HOM(EOPATHY. 
93 
ing : the philosopher deduces his theories from established facts, 
the quack builds up his “ facts” on a theoretical foundation. 
The above aphorism of Hippocrates and the analogous ob- 
servation of Shakespeare afford evidence of acute and phi- 
losophical observation; but the same sentiment, distorted by 
Hahnemann into a supposed universal law of nature, involves 
an absurdity which is perfectly ridiculous. 
The doctrine of infinitesimal doses is another absurdity which 
defies both proof and contradiction, since no evidence can be 
deduced from atoms so minute as to elude detection either by 
microscopic examination, or by the most delicate chemical tests. 
If it be the case that the potency of a medicine when triturated, 
secundum arlem, increases in proportion to its dilution, then it 
would follow that the maximum intensity is attained at “zero,” 
that is to say, when the quantity is reduced to nothing. 
The “ vis medica/rix naturce” is the sheet-anchor of homoeo- 
paths, and, if they had the candour to confess this fact, the 
ground-work of their theory might admit of demonstration. 
This, however, would not suit their purpose. The inventor of 
infinitesimal sugar-plums was an acute observer of human na- 
ture, and he knew the value of mystery as a vehicle of imposi- 
tion. Like the priest who pretended to exhibit a hair from the 
head of the Virgin Mary, which during forty years he had never 
seen himself, this arch quack relied on the imagination of his 
dupes, and suited the size of the dose to the amount of their 
understanding. 
Another artifice of the homoeopaths relates to the regulation 
of the diet; and this is ostensibly founded not on the applicability 
of the prescribed regimen to the physical state of the patient, 
but on the alleged interference of certain kinds of food with the 
action of the medicine. 
Thus the infinitesimal sugar-plum is the talisman which rivets 
the imagination and enchains the reason of the patients; it is 
the charm which reduces them to insane credulity, and conse- 
quent implicit obedience. 
When cases arise in which the vis medicatrix naturce is not 
adequate to the cure of the disease, a variety of tricks are 
resorted to for the purpose of obtaining the aid of medicine, 
without unmasking the sugar-plum imposition. Sometimes 
strong medicines — morphia*, strychnia, &c. — are administered 
in appreciable doses, the patient not being aware of the fact. 
Sometimes patients are permitted to take purgatives or other 
medicines on their own responsibility, the quack pretending to 
protest against the practice, and administering a globule pro- 
* Dr. Taylor has found as much as one-third of a grain of morphia in a 
powder professedly homoeopathic. 
VOL. XXIV. 
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