588 ATROPHY OF THE MUSCLES OF THE HIND QUARTERS. 
stantlv this inquiry is evaded; absolute results obtained 
by the experimenter being constantly met by the remark, 
that the agents used were not prepared by the homoeopathic 
chemist—a circumstance which we presume would have 
equally affected the original experiments, which, nevertheless, 
did not prevent the development of the “ characteristic indi¬ 
cation s. ,? To wade through the whole collection of medicines 
would be an endless and a useless task. We have tried the 
most important, as ordinarily prepared, and, upon the plan of 
the homoeopathist, we have experimented upon ourselves and 
upon the lower animals ; and with a prejudice in favour of 
the system that has exposed us to some little banter, we have 
been forced to the conclusion that the agents do not produce 
the effects on the healthy animal that have been and are 
ascribed to them. This result we cannot escape from: no lauda¬ 
tions of the practice, or exaltation of the successes obtained, can 
cover the error on which the whole system is built. We do 
not assert the entire homoeopathic practice may not be su¬ 
perior to the entire allopathic practice; but we are driven 
to the conviction that its superiority is not due to the action 
of the medicinal agents used. Whether or no it is a law 
that “dike is cured by like,” we deem it impossible to show, 
until we definitely prove the similarity of medicinal indi¬ 
cation and symptom of disease. 
The allopathic system rests on no assumptions, nor does 
it generally claim for its agents actions which are difficult 
to demonstrate, without discussing the more subtle phases 
of medicinal action. We may fairly assert that the system is 
founded on the simple law that diseases are cured by agents 
capable of producing an opposite condition of the system. 
Whatever may be the defects of the science—however unsa¬ 
tisfactory its practice—its application is productive of positive 
effects; and in the absence of a system absolutely infallible, 
we are justified in accepting it. 
(To he continued .) 
CASE OF ATROPHY OF THE MUSCLES OF THE 
HIND QUARTERS.—TETANUS.—DEATH. 
By J. Bretherton, M.R.C.Y.S., Calcutta. 
Ox the 10th July, 18.59, a brown stud-bred mare, the pro¬ 
perty of a merchant of this city, was admitted into my hos¬ 
pital, to be treated for lameness of the near hind leg. On 
