On the fallacies of homœopathy 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 homœopathy 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 University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    is notorious that, in some instances, particular individuals are peculiarly influenced by ipecacanuha, so that a grain, or much less, will, if sprinlded through the air, bring about the most violent symptoms of catarrh; and yet it is not logical to con- clude that, in all cases, an infinitesimal dose of ipecacuanha will cure, or greatly meliorate, the symptoms of catarrh. 2nd. These experiments of Hahnemann were made with appreciable, not infinitesimal doses. Nor is it logical to con- clude, that, because a large (or even a small allopathic) dose has mimicked a disease in health, therefore, when that disease occiu-s, an infinitesimal dose will cure. Assuming the principle to be correct, we can understand that a similar allopathic dose might cure, but not an infinitesimal dose. And yet these preli- minary experiments are spoken of by Homoeopaths, to justify their doctrine of infinitesimals. I purposely abstain from alluding to his subsequent experi- ments between 1796 and 1805, when he published his Organon, because, as far as regards these, we have no evidence of in- creased mental powers and ability, but rather of the reverse. The same experiments that proved the value of infinitesimal doses, were the means by which he discovered the great increase of power given by the succussion of liquids. For this great master also said, that the length of time a powder is rubbed, or the number of shakes given to a mixture, influences the effect on the body; and that rubbing or shaking is so energetic in developing the inherent virtues of medicines, that latterly he had been forced, by experience, to reduce the number of shakes to two, where he formerly had prescribed ten to each dilution. And, again, the same experiments were the means through which he discovered the psoric theory, i. e. that most diseases were produced by scabies (itch), all of which serves certainly rather to prove a weakness brought on by age in his mtellectual powers, or that much learning had made him mad. I might, however, go further, and distrust still more tlic value of these experiments, since there is evidence to show that Hahnemann began life by inventing a certain nostrum as a cure for all diseases.* And that there are those who have stated, that Hahnemann, being a very shrewd man in early life, saw the abuse to which the drugging system was carried on in his • Medical Times:, March, 1851.