SOME REMINISCENCES OF A HOMOEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN



It was indeed a dramatic moment, of which no one was more sensible than Helmuth himself, for he was fully alive to the profound effect produced upon the student mind. Helmuth knew his materia medica, as very few homoeopathic surgeons of today are able to boast; he knew how to apply it successfully, and such remedies as Arnica, Hypericum, Calendula were constantly called upon by him to supplement his surgical work.

He did not hesitate to extol the time honored virtues of Calendula tincture, now all but forgotten by our surgeons of the present, coal-tar age. Alas, the glorious days of Helmuth are gone forever and there is no one now to advocated the blessings of St. Johns Wort and Rue. Times indeed do change and methods with them, yet not all which modern medicine has brought forth in this boasted age of progress, is superior to the methods and results of an earlier, though more simple age.

In obstetrics, dear old Dr. Danforth held forth. His was a kindly nature. In appearance he was prosperous and impressive, particularly with his mutton-chop whiskers and his massive gold watch chain, which ornamented a portly, abdominal expanse of embroidered waistcoat. His homoeopathy was of the liberal kind, though withal, of a practical sort, even though, at times, rather disturbingly cured.

He lectured faithfully, frequently employing an ancient, rather dilapidated manikin, which always reminded me of the gruesome horrors of Hubers Hubers Museum down on Fourteenth Street, just off Fourth Avenue. Danforth held forth for many years, occupying an honorable position in the faculty, as well as in the minds of the students, although the latter were fond of poking fun at him, at times.

Young John W. Dowling was our professor of physical diagnosis, a subject which he taught with most admirable simplicity and directness. His mind was most keen and alert. Tall, straight as an arrow, he presented a military appearance and was in fact, a member of the SEventh regiment of the National Guard refreshing and his sarcasm, when aroused, withering in the extreme. For him the students had great respect, mingled with considerable fear, especially with reference to his examination, which, whilst eminently fair, had to be passed with a decent margin.

Dear old Dr. Doughty, a lovable character, was our professor of genito-urinary surgery. He was a man of gentle spirit, cultured and refined. Dr. Macy taught so-called medical gynaecology, a subject in which the employment of vaginal douches seemed to view with the administration of homoeopathic remedies. The good doctor was rather reticent, of frigid personality, hence highly unpopular with the students. He had an unfortunate habit of licking the ends of his moustache, a custom which naturally accused the visibilities of all the boys.

Many of the subjects taught or at least lectured upon in those days of volunteer instructors and professors, were farcically feeble and it was small wonder that most of the graduates were finally let loose upon an unsuspecting laity, with a modicum of knowledge of the great profession they were about to enter. The coveted title of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, legally bestowed, was euphoniously pleasing, albeit highly misleading in the case of most of us. But thanks, no doubt, to an all-wise and far-seeing Providence, we medical tyros got through with miraculous good fortune, as a rule.

I well recall a sage remark by Dr. Dowling, bearing upon the role of the physician in his treatment of disease. Said he: “Gentlemen, always remember that, after all, most patients get well, regardless of what you may do, so dont lose your heads, when called to the bedside of the sick patient. Make a show of doing something, even if it is only the placing of a hot water bag. Dont stand idle or with your hands in your pockets!” Truly, excellent advice and a sage remark.

Old Frank, the janitor and major-domo of the College, was beloved by all. His reddish beard and smiling face betokened a sympathetic nature and such it was, indeed. The class of 1896 was the last to undergo the old three years course and with the adoption of the four-year term of medical study, gradually began the modernization of the teaching of medicine. As I compare the study of today with that which obtained of the modern course, the dominance of surgery and the specialties, as well as the preeminent position of diagnosis and all that pertains to its elucidation. But alas, homoeopathy has lost mightily in the readjustment!.

During my days in College, the students published a college journal called The Chironian. This ambitious sheet appeared twice a month, as I remember it, and was always eagerly looked forward to by all the boys. However, it went the way of all flesh, perishing eventually as a result of financial difficulties, after the faculty had, for a brief period, endowed it with a temporary lease of life.

