Copy 1, Volume 1

Manual of homœopathic medicine. In two parts. Part I. Materia medica. Part II. Therapeutical and symptomatological repertory ... / By G.H.G. Jahr. Translated from the fourth edition, and edited, with additions, by P.F. Curie.

  • George Heinrich Gottlieb Jahr
Date:
1847
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of homœopathic medicine. In two parts. Part I. Materia medica. Part II. Therapeutical and symptomatological repertory ... / By G.H.G. Jahr. Translated from the fourth edition, and edited, with additions, by P.F. Curie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of subduing them as rapidly as possible. The ill success which fre- quently attended his method of treatment ultimately led to the condemnation of the doctrines of Broussais, although what he taught concerning organic changes each day receives further verification. While some physicians were thus pursuing various modes of prac- tice, others, who watched their contradictions in silence, thought that as all the theories appeared so defective in some points, it would be better to embrace none exclusively, but to choose generally among all. lienee, eclectism originated. Eclectism means, selec- tion.—But where?—In the systems?—They consisted in general propositions illogically deduced from facts erroneously considered, and which could not be received without suspicion. The safer plan was to abandon all preconceived opinions, and to return to those facts which nature is never weary of exhibiting. The researches of eclectism produced sceptics, who believe nothing. “ Science,” say they, “ is impracticable ; no clearness of intellect can unravel the confusion.” This is the language of indo- lence and the resource of mediocrity. Let us regard the sceptic with pity, and proceed. The science of medicine was in this state, when a man more at- tentive, of a strong and independent mind, seeking after the truth for the benefit it would confer on mankind, and sensible that, in order to pursue his investigations with success, it was necessary to leave the beaten path of prejudice, came forward, changed the basis of the science, and promulgated a definite law of therapeutics. Hahnemann elicited from the study of the old materia medica, the important, the invaluable law, that similia similibus curantur. He observed that cinchona possessed the pi'operty of curing the fevers and diseases, the symptoms of which it produces when administered to a subject in the normal state ; and was convinced, moreover, that nothing but facts, and facts derived from nature, could supply him with solid information. He resolved, therefore, to make the experi- ment on healthy individuals, to ascertain whether all medicines did not possess the same double property exhibited by cinchona, leaving it to others to deduce the conclusion that follows from this fact, and the theory that is founded upon it. His labours, and the subsequent applications of his discoveries, were crowned with the most brilliant success. Numerous cures of diseases, which were previously deemed incurable, proved that the basis of practical science must hereafter rest on a materia medica formed according to a new rule. His discoveries complete the circle of medical science. His pre- decessors, by their anatomical and pathological researches, had suc- ceeded in detecting and classifying a great number of the mala- dies which afflict humanity; but there was still wanting a law to regulate the application of remedies; and for this we are indebted to Hahnemann.
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