On the fallacies of homoeopathy : and the imperfect statistical inquiries on which the results of that practice are estimated / by C.H.F. Routh.

  • Routh, C. H. F. (Charles Henry Felix), 1822-1909
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the fallacies of homoeopathy : and the imperfect statistical inquiries on which the results of that practice are estimated / by C.H.F. Routh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    PART II. In testing the value of statistical returns, there are several sources of fallacy which must be guarded against. If it be shown that the Homoeopaths neglect these wholly or in part, so must their conclusions in support of the efficacy of their treat- ment be disbelieved. There are general causes which occasion a difference in mortality which require consideration. These are: 1. Tlie effects of difference of locality. 2. The constitutional type of ])revailing diseases. 3. Peculiar mental epidemics or idio- syncrasies, if I may so term them, which at different times, in the histories of nations or epochs of individual life, influence health, and modify general mortality. 4. Hygienic discipline. I. Difference of Locality. In the department of vital statistics, there arc doubtless many laws which are not affected by difference of locality. Thus in a population the pcr-centage of persons living, married, unmarried, males, and females, at different ages, is about the same. The commission of crime seems to bear pretty nearly the same proportion in all coun- tries, for the same ages. Mortality may be ex[)ressed generally by life-tables, not far different from one another, at least for Europe, &c. Yet due regard must sometimes he paid to special circumstances. It is thus a common source of fallacy among Homoeopaths to assert, that because in a certain country or city a certain favourable result has followed treatment which they have directed, tlierefore in all countries or cities similar results would follow their practice. Unfortunately experience belies this assertion. Take, for instance, many diseases as they occur in England, and as they occur in tropical climates. Intermittent and remittent fevers, hepatitis, are mild diseases here; they ai*e very generally fatal in India. Small-pox occurring in a vaccinated person in England, and therefore modified, is a mild disease in Europe. It is commonly fatal in India. I was soon made sensible of the effect of climate in modifying disease during my visit on the Continent. In Eng- land I had seen acute inflammatory fever frequently follow
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