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Homeopathic  Recorder 


MONTHLY 


VOLUME  XXIII 


1908 


PUBLISHED   BY 

BOERICKE  &  TAFEL 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  XXIII. 


A      Comment      on      Our      Materia 

Medica,   194. 
A  Long  Felt  Wain,  103. 
A  Medical  Cyclone,  58. 
Abbott,  Dr.,  Once  More,  365. 
Abdominal       Pains ;      Chionanthus, 

.    ill- 
Abortion     Threatened     Repeatedly, 

463- 
Aconite   Poisoning,   Case,  454. 
"Active   Principles,".  381. 
Adenoid  Growths,  556. 
Advertising,  The  Difference,  42. 
Alcoholism,   183. 

Alcoholism,  a  Germ  Disease,  571. 
An    Anti-fat    Fallen    From    Grace, 

191. 
"Antiquated      and      Unreasonable, ' 

495- 
Antitoxin,  475,  568. 
Antitoxin,  Effects,  427.  520. 
Apis ;  Limping,  108. 
Appendicitis,  262. 
Appendix      Vermiform,      Function 

of,  403. 
Are  They  Advances?  401. 
Arnica,  16,  573. 
Asclepias  Tuberosa,  215. 
Asthma,  264. 
Aurum  Case,  197. 

Bacteriologists,  Hero,  35. 

Baptisia,  52. 

Barium.   134. 

Bars  Still  LTp,   193. 

Bee  Sting  Cases,  147. 

Beef,  Wine  and  Iron,  474. 

Belladonna,  4. 

Belladonna  Externally,  The  Use  of. 

558. 
Beriberi  Treatment,   162. 
Biers's   Hypersemic  Treatment,  231. 
Biochemistry  and  Sepsis,  22. 
Blood  Purifier,  The  Great,  573. 
Bok,  After  the  Doctors,  190. 
Boldo,  Boldine,  204. 
Bothrops    Lanceolatus,  436. 
"Breaking  Down  the  Barriers,"  91. 
Bromide  Eruptions.  473. 
Bronchitis,  78. 


Bryonia;    Puereral  Fever,  233. 
Bubo,  A  Case,  27. 

Cactus  Grandiflorus,   Ic6. 
!    Cactus  vs.  Cactus  Grandiflorus,  28. 
I   Calendula  Antidotes  Apis,  147. 
i    Camphor,  56. 
j    Cancer,  213,  552. 

I    Cancer,    Danger    Following    Opera- 
tion, 79. 

Cancer,  Therapeutics  of,  460. 
1    Carbuncles,  474. 
:    Child,  A  "Potentized."  90. 
\    Chionanthus,  277. 

lolera,  Asiatic,  88,  447. 
i    Circumcision,   Better   Than,  416. 

Colic,  Camphor,  50. 
!    Crataegus   Oxyacantha,   220,   513. 

Crazy  Ones,  424. 

Cyclone,  A  Medical,  58. 

Darwin   and   Diabetes,  420. 

Dermatitis    Medicamentosa,    151. 

Diagnosis,  44. 

Diagnosis  Through  the  Selection  o£ 
the  Remedy,  545. 

Diarrhoea,  Medorrhinum,  30. 

Digestive  Ferments,  378. 

Diphtheria,  27. 

Dollar  and  the  Doctor,  The. 

Dose,   Repetition  of,  529. 

Drug  Action,  Primary  and  Second- 
ary. 370. 
:    Dysentery ;   Case,  55. 

Dysmenorrhcea,  424. 

Echinacea,    87,    171     185,    266,    509 . 

573- 

"Elements,"   A   Criticism  of,  66. 
'    "Emanual  Movement,"  The,  234. 
.    Epidemics   Follow   Influenza,  67. 
I    Epilepsy,   Treatment  of,   550. 
;    Epilepsy,  Verbena  Ilastata,  40. 

Examining  Boards,  41.  136.  181,  189, 
233- 

1    Ficus  Religiosa,  516. 

Finding  the   Similimum,   218. 
I    Frankenstein,  The   Modern,  93. 

Furuncles,  271. 


JUN  1-  , 


IV 


Index. 


'Gelsemium,  477. 

'General  Medical  Council,  261. 

'Germs,  The  Dangerous,  20. 

Germ  Killer,  The  Great,  571. 

Germs,  The  Mission  of,  291,  348. 

Glandular  Swelling,  274. 

Gonococci,  71. 

Gonococci  as  Remedies,  510. 

Gonorrhoea,  76,  77,  269,  272. 

"H.  M.  C."  126. 

Hahnemann,  Good  Enough  in  His 
Day,  42. 

Hahnemann's  Grandson,  408. 

Hair,  Falling,  70. 

Hamamelis,  16. 

Helianthus  Annus,  162. 

Hereditary  and  Tuberculosis,  214. 

Hernia,  315. 

Hieracium  Pelosella,  361. 

High  Potency  Cases,  270. 

Homoeopathic  Books,  323. 

Homoeopathic  Medical  College, 
First,  321. 

Homoeopathic   Pharmacy,  219. 

Homoeopathic  Remedy  vs.  the  Ca- 
theter, 411. 

Homoeopathy  and  Scientific  Medi- 
cine, 49. 

Homoeopathy  vs.  Homoeopathy,  251. 

Homoeopathy,  Why  We  Believe  in, 
488. 

Horse  Disease,  A  Fatal,  185. 

Hull's  Jahr,  258. 

Hydrophobin,  308. 

Ileo-colitis,   359. 
Infinitesimal   Dose,  284. 
Influenza — Pneumonia,  31. 
In-growing  Nails,  Magnet.,  A,  139. 
Inoculation,  $*• - 
Ischias,  70. 
Itching;  Case,  65. 

Kali  phosphoricum,  267. 
Keynotes  and  the  Totality,  547. 

Lac  Caninum,  216. 

Lachesis,  458. 

Lachesis  and  Insanity,  549. 

Lachesis  in  Gangrene.  426. 

Lachesis  Mix-Up  in  Europe,  548. 

Lachesis,  The  "New,"  241,  243,  290. 

Lachesis,  The  "True,"  482. 

Limping;  Apis,  108. 

Lithia  Water,  475. 

Liver ;   Case,  65. 

Liver,  Congestion,  274.  275. 

Loco  Weed,  510. 

Low  Potency  Cases,  2*73. 


Luck,   185. 
Lung  Case,  444. 


Medical   "High  Finance,"  203. 
Medical    Legislation    in    Germany," 

574- 
Medical  Society,  The,  318. 
Medical    Politicians,  425. 
Medical   Terms  Criticised,  453. 
Medorrhinum,  30. 
Menstrual  Troubles,  72. 
Mental    Alienation,    Zincum,    /S- 
Mitchella    Repens,    Child    Bearing, 

138. 
Modern   Progress,   135. 
Mortality   Statistics,   532. 
Morphium  Sulph.,  Proving,   100. 
More  Inanity,  187. 
Mullein  Oil,  95. 

Natrum  Carbonicum,  339. 

Natrum  Muriaticum,  340. 

Natrum  Phosphoricum,  342. 

Natrum  Sulphuricum,  344. 

Nerve,  The  Sympathetic  as  it  Re- 
lates to  the  Cause  of  Disease, 
310. 

"New  Movements"  in  Medicine.  149. 

Nosodes,  The,  232. 

Nux  Moschata,  302,  493. 

Nyctanthes,  57. 

NEW  PUBLICATIONS. 
Allen.     Chronic  Miasm,  468. 
Bartlett.     Treatment,  132. 

Benson.     Nursery  Manual,  228. 

Boericke.     Materia  Medica,  374. 

Boericke  &  Anshutz,  Elements, 
37,  103- 

Bcenninghausen.  Lesser  Writ- 
ings, 375. 

Burnett.     Enlarged  Tonsils,  178. 

Clarke.     Thomas   Skinner,  36. 

Clarke.     Radium,  417. 

Clarke.     Whooping  Cough,  417. 

Farrtngton.  Clinical  Materia 
Medica,  327. 

Finley.      Gonorrhoea.    563. 

Flaschoen.  Le  Tromphe  de 
l'Hom.,  85. 

Gallavardin.  Les  Secrets  de 
l'Hom.,  131. 

Gilliam.     Gynaecology,  36. 

Heysinger.     Light  of  China,  562. 

Hamlin.     Obstetrics,  278. 

Hull's   Pahr,  258. 

Jousset.  Des  vrass  Caracteres, 
278. 


Index. 


Kent.     Repertory,  560. 

Lust.    Lord^  of  Ourselves,  561. 

Miller.     Featural    Imperfections, 

179- 
Monro.     Suggestive  Therapeutics, 

563. 

Mundy.     Children,  469. 

Nash.    Regional  Leaders,  327. 

Neef.     Anasthesia,  565. 

Proceedings.    I.  H.  A.,  563. 

Proceedings.    Ohio,  565. 

Shedd.     Clinic  Repertory,  225. 

Walters.    Hematology,  562. 

Warfield.  -'  Arterio  sclerosis,  564. 

Wheeler.     Knaves  or  Fools,  229. 

Winslow.     Milk,  179. 

Woodruff.     Therapeutics   of  Vi- 
bration, 

Objective  Symptoms,  110. 

Official  Organs,  89. 

Old  Age,  To  Cure,  280. 

Old,  Old  Story,  39. 

Olive  Oil,  43,  223,  233. 

Once  More  Unto  the  Breach,  Dear 

Friends,  1. 
One-sided,  97. 
Opsonins,  41. 
Osier,  419. 
Oxytropis  Lambertii,  511. 

Passiflora,  180. 

Pasteur,  Doesn't  Believe  in,  405. 

Pathology,    Necessity   of   Knowing, 

531. 
Pedigree,  421. 

Pharmacist  and  His  Charges,  412. 
Pharmacopoeia,   The   New,  63,    142, 

239,  284,' 337,  455,.495. 
Phthisis,  Incipient,  451. 
Platinum,  A  Case,  26. 
Plumbum  in  Dysmenorrhcea,  424. 
Pnuemonia-Infmenza,  31. 
Portugal,   Homoeopathy   in,   68. 
Potency  I  Use  and  Why,  316. 
Potentized  Remedy  Won  Out,  186. 
Psychical    Trauma    as    a    Cause   of 

Disease,  538. 
Pyrogenium,  52. 

Rachitis,  Remedies,  129. 

Rat  Poison,  "Ratin,"  91. 

Regular  Therapeutics,  231. 

Refraction,  141. 

Renal  Haemorrhages,  176. 

Rheumatism,  Syphilitic,  445. 

Rhus   Poisoning  and  Alum,  422. 


Salicylic     Acid     and     Rheumatism^ 

475- 
Sanguinaria,   Grippe.   560, 
Scarlatina,  74. 
Schuessler    Remedies    in    the    Iowa. 

Courts,  189. 
Sedum  Repens,  282,  445. 
Sepsis,  22. 
Serums,  136,  247,  280,  421,  422,  470^ 

471,  4/6,  521,  569- 
Serum  in  India,  477. 
Serum  Therapy,  47. 
Short  Stops,  324. 
Small-pox,   140. 
Small-Pox,  Japan,  181. 
Social  Problem,  The  Old,  Old,  83. 
Sodii  Iodidi,  Proving,  234. 
Some    Lines    on    Materia    Medica. 

497- 

"Specifics,"  88. 

Stomach  Troubles.  69. 

Stricture,  324. 

Strychnine   Phosphorica,  515. 

Strychnine  Pills,  97. 

Study  of  Materia  Medica,  The,  389: 

Stye,  Case,  270. 

Sulphur  Disease  Suppressed  by- 
Quinine,  543. 

Sympathetic  Nerve,  310. 

Testicles.  Inflammation,  276. 

Texas  Medical  Act,  319. 

The  Law  of  Similia  in  Medical  His- 
tory, 433. 

Therapeutic  Nihilist,  The,  309. 

Therapeutic  Pointers,  223,  257,  314,. 
326,  467,  516. 

Topics  From  the  Past,  385. 

Toxins,  109,  423. 

Trituration,     Some     Thoughts     oiv 

39&- 
Trouble  Among  the  "Regulars,"  90, 
"Truth    is    Mighty    and    Will    Pre~- 

vail,"  481. 
Tuberculin,  183,  473. 
Tuberculin  Tests,  422. 
Tuberculosis,  214,  515. 
Typhlitis,  A  Case,  173. 
Typhoid   Fever  Remedies,  405. 

Uneasy  Lies  the  Head  That  Wears 

a  Crown,  86. 
Uric  Acid  Cycle,  567. 
Urine,  Suppression  of,  411. 

Vaccination  in  Austria,  452. 
Vaccination,  Internal,  45,   117,  186. 
Vaccines,   510,   570. 


VI 


Index 


Variolinum,  117,  380. 

Venesection,  84. 

Verbena  hastata,  40. 

Verses   on   Materia   Medica,  497. 

Vivisection,  280. 

Vomiting,   Persistent,  444. 


Wantstall, 
145. 


Dr.,    and    Homoeopathy, 


Wantstall,   Dr.,  Reply  to,  253. 
Weak   Point   in   Some   Text-Books, 

188. 
Whooping  Cough,  273. 
Wood  for  Paper,  81. 

X-ray  Matters,  282. 

Zincum,   Mental,   y^. 


THE 

Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

Vol.  XXIII.       Lancaster,  Pa.,  January,  1908  No.  1 


ONCE   MORE   UNTO  THE   BREACH, 
DEAR   FRIENDS! 

Undeterred  by  the  fate  of  his  predecessors,  Dr.  Henry  Beates, 
Jr.,  President  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Board  of  Medical  Ex- 
aminers, rides  a  tilt  against  "sectarianism  and  dogma"  in  medi- 
cine and  against  "dying"  Homoeopathy  in  particular,  in  the  No- 
vember number  of  The  Monthly  Cyclopedia  of  Practical  Medi- 
cine. Dr.  Beates  opens  his  paper  with  an  assertion  that  every 
homoeopathic  physician  will  accept,  namely,  "The  highest  duty  of 
the  physician  is  to  treat  afflicted  fellow  beings  with  the  best 
known  means  to  effect  relief  and  cure."  That  is  what  Samuel 
Hahnemann  said  in  the  opening  paragraph  of  The  Organon. 
This  accepted  the  question  arises  :  What  are  the  best  means  ?  Dr. 
Beates  might  select  certain  means  as  the  "best"  in  a  given  case 
which  one  of  his  brothers  also  untrammeled  by  "dogma,"  might 
pronounce  very  deleterious,  or  vice  versa.  The  homoeopath  ani- 
mated by  the  same  high  purpose  would  select  still  other  means. 
In  such  a  by  no  means  improbable  case  the  only  broad  guide  to 
the  right  remedy  must  be  previous  results,  and  when  it  comes  to 
these  the  homoeopath  stands  on  an  impregnable  rock.  Many 
ingenious  explanations  have  been  made  by  those  who  claim  to  be 
unfettered  by  "dogma"  to  account  for  the  marvelous  results  fol- 
lowing homoeopathic  treatment  and  a  favorite,  though  two-edged 
one,  is  that  homoeopaths  give  no  medicine,  nature  doing  the  work. 
Then  why  not  leave  all  medical  cases  to  nature? 

The  assumption  that  there  is  no  medicine  in  homoeopathic  pre- 
scriptions is  rather  amusing  to  men  who  have  tested  the  matter, 


2  Once  More   Unto  the  Breach. 

tested  it  scientifically.  There  certainly  are  drugs,  or  drug  in- 
fluences, in  the  homoeopathic  30th  potency,  and  probably  none  of 
those  who  disbelieve  in  these  potencies  could  take  doses  of  one  of 
them  for  thirty  days  without  being  emphatically  convinced.  It 
has  been  tried.  The  potentized  homoeopathic  drug  acts  power- 
fully, but  not  with  the  crude,  drastic  action  of  the  same  drug 
when  given  in  massive  doses.  If  it  be  the  si  m  Hi  muni  it  goes  to 
the  seat  of  the  disease,  where  its  curative  action  is  marvelous. 
and  with  due  respect  to  Dr.  Beates,  far  more  scientific  than  the 
mixed  and  massive  doses  of  the  other  schools. 

Dr.  Beates  grows  somewhat  indignant  over  the  word  "dogma." 
The  word  is  defined  (  Century  Dictionary)  as:  "A  settled  opinion  : 
a  principle,  maxim,  or  tenet  held  as  being  firmly  established,"  etc. 
Is  it  a  matter  of  reproach  that  one  should  have  settled  opinions? 
Has  not  Dr.  Beates  settled  opinions  ?  Indeed  he  has,  as  is  demon- 
strated by  his  paper,  under  consideration.  He  is  suffering  from 
the  dogma  that  Homoeopathy  is  no  good.  Dogmas  may  be  true 
or  false. 

Here  is  another  point:  " of  1.200  practitioners  in  the  Com- 
monwealth fPenna.)  who  have  received  their  degree  from  ho- 
moeopathic colleges,  it  has  been  possible  to  discover  but  six  who 
are  practicing  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  tenets  of  Samuel 
Hahnemann."  The  question  arises  as  to  whether  Dr.  Beates  is 
competent  to  pass  on  what  is  homoeopathic  practice?  He  adds. 
"There  may  be  others,  but  inquiry  from  nurses  and  physicians  on 
all  sides  fail  to  discover  them."  Again  the  question:  Are  nurses 
and  physicians  on  all  sides  competent  to  judge  of  that  which  they 
confessedly  do  not  and  will  not  understand  ?  Is  this  scientific 
reasoning?  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  man}-  graduates  of  ho- 
moeopathic colleges  are  resorting,  more  or  less,  to  old  school 
measures,  but  pin  them  down  and  they  will  acknowlege  that  if 
compelled  to  stick  to  one  form  of  therapeutics  it  would  be  the  ho- 
moeopathic. For  Doctor  Beates'  benefit  it  might  be  mentioned 
that  Homoeopathy  confines  itself  solely  to  therapeutics,  it  is  the 
science  of  therapeutics  and  nothing  more,  but  this  does  not  mean 
that  the  men  who  practice  it  ignore  anatomy,  physiology,  sur- 
gery, bacteriology  or  any  other  necessary  department  of  medicine. 
That  all  this  is  not  known  to  many  seems  evident  when  Dr. 
Beates  pays  attention  to  our  colleges,  and  writes:  "Do  you  know 
that  they  teach  the  sciences  of  anatomy,  physiology,  bacteriology. 


Once  More   Unto  the  Breach.  3 

chemistry  and  pathology  in  the  same  manner  as  do  colleges  of 

medicine  ?" 

Now  we  come  to  what  is  vulgarly  known  as  the  milk  in  the 
cocoanut.  "The  law  recognizes  three  so-called  schools  of  medi- 
cine." allopathic,  homoeopathic  and  eclectic,  though  Dr.  Beates 
claims  that  there  never  was  nor  never  will  be  an  allopathic 
physician.  Oh  !  well,  the  rose  by  any  other  name  would  smell  as 
sweet.  Let  it  go,  there  must  be  a  distinction  or  an  extinction. 
Xow.  accordingto  Dr.  Beates,  in  this  the  law  is  wrong  and  should 
be  amended  "for  the  protection  of  the  public."  The  mere  fact 
that  the  law  advocated  by  Dr.  Beates  would  put  every  homoeo- 
pathic and  eclectic  physician  at  the  mercy  of  the  allopaths,  and 
thus  necessarily  turn  all  patients  over  to  their  care,  does  not  seem 
to  enter  into  Dr.  Beates5  consideration  ;  he  seeks  only  to  protect 
the  public — only  that  and  nothing  more.  Yet  it  would  necessarily 
revive  the  old  Oriental  ultimatum.  "Renounce  your  faith"  or  be 
impaled — this  or  a  back  down  on  some  (  ne's  part. 

But  the  homoeopathists  {they  have  a  name  to  be  proud  of) 
have  grown  to  be  a  lust\"  body  with  a  big  following  of  the  m<  »st 
inteligent  people,  who,  in  all  parts,  are  constantly  clamoring  for 
more  homoeopathic  physicians,  and  so  they  are  not  to  be  swept 
aside  by  a  mere  wave  of  the  arm.  No,  some  reason  must  be 
brought  forward  for  the  proposed  act.  and  here  it  is: 

Dr.  Beates  contends  that  if  they  will  still  insist  on  belonging  I 
a  "path}-"  instead  of  to  the  larger  path}-  they  should  be  legall} 
compelled  to  keep  within  the  limitations  of  the  "nathy."  In 
other  words,  the  jail  should  yawn  for  any  homoeopathic  physi- 
cian who  should  dare  do  any  thing  for  a  patient  than  prescribe  a 
homoeopathic  remedy,  but  as  Hahnemann  taught  otherwise,  :'.  e.: 
first  of  all  look  for  a  "removable  cause'3  of  the  disease,  Dr. 
Beates"  contention  goes  for  nothing.  He  real1.}'  ought  to  read  up 
as  to  what  Homoeopathy  is.  though  such  a  course  is  dangerous. 
for  many  a  g I  man  has  adopted  this  mean-  of  demolishing  Ho- 
moeopathy only  to  become  an  ardent  believer  in  it. 

"Certainly."  writes  Dr.  Beates,  "a  scientific  physician  cannot 
rightly  be  a  part}-  to  a  method  of  treatment  which  is  based  upon 
mere  theory  and  dogma,  and  exclusive  of  scientific  truth."  This 
is  a  fine,  glittering  generality  and  a  neat  begging  of  the  ques 
If  the  man  from  Mars  were  to  visit  the  earth  and  find  the  ho- 
moeopathic physician  standing  on  the  unchanging  and  unchange- 


4  Conferences  on  Belladonna. 

able  rock  of  the  natural  law  of  therapeutics,  the  greatest  of  medi- 
cal scientific  truths,  and  then  look  at  the  ever  shifting:  thera- 
peutics  of  their  opponents  he  would  smile  a  little  amusedly  at  the 
latter. 

Men,  of  whom  Dr.  Beates  is  a  fair  type,  are  constantly  assert- 
ing that  truth  and  science  cannot  and  must  not  be  shackled  by 
dogma  and  pathy.  That  they  must  be  "free  "  It  sounds  well,  but 
it  is,  after  all,  naught  but  a  high  sounding  error.  Take  the  most 
exact  of  the  sciences,  mathematics,  by  way  of  illustration.  A 
mathematical  problem  when  worked  out  stands  as  a  thing  demon- 
strated and  demonstrable — a  hard  fact,  a  truth,  a  dogma.  What 
sane  man  would  prate  against  being  "bound"  by  that  fact  or 
truth?  None.  He  cannot  "expand"  it,  and  he  cannot  "limit"  it. 
A  fact — a  truth,  as  you  will — is  a  concrete  thing  beyond  the 
control  of  man.  It  may  be  used  in  many  ways,  but  science  cannot 
change  it,  for  of  such  things  is  true  science  built. 

The  truths  of  therapeutics  are  not  so  easily  demonstrated 
(especially  to  prejudiced  minds)  as  are  those  of  mathematics,  but 
so  long  as  a  handful  of  snow  remains  the  only  cure  for  a  frosted 
ear,  so  long  will  the  truth  of  Similia  similibus  curantur  be  ap- 
parent to  clear  minded  men. 

In  conclusion.  The  next  time  any  one  attacks  Homoeopathy 
let  it  be  done  in  a  scientific  manner.  To  this  it  may  be  replied, 
"The  subject  is  not  worth  the  study;"  if  this  be  so  then  it  is  un- 
just to  attack  it  from  the  point  of  view  of  confessed  ignorance. 
There  were  certain  gentlemen  once  who  attacked  the  fact  that  the 
world  is  round ;  they  said  it  was  flat,  and  flouted  the  theorists  who 
said  it  was  round.  They  had  not  studied  the  subject.  "The  sub- 
ject is  not  worth  the  study,"  they  said. 


PHARMACODYNAMIC   CONFERENCES 
ON   BELLADONNA. 

By  Eduardo  Fornias,  M.  D. 

Belladonna  was  the  drug  selected  by  Dr.  Bellows  and  his  co- 
laborers,  of  Boston,  for  a  reproving ;  that  is,  an  experimental 
study  of  its  pathogenetic  action  upon  the  healthy  human  organ- 
ism ;  a  painstaking  task  which  has  certainly  come  not  only  to  en- 


Conferences  on  Belladonna.  5 

rich  and  support  Hahnemann's  pathogenesis,  but  to  confirm  the 
established  therapeutic  value  of  this  important  remedy.  Bella- 
donna, like  other  drugs,  has  its  especial  sphere  of  action,  its  dis- 
tinctive features,  its  individual  characteristics  and  its  modalities, 
and  these  all  have  been  well  outlined  by  Dr.  Bellows  as  important 
points  for  the  student  to  grasp,  if  he  is  to  understand  its  modus 
operandi  and  its  suitable  indications. 

Belladonna  is  chiefly  a  cerebrospinal  remedy,  with  especial 
predilection  for  the  brain,  which  under  its  action  becomes  con- 
gested and  inflammed,  with  flushed  face,  throbbing  headache, 
pulsating  carotids,  dilated  pupils,  stupor,  insomnia  and  great  in- 
tolerance of  light  and  noise,  and  if  the  mind  is  affected  with 
hallucinations,  illusions  and  maniacal  impulsions  of  various  kinds 
and  degrees.  In  conjunction  with  the  brain,  the  spinal  cord  is 
also  deeply  affected  and  the  sensitize  as  well  as  the  motor  nerves. 
In  fact,  we  may  well  assert  that  its  most  characteristic  symptoms 
are  derived  from  these  disturbed  areas,  and  that  whenever  the 
brain  and  its  membranes  become  congested  and  inflamed,  and  the 
spinal  cord  participates  in  the  trouble,  the  nervous  phenomena 
following  will,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  closely  correspond  with 
those  of  this  drug,  and  this  correspondence  is  still  greater  if  the 
sensorial  functions  are  disturbed  or  perverted.  Spinal  congestion 
under  Belladonna  is  principally  expressed  by  tetaniform  con- 
vulsions and  clonic  spasms,  which  are  renewed  by  touch  and 
bright  light,  but  the  involuntary  muscles  may  become  paralyzed. 

Marcy  and  Hunt  consider  also  the  cerebral  system  the  central 
point  from  which  all  the  symptoms  of  Belladonna  radiate.  Even 
the  inflamniations  induced  by  this  remedy,  say  these  authorities. 
always  emanate  from  within  outwardly,  by  an  increased  action  in 
the  central  organ."  Thus  in  the  exanthemata,  as  soon  as  the  erup- 
tion appears,  the  severe  cerebral  symptoms,  the  headaches  and  the 
general  febrile  phenomena,  caused  by  the  nervous  system  irritat- 
ing the  vascular,  disappear.  When  an  exanthematous  eruption  is 
suppressed,  the  brain  is  instantly  the  seat  of  a  violent  attack. 
Belladonna  cures  only  those  diseases  of  the  splanchnic  nervous 
system,  or  of  the  abdomen  or  uterus,  in  which  there  are  more  or 
less  brain  symptoms.  In  all  visceral  inflammations  cured  by 
Belladonna,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  these  diseases  were 
expulsions  of  inimical  agents,  which  originally  threatened  to  at- 
tack the  cerebral  nervous  system.  The  same  remarks  apply  to  all 
fevers,  especially  typhus,  or  the  febris  nervosa  versatilis. 


6  Conferences  on  Belladonna. 

''Belladonna  is  then  the  specific  remedy  for  the  diseases  of 
the  nervous  system,  especially  for  the  fifth  pair,  and  vascular  sys- 
tem under  the  influence  of  this  sphere.  An  inflammation  or  fever 
to  which  it  is  applicable  is  accompanied  by  symptoms  peculiar  to 
the  fifth  pair, — more  or  less  reddened  conjunctiva,  the  white  of 
the  eye  is  injected,  an  unsteady  or  fixed  look,  distorted  features, 
turgescence  of  the  face,  confusion  of  the  head,  aching  pain  in  the 
forehead  and  eyes." 

From  the  study  of  its  pathogenesis  any  earnest  student  can  also 
anticipate  good  results  from  its  use  in  many  cases  of  mental  per- 
version, for  it  is  a  drug  rich  in  psychical  phenomena.  They  com- 
prise sensorial  excitement,  violent  impulsions,  maniacal 
attacks,  baseless  creations,  fixed  ideas,  or  delusions,  alternations 
of  mood,  etc.  Belladonna  will  be  found  frequently  indicated  in 
the  excitement  of  certain  manias,  as  mental  troubles  attending 
epilepsy,  as  well  as  in  puerperal  insanity  and  mania-u-potu.  In 
many  cases  of  maniacal  excitement  it  comparts  honors  with 
Hyoscyamus  and  Stramonium,  and  the  three  drugs  together 
constitute  the  most  important  group  of  remedies  of  our  materia 
medica  to  combat  violent  states  of  mental  exaltation.  Their 
pathogenesis  cover  admirably  not  only  many  known  disorders  of 
the  general  activity  of  the  intellect,  and  of  the  emotions,  but  many 
psycho-motor  impulsions  to  acts  of  eccentricity  or  violence,  dan- 
gerous, ridiculous,  erotical,  homicidal  and  suicidal. 

