Homeopathy and the 1918 INFLUENZA: 50 homeopaths in harmony

Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, Vol. XIII, No. 11,
May 1921, page 1038
By W. A. Dewey, M. D., University of Michigan

Translation Jean-Claude Ravalard

Here's an interesting article published in 'The Journal of the American Institute of homeopathy' from 1921 on the Spanish flu, bringing together the findings of some fifty American homeopathic physicians after the flu epidemic. I would like to thank Julian Winston for sending me this article from his personal library.

In a factory with 8,000 workers, we had only one death. The patients did not die from drug abuse. Gelsemium was practically the only remedy used. We didn't use Aspirin or vaccines.
-Frank Wieland, M.D., Chicago.

The absence of the usual prescribed treatment was also a factor in the very good result at this plant.
-Burton Haseltine, M.D., Chicago.

There's a remedy that has directly or indirectly been responsible for more deaths than the flu itself. You all know this remedy. It's salicylic acid. The story of Aspirin has been printed. Today, you don't know that salicylic acid has a soothing action. It's harmful in two ways. Its indirect action comes from the fact that Aspirin has been administered until the patient is exhausted and develops pneumonia.
-Frank L. Newton, M.D., Somerville, Mass.

I didn't lose a single case of influenza; my percentage of deaths in pneumonia was 2.1%. Salicylates, including Aspirin and Quinine, were almost the only old-school remedies, and it was common to hear allopaths say that they had a 60% death rate in pneumonia...
-Dudley A. Williams, M. D., Providence R. I.

Three hundred and fifty cases and only one death, a neglected pneumonia that happened to me after the patient had taken a hundred grains (old measurement: 0.05g or 5g Aspirin) of Aspirin in 24 hours.
-Cora Smith King, M. D., Washington, D. C.

Dean W. A. Pearson of Philadelphia recorded 26,795 cases of influenza treated by homeopathic practitioners, with a mortality rate of 1.05%, compared with an average mortality rate of 30% among old-school practitioners.

The low death rate I had at Camp Lee was solely due to the fact that I didn't use Aspirin at all. I was complimented by the Chief Medical Officer for having the lowest death rate in the hospital. Once the Chief Medical Officer noted the effect of Aspirin on the blood and the results obtained in my department using homeopathy, he recommended that Aspirin no longer be used, and the mortality rate dropped very rapidly after this decision.
-Carleton A. Harkness, M. D., Chicago.

In San Francisco's Hahnemann Hospital, homeopathic remedies were curative, while other therapies were only palliative.
-Laura A. Hurd, M.D., San Francisco.

One thousand five hundred cases were reported to the District of Colombia Homeopathic Medical Society, with only fifteen deaths. Cures at the National Homeopathic Hospital were 100%.
-E. F. Sappington, M. D., Philadelphia.

I've treated over a hundred cases without a single fatality. I have never deviated from homeopathic treatment. I have never prescribed Aspirin. Only one case, who had been prescribed Aspirin before I took charge of him, and who had been referred to me by an old-school doctor, died. This epidemic should encourage us to renew our faith in homeopathy.
-G. H. Wright, M. D., Fores/. Glen, Md.

German Aspirin killed more patients than German shells.
-C. J. Loizeaux, M. D., Des Moines, Iowa.

I remember Acetanilide during the epidemic of 1889 and its deaths. In that epidemic I knew that Aspirin and coal tar derivatives would kill more patients than the disease itself, and that's what happened. An old-school doctor told me that he had realized that Aspirin was killing his patients and had stopped prescribing it to put his trust back in homeopathic and eclectic remedies.
-E. B. Finney, M. D., Lincoln, Neb.

Thirty Connecticut doctors responded to my request for information. They reported 6602 cases with 55 deaths, or less than 1%. In the transport department, I had 81 cases. All recovered and were discharged. They all received homeopathic treatment. One boat lost 31 men.
-H. A. Roberts, M. D., Derby, Conn.

Homeopathy has saved patients suffering from influenza associated with pneumonia, but an unfavorable evolution has always followed the use of coal-tar derivatives, particularly Aspirin.
-W. H. Hanchett, M. D., Omaha, Neb.

With the Association Hahnemannienne Internationale, I was able to collect 17,000 cases of influenza with a mortality rate of 4%.
-G. B. Stearns, M. D., New York.

I had 300 cases and only one death; a good homeopathic doctor had 275 cases and no deaths. I am a health officer in my town. An old-school practitioner had 294 cases and reported 15 deaths. Aspirin and iodized lime were the remedies used by the old school.
-H. H. Crum, M. D., Ithaca, N. Y.

