HOMŒOPATHIC THEORY AND PRACTICE.
by Erastus Edgerton MARCY, M. D.,
presented by Sylvain
Cazalet
Dr Erastus Edgerton
Marcy (1815-1900)DR.
MARCY is one of the thousand or more physicians of the old
school who have become homœopathists. With professional eminence, and a
liberal fortune, he joined the converts to the doctrine of Hahnemann,
and at once took rank among the most distinguished physicians of the new
practice. Homœopathy is one of the grand facts of this age. It is no
longer laughed at, but has reached that condition which enables it to
challenge a respectful consideration from all who would not themselves
be subjects of ridicule. Of educated and thoughtful men, in our large
cities, it is contended that more than one-half are of its supporters.
In Great Britain we see that Arch-bishop Whately, the Chevalier Bunsen,
and Dr. Scott of Owen’s College, constitute a trio of its literary
adherents. Cobden, Leslie, and Wilson, are examples of its parliamentary
partizans. Radetzky, Pulzsky, and General Farquharson, rank among its
numerous military defenders. Leaf, Sugden, and Forbes, are three of its
great London merchants. The Duke of Hamilton, the Earls of Wilton,
Shrewsbury, Erne, and Denbigh, and Lords Robert
Grosvenor, Newport, and Kinnaird, may serve for its guard of
honor. Queen Adelaide was one of its
numerous royal and noble patients, and the Duchess of Kent is the
patroness of a great fair to be held for the benefit of some of its
institutions in London during this present month of June-in the very
heyday of the exhibition season. In France, Guizot, Changarnier, Comte,
Lamartine, and some forty members of the Academy, are among its
advocates. Here in New-York, it is sufficient to say of the character of
the society in which it is received, that it includes Bryant, who has
been among the most active of its lay teachers.
Queen ADELAIDE (1792-1849)
Lord Robert
GROSVENOR (1801-1893)
It
is clear that homœopathy not only spreads apace, but that it also
spreads in all sorts of
good directions, through the present fabric of society. And this fact
certainly conveys the
idea that there must be some sort of truth in homœopathy; whether pure
or mixed, whether
negative or affirmative, whether critical of something old, or
declaratory of something new.
Dr.
Marcy is one of the leaders of the sect. He is the son of an eminent
lawyer, who for
more than twenty years has been in the legislature of Massachusetts; he
was graduated at
Amherst College, took his degree of
Doctor in Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania,
and for ten years devoted himself with great success to medicine and
surgery in Hartford: in surgery, on several occasions, commanding the
applause of both European and American academies. As a chemist, also, he
greatly distinguished himself; and it is not too much to say, that in
the application of chemistry to the arts, he has been more fortunate
than any other American. At length, while travelling in Europe, he
became a convert to the theory, similia
similibus curantur, and renouncing his earlier notions,
gave himself up to the study of it. He published, six months ago, in a
volume of six hundred pages, The Homeopathic
Theory and Practice of Medicine, of which a second
edition is now in press; and he is industriously occupied, when not
attending to the general business of his profession, with a voluminous
work on Animal Chemistry.
It
is admitted by the most wise and profoundly learned physicians of the
allopathic practice, that the laws of that practice are for the most
part vague and uncertain. The cumulative experiences of many ages have
shown indeed that certain substances have certain effects in certain
conditions of the human organism; but the processes by which these
effects are induced are unknown, or not so established as justly to be
regarded as a part of science. Facts have been observed, and hypotheses
have been formed, but there has been no demonstrative generalization,
really no philosophy of disease and cure; and while in almost every
other department, investigation and reflection have led by a steady and
sure advance to the establishment of positive and immutable principles,
medicine has made, except in a few specialities, no advance at all,
unless the theory here disclosed shall prove a solution of its secrets.
Of these specialities, the most important has been the discovery of the
homœopathic law in the isolated case of smallpox. Every body knows how
difficult and slow was the reception of the principle of inoculation of similia
similibus curantur in this disease; but it was received
at last universally; and then arose Hahnemann, to claim for every
disorder of the human system the application of the same principle.
Right or wrong, the father of homœopathy gave us a system, perfect in
its parts, universal in its fitness, and eminently beautiful in its
simplicity. It has been half a century before the world, and though all
the universities have parleyed and made truce with other innovations and
asserted heresies, and opened against this their heaviest and best plied
artillery, it is not to be denied that homœopathy has made more rapid,
diffusive, and pervading advances, than were ever before made by any
doctrine of equal importance, either in morals or physics.