In  Belladonna,  however,  the  irritability  of  the  perceptive 
centre  is  attended  by  visual  and  auditory  disturbances,  principally 
a  persistent  photophobia.  In  Hyoscyamus  there  is  a  predomi- 
nant photopsia,  with  great  aversion  to  light  and  company;  while 
in  Stramonium  the  photomania  prevails,  hence  the  patient  de- 
sires light  and  company. 

The  delirium  of  Belladonna  is  not  only  vesanic  but  febrile, 
the  result  of  congestion  and  principally  of  infection.  The  deli- 
rium of  its  fever  may  be  as  noisy  and  violent  as  the  vesanic ,  but 
the  hallucinations  and  imputations  are  temporary,  and  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  temperature,  the  flushed  face,  the  injected  eyes,  the 
beating  carotids,  the  throbbing  headache,  the  dilated  pupils  and 
the  intolerance  of  light  and  noise  clearly  indicate  the  congestive 
origin  of  the  trouble. 

The  vesanic  delirium  is  due  to  excitatioii  and  perversion  of  the 
intellectual  faculties,  and  the  hallucinations  and  their  impulsions 


Conferences  on  Belladonna.  j 

may  be  transitory  and  short-lived,  as  in  some  cases  of  puerperal 
insanity,  but  usually  they  are  consecutive  and  permanent.  The 
emotions  have  also  a  good  share  in  the  mental  perversion  in- 
dicative of  this  drug,  and  so  we  have  that  the  delirant  state  that 
claims  it,  as  a  remedy,  is  as  much  intellectual  as  emotional.  In 
the  first  variety  the  patient  sees  spectres,  monsters,  demons,  in- 
sects, rats,  black  dogs,  conflagrations,  etc.,  or  he  imagines  to  b^ 
pursued  and  assaulted  by  brigands,  hideous  faces,  lions,  vil 
spirit?,  or  soldiers  who  come  to  arrest  him,  and  from  whom  he 
tries  to  escape  or  hide.  The  most  characteristic  delusive  a  uceb- 
tions,  however,  are  to  believe  himself  suddenly  rich,  to  have  a 
transparent  body  with  brown  spots  here  and  there,  to  be  cured 
and  capable  of  resuming  his  duties,  etc.  In  the  second  variety  the 
emotional  frenzy  seems  to  depend  on  egotism,  malice,  hatred, 
revenge,  and  above  all.  on  fright  and  fear.  The  emotional  im- 
pulses of  Belladonna  comprise  the  inclination  to  bite,  to  strike, 
to  kick,  to  pull  the  hair,  to  throw  stones,  to  destroy  near  objects, 
or  the  frenzied  acts  may  be  limited  to  touch  things  and  bystanders, 
to  move  the  head,  to  grind  the  teeth,  to  make  faces,  to  cry,  to 
laugh,  to  dance,  etc.  The  mistrust  or  suspicion  are  expressed  by 
a  great  fear  to  the  approach  of  strangers,  by  a  desire  for  solitude, 
and  by  a  constant  dread  of  imaginary  things.  The  discourage- 
ment translates  itself  by  the  satiety  of  life,  by  the  indifference  tc 
everything,  and  by  the  inclination  to  suicide.  Worthy  of  notice 
is  also  the  change  of  mood.  We  find  the  patient  now  loquaci  ms, 
soon  after  silent  and  reserved:  he  now  cries  and  then  laughs  or 
sings ;  he  is  one  moment  furious,  and  full  of  anxiety  the  next ;  he 
complais  now  and  is  arrogant  right  after  ;  fearful  and  violent  in 
a  moment's  time  ;  apathetic  in  the  morning,  irascible  in  the  after- 
noon, etc.  These  are  the  chief  manifestations  of  the  mental  dis- 
turbances of  Belladonna. 

Some  of  the  important  effects  of  Belladonna  on  the  fieri 
system  are  found  also  among  the  disorders  of  sensation  and  mo- 
tion, and  for  this  reason  is  this  drug  so  efficacious  in  the  treatment 
of  pain  and  convulsions.  The  pains  are  of  various  kinds  and  loca- 
tion, always  acute  and  usually  attended  by  redness  and  dryness  of 
the  parts  and  more  or  less  constitutional  disturbance.  Their  lead- 
ing characteristic,  however,  is  that  they  come  on  suddenly,  and 
after  a  shorter  or  longer  duration,  cease  suddenly,  or  change 
their  seat.     Moreover,  pain  is  aggravated  in  the  evening  and  at 


8  Conferences  on   Belladonna. 

night  by  coli'ee.  wine,  vinegar,  and  ameliorated  by  pressure  and 
compression.  As  to  character,  the  pain  may  be  congestive,  as  in 
headache,  otalgia,  rachialgia,  ovaritis,  etc. ;  inflammatory,  as  in 
abscess,  mastitis,  tonsillitis,  etc. :  neuralgic,  as  in  prosopalgia, 
odontalgia,  cephalalgia,  etc.;  spasmodic,  as  in  colic,  dysmenor- 
rhea, proctodynia,  etc.  As  to  location,  it  is  usually  throbbing  in 
the  head,  with  red  face  and  burning  beat ;  pressing  in  the  fore- 
head and  frontal  prominences ;  shooting  in  the  right  supra  orbital 
region  (Spigelia  left,  without  congestion)  :  pressing  or  aching  in 
the  eyes;  jerking  or  tearing  in  the  teeth,  with  red  hot  face,  espe- 
cially before  the  menses:  shooting,  tearing  from  the  side  of  the 
face  up  into  the  temples,  ear  and  down  into  the  nape  of  neck, 
which  becomes  rigid;  sticking  in  the  throat,  with  sensation  of  a 
plug,  worse  swallowing  liquids;  pressing  in  the  stomach,  cramp- 
like during  every  meal:  griping  and  cutting  in  the  abdomen,  re- 
lieved by  pressure;  clawing  pains  with  violent  straining  and 
pressing  towards  the  genitals,  as  if  all  would  fall  out;  burning, 
throbbing  pulsations  in  the  back,  especially  after  emotions. 

There  are  other  sensations  of  more  or  less  importance,  but  the 
above  can  hardly  be  mentioned  in  any  connection  without  calling 
to  mind  Belladonna  as  a  remedy  for  encephalitis,  neuralgia, 
toothache  of  women,  organic  affections  <,;  the  eye.  tonsillitis,  in- 
flammatory colic,  dysmenorrhea,  etc. 

Equally  rich  is  Belladonna  in  motor  symptoms.  If  we  pay 
especial  attention  to  the  motor  oculi,  we  find  that  the  common 
disturbances  are  spasms  of  the  muscles  of  the  eye  and  lids 
(blepharospasm,  strabismus,  diplopia  and  mydriasis).  If  to  the 
area  of  distribution  of  the  fascial,  convulsive  movements  of  the 
muscles  of  the  face  and  mouth,  trismus,  gritting  of  the  teeth, 
etc.  The  motor  phenomena  of  the  cord,  likewise  very  character- 
istic, comprise  tonic  contractions  of  the  erector  spina  mi  sclcs. 
from  mere  stiffness  to  complete  opisthotonos,  and  clonic  spas  is 
from  twitching  of  single  muscle  groups  to  general  epileptiform 
convulsions;  while  in  the  voluntary  muscles  we  may  hav°  spasms 
leading  to  retention  of  urine  (  cystospasm)  and  to  rigidity 
os  uteri,  or  paralysis  or  paresis  may  give  rise  to  relaxation  of  toe 
sphincters,  dilatation  of  the  iris,  etc.  As  a  rcsr.lt  of  its  ; 
motor  inlluence  this  drug  produces  also  contraction  followed  by 
dilatation  and  congestion,  with  flushing  of  the  face,  throbbing  of 
the  arteries,  smooth  ervtliematous  rash,  etc. 


Conferences  on  Belladonna.  9 

The  action  of  Belladonna,  then,  not  only  on  the  individual 
cerebral  nerves  (area  of  distribution  of  the  facial,  nerves  of 
special  senses,  and  those  supplying  the  motores  oculi),  but  in  the 
involuntary  muscles  and  principally  in  the  sphincter  vesica  and 
muscular  coat  of  the  uterus,  suggest  at  once  its  applicability  to 
many  affections  of  the  parts.  In  rigidity  of  the  os,  it  is  only 
second  to  Gelsemium,  and  its  power  to  relieve  spasms  and  gen- 
eral convulsions  is  universally  accepted ;  be  the  convulsions,  epi- 
leptiform, puerperal,  or  of  certain  congestive  kinds,  as  those  pro 
duced  by  the  irritation  of  teething  or  worms,  or  from  infection. 

Among  the  disorders  of  the  special  senses,  the  favorable 
effects  of  Belladonna  have  been  very  marked  in  hypercesthesia 
of  the  retina,  reflex  or  dependent  upon  some  anomaly  in  refrac- 
tion, as  well  as  in  blepharospasm  and  strabismus  due  to  spasmodic 
action  of  the  muscles,  or  when  resulting  from  brain  affections. 
Norton  considers  this  drug  a  valuble  remedy  in  orbital  neuralgia, 
especially  of  the  infra-orbital  nerve,  with  red  face  and  hot  hands, 
and  may  be  required  in  some  cases  of  amaurosis  and  amblyopia. 
especially  if  they  are  congestive  in  form  and  accompanied  by 
headache  and  other  characteristic  symptoms.  In  hypercesthesia 
of  the  retina  I  have  found  Belladonna  only  second  to  Nux 
vomica,  and  in  blepharospasm  inferior  to  Agaricus.  Bella- 
donna is  not  frequently  indicated  in  inflammatory  diseases  of  the 
eye,  but  Norton  claims  that  it  may  prove  serviceable  in  erysipe- 
latous inflammation  of  the  lids,  and  in  some  forms  of  conjunctivi- 
tis- (especially  catarrhal,  in  the  early  stages),  with  dryness  of  the 
eyes,  thickened,  red  lids  and  burning  pains  in  the  eyes,  though 
not  as  frequently  indicated  as  Aconite.  "Its  use  may  also  be 
necessary  in  acute  aggravations  of  various  chronic  diseases,  as  in 
granular  lids,  when,  after  taking  cold,  the  eyes  become  sensitive 
to  air  and  light }  with  dryness  and  a  gritty  feeling  in  them  ;  or  in 
chronic  forms  of  keratitis  in  which  the  eye  suddenly  becomes  in- 
tensely congested,  with  excessive  photophobia,  heat  and  pains 
which  may  be  throbbing,  or  sharp,  shooting  through  the-  eyeball 
to  the  back  of  the  head. 

Manifested  under  this  drug,  says  Prof.  Guernsey,  is  a  remark- 
able quickness  of  sensation,  or  of  motion ;  the  eyes  snap  and  move 
quickly ;  pains  come  and  go  with  great  celerity ;  a  pain  may  have 
lasted  for  some  time,  then  in  a  second  it  is  gone ;  pains  may  com- 
mence suddenly,  and  slowly  increase  in  severity  till  the  height  is 


io  Conferences  on  Belladonna. 

reached,  and  then  in  a  second  it  is  gone.  Much  twitching  and 
jerking  of  the  muscles.  Dull  and  sleepy,  half  awake  and  half 
asleep.  Sleepiness,  but  cannot  sleep.  Affinity  of  most  sensations 
for  the  right  side  of  the  body.     General  symptoms  right  side  also. 

Belladonna  exerts  but  little  action  on  nutrition,  and  is  rarely 
indicated  in  digestive  trouble,  but  its  influence  on  secretion  is 
powerful.  Secretion  under  this  drug  is  usually  diminished,  caus- 
ing dryness,  but  it  may  be  thickened,  causing  a  ropy  discharge 
which,  however,  does  not  assume  a  plastic  character.  Nothing 
reveals  better  the  value  of  our  provings  on  the  healthy  human 
organism  than  the  secondary  or  dynamic  effects  of  drugs  re- 
corded in  our  Materia  Medica.  Belladonna,,  for  instance,  pro- 
duces excessive  dryness  of  the  mucous  membranes  and  skin,  by 
entirely  arresting  the  secretions,  and  yet  as  in  the  throat,  vagina 
and  skin,  we  find,  on  the  one  hand,  great  heat  and  dryness  of  the 
parts,  on  the  other,  salivation,  leucdrrhcea  and  sweating,  succeed- 
ing the  dryness.  This  action  and  reaction  of  the  secretory  and 
motor  nerve-endings  are  due  to  the  fact  that  Belladonna,  be- 
sides its  great  influence  upon  the  entire  sympathetic  system,  is 
primarily  a  paralyzer,  and  secondarily,  a  stimulator  of  those 
nerve  endings,  and  so  we  have  extreme  dryness  followed  often 
by  exudation  and  excretion.  To  understand  well  these  processes 
it  is  sufficient  for  the  student  to  know  that  the  secretion  of  sweat 
is  regulated  by  the  nervous  system.  In  the  skin,  as  in  the  secre- 
tory gland,  the  fluid  is  formed  from  the  material  in  the  lymph 
spaces  surrounding  the  gland.  Two  sets  of  nerves  are  concerned, 
viz.,  vasomotor,  regulating  the  blood  supply,  and  secretory,  stim- 
ulating the  activities  of  the  gland  cells.  Generally  the  two  condi- 
tions, increased  blood  tiozv  and  increased  glandular  action,  co- 
exist. At  times  profuse  clammy  sweat  occurs,  with  diminished 
blood  flow. 

The  sweat  of  Belladonna  frequently  occurs  on  the  covered 
parts,  or  may  ascend  from  feet  to  head,  suddenly  appearing  and 
disappearing,  but  when  attended  with  burning  heat  or  following 
immediately  after  the  heat  it  is  most  common  on  the  face.  This 
change  of  place,  under  different  circumstances,  is  easily  ex- 
plained if  one  considers  that  although  the  dominating  sweat-centre 
is  located  in  the  medulla,  there  are  also  subordinate  centres  in  the 
cord.  Physiology  teaches  us  that  the  secretory  fibres  reach  the 
perspiratory  glands  of  the  head  and  of  the  face  through  the  cer- 


Conferences  on   Belladonna.  n 

vical  sympathetic;  of  the  arms,  through  the  thoracic  sympathetic, 
ulnar  and  radial'  nerves  ;  and  of  the  leg  through  the  abdominal 
sympathetic  and  sciatic  nerves.  As  to  cause,  the  perspiration  of 
this  drug  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  increased  temperature  of  the 
blood  circulating  in  the  medulla  cord,  just  as  it  is  due  to  the 
venosity  of  the  blood  in  Sulphur.  This  well-known  action  of 
Belladonna  upon  the  secretory  fibres  and  perspiratory  glands 
through  the  sympathetic  nerve,  has  led  to  its  successful  employ- 
ment in  the  arrest  of  lactation,  especially  when  this  is  followed  by 
inflammation  of  the  mammary  gland,  with  hardness,  heaviness,  and 
radiating  redness,  parting  from  the  centre.  In  the  case  indicat- 
ing this  drug,  the  pains  are  throbbing,  paroxysmal,  fleeting,  and 
the  gland  is  usuallyfound  not  only  flushed,  but  hot.  smooth  and 
shining.  Belladonna,  however,  is  not  only  indicated  in  the  ar- 
rest or  suppression  of  the  lacteal  secretion,  but  in  galatorrhcea 
(excessive  flow  of  milk),  plainly  showing  again,  both,  its  stimu- 
lating and  paralyzing  effects  upon  the  secretory  fibres  of  the 
gland-cells.  On  the  subject  of  secretion  and  excretion  the  remarks 
of  Prof.  Ludlum  demand  our  attention,  he  states  that  Bella- 
donna does  not  promote  diaphoresis,  is  not  critical  in  its  results, 
has  no  special  relation  to  the  emunctories.  but  is  appropriate  to. 
and  exercises  a  calmative  influence  over  the  deranged  function  of 
reflex  action. 

A  close  study  of  the  pathogenesis  of  this  drug  will,  however, 
abundantly  show  that  while  dryness  is  a  leading  characteristic, 
there  are  sufficient  evidences  of  secretory  stimulation  in  many  of 
the  parts  of  the  body  over  which  it  has  an  acknowledged  in- 
fluence;  and  an  eminent  observer.  ,like  Baehr,  states  to  have  al- 
ways found  that  when  there  was  a  doubt  whether  Aconite  or 
Belladonna  should  be  given,  a  disposition  to  perspire  con- 
stituted a  valuable  indication  for  the  latter  remedy. 

Belladonna  affects  powerfully  the  circulation,  and  principally 
the  capillary  system.  The  genuine  expression  of  the  capillary  con- 
gestion is  the  smooth  erythematous  rash,  like  that  of  scarlet  fever 
and  non-vesicular  erysipelas,  which  commences  with  minute  red 
points,  soon  assumes  a  diffused,  scarlet  red,  shining  appearance, 
and  is  attended  with  dryness,  burning  heat,  and  marked  nervous 
disturbances ;  for  in  few  remedies  is  the  -vascular  and  nervous 
systems  so  simultaneously  excited    as   in   Belladonna.     Of  its 


12  Conferences  on  Belladonna. 

special  affinity  for  the  brain  and  its  membranes  I  have  already  re- 
ferred to  at  the  beginning  of  this  conference,  and  it  behooves  us 
now  to  allude  to  the  congestive  and  inflammatory  localizations 
this  drug  is  able  to  produce  and  cure.  Otf  these  localizations  the 
most  common  are  the  faucial  and  laryngeal,  the  first  attended  by 
burning  soreness,  dryness,  swelling  and  painful  deglutition ;  the 
second  by  painful  constriction,  hoarseness,  anxious,  hurried 
breathing,  and  dry,  spasmodic,  tickling  cough.  The  tumefaction 
of  the  tonsils  and  surrounding  tissue,  with  secretion  of  ropy 
mucus,  is  sometimes  so  severe  that  there  is  a  constant  urging  to 
swallow  and  rejection  of  liquids  through  the  nose.  The  ear  is 
also  the  seat  d-f  congestion,  with  tearing  and  shooting,  and  the 
parotid  gland  may  become  involved,  especially  the  right.  Im- 
portant is  likewise  the  ocular  localization,  with  its  burning  sore- 
ness, shooting  pain,  conjunctival  injection,  lachrymation  and  in- 
tense photophobia ;  and  no  description  of  the  local  action  of 
Belladonna  is  complete  without  a  reference  to  the  uterine  con- 
gestion, where  the  clutching,  clawing  pains,  the  occasional  loss 
of  hot,  bright  red  blood,  and  the  urgent,  downward  pressing,  as 
if  everything  would  protrude  through  the  vulva,  are  so  charac- 
teristic. 

The  glandular  and  submucous  cellular  tissue  partake  sometimes 
of  the  vascular  congestion  and  infl  animation,  with  impending  for- 
mation of  pus.  In  the  glands  there  is  arrest  or  suppression  of 
secretion,  with  tumefaction,  beating  pains,  and  constitutional  dis- 
turbances. In  the  sub-mucous  cellular  tissue,  the  same  dryness, 
redness,  heat  and  swelling  of  acute  inflammatory  processes,  with 
more  or  less  disorders  of  sensation  and  motion,  according  to  the 
region  involved.  When  the  spine  is  congested  the  pains  are 
usually  of  a  drawing,  burning  and  throbbing  character.  In  some 
cases  there  is  a  backache,  as  if  broken,  but  the  cramp-like  pains  of 
the  sacrum  and  coccyx,  in  fact,  of  the  back  generally,  are  char- 
acteristic. In  other  cases,  the  crampy  pains  are  of  a  pressing 
character  in  the  middle  of  the  spine,  or  there  is  a  sticking  and 
gnawing  pain  in  the  vertebral  column  generally.  A  sore  spot  be- 
tween the  last  dorsal  and  first  lumbar  vertebrae  has  been  observed 
and  recorded. 

The  active  influence  exerted  by  Belladonna  on  the  nervous 
system,  as  we  have  seen  elsewhere,  where  not  only  the  brain  but 
also  the  spinal   cord   is    deeply   affected    and    sensitive,    as     well 


Conferences  on  Belladonna.  13 

as  the  motor  nerves,  has  led  to  its  employment,  since  the  days  of 
Hahnemann,  in  acute  congestion  of  the  brain,  arising  from  any 
cause,  such  as  exposure  to  heat,  alcoholism,  brain  exhaustion, 
fever,  gastric  irritation,  etc.  A  careful  study  of.  the  central,  peri- 
pheral, motor  and  sensory  phenomena  will  lead  us  at  once  to  its 
use  in  many  organic  and  functional  affections  of  nervous  origin. 

Belladonna  covers  admirably  the  period  of  excitement  of 
cerebral  congestion,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  acute  simple 
meningitis,  a  form  of  leptomeningitis,  generally  affecting  the  con- 
vexity of  the  brain,  and  where  the  congestion  of  the  pia  mater  is 
the  initial  manifestation.  But  even  in  the  stage  of  depression  it 
will  be  found  to  correspond  with  some  of  the  most  pathognomonic 
symptoms,  such  as  somnolence,  dilatation  of  the  pupils,  relaxa- 
tion of  the  sphincters,  retention  of  urine,  etc.  And,  again,  if  we 
take  into  consideration  that  in  simple  leptomeningitis,  where  tu- 
bercles do  not  exist,  if  the  base  of  the  brain  is  involved,  the 
symptoms  developed  are  almost  identical  to  those  of  tubercular 
meningitis,  we  may  still  find  occasion  to  employ  this  drug  in  the 
latter  affection. 

The  symptoms  of  the  stage  of  irritation  of  acute  spinal  conges- 
tion and  even  inflammation  are  also  very  frequently  indicative  of 
Belladonna,  especially  ilf  the  affection  of  the  spine  is  associated 
with  cerebral  meningitis,  the  phenomena  of  which  are  then  super- 
added, making  the  indication  more  complete.  When,  however, 
the  backache  abates,  the  muscular  spasm  is  replaced  by  paralysis, 
hyperesthesia  by  anaesthesia,  and  the  reflex  excitability,  which 
was  previously  increased,  becomes  diminished,  we  must  consult 
other  remedies  better  suited  to  the  stage  of  depression.  We 
should  further  bear  in  mind  that  the  symptoms  of  meningitis  are 
really  those  of  superficial  myelitis,  and  their  severity  depends  upon 
the  extent  to  which  the  latter  proceeds,  and  that  in  those  cases  of 
myelitis  which  are  secondary  to  meningitis,  as  so  frequently  hap- 
pens, the  early  stages  will,  of  course,  be  characterized  by  the 
symptoms  peculiar  to  the  latter  affection. 

In  the  treatment  of  acute  inflammatory  fevers,  especially  exan- 
thematic.  Belladonna  holds  an  exalted  rank.  It  has  a  brilliant 
clinical  history  in  the  treatment  of  scarlatina,  where  the  character 
of  the  rash,  the  sore  throat,  and  the  tendency  to  convulsions  are 
some  of  its  most  characteristic  symptoms.     In  the  prodromal  rash 


14  Conferences  on  Belladonna. 

of  variola,  when  scarlatiniform,  we  often  have  to  resort  to  this 
remedy ;  and  in  non-vesicular  erysipelas,  especially  of  the  face, 
where  the  brain  often  becomes  involved,  its  curative  properties 
have  been  frequently  verified. 

I  have  never  found  Belladonna  indicated  in  typhoid  fever,  but 
it  has  been  my  privilege  to  employ  it  repeatedly  and  with  satis- 
factory results  both  in  yellow  fever  and  typhus  fever  during  the 
ten-year-war  in  Cuba.  At  that  time,  by  order  of  the  Government, 
men,  women  and  children  were  taken  to  the  cities  and  huddled  in 
provisional  hospitals  and  barracks, — centres  of  filth,  over-crowd- 
ing and  destitution, — where  the  death-rate  was  appalling, 
and  where,  through  the  kindness  and  courtesy  of  Dr.  Aparicio, 
of  Trinidad,  I  had  ample  opportunity  to  study  and  treat  these  dis- 
eases, at  the  "Cuartel  de  Carreras.''  From  my  notes,  taken  at  the 
time,  and  which  I  intend  to  publish  in  the  near  future,  I  am  to- 
day enabled  to  state  that  Belladonna  is  admirably  suitable  to 
those  cases  of  yellow  fever  with  early  cerebral  affection,  chiefly 
expressed  by  a  violent  delirium  and  psycho-motor  impulses, 
sometimes  severe  enough  to  require  restraint.  In  the  cases  in 
which  I  found  this  drug  indicated  there  were  always  markedly 
present  the  burning  skin,  the  injection  of  the  face  and  eyes,  the 
heavy  lids,  the  photophobia,  the  anxious  look,  the  throbbing  head- 
ache, the  lumbar  pains,  the  epigastric  distress,  and  the  unremit- 
tent  temperature.  In  several  of  these  cases  the  secondary  febrile 
reaction  was  so  slight  as  to  pass  unnoticed.  When  the  jaundice 
is  severe,  the  black-vomit  occurs,  and  the  typhoid  state  super- 
venes. Belladonna  ceases  to  be  a  remedy  o'f  this  infectious  fever. 
But  while  the  meningeal  irritation  and  psycho-motor  impulses 
last,  even  if  the  urine  is  scanty  or  suppressed,  this  drug  should  be 
considered. 

Better  indicated  still  and  with  better  results  did  I  employ  Bel- 
ladonna in  the  treatment  of  typhus  fever,  a  fever  in  which  the 
onset  is  usually  so  sudden  that  the  patient  may  be  taken  very  ill 
in  a  few  hours,  with  rigors,  rapid  ascent  of  temperature  ( 1040- 
105 °)  and  severe  involvement  of  the  brain  Even  when  the  at- 
tack is  insidious,  the  prodromes  are  nearly  all  of  nervous  origin — 
mental  dulness  and  confusion,  severe  headache,  z'crtigo,  intoler- 
ance of  light,  facial  and  conjunctival  injection,  pain  in  the  back 
and  limbs,  agitation,  etc.     In  no  infectious  fever  known.  T  think. 


Conferences  on  Belladonna.  15 

is  the  nervous  system  so  rapidly  and  completely  overwhelmed  by 
toxaemia  as  in  typhus;  only  a  few  hours  being  very  frequently  re- 
quired to  witness  the  inroad  made  by  the  disease  upon  the  nerv- 
ous centres  and  blood-life.  Here,  as  in  all  acute  specific  fevers, 
the  typhoid  state  is  the  expression  of  profound  prostration,  and 
the  cerebral  cortex,  with  all  its  functions  of  perception,  of  motion, 
and  of  sensation,  is  found  lowered  and  blunted,  sometimes  nearly 
to  abolition. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe,  that  while  during  the  first  week  of 
typlius  fever  the  frontal  headache  is  of  a  crushing  or  splitting 
character,  and  usually  attended  by  intellectual  dulness.  vertigo, 
insomnia,  troublesome  sleep  and  agitation,  it  is  replaced,  at  about 
the  beginning  of  the  second  week,  by  a  delirium  of  varied  form 
and  intensity  |  Txpliowaria) .  This  circumstance  may  be  puz- 
zling to  the  inexpert,  who  .'may  often  d^  led.  to  ascribe  to  Bella- 
donna the  cessation  of  the  headache.  My  observations,  however, 
induce  me  to  believe  tha^  in  many  pronounced,  congestive  cases 
the  dciiri:i:n,  which  at  the  early  stage  amounts  to  mere  mental 
dulress  and  confusion,  coexist  with  the  hebdache..  and  that  this 
headache  only  disappears  when  the  delirium  becomes  intensified, 
assuming  either  the  muttering  character  of  all  low  fevers,  or  the 
violent,  almost  destructive  of  mental  aberration,  especially  when 
accompanied  with  impulses  to  escape  or  to  commit  suicide.  This 
last  variety  of  delirium  was  chierlv  noticed  in  soldiers,  and  par- 
ticular^ in  those  addicted  to  alcohol. 

Moreover.  Belladonna,  like  typhus  fever,  diminishes  the 
secretions.  In  both  we  find  the  skin  dry  and  so  the  mouth,  tongue 
and  throat,  with  thirst ;  the  bowels  confined  ;  the  urine  scanty,  re- 
tained, or  suppressed,  and  so  are  other  secretions.  But  it  is  when 
the  nervous  symptoms  are  prominent  and  come  on  early  that  the 
consideration  of  this  drug  becomes  imperative.  As  soon  as  I 
noticed  the  heaviness  and  confusion  of  the  head,  the  mental  dul- 
ness, and  the  patient  complained  of  giddiness  and  intolerance  of 
light,  I  thought  at  once  of  Belladonna,  which  never  failed  to  do 
its  share  of  work.  Even  when  the  prostration  with  dull,  heavy 
look  is  as  marked  as  in  pneumonia,  and  the  heart  shows  the  great 
debility  in  the  impulse  and  shorter,  almost  flapping  first  sound. 
I  have  seen  this  remedy  aid  the  recuperative  forces,  especially 
during  the  state  of  excitement  which  so  frequently  precedes  the 


1 6  Arnica  and  Hamamelis. 

circulatory  depression,  and  which  only  those  who  have  observed 
the  disease  are  able  to  appreciate.  Of  course,  we  should  remem- 
ber that  these  observations  were  made  during  an  epidemic,  and 
that  the  general  character  of  this  disease  is  that  of  acute  blood 
poisoning  of  a  low  type  in  which  Belladonna  has  but  a  limited 
sphere  of  usefulness. 


