for other attenuations.
   The paper which is used  for  the powders, should be free
from chlorine, and  should not smell of bad  glue.
   As. regards the pellets used  by Hahnemann, a good deal
has been said for and against them.  They are the little grains
made by confectioners of sugar and tragacanth.  Having been
moistened with the  medicine, they are put up  in vials.  Our
pocket-cases generally contain such pellets.   Pellets moistened
with the attenuations of earths, metals, potash, Natrum, various
salts and  vegetables, keep for a number of years.  Volatile
substances, camphor, ammonium, turpentine, musk,  are less
durable.  Pellets moistened  with such substances, have to be
saturated over again repeatedly, particularly in summer.  If these
precautions be observed,  the pellets are extremely convenient in
our daily practice.  I do not count them very anxiously, and
sometimes give 20 or 30, nor do  I use them exclusively, but
employ tinctures and higher  and lower potencies as the case
may require.  It makes no great difference in what form med-
icines are given, provided they are mixed with a vehicle which
will interfere as little as possible with the nature of the remedy.
If the medicine is  to be  used repeatedly at short intervals, it  is
best to give it in water.
                       Section 63.
    The proving of drugs upon the healthy is of the utmost
importance.
    Almost all we know of the effects of drugs upon the healthy,
is derived  from cases of poisoning.   Hahnemann has shown
that it is  of the utmost importance, in the specific method  of
healing, to know  those  effects  with the utmost accuracy. To
                             9 
130      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
obtain that  knowledge, the  proving has to be conducted ac-
cording to certain rules.

                       Section 64.

      1. The provings have to be frequently repeated.

   Empirical truths, to which the results of our provings be-
long, only become valuable  by confirmation.  It would be an
egregious mistake, to consider every abnormal sensation which
is experienced after taking the  drug, a result of its action. Mor-
bid sensations of little consequence, are felt constantly without
any apparent provocation.   Many of them have probably been
incorporated in our Materia Medica. Hence the necessity of re-
peated provings; in this way we shall finally succeed in sepa-
rating the essential from the  accidental symptoms.

                       Section 65.

 2. The provings must be instituted on males and females.

    Unless persons of  both  sexes are subjected to the proving
of drugs, we  cannot become  acquainted with the specific re-
lations of drugs to the sexual apparatus.

                       Section 66.

    3.  The provings must be instituted on persons of different
ages.

    It  is scarcely necessary to  mention reasons.  Cantharides
and Agnus castus do not act upon an old man as they do upon
the young, and Sabina affects a fully developed woman differ-
ently from a child.

                       Section 67.

    4.  It is advisable to observe the temperaments and dispo-
sitions of the provers.

    We know that many drugs will produce different results,
 in persons of different temperaments.  It  would be desirable
 if every medicine were proved with reference to temperament,
 or peculiar  habits  of  the constitution.   Some persons are af-
 fected with  a headache, when their health is disturbed ever so
 little.   Others are inclined to colic, diarrhoea, catarrh,  etc.
 Such peculiar dispositions must necessarily affect the action of
 the drugs upon the prover. 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
131
                       Section 68.

   The effects  of drugs  have to be observed in all possible
conditions and  circumstances.

   We know that, under certain circumstances,  the action
of the drugs is  increased, diminished, or neutralized.   A glass
of wine, which  perhaps would not affect a man if he sat down
quietly  after drinking it, might  intoxicate  him, if he were
to ride out in the open air.  An indigestion might often be pre-
vented by taking some pleasant exercise after a  meal, instead
of sitting down to serious study. It is the  same with the ef-
fects  of drugs.   Some  drugs act better in the morning, others
in the afternoon, evening, or at night; some drugs show their
effects better during  rest, others  during motion, some in the
open  air, others in a closed room, some in cold, others in warm
weather.  These  things have  to be observed with care, but
without pedantry.  If we read, toothache while playing on the
violin, we are  not to  infer that the music excited it, but that
it arose from the increased rush  of the blood towards the af-
fected part, in consequence of  the upward motion of the arm.
It would be desirable if the same drug  were taken by a suffi-
cient  number of provers, at different hours of the day, to enable
us to observe  the effects it would exhibit at different periods,
and in different conditions of the mind and  temper.  The ab-
sence of the effects which a fright, chagrin, cold, etc., usually
occasion in a person, may likewise afford an important thera-
peutic indication.

                       Section 69.
   Provers of drugs must enjoy good health at the time of
proving.
   Both the body and the mind of a prover must be in a sound
condition.   Provers  must not  possess an inordinate imagina-
tion, lest trifling symptoms should be construed into important
physiological effects.

                       Section 70,

    The action of the drug must be as little as possible dis-
turbed by heterogeneous influences.
    Provers  must subject themselves to a rigorous diet, avoid
coffee,  tea,  spirits, spices, asparagus, celery, parsley, onion,
garlick, radishes, old  cheese, acids, mineral  waters, the use of 
 132     ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 tobacco in any shape, violent exertions and emotions, and they
 must always live in a pure air.  Persons accustomed to stim-
 ulants of any kind, are unfit for the business of proving.

                      Section 71.

    Drugs  must be taken in sufficiently large doses to make
 their primary effects distinctly perceptible.

    Human life should, of course, not be hazarded in proving.
 The portions of the drug to be proved must be large enough,
 however, to  induce  the greatest possible variety of  symptoms
of reaction in the organism.  High  potencies are unfit for pur-
poses of proving.  If they develope symptoms, it is owing to
 some peculiar idiosyncracy from which no general rule can be
deduced.
                      Section  72.

    To have a perfect knowledge  of the  effects of  drugs,  we
must be acquainted with the dynamic alteration produced by
them in the organism.

   The provings instituted by Hahnemann and  some of his
disciples, are  mere records of symptoms.  Good and bad are
mixed up in those  records.   The  symptoms  recorded in the
Materia Medica Pura, furnish  admirable delineations of the
action  of drugs, but there are many symptoms which are evi-
dently accidental, such as itching  of the lobule of  the ear,
yawning after dinner,  going to sleep of a foot, etc.  Such and
similar  phenomena  are entirely valueless unless they should
be experienced by a number of provers.  In a second proving
of the drug those symptoms do not appear, but other equally
insignificant  symptoms  occur  in the place of the former
They may sometimes  result  from the action of the  drug, as
sympathetic  effects,  but, in any  case, ought to  be carefully
separated from the positive effects of the drug, which are ob-
served in all or most of the provers.   The positive effects will
enable us, by means of physiology and  pathology, to under-
stand the character of the dynamic condition occasioned  by
the drug.
                      Section 73.

    The order in which the symptoms make their appearance,
should be particularly noticed.

   It is important to know what are primary, sympathetic and
counter-effects.  The primary effects are  the more permanent. 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      133

the sympathetic effects are less frequent, depending upon indi-
vidual conditions.   Counter-effects proceed from the organism,
and neutralize the former.  The primary effect of Rhubarb is
diarrhoea;  if this be attended with constriction  of the chest,
this latter symptom would be sympathetic, depending upon the
sensibility of the par vagum and the sympathetic nerve, which
is not the same in every individual.  The costiveness succeed-
ing the diarrhoea, is a counter-effect.

                       Section  74.

    It is equally important to observe the effects which medi-
cines have on particular organs.

    Those  effects can only be studied by attentive observation.
We know  from experience that Camphor acts upon the brain,
Nux vomica  on the ganglionic system, Ipecacuanha on the
stomach, Jalappa  on the intestinal canal,  Mercury on the
glands, Digitalis on the heart and  the  urinary organs, etc.
Other  drugs seem  to act upon a particular system, the  sub-
sequent  local affections depending upon the sensibility of the
affected  parts, which differs in different individuals.  Alcohol
increases the activity of the arterial system, and the haemorrhages
which it occasions, depend upon  the accidental condition  of
the  bleeding  organ.  Sabina is distinguished for  its specific
action  on the uterus.  Since  we have to  act specifically upon
the affected organ, it is of  course indispensable that we should
be acquainted with  the particular effects of drugs upon particu-
lar organs.

                      Section 75.

   It is of importance to investigate  the  mode  in which
medicines act dynamically.

   This is  a very difficult point, which the founder of our art
has  omitted  to investigate.  Reason, however, is not  content
with a merely mechanical exhibition of our remedies.  Though
we cannot  explain  every thing, is it therefore improper that
we should endeavor to perfect our understanding ?
   It is not sufficient to know that a drug affects a particular
organ or system.   We require to know how the parts are af-
fected  dynamically.   This is accomplished by means of the
understanding  with which  we embrace the totality of the
symptoms,  and by means  of  the  reason  with which  we en-
deavor to perceive the natural and therefore necessary internal 
134       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

connection of the symptoms.  The idea of sensibility, irrita-
bility, and reproduction, is founded in reason. Although these
three directions  of the vital power are no material manifesta-
tions, yet their conception by means of the reason is just as natu-
ral as the idea of gravitation and centripetal force, upon which
our reason founds the construction of our solar system.  Ex-
perience has pointed out those three divisions of the vital force,
and  it is assuredly no idle speculation to suppose that all the
varied  manifestations of  vitality depend  upon  those three
properties of the vital principle.  Sensibility, irritability, and
reproduction, are so  intimately united that it is very difficult
to trace a precise line of  demarcation between their respective
functions.  Many of these functions, however, belong evident-
ly to  one or the other of those  three spheres.   In studying
them separately our attention will necessarily be directed to
the disturbances which  occur in either of those spheres, and
to the  causes which occasion  the  disturbances.  Inasmuch
as drugs belong to those causes, it behooves us to distinguish
the effects of drugs in the respective orders or spheres of the
vital  force.   This will, of course, lead us to analyze the phy-
siological action of drugs upon particular organs.  By such
means  we have obtained the outlines for the science of phar-
macodynamics.   Although  it is as yet very incomplete, yet,
by carefully continuing our  provings, the science will be en-
larged for the benefit of the healing art.

                       Section 76,

   We  do not yet possess a true science of pharmacodynamics,
viz, a systematic  arrangement  of  specific remedies, together
with an indication of their specific virtues.
   All we possess, are fragmentary indications of the dynamic
action of drugs, and the  physician who desires to practise as
a rational being, has to disentangle the chaos of the  symptoms,
to separate  essential and constant from accidental effects, and
to obtain a clear perception of the dynamic action of a drug,
by means of combination  and reflection.  This result can be
accomplished, in so  far as  it is possible in the present imper-
fect  state of our knowledge, by proceeding systematically ac-
cording  to certain  rules, which  it may not be inexpedient to
note in  this place.
                       Section 77.

   To  obtain a certainty in regard to the effects of drugs, we
have to observe  the following rules.
    1. The symptoms which have been observed on the dif- 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      135

ferent provers, have to be compared with  one another, those
which recur  in the statement of every prover, are of course to
be considered positive effects of-the drug.
   2. The order in which the symptoms succeed each other
has  to be  carefully observed,  and we  have  to determine by
comparison, what constant symptoms recur in one and the same
order.
   3. These  constant symptoms have to be studied physiologi-
cally, with a  view of ascertaining whether  the sensible, irri-
table, or reproductive sphere is principally affected.
   4. The symptoms which indicate a particular relation of
the drug  to  particular  organs, have to be  distinguished more
particularly.
   5. The symptoms which recur more  frequently, have to be
distinguished from those which only appear occasionally.
   6. Lastly, we have to note  the symptoms indicating a gen-
eral  invasion of the organism.
   By observing these  rules,  we shall  not find  it difficult to
determine  the  true essential  effects of drugs, and to explain
physiologically the morbid processes which the drugs occasion
in the organism.
   Aconite, for instance, increases primarily the action of  the
arteries, and of the fibrous tissues, occasioning, on account of
this  exclusive action upon the arterial circulation, a relative
passivity in the venous system, with consequent congestions
characterized by inflammatory phenomena.
   Belladonna  produces  similar phenomena, with this  dif-
ference, that  it does not affect the arterial  circulation  directly,
but  indirectly by means of an increased action of the central
points of the nervous system, with increased  expansion from
within outwards, occasioning inflammatory phenomena in the
peripheral  system.
   Bryonia  excites the peripheral system of nerves and ca-
pillaries, occasioning  phenomena partly of an  inflammatory,
partly nervous character.
   Nux  vomica  excites primarily the contractive pole of the
ganglionic system, occasioning congestions, and plethoric phe-
nomena in the respective  organs, with increased sensibility of
the cerebral and peripheral system of nerves.
   Pulsatilla has a specific action on the digestive organs,
occasioning moreover an increased sensitiveness of the periphe-
ral system of nerves, attended with an increase of venous action.
   Digitalis diminishes  the beats of the heart, and stimu-
lates, upon a principle of antagonism, the secretive functions of
the  kidneys.  These few indications  may  suffice.    Careful 
 ]36     ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 observers will perceive that drugs produce opposite effects in
 organs  which are in polaric opposition to each other ; though
 it may  be  difficult to account for  the  particular, or rather
 specific  mode in which those organs are  acted upon.   We do
 not know why Belladonna occasions smooth eruptions, Aco-
 nite a sort of rash, Rhus vesicles filled with lymph, Dulca-
 mara suppurating and scurfy eruptions,  or why Aconite, Bel-
 ladonna, and Nux affect moreover  the inner  parts of  the
 throat.  Inasmuch  as  every  phenomenon in  nature is  the
 result of fixed laws,  we cannot  suppose that drugs act arbi-
 trarily,  but we must admit that the phenomena which we
 observe  in  our provings, are  reactions  resulting necessarily
 from  the mode in which the organism was originally affected
 by  the drug.   Our  physiological knowledge, however, is as
 yet too  imperfect, to enable us to understand  the rational con-
 nection  of  the  effects  of drugs.  For the present we have to
 content ourselves with an empirical knowledge of the cardinal
 effects of drugs upon the organism ; we know from experience
 that Iodine affects the glands,  Cantharides  the  uropoetic
 system,  Agnus castes the sexual organs, Petroselinum  and
 Cannabus the mucous membrane of the urethra, Rhododen-
 dron  the synovial membranes and aponeuroses, Stramonium
 and Aurum the mind, etc., and  we know  moreover by  our
 provings, that those drugs affect the parts upon which they  act,
 in a definite manner.
    I  cannot  pretend to say whether, at  some future  time, we
 shall  be able to classify our drugs, with  reference to  their  dy-
 namic character.  To accomplish this it will,  in the first place,
 be of paramount importance, to  make our  provings as complete
 as  possible; ?it is  only upon  a most  complete and  accurate
 knowledge, of the effects of drugs  upon the healthy organism,
 that a true system  of  physiologico-pathological pharmacody-
 namics can be constructed.

                      Section 78.

    If we are well acquainted with the primary effects of drugs
 upon  the healthy,  we are  able to  determine  the range and
 nature of their curative powers.  Before Hahnemann  had
 ever treated a cholera-patient, he recommended Camphor as a
 specific  remedy for that disease,  simply upon the ground of
 similarity between the pathogenetic effects of  Camphor in  the
 healthy  organism, and  the  symptoms  which were related as
 characteristic of the cholera.  Huf eland asks in the 11th of
of his journal, 1830,  whether  Arsenic  might not  prove a 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      137
homoeopathic remedy for Cholera ? This question was founded
upon his knowledge of the primary effects of Arsenic.  Arsenic
has  indeed  proved a specific for cholera; many owe the pre-
servation of their lives to Arsenic.

                       Section  79.

     The object of treatment is to completely remove the dis-
ease.
   It is frequently impossible to attain this result.   Among
the  obstacles which baffle the efforts of art, the following de-
serve particular notice.
   1. Organic malformations, giving rise to pains and, irregu-
larity of certain functions.   Headache, arising from an exostosis
in the cranium ; epilepsy, from tubercles in the brain ; arrest of
the  circulation, from a  polypus in the heart;  cardialgia and
vomiting, arising from a fully developed cancer of the  stomach,
are incurable affections.
   2. Exhaustion of the  vital forces by age, excessive exer-
tions, loss of animal fluids, or intense pain.
   3. Prostration  of the  vital forces which are too feeble to
react against the morbific agent;  under this head belong those
cases of typhus  perniciosus, plague, cholera, etc., which de-
stroy life in half an hour, poisoning by certain kinds of ani-
mal  or other poisons, etc.
   4. Continued action of hurtful influences which finally over-
whelm  the  vital power;  for instance, grief from unfortunate
love  ; home-sickness in exile ; remorse, or unavoidable expo-
sure  to  an  unfavorable climate, etc.  Wherever such  causes
do not  oppose the treatment, it ought to be directed against
the disease, as an individual case,  taking  into consideration
both  the external and internal character of the disease.
   It has been  said that the homoeopathic treatment removes
only the symptoms, but not the disease.  This accusation is
unfounded.  Besides, if  such a thing were possible, the symp-
toms and the disease must be two different things.  Symptoms
are the  reflex  of some abnormal internal condition, without
which  there can be no  symptoms ; these disappear only after
the former  has  ceased  to exist.   It is highly condemnable,
however, to  direct our  treatment against the proximate cause
or internal disease, of which the symptoms are  the perceptible
manifestations, and, at  the same time, against  certain  symp-
toms in  particular.  This is especially objectionable  if reme-
dies  are employed which  do not correspond to the general dy-
namic condition of the  sick organism.   Such a remedy is, for 
138      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

instance, Opium when administered for diarrhaea, or a particu-
lar pain as subordinate symptoms.  Large doses of the drug,
if frequently repeated, may destroy the sensitive sphere.

                      Section  80.

   The first general therapeutic rule is, Remove all morV
BIFIC INFLUENCES.

   This rule is  recognized by every school in  Medicine, ex-
cept  that it is more or less comprehensively applied in prac-
tice.   Many diseases disappear  simply by removing the mor-
bific  influence.   A complete enumeration of all known mor-
bific  influences, would extend this  work to an unnecessary
length.  At his  first visit, the physician will seldom be able
to  point out all  the  injurious  influences which threaten the
patient's life.  Some of them are of a spiritual nature,  and can
only be communicated to a physician who enjoys the full con-
fidence of the family.  A comforting word, a sympathetic look,
a good advice, a friendly interposition in case of a dispute, are
sometimes of more avail than medicine.   Among poor patients,
a little present, a load of wood, or some provisions for the win-
ter, are  sometimes the most useful means for the restoration of
health.  Some time ago I treated a man, who, for some trespass
or other, had been sent to prison, and had become insane in con-
sequence of having  lost  his honor. I  do not believe that I
should ever have  succeeded in curing  that patient, if I  had
not prevailed on the Judge, and on other persons whose good
opinion  was dear to the patient, to converse with him kindly,
and  to  show him by their  actions  that he had not lost their
good opinion.  In many cases it may be  sufficient, for the res-
toration  of health, to sleep in another room, to do without some
hurtful  article  of toilet, to abandon some bad  habit,  such as
smoking or chewing, devouring one's meal in too great a hurry,
stooping too much when writing, etc.  Tramzel treated a case
of obstinate headache, which disappeared after a cherry-stone
had  been removed  from  the ear.  1 have treated  a boy of 14
years, for a violent and obstinate headache, which came on in
paroxysms  every morning.   The boy  was in the habit of
washing his head with cold water  immediately  after  rising
from  bed in the morning.   I directed him to let an interval of
15 minutes elapse between  the rising and washing ;  this sim-
ple precautionary measure was sufficient to cure the headache
entirely.  Some  years ago I treated a farmer, who was every
morning attacked with vomiting and retching, and had a very
bad taste in his mouth.   He did not drink, but was a great 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      139

smoker.  After an ineffectual treatment of  some weeks, I dis-
covered that  he smoked out of  a wooden pipe, with a copper
cover and  very short stem.  The pipe, which was penetrated
with the acetate of copper, smelled horribly.  By my directions
he substituted a porcelain pipe for it, with a long stem, and
got well in eight days.  Many a rheumatic lady does not get
well of her rheumatism, because she does not want to give up
her favorite seat near the  window, where she is is constantly
exposed to  a fine current of air, through a scarcely perceptible
aperture.  I might  add  a  number of similar observations, but
the few which 1 have offered will suffice to show the necessity
of making such inquiries as have been alluded to  above.

