Contents
Studies in the Philosophy of Healing
and others writing including The study of materia medica and taking the case
C. M. BOGER
HOMOEOPATHIC SCIENCE
As truly as the pathway of truth is rarely strewn with roses, so
the lure of glittering gold only too often marks the meanderings of falsehood. This is
doubly applicable to those pretenders who in the name of homoeopathy often sit in high
places and dispense abominations to an unknowing public. For several decades these soi
disant homoeopaths clung to the pathological fetish, but as science further weakened the
already slender threat which connects drug action and gross pathology more and more, they
very opportunely found a new refuge from the drudgery of studying materia medica in the
serums, at once the basest as well as the most insidiously dangerous imitations of our
potencies. Here however a worse fate awaits them, although the persecutors of homoeopathy
have also unwittingly found a new and powerful ally therein, that will also help to
thoroughly renovate it.In common decency all men who are thoroughly in earnest should be
willing to work just as hard to master the science and art of homoeopathy as they would be
compelled to do were they studying engineering, astronomy or any other great science.
Those not willing to do this should retire to the ranks of guess-makers, who go by the
name experimentalists or so-called rational physicians, where they will find congenial
company enough. Real science will never be advanced by any such dabblers ; they are only
imitators, and very poor misguided ones at that.That which continually meets the eye also moulds our ideas, so that but
few minds are at the same time broad enough to get a firm hold on detail as well as a
grasp of the larger aspect of things. The specialists naturally incline to a narrower view
of things ; the microscopist rarely becomes a man of good all round sound judgement, etc.
This is the weak spot of modern medical instruction and is a strong argument for liberal
education along the line of the essentials, leaving the minutiae for later development.The real homoeopathic physician is such a specialist ; he makes materia
medica and the exemplification of the law his daily study. To him it is a labour of
unflagging interest and love, wherein he lives and almost has his being. Thus and only
thus can he make cures that are impossible to the old line physician and thereby justify a
separate existence. It must be his aim to do things, and do them well ; no other course is
honestly possible under the law, which like all natural laws is exacting in its demands
and knows no compromise.The first step in the study of homoeopathic science is no always the
same, but as obvious things make the strongest appeal many converts have been made after
seeing or experiencing the power of similia. Such clinical demonstrations keep for us a
perennial interest because each new case offers a fresh riddle for solution, excites anew
our curiosity or challenges our ability, thus raising new hopes, the greatest of all aids
to curing. Every problem solved opens the way for other and better work. This is in itself
not only a source of satisfaction to all concerned, but a mental exercise in which all the
powers of thought are concentrated upon finding and applying the exactly suitable remedy.That self limitation or removal of the cause may release enough
recuperative power to insure recovery cannot be overlooked, but this is a vastly different
thing from the prompt restoration witnessed in genuine homoeopathic healing.While it is not always feasible to predicate the outlook in disease,
its truly dynamic origin alters the point of view considerably, even though we do not know
just what force is, in spite of seeing its manifestations on every side. Our potencies
differ in no apparent way from other natural objects and it’s only by their suitable
application that we discover their inherent power of force. That such forces should be
more active in a sick than in a well organism should require no argument, when we remember
that the former is in a state of more or less vital disharmony which can best be
harmonized by a synchronously acting (similar) power. If we justly attribute transitional
manifestations to force, to what else can we ascribe the sudden crises that follow giving
the simillimum in acute diseases or the gentler but steady restoration in chronic
affections.