ARNICA   AND   HAMAMELIS.* 
By  C.   M.   Boger,   M.  D. 

Loss  of  continuity  permeates  the  mental  as  well  as  physical 
processes  of  almost  every  Arnica  condition.  Ideation  is  irregular, 
being  subject  to  interruption,  .the  power  of  the  motor  nerves  is 
often  abolished  or  they  act  only  in  par-.  .The.  results  that  imper- 
fect or  slow  answers,  followed  quickly  by  stupor  and  involuntary 
evacuations,  are  much  in  evidence  ;  other  symptoms  lik>  those  seen 
after  injuries,  concussions,  apoplexies,  fevers,  etc.,  soon  appear. 

The  sensory  nerves  do  no:  generally  suffer  so  severely,  for 
there  is  much  bruised  soreness  more  referable  lG  their  distribution 
to  the  upper  limbs,  feet  and  toes,  the  very  parts  most  liable  to  in- 
jury. All  through  the  remedy  evidences  of  loss  of  power  or 
function  run  side  by  side,  with  acute  sensitiveness  or  soreness  ; 
this  you  must  remember. 

In  the  spinal  irritability,  caused  by  accident,  or  due  to  the  con- 
stant vibration  and  jar  of  railway  travel,  often  seen  in  engineers 
and  trainmen,  it  is  the  first  remedy  to  be  thought  of,  particularly 
if,  along  with  many  reflex  symptoms,  there  is  a  feeling  of  a  lump 
in  the  back.  We  may  find  the  sensation  of  a  lump  occurring  in 
other  parts,  notably  the  brain,  which  feels  as  i'f  rolled  up  into  a 
lump,  or  the  epigastrium. 

Its  effect  upon  the  nervous  system  may  be  deep  enough  to  simu- 
late paralytic  phenomena,  as  shown  by  the  involuntary  stools. 
paralysis  of  the  lower  jaw.  noisy  swallowing,  inabilitv  to  ex- 
pectorate the  loosened  phlegm,  which  must  be  swallowed  ;  a  feel- 
ing as  if  the  right  side  were  heavy,  hanging  down  and  paralyzed, 
and  pains  which  seem  to  paralyze  the  parts,  etc.  Hemiplegia 
(right)  with  dark,  blue  spots  on  the  skin,  haemorrhages  or  in- 
voluntary stools. 

*Notes  from  lectures  delivered  at  Pulte  Medical  College. 


Arnica  and  Hamamelis.  17 

M'anv  injuries  are  accompanied  by  extravasations  and  even 
haemorrhages,  particularly  in  persons  having  an  active  capillary 
circulation.  By  virtue  of  its  double  effect  upon  the  blood  and  its 
containers  Arnica  causes  petechial  spots  and  an  erysipelatous 
eruption  closely  resembling  traumatic  erysipelas,  meeting  the  in- 
dications which  it  presents  most  effectually.  In  traumatic  or  post- 
operative erysipelas  it  is  the  remedy  above  all  others.  Vesicular 
erysipelas  spreading  wherever  the  fluid  from  the  blisters  runs. 

There  is  much  evidence  of  its  power  to  absorb  extravasations 
of  blood.  Blear  eyes  and  subconjunctival  haemorrhages  are 
prominent  examples  of  this. 

Arnica  gradually  disorganizes  the  blood,  finally  causing  effects 
very  similarto  those  seen  in  low  types  of  zymotic,  septic  or  trau- 
very  similar  to  those  seen  in  low  types  of  zymotic,  septic  or  trau- 
panied  by  heat  of  the  head  and  a  bad  odor  from  the  mouth.  The 
heat  is  often  partial  or  comes  in  repeated  short  attacks,  and  with 
it  there  are  pains  in  the  muscles,  swelling  of  the  veins  of  the 
hands,  sour  vomiting,  backache,  prostration  and  mental  indif- 
ference. If  the  fever  becomes  continuous,  the  latter  soon  passes 
into  stupor  from  which  the  patient  can  only  be  temporarily 
aroused,  a  red  stripe  appears  along  the  centre  of  the  tongue, 
bruise-like  spots  are  seen  on  the  skin  and  haemorrhage  from  some 
organ  may  occur.  If  it  takes  the  form  of  nose-bleed.,  the  blood 
is  dark  and  fluid ;  from  the  lungs  it  is  frothy.  The  stool  is  apt  to 
be  involuntary,  and  sometimes  consists  of  brown  froth.  There 
may  be  a  bloody  vomit  or  blood  in  the  urine. 

Under  its  influence  there  is  a  tendency  to  boils,  which  are 
either  very  sore  or  fail  to  mature.  There  are  also  excoriations, 
ulcers  and  nondescript  eruptions  all  marked  by  extreme  pain- 
fulness  and  crawling,  itching  sensations  which  change  place  when 
scratched. 

Gout  of  the  big  toe.  with  redness  and  constant  fear  of  being 
touched  or  approached.  This  fear  of  being  approached  or 
touched  is  caused  by  the  bruised  soreness  from  which  the  patient 
suffers  :  he  don't  want  any  one  near  him  for  fear  of  being  hurt. 
It  causes  the  bed  to  feel  too  hard,  and  may  be  general  or  local, 
but  we  naturally  find  it  more  pronounced  externally.  When  it  is 
more  sensible  internally  Camphor  and  Pulsatilla  outrank  Arnica. 

Because  of  their  stimulating  effects  there  is  a  desire  for  sour 


18  Arnica  and  Hamamclis. 

things  and  whiskey,  but  the  torpidity  of  the  digestive  canal  gives 
rise  to  indigestion  and  the  generation  of  much  foul  gas,  some- 
times having  the  odor  of  bad  eggs.  An  objective  bad  odor  from 
the  mouth,  as  well  as  a  subjective  bad  or  putrid  taste,  is  very  com- 
mon. In  general,  it  is  a  remedy  of  foul  odors,  which  are  mostly 
due  to  decomposition. 

Early  in  his  sickness  the  Arnica  patient  is  stubborn,  resists 
treatment  and  is  easily  irritated,  but  later,  by  falling  asleep  while 
talking,  or  replying  to  questions,  and  at  once  relapsing  into  a 
stupor,  he  shows  a  certain  mental  incapacity  which  borders 
closely  on  paralysis.  In  spite  of  this,  the  intellectual  faculties 
never  entirely  lose  the  impressionability  so  distinctive  of  this 
drug. 

The  aggravations  occur  in  the  evening,  and  correspond  to  the 
times  of  greatest  fatigue.  Injuries,  concussions,  contusions 
blows,  sprains  and  external  violence  stand  in  a  causative  relation- 
ship, therefore  they  take  the  first  rank. 

Echinacea,  closely  related  botanically  and  pathogenetically,  gets 
much  credit  lately  where  Arnica  would  answer  every  needful  pur- 
pose. 

Sulphuric  acid  is  complementary,  often  finishing  the  work  be- 
gun by  Arnica. 

Hamamelis. 

Fulness,  soreness  and  bleeding  is  a  syndrome  which  should  call 
your  attention  to  Hamamelis.  The  sense  of  overfulness  is  caused 
by  venous  engorgement,  the  soreness  is  due  to  irritation,  and  the 
bleeding  is  of  the  dark,  passive  sort,  which  shows  that  veins  have 
relaxed  and  lost  their  tone. 

Haemorrhage  somewhere  or  from  some  part  is  part  and  parcel 
of  the  Hamamelis  state :  the  blood  may  come  from  the  nose, 
throat,  stomach,  lungs,  intestinal  tract,  piles  or  elsewhere,  but  it 
nearly  always  flows  passively  and  is  not  coagulable.  Retained 
haemorrhages,  forming  extravasations  and  effusions,  are  very 
amenable  to  its  action.  There  is  little  or  no  evidence  of  its  power 
to  alter  the  composition  of  the  blood,  such  as  we  see  causing  the 
ccchymoses  of  Arnica. 

With  this  knowledge  you  should  be  quite  prepared  to  see  it  re- 
lieve and  cure  varicose  veins,  for  it  justly  holds  the*  first  rank 


Arnica  and  Hamamelis.  19 

among  remedies  for  this  purpose  ;  when  it  does  not  seem  quite 
sufficient  to  complete  the  cure,  Fluoric  acid  will  usually  do  so. 
Phlebitis,  especially  of  traumatic  origin,  when  the  veins  seem 
ready  to  burst  {Viper a)  and  the  parts  are  exquisitely  tender. 

It  is  especially  suited  to  those  venous  consitutions  in  which  the 
congestion  of  blood  to  some  part  causes  a  sense  of  overfulness. 
only  relieved  by  bleeding  {Melilotus).  Sometimes  the  loss  of 
blood  prostrates  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  quantity. 

It  has  a  special  affinity  for  the  glandular  parts  of  the  genera- 
tive organs,  the  ovaries  and  testes ;  they  become  sensitive  and  are 
the  seat  of  the  bruised  sore  pains  so  common  in  orchitis  and 
ovaritis. 

Hamamelis  has  a  peculiar  sweat  which  is  worth  remember- 
ing, in  that  it  is  very  profuse,  and  only  affects  the  parts  which 
are  covered  with  hair,  the  scalp  and  genitals,  especially  the 
scrotum. 

Witch  hazel  belongs  to  the  hydrogenoid  group  of  remedies  and 
is.  therefore,  worse  from  dampness,  particularly  from  warm, 
moist  air. 

The  cardinal  point  to  remember  is  that  it  combines  a  bruised 
soreness,  with  a  tendency  to  varicoses  and  haemorrhages. 

It  should  be  compared  with  Pulsatilla,  Arnica,  Sulphuric  acid 
and  Hypericum. 

Predominant  Conditions. 

Arnica.  Hamamelis. 

Injuries  or  toxaemias  with  con-      Glands, 
sequent   innervation,   paraly-      Varicoses. 
sis.  etc. 
Bleedings.  Bleedings     of     dark,     non-co- 

agulable  blood,  often  giving 
a  sense  of  relief. 
Bruised  soreness.  Fulness  ;  bursting  sensations. 

Parkersburg,  Va. 


20  The  Dangerous  Germs. 

THE  DANGEROUS     GERMS. 
By  Wm.  L.  Morgan,   M.D. 

There  is  no  one  subject  that  occupies  so  much  space  in  modern 
literature  of  every  kind,  as  well  as  in  the  teachings  and  research 
of  the  highest  educational  institutions  of  the  civilized  world,  as 
that  of  the  germ  theory  of  disease. 

No  subject  has  caused  more  fear,  dread  and  suffering  among 
all  classes  of  the  human  race  than  the  science  of  bacteriology 
and  the  literature  regarding  dangerous  germs,  microbes,  bacteria 
and  ptomaines. 

About  four  years  ago,  at  a  Tubercular  convention  held  under 
the  auspices  of  one  of  the  leading  universities  of  America,  which 
was  made  very  interesting  by  lectures  delivered  by  professor  of 
bacteriology  from  several  of  the  world's  most  noted  universities, 
there  was  given  this  very  intelligible  definition  of  the  organic 
germ:  "A  living  vegetable  organism  from  decomposed,  dead  or- 
ganic matter,"  and  it  was  further  explained  that  dead  tissue  and 
other  organic  matter,  when  decomposed,  formed  a  soil  to  produce 
microbes. 

It  was  also  especially  explained  that  microbes  may  be,  and 
often  are,  in  the  systems  of  healthy  persons,  but  harmless  until 
there  is  a  susceptibility  in  the  system  for  their  operations,  all  of 
which  was  clearly  explained  in  scholarly  language  and,  in  a 
manner,  consistent  with  sound  philosophy  and  in  harmony  with 
what  is  well  known  of  the  propagation  of  larger  plants,  from  the 
planting  of  the  seed;  through  the  growth,  ripening  of  the  fruit, 
to  the  death,  decomposition  and  fertilizing  of  the  soil  for  another 
crop,  and  their  relation  to,  and  connection  with,  the  decomposi- 
tion, or  the  dead  organic  matter  in  living  human  organisms.  This, 
when  carefully  analyzed  by  the  unbiased  reasoner,  will  be  found 
of  deep  interest  and  great  value  to  the  botanist  and  agriculturist, 
and  it  will  be  found  that  before  the  microbe  can  do  harm  there 
has  to  be  the  work  of  another  agent  to  prepare  the  soil  to  sprout 
the  microbe  seeds;  as  there  has  been  no  putrefaction,  there  could 
be  no  ptomaines.  And  hence,  as  neither  microbes  nor  ptomaines 
could  be  present  or  do  damage  till  the  soil  is  prepared  suitable 
to  the  growth  of  the  specific  microbe :  Therefore,  it  is  perfectly 


The  Dangerous  Germs.  21 

clear  that  there  must  be  another  agent  or  factor  preceding  the 
microbe  which  deranges  life  and  causes  a  morbid  condition,  and 
the  death  of  cells  and  molecules  which  decompose  to  form  the 
said  soil. 

We  now  see,  from  lectures  and  literature  of  the  highest  order, 
that  microbes  and  ptomaines  are  not  the  dangerous  germs  of  dis- 
ease, and  we  must  look  further. 

From  recent  history  of  malarial  and  yellow  fevers  in  New  Or- 
leans, also  Havana  and  other  cities  in  Cuba,  Panama  and  the 
Isthmian  cities,  we  find  that  when  the  miasmatic  fevers  were  very 
disastrous,  the  United  States  army  force  cleaned  the  cities 
drained  the  swamps,  where  vegetation  was  decaying,  and  buried 
all  dead  animal  matter,  to  get  rid  of  the  invisible  emanations 
which  were  constantly  given  off,  with  the  gases,  from  the  decom- 
posing masses  of  filth  of  various  kinds,  and  then  yellow  fever 
soon  disappeared.  A  short  time  ago,  in  our  own  city,  an  epidemic 
of  typhoid  fever  broke  out  in  Hampden  and  Woodbury,  as  we  all 
remember,  which  was  attributed  to  germs  in  the  milk,  but  speed- 
ily disappeared  when  the  neglected  part  of  the  city  was  cleaned 
and  the  decaying  masses  of  matter  that  produced  the  miasms 
were  removed. 

Cases  are  too  numerous  to  relate  in  this  paper  where  fevers 
and  diphtheria  have  infested  a  small  locality,  or  even  a  single 
house,  for  a  long  time,  in  which  when  a  mass  of  decaying  vegeta- 
tion and  animal  matter  was  removed,  and  a  general  cleaning  up 
took  place,  the  sickness  at  once  disappeared,  to  stay  away  as  long 
as  there  is  no  decomposing  matter  nearby  to  produce  that  vital 
emanation  to  be  inhaled  with  the  air  breathed  that  deranges  life 
and  places  the  entire  system  in  a  morbid  state  and  creates  a  soil 
for  microbes. 

With  all  this,  what  could  be  clearer  to  the  mind  of  the  unpreju- 
diced thinker  than  that  invisible  miasms  from  masses  of  decom- 
posing organic  matter  are  the  dangerous  germs  that  first  invade 
the  healthy  system  and  cause  the  morbid  state  and  all  that  fol- 
lows, and  from  the  unquestionable  high  authorities  referred  to 
we  know  that  there  can  be  no  possible  danger  from  microbes, 
bacilli  or  ptomaines,  causing  or  generating  sickness,  and  that  the 
invisible  miasms  from  decomposing  dead  organic  matter  of  any 
kind   are  The  Dangerous  Germs. 


22  Biochemistry  and  Sepsis. 

This  epitome  of  the  subject  is  not  complete  without  saying  that 
with  infectious,  contagious  and  inoculable  diseases  the  disease 
dynamis,  and  not  matter,  acts  on  the  life  force  through  the  peri- 
pheral nerves  and  from  the  point  of  inception  deranges  the  func- 
tions of  life,  causing  a  morbid  condition  in  blood  and  tissue, 
which  condition  is  made  known  to  the  observer  through  the  or- 
ganism. 

Baltimore.  Md. 


BIOCHEMISTRY  AND   SEPSIS. 
By  Eric  Graf  von  der  Goltz,  M.  D. 

Ch.  D.,  a  young  girl  of  fifteen  years  of  age,  had  suffered  on 
board  of  the  ship,  while  coming  from  Europe  to  New  York,  a 
slight  accident,  as  it  seemed  at  the  time,  somebody  having  stepped 
on  the  great  toe  of  her  right  foot. 

About  fourteen  days  after  coming  to  New  York  she  fell  sick 
(March  ioth,  '07) — did  not  feel  well,  had  headaches  and  chills, 
and  also  pains  in  this  injured  toe. 

The  toe  beginning  to  swell,  a  physician  was  called;  from  his 
prescribed  compresses,  with  a  lotion,  the  whole  foot  and  leg  be- 
gan to  swell  and  became  inflamed  in  such  a  wray  that  the  rela- 
tives of  the  patient  called  another  physician,  and,  later,  still  an- 
other was  consulted  without  any  result. 

Finally,  again,  the  first  physician  was  called,  who,  in  consulta- 
tion with  another,  a  hospital  surgeon,  recommended  an  extensive 
operation,  respectively,  amputation  of  the  leg. 

The  family  and  patient,  not  consenting  to  this  proposal,  the 
writer  was  called  May  25th,  and  found  her  in  the  following  con- 
dition :  The  patient  was  sitting  in  bed,  holding  the  best  leg  with 
both  hands. 

The  foot  and  leg  were  swollen  to  the  double  size  of  their  nor- 
mal state,  all  tendons  of  the  knee  shortened,  so  that  the  leg  could 
not  be  stretched. 

On  the  leg,  and  also  on  the  foot,  from  different  points,  matter 
was  oozing.  The  foot  and  leg.  up  to  the  hip,  were  very  sensitive 
to  the  touch. 

The  patient  was  in  wretched  condition   from  pains,   fever  and 


Biochemistry  and  Sepsis.  23 

sleeplessness — the  most  pains  happening  at  night  from  relaxa- 
tion and  changing  of  the  position  while  falling  asleep. 

It  was  necessary,  at  first,  to  combat  the  exhausting  low  fever 
and  to  stop  the  general  pyaemic  cellulites  involving  the  bone — 
the  patient  was.  besides,  nearly  starved,  as  her  stomach  revolted 
against  everything — the  primary  biochemic  remedies  were  Kali 
phos.  6x  and  Silica  I2x,  changing  every  two  hours. 

May  2jth. — Idem. 

May  31st. — Idem. 

June  6. — Gradually  an  improvement  appeared.  Since  about 
twenty-four  hours,  instead  of  the  general  and  diffuse  pain — they 
had  exclusively  settled  in  the  bones,  especially  at  night — Kali 
iod.  6x.  one  dosis  even-  hour. 

June  22d. — The  general  swollen  state  of  the  whole  limb  had 
gone  down,  a  perceptible  mobility  of  the  knee-joint  and  the  ham- 
string condition  had  been  ameliorated.  As  the  pains  and  the  dis- 
ease seemed  now  to  locate  mostly  around  the  knee-joint.  Kali  iod. 
6x  and  Alumina  silico-sulfocalcarea  6x  were  given  in  a  two  hours. 
change. 

The  general  state  was  better,  as  with  diminishing  of  the  patho- 
logical process,  the  appetite  had  returned  to  some  degree. 

Julx  6th. — The  further  improved  state  of  the  patient  allowed. 
for  the  first  time,  a  more  exact  examination  of  the  deeper  iayers 
of  foot  and  leg.  It  was  found  that  on  many  places,  especially 
near  the  oozing  points  along  the  leg  (either  broken  on  own  ac- 
cord, or  lanced  by  the  former  attending  physicians),  the  surface 
of  the  bone  appeared  to  be  elevated  and  knobby.  Medication  now 
Calc.  fluor.  I2x  and  Kali  mur.  6x,  the  latter,  especially,  for  the 
soft  parts,  in  a  two  hours'  change. 

July  21st. — Patient  begins  to  improve  in  a  more  observable 
way.  The  pains  appear  now  only  at  intervals.  The  sleep  and 
rest  is  less  disturbed.  The  knee-joint  continues  to  improve,  es- 
pecially in  regard  to  mobility.  The  latter  fact  was  the  greatest 
concern  for  the  writer,  as  it  is  well  known  what  trouble  such  a 
neglected  anchylosis  of  a  joint  will  give. 

Same  medication. 

August  nth. — Slow,  but  constant  progress ;  as  observation 
had  taught  in  former  cases,  where  several  remedies  are  neces- 
sary, the  greatest    benefit    will    often    be    gained    by    compound 


24  The  Dollar  and  the  Doctor. 

salts,  so  here  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  give,  as  sole  medication. 
Calcarea  silico-fluorata  6x,  one  dosis  of  three  grains,  three  times 
a  day. 

August  23d. — Good  progress  in  every  way. — Idem. 

September  7. — Idem. 

September  Tjth. — Further  uninterrupted  improvement ;  the 
swelling  has  fallen  off  considerably.  Patient  is  able  now  to  stretch 
the  leg  slowly  so  far  that  the  foot,  with  the  sole,  save  a  small 
part  of  the  heel,  rests  on  the  ground.  The  knee-joint  remains 
flexed  only  to  a  slight  degree. — Idem. 

November  pth. — Patient  can  walk  around  unrestrained.  The 
foot  remains  still  a  little  swollen;  same  medication  (continued 
since  August  nth). 

November  27th. — Patient  discharged  fully  cured,  all  remain- 
ing swelling  having  disappeared. 

New  York  City,  24.J  East  y2d  St. 


THE  DOLLAR   AND  THE   DOCTOR. 
By  T.  L.  Bradford,  M.  D. 

"It  is  worth  $25  to  $100  to  make  the  first  study  of  a  very  dif- 
ficult case,  and  mark  out  the  line    of  treatment." 

So  writes  one  of  the  best  and  most  careful  and  skillful  prescrib- 
es, who  has  accepted  the  rich  legacy  left  by  Hahnemann.  Lippe. 
Farrington,  Raue,  to  all  the  members  of  the  School  of  Similia.  Ac- 
cepted— aye,  accepted  and  practiced,  a  thing  that  all  our  school 
has  not  done.  But,  why?  Ask  the  young  man  just  out  of  college, 
wise  with  the  knowledge  of  many  books,  and  he  will  usually  tell 
you  that  to  prescibe  as  Hahnemann  advised  one  must  waste  too 
much  time  ;  that  we  moderns  have  changed  all  that,  that  we  have 
reached  a  plane  beyond  such  time  of  antiquated  methods,  and  can 
now  press  a  button  and  the  coal  tar  products  will  speedilv  do  all 
the  rest. 

But  is  this  true?  Is  it  a  fact  that  a  law  can  become  obsolete? 
Does  not  the  apple  still  fall  from  the  tree  groundward  ?  Aye,  my 
masters,  and  truly,  if  we  really  find  the  medicine  that  will  pro- 
duce the  ailment,  that  medicine  will  most  certainly  remove  it  from 
the  suffering  body.     It  is  the  Law.     But  the  time  it  takes !     And 


The  Dollar  and  the  Doctor.  25 

the  little  pay!  That  part  of  it  is  right,  the  careful  doctor  who 
spends  some  hours  in  repertory  study,  in  writing  up  the  case,  in 
discrimination,  gets  no  more  than  the  m|an  who  advises  a  dose 
of  quinine  or  Matamidophenylparamethoxy-Chinolin.  And  if  we 
are  only  commercial  doctors  the  question  is  answered — we  will 
go  on  giving-  the  routine  remedy  and  let  the  patient  blunder  back 
to  comparative  health.  But,  if  we  subscribe  to  the  statement 
made  by  one  German  thinker,  that :  "The  physician's  highest  and 
only  calling  is  to  restore  health  to  the  sick,  which  is  called  heal- 
ing," if  we  put  our  calling  above  dollars,  then  it  behooves  us  to 
use  all  the  means  in  our  power  to  CURE. 

Tt  is  not  easy  to  study  up  a  case  and  to  find  the  proper  remedy  ; 
but  there  is  a  lot  of  pleasure  in  watching  the  poor  sufferers,  heir 
to  generations,  maybe,  of  wrong  living,  grow  strong  and  healthy  ; 
to  see  the  little  baby,  victim  of  mal-nutrition,  become  plump  and 
good  natured  under  the  action  of  the  RIGHT  homoeopathic  rem- 
edy. And,  therefore,  my  masters,  it  does  pay  us  to  prescribe  care- 
fully and  conscientiously  and  in  accord  with  the  law  we  profess 
to  follow,  pay  us  in  a  gold  that  is  brighter  than  that  of  the  heart- 
less plutocrats.  But — how  shall'  we  take  the  case?  That  is  what 
Dr.  E.  B.  Nash  has  very  lucidly  explained  to  us  in  a  little  book 
just  published,  under  the  title:  "How  to  Take  the  Case  and  to 
Find  the  Similimurrt  Phila. :  Boericke  &  Tafel.  1907."  Price. 
50  cents. 

Now,  Dr.  Nash  stands  to-day  as  the  principal  exponent  for  the 
Homoeopathy  of  Hahnemann,  and  in  several  carefully  written 
books  he  has  very  ably  taught  the  methods  of  exact  prescribing. 
In  this  small  volume  of  fifty  pages  he  tells  us  that  we  may  not 
prescibe  for  the  name  of  the  disease,  but  by  symptoms,  that  the 
true  homoeopath  has  no  remedy  for  quinsy,  or  rheumatism,  or 
diphtheria.  Usually  the  patient  will  locate  the  trouble,  and  then 
the  doctor  must  determine  the  significance  of  the  pain,  if  neces- 
sary, by  research  in  the  repertory.  There  are  the  sensations, 
burning,  sticking,  fulness,  cramping.,  numbness.,  faintness,  the 
aggravations  and  ameliorations,  as  to  time  and  circumstances,  the 
cause  of  the  diseased  condition,  cold,  suppression  of  disease,  the 
constitution  and  the  temperament  of  the  patient.  Lastly,  there 
are  several  pages  of  numbered  "Generals."  "Symptoms,  as  given 
by  patients,"  and  on  the  opposite  page,  "Same  as  found  in  the 
repertories."   Of  these  there   are   twenty-three.     And   there  are 


26  A  Platinum  Case. 

twenty-two  paragraphs,  numbered,  of  "Particulars."  On  one 
page  the  Particular  given  by  the  patient,  on  the  other,  that  given 
by  the  repertory.  Now,  take  down  all  symptoms,  work  them  out 
in  the  repertories.  After  each  symptom  put  down  the  remedies 
given  ;  and  the  remedy  occurring  the  most  times  will  probably 
be  the  indicated  remedy. 

Dr.  Nash  says  in  his  last  pages,  "Physicians  are  about  the  only 
profession  that  are  expected  to  do  a  good  job  for  the  same  pay  as 
a  poor  one."  "The  biggest  humbugs  on  earth  get  more  wealth 
out  of  patent  nostrums,  out  of  the  grand  elliptical  Asiatical  panti- 
curial  nervous  cordials  than  the  most  educated,  able  and  con- 
scientious physician  in  the  world." 

And  Dr.  Nash  is  right,  the  charlatans  thrive.  But  what  would 
ye,  my  masters?  Is  money  everything0  Is  there  not  the  delight 
of  the  true  workman,  be  he  artist,  or  doctor,  or  builder  of  houses, 
in  doing  his  work  well,  in  painting  a  perfect  picture,  in  building 
a  lasting  mansion,  or  in  making  a  sick  person  well,  and  as  Kip- 
ling sings : 

And  no  one  shall  work  for  money,  and  no  one  shall  work  for  fame, 
But  each  for  the  joy  of  working  and  each  in  his  separate  star 
Shall  draw  the  thing  as  he  sees  it  for  the  god  of  things  as  they 
are. 


A  PLATINUM   CASE. 

By  S.  C.  Bannerjee,  M.  D.,  F.  H.  C.  S. 

Babu ■ —  came  to  my  office  and  informed  me  that  his 

brother's  wife  was  under  the  influence  of  a  ghost,  and  further, 
he  added,  that  she  was  subject  to  attacks  of  hysteria.  She  would 
try  to  go  away  and  said  that  some  of  her  dead  relatives  often  came 
and  called  her  to  go  with  them.  She  said  that  she  could  see  them 
standing  by.  She  would  talk  of  past  events  and  feared  the  ap- 
proach of  death.  I  further  learned,  on  questioning,  that  she  was 
suffering  from  painful  menstruation  of  dark  and  clotted  blood, 
mind  depressed.  Discharges  much  clotted  blood  during  the  first 
day,  with  painful  urging,  and  pinching  pain  in  abdomen  and 
groins ;  discharge  intermittent,  low  spirited,  nervous  and  irri- 
table ;  temperament,  obstinate  ;  constipation,  palpitation,  great  in- 
clination to  weep,  aversion  to  every  kind  of  food ;  everything 
seems  strange  to  her. 


A  Platinum  Case.  27 

Under  the  above  circumstances  my  prescription  was  Platinum 
30,  one  powder  thrice  daily;  this  was  continued  for  two  days. 
She  made  quick  and  complete  recovery. 

Second:   A  Bubo  Case. 

I  was  called  in  to  see  a  lady  suffering-  from  bubo.  I  prescribed 
Ars.  iod>,  2x,  one  powder  every  four  hours.  On  the  next  day  I 
was  informed  that  her  menses,  which  had  been  suppressed  for  a 
vear  after  delivery,  for  which  she  had  taken  several  allopathic 
drugs  without  any  benefit,  had  reappeared  and  were  now  normal 
and  have  remained  so. 

