'The great fact' examined and disproved, or, Homoeopathy unmasked : a reply to Dr. Horner / by Chirurgus.

  • Dix, John.
Date:
1857
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: 'The great fact' examined and disproved, or, Homoeopathy unmasked : a reply to Dr. Horner / by Chirurgus. 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.

    11/34 (page 11)
    It may be very convenient to Dr. Horner thus to shuffle out of this question of inlinitessimal doses—the only part of the subject which the public can understand—and to abandon a position he might find it difficult to defend. We cannot so pass it over. This is a fallacy which demands exposure. In a practical science such as medicine, a principle is a nonentity—a very ignis fatuus, except inasmuch as it influences practice and produces results. On the next page Dr. Horner tells us, that he uses nothing but globules, and in a note at page 28, he speaks of prescribing for a lady, “ Nux Vomica in the dose of one part of a grain,” so that this potent agent is, to say the least of it, the connecting link between his so-called principle and his practice, and unless Homoeopathy consists altogether of this imaginary principle, “ the essence of Homceopathy is not the theoretical law of simile, but the globule by which this law is carried into practice. And a very glorious weapon it is. It consists, as far as it admits of proof, of nought but Sugar of MUk. It should contain also the millionth, billionth, nonillionth, or it may be trillionth part of some medicine. Nux Vomica, Mercury, Crabs’ claws. Brimstone, Charcoal—the most active and the most innocuous agents—are alike subjected to a process of interminable dilution ; and it is this incon- ceivable nothingness, which we are called on to endue with remedial powers and to administer for the cure of disease ; aye, foresooth, and our choice of the right globule has to be regulated by a principle—a mighty and all-important principle—even this law of simile in which lies “ the very essence of Homoeopathy.” Waiving this disquisition, we now approach the most momentous part of this history, the cases—or what, in this instance, appears to be the same thing—the cures. We are told that his opportunities have been manifold, unlimited almost. “He has prescribed globules many thousands of times “ a detail of cases so treated would fill a volume;” and in one place mention is made of “the cures I performed in the first 600 cases.” Also, that this practical enquiry has been' conducted in the strictest and most unexceptionable manner : thus “ careful notes were kept; all the symptoms of the disease were'