~(} T H E B R I T I S H H O M ( E O P A T H I C J O U R N A L

VALEDICTORY REMARKS*

By Silt JoH.~ WEIR, G.C.V.O. FEI,LOW MEMBERS,

Now the war in Europe is over, thank God ! and we are no longer exposed to its dangers, there is a period of reaction affecting people in diverse manners-- fatigue, physical and mental, predominating. But once this has passed we must set about duties which naturally have been interfered with during the last few years ; the desire was there, but difficulties were unsurmountable.

In keeping with our vocation, we naturally think of how we can further our efforts on behalf of the sick. This was the theme of thc discussion at our first Meeting of the Faculty in January 1944, and I would urge you to re-read the suggestions of the several speakers in their varied details. They covered the ground very exhaustively (BRITISH HOM~OrATHIC JOURNAL, May 1944).

When so many of our men were away on service, and those at home overburdened with work in trying circumstances, it was impossible to put many of the ideas into practice ; and although our members on service will not be released for some time yet, we could at least make a start in certain directions.

There is a possibility that hom(eopathic physicians may be offered several thousand pounds for research purposes, to confirm and advance the truth of Homceopathy as a guiding principle in therapeutics. This is welcome news. We have tried for many years, chiefly through the efforts of Dr. Boyd in the Belt Research, to prove some of our tenets, and this has interested enquirers. Dr. Boyd has enlarged on the possibility of such work in his remarks at the above meeting, corroborated by Dr. John Paterson through his own investigations on bowel flora. He acknowledged the heritage we had received from the keen observers of the past, but urged us " at all costs to preserve that heritage, enlarge and develop it for the future generation of medical men "

Dr. Templeton appealed for help to make the JOUR~'AL a valuable agent in disseminating the knowledge of Homeopa thy by recorded cases, or reporting articles from periodicals " with a bearing upon homeopathic law and practice "

A valuable example is given in a paper on Miracle Drugs by Dr. W. P. Mowry, read before the Centennial Meeting of the American Institute of Homceopathy in June 1944, and reproduced in their Journal, April 1945, where he refers to the research of the All Union Institute for Experimental Medicine of Russia, financed by the Soviet Government.

The directors have all along been free to consider any and all theories of medicine, provided they are treated as an incidental part of their great objective --namely, to find thc truth through laboratory and clinical research. Their conclusions, as Dr. Mowry has pointed out, verify Hahnemann's research work, and might have been achieved by homceopathic physicians.

The following are extracts from the paper : - - "The, three most significant conclusions reached by the investigators are : - - I. There is no panacea. That is, there is no drug or medicinal formula

of any kind which is universally curative either in a general sense or in any particular disease.

2. Germs accompany but do not cause disease. 3. Insofar as drugs are concerned, no medicinal agent can bring about

a cure that cannot under the propitious circumstances give rise to that which it is hoped it will benefit."

Note how remarkably all of these points verify the research work and study of Doctor Samuel Hahnemann, conducted as it was with all the lack of scientific equipment to work with in his day.

* Address g iven to the F a c u l t y of H o m e o p a t h y .

V A L E D I C T O R Y R E M A R K S 81

The somewhat roundabout manner in which they have stated the Law of Similars in point 3 above is due to the care they are taking to avoid over- simplifying their statements and thus leading others to make wrong conclusions. In other words, they mean that the Law of Similars is not a simple rule, which automatically produces a healing for anyone who uses it, but that it is a principle of healing which guides aright the student in acquiring medical knowledge, and the well-trained graduate physician in his practice.

Another highly important par t of this Russian report deals with the whole field of medical research. Their study of what is being done in other c q m ~ r ~ revealed that its trend was along too highly specialized lines. In d D t i ~ diseases, bacteria, viruses, etc., were being studied exhaustively but, ~i thour relation to any over-all plan or principle. This, they found, has been resu~ia~g all along in a mass of unrelated data of temporary vabte. ~hey therefore decided that the great need was to discover the unifying principles which would enable the physician to correlate diverse and even conflicting phenomena.

Working along these new lines, they have discovered a number of ne~ factors in both laboratory and clinical work. One of the most far reaching in importance is the following : -

The first medical fallacy is that the activating agent in an experiment has definite and unchanging characteristics. This is definitely not true. In every experiment a number of other factors, in addition to the activating agent used, determine the results. When a drug is the activating agent, the size and frequency of the dose, how it is administered, the condition of the subject at the time of each inter-action, whether another drug is used or is present in the subject, along with other things, determine the result. For every drug, the variation in results is startling.

Therefore, the worth of the finding from any series of experiments is in direct proportion to the totality of the factors embodied in the experiments.

Here again, Hahnemann's genius is verified. These findings of the Russian Research Workers concerning the conducting of medical experiments support in all respects both the therapeutical precept and practice which he established.

Since medical research work in lCussia is being conducted so free from the crippling effect of false premise~ accepted in advance as true, it may well be that Russia will one day soon assume world leadership in the profession of medicine.

