History of homeopathy in epidemics

[Charlotte Gilruth]

----------
From: julian winston
To: "Charlotte Gilruth"
Subject: Re: Epidemics, etc
Date: Sat, Oct 20, 2001, 6:51 PM
Here is what I wrote. I have not heard back from the NCH committee,
so I have no idea if this is final or not. If it was going to a "know
nothing" audience, I'd probably add a bit about the need to find the
"specific" homeopathic remedy (as Hahnemann called it) for the epidemic
at hand-- quoting Para. 241 and giving as an example his 1806 Scarlet
Fever epidemic in which he used Belladonna.

I guess you can pass it on-- as long as my name is on it and mention
is made that it will be on the NCH web site.

JW

***

Some history of the treatment of epidemics with homeopathy
by Julian Winston

From its earliest days, homeopathy has been able to treat epidemic
diseases with a substantial rate of success, when compared to
conventional treatments. It was these successes that placed the
practice of homeopathy so firmly in the consciousness of people
world-wide.

There is a story told about Joseph Pulte, one of the earliest
homeopaths in Cincinnati. When he began his practice, many people
were so angered by a homeopath being in town that they pelted the
house with eggs. He was becoming discouraged enough to think of
leaving. His wife said, "Joseph, do you believe in the truth of
homeopathy?" He replied in the affirmative. "Then," she said, "you
will stay in Cincinnati."
Shortly after, when the Cholera epidemic swept through, Pulte was
able to boast of not having lost a single patient-- and he was
accepted into the community. In the Epidemic of 1849, people crowded
to his door and stood in the street because the waiting room was full.

In 1900, Thomas Lindsley Bradford, MD, wrote a book called "The Logic
of Figures" in which he collected the statistics he could find that
would compare the conventional therapeutics with homeopathic ones.
Many of the figures cited below are derived from Bradford's work.

One of the earliest tests of the homeopathic system was in the
treatment of Typhus Fever (spread by lice) in an 1813 epidemic
which followed the devastation of Napoleon's army marching through
Germany to attack Russia, followed by their retreat. When the
epidemic came through Leipzig as the army pulled back from the east,
Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, was able to treat 180
cases of Typhus-- losing but two. This, at a time when the
conventional treatments were having a mortality rate of over 30%.

In 1830 as the cholera epidemic was reported coming from the east,
Hahnemann was able to identify the stages of the illness, and predict
what remedies would be needed for which stages.
When Cholera finally struck Europe in 1831 the mortality rate (under
conventional treatment) was between 40% (Imperial Council of Russia)
to 80% (Osler's Practice of Medicine). Out of five people who
contracted Cholera, two to four of them died under regular treatment.
Dr. Quin, in London, reported the mortality in the ten homeopathic
hospitals in 1831-32 as 9%; Dr. Roth, physician to the king of
Bavaria, reported that under homeopathic care the mortality was 7%;
Admiral Mordoinow of the Imperial Russian Council reported 10%
mortality under homeopathy; and Dr. Wild, Allopathic editor of Dublin
Quarterly Journal, reported in Austria, the Allopathic mortality was
66% and the homeopathic mortality was 33% "and on account of this
extraordinary result, the law interdicting the practice of Homeopathy
in Austria was repealed."

Homeopathy continued to be effective in the treatment of Epidemic
Cholera. In 1854 a Cholera Epidemic struck London. This was a
historically important epidemic in that it was the first time the
medical community was able to trace the outbreak to a source (a
public water pump), and when the pump was closed, the epidemic soon
ceased.
The House of Commons asked for a report about the various methods of
treating the epidemic. When the report was issued, the homeopathic
figures were not included. The House of Lords asked for an
explanation, and it was admitted that if the homeopathic figures were
to be included in the report, it would "skew the results." The
suppressed report revealed that under allopathic care the mortality
was 59.2% while under homeopathic care the mortality was only 9%.
It is hard today to comprehend what kind of scourge such an epidemic
was. As was seen in the later Flu Epidemic of 1918, one could be
healthy in the morning and be dead by evening-- it moved that rapidly.
Many books were written about the Homeopathic treatment of Cholera
during these times, among them: Cholera and its Homeopathic
treatment, F. Humphreys (1849); Homeopathic Treatment of Cholera, B.
F. Joslin (1854); Homeopathic Domestic Treatment of Cholera, Biegler
(1858); Epidemic Cholera, B. F. Joslin (1885); Asiatic Cholera, Jabez
Dake (1886).
The success of homeopathic treatment continued with the later cholera
epidemics. In the Hamburg epidemic of 1892, allopathic mortality was
42%, homeopathic mortality was 15.5%

During the 1850s, there were several epidemics of Yellow Fever in the
southern states. This disease was eventually found to be transmitted
by mosquito. Osler, says that the allopathic mortality from Yellow
Fever is between 15-85%. Holcome, a homeopath, reported in 1853 a
mortality of 6.43% in Natchez, and Dr. Davis, another homeopath in
Natchez, reported 5.73%. In 1878 the mortality in New Orleans was 50%
under allopathic care, and 5.6% (in 1,945 cases in the same epidemic)
with homeopathic care.
The two best books on this topic were: Yellow Fever and its
Homeopathic Treatment, Holcome, (1856) and The Efficacy of Crotalus
Horridus in Yellow Fever, C. Neidhard, (1860).

