MR. FINLAY DUN ON HOMOEOPATHY. 
251 
pathy to be, proceeds very leisurely to destroy all belief in 
its practical results : he tells us that the law of cure “ is 
unsupported by adequate facts and arguments, and is quite 
insufficient to account for the action of most remedies.” 
Second. — “ Oil of turpentine,” says our author, 66 destroys 
lumbrici and other intestinal worms ; but no one will assert 
that it is capable of producing such parasites in what doses 
soever it may be given. Sulphur is notoriously one of the best 
remedies for removing lice and many skin diseases, but does 
not produce either. Arsenic, iodine, and belladonna, 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 illus- 
trations of the homoeopathic maxim, 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 produce anything at all 
analogous to them. Aconite, when given in allopathic doses, 
reduces the pulse and counteracts inflammation, but fails 
entirely to cause plethora or inflammation in healthy indi- 
viduals. Numerous other examples, equally pertinent, might 
be given, showing as clearly as possible that the so-called 
facts, on which the whole system of homoeopathy is based, are 
no facts at all. Any deductions or generalizations, drawn 
from these facts, must, therefore, of course, be quite 
untenable . 55 * * # * * 
“ Purgatives cause diarrhoea, but do not usually check it ; 
diuretics cause diuresis and inflammation 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.” 
I could proceed thus, Mr. Editor, and quote other portions 
from this extraordinary explanation of what homoeopathy is; 
but such a course could not result in any practical good, 
either to Mr. Dun or to the understanding of the reader, I 
shall therefore content myself to deal more briefly with the 
matter, and allow such portions to fall into that oblivion into 
which all errors of a like character must sooner or later 
ultimately pass. I have shown wherein lies the fallacy of 
Mr. Dun’s position ; and having done this, it is not incumbent 
upon me to enter into further detail. I cannot conclude, 
