A History of Service to Humanity

“Ubi morbus ibi remedium.” (Where the disease, there the remedy.)

[A remarkable historical letter to the Editor, mentioning Dr. Costain (see below), expressing gratitude from a Christian missionary in South India
whose work in healing difficult cases seems to rival the best of practitioners while his resources—including access to books—are quite limited;
he makes the best use of what he does have – E.B. Nash and J.C. Burnett! (see notes below)]

To The Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy.¹

My dear Sirs:

I was extremely sorry to read from a journal of homeopathy that my dear [late] friend Dr. T. E. Costain2 is no more in the battlefield of homeopathy and it broke my heart a good deal …

One year has passed since we opened our new Homeopathic Dispensary and the number of cases for one year was 2,108, out of which we only had five fatal cases. We do praise the Lord for helping us so very wonderfully in the serious cases and are thankful to our dear home friends for their prayerful support [of donations] given to us in books and journals …

One thing is sure and that is the indicated remedies will never fail. My dear wife is helping me in the Dispensary work. She is mastering materia medica now. She is now free from the terrible trouble of phthisis [tuberculosis], of which I was so very much afraid. We had only Dr. [J.C.] Burnett’s3 Bacillinum treatment and Calc. carb. to cure her and now have four consumptive people under our care. We lost a cerebral typhoid case, a young man nineteen years of age. There was no ice on hand and the patient died before it was ordered. We strictly followed the [E.B.] Nash’s Leaders4 [in Typhoid Fever] and we are very sorry for the failure. We cannot expect everyone to be healed, but our earnest desire is that those whom we treat should recover. The higher potencies are used in chronic cases, and we find them to be very deep acting.

We miss our monthly visitor a good deal, the blessed organ of the association, The Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, and beg of you to place our address on the mailing list, for which act of kindness we shall ever remain thankful, and our poor patients will have the benefit. We will do by His Grace what we can to extend the cause.

With kind regards and thanking you again,
Yours in His Service,
C. John Thomas and Wife, Missionaries.
Kozhancheri, P. O.
Travancore, S. India
[A former small kingdom, now part of the State of Kerala, India]
[1922]

References

1. The Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy Volume Xv July, 1922—June, 1923, Transactions of the 78th Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, Usa 1923. p. 562
2. Ibid. p. 2. “Thomas E. Costain was president of the Anesthetists Association, having been elected to that position last spring. He had been president of the Chicago Homeopathic Society and the Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Association. He served as first vice-president of the American Institute of Homeopathy in the year of 1915-16. For six years he has been the secretary-treasurer of the Institute, one of the most important and hardest positions in the society. For the past year he has acted as managing editor of the Journal of the American Institute Of Homeopathy. “
3. Burnett, J. Compton. The New Cure of Consumption by Its Own Virus. Illustrated by Numerous Cases. Third Edition. Revised And Enlarged. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. 1894. [Indeed, the use of Bacillinum in well reported (some remarkable) cases of Dr. Burnett, as well as from Dr. J.H. Clarke, Dr. Boocock and Dr. John Young, with some long-term follow up showing cure of tuberculosis in different forms (some severe, including cretinism and hydrocephalus). Some sage advice is given as to eliminating other obstructions to cure, either with homeopathy or lifestyle modification, before treating the tubercular taint.]
4. Nash, E.B. Leaders in Typhoid Fever. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. 1900. From the Preface: “It is my own experience through a period of nearly forty years.” p. 28: “To meet and defeat in this way disease at the very outset is one of the chief excellencies of our art as compared with the old school of medicine.” p. 64: “Now we come to a very important part of our subject, the treatment of cerebral typhus. The leading remedies here are: Belladonna, Hyoscyamus, Stramonium, Apis mellifica, Helleborus niger and Zincum metallicum.” [An invaluable work!]