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only remedy! And this too without having ever seen a single case of the disease, which he so thoroughly appreciated. What a contrast do his clear words of assurance and promise present to the confused mutterings of the present leaders of the medical hosts in the wilderness of doubt. And yet we are told by a writer in the Medical Times, who has of late been exercising his ingenuity in making mountains out of mole hills, that Hahnemann was all wrong in this, that Camphor is not homoeopathic to cholera. If our modest teacher wishes to see his likeness in political life, we advise him to study the writings and speeches of a certain very pugnacious advocate of peace, who after explaining that he consideres the present war to be an infamous outrage against humanity, a sin and a crime in its origin and in its continuance, instead of insisting on its being given up, treats his audience to his views of the most effectual way of carrying on this flagrant wickedness. Thus our hostile instructor, after proving that homoeopathy is nonsense, objects to us for not being consequential in our nonsensical course of action. With all due deference to our anonymous adviser, we shall prefer to leave the conduct of the war in the hands of those who believe in its justice, to making it over to the direction of a quaker meeting, and we shall also continue to practise homœopathy as recommended by Hahnemann, rather than follow the advice of one who sees only a lion in the way, and rejects with the utmost contempt the aid of those who seek to prove to him that the lion he so dreads is nothing but an ass in the royal robe, and if he will only bestride the patient beast and cudgel its ribs, it will bear him safely out of his present "fix" in the columns of our contemporary.

All that now remains for us to do is to glance at the results of the different methods of treatment which occupy a separate report. A more complete burlesque upon the so called numerical method of arriving at positive data in medicine, it has never been our lot to meet with. After the committee has told us that "that the choleraic pestilence varies in the severity of the individual attacks from the degree of a trifling indisposition to that of a most deadly and intractable disease; that in one form it is fatal to 6, in another to 669 in every 1000, and that,

therefore, any alleged specific requires that its effects should be investigated with the greatest care." What do we find? A series of tables giving the bare numbers of cases treated with various drugs without the slightest specification of the character of the individual cases so treated, without the date of the period of the experiment, and without the dose of the remedy. Thus we have twelve cases treated with Calomel in small doses, but what a small dose is we are not told, giving 63 per cent. of deaths in collapse cases; but then we are informed that only in five out of the twelve so tabulated was Calomel given alone, in all the others it was combined either with Opium or with Salines -(what are Salines?)-or with emetics, or with some other remedial or destructive agent, and yet they are to serve as the results of Calomel treatment! Then we have Calomel given in larger doses, but how much larger we are not told, and the result is highly reassuring, for out of eight cases there were eight deaths. Indeed, the only conceivable purpose of this report is to show what we must avoid, if we do not wish to destroy all our patients, and the only sagacious remark we find is the following, made in reference to the Calomel and Opium treatment as possibly productive of fever. "In examining the remarkable proportion of consecutive fever in Scotland, it appears that in one district, Paisley, 103 cases of consecutive fever have occurred in 110 cases of cholera; 50 of these only had collapse; 60 cases of cholera, therefore, went into consecutive fever without having had collapse. In all these cases Calomel and Opium were used as the prominent treatment in the previous stages. There is no evidence in the returns on this most interesting topic, whether the Opium was given in any unusually large doses. Fever is reported to have been prevalent in Paisley during the outbreak of cholera but allowing certain weight to this latter cause for the large number of cases which passed from cholera into consecutive fever, it is still a question, as they were all treated with Calomel and Opium, whether the Opium was given in large doses. In the latter case, the result would seem to correspond with the large proportion of cases of consecutive fever in the metropolitan hospitals, in which the use of Opium combined with chalk appears to have been attended with like results."

The meaning of this stript of verbiage is that Opium tends to produce consecutive fever. This inference of the committee is one we arrived at long ago, from observing the very small proportion of cholera cases treated homoeopathically in Edinburgh which passed into consecutive fever, in comparison to the large number with such a termination in cases treated according to the directions of the Board of Health, then called the Sanitary Commission, which advised "twenty grains of opiate confection, for example, repeated every hour until the relaxation of the bowels ceased."

We are disappointed at not finding more details of the effect. of the Saline treatment recommended by Dr. Stevens. More fatal than 100 per cent. it could not be, and although we may suspect that the enthusiasm of the veteran pathologist has misled his judgment and induced him to over-colour the success of this mode of treatment, yet, making all such allowance, we cannot but wish to see a fair and extensive trial given to the use of the Salts he advises in cases of pronounced collapse, where all our efforts are so often unavailing.

