Page:Quackery Unmasked.djvu/157

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HOMŒOPATHY.
153

that Homœopathy now, is not Homœopathy at all. I am aware that many may have adopted the name of Homœopathy without sincerely adopting its principles, and only maintain an outward show because it is most fashionable and appears to promise the greatest pecuniary success. An anecdote, related some years since, by Dr. Mead, of London, may serve to explain the motives of this class of practitioners.

"A man of good education had become a quack, and had a booth in one of the most frequented streets of London. He calculated on the weakness and credulity of mankind, and made a most fortunate speculation. Mead, regretting that an intelligent man, capable of advancing truth, should degrade himself to such a trade, advised him to abandon it. 'How many men a day' said the quack, 'do you think pass through this street?' 'Perhaps twenty thousand' said the doctor. 'And how many of these do you suppose possess the right use of their senses, and a sound judgment?' 'Five hundred.' 'The proportion is too great' said the quack. 'A hundred, then.' 'Still too much.' At last they agreed to reckon