                       Section  81.

  Internal  morbific influences ought likewise to be removed.
   By such influences I understand all those hurtful substan-
ces in the body which have been introduced from without, or
have originated in the interior of the body.  The founder of
the specific method has acknowledged the necessity of  remov-
ing poisonous agents by means of an emetic, but he denies that
any such necessity  exists in overloading the stomach, because
then the organism endeavors to relieve itself by spontaneous
vomiting.  If the effort to vomit be ineffectual,  Hahnemann
advises to tickle the palate with a feather, in order to facilitate
the vomiting, and to take a cup of black coffee, which will se-
cure the discharge by the  bowels of the remaining contents of
the  stomach.   Generally,  however, he thinks  that, even  in
case the stomach should be overloaded, a dynamic disturbance
of the stomach is the cause of the indigestion, and that this can
be cured by simply administering  a remedy which is homoeo-
pathic to the  abnormal state of the stomach.
   All  this is, for  the most part, true. Many cases of indi-
gestion, characterized  by coated tongue, fetid  smell  from the
mouth, offensive eructations, painful  nausea  and ineffectual
urging, have been cured, as by magic, by simply restoring the
tone of the stomach by means of  a specific remedy.  I have
seen such results in my  own practice too often not to rebuke,
with just indignation, certain presumptious opponents of ho-
moeopathy, for the insolent boldness with which  they  declare
every thing that has been said in favor of homoeopathy,  a piece
of falsehood and deception.  After rapidly curing such an indi-
gestion, I have frequently  been asked what had become of the
impurities which had given the patient so much trouble a little
while ago.   It  is likewise true that coffee has  an excellent 
140     ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

effect in slowness of digestion and interruption of the regular
evacuations from the bowels; but  that action is not homoeo-
pathic, it is enanthiopathic, in accordance with the principle,
contraria contrariis.  I mention this by way of advice to those
who  condemn every  kind of antipathic treatment without
rhyme or reason.
    The proposition to  tickle the palate with a feather in  case
of ineffectual  urging to vomit, will find little favor.  For my
own part, I reject it entirely ;  such a  mechanical irritation is
much too violent, and has, to my knowledge, resulted, in some
cases, in a painful and  difficult vomiting  of bloody mucus.
The irritation of the stomach, which is induced by the feather,
is one proceeding from the nerves of the pharynx, and is  con-
siderably diminished on its passage to the stomach, on which
account vomiting is frequently prevented in spite of the irrita-
tion arising from  the tickling, by a violent, antiperistaltic mo-
tion of the  oesophagus.  I do not see why a safe emetic  should
not be administered under those circumstances.   If any thing
nauseating or indigestible have been  introduced into the sto-
mach, the shortest and simplest way to relieve the stomach is
to take an emetic.   In many cases it  is sufficient to take a few
glasses of tepid water in which a little fresh butter has been
dissolved.   If this have no effect, a few doses of Ipecac at in-
tervals of from ten to fifteen minutes, succeeded by a few cups
of tepid water, will  certainly produce the desired  result.   A
cup of black  coffee taken  a  few hours after will  restore the
tone of the  stomach to its former vigor.  I have elsewhere re-
lated a case of obstinate  cardialgia, which was  finally cur,ed
by an emetic.  A piece of tough sward was thrown up, which
had caused all the trouble, and had  been swallowed several
years previous.  This is  not homoeopathic treatment, nor is it
opposed to  it.  The treatment, in  that case,  was based upon
the universally  recognized and universally  valid  principle,
Tolle causam. If we  keep that  principle  in view, we shall
not be tempted to  abuse  emetics, and to employ them for the
removal of so-called crudities,  arising from  weak  digestion.
In all such cases emetics are  of no avail.  Even if tenacious
substances  be thrown up, the relief is of  short duration, inas-
much as the pretended crudities are soon  present again.  Nor
can coryza be cured by blowing the  nose, or a catarrh by ex-
pectorating; the cure must be  effected by moderating the ex-
cessive secretion of mucus.  Hence it is that mucous fevers
are never cured  by cathartics, but by specific remedies which
restore the  depressed vital action of the mucous membranes.
    If the stomach be surcharged with bile, ought the  bile  to 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      141

be removed?   Most certainly, but not by emetics.  Dcemling,
Van Hoven, and particularly  Reil, have refuted the notion
that fevers are caused by an effusion of bile.  It has been ob-
served that the patients threw  up a sour, acrid, corrosive bile,
and from this  fact it has been  inferred that artificial evacua-
tions are required, in order not  only to free  the stomach from
its chemically  destructive contents, but to prevent their absorp-
tion in the intestinal canal, and a consequent general corrup-
tion of the humors.   The abnormal condition of the bile arises
from an abnormal state of the secretory functions of the liver;
as long as these functions remain disturbed,  the bilious pheno-
mena will likewise  continue.  Moreover, the inherent vitality
of the stomach  is the best preventive  against  the chemical
effects of the  bile.   Reil confesses that he has cured many
cases of disease without  cathartics, where  he had used them
formerly.  The success of the treatment in such cases depends
upon the fact that the dynamic disturbance had been removed.

                      Section S2.

   The same remarks apply  to infarctions of the intestines.
Remedies, whose primary action is derivative, generally afford
rapid relief; but then the opposite state sets  in, and the bowels
again become costive.  I will not deny, however, that there
are cases where a cathartic has to be used, even if a recurrence
of the costiveness should have  to be apprehended.  Two years
ago I treated a man who  had been suffering for five days with
constipation, excessive distention of  the abdomen, pain, and
increased anguish of death.  Several homoeopathic remedies
were tried without effect, and the anguish went on increasing.
I then directed the patient to take an ounce of Oleum Ricini in
two doses within six hours ; this procured an enormous evacu-
ation with several hundred cherry-stones, which would most
probably have remained in the bowels, if I  had continued the
use  of homoeopathic remedies.   The patient was perfectly
well on the  day following.  Similar cases  may  occur  again.
I have cured numberless cases of obstinate constipation with
small doses of Opium, Sulphur, Nux vomica, Veratrum, Alu-
mina, and other  remedies, with  and without the use of injec-
tions of water.  On the  other hand I have had cases where
those remedies were of no avail, where meteorism, pain and
anguish became excessive, and where it  was absolutely neces-
sary to use other means in order to  remove  the danger of en-
teritis.  In such cases I  have likewise seen admirable effects
from the oil of Ricinus, which, by lubricating  the  interior of 
142
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
the bowels, facilitates the discharge of excrements of stony
hardness.  The  remaining disposition to obstructions of the
intestinal canal is most certainly removed by specific remedies.
I am willing to admit that the time will come when we shall
be able to treat all such cases by specific remedies.; but, until
such remedies are  known, we must  use  the  means  in  our
power to the best of our ability.
    Worms in the intestinal canal are frequently looked upon
as morbific causes, though in reality  they are the product of
some abnormal condition.  There is a kind of true  helminthi-
asis where innumerable  quantities of worms  are  formed in
the intestinal canal, together with their nests, viz.,  accumula-
tions of mucus.  Atrophied children, with enlarged bellies, are
most commonly subject to that disease. It is the consequence,
not the cause of the atrophy, and it is extremely probable that
the worms do not live on the chyme, but on  mucus, and that
they are therefore less injurious to  the organism than has been
supposed.  It is not true  that worms can corrode the bowels.
They are not provided with  organs necessary to that process.
The perforations which have been discovered, were in conse-
quence of softening, of a  depression of vital action.  It is true,
however, that worms  may occasion many disagreeable symp-
toms, particularly if they get into the  stomach or oesophagus.
Cathartics do not cure the disease; they simply remove part of
its  product.   I do not feel disposed, however, to pronounce an
unqualified condemnation on the method of first removing the
worms and  then strengthening the vitality of the intestinal
canal.   This  can sometimes be done without injury, if  the
patients be not too feeble.   Years of experience, however, have
convinced me, that worm-affections can be  cured in the safest
manner and shortest time, by acting upon the intestinal canal
with specific  remedies, in conjunction with a rigorous, appro-
priate diet.  It is a remarkable fact, that under the operation
of specific remedies the worm-symptoms gradually disappear,
and that, if worms be present, these likewise ultimately make
their exit.   Would that this fact were believed by  those who
derive all gastric symptoms from worms; who first use cathar-
tics to expel those pretended parasites, and, if no  worms be
passed, debilitate the poor patients by  the whole catalogue of
drastic  medicines.  More men have undoubtedly been ruined
by the so-called heroic treatment for  taenia than have been
freed from it.  It is unfortunately too little known that the
troublesome symptoms which indicate the presence of taenia,
can be removed without the  use of drastic medicines. 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      143

                      Section  83.

   There are other material noxas, which, although they are
products of disease, yet have to he removed from the organism
which is disturbed  by their presence.   I will only mention
closed abscesses, which have to  be opened lest they should
create and maintain pain and fever ; accumulations of water
in cavities, the pressure of which has a paralyzing effect, and
impedes the progress of the general treatment; extravasations
of blood in  cavities or in the cellular tissue, which might be
productive of evil consequences if a slow process of absorption
were relied upon for their removal;  remaining portions of the
placenta, stones in the bladder,  and other concretions.  Sir
Astley Cooper has cured a man who was without conscious-
ness for thirteen months, by removing a  piece of bone  which
pressed upon the brain.

                       Section 84.

   The second  therapeutic rule is :  Remove the abnormal
dynamic conditions.
   Disease results from some dynamic irregularity, which has
to be neutralized by a counteracting influence. If there be too
much expansion, we wish to induce contraction;  we endeavor
to diminish  an excess of sensibility or irritability ; in a case of
hypertrophy we endeavor to depress the reproductive  action,
etc.  The object of treatment with the partisans of every school
and system, is to neutralize a morbid action by establishing a
contrary influence.   They simply differ in regard  to the best
mode of accomplishing the intended result.   What has been
said in former paragraphs of primary and secondary action, of
reaction and counteraction, is likewise applicable to the opera-
tions of medicine.   Primary and secondary action refers to the
medicine, reaction and counteraction to the organism. Primary
effects have ever been more imposing to superficial observers;
the principle " contraria contrariis sananda " has been adopted
by them as the chief maxim of treatment.   We know from
experience,  that—
    1. The organism  must be sufficiently excited for the pri-
mary reaction to overcome the morbific cause; and that
    2. It is necessary to insure a sufficient duration to  the pri-
 mary reaction, to prevent  the secondary action, which is  in
 opposition to the therapeutic end.  To effect such a purpose,
 large doses  had to be frequently repeated.
    These rules have been followed for three thousand years, 
144
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
sometimes with  great success.  This must be admitted.  On
the other hand, it ought to be admitted by the most zealous ad-
vocates of the Galenian method of cure, that many of the most
distinguished and learned physicians of the Old School have
complained of the uncertainties of the ordinary treatment, and
have expressed a desire to see the healing art constructed upon
a safer basis.  I  will here briefly allude to the causes which
make the Galenian treatment of disease unsafe and even dan-
gerous.
    1. The difficulty of discovering, in every case, the proxi-
mate cause of the disease ;  this difficulty cannot be denied by
any body.
   2. The impossibility to determine, in every case, what oppo-
site will restore the equilibrium.
   3. The necessity to employ, in every case, powerful doses
of the drug, which may result in  many injurious  consequen-
ces, viz.:
   (a) Positive injuries inflicted upon the patient by an impro-
perly selected drug.
   (b) Too powerful reaction of the organism, which may not
only destroy the temporary  good  resulting  from the action of
a properly selected medicine, but  may even aggravate the dis-
ease.   Hence it is that a number of patients have to continue
the use of medicine uninterruptedly, lest  the primary action
should cease, and have to take the medicine in increasing doses
on  account of the irritability of the organism diminishing  in
proportion as it gets used to the action of the drug.
    (c) Disagreeable concomitant effects of a number of power-
ful drugs, complicating the disease and embarrassing the phy-
sician's mind by artificial symptoms.  Medicines have to be
counteracted by  medicines;  a warfare  has to be  instituted
against one's own weapons.
    The insufficiency of the method "per contraria," required
the addition of adjuvantia, to act upon single dangerous symp-
toms ;  and of derivantia, the object of which is to transfer the
affection from higher to lower organs.  If, under the combined
fire of these batteries,, life become extinct together  with  the
disease, nothing  is left us except  the  poor  consolation that  a
number of  strong medicines have been used in the treatment
of the case.   A jiumber of the pernicious effects of drugs have
been mentioned in previous paragraphs.  A few more instances
of murderous treatment may be added in this place.  For  a
slight attack of traumatic tetanus,  Dehane  ordered a  decoction
of half a pound of Peruvian bark with one hundred drops of
the tincture of Opium, to be taken an ounce every two hours, 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
145
together with one drachm of Quinine and the same quantity
of the carbonate of Ammonia ; and, upon the symptoms be-
coming more alarming, he prescribed in the course of a day
one  pound of  the  carbonate  of iron with theriacum, fric-
tions of opium on the extremities, and Oleum Ricini to keep the
bowels open.  In a case of chorea, Hutchinson prescribed six
grains of calomel every three hours, and the same quantity of
the extract of Colocynth ;  afterwards six  drachms of the car-
bonate of  iron every four  hours ;  then an ounce of the same
drug every three hours, together with one-eighth  of a grain of
Morphium with the essence  of turpentine.   From  the 2d of
July to the 12th of August, eleven pounds and seven ounces
of iron were consumed by that patient.  In the case  of a man
who was suffering  with ophthalmia, and had been treated with
large doses of tartar emetic, Stokes observed, it is true, a dimi-
nution of  the respiratory difficulties :  but, on the other hand,
vomiting  and  singultus set in, which continued until death.
On instituting  a  post-mortem  examination, the cardia was
found inflamed.   Berndt  saw symptoms of poisoning  arise
from the endermatic use of the acetate of Morphia in  whoop-
ing-cough.  He cautions at the same time against the general
use of blisters of Cantharides, particularly in inflammations of
the digestive organs, where they are  too irritating and aggra-
vate the disease.   Weisse mentions a case of diabetes caused
by a blister of Cantharides. In delirium tremens, Spence gives
thirty grains, say thirty grains !! of tartar emetic every half
hour.  In a case of tetanus, Lisfranc ordered eight venesec-
tions, at the rate of one pound of blood at a  time; then eight
hundred leeches to be applied, and large doses of Opium to be
given besides.   To destroy aneurisms by anastomosis, Ollivier
has proposed to inoculate the parts with the poison of the hos-
pital-gangrene.  Hamilton inflicted the  following treatment
upon a girl of sixteen years, who, for some weeks past, had
shown symptoms  of febris continua, spoke incoherently, and,
for the last four days, had frequently uttered loud cries on ac-
count of great sensitiveness of the abdomen :
    Dec. 29 : Venesection of twelve ounces, warm  fomentations
on the abdomen, injections of salts and Senna, and a grain of
Opium internally,  every four hours.
    Dec. 30 : No change; venesection of eight ounces.  Leeches
and warm fomentations, injection and a grain of Opium inter-
nally, every hour.
    Dec. 31: No stool. Owing to constant drowsiness, only
two pills of Opium could  be given.  Sopor, momentary open-
ing of the eyes when spoken  to, and relapse  into the former
                             10 
146      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

condition.  The patient ceased to complain.  Three drops of
Croton-oil were now ordered.   The sopor  had increased to-
wards  evening, all sensibility had disappeared, deglutition be-
came difficult, pulse feeble and one hundred and forty.  The
patient was given a little  teacupful of wine and water every
minute.  Death ensued on the day following, at five o'clock in
the morning.
   This case of homicidal treatment would have been better
adapted to a vade mecum satyricum than to the " Collection
of Select Cases,"* a title which can only be degraded by such
cases.   In the Dublin hospital, every new-born infant is given
a grain of calomel  four or five hours after birth, and, eight or
ten hours afterwards, a few doses of Oleum  Ricini, to carry off
the meconium.  Feroni (see his Annals, Vol. III.) has shown,
by a number  of warning cases, with what pernicious results
the obstinate carrying out of  preconceived opinions may be
attended in the treatment of disease. I do not wish to extend
this list of commissions to a greater length.   Volumes might
be filled with the records of shameful and criminal treatment.
The few cases which I have communicated above, will prove
sufficient to cause all honorable and independent physicians to
mistrust the old-fashioned boasted Medicina Rationalis, and to
examine the specific or homoeopathic method of treatment with
an earnest and becoming attention.


                       Section  85.

   Nature, the great teacher, shows us the way to cure dis-
eases without the use of cruel and dangerous drugs.  The  dif-
ficulty lies in properly observing and understanding Nature's
teachings.  What takes place when two different diseases meet
in the  same individual, is particularly instructive.
   Dissimilar diseases may, under  certain circumstances, cr>
exist in the same individual, particularly when the dissimila-
rity is  very great, when different parts of the organism are the
seat  of the disease, and when  the  affected organs  have nei-
ther sympathetic nor  antagonistic relations with each other.
Itch-patients  may be attacked with dropsy or syphilis;  hys-
teric or epileptic patients may be attacked by any kind of in-
flammatory disease.  Frequently, however, the  complication
is only apparent;  for the  disease  which is supposed to have
supervened, may be a continuation,  a material development or
dynamic transformation of the original  affection.  In this way,
* Vol. XVII., p. 716. 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      147

encephalitis or meningitis may pass into hydrocephalus, hepa-
titis  may change  to ascites, typhus-fever  may  terminate  in
apoplexy, and  inflammatory  diseases  frequently assume a
typhoid form in consequence of the fashionable depletions.
We hear frequently, that this or that patient might have been
saved if typhus-fever or apoplexy had not  supervened ;  men-
tion  is frequently  made  of  three or four diseases as having
supervened, whereas they are mere developments of ona and
the same abnormal vital process, which,  unfortunately, are but
too frequently the result of improper treatment.
   Generally speaking, diseases, even when dissimilar, cannot
coexist fully developed in the same organism, if tissues or or-
gans which have sympathetic relations with each other are the
focus of the morbid process.  This is the reason why one dis-
ease protects one against another.  Scurvy guards one against
the oriental plague.   Pittschaft relates, upon the authority of
the traveller Azabas, that in Paraguay  the bites of venomous
serpents are not fatal to syphilitic patients :  he adds,  that per-
sons who are afflicted with  gonorrhoea are  not easily attacked
with  typhus.   Klose accounts for  these and similar facts by
the principle of antagonism.  Sometimes  dissimilar diseases
set in when some other disease  is present,  which is  sus-
pended in such a case until the former have run their course.
In the year 1779, the  small-pox disappeared in those districts
where the then prevailing influenza broke out, but reappeared
as soon as the influenza left.  (See Richter's Therap., p. 273.)
Glehn treated a patient who had small-pox and scarlatina  at
the same time. A violent  fever set in, which threatened  to
run into typhus.  Scarlatina then made  its  appearance, which
disappeared on the day following,  when the small-pox broke
out on the patient.  Epilepsy has been suspended  by  tinea
capitis and flowing piles, itch by scurvy, gout by haemorrhoids,
not to mention  other  numerous observations.  It is  assumed
that the weaker disease is always overpowered by the stronger.
This cannot be denied.  But the intensity of a disease cannot
be measured by its generic character.  All  depends upon the
individual character of the  conflicting  diseases, which is evi-
dent from the fact that simultaneously existing diseases fre-
quently alternate.  If either of them were stronger in an abso-
lute  sense, it would never yield to the  other.  On the other
hand, it is impossible to explain  why dissimilar diseases co-
exist in one, and suspend each other in another individual;
the reason, perhaps, is, that single  systems  and organs some-
times maintain a  certain relative independence, and are little
or not at all involved in the  general disturbance of the organ- 
148      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

ism,  and that at other times and in  other individuals such
systems and organs are extremely sympathetic.
   The case is different  with diseases that are similar; if
similar diseases coexist in the same individual, the weaker is
completely effaced by the stronger.  Opponents of the specific
healing art have taken great pains to quote instances of co-
existing similar diseases, such as measles and small-pox, va-
rioloid and  variola.  As  to  the  similarity  of  measles and
small-pox, it  may boldly  be  asserted  that there  is not any;
that  similarity is confined to  the  presence of an acute  exan-
them breaking out with febrile symptoms, but differing in the
two diseases in form as well as in regard to the concomitant
symptoms.  The  measles are  seated in  the epidermis,  the
small-pox in the rete Malpighianum, and, according to Sacco,
in the corium;  this latter opinion is likewise entertained by
me.   Moreover, it  has been observed by ancient  and  modern
physicians, that the two diseases  run  a  different course ; one
remains latent until the other is on the decline.  This is like-
wise  the case with variola and varioloid, with this important
difference, that  the disease which breaks out first, attains its
complete development, and  that  the  other  eruption,  which
appears later, is evidently modified; showing that the more
powerful disease  had very nearly succeeded in  effacing  the
weaker.
   Hahnemann  has collected a number of cases,  showing
that  the weaker disease is effaced by the stronger.  In many
of those cases, the external similarity is  not very remarkable.
If small-pox  is  sometimes accompanied  or succeeded by a
swelling of the arm, swelling of the testicles, dysenteric diar-
rhoea, ophthalmia, and blindness, it does  not follow that there
is a  similarity between these  diseases  and small-pox.  There
are other, much more instructive and convincing cases, such as
habitual headache disappearing in consequence of a typhus
characterized by a similar affection of the head,  or paralysis
of the arm as a sequel of typhus, disappearing again after the
lapse of several  years under  the influence of a, second attack
of typhus.  Three years  ago, I vaccinated a child that had
been  several  times attacked with erysipelas fngax; the last
attack having taken place eight days previous.   The inflam-
matory  redness  showed  itself on  the ninth day, spreading
from the spot where  the vaccine  had been applied upwards
and  downwards, to the  shoulders  and tips  of  the  fingers.
Both arms swelled to an enormous size, and the fever was
very  violent.  When this inflammation had dispersed,  the 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
149
disposition to  erysipelas, which was a similar  inflammation,
had entirely disappeared.
   The  attention  with which I have for some years past
investigated this subject, enables me to  say, that only such
diseases have power to efface each other, as are  not only simi-
lar in regard to their dynamic character, but are seated in the
same systems and  organs.  If this observation be  correct, it
furnishes  an additional proof of the necessity to study the
dynamic character of  the disease we are called upon to treat,
and the anatomical region, which is the seat of the disease.

