Welcome to delegates of Joint Congress

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In 1844 the British Homceopathic Society was founded. I t had forty-four members who met together monthly to discuss Homceopathic therapeutics. IJater it undertook the teaching of Homoeopathy to post-graduates but had no examination for a diploma or degree to offer. I n time, other special branches of medicine began to form themselves into Faculties, having their own examinations and diplomas, such as the radiologists and gynmcologists, and it was thought expedient t h a t we should do the same. The Faculty of Homeeopathy was, therefore, formed in 1943. Anyone now wishing to become a Member or Fellow of the Faculty must first pass an examination of a standard parallel to that of the higher examinations of the orthodox school. He is then entitled to use the letters M.F.Hom. or F.F.ttom. The other day some of us witnessed a picturesque ceremony in the House of L o r d s - - a ceremony t h a t is 600 years old when the Royal Assent was given to the passing of a Bill incorporating the Faculty of Homeeopathy b y Act of Parliament. This puts us in a unique position. The Colleges of Physicians, Surgeons and Gynsecologists have a Royal Charter but no other medical body is incorporated by Act of Parliament. This ensures t h a t the headquarters of the Faculty remains, for all time, at The Royal London Homceopathic Hospital in Great Ormond Street. One of the aims of the Faculty is the spread of Homceopathy b y postgraduate education, and it is a great asset to have at our headquarters all the available teaching material the hospital can provide. Students have Tutorial Clinics in the Out-Patient Department, attend ward rounds, and have lectures on repertorizing, case taking, homceopathic drugs, etc., as you will see from our curriculum. Routine pathological low potency prescribing was used until the advent of Dr. Tyler, Sir J o h n Weir and Dr. Borland. Sir John and Dr. Borland had studied in America under K e n t and came back to revolutionize the practice of Homceopathy here. They started the post-graduate lectures and the finding of the simillimum together with the high potency method and the single dose prescribing. The spread of Homceopathy has always been difficult. I n the old days it was largely due to the prejudice and active antagonism of the medical profession as a whole. This grows less and less. To-day the main obstacle is modern medicine with all its spectacular chemical, physiological and pathological data and the dramatic results obtained by the recently discovered drugs, the sulphonamides, penicillin, streptomycin etc. Medicals find it difficult to believe t h a t we have a better method and equally dramatic and very often more lasting results. However, we h a v e more entries next year for our post-graduate course than ever before and more patients demanding Homceopathy. Since H a h n e m a n n propounded his law of Similia Similibus Curentur there have been various methods of applying this law, and to-day it is our aim to present in a series of papers the methods of Homoeopathic prescribing in general use in this country. I t is fitting and a great pleasure to us to have the first paper given by Dr. Borland, as he has essentially been one of the chief teachers of our method of what we consider to be Hahnemannian Homoeopathy. We hope t h a t in the discussion members will give their own views of the individual variations of these methods. WELCOME TO D E L E G A T E S OF J O I N T CONGRESS By SIR Jom~ WEre, PRESIDENT BRITISH HOM(:EOPATHIC CONGRESS On behalf of the Council of the British Homceopathie Congress I offer you all a very hearty welcome to our midst. The Congress represents the homceopathic doctors in Great Britain, independent of any society, and meets once a year, alternately in London and

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the Provinces. Its object is to give our colleagues in the country, who find it difficult to attend the monthly meetings of the Faculty, an opportunity to foregather and exchange views. I can only add m y good wishes to those already offered you, and hope you will find the gathering helpful in the further pursuit of your professional work. Exchange of ideas can be stimulating ; m a y we find it so, and I hope you will think it was worth while coming to London.

R E P L Y TO T H E WELCOME FROM T H E B R I T I S H HOM(EOPATHIC CONGRESS AND T H E FACULTY OF HOM(EOPATHY B y DR. L$oN RE~ARD (Paris)

President of the International Homceopathic League Y o u all know m y love for England, a n d Scotland of course. When a young boy, I came every year to your country to spend m y holidays and learn your language, a rather difficult one, by the by. I t is a great privilege, a great honour for me to preside at this meeting of the International Homceopathic League in London, a town where I dare Say I feel quite at home, perhaps it is an hereditary feeling since I am a Norman, a descendent of the warriors of William the Conqueror. There is another reason for me to love this country and to feel at home, for I have so m a n y good friends amongst you. I t is also a great 9pleasure for me to preside at this meeting in this magnificent hospital, where twenty years ago, I spent an unforgettable week of work with a great prescriber, Dr, Margaret Tyler, who taught me wonderful, unsuspected things I never forgot. To have learnt the value of Drosera was worth m y journey. I made at t h a t time the acquaintance of Dr. McCrae and Dr. Benjamin, I attended their out-patients and I learnt a lot from them, to them both I address m y gratefulness. I now thank m y good friend the jolly fellow of Homoeopathy, the British Vice-President, Dr. Templeton for his welcome, he is also a very good homceopath, and a very good professor of optimism, we all appreciate his humour . . . and his drug pictures. Is he Pater Similias ? I personally don't know, if you are not, then ego te baptizo "filius similias ". I must heartily congratulate Dr. Scoular and Dr. Templeton for the organization of this Joint Congress, they achieved a lot of work for its success. To-day and on the following days they will receive their reward, they will be proud of the results obtained. I respectfully thank Dr. M. Blackie the President of the Faculty of Homceop a t h y of London for her welcome, I know the impulse she is giving to the Faculty. Being an attentive reader of the BRITISI~ HOlg(EOPATHIC JOURNAL, I have had the opportunity to read her papers which deserve our appreciation. She is the right man in the right place. We thank her for allowing the foreign members of the League to partake of the works of the Faculty. And now I am peculiarly happy to thank Sir John Weir who in spite of his high functions gives us the honour of his presence amongst us. May I tell him t h a t everywhere through the homceopathic world we are very proud of him. The honours bestowed on him reflect upon all of us and on ttomoeopathy, and, for that, we are very grateful to him. Sir John deserves these honours for he is one of the greatest homceopaths of this epoch. He is a great prescriber. He had the good luck to be taught by K e n t and Miller and collaborate with Dr. Margaret Tyler. I t is always a pleasure to read his papers and his interventions in the BRITISH HOM(EOPATHIC JOURNAL,and without suspecting it, he is one of m y teachers. I am very grateful to him for all I learned, thanks to him. I n closing I p r a y Sir J o h n Weir to p a y our respects to His Majesty King