The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-01
HOMEOPATHIC PHYSICIANS.
The State Association Holds Its Eight
zenith Annual Session.
Address of the President, M. T. Runnels
Reports of Officers and COnsidera-
ton of Other Business.

The Indiana Institute of Homeopathy met
yesterday morning in its eighteenth annual
session. The attendance was small, but
more members are expected to arrive to-
day DR.. NJ T. Runnels, of this city, presi-
dent, called the meeting to order, with G. S
Fahenstock, of LaPorte, secretary. Mrs
Frank H. lowering sang 1.-THE Star
spangled Banner" Prayer was offered
by Rev. j. S. Jenck's, dean of st. PauIs
Cathedral. The following committees were ap-
pointed On credentials-Dr B. B. Freeman
Westville; DIR. j. D. George, Franklin. On in
vitation-Dr. w. H. Thomas, Elkhart On pub
lication-Dr. G. S. Fahnestock, LaPorte; DR.. W.
H. Taylor, Terre Haute; Dr. o. s. Runnels, In
dianapolis. Dr. J. R. Haynes, treasurer, re-
ported receipts, 1855. 10; balance, $36.
PRESIDENT RUNNELss ADDRESS.
The president, DR.. Moses T. Runnels, of In
dianapolis, then delivered his address, the subject
being 'The Retrospect and Prospect of Medi-
cine" He said that eighteen years ago thirteen
homeopathic physicians met and made the In
diana Institute of Homeopathy. 1t is often
said of men that they builded better than they
knew, but these pioneers had definite idea of
the task they had undertaken. They were
neither novices nor adventures and had caught
the first cleaning of an opening light as it
dawned over the mountain tops, and though it
were but twilight they knew it meant the day
light of new science and of progressive art.
From this small beginning the institute has
made rapid progress. The influence of this body
has been felt throughout the whole State. The
homoeopathists of this State are now patronlzed
by very large and respectable class of the cltl-
of lNicfN a
numbers and our influence we are entitled to
equal rights and privileges with old-school medi-
cine in the public institutions of the State; IN
city and town hospitals; poor houses Jalls and
all other institutions supported by public money,
and it is our duty to demand that the unjust dis
elimination that has always been made in favor
of old school medicine shall hereafter be dlscon-
tinued. We demand that the a1lopathist or So
called regular doctor shall have rights and
privileges which are denied to the homeopathic
The attitude of the rank and file of the med
ical profession to-day seems to be antagonlstlc
to scientific study. Innovation upon established
beliefs and customs provokes opposition. There
are many years but only one sentiment, between
the persecution of Calico and the onslaught on
homeopathy. To the great mass of
the old-school doctors whose interests
are mainly confined to the harsh treadmill of
professional life, who seldom never read new
books or the latest journals, the advancements
of science are matter of Indifference. Compound
prescriptions and massive doses are fondly cher
ished by them long after Hahnemann taught the
use of but one remedy in a prescription and the
minimum dose.
The practical demonstration of a fact is worth
more than volume of words for against it,
The yellow fever plague of 1878 furnished an OPP
portunty for thorough test of homeopathy.
Over T, 900 cases were treated according to the
law laid down by Hahnemann, and the death rate
only ITO per cent, or about onethird as
great us that of the old school
Hom9opathists, with fattering prospects of
from the United States government, and to be
placed on an equal footing with the so-called
regular medicine in the army and navy. Our
forces, recruited daily, are on the march, driving
cuted and down trodden but with the truth we
have risen again
The work before us is greater than the work
we have accomplished. In our haste to become
numerous and powerful we have taken in too
much raw material. These beginners misrepre-
sent us-endanger and weaken our cause every
where. We are obliged to answer for their sins
Let us shut our doors and take an invoice of
what we have in stock. In our warfare educa-
ton is of more consequence than numbers, and
quality demands our attention more than
quantity
Micro-organisms are the order of the day
The pursuit of them wakes hot. The German
medical commissioners, headed by Koch, report
that they have found the same kind of para
site in a water tank in Calcutta and in a suburb
an village where the cholera appeared that was
discovered in the intestines of the victims of
the last plague in Egypt thus showing that the
two diseases were similar We find that Hahne-
mann. in 1881, ascribed the origin of cholera to
minute organisms and it was partly on this
theory that he founded his camphor treatment
Koch now states that cholera is due to a spe-
cial bacterium. This germ theory of disease has
made such an inroad upon the medical profess
sion that the world is about ready to accept the
statements of the scientists as established facts
About 1925 the various forms of monas, vibrio
linn, a,,Ih aofa IN fbn
notice of the profession by Ehrenbrrg and Du-
jardin, and before q half century had passed
Schwann had shown that the putrefaction of or
ganic substances is due to these bacteria Later,
Pasteur declared that by extending the discov-
cry he had proved that these minute organisms
are the cause of every putrefactive change.
Lister profting by these discoveries, evolved
his great antseptic method which has produced
such profound impression upon all branches of
medicine and surgery.
We are amazed and chagrined continually but
more especially in the spring of the year, after
the college commencements, at the large class of
men commissioned to practice medicine, who are
for the most part thoroughly unqualified for the
positions they expect to fill. The educated
physician is painfully conscious of the fact that
the ranks of his profession are daily recruited
with men illiterate and unfamiliar with medical
science, who have in some mysterious way OBJ
tanned the support of so-called medical faculties,
and been suddenly translated to the dignity of
doctors. If the standard of medical education
is to be finally fixed and controlled by mounte-
banks where restrictive barriers are so loosely
set up and the final test Of fitness so daintily APP
Piled the common people would do well to take
Shakspeare's advice and throw physic to the
dogs. While we have one or more weak, but
legalized colleges in nearly every large town in
this country, with portals wide open. summon
ing and almost begging students to attend their
courses of lectures and making roseate and verdant
the novitiate's way to an easily-acquired plan of
esteem and support, we cannot expect that the
standard of medical education in the United
States is going to be Immediately elevated
What the homeopathic physician needs more