REVIEWS. 
221 
are homoeopathic remedies for thick wind ; yet none of these, not even all 
of them together, produce thick wind. Aurum, arsenicum, bromine, and 
various other substances, are given in glanders, farcy, and consumption ; yet 
none of these, nor indeed, any other medicine, is known to cause any such 
complaints. Even cinchona — one of the most favorite illustrations of the 
homoeopathic anxiom, and that which first led Hahnemann to the discovery 
of the so-called universal and infallible law — does not cause, in the great 
majority of cases, any symptoms at all analogous to fever, and never produces 
the intermittent fever which characterises ague. Lemon juice cures but 
does not produce scurvy. Iodine removes glandular enlargements, but does 
not cause anything at all analogous to them. Aconite, when given in allo- 
pathic doses, reduces the pulse and counteracts inflammation, but fails 
entirely to cause plethora or inflammation in healthy individuals. Numerous 
other examples, equally pertinent, might be given, showing as clearly as pos- 
sible, that the so-called facts, on which the whole system of homoeopathy is 
based, are no facts at all. Any deductions or generalisations drawn from these 
facts must therefore, of course, be quite untenable. Were the doctrines of 
Hahnemann sound and true, all medicines which cause symptoms similar to 
any particular disease must, in certain small doses, be safe and effectual for 
curing that disease. But this is certainly not the case. Purgatives cause 
diarrhoea, but do not usually check it ; diuretics cause diuresis and inflam- 
mation of the kidneys, but do not stop either ; and in the same way it might 
be said that alcohol should cure intoxication because it causes it ! 
“ If the principles or foundations of homoeopathy be false and imperfect, 
as I have endeavoured to show, the superstructure based on such a founda- 
tion cannot be otherwise than weak and tottering. The following important 
facts and doctrines of homoeopathy, exhibit more clearly than any arguments 
the extravagancies and inconsistencies of the system : — The homoeopathic 
doses are so small that they are often undetectible 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 with- 
out inconvenience, but in disease the system is believed to become so sus- 
ceptible of their action, that much risk is incurred by their insufficient 
dilution. Medicines, such as charcoal, sand, and carbonate of lime, which, 
in ordinary doses of several scruples or drachms, have only a slight mechanical 
effect, when given in fractional parts of a grain, are thought to produce very 
powerful effects and cause many hundred symptoms. Charcoal, for example, 
is said, when given to a man in very minute doses, to produce 930 distinct 
symptoms; oyster shell, 1090 symptoms; and the ink of the cuttle-fish, 
1242 symptoms. The extraordinary powers supposed to be conferred on 
these and other medicines, even when given in doses of inconceivable minute- 
ness, are chiefly ascribed to the magic influence of careful and continued 
triturations and often repeated shakings, performed according to most pre- 
cise directions. Little difference of activity is believed to exist between 
different dilutions of the same medicine ; and it is said, that if the medicine 
be well selected, it matters little whether the tenth, hundredth, or thou- 
sandth of a grain be used. There is probably some truth in this observation; 
for, with most medicines, especially when administered to the lower animals, 
all the dilutions mentioned would be equally harmless. The admixture of 
different medicines with one another, is said to neutralise the effect of all ; 
but, if this be the case, homoeopathic drugs must always be without effect 
(which is very probable), for all medicines contain adulterations and im- 
purities, which, though small in amount, must of course acquire great 
potency by the triturations above mentioned. 
“But homoeopathists assert that, in spite of the errors which their oppo- 
