Holmes delivered this critical address on homeopathy to the Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge on February 16, 1842, and then published it with a companion lecture, "Medical delusions of the past," later that spring. Although Holmes would deal with homeopathy "not by ridicule, but by argument; perhaps with great freedom, but with good temper and in peaceable language; with very little hope of reclaiming converts, with no desire of making enemies, but with a firm belief that its pretensions and assertions cannot stand before a single hour of calm investigation," the lecture ignited a war of words in newspapers and pamphlets. Excerpt from the preface to Homϗpathy, and its kindred delusions by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)
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