The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-01-26
WAS HE INSANE?
DIR. Parker HOLDS THAT HAHNf.
MANN VAS HOPELESS LUNATIC.
More Lost to Reason Than Any OF the Two
thousand Lunatics ia This state-pr'
Parker's Arguments In Full.

In Chicago. Or. w. w. Parker. of this
city. contributed an article entitled,
was Hahnemann lnsane?' DR.. Parker
has received a number OF requests lIoln
Western States for copies or the aI-N'''
which was suggested by plan on ioo1
10 erect a memorial to Hannemahh III
washington. ID. {.
The article is reproduced below:
Nothing but a high sense OF public duty
will Justify man In attempting 10 pioFe
another insane. it matters not whether
he be dead or alive. The great ieadlns
men Of the past belong TO their posterl'y'
They are valuable lessons to the youhs'
both as warnings against evils ana ihce"-
tives TO duty. Biography has always oeei,
interesting To me. When nine years OF"
| had read 'Plutarch's Lives more ina.
once From this kind OF study We ssieS
our ideals For this reason the Bible Is
an invaluable book, II presents US VIII
so many noble ideals on all great moIal
questions. Some three years ago / read
a pamphlet on The Rise and Decline
Of Homeopathy," before our state So
clety. which has had quite wide clrcuia-
ton. Last year / had newspaper az
cussion with the homeopathists OF klch-
nond. Each fred n gun and retired from
the field. These things have caused ile
TO study more closely Hahremann cnal
acter and his unique dogmas. Inc no.
o,d cold water cures had some common
sense in them. but were narrow ana on
the oue-idea theory. Homeopathy, as 1
atated I'm nv essay is transcendentansm
n is not phvsics but metaphysics hahhe-
mann was hard student. honest DOUBT
less. and a lover Of his KIND. Ills cHai
acter is above reproach, ne was III il"
sense a quack. His INSANITY was OF
"dalusionary" character. well known 10
him "a dreamer Of gay dreams.
True. medicine is practical We speak
Of II "as the practice Of medicine not
the theory OF medicine. Some men are
even pleased 10 call medicine an arr
and not a science" Too much theory
has been the bano OF practice. Medicine
began with experimentation. However
carefully made. experiments must yer pe
received with great caution. theFe
should be great care also in generaiizins
from doubtful premises. This error mas
caused the world much sorrow. We have
only 10 read the numerous pamphlets
circulated through the mails to-day Win
hundreds Of certificates Of medical men
of the marvellous effect Of some new
drug 10 be satisfied that the day Of hasty
conclusions has by no means passed
A SINGULAR MAN
Hahnemann was a singular man. He
nracticed medicine twenty-eight years
and changed his residence twenty-three
times. He must have been an unsuccess-
ful practitioner. Perhaps he did not stay
long enough in one place for his infinite
sinai doses 10 do their work BY this
method a. would take year or two TO get
ono drop Of laudanum into his patient 5
system. a deluson is perverted idea on
any subject. To is a very common form
I M 4
M McBride's Private Hospital, I'm Phila-
delphia. who toe me to a door leading
into an adjoining room, and said her
husband was nailed mp in the door casing
/ did not attempt 10 argue with her, as l
saw an once she had lost her reason
Hahnemann's "deluslon" was on the
subject Of numbers and forces. lie had
lost the relation OF weight and measures.
Of little and big Of great and small or
dynamics and states. To say the smaller
the dose-the nearer IL was 10 nothing
the greater It's effect. II given I'm infinite
sinai dosese is absurd upon its face 10
p man Of common sense. to say that only
a billionth drop II given every ten minutes
will have a better and more certain effect
than II given i'm one drop doses two or
three times a day. Is gratuitous besides
there can DE no way possible OF proving
the proposition. The only way 10 con-
vince a man holding these absurd views
IS to satrize him This Hood and Holmes
and others have done:
Well, Doctor,
Great cOncOctOr
OF medicines 20 help IN mans distress
Dlluting the strong TO weak
AMI making ev'n the weak more weak.
"Fine by degrees, and beautifully less"
Suppose a felon doomed 10 swing
Within a rope,
Might friends not hope
To cure him with a string?
Suppose his breath arrived at a full stop
The shades of death IN a black cloud be-
fore him.
Would quntllionth dose OF the New
Restore him?
But would # mend his case
TO bee decilHonth dosed
With something like the ghost
OF an emetlc.
What shall support the body in its trial.
Cool the hot blood, wild dream, and parch-
ing skin.
And tame the raging malay within
A snin Of Next-to-Nothing I'm a phial?
DR. HOLMES SATIRE.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has also
satirized him. 1 do not remember whether
American poet:
Take a little rum.
The less you take the better,
Pour it I'm the lakes Of Wenner and Of
Wetter,
Dip a spoonful out
Mind you don't get groggy
Pour IL in the lake Of Wnipisiogee,
Shake the mixture we'll
Lest 1t prove inferior.
! Then put half a drop
Into Lake Superior.
Every now and then
Take half a drop in water
II not better soon.
At least you ought TO.
What IS insanity? An expert says
/ ut Is a delusion or a false concept. an
idea which Is the product Of defeot'va
data and defective reasoning and held in
spite of the presentation Of corrected data
and corrected reasoning. This distin-
| guisfes it from a common deusiOn, an
| ere ~ belief remediable by suitably put
eyidC more simple definition II
seems I. would be this: a perverted
understanding habitually, though not
necessarily at all times. or on all sub
iects or objects. ignoring common sense
and observation. and the piainest rela-
tions between cause and effect. The delu-
sion may be upon one subject only
Were I to see a man driving a nail IN
the fence and find him tapping It with
| great delicacy for two or three hours.
and were ! 10 say 10 him. give the nail
| two or three vigorous blows and you will
| do the work" and were he 10 reply, this
IS the best plan, am satisfied Of IT," /
would at once consider he was insane.
| Were 10 find a man watering his garden