He had mentioned the name of Mr. Norton to the turn-key as being one of his friends, which led to the misunderstanding, implicating our abstemious and worthy president. I gave the complainant a single dose of Nux Vomica to sober him, went to the nearest magistrate to obtain a release for the unlucky trustee, which cost 4.40 dollars, and gave him car fare with which to return home.
The painter’s wife is actively engaged in working for our Fair, and the artist is painting a portrait of Hering to be exhibited there. Hering said the bibulous artist when appointed had been a member of the former College, as trustee, so he could not well have been dropped from the board. A good man, but like many, weak in resisting liquor.
Thomas. Hepar Sulph in Suppuration.
Dr. Thomas is improving. In Morgan’s absence he received the indicated remedy, Hepar sulph., from the hands of Doctors Koch and Macfarlan; which remedy he should have had much earlier, and before the unsuccessful operation was attempted.
Morgan had pinned his hopes on the hypo-phosphites-of-lime, given empirically. After the stage in which suppuration cannot be prevented by the prescribed remedy, it is proper that it should be encouraged, therefore Hepar is given in a higher potency. Pus in now discharged copiously from the abscess and the patient is on the road to recovery. Morgan felt a bit hurt at what had transpired in his absence.
After all, we may say, that Dr. Hering should have the credit for giving the Hepar, since it was he who had first proposed the remedy.
Inimical Remedies. Certain remedies are inimical and should not be allowed to follow one another closely, as for instance: Phosphorus and Causticum; also Rhus tox and Apis; like wise Nux vomica and Ignatia. Only one of them can be properly indicated and if a wrong one is given it will do harm.
Always a bridge can be built from one to the other remedy by giving a complementary medicine, such as Belladonna, after Rhus tox., Pulsatilla after Nux vomica, etc., etc.
See Chapter 48, Guiding Symptoms: Relationship of Drugs.
Diet. Coffee, Etc. Coffee, and all roasted substances, aggravate catarrhal complaints, sore throat, coryza, etc.
A German Picnic. On last Saturday a picnic was arranged. The party included Mrs. Hering, Hering’s niece Bertha; three of the boys, Walter, Carl and Herman; Ernestine ( a niece of Dr. Raue); a Miss Froehlich, lately arrived from Germany, and Mrs. Seiler, a singing teacher, and myself. In a beautiful retreat by the Schuylkill River, the company enjoyed some beer and wine; also a favourite drink with German people in hot weather, called Bierkaltschaale, composed of beer, water, sugar, and crumbs of rye bread. There were crackers and cherries. German songs were sung, the boys played ball, and when evening came we went home in a crowded street car drawn by horses, which was not quite as pleasant as had been the journey up the river by boat. German gemuethlichkeit dominated the party, and everybody had a good time. These outings were of frequent occurrence with the Hering family.
Bayard. I once made a visit to Dr. Edward Bayard, in New York. As I entered the parlor, there, on the mantlepiece I saw an image of the Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, in bronze, the French Knight of the Middle Ages, dubbed: without fear and without reproach.’ The figure, to all appearances, was a likeness of my friend Bayard, to the wart on his face. The Knight was mounted on his horse, ready to join the Crusaders. I marvelled, could a sensible man like my friend Edward, a descendant from the Baywards, have sent his portrait to Paris to have it reproduced in this form? This could hardly have been the case.
Mrs. Bayard came into the room to receive me and saw that I was puzzled while regarding the effigy. She told me that she, and her mother, when travelling by themselves in Europe- the doctor having been too busy to leave home-had, while in Paris, entered a jeweller’s shop, where, to their amazement, they beheld this bronze figure, mounted on a clock. Both of them observed at once that the image bore the very likeness of Dr. Bayard, even to the wart on his face. They decided to but it and bring it home. The picture of the Knight without fear and without reproach’ of more than a thousand years ago was the image of the man of today. So much for family likeness by heredity.
June 21, 1869.