                       Section 86,

   Although observations such  as have been recorded in the
preceding paragraph, naturally point to the principle " similia
similibus curanda;"  nevertheless, the firmest support of that
principle, is experience at the bed-side of the  patient.   It can
be shown from history, that that principle has been followed
in practice from time immemorial, in a vast number of cases.
Hahnemann, and his  disciples, have compiled  a multitude of
cases where the homoeopathic  law has led to successful and
brilliant  results in  practice.  I  will here record a few facts
confirmatory of my statement.
   Belladonna, which  produces in  the  healthy organism a
group of symptoms very similar to hydrophobia,  has been
known, for  a  long  time past, as one of the principal remedies
for that disease.
   Mercury, with  which  we cure syphilis, occasions  ulcers
which resemble syphilitic ulcers so closely that these two
kinds of ulcers are frequently confounded with each other.
   The  oil of turpentine, which is a distinguished remedy
for burns, occasions a  painful burning on  the skin.  It may not
be out of place here  to observe, that I have found  sulphuric
acid,  the caustic properties of which are  far superior to those
of turpentine,  much more efficacious in burns than the latter
substance.  Lately, a  solution of phosphorus in oil has been
recommended as an application  to burns, upon the same prin-
ciple as turpentine and sulphuric acid.
   Stramonium removes insanity, which it causes in healthy
persons.
   Millefolium, has frequently been employed  with success
against certain kinds  of haemorrhage; it possesses the pro-
perty of exciting haemorrhage in the healthy.
   Dulcamara, a well-known remedy for herpetic eruptions, 
150      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

has,  according to Carrere's  observations,  occasioned  similar
eruptions over the whole body.
   Sulphur, with which a number of eruptive  diseases are
cured,  possesses  the  property to occasion eruptions.  Some
have  attempted to deny this.  Any one  who wishes  to be-
come  convinced of that fact, needs but to travel to some sul-
phur  springs, where he will find the largest number  of the
guests covered with the so-called " bath-rash."*  Let me re-
mind my readers of Krimer's observations, that sulphur-baths
frequently cause the very thing which they are intended to
cure.  Bird (in  Rust's Magazine, vol. 38), relates a case of
ophthalmia occasioned by sulphur ; we know that  sulphur is
an invaluable remedy in many inflammations of the eye.
   Tea occasions palpitation of the heart, anguish, and rest-
lessness, particularly in persons who are not accustomed to its
use.   Kremers has  seen intoxication produced by the exces-
sive use of tea.  In the hospital of London, a case of poison-
ing by Opium  has been cured with green tea, and we  know
that tea acts very beneficently in intoxication.   (See Lancet,
November, 1833.)
   Colocynth  causes  dysentery with colic.  Ehrenberg and
Hemprich relate that the Arabians employ camel's milk which
has been left  standing over night in  a hollow colocynth, as a
preventive against dysentery.   Leo Wolf, of New-York, has
successfully  treated dysentery with Colocynth.
   Cantharides occasion a violent  irritation  of the  intestinal
mucous membrane with diarrhoea.  A woman who had been
for some time past treated for chronic diarrhoea without benefit,
took pills of Cantharides, and was completely cured within a
fortnight.
   Opium has frequently been  employed with  great success
for incarcerated hernia and ileus.
   I refrain  from quoting homoeopathic physicians as authori-
ties.   There is a disposition  to  doubt any statement that ho-
moeopathic physicians may make, and even to accuse  these
gentlemen of wilful deception.  He who possesses sufficient
independence of mind not to allow himself to be predisposed
against the new doctrine by mere invectives, and to examine
it with impartiality and attention, will soon become convinced
that the principle ''■ similia similibus sananda "  is brilliantly
confirmed by experience.
* This is the literal translation of the German term for that eruption. 
         organon. of the specific healing art.      151


                       Section 87.

   Select a remedy which  is  capable  of producing  in  the
healthy organism an affection similar  to the disease ivhich is
to be cured.

   We have not, as yet, succeeded in establishing the homoeo-
pathic law by a demonstration a priori ; such demonstrations
are impossible, both as regards the homoeopathic or any other
law  of cure.   The  maxims of cure are  all derived from
experience.  If  we  find, upon  analyzing the curative pro-
cess, that the facts agree with  other well-known laws of Na-
ture, the principle of cure upon which our treatment was based,
attains a higher scientific character.  Hahnemann  has pro-
claimed the homoeopathic law as an empirical truth, enjoining
upon his followers to adopt it without caring about the ration-
ale of its operation.  If he  had taught an hypothesis, and, by
a series of syllogisms, had constructed a system of cure with-
out the  slightest practical value, he would have been much
more acceptable to rigorous dogmatists, than by his simply dis-
covered, but  not  invented law.   Several  learned  authors
have attempted, with more or less  success,  to. explain  the
modus operandi of a homoeopathic agent upon the principle of
polarity, although  it is impossible to bring every little occur-
rence in Nature under such a vast generalization as the prin-
ciple of polarity, which is founded in reason, though  not as yet
susceptible of universal demonstration.   The  contemplative
study of nature sometimes enables us to infer a principle from
single phenomena, which, owing to our ignorance of the inter-
mediate links, we should not have been able to develope from
a superior generalization, with which the former principle may
nevertheless agree.   This principle becomes an empirical truth
when  we see it confirmed in  numerous cases.  Analysis  and
combination give it, of course, a higher value.
   We have shown  above  that the  living organism possesses
the power to oppose and neutralize noxious influences.  If the
noxious influence be more powerful than the vital force, the
organism experiences a series of morbid sensations which con-
tinue as long as the morbid influence prevails with its original
force.   Hence it is that diseases which are not the product of
some contagium, that is unchangeable, and, after having in-
vaded the organism,  consumes itself, never  get well by the
unaided power of the vital  force.  But if the morbific influence
have been weakened, the vital force then endeavors to react
and very often does successfully react against the former by 
152      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

establishing a state which is in polaric opposition to the former
state  of  disease.    In  this  way the organism  cures itself
While this spontaneous reaction is going on, it is important not
to interfere with  artificial means.  Jahn and Halford have
offered some interesting observations on that subject.  If no
improvement take place, the vital force is too feeble to realize
a curative reaction.  In that case art has to interfere with ap-
propriate means to stimulate  the reactive  force of the organ-
ism, and to enable it to free itself from disease.

                       Section 88.

   In the following paragraph I shall examine some of the
principal objections which have  been  raised  against the ho-
moeopathic law as a principle.
   1. If  the living organism possess the  power  to  realize  a
state which is opposed  to a state of disease, why does not  a
cure take place spontaneously ?
   It is evident that the disease  must continue as long as the
morbific  influence is not removed.  But  if, after its removal,
disease continue,  it ceases to be a mere  reaction against some
external  noxious  influence;  the  vital force  itself is  diseased,
and is therefore unable to react against its own abnormal con-
dition.  Organs which are less diseased, may react against the
abnormal functions of other  organs ; this gives rise  to a com-
motion of the organism, during which the  parts that  were first
invaded, frequently are the most quiet,  and gain time to recruit
themselves.  In this way a cure frequently  takes place  spon-
taneously in consequence of some critical revolution.  Such a
revolution, where one  organ opposes the other, is, however, a
doubtful struggle ; it is much safer to rouse the reactive power
of the vital force  by means of an artificial opposite, which cor-
responds to the general abnormal state.
   2. If the specific or  homoeopathic curative agent excite  a
disease  similar to the natural disturbance, how can this be
cured, or must it not rather be made worse by the homoeo-
pathic agent ?
   Some have attempted to  answer that question very briefly
by saying that the natural and the artificial diseases neutralize
each other like  positive and negative  electricity.  Without
wishing  to find fault with this ingenious  explanation, I  shall
simply content myself with  adhering  to  facts.   It is, indeed,
true that diseases are  made worse by multiplying the num-
ber of noxious influences.  Specific remedies produce the same
result, especially when  given in a dose which is powerful 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
153
enough to affect the organism pathogenetically.  The disease
is, indeed, sometimes  aggravated by the  homoeopathic agent.
Leo Wolf, in treating dysentery with Colocynth, has observed
in every case an aggravation of the symptoms previous to re-
covery.  Bartels recommends for chronic liver-complaint foot-
baths  with  nitro-muriatic  acid, which first occasion a  con-
siderable aggravation of the symptoms.  Similar aggravations
have been so frequently observed by homoeopathic physicians,
that it has been supposed they were necessary precursors of a
cure.   Hahnemann,  who, at first, used large doses, was led to
the discovery of the attenuations by the  frequently dangerous
aggravations occasioned by such  doses.  It  is, therefore, an
established rule to give such doses as will suffice to excite the
curative reaction of the organism.
    3.  Counter-action is a negation of the primary action. Now,
if the primary action be so feeble that it is scarcely perceptible,
how is it possible that the counter-action should be  powerful
enough to extinguish the disease?
    Hahnemann answers this question briefly by stating that
the disease, being an inferior and relative condition, is weaker
than the medicinal agent, which possesses an  absolute power
to alter the dynamic condition of the organism.  This expla-
nation is not sufficient.  It is refuted by the fact that real drug-
diseases  can be cured antidotally  with  small doses of other
drugs.  Nor is it sufficient  to  assert that the quantity and
quality of a  homoeopathic agent are in an  inverse proportion,
and that  the power of the drug increases  in proportion as it is
more highly attenuated.  This is contrary to experience.  We
attenuate medicines to diminish their excessive action.  Ex-
perience  will tell us why  the  homoeopathic  agent, though
small,  is still powerful enough to effect a cure.  We know from
experience that the dynamically disturbed organism is most pow-
erfully affected  by influences  which have a tendency to realize
a similar disturbance in the healthy organism.  Such influen-
ces might be called homogeneous.   The susceptibility to hete-
rogeneous  influences is diminished in a proportionate  ratio.
This is the  reason why contrary agents  have  to be  used  in
large quantities, whereas the smallest portion  of a  similarly
acting or homogeneous agent is sufficient to secure a  powerful
reaction.   The sentient nerve, if affected in a certain  direction,
is inclined to be again affected in that direction ; even a feeble
sound  is capable of eliciting vibrations from a correspondingly
attuned string, and  the slightest  impression  is sufficient  to
increase the speed of a rolling ball.   An irritated temper may be
vehemently  excited by the slightest  contradiction, and the most 
J 54      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

inveterate drinker may become intoxicated by a glass of wine
which  he swallows in  a fit  of passion.  The homoeopathic
agent acts as certainly as the chemical bodies which, by their
mere presence, disturb the relations of affinity. If  a man be
half intoxicated with wine,  a few glasses of rum will stupefy
him  entirely,  whereas a teaspoonful  would  dispel the  diz-
ziness.
   As  regards the modus  operandi of  remedial agents, it is
beyond our power to account for it.

                      Section 89.
   In homoeopathic treatment we require to exhibit agents,
the effects of which upon the healthy organism, are as simi-
lar as possible to the disease.
   It is important to know, by what means that similarity
shall be determined.  Hahnemann's plan  is, to compare  the
symptoms of the disease with those of the drug, and to give
the medicine which has the largest number of similar symp-
toms.
   This  peculiar method of selecting a  remedy by the symp-
toms, has been assailed with great vehemence by the partisans
of the  old dogmatism in Medicine.  I  shall not  waste  my
time to show that, if  all the symptoms have disappeared, the
disease must  have  ceased  likewise.  I am also  willing to
admit,  that the proposed symptomatic treatment is, in an  im-
mense  number of cases, sufficient  to cure  the disease;  but
there are likewise cases where  such a thing is  impossible,
from various reasons.
   1. There are  diseases  where only  a  few, or, perhaps, a
single symptom, are perceptible to the senses, and where it is,
of course, impossible  to select the proper remedy, unless we
have a correct knowledge of the  general dynamic condition of
the organism.  Let us take a case of simple prosopalgia with-
out any characteristic symptoms.  It has to be  treated  dif-
ferently according as it arises from this  or that  cause.  If
arising from a cold,  we may have to  employ Aconite, Nux
vomica, or Hepar sulphuris; if it have  appeared  after an at-
tack of fever  and ague, we may have  to give China, or Ar-
senic ;  if it be caused  by  Mercury, Aurum or Hep. sulph.
may be the true  remedy.   Hahnemann's rule is, to give a
remedy which seems to  be most similar to the symptoms; if
then new symptoms arise, he advises to take another record,
and  make  a  new selection; this method  is  to be continued
until every symptom  has disappeared.   The  same method is 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      155

to be pursued in the treatment of local affections, though these
generally reflect some general internal affection, the removal
of which, by appropriate  specifics,  will undoubtedly  be  fol-
lowed  by the disappearance of the  local complaint.  This is
Hahnemann's own opinion, to which 1 willingly agree.  Many
an operation is avoided by treating Ulcers, excrescences, tu-
mors, tubercles, etc., homosopathically. In the last eight years,
I have had twice the pleasure of saving carious limbs, which
had been condemned by the doctors; the ulcers healed, and
the patients were able to return  to their occupations.  Of
course, we ought not to go too far in opposing surgical opera-
tions.  Why should we not open an abscess, apply a cata-
plasm, change a fistula to  a readily healing open wound,
exsect a cancer of the lip, or put  a ligature round a polypus, if
we know that  the  patient will  be relieved by the operation ?
The local treatment may  frequently be  sufficient.   This,
however, is not the  place to say when  and where the local
and general treatment  should go  hand  in hand, or  remain
separate.

                       Section 90.

    Another difficulty in treating diseases by the mere symp-  *
toms, is
    2. The prominent development of sympathetic affections.
 Werber observes, that we must  employ remedies which will
act upon the diseased organ  and attack the very focus of the
disease.  Suppose  the original symptoms of the disease  are
very obscure and the sympathetic symptoms very prominent,
how shall we succeed in at once selecting the true curative
agent, if we suffer ourselves to be  exclusively guided  by the
symptoms? Why  should  we not  avail ourselves of every
means in  our  power, to obtain  a correct knowledge  of  the
pathological character of the disease and the relative value of
the existing symptoms ?  In fevers, particularly, it is of the
utmost importance to investigate the focus of the disease, since
fevers are, as a general  rule, reactions of  the vascular  system
against some abnormal local change which has to be removed
if we wish to cure the fever.  We have some excellent reme-
dies which are  specifically adapted to the cure of fevers, such
as China, Quinine, Arsenic. But even these specifics only cure
the fever, if the internal cause of the disease be removed under
their influence.  If the  internal  local affection continue, the
fever  will either break out again, or  else the morbid  action
will be transferred to some other  sympathetic  organ.   In this 
156      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

way it is that febris larvata, intermittent neuralgia, infarctions
of the liver, dropsy, etc., are brought on, and we then may con-
gratulate ourselves if  these dangerous  and distressing vica-
rious affections give place again to the original disease.
   Beside fevers, there are many other  affections  originating
in sympathy.   Headaches,  for  instance.  A  glance  at  the
Materia Medica will convince us  of that fact.  Headache is
scarcely ever wanting, and yet, it would he foolish to suppose
that  headache is always  a primary symptom.   A sympathetic
headache  is frequently very intense,  and yet,  nothing needs
to be done for  it  directly, it will disappear of itself, together
with the pain or disorder upon which it depends.

                       Section 91.
   In treating a disease symptomatically, we frequently come
   3. In collision with the curative efforts of nature.  Many
symptoms occur which are indications of a favorable spontane-
ous reaction of the vital force, and should not be disturbed. It is
true such mistakes can only happen to the inexperienced ob-
server.  A critical diarrhoea, setting in after an indigestion with
constipation, should be allowed to run its course ; or a  critical
sweat in pneumonia  should be  left  undisturbed.   To treat
disease, we have to know something more than the symptoms,
we have to be acquainted with the pathology, course, and criti-
cal changes of  diseases.  Alas, too many think  themselves
competent physicians, whose only claims rest  upon the  pos-
session of a  medicine-chest, and  a repertory of the Materia
Medica.

