Benjamin Woodbury Probably there has never been a principle or precept in medicine that has been more definitely attached to a school than that of the small dose to homoeopathy. That it has a foundation in fact is, of course, self-evident, yet its importance-and this is coming to be more definitely understood of late-has been greatly overrated.
As this year is the one hundredth anniversary of the death of Hahnemann (July 2, 1843), and as the year 1944 marks the centenary or the founding of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, and likewise of the London Homoeopathic Hospital, it is hoped that opportunity may be had at our different homoeopathic gatherings for the presentation of some of the dramatic incidents in the life of the great leader under whose banner we serve.
Along with lay and professional cooperation in England may be mentioned the activities of the American Foundation for Homoeopathy in this country, where there has been a growing interest in the lay movement, mention of which will be made a little later on this paper.
In conclusion, may I say that the future outlook for homoeopathy is not in the least a pessimistic one, despite the lessening in our ranks by the loss of many of our veteran prescribers. For strangely enough, brilliant minds trained in physiological methods are finding in the Hahnemannian way the open sesame to truly scientific medicine. Yea, verily, a great heritage is that bequeathed to us by this greatest of all masters of medicine.
In case taking such works as Boger, Close, Kent, Nashs How to Take the Case and Find the Similimum, Bidwells How to Use the Repertory, Margaret Tylers Repertorizing and How Not to Do It, are of inestimable value. In the study of philosophy one should familiarize himself with all of Hahnemanns works
While these few cases are suggestive only, I feel justified in the belief that we have in our list of remedies the most valuable aids in the treatment of goitre known to medical science. Nor should we omit mention of the striking results that can sometimes be obtained from thyroid feeding, so called, in cases of the hypothyroid form, though my experience in this field has been but limited.
To more than briefly hint at the treasures uncovered in this exhaustive survey of the records of the London Homoeopathic Hospital, would require more time than is at our disposal in these introductory remarks. It might be well to call attention to a few points brought out in these papers, in view of the preliminary report about to be submitted to the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society.
The student of homoeopathic classics, the bibliophile, the true connoisseur of Hahnemannian could never cease to wander amid the fascinating highways and byways of homoeopathic literature. The libraries of the pioneers of our art consisted of such an omnium gatherum. Many of these libraries have been in recent years bequeathed to our generation.
That Hahnemann appreciated the value of these statements we have ample proof in the masterly survey made by him of the chronic diseases during the remainder of his long and memorable life. The future of medicine so far as venereal diseases are concerned offers much to be hoped for, if the wisdom of the founder of homoeopathy be followed.
In Hahnemanns pre-Homoeopathic days, to use the phrase of Dr.Richard Haehl and the late Dr.William Boericke, we find him meeting with a good measure of success in the treatment of bone ulcers by a combination of curetting and the local use of alcohol as a clearer and stimulant to graduation.
DR WOODBURY ON GUNPOWDER. Dr. Woodburys covering letter is particularly important in the present crisis when deference to the professional “establishment” with its enforced ignorance of Hahnemann and Homoeopathy is depriving the public of any knowledge of the most important therapeutic method the world possesses.
There are a few salient features pertaining to our discussions of Hans Burch Gram and his associates that were not brought to light upon the occasion of the Centenary Celebration of the Introduction of Homoeopathy into American Some of these points were singularly neglected, if not in a great measure entirely overlooked; and it is to the consideration of some of data that I wish to call the attention of the International Hahnemannian Association at this time.
Hahnemanns eighty-third birthday was made the occasion of a great fete, and was celebrated at his residence, the Rue de Milan, where the large salon was crowded with guests, the beau monde of Paris, in the middle of which stood Hahnemanns bust, ornamented with golden laurel crown and wreaths of the flowers of Cicuta, Belladonna and Digitalis.
The communication or infection appears to take place by means of the power which perpetually spreading around, like an exhalation or emanation from such bodies, even though they are dry, just like those globules the size of a mustard seed that had previously been moistened with a fluid medicine which we employ for the cure of patients by olfaction.
From the foregoing it will be seen that to complete such an outline of the Materia Medica, will entail an almost unending task; almost as laborious in facts as the compiling of the repertory itself. The question naturally aries, therefore, will such a task repay the student of Materia Medica when completed?.