Third  :   Diphtheria. 

On  the  19th  of  September,  last,  1  went  to  treat  a  girl  seven 
vears  old.  She  was  suffering  from  diphtheria.  Saw  her  the 
second  day  of  the  attack. 

The  symptoms  were,  sudden  feeling  of  heart  and  soreness  of  the 
pharynx ;  the  arches  of  the  palate  dusky  red ;  feeling  of  stiffness 
about  the  throat ;  deglutition  was  painful,  tonsils  were  inflamed, 
swollen  and  covered  with  exudation ;  patches  of  grayish-white 
spots  were  on  the  tonsils,  which  were  small  at  first,  but  gradually 
increased  and  threatened  suffocation.  The  tongue  was  thickly 
coated  yellow.    There  was  slight  fever  and  constipation. 

Treat m en t.^-A  dry  flannel  bandage  was  placed  round  the 
throat.  The  child  was  made  to  inhale  steam  of  hot  water,  to  which 
a  few  drops  of  oil  Eucalyptus  had  been  added.  A  gargle  of  3i 
of  alcohol  and  gr.  v  of  Nat  rum  mur.  in  a  pint  of  warm  water, 
was  administered  several  times  a  day,  and  she  was  kept  in  a  warm 
bed  in  a  well-ventilated  room,  separated  from  the  other  members 
of  the  family.  Proper  nourishment  was  given  to  her,  and  ab- 
solute cleanliness  observed. 

Merc.  sol.  30,  one  drop  in  one  ounce  of  distilled  water,  was  ad- 
ministered every  four  hours.  This  was  continued  for  four  days 
and  the  girl  is  all  right  since  then. 

Sitanvarhi,  India 


Hawkes'  Characteristics  is  not  a  new  book  but  a  most  excellent 
one  for  those  who  want  the  characteristics  of  our  remedies  ac- 
curately and  tersely  put.  Good  symptom  note  book,  too,  as  every 
alternate  page  is  left  blank. 


28  Cactus  vs.  Cactus  Grandiflorus. 


CACTUS  VS.  CACTUS  GRANDIFLORUS. 

The  Therapeutic  Gazette  recently  contained  an  editorial  on 
"The  Lack  of  Therapeutic  Value  of-  Cactus  Grandiflorus."  which 
we  copy.     Here  it  is  : 

"For  a  number  of  years  a  considerable  number  of  practitioners 
have  been  under  the  impression  that  Cactus  grandiflorus  possesses 
certain  virtues  as  a  cardiac  stimulant,  while  others  have  con- 
sidered that  its  stimulant  effect  is  feeble,  but  have  believed  that 
it  exercised  a  sedative  influence  upon  the  cardiac  viscus.  Thus, 
a  well-known  practitioner  of  Philadelphia  has  been  accustomed 
to  employ  the  tincture,  or  fluid  extract,  in  cases  of  cardiac  palpi- 
tation or  irregularity,  and  while  he  has  frequently  combined  this 
remedy  with  other  drugs  he  has  been  wont  to  credit  the  good  re- 
sults to  the  cactus  rather  than  to  the  remedy  administered  simul- 
taneously. Those  who  have  been  most  rational  in  this  matter 
have,  however,  never  believed  that  cactus  possessed  very  great 
power,  and  certain  investigations  which  have  been  carried  on  dur- 
ing the  last  few  years  seem  to  prove  pretty  clearly  that  even  a 
moderate  degree  of  activity  is  not  possessed  by  this  drug." 

'The  most  recent  of  these  contributions  is  an  investigation 
which  has  been  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  of  September  21,  1907,  by  Hatcher,  who  has  studied 
the  effects  of  the  drug  upon  animals,  and  who  has  also  gone  over, 
in  considerable  detail,  the  literature  which  deals  with  this  so- 
called  remedy.  After  proving  that  the  few  experimental  studies 
which  have  been  made  with  it  are  not  worthy  of  confidence,  he 
proceeds  to  detail  the  results  which  he  has  obtained  in  experi- 
ments upon  animals,  and  he  finds  that  cactus  and  its  so-called 
"active  principle"  are  not  only  devoid  of  any  influence  similar  to 
that  of  Digitalis  and  Strychnine,  but  that  they  are  inert  when 
used  on  animals  in  doses  that  are  hundreds  and  even  thousands 
of  times  as  large  as  those  recommended  by  persons  who  claim 
that  the  drug  produces  excellent  results.  These  conclusions  dis- 
tinctly indorse  those  reached  by  Sayre  and  Houghton  which  were 
published  in  the  Therapeutic  Gazette  in  1906.  It  is  remembered 
that  the  good  results  which  have  been  obtained  from  the  use  of 
cactus  by  certain  practitioners  may  have  been  in  reality  due  to 
other  causes  than  the  drusf  itself.     The  rest  in  bed  which  manv 


Cactus  vs.  Cactus  Grandiflorus. 

practitioners  wisely  recommend  to  patients  with  cardiac  ir- 
regularity is  always  a  powerful  factor  in  recovery,  and  the  psychic 
influence  of  taking  a  supposed  remedy  from  a  physician  in  whom 
the  patient  has  confidence  does  much  toward  diminishing  mental 
anxiety  in  regard  to  the  heart,  particularly  if  at  the  same  time 
some  sedative  like  Hyoscyamus.  the  Bromides,  or  Belladonna 
have  been  given  as  adjuvants.'' 

So  writes  the  editor  of  the  Therapeutic  Gazette,  and  what  he 
writes  here  is  true  of  cactus,  but  not  of  Cactus  grandiflorus. 
There  is  probably  as  great  a  difference  between  these  two  as  there 
is  between  Rhus  aromatica  and  Rhus  tox.  The  great  bulk  of  the 
tinctures,  fluid  extracts  and  elusive  "active  principles"  are  made 
from  the  cheap  native  cactus  and  not  from  the  magnificent  night- 
blooming  cereus  (Cactus  grandiflorus) .  The  reason  for  this  is 
that  the  latter  is  very  difficult  to  obtain  in  sufficient  quantities  and 
very  expensive.  To  illustrate  this  point :  A  homseopathic  phar- 
macy recently  wanted  to  renew  its  stock  of  Cactus  grandiflorus; 
they  were  offered  any  quantity  of  cactus  at  low  rates,  but  the 
sellers  admitted  that  it  was  not  Cactus  grand.,  "but."  they  added, 
"it  is  what  all  use." 

The  firm  in  question,  after  considerable  trouble,  located  a 
source  of  supply  and  a  reliable  man  to  gather,  pack  and  ship  it. 
In  due  time  the  shipment  was  received — not  a  very  large  one — 
and  the  various  charges  on  it,  exclusive  of  the  price  paid  to  the 
collector  was  over  seventy-five  dollars.  The  consignment  was 
verified  as  being  the  genuine  Cactus  grand,  by  the  Agricultural 
Department's  botanist.  Probably  if  it  were  possible  to  use  the 
Cactus  grand.,  in  place  of  ordinary  cactus,  the  reputation  of  the 
drug  would  be  rehabilitated  and  also  the  price  of  the  tincture 
would  materially  advance.  The  reputation  of  many  a  good  drug 
has  been  ruined  by  the  too  prevalent  spirit  of  commercialism. 
which  disregards  everything  in  a  drug  save  its  price  and  name. 
There  is  a  wide  difference  between  tinctures  bearing  the  same 
name. 


30  Diarrhoea,  Infantile. 

DIARRHCEA,   INFANTILE,   CURED   BY 
MEDORRHINUM. 

By   R.   C.   Mitter,  M.  D. 

Babu  N.  Karr's  child  (male),  aged  six  months,  came  under  my 
treatment  on  September  ioth,  1907,  after  it  had  passed  several' 
allopathic  hands.  The  child  was  evacuating  greenish-watery, 
slimy,  frothy  and  sour-smelling  stools.  The  mother  is  dyspeptic, 
for  which  she  received  Robinia  3X.  Looking  at  the  characteristic 
stool  of  the  child,  and  the  head  sweating  profusely,  I  prescribed 
Calcarea  carb.  1000,  one  dose,  then  paused  for  seven  days,  but 
there  was  no  change  for  the  better.  The  stool  became  grass- 
green,  frothy,  slimy,  and  Ipecac.  30c.  was  prescribed.  One  dose  in 
the  morning  was  continued  for  six  days.  The  character  of  the  stool 
was  not  changed  and  as  the  vitality  of  the  child  was  ebbing  away, 
I  prescribed  the  same  medicine  in  6x  and  3X  potencies  for  an- 
other week.  This  gave  no  effect  and  the  stool  became  more  and 
more  profuse  and  the  child  was  now  evacuating  profuse  greenish- 
yellow  stool,  as  if  it  had  been  coming  out  of  open  anus.  Phos. 
30c,  one  dose.  Next  day  the  only  improvement  found  was  that 
it  was  not  so  profuse  as  before,  but  the  character  remained  un- 
changed. I  paused  for  four  days  after  Phos.  had  been  admin- 
istered, but  the  stool  again  became  profuse  and  smelling  horribly 
offensive.  The  child  was  found  to  be  nearly  pulseless,  eyes  sunk 
into  the  sockets.  I  hesitated  giving  Phos.  low  and  looked  over  the 
case  again.  I  asked  Babu  N.  Karr  (Hd.  clerk  Junior  Engineers' 
office  Sahebgunge)  if  he  had  been  suffering  from  any  chronic 
malady;  he  said,  yes.  for  the  last  six  years  he  had  had  seminal 
emissions  daily  and  during  the  night.  He  had  felt  well  a  month 
only.  It  convinced  me  that  the  child  received  somle  constitutional 
taint  through  his  father.  Then  I  looked  over  the  stool  of  Medor- 
rhinum  (Clark's  Dictionary  of  Materia  Medica),  it  ran  thus: 

"Child,  aet.  fifteen  months,  brought  on  a  pillow  to  clinic,  ap- 
parently dead ;  eyes  glossy,  set ;  could  not  find  pulse,  but  felt 
heart-beat ;  running  from  anus  greenish-yellow,  thin,  horribly 
offensive  stool." 

Gave  the  child  a  dose  of  Mvdorrhinnm  200c.  The  next  day 
the  character  of  the  stool  was  found  thus  : 


Influenza  Pneumonia,  31 

Yellowish-green  (grass-green,  not  watery)  stained  bright-red 
blood,  frothy,  smelling  sour.  Vomiting  and  retching  several 
times  during  the  day  and  night.  I  now  came  back  to  Ipecac.  30c. 
and  the  child  was  now  improving  rapidly  and  it  came  round  in 
five  days. 

Sahebgunge,  India,  Nov.  8,  1907. 


SOME   PECULIAR   CASES  OF   INFLUENZA- 
PNEUMONIA. 

By  Dr.  G.  Sieffert,  Pans. 

In  every  new  epidemy  of  influenza  the  observation  made  long 
ago  of  its  mutability  of  form  becomes  anew  noticeable.  This  fact 
:  is  seen  even  in  the  merely  bacteriological  relations  of  its  specific 
cause.  New  observations  by  Wasserman,  Doering  and  Jochmann 
show  that  it  is  often  very  difficult  to  find  the  bacillus  of  Pfeiffer ; 
the  active  cause  quickly  vanishing  out  of  the  sputum,  etc. 

Also  the  fact  that  some  persons  are  apt  to  be  taken  sick  with 
frequent  relapses  of  influenza  brings  new  difficulties  for  the 
theory  of  the  bacteriologist.  Pseudo-influenza  is  spoken  of.  also 
of  an  epidemic  imitating  influenza,  only  because  the  typical  bacil- 
lus is  lacking,  while  the  other  characteristic  phenomena  are  pres- 
ent Jochmann,  from  this,  concludes  that  also  other  bacilli,  as 
pneumococci,  etc.,  may  cause  typical  influenza.  Also  in  this  case 
it  is  seen  that  the  modern  view,  with  its  one-sided  consideration 
of  the  bacillus,  instead  of  being  further  cleared  up,  is  everywhere 
confronted  with  contradictions.  Even  the  bacteriologv  of  diph- 
theria has  proved  the  inferiority  of  the  microbic  proofs  as  com- 
pared with  the  clinic  characteristics. 

It  might,  therefore,  be  true  that  the  retention  of  the  term 
"Genius  epidcmiats"  might  prove  the  more  scientific  in  view  of 
the  lack  of  agreement  of  teachers ;  denoting  by  this  term  the  com- 
plex of  physical  atmospheric  influences,  and  the  personal'  indi- 
vidual disposition,  which  are  the  components  which  give  to  the 
epidemics  their  infinite  shadings,  while  it  is  so  far  impossible  to 
see  in  the  action  of  these  influences  in  accordance  with  any 
definite  laws.  This  predominance  of  the  "genius  epidemicus" 
does  not  show  itself  only  in  the  factors,  which  according  to  the 


32  Influenza  Pneumonia. 

old  school,  are  the  causes  (the  bacteria),  hut  it  shows  itself  even 
much  more  strongly  in  the  clinical  forms  of  expression  of  the 
epidemy  at  this  day.  Thence  it  is  that  the  conception  of  in- 
fluenza-pneumonia is  to  this  day  still  changing  and  fluctuating. 
It  is  a  tedious  broncho-pneumonia  which  is  most  generally  viewed 
as  an  influenza-pneumonia.  Also  here  in  Stuttgart  these  lobular 
pneumonias  predominated,  while  the  croupous  forms  had  become 
very  rare.  But  in  the  last  epidemy,  here  and  elsewhere,  the  re- 
lation has  somewhat  changed.  The  clinical  course,  as  well  as  the 
pathologico-anatomic  image,  show  again  a  manifest  approach  to 
the  croupous  form,  although  there  are  still  abundant  shadings  of 
the  several  phenomena  of  the  disease.  A  few  cases  from  prac- 
tice may  present  this  more  clearly. 

I.  Mrs.  P..  thirty-six  vears  of  age.  was  taken  sick  on  the  even- 
ing of  April  ii,  with  violent  stitches  in  the  left  half  of  the  back 
and  a  strong  inclination  to  cough.  WTien  I  saw  the  patient  next 
morning,  I  found  besides  the  general  phenomena  of  a  violent  in- 
fection, beginning  in  the  region  of  the  right  rib.  a  manifest  pleu- 
ritic friction,  as  also  in  the  anterior  side  from  the  mammilar 
region  downwards  to  the  left  border  of  the  ribs.  The  patient 
complained  quite  loudly  of  the  stitches,  the  cough  had  brought 
up  but  little  indifferent  sputa.  Unusual  was  the  course  of  the  tem- 
perature on  the  first  day,  as  it  showed  a  decrease  in  the  evening. 
Herpes  labialis. 

April  12.  During  the  night  there  had  developed  a  distinct 
dulness  of  sound,  with  the  respiration  approaching  the  bronchial. 
In  the  course  of  the  next  day  hepatization  of  whole  of  the  left 
lung  developed,  with  a  continuance  of  violent  pleuritic  symptoms., 
especially  on  the  left  and  in  front.  After  several  pseudo-crises, 
the  temperature  on  the  sixth  day  again  mounted  high.,  only  to  take 
a  critical  fall  on  the  seventh  day.  The  force  of  the  heart  had 
shown  sign-  of  depression  on  the  day  preceding  the  critical  solu- 
tion by  a  pulse  that  was  frequently  intermittent.  The  restoration 
to  integritv  was  rapid  and  undisturbed.  Therapy:  Bryonia  and 
Veratrum  znr. 

II.  The  second  case  developed  in  a  similar  manner,  only  more 
briefly.  I  was  called  to  the  patient,  who  was  forty-six  years  of 
age,  on  the  morning  of  May  10.  According  to  his  statement  he 
had  been  sick  and  feverish  for  two  davs  before.     At  mv  first  ex- 


Influenza  Pneumonia.  33 

animation  I  found  a  dulness  of  sound  extending  all  over  the  right 
lung,  with  bronchial  respiration,  the  sputum  being  rust  colored. 
etc.  Morning  temperature  103°  F.  In  the  course  of  this  and 
the  following  days  the  temperature  rose  even  to  the  critical  alti- 
tude, to  fall  to  970  the  next  morning,  with  a  copious  respiration. 
The  resolution  ensued,  as  I  supposed,  on  the  fifth  day.  Thus  there 
was  also  in  this  case  an  atypic  relation  of  the  temperature  in  spite 
of  a  croupous  clinical  and  anatomic  series  of  phenomena  de- 
cidedly pronounced.     Therapy:  Phosphorus. 

TIT.  The  third  case  showed  a  course  of  temperature  more  in 
consonance  with  the  usual  typical  process,  in  so  far  as  the  tem- 
perature remained  at  its  height  during  the  fully  developed  patho- 
logical anatomical  phenomena.  Herpes  labialis.  But.  also,  here 
•e  a  remission  in  the  status  incrementi  and  still  more  mani- 
fest was  the  irregularity  in  the  dropping  of  the  fever.  Also  in 
this  case  (that  of  a  girl,  nine  years  of  age)  there  was  a  localiza- 
tion on  the  left  side,  with  hepatization  of  the  whole  of  the  left 
lung.  But  the  whole  image  of  the  disease  was  dominated  by  the 
pleuritic  phenomena,  which  were  of  exceeding  severity.  The 
pains  were  incessant  for  days,  and  were  localized  according  to  trie 
Tittle  patient  (who  showed  great  patience),  in  the  upper  region 
of  the  abdomen  ;  they  increased  by  paroxysms,  leading  the  be- 
holder almost  to  suppose  that  a  part  of  the  intestinal  tract  was 
undergoing  a  disease  like  colic.  The  abatement  of  the  fever  and 
the  introduction  to  convalescence  followed  on  the  seventh  day. 
Therapy:  Kali  chlora.  pho. 

IV.  In  the  fourth  case  the  same  peculiar  variation  in  the 
pleuritic  phenomena  appeared  only  in  an  increased  measure.  On 
the  evening  of  the  twelfth  of  May  I  was  called  to  see  C.  H..  a 
boy  five  years  of  age,  who  had  been  taken  sick  with  vomiting  and 
severe  colic.  On  examination  I  found  severe  pleuritic  friction  on 
the  left  side  anteriorly  below,  while  according  to  the  patient,  they 
were  localized  in  the  region  of  the  stomach.  The  respiration  was 
anxious,  in  frequent  short  gasps.  The  patient  vomited  every- 
thing he  partook  of.  and  there  had  been  one  pappv  stool.  When 
the  temperature  decreased  on  the  third  day.  all  the  phenomena, 
except  some  moderate  pleuritic  pains,  were  relieved,  the  vomiting 
had  ceased,  and  the  child  next  morning  was  sitting  up  smiling  in 
his  bed.  taking  his  breakfast.     In  the  evening  there  was   a   re- 


34  Influenza  Pneumonia. 

newed  rise  in  temperature,  with  a  violent  return  of  all  the  pains 
and  symptoms  in  the  stomach,  at  the  same  time  there  had  de- 
veloped on  the  left  side  in  the  lower  lobe  of  the  lung  a  hepatiza- 
tion, with  a  changed  bronchial  respiration,  which  continued  un- 
changed until  the  morning  of  the  sixth  day.  But  the  rest  of  the 
image  of  the  disease  changed  in  the  manner  described  above,  two 
times  more  with  a  disappearance  and  return  of  the  pleuritic  and 
violent  symptoms  in  the  stomach.     Therapy:  Ipecacuanha. 

In  observing  the  last  two  cases,  I  was  vividly  reminded  of  an 
address  of  our  colleague,  Goehrum,  which  he  delivered  in  the 
Swiss'  meeting  last  year  on  the  theme  of  "Cramps  in  the 
Stomach"  as  a  rare  symptom  of  "pleuritis  interlobaris  serosa." 
The  localization  and  the  kind  of  pains  in  the  cases  of  Goehrum 
and  in  my  cases  were  exactly  the  same.  Goehrum  assumed  as 
the  cause  in  his  cases,  interlobary  pleuritis. 

I  would  not  venture  to  reduce  my  observation  as  to  its  cause 
to  more  than  a  suppositious  interlobar  pleuritis.  For  to  delimit 
and  establish  by  the  side  of  the  fully  hepatized  lung  also  an  inter- 
lobar exudation  through  physical  means,  would  remain  a 
theoretical  chef  d'eeuvre.  In  the  cases  of  Goehrum  the  circum- 
stances, indeed,  were  more  simple,  and  I  would  not  express  any 
doubt  as  to  the  possibility  of  his  diagnosis.  Only  in  comparing 
these  cases  the  thought  entered  my  mind,  whether  in  both  cases 
there  may  not  have  been  an  accompanying  pleurisy  of  the 
diaphragm.  The  radiation  of  the  pains  into  the  upper  region  of 
the  abdomen  may  more  easily  be  thus  explained,  than  in  inter- 
lobular pleurisy  of  the  lower  lobe  and  much  more  so  than  in  su- 
perior lobular  pleurisy.  The  dyspnoea  in  my  cases,  i.  e.}  the  re- 
duction in  the  respiration,  and  the  chopped  manner  of  speaking 
were  so  pronounced,  that  it  made  it  very  probable  that  the  dia- 
phragmatic part  of  the  pleura  was  involved.  It,  therefore,  seems 
to  me  to  be  justified  for  referring  the  rare  symptoms  of 
cramps  in  the  stomach  to  a  diaphragmatic  pleurisy,  the  proof  of 
which,  indeed,  is  physically  impossible  under  such  circumstances, 
rather  than  to  an  accompanying  interlobar  inflammation.  The 
physical  diagnosis  of  diaphragmatic  pleurisy  is  very  indefinite 
even  in  uncomplicated  cases.  In  an  exudation  which  is  at  all 
copious,  there  is  a  zone  of  tympanitic  sound  above  the  base  of  the 
lungs,  which  corresponds  to  the  exudation  of  the  compressed  lobe 


Influenza  Pneumonia.  35 

of  the  lung.  Clinically,  we  may  observe  a  triad  of  sypmtoms, 
which  cannot.,  however,  be  demonstrated  in  all  cases.  The  first 
is  the  presence  of  a  definite  point  of  pain,  the  so-caled  "bouton 
diaphragmatique  de  Usy;"  it  is  the  point  of  intersection  of  two 
lines,  the  one  of  which  runs  vertically,  parallel  to  the  outer  border 
of  the  sternum.,  while  the  horizontal  line  is  an  imaginary  con- 
tinuation of  the  tenth  rib.  The  second  symptom  of  diaphragmat- 
ic pleuritis  appears  quite  early  in  the  disease,  and  is  a  one-sided 
elevation  of  the  diaphragm.  The  third  sign  is  the  so-called 
respiratory  abdominal  reflex,  i.  e.3  jerking  twitches  of  the  mus- 
culus  rectus  abdominalis ;  this  develops  at  the  height  of  respira- 
tion. I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  only  became  acquainted  with  these 
signs  after  my  cases  had  been  attended  to  and  could  not,  there- 
fore, apply  the  test  to  my  cases. 

Somewhat  striking  in  my  cases  was  the  frequency  with  which 
the  left  lung  was  affected,  while  usually  it  is  the  right  side  which, 
by  preference,  is  the  seat  of  inflammations.  I  may  not  mistake 
in  stating,  that  the  character  of  the  pneumonias  caused  by  in- 
fluenza is  gradually  changing  and  that  instead  of  the  bronchial 
pneumonias,  which  used  to  be  frequent,  the  lobar  type  is  decid- 
edly becoming  more  numerous. 

The  homoeopathic  therapy  of  these  affections,  of  course,  con- 
forms to  these  symptomatic  transformations.  The  literature, 
with  respect  to  these  changes,  is  extensive  and  well  known,  so 
that  I  need  not  waste  your  time  in  proving  my  brief  therapeutic 
sctatements  with  any  lengthy  demonstrations.  Translated  from 
Allg.  Horn.  Zeit. 


Imagine  the  scene  in  a  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Homoeopathy  or  the  American  Medical  Association,  for  that 
matter  thirty  years  ago,  if  a  member  had  extolled  the  subject  of 
bacterial  therapeutics.  At  that  time,  bacteriology  and  even  pa- 
thology was  a  thing  apart  from  medicine.  The  pathologist  and 
bacteriologist  were  merely  tolerated.  Now  the  bacteriologist  is 
coming  into  his  own.  Scarcely  a  meeting  is  held  or  a  medical 
journal  printed  without  some  consideration  of  the  application  of 
bacteriology  to  therapeutics.  Formerly  the  bacteriologist  literally 
was  our  scullion.  Now,  he  is  our  hero.  Formerly,  we  believed 
nothing  that  he  told  us.  Now  we  arc  in  danger  of  believing  in- 
discriminately everything  he  tells  us. — Laidlaw. 


36  Book  Notices. 

BOOK  NOTICES. 


A  Text-Book  of  Practical  Gynaecology.  For  Practi- 
tioners and  Students.  By  D.  Tod  Gilliam,  M.  D.,  Emeritus 
Professor  of  Gynaecology  in  Starling"  Ohio  Medical  College, 
and  Sometime  Professor  of  Gynaecology,  Starling  Medical  (  '1  al- 
lege ;  Gynaecologist  to  St.  Anthony  and  St.  Francis  Hospitals  ; 
Consulting  Gynaecologist  to  Park  View  Sanitarium,  Columbus, 
Ohio ;  Fellow  of  the  American  Association  of  Obstetricians  and 
Gynaecologists ;  Member  of  the  American  Miedical  Association, 
of  the  Ninth  International  Medical  Congress,  etc.  Second  Re- 
vised Edition.  Illustrated  with  350  Engravings,  a  Colored 
Frontispiece,  and  Thirteen  Full-Page  Half-Tone  Plates.  642 
Royal  Octavo  Pages.  Extra  Cloth,  $4.50.  net;  Half-Morocco, 
Gilt-Top,  $6.00,  net.  Sold  only  by  Substription.  F.  A.  Davis 
Company,  Publishers,  1914-16  Cherry  Street,  Philadelphia. 

Here  is  a  book  on  gynaecology  of  652  pages  amply  illustrated, 
thirteen  plates,  and  350  illustrations,  with  latest  text,  now  in  its 
second,  revised  edition.  The  author  Bays,  that  to  increase  the  bulk 
of  the  book,  he  has  to  eliminate  certain  portions  so  as  to  admit 
new  matter.  The  press-work  and  paper  are  good  and  the  whole 
book  presents  a  neat  appearance.  It  is,  as  will  be  seen  from 
above  title,  sold  by  subscription  only. 


Thomas  Skinner  M.  D.  A  Biographical  Sketch. 
By  John  H,  Clarke.  93  pages.  Cloth.  London.  Homoeo- 
pathic Publishing  Co  ,    12  Warwick  Lane,  E.  C.     1907. 

This  is  an  interesting  sketch  of  the  life  of  a  famous  "high 
potency"  homoeopath,  from  the  pen  of  that  able  writer.  Dr.  John 
H.  Clarke.  It  traces  the  career  of  Dr.  Skinner  from  the  days 
when  he  was  associated  with  Dr.  Simpson,  on  until  he  became  a 
thorough  homoeopath,  but  a  staunch  believer  in  the  tremendous 
power  over  disease  of  the  potentized.  Here  is  a  sentence  from 
one  of  Dr.  Skinner's  papers,  quoted  by  Dr.  Clarke:  "Such  is  my 


Book  Notices. 

experience  of  the  difference  between  the  crude  drug  and  a  high 
potency  of  the  same,  especially  when  it  is  selected  according  to  a 
mental  or  subjective  characteristic,  as  in  this  case."  ■  Through- 
out the  book  is  a  plea  for  the  acknowledgment  of  the  curative 
superiority  of  the  potentized  drug  over  the  crude  drug,  or  the 
extreme  low  potency. 

.dentally,  there  is  one  little  fact  stated  in  this  book  that  may 
not  be  generally  known.  The  reader,  no  doubt,  has  often  read 
papers  where  the  letters  "F.  C."  are  appended  to  the  name  of  the 
remedy.  F.  C.  stands  for  "fluxion  centesimal,"  or  potencies,  run 
upon  the  Skinner  Potentizer. 


The  Illusions  of  Christian  Science. Its  Philosophy  Rationally 
Explained.  With  an  Appendix  on  Swedenborg  and  the  Mental 
Healers.  By  John  Whitehead.  M.  A..  Th.  B.  2\j  pages. 
Cloth.  Si. oo.  The  Garden  Press,  16  Arlington  St..  Boston, 
Mass.,  1907. 

The  author  of  Illusions  of  Christian  Science  has  gathered  from 
Science  and  Health  its  teachings  on  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  Christian  religion.  These  teachings  in  Science  and  Health 
are  scattered  indiscriminately  throughout  the  book,  so  that  it  is 
difficult,  if  not  impossible  without  special  study,  to  learn  what 
Mrs.  Eddy  teaches  on  these  subjects.  The  work  before  us  serves 
a  very  useful  purpose  in  making  clear  what  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  Christian  Science  are.  The  subject  is  treated  in  a  digni- 
fied manner  and  from  the  Xew  Church  1  Swedenborgian^  point 
of  view.  Any  one  interested  in  this  peculiar — shall  we  call  it 
craze? — will  find  this  book  very  interesting. 


