On the cutting edge of extinction : how the quest for modernity led to the erosion of identity in american homeopathy from 1865-1900 - The arrival of the new sciences

- On the cutting edge of extinction : how the quest for modernity led to the erosion of identity in american homeopathy from 1865-Craig Repasz (Craig Repasz)

The arrival of the new sciences 

The homeopaths from the days of Hahnemann had claimed that their methods were scientific. The science of the late 18th and early 19th century was empirical and statistical. In Paris, Pierre Louis (1787-1872) had introduced the statistical method into medicine and demonstrated that the heroic measure of bloodletting had no effect on a disease.
 But with the advent of improved microscopes and techniques, science was shifting. It was becoming less quantitative and more reductionist -that is, looking for answers on a microscopic level. Mueller in the 1820s had been using the microscope to examine embryonic tissue and glands. In 1838, his student, Theodore Schwann would present the idea that all forms of life were made up of cells.
 The trend was for doctors to view the root of disease as malfunctions of the tissues or cells, which was in direct contrast to Hanhemann's theories that the root of disease was due to a weakened vital force. Soon homeopathy's adversaries scoffed at the concepts of vital force and dynamized remedies, and, more pivotally, some of its practitioners did so as well.
 The new sciences-namely, microscopic physiology and pathology-also played a key role in reconstructing old school medicine. The new sciences were soon added to the required curriculums of medical schools to raise the standard of education and subsequently develop the status of old school of medicine. While the sciences did little in the way of providing a system of effective therapeutics, they did provide great explanatory power in diagnosing a disease and giving a prognosis. x
 For the homeopaths during this period from 1830s to the 1850s, the popular new sciences offered the same allure it held for other physicians. Liberal homeopaths began to emphasize physiology and pathology. However, by the 1860s the conservatives would argue that the new sciences were neither necessary nor should they be considered pertinent to homeopathy. The question of whether or not homeopathy was commensurable with the new science grew into one of the main points of contention in the widening schism within the homeopathic ranks.