The Midwest pioneer, his ills, cures, & doctors - University Library ...

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In the Cincinnati Lancet and Observer, 1858, one Fort
Wayne doctor reported the case of a patient who had lost
his eye by inflammation under homeopathic attention, and
another doctor related his experience on an emergency
obstetrical case in which the patient, after having been
informed by the homeopath in charge that birth was not
possible, was delivered of not one child but twins. Still
another regular criticized: "It is a marvelous mystery what
can be the content of those cases [chests containing homeopathic
medicines] daily advertised at prices varying from
$10 to $15 each, accompanied by books of directions,
which cost from twenty-five cents to four dollars." One
packet of nostrums was even advertised for $25. He continued:
"The success of homeopathic practitioners is entirely
due to nervous folks, whose only ailment is laziness;
and to dyspeptic people, who suffer from wrong feeding."
The homeopaths, said he, were like the numbers of their
doses: one figure of little value followed by a perfect battalion
of ciphers. Still, this caustic critic credited one of
his enemies with curing a hypochondriac who imagined
himself a goose and, procuring an egg, proceeded to "set."
" Tike cures like' ... it takes a goose to cure a goose!
He ordered a pair of feather breeches to be worn by the
patient and a dozen eggs. The spell and the eggs were
broken together, and the patient was himself again. Very
eggstraordinary, was it not"
A Wisconsin doctor said of homeopathy, "He who
actually believes it, is an ignoramus. He who does not
believe it and practices it is dishonest." Another regular
charged: They "amuse their patients with inert doses of
medicines; they depend wholly upon rest or exercise as
the case may be, dietary restrictions, and upon the natural
resources of the system." Perhaps this was not as devastating
as it was intended. The "therapeutic nihilism" of the
homeopaths did its part in forcing drugs to prove themselves.
* sC- *
One of the rivals of homeopathy for public favor was