276 MODERN MYSTICISM AND MODERN SCIENCE. 



laudable hesitation as a sort of imputation on personal honour 

 the true philosopher gratefully accepts the doubt. He tries 

 to convict his own judgment of that sort of dishonesty to which 

 the great chemist adverts. 



Should these remarks meet the eye of any beginner in 

 the practice of scientific inquiry, one so over-arrogant in his 

 or her conceit as to believe in the possession of that absolute 

 honesty of judgment which Liebig deems impossible, the 

 following anecdote may not come amiss. It is a medical 

 anecdote ; and being such, it will not only serve to illustrate 

 the general proposition, that a certain amount of latent dis- 

 honesty can lurk in well-regulated minds, but to introduce a 

 few remarks touching that somewhat prevalent form of modern 

 mysticism homoeopathy. All educated persons, and a good 

 many of the uneducated, are aware of the quality of Peruvian 

 bark by virtue of which it cures ague or intermittent fever. 

 Furthermore, it is pretty generally known, that the remedial 

 agency of Peruvian bark is attributable to the alkali quina. 

 The latter substance is now, indeed, so usually employed, 

 that the administration of Peruvian bark in bulk is rarely 

 had recourse to. 



Mark, now, the following episode in the history of veget- 

 able chemistry. It so happens, that if tincture of gall-nuts 

 be poured into decoction of Peruvian bark, a peculiar sedi- 

 ment deposits ; and farther, that if decoction of oak bark be 

 poured into a solution of isinglass or gelatine, a deposit occurs 

 similar to the former in all external characteristics. Hence, 

 from the teaching of this evidence, the inference was prema- 

 turely drawn, that Peruvian bark contained the matter of 

 isinglass or gelatine ; farther, that gelatine might be the con- 

 stituent of Peruvian bark to which the antifebrif uge agency 

 should be attributable. 



This hypothesis, if borne out, could not fail to have a 

 very great medical importance. Peruvian bark is costly; 

 the supply of it irregular and uncertain. Gelatine is a home 



