Wichita eagle., 1888-05-03
THE HOMOE0PH'S.
TWENTIETH ANNUAL MEETING OF
THE STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY
Held at Hotel Carey Yesterday
An Interesting Session.

The twentieth annual meeting OF the
Homeopathic Medical Society OF the state
of Kansas commenced its session at the
parlors of the Carey yesterday. Ihere
were about thirty members present, In
Guiding many of the representative ply
sicians from all sections of the state. The
attendance will be much larger today as
many of the doctors who were yesterday
necessarily absent will today be present,
mapy having sent messages and kilograms
to that effect
The meeting was called to order by Dr.
Diederich, of Kansas City, Kan, at III
O'Clock. The secretary, DIR. Elliott, being
absent, Dr. Croskey was selected to act IN
that capacity. The following address OF
welcome was then delivered by DR.. j. a.
kirkpatrick, of Anthony:
Sir. President and Members CT the Society:
1t is pleasure to meet you on this occa-
sion. and | can assure you that l esteem 1T
an honor to have the privilege OF extend
ing the hand of welcome to those who
labor in so worthy cause. The Duke OF
Wellington at a critical moment during
the battle of Waterloo, said to his soldiers:
England expects every man TO DO MS
duty" The opportunities we ENJOY ana
the importance of our work demand OF US
that each one do his duty, and II the trlb-
ute we bring be no more than cup Of cold
water, let it be pure, simple and unadul-
terated truth. Says Zimmerman: IN
science in which the welfare OF mankind
is concerned, any neglect to make ourselves
masters of it becomes a crime we
should not only make ourselves masters or
what is known in medical science today,
bat il is for us to discover those funda-
o+,1 iyla of 1aNUS which we
can build science that is one in the full
est sense of the word. Herbert Spencer
said: THAT the likelihood OF the univers-
atty of law is ever growing greater,
and we feel today as we stand De-
fore the science world that we
are warranted in saying that the
domain OF therapeutic lies within the
range of natural law, and we need not
wonder that scientific men are SLOW to
accept this fact. How long the human
rae. enjoyed the ever recurring day and
night without any knowledge of the mo-
tion of the earth upon its axis How many
seed times and harvests did our primitive
fathers pass without knowing of the revo-
luton of the earth around the sun. How
often they watched the summer showers
and enjoyed their manifold blessings with
out the faintest idea of tropical evapora-
tons and the condensation OF vapor by
polar currents. Mariners and the lnhablt-
ants of the seashore must have observed
the rise and fall of the tide for ages, and
vet they did not realize that this phenom-
enon was caused by the attractions of the
sun and moon. The lightning's flash and
the thunder's peal struck terror to many
generations of our race, but it was left for
"a Franklin to discover the universal pres
ence of electricity, and for Morse and an
Edison and others of today to develop the
utility of this wonderful agent. How
much mons obscure are the laws that I'M
derlie human life If we see in inanimate
nature the evidences of law, does not an
alogy-yea, common sense, teach US that
man-the highest type of creation, and all
that NAV effect his life and health are sub
ject to laws as universal as gravltatlon and
as interchangeable If this be true, our work
is but begun; for what confusion still eX-
lists in the practice of medicine today;
what fallacies are yet to overcome; what
heights to scale; what depths TO fathom
before the members of our profession shall
see eye to eye in all that is connected with
the alienation of the suflerings of human
ity. Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest
philosophers the world has ever known,
said as he drew near the close of his life
that he seemed like schoolboy gathering
pebbles on the shore while the great ocean
of undiscovered truth lay before him.
If he with his master mind and ripe eX-
perience could thus humbly express him
self, how much mole should we manifest
a like spirit in our study of natures laws
in their relation to human life. We have
been centuries in reaching our present at
tainments in Therapeutics.
Thousands of honest men have devoted
their lives to the development of this
branch of science, and still great deal in
the practice of medicine is hardly worthy
30 be called science. Humiliating as it
may seem, the field of medicine is one in
which the quack and the knave reap their
harvests of i'll gotten gains; and how can
1t be otherwise as long as there is no recog-
milton of law in the curative action
of drugs. So long as the profession
will not recognize, and the people are ig-
norant of any fixed relation existing be-
tween the action OF the vital forces III the
human system and medicinal agents AS
the Scriptures say, Where no laws it,
there is NO transgression. and every man
becomes a law to himself" We think this
is true in medicine today. The old school
realizes the want of some foundation stone
on which to build system of therapeutics,
and are more willing than ever before TO
look at all the facts and phenomena con-
nected with the selection and adminiStra-
ton of medicine to the sick. DR.. A. e..
Houston. an able old-school physician, has
published an article on retrospective and
prospective therapeutics in the Therapeu-
says: The progressive physician of today
does not inquire after diureticS, tonics, ca
thartics and nervines but what agent will
relieve this condition, and what symptoms
will indicate that agent. Such sentiment
is familiar to every homeopathic physician,
and it cannot fail to the same results
reached by progressive physician over
sixty years ago.
Our progressive physician is still inquir-
ing what symptoms indicate that agent?''
Hahenemann gave us the symptoms OF
every remedy he proved, and on page 20,
of the organon we find the conclusion.
Hence il undenlably follows that the total
ity of the symptoms observed in each in
dividual case of disease can be only indi-
cations for the selection of remedy.
DR.. Houston saw nothing in Hom9o-
pathy but water with the shadow of some
Therapeutic agent" If he had examined
carefully and given due credit to what he
read, he would have seen more.
How was Hahnemann able to give the in
dicationS for the use of remedies? Wecan
answer better by using his own words.
There is nc safer or more natural method
of obtaining a knowledge of the curative
action of drugs than by administering
each drug separately and in moderate
quantity to healthful persons.
Have any of the progressive physicians
of today improved that method of obtain
ing a knowledge of the curative action OF
druCsY
1t seems 10 me that the first duty of any
progressive physician is to acknow
ledge the progress already mad,
and he cannot do this so long as his inves
LEGATIONS are directed by prejudice. We
may experiment upon frogs, mice, dogs
cats, and call it physiological actiod. W,
ran search for pathological changes anC
central LESSONS and call it scientific medi
zine. The facts remain the same, tina
drugs effect the human system the Sam'
TODAY they did in the DAYS of Hohnemann
They have the same curative effect wher
- l.