Thirteenth Lecture

However, these and similar proposals will remain mere wishful thinking unless we can find a way to obtain iodine in greater quantities than has been possible up to now. In homeopathy, the problem is not so much how to obtain a large amount of iodine, but rather how to obtain a small amount, because if we give all homeopaths together one grain, they will run around like ants around Chimborazo, desperate to wear it down and make it small, but the allopaths, who are less frugal, also want to cure. For the latter, it would indeed be very desirable if a mine of iodine were now to be discovered that could supply the necessary quantity of hundredweight that annual consumption would require. For even now, all the species of fucus in the world's oceans are no longer sufficient to meet the necessary demand for iodine, since nothing more than the tincture is obtained from it. What will happen when they have produced a whole range of ointments, plasters, pills, and other compounds in polygamy with each other, which such a powerful remedy cannot do without? Since there has been no sign of such a treasure trove so far, I therefore make the following suggestion for finding it. In future, only miners afflicted with goiters and scrofula, and women suffering from menstrual disorders, should be allowed to work in the mines. If it is found that a goiter sinks here, a tarnished gland disappears there, or a woman's menstruation returns, then one has eo ipso proof that this mine must contain iodine, and one can now boldly use the earth from it as iodine-containing in suitable compounds against the aforementioned diseases. In a similar way, the effectiveness of brownstone against scabies was discovered, except that here I am reversing the conclusion, although I hope that I have not violated the rules of logic.