We
cannot but admit that we have been accustomed to regard the theories of
Hahnemann with distrust, and that the principle of the attenuation of
drugs, etc., viewed as it was by us through the media of rejudiced and
satirical opposition, seemed to be trivial and absurd. We heard
frequently of remarkable cures by Hahnemann’s disciples, and even
witnessed the benefits of their treatment, but so perfectly had the
sharp ridicule of the allopathists warped our judgment and moulded our
feelings, that we felt a sort of humiliation in confessing an advantage
from an “infinitesimal dose”. We could never forget the keen
and brilliant wit with which our friend Holmes, for example, assailed a
system which threatened to take away his practice and patients, deprive
him of his income, and consign his professional erudition and ingenious
speculation to oblivion. But the work of Dr. Marcy displayed these
matters to us in an entirely different light, and guarded by walls of
truths and arguments quite impenetrable by the most finely pointed or
most powerful satire. His well-known abilities, great learning, and long
successful experience as an allopathist, gave us assurance that his
conversion to the school of Hahnemann could have been induced only by
inherent elements of extraordinary force and vitality in its principles,
and we looked to him confidently, when we understood that he was
preparing for the press an exhibition and vindication of homœopathy,
for such a work as should at least screen the layman who accepted its
doctrines from the reproach of fanatical or credulous weakness. We were
not disappointed. He has given us a simple and powerful appeal to the
common sense upon the whole subject. In language terse, direct, and
perspicuous, and with such bravery as belongs to the consciousness of a
championship for truth, he displays every branch of his law, with its
antagonism, and leads his readers captive to an assenting conclusion.
Dr.
Marcy’s work is the first by an American on the Homœopathic Theory and
Practice of Medicine; it is at least a very able and attractive piece of
philosophical speculation; and to those who are still disposed to think
with little respect of the Hahnemannic peculiarities, we specially
commend, before they venture another jest upon the subject, or endure
any more needless nausea and torture, or sacrifice another constitution
or life upon the altar of prejudice, the reading of his capital chapters
on Allopathy, Homœopathy, and the Attenuation of Drugs and Repetition
of Doses. The London Leader
demands attention to the scholarship of the homœopathic physicians, to
their respectability as thinkers and as men, and to the character of
their writings; and surveying the extraordinary and steady advances of
the homœopathic sect, urges that every thing, which has at any time won
for itself a broad footing in the world, must have been possessed by
some spirit of truth. Every thoughtful person knows that no system
stands fast in virtue of the errors about it. It is the amount of truth
it contains, however little and overlaid that may be, which enables an
institution or a doctrine to keep its ground. The extent and quality of
that ground, taken together with the length of time it is kept,
constitute a measure of the quantity of truth by which a militant
institute is inspired and sustained.Source:
The International Magazine of Literature, Art, and
Science, Volume 3, Issue 3 p. 429 & 430 – New-York, April 1, 1851.Note:
See: E. E. Marcy, M.D., North Am. Journ., vol. iv, 1855, p. 52,
Authorities – Zizia – The Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica by
Timothy F. Allen.
Article by E. E. Marcy:
Removal of a large scirrhous testicle from a man while
under the influence of nitrous oxide gas.
Subject
of the operation was a young man, 24 years of age. He had been afflicted
with an enlargement of the testicle for about a year past. Within the
last few weeks the disease progressed so rapidly that the lower portion
of the gland and scrotum became gangrenous and sloughed. The case was
highly unfavorable in every respect, yet believing extirpation to be the
only means which could save the man’s life, the operation was performed
on the 17th of August, the protoxide of nitrogen having been previously
administered by Dr. Wells, the discoverer. The patient commenced
inhaling the gas at half past 1 o’clock P.M., and after about one minute
from this time the operation was commenced. At the first incision there
was a slight manifestation of pain (the full effect of the gas not
having yet been received), but from this instant until the diseased mass
was removed, and all the bloodvessels [sic] secured (there being quite a
number which required ligatures), there was not the slightest
consciousness of pain on the part of the patient. We were satisfied that
this was the fact during the operation, from the placid and happy
expression of his countenance, from the entire absence of all muscular
efforts, and from the natural and unexcited state of the pulse (this
having remained without any apparent variation during the whole period).
