Preface

by

I have endeavoured to lay before the reader everything of interest and importance connected with the progress of Homoeopathy, in a theoretical and practical point of view….

THE following Lectures were delivered at the Hahnemann Hospital during the sessions 1852-3. At the request of several of those who heard them, I have consented to their publication; and in order to render them more worthy of being presented to my colleagues and those desirous of obtaining a knowledge of the history and development of Homoeopathy, I have carefully revised the original manuscripts made considerable additions, so as to render them as complete as possible, and bring them up to the date of publication. I have endeavoured to lay before the reader everything of interest and importance connected with the progress of Homoeopathy, in a theoretical and practical point of view, that has appeared in the literature of our own and of other countries.

I have given as succinct and correct an account as I could of the views and statements of the principal writes on Homoeopathy, and this I was generally enabled to do at first hand, having access to a pretty extensive homoeopathic library. Where I have been unable to refer to the original sources, I have availed myself of the abstracts contained in some of the German journals and works on Homoeopathy, more especially the last work of the late Dr. Griesselich, whose resumes of the opinions of others I have found wonderfully correct in almost every case where I have compared them with the originals.

I trust this little work may prove of use to the homoeopathic student, if not by any originality of the views put forward in it, at least by presenting him with a tolerably accurate coup d’oeil of the of the various steps in the progressive development of Homoeopathy, and that, besides showing him the right directions in which the homoeopathic art must be developed and perfected, it may serve to warm him from the false paths pursued by many of the nominal adherents of Homoeopathy, which only lead to extravagance and the abnegation of all science.

For the imperfections of the work I must crave the reader’s indulgence. The subject is a large and a difficult one, and it is far from improbable that I may have been mistaken in many of the conclusions I have drawn, and of the opinions I have expressed, however careful and conscientious I have been. Haply, some one more competent to execute the task I have essayed may here after write a better treatise on the homoeopathic system, and profit by my very failings and errors to render his work more perfect and worthier of the importance of the subject.

In the meantime, and until a more complete treatise shall appear, I believe that the English homoeopathist will find in the following pages many things bearing upon the theory and practice of Homoeopathy which will be novel, and, I hope, interesting to him.

LONDON, December, 1853.

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R.E. Dudgeon
Robert Ellis Dudgeon 1820 – 1904 Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh in 1839, Robert Ellis Dudgeon studied in Paris and Vienna before graduating as a doctor. Robert Ellis Dudgeon then became the editor of the British Journal of Homeopathy and he held this post for forty years.
Robert Ellis Dudgeon practiced at the London Homeopathic Hospital and specialised in Optics.
Robert Ellis Dudgeon wrote Pathogenetic Cyclopaedia 1839, Cure of Pannus by Innoculation, London and Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science 1844, Hahnemann’s Organon, 1849, Lectures on the Theory & Practice of Homeopathy, 1853, Homeopathic Treatment and Prevention of Asiatic Cholera 1847, Hahnemann’s Therapeutic Hints 1847, On Subaqueous Vision, Philosophical Magazine, 1871, The Influence of Homeopathy on General Medical Practice Since the Death of Hahnemann 1874, Repertory of the Homeopathic Materia Medica, 2 vols 1878-81, The Human Eye Its Optical Construction, 1878, Hahnemann’s Materia Medica Pura, 1880, The Sphygmograph, 1882, Materia Medica: Physiological and Applied 1884, Hahnemann the Founder of Scientific Therapeutics 1882, Hahnemann’s Organon 1893 5th Edition, Prolongation of Life 1900, Hahnemann’s Lesser Writing.