The   Elements  of  Homoeopathic  Theory,  Materia  Medica, 
Practice    and    Pharmacy.  Compiled  and  arranged  from 

Homoeopathic  Text-books,  by  Dr.  F.  A.  Boericke  and  E.   P. 
Anshutz.     Second  revised  edition. 

This  little  work  is  divided  into  three  sections — Generalities. 
Therapeutics,  and  Materia  Medica.  The  method  of  presenting 
the  facts  of  therapeutics  is  brief  but  ideal.  It  ought  to  be  of 
great  service,  not  alone  to  the  student,  but  as  a  useful  reminder 
to  the  practician. — Eclectic  Medical  Glea 


Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

By  BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  Si.oo.TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PER  ANNUM 
Address  communications ,  books  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  the  editor,  to 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

EDITORIAL. 

The  Homoeopathic  Recorder. — With  this  number  the  Re- 
corder enters  on  its  twenty-third  year  of  publication,  ranking  it 
among  the  older  of  the  homoeopathic  journals  and,  probably,  the 
oldest  under  one  management. 

We  do  not  try  to  please,  but  to  give  the  subscriber  his  dollar's 
worth  during  the  year.    Similarly,  we  do  not  try  to  offend. 

You  cannot  please  everyone.  What  pleases  one  man  often  of- 
fends another. 

Every  editor  (saving  a  very  few  of  the  elect)  must  take  what 
he  can  get.  There  isn't  enough  "copy"  to  enable  all  of  them  (the 
homoeopathic)  to  pick  and  choose,  and,  perhaps,  it  is  well  that  such 
is  the  case,  for  otherwise  each  one  would  serve  a  monthly  bill  of 
fare  of  what  he  likes  and  involuntarily  forgot  that  there  are 
others. 

To  edit  a  journal  is  to  take  a  degree  in  what  that  arch  Philis- 
tine, Elbert  Hubbard,  calls  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks. 

The  worst  knocker  is  the  polite  gentleman  who,  in  effect ,  writes : 

"I  do  not  like  you  any  more,  therefore,  please  dis "  needless 

to  finish  it.  He  is  a  terror  compared  with  the  man  who  hits  you 
with  a  verbal  bludgeon,  hauls  you  over  the  coals,  blows  you  up 

and  concludes  with,  "Inclosed  find  my  renewal'  to <,"  etc.     It 

is  good  and  refreshing  to  receive  such  knocks,  for  it  gives  one  the 
other  point  of  view,  something  always  useful.  It  is  also  very 
good  to  receive  a  pat  on  the  back  once  in  a  while. 

The  new  editor  always  begins,  "We  want  short,  practical  arti- 
cles," or  ''Our  pages  are  always  open  to  short  practical"  papers. " 
Bless  your  heart,  of  course,  they  are.  and  to  long  ones,  too,  if  you 
can  get  them. 


Editorial.  39 

The  other  day  the  Century  man,  he  at  Ann  Arbor,  counted  up 
the  number  of  original  articles  in  his  journal  in  a  given  time.  He 
had  almost  distanced  the  others  he  named.  The  Recorder  was 
not  named.  The 'Recorder  man  then  counted  up  his  original 
papers  and  found  that  Ann  Arbor  led  by  a  close  shave. 

We  always  are  glad  to  see  a  new  homoeopathic  journal  and 
mourn  the  demise  of  an  old  one.  There  should  be  many  of  them. 
The  plan  of  the  A.  M.  A.  to  have  only  one  is  not  good.  What  the 
J.  A.  M.,  Chicago,  thinks  or  wills,  may  be  very  good,  but,  again, 
there  are  others,  and  if  they  can  get  the  floor  let  them  shout.  The 
wily  reader  wants  the  privilege  of  a  choice. 

Hoping  that  old  subscribers  will  remain,  that  many  new  ones 
will  come  in  and  that  all  will  chip  in  a  contribution  now  and  then 
— they  will  have  a  big  circle  of  readers — we  remain 

The  Homoeopathic  Recorder 

The  Old.  Old  Story  — A  contributor  to  the  November  Critic 
and  Guide  indulges  in  an  old-time  war  whoop  at  Homoeopathy, 
and  flourishes  the  rusty  old  tomahawk  most  vigorously. 

Listen  to  him.  He  refers  to  "Hahnemann's  Dream-Book,"  but 
what  book  he  thus  wittily  pillorizes  is  not  stated ;  probably  he 
never  read  a  line  of  Hahnemann's  books  and  so  has  to  turn  to 
generalities.    Here  it  is  : 

"Now,  Doctor,  to  be  candid  with  you,  we  would  rather  believe 
that  a  toy  pistol  could  demolish  a  thirteen-inch  gun  battery,  that 
the  flash  light  of  the  fire  fly  was  more  brilliant  than  the  sun,  that 
pop-corn  could  make  the  earth  tremble  more  than  an  old  fogy 
earthquake,  that  they  could  dig  the  Panama  Canal  with  a  feather, 
or  that  one  drop  of  water,  if  well  diluted,  could  move  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  than  in  the  oyster  shell  cure.''' 

"Now,  Doctor."'  your  acute  mind  can  readily  see  that  while  the 
paragraph  quoted  most  touchingly  expresses  his  feeling  in  the 
matter,  the  feelings  of  the  contributor  to  the  Critic  and  Guide  are 
neither  evidence,  argument  nor  science.  Time  was  when  the  emi- 
nent scientists,  "the  immortals"  of  the  French  Academy,  shook 
their  fat  sides  with  laughter  and  flashed  their  keen  scientific  wits 
in  one  poor  wight  who  proposed  to  employ  smooth  rails  on  rail- 
roads and  smooth  driving  wheels  on  locomotives.  "Why,"  they 
explained  between  yells  of  scientific  laughter,  "we  would  as  soon 


40  Editorial. 

believe  that  a  pop-gun  could  demolish  the  Bastile,"  and  so  on. 
Later  on  they  most  reverently  pointed  (no  doubt)  to  the  smooth 
rail,  etc.,  as  an  evidence  of  the  giant  strides  their  science  had 
made. 

A  certain  Galileo  once  got  into  trouble  for  opposing  the  John 
Jasper  scientists  of  his  day.  "Everyone  but  a  lunatic  could  see  that 
the  sun  'do  move !'  " 

A  poor  devil  of  a  doctor  once  announced  that  the  blood  cir- 
culated. Wow  !  what  a  scientific  hullabaloo  ensued,  but  the  time 
came  when  these  soi  disant  scientists  claimed  this  discovery  as  an 
evidence  of  their  collective  acumen. 

So  it  ever  has  been  and,  probably,  ever  will  be.  Homoeopathy 
will  stand  on  its  merits,  or  fall  because  it  has  none.  It  will  not 
fall  before  the  gibberings  of  men  who  assume  to  speak  for  science 
— horribly  abused  word.  Wise  men  will  adopt  it,  while — the 
others  will  not. 

Write  ox  One  Side  of  the  Paper  Only. — One  would  think 
that  this  request  to  contributors  had  been  dinned  in  the  ears  of 
writers  long  enough  for  everyone  to  know  all  about  it  by  this 
time ;  such,  however,  is  not  the  case,  and  papers  continue  to  ar- 
rive, not  only  written  on  both  sides,  but  with  the  lines  crowded 
so  closely  together  as  to  be  almost  illegible.  We  want  your  con- 
tributions and  it  may  be  ungracious  to  complain  of  the  style  in 
which  some  of  them  are  gotten  up.  but  it  is  just  as  easy — easier 
— to  get  them  up  right  as  not. 

Ax  Humble  Suggestiox. — 'Whenever  you  see  an  article  in  a 
homoeopathic  journal  on  some  of  the  new  procedures  of  modern 
medicine,  which  begins  with  profuse  protestations  of  the  ''rock- 
ribbed''  truth  of  Homoeopathy  you.  the  wise  old  owl,  may  wager 
your  boots  that  before  the  article  is  finished  Homoeopathy  will' 
be  torn  to  tatters  and  scattered  to  the  four  winds.  And  yet. 
though  thus  demolished,  Homoeopathy  serenely  goes  its  healing 
way,  while  the  new  comer  lives  its  brief  day  and  then  is  heard  no 
more. 

"Out  brief  candle !" 

Verbexa  Hastata  in  Epilepsy. — Dr.   J.  M.  French,  of  ]vlil- 


Editorial.  41 

ford,  Mass..  in  a  paper  in  Medical  World  for  December,  claims 
that  in  his  hands  Verbena  hastata  in  material  doses  has  proved  to 
be  effective  in  cases  of  epilepsy  where  the  bromides  (as  usual) 
had  miserably  failed.  He  used  tablets,  beginning  with  one  and 
increasing  to  six,  three  times  a  day.  Tincture  tablets  could  be 
used  or  the  mother  tincture  itself. 

Disrespectful. — A  disrespectful  and  jeering  doctor  recently 
said  of  a  certain  State  Medical  Examining  Board  that  it  was 
"dollars  to  doughnuts  that  not  one  of  the  members  could  pass  the 
examinations  dished  up  for  the  friendless  recent  graduate."  Of 
what  practical  use  is  it  for  a  young  man  to  cram  his  head  full  of 
stuff  that  will  be  of  no  earthly  use  to  him  in  daily  practice.  Yet 
they  must  cram  in  order  to  pass  an  examination  dug  out  of  text- 
books. The  ideal  method  would  be  to  shut  up  the  Board  and  the 
"class/'  with  nary  a  text-book  available  and  make  each  examiner 
frame  a  given  question  and  write  its  answer  "out  of  his  own 
head."  The  answers  would  be,  probably,  of  a  Dolly  Varden  char- 
acter, for  each  examiner  would  probably  have  a  different  answer 
and  the  student  would  have  a  picnic. 

Is  a  man  a  better  doctor  because  he  can  name  offhand  every 
bone  in  the  body.  Nay,  probably  a  worse  one.  for  he  has 
neglected,  most  likely,  the  common  things  a  doctor  should  know 
in  the  sickroom,  which  is  the  real  examining  board,  the  court  of 
final  appeal. 

Those  "Mighty  StridesI/' — Hardly  has  the  field  been  covered 
with  serums  (at  so  much  per)  and  comfortable  incomes  accruing 
when  with  its  seven  league  boots  well  greased,  science  (the  so- 
called  brand)  makes  another  mighty  stride,  and  behold  the 
"opsonins."  These  are  prepared  from  certain  germs  in  the  blood 
by  means  of  cultures,  and  when  ready  are  injected  into  the  blood 
and  that's  about  all  the  "opsonin"  doctor  has  to  do.  Rest  assured, 
reader,  that  when  these  opsonins  go  out  of  fashion  there  will  be 
something  else  to  take  their  place  and  taunt  Homoeopathy  for 
being  out  of  date  and  very  unscientific.  First  we  had  tuberculin 
and  its  kind,  these  were  pushed  aside  by  the  serum  family,  and 
these  are  about  due  to  go,  for  does  not  "progress"  mean  to  ad- 
vance, hence  this  year's  therapeutic  means  must  be  kicked  out  by 
next  year's.    Let  the  merry  dance  go  on  ! 


42  Editorial. 

What  Is  the  Difference? — You  can  advertise  (if  you  have 
the  money  to  pay  the  bills)  Bombastocine.  Takeminine,  Assinine 
or  any  other  "in"  or  "ine"  as  a  cure  for  croup,  diphtheria,  grippe, 
tuberculosis,  or  what  not,  in  medical  journals,  just  as  Dr.  Pierce, 
Professor  Munyon,  Mr.  Hood,  Lydia  Pinkham  and  the  rest  of  the 
bunch  advertise  their  wares  as  cures  for  many  or  all  ills ;  the  dif- 
ference is  that  the  advertisement  in  the  medical  journal  is  said  to 
be  ethical,  while  the  others,  in  the  secular  press,  are  outlaws.  But 
what  is  the  difference  between  the  two?  Both  print  testimonials 
and  both  claim  pretty  much  everything  for  their  wares.  The 
doctor  does  not  know  what  his  particular  "in"  is  beyond  what  the 
advertiser  tells  him.  neither  does  the  layman,  though  both  classes 
of  advertisers  made  a  bluff  at  telling  the  buyer  what  the  goods 
are. 

Both  classes  are  scientific — according  to  their  proprietors. 

Compare  all  this  beating  of  tom-toms  with  what  you  meet  in 
Homoeopathy  and  ask  yourself  which  is  really  scientific. 

Good  Enough  in  His  Day. — Dr.  W.  C.  Abbott,  of  Chicago 
alkaloidal?),  contributes  a  paper  to  the  November  American 
Physician  on  things  in  general  pertaining  to  Homoeopathy.  ''The 
work  of  Hjahnemann  and  his  immediate  followers  was  done  at  a 
time  when  the  influence  of  suggestion  was  not  appreciated,"  the 
innuendo  being  that  the  cures  performed  by  means  of  homoeo- 
pathic medicine  were  the  result  of  suggestion.  So  says  Mother 
Eddy,  and  on  this  she  and  Dr.  Abbott  can  shake  hands.  How  a 
hen,  a  horse,  a  cow,  or  a  dog,  to  say  nothing  of  infants,  can  be 
influenced  by  suggestion  is  not  at  present  known,  but,  of  course, 
future  investigation  may  throw  light  on  the  subject;  at  present 
the  fact  stands  out  that  the  animals,  fowls  and  babies  have  been 
wonderfully  aided  by  homoeopathic  medication — or  suggestion. 
Dr.  Abbott  writes  many  things,  one  is  that  Hahnemann  conducted 
his  investigation  with  "old  crude  drugs ;"  wherein  these  differ 
from  the  modern  crude  drug  of  the  same  species  is  not  made  ap- 
parent, but  alkaloids  are  remotely  "suggested"  as  being  an  im- 
provement on  the  "old  crude  drugs."  And  there  is  the  coon  in 
this  wood  pile  of  Abbott's ! 

"Whatever  be  the  therapeutic  law  in  operation,"  writes  Dr. 
Abbott,  "no  results  that  are  definite  and  conclusive  can  be  based 
upon  agents  that  are  indefinite  and  variable."     Very  true !     And 


Editorial  43 

as  homoeopathic  drugs  when  indicated  always  act  they  must  be 
definite  and  invariable.  Deaths  must  occur  under  any  system  of 
medicine  (even  the  "alkaloidal"),  but  under  the  homoeopathic  the 
percentage  of  recoveries  is  greater  than  under  any  other,  the 
duration  of  illness  and  the  after  condition  of  the  patient  far  better. 
Finally,  who  can  say  that  the  alkaloids  are  like  the  laws  of  the 
IVDedes  and  Persians  ?  They  are,  at  least,  bully  money  makers  for 
those  who  know  how  to  exploit  them. 

California  Olive  Oil. — The  California  growers  of  olives  and 
makers  of  olive  oil  are  a  very  progressive  and  aggressive  set  of 
men,  and  their  industry  is  to  be  commended.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, they  go  to  what  seems  to  be  absurd  lengths  in  making  state- 
ments that  are  not  only  untrue  but  ridiculous.  Here  is  one  of 
them  from  a  pamphlet  issued  by  one  of  the  California  olive  oil 
companies  :  "Imported  olive  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  use."  State- 
ments like  this  will  re-act  on  the  California  men  to  their  hurt.  It 
is  a  matter  of  fact  that  you  cannot  have  an  adulterated  olive  oil 
pass  the  Custom  House  as  olive  oil.  On  the  other  hand,  you  can 
buy  a  pure  olive  oil  from  the  importers,  adulterate  it  as  you  please 
and  label  it  "pure  olive  oil,"  just  as  you  can  with  California  oil. 
In  the  matter  of  quality  we  can  truthfully  state  that  the  finest  im- 
ported olive  oil  compares  with  the  finest  California  oil  somewhat 
as  a  fine  cabinet  Rhine  wine  compares  with  the  California  prod- 
uct, which  sells  at  25  cents  a  gallon  wholesale ;  the  latter  is  pure, 
but  when  compared  with  the  former  is  raw  and  crude. 

We  were  recently  shown  a  bottle  of  what  was  sold  for  the  very 
best  California  olive  oil;  it  had  turned  rancid  in  three  months. 
The  best  grade  of  imported  olive  oil  will  keep  sweet  and  retain  its 
delicate  flavor  for  three  or  four  years.  It  is  just  as  in  wine;  a 
really  fine  wine  improves  with  age,  while  a  raw,  crude  article  will 
turn  sour,  though  it  be  pure  wine. 

Another  point.  We  were  recently  shown  two  bottles  of  a  lead- 
ing make  of  California  olive  oil — one  was  sold  for  a  quart  of 
olive  oil,  the  other  for  a  pint.  A  standard  quart  bottle  was  pro- 
cured, and  the  California  quart  was  poured  into  it;  when  all  was 
in  the  standard  quart  bottle  was  two-thirds  full.  Same  with  the 
pint,  yet  both  were  sold  for  a  full  quart  and  a  full  pint.  If  you 
doubt  this  try  it. 

Understand,  gentle  reader,  that  we  are  not  hostile  to  the  Cali- 


44  Editorial. 

fornia  olive  oil  industry,  but  wish  it  continued  and  great  pros- 
perity. That  prosperity,  however,  will  be  retarded  by  maligning 
a  better  article  instead  of  learning  how  to  equal  it.  Would  also 
suggest  that  it  is,  in  the  long  run,  bad  business  policy  to  sell  two- 
thirds  of  a  quart  for  a  quart.  We  admit  that  these  bottles  are 
not  labelled  "quarts"  or  "pints,"  but  they  are  sold  for  quarts  and 
pints,  though,  of  course,  this  may  not  be  the  fault  of  the  growers. 

Diagnosis. — Dr.  Herman  Hawkins  contributes  an  interesting 
paper  to  the  November  number  of  the  Medical  Summary  on  the 
errors  made  by  physicians  in  diagnosis,  or,  rather,  lack  of  diagno- 
sis.   One  peculiar  case  was  as  folow  s  : 

"I  know  a  physician  who  tested  a  single  unfiltered  specimen  of 
his  own  urine  with  heat  and  acid,  found  albumin  or  thought  he 
did,  and  promptly  went-  into  a  decline  because  of  the  mental  im- 
pression produced.  It  has  required  two  years  of  time  and  re- 
peated tests  by  several  laboratory  experts  to  convince  him  of  the 
error  of  his  diagnosis." 

The  Eddyites  could,  and  rightly,  make  great  capital  out  of  this. 
When. the  man  was  convinced  that  the  albumin  existed  in  his 
mind  only  the  trouble  was  over.  But  the  other  side  of  the  shield 
— suppose  the  albumin,  and  all  it  stands  for,  had  been  present? 
Believing  that  it  was  not  present  when  it  was  present  would  not 
have  changed  matters.  It  is  only  in  such  cases  as  related  by  Dr. 
Hawkins  that  the  Eddyites  can  perform  their  "miracles." 

The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  is  that  physicians  should  pay 
more  attention  to  this  branch  of  medicine  and  should  get  the 
latest  and  best  book  on  the  subject;  that  book  unquestionably  is 
Bartlett  s  Diagnosis.     It  is  a  mighty  help  in  any  office. 

Advice  to  Medical  Students. — Dr.  Willis  G.  Tucker,  of  the 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  Medical  College,  gave  the  following  advice  to  the 
students  in  his  anual  address : 

"I  beg  you  to  listen  to  me  when  I  say  that  you  can  make  no 
greater  mistake  at  the  outset  in  your  course  than  to  attempt  to 
inject  into  the  medical  school  any  of  the  boyish  frivolities  or 
foolish  customs  that  obtain  and  that  may  even  be  encouraged  in 
high  schools  and  colleges.  Put  all  such  things  behind  you  for 
they  have  no  place  here.  If  you  have  not  'been  to  college'  do 
not,  I  beg  of  you,  suppose  that  the  medical  school  in  some  way  is 


Editorial.  45 

to  supply  an  imaginary  lack.     Don't  call  yourself  a  'freshman.' 
We  have  no  'freshman'  here.     Don't  do  the  foolish  things  that 
many  college  students  do  because  you  are  in  a  'college.'  ' 
Excellent  advice,  but  will  they  follow  it  ? 

Internal  Vaccination. — The  Hahnemannian  Monthly  for 
November  has  an  editorial  to  which  is  subjoined  a  letter  on  the 
subject.  The  Hahnemannian  very  properly  commends  the  In- 
stitute for  voting  down  a  resolution  endorsing  this  method  of 
vaccination,  when  "the  status  of  internal  vaccination  has  not  yet 
been  determined;"  but  per  contra,  the  Institute  does  not  seem  to 
have  taken  any  steps  to  investigate  this  matter,  which  is  not  a 
trivial  one. 

Dr.  Slocumb's  letter  appended  to  the  editorial  relates  how  he 
as  health  officer  at  Brighton,  Colorado,  was  almost  daily  ex- 
posed to  small-pox,  and  as  a  preventive  took  a  dose  after  each 
exposure  of  Vaccininum,  but  for  all  that  contracted  the  disease, 
not  severely,  but  was  in  the  pest-house  for  twelve  days  in  con- 
sequence. To  some  this  may  not  seem  like  a  very  strong  argu- 
ment, owing  to  the  literal  fact  that  hundreds  of  thousands  who 
have  been  vaccinated  by  scarification  have  contracted  the  disease 
and  large  numbers  of  these  have  died  of  it.  But  we  did  not 
start  out  to  defend  any  special  form  of  vaccination,  but  to  explain 
the  different  substances  used  in  internal  vaccination. 

Vaccininum  is  the  vaccine  virus,  used  in  scarification,  triturated 
up  to  the  6x  in  sugar  of  milk  and  then  run  up  in  the  usual  man- 
ner to  the  30th  centesimal  potency.    This  is  what  Dr.  Moore  used. 

Variolinum  is  the  contents  of  small-pox  pustule  treated  in  the 
same  manner.  This  is  the  remedy  that  Dr.  A.  M.  Linn  used  so 
successfully  in  Des  Moines,  la.,  and  which  the  Supreme  Court  of 
that  State  decided  was  a  legal  vaccination. 

Malandrinum  is  the  "horse  grease"  treated  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  two  preceding  nosodes.  This  is  the  substance,  or  virus, 
that  Jenner  said  was  the  origin  of  cow-pox,  being  transferred 
from  the  horse  to  the  cow  by  the  milkers. 

These  are  the  three  nosodes  used  in  "internal  vaccination."  but 
only  Variolinum  has  legal  sanction;  Malandrinum  has  many  ad- 
vocates; so  has  Vaccininum,  but  as  the  latter  is  a  rather  variable 
substance — owing  to  maker  or  cow — it  is  the  most  doubtful  one 
of  the  three. 

A  Suit  for  Damages. — A  St.  Louis  proprietory  factory  has 


46  Editorial. 

brought  suit  against  a  Memphis  doctor  for  damages.    They  aver 
that : 

"Complainant  respectfully  shows  unto  your  honor  that  it  has 
expended  a  large  sum  of  money  for  its  formulae  and  for  the 
compounding  and  preparation  of  the  same,  and  by  strict,  pro- 
gressive business  methods,  conforming  in  every  particular  to  the 
ethics  of  such  business,  it  has  spent  and  is  spending  a  large  sum 
of  money  in  the  legitimate  advertising  of  its  preparations,  and  as 
a  result  it  has  a  patronizing  territority,  covering  all  of  the  South- 
ern States,  and  indeed  all  of  the  United  States  and  territories  and 
many  foreign  countries.  It  has  built  up  and  is  enjoying  a  large 
and  lucrative  business  throughout  the  said  territory." 

As  Mr.  Squeers  would  say  "here's  richness !"  The  com- 
plainants aver  that  they  have  spent  large  sums  of  money  on  their 
affairs  and  in  advertising  same  according  "to  the  ethics  of  such 
business,"  consequently  they  feel,  as  shown  subsequently,  no 
mere  doctor  has  the  right  to  butt  in  and  spoil  that  business,  which 
is  conducted  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  "ethics"  of  the  pro- 
prietory, alias,  patent  medicine  business.  This  may  be  a  shrewd 
stroke  for  free  advertising,  or  it  may  be  that  the  medicine  men 
really  feel  that  they  have  a  grievance  worthy  of  damages,  though 
whether  they  can  collect,  assuming  that  they  get  judgment,  is 
quite  another  question. 

The  shrewd  patent  medicine  man  calmly  ignores  doctors,  medi- 
cal journals,  Collier's  Weeklies  and  the  like,  for  these  are  all  as 
ephemeral  as  the  morning  glories,  while  his  dope,  if  advertised, 
goes  on  while  honest  doctors  rage  in  vain.  For  as  the  man  in  a 
recent  play,  the  man  who  fixed  up  a  hidden  barrel  full  of  water 
and  old  boots  and  other  refuse  and  piped  it  down  to  his  hotel 
where  the  public  eagerly  drank  it.  and  the  viler  it  was  the  louder 
they  lauded  it — the  man  in  the    play  said    "De  bublic    be    such 

d n  fools."     Of  course,  it  was  only  in  the  play  this  was  said ; 

let  that  be  distinctly  understood — only  the  man  in  the  play  said 
it. 

A  New  Union. — The  press  dispatches  announce  that  the 
doctors  of  Boston  have  formed  a  "trade  union"  and  advanced 
their  scale  25  per  cent.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  affairs  will  not 
come  the  pass  depicted  in  Dr.  W.  Harvey  King's  clever  book- 
let, Medical  Union  66,  or  that  the  members  of  the  new  union  will 
not  be  prohibited  from  charging  more  than  the  scale  as  is  done  in 
sure  enough  trades  union. 


General  Items. 


CURRENT    ITEMS. 

Dr.  A.  A.  Stowell,  Lawrence,  Mass.,  has  op  ■>.  ',  an  office  at 
448  Main  St.,  Fitchburg,  Mass. 

Dr.  J.  J.  Lawrence  has  sold  out  his  Media:'  ..  vef,  after  thirty- 
five  years'  work  as  its  editor,  and  will  ret'.,:  from  all  business. 
Henry  R.  Strong  is  his  successor. 

The  students  of  Ann  Arbor  have  o.^anized  the  Samuel  A. 
Jones  Medical  Society  of  the  Univer  _ty  of  Michigan.  If  they 
follow  his  writings  they  will  be  so\:id  physicians  and  homoeo- 
paths to  boot. 

B.  &  T.  received  commendation  for  their  "Jottings"  from  far 
off  Japan,  and,  incidentally,  an  order  for  Gregg's  Consumption. 

The  address  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Dowling,  Secretary  of  the  Faculty  of 
the  New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College,  is  now  at  the  Col- 
lege, 63d  street  and  avenue  A,  New  York  City.  Attention  is 
called  to  the  change  of  the  College's  advertisement  on  last  cover 
page  of  this  issue  of  the  Recorder. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  received  by  Messrs. 
Boericke  &  Tafel,  145  Grand  St.,  New  York.  There  seems  to  be 
something  in  this  treatment:  "Will  you  please  send  me  two  bot- 
tles of  your  Phytolacca  Berry  Tablets.  Since  my  husband  has 
been  taking  them  he  has  not  much  reduced  in  flesh  as  yet,  but  he 
finds  he  can  handle  himself  so  much  better  than  he  did.  Before 
he  took  them  it  was  almost  impossible  to  get  down  to  unlace  his 
shoes,  now  he  thinks  nothing  of  putting  his  foot  across  his  knee ; 
it  also  has  helped  his  short  breath.  He  could  not  hurry  up  or 
down  stairs  without  being  out  of  breath,  and  he  is  so  much  better 
that  way  that  I  do  not  worry  for  fear  he  will  drop  dead  without 
warning,  so  we  are  going  to  give  them  a  good  trial.  You  will 
find  inclosed,"  etc.,  etc.  All  this  is  a  confirmation  of  what  Dr.  W. 
M.  Griffith  wrote  concerning  the  phytolacca  berry  treatment  over 
fifteen  years  ago. 

Please  note  change  in  the  card  of  the  excellent  Bovinine  Co. 
this  month. 

We  have  received  a  newspaper  clipping  announcing  the  death 
of  Dr.  Joseph  A.  Bigler,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  at  his  late  residence, 
60  Clinton  avenue,  South.  Dr.  Bigler  was  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  '57,  but  a  sound  and  successful  prac- 
titioner of  Homoeopathy  for  many  years. 


PERSONAL. 


What  is  the  specific  difference  between  a  "specific  tincture  and  the  ordi- 
nary fluid  extract?" 

No,  Mary,  a  muffler  will  not  subdue  a  loud  suit  of  clothes. 

An  honestly  made  fresh  plant  mother  tincture  is  the  best  tincture  phar- 
macy can  produce. 

Men  give  a  silent  sigh  of  relief  when  the  dreary  drool  of  the  whistler 
ceases. 

The  postage  stamp  has  the  gift  of  sticking  to  one  thing. 

Jokes  at  the  expense  of  the  medical  profession  are  musty  and  in  bad 
form. 

Airs.  Eddy  ought  to  write  a  book  on  How  to  Succeed. 

If  every  one  paid  his  small  bills  hard  times  would  vanish.  But  every 
one  won't. 

"Next  train  at  6."  "I'll  take  it  if  you  will  say  5:48,"  said  the  "bargain" 
hunter,  absent  mindedly. 

