Address Preliminary to Study of Homoeopathics
It is not an easy grade to the pinnacle of pure Homoeopathy, or as it should be admissible to say, to Homoeopathy. I know that the statement admits that there is a quality of Homoeopathy prevailing not strictly pure, which is so true that argument opposing it is unnecessary.
The condition of medicine leading up to the new system nearly a. century ago could scarcely be written or spoken of forcibly enough to impress the mind with the gravity of the situation, or to portray the injury to the human race. At that time medicine was in a state of chaos. Hardly can it be said that there was any good in it, and, as to its history, it was entirely traditional. It was composed of powerful and drastic measures, and its only claim to respect was that its measures were sure to kill speedily or to cure lingeringly. These measures were bleeding, cupping, leeching, vomiting, cathartics, sudorifics, soporifics, etc.
To what extent has medicine advanced? Have the numerous fads and fancies furnished the world with a better system of old medicine than then existed? Is the deadly administration of concentrated compounds, alkaloids and resinoids a better and safer system? Then, drugs in massive doses were hurled through, but now they are administered in such a form that they are diffused throughout the body, depressing the vital energy and ultimating disease forms. Then they used coarse form, of crude drugs and now they use the dangerous, concentrated forms of deadly drugs, and, as much now as then, without law or principle. Then the physician compounded his own medicines, now the chemist and pharmacist prepare the nostrums and inform the learned (?) doctor in regard to the fullest particulars and uses, in order that he may be prepared to administer these potent concentrates to the dying sick. These new agents come from the laboratories so rapidly that the druggist can no longer keep posted as to the names-much less the physician as to the properties of the medicines he uses. No sooner has a flooring of concentrates been thrashed out than a new one comes, so that every year an entire Materia Medica, new and clean, is manufactured for the use of this highly learned profession.
How different is this from the remedies used by the New School! Remedies once proved and verified stand as a fixture, under the same specific indications, so long as man dwells upon the earth and needs aid for sickness. The remedies discovered by Hahnemann will stand the test of experience for the ages to come, as they have grown stronger by use since their discovery. Fifty years have built and confirmed the Homoeopathic Materia Medica. While the Old School has had many new ones, and, like the shifting sands, no man can predict where the next one will come from, nor the ending of the one now in use.
Many changes have come over this system of traditional medicine. Its adherents, failing, by their methods, to obtain the respected results, and jagged by the thorn in the flesh-Homoeopathy’s success have be taken themselves to profound research, which has been heralded by mighty leaders: Koch, Pasteur and others. The chaotic jumble now denominated scientific medicine is a stench in the nostrils of rational men, and ought to be patented for a modern medical kaleidoscope. Such is the boasted medicine of experience.
A microcephalic of Philadelphia some years ago offered one hundred dollars as a prize for the best essay exposing the fallacies of Homoeopathy; so great is the task, he makes a great offer. But how inexpensive it would be to secure an essay on the fallacies of traditional medicine! So-called “regular medicine” has made many changes, as silly as they are numerous, because not based upon law. Its votaries speak of progress. What can they mean- with no principles to conserve, no law to obey, and only speculation to offer as the foremost elephant of the advancing juggernaut? It is the medicine of lawless experience and speculation. It is not a result of discoveries, but the opposition of disgusted patrons and Homoeopathic statistics, that has impelled the apparent industry in this so- called science. It has not been for the love of the dear people whom they mock in the wards of public hospitals that they have changed, but the spur of comparative failure and chagrin following the useless experiments upon the sick a la Koch, Pasteur, etc.
The moderation observed in dosage has been so worthy of imitation that even the pseudo-homoeopath finds consolation in the fact that he can hoodwink a confiding public with these deceptions-they so resemble homoeopathic forms of medication from which they were taken. But the simple only are thereby deceived.
For the deceptions practised by pretenders in our own ranks there can be no need of apology. They and their faults are too well known, and the causes are:
First, The increasing demand for the genuine.
Second, The comparative infancy of the new system.
Third, The imperfection of the machinery of instruction
Fourth, The imperfection of books.
Fifth, To generalize, want of opportunity, capacity and desire.
Allopathy concerns us very little; its way and that of Homoeopathy have long since parted. Homoeopathy has made grand strides. We recognize Hahnemann as a great master, a loving father and a God-fearing man.
In 1833 he finished his masterpiece, the ORGANON, of which there are many translations, it having gone through five editions, the first of which appeared in 1810. The growth and prosperity of this great system of medicine have gone on until thousands of physicians are practising it, and colleges, hospitals, dispensaries and journals are spreading it to the ends of the civilized world. The continued study of the doctrines of his new system is leading to better application, and the unsettled questions of the past are rapidly diminishing. Hundreds of practitioners now scattered over the land rise up to testify to the fullness of the law and the success following obedience to principle. Their testimony is a satisfactory demonstration that Homoeopathy pure and simple is all that is desired in the cure of the sick, that the law is universal, and the failure must come from causes above enumerated. Obedience demonstrates that Homoeopathy rests upon fixed principles on a law and not on a merc rule of practice, to be changed for something better, or when fancy dictates a new whim. (ORGANON 2.) As well say or suppose that the apple could do otherwise than fall to the earth when its stem is disconnected from its mother tree.
There can be but one great system of Homoeopathy. Men who rise to the fullness of uses in its application have broken the fetters of prejudice, bigotry, intolerance and self conceit, and have followed on after the light never faltering though often stumbling, never sneering though often doubting-until the full heat and light of the mid-day sun hold them spellbound in the knowledge and love of uses. These attainments are within the grasp of all who love knowledge for uses and not for selfish ends.
Homoeopathy exists in varying degrees as to application, from the crude, with a mixture of traditional methods, up to the highest results of absolute obedience to known law. Every practitioner admits the value of the law by his efforts to follow it, inasmuch as he practices to the fullest extent of his knowledge and turns aside only where knowledge of law was defective. Then it follows that the degrees are only the shadings from ignorance to knowledge, and they are almost infinite in number from the kind-hearted mother with her family medicine case to the discriminating master, all honestly seeking the happiness of human kind or mercenarily grasping to sell relief of pain for filthy cash.
The inexperienced must be assisted and instructed in order to practice Homoeopathy without resort to traditional medicine. But assistance can be of use only when desired and appreciated.
To acquire the knowledge necessary to conduct a practice without resort to doubtful methods demands arduous toil and constant application, while the mind is held in a receptive attitude and the longing of the heart is for truth because it leads to what is good and not to sell it for a price.
The doctrines of Homoeopathy are elevating and simple to the mind that is right, and, when known, following their dictates is easy; for it is easier to follow well-marked paths than to flounder in the mire of traditional medicine. It is hardly necessary to affirm that one who know how to be obedient to fixed principles has no incentive to, and will not, depart from them. It cannot be denied that many seek, and few discover, the pure doctrines of Homoeopathy. That many would call the necessary labor too great a sacrifice cannot be disputed. That the Creator knows to whom to intrust. His Sacred truths I have no doubt. That any man who seeks the elevation of man and will work earnestly shall receive his portion should not be disputed. It is impossible for him who is ignorant of the principles of Homoeopathy to realize the great good to man that can come from a full knowledge and application of the law of similars.
In 1881, Kent accepted a position as professor of anatomy at the Homeopathic College of Missouri, an institution with which he remained affiliated until 1888. In 1890, Kent moved to Pennsylvania to take a position as Dean of Professors at the Post-Graduate Homeopathic Medical School of Philadelphia. In 1897 Kent published his magnum opus, Repertory of the Homœopathic Materia Medica. Kent moved to Chicago in 1903, where he taught at Hahnemann Medical College.