Homœopathy. Letter / of J. Silk Buckingham, Esq., to the "British Banner.".

  • Buckingham, James Silk, 1786-1855.
Date:
[1850?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Homœopathy. Letter / of J. Silk Buckingham, Esq., to the "British Banner.". Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    L* 7 much and loud speaking, and the extreme variability of the climate, brought on so severe an attack of bronchitis, that I was obliged to suspend my labours altogether. I had recourse to the best medical advice of the city; and after a treatment prescribed by three separate physicians in succession, each persons of the largest practice, I derived so little benefit, that I entertained the reso¬ lution of abandoning my original intention of journeying through the country, and returning to England, from an impression that, owing to my peculiar liability to quinseyed sore throat (with which I had been afflicted on four differ¬ ent occasions in England and in India, and on each occasion with such sever¬ ity as to excite the greatest alarm for my safety), added to the trying nature of a Yortli American climate, and its severe cold in winter, there was great danger of my sacrificing my life, if I persisted in my public labours under such circumstances as these. At this conjuncture of affairs, a clergyman of my acquaintance called on me to invite me to dine with him, which I felt obliged to decline, from the state of my health (wasting night perspirations having accompanied this inflammation of the throat, and greatly reduced my strength), when he asked me if I knew anything of the homoeopathic treatment, and whether I should be willing to try it, I remembered the case of Dr. Gilchrist; a ad though, from that period, 1830, to the year of this interview, 1837, I had no serious ailment, requiring medical advice, so that I had had no occasion to have recourse to any change of system, I felt strongly disposed now to try it. To this, indeed, I was greatly encouraged by the many proofs which this clerical friend adduced, of the efficacy of the homoeopathic treatment in cases similar to my own, once in his own person, and several times in that of his friends. In the course of the same evening, he brought to me Dr. Yanderburgh, a gentleman horn and educated in Yew York, descended from one of the old families of the original Dutch settlers there, and for many years one of the most eminent and successful physicians of the allopathic school, hut now as extensive a practitioner of Homoeopathy. This gentleman, then about fifty years of age, had, from severe professional labour and the effects of a trying cli¬ mate, fallen into a state of consumption, a disease more prevalent, perhaps, in the Northern States of America than in any part of the world; and was so reduced in strength by the ravages of this disease, which was manifested in its worst forms, that neither he himself nor any of his friends entertained the least hope of his recovery. At length one of his relatives advised him to give Homoeo¬ pathy at least a trial, as all hope from every other source was gone ; to which he replied, with as much of indignation as his strength would admit, that he would never so far stain his professional reputation as to encourage this ‘‘humbug,” and that he would rather die than submit to be deluded by such “arrant quackery.” In his case, as in most similar ones, these terms were applied in utter ignorance of all the works written on the subject; the pride of professional eminence, and the indolence and aversion to innovation, so common to all professors of established systems, preventing his taking the only rational course of carefully examining a thing before condemning it. The nearer approach of death, however, and the quickened sense of duty which that solemn hour begets, induced him to rescind his former inconsiderate refusal. He submitted to homoeopathic treatment, and in six months he was gradually, but steadily and substantially, restored to his former state of health. As might have been expected in a conscientious man, he soon felt that it was his duty to study and practise a system from whence he had derived so much benefit, and he issued notices to his former friends and patients accord¬ ingly ; when such was the confidence in his sincerity and skill, that ultimately his practice became larger than ever; and, at the period of his calling on me, which was about a year after his recovery, he had a practice which kept him in