Homéopathie et GRIPPE de 1918 : 50 homéopathes en harmonie

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

Translated by Jean-Claude Ravalard

Here is an interesting article published in *The Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy* in 1921 on the Spanish flu, bringing together the observations of around fifty American homeopathic doctors following the flu epidemic. It is quite informative… I would like to thank Julian Winston, who sent me this article from his personal library.

In a factory with 8,000 workers, we had just one death. The patients did not die as a result of medication overuse. Gelsemium was virtually the only remedy used. We did not use aspirin or vaccines.
-Frank Wieland, M.D., Chicago.

The fact that the usual treatment was not administered was also a factor in the excellent result achieved at this plant.
-Burton Haseltine, M.D., Chicago.

There is a medicine that, directly or indirectly, has been responsible for more deaths than the flu itself. You are all familiar with this medicine. It is salicylic acid. The history of Aspirin has been well documented. Nowadays, you may not realise that salicylic acid has a soothing effect. It is harmful in two ways. Its indirect effect stems from the fact that Aspirin was administered to the point where the patient became exhausted and developed pneumonia.
-Frank L. Newton, M.D., Somerville, Mass.

I did not lose a single case of flu; my mortality rate for pneumonia was 2.1 per cent. Salicylates, including aspirin and quinine, were almost the only remedies used by the old school, and it was common to hear allopaths say that they had a 60 per cent mortality rate in cases of pneumonia.
-Dudley A. Williams, M.D., Providence, Rhode Island.

Three hundred and fifty cases and just one death: a case of overlooked pneumonia that came to my attention after the patient had taken around a hundred grains (an old unit of measurement: 0.05 g, or 5 g of aspirin) of aspirin within 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%, whilst the average mortality rate among practitioners of the old school was 30%.

The low mortality rate I achieved at Camp Lee was solely due to the fact that I did not use aspirin at all. I received praise from the Chief Medical Officer for having the lowest mortality rate in the hospital. Once the chief medical officer had noted the effect of aspirin on the blood and the results achieved in my department through the use of homeopathy, he recommended that we stop using aspirin, and the mortality rate fell very rapidly following that decision.
-Carleton A. Harkness, M.D., Chicago.

At Hahnemann Hospital in San Francisco, homeopathic remedies had a curative effect, whereas with other treatments the outcome was merely palliative.
-Laura A. Hurd, MD, San Francisco.

One thousand five hundred cases were reported to the Homeopathic Medical Society of the District of Columbia, with only fifteen deaths. The cure rate at the National Homeopathic Hospital was 100 per cent.
-E. F. Sappington, M.D., Philadelphia.

I have treated over a hundred cases without a single death. I have never deviated from homeopathic treatment. I have never prescribed aspirin. Only one patient, who had been prescribed Aspirin before I took charge of their care and who had been referred to me by a doctor of the old school, 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 1889 epidemic and the deaths it caused. During that epidemic, I knew that Aspirin and coal tar derivatives would kill more patients than the disease itself, and that is exactly what happened. An old-school doctor told me that he had realised Aspirin was killing his patients and that he had stopped prescribing it, turning instead to homeopathic and eclectic remedies.
-E. B. Finney, M.D., Lincoln, Neb.

Thirty doctors from Connecticut responded to my request for information. They reported 6,602 cases with 55 deaths, representing less than 1 per cent. On the transport service, I had 81 cases. All recovered and were disembarked. They all received homeopathic treatment. One ship lost 31 men.
-H. A. Roberts, M.D., Derby, Conn.

Homeopathy has saved patients with flu complicated by pneumonia; a poor outcome has always followed the use of coal tar derivatives, particularly aspirin.
-W. H. Hanchett, M.D., Omaha, Neb.

Together with the International Hahnemannian Association, I was able to compile a database of 17,000 cases of influenza with a mortality rate of 4 per cent.
-G. B. Stearns, M.D., New York.

I had 300 cases and just one death; a good homeopathic doctor had 275 cases with no deaths at all. I am the public health officer for my town. A practitioner of the old school had 294 cases and reported 15 deaths. Aspirin and iodine-calcium were the remedies used by the old school.
-H. H. Crum, M.D., Ithaca, New York.