I've treated 455 cases of influenza and 26 cases of pneumonia, with no deaths. Remedies: Gelsemium, Bryonia, Apis, etc.
-T. G. Barnhill, M.D., Findlay, Ohio.

The importance of homeopathic remedies was emphasized; 24 of the 42 cases that used vaccines had influenza and there were 8 cases of pneumonia, so vaccines failed as prophylaxis.
-W. L. Love, M. D., Brooklyn.

Seven homeopathic practitioners reported 3,600 cases with 6 deaths. For my part, I had 750 cases with only one death. Gelsemium, Bryonia and Eupatorium were the main remedies.
-F: A. Swartwout, M. D Washington, D. C.

The more Aspirin, Codeine, Dobell's solution and a few other non-homeopathic remedies were used, the slower the recovery.
-James W. Ward, M, D., San Francisco

The regiment's mortality rate from pneumonia was 25.8%. The lieutenant in charge decided to stop taking Aspirin, Digitaline and Quinine, and mortality fell rapidly to 15% without any remedy. All this in a single ward. Then the same decision was taken in the other wards, and mortality also fell to 15% without any remedy.
- W. A. Pearson, M. D., Philadelphia.

I treated 618 cases and had 5 deaths. Of the 5, 3 had had allopathic treatment.
-R. S. Faris, M. D., Richmond, VA

A doctor in a Pittsburgh hospital asked a nurse if she knew of a better treatment than the one he was practicing, because he was losing so many patients. "Yes, Doctor, stop the Aspirin and go to a homeopathic pharmacy." The Doctor replied, "But that's homeopathy!" "I know that, but the homeopathic doctors I've worked with never lost a patient."
-W. F. Edmundson, M. D., Pittsburgh.

Pneumonia rarely develops if a good homeopathic doctor is called in within the first 24 hours of a flu outbreak. Terrible mortality results from high doses of Aspirin, salicylates and opium preparations.
-A. H. Grimmer, M.D., Chicago.

Murphy, from Lansing, Michigan, treated 325 cases of influenza in a camp where mortality had been 20%, while mortality with his homeopathic treatment was less than 3%.
-W. H. Wilson, M. D., Chicago.

I have treated 1,000 cases of influenza. I have the records to testify to my work. There have been no deaths. Please put all your trust in homeopathy and give none to the Scotch-Irish-American method! (??)
-T. A. McCann, M. D., Dayton, Ohio.

During the month of October, 1918, I treated 200 cases of influenza, with only one death.
-W. R. Andrews, M. D., Mannington, W. Va.

Dr. M. I. Boger of Portsmouth, N. H., treated 331 cases with 2 deaths.
Dr. G. G. Bascom of Lake Wilson, Minn. 300 cases with no deaths.
-E. C. Price, M. D., Baltimore.

Homeopathy was the best and most useful medical therapy in 1919.
-O. S. Haines, M. D., Philadelphia.

I treated 267 cases of influenza. No deaths.
-A. B. Hawes, M. D., Bridgewater, S. D.

In one month, I treated 65 cases of influenza with only one death, and that was a tuberculosis patient.
-F. C. Thornhill, M. D., Alma, Mich.

One of Montreal's leading pharmacists told Dr. T. A. McCann that they had lost 900 patients to influenza. When asked which remedy they had used most, he replied that Aspirin was the most widely used. Prescriptions were to take a 250 mg tablet every 3 hours, but many took double that every three hours. No comment is necessary.

Seventy-six cases were recorded in the Children's Hospital, with no pneumonia and no deaths. The majority of cases were on Bryonia and Gelsemium, which seemed to cure them completely.
-J. G. Dillon, M. D., Fargo, N. D.

In my experience, Gelsemium was almost always the first remedy to consider and was effective if used from the first symptoms.
-E. B. Hooker, M. D. Hartford, Conn.

I was given a box of 1000 cp of Aspirin, but I had 994 left. I think I used half a dozen. I couldn't find any indication for it. I only prescribed a few remedies, almost always Bryonia and Gelsemium. I almost never had a fatality if I was consulted in the first instance, unless the patient had been to a pharmacy and bought Aspirin, and in that event I had to take on a case of pneumonia.
-J. P. Huff, M. D., Olive Branch, Ky.