An  "esteemed"  tells  us  that  Methuselah  "never  had  a  cold."  Wonder 
how  he  found  it  out. 

A  baker  kneads  dough ;  so  do  many  others. 

When  a  man  goes  South  for  the  winter  he  generally  finds  it. 

"You  can  always  tell  an  Englishman,"  said  a  friend.  "Yes,  but  it  is 
useless,"  replied  George  Ade. 

"A  sausage,"  remarked  the  funny  man  on  the  stage,  "is  a  Elamburger 
steak  in  tights." 

The  Romans  said  that  only  "kings  and  fools  could  do  as  they  pleased.'' 

The  use  of  pure  olive  oil  is  more  than  a  passing  fad,  it  steadily  grows  as 
its  merits  become  more  generally  known. 

If  we  thought  it  would  do  any  good  we  would  ask  our  readers  to  write: 
"My  experience  with  olive  oil."     Why  not? 

A  Sunday  newspaper  rebuking  Sabbath  violators  causes  the  average  man 
to  smile. 

You  may  eat  bran  bread;  you  may  go  well  fed,  but  the  undertaker  gets 
you  just  the  same. 

The  average  memory  is  a  lumber  room  where  you  cannot  find  what  you 
seek. — Rusk  in. 

"Knowldege,"  says  Ruskin.  "is  a  mental  food  ;"  but  it  is  so  often  highly 
spiced  as  to  produce  mental  dyspepsia. 

The  man  who  is  pleasant  without  being  effusive  or  fawning  has  struck 
the  key-note  of  an  easy  life. 

Drinkers  and  tobacco  users  possess,  at  least,  the  merit  of  meekness*— 
they  are  railed  at  but  never  offer  any  defense. 

If  corsets  were  abolished  the  gynaecologist  would  have  lean  pickings. 

Why,  oh,  why.  sell  thy  stocks,  O  Financial  Agent,  at  a  song,  when  you 
know  they  are  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice? 

"Millions  of  mouths  look  to  the  trusts  for  food."  said  that  genial  Con- 
gressman and   Irishman,  Bourke  Cockran. 


THE 

Homeopathic  Recorder. 

Vol.  XXIII.      Lancaster,  Pa.,  February,  1908  No.  2 

HOMCEOPATHY  AND   SCIENTIFIC   MEDICINE. 

Dr.  William  Hanna  Thompson  contributes  a  very  interesting 
paper  to  a  recent  issue  of  Everybody's  Magazine  on  the  much 
talked  about  work  done  by  scientific  medicine,  as  it  is  universally 
termed. 

Laveran,  a  French  surgeon  in  Algiers,  in  the  year  1880,  "dem- 
onstrated that  malarial  fever  is  caused  by  an  animalcule  that  eats 
up  our  red  blood  corpuscles."  How  these  animalculse  get  there 
remained  unknown  until  it  was  further  demonstrated  "that  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  malaria  in  the  sense  of  a  bad  air,  but  that  the 
disease  is  due  solely  to  a  hypodermic  injection,  by  a  mosquito,  of 
a  dose  of  micro-organism.  There  are,  therefore,  no  unhealthy 
places  nor  climate,  as  such,  but  localities  instead  which  medical 
science  can  make  as  salubrious  as  any,  by  disinfection." 

"The  Pontine  marshes  in  Italy  had  always  been  celebrated  for 
malaria,  and  so  some  of  the  local  insects  there  with  handsome 
spots  on  their  wings  were  caught  by  Italian  savants  and  sent  to  a 
convent  in  the  Appenines,  whose  inmates  never  had  malaria. 
When  the  mosquitoes  were  let  loose  there  upon  some  men. 
straightway  the  men  had  ague."  Likewise  a  lot  of  these  mos- 
quitoes were  sent  to  London,  where  also  they  produced  cases  of 
malaria  in  those  they  bit.  Then  a  commission  of  English  doctors 
camped  in  those  deadly  marshes  for  a  year,  but  keeping  well 
screened  from  the  mosquitoes,  did  not  contract  the  malaria.  Es- 
sentially the  same  experience  was  gone  through  with  yellow  fever, 
which  was  similarly  and  seemingly  proved  to  be  caused  by  mos- 
quito bites.    All  this  leads  Dr.  Thompson  to  assert  that  "there  is 


50  Homoeopathy  and  Scientific  Medicine. 

no  miasm."  He  also  realizes  that  even  this  seemingly  conclusive 
demonstration  runs  him  up  against  a  stone  wall,  "which,  however, 
was  the  first  to  harbor  these  sickening  things,  is  like  the  old  ques- 
tion whether  the  egg  preceded  the  hen  or  the  hen  the  egg." 

As  the  matter  now  stands  the  mosquito  sucks  the  animalcule 
from  the  body  of  some  one  down  with  malaria  or  yellow  fever, 
and  conveys  it  to  another  man,  and  so  on,  an  endless  chain. 

All  this  does  not  by  any  means  conclusively  prove  that  mos- 
quitoes are  the  cause  of  malaria  and  yellow  fever,  though  it 
does  prove  that  these  insects  may  be  the  means  of  conveying  them. 
There  is  also  room  for  doubt  that  the  animalculae  said  to  be  the 
real  cause  of  malaria  are  the  cause  at  all,  even  though  they  be 
always  present  in  every  case.     (Are  they?) 

There  are  well  authenticated  cases  where  malaria  has  raged  in 
mid-winter  where  extensive  excavations  have  been  made.  There 
were  no  mosquitoes  about,  nor  had  been  for  weeks.  It  looked 
very  much  like  an  epidemic  of  malaria  caused  by  the  now  re- 
jected miasm.  If  the  animalculae  were  also  present  in  these  cases 
then  it  seems  that  these  are  caused  by  the  action  of  the  miasm  on 
the  blood,  doesn't  it? 

There  are  great  regions  in  the  south  where  malaria  was  always 
more  or  less  in  evidence.  Finally,  with  no  thought  of  ridding  the 
country  of  malaria,  driven  wells  came  into  use  for  the  sake  of 
getting  pure  drinking  water.  Where  this  was  used  malaria  dis- 
appeared, though  there  were  as  many  mosquitoes  present  as  ever. 
This  seems  to  disprove  the  mosquito  theory,  and  also  that  of 
miasm,  and  put  the  cause  of  the  disease  on  the  water  used,  this,  or 
back  of  all  these  is  an  undiscovered  cause.  Science  has  been  do- 
ing some  good  work  in  looking  into  some  of  the  means  by  which 
disease  may  be  conveyed,  but  the  cause  remains  a  closed  door. 
Considering  the  fact  that  malaria  is  generally  found  in  hot  coun- 
tries where  vegetation  is  rank,  or  follows  the  upturning  of  new 
soil,  it  looks  as  though  the  old  idea  that  it  is  the  result  of  decay- 
ing vegetation  is  about  as  good  as  any. 

That  mosquitoes  can  convey  yellow  fever  has  been  demon- 
strated, but  that  they  are  the  cause  of  the  disease  is  open  to  very 
great  doubt.  During  the  late  Civil  War  in  the  United  States, 
after  New  Orleans  had  been  captured,  it  was  found  that  yellow 
fever  was  very  prevalent  there.  General  Butler  had  the  city 
thoroughlv  cleaned'  up  and  the  fever  disappeared.     So  the  old 


Homoeopathy  and  Scientific  Medicine.  51 

notion  that  yellow  fever  comes  from  a  combination  of  tilth,  crowd- 
ing and  hot  weather,  seems  still  as  tenable  as  any  other  theory. 

One  of  the  real  triumphs  of  modern  medicine  occurred  at 
Bellevue  Hospital.  Xew  York.  A  resolution  was  passed  discon- 
tinuing all  amputations  at  that  hospital  because  they  were  always 
followed  by  death,  while  at  the  modern  hospitals  the  operation 
was  uniformly  successful.  When  the  wards  were  rebuilt  it  was 
found  that  operations  could  be  performed  at  Bellevue  as  suc- 
cessfully as  at  any  other  hospital.  The  cause  of  this  was  known 
to  the  ancients,  as  Dr.  Thompson  points  out.  as  in  the  book  of 
Leviticus,  where  the  plastering  on  the  walls  of  a  house  occupied 
by  a  leper  is  ordered  to  be  burned. 

For  years  what  is  known  as  Malta,  or  Mediterranean,  fever  has 
been  known,  and  thousands  have  suffered  or  died  from  its  effects. 
In  1905  the  British  Government  sent  a  commission  to  investigate 
the  matter,  and  it  was  found  that  the  cause  was  a  bacterium 
found  in  the  goat's  milk  used  there.  Condensed  milk  was  sub- 
stituted in  the  British  garrison  and  the  fever  at  once  ceased. 

Similarly  it  was  found  that  the  so-called  Texas  fever  afflicting 
cattle  originated  in  a  bacteria  found  in  a  certain  district  in  Kan- 
sas. Some  of  these  parasites  were  sent  to  various  parts  of  the 
country  and  healthy  cattle  infected  with  them  ;  Texas  fever  fol- 
lowed in  every  instance.  When  this  district  was  avoided  the 
fever  ceased. 

Very  many  other  instances  oi  the  invaluable  work  accom- 
plished in  these  directions  might  be  cited,  but  they  are  mostly 
familiar  to  all.  The  money  spent  in  forwarding  this  class  of 
work  is  well  spent,  none  better,  as  witness  the  marvelous  things 
■accomplished  by  the  Japanese  Medical  Corps  in  the  war  between 
that  country  and  Russia ;  it  was  a  revelation  to  even  the  best 
medically  equipped  armies. 

But  while  modern  medicine  has  done  so  much  in  the  preven- 
tion of  disease,  preventive  medicine,  what  of  curative  medicine" 
Here  assurance  and  certainty  ceases  and  confusion  and  uncer- 
tainty reigns.  It  can  do  much  to  prevent  cholera,  yellow  fever 
and  the  like,  but  when  cases  do  occur,  which  seems  inevitable,  it 
can  do  practically  nothing  but  intelligently  nurse  and  feed  the 
case.  Here  is  where  Homoeopathy  rightfully  has  its  place  as  the 
mceopathy  has  been  as  brilliantly  successful  in  curing  as  modern 
twin  and  elder  sister  of  what  we  call  modern  medicine.     Ho- 


52  Baptisia — Pyrogenium. 

medicine  has  in  preventing  diseases  of  microbic  origin,  such  as 
Asiatic  cholera,  yellow  fever,  malaria  and  others.  The  fact  of  the 
power  of  Homoeopathy  and  of  its  existence  is  beginning  to  be 
acknowledged  by  the  real  thinkers  in  medicine  in  Germany  and 
France,  but  the  great  rank  and  file  stand  hostile  or  indifferent. 
Yet  the  day  will  come,  must  come,  when  Homoeopathy  will  take 
its  place  as  the  peer  of  preventive  medicine.  Men  will  not 
forever  let  prejudice  debar  them  from  a  means  by  which  they 
may  be  restored  to  health. 

The  exceedingly  great  power  of  the  similimum  over  disease, 
great  though  acting  so  mildly,  is  one  obstacle  to  the  more  uni- 
versal acknowledgment  of  its  truth.  A  man  is  "hopelessly"  ill. 
The  similimum  promptly  cures  him.  The  man  rubs  his  eyes  and 
thinks  the  doctors  who  pronounced  the  case  hopeless  were  mis- 
taken. "Nothing  much  ailed  me."  The  doctors  shrug  their 
shoulders  and  say,  "Mistaken  diagnosis." 

In  an  age  of  enlightenment  this  cannot  last  forever. 


BAPTISIA— PYROGENIUM.* 
By  C.  M.  Boger,  M.  D. 

The  Baptisia  patient  shows  that  he  is  laboring  under  the  in- 
fluence of  an  intense  and  rapidly  acting,  systemic  infection,  which 
exalts  and  then  depresses  the  sensibilities,  ending  by  disorganiz- 
ing the  blood.  The  trend  of  the  Baptisia  sickness  is  toward  a 
typhoid  state.  It  moves  toward  malignancy  with  a  rapid  pace, 
and  is  peculiarly  suitable  for  sicknesses  which  quickly  prostrate 
the  patient ;  grippe,  typhoid  fever,  fulminating  fevers  and  ma- 
lignant diphtheria  are  good  examples. 

The  stage  of  excitement  is  ushered  in  by  chills  going  up  and 
down  the  back  alternating  with  an  intense,  burning  heat  of  the 
whole  body,  except  the  feet,  which  are  cold.*  The  heat  is  so  dis- 
tressing that  the  victim  instinctively  seeks  a  cool  place  in  the  bed 
or  goes  to  the  open  window  for  relief ;  even  the  air  of  the  room 
seems  hot  and  oppressive.  At  the  same  time  a  peculiar,  general, 
bruised,  muscular  soreness  comes  on  and  causes  restlessness,  the 
softest  bed  seems  too  hard,  it  even  extends  to  the  eyeballs,  they 
turn  red,  feel  bruised  and  pain  when  moved. 

*Notes  of  lectures  delivered  at  Pulte  Medical  College. 


Baptisia — Pyrogenium.  53 

After  awhile  the  fever  becomes  continuous,  causing  the  face  to 
flush  a  purplish  red,  and  it  looks  and  feels  besotted.  At  first  this 
only  amounts  to  an  undefined  wild  feeling',  but  very  soon  passes 
into  a  wandering  delirium  in  which  the  victim  laboriously  gathers 
together  various  imaginary,  scattered  objects  or  has  illusions  that 
parts  of  his  body  are  too  large  or  are  separated  from  the  rest,  and 
he  vainly  tries  to  replace  them.  Sometimes  this  sense  of  duality 
is  uppermost,  and  he  imagines  his  body  or  a  part  thereof  to  be 
double.     (Anac,  Lack.,  Phos.,  Stram.) 

In  fully  developed  cases,  the  temperature  runs  high,  prostration 
increases,  the  delirium  passes  into  stupor,  and  fetor  begins  to 
show  itself.  Probably  the  earliest  sign  of  this  is  the  filthy  taste 
of  which  the  patient  complains,  but  bleeding  from  the  nose  or 
gums  soon  follows,  and  a  little  later  the  mouth  is  filled  with 
offensive,  tenacious  mucus,  a  brown  stripe  forms  down  the  center 
of  the  tongue  {Am.,  Phos.,  Verat.  i'ir.),  and  sordes  are  seen  on 
the  teeth. 

Great  fetor  is  one  of  the  ear-marks  of  decomposition  as  well 
as  a  great  indicator  for  Baptisia.  Xot  only  is  there  a  bad  odor 
from  the  mouth,  but  the  stool  smells  putrid,  and  the  whole  body 
emits  an  unwholesome  emanation.  It  encourages  putrid  de- 
composition whatever  the  disease  may  be.  The  menstrual  blood 
is  chocolate  brown  and  offensive  (Bry.). 

The  purplish  hue  of  the  face  is  part  and  parcel  of  what  may  be 
seen  elsewhere.  Under  certain  circumstances  the  mucous  mem- 
brane looks  dark,  at  other  times  fleeting,  livid  discolorations  are 
seen  in  various  parts  of  the  skin. 

Most  of  the  pains  are  of  an  aching,  bruised  character,  and  are 
more  intense  in  the  occiput  and  along  the  back ;  on  the  other  hand, 
perversions  of  sensation  are  more  marked  in  the  extremities. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  the  early  stages  of  acute  disease ;  when 
they  become  well  established  Baptisia  cases  are  very  apt  to  tend 
toward  insensibility  and  painlessness  (  Opium)  combined  with 
sluggish  mental  operations  or  stupor.  Painless,  blue  ulcers 
{Opium  ) . 

It  has  developed  pains  in  the  region  of  the  gall  bladder  very 
similar  to  those  of  Leptandra  and  Dioscorea.  Other  things  be- 
ing equal,  we  should  prefer  it  to  the  latter  when  symptoms  of 
biliary  intoxication  appear. 

In  rachialgic  pains  it  should  be  compared  with  Phytolacca  and 
Variolinum. 


54  Baptisia — Pyrogenium. 

Baptisia,  Aconite  or  Veratrum  viride  are  sometimes  used 
merely  to  reduce  very  high  temperatures.  This  is  not  strictly 
homoeopathic,  although  it  may  occasionally  be  useful. 

Pyrogen. 

The  Pyrogen  in  general  use  in  this  country  was  prepared  from 
septic  pus  by  the  late  Dr.  Swan,  and  proved  in  the  highest  poten- 
cies by  Dr.  Sherbino,  who,  because  of  having  had  blood  poisoning 
twenty-seven  years  before,  was  evidently  highly  sensitive  to  its 
action. 

It  can  not  be  too  strongly  emphasized  that  finer  drug  effects  are 
developed  late  and  as  rare  symptoms  in  the  ordinary  prover  or 
appear  with  great  distinctness  in  sensitives.  Because  a  number  of 
provers  obtain  but  few  or  unimportant  manifestations  simply 
shows  their  relative  imperviousness. 

With  Pyrogen  it  is  now  possible  to  make  direct  cures  of  cases 
which  were  formerly  cured  in  a  roundabout  way  with  Eupa- 
torium,  Arnica  and  Rhus  tox.  or  Arsenicum,  by  treating  first  one 
group  of  symptoms  and  then  another.  Its  pathogenetic  action 
greatly  resembles  that  of  the  combined  characteristics  of  these 
remedies  in  that  it  causes  an  aching  in  the  bones  as  if  they  would 
break,  bruised  soreness  of  the  flesh  and  restlessness ;  picturing  a 
blood  infection  in  which  the  pulse  soon  becomes  accelerated  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  height  of  the  temperature  or  the  severity 
of  the  other  symptoms.  The  heart  seems  to  feel  the  brunt  of  the 
attack,  and  its  action  is  greatly  increased. 

Cases  of  sickness  showing  such  a  disproportion  in  the  pulse 
rate  are  not  necessarily  recent,  but  they  are  always  serious.  Acute 
diseases,  in  constitutions  already  enfeebled  by  some  previous 
blood  poisoning  process,  are  apt  to  present  such  features.  It  is 
then  usually  necessary  to  antidote  the  effects  of  the  older  infection 
with  Lachesis,  Pyrogen,  etc.,  before  the  best  progress  can  be  made 
with  a  later  disease. 

The  Pyrogen  patient  is  sensitive  to  cold  to  quite  a  degree ;  un- 
covering or  putting  the  hand  from  under  the  cover  makes  the  pa- 
tient worse  or  causes  sneezing.  This  distinguishes  it  from  Lach- 
esis and  compels  comparison  with  Hepar,  Nux  vomica  and  Rhus 
tox. 

The  resemblance  to  Rhus  tox.  is  often  verv  close,  both  have  an 


Clinical  Cases  From   the  Orient.  55 

impulse  to  move  because  the  bed  feels  too  hard,  laborious  dreams 
of  business  and  relief  in  the  act  of  motion,  but  the  Rhus  case  is 
distinctly  worse  in  the  after  part  of  the  night,  and  is  very  likely 
to  have  a  history  of  having  been  wet. 

A  few  doses  of  Pyrogen  in  a  high  potency  is  a  favorite  prescrip- 
tion with  many  practitioners  upon  seeing  the  very  first  signs  of 
puerperal  infection,  and  the  results  are  good.  In  auto-infection 
it  is  among  the  first  remedies  to  be  thought  of,  unless  some  other 
is  well  indicated.  The  kidney  symptoms  are  worthy  of  notice. 
The  urine  deposits  a  red,  adherent  sediment  or  one  looking  like 
red  pepper.  It  has  cured  several  cases  of  Bright's  disease,  at  least 
one  of  which  followed  the  absorption  of  pus. 

It  causes  a  sensation  as  if  the  nails  would  fly  off  (Apis),  and  it 
is  probably  more  than  an  interesting  coincidence  that  nearly  all  of 
the  remedies  which  have  falling  off  of  the  nails  also  stand  in  the 
front  rank  in  Bright's  disease. 

In  puerperal  infections  it  should  be  carefully  differentiated 
from  Rhus  toxicodendron,  which  is  best  suited  to  advanced  cases 
when  the  tongue  becomes  red  and  dry  at  the  tip,  the  restlessness 
is  worse  after  midnight,  and  the  mind  is  no  longer  properly  alert 
to  the  situation.  In  such  cases  a  tenacious  adherence  to  Rhus 
will  bring  the  best  resulfs. 


CLINICAL  CASES  FROM  THE   ORIENT. 

A  Case  of  Dysentery. 

By  K.  L.  Gupta,  M.  D. 

In  the  evening  of  the  23d  of  July,  1906,  I  was  called  in  to  see  a 
widow  lady  aged  about  twenty.  I  learned  that  she  had  passed  not 
less  than  thirty  stools  of  bloody  mucus  during  the  previous  night 
and  the  morning  following.  She  had  much  tenesmus  during  and 
after  stool.  The  thirst  was  almost  absent.  The  thermometer  in- 
dicated the  temperature  of  the  body  to  be  102.40.  There  was  no 
tenesmus  vesicae.  She  got  four  doses  of  Merc.  sol.  6c.  that  night. 
The  following  morning  she  was  no  better.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
addition  to  the  troubles  stated  above,  she  complained  of  a  feeling 
of  excoriation  about  the  anus.  That  night  she  had  passed  forty- 
five  bloody  stools. 


56  Clinical  Cases  From  the  Orient. 

Finding  that  the  case  improved  not  in  the  least,  I  changed  the 
medicine,  and  prescribed  Sulphur  30th,  she  having  received  only 
two  doses  of  the  remedy.  The  following  morning  I  found  her 
state  as  bad  as  before,  she  having  passed  nearly  seventy  stools 
during  the  last  twenty-four  hours.  That  morning  I  found  the 
stools,  which  she  had  passed  during  the  preceding  night,  con- 
sisted of  nothing  but  thick,  white  pus,  the  quantity  being  not  less 
than  a  pound.  I  was  also  given  to  understand  that  in  the  morn- 
ing the  mucopurulent  stools  alternated  with  offensive,  bloody 
stools  containing  small  black  balls  of  hard  faeces.  The  high  tem- 
perature of  the  body  still  persisted.  The  patient  then  began  to 
complain  of  intolerable  lancinating  pain  in  the  intestines.  On 
palpation  I  found  the  whole  of  the  transverse  colon  hard  and  ex- 
tremely sore  to  touch.  She  also  complained  of  burning  in  soles 
and  palms.  All  the  above  symptoms  clearly  pointed  to  Sulphur. 
But  as  Sulphur  had  already  been  used  in  the  30th  potency  with  no 
effect  whatever,  I  hesitated  to  prescribe  it  again.  But  finding  no 
other  remedy  to  fit  the  case  so  well  I  determined  to  try  Sulphur 
high.  So  Sulphur  was  exhibited  in  the  200th  potency.  The 
effect  was  magical.  The  next  morning  I  found  the  fever  was 
gone,  and  was  given  to  understand  that  all  the  complaints  had 
gradually  disappeared,  and  that  she  was  feeling  hungry.  She  had 
passed  only  ten  stools  during  the  last  twenty-four  hours,  the  last 
one  or  two  of  them  being  bilious,  and  having  not  the  least  trace 
either  of  blood  or  pus. 

It  must  be  mentioned  here  that  the  application  of  a  hot  poultice 
of  the  husks  of  wheat  on  the  abdomen  had  been  recommended  at 
the  time  when  the  pain  in  the  abdomen  became  intolerable. 

Camphor  in  Colic. 

On  the  17th  of  June,  1906,  I  went  to  a  widowed  lady,  nearly 
sixty  years  old,  who  had  been  suffering  from  a  violent  colic  for 
the  last  three  hours.  She  had  taken  Halna  (a  preparation  of 
flour  and  clarified  butter)  the  preceding  night,  the  following  day 
being  the  eleventh  day  of  the  moon,  which  is  strictly  observed  for 
fasting  by  the  Hindu  widows.  I  found  the  old  lady  almost  mad 
with  the  pain,  which  she  seemed  to  locate  under  the  hypochondria. 
I  learned  that  she  had  had  four  or  five  purgings  and  vomitings  in 
the  morning.  But  the  purging  and  vomiting  had  entirely  stopped 
for  the  last  four  or  five  hours.    She  also  had  passed  no  urine  dur- 


Clinical  Cases  From  the  Orient.  57 

ing  all  this  time.  First  I  prescribed  Pulsatilla  30th,  then  Aconite 
ix,  but  to  no  effect.  I  was  informed  that  the  colic  was  rather  in- 
creasing. I  was  again  called  in,  and  on  examination  I  found  no 
distention  of  the  abdomen.  But  the  pulse  was  very  weak.  The 
extremities  were  cold.  She  also  complained  of  burning  within, 
although  external  coldness  made  her  feel  chilly.  She  was  found 
rolling  on  the  floor.  I  prescribed  spirit  camphor  in  drop  doses, 
and  gave  only  three  doses  of  it.  Within  half  an  hour  after  the 
exhibition  of  the  first  dose  she  passed  urine  and  the  colic  had 
almost  subsided  before  the  repetition  of  the  dose,  which  was  given 
an  hour  and  a  half  later.  The  second  dose  cured  her  completely 
of  the  colic. 

Nyctanthes  in  Fever.     "Nothing  Ailed   Him." 

In  January,  1906,  Babu  D.,  aged  about  forty-five,  and  belong- 
ing to  a  high  aristocratic  family,  came  under  my  treatment  for  an 
acute  attack  of  bilious  fever.  Although  the  man  himself  had  no 
faith  in  Homoeopathy,  I  was  called  in  by  his  relatives,  who  had 
much  faith  in  the  method  of  treatment  of  the  new  school.  It  was 
nearly  8:30  P.  M.  when  I  first  saw  him.  Finding  the  two-fold 
task  of  curing  the  patient  of  a  noble  family  and  of  convincing  a 
skeptic  in  the  efficiency  of  the  dynamic  remedies,  I  sat  down  to 
study  up  the  case  most  carefully.  Learning  that  his  son-in-law, 
who  was  a  civil  surgeon,  practicing  in  Calcutta,  was  to  be  sent  a 
telegram  to  come  and  take  up  the  case,  I  determined  to  make  the 
man  all  right  before  the  arrival  of  his  son-in-law.  His  condition 
was  as  follows :  There  was  marked  anxiety  and  restlessness  about 
his  person.  A  continuous  moaning  seemed  to  indicate  some  in- 
describable pain  within.  He  had  intense  thirst.  But  the  water 
was  thrown  up  sometimes  after  it  was  taken.  He  was  troubled 
very  much  with  nausea  and  vomiting.  There  was  a  thick,  furred, 
white  coating  on  the  tongue.  The  liver  was  much  congested. 
The  temperature  of  the  body  was  103.40.  The  bowels  were  also 
constipated.  Sweat  was  totally  absent  since  he  had  had  the  at- 
tack, even  when  the  fever  abated.  Intense  frontal  headache  was 
present.  He  told  me  that  the  first  thing  that  I  must  do  for  him 
was  to  stop  his  nausea  and  vomiting.  He  also  wanted  to  have  his 
bowels  moved,  and  for  which  he  had  already  taken  an  indigenous 
purgative,  but  without  effect.     I  at  first  gave  him  a  dose  of  Sul- 


58  A  Medical  Cyclone. 

phur  in  the  30th  potency,  which  moved  his  bowels  once.  Three 
hours  after  the  exhibition  of  Sulphur  the  temperature  was  found 
to  be  1030.  I  then  prescribed  a  few  drops  of  Nyctanthis  ix  in  a 
cupful  of  water,  and  ordered  a  teaspoonful  of  it  to  be  taken  when 
there  was  tendency  to  vomiting.  The  next  day  at  about  2  P.  M.  I 
was  requested  by  his  relatives  to  come  and  see  the  patient  at  once, 
as  he  had  long  been  sleeping,  which  they  suspected  to  be  a  coma. 
When  I  got  to  the  patient  he  was  awake,  and  said  that  he  had  a 
very  refreshing,  sound  sleep  for  the  last  three  hours.  The  fever 
was  gone  and  he  was  perspiring  profusely  from  head  to  foot. 

It  is  really  amusing  to  state  what  happened  when  the  doctor 
son-in-law  made  his  appearance  next  evening  to  see  his  father-in- 
law  quite  at  ease  on  the  sofa.  The  only  remark  which  he  made 
and  which  I  think  worth  mentioning  is  that  there  had  been  noth- 
ing serious  with  him.  He  said  that  the  patient  most  probably  had 
been  a  little  feverish,  and  the  symptoms  appeared  to  be  so  much 
troublesome  to  him  because  he  was  an  opium  eater.  But  we  are 
sorry  to  say  we  failed  totally  to  understand  his  logic. 

Sahebgunge,  Bengal,  India. 


A   MEDICAL   CYCLONE. 

