Be that as it may, I trust that curing an old case of singers aphonia with Arnica is a fairly sound reason for being a homoeopath; any way it is my thirteenth.
P.S.-When I say that homoeopathy dose not claim to cure the incurable, that leaves the question of curability an open one; homoeopathy dose not accept anything as incurable certain physicians who are “regular” declare it to be so. Incapacity to cure dose not render thee uncured incurable. Kindly take a mental note of this, because what you “regulars” consider incurable may, or may not, be so considered by the homoeopaths. My old pleuritis trouble was declared and proved to be incurable by and for the entire faculty, and yet the Bryonia alba of the homoeopaths cured it !.
XIV.
You “do not believe that Arnica is any good for injuries and, moreover, it is a poisonous drug, causing very dangerous, or, at least, very severe, erysipelas”. I have nothing to do with your beliefs: clinical facts are what I am concerned with. I cured an old case of aphonia with Arnica, and an account of that I have sent you as my thirteenth reason for being a homoeopath. Whether you believe in the anti-traumatic virtues of Arnica or not is your affair: I fearlessly affirm that your sepsis would not have cured it, anyhow.
Further, I did not deny that Arnica causes very severe and even dangerous erysipelas. Indeed, I know it well, and have seen it, and out of your own mouth will I take my fourteenth reason for being a homoeopath.
OLD CASE OF ERYSIPELAS CURED BY Arnica.
Some years since eminent member of the Society of Friends wrote to me, stating that he had for a number of years been suffering from erysipelas of the face at odd intervals. I ordered him Arnica in a rather high dilution and in infrequent dose, and thereupon his erysipelas faded and came no more. Long afterwards he wrote me a very grateful letter, giving me much undue praise for having wit enough to see that the Almighty has His laws in therapeutics for the guidance of His poor, sick children.
I have it form you that Arnica causes erysipelas; I will not doubt your statement; you may now take it from me that Arnica cures erysipelas, and this I offer you as my fourteenth reason for being a homoeopath. You know the bad character of Arnica in that it is apt to cause erysipelas; I tell you of its good fame, viz., that it possesses the power of curing erysipelas, and the intellectual link that completes the little chain is the law of likes that God put into the mind of one Samuel to explain to the world.
Burnett was one of the first to speak about vaccination triggering illness. This was discussed in his book, Vaccinosis, published in 1884. He introduced the remedy Bacillinum. He authored twenty books, including the much loved "Fifty Reason for Being a Homeopath." He was the editor of The Homoeopathic World.