Doctor’s Fees. Macfarlan. Dr. Macfarlan is subpoenaed to go to court as a witness in the case of a College dispensary patient, by which he will lose both time and money. Not long ago he reduced a strangulated hernia for a shopkeeper, who thought a fee of ten dollars too much for the service; the regular fee being thirty. The usual case of the ungrateful patient. Hering says we must not expect gratitude, and we will not be disapppointed.
Malpractice. Cases of malpractice occur in the same ratio in which suits for the same are brought against physicians. The patient has no right to take a bungler for his doctor, hence should not have the right to sue.
If a man loses a child which has been poisoned by the prescription of a drunken physician, the man has erred in having employed the services of an inebriate for his sick child.
I remember a case in which an applicant came to me asking to be taught homoeopathy. As there was then no college of our own I advised him to go to an allopathic institution, for at least two years. He refused to do this and I would not take him as my student. He went to a doctor by the name of Schmoele, who advised him to hand out a shingle and practice on his own hook; saying that he had done the same way.
The young man opened an office on Front Street. A lady who had previously consulted me went to the new doctor, who gave her a heavy dose of strychnia, from which she died in convulsions. The husband came to me threatening to sue the ignorant practitioner for malpractice. I said: You will only make yourself and your wife ridiculous for having employed such a quack. You are to blame and should bear the censure.’
I say to all: Cursed be he who defends the bringing of suits against physicians for malpractice
Music. First Piano. We had a visit, this evening, from Mr. Himmelsbach, a musician who came to say goodbye before leaving for Germany. Hering told him that he would not stay long over there; that no American, nor any German who had lived here for long could exist there. That this is the land of progress and Philadelphia the place from which all important things eminate. As for instance: the first Maennerchor (Male Singing Society), the first Library, College, etc., etc. Pianos were first sold here, from the store of a man by the name of Wittig, who had the first music store in America.
Wittig sold his first piano to a Jersey farmer. After three weeks the farmer came back to town with the instrument on his wagon, drove up in front of the store, went in and said to the proprietor: For heaven’s sake take this thing off my hands, or I will be ruined Get what you can for it and give me the money. But why? What is the trouble? Trouble? said the farmer, nothing else but. My house is made of pandemonium. My daughter plays fairly well on the thing, but in the consequence all the sons and daughters of my neighbours, for miles around, come and fill my parlor, drum on the instrument, dance and raise Cain in general. The young country fellows bring their horses to be stabled and fed. I see ruin staring me in the face. Even my daughter consents to be rid of the nuisance. Take it for what you can get for it
At the present time (1869) there are over six thousand pianos in Philadelphia. You will find them in back streets and everywhere.
Music. Allentown. At Allentown, in 1835, one evening a couple of German students raised a German song: Ich geh an’s Bruennele, trink awwer net, (I go to the well but do not drink), popular among people in Germany. The singers were soon joined by others, by myself also, and we passed around the Academy on the way to a nearby place to drink beer, and to sing some more. We made a sensation.
Wine. In a few more years we will have banquets with ladies present, and there will be wine too.
Gartenlaube. Homoeopathy. The editors of the German magazine, Die Gartenlaube, are opposed to homoeopathy and will print everything against it, but nothing in favour of it.
Hausmann. The great book, just issued by Hausmann, will only be fully understood two or three centuries from now. It will be the great basis for homoeopathy. Hausmann proceeds from the study of elements or metals which form crystals in the tissues of the body. In places and organs, where found they will perform cures. Copper traced to its destination in the tissues will be creative of the diseases located there.
Hausmann, who apparently knows everything, is not so well at home in botany as in other branches of science. I intend to write a book to make him intelligible to the students.
The book, for want of time devoted to Materia medica, was never printed. There are a few prefatory notes.
In 1878 and 1879 he published 2 editions of his book, Sunstroke and Its Homeopathic Treatment.
Upon Hering's death in 1880 Knerr became responsible for the completion of the 10-volume Guiding Symptoms.
Dr. Knerr wrote 2-volume Repertory to the Guiding Symptoms,