Under  the  heading,  "Vocation  or  Avocation,"  Dr.  George  M. 
Gould,  of  Philadelphia,  lets  go  a  blast  in  the  January  issue  of  the 
American  Journal  of  Clinical  Medicine  that  is  a  veritable  medi- 
cal cyclone.  Whatever  else  he  is,  Dr.  Gould  is  honest  and  has  the 
courage  of  his  convictions.  In  years  past  he  let  fly  at  Homoeop- 
athy, but  his  was  a  fair  stand-up  fight,  and  Homoeopathy  can 
stand  all  assaults  of  that  nature.  One  feature  in  Dr.  Gould's 
latest  effort,  this  time  directed  against  the  high-up  "regulars,"  is 
that  he  holds,  as  did  Hahnemann,  that  the  physician's  highest  and 
only  duty  is  to  heal  the  sick — not  fatten  on  them.  The  paper  is  a 
long  one — thirteen  pages — but  here  is  the  gist  of  it,  and  the  italics 
wherever  they  occur  are  Dr.  Gould's.  (The  paper  is  an  address 
delivered  before  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Syracuse,  N.  Y., 
University.)     This  is  the  beginning: 

"For  professional  education  and  medical  progress  one  small 
medical  college,  especially  if  located  in  a  little,  instead  of  a  large, 
city,  is  worth  any  two  big  medical  colleges.    As  a  rule,  the  greater 


A  Medical  Cyclone.  59 

the  size  of  the  classes,  the  more  famous  the  professors,  then  the 
more  unture  the  teaching,  the  more  immoral  both  teachers  and 
taught.  Success,  ambition,  politics,  greed,  conservatism,  the  dirty 
kind — are  more  certain  to  rule  the  minds  and  kill  the  hearts  of  the 
men  in  control  of  the  huge  institutions  than  those  of  the  small 
ones.  This  is  because  the  ambitious  self-seeker  and  medical  poli- 
tician chicanes  for  and  gets  the  professorship." 

"  The  Rich  Should  Help  the  Little  Colleges." 

"The  duty  of  the  rich  and  of  the  endowers  is,  therefore,  to 
avoid  helping  the  unwieldy  and  inethical  schools  with  their 
(often)  ill-gotten  wealth;  they  should  help  the  little  colleges. 
The  more  the  money  the  less  the  therapeutics.  Everyone  who  may 
influence  a  young  man  beginning  the  study  of  medicine  should  do 
his  best  to  keep  him  out  of  the  big  college  and  to  guide  him  into 
the  small  one.  The  greater  the  student  body,  the  worse  the  teach- 
ing. The  more  pompous  the  professor,  the  quicker  he  should  be 
laid  aside.  The  greater  the  boast  of  'science,'  the  more  really  un  - 
scientific.  When  professors  are  paid  enormous  salaries  by  lay 
commercial  companies,  their  science  is  pretty  sure  to  be  unscience. 
Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  professor  in  a  huge  political  medical  col- 
lege making  any  valuable  medical  discovery?  If  you  have  heard 
of  such  cases,  did  you  ever  personally  know  of  one?  And,  ac- 
cording to  some  of  the  members  of  the  Council  on  Medical  Edu- 
cation of  the  A.  M.  A.,  three-fourths  of  the  4,000  annual  gradu- 
ates of  American  medical  colleges  are  too  poorly  taught  to  prac- 
tice medicine  intelligently.  The  chairman  of  the  Council  says  5S 
per  cent,  of  those  who  fail  to  pass  the  State  boards  'cram  up'  and 
pass  the  examination  a  few  weeks  later.  Dr.  Ingalls  says  that  out 
of  150  American  medical  colleges  144  are  not  up  to  standard  in 
their  teaching.  Possibly  he  meant  the  six  were  the  six  biggest 
colleges.    If  so,  I  beg  leave  to  differ,  absolutely." 

"The  Charlatanism  of  the  Strutting  Professor." 

"Of  all  amusing  and  yet  disgusting  things  we  see  every  day  the 
most  egregious  is  the  fawning  upon  and  adulation  of  the  rich 
sick  and  the  sick  rich  by  our  hysteria  doctors  and  leading  con- 
sultants. Thousands  of  these  pitiful  patients  are  being  'rest- 
cured'  out  of  their  money  and  health  with  no  attempt  to  learn  the 


60  A  Medical  Cyclone. 

causes  of  their  diseases,  and  with  fear  that  the  known  causes  will 
become  widely  known.  As  a  profession  we  have  catered  to  this 
gallery-beloved  melodrama.  Our  professors  and  big-wigs  have 
played  the  game  of  strutting  before  the  groundlings  and  of  de- 
manding many-thousand-dollar  fees  for  cures  that  often  never 
cured,  and  for  operations  that  frequently  were  unnecessary.  The 
medical  profession  should  long  ago  have  stopped  this  quackery 
of  $5,000  and  $10,000  fees.  Every  one  of  us  knows  it  is  charla- 
tanism. The  science  and  skill  of  the  surgeon  and  the  great 
poseurs  is  no  greater,  is  often  not  so  great  as  the  science  and  skdl 
of  the  family  physician  who  for  weeks  or  months  or  years  com- 
bats or  conquers  the  common  disease.  *  *  *  The  brokers 
and  the  experts  are  like  unto  the  'great  authorities'  and  'pro- 
fessors.' If  you  have  a  little  hoarding  to  invest,  do  you  ask  the 
Jay  Goulds  and  the  Harrimans  what  to  do  with  it?  Whether  in 
finance  or  in  medicine,  the  safer  rule  nowadays  is  not.  Trust  the 
expert,  but  is,  rather,  Distrust  him!" 

He  next  turns  his  attention  to  "The  Degradation  of  Special- 
ism'' and  this  brings  up  the  question :  "Is  it  wise  to  have  killed 
the  family  physician?"  If  you  take  from  him  everything  from 
bellyaches  to  skin  diseases,  "what  is  left  the  poor  devils  which  the 
medical  colleges  are  turning  out  at  the  rate  of  four  thousand  a 
year?"    We  next  come  to 

"Shall  the  Professor  Pay  or  be  Paid  ?  " 

"Indeed,  is  it  not  becoming  plain  that  the  functions  of  a  pro- 
fessor in  a  medical  college,  and  especially  in  a  big  one,  are  so 
onerous  that  if  he  does  his  duty  to  the  students  and  the  hospital 
he  should  not  have  private  practice  ?  There  is  enough  work  con- 
nected with  the  hospital  to  keep  him  up  to  the  mark  in  clinical 
and  operative  progress.  He  must  read  and  study  more  than  is 
usually  possible  for  the  non-teacher,  and  his  lectures  and  instruc- 
tion should  be  made  over  afresh  each  year.  When  I  was  a  stu- 
dent we  all  had  the  same  lectures  repeated  each  year,  and  we 
knew  exactly  to  a  day  and  minute  when  that  old  story,  effete  joke, 
or  eloquent  admonition  would  invariably  appear.  Unless  the  pro- 
fessor is  properly  paid  he  cannot,  of  course,  agree  to  drop  pri- 
vate practice,  but  he  may  be  sufficiently  well  paid.  In  how  many 
colleges,  even  at  present,  do  the  professors  pay  the  institution  for 
the  privilege  of  teaching?     That's  the  way,  in  fact,  that  much 


A  Medical  Cyclone.  61 

private  practice  was  formerly  obtained,  and  is  the  sorry  custom 
entirely  dead?  The  unimaginable  infamy  and  deviltry  not  in- 
frequently exhibited  in  the  race  for  a  medical  professorship  are 
not  outdone  even  by  our  ward  bosses  and  legislators." 

The  next  section  is  in  a  manner  self-explanatory  in  its  heading. 

"Surgery  Should  Be  Appealed  to  Only  'When  Therapeutics 
is  Impossible." 

"When  I  was  studying  medicine,  and  also  while  an  assistant 
in  an  out-patient  department  of  the  hospital,  I  found  my  fellow- 
students  were  always  interested  in  operations.  They  would  crowd 
about  the  operator,  while  I  was  left  with  the  patients  who  had 
pain  or  organs  acting  badly ;  functional  diseases  did  not  interest 
them  much.  When  I  asked  what  caused  the  surgical  disease  I 
wras  stared  at  as  if  I  were  'cracked.'  When  I  asked  if  the  surgical 
disease  couldn't  be  prevented  it  was  evident  that  I  was  stark 
mad.  *  *  *  Surgery  is  the  despair  of  -curative  medicine, 
and  must  be  appealed  to  only  when  therapeutics  is  absolutely  im- 
possible." 

But  this  is  to-day  not  the  rule. 

"Using  Your  Position  to  Feed  Your  Fame." 

"Notwithstanding  this  and  without  my  solicitation  I  was  offer- 
ed two  hospital  positions  which  were  avidly  sought  by  others. 
After  accepting  one,  I  found  men  were  using  their  positions  to 
feed  their  surgical  fame,  and  that  the  "clinical  material'  of  hos- 
pitals was  considered  as  vivisection  material,  stuff  to  practice 
upon  to  turn  over  to  the  underlings  if  not  wanted  by  superiors, 
etc.  Indeed,  I  was  advised  by  my  superiors  to  have  the  poor  dis- 
pensary patients  come  to  my  office  and  sit  about  the  halls  and 
waiting  rooms  to  make  an  effect  upon  private  patients,  and  the 
rest.  Moreover,  I  could  get  some  money  out  of  the  poor  if  I 
worked  the  affair  cunningly.  My  answer  to  all  that  was — my 
resignation !  And  later  I  resigned  a  higher  position  as  visiting 
surgeon  because  I  found  that  there  was  here  no  attempt  a-t  dis- 
crimination between  the  needy  poor  and  those  who  could  paw" 

Dr.  Gould .  next  takes  up  "Common  Hospital  and  College 
Graft,"  and  has  some  horribly  bitter  things  to  say,  but  let  them 
pass.    Here  is  the  key-note  to  much  of  it — that  which  isn't  pelf: 


62  A  Medical  Cyclone. 

"Indeed,  for  a  long  time,  now,  the  Medusa  head  of  therapeutic 
pessimism  has  been  peeping  out  from  under  the  wig  of  anatomic 
pathology  and  medical  atheism.  The  pathologists  have  long  ago 
settled  it  that  there  is  really  no  functional  disease,  and  that  it  is 
only  our  microscopes  that  are  at  fault  when  we  cannot  discover 
the  bug  of  senility,  the  lesion  in  foolishness,  or  the  tumor  in 
megalomania.  The  gastrologists  practically  admit  that  the  sur- 
geons should  get  their  patients  after  they  have  thoroughly  pump- 
ed their  stomachs  and  purses.  But  at  last  the  neurologists  have 
come  into  the  open  and  have  flung  away  their  wigs.  Snakes  in- 
stead of  hair  are  not  pleasant  to  look  upon !  'Neurasthenia,'  it 
seems,  has  'passed;  and  with  it  hysteria — all  the  thousand  forms 
of  habitual  peculiarities  in  many  women  and  children.  Such 
patients,  one  and  all,  are  simply  insane,  and  there's  an  end  an't! 
What  a  world,  when  all  but  a  few  Americans  will  be  in  asylums 
commanded  by  the  only  sane  men,  the  neurologs !  And  nobody 
curable" 

"Leaders  Do  Not  Lead,  But  Oppose  Medical  Progress." 

One  specimen  of  this  will  suffice : 

"A  rich  patient  recently  paid,  in  all.  some  S20,ooo  to  have  re- 
moved, what  one  of  the  consultants  told  me  was  'as  pretty  a  little 
healthy  pink  appendix  as  he  had  ever  seen !'  " 

Here  is  a  rap  at  some  of  the  medical  journals: 

"And  these  official  medical  journals — what  a  farce  they  aret 
If  any  of  you  are  troubled  with  insomnia  or  optimism  you  should 
subscribe  for,  say,  The  Brit  is  Ji  Medical  Journal.  Such  journals 
are  carried  on  for  the  benefit  of  the  select  few  who  arrogate  to 
themselves  a  knowledge  which  has  been  outlived,  a  science  which 
is  almost  as  hopeless  as  that  of  Mother  Eddy,  and  an  egotism 
which  outdoes  that  of  this  wonderful  lady.  Try  to  get  into  the 
columns  of  these  defenders  of  the  faith  an  article  which  advo- 
cates progressive  advances  in  medicine,  and  see  how  you  will  be 
'turned  down.'  ' 

Here  is  what  is  needed : 

"What  above  all  is  needed  is  physicians  who  are  not  afraid  of 
traditional  prejudices  and  entrenched  authorities,  men  who  can- 
not be  intimidated  either  by  their  own  ambitions  and  selfishness  or 
by  the  tyranny  of  conservatism  and  medical  politics,  medical  so- 


The  Pharmacopoeia  Question  Again.  63 

cieties,  organizations,  or  fashions ;  men  who  will  speak  out  and 
act  as  their  own  consciences  demand  upon  all  professional  ques- 
tions." 

"Live  to  your  ideals  and  cure  your  individual  patient  in  your 
individual  way  of  his  individual  disease.  And  of  all  unholy  stu- 
pidities do  not  believe  there  is  no  cure.  The  cure  and  the  preven- 
tion of  disease,  of  most  all  the  diseases  which  curse  our  world  is 
possible.  Perhaps  not  by  the  methods  you  suspect  or  have  tried, 
but  still,  really,  by  some  method/' 

"If  You  Do  Not  Believe  Diseases  Are  Curable— Get  Out." 

"Over  all  and  above  all,  cling  to  the  ideal  of  your  profession 
being  a  calling,  a  vocation,  from  a  source  higher  than  the  love  of 
success  and  fame  and  money.  Cling  to  the  idealism  and  religious 
purity  of  your  youth,  to  the  love  of  your  suffering  fellowmen 
which  lingers  in  the  silent  depths  of  your  soul  as  all  that  makes 
your  soul  valuable  and  breeds  its  immortality." 

Such  is  the  tenor  of  Dr.  Gould's  address.  It  applies  to  the 
"regulars"  only,  for  he  does  not  recognize  the  homoeopaths,  though 
his  cry  for  curing  the  patient  is  distinctly  in  tune  with  the  belief 
and  practice  of  the  true  homoeopath.  The  whole  is  a  savage 
revolt  against  therapeutic  nihilism  that  obscures  those  who  rightly 
or  wrongly  occupy  the  seats  of  the  medical  mighty,  and  a  call  to 
the  family  physician  to  hold  up  his  head. 


THE   PHARMACOPCEIA  QUESTION   AGAIN. 

The  following  gives  it  in  a  nut-shell :  "The  first  of  the  pro- 
posed amendments  to  the  national  food  and  drugs  act  to  attain  a 
place  on  the  calendar  of  Congress  provides  for  the  recognition  of 
the  Homoeopathic  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  as  a  legal 
standard." 

The  recognition  of  Homoeopathy  by  the  national  government 
is  something  much  to  be  desired,  but  if  the  recognition  is  to  come 
in  the  form  of  the  adoption  of  a  moribund  book  as  the  representa- 
tive of  Homoeopathy,  we  had  better  rest  content  and  let  things 
remain  as  they  are.  To  be  sure,  the  book  has  the  perfunctory  en- 
dorsement of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy.  The  firs'.; 
edition  was  called  the  "Pharmacopoeia  of  the  American  Institute 


64  The  Pharmacopoeia  Question  Again. 

of  Homoeopathy,"  and  was  copyrighted  "By  Committee  on  Phar- 
macopoeia of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy."  This  edi- 
tion, however,  owing  to  its  numerous  errors  was  withdrawn,  and 
an  amended  edition  under  the  title.  The  Homoeopathic  Phar- 
macopoeia of  the  United  States"  was  substituted.  This  work. 
which  is  called  a  "second  edition,"  like  its  predecessor,  is  copy- 
righted "By  Committee  on  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Homoeopathy."  The  work  is  published  by  a  firm  of 
Boston  publishers,  though  whether  they,  or  the  Institute,  assume 
liabilities  and  take  the  profits,  has  never,  to  our  knowledge,  been 
made  public. 

The  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  is  copyrighted  by  the 
United  States  Pharmacopoeial  Convention,  and  presumably  pub- 
lished by  that  committee,  as  a  number  of  publishing  firms  in  vari- 
ous cities  appear  on  the  title  page  as  agents,  while  another  firm  is 
given  on  an  inside  page  as  "Printers  and  Binders.'' 

In  what  may  be  termed  the  allopathic,  or  old  school,  phar- 
macopoeia, chemistry  in  its  various  branches  almost  alone  is  con- 
sidered, hence  as  new  chemical  discoveries  are  made,  or  new 
methods  evolved,  the  need  of  frequent  revisions. 

This  is  not  true  of  the  homoeopathic  pharmacopoeia,  but  the 
very  reverse  is  true.  In  Homoeopathy  no  drug  can  be  used  ho- 
moeopathicully  until  it  has  been  proved,  i.  c.  until  it  has  been 
voluntarily  taken  in  sufficient  quantities  to  develop  its  poison. 
drug  or  disease  effect.  These  effects  are  collected  and  constitute 
the  Homoeopathic  Pure  Materia  Medica,  for  every  symptom  (if 
properly  reported)  is  a  pure  effect  of  the  drug.  When  the  prov- 
ing is  made  the  provers  report  how  they  prepared  the  drug,  what 
parts  of  the  plant  were  used,  and  all  details.  This  report  neces- 
sarily forms  its  part  of  the  homoeopathic  pharmacopoeia,  and  it 
logically  follows  that  no  alteration  can  be  made  in  the  method  of 
preparation  without  more  or  less  invalidating  the  proving  on 
which  the  science  of  Homoeopathy  is  based. 

The  Homoeopathic  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  changes 
the  methods  of  the  preparation  of  homoeopathic  medicines,  hence 
the  remedies  prepared  by  its  formulae  are  divergent  from  those 
prepared  by  the  provers  from  which  the  provings  were  made. 
This  fact  marked  the  new  pharmacopoeia  for  failure  from  the 
start.  Several  pharmacists  adopted  it,  but  nearly  all  have  given  it 
up  as  being  impractical.     A  list  of  standard  remedies  were  pre- 


Tzvo  Cases:    Liver,  Itching, 


pared  by  one  homoeopathic  pharmacy  according  to  this  new  work 
and  the  fact  generally  made  known,  but  the  physicians  would  not 
order  them. 

From  these  facts  it  will  be  seen  that  it  would  be  a  very  great 
mistake  to  have  this  book  adopted  as  the  official  homoeopathic 
pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  by  the  Government.  It  could 
never  be  that  save  in  namejonly.  The  writers  of  this  book  had  a 
splendid  opportunity  to  make  a  pharmacopoeia  that  would  have 
been  gladly  accepted  by  all.  but  they  failed,  and  that  failure  is  not 
chargeable  to  the  profession  or  to  the  pharmacists  or  to  "jeal- 
ousy," but  to  their  own  faulty  work. 


TWO   CASES:   LIVER,   ITCHING. 

By  L.  M.  Lanyal,  M.  D. 

Liver  Disease  With  Persistent  Low  Fever. 

Babu  C.  B.  B.,  demonstrator  Presidency  College.  Calcutta, 
called  me  in  for  the  treatment  of  his  granddaughter,  aged  eleven 
months,  who  was  suffering  from  a  low  fever,  and  was  gradually 
emaciating.  The  liver  was  somewhat  enlarged,  greyish  colored 
hard  stools,  very  excitable,  slight  dry  cough  was  present.  Bryonia 
12  dil..  thrice  daily,  was  given,  but  with  no  benefit.  Then  Cale. 
carb.  12th  three  times  daily,  and  suspecting  the  mother'.-  milk.  I 
changed  the  diet  to  the  following :  Well  boiled  pearl  barley  water, 
2  parts  ;  lime  water.  I  part ;  milk  of  goats.  I  part.  After  three 
days  I  noticed  that  the  stool  changed  into  yellow  and  little  grayish 
color  and  the  fever  was  less  in  degree  in  comparison  with  the 
previous  accession.  Then  I  prescribed  Magnesia  mur.  6x.  three 
times  daily.  The  fever  ceased  and  the  greyish  color  disappeared. 
She  completely  recovered,  and  is  in  good  health  now. 

A  Case  of  Intense  Itching — Urtica  Urens. 

Babu  H.  C.  D.,  opium  vendor  and  cloth  merchant,  Calcutta. 
aged  about  fifty,  came  at  Hahnemann  House  on  the  25th  inst., 
suffering  from  unbearable  itching  over  the  whole  body.  All  parts 
of  the  body  were  excessively  swollen,  and  red  areola  appeared 
on  the  skin.  Urtiea  urens  3X,  one  drop  in  an  ounce  of  water  for 
a  dose,  was  given.  The  itching  instantly  ceased,  and  the  patient 
rejoiced. 

Calcutta,  India. 


66  A  Criticism  of  "Elements: 


A  CRITICISM  OF    "ELEMENTS." 

Our  estimable  Medical  Advance,  January,  reviews  the  second 
edition  of  Elements  of  Homoeopathic  Materia  Medica  Practice, 
etc.,  etc.    We  quote  the  review  entire : 

"The  popularity  of  this  small  hand-book  has  been  such  that  a 
second  edition  is  called  for  in  a  short  time.  It  is  intended  for 
physicians  of  other  schools  who  wish  to  obtain  an  insight  into 
what  Homoeopathy  really  is.  There  is  a  brief  sketch  of  Hahne- 
mann and  some  of  the  pioneers  of  Homoeopathy ;  the  manner 
of  its  discovery,  its  doses,  how  to  apply  it  in  the  cure  of  the  sick 
and  some  of  the  recent  works  on  Homoeopathy.  The  materia 
medica  of  the  last  half  of  the  book  will  be  found  very  helpful  to 
the  beginner.  But  the  therapeutic  part,  the  treatment  of  diseases 
by  name  will  be  found  disappointing.  The  potency,  from  the 
tincture  to  the  30th,  is  attached  to  nearly  every  remedy  without 
apparently  any  rhyme  or  reason." 

"Here  is  an  unfortunate  illustration :  'Our  allopathic  and  eclec- 
tic friends  can  do  little  to  modify  or  curtail  an  attack  of  whooping 
cough,  and  they  have  persistently  taught  the  people  to  believe  that 
this  disease  is  incurable,  that  it  "must  run  its  course,"  and  here  is 
the  reason  why,  under  homoeopathic  treatment,  as  here  laid  down, 
that  it  probably  will  "run  its  course." 

"When  cough  runs  into  convulsions,  Cuprum  metallicum  6." 
i     "Where  the  whoop  is  very  marked  and  clear,  Mephitis  6." 

"Severe  paroxysms,  changing  color  of  face,  Magnesia  phosphorica  i.'x." 

"In  cases  not  marked  by  any  severe  symptoms,  Drosera  rotundifolia  ix." 

"'Minute  gun'  variety  or  smothering,  Coralium  rubrum   I2x." 

"With  tenacious,  stringy  mucus,  Coccus  cacti  3." 

"Rattling  of  mucus,  white  tongue,  Tartar  emetic  6." 

"To  prevent  the  spread  of  the  disease  give  Drosera  ix  to  the  other  chil- 
dren, or  to  those  liable  to  contract  the  disease." 

"As  a  prophylactic,  Drosera  ix  will  most  certainly  fail,  unless 
in  rare  cases,  where  it  is  the  genus  epidemicus.  This  is  not  the 
way  to  educate  an  allopathic  physician  or  indoctrinate  a  family 
into  the  homoeopathic  treatment  of  whooping  cough.  Besides  it 
leads  the  beginner  to  believe  that  the  potencies  here  given  are  the 
only  ones  to  use." 

So  runs  the  Advance  s  review.     Many,   yery  many,  attempts 


Do  Epidemics  Follow  Influenza?  67 

have  been  made  by  writers  to  give  information  to  the  allopaths 
and  to  the  public,  and  of  all.of  them  Elements  is  by  far  the  most 
successful  if  the  number  of  copies  sold  is  to  be  taken  as  a  cri- 
terion. It  is  not  claimed  that  a  better  book  (in  same  compass)  on 
the  subject  could  not  be  written,  but  so  far  none  better  have  been 
offered  to  the  publishers.  The  therapeutics  criticised  above  are  a 
fair  sample  of  all  this  section  of  the  book,  and  if  the  reviewer  will 
write  us  in  about  the  same  space  a  better  therapeutics  of  whoop- 
ing cough  or  put  it  in  better  form  no  one  will  welcome  it  more 
heartily  than  the  builders  of  Elements,  for  nothing  could  do  more 
to  further  their  work.  Or  if  any  of  the  readers  of  the  Recorder 
can  offer  anything  to  better  that  little  book  the  suggestions  will 
be  thankfully  received.  The  book  is  designed  to  give  in  a  concise 
and  low  priced  form  a  general  knowledge  of  Homoeopathy  some- 
thing in  which  all  are  interested  who  care  for  the  spread  of  Ho- 
moeopathy. To  say  that  such  and  such  a  part  is  bad  without 
pointing  out  wherein  it  is  bad  and  how  it  might  be  bettered  is  like 
slapping  a  blind  man  on  the  back  and  shouting,  "Here,  you  fool, 
don't  you  see  you  are  going  wrong  !"  and  then  going  your  way. 


DO  EPIDEMICS  FOLLOW   INFLUENZA? 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

There  is  at  present  in  this  neighborhood  a  pronounced  epi- 
demic of  influenza  (I  think  influenza  a  better  name  than  "la 
grippe")  but  with  a  low  fatality.  It  is  interesting,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  epidemiology,  to  ascertain  if  this  be  generally  diffused. 
From  the  historical  point  of  view  it  is  a  fact  that  a  widespread 
mild  influenza  epidemic  has  nearly  always,  perhaps,  always,  been 
the  precursor  of  a  more  malignant  epidemic  of  some  .form  in  the 
following  fall.  I  do  not  connect  them  as  cause  and  effect,  but  if 
the  fact  is  universal  they  point  to  some  common  cause. 

Will  you  invite  the  profession  to  report  to  you  their  experience 
as  to  the  prevalence  of  influenza,  and  communications  thereon  to 
the  undersigned  will  be  highly  appreciated  by 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

M.  R.  Leverson,  M.  D. 

927  Grant  Ave.,  Bronx,  N.  Y '.,  Jan.  27,  1908. 


68  Homoeopathy  in  Portugal. 


REQUEST  FROM   DR.   PACKARD. 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recordkr  : 

The  writer  desires  information  regarding  any  alleged  recover- 
ies or  cures  of  inoperable  or  recurrent  carcinoma  of  the  mammary 
gland. 

If  any  case  or  cases  are  known  to  anyone  who  reads  this  cir- 
cular and  can  be  authenticated  by  facts  as  to  the  history  and  con- 
dition prior  to  recovery  and  the  length  of  time  which  has  elapsed 
since  recovery,  such  information  will  be  much  appreciated  and 
duly  acknowledged. 

Any  well  authenticated  reports  of  recoveries  from  carcinoma 
located  in  other  parts  than  the  mammary  glands  will  be  wel- 
comed. 

Cancer  paste  cures,  X-ray  cures,  radium  cures,"  or  cures  as  re- 
sult of  surgical  operation  are  not  wanted. 

Hearsay  cases'  are  not  wanted  unless  accompanied  by  name  and 
address  of  person  who  may  give  knowledge  first  hand. 

Address, 

Horace  Packard. 

470  Commonwealth  Ave,  Boston,  Mass.,  Jan.  2,  1908. 


HOMCEOPATHY  IN   PORTUGAL. 

Translated   for  the   Homceopathic   Recorder  from  the  Allg.   Horn.   Zcit., 

October  3,  1907. 

Under  the  above  title  we  find  the  following  communication 
from  Dr..  Homem  d' Albuquerque  from  Porto  in  the  Omiopatia 
in  Italia  No  56 : 

In  Portugal  we  have  no  periodical  of  the  homceopathic  school ; 
the  physicians  who  are  strict  homoeopaths,  number  about 
eighteen,  and  nearly  all  of  them  live  in  Lisbon  and  in  Porto.  In 
the  rest  of  the  country  there  are  many  physicians  who  are  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  of  Homoeopathy,  but  partly  owing  to  the  lack 
of  pharmacies  that  are  privileged  to  manufacture  medicines,  and 
partly  because  the  laws  of  Portugal  forbid  the  simultaneous 
practice  of  the  medical  and  the  pharmaceutical  professions,  they 
are  obliged  to  practice  as  eclectic  physicians.     Others  prefer  giv- 


Cases  From  My  Practice.  69 

ins:  the  medicines  free  of  cost,  rather  than  violate  the  laws  of  the 
land.  (All  homoeopathic  physicians  there  ought  then  to  do  this! 
Ed.  Allg.  Horn.  Zeit. ) 

"In  Portugal  there  is  no  purely  homoeopathic  hospital,  but  in 
Santa  Casa  de  Misericordia  in  Porto  there  is  a  homoeopathic  di- 
vision, owing  to  a  legacy  of  Conde  Ferreira ;  at  first  this  was  a 
single  hall,  but  at  this  time  it  consists  of  four  rooms  and  is  con- 
ducted by  homoeopathic  physicians." 

"The  writings  published  in  Portugal  are  either  polemic  in  their 
nature  or  written  for  the  purpose  of  amusement,  or  again,  trans- 
lations of  popular  manuals.  I  know  of  no  original  work  in  the 
Portuguese  tongue,  and  the  books  written  in  Portuguese,  used  in 
Brazil,  are  translations  from  English,  Italian  and  French  works.'' 
The  editor  of  the  Revista  horn,  de  Parana,  Dr.  Nilo  Cairo,  rightly 
calls  this  assertion  in  question,  and  enumerates  eighty-one  orig- 
inal' works  published  in  Brazil,  giving  their  titles  in  the  Revista 
of  June  and  July.     (Dr.  Kl.) 