At this time, the Hahnemannian Society was still flourishing, though signs of disintegration and decadence had commenced to show themselves. Useful discussions and debates enlivened the meeting, but fictional rivalry, marked by political methods which would do credit to Tammany Hall, accompanied the voting for officers. Increasing dissatisfaction, together with resultant waning of interest, led to the demise through inanition of an otherwise splendidly conceived organization.

In those early days, the student body was for the most part, made up of the sons of homoeopathic physicians, themselves alumni of the College, hence prepared, as a rule, for the mental pabulum they were to receive. Others were the sons of grateful patients, who, with parental consent had become the pupils of the family doctor. He was in fact, the wise praeceptor, guiding the medical career of his youthful charge. The system of praeceptors had much to commend it, but, with the modernization and technical elaboration of the medical course, the praeceptorial system passed into the limbo of forgotten things.

In the year 1904 it was my privilege, through the good offices and recommendations of my old friend, Dr. John B. Garrisons, now of Hopewell, New Jersey, to join the faculty of the College as an instructor in materia medica, a subject which had always fascinated me and to which I had devoted constant study and application. For eighteen year I I continued to teach this subject, occupying various positions in the faculty and serving under such deans as William Harvey King, Royal S. Copeland and Thomas J. Preston, Jr. For me those were happy years, to which I was able to bring a whole-hearted enthusiasm which was natural to me. It required no forcing, for the subjects of materia medica, homoeopathic philosophy and repertory analysis were ever uppermost in my mind.

Today, the time spent upon purely homoeopathic subjects is very much curtailed, the number of hours is pathetically small. Homoeopathy is not longer the central subject around which all others are grouped. Our colleges no longer develop artists in homoeopathic prescribing, and very few graduates show any particular zeal for the principles of Hahnemann, or feel themselves at all bound to uphold and develop them. The science of modern medicine now holds the stage, with all that this science implies. Highly technical and refined methods, f diagnosis and of surgery and its many specialist, play the important parts.

The vast majority of our homoeopathic graduates can scarcely, in their practice, be distinguished from their brothers of the old school. With the exception of a rapidly diminishing number of old graduates, to whom homoeopathy is still a vital thing, and a negligible number of dissatisfied old school. With the exception of a rapidly diminishing number of old graduates, to whom homoeopathy is still a vital thing, and a negligible number of dissatisfied old school men who have glimpsed something better in the philosophy of homoeopathy, there are today no consistent homoeopaths, master craftsmen, as we knew them in the days of old. The Allens, the Kents, the Lilienthals are gone and more recently, such able exponents as Wallace McGeorge and George Royal have passed to the Great Beyond.

The office of the average homoeopath, with its imposing array of diagnostic and mechanical therapeutic instruments and apparatus, its drug shelves filled with odoriferous and multicolored examples of the chemico-therapeutic laboratory, resembles the fabled chambers of torture of the Spanish Inquisition. It has been said and that quite recently, by one of our modern teachers that, homoeopathy in the last six years has made more progress than in the past sixty, an egotistical remark with which I fully agree, provided that it be qualified by the additional statement that this progress is dramatically downward. There is but one way to develop homoeopathy and that way is to practise it. Unless and until this is done, we as a school had better refrain from idle boasting of our alleged advances.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J.

All these indications of motion and rest are so trustworthy and have been verified by such manifold experience that there are hardly any others which equal them in rank, to say nothing of surpassing them. But the most valuable fact respecting them is this: that this characteristic is not confined to one or another symptoms, but like a red thread it runs through all the morbid symptoms of a given remedy which are associated with any kind of pain whatever or even with a sensation of discomfort, and hence it is available for both internal and external symptoms of the most varied character.

Rabe R F
Dr Rudolph Frederick RABE (1872-1952)
American Homeopathy Doctor.
Rabe graduated from the New York Homeopathic Medical College and trained under Timothy Field Allen and William Tod Helmuth.

Rabe was President of the International Hahnemannian Association, editor in chief of the Homeopathic Recorder, and he wrote Medical Therapeutics for daily reference. Rabe was Dean and Professor of Homeopathic Therapeutics at the New York Homeopathic Medical College.