The Columbian fountain., 1846-09-22
HOMEOPATHY VS.. ALLOPATHY.

Whatever may aHoru theih pleasure or Improvement
]. HOMEOPATHY VS.. ALLOPATHY.
! Mr.. EDITOR i:
/ Having OF late been much engaged in the
discharge Of my professional duties, | have
scarcely been able 10 find time to make reply
! to your correspondent x. Y. upon the subject
Of his 2 late communications hope, however,
vet to have the time and opportunity 10 ana
Ilyse them fully and render their author the
most ample justice for his elaborate reasoning
and profoundly logical argument.
| IL the old school materia medica has nothing
better TO recommend it than lis antiquity OF
some two thousand years, which seems TO be
the gist OF X. Y.'s argument, apprehend that
it will share the same fate as the other mis-.
called ancient systems Of philosophy-that it
will be utterly repuliated; because not found
| ed upon the eternal principles of truth. How
ever much, time honored practices and nst
ltutions sUers once revered, and however strongly
the sanction Of antiquity fastened upon the
mind Of man, fctions instead Of REALITIES,
fancies, instead of FACTS, the age has long
since passed by, that cherished such delusons.
\ Were il not so, Lord Bacon's labors TO esta-
blish the principles Of a better philosophy
| founded upon induction, are all in vain; the
discoveries Of Sir Isaac Newton are unworthy
of belief, because there are OLDER theories; the
doctrine of the circulation OF the blood by
| Harvey deserves no attention; the introduction
| Of vaccination by Jenner is unworthy OF no
tice, because they are Of too recent origin 10
have the stamp OF genuineness impressed upon
them by the hand of time. For the same
reason, we do wrong to avail ourselves OF the
advantages of steam inits various applications;
Of electricity or Galvanism in facilitating in
tercourse between distant points. They are
too new; they were not used two thousand
wears ago, and, 'swe would ask an intelligent,
discerning public to decide which should re-
ceive the greater amount of confidence and
faith, ,the knowledge possessed by the ancients
| 20 centuries ago upon these subjects, or that
Of our modern Fulton and Morse2
Our Republican form Of Governments and
our free and peculiar institutions, inasmuch as
they are innovations and departures from old
established usage, should be discountenanced
and frowned down without examination. In
fact, every improvement would be prohibi.
ted, and every discovery discouraged, if our
reverence for antiquity supersedes our love of
truth. The fact is, the old materia medca can
never be improved, so long as its cultivators
all pursue the beaten track of their predeces-
sors, by endeavorng to learn the virtues of
medicines solely or principally from their use
4 in cases Of disease. This is their grand obsta-
Gle in the way Of progress, and unilthey com
mence and carry on thorough reform in this
respect, they must expect to meet with the
same disappointment and want OF success in
the treatment OF disease, that has character
lied the practice of even the most celebrated
physicians Of all past ages To confirm my
4 - 49, H. >c
| medica together with all its modern additions
(not improvements | shall quote the authority
/ OF some distinguished medical writers and
physicians, members oil the old school and op
posed 10 Homeopathy.
The opinions Of some eminent All9opathic
4 physicians of the materia medica.
Girtanner# says Our Materia Medica is
nothing else buta careful collection Of fallacious
observations which medical men have made
at all times. There are certainly among them
few vauablel results founded on sound ex-
|perience; but who will lose his time TO search
lor those few grains Of gold in that large mass
Of rubbish, which physicians have gathered
up for the last two thousand years 2"
+ Dr. Cullent says "the writers on Materia
/ Medica abound with numberless false conclu-
sions, which are, however, supposed or pre-
tended to he drawn from experience. Such in
deed is the state of this matter, that nobody
can consult these writers with any success or
safety, unless he is prepared with great deal
OF scepticism on the subject"
! Frederick Hoffmant says, "there are very
lew remedies, the effects Of which are well
known, and the greater number disappoint the
expectations Of the practitioner, because their
true virtues are, to say so, still concealed in
Democritus' well. The effects of by far the
greater number, are uncertain, .fallaciom, and
! fctifiOus" J6
Medical literature abounds with expressions
of similar sentiments respecting that towering
monument Of medical genius, which has been
| in the process Of fconsummation under the dIrec-
ton and support Of ''the most profound in
tellects, the most comprehensive genius, the
most enlarged attainmenis' for two thousand
years. The truth is, and il is in vain for x.
Y. or any body else TO try TO conceal II, that
while every other art and science has been
progressive, practical medicine is very little, If
any, superior to that Of the time Of Hippocrates
| Professor JoerRu of Lepsic, a violent adver-
sary Of Homeopathy, founded a society with
view OF disprovng The truth Of its Materia
Medica. To those individuals the praise is due