                       Section  92.
   The curative efforts of Nature ought to  be assisted, not
arrested.
   The counter-action of the organism is either entirely want-
ing, or it is too feeble or  too violent, or, lastly, it is adapted to
the purpose of cure.   In  each of  these cases particular rules
have to be observed.   We will examine them singly.
   1. If the counter-action be entirely wanting, the symptoms
undergo no change, except so far as the disease progresses in
its course.  In this case, the symptoms either denote
   a. Debility, as  in  adynamic,  putrid fevers, cachexias, etc.
In such  conditions of the  organism,  so-called corroborants
and  stimulants  have  frequently been of great use.  A more
nourishing diet, a good soup, a glass of wine, an aromatic bath,
and similar means which rouse  the energy of  the general or- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
157
ganism without acting specifically upon the affected tissue, are
frequently sufficient to excite a  beneficent reaction in the or-
ganism.   A female who was nearly dying with an adynamic
fever, was cured by Rademacher, with eight ounces of alcohol,
and one ounce of sulphuric ether, which she had to take in one
night, little by little.  Delonnes cured an aged woman  who
had been brought to the brink of the grave by venesections,
cathartics, and emetics, by giving her large portions of a strong
Spanish wine, and applying hot napkins  to her body.  Hux-
ham, Pringle, and Whytt, have recommended wine under simi-
lar circumstances.   Berends relates the  case of a scrofulous
boy who was  attacked  with small-pox.   The case went on
favorably until the second day, when the boy became suddenly
stupid, with  dilatation  of the  pupils, insensibility to light,
slow and feeble pulse.  The boy was stimulated with broth
and malaga, the exanthem became efflorescent, and  the dis-
ease terminated favorably.
   Our coarse domestic  practice has a number of such cases
to exhibit.  On the other hand the indiscreet use of stimulants
frequently results fatally.  This is owing to the fact that cer-
tain symptoms of weakness are mistaken for indications of  a
general debility of the organism, whereas the weakness results
from the arrest or limitation of the peripheral activity of the or-
ganism, in consequence  of the disease  of  some central organ.
If the fainting turns and the small trembling pulse  were to
induce us to give wine and other stimulants, we would simply
hasten the death of the patient.  Stimulants can only be given
when we are sure that there is  no general prostration of the
vital forces.   Even the homoeopathic physician is, under these
circumstances,  bound to prescribe a  nourishing  diet, broth,
eggs, or a little wine; these things may even prove sufficient
without giving any medicine.  The case  is different when
   b.  The peripheral vital action is exhausted, and a tumultu-
ous reaction  takes  place in an organic  system;  that tumult
would be increased by stimulants.  The intensity of the reac-
tion shows that the organism  has sufficient power to react;
and if the curative  counter-action do not set in, we  have to
infer that the morbific cause, whether internal or external, still
continues.  In that case we have first to discover the cause,
and then to remove it by suitable specifics.
   2.  When the counter-action is too feeble, we observe symp-
toms of an uncertain struggle between the organism and the
morbific agent, a wavering of the organism between restora-
tion and depression, and primary phenomena of disease with
symptoms of counter-action, the former  remaining, however, 
158
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
superior.  The selection of the remedies must be made in con-
formity with those primary phenomena.  Suppose we have a
case of acute rheumatism to treat, the patient has violent fever,
with a burning skin and diminution of all  the  secretions;  he
suffers with violent pains in the limbs.  The curative efforts
of nature are manifested by a transitory discharge of blood from
the nose, increased secretion of urine and sweat, the pains are
somewhat relieved while those critical secretions last.   These,
however, are not permanent;  an exacerbation of the symptoms
takes place as soon as the secretions stop.  According to  the
rules of the old school, it is important to observe the mode and
character of the critical changes which the organism endeavors
to accomplish.  If there be a disposition to critical changes by
the bowels, a cathartic is given, if the organism show a dispo-
sition to perspiration, diaphoretics are prescribed, very  fre-
quently with excellent effect.   Many would laugh in our faces
if we were to  undertake to show that  elder-tea, which they
have  so frequently and so successfully employed for a rheu-
matic fever, leaves a dangerous train of after-symptoms.   In
short-lasting  acute  diseases such symptoms need not to  be
dreaded.  Provided the disease has reached a successful crisis,
the drug symptoms, if there be any, disappear very speedily.
    To assist the organism in its efforts to free itself from  dis-
ease, by artificially producing the critical changes indicated by
the organism, does not seem such a very irrational proceeding.
But physicians have gone  too far in that direction ; they have
attempted to control instead of assisting nature.   Some under-
take to expel all diseases by sweat, others by the bowels, and
nature, poor nature, which, if left  alone, might perhaps suc-
ceed in restoring  itself, is compelled to curb itself under  the
yoke of a blind and foolish sophist.  In this way the cure of
innumerable diseases has  been  retarded, and  the sufferings
of the patient  have been  aggravated and often  rendered  in-
curable.
    In treating disease homoeopathically, all that is required is
to give a remedy which shall correspond as perfectly as possi-
ble to the general morbid condition, and nature  is  left  free to
establish a  counter-action  in whatever direction  she  pleases.
Any body who practises the specific method  of  cure with dis-
cretion, knows that it is by far the safest, and never inflicts any
positive injury.  Sometimes, however,
    3. The counter-action is too violent, either in the primarily
invaded, or in the  sympathetically affected organs.  In such
cases the vital force has obtained  an absolute control over  the
morbific agent.  We  see, for  instance, that a diarrhoea is fre- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
159
quently followed by an  obstinate or chronic constipation, a
metrorrhcea by a suppression of the menses, an inflammatory
swelling by atrophy of the affected parts ; emaciation by a ten-
dency to get fat.  These are polaric inversions, which, if they
last beyond the proper time, have to be treated as morbid condi-
tions, with great care, however, lest too powerfully-acting doses
should again  lead to  the opposite extreme.  Medicines,  the
primary effect of which,  is antipathic to the existing disease^
are the most dangerous to be used in equilibrating such alter-
nate conditions.  Patients who  are treated with such means,
remain for ever after in the hands of the physician and apothe-
cary.  The secondary  effect of one drug has to be neutralized
by the primary action of another,  which again leaves a secon-
dary effect,  and so on,  until  the patient is either ruined or gets
tired of the butchery, and prefers relying upon Nature's  own
powers.  If specific remedies should occasion secondary effects^
they ean easily be removed.
   4. The so-called alternate effects  are, properly speaking, a
wavering between primary and secondary effects.  A similar
state is frequently observed  even  without medicine, where, at
times, the morbific agent, at  others the counter-acting organism
prevails.  The  alternation  of chilliness and  heat in fevers
might, perhaps, be classed in the  category of alternate effects.
Contractions and expansions, fluent coryza  and obstruction of
the nose, diarrhoea and costiveness alternate with each other.
As a general rule, the counter-exertions of the organism are, in
such cases,  too feeble to restore the equilibrium  of its forces,
and if such fluctuating  phenomena result  from the action of
the remedy, it ought to be given in a larger dose, or more  fre-
quently.  Sometimes, however, this alternation from one state
to the opposite, arises from the fact that the medicine, instead
of acting upon the  focus of the disease, acts upon  a sympa-
thetic organ, occasioning incomplete reactions, and requiring
the exhibition of some other drug.
    5. The counter-action of the organism may be sufficiently
powerful to effect the restoration of health.   It is then that the
greatest sins are frequently committed by the attending physi-
cian.  He does not want the patient to suppose that medicine
has  been of no use.   To show his importance, the physician
prescribes all sorts of medicines which he pretends will assist
Nature,  whereas his meddlesome interference disturbs,  and
frequently arrests the  reactive  efforts of the organism.  Ho-
moeopathic medicines  are likewise prejudicial if used under
such circumstances.   There are, however, patients who ima-
gine that  nothing  is  done for   them,  if  they  do  not take 
160      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

medicine.   In  that  case  some indifferent substance may be
prescribed.


                       Section  93.
   By keeping in view the remarks which have been offered
in the preceding paragraphs, the principle " similia similibus
curanda "  will not be misunderstood.  A remedy ought to be
chosen, not because it is capable of producing symptoms which
are similar  to those of the disease,  but because the general state
of the organism arising from the action of the drug is similar
to the general character of the disease.  Skill  and experience
are required to practise medicine  rationally.   It is a remarka-
ble fact, however, that physicians  with the dullest comprehen-
sion are sometimes the most successful  practitioners.  They
do not trouble themselves with doubts, and content themselves
with treating disease according  to the rules of the school, no
matter what may  be  the result.   Physicians with a higher
intelligence frequently complain of the incompleteness of medi-
cal science and the uncertainties of diagnosis.   The mere name
of the disease, and the place which the disease occupies in no-
sological systems, do not enlighten  us about the treatment.  We
require to have a clear perception  of the dynamic character of
the disease, in order that the general as well as  special symp-
toms  may  be  properly understood in  their true character as
curative indications.   Frequently,  however, we are at a loss to
unravel the pathological  character of the disease ;  etiology,
symptomatology, and  semiotic, leave us in the lurch.  What
is to be done in such a case ?
   The best course, under those  circumstances, is to select  a
remedy in  accordance  with  the totality of the  symptoms, as
nearly as possible.   The greater the danger the more marked
are the symptoms,  and the easier it will be to  select a remedy.
Symptoms  are certainly more important than they at first sight
appear. We have  not  yet sufficiently studied the true meaning
of the symptoms of our drugs, to  derive any knowledge from
them relative to the  dynamic and polaric relations existing
between single organs, still less, relative to the  retroactive influ-
ence of sympathetic affections upon the whole organism.  Many
symptoms  appear  to  us  accidental, which are nevertheless of
the highest importance in practice.  I beg leave to corroborate
this statement by a few cases from my own practice.
   Some time ago, I  was asked  by a young lady to give her
something  for toothache.  She could not tell how she got it, and
was only able to mention the following symptoms: troublesome 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
161
itching over the whole body, in the evening after lying down;
afterwards, drawing, gnawing toothache in the left upper jaw,
disturbing sleep ;  the tongue was somewhat coated white ; in
the daytime she felt very  weary and ill-humored, had  dis-
charge of water from the nose with paroxysms of violent sneez-
ing.   This was evidently a catarrhal affection, to which, con-
sidering its general character, Sulphur and Chamomilla seemed
to correspond more particularly.   The violent sneezing, how-
ever, decided me to give Cyclamen ;  the pain never returned.
   A vigorous woman  of forty-seven years, fresh complexion,
who had been predisposed to congestion of blood, and had fre-
quently been bled on that account, was attacked with pulmo-
nary haemorrhage, in consequence of some physical exertion.
More than  a pint of bright-red blood was thrown up without
cough.  I was sent for immediately, but was unable to discover
any other symptoms  except a full, hard, slow pulse.   There
were no pains in the chest, the breathing  was free and easy.
Venesection was proposed, to which I objected.  To quiet the
circulation, I gave Aconite.  Next day, at the same hour, the
haemorrhage returned.   The symptoms were entirely the same,
except a pain in the right knee, which had supervened. This
pain being characteristic of Ledum palustre, which is, more-
over,  an excellent remedy for active haemorrhage from the
lungs, I gave it at once. The haemorrhage ceased ever after.
   Some  time ago, I  treated a young carpenter for ischias.
The remedies had no effect.  The father of the boy then com-
plained to me that his son was very forgetful.  This symptom
reminded me of Staphysagria, a single dose of which removed
the disease within four  days.
   A lady disposed to obesity,  of forty-eight years, was fre-
quently attacked  withj nightmare after  the  cessation  of the
catamenia. Supposing  that it arose from a congestion of blood,
I gave her what I thought proper  to remove it, but in vain.
Upon instituting a more careful examination, I found that she
was frequently tormented by violent itching between the sca-
pulae, and that  a rash  had made its appearance on the back.
Two doses of the carbonate of potash,  which corresponds to
that symptom, cured her in five days completely.
   An irritable and quarrelsome female, who was pregnant for
the fourth time, had taken it into her head that she would die
during her next confinement.  She had become quite melan-
choly,  and requested  my  advice  by letter.   She stated  her
symptoms incompletely.  Aurum had no effect.  Hyosciamus
was  likewise ineffectual.  Afterwards I saw the patient per-
sonally, and was then told that she frequently grated her teeth 
162      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

at night.  This symptom is characteristic of Conium, which
corresponded to the condition of my patient in all other respects.
She got well at once.
   A hypochondriac old man had been suffering for some time
past  with gastric difficulties and diarrhoea.  I found, moreover,
that  he was  attacked three or four times  a  day with a shud-
dering  in the  pit of the stomach, as if icy-cold water were
poured over  him. This  symptom indicated phosphoric acid, a
few doses of which cured him at once.
   These  few cases may suffice to show the importance of a
most accurate  record of the  symptoms.   No one can be more
desirous than I am, of reducing the rules of practice to a ra-
tional system ; but,  on  the  other hand, no one can be more
deeply convinced of the  impossibility,  in  the present state of
medical knowledge, of connecting the symptoms into a logical
unit.   Our pathologists, indeed, explain every thing.  It is
easy to see that a toothache, with sneezing, has a catarrhal ori-
gin ; but a  catarrhal toothache  may likewise  exist  without
sneezing.  And yet the sneezing, in the above mentioned case,
was  the principal curative indication.
   It may be said that the pain in the knee, in the above men-
tioned case of haemorrhage  from the lungs, indicated a rheu-
matic affection  to which Ledum  corresponds.   This may be,
although the rheumatic character of  the affection is rather
counter-indicated by the  fact that physical exertions  were made
with raised arms.  Of the many anti-rheumatic remedies, not
one would have effected so rapid a cure as Ledum,  which cor-
responded most nearly to all  the symptoms.
   It will be just as difficult to explain  the pathological con-
nection of forgetfulness  and  ischias, or of a rash on the back
with nightmare.  What is the precis% dynamic character of
rheumatic pains when the affected parts  are disagreeably cold,
and which  yield so readily to Cocculus?  Why does Ranun-
culus cure the rheumatic pains of the intercostal  muscles when
attended with catarrhal symptoms, as I have so often observed ?
Why does Ignatia remove gastric complaints in persons of a
lively,  good-natured  disposition,  and why is  Nux  vomica
more adapted to persons-of a vehement temperament ?  There
is an answer  to these  questions, but it  is too general to be of
much avail for the explanation of special conditions.  My an-
swer is based  upon the view that disease originates in a dis-
turbance of  the vital dynamis.
    The symptoms of disease reflect the diseased action of the
nervous system, taking  place in the nerves themselves or in
the organs of the reproductive and vegetable life Under the con- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
163
 irol of the nerves.   We account for many phenomena by the
 progression of the disease from organ to organ, and the appear-
 ance of the disease in organs at a distance from each other, by
 the fact that nerves dip into the organic substance, and that
 they anastomose with each other.   The pathology of the ner-
 vous system has been too much neglected.   We  have devoted
 our attention almost exclusively to the study of the material
 differences prevailing among the organs which  are subject to
 the control of the nerves;  whereas  the  most important and
 most interesting point would seem to be, to investigate the laws
 upon which all nervous action, this source of our  sensations
 and regulator of the organic functions, depends.   The theory
 of the specific healing art must, above all, rest upon  adynamic
 ground.  For the homoeopathic physician, the pathology of the
 nerves  is a  subject of  vital  and paramount interest. " He is
 bound to believe that his remedies affect, in the first place, the
 sensitive sphere, and, by its means, extend their influence over
 the other tissues and organs.   We are entitled to judge of the
 dynamic relations of the organism by the perceptible symp-
 toms, and to prescribe in accordance with the symptoms, when
 certainty  and  conviction are wanting.   Hence  it  is  of  the
 utmost  importance to institute the most careful comparison be-
 tween the symptoms of the drug and  those of the disease.  I
 admit that this is a  somewhat mechanical proceeding, but infi-
 nitely superior  to a blind and speculative treatment.

                       Section 94.

    This is the  proper place to say a few words about the iso-
pathic method.  This  method is based  upon the principle,
■"cequalia cequalibus sananda" or,  to  cure  diseases we must
employ  remedies that produce  not similar  but the  same dis-
eases in the healthy  organism.   The  author of the  isopathic
doctrine, J. J. W. Lux, of Leipsic, bases it upon  the following
facts:
    1. Frozen limbs are cured by cold, burns by  heat.  This,
however, can be accounted for, without alluding  even to iso-
pathy.  It is well known  that powerful dynamic oppositions,
if succeeding each other immediately, are dangerous and even
fatal to the vital force which recovers itself most  certainly by
the gradual diminution of the noxious influence.   A drunkard
is not deprived of his brandy suddenly, and a frozen individual
is covered with snow, because snow, although cold,  yet is not
as  cold  as  the  medium in which the congelation took place.
To this  class of cures belong— 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART".
   2. The cures of certain drug-diseases, by high potencies of
the same medicine.  I have no doubt, however, that many false
statements have been made in this respect.  Schmid observes,
very justly, that, in many cases the development of the disease
has been  mistaken for the effects of  the medicine  which had
been given in a somewhat large dose, and a smaller  dose of
which afterwards  cured the disease.  Cases of this kind will
be found recorded § 108.   Kdmmerer relates a few cases of
diarrhoea arising from  poisoning  by  copper, whieh was cured
by small doses of copper.  The patients had discharged by the
mouth and  bowels, and it is probably this ejection of  the poi-
sonous substance which effected the cure.   We may likewise
record as isopathic cures—■
   3. The cures of the bites of serpents by parts of the serpent;
such  cures  are mentioned by older  writers.  It is difficult to
separate truth from falsehood in this matter.  It is evident that
superstition  and prejudice play an important part in such cases.
Wounds inflicted by a dog, whether rabid or sound, are covered
with  a cluster of its hair.   The brilliant result of  such  treat-
ment is, however,  no better  known than those remedies  are
isopathic to  the disease.
   Vaccination is referred to as an isopathic process.   It is in-
deed true, that the  vaccin  is a preventive against  small-pox;
but it is by no means certain that all preventives are curatives.
I refer to  Thorer's fine critical  remarks on that point in  the
Homoeop. Gazette,  Vol.  II., No. 19.  Of more importance  are—
   5. The cures which  have been effected with the products
of contagious diseases, and  which  contain the  contagium.
Batzendorf and JEgidi assure us that attenuated vaccin short-
ens the course of  small-pox  and renders the  disease milder.
 Weber has  cured with anthracin a number of animals  affected
with  anthrax.  In  my own practice, I have seen a number of
cures with that brilliant remedy, which has never failed in my
hands, except where other remedies were used simultaneously,
or where the disease set in with such fury that it became fatal
in half an hour.  It is well known that the itch has frequently
been  cured  with psorin or psoricum.   Attomyr relates a rapid
cure of scald-head with psorin.   Veith  recommends herpetin
for the cure of herpes.   Kolinski tells us that he has  cured
gonorrhoea in eleven days with gonorrholn.  Similar cures are
related of ozaenin, and other products of disease.
   Many cases of  successful isopathic treatment have been re-
lated by such undoubted authorities, that they must be credited.
Enthusiastic partisans of this new system have, however, been
too hasty in their generalizations, and have mixed-up our Ma- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
teria Medica with the most disgusting things, for the benefit of
isopathy.

                       Section 95.

    In a work which is  simply intended  to develope  general
therapeutic principles, no special rules of treatment in  particu-
lar diseases will be expected.  It may be appropriate, however,
to offer a few  general remarks.
    Acute diseases, which authors are so particular in distin-
guishing from chronic, are characterized  by the more violent
reactions  of the vascular system, and by the rapidity with
which  they run  their course.  I will not discuss the question
whether there are primary fevers, where, according to the doc-
trines of our neuro-pathologists, the disturbance of the  sentient
sphere  is first manifested in the circulatory system.  In my
judgment it is unnecessary to lay down special rules  for the
treatment of acute  diseases.   The  great  point is here, as  in
every other class of diseases, to remove the cause.   It is of im-
portance to pay attention to local  affections, which sometimes
only manifest themselves by an increased sensitiveness of the
diseased part to contact.   Such local affections are, for instance,
aphthae of the intestinal canal in typhus, which, frequently, do
not cause any pain until  pressure is  made on the abdomen ;
and the inflammatory affections of the vertebral column which
frequently remain  unnoticed until the sensitiveness of the  af-
fected part is discovered by pressure; the frequently deep-seated
and concealed affections of the liver and spleen  likewise belong
to the category of local affections.  John Marshall relates cases
where  the  symptoms indicated  an affection of the heart, but
where the disease actually proceeded from an irritated spot  of
the spinal marrow in the dorsal portion of the vertebral column.
He observes that phthisis, apparent affections of the liver, car-
dialgia, chorea, and consumption of the mesentery, frequently
proceed from the same cause.   As a matter of course, homoeo-
pathic physicians should, at least, be as careful diagnosticians
as their opponents.


                       Section 96.