I have treated 455 cases of flu 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 highlighted; 24 of the 42 cases in which the vaccines were used contracted influenza, and there were 8 cases of pneumonia, meaning that the vaccines failed as a preventative measure.
-W. L. Love, M.D., Brooklyn.

Seven homeopathic practitioners reported 3,600 cases, including six deaths. For my part, I treated 750 cases, with just 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 mortality rate within the regiment stood at 25.8 per cent among those with pneumonia. The lieutenant in charge decided to stop administering aspirin, digitalis and quinine, and the mortality rate fell rapidly to 15 per cent without any treatment. This occurred in a single ward. Following this, the same decision was taken in the other wards, and the mortality rate also fell to 15 per cent without any treatment.
– W. A. Pearson, M.D., Philadelphia.

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

A doctor at a hospital in Pittsburgh asked a nurse if she knew of a better treatment than the one he was using, as he was losing a lot of patients. “Yes, Doctor, stop prescribing aspirin and go to a homeopathic chemist’s.” The doctor replied, “But that’s homeopathy!” “I know, but the homeopathic doctors I’ve worked with never lost any patients.”
-W. F. Edmundson, M.D., Pittsburgh.

It is rare for pneumonia not to develop if a competent homeopathic doctor is consulted within the first 24 hours of a bout of flu. The appalling mortality rate is due to the fatal consequences of high doses of aspirin, salicylate-based preparations and opium-based remedies.
-A. H. Grimmer, M.D., Chicago.

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

I have treated 1,000 cases of flu. I have the records to back up my work. I have had no deaths to report. Please place your complete trust in homeopathy and none whatsoever in the Scotch-Irish-American method! (??)
-T. A. McCann, M.D., Dayton, Ohio.

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

Dr M. I. Boger of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, treated 331 cases, of which two were fatal.
Dr G. G. Bascom of Lake Wilson, Minnesota: 300 cases with no deaths.
-E. C. Price, M.D., Baltimore.

The term ‘homeopathy’ refers to the best and most effective form of medical treatment in the year 1919.
-O. S. Haines, M.D., Philadelphia.

I have treated 267 cases of flu. There have been no deaths.
-A. B. Hawes, M.D., Bridgewater, S.D.

In the space of a month, I treated 65 cases of flu, with just one death – and that was a patient with tuberculosis.
-F. C. Thornhill, M.D., Alma, Michigan.

One of Montreal’s leading pharmacists told Dr T. A. McCann that they had lost 900 patients to influenza. When Dr McCann asked which remedy they had used most frequently, the pharmacist replied that Aspirin was the most commonly used remedy. The instructions were to take one 250 mg tablet every three hours, but many took double the dose every three hours. No further comment is needed.

Seventy-six cases were recorded at the Children’s Hospital, with no cases of pneumonia or deaths. The majority of cases were treated with Bryonia and Gelsemium, which appeared to cure them completely.
-J. G. Dillon, M.D., Fargo, North Dakota.

In my experience, Gelsemium was almost always the first remedy to consider and proved effective when taken at the very first sign of symptoms.
-E. B. Hooker, M.D., Hartford, Connecticut.

I was given a box of 1,000 Aspirin tablets; I have 994 left. I think I’ve used about half a dozen. I couldn’t find any indication for them. I’ve only prescribed a few remedies, almost always Bryonia and Gelsemium. I have almost never had a fatality when I was consulted as the first point of contact, unless the patient had gone to a chemist’s and bought Aspirin; in which case, I would have to treat 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 medicine. It is appealing because of its rapid pain-relieving effect, but this relief is deceptive. In many cases, aspirin has weakened the heart, sapped vital energy, increased mortality in minor cases and prolonged convalescence. In all cases, it has complicated the symptoms and made the choice of a curative remedy much more difficult. On the face of it, Aspirin has brought about no cure and should be banned.
-Guy Beckly Stearns, M.D., New York.

