Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-11-18
O. 0 NJ m unitatf0.
The Spirit Of Humbug.

/ AAS svFAAAS Va AhuAuou3s
| To the mental philosopher there is no fact
more curious than the proneness Of mankind to
humbug. II appears to be part of our nature
to be at one time sceptical and at another credu-
lous. Popular sympathy, generally, is engaged
in behalf Of both the impostor and his dupe.
| Thomas Carlyle quantity observes, somewhere,
that quack and dupe are upper-side and under
| OF the selfsame substance; convertible person
| ages turn up your dupe into the proper foster
| ing element, and he, himself can become a
quack; there is in him the due prurent insin-
cerity, open voracity for profit, and closed sense
for truth, whereof quacks too, in all their kinds
are made.
Alas, Che goes on to say it is not to the hero,
it is to the sham hero that, of right and neces-
sity, the valet-world belongs. "What is to be
done?' The reader sees whether it is like to
be the seeking and swallowing of some "reme-
dial measured" Among other evanescent phe.
nomena Of our time and country, we observe
that the humbugs, whether moral, political, or
medical, go and come, rise and disappear, one
after the other, each with its host of ardent adj
mirers, and enthusiastic votaries, after eking
out miserable ephemeral existence, shrivel up
and die. Quacks are often exterminated by
the unnatural process of eating one another.
| The history of humbug has been, and still is,
as an eminent writer says, the cookery and eat
ing up ofimbecile dupedom by successful quack-
hood; the battle, with various weapons, Of vul-
turousuqu against vulturous quack. I.
There is a love of the marvellous inherent in
our nature, allied with awe and superstition.
The credulity Of man is fully illustrated in the
practice Of the healing art, for when seized by
disease, he clings for support even to q broken
reed To this inherent principle may be at
tributed the apparent success and popularity of
homeopathy hydropathy, and other kindred
decisions. There are many diseases which, if
left to the unaided powers of nature, will dis
| appear. Yet there are others of more form
liable character, which, if not removed by
| medical treatment, will result in death. Some
malades disappear under homeopathic treat
ment, which, if let alone, would pass away
without the exhibition of any medicine.
DR.. Lee, of London, states that o royal COM
mission was established by the King Of Naples
to investigate the subject. The commissioners
! first determined to ascertain whether some of
the patients would not recover without the en-
| ployment Of any remedy. Ten were set apart,
and all recovered. One Of them had gastric
fever; the homeopathic wished to give him a
drop Of the tincture Of st. Ignatius' bean, at
the twelfth dilution, representing quadriL
lionth part Of the original drop. He protested
against waiting, saying that the delay might
compromise the life of the patient. The ply
sicians treasured him; they reckoned upon a
place in the night, and the patient was we'll in
two days. Had the homeopathic dose been
taken, the cure would most assuredly have been
attributed to it.
The. following extracts, from the London
Lancet, is the best and most succinct review OF
the whole question. Its publication, we are
satisfied, will be of service to those who are
interested as well rs amused, on the grotesque
contortions and dying agonies Of humbug and
empiricism:
Homeopathy has had its day. Excepting
in Vienna, it is now comparatively little heard
of in Germany, and, Notwithstanding Leipsic is
the headquarters Of the doctrine, the homoeo-
pathic hospital of that city, small house in
the suburbs contains only eight beds, of which
NJ. Lee, who lately visited it, found only two or
three occupied In Paris M. Andral put to
the test of experience in one Of the general
hospitals, and the result was total failure.
1t was therefore discontinued. He treated one
hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty pa.
tients in the presence Of the homnopaths them
selves, adopting every requisite care and pre-
caution, yet in not one instance was he sue
cessful. In Russia, a German homeopathic
was invested by the Grand Duke Michael with
full powers to prove, if POSSIBLE, its advantages
over ordinary treatment on certain number
ofpatients in the wards of a military hospital.
In two months however, he was not allowed
to proceed further.
The Russian government tried likewise the
comparative treatment in two hospitals Of
number of patients with homeopathic globules,
and a number OF other patients with no drugs
Of any kind and the results were very similar
in both instances A trial was given at Naples
1.,,a TT IL II -I-
tons were: lst. That the homeopathic treat
ment produced no effect I'd. That it had the
serious inconvenience, in several of the patients.
of preventing the employment of remedies by
which they might be cured. In London there
are two homeopathic hospitals, both of which
are in declining state; and one / hear is now
about closing, if not closed, for want of funds.
celebrated physician speaks Of it thus:
" Everything in it, and out of it, confirms the
view that, as to practice, homeopathy is truly
a nonentity; it is literally as your author Hue
says, (see page s6,) the swallowing of names
only" To swallow the name of a remedy, or
the remedy itself, comes (say the Tartars) to
precisely the same thing, HomGopathists can
not point out a single medical authority now
authorizing homeopathy. The gradual pro-
gress of medical science sufficiently shows that
we do not let our patients die ms homceopathists
do. Witness such facts as the following.
IN LONDON.
".aa. Died under years
From 100 TO 7l9 out fevcry 100 born, 73
I" 1850 10 1869, :! 63
49," ITO to 17S0, g 4" 81
1870 to 1910, !" 9" 4l
1910 to 1929, I" 4" 81
Regarding the capabity of the public to
Judge the value of medical remedies in curing
disease, ! quote Archbishop Whately, of Ire
land:
"Nothing is more common than to hear a
person state confidently, as from his own ex-
perience, that such and such patient was
cured by this or that remedy; whereas, all that
he knows is, that he took the medicine and re-
covered. A termination and cure are two
vastly different things
The above, in our opinion, is sufficient re-
futation of the absurd claims of humbug to
truth. We like to be deceived, and do not like
Al I