What is homoeopathy? : A new exposition of a great truth ... / By William H. Holcombe, M.D.

  • William Henry Holcombe
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: What is homoeopathy? : A new exposition of a great truth ... / By William H. Holcombe, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    It has saved thousands of cases from surgical operations, and has introduced new comfort and safety into the lying-in room of woman. It has been a blessing to children and to mothers incalculable. It has been found as useful in the diseases of animals as of men, and many veterinary institutions have been established for its practice. Finally, it has shortened the average duration of disease, di- minished the expense of treatment, economized the vital resources of the patient, and delivered its friends from the frequently bane- ful and long-lasting eifects of enormous doses of medicine. ELEMENTS OF EECONCILIATION. With all these inherent advantages and elements of success, who behoves that Homoeopathy can ever be destroyed by any thing its enemies may say or do ? On the other hand, what a pity it is, that with so much neutral ground to stand upon, and so much real harmony beneath the outward show of total dissimilar- ity : what a pity it is, that there should be two great rival schools of medicine, jarring and jangling, and foolishly abusing, each other! It is the fault of both. Hahnemann was a great and high spirited regular physician, and he published his first ho- moeopathic teachings in the best medical journal in Europe. He was met by that storm of opposition, ridicule, and contempt with which mediocre conservatism always assails the Columbuses, the Luthers, the Harveys, the Jenners, the Fultons of our race. He became exasperated and ^-dogmatic, and henceforth aspired to found a New School, as different from the other as possible. ISTo great reformer ever imposed the despotism of the master so thor- oughly on his disciples. This generation, however, is getting rid of it; Hahnemann is falling back to a subordinate place; and Homoeopathy reformed, emancipated, and rationalized, is estab- lished on a stronger and more scientific basis than ever. Whilst the Homceopathists are no longer Hahnemannians, the Old School is approaching to Homoeopathy with rapid strides. They haye decreased their doses in the most exemplary manner. They have acquired more knowledge of the natural history of disease, and more respect for a purely expectant medicine. Their acknowledgment of the homoeopathic law is extending, and vol- umes of good Homoeopathy might be picked out of their ]3nb- lished practice* They have even formed societies to ascertain the true effect of drugs by experimenting on themselves, in imitation
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