(It is interesting to note that the editorial of the present June issue of Health Through Homceopathy gives further details of these experiments.)

Others are alive to the danger of depending too much on laboratory experiments alone, and in the Medical World, May 18th, 1945, we find a paper on Experimental Medicinc by Dr. James Burnct : - -

" I t is surely high time that medical men who al~ actually practising the healing art took some active steps to chcck the great onrush of laboratory and animal experiment which is, in so many respects, threatening the very founda- tions of practical medicine. If all this experimental work added to our know- ledge no one would have any real ground for complaint ; but, unfortunately, the results obtained, when applied in actual practice, are found to be not only sadly wanting but in certain cases fraught with danger. That some leaders of the profession are alive to this fact will readily be gathered from some of their recent utterances to which wc must now refer."

He then goes on to quote physicians and surgcons in all branches, showing that animal experiments cannot be applied to humans, tha t therc is a risk in drawing parallels between dogs and men.

" Diseased conditions in man cannot be correctly imitated in experimental animals, so why persist in making such experiments, which arc sometimes of the most absurd and hopelessly valueless kind ? I t is time, surely, that a halt be made and a saner method of investigating disease and its means of curc be brought into being."

8 ~ T I I E B R I T I S H H O M ( E O P A T I I I C J O U R N A L

These quotat ions make us wish tha t investigators would follow the lead of the Russian scientists.

In the British Medical Journal, June 23rd, 1945, we find a quotat ion from Sir Thomas Witherley, President of the Royal College of Physicians, 1684-7 : - -

" A Wine Cooper fell into a Dropsy which resisted all the usual Methods. This Man was prodigiously swell'd. Being past all Hopes and having on him an inextinguishable Thirst, he was permit ted to drink 14 Quarts of Wate r in about 10 hours . . . he soon recovered . . . . Tha t Water should expell Wate r is a Miracle beyond any of St. Winifred's. Now no man in his Senses would have prescribed such a Water course to cure a Dropsy, which shows how little we know of Nature and the great Uncer ta in ty of our Art ."

I fear tha t if he were alive to-day he would be of the same opinion still, and ye t we get glimpses of hope. The following is an editorial of the same issue on Biosynthesis of vitamins in the human gut : - -

" I t was not so long ago tha t we all believed in the evils of intestinal stasis, with its ' auto-intoxication ' due to the supposed absorption of hypothet ical bacterial toxins. The wheel of medical thought has turned full circle. The bacterial inhabitants of the intestine arc no longer looked upon as toxin- producing parasites but as useful symbiotic organisms breaking down unwanted waste products such as celluh)se and unabsorbed nitrogenous matter , and synthesizing, among other things, numerous vitamins and also protein."

I ment ioned in m y Presidential Address how we have been encouraged in our beliefs by the psycho-somatic approach in medicine. I t is interesting to sce how this a t t i tude is spreading amongst the profession, especially in diffi- culties arising out of war conditions, in social and economic spheres. I t is here tha t Homceopathy has so much to offer ; our provings having been made on man himself ; we thus get such a variety of mental symptoms. This refinement in constitutional symptoms is denied the physician who depends on results of animal experimentation as a guide in t reatment .

During the war our numbers have remained stat ionary, perhaps not to be wondered at, but the situation is not satisfactory. We have the ammuni t ion but not the men ; the question is how best to interest them.

In America they too am having their difficulties with man-power, and their journals are ventilating opinions as to causation.

Several ycars ago the authorities raised the s tandard of graduat ion in all Medical Colleges, and m a n y falling short of requirements were closed ; only two of the Homceopathic Schools, in Philadelphia and New York, survived. The education in the H o m e o p a t h i c Schools was in the hands of experts in the various branches of the medical curriculum, and m a n y allopathic physicians were added to the staff. As they could teach everything except Homceopathy they were in the majori ty, and natural ly influenced the s tudent in the wards, and al though Homceopathy was in their curriculum, the s tudent was apt to leave with no great knowledge of, and therefore enthusiasm for, Homceopathy.

After graduat ion the doctor is invited to j oin the American Medical Society, on the condition tha t he drops designating himself as a homceopath. Not having enough experience hc often succumbs, and it is only after a period of disillusion tha t he returns to the fold and makes the s tudy of H o m e o p a t h y really post-graduate.

Another factor in loss of enthusiasm such as is to be found in those who are keen homceopaths, is the t rying to combine hom(eopathic with allopathic practice, and also the combination tablet put out by some of the homceopathic drng houses. This is great ly regretted in homceopathic circles, and the cry seems to be to get back to the strict Hahnemannian practice which did make progress 30-40 years before.

I n this country hom(eopathic education is post-graduate, and I would direct your earnest a t tent ion to the editorial of our JOURNAL, May 1945, on this question. Please give it your consideration during the recess, as it is a

V A L E D I C T O R Y R E M A R K S 8~

subject we must tackle in the near future, before the men settle down after mili tary service.

Another difficulty in interesting doctors in Homceopathy is the hard work involved in selection of the simillimum.

