Since 1988, homeopathy has been clouded in controversy. First it was scientifically acknowledged and published, then it was retracted through scandalous means. The following letter came up in class regarding the use of homeopathy during the 1918 flu pandemic that infected over 500 million people worldwide, and killed 50-100 million individuals.
The New England Medical Gazette,
Vol. 53, 1918
To the Editor: I have been so busy fighting ” Spanish Flu ” that I have found time for nothing else for several weeks. I want to tell you my experience with the disease, for I am proud of what homeopathy was able to do out here in this small city in South Dakota. In all, I treated 188 cases of Spanish Influenza. Of the above number I treated 169 cases from the initial fever and 19 cases … [in late] stage … [who] called me only when the disease got the best of them. Of the 169 initial cases I lost not one, neither did I have a relapse… Of the 19 late cases all but three recovered…. One lived but eight hours after pneumonia set in; one, two days; the third had endocarditis which ended the scene five days after a relapse. To recapitulate: I treated 188 cases and had three deaths. Among these 188 cases I had every variety of ” Flu ” and required a variety of remedies. I commenced every case with Gelsemium and Bryonia, which seemed to rob the case of its tendency toward pneumonia…. In not one case did I find it necessary to use any of the old-school remedies….
Yours truly, Arthur B. Hawes, M.D.
Bridgewater, South Dakota
Stony Plain Naturopathic Clinic 