T H E B R I T I S H H O M ( E O P A T H I C J O U R N A L 2 0 9

TRANSLATION OF THE P R E L I M I N A R Y REMARKS IN ITALIAN

By DR. GA~TANO GAGLIARDI (Rome)

ALL who know me for a long time, and know my good--or bad--habi t of expressing myself--easily or hardly-- in the language of my guests, shall be certainly surprised to hear me, once at least, speaking the language of Dante, with some trembling in the voice, but with all the ardour of my Italian heart.

I tell you, at once, that it was not a caprice, and not even a sudden impulse of patriotic feeling which suggested the idea to me. I only thought that the cordial greeting I want to give you--also in the name of my Italian colleagues not able to make the long journey--could only keep its spontaneousness, and its warmth, on the condition that it should be expressed in my own language, the only language I can talk. I know, among the others that I only have the pretension to speak.

I then extend, to you all, the greeting of I taly and of Rome ; a greeting that can be translated into thousands of languages, but must be first of all understood and felt ; a greeting that may attend thousands of ears, but wants to travel and to reach the ways of the heart. I t is the greeting of the eternal city, the spiritual mother country of all those who, of the problems of spirit, art, science, have made a food of life, and, if this ambassador seems too in- adequate to the delicate and high task, you will forgive his audacity, and only consider the worth of his goodwill and of his undoubted sincerity.

LEAGUE ORATION

By DR. GAETANO GAGLIARDI (Rome)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I cannot tell you who compelled me to address in English such a brilliant

audience ; I cannot tell you, because I would rather not expose him to well- deserved censure nor to the cruel criticism of you all . . . .

One could not even say which was greater, his ingeniousness in proposing, or my boldness in accepting, a foreigner, to address you in English here, in the very heart of Britain, in this glorious hospital, heart and brain of British Homoeopathy ! - - I have only thought it might be of interest to some, to hear from abroad, of the subject which interests us so deeply. Above all, I was sure that your benevolence would be generous enough to neutralize the slings and arrows of my embroiled accents, even admitted that the substance may ever meet with your agreement and your approval. Let me, then, start with my deepest apologies, together with the promise, that I shall not abuse your patience.

Once more, by this well arranged and successful Joint Congress, that marvellous art of healing, that we call Homceopathy, that wonderful lighted torch, that so many keen men, through a century and half of victorious trials transmitted to us well lit and burning, has given a testimony of its unexhausted strength and of its inexhaustible vitality.

Somebody called Homceopathy "The Aristocracy of Medicine"; some others consider it a discipline of humanism ; endless discussions may arise in order to establish if it is a science or rather an art. I see to-day our Homceopathy as a real faith, with its human aspects and its divine performances, because only a firm faith gives courage to face struggles and anxieties of any kind, and above all because faith alone can work the miracle we have seen in recent days. People of so many countries and of different spirit and languages, assembled in fraternal harmony, after the sad events which poisoned the world, and threatened the purest springs of humanity and fraternity !

Homceopathy is the faith ; we are the priests. Have we done our duty