Aspirin and other coal tar derivatives have been responsible for a large number of unnecessary deaths. Aspirin is the most harmful drug. It is seductive because of its rapid pain-sedating action, which is deceptive. In many cases, Aspirin has weakened the heart, depressed vital forces, increased mortality in mild cases and lengthened convalescence. In all cases, it has complicated symptomatology and made the choice of curative remedy much more difficult. On the face of it, Aspirin has brought no cure and should be banned.
-Guy Beckly Stearns, M.D., New York.

A thousand eclectic doctors were asked to name the most useful remedies for flu and pneumonia. Over 75% cited Aconite and Bryonia for pneumonia.
-Lloyd Brothers, Cincinnati.

Experimental research conducted at the Laboratory of Hygiene in Washington, D. C., failed to show an active role for vaccination in pneumonia. Imagine such an admission if it had been a question of our well-proven remedies such as Gelsemium, Rhus tox., Eupatorium etc., whose indications are immutable, precise, invariable and constant.
-Homeopathic Recorder, October, 1920.

In the New Mexico Public Health Service, Veratrum viride, Gelsemium and Bryonia were mainly used in the Mexican population, with excellent results in the treatment of influenza. No deaths occurred under homeopathic treatment.
-C. E. Fisher, M. D., Chicago.

The reasons why children responded better than adults in the influenza epidemic were: firstly, they were brought in earlier; secondly, they had not been given 'safe remedies'; thirdly, they had not been given Aspirin; fourthly, they had been bedridden; and fifthly, they had been given the right remedy and therefore had a better chance.
-Dr. J. P. Cobb, Chicago.

All the patients I lost during the flu epidemic had taken Aspirin of their own accord before I examined them.
-W. P Best, M. D., Indianapolis.

Some can resist Aspirin, some can resist the flu, but no one can resist both.
-Dr. Taylor, Philadelphia.

Gelsemium does not depress the heart and is superior to aspirin and other hydrocarbon derivatives in all forms of flu.
-J. A. Munk, M. D., Los Angeles.

Many patients have been advised to take Aspirin as a prophylactic remedy for influenza and influenza pneumonia. One woman took 240 grains in 48 hours (1.20 g). She was hospitalized with scarlet fever due to the erythematous patches on her body. Many of the cases hospitalized at Haynes Memorial had taken Aspirin, Codeine, Morphine and Digitalis. Politicians have praised our hospital for its homeopathic treatment of the flu. They don't all agree, however, but there is a feeling in Boston that we have very good flu treatment.
-Samuel Clement, M.D., Boston.

During the Spanish flu epidemic, almost all the patients who died had taken aspirin. Almost everyone believed in its efficacy because it relieved anxiety and 'could do no harm'. The consequence was thousands of dead people who could have lived if they had been willing to put up with some discomfort for a short time. They were dying like flies around a plate of fish, even though 'Science' was doing everything it could to 'save' them.
-A. F. Stevens, M. D., St. Louis.

We treated over 300 cases of influenza among members of the Student Army Training Corps, without a single fatality. Gelsemium, Bryonia and Ferrum phosphoricum were the main remedies. Only those who had taken aspirin had a prolonged convalescence with pulmonary complications.
-C. B. Stouffer, M. D., Ann Arbor.

Among the 150 or so cases treated during the flu epidemic, Gelsemium and Bryonia were the main remedies. There were very few cases of pneumonia, none of those I treated as soon as the first symptoms appeared. I had only one death, a 60-year-old man with asthma who was brought to our Minnesota climate in the middle of a very cold winter, with true pneumonia.
-Wm. E. Leonard, M. D., Minneapolis.

I've treated around 50 cases of flu, and had two cases of pneumonia, including one in a pregnant woman. All healed. Remedies: Gelsemium, Bryonia and Rhus especially.
-Wm. Boericke, M. D., San Francisco.

I've treated over 100 cases of flu and pneumonia, losing two patients, one of whom had been taking aspirin for pneumonia for a week before he called me; the other was a malignant form with a very high fever from the start. Remedies: Gelsemium, Eupatorium, Bryonia, etc.
-C. P. Bryant, M. D., Seattle.

I treated about 500 cases with a lot of pneumonia, I lost two patients; I never used Aspirin and didn't allow it to be used. The main remedies used were Belladona, Gelsemium, Sticta, for pharyngeal symptoms, Mercurius, Natrum muriaticum and Kali muriaticum.
-A. B. Palmer, M. D., Seattle.

It's tiring getting to the bottom of the page, isn't it? It was just to give you testimonials until you're thirsty, not to say that there are no figures, blah, blah, showing that homeopathy, blah, blah!!! 🙂 EB