    In chronic diseases  strong  antipathic  medicines are more
dangerous than in acute.  If such diseases set in after the suc-
cessful termination  of acute diseases, there is less danger.  The
morbid  process has run its" course, and does not readily com-
mence anew, although relapses are frequently the consequence 
166      ORGANON_OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

of the retarded counter-action of the organism.  Relapses are
indeed less frequent under homoeopathic than alloeopathic treat-
ment,  In long-lasting chronic diseases, the counter-effects of
antipathic  remedies are, of course, more prejudicial  than in
acute diseases, ihe primary effects of the medicine being neu-
tralized by  its  counter-effects, and a  number  of secondary
symptoms being likewise occasioned by the medicine, which
complicate  the original disease and impede the progress of the
cure.   If patients who have been treated with  large antipathic
doses, afterwards wish to be treated homoeopathically, it is ad-
visable, if the case permit, to leave the patient without medi-
cine for a time,  in order that the organism may be allowed to
recover itself from the irritating influences which had  been
brought to  bear upon it, and may become more susceptible to
the action of other remedies.
   Chronic diseases which remain unchanged after using the
most  appropriate remedies, depend either upon some organic
malformation, or upon  some dyscrasia.   Such diseases should
be examined with the greatest care, and be treated by the anti-
psoric or eucratic remedies.
   Spontaneous cures scarcely ever happen when the disease
depends upon a dyscrasia.  In the treatment  of such diseases
the totality of the symptoms is a more certain  guide for the se-
lection of a remedy, than in acute diseases, inasmuch as there
is less danger of interfering with a beneficent  reaction.


                      Section  97.
   The efficacy of the homoeopathic treatment in inflamma-
tory diseases has been disputed  so obstinately  by the oppo-
nents of the new method, that a few remarks on that subject
may not be out of place here.  My opinions on the subject of
inflammation have been derived from a careful and persevering
study of the ancient and modern theories, and from the results
which I have witnessed in the treatment of inflammatory dis-
eases, according to the different views of pathologists.
   Inflammation, whether local or reflecting a constitutional
disturbance, is always characterized by pain, redness, swelling,
and increased warmth of the affected part; the fever and other
concomitant symptoms either depend upon a previously exist-
ing, more general disturbance of the organism, or upon the de-
gree of sympathy existing between the organism and the local
affection.   Hippocrates thinks that inflammation is simply an
accumulation of blood in parts which  usually do not contain
any.   According to ErasistratuS) inflammation arises  from 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       167

the blood rushing  into  the small arteries, and disturbing the
spiritual essence which they contain ; Celsus coincides with
this  opinion.  Afterwards  the  physiological character  of in-
flammation  became a subject  of study, and, as a matter of
course, the blood and its  vessels attracted the principal atten-
tion.   Galenus derives the accumulation of blood in the small
vessels, and the  effusion  of blood into the cellular tissue, from
congestion and obstruction of the vessels ; Boerhaave from ob-
struction of  the  vessels in consequence of the viscidity  of the
blood; Ludwig from obstruction of  the veins.   Others have
thought  that inflammation depends upon  the quality  of the
blood.  Sydenham speaks of an inflammatory condition of the
blood, without explaining it any further ;  C. L. Hoffman  and
 Wedekind derive inflammation from a disposition to acridity
and putrefaction.  Some authors mention an inflammation of
the blood itself, haematitis.   Most authors suppose that  an in-
creased action is the essential character of inflammation. Pro-
vost  thinks that  the essential character of inflammation is an
increase of arterial action, with distention of the blood-vessels ;
Hunter, that it is a reaction of the vital force against stimuli;
Cullen, that it is a spasmodic constriction of the arteries ; Bar-
tels,  that it is an increased action of the capillary vessels which
contain nothing  but lymph in their sound  state, accompanied
with  increased oxydation, which is likewise admitted by Reil ;
Meckel, that it is a local exaltation of the vital action ;  Gmelin,
an increase of the  reproductive power ;  Wendt, an increased
action of the vascular  system,  on which account  asthenic
inflammations are  impossible ;  Walther, a blazing up of a pre-
viously unknown vital fire in single organs ; Carus, a locally
appearing vascular or reproductive life ; Brandis, an increased
energy, with proportionate increase of vegetative action ; Krey-
sig,  an  increased  intensity of vitality.  Burserius, Gorter,
Gantier, and most other pathologists, agree with those  defini-
tions.   Stahl considers  the  inflammatory process  a salutary
reaction  for  the  purpose  of preserving the body, an opinion
with which  Hunter agrees in some respects, in designating the
nature of inflammation as a reaction of the vital force against
stimuli.   Gruithuisen entertains pretty much the same view
of inflammation ;  according to this author, inflammation is an
increase of the vital activity, preceded by depression.
   In contradiction to all those  opinions, some authors pretend
that  the essential  character of inflammation, is a decrease of
vital action.  According to Vacca, for instance, it is a weakness
of the capillary vessels; according to Pistelli,  a  diminished
contraction and  depressed activity of  the vessels.    Gregory, 
 168      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

likewise, inclines to  that opinion ; according to him, debility.
want of irritability, atony, are predisposing  causes of inflam-
mation.   His opinion is derived from the fact that feeble sub-
jects are most liable to inflammations.  Reil,  Gruithuisen, and
many others, likewise admit that debilitating  influences predis-
pose to inflammatory diseases.  That  there  should be such a
variety of opinions about the essential nature of inflammation,
is so much more astonishing,  as no diseases are more frequent
and have been observed and described with more perseverance
than inflammatory.  What is  still more striking, is the fact that
pathologists do not as yet agree about the diseases which be-
long to the inflammatory kind.    Marcus says : every disease
of the irritable system, from synocha to typhus, has an inflam-
matory character.  Fillippi thinks that inflammation is the
common source  of all diseases.   According to Broussais, all
diseases are inflammatory; and Schoenlein says, likewise, that
every disease might be considered a species of inflammation.
Lallemand goes so far as to derive involuntary emissions from
an  inflammation of the seminal vesicles. Such a confusion of
ideas cannot possibly be  advantageous to science.   It  arises
from  the  fact, that inflammation  has  been  supposed  to  arise
from  the  quantitative or qualitative relations of the inflamed
part.  This one-sided opinion  cannot lead  to any certain re-
sults.

                       Section 98.
    The  seat of inflammation is  the  capillary system.   The
well known microscopic investigations of Vacca, Cruikschank,
 Wilson  Philipp,  Thomson, Hastings, Gruithuisen,  Koch,
Kattenbrunner, etc., have shown that inflammation is charac-
terized by stagnation of the circulation, dilatation of the vessels,
subsequently alteration of the blood, and transformation of one
portion  of the  organic  substance itself into a  pappy  mass.
These are permanent phenomena, occurring in  every case of
inflammation.  Less permanent are the  exudation of coagula-
ble lymph ; the formation of new vessels and capillary nerves;
the more  or less active reproduction of organic substance gen-
erally ;  or, if the reproductive power  should be  entirely pros-
trate, and the inflammatory process should have the charac-
ter  of erysipelas, the gradual extinction of the vitality of the
affected parts, with symptoms of gangrene and with formation
of  ichor.   The focus of inflammation, is the capillary system,
the lymphatic vessels being more or less involved.  The origi-
 nal physiological character of the capillary vessels disappears,
and is at  times arterial, at others  venous.  The true nature of 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
169
 the  inflammatory process  is, therefore, to disturb the relation
 of indifference between artery and vein.
    The proximate  cause  of inflammation, is neither  in  the
 blood, according to C. L. Hoffmann, nor in the arteries, accord-
 ing to Marcus, nor, according to Ludwig, in the veins.  It is
 in the source of animal life, the nervous system, the regulator
 of all vital functions; and more particularly in the capillary
 nerves which  maintain the equilibrium between the arterial
 and venous action, and, in disease, induce  a predominance of
 one or the other, with either synocha, erysipelas, or asthenia.
 Bell,  Hull,  Wilson Philipp, Magendie, Flourens, Panissa,
 Bellingeri, John Muller, and many others, admit the existence
 of that nervous influence.   Duges refers to the anatomical fact,
 that the ganglionic system of nerves  which presides  over the
 process of nutrition, is connected with the arteries, and that the
 terminal filaments  of those nerves are lost in  the walls of  the
 finest vessels, so that the nervous substance and the substance
 of the arteries become one.  The nervous arteries penetrate
 every tissue, are instrumental in the secretory  process, and  are
 the seat of inflammation.  According to Most, the morbid affec-
 tion passes from the nerve, which is the regulator of vital ac-
 tion,  to the blood, and an  opposite affection takes place,  which
 counterbalances the nervous disturbance. That opposite affec-
 tion is the inflammatory process.   Karl Unger expresses him-
 self as follows:  every inflammation arises from an irregular
 direction of the vital force, occasioning in single organs or in a
 number of organs at once, alterations of  the substance,  which
 manifest themselves as abnormal secretions or  new formations.
 According to Baumgaertner, a certain something which is  ac-
 tive in the nerves, has an essential part  in all vital functions.
 That something either occasions disturbances in other parts, or
 else is itself affected separately from other parts.  In the former
 case,  fevers and inflammation set in;  in  the latter, purely ner-
 vous  diseases.  According to Marshall, the vascular system
 owes its energy and  vital power to the nervous system;  hence
 nervous weakness is the most frequent cause of obstruction of
 the vessels.  Naumann says : a violent  irritation prevents the
 equal  and harmonious extension of the  nervous impulse pro-
 ceeding from the centre.  The nerve of nutrition is changed to
 a sentient nerve; the determination towards the brain increases
 in proportion as the action  towards the periphery is diminished.
 The blood in the capillary vessels of the  irritated part loses its
 vivifying properties in the same proportion, and  those properties
 assume a hostile irritating character.  Sundelin shows very
clearly the influence  of the nervous  system  upon digestion, 
 170      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 chylification, and reproduction, the focus of which is the capil-
 lary system.   According to Hausmann, inflammation arises
 from the action of the nervous system, particularly of the ner-
 vous power in the veins and  transition-vessels between  the
 arteries and veins, upon the blood.  The influence of the ner-
 vous system upon the blood, is demonstrated by a number of
 phenomena.   I mention the sudden blush induced by shame,
 and the pallor in consequence of fright.  Fabricius shows the
 connection between the nervous system and miscarriage.  Wil-
 son Philipp shows the influence of the spinal marrow on the
 motion of the heart.  I will not discuss Laennec's opinion that
 gangrene of the lungs is a consequence of depressed vitality,
 and not a termination of inflammation.   Why should not in-
 flammation and a depression of vital action, coexist ?  Violent
 inflammatory diseases are preceded by nervous affections, gen-
 erally by  a violent chill.   Last winter,  when peripneumonia
 was a  prevalent disease in this district, I have frequently suc-
 ceeded in cutting the disease short and restoring the patient to
 perfect health within twelve hours, if I was called to the patient
 during the chill. It is, indeed, not mathematically certain whe-
 ther inflammation would  have set in ; but I will state the facts
 and mention the means which I used : in three cases, icy-cold
 water, a  tablespoonful every five minutes; and in two other
 cases, characterized by sudden, excessive prostration and cada-
 verous paleness, a small dose of Arsenic.  It is remarkable that
 pain sometimes precedes the  inflammation,  and, instead of aris-
 ing from the swelling and from the  pressure upon  the nerves,
 is a primary affection of the latter.  On combining the remarks
 which have been offered, and carefully considering the whole
 process of inflammation, there cannot remain a doubt that  the
 proximate cause of inflammation is a disturbed vitality of the
 capillary nerves.  As soon  as  the  influence of the capillary
 nerves upon the parts with whose substance they are intimately
 interwoven, is disturbed, the capillary vessels either become
 arterial or venous,  and  the blood  itself  is  correspondingly
 changed, exhaustion and depression of the reproductive activity
frequently attending the inflammatory process, according as the
 nervous influence has undergone one change or another.  On
 this account,  inflammations may be sthenic or asthenic, and
there is no reason not to set  down as inflammatory diseases, all
 those which are characterized by local pain, redness, increased
 warmth, and swelling.
    It has been pretty generally assumed that an increased
 sanguification is an  essential symptom of inflammation.  An-
 dral goes  so far as to  substitute  the term  hyperaemia for  in- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
171
flammation, whereas Cayol shows that no traces of inflam-
mation have been discovered after death, in bodies which had
been visited with violent inflammations.  There are still more
convincing arguments against the supposition of an increased
formation of blood; the most important of which is undoubt-
edly the fact that, in the  most violent inflammatory diseases,
with excessive orgasm of the blood, and where neither natu-
ral nor artificial depletion had taken place, no symptoms of or-
gasm or plethora could be perceived immediately after a crisis
had  set in.  What could have become of the  blood, if there
was too much  of it?  On the other hand, if we consider how
rapidly an inflammation  sometimes  sets in, it is  difficult to
comprehend how  the blood  could have accumulated in so
short a time.

                      Section 99.

   The opposition  between the antipathic and the  specific
method of cure is nowhere more decided than in the treatment
of inflammatory diseases.  The former, upon the supposition
that there is an excess of blood in inflammations, resort to pro-
cesses of depletion, which are almost unanimously condemned
by the partisans of  the New School.   Older physicians even,
particularly Asclepiades and Erasistratus  have pronounced
against bleeding, and even Galenus, who frequently  recom-
mended venesection, says that it is not necessary in every tur-
gescence, and that plethora can be removed by frequent bathing,
exercise,  and frictions.  Celsus and  Forest  censure  the im-
moderate resort to the lancet, and there have been physicians
at all times who have pointed out the pernicious consequences
of excessive bleeding.   Y. Seeds says that water forms in
the  brain during profuse bleeding, and that the bleeding should
never be continued until the patient's tongue becomes  cold
and  the pupil  immovable.  Speranza has observed  that the
number of deaths among the pneumonic patients of Brera is
proportionate to the number  of venesections  inflicted upon
the   respective  patients.   Of  one hundred  patients  treated
without bleeding, fourteen died ; of one hundred treated  with
two or  three venesections, nineteen died ; of one hundred pa-
tients who had been bled from three to nine times, twenty-two
died; and of  one  hundred who  were bled  more than  nine
times, sixty-eight patients died.   According  to the statistical
list  of  Weiglein, in all those cases of inflammation that were
treated according to the rules of the Brunonian School  without
bleeding, the crises  set in later, the convalescence was more 
 172      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 rapid, and the transition  into adynamic fevers was much less
 fre quent.   Nehrmann observes that the blood frequently be-
 came stagnant in the lungs in consequence of bleeding, and
 that the patients were threatened  with suffocation.   Kuhl-
 brand mentions that persons who were  suffering with  inter-
 mittent fever, and angina pectoris, were speedily attacked with
 typhus, or with profuse secretion of mucus in  the chest, after
 being bled one cupful only. In order to prevent such pernicious
 consequences, Beddoes  employed  strong stimulants imme-
 diately after bleeding.
   In  cases where depletion was of no  avail, or where the
 patient was too feeble  to lose much blood, leeches or cupping
 has been  resorted to, to relieve the surcharged vessels.   The
 relief thus obtained  is of short duration, inasmuch as the
 afflux  of  new blood cannot be prevented.  If there be any
 use in local bleeding, it  is simply this, that the mass of blood
 is generally diminished.  Berres has proved this conclusively,
 (see  Med. Annals of Austria, vol. X.)  Somme is quite  right
 in saying that the loss of a few ounces of blood  will not pre-
 vent the column of blood from carrying the morbid process to
 that spot.   Even if one half of the whole mass of blood were
 taken from a man, enough would be left for a violent inflamma-
 tion.  Even the last drop might still be food for inflammation.
 I recollect that in the report of a certain post-mortem examina-
 tion, it was said that traces of an internal inflammation had been
 discovered, which could  not be controlled in consequence  o
 the feeble condition of  the patient  preventing a sufficient
 abstraction of blood.   The doctors ought rather to have  stated
 the case thus:  We,  who do not understand the better method
 of curing  inflammatory diseases without the lancet, have been
 unable to save this patient's life.  Physicians are frequently
 placed in  the  unfortunate dilemma of either  reducing the
 patient to a fatal  debility, by bleeding, or of letting him die of
 the inflammation. My official position enables me to see a num-
 ber of young men who are dismissed from the  hospitals  as
 convalescent; if they had  been treated for inflammatory dis-
 eases in the usual fashion, by bleeding, they look like  skele-
 tons, and scarcely ever regain their strength. What immeasu-
 rable advantages  the specific method  offers  in regard to con-
 valescence ! If the inflammation, pneumonia, pleurisy, &c, be
 cured, our patients are at once  able to resume  their ordinary
avocations.  In the last  year 1 have  treated, at least, forty
 patients for pneumonia,  and have  cured them all.   He who
 has  seen  such brilliant results cannot help lamenting that
 emaciated individuals, if attacked with an  inflammatory dis- 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
173
ease, should be  deprived  of their last strength by bleeding.
Robertson advises to draw from forty to forty-eight ounces of
blood at once in pneumonia.  Broussais orders hundreds of
leeches at once, and finds imitators.   Posterity will  sit in judg-
ment over this vampyrism, and pronounce a terrible condem-
nation upon it.
                      Section  100.

   It may seem  paradoxical to assert that every inflammatory
disease depends  upon an absolute or relative weakness of the
vital force;  this is, nevertheless, true.  For if  the  vital force
were  strong enough, it  would counterbalance,  or overcome
every morbific influence.   There are organisms that are strong
enough to resist almost any contrary influence.  With  this
intensive  power of  the vital force, the manifestations of an
extensive exaltation of the vital  functions must not  be con-
founded.  In  every morbid condition, even  in  adynamic
fevers, where the pulse is  frequently uncountable, single func-
tions may be carried on with more rapidity.   But if inflamma-
tion be caused by the disturbed vitality of the capillary nerves,
resulting  in an  abnormal  process of sanguification, the true
remedy cannot be a one-sided diminution of the  turgor vitalis
in the capillary system; such  treatment is merely symptom-
atic and palliative, and does not  remove the cause.  Venesec-
tion may be necessary
    1. In those rare cases of true plethora, where the sensible
sphere is overwhelmed by a profuse sanguification ; and
    2. In  cases of congestion of noble  organs,  violent inflam-
mation of the brain or lungs, where there is imminent danger
of apoplexy in the  former, and of asphyxia in the  latter case.
In these cases venesections simply avert the danger of a fatal
retroaction of  the morbid product, but do not cure the disease ;
this has to be accomplished by restoring the normal dynamic
relation between the nervous and sanguineous systems.   If this
be not attended to, every drop of blood  may be taken  from a
man  without  curing him.  Every depletion  diminishes the
vital  power, whereas the vital action of the  organism should
be  rendered more intense in order to overcome the disturbing
influence.  Brown's method is to stimulate the vital action by
his excitants.  The increase of vascular excitement which fre-
quently succeeds the use of those excitants, Beddoes endeavors
to prevent by first bleeding the patient.  This  method is pur-
sued by a number of other physicians ; they first  bleed, and
then  give Serpentaria, Camphor, Moschus, to  repair the mis-
chief. 
|74      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

   According to the specific method, inflammations are cured
by giving small doses of a remedy which is capable of realizing
a similar inflammatory condition ;  such a remedy excites  the
vital energy intensively, and enables it to restore the true rela-
tion between the capillary  arteries and veins.
   Although this is not the place for special therapeutic rulesj
yet I may mention that Aconite is  no universal specific for
inflammations.   Aconite is  suitable to synochal inflammations
of parenchymatous parts;  Bryonia  is the remedy when such
inflammations threaten to  assume  the typhoid form; Bella-
donna corresponds to inflammations  of the brain, and generally
to inflammations characterized  by  excited nervous  action;
Pulsatilla to inflammations with a venous character ; Arsenic
to inflammations attended with  threatening paralysis of  the
capillary nerves, and consequent disposition to decomposition
of substance, and extinction of the organic life.


