Why should not every physician study Homoeopathy and test the remedies on
the sick? He can do it cautiously; he has all of his old remedies by him;
what has he to lose? If they do not relieve his patient's sufferings more
safely and promptly, he is not obliged to continue to use them. Is it a
sensible and rational course for any one to allow himself to be so strongly
confirmed in the views of prominent professors, teachers, and books, that
he cannot without prejudice examine new truths and new methods of treating
diseases, and even new theories? Should not a man strive to keep abreast of
the age in which he is living? Take it, for instance, in regard to the
action of alcohol on living structures. No other man has ever experimented
so carefully, patiently, and thoroughly as has Dr. Richardson, of England,
and the results of his experiments appeal to the common sense and
observation of every unbiased man. He shows conclusively by its action that
it should never have been given in a vast majority of the cases of disease
where it is given by physicians; yet what attention is paid to his
testimony and demonstrations, which every disinterested physician can see
to be true if he will?
Dr. Richardson has also shown conclusively that alcohol paralyzes the
minute capillary vessels, so that while the blood is forced into them
through the arteries by the heart, it does not flow out of these minute
vessels into the veins as rapidly as it does during their healthy action;
consequently these vessels are congested and unnaturally distended with
blood; the face and surface of the body become red, owing to the presence
of an unnatural quantity of blood in these vessels. Nor is this all. The
heat of the body is generated by changes going on in the blood and flows
with the blood, and consequently the surface of the body becomes, from the
presence of this excess of blood, unnaturally warm; but the heat is rapidly
radiated from the surface, consequently the body, as a whole, becomes
cooler. Dr. Richardson found by careful experiment that, while the surface
was warmer, internally the body was cooler and less able to stand the cold;
and he also substantiated the truth of his experiments by experiments on
pigeons.
I will allow Canon Wilberforce, of South Hampton, England, to describe his
experiment. While attending a reception during his recent visit to New York
he was asked the following question:--
Dr. E. P. Thwing: "I would like to ask the Canon, as a physician, if the
feeling as to alcoholic medication in England has changed for the better;
for instance, the aspect of the British Medical Association toward this
subject?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account