The operation was necessarily tedious and protracted on account of the
great size of the gland, the extensive and firm adhesions of the
integuments to the diseased structure, and the unnatural enlargement of
several arteries which required ligature. The whole period consumed,
from the commencement of the operation until the vessels were secured,
was not far from fifteen minutes. On questioning the patient afterwards,
he asserted that he experienced a -slightly- painful sensation at the
commencement of the first incision, but from that time until the
dressings were applied he was entirely unconscious of any pain!After
the operation, he expressed himself as feeling perfectly well, except
some smarting in the wound; no pain or other unpleasant feeling in the
head or any other part of the body; pulse regular and natural, as before
the operation.August
18th.–Since the operation, the patient has suffered no pain or other
unpleasant symptoms. Pulse 82, and moderately firm. Expresses a strong
affection for the gas-bag, and an earnest desire to retain it in his
possession as the grand balm for the pains and troubles of this life.Above
case affords additional testimony (if this was required) that the
nitrous oxide is capable of banishing sensibility in the most severe
operations, and that, too, without exposing the patient to any of the
untoward effects which result from the use of ether. The latter article
exerts a more deleterious effect upon the nervous system than the
former, as is indicated by the pain in the head, lassitude, etc., which
follow its use. Another still more important objection to the use of
ether, arises from its injurious effect upon the blood. It has been
found by experiment that the arterial blood becomes slightly charged
with carbon after the inhalation. The effect of this upon the system
must be very injurious; for unless the due proportion of oxygen be
retained in the arterial blood, diminshed nervous force and vital
energy, with other states which -at least- predispose to disease, must
be induced.Above
objections will not hold good in relation to nitrous oxide, as its
constituents are the same as common air with an increased proportion of
oxygen; while the ether bears no analogy to air, and will therefore be
more prone to give rise to injurious consequences. The effect of ether
upon the circulatory vessels is in the first instance exremely violent,
succeeded by an alarming state of depression in their action. The effect
of the gas is much milder upon these vessels, and never need by carried
to such an extent as to be followed by any depression.Dr.
Wells made the great discovery, in 1844, that the inhalation of nitrous
oxide gas would render the body entirely insensible to the pain of
surgical operations, the question suggested itself to me, as well as
some others in this city, whether sulfuric ether might not answer as
good a purpose as the gas. This subject was fully discussed at that time
by a number of professional men here, and a trial made with the ether;
but the general opinion was then formed, that the nitrous oxide was on
many accounts preferable.Numerous
trials with both these substances, from that period to the present time,
have demonstrated conclusively that this opinion was correct.I
am informed by Dr. J.M. Riggs, of this city, that he has used the gas
constantly since Nov., 1844, and with uniform success. He has performed
more than one hundred dental operations on patients while under is
influence, and with more uniform success than has resulted from the use
of ether.
Dr Horace Wells
(1815-1848)
Dr.
Wells has used the gas in only about fifty instances, on
account of his relinquishing his professional business for a time.Are
assured by both these gentlemen, that in no instance have they been
troubled by muscular efforts on the part of their patients. Indeed, it
may be asserted with safety, that so far as muscular action is
concerned, it possesses a decided advantage over the ether. We are aware
that it has been impudently asserted by certain interested persons who
have never given the protoxide a trial in an operation, that the patient
will become “dancing mad,” etc. etc. But facts prove this to
be far from the truth. So far, then, the gas is preferable to the ether.Superiority
which it possesses over the ether, is that its after-effects are far
less unpleasant–less headache, less lassitude, and less depression of
the nervous system, always resulting from its use. Ether generally
causes troublesome choking and cough; the gas scarcely ever. Ether is
objectionable on account of the unpleasant smell which it communicates
to the room; the gas possesses no disagreeable odor. Ether abstracts
largely from the oxygen of the arterial blood, thus becoming a direct
source of disease; the gas has no such effect. Ether gives rise to pains
in the head, lassitude, impaired vital energy, and other symptoms
indicating serious depression of the nervous system; the gas rarely
produces any of these effects, and if ever, only in a slight degree. In
order to produce the full effect of the ether, it is customary to reduce
the patient to a state of stupor; the gas is capable of rendering the
body entirely insensible to the pain of the most severe surgical
operation, without putting the patient to sleep, or causing any stupor!
We have often observed patients watch the progress of severe operations
upon their own persons, with countenances as smiling and happy as if
they were enjoying a delightful treat.
We
firmly believe that the gas would have long since entirely superseded
the use of the ether, had it not been for the trouble attending its
preparation. We trust, however, that in future this slight inconvenience
will not prevent the surgeon, who has the welfare of his patient at
heart, from making use of the agent so manifestly superior in its
effects.The
State Legislature of Connecticut, which has just closed its session,
has, after a due consideration of the evidences, fully recognized Dr.
Horace Wells, of Hartford, as the sole discoverer, and have passed him a
vote of thanks for this great discovery, which consists, as the vote
expresses it, in the use of “_nitrous oxide gas or ether in
surgical operations.” Thus the question of priority is finally
settle by legislative enactment.E. E. Marcy, M.D., Hartford, August 21, 1847
Source: Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal 37(5):97-99, September 1, 1847.Copyright ©
Sylvain Cazalet 2001
