Letter to the physicians of France on homoeopathy / by Count Des Guidi ; translated from the French, by William Channing.

  • Sébastien Des Guidi
Date:
1834
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter to the physicians of France on homoeopathy / by Count Des Guidi ; translated from the French, by William Channing. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    the art, of all the arts, of all things here below. It is by virtue of these laws that a medical innovation, far from advancing in proportion to its utility and its popular success, rather finds these very circumstances capable within certain limits, of retarding its progress. So long as an innovation of this kind has not originated in some Academy of Science, is not sustained by some acknowledged Cor- porate Authority, he who presents it to the public, whether in- ventor or propagator, almost uniformly draws down upon it that first degree of dislike which often, without our knowledge, preju- dices us against whatever comes from our rivals or our inferiors. Professor Pinel never mentioned pectoral percussion in his clin- ical lectures; his pupils never employed it, at least in his pre- sence. And why? Because Corvisart, as is well known, had especially devoted himself to this means of diagnosis. If the ve- nerable and good Pinel was not beyond the reach of such a weak- ness, which of us will dare to consider himself entirely exempt from it 1 Pinel, in his turn, has scarcely ever been quoted by Corvisart or Portal; Corvisart, Pinel, and many others have not appreciated the work of Broussais, on chronic phlegmasia; Chaussier hardly mentioned Bichat, while he lived, but with a smile; and what did Richerand and Alibert then say of him 1 This is History. Now, quit the heights of science and descend to the humblest hamlet, you will every where trace the same law, and you will unavoidably arrive at the conclusion that the Homoeo- pathist who presents himself with a doctrine and practice so new, cannot, whatever may be his advantages, escape this first degree of disfavor. How must it be then, if while isolated among physicians, he is found suddenly prosperous—surrounded with patients ! I appeal to the consciences of all and to univer- sal history, if so much good fortune will not touch numerous sensibilities, will not too often rouse ungenerous passions, upon which it would be sad for us to dwell. But if the thing went farther, if Homoeopathy finished by in- spiring the public with a deep interest, by carrying with it the opinion of that public, formed as it is of all the social capacities, is it not almost inevitable that more than one physician, driven with violence by the popular wave to this Homoeopathy—despised at first and henceforth odious—abandons himself, perhaps for a long time, to the brutal opposition, the blind hatred of a pride most deeply ulcerated ] Do not think, Gentlemen, of recognizing in this language, any personal, pitiful recriminations with which I might have the in- discretion to entertain you. No ! I speak in the most general, I might say in the most absolute manner: I state what has al- ways happened, what necessarily happens, and what to all ap- pearance will happen for a long time to come. There are very