Another epidemic disease which was treatable with homeopathy was
Diphtheria. Since the advent of widespread vaccination, it is a
disease not often seen in our modern world. Diphtheria appeared
periodically, and rarely had the same presentation. It was,
therefore, very important for the practitioner to individualize the
treatment in each specific case or generalized epidemic. A remedy
which had been effective in treating it one year might not be the
same remedy needed the next year.

In the records of three years of Diphtheria in Broome County, NY from
1862 to 1864, there was a report of an 83.6% mortality rate among the
allopaths and a 16.4% mortality rate among the Homeopaths. (Bradford)

Perhaps the most recent use of homeopathy in a major epidemic was
during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. The Journal of the American
Institute for Homeopathy, May, 1921, had a long article about the use
of homeopathy in the flu epidemic. Dr. T A McCann, from Dayton, Ohio
reported that 24,000 cases of flu treated allopathically had a
mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flu treated
homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%. This last figure was
supported by Dean W.A. Pearson of Philadelphia (Hahnemann College)
who collected 26,795 cases of flu treated with homeopathy with the
above result.
The most common remedy used was Gelsemium, with occasional cases
needing Bryonia and Eupatorium reported.
Dr. Herbert A. Roberts from Derby, CT, said that 30 physicians in
Connecticut responded to his request for data. They reported 6,602
cases with 55 deaths, which is less than 1%. Dr. Roberts was working
as a physician on a troop ship during WWI. He had 81 cases of flu on
the way over to Europe. He reported, "All recovered and were landed.
Every man received homeopathic treatment. One ship lost 31 on the
way."

Closer to our present time, there were the Polio epidemics in the
mid-1950s. Dr. Alonzo Shadman, a homeopath in the Boston area,
emphasized that until *actual paralysis* was observed, it was hard to
distinguish the prodromal symptoms of Polio from those of the common
cold-- and he treated many "summer colds" during the time. Were they
incipient polio? No one can tell.
Dr. Francisco Eizayaga or Argentina, tells of a polio epidemic in
Buenos Aires in 1957, where the symptoms of the epidemic resembled
those of the remedy Lathyrus sativa. The homeopathic doctors and
pharmacies prescribed Lathyrus 30c as a prophylactic, and "thousands
of doses" were distributed. "Nobody registered a case of contagion."
Eizayaga points out that in other epidemics of polio, Gelsemium was
the indicated remedy-- emphasizing, again, the need for
individualization.

Homeopathy has been very effective in treating many of the epidemics
during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Why the successes are not
better known is a subject for conjecture. It could be that, like the
physician quoted below, most would rather not see the ineffectiveness
of the conventional therapeutics nor accept the efficacy of
homeopathy.
From "Homeopathy In Influenza-A Chorus Of Fifty In Harmony" by W. A.
Dewey, MD (Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, May 1921):

One physician in a Pittsburgh hospital asked a nurse if she knew
anything better than what he was doing, because he was losing many
cases. "Yes, Doctor, stop aspirin and go down to a homeopathic
pharmacy, and get homeopathic remedies." The Doctor replied: "But
that is homeopathy." "I know it, but the homeopathic doctors for whom
I have nursed have not lost a single case."
--W. F. Edmundson, MD, Pittsburgh.

[Ahmed N. Currim]

Dr. Arthur Hill Grimmer, one of Dr. Kent's best students, and whose
knowledge of homeopathy was encyclopedic, was one of the early pioneers in
the use of homeopathic prophlaxis for many diseases and in particular for
polio. His major remedy was Lathyrus-sativa and it is claimed that he
vaccinated over 35,000 people with not a single reported case of polio. His
polio protocol as well his other work on homeo-prophylaxis including many
present infectious diseases may be read in : The Collected Works of Arthur
Hill Grimmer MD availablefor $49.95 + postage at Minimum Price Books in
Blaine, WA or from the editor of his book at ancurrim@earthlink.net. The
book also contains a wealth of homeopathic gems from this great homeopathic
master in over 900 pages including a repertory compiled by the editor.