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those feelings in the mouth and lips which arose from the lozenges before, but in a milder degree, and they extended no further. Upon referring to the prescription I found that there was one grain of Ipecacuanha and ten of calcined magnesia. The incident gave birth to the idea that the former strange affection had originated from the same cause as the latter, and upon enquiry my suspicion was confirmed; they were Ipecacuanha lozenges which I had swallowed Snuff and other stimulating powders

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excite no more irritation on me than on others."

"One of the Editors recollects a somewhat similar effect produced on his father."

"To these three cases, (the two preceding, and one by Mr. Royston, alluded to in January 9, 1809,) I shall now add two in females, who seem to have been affected in so similar a manner by the subtle effluvia of Ipecacuanha, that to enumerate their symptoms would be only to repeat what has already been given. respecting those effects.

The first of these cases is that of a lady, now about fifty, the wife of a surgeon, and mother of a numerous family. The general state of health has always been good, her disposition lively and active, and by no means possessing any thing of that valetudinarian irritability which marks striking peculiarity of constitution. She has been much in the habit, when the hurry of business required it, of assisting her husband in dispensing medicines. This gave rise to her first discovery of the effects of Ipecacuanha on her habit. I had an opportunity of remarking this fact about eighteen months ago, being on a professional visit at her house, while her husband laboured under a severe fever. She was about to dispense one of my prescriptions in which some Ipecacuanha had been ordered, and the moment she saw what the composition was, she ran from the shop to a distant part of the house, refusing to dispense it. This excited my curiosity to find the cause. On following her she explained it, and with some degree of anxiety looked round, lest some of the doors between her and the shop should have been left open while the prescription was about to be dispensed. As my stay was protracted some days, I had occasion to see these fears repeatedly excited. One forenoon in particular, while she was in her kitchen, a considerable distance from the shop, (two passage-doors being between herself and it), while she could neither see nor know beforehand, that Ipecacuanha, which was the case, was weighing, she called out with vehemence to have the doors closed, on account of the sensations she was beginning to feel.

"The second instance came to my knowledge only the day

* Medical and Physical Journal, March, 1810, Vol. 23, p. 199.

before yesterday. The lady who is the subject of it called on me on her mother's account, who was indisposed, and being shewn into my room, took up your last Journal which lay on my table to amuse herself till my appearance. On my entering the room she told me she had been reading my book, and the part which she accidentally opened was Mr. B.'s communication; she added with a smile, this is far from so uncommon a case as this gentleman seems to think, for I myself am afflicted by it in the same manner; and then went into a considerable detail of the symptoms it excited in her. The catarrhal affection and sneezing she described as particularly distressing. The copious flow was so acrid as to excoriate, in a few hours, the parts over which it fell. Her upper lip and the alæ of the nostrils were swelled. But what created in her the most alarm was its effects on her eyes. They became swelled and stiff, and sight was diminished. The eye-lids tumified so that the eyes were sunk almost out of sight, which seemed to be the chief cause of the diminution of vision; the discharge from her eyes was nearly as great as that from her nose, and little less acrid No catarrhal effects were excited

in her by snuff."*

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"I know a lady who was always seized with asthma whenever Ipecacuanha root was pounding in the shop; so sensible was she of this effect, that it was in vain to conceal from her what was going on in the mortar. This occurred about thirty years ago, in the lady of the physician, (Dr. Buckham, of Wooler), to whom I was first a pupil, and I was twice the innocent cause of the complaint myself. I thought by her being in a remote part of the house she could not be affected; but it was almost immediately felt, and the paroxysm lasted many hours. This lady was exquisitely nervous.

"I have been informed of different cases almost similar; they all women; but, conceiving the observation a common one, I did not note them."†

were

Two similar cases, the wives of medical men, are given in Vol. 24, page 233, by DR. SCOTT. One attack, caused by being near her husband at the time he put some Ipecacuanha into a bottle, was so violent as nearly to prove fatal. There was a remarkable stricture about the throat and chest, with very troublesome shortness of breathing, with a particular kind of wheezing noise. The symptoms were aggravated at night. "At 3 o'clock in the morning she was gasping for breath at a window, pale as death, her pulse scarcely to be felt, and in the utmost immediate danger of suffocation. She became easier about 11 a.m. till about

* Dr. Hamilton, Med. and Phys. Journal, April, 1810, Vol. 23, p. 318.

† Dr. Trotter, Med. and Phys. Journal, July, 1810, Vol. 24, p. 60.

11 p.m. cessively." "Mr. Leighton, a very eminent surgeon at Newcastle, very nearly lost his wife in a similar manner.'

The same scene was continued eight days and nights suc

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Here, then, are undeniable proofs from odours, from contagious malaria, from animal poisons, and from medicinal substances, from which it may be strongly concluded that infinitesimal quantities of ponderable matter do act with great, and sometimes with destructive energy upon the healthy body.

III.-What are the actual proofs in support of the assertion that such minute quantities of ponderable matter act remedially on the diseased body?

The reply to the first question proposed renders it probable that infinitesimal quantities of ponderable matter may act upon the living animal body.

The answer to the second question embraces very numerous and undeniable facts which prove, in the most positive and unexceptionable manner, that such small quantities do produce direct, and sometimes frightfully powerful effects upon the living body in health.

