HOMCEOPATHY. 
94 
fessedly to counteract the prejudicial effect. A paste consisting 
chiefly of aloes has been lately in fashion among the craft. 
Patients taking cod-liver oil in globules, have, in some instances, 
been allowed to take the same remedy in ordinary doses, with 
the assurance, however, that the medicinal effect is attributable 
to the homoeopathic dose, the other acting merely as an article 
of diet. These and other similar subterfuges may be compared 
to the evasion of a man who sells a straw and gives away a 
pamphlet, or to the trick of a conjuror, who pretends to pour 
wines and liqueurs out of an empty bottle. 
Some of the homoeopathic practices are no less disgusting than 
absurd. A friend of ours was lately requested by one of these 
quacks to prepare a tincture of bugs for internal administration. 
This he respectfully declined. To such an extent is the doctrine 
similia similibus curantur carried, that “ syphiline” is admi- 
nistered to patients suffering under secondary syphilis; and 
“ Blennorrhin,” which is gonorrhoeal matter manipulated accord- 
ing to the rules of homoeopathic confectionary, is mentioned in 
the Homoeopathic Archives* as a remedy for gonorrhea and 
gleet. On the same principle the microscopic itch-insect ( aca- 
rus scabiei) might be clad in a cuirass of sugar and administered 
as a cure for the itch. Sulphur, which is the most effectual 
remedy for this disease, is homoeopathically prepared in the form 
of tincture as follows! : — Five grains of sulphur, previously 
washed with spirit, are added to 100 drops of spirit, in a well- 
stopped bottle, which is twice shaken, and allowed to stand in 
a cold place for twenty-four hours. One drop of the supernatant 
liquid is diluted with ninety drops of spirit for the first attenua- 
tion. This is further diluted (one drop to ninety) to the thirtieth 
degree ! 
Jahr’s Nouvelle Pharmacopee Homceopathique, published at 
Paris in 1841, contains, in the list of Materia Medica, various 
disgusting absurdities, among which are lachesis, the poison of 
the rattlesnake ; formica rufa , the red ant ; aranea diadema , a 
species of spider ; rana bufo , the toad ; lacerta agilis, the lizard ; 
scarabceus melonthola , the cockchafer ; viverra puiorius, stink- 
ing polecat, of which the officinal part is the foetid secretion from 
the glands near the anus. The ecrivisses , or fresh-water crabs, 
are directed to be pounded ALIVE in a mortar until reduced to a 
fine paste. This is diluted with about twice its volume of al- 
cohol, then strained, and the liquor preserved for dilution in the 
usual way. Toads, lizards, cockchafers, and other reptiles and 
insects are brayed (alive) in the same manner ! A nice dose for 
the fair denizens of Belgravia ! 
* Published at Leipsic, 1841 . 
f Quin’s Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia. 
