210 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



often very crude. We cannot wonder if many honest, 

 serious, thinking men then turned away in dissatisfaction 

 from medicine, or if they from principle embraced an 

 extreme empiricism." l " But the right kind of work 

 brought forth its fruits much sooner than many had 

 hoped. The introduction of mechanical notions into the 

 theories of circulation and respiration, a better insight 

 into the phenomena of heat, the more minutely elabor- 

 ated physiology of the nerves, speedily produced practical 

 results of the greatest importance ; the microscopical ex- 

 amination of parasitic tissues, the stupendous development 

 of pathological anatomy, led irresistibly from nebulous 

 theories to real facts." And again 2 : "Whilst in the 

 investigation of inorganic nature the different nations of 

 Europe progressed pretty evenly, the recent development 

 of physiology and medicine belongs pre-eminently to 

 Germany. The questions regarding the principle of life 



1 Cf. Helmholtz, ibid., voL ii. 

 p. 178, in his discourse "Ueber das 

 Denken in der Medicin " : "At that 

 time there were many among the 

 younger doctors who, in despair 

 about their science, gave up all 

 therapeutics, and took to empiri- 

 cism, such as was then taught by 

 Rademacher. This on principle 

 regarded as vain all hope of scien- 

 tific insight." Not only the ex- 

 treme empiricism of Rademacher 

 (1772-1850), but still more the wild 

 theories of Hahnemann (1755-1843) 

 found during this age of general 

 unsettlement many followers. See 

 on the origin, the principles, and 

 the spread of homoeopathy, Haser, 

 ' Geschichte der Medicin,' vol. ii. p. 

 793, &c. Hiiser gives the year 1816 

 as the date at which Hahnemann's 

 doctrines began to be accepted in 

 wider circles. "It must not be 



forgotten that the heyday of ho- 

 moeopathy fell in that age when 

 medicine, especially in Germany, 

 was in a very deficient state, so 

 that the accusations raised by 

 Hahnemann and his adherents did 

 not appear quite unfounded. It is 

 even to be admitted that homoeo- 

 pathy has contributed to the re- 

 action through which in our times 

 the regeneration of the art of heal- 

 ing has been brought about, though 

 this would have taken place with- 

 out Hahnemann" (p. 803). Homoeo- 

 pathy has no scientific represen- 

 tative at any of the German 

 universities, and yet it is admitted 

 that it "still enjoys a great repu- 

 tation in some influential circles 

 among the general public" (Hirsch, 

 ' Gesch. d. medicinischen Wissen- 

 schaften,' p. 570). 



2 Helmholtz, loc. cit., vol. i. p. 362. 



