40 HOMOEOPATHY 



and its votaries declare that diseases are to be treated by 

 small doses of such medicines as in large doses produce 

 symptoms similar to the disease to be cured. The patho- 

 logical conditions which underlie and produce the symptoms, 

 and which a rational cure generally aims if possible at re- 

 moving, are ignored. The homoeopathic dictum of similia 

 similibus curantur does not bear investigation ; at best it 

 is only capable of narrow and occasional acceptance. The 

 symptoms of ague and intermittent fever are certainly 

 similar to those produced by cinchona bark, which is an 

 accepted cure for ague, and the illustration on which 



it is only in a few exceptional cases that any similarity can be detected 

 between the symptoms produced by large doses of the remedy and those of 

 the disease for which it is given. No known medicines, for example, are 

 capable of developing symptoms such as those of thick-wind, roaring, 

 pleurisy, strangles, distemper, or rabies, yet fifteen or twenty remedies are 

 prescribed homoeopathically for each of these diseases. 



Mr. Dudgeon's translation of the Organon of Medicine states that, ' the 

 symptoms of each individual case of disease must be the sole indication, the 

 sole guide to direct us in the choice of a curative remedy.' Now, symptoms, 

 although sometimes requiring special treatment, are but the visible signs 

 and results of derangement and disease ; whilst their removal, which is all 

 that is aimed at in homoeopathic treatment, does not always ensure the 

 removal of the conditions on which they depend. Thus, rheumatism, pleurisy, 

 enteritis, worms, and many other disorders, frequently remain unchecked 

 after the symptoms have been relieved. Instead of thus vainly attempting 

 the removal of symptoms, it were therefore more rational to remove at once 

 the morbid condition the source of the evil. No curative system directing 

 its efforts, as homoeopathy does, merely against the symptoms of disease, 

 can ever rest upon a safe or scientific basis ; for it is notorious that, under 

 varying modifying influences, the same diseases sometimes induce very 

 dissimilar symptoms, and would consequently, according to this system, 

 require dissimilar treatment. On the other hand, diseases essentially 

 different sometimes manifest similar symptoms. Thus, stupor and vertigo 

 result sometimes from an excessive and sometimes from a deficient quantity 

 of blood sent to the brain ; difficulty of breathing from too much as well as 

 from too little blood circulating through the lungs ; vomiting from irritation 

 of the stomach, or from irritation of the vomiting centre ; diarrhoea from 

 crudities in the alimentary canal, or irritant matters in the blood. 



Not only are the principles on which homoeopathy is said to be based 

 untenable, but the details of the system are inconsistent and ridiculous. 

 The homoeopathic doses are so small that they are often incapable of detection 

 either by the microscope or by chemical analysis, and are sometimes so 

 inconceivably minute that the mind can form no idea of them. It is 

 admitted even by homceopathists, that millions of such doses may be 

 swallowed by a healthy individual without inconvenience : but in disease 

 the body is stated to become so susceptible to their action that much risk 