That similarly minute quantities will act upon the unhealthy body is thus shewn to be in the highest degree probable, if not certain; for it may be argued, à fortiori if they can act upon the body in health, much more will they be able to act when the nervous system is in a state of exalted sensibility, produced by the morbid excitement of disease. Any portion of the surface of the body may be rubbed violently, when in a healthy_condition, without painful sensation; but the same part, when inflamed, will shrink from the slightest touch.

It now therefore only remains that, by the evidence of facts, I prove, generally, that they do act, and particularly that their action is beneficial and remedial in disease.

If any one were to ask a physician who has been, for a few years, in the daily habit of prescribing these small doses, Do they act beneficially? he would see an expression of countenance very like that which another person would exhibit if, while standing before a good fire, he were gravely asked if he felt any warmth. On the other hand, if a physician who has not been willing to try the doses, nor to see them tried by others be asked, Can they act upon disease? he assumes a tone like that of the King of Siam, when told by some European travellers that water sometimes becomes solid.

I do not address those who have tried the doses-they need no further evidence; nor those who will not try them, and who,

with wonderful presumption, declare that such doses cannot actthey may be quietly passed by; but those whose minds are open to conviction, and who think the care of their health and the prolongation of their lives an affair of sufficient moment to require them to give attention to any information on the subject openly and candidly set before them.

The evidence which proves the beneficial action of the small dose is the same in kind as that which proves any other natural fact, it is the evidence of observation and experiment,-that which our senses afford us. It is of the same nature as the evidence we have of the relation of cause and effect in any events which happen around us. It does not differ from that which we have of the operation of the large doses of medicine.

A patient has a violent head-ache; twelve leeches are applied to his temples; relief follows the application of the leeches, Had this happened but once, we ought to conclude that the fact of the removal of the pain following the application of the leeches was merely a coincidence, not an instance of cause and effect; but it has happened a hundred times, and we therefore conclude that the relief was the effect of the loss of blood by the leeches. Another patient has a similarly violent head-ache; the millionth or the billionth of a drop of the juice of the deadly Nightshade is given; relief quickly follows. Had this happened but once, we ought to set it down as a coincidence-an accidental meeting of two events having no connection with each other-but it has happened a hundred times; shall it not then be concluded that the removal of the pain was the effect of the administration of the dose? Let any one who doubts such a conclusion, and who would attribute such frequent recurrences of the same succession of events to chance, take up a Kaleidescope and turn it round till he gets the same figure a second time. We need not wish him a severer punishment.

I now offer the following statement of facts, for the truth of which I hold myself responsible.

I am aware of "the difficulty of tracing effects to their true causes ;" and also that there are "various sources of error in conducting medical enquiries." It is due to truth to observe that I have used every endeavour to overcome the one and to avoid the other. I cannot hope to have succeeded in doing this in every case, but that the ultimate conclusion is a safe and a true one I can entertain no doubt.

ACUTE DISEASE.

It will not be expected that, in a pamphlet like the present, I

should give minute details of disease. Were it the fitting opportunity I could relate the particulars of the following cases :

INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE.-Mr. Brodribb, in his "Homœopathy unveiled," observes that "from the peculiar structure of the eye, we may often actually witness what is going on in diseases of that organ With the same fidelity we can observe the effects of efficient treatment in the arrest and removal of the disease, and that too with such unerring certainty as to leave no doubt in our mind of the relation of the two as cause and effect."

I have formerly often treated diseases of the eye by what Mr. Brodribb would acknowledge to have been "efficient treatment," and have often carefully watched its results. I have now also in a considerable number of cases treated them with the small doses of Homœopathy, and the beneficial results have been such "as to leave no doubt in my mind of the relation of the two, as cause and effect." One case was cured in a few days by the 3rd dilutions of Arnica, Aconite and Belladonna, where an allopathic physician had considered leeches to be indispensable. Other inflammatory affections of the eye have recovered much more rapidly and satisfactorily than I ever saw them do under any other treat

ment.

INFLAMMATION OF THE THROAT.-The remark made by Mr. Brodribb with respect to the visibility of diseases of the eye applies also to those of the throat. I have very repeatedly seen the influence of minute doses of Belladonna, Mercury, Hepar Sulphuris and other remedies upon the various stages of inflammation of the throat manifested in the most unmistakable manner. The Rev. has had attacks of ulcerated sore throat repeatedly; under the usual treatment of blisters, &c. he has been laid up for some weeks on each occasion. I attended him lately for a similar attack; there was a large ulcer on each tonsil; he could scarcely swallow or speak; he was very feverish, and for two nights he had been deprived of sleep. Without discontinuing his usual duties, which are very laborious, for a single hour, and without any local application of any kind, he was perfectly cured in six days. In other cases where I thought suppuration and puncture of the tonsils inevitable, all the mischief dispersed, and recovery was effected in a few days.

CROUP.-I have stated in Tract No. 3, that several cases of Croup have been treated after the new method. I have only to add here that the medicines were given in infinitesimal doses, and to assure my readers that the relief afforded, without any other treatment, not even a warm bath or a mustard poultice, was, in every instance, most obvious, rapid, and complete.

INFLAMMATION OF THE CHEST.-Several cases of Bronchitis and some of Pneumonia have come under my care during the last

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