And we feel curious to know what was the result in Sweden of the following directions issued by the Board of Health of that country, and which seem to be certainly less dangerous than the Opium and brandy treatment patronised by the predecessors of the present committee.

"General directions for the treatment of cholera founded on the experience of later times.

"When an indisposition that gives warning of the new disease shows itself by weakness, giddiness, heaviness of the head, loss of appetite, swelling, or distention of the abdomen, nausea, and frequent diarrhoea, the patient ought without delay to place himself in a warm and soft bed, and cover himself well. He ought then immediately to take from two to three at the most four drops of the spirit of camphor diffused in a teaspoonful of sugared water, or on a bit of sugar, every five minutes. If after a few doses the patient falls into a perspiration, or if in this way the symptoms become milder, the doses are to be taken at longer intervals. If the symptoms become worse, or the drops be rejected as soon as taken, they must be given more frequently.

If within two hours no important improvement takes place, and the well known symptoms of true cholera appear, then melt three good table spoonsful of common salt in a quart of warm water, and let the half of this be taken immediately till vomiting take place. After the stomach is emptied, a large mustard or horseradish poultice is to be applied to the pit of the stomach. This should be kept there till there arises a strong perspiration, and then a moderate teaspoonful of the carbonate of soda and a good tablespoonful of equal parts of vinegar and water is to be given in a state of effervescence every twenty minutes. After three or four doses of the above effervescing medicines, whether the tendency to vomiting be diminished or not, there must be given regularly each half hour, a Stevens' Saline Powder, in two or three tablespoonfuls of beef tea or oatmeal gruel. One of these powders is to be given every half hour, until the cholera symptoms have wholly and entirely disappeared, and even then the Saline powders are to be gradually discontinued, with more and more increased intervals."

After some judicious observations about the general management of the patient, the document concludes with the signatures of P. V. Afzelius, L. Hwasser, C. H. Berostrund, H. W. Romansson, G. C. Schultz, and P. J. Liedbeck.

What were the results in Sweden of this plan of treating cholera? Perhaps our friend Dr. Liedbeck will inform us.

Etude clinique de l'Emploi et des effets du Bain d'Air Comprimé dans le traitement de diverses maladies selon les procédés de M. Emile Tabarié; par M. E. BERTIN. Paris, 1855.

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Homœopathists, hydropathists, mesmerists, and other quacks," is a phrase, a maniere de parler familiar to the readers of the current literature of the dominant medical school. The principle on which the able editor of the Lancet or Medical Times proceeds in order to detect quackery of all sorts, is as simple as it could well be. Given a new mode of treatment— does it consist in large doses of powerful drugs, does it tap the

vital fluid, does it fret or burn the skin, does it excite some organ to unnatural secretion-it is an ingenious method, based on scientific principles, deserving of attention, calculated to do much good, recommends itself by its simplicity and efficacy, &c. &c. Does it dispense with strong drugs, does it retain all the blood in the veins, does it leave the skin intact, does it refrain from overexciting any secreting organ-it is quackery, degrading to the practitioner and pernicious to the patient, a mere device to pick the pockets of credulous fools, its originator is a knave or a fool, or both, and unworthy to associate with any honest medical The able editor will probably not deign to notice its existence, or if he does, it will be under some such captivating heading as this," New System of Quackery," which is so well calculated to secure for it the impartial judgment of his readers.

man.

We homœopathists have a different way of proceeding in the case of medical novelties. We adopt a less slashing style of criticism than our allopathic colleagues. We endeavour to examine impartially the novelty presented to us, to lay before our readers an accurate account of it, and to discover if it contain anything of value to practical medicine.

Now, this style of criticism may strike many as being feeble in comparison with the vigorous treatment of such matters by our allopathic contemporaries, and to many it may be rather a bore than otherwise to be plagued with the examination of new modes of treating disease. The art of curing is confessedly far from perfect, and we its professors, among our other professions, profess to be delighted to avail ourselves of any plan that may enable us to cure our patients tutius, citius et jucundius; still we jog on so pleasantly in the old routine, which it would be such a nuisance to alter, our patients are pleased, and are not so unreasonable as to expect us to cure everything, novelties in medicine are in nine cases out of ten valueless; that we render a much more willing ear to him who will flatter us by telling us our old ways are perfect, and who will say of the new plan, “it is naught," than to him who by commending the novelty, would seem to derogate from the infallibility of our present system. Homœopathy is a standing protest against the perfection of former systems of medicine, and homoeopathists should naturally be disposed to accord the same fair play to

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