                       Section 101.
   In the treatment of mental diseases,  the  specific method
is very efficacious.  This has been confirmed  to me by abun-
dant experience.
   Inveterate  mania, which has  been  getting worse  from
year to year, leaves very  little  hope, particularly when  the
patient had for years past a malicious, artful disposition.   Me*
lancholia is likewise incurable  as  long  as the causes which
influence the soul are not removed.   According to Hahnemann,
psora acts a principal part in those affections.   This statement
ought to  be received with  some  allowance.   There are cases
where the brain suffers vicariously in consequence of a sup-
pressed  or disappeared eruption ;  in such cases, and indeed
in every  case of mental derangement, the treatment must be
conducted with reference to the cause of the disease.  Accord-
ing to Heinroth  the soul is  directly diseased ;  sin is the cause
of that disease which  arises from the connection established
between  evil and  the  soul.  The soul has given itself up to
evil, and is bound  with the chains of darkness.  According to
Friedreich, the soul is the organic vital force which manifests
itself in  its highest form  as an active principle through  the
most  perfect material  structure, the cerebral  system.   The
soul itself cannot be attacked with  disease, and  the cause of
physical diseases lies  in the material  structure.  This differ-
ence of opinion  seems to arise from  the fact that disease  and
offended  morality are confounded by those authors.  A trans-
gression  of morality may take place without disease, but may 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      175

lead to disease.   Remorse may occasion a real and even incu-
rable disease.  This disease, developing itself within the sphere
of the senses, is a proper object for treatment.  The object  of
this treatment is to remove the  cause.  Formerly the cause
was supposed to reside in the blood, in consequence of which,
bleeding was recommended by Celsus, Avicenna, Alexander
de Tralles,  Paracelsus, Riviere, Ried/in, Hamilton,  Spnrz-
heirn. Rusch, and others.   Van  Swieten has  seen  bleeding
followed by  incurable idiocy, and a number  of modern physi-
cians, particularly Am.elu.ng, have either condemned  bleeding
altogether, or have restricted its use.  For six years past I have
not shed a drop of blood, and have cured a number of insane.
Mental diseases are very frequently secondary consequences of
diseases of the ganglionic system, of infarctions of the liver and
spleen, where specific remedies are much more to the point than
cathartics and injections.
   Puerperal mania  is generally accompanied with  sympho*
mania, although this seems incredible.  Robert Gooch recom-
mends venesection and cathartics  for that disease.  Pulsatilla,
Lachesis, Arnica, Cantharides,  Platina, etc., are much more
efficacious.
    I cannot give any special rules for the treatment of mental
diseases.  I must observe, however, that  insane  patients, and
particularly monomaniacs,  are frequently treated most cruelly.
The attendants dispute  with the  patient, and  require him  to
believe that he is mistaken. If he could believe this he would
not be sick.   It  is true that a good deal of patience and self-
contiol is required on the part of  those who  treat mental dis-
eases; expressions of ill will destroy the confidence of the pa-
tient, and make the treatment unavailable.


                       Section 102.
    In  complicated diseases we  require to  find out whether
they coexist accidentally and independently  of each  other,  or
whether one is caused by the other, or whether the several dis-
eases have  become  so  intimately united that a new morbid
condition, with distinct and characteristic symptoms, has arisen
from that union.
    In the former case, the more important disease is to  be re-
moved  first, then  the less important.  If a  man, treated for
herpes or itch, should be attacked  with the influenza, with dys-
entery or pleuritis, the treatment of the chronic malady  has  to
be interrupted until the acute disease is cured.  If the disease
which breaks out some time after  the former, should be a mere 
176      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

development of this one, the two diseases constitute an unit,
and it would be wrong to treat each separately.  Hahnemann
teaches in his Organon that, if a medicine should only remove
part  of the symptoms, or should occasion a train of secondary
symptoms, another remedy is to be chosen in accordance with
the new group of symptoms, and that this course is to be con-
tinued until all  the symptoms  have disappeared.  I cannot
agree with Hahnemann in this matter.   Only two cases can
occur.  The remedy either corresponds to the focus of the dis-
ease, or to the sympathetic affections.   In the former case the
patient, if not cured, must feel  decidedly better.  If the im-
provement cease, it is because  the action  of the remedy is ex-
hausted ; in this case the dose has either  to be repeated, or else
a new remedy has to be chosen which corresponds more closely
to the new group of symptoms.  In some cases sensitive organs
are so powerfully affected sympathetically,  that they remain
sick even if the focus of the  primary disease should be extin-
guished.   In  such cases  the remaining  symptoms should be
treated as an idiopathic affection.  If a remedy do not corres-
pond in any degree to  the focus of the disease, but merely to
some of the sympathetic phenomena, it cannot accomplish any
thing except to modify the form of the disease.   On perceiving
this,  we should at once institute  another  and closer examina-
tion,  and select  a more appropriate remedy.  Dyscrasias  act
an important part in complicated  diseases, and  impede the
treatment of both acute and chronic diseases.  Acute, or even
inflammatory diseases of persons who had been ever so little
affected with herpes, frequently resist all treatment, until a dose
of Sulphur or Lycopodium, or some  other appropriate anti-
psoric remedy is given, after which a rash-like erythema fre-
quently makes its appearance, when the  acute  affection yields
at once to the ordinary treatment.  This  is  likewise the case
with  chronic diseases.  Figwarts frequently do not get well
without a few doses of sulphur, and, if a scrofulous  child be
attacked with the itch, the latter  has to be removed first, before
the scrofulous affection can be arrested.


                      Section 103.
   Swoons, apparent  death, and similar  conditions where the
vital action is quite prostrate, requires the momentary use  of
stimulants.  Paroxysms of asphyxia  in children have indeed
been cured with Chamomilla,  which I have  likewise success-
fully used in asthma thymicum, as long as consciousness had
not entirely gone, and  no  fainting had set it;  Petroz speaks 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
177
very highly of Bovista in attacks of asphyxia from the vapor
of coal, and of the Solanum  mammosum  in the asphyxia of
drowned  persons.   Elwert  and  Heichelheim  have cured
apoplexy  with Opium, Belladonna, and Cocculus.  Malaise    >
has cured a case of apoplexy with  paralysis of the left  side
with one dose of Belladonna, in twelve hours ;  the patient was
a young man.  In all those cases the reaction  had not yet
ceased.  But when there is  a perfect collapse of pulse, and the
breathing has stopped, the volatile  stimulants have to be re-
sorted to  to  rouse the vital action.   Hartmann lays down
excellent  rules for such a contingency in his treatise of acute
diseases.  There  are cases where a little  bleeding may be ne-
cessary, not to diminish the mass of blood, but to excite the
circulation.   If, after the vital  energy is roused, consequences
of the attack, paralysis or convulsions, etc., remain, well-chosen
specific remedies will remove them.

                       Section 104.

   The derivative method has enjoyed great repute for  sev-
eral thousand years past, and, with much evil, has done some
little good.  It is not my intention to defend  cathartics, moxae,
setons.  I  confess, however, that I never  hesitate to avail
myself of all the  means at my command, to  relieve the pa-
tient.   In  measles  and rubeola, when the eruption  was slow to
come  out,  when oppression of the chest, anguish,and restless-
ness, with unequal and spasmodic pulse were present, I have
not hesitated to apply a  sinapism to the chest, which gener-
ally brings out the eruption in a couple of hours, and changes
the whole scene.   When  dangerous symptoms set in, in con-
sequence of the sudden suppression of tinea capitis, I do  not
hesitate to cause the head to be washed with mustard-water;
in asthmatic difficulties, consequent  upon the indiscreet sup-
pression of old  ulcers of the feet, I cause the cicatrices to be
covered with an ointment of tartar  emetic,  or cantharides, or
to be acted upon by the vapor of hot water, in order to excite
the wound and draw blisters.  I do not hesitate  to employ
warm  foot-baths  in violent  congestions with vertigo  and  stu-
pefaction, hand-baths in excessive secretion of milk ; in sudden
suppression of habitual sweat of  the feet, I have them placed
in hot sand, and socks of oiled-silk put on.   Hahnemann first
recommended to apply pitch-plasters to the  back,  but rejected
them  afterwards.  I  have  used  them frequently, but have
never derived great benefit from them.  On the other hand, I
am  convinced that it would be unwise suddenly to close  an
                             12 
 178      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

issue that has been running a long time.  Counter-stimulants
are  likewise useful in some cases.   In  hundreds of cases of
injuries of the head, with more or less violent concussion of
the brain,-1  have used applications of cold water, or ice and
snow, with incalculable benefit, and have, moreover, convinced
myself that such applications do not interfere  with the action
of Arnica administered internally.  In croup, Griesselich has
a sponge  soaked with hot water applied to the throat,  at the
same time that  he uses internal remedies.  Why should not
local relaxing applications be made to highly inflamed parts
with excessive tension ?
                       Section 105.

    The magnitude of the  dose is a subject of great  impor-
tance.   Opinions on  this head differ a  good deal.  I have
devoted the  most careful attention to  the subject of doses, and
consider myself entitled to  lay  the results of  my experience
before  my readers.  The lowest as well  as the highest prep-
arations have been recommended as  normal doses.  Either of
these two extremes is condemnable. There  are no normal
doses.   It is likewise false that any dose, were it ever so  small,
is  yet  powerful  enough  to overcome the morbific influence.
Schmid of Vienna gave  his own child, who was dangerously
sick with the smallpox-fever, the fourteenth potency of Belladon-
na, which was  the remedy  indicated.  The danger, however,
augmented steadily, and the exanthem would not make  its ap-
pearance.   Schmid, who was convinced of having selected the
right remedy, now gave  a  drop of the first attenuation, after
which  the fever abated very soon.  I have seen similar results
in a number of cases,  even  a  few days previous  in a case of
venons metrorrhagia, where the sixth attenuation of Crocus
had no effect whatever, and  where  one  drop  of the  second
attenuation  manifested the  most beautiful results after the
lapse of ten  minutes.  In a case of dyspepsia  with  vomiting
the third  attenuation  did no good;  three drops  of the first
attenuation,  in a  cupful  of water, a  tablespoonful every two
hours, effected a rapid  improvement.  Experience like this has
induced many physicians to  give larger doses under certain
circumstances.  Other physicians advocate the exclusive use
of the  higher attenuations.  Some even give medicines only
by  olfaction.  Very sensitive,  hysteric  females  are, indeed,
affected by merely smelling of the medicine, but the reaction
occasioned by olfaction is very fleeting at any rate.  If different
systems and organs be affected, the  cure i& promoted by giv-
ing two remedies, one  of which corresponds to  one and the 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
179
other to the other affection, in alternation.  Digitalis and Nux
vomica, for instance, may be given alternately in a  complica-
tion  of pneumonic  and gastric symptoms, Sulphur  and Nux
vomica in  chronic  abdominal complaints.  Some physicians
are indifferent to the  magnitude of the dose.  It  has been
asserted  that the dose is  of not much  consequence, and that
cures can be performed with large doses as well as small ones,
provided the remedy is exactly specific  to the disease.  Physi-
cians who reason in this way, must overlook all physiological
laws.  The followers of every  school have made it a rule  to
determine the magnitude of the  dose  by the  irritability and
reactive power of the organism.  Tournier says that the irri-
tability of the organism is a very uncertain standard for the
magnitude  of the dose.  It is, indeed, no mathematical demon-
stration, but by combination and reflexion we  have  been ena-
bled to discover  whether  the  sensibility of the organism  is
increased or diminished, and whether  much or little medicine
is required  to affect  the diseased part.   Bethmann, who is on
the side of the  small doses, says :  The susceptibility of the
organism to medicinal action differs  in different  individuals;
the magnitude and  repetition of the  doses depend upon  that
susceptibility.  Fielitz advises  to regulate the dose  according
to the susceptibility of the organism.   Backhausen is of the
same opinion.  Werber expresses himself very clearly, thus :
Every disease requires a  proportionate quantity of  medicinal
action, in order that the organism should not be  excited too
violently or too feebly.  Trinks and Rummel  likewise speak
of the  necessity  of graduating the dose.  These quotations
will suffice.  It remains for me to show by what circumstances
the magnitude of the dose should be regulated.

                       Section  106.
    When the organism is exceedingly sensitive to medicinal
action, smaller doses are required than if the contrary were
the case.
    All experienced  practitioners agree on this point.   Physi-
cians who  possess a knowledge of physiology,  know, likewise,
that sensibility and reactive power do not always  go apace,
and that they frequently hold inverse relations to  each other.
The magnitude of the dose is always regulated by the degree
of sensibility.  The following points have to be considered  in
determining the dose.
    1.  Age. The sensitiveness  to heterogeneous medicinal in-
fluences is'most intense in children, and diminishes as man 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
grows older.   Hence children require less  medicine  than
old people.   There  are  exceptions  to this rule.   Growing
individuals are particularly sensitive,  and the greatest  sensi-
tiveness is possessed by organs engaged in the process of ev-
olution ;  medicines  which are  specifically related to  those
organs have to be given in small doses.
   2.  Constitution.  The  higher attenuations  are particu-
larly suitable  to persons with a sanguine or choleric tempera-
ment.  More  massive doses are required  for phlegmatic and
torpid constitutions, and are more especially necessary in the
case of persons who have blunted their sensibility by the ex-
cessive use of brandy, wine, coffee, tea and spices.   There is
a constitution which Hufeland designates by the appellation of
torpid  vigor.  It is  characterized by great muscular strength
and an energetic reactive faculty, which, being little sensitive,
requires to be roused by powerful stimuli.   People who  have
such a constitution, bear large quantities of spirituous drinks
without  getting intoxicated.   They  likewise require  larger
doses of medicine in case of illness.
    The  constitution is decidedly influenced  by climate and
mode of life.  According  to the reports of physicians, the peo-
ple of Petersburgh  in Russia require larger  doses than the
inhabitants of southern regions.   I know from my own ex-
perience that Frenchmen, Spaniards and Italians  are  more
easily  effected by medicine than Englishmen.  The sensibility
is increased  by mental occupation, excitement of the  fancy,
novel-reading, sedentary life, long sleeping, and effeminacy of
any kind.  Less sensitive are those  who do heavy work in
the open air, sleep little, and live  on coarse  food.  I have ob-
served that tobacco-chewers and persons who work in tobacco-
manufactories have very little  sensitiveness to the  action of
medicine.  The sensibility is likewise diminished by living in
drug-shops, vinegar  and brandy distilleries.   Individuals who
have been dosed with a variety of drugs, particularly metallic
drugs, bear and require much larger doses.
    The  female  sex is generally more sensitive to medicine
than  the male; the  latter possesses more reactive  power.
Mansfield and Majons have observed that the deaf and dumb
require larger doses of medicine. According to their experience
the whole nervous system of  such patients is too dull  to  be
easily stimulated by heterogeneous atmospheric  or  other in-
fluences.  A higher  degree of  temperature, which would in-
crease the pulse  of persons  with sound hearing  by sixty,
increased it only by twenty beats  in deaf persons.
    3. Nature of the disease  which  we  are  calUd upon  to 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      181

treat.  The rapidity with which the disease runs its course, is
a matter of little consequence; the rapidity of that course may
depend upon  the  increased  rapidity of the vital process, as
well as upon the complete collapse of the vital functions and a
complete dissolution, as in the worst form of cholera.  In the
former case the high, in  the latter the  low attenuations are
preferable.  The former are suitable to an erethic condition of
any kind, the latter to torpor.   Werber has cured hydrothorax
in old people with the tincture  of Digitalis, Reubel the cholera
with whole drops  of the tincture of Phosphorus.  In inflam-
matory affections of the meningeal membranes  with convul-
sions, in the case of children, I have seen the most remarkable
curative effects from  the forty-fifth potency  of Belladonna.
In  typhus versatilis the twentieth, even the thirtieth attenua-
tion of Bryonia, Belladonna, Rhus,  Phosphorus, etc., may be
of great benefit;  whereas in typhus  stupidus  and putridus,
massive doses of the proper remedies, Hyosciamus, Coccu-
lus, Phosphoric acid, Cuprum, Mercurius and   Arsenic, are
required.   In  inflammatory  diseases with  increase of arterial
action, the higher attenuations act best, in venous inflammations
the lower.  The same remark applies to haemorrhage.  Crocus,
which corresponds to venous haemorrhage,  is  given  lower
than Sabina, which  is more suitable to arterial haemorrhage.
Some very respectable authors  pretend  that the higher atten-
uations are more suitable to  acute diseases, and  the  lower to
the chronic.   This cannot be considered a general rule.  The
proper standard for the regulation of the dose is the higher or
lower sensibility of the organism.
    4.  Seat of the disease.  The  more sensible the affected
organs, the smaller ought to be the dose, and vice versa, pro-
vided  the sensibility of the organ is not entirely prostrate.  In
erysipelas of the head, involving the cerebral membranes and
causing delirium, one drop of the third attenuation of Belladon-
na, with which we cure erysipelas of the foot, would be a dan-
gerous dose.   In carditis I have never given lower than the
thirtieth attenuation of Arsenic, although I give much larger
doses in hydrothorax and oedema of the lungs.  In diseases of
the mucous membranes, which are inferior tissues, we require
to give larger doses.   In croup I  give the sixth attenuation of
Aconite and  Spongia with  the best success, and Hepar sulph.
in the first or second trituration.  JEgidi uses the same atten-
uations in  that disease.  We may consider it a general rule,
that in diseases of the vegetative  system stronger doses are
 required, unless the character of those diseases should be erethic
or inflammatory, as in phlegmonous inflammation of the sto- 
182
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
mach,  in  enteritis, cistitis, etc., where the higher attenuations
are the most suitable.
   In  the so-called local diseases, which do not affect the or-
ganism generally or affect it but very little, for instance in old,
callous ulcers of the feet, in  tinea capitis, otorrhoea, leucorrhoea,
glandular indurations and adventitious growths, massive doses
deserve a preference.  Of great importance is—
   5.  The inherent strength of the medicines.   The  more
powerful the medicines are  naturally, the greater the necessity
to employ them in high  attenuations, and vice versa.   No ex-
perienced  practitioner doubts  that Belladonna, Nux  vomica,
Lachesis, Phosphorus, and Arsenic, are still efficacious in the
twentieth  or  thirtieth potency;  whereas the higher potencies
of other drugs, such  as Euphrasia and Taraxacum, would be
of very little use.
   6.  The affinity of medicines for single organs deserves
special consideration.  The  greater  that affinity the  more pow-
erful the action of the  medicine.  This subject has  already
been adverted  to by Kopp,  and  Liedbeck has  observed that
ulcers of the fauces can  be cured with the thirtieth  potency of
Mercury; whereas ulcers of the genital organs  require much
lower  attenuations.  Clematis requires to be given in much
larger doses for cutaneous eruptions than for orchitis ;  rheuma-
tic paralysis  requires to be treated with larger doses of Bella-
donna  than meningitis or angina faucium.   Aconite has great
affinity for the throat and  respiratory organs, but not for the
liver;  and, in  violent hepatitis requires to be given more fre-
quently and in larger doses than in angina, pneumonia,  or pleu-
ritis.   We must not overlook—
   7. Idiosyncrasies, on account of which certain medicines
have no effect in some and  violent  effects in other individuals.
Some  years ago a patient  consulted  me for some  abdominal
difficulty, telling me at the same time that  he could not bear
Nux vomica, and that it  caused him anguish, palpitation of the
heart, coldness of the limbs and viscid sweats.   Supposing all
this to  be mere fancy, I gave him Nux, which was the suitable
remedy.   Two hours after, the patient sent for me and told
me : you have given me Nux, for  I  suffer  with all the symp-
toms I mentioned to you.   The patient had to take black cof-
fee to counteract the  symptoms.
   8. In some cases, small doses  of well  selected remedies
have no effect.  If this be not owing to idiosyncratic influences
antipathic to the action of the remedy, larger doses will cer-
tainly  act.  It is supposed  by some,  that the essence of  the
homoeopathic system of  cure is to give small doses, and that a 
ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.
183
 larger dose is not homoeopathic.   If the remedy be chosen in
 accordance with the principle " similia similibus," the treat-
 ment is homoeopathic, whether the dose be large or small.  If
 alloeopathic  physicians pretend to treat homoeopathically on
 account of giving little or no medicine, this simply shows that
 they do not know any thing about our doctrines, and are very
 poor practitioners.   In the enanthiopathic method it is fre-
 quently necessary to give large and powerful doses, and if a
 physician do not dare to act up to his principle, his timidity is
 a conclusive proof that he is not sure of his business.

