er
the aspect of an extravagant and purely imaginative creation of its
founder. Since that first essay was written, nearly half a century ago,
we have all had a chance to witness its practical working. Two opposite
inferences may be drawn from its doctrines and practice. The first is
that which is accepted by its disciples. This is that all diseases are
"cured" by drugs. The opposite conclusion is drawn by a much larger
number of persons. As they see that patients are very commonly getting
well under treatment by infinitesimal drugging, which they consider
equivalent to no medication at all, they come to disbelieve in every form
of drugging and put their whole trust in "nature." Thus experience,

"From seeming evil still educing good,"

has shown that the dealers in this preposterous system of
pseudo-therapeutics have cooperated with the wiser class of practitioners
in breaking up the system of over-dosing and over-drugging which has been
one of the standing reproaches of medical practice. While. keeping up
the miserable delusion that diseases were all to be "cured" by drugging,
Homoeopathy has been unintentionally showing that they would very
generally get well without any drugging at all. In the mean time the
newer doctrines of the "mind cure," the "faith cure," and the rest are
encroaching on the territory so long monopolized by that most ingenious
of the pseudo-sciences. It would not be surprising if its whole ground
should be taken possession of by these new claimants with their
flattering appeals to the imaginative class of persons open to such
attacks. Similia similabus may prove fatally true for once, if
Homoeopathy is killed out by its new-born rivals.

It takes a very moderate amount of erudition to unearth a charlatan like
the supposed father of the infinitesimal dosing system. The real
inventor of that specious trickery was an Irishman by the name of Butler.
The whole story is to be found in the "Ortus Medicinm" of Van Helmont. I
have given some account of his chapter "Butler" in different articles,
but I would refer the students of our Homoeopathic educational
institutions to the original, which they will find very interesting and
curious.

CURRENTS AND COUNTER-CURRENTS

My attack on over-drugging brought out some hostile comments and
treatment. Thirty years ago I expressed myself with more vivacity than I
should show if I were writing on the same subjects today. Some of my more
lively