Homoeopathy : its nature and relative value / by Archibald Reith ; with an appendix by D. Dyce Brown.
- Date:
- 1868
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Homoeopathy : its nature and relative value / by Archibald Reith ; with an appendix by D. Dyce Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![oaii be- effe(&tetlj 'till tJiabjHomceopeybhyi OBseTfcBiis^thafc/i wlim*^ ever it is' applicable^ it- affi&Kk'abettG'i chance of-recovery' than either the drugging: or the clo-hotihing byistem.: -■•'fic-' - ' ■ 3. The main objection to'Homoeopathy, however, is tli^e much-abused infiiiitesimar dose.' We hear of' putting-'a drop into oneiend dfi a lake, and taking'd- M^ine glassftil for a dose at the othsir.- iTho^ who'speak-in'this'wray 'knQW very little of what they profess to ridicule. Hahnemann's' highest dilution requires only six ounces of spirit, and half an ounce is 'all that is necessary for the ordinary diliitibil^ in common use- The absuMityiof comparing the dose td'ia' drop thrown into the sea-is: self-evident; no one co'uUl' employ such a simile who is not' totally ignorant of thi^ subject. To prevent misunderstanding,^ I must here repeftt' emphatically, that Homceoixathyis' a 'prindflCj not a 'doser;- the principle, namely,' of selecting fdr the cnve of 'disefe!^^^ medicines which produce on the healthy body'symj)to'm,4 resembling'those of the existing malady. The amount of the ^ dose is entirely a question of experience. All that ia contended for is, not that it shall be infinitesimal, but thai! it must be less than will produce agf^'ravation of the syi'iip-' toms. Hahnemann's early cures were made by material doses; and a large . proportion of Hmnoeo]')athic practice' carried on by very'substantial quantities ■ of medicine,'Cfli-e only being taken that they fall short of aggTavation. M-i finitesimalism arosfe, as: i said befoT^, from the observation: of Hahnemann that itii some cases the symptoms were made Avorse eveU 'by lids sailhll material doses> which he acCoi'di-' ingly reduced, till he reached the'point where aggravation ceased. His theory of- dynamisation, or |)otentisatioti, has now been justly abandoned by his ■ followers-as untenable; and they mostly agree tliat there • is a^ tpoint' beyond which the infinitesimal 4ose becomes inett; ■'Ths' !opiniong* of the true enlightened Homoeopathic practitioner may be thus summed up :—Some diseases ai'^e cured by material do^es-; others require vfery minute,: so^dalied infinitesimal doses;](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21911101_0041.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