                       Section 107.

     The repetition of the dose is a subject that has excited
 much discussion in our  school.   At  one time Hahnemann
 taught that medicines act a definite number of days and weeks.
 Some of his disciples pretend, moreover, to have observed that
 certain  remedies produce a  revolution  in the organism four
 weeks  after  being  taken, and that  at  such a period violent
 symptoms make their appearance for a time.  Calm and care-
 ful observers never discover such revolutions. Cures have been
 recorded where the medicine has been said to have acted two
 or  three months.  A medicine may produce an improvement.
 and this improvement may last months or even  years ;  but,
 if a recurrence of the original symptoms take place at the end
 of such a period, it would be wrong to infer that the medicine
 had been acting all the time.  Large portions of a drug do in-
 deed act a long time, sometimes for months and years. Helbig
 mentions a case where  an  ounce of the tincture of Ambra acted
 for months.   I recollect having removed  a  placenta which had
 remained in the  uterus and  had  become  putrid.  The smell
 was horrid.  Every morning, for six weeks in succession, I had
 the  same  sensation on my tongue which  that odor had first
 occasioned.  If small doses of a medicine act as long as they
 do  in some cases, the duration of that  action  depends  upon
 some idiosyncrasy.  It  is impossible to state a priori how long
 a medicine will or ought to act;  the duration of the primary
action and the period when the counteraction will set in, depend
altogether upon the individuality of the organism.  Independent
observers generally agree that medicines do not act as long as
has first been supposed, and that the action of the remedy had
better be kept up by repeating the dose.   Some  homoeopathic
practitioners abuse this privilege, and are  even more officious
in giving medicine  than physicians of the Old School.   It is
such an easy thing to fall from one extreme into another. We 
184      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

have no definite rules of practice ; my own rules, which have
been suggested by experience and observation, are as follows :
   1. I repeat the dose if the violence of the disease have sim-
ply abated without  the character of the disease  being essen-
tially changed ; and if I  am  satisfied  that the improvement
has remained stationary.
   2. If a repetition of the dose be not followed by a new im-
provement, the dose  has  not  only to be repeated but at the
same time to be increased, provided, as before remarked, that,
the remedy is still indicated.   This maxim  has been  followed
by the physicians of every school; for it is well known that
the organism gradually loses its susceptibility to the same ex-
ternal influence, until finally all reaction ceases.   The organ-
ism may even become accustomed to poisons.  Arsenic had no
effect on Mithridates. and opium-eaters  have to  increase the
quantity to feel the effects of the  poison.  Why should we not
avail ourselves of this experience in our practice ?  I refer to
Werber's excellent remarks in the first volume of the Hygea.
It has frequently been observed that the first dose of a remedy
occasions  an aggravation of the symptoms which is not ob-
served after  subsequent doses.  Schindler advises to repeat the
indicated remedy until reaction sets in, and then to wait until
the reaction ceases.   This seems good advice.  Unfortunately
it is impossible to lay down rules for one who has no  practical
talent and no powers of observation.
   3. In acute diseases, such  as violent inflammations, where
the vital functions are accelerated, and in adynamic putrid fe-
vers, where the vitality of the organism  is rapidly sinking, the
medicine has to be given more frequently than in chronic dis-
orders.  In the Asiatic cholera the dose has been repeated every
fifteen or even every five  minutes.   In violent inflammations
I give the Aconite  every hour, and in  meningitis I  give the
Belladonna every half hour. According to JEgidi, the medicine
may be repeated every hour in acute, and  every twenty-four
hours in chronic diseases.  Much depends upon the system  or
organ which is affected.  Where there is a high degree of sen-
sibility and functional action, the effects of the medicine are
less lasting.   In general terms the rule is to  watch the effects
of the remedy and to act accordingly.   In acute diseases the
effects appear much  sooner than  in chronic.  If, in acute dis-
eases, the medicine do not act within one hour, I consider this
a proof that it is not the remedy, or that the dose was too weak.
Even in chronic diseases a well-selected remedy ought to show
some effect in twenty-four, or, at any rate, in forty-eight hours.
    4. The dose should not be repeated if the medicine have 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       185

produced an essential change in the symptoms.  Hering ob-
serves that the vital force has  then exhausted its counter-act-
ing energy in that direetion, and that a second dose would then
do injury.  I do not believe that any injury would arise  from
such a repetition, nor do I, on the other hand, believe that any
good would come out of it.  The medicine  should  never be
continued when a disease has passed into  another  stage, for
instance in typhus, when it passes from the catarrhal into tho
typhoid stage ;  in that case other remedies have to be selected
in accordance with the change of symptoms.
    5. The same remedy should not be continued too long at a
time,  not even in chronic diseases; even if the dose were in-
creased the organism would cease to react against it.   In such
case  another remedy should be given for a time, as nearly as
possible in accordance with  the symptoms, after which the
former may again be resorted  to.
    6. The smaller the dose the less  durable its action.   This
is another reason why the high preparations should be repeated
more  frequently than the lower, particularly in acute diseases.


                      Section 108.
    A good deal has been said of homoeopathic aggravations.
Such aggravations of the symptoms are supposed to occur very
frequently  in consequence of the excessive action of the specific
remedy. It has been asserted  by some that a certain aggrava-
tion of the  symptoms is necessary to excite the counter-action
of the organism.  This is denied by some, and, indeed, justly
so,  for we know from experience that the cure generally takes
place without such an artificial commotion of the morbid state.
In  the  following paragraphs I will communicate the results
which I have derived from my own observations, and those
of other physicians, in regard to  medicinal aggravation of the
symptoms.
    1. Aggravations  do  frequently occur after the administra-
tion of a homoeopathic agent; such aggravations are some-
times very violent.   Gross   has observed aggravations af-
ter  Pulsatilla for  digestive  disorders;  after China  for  ner-
vous debility ;  after  Bryonia for pleuritis ;  after Hyosciamus
for  convulsions ; after Crocus for metrorrhagia.  Stapf has
seen  aggravations after  Spigelia for affections of the eyes;
after  Rhus for  an eruption in the  face.  Ruckert  has  seen
spasms aggravated by Bryonia,  and Hartmann cardialgia by
Pulsatilla.   In treating dysentery with Colocynthis, Wolf ob-
served  that  the number of  evacuations  first increased for 
186      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

several  hours.   Dupre-Deloire saw an aggravation of  the
symptoms after  the exhibition  of  Sulphur for haemorrhoidal
colic ; the aggravation lasted about an hour, when the pain dis-
appeared.  Rumtnel speaks of an aggravation produced by
smelling of Bryonia.  Schindler saw .an aggravation of head-
ache and prosopalgia after the use of Belladonna.  I have fre-
quently seen  such aggravations, particularly in neuralgic  af-
fections.  Aggravations have frequently  been observed  after
the higher attenuations, a  fact which  has given rise to the
opinion, that those attenuations are  not sufficiently powerful to
excite the curative reaction of the organism.  This may be
true  in  some  instances.   Credible practitioners, on  the other
hand, assert that the most dangerous aggravations  take place
from large doses.  Kopp relates a case  of haemoptoe where a
daily dose of the tincture of Aconite aggravated the complaint
very much, which was afterwards cured with the eighteenth
potency of  the same remedy.   Kopp likewise relates that the
sixth attenuation of Stannum proved  useful where the third
aggravated the  disease.  In a  case of laryngeal phthisis re-
lated by Schrcen, a lower attenuation Of Spongia produced an
almost fatal aggravation of the  symptoms.  Such and similar
results have  determined me to be exceedingly cautious in the
selection of a remedy, and to employ the higher attenuations in
all erethic diseases of delicate  and important organs, in in<
flammations of the brain, heart, lungs and stomach, in active
arterial haemorrhage, etc.
   2. It  frequently occurs that new symptoms set in after the
exhibition of  a  medicine.  These symptoms  are frequently
mistaken for a homoeopathic aggravation.  Hirsch has seen
haemoptoe set in in phthisis after the exhibition of Phosphorus.
Griesselich tells us that the exhibition of Nux  vomica for tooth-
ache was followed by oppression of the stomach, bloatedness,
nausea,  dullness of the head and vertigo. He likewise men-
tions a  number  of new  symptoms, as  having made their ap-
pearance after the administration of  Arsenic and Sulphur.
Hering  has  seen  bilious  vomiting  supervene  after  giving
Arsenic  for  black-blue  itch-pustules.   Werber  and Elwert
likewise  mention a number of new symptoms succeeding the
use of homoeopathic remedies.
   The appearance of  new symptoms shows that the organ-
ism has been acted upon, and invites the physician to renewed
attention.  Sometimes weariness and drowsiness set in, and a
little  sleep is followed  by the restoration  of health.  In other
cases there is an increased  exhalation  from the skin, and  an
augmented secretion of urine.  Sometimes we are told by the 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      187

patient and his attendants that the medicine has had no effect;
but upon careful inquiry, we find that  it has had an  effect.
Very frequently the patients experience a drawing and  creep-
ing through the limbs, particularly through the affected parts, or
they feel a dullness and pain in the head,  vertigo, itching of the
skin, and great weariness, with a  sensation  as if bruised.
Organs at  a distance from the real  seat of the disease are
sometimes  sympathetically  affected  with more or  less vio-
lence.   Phenomena of sympathetic  suffering are  always de-
sirable in uncertain cases ; even if they do not lead to a cure,
they disclose the character  of the disease, and  enable  us to
select the true curative agent.  It requires a good deal of close
observation to determine whether nothing should be  given on
the appearance  of new  symptoms, or whether  the  medicine
should be repeated or replaced by some other more appropriate
remedy.
                      Section 109.

   Hahnemann has laid much stress on  the period of the day
when the medicine  should be  taken.  His advice is  not to
give the medicines at the time when they manifest their primary
effects.  I have frequently found that Belladonna, Pulsatilla,
and Chamomilla, disturb the sleep if taken in the evening, and
that Nux vomica  acts best when taken  shortly before  bed
time.   In urgent cases the medicine has, of course, to be given
on the spot.
   According to Hahnemann, the early  morning  is  the best
time for taking the medicine.  It is true  that the sensitiveness
of the organism is greatest in the morning.   But the action of
the medicine is so easily disturbed in the daytime by heteroge-
neous influences, that I prefer giving the medicine at night.
   It has been asked whether, in remittent diseases, the medi-
cine should be given before, during, or after the  paroxysm.  I
am satisfied that the  medicine may be taken  at any time, even
during  the occurrence of the  paroxysm, and that at such  a
time the susceptibility of  the organism to the action  of medi-
cine is greatest.  No  one would  hesitate to exhibit a remedy
during the most violent attack of cholera, profuse haemorrhage,
or during a convulsive paroxysm.  Griesselich thinks, that in
dysentery the remedy should be given after every evacuation,
and in  whooping-cough, after  every paroxysm of cough.  I
have frequently found this advice useful, and have, likewise,
followed it in fever and ague, where I give one dose two hours
previous to, and another dose of the same remedy two  hours
after the paroxysm, giving the second dose a little stronger, on 
188      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

account of the exhausted condition of the organism.  In men-
strual colic, several  doses of the suitable remedy should be
given during  the  precursory symptoms, and  should likewise
be continued "during the paroxysm.   Homoeopathic  remedies
may likewise be given during the catamenia ; it is only  vio-
lent  enanthiopathic and cathartic medicines that  should be
avoided at such a period.  I ought, however, to observe, that
the female organism is more sensitive during the catamenia,
and therefore  requires smaller doses at such a time.  In chronic
ailments of the vegetative system, where larger  doses  are
required, it is  therefore expedient  to postpone  the exhibition of
the medicine until the cessation of the menstrual flow.

                      Section  110.
   I will devote  this chapter to  a few remarks on  palliative
treatment.
   From time immemorial it has  been customary to combine
the curative and palliative treatment, and to attend to the pal-
liation of the  symptoms alone if a cure was impossible.  None
but unfeeling men can  condemn that proceeding.  There  was
a time when  incurable syphilitic patients were destroyed by
artificial means, or when patients  attacked with hydrophobia,
were suffered to die of a gradual  loss of blood.  It is reported
of Napoleon,  that on his  retreat from Egypt he caused the
sick who remained behind in the hospitals to be  killed by
poison, in order to save them from the  cruelty of the pursuing
enemy.   The humane  physician cannot imitate such exam-
ples.  But  all will agree, that we are bound to mitigate the
sufferings of  our patients if a cure be no longer possible.   We
ought to guard,  however,  against  the frequently  pernicious
error of prescribing a remedy for a single troublesome symp-
tom at the expense of the general treatment.   Such errors are,
for instance,  the  suppression of  a salutary diarrhoea, or of an
habitual sweat of the feet by means of astringent local appli-
cations, the violent arrest of a  haemorrhoidal discharge, the
desiccation of old  ulcers on the feet by means of lead-ointments
or washes, or the suppression of herpes by  similar  means.
Even recently, I was called  to a young  lady who  had been
affected with herpes, and  completely  lost the enamel of her
teeth in consequence of the violent suppression of  herpes by
some ointment, probably a mercurial ointment.  The applica-
tion of leeches, in debilitated individuals, for  the  purpose of
relieving the  pain attendant upon some  local venous  inflam-
mation, is an unpardonable offence; relief i?, indeed, obtained 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.       189

momentarily, but the distress is  so much greater afterwards.
It is still more inexcusable to relieve pain by opium which is
not suitable to the general  condition of the patient.  Some-
times opium is  given  for  sleeplessness, or to  relieve violent
pain, and removes the whole  disease, if  the drug happen to
be homoeopathic to the symptoms.  In other  cases, the  first
dose of opium procures a feeling  of blissful quiet.  The pa-
tient expresses his gratitude for the refreshing sleep which the
opium had procured him.  The  physician flatters  himself
with the deceptive hope of having found  the specific remedy.
He gives another dose of opium, but soon finds that the dose
has  to  be increased.  The patient is tormented by fancies
which do not allow him any rest.   He tosses about in his  bed,
feels sleepy but cannot sleep, starts up as in affright after a
short slumber, and  finally sinks into  a sort of stupor, which
continues even in  the  daytime, and is accompanied with an
indescribable feeling of weariness  and prostration.   Besides
this, other disagreeable symptoms make their appearance,  con-
stipation for instance, for which new remedies have to be  pre-
scribed.  If the  patient's vitality do not succumb under such
conflicting influences, and he finally recover, it will take him a
long time to get rid of the consequences of  such unwise treat-
ment.   In the homoeopathic method of treatment, a remedy is
not given for one symptom exclusively, but for all the symp-
toms collectively.   Remedies  chosen in  accordance with the
totality  of the symptoms, sometimes palliate merely, particu-
larly in cases which prove incurable ; but such palliatives can
be repeated without prejudice ; on the contrary, the  patient's
distress will be relieved  by them.  My friend  and  neighbor,
Dr. Glasor, lost, several  years previous,  his only boy, with
inflammation  of the brain, and  subsequent effusion.  There
was no hope of saving the child, but it was important to mod-
erate the  convulsions.   This was accomplished by  means of
small doses of Belladonna, under the influence of which the
child died, apparently without much  suffering.  In a case of
incurable cancer of the womb,  1 have  afforded more relief
with small and repeated doses  of Pulsatilla, Secale cornutumj
and Laurocerasus,  than could have been  accomplished by
means of opium.  Homoeopathic palliatives are vastly supe-
rior to the usual antipathic anodynes.
    There  are many other  palliatives which ought  not to be
neglected, although they do not come under the appellation of
homoeopathic remedies.  Such palliatives  are the inhalation of
the vapors of warm water, to relieve the troublesome dry cough
of patients affected with tuberculous phthisis; warm fomenta- 
190       ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

tions of the chest in spasms of the respiratory organs ; appli-
cations of cold water, snow, or ice to the head, in incipient or
fully developed encephalitis; frictions with dry flannel on limbs
suffering with rheumatism ;  frictions with warm oil in cases of
acute rheumatism and ascites ;  injections  of water  or milk,
water and oil, in cases of violent constipation ;  warm baths in
a number of cases ; hand and foot baths in congestion of blood
to the upper parts ; sinapisms and horse-radish plasters to the
calves in violent delirium ;  the lancing of the gums when  con-
vulsions threaten to set in in consequence of the difficulty which
the tooth encounters in rupturing the gums ; the introduction
of the vapor of warm milk into the violently inflamed  and sup-
purating  ear; the use of warm gargles in cases of inflammation
of the uvula or tonsils with accumulation of mucus in the pos-
terior parts of the buccal cavity ; warm poultices to abscesses,
in order to hasten the process of suppuration ; carrot-poultices
to painful cancerous ulcers ;  the application  of a plaster of wax
and tallow to open abscesses, or of brandy  and water to  bed-
sores  that threaten  to become gangrenous, or of oil  and the
yolk of an egg when such sores are inflamed and painful.  A
physician who signs himself R., in Thorer's Practical  Commu-
nications, Vol. III., p. 200, gave Lachesis internally in the case
of a man who had been bitten by a viper, and had fresh cab-
bage-leaves applied to the wound.  Any palliative which  does
not interfere with the general curative treatment, and is known
to relieve suffering, ought to be and will be used by physicians
who are  not blinded by party spirit or sectarianism, and value
the consciousness of having been  instrumental in mitigating
the sufferings of their fellow men.

                      Section  111.

   Patients under treatment, must regulate their diet accord-
ingly.
   The most violent opponents of the specific healing art are
willing to admit  that the author of homoeopathy has  shown
the necessity of regulating the diet of our patients.  They go,
however, too far, in asserting that all the good that homoeopa-
thy has ever accomplished, is  to be attributed to the rigorous
diet which homoeopathic patients are directed  to pursue.  Of
course, if a man have lost his health by  excessive eating and
drinking, and have not ruined his constitution,  the best and
safest way to restore  it, is, by subjecting himself to  a  proper
diet.
   Hahnemann's first dietetic rules were exceedingly  rigorous. 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      191

He  assumed  that an  individual under treatment must be re-
stricted to the use of only those things which  are purely and
absolutely nutritious.  Hence every thing which has any medi-
cinal action, such as asparagus, celery, and parsley, which pro-
mote the secretion of urine ; onions, which favor the exhalation
from the skin;  caroway, which has some narcotic properties,
etc., was strictly forbidden.  Coffee, tea, wine, brandy, spices,
acids, pork, water-birds, young meat, were likewise interdicted.
The homoeopathic diet was not only very hard,  but even incon-
venient.
    It is true, that a  mode of life which is carefully regulated
according to Hahnemann's instructions, increases the suscepti-
bility of the  organism to medicinal action to  a high degree.
But it is not without some disadvantage.   The  irritability of
the organism frequently becomes so excessive that the hetero-
geneous influences with which we are unavoidably surrounded,
affect the organism very painfully.   The sense  of smell be-
comes so acute, that  the perfume of a flower,  the smoke of a
cigar,  the  odor emanating from an old book, are offensive.
Moreover, the sudden and  complete deprivation of stimulants
to which the organism had been accustomed for years, is inju-
rious.   An old man,  who  has been in  the habit of drinking
wine or a little brandy every day of his life, cannot be deprived
of  it without  feeling  weak and exhausted.   Why  should a
little wine or brandy be more injurious than smoking, which is
allowed, to some extent, by all homoeopathic physicians ?
    Eight years ago, I took charge of an old man who  had been
suffering for a long time past with cardialgia and other symptoms
of derangement of the digestive organs, and resorted to homoeo-
pathy  in despair.  I restricted  him to the usual rigorous  diet.
After he had been under treatment eight days, he was much
improved.   On one day I visited him when he was taking his
supper, which consisted of bread and butter, Bologne-sausage,
and half a bottle of wine.  When I expressed my astonishment
at this transgression of our dietetic rules, he replied :  This has
been  my supper for thirty years, and will be ever after.  He
recovered entirely, in spite of  his wine and sausage.  . Widn-
mann observes very correctly, that the action of homoeopathic
medicines is  too certain to be easily disturbed by a slight die-
tetic transgression.  On the other hand, it would be foolish to
neglect the diet entirely ; but all fastidious and pedantic observ-
ance of our dietetic rules is unnecessary.