With the astonishing growth of modern medicine and all that this term implies, scientific research in the vast field of drug therapy, physiotherapy, endocrinology, chemotherapy, substitutional therapy, etc., has led to the knowledge and employment of an almost unlimited number of measures designed to relieve and cure the sick. These measures are, for the most part, the results of meticulous laboratory research.

The doctor wants new remedies which act curatively in a specific way, that makes prescribing seemingly easy and general, but now that the dangers of drug sensitization are being appreciated, to the sulphonamides and vitamins especially, we may hope that they will be forced to the individual selection of the remedy, and there we can help. Our own workers, especially Dr. Boyd, have been trying to find an explanation for the " energy " of the potentized drug. We have to be content to think that by some meta-physical process our drugs become more powerful by dilution. The results of the study of allergic phenomena and specific hypcrsensitization afford us a more modern explanation of this phenomenon of increasing the effectiveness of the drug by lessening the dose. We know that in the t reatment of allergic conditions too large a dose of the specific antigen paralyses the reactive or immunizing mechanism of the body and results in a marked aggravation of the patient 's ailment.

Thus tile study of allergy or specific hypersensitivity has brought about an understanding of the rationale of the minimum dose when using a remedy for the stimulation of specific reaction on the part of the body rather than for its simple or primary physiological action.

I f we have been meta-physical in the past, we have only to turn to recent research to find that the investigators are getting beyond even the homceopaths.

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

Since the report of our meeting with the Minister of Health last November, as dctailed in our JOURNAL, nothing further has transpired as to its effect on homceopathic practice, and with the uncertainty of the result of the coming election we must await events. I t may be tha t we shall have to make contact with a new group of administrators.

As regards the future of Homoeopathic Hospitals in a national service, I would draw your attention to the report of a hospital survey by Dr. A. M. H. Gray and Dr. A. Topping on behalf of the Ministry of Health. The following is their remark on the L.H.H. : - -

" London Komceopathic Hospital. (200 beds.) " Mainly old premises. This hospital is unique in London in that it

exists for the purpose of giving t reatment in accordance with the principles of Homceopathy. I t is suggested tha t this hospital should be omitted from any co-ordinated service, but it will, no doubt, continue as a private institution. Inclusion of the hospital in a co-ordinated service would in any case involve changes in the method of medical staffing which would destroy its homceopathic character."

The Board of the London Homceopathic Hospital were naturally anxious as to the future status of the Hospital, and made enquiry from Dr. Gray privately before proceeding further. He assured the Board that the views presented in the report were those of the surveyors personally, and did not commit the Ministry in any way. I t was felt, however, that their ideas would possibly influence the authorities, and this fear was also expressed in the medical press.

8 4 T H E B R I T I S H H O M ( E O P A T H I C J O U R N A L

Dr. Gray further stated : - - " I t worried us pretty considerably to know how we should deal with the

problem in view of the fact that our pattern involved the appointment of staff by Central Bodies in the free interchange of staff between hospitals. Under these circumstances it would be difficult to see how you could retain your homeopathic character if you came into the scheme. Wc therefore thought you would be happier to carry on independently of the general plan.

" I really don' t think, at this stage, it is much good worrying about the future of any of the London Hospitals. Obviously everything depends upon what is the form of the final White Paper proposals as regards Hospital Planning. I f the new suggestion, that there shall be both Area and Regional Planning Committees, goes through and becomes law then the whole matter will have to be considered by these bodies and between them they may, of course, draw up a plan which has no relation whatever to our proposals. There is no doubt that when such bodies are set up they will give every hospital an opportunity of putting their position before them.

" I cannot for a moment believe that the Government would do anything that would exclude the possibility of people consulting hom(eopathic consul- tants. Whether the Hospital will be included in a definite scheme or not, I feel sure that its services will be required and that patients will be enabled to consult the staff and that the Hospital will be remunerated for any services that it renders to insured patients."

Whilst we naturally await the news of the new Ministry, we must be prepared to see that those desiring homceopathic treatment are afforded equal facilities under any scheme.

Now that times are more peaceful and less exacting, I would like to appeal to you all for loyalty to the Faculty and all that it stands for. I t means much to the Prcsidcnt and Council of any Society to have the sympathetic interest and co-operation of its members, and the presence of a full gathering is stimulat- ing not only to the individual but to others. Regular attendance at a medical society should be a duty. Roosevelt has said that every man owes part of his time to the upbuilding of the profession to which he belongs.

From the earliest times men have felt the need of some common medium to draw them together, hence organized societies, and the greatest service rendered was usually to the members themselves.

] t should be the intention of every member to take some active part in the business of the organization, and it brings out the best that is in him.

Let me end with a quotation from a wise man many years ago : - - " Does the medical world belong only to the generation which inhabits it

Is it not rather an entailed estate, the income of which the present possessors have the right to enjoy, but not the right to squander or scatter ? Are they not in honour bound to preserve the estate intact, institute and develop such permanent improvements as will tend to meet the wants of the generations which will follow ? "