DR. B. MURE’S
MATERIA MEDICA,
OR
Provings of the principal Animal and Vegetable Poisons
OF THE
BRAZILIAN EMPIRE;
AND THEIR APPLICATION IN THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
AND
ARRANGED ACCORDING TO
HAHNEMANN’S METHOD,
BY
CHARLES J. HEMPEL, M.D.
FELLOW AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE PENNSYLVANIA HOMŒOPATHIC
COLLEGE; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE HAHNEMANN SOCIETY OF
LONDON, &C., &C.
NEW-YORK:
WILLIAM RADDE, No. 322 BROADWAY,
PHILADELPHIA: RADEMACHER & SHEEK.—BOSTON: OTIS CLAPP.—ST.
LOUIS: J. G. WESSELHOEFT.—LONDON: JAMES EPPS,
112 GREAT RUSSELL-STREET, BLOOMSBURY.—MANCHESTER:
H. TURNER, 41 PICCADILLY.
1854.
ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
WILLIAM RADDE,
In the Clerk’s Office, of the District Court, for the
Southern District of New-York.
HENRY LUDWIG, Printer,
45 Vesey-street.
TO THE BRAZILIAN PEOPLE.
Though the precious metals hidden in the Brazilian soil, may be never
so abundant; though the splendor of its precious stones, may be never
so brilliant; though the crops which the soil yields to the farmer, may
be never so rich: yet there are, in the Brazilian empire, treasures
of a far, greater importance, and infinitely more necessary to human
happiness. They are the powerful means which this vast country furnishes
for the cure of disease.
Previous to Hahnemann’s discovery, we were ignorant of a positive method
of determining the use of drugs. We knew that they existed, but we did
not know how to use them; and popular experience, more successful than
the wisdom of the School, had alone picked up a few stray fragments from
the rich harvest which had been abandoned for want of the proper means
of gathering. Providence at last permitted Hahnemann and his disciples
to discover the method of applying remedies to diseases in a positive
and efficacious manner. The dominion of mere palliatives is at an
end.—Homœopathy, by attacking the cause of disease, destroys the chronic
miasms, which are transmitted from generation to generation; dries up
the fountain-heads of epidemic and contagious diseases; enables the
infant-body, by a positive hygiene, to resist the deleterious influences
to which it might be exposed in the course of its existence; and, by
preserving human life, which is the most precious capital of nations
and the first element of their greatness, Homœopathy will insure their
prosperity, provided they adopt it without reserve.
We admire the bold hunter who skims the sharp points of the rocks, for
the purpose of snatching the down from the little ones of the eider; the
indefatigable diver, who, by dint of patient toil, succeeds in bringing
up the diamond from the sands of the river, or the pearl from the bosom
of the sea. Should not the people of Brazil sympathise with the patient
and courageous experimenters, who, under the auspices of Hahnemann,
discover a world of wonderful uses in the neglected products of this
country?
The work which we here offer to the Brazilian people, is not a work of
fiction intended to amuse, but a serious work detailing a series of
painful sensations voluntarily endured by a few devoted men, who were
desirous of finding out the therapeutic uses of the poisonous animals
and plants, the pathogenetic symptoms of which will be found described
in this volume. We shall be amply compensated for the patience and
devotedness which the composition of such a work requires, by the
consciousness that it will do its share in diminishing the sufferings of
mankind.
B. MURE, _Rio Janeiro_.
NOTE TO THE READER:—The symptoms in the following work, are arranged in
groups of five; the figures in the text indicate the numerical order of
these groups.—ED.