Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-08-09
A Doctors Diluted DelusIon.
HOMEOPATHIC DOSES OF LOVELY WOMAN,
From tie New York Times.


From the New York Times.
1t has been discovered OF late years thai
many habits and conditions of the body and
mind are really diseases First it was ascer
tanned that n tendency on the part of the ex
cited and disappointed woman to howl and
throw things is not manifestation of bad
temper, but disease called hysteria. Then
drunkenness. thieving and other unpleasant
habits were found to be diseases with diff
cult and painful Greek names. The very
latest discovery of this kind has been made
by the distinguished German homeopathic,
DR. Steinerkopf, whose recent monograph on
''Gynaia. its Symptoms and Treatment, is
attracting so much attention In medical cir
cles. The eminent physician shows very
conclusively that those peculiarities of char
Gcter which cause certain men to be called
effeminate are symptoms which constitute a
disease called by him ''Gynaia" The patient
is timid, ,xcitable, averse to tobacco and
dogs, and, though apparently without much
energy Is, nevertheless wonderfully persist
ent in ciinging to his own views and COM
pellinG other men to yield to his wishes and
whims 'sGynnia, remarks DR.. Steiserkopf
may be briefly defined as the simulated ex-
istence OF feminine moral qualities in the
person of man" With the existence OF the
disease We are all familiar, though it hiss
never hitherto occurred to any man that ef-
teminacy was a real disease. The fact that
it is disease is, however, so clearly shown
by Dr.. Steinerkopf that it must be hereafter
conceded. Being q firm believer not only in
the universality OF the law Suiilid smilibuS
cgraats1', but also in the potency OF the very
highest dilutions, DIR. Steinerkopf could not
long be in any doubt as to the proper rene
dv for .'gynaia. The various symptoms
were by him finally classified as different
manifestations of etfeminacy, or womanli-
ness, and hence the remedy indicated was
womauliness itself in extremely attenuated
doses. Thus far all was plain and simple,
bat how to attain sufficiently high Gllution
of womanliness was the next problem. For
tunateiy a would-be sarcastic sentence con-
tanned In one of the medical journals of the
old School furnished DIR. Steinerkopf with IN
invaluable hint. The journal in question
said Of the fiitieth dilution of tlcheSlS, This
dilution is equal to one drop of the tincture
OF the alleged drug diluted with the whole
Atlantic Ocean. Reading these words. DR..
SteineIkopf at once saw his way. The At
lantic Ocean was what he needed. Could he
dilute the whole Atlantic lie would have a
dilution at least as high as the fftieth of any
other drug and probably qnite as efficacious.
No sooner had this brilliant idea flashed
across the Doctor brain than he filed his
pockets with phials and started for the near
est waterinG-place. Day after day he was OBJ
served walking on the beach with an anxious
all OF exL Lectation. 1t was not for several
DAYS that he was able TO find what he sought,
a girl bathing alone and enjoying the mono
poly of the ocean. Tremulously seizing his
watch in one hand and a glass vase in anoth-
er, he waited for ten minutes to elapse, and
then rushing into the surf regardless Of his
shoes and trousers he scooped up gallon Of
water and bore it triumphantly TO his lodg-
ings He had now the required high dilu-
tion of girl but 1t was combined with other
undesirable elements. He therefore removed
with great care the sodium, iodine, magne-
sia, orange peel, old boots and other chemi-
cal substances which are found in sea-water.
Thus. after much labor he prepared a chemi-
cally pure remedy, which he bottled and la
bel!ed "Paelg Dymestica 50h." He had his
remedy at last, and it only remained to try
its efficacy. Following the example of the
devoted Hahnemann, he proceeded to prove
the new drug upon himself. 4 large part of
his monograph-which,b by the way, ought TO
be translated and republished here without
delays occupied with these drug-proyings,
and they are wonderfully interesting. -Four
doses taken at intervals of six. hours, pro-
duced in the Doctors mind vague longing
to wear bonnets, and an unconquerable ten
dency TO SIT with one loot doubled under
him. Two doses taken at an interval of
eight hours produced distinct desire for
cats, an abnormal interest in the clothing Of
casual ladies who passed under the Doctors
window. a profound reverence for the clergy
and dread lest VI ancient horse pistol Which
had hung for thirty years unloaded in the
Doctors Office should 'go of and kill some
body There is no room FOR doubt in tine
mind Of Doctor Steinerkopf that, could he
have taken little enough of this remedy it
v ould have transformed him, morally and
N entally, into the exrct image of the typical
" oman. The new drug was subsequently
used by its distinguished discoverer in his
practice and produced the most miraculous
cures of the confirmed cases of gynaia. In
fact, there are few drugs in the whole homG-
opathic D,aterjI medicd which have so uni
formly produced such astonishing cures, and
that it Is true sIecifc for gynaia, no matter
how long and how obstinately the disease
may have existed in a chronic form, is nearly
certain. 1t should be added that the Doctor
asserts that no harm can result to healthy
persons from bathing at watering places,
since it is only at exceptional moments there
is a sufficiently small quantity OF girl in the
Atlantic to form a dilution high enough to
possess any medicinal virtue.