1 Vll
2 vious examination of it; without having tested it, and
3 satisfactorily proved it (“ Jurare in verba magistri ”)
4 consequently, I do not profess myself a votary of
5 Hahnemann’s system. In the course of this work, I
6 shall have to cite cases wherein it will appear, that the
7 most minute doses of a medicine have, sometimes,
8 proved efficacious ; whilst, in other instances, they did
9 not produce any effect whatever; and I am bound to
10 confess, that, in the majority of cases, the results I
11 obtained from Homoeopathy, were not favorable ; I
12 felt persuaded, that larger doses would have been better.
13 I have also found it injudicious to wait too long in
14 order to discover, by the operation of a medicine, if
15 it were well-chosen ; and I consider it erroneous to
16 prescribe for a patient the strictest diet, prohibiting the
17 use of such things as the body has been accustomed
18 to — particularly tea and coffee , which have a stimulating
19 influence on the nerves and blood vessels. I do not
20 deny the antipsoric theory in several chronic diseases ;
21 nor do I, like Hahnemann, reject the use of external
22 adjuvanlia — such as bleeding, blistering, &c.
23 The disciples of Hahnemann are of opinion, that,
24 as tea and coffee exercise a pecular influence on the
25 nervous system, and are therefore good and certain
26 remedies for persons unaccustomed to the use of them,
27 they should be used medicinally only. But, let me
28 urge, amongst the substances which constitute our
29 usual nourishment, or things which we consume as
30 articles of luxury, there are many which affect the
31 nerves even more strongly than tea or coffee ; there-
32 fore, by parity of reason, we ought to debar ourselves
33 of them also.