Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-04-27

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The Oldest medical practice Is that of the fam
lily. Long before doctors or even priests were
known as practitioners, the male or female head
of the family applied those roots, herbs or 9th
er restoratiyes, which experience had sanction
ed, for the relief of such sickness as appeared
among its members. Then, for a long success
sion Of generations, the offices of priest and
\ physician were united in the same person, and
he who offered prayers for the good of the soul
likewise administered for the good of the body.
In the farther division of labor by the advance
of society. doctors at length became invested
with the business of attendance upon the sick
Yet all this time the original and natural pro-
tectors of the sick. the heads of the family, did
not relinquish their claims or cease to provide
for the restoration and recovery of its disabled
members. Time out of mind it has been the
habit of our mothers and grandmothers to pro-
vide themselves with such herbs as tradition or
use have considered beneficial, and to admins
ter them upon all supposed needful occasions.
Most of US will remember, not without some
inward qnalms, the frequent taking of boneset
and catnip, or mint and comfrey, wherewith in
days long gone. our mothers corrected the small
ills of childhood, and some of us may taste to
this day the castor oii-then on occasions SO free
ly applied.
In later years various devices have been in
vented, with a view of enabling parents more
conveniently and successfully to administer for a
family. But none of these became by any
means popular until the advent OF the compar-
a~tiyely new system of Homeopathy This sys-
TEN, discarding at once the bleeding, blistering,
and entire repulsive means 50 long in vogue,
and administering all medicines in the form of
tasteless sugar pills or powder, rendered it easy
to give medicines without danger, if not with
relief, and soon its boxes and books for domes-
tic practice were in very general use,
But, however plausible in theory, these boxes
and books were found to be not without diff
Guilty in practice. According to the usual forms
of Homeopathy, but a single remedy could be
used at once, and each for only a limited num-
Der of symptoms occurring in each disease, so
that in order to meet the apparent wants of a
family, some forty OF sixty medicines were re
CURED and to explain the use of these a vol
ume of 600 or 500 pages was necessary, and of
ten twenty, and even as high as forty remedies
were mentioned for the cure of each disease or
even simple ailment- The inquirer conse 4uent-
ly found herself bewildered in the multiplicity
of remedies and symptoms, and ultimately
either gave up in despair, or more commonly
took some one or more remedies at hazard
Yet some persons, having a taste for this kind
of Investigation, have long used, and with some
considerable advantage, this form of medicine.
Some few years ago DR.. HUMPHREYS, then
Professor of Theory and Practice at the Homeo-
pathic Medical College, of Pennsylvania, at
Philadelphia, Instituted a series of experiments
with a view of devising a shorter and simpler
way of curing with Homeopathic medicines.
describing the old notions of the school, he
sought, by a combination of more tried and
approved remedies, to form a specific for each
particular disease or ailment. His experiments
resulted in the discovery of a Law of Combina-
ton through which he was enabled to prepare
specifics for all the simpler and more common
forms of disease. Thus he has specifics for Fee
Yers, Headaches, Dysentery, Dyspepsia, Piles,
Catarrh, Fever and Ague, and other similar
daily occurring affections. These he throws
together III a smalIchest, and accompanies them
with a concise little manual of directions for
administering the medicines, and a short sketch
and symptoms of the disease treated. Nothing
can be simpler than his entire system and if
we can believe even a small part of the testi-
mony given in their favor, by those who use |
them. no medicines can be more efficacious. In
deed the Professor contends with apparent sin
cerity and earnestness. that his combinations
possess curative powers beyond those of the
simples, even under the best possible system of
administration There is force in this, for we
know that combinations of old school medicines
are far more efficient as curative agents than
the simple remedies and it is surprising that
the Homeopathists had not long ago awaited
themselves of the apparently simple expedient
adopted by Prof. Humphreys. Prot. H. however
has peculiar facilities, from his extensive prac-
tice and intimate acquaintance with every phase
of Homeopathic practice and literature, for car
rying out his new system of specifics, and he has
brought to his aid Il mind we'll cultivated and
intensely devoted to the success of his favorite
system. 1t is impossible to say what results
may III liz ~Alh 1LAoi |
efforts OF IL single energetic mind devoted to
one object. But. even in a limited space of
time, Hufiphrey's SPecificsh have become almost
household words, and are frstshaping the views
and practice OF large numbers Of our people
The practice of medicine seems thus likely to
return to its more primitive channels, and the
father and mother again be invested with the
care OF the sick. Pride of success and economy |
both plead urgently for the restoration of the
ancient practice, and SO successful has it proved
that those who have ae3o4ated It will not be
likely to relinquish it. Should the Hse o. these
specifics become universal, or even general, it
will restrict the duty of the practitioner to fewer
cases and those of a more grave and surgical
character and while it will diminish their |
number, it will also tend to elevate the standard
of qualifications among practitioners Mean
time much sickness will be prevented. and the
general health and happiness of our race pro-
portionahly promoted
After saying this much generally of the spe- !
Cites of Professor HUMPHREYS, we will say that
we have found them, by use in our own family, |
all that he claims them to be, and uaqlIalifedly
recommend them togeneral use and favor.