Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-26

~ W w WIN AHi. iNAt was faNFA WV
100, 600 population.
Those who TOOK the other side In the dis
c%ussion contonded that the action Of anti
toxine on the tissues is not homeopathic at
all. but purely chemical.
IL Has No Friends.
In the amphitheatcr upstairs the "iso-
pathlc" relation between drugs and diseases
found no friends, that is, as "isopathic." in
the section devoted to materia medica and
general therapeutics.
DIR. George Royal Of Des Moines said
plainly there is no such thing as i%sopathy
In psorinuni, the serum OF the vesicke and
the trituratiou OF the dry scale OF psoriasis,
and In all applications Of serum theropry,
he found reasons for the ground he took,
The element of changeability precluded the
recognition of isopathy as a separate pathy,
Smallpox and its treatment by vaccine he
alluded to in substantiation of his position.
The effect OF such a remedy as vaccine in
his opinion is strictly homeopathic. He
therefore considered "isopathy'' as a bar
nacle attaching itself to modern homeop-
athy," and at the same time protested
against those physicians, who, through pa
rading as homeopaths, make great preten-
sions to isopathy.
Likewise Dir. w. Il. Leonard of Minneap-
~ Wv "AbA' ofoNNlA " NhN loAN
DR.. Samuel Swan Of New York, with its
category Of drugs derived from disgusting
sources" such as vaccinum, medernum and
syphilinum. Such medicines he characterized
as being never the same in their effects, and
possessed therefore of the element of un-
mountaineering in product as well as
in action.
That the question of isopathy merely in
volved the principle of the homeopathic
formula of the law of similars was also the
position taken by DR.. II. w. Pierson Of Chi
cago. The question might be entirely ig-
nored but that it was being constantly re-
vived as in the discussion down stairs
of the value of antitoNlns in the cure of
pneumonia, diphtheria and other diseases.
He referred to Hahnemann's declaration
that there is no such thing as isopathy,"
and observed: III it be true that remedies
which are the product of disease will cure
1t, then 1t must follow that this Is simply
the application Of the homeopathic theory"
lie saw in %isopathy nothing more than a fad
on the one hand or a bngaDoo on the other.
Does Not Embrace 1t All.
The last of the four pathies was fully COW
cred by DR.. Pemberton Dudley of rhiladel-
phia. He confined himself strictly to his sub
ject, homeopathy.
ITO assert that the simple formula, Sim
lila Similibus Curentur, embraces the whole
that can be learned of the philosophy of
homeopathy said the paper. would be
much like asserting that the dogma of the
atonement includes the whole body of
Christian doctrine
He enumerated the three factors in the
formula. Similars are cured by si:nilars'
-(Curantur) If this form was preferable TO
that of Let likes be treated by likes" (cur-
entur)-as being: The agent by which the
cure is accomplished; the OBJECT upon which
the curative action is eXerted and finally
the cure that is to be ronsulnmGtcd." So
he inquired: What is Nature S curative
agent? What is Natures durable condition?
What is Natures curative process? No hu-
man intelligence can answer these questions
except by first interrogating Nature her.
self
Under the head of what is Nature'5 cura-
tive agent?" he explained that. according
to the general view, the homeopathic agent
accomplishes it's curative function only
through that property which Hahnemann
denominated its 'dynam:c"-its power to
modify the functions.
He summed up the homeopathic method
of cure in the following: THE homeopathic
drug acts alone by it's dynamic properties;
its action is cxerted only upon vital activi-
ties, IL cures by changing abnormal into
normal activity; the curative domain of ho-
meopathy does not include symptom groups
caused and maintained by mechanical, phys
ical or chemical arrangements of the or
ganism, except when said arrangements are
themselves maintained by disorder of the
vital action"
His paper was discussed by Drs. Hanchett
of Sioux City, Wilson A. Smith and others
and then DR.. Dudley closed by expressing
his confidence that disease could easily be
communicated to healthy persons-"he
could give any well man the itch in his right
hand'-and also expressed a strong doubt
that there can be realized any such condi-
ton as an absolutely perfect state of
health. Permanent cures of diseases he be-
lieved possible, of course, but not so per-
manent that they would give immunity
from a recurrence of the very same dis
eases. The idea of immuneness as claimed
for persons who had had smallpox, measles,
etc, he secuted.
Antipathy u Principle of Hygiene.
Chairman Price concluded the entire sec
ton with a paper fully as liberal as his
first. Antipathy, he reasoned, is quite as
much a principle of hygiene as therapeutics
referring to Galen, the formulator of the
maxim "Contraria Contrariis Curantur'D as
in giving food to the hungry, heat to the
cold, rest to the overwOrked, bunting the
sensibilities for the relief of pain, ETC., all
of which can be practiced by the homeo-
path as well as any member of the old
school. He reviewed favorably the papers
of Drs. Mitchell and Geohegan.
The committee on President Wright's ad-
dress, Drs. Pemberton Dudley of Philadel-
phia, w. A. Dewey of Ann Harbor, Mich.
and David A. Strickler of Denver, has
several resolutions in accord with his sug-
g%estions, namely on expert testimony, a
uniform state medical law, the preservation
of American forests, the photography of the
word "curantur" and the other points.
Surgery Under Discussion.
The afternoon was given up almost en-
tirely to the sectional work, the section in
surgery occupying the amphitheater. Just
before this section began. though, there was
a brief business meeting of the institute in
which various reports Of a customary ma
ture were received. The committee on ma
terra medica conference reported in favor of
a discontinuance of the conference in the
future and that it be combined hereafter
with the section in materia medica. The in
stitute accepted this idea.
The opening paper of the section in sur
gerry was by the chairman, DR.. John Kent
Sanders of Cleveland, o., which covered
the whole range of the question and which