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As to Quinine, that remedy will unquestionably interrupt the paroxysms of
intermittent and remittent fevers promptly if it is given at the proper
time and in suitable doses; and, if the attack is the first the patient has
ever had, a return of the disease may at least sometimes be prevented by
giving once a week in two or three doses, at an interval of twelve hours,
about the quantity which would be required to interrupt the disease in the
first instance. These doses should be given the day before the disease is
expected to return. I found it much better to give about two large doses of
quinine than to give the same quantity in 1 or 2 grain doses. I reported
the results of my experiments and observations in the use of Quinine at
Grand Rapids to the _New York Journal of Medicine_ (allopathic). In
all instances where life is in danger from a return of a paroxysm of
intermittent or remittent fever, the patient can be rescued from immediate
danger by giving Quinine in doses sufficient to prevent a return of the
paroxysm. In all other cases, and perhaps even in such, we can rely safely
on homoeopathic remedies in minute doses. Quinine in Allopathic doses will
rarely cure the disease, excepting, it may be, as named above, in a first
attack. If the patient has ever had more than one or two attacks, it is
almost sure to return again and again for two seasons, complicated with
symptoms caused by the remedy, in spite of Allopathic doses of quinine;
whereas by treating the patient homoeopathically, except in old cases, you
will not suddenly interrupt the paroxysms, for they may continue one or two
weeks, or even a few days longer, but when they cease there is generally
the end of the disease, and the patient speedily regains his ordinary state
of health instead of lingering along with frequent returns of the disease
for generally two seasons, as he does when quinine is used. Old cases of
intermittent fever are frequently cured promptly by infinitesimal doses of
homoeopathic remedies. I have never seen Allopathic doses of Quinine do any
good in typhoid fevers. And, as to the use of cathartics, from my
observation I soon became satisfied that a vast number of lives have been
lost by their use in cases of remittent and typhoid fevers, the tendency to
irritation of the mucous membrane, which exists especially in the latter
disease, being often fatally aggravated by cathartic remedies.
I found the prejudice so strong against homoeopathy when I commenced my
investigations, that I generally said nothing about the kind of remedies I
was using, and sometimes disguised the remedies by mixing with sugar or
pulverized liquorice root, or by mixing or dissolving them in water.
I have given the above details to show how carefully and patiently, step by
step, I commenced my investigations, and watched the action of remedies
when given in accordance with the Homoeopathic law of cure, and compared
the results with the results which followed the use of Allopathic remedies.
I remained at Grand Rapids two years. During that period I gradually
substituted the Homoeopathic treatment of diseases for the Allopathic, as
fast as I found I could cure the various diseases which came under my
observation with more safety and certainty by the former method of
treatment than by the latter.
Now I ask the intelligent, conscientious, and philanthropic reader, Did I
do right or did I do wrong in thus investigating homoeopathy and using
cautiously the remedies for the cure of the sick, as I found them more
efficacious and safe than the remedies which I had been taught to use and
had used previously? If it was my duty to thus critically examine the new
method of treatment, when my attention was seriously called to it, and to
cautiously try the remedies on the sick, is it not clearly the duty of
every Allopathic physician in our land to do the same? To thus earnestly
call the attention of physicians of every school to the importance of
investigating homoeopathy, and carefully using the remedies for the cure of
the sick, and to entreat them not to stop and be satisfied with crude
doses, such as drop doses of tinctures and the first, second or third
dilutions or triturations of remedies, as some have done, is my sole object
in writing these pages. The most decided and satisfactory cures which I
have ever witnessed have been effected by the thirtieth and two hundredth
dilutions. But, according to my experience, it is not well to confine one's
self absolutely to either high or low dilutions, as some have done; but if
you are satisfied that you have selected the right remedy, instead of
changing the remedy when you do not see relief from its use, change the
dilution from low to high or high to low, as the case may be. I could
detail many cases to show the importance of doing this. No physician should
labor specially to sustain either a theory or preconceived ideas, but to
cure his patients promptly. The health and lives of our fellow-beings are
too important to be trifled with.
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