88  The  American  Materia  Medica.  {kfJ™r*^™' 
eclecticism  to  the  school  of  Barton.  Some  remedies  developed  by 
the  rivals  of  the  school  with  which  Barton  affiliated  had  also  become 
established,  in  many  cases,  the  world  over.  To  such  an  extent  was 
this  true  as  to  have  given  (about  i860)  to  the  major  number  of 
American  remedies  of  the  eclectics  the  name,  "  eclectic  medicines." 
Advent  of  Homceopathy. — Let  us  now  consider  a  phase  of  the 
American  materia  medica  as  yet  neglected  but  of  more  than  a  little 
consequence.  This  was  the  advent  of  homoeopathy  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  last  century.  The  homceopathists  believed  in  kindness 
to  the  sick  and  practised  it.  They  believed  in  sanitary  methods 
and  in  good  nursing,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  these  precepts  were 
enforced.  They  believed  in  cleanliness  and  made  this  one  of  the 
tenets  of  their  practice.  They  believed  in  small  doses,  even  unto 
what,  in  the  opinion  of  the  other  schools,  was  mathematical  exter- 
mination of  a  remedy.  These -together  constitute  some  phases  of 
preventive  medication.  Such  as  this  appealed  to  many  of  the  more 
cultured  portions  of  the  people,  who,  in  the  face  of  ridicule,  gave 
the  homoeopathic  physician  a  hearing.  About  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  the  influence  exerted  by  the  homceopathist  was  certainly 
greater  than  was* 'appreciated  by  those  involved  in  other  directions 
in  medicine.  Indeed,  it  is  questionable  whether  homoeopathy  has 
been,  even  to  the  present  day,  credited  with  its  due  part  as  concerns 
the  extermination  of  the  conspicuous  barbarisms  connected  with  the 
overdosing  and  underfeeding  of  those  days,  and  its  attendant  evils. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  advent  of  homoeopathy  at  the  beginning  of  the 
last -century  wa-s— considered-  so  unimportant  and  their  beliefs  so 
chimerical  as  to  have  attracted  little  attention  other  than  passing 
ridicule  from  any  of  the  active  forces  we  have  mentioned.  The 
chief  antagonism  against  homceopathy  came  from  those  who  had 
no  conceptions  of  preventive  processes  but  who  believed  that  the 
value  of  medication  consisted  in  heavy,  materialistic  sledge-hammer 
doses.  By  such,  it  was  felt  that  homceopathy  meant  an  abandon- 
ment of  the  afflicted  to  the  enemy,  disease.  Those  who  advocated 
homoeopathy  were  naturally  thrown  into  the  class  of  charlatans  and 
quacks.  Their  opposition  to  heroic  measures  was  considered  as  a 
neglect  of  the  patient,  while  the  theory  of  attenuations  was  incom- 
prehensible. Nor  was  this  view  of  the  methods  of  the  homceopa- 
thists restricted  altogether  to  the  dominant  school,  for  the  eclectics 
and  the  Thomsonians  differed  from  the  homceopathists  as  concerns 
dosage  about  as  much  as  did  the  regulars.    A  common  cause,  how- 