Around a thousand eclectic doctors were asked to name the most useful remedies for influenza and pneumonia. More than 75% cited Aconite and Bryonia for pneumonia.
-Lloyd Brothers, Cincinnati.

An experimental study carried out at the Hygiene Laboratory in Washington, D.C., failed to demonstrate any active role for vaccination in the treatment of pneumonia. Imagine such an admission had been made regarding our tried-and-tested remedies such as Gelsemium, Rhus tox., Eupatorium etc., whose indications are unchanging, precise, invariable and constant.
-Homeopathic Recorder, October 1920.

Within the New Mexico Public Health Service, Veratrum viride, Gelsemium and Bryonia were primarily used amongst the Mexican population, with excellent results in the treatment of influenza. There were no deaths amongst those receiving homeopathic treatment.
-C. E. Fisher, M.D., Chicago.

The reasons why children responded better than adults during the flu epidemic were: firstly, they were brought to the doctor’s surgery earlier; secondly, they had not been given ‘safe remedies’; thirdly, they had not been given aspirin; fourthly, they had been kept in bed; and fifthly, they had been given the appropriate treatment and therefore had a better chance of recovery.
-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 people may be able to cope with Aspirin, others may be able to cope with the flu, but no one can cope with both.
-Dr Taylor, Philadelphia.

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

Many patients have been advised to take aspirin as a preventative measure against flu and flu-related pneumonia. One woman took 240 grains in 48 hours (1.20 g). She was admitted to hospital with scarlet fever due to erythematous patches on her body. Many patients admitted to Haynes Memorial had taken aspirin, codeine, morphine and digitalis. Political leaders have commended our hospital for its homeopathic treatment of influenza. Not everyone agrees, however, but the general feeling in Boston is that we have a very effective treatment for influenza.
-Samuel Clement, M.D., Boston.

During the Spanish flu pandemic, almost all the patients who died from it had taken aspirin. Almost everyone believed in its effectiveness because it relieved anxiety and ‘could do no harm’. The result was thousands of deaths that could have been avoided had people been willing to put up with a little discomfort for a short time. They were dropping like flies around a plate of fish, even though ‘science’ was doing everything possible to ‘save’ them.
-A. F. Stevens, M.D., St Louis.

We treated more than 300 cases of flu amongst members of the Student Army Training Corps, with no deaths. Gelsemium, Bryonia and Ferrum phosphoricum were the main remedies. Only those cases in which the patients had taken aspirin experienced a prolonged recovery with pulmonary complications.
-C. B. Stouffer, M.D., Ann Arbor.

Of the some 150 cases treated during the flu epidemic, Gelsemium and Bryonia were the main remedies. There were very few cases of pneumonia; none among those I treated as soon as the first symptoms appeared. I had only one fatality: a 60-year-old man who had asthma and who had been brought to our climate in Minnesota in the middle of a very cold winter, suffering from full-blown pneumonia.
-Wm. E. Leonard, M.D., Minneapolis.

I have treated around 50 cases of flu; I have had two cases of pneumonia, one of which was in a pregnant woman. All have recovered. Remedies: mainly Gelsemium, Bryonia and Rhus.
-Wm. Boericke, M.D., San Francisco.

I have treated over 100 cases of flu and pneumonia; I lost two patients – one had been taking aspirin for pneumonia for a week before he came to see me; the other was a severe case with a very high fever from the outset. Remedies: Gelsemium, Eupatorium, Bryonia, etc.
-C. P. Bryant, M.D., Seattle.

I treated around 500 cases, many of which involved pneumonia; I lost two patients; I never used aspirin and did not allow it to be used. The main remedies used were Belladonna, Gelsemium and Sticta for pharyngeal symptoms, and Mercurius, Natrum muriaticum and Kali muriaticum.
-A. B. Palmer, M.D., Seattle.

It’s a bit of a slog to get to the bottom of the page, isn’t it? It was just to give you as many testimonials as you could possibly want, so that no one can say there aren’t any figures, blah blah, showing that homeopathy, blah blah!!! 🙂 EB