Homœopathy : explained and illustrated / by T. Battye.

  • Battye, Thomas
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Homœopathy : explained and illustrated / by T. Battye. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which three Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians had the charge. One ^ Physician had the top ward, another the middle ward, and the third the low ward. It happened that, on the same day, three young persons of nearly the same age, ill of typhus fever, were admitted into the Hospital. The disease was of equal severity in each, and the stage of complaint the same in all. What was the treatment, think you, pursued in those three cases, by the three Fellows of the College ? Of course it should have been the same, at least if the system be correct; for the Physicians in question would choose the best. But, Sir, it was not the same. He in the top ward bled his patient with lancet and with leeches. He in the middle ward phy¬ sicked his patient with drastic purgatives; and if he saw a large comfortable effect, he gave praise, and was content. He in the low ward, again, gave whisky, wine, and opiates. What was the result of such deplorable freaks ? I refer you to the sta¬ tistic book; I have no doubt you will find it there Again;—“ In the University, formerly, two Professors used to lecture, on alternate days, on clinical medicine. It hap¬ pened that each had, at the same time under his care, an acute case of Pericarditis. The Professor who lectured upon his case on Monday night, said as follows:—‘ Gentlemen,—As to the treatment of this disease, it has been the practice to give large doses of mercury so as to bring the constitution under its action; and, to effect this as rapidly as possible, small quantities of opium are usually combined with it. This practice, I, how¬ ever, believe to be erroneous; for I have observed the progress of disease unchecked, even during profuse salivation. The most efficacious remedy—in fact our sheet-anchor—in this disease, is Tartar Emetic, You will have noticed the large doses I have given of this remedy, and yet the patient seems not to suffer from it. In fact, the constitution in this disease, as in some others, has a remarkable tolerance for Tartar Emetic. When the lecture was finished, I left the Hall, fancying I had learned some great truth, and knew better than an hour before, how to save life. On Wednesday evening, during the same week, in the same Hall, and to the same students, the other Professor lectured. The lecture was devoted to the acute case
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