Address by Boericke
THE PRESIDENT: At this time I have the extreme honor of introducing to you the president of the American Institute of Homeopathy, Dr. Boericke of Philadelphia.
DR. GARTH BOERICKE (Philadelphia): Mr. Chairman and Members of the National Association: We feel very friendly towards the Eclectic Medical Association. I always tell my students that we have very little to crow about in regard to the various drugs and preparations which we use and lecture on. I teach in the Hahnemann Medical College at Philadelphia. So often we come across an ordinary medical man (I always refer to men of other beliefs as ordinary medical men, thereby inferring that we are extraordinary medical men) who accepts drugs and uses them without giving us credit for them. The two best drugs in materia medica have been lifted bodily from the Eclectic school, and we freely acknowledge it. So we have the highest respect for the Eclectic method.
I simply came down to pay my respects as president of a sister medical organization, and also to offer an invitation to join us in our public health mass meeting at 8:00 o'clock tonight at the Hotel Statler. Senator Copeland of New York will be there and altogether quite a galaxy of speakers. There will be no technical papers, but we will be glad to have you come and attend our session. We have the Bureau of Clinical Medicine today; tomorrow Drug Pathogenesis, and the Surgical Bureau Thursday.
I feel we have a great deal in common, we Homeopaths and Eclectics. We believe in the rational use of drug therapy. We have a public who know something about it, particularly as they are bombarded all the time with drugs from pharmaceutical houses. So often they come to the conclusion a certain drug should be used and methods of publicity are pushed, when older and better drugs are more beneficial. I feel that is the chief function of my society and yours—to keep before the public the fact that we have tried methods of treatment and drugs which have stood the test of time. The public do not know that, but they should. It is up to us to keep it before them.
We will be happy to have you come to our meeting and I want to assure you of our cordial respect and regard for the Eclectics.
