But if the product thus obtained were identical with the ptomaine produced i the lungs or other organs in disease, we could not them deny the isopathic relation of the remedy to the disease. But the evidence furnished by the pathogenetic action of tuberculin does not support this view. Burnett truthfully says: “If you alter some-what two things that are identical, then the identity becomes similarity”.
If the ptomaine produced in the system of the tuberculous patient were identical with that produced by the culture process followed by Koch, a minute quantity of it would speedily overwhelm the system. This does not occur. it is safe to say that the amount of the ptomaine produced in the system of the victim of tuberculosis is almost without limit. If this product were identical in nature with the tuberculin of Koch, tuberculosis would, in every case, be one of the most rapidly fatal of all diseases; the duration of the attack in every case would be but a few days, instead of weeks and months and years, according to its present history.
Of the artificial product, tuberculin, the 0.001 mgr. will produce the most profound effects upon the system, in a few hours raising the temperature from normal to 104 degrees or 105 degrees F. In the systems of those already affected by tuberculosis, its effects are even more disastrous. Now, if the product of the disease process and of the culture, process were identical, then the effects of the two should not differ in any respect whatever. The evidence adduced, therefore, supports the conclusion that the action of Koch’s tuberculin in the cure of tuberculosis is not Isopathic, but, on the country, that it s Homoeopathic.
Jousset says: “Homoeopathic only will be able to make intelligent use of tuberculin. We know that it is a powerful agent that has a specific action in tuberculous affections. We know why it is useful in phthisis; it is because, administered in a large dose, it aggravates in phthisis; it is because, administered in a large dose, it aggravates in phthisis. This is because the remedy is Homoeopathic to the diseased condition; that is to say, it is a remedy that will cure a diseased condition similar to that which it produces in the healthy subject. And since it is a Homoeopathic remedy, we know it must be indicated by the totality of the lesions and the symptoms. Consequently in order to complete its pathogenesy it is necessary to know in what class of cases of phthisis it is indicated and in what it is not”.
If the view that I have here set forth is correct, them the conclusion is warranted that the action of tuberculin as a remedy for tuberculosis is not an example of Isopathy. On the country, the evidence at hand would seem to indicate that its action is distinctly Homoeopathic. This being granted, then it must be accepted as true that Koch’s important discovery is but another illustration of the law of similars, and a notable demonstration of the power of infinitesimals in the cure of disease.