                       Section 112.
    In acute diseases  it is important to keep a rigorous  diet.
 Patients do  not  care  much  about nourishment in those dis- 
 192      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

 eases, and find  it therefore very easy to comply with the
 strictest  dietetic  rules.   Coffee, tea,  wine, spices, and any
 thing  that has  medicinal  properties,  have  to  be avoided.
 Meat can scarcely ever be allowed.   Barley and oatmeal
 gruel, which  has been recommended by  Hippocrates  much
 too generally,  is not always  suitable, particularly in gastric af-
 fections where slimy and nutritious substances lie heavy on the
 stomach.   The old rule, sequere naturam, is the best in  acute
 maladies.  If  there be an aversion to food, let the patient do
 without it until he feels a desire for it.  This rule is likewise
 applicable to beverages.  Nothing is more cruel than to let a
 patient  suffer  thirst.  Asclepiades denies fever-patients any
 kind  of  drink, and will not even allow them to rinse their
 mouths.   Ancient practitioners generally would not  allow
 drink until the temples became moist and the patient com-
 menced to perspire.  Afterwards when the maxim  prevailed,
 " aut bibere aut  mori," patients were tortured with  drink in
 order to dilute the humors and  to promote the critical  secre-
 tions.  Neither extreme is  proper.  Some people still  dread
 the cold  water, and  deny patients the  use of it as a drink.
 And yet  cold water is the  most refreshing and  most useful
 drink, and is preferable  to any  artificial beverage.  It is only
 in inflammations  of  internal  organs, of  the throat,  lungs,
 stomach, intestinal canal, that cold water might prove hurtful
 by its contractive  property.   Nevertheless  it may even be al-
 lowed in  such diseases, provided the patients will take it by
the spoonful, and will keep it in the mouth  until its  coldness
 shall have abated.  It may be made palatable by mixing with
it a little  raspberry, cherry, or mulberry syrup.  Water acidu-
lated with vinegar can scarcely ever  be  allowed in acute dis-
eases, inasmuch as vinegar counteracts many of our medicines.
In acute fevers where  the tongue and lips are parched, and the
teeth  have become  black,  the  patient, if he should  crave
something refreshing, may take a teaspoonful of a mixture  of
orgeat and the juice of cherries, mulberries or sweet oranges;
this composition is exceedingly  refreshing, and does not coun-
teract the medicine.  Lemonade  may be  allowed in  some
cases.  In diseases of long  duration the patient  ought  to be
allowed various beverages, lest he should get tired of using the
same beverage all the  time.  There are  many kinds  of  plea-
sant drinks which the patient may be allowed, such as a de-
coction of  dried  apples or peaches,  a lemonade  prepared of
sweet oranges or of the recently expressed juice of ripe grapes,
a decoction of dried  cherries or plums, a  simple  panado. or-
geat,  buttermilk,  water and milk,  etc.   Among  the  lower 
         ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.      193

classes there is a prejudice that patients ought not to be washed,
and yet cleanliness is of the  utmost importance.  It depends
upon circumstances whether  the  patient ought to be washed
with cold or warm water.   Fresh  air is likewise necessary ;
it may be let into the sick-room by carefully opening the win-
dow, or by means of ventilators.   Fumigations of any kind
are to be interdicted.
   Wherever  circumstances  permit, the patient  ought to  be
kept in  a high and  spacious room, the linen ought to be fre-
quently changed, and quiet, with careful nursing, ought never
to be wanting.


                      Section 113.

   In chronic diseases there is less occasion for  a strict  diet.
However the rules should  be  precise and adapted to the con-
dition of the patient.  The  following  general rules will  be
found sufficient.
   1. Alter the patient's mode of life as little as  possible, par-
ticularly in relation to things to which the patient had been
accustomed for years past. Generally such things have ceased
to be hurtful.   Most patients  find it particularly difficult to  do
without coffee,  for which it is difficult to find  a substitute, par-
ticularly in persons inclining  to costiveness.  This is generally
relieved by coffee, and  becomes very  troublesome  when the
use of coffee is  stopped.  Pure milk does not agree with many
people.   Chocolate  without  spice, which  is  generally substi-
tuted for coffee, is apt to occasion bloatedness, a feeling of full-
ness, and constipation ; moreover it becomes soon disagreeable.
Coffee made of parched rye,  corn, or  barley, is too unsavory
for dainty palates, and not sufficiently stimulating for spoiled
stomachs.  A mixture of corn-coffee  and chocolate without
spice is not very unpleasant.  Many patients content them-
selves with  a  little  broth  in the  place of coffee.  In many
cases the use of coffee may  be continued, but it ought to  be
taken a little  weaker than  ordinarily. The same  may  be
said of brandy and wine; they ought to be perfectly pure,
without any admixture  of caroway, aroma or  sulphur.  A
little pure  weak hop-beer may be allowed  if the  patient be
used to it.  Tea has many medicinal properties, and can only
be allowed with certain restrictions.   Green or black tea may
be used indiscriminately.   Midder has shown that both kinds
of tea are  of the same plant, and that the difference in color
arises from the fact that the drying of the darker tea is carried
on more precipitately.
                            13 
j 94      ORGANON OF THE SPECIFIC HEALING ART.

   Meat should not be forbidden, if it be not otherwise contrary
to the patient or the disease.  Even pork and goose-flesh may
be allowed in some cases.  Young meat is less  nourishing
than the boiled or roast meat of older animals.  Veal-soup oc-
casions diarrhoea, and mutton-soup costiveness in may cases ;
the physician will have to allow or forbid either accordingly.
   Perfumes and medicinal tooth-powders have to be discon-
tinued.  Moderate smoking may be allowed, but  neither im-
mediately before nor immediately after  taking the medicine.
Snuff is generally mixed with aromatic substances, and should
therefore not be used.
   If infants at  the breast are under treatment, their nurses
have to observe a most rigorous diet, on account of the milk
being so easily affected by heterogeneous substances.  In other
respects, patients  should  be very regular  in  all their habits,
washing and sleeping, exercise, warm or light clothing, etc.
   2. The diet which is once prescribed for the patient should
never be departed from.   The patient should never be allowed
to take any thing by way of exception.
   3. Every thing which has a tendency to prolong or excite
the disease, should  be  carefully removed from  the  patient's
presence.   Excesses of any kind have to be avoided.  What-
ever disagrees with the  patient should  likewise be avoided.
Fat and salt meat, pork and goose-flesh,  should not be tasted
by any who are treated for cutaneous eruptions.
   4. Whatever interferes with the action of a remedy has  to
be avoided.  Acids, for instance, neutralize Aconite, Kali, Na-
trum, and Ammonium.  The action of Belladonna is increased
by vinegar, that of Sepia by milk (according to Dufresne), that
of Alumina by potatoes, etc.  Whenever a particular organ is
to be acted upon, every kind of nourishment which has a spe-
cific influence upon the same organ, should be omitted.  As-
paragus, parsley, and celery, are  to  be prohibited during  the
use of diuretics. 
NOTE  TO  THE  READER.
   The publication of this number of the Homozopathic  Examiner
has been delayed for an unusual length of time.  The object of this
delay has been to enable me to  complete the translation of Rau's Or-
ganon, and to lay it before the profession as a  welcome and useful ad-
dition to our American homoeopathic literature.  The essay " on the
present internal condition of the  Homoeopathic  School," will be sent to
all the subscribers of the Examiner in a few weeks;  it will be printed
on the same paper and have the same  form as the  Examiner.   The
publication of Jahr's new work, and my daily professional business,
have likewise engrossed  so much of my time, that scarcely any time
was left for Rau.
   I shall not examine the merits of Rau's work in this note.  That ex-
amination will  be  attended to in my essay.  In general terms  I will
here state, however, that I consider Rau's work a valuable production,
embodying much thought, much useful information, and a spiritof deep
and independent research, which does honor to the author, and marks
him as one of the most cultivated thinkers of our school, and a physi-
cian of sound heart and judgment.   When Rau's work first appeared,
a hue and cry was raised against it by a few timid and somewhat con-
ceited men, who considered themselves the infallible  representatives
of pure homoeopathy.  But the  time is  fast approaching when Rau's
effort to secure  homoeopathy an  independent position in the  realm  of
science, will be gratefully acknowledged.   I am free to say, however.
that I do not approve of all of Rau's conclusions ; at the same time, I
honor his manly independence,  and the philosophical character  of his
reasoning.
    Rau's work  is an excellent publication to be placed in the hands  of
Alloeopathic physicians who wish to make themselves acquainted with
the principles of homoeopathy. It may be considered a transition-link be-
tween the ordinary text-books on Medicine and Hahnemann's Organon.
Rau's Organon is a philosophical and argumentative exposition of the
principles and practice of homoeopathy.  If such a man as Rau were
living in the midst of us, we would most probably avail  ourselves with
eagerness of the opportunity of discussing with him the great question
of Medical  Reform.  Why then should we not read his works with
becoming attention 1  All thinking members of the Profession will, and
will be amply rewarded for their trouble, by the suggestive richness of
 Rau's thoughtful and comprehensive mind.
                                     CHARLES J. HEMPEL.
    New- York, 95 Spring-street. 
CONTENTS  OF RAU'S ORGANON.
The Author's Preface,
INTRODUCTION.
Object of medicine.   ....
Party-spirit in medicine,  .
Value of systems,     ....
Character of Hippocratic medicine,
Empirical  treatment of disease, its difficulty,
Character  of ancient medicine,
Idealism in medicine, ....
Analytical method,
Iatro-physical, or mechanical school,
Chemiatrical, or chemical school,       .
Solidism and humoralism,
Dynamic school,   ....
Brown's theory,      ....
Rasori's theory,   •
Pathological alteration of organs,
On the alteration of humors,
Changes in the blood,        ,      .      .       .      .
Classification of the phenomena of life under three heads : forma
  tion (reproduction), motion, sensation,
Remarks on rational treatment;  is the homoeopathic treatment
  rational ?.......
Fixed ideas of physicians,       .....
Danger of curative treatment,      ....
Antipathic, or enanthiopathic method,   ....
Revulsive method,   ......
 Specific method,  .......
Is the study of the old school system of treatment rendered unne
  cessary by a knowledge of the homoeopathic treatment 1
What is a system 1      ......
Characteristics of a true system :
    (1.) The principle which unites the different parts of a doc
          trine must be true,       .      .
    (2.) The different parts of the system must likewise be true,
The materials which Hahnemann has made use of in his system
  have  only been drawn from two  fields of science, nosography
  and pharmacodynamics,    ......
Uncertainty of medicine,  ......
PAGE
   3
34
35 
CONTENTS.
197
                   PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY.

Self-preservation is the first and most remarkable manifestation of
  individual life,      .      .       ,      .      .       .      .37
The tendency  of the individual life to preserve its individuality,
  manifests itself by opposing the surrounding influences of nature,  37
The mode in which the individual life opposes the surrounding in-
  fluences of nature, depends upon the more or less perfect organ-
  ization of the individual,   .       .      .      .       .      .38
Health  is the integral action of the vital functions, which has for
  its object the preservation of the individual,      .       .      .39
The principal condition of health is a normal state of the organism,   39
Disease is an abnormal vital  process which does not correspond to
  the true development of the individual,   .      .       .      .40
Disease results from the cessation of the normal state of the vital
  activity,     .      .       .      .      .       .      -      .42
The different forms of disease are  determined by the laws which
  control the manifestations of vitality,      .      .       .      .45
Every disease is originally local, .....      49
It is expedient to designate by particular  names certain morbid
  conditions which are characterized by particular symptoms,    .   52
Hahnemann's opinion of disease  .....      58
Psora, syphilis, sycosis,       .      .      .       .      .      .58
Hahnemann's psora-doctrine does not affect the homoeopathic doc-
  trine,        .      .       .      .      .       .       .      .63
Danger of the external treatment of cutaneous  diseases,       .      64
Examination of Hahnemann's opinions on syphilitic infection,    .   67
Character of sycosic excrescences,      ....      68
Classification of gonorrhoea,   .      -      .       .      .      .69
On latent syphilis,        .      .       .      .      .      .  69, 70
Hahnemann's reasons for restricting the origin of chronic maladies
  to psora, syphilis, and sycosis,     .      .       .      .      .71
Good results of the psora-doctrine,       ....      74
The division of diseases into acute and chronic is of very little use
  in practice,   .      .       .      .      .       ,      .      .75
Disease becomes manifest by reaction, the same as life,      .      76
The reaction of the organism against external influences is of dif-
  ferent kinds,     .......      78
Different kinds  of reaction on the part of the organism against ex-
  ternal influences:
    (1.) Direct and entire opposition to those influences,  .      .   79
    (2.) Reactions differing  from those of the vital force  in its
          normal state.      .      .      .       .      .      .81
    (3.) Reactions that  are  in  polaric opposition to the action of
          noxious agents,   .      .      .       .      .      .   81
The continuance of the morbid condition depends—
    (a) Upon a continuance of the external morbific agents,     .   81
    (6) Upon the continuance of the internal cause,   .     .      83
Division of diseases into dynamic and somatic,      .      .      .83
The dynamic alteration, or violation of the vital force, may be of
  various kinds,      .       .      .      .       ,      .      .83
The continuance of a disease frequently depends upon abnormal
  local changes,      .       •      .      .       .      .      .84 
198
CONTENTS.
Another cause of the continuance of a disease is the absence of a
  dynamic resistance,       .       .      .       .      .       .85
Difference between reaction, counter-action, and curative action, .  89
A crisis is a true vital process,       .      .       .      .       .89
Different kinds of crisis,   .       .      .       .      .      .  ,   90

                 DIAGNOSTICS  AND THERAPEUTICS.

The safety of the treatment depends upon a correct diagnosis,    .  92
Object of diagnosis,      ......     92
The means of diagnosing are :
    (1.)  Etiology, or the doctrine of morbific causes,     .       .  93
    (2.)  Symptomatology, or the doctrine of the symptoms,   .     96
Symptoms are the external, objective manifestation of the morbid
  process which is taking place  in the internal organism, .       .  99
To  form  a correct  diagnosis we have to employ  every available
  and requisite means,       .       .      .       .      .       .99
It is of especial importance—
    (1.)  To ascertain the  influences by which the  disease has
          been occasioned,  .       .      .       .      .       .99
    (2.)  To observe the ruling character or disposition of disease.
          " genius of disease,"      ..... 102
    (3.)  To know the history of the case,       .      .       .    102
    (4.)  To notice  the influences which  are injurious  or advan-
          tageous to the patient,    ..... 103
    (5.)  To appreciate the existing symptoms,  .      .      .    104
    (6.)  To institute a correct examination of the patient,       . 104
Observations on Hahnemann's mode of examining  the patient,   . 105
In examining the patient we have to consider:
    (1.)  The condition of the sensitive sphere,     .      .       . 106
    (2.)  The symptoms  of the irritable sphere,  .      .      .    108
    (3.)  The "symptoms  of the reproductive system,      .       . 109
        (a) Digestive functions,       ....    109
        (b) Respiration,    ...... 109
        (c) Abnormal metamorphosis generally,     .      .    110
Essential and non-essential symptoms,     .... 112
The highest object of therapeutics is to remove every symptom of
  the disease,  .      .       .       .      .       .      .       .113
The science of therapeutics is based upon a knowledge of the ob-
  ject of cure, and of the remedial agents,  .... 114
Causes of the incompleteness of our knowledge of the effects of
  drugs,       .      .       .       .      .       .      .       . 116
Observations on the mixing of drugs,   ....    118
Method of preparing homoeopathic remedies,       .      .       .120
The principal object in the preparation of homoeopathic remedies,
  is to divide and dilute them,       ..... 120
It is an undeniable fact that the  medicinal virtues of drugs are de-
  veloped by dividing or breaking up their substance,    .       . 121
Dynamization,     .......    123
It is important that the quality of our remedies  should not be sub-
  ject to  changes,    ....... 126
The proving of drugs upon the healthy is of the utmost importance, 129
The provings have to be frequently repeated,      .      .       .130
The provings must be instituted on males and females,        .    130 
CONTENTS.
199
The provings must be instituted on persons of different ages,     .  130
It is advisable to observe the temperaments and dispositions of the
  prg/vers,     .       .      .       .      .       _      <        i^O
The effects of drugs have to be observed in all possible conditions
  and circumstances,  .                                       #  ^31
Provers of drugs must enjoy good health at the time of proving,  '.  131
The action of the drug  must  be as little as possible disturbed by
  heterogeneous influences,  ....             .  131
Drugs must be taken in sufficiently large doses to make their pri-
  mary effects distinctly perceptible,       ....  132
To have a perfect  knowledge of the effects of drugs, we must be
  acquainted with the dynamic alteration produced by them in the
  organism,   ........   132
The order in which the symptoms  make their appearance  should
  be particularly noticed,    ......  132
It is equally  important to observe the effects which medicines have
  on particular organs,      ......  133
It is of importance to investigate the mode in which medicines act
  dynamically,       .......  133
We do not yet possess a true science of pharmacodynamics.     .  134
Rules for obtaining a certainty in regard to the effects of drugs,   .  134
If we are well acquainted with the primary effects of drugs upon
  the healthy, we are able to determine the range and nature of
  their curative powers,      .       .      .       .      .       .136
The object of treatment is to completely remove the disease,     .  137
First general therapeutic  rule—remove all morbific influences,    .  138
Internal morbific influences ought likewise to be removed,     .    139
Second therapeutic rule—remove the abnormal dynamic conditions, 143
Causes which make the Galenian treatment of disease  unsafe and
  even dangerous,     ....... 144
Natural method of treating diseases,    ....    146
The principle "similia similibus''  has  been followed in practice
  from time immemorial,     ...... 149
Select a remedy which is capable of producing in the healthy or-
  ganism an affection similar to the disease which is to be cured,   151
Objections which have been raised against the homoeopathic law as
  a principle,       .      .      .      .       .      .      .   152
In homoeopathic  treatment we require to exhibit agents the effects
  of which upon the healthy organism are as similar as possible to
  the character of the disease,       ..... 154
Difficulty of treating diseases by the mere symptoms,   .      .    155
The curative efforts of nature ought to be assisted, not arrested,   156
What is to be done if the  pathological character of the disease be
  unknown,    ........ 160
Isopathic method,  ......      .    163
A tew remarks on the treatment of acute and chronic diseases,   . 165
Treatment of inflammatory diseases,     ....    166
What is inflammation ?...... 168
When is bleeding proper 1  .           .      .      .      .    173
Treatment of mental diseases,      ..... 174
Treatment of complicated diseases,      .      .      .      .    175
Treatment to be pursued in cases of swoons, apparent death,     . 176
Derivative method,       ......    177
Magnitude of the dose,       .      .     .      .       .      .178 
200
CONTENTS.
 When the organism  is exceedingly sensitive smaller doses are
  required,    .      .      .      .       .      .       .       . 179
 The following points have to be considered in determining the dose :
        Age,.......179
        Constitution,     ......    179
        Nature of the disease,      ..... 179
        Seat of the disease,                  ,                  181
        Inherent strength of the medicine,  .... 182
        Affinity of medicines for single organs.        .      .    182
        Idiosyncracies,      ...... 182
        In some cases small doses have no effect,      .     .    182
Repetition of the dose,       ...... 183
On homoeopathic aggravations,  .....    185
When should the medicine be taken ?       .      .       .      . 188
Palliative treatment,      ......     188
Diet,   .      .       .      .      .      .      .             . 190 
 


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