Washington sentinel., 1854-02-05
Homeopathy and Allopathy.
.Editors ofMe Sentinel:

To the Editors Of the Sentinel:
/ have Just seen the Tri- Weekly Washington
Sentinel. of December 29th, 1853, which con-
tains an extract of letter dated Natchez,
October, 1858, in which the practice of homeop-
athy during the late epidemic is highly ex-
tolled and 'allopathy thrown into the shade"
am the sexton of the city of Natchez, and,
as the fact may not be known to you, | add a
certificate at the foot of this letter from the clerk
of the circuit court Adams county, Mississippi,
attesting the fact, as well as that have the re-
putation Of being veracious man among my
fellow citizens / would furtheradd, that, by an
ordinance of the city, every physician is required
to report to the sexton the name OF a patient
who dies under histr eatment; and my position,
as sexton, enables me to give an authoritative
denial to the statement contained in the ex-
tract above alluded to.
/ have conversed, Messrs. Editors, with no
physician in this town since | have seen the
number of your paper but state what / do
know when | say that the mortality under
homeopathic treatment" is ridiculously un-
derrated in the "extract of the letter from
Natchez'
1t is fact we'll known to all acquainted with
Natchez that the belief in homeopathy pre-
walls among the wealthiest families in the city
and neighborhood. Fortunately or unfortun-
ately, ,itsdevoteesar comparatively few amongst
the poorer classes of the community. 1t is
equally notorious to inhabitants of yellow-fe-
yer latitude that nothing is more favorable to
to the recovery of patient sick of yellow-fever
than the careful nursing and all the other COM
forts and appliances at the disposal OF the
wealthy.
Drs. Davis and Holcombe, actuated by mo-
t;,,ao blo aynIan esto hi shed
during the prevalence of yellow fever, a hospi-
tai for the INDECENT sick. In few days they
had six patients in this hospital, and know
that buried FIVE of them, and that the sixth
took !. French leave of his physicians; after
which events Il do not say in consequence the
hospital was closed.
| One other statement, and have done. In
no manual of homeopathy have l ever seen
calomel, cups, leeches, castor-oil, injections,
mustard baths, or mustard-plasters recommend
| ed by the writer. On the contrary, have al
ways believed that these active agents were in
| great disrepute amongst hom9opathists, and
were among the evil from which we were to be
delivered under the reign of "little pills" /
knou that lady of my acquaintance was sail
waited under homeopathic treatment. The
profession can Judge whether or not calomel,
taken in an allopathic doses years before, would
produce salvation without some mercurial ex-
citant more potent than few globules of me,-
GURUS rirus. / presume that no ardor of ho-
mGopathy will be equal to the denial of the
use of all the agents have named by homo-
opathic patients during the late epidemic yel-
low fever ought to add, that the Mr.. w.
named in the extract changed his treatment
by his own desire and the very respectable ply
sician whom he called in has frequently stated
| to me that he found him in q dying condition
on his first visit, and that all he could do was to
ease his last hours. Whatever he died from, it
was not from the amurderous effects Of allo-
pathic doses.'
] nave been induced to write this letter, that
your readers may believe that judgment has