We  may  here  add  that  according  to  the  Revista  hoin.  de  Parana 
Xo.  7,  Dr.  Galvao,  Bueno.  a  man  of  repute  as  a  specialist  in  the 
diseases  of  women  and  in  diseases  of  the  bladder,  as  also  as  a 
politician,  has  lately  come  over  to  Homoeopathy.      (Kl.) 


CASES   FROM   MY   PRACTICE. 
By  Dr.  Stoeger,  in  Bern,  Switzerland. 

Translated  for  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder  from  the  liom.  Monatsblaetter, 

October,    1907. 

Stomach  Troubles. 

Case  I. — On  the  3d  of  February,  1905.  I  received  the  follow- 
ing letter  from  Mrs.  L.  R.,  in  Burgdorf : 

''Dear  Doctor: — You  will  remember  my  writing  to  you  two 
years  ago  for  help  from  severe  stomach  troubles.  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  that  I  am  now  again  in  the  same  predicament,  only  that  I  am 
unable  to  come  to  you,  as  it  is  only  four  days  since  my  confine- 
ment. I  am  again  unable  to  eat  anything,  not  even  milk  and  oat- 
meal ;  I  have  constant  violent  pains  in  the  stomach,  causing  also 
severe  pains  in  the  back.     I  do  not  want  to  go  to  the  allopathic 


yo  Cases  From  My  Practice. 

doctor  here,  as  no  one  ever  helped  me  in  this  trouble  but  you, 
Dear  Doctor.  I  would,  therefore,  request  you  to  send  me,  until 
I  can  come  to  see  you  again,  such  a  glorious  remedy;  the  other 
worked  wonders."  The  other  remedy  helped  this  time  again, 
and  will  always  help  in  similar  cases,  as  I  have  experienced  a 
hundred  times  before.  The  other  remedy  was' Gelsemium  4.  and 
Nux  vomica  4.  mixed  together.  I  often  use  complex  Homoe- 
opathy with  the  best  of  results. 

Falling  Out  of  the  Hair. 

Case  I. — A  young  gentleman,  a  technical  engineer,  who 
worked  very  strenuously,  kept  losing  his  curly  hair,  which  he  al- 
ways considered  a  great  adornment.  This  was  last  year.  There 
was  no  disease  of  the  skin,  based  on  a  parasitic  foundation ;  but 
I  noticed  one  thing,  the  man  looked  quite  pale,  he  was  poor  of 
blood,  anaemic.  The  lever  had  to  be  applied  here.  Ferrum  phos- 
phoricum,  given  according  to  Schuessler's  direction,  in  the  6.  D., 
and  a  daily  rubbing  of  the  scalp  with  the  tincture  of  Geranium 
Robertianum }  diluted  with  some  water,  had  a  splendid  effect  in 
the  course  of  six  weeks.  The  young  engineer  can  show  his 
Adonis-head  as  proudly  as  in  days  past. 

Ischias. 

"Dear  Doctor: — I  would  respectfully  request  you  to  send  me 
the  remedy  for  ischias,  which  I  before  got  from  you.  I  am  suf- 
fering a  good  deal,  so  that  I  am  unable  to  come  to  you.  Your 
remedy  helped  me  so  well  in  June,  that  I  feel  myself  deeply  in- 
debted to  you. 

"Mrs.  St." 

Gossliwyl,  October  14,  1906. 

In  consideration  of  the  fact,  that  the  woman  was  suffering  at 
the  same  time  from  chronic  inflammation  of  the  kidneys,  which 
was  plainly  the  cause  of  the  ischias,  I  gave  her  Lyco podium  30. 
Which  by  itself,  without  the  use  of  any  other  remedy,  always  re- 
lieved her.  In  obscure  cases  of  ischias.  where  other  remedies 
fail,  Lycopodium  often  has  a  wonderful  effect,  indicating  the  con- 
nection of  the  nervous  ischiadicus  with  the  kidneys.  This  would 
also  show  that  these  homoeopathic  nothings,  as  our  opponents 
sometimes  define  our  remedies,  may  even  help  us  in  our  diag- 
nosis of  diseases. 


Cases  From  Practice.  71 

CASES   FROM   PRACTICE. 

By  Dr.  Strohmeyer. 

Gonococci. 

I.  Mr.  B.  has  been  troubled  now  for  the  second  time  with  a 
discharge  from  the  urethra,  which  as  disclosed  by  the  microscope 
is  due  to  gonococci.  The  first  attack  had  been  successfully  sup- 
pressed with  Protargol  and  Argentum  nitricum;  so  I  gave  again 
Protargol  0.75  to  200  Aqua  destillata,  so  as  first  to  get  rid  of  the 
gonococci.  I  may  be  blamed  for  not  at  first  going  to  homoeo- 
pathic preparations,  but  in  the  course  of  time  I  have  found  out 
by  experience  that  it  is  often  best  to  destroy  the  bacteria  and 
then  treat  the  rest  of  the  ailment  with  homoeopathic  remedies. 
In  the  old  school  treatment,  as  is  well  known,  very  many  cases  of 
gonorrhoea  remain  uncured,  and  in  these  cases  it  may  be  seen  that 
a  gonorrhoea  cure  does  not  consist  in  merely  making  the  issue 
free  of  bacteria,  and  in  reducing  it  to  a  mere  agglutination  in  the 
morning :  but  it  requires  a  remodeling  of  the  constitution,  in  order 
to  cut  off  the  soil  of  the  poison,  in  which  it  otherwise  continues 
to  luxuriate  with  consequences  extending  beyond  the  domain  of 
the  urethra.  I  can  not  come  to  believe  that  the  permanent  mental 
depression  owing  to  the  non-disappearance  of  the  last  drop  could 
of  itself  be  the  cause  for  all  the  bodily  malaise  to  which  such 
persons  are  subject.  The  symptoms  are  far  too  severe  to  be  put 
off  with  the  mere  explanation :  Through  the  long  duration  of 
your  illness  you  have  become  a  neurasthenic.  No,  the  whole 
state  has  been  changed !  Formerly  bright  and  merry,  now 
melancholy  and  sad  ;  once  upon  a  time  strong  and  clear  in  his 
head,  now  dull  and  dizzy;  aforetimes  unmindful  of  weather  and 
storm,  now  chilly  and  shuddering  at  every  draught ;  before  this 
trouble  he  was  blessed  with  sound  and  quiet  sleep,  now  there  are 
twitches  and  jerks  all  night;  aforetimes  he  would  not  be  tired  out 
by  a  walk  of  several  miles,  now  his  legs  are  as  heavy  as  lead ;  he 
has  colds  ever  and  anon,  pains  and  tearing,  now  here  now  there, 
all  over  the  body — isuch  is  the  image  of  the  much  ill  treated, 
chronic  gonorrhoea  patient  abused  with  injections,  bougies, 
catheters  and  massage  of  the  prostate  gland,  and  still  remaining 


J2  Cases  From  Practice. 

uncured.  But  to  return  to  our  case.  After  two  weeks,  no  more 
gonococci  could  be  seen  in  the  secretion,  the  secretion  soon  ceas- 
ing altogether,  and  the  patient  would  have  supposed  himself 
cured  if  an  acutely  lancinating  sensation  in  a  certain  part  of  the 
urethra  had  not  always  warned  him  that  there  was  a  place  which 
was  not  yet  all  right.  There  was  no  question  of  any  stricture, 
but  the  sensation  of  a  stitch  in  that  place  could  not  be  argued 
away,  and  the  patient  was  in  no  way  inclined  to  be  a  hypochon- 
driac. So  I  prescribed  for  him  Acid,  nitric,  io.o  ,  three  drops 
every  morning  and  evening  in  a  teaspoonful  of  water.  After  the 
fourth  day  there  was  no  more  stinging. 

II.  Mr.  K.  was  taken  with  syphilis  five  years  ago.  went 
through  three  ointment  cures,  and  believed  that  he  was  cured, 
although  here  and  there  a  little  pustule  could  yet  be  seen ;  and 
he  was  betrothed  and  married — the  result  showed  up  in  the  form 
of  a  little  child,  incapable  of  continuing  in  life,  loaded  down  with 
all  the  signs  of  congenital  syphilis.  Besides  the  eruption  and  the 
typical  ozaena,  it  showed  an  enormous  swelling  of  the  liver,  a  sure 
sign  of  hereditary  lues.  The  child  then  died,  for  in  such  cases 
we  may  do  what  we  will,  and  ought,  in  fact,  to  do  nothing  at  all — 
and  the  father,  otherwise  a  very  honorable  and  efficient  man. 
underwent  a  thorough  treatment,  Kali  jod.  and  Acid  nitric,  in 
various  potencies,  frequent  steam-baths  and  light  baths,  a  pre- 
dominantly vegetarian  diet  were  used  for  half  a  year,  still  every 
now  and  then  small,  humid  spots  appeared  on  the  hairy  scalp, 
until  finally  Mercurius  jod.  ruber,  in  the  third  trituration,  taken 
morning  and  evening,  as  much  as  would  lie  on  the  point  of  a 
knife,  well  loaded  up,  cleaned  him  out  thoroughly  in  about  a 
week ;  and  then  he  remained  clean.  The  remedy  was  continued 
with  longer  intervals  for  some  time  and  I  am  convinced  that  a 
second  child,  if  it  should  come,  will  no  more  call  to  mind  the 
wretched  fate  that  overtook  the  father  in  a  weak  hour. 

Menstrual  Troubles. 

II.  Miss  B.,  from  Miltenberg  on  the  Main,  applied  to  me  by 
letter,  on  the  recommendation  of  a  lady  I  had  cured,  with  the  re- 
quest that  I  would  send  her  medicine  against  the  excessive 
troubles  she  had  at  every  menstruation.  The  cramps  and  pains 
appeared  in  the  first  two  days  often  with  such  violence  that  she 


Mental  Alienation  Cured  by  Zincutn.  73 

at  times  swooned,  and  was  only  relieved  by  the  warmth  of  the 
bed.  hot  cloths  and  hot  bed-pans.  She  is  in  general  somewhat 
nervous  and  easily  excited,  also  pretty  anaemic.  She  had  taken 
a  sufficiency  of  iron,  as  her  teeth  and  stomach  could  testify.  She 
was  doubly  distressed  by  her  condition,  as  she  is  now  a  bride,  and 
was  afraid  that  she  would  be  unable  to  perform  the  duties  of  a 
household  and  of  married  life.  I  wrote  her  an  encouraging  letter, 
stating  that  this  very  trouble  was  frequently  relieved  through 
marriage,  but  that  her  chlorosis  ought  to  be  first  removed.  I  pre- 
scribed a  definite  diet,  lukewarm  sitz-baths,  much  use  of  milk  and 
cream,  abstention  from  coffee  and  tea,  and  as  medicine  I  pre- 
scribed Magnesia  phosph.  in  the  6.  trituration,  alternating  with 
Cuprum  aeet.  also  in  the  6.  trituration.  The  remedies  were 
ordered  to  be  taken  in  alternate  weeks.  After  the  lapse  of  some 
time  I  received  the  report  that  the  menstruation  now  proceeded 
with  moderate  symptoms ;  though  she  was  inclined  to  attribute 
this  to  the  reason  that  her  anaemia  had  entirely  disappeared  in 
consequence  of  the  sitz-baths  and  the  copious  use  of  milk.  The 
patient  will  probably  never  understand  the  brilliant  effects  of 
Cuprum  aceticum  in  the  treatment  of  cases  of  chlorosis,  where 
iron  refuses  to  act.  or  has  been  used  to  excess  and  to  the  injury 
of  the  patient. 


MENTAL  ALIENATION   CURED   BY  ZINCUM. 
By  B.  Assem,  Prior. 

Translated  for  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder  from  the  Leipzig  Pop.  Z.  f. 
Horn.,  November  i,  1907. 

A  short  time  ago  a  female  came  to  me  requesting  my  aid  for 
her  mother,  who  was  sick  and  who  had  herself  eight  years  before 
frequently  consulted  me  on  account  of  the  sickness  of  this  her 
daughter  who  is  now  standing  before  me.  At  that  time  I  had 
recorded  the  following  data:  "August  30.  1889.  a.  m.,  twenty- 
five  years  of  age.  the  daughter  of  a  farmer :  about  a  year  before 
this  time  a  well-known  married  man  had  made  her  an  immoral 
proposition  and  sought  to  overpower  her,  but  could  not  effect  his 
purpose.     Nevertheless,  she  was  so  much  excited  and  outraged 


74  From  Daily  Practice. 

thereby  that  from  that  time  on  she  had  not  been  normal.  Her 
mother  says  that  she  is  distracted  in  mind,  gives  no  answer  to 
questions,  does  not  want  to  work,  is  unable  to  sleep,  and  walks 
up  and  down  in  the  room  for  half  the  night ;  at  times  she  sobs  and 
falls  into  weeping  spasms,  and  seems  to  be  absent-minded ;  she 
will  lie  on  the  floor  instead  of  going  to  bed ;  is  unwilling  to  eat : 
people  call  her  crazy.  The  worst  symptoms  is  her  constant  anxiety 
and  restlessness,  which  drives  herself  and  those  around  her  al- 
most to  distraction.  This  has  gone  on  for  a  year.  Also  medicines 
have  been  tried,  as  also  kindly  and  earnest  admonitions,  but  all 
in  vain.  Owing  to  the  great  expense  she  has  not  yet  been  taken 
to  an  insane  asylum,  but  this  will  eventually  have  to  be  done." 

For  this  case  of  restlessness  the  remedy  recommended  by  Far- 
rington,  Zincum  valcrianicum,  seemed  to  me  to  be  indicated.  This 
remedy  I  gave  to  the  mother  for  the  patient,  and  I  was  not  mis- 
taken, for  in  quite  a  short  time  the  mental  equilibrium  of  the 
patient  was  restored  and  to  this  day,  eight  years  afterward,  she 
has  not  had  any  relapse.  She  has  regained  her  cheerfulness  and 
industry,  but  is  not  disposed  to  recall  her  experience.  I  received 
no  further  information  as  to  her  mother,  on  whose  account  she 
came  to  see  me. 


FROM   DAILY  PRACTICE. 

The  following  from  the  Lcipziger  pop.  Zeitschrift  fuer  Ho- 
meopathic is  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  G.  Sieffert,  of  Paris : 

I.    Scarlatina. 

Mrs.  K.,  of  Brazil,  twenty-six  years  of  age,  well  built,  in  the 
sixth  month  of  her  third  pregnancy,  was  taken  sick  while  passing 
through  Paris.     I  was  called  in,  and  an  examination  showed : 

Lack  of  appetite  combined  with  an  obstinate  constipation,  head- 
ache, trouble  in  swallowing,  a  greyish  coating  on  the  right  palate, 
while  the  soft  palate  shows  a  scarlet  redness  and  an  eruption  is 
beginning  around  the  neck.  There  is  a  fever  mounting  up  to 
102°  to  1040  F.    The  thorax  develops  no  symptoms. 

All  these  symptoms  pointed  to  scarlet  fever.  The  eruption  was 
irregular  in  its  development,  and  might  point  as  well  to  measles  as 


Front  Daily  Practice.  75 

to  scarlatina.  It  also  remained  so  up  to  the  end  of  the  sickness, 
though  it  had  gradually  extended  all  over  the  body. 

The  husband  of  the  patient  who  had  some  experience  with  Ho- 
moeopathy had  from  the  first  started  the  treatment  with  Bella- 
donna 6,  alternating  with  Mercurius  cyanatus  6.  I  continued 
this  treatment  for  three  days.  By  clysters  I  soon  succeeded  in 
removing  the  constipation. 

But  otherwise  the  improvement  failed  to  appear ;  the  fever  had 
on  the  contrary  increased  so  that  I  gave  Belladonna  D.  1.  On 
this  the  temperature  sank  promptly;  also  the  greyish  coating  of 
the  palate  disappeared,  and  so  I  stopped  the  Mercurius  cyanatus 
and  went  back  to  Belladonna  6. 

In  the  meantime  I  had  remarked  that  the  urine  was  very 
scanty;  some  delirium  also  had  appeared.  I  demanded  an  ex- 
amination of  the  urine,  and  here  again  there  was  a  peculiar  de- 
velopment. The  first  analysis  showed  nothing,  the  second  show- 
ed 95  centigrams  of  albumen  in  600  grams  of  urine.  I  at  once 
prescribed  Apis  6,  two  drops  four  times  a  day.  Next  day  the 
third  analysis  showed  one  gram  of  albumen.  In  the  fourth  analy- 
sis 1,500  grams  of  urine  gave  no  trace  of  albumen.  I  continued 
the  Apis  for  two  more  days,  but  as  the  urine  now  remained 
normal  as  well  as  the  quantity  of  the  urine,  I  dropped  the  Apis. 
Repeated  examinations  of  the  urine  during  the  course  of  the  dis- 
ease up  to  the  full  cure  showed  no  more  abnormal  symptoms. 

How  can  we  explain  these  facts?  That  Apis  acted  very  rap- 
idly is  manifest  from  the  facts  themselves.  But  was  the  symp- 
tom merely  a  transitory  one?  Was  the  albumen  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  pregnancy  or  to  the  scarlatina?  I  never  found  out.  But 
the  facts  about  the  albumen  are  surely  as  given  above.  This  fact 
remains  assured,  the  more  as  the  examination  was  made  by  a 
special  chemist  under  my  supervision. 

But  the  husband  of  the  patient  was  not  willing  to  believe  in  so 
sudden  a  result.  He  was  incredulous  also  in  other  matters.  So 
he  was  of  opinion  that  the  disease  of  his  wife  had  nothing  in 
common  with  scarlatina,  and  asserted  that  in  Brazil  even  the  least 
case  of  fever  was  apt  to  be  accompanied  with  an  eruption  like 
that  which  I  had  found  in  his  wife.  I,  therefore,  desired  to  con- 
vince my  doubter  thoroughly. 

After  the  disappearance  of  the  albumen  the  course  of  the  dis- 
ease was  quite  favorable.     The  troubles  in  the  throat  had  dis- 


j6  From  Daily  Practice. 

appeared  some  time  before  and  the  patient,  who  had  received  back 
her  appetite  after  some  doses  of  Nux  vomica,  could  now  eat  what- 
ever was  suitable  to  her  condition. 

On  the  fortieth  day  I  let  the  patient  take  a  full  bath,  and  in 
order  that  I  might  not  be  deceived  by  any  imagination  either  of 
my  own  or  of  the  husband,  I  asked  for  permission  to  attend  the 
bath.  When  the  patient  left  her  bath  and  dried  herself  the  des- 
quamation that  I  had  expected  at  once  appeared.  This  made  an 
end  of  the  doubts  of  her  husband.  This  gave  me  the  more  satis- 
faction, as  I  had  had  great  trouble  at  the  beginning  of  the  disease 
to  secure  the  removal  of  his  little  children.  Now  he  was  very 
thankful  that  I  had  insisted  upon  it. 

It  remains,  however,  without  doubt  that  the  disease,  and  espe- 
cially the  eruption,  was  very  irregular.  And  in  calling  the  atten- 
tion of  the  reader  to  this  fact,  it  is  especially  because  scarlatina  is 
in  all  cases  a  dangerous  and  infectious  disease,  which  often  ap- 
pears in  a  very  deceitful  form,  and  may  be  overlooked  by  the  in- 
experienced layman.     Caution ! 

II.  Acute  and  Chronic  Gonorrhoea. 

The  lack  of  care  frequently  shown  by  patients  in  the  treatment 
of  their  own  disease  may  appear  from  the  following  case : 

A  man,  thirty  years  of  age,  had  caught  gonorrhoea.  Instead  of 
applying  to  a  physician  he  had  consulted  a  quack,  who  had  treat- 
ed him  with  a  caustic  injection.  This,  indeed,  caused  the  issue  to 
disappear  in  a  short  time,  as  also  the  pain.  The  man,  therefore, 
thought  he  was  thoroughly  cured  and  married.  Scarcely  lb  ee 
weeks  after  the  wedding  the  unfortunate  couple  appeared  in  my 
office.  The  woman  complained  of  an  indefinite  inflammation  of 
the  abdomen,  pain  on  micturition,  swelling  and  looseness  of  the 
pudenda,  a  puriform  issue  and  a  painful  swelling  in  the  inguinal 
glands.  A  closer  examination  showed  the  existence  of  a  r^il 
gonorrhceic  infection.  The  man  asserted  that  all  these  symptoms 
came  from  the  leucorrhcea ;  but  I  was  not  so  easy  to  convince.  I 
questioned  the  man  more  closely  and  he  confessed  that  he  'iad 
some  time  before  had  an  acute  gonorrhoea.  He  was  quite  will- 
ing to  be  examined,  and  I  constituted  the  existence  of  H.ronic 
gonorrhoea. 

Now  the  case  was  clear  enough.  The  husband  had  infected  his 
wife,    and    I    involuntarily    recalled    the    words    of    Prof.    C. 


From  Daily  Practice.  ~j 

Schroeder:  "It  has  come  so  far  that  young  ladies  are  afraid  to 
enter  marriage  because  they  know  that  all  their  acquaintances 
were  taken  sick  after  marriage,  and  never  regained  their  health." 
But  this  case  did  not  get  that  far. 

The  case  of  the  wife  was  simply  vulvitis  with  Bartholinitis.  I 
forbade  the  concubitus,  and  began  the  treatment  of  both  the  pa- 
tients. In  the  case  of  the  wife  I  prescribed  warm,  full  baths  with 
a  suitable  diet  and  bodily  rest,  daily  a  clyster  to  secure  an  evacua- 
tion and  careful  washing  of  the  pudenda,  as  the  general  treat- 
ment in  her  case.  Internally  I  prescribed  every  day  twice  in  alter- 
nation four  drops  of  Thuja  tincture  and  of  the  tincture  of  Can- 
nabis sativa. 

After  four  weeks  every  abnormal  symptom  with  the  wife  was 
removed. 

With  the  husband  it  took  somewhat  longer,  although  there 
was  not  any  stricture.  I  prescribed  according  to  Dr.  Mossa's 
mode,  Sepia  30  and  Thuja  30  on  alternate  days,  taking  daily 
eight  drops  in  two  doses.  The  patient  at  the  same  time  had  be- 
come somewhat  anaemic,  and  so  I  prescribed  as  an  intermediate 
medicine  Ferrum  accticum  1  trit..  as  much  as  would  lie  on  the 
point  of  a  knife,  an  hour  before  breakfast  and  an  hour  before 
supper.  In  this  way  his  condition  gradually  improved,  and  in  six 
weeks  nothing  remained  of  his  symptoms  but  a  slight  swelling  of 
the  inguinal  glands,  which  was  soon  removed  by  Silicca  6. 

III.   Mutually  Recurring  Gonorrhoea. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  called  in  to  see  a  man  forty  years  of  age, 
who  complained  of  a  painful  swelling  of  the  right  knee.  This 
had  gotten  better  several  times,  and  had  also  entirely  disappeared, 
but  had  returned  without  any  known  cause.  This  had  now  con- 
tinued for  several  years. 

An  examination  showed  that  the  man  had  a  chronic  gonorrhoea, 
which  grew  worse  after  every  concubitus,  and  which,  therefore, 
probably  caused  the  swelling  of  the  knee.  Of  course,  all  con- 
cubitus was  forbidden.  The  gonorrhceic  rheumatism  was  soon 
removed  with  Phytolacca  decandra  in  the  tincture.  The  chronic 
gonorrhoea  was  removed  with  Sepia  30  and  Thuja  30.  in  alterna- 
tion, and  ever  since  the  man  has  been  thoroughly  well.  But  the 
matter  was  not  so  easy  with  the  wife,  who,  of  course,  had  also 
been  infected  bv  the  husband.     With  her  the  infection  had  ex- 


yS  From  Daily  Practice. 

tended  even  to  the  uterus,  and  I  had  here  to  combat  a  real  endo- 
metritis cervicis  blenorrhoeica. 

Extremely  surprised  by  my  diagnosis  the  wife  was  unwilling  to 
be  treated  at  home  for  any  length  of  time,  and  preferred  to  go  to 
a  hospital  to  avoid  talk.  A  specialist  undertook  her  treatment, 
confirmed  the  diagnosis  which  I  had  made,  and  after  three  months 
she  was  discharged  as  cured  from  the  hospital.  But  I  am  sure 
that  these  married  people  mutually  infected  each  other.  And  so 
also  in  this  case  the  dictum  of  Professor  C.  Schroeder  is  estab- 
lished:  "As  to  the  women  there  is  no  doubt  that  gonorrhoea  does 
them  far  worse  injury  than  syphilis."  As  a  proof  of  this  I  will 
only  state  that  the  woman  patient  in  question  had  to  give  up  all 
hope  of  becoming  a  mother. 

IV.  Chronic  Bronchitis. 

Now  for  another  striking  example  of  the  action  of  our  ho- 
moeopathic remedies: 

Mrs.  M.,  forty  years  of  age,  was  seized  last  winter  by  an  acute 
bronchitis,  which  was  not  cured  easily,  and  had  gradually  passed 
over  into  chronicity.  She  especially  complained  of  a  constant  in- 
clination to  cough  with  tickling  in  the  throat,  now  here  now  there. 
At  first  the  cough  was  weak  and  dull,  but  afterwards  it  became 
more  violent,  and  eventually  caused  the  ejection  of  a  copious 
yellow  expectoration,  which  caused  some  alleviation,  but  only  for 
a  short  time.  In  vain  the  patient  had  consulted  many  allopathic 
physicians.  Finally,  like  many  other  patients  who  have  not  been 
relieved  by  allopathy,  she  applied  to  Homoeopathy.  The  allopaths 
had  endeavored  in  vain  to  remove  the  painful  cough  with  all  kinds 
of  preparations  of  Opium. 

An  examination  showed  nothing  else  than  a  constant  rattling, 
a  real  Turkish  music  on  all  parts  of  the  lungs.  Still  there  was  no 
sign  of  tuberculosis,  but  much  shortness  of  breath. 

I  first  prescribed  Kali  bichromicum  12  in  alternation  with 
Arsenicum  jo  datum  in  the  third  centesimal  trituration. 

This  essentially  improved  her  condition  within  two  weeks. 
There  is  no  more  pronounced  dyspnoea,  less  expectoration,  less 
cough,  but  still  there  is  no  appetite. 

Nux  vomica  1  C,  four  drops  before  every  meal,  brought  back 
her  appetite,  and  a  strengthening  diet  removed  the  emaciation, 
which  I  omitted  to  mention  before.     Still  the  painful  cough  con- 


Danger  of  Pregnancy  Following  Operation  of  the  Chest.     79 

tinued  more  or  less.  So  I  finally  took  to  Stannum  jodatum  in 
the  second  decimal  trituration.  The  patient  took  this  lor  two 
weeks,  after  which  the  cough  entirely  disappeared,  and  has  not 
since  returned. 


DANGER  OF  PREGNANCY  FOLLOWING  OPERA- 
TIONS FOR  CANCER  OF  THE  CHEST. * 

By  William  S.  Cheesman,  Auburn,  N.  Y. 

Whatever  theory  we  adopt  as  to  the  nature  and  etiology  of 
cancer  in  general,  it  must  be  conceded  that  when  located  in  the 
female  breast  its  development  is  influenced  by  some  unexplained 
sympathetic  correlation  with  the  pelvic  organs.  The  clinical  fact 
has  long  been  recognized,  and  is  sometimes  mentioned  in  text- 
books, that  under  the  physiological  stimulus  of  pregnancy  mam- 
mary cancer  takes  on  a  specially  malignant  character.  And  on 
the  other  hand,  Beatson,  by  ablating  the  ovaries  in  some  cases  of 
late  inoperable  cancer  of  the  breast,  was  able  to  effect  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  disease.  So  we  may  say  of  this  mysterious  epi- 
thelial reproduction,  this  cellular  new  birth,  to  which  we  give  the 
name  cancer,  that  whatever  its  ultimate  character,  it  may  be  stim- 
ulated to  unwonted  efflorescence,  or  retarded  and  even  extin- 
guished, according  as  the  uterus  and  appendages  are  rendered 
active  or  functionally  obsolete. 

The  highest  functional  act  of  these  organs  is  gestation.  This 
may  associate  itself  with  mammary  cancer  in  one  of  two  ways  . 
either  cancer  attacks  the  breast  during  the  course  of  pregnancy, 
or  pregnancy  occurs  as  a  complication  of  already  existing  can- 
cer. In  whichever  way  the  association  arranges  itself  tht  result 
is  the  same,  viz.,  a  stimulation  of  the  disease  to  unexampled 
malignancy  and  rapidity  of  growth. 

It  has  been  my  evil  fortune  to  encounter  each  of  these  two 
varieties. 

Case  I. — Cancer  of  the  Breast  Complicating  Pregnancy. — 
About  a  dozen  years  ago  a  lady  aged  29,  mother  of  three  children, 
became  pregnant  for  the  fourth  time.     She  had  had  an  abscess 


*Read  at  the  fortieth  annual  meeting  of  the  Medical  Association  of  Cen- 
tral New  York,  held  at  Rochester,  October  15,  1907. 


80     Danger  of  Pregnancy  Following  Operation  of  the  Chest 

of  the  breast  after  her  first  confinement,  and  there  remained  a 
nearly  imperceptible  cicatrix  in  the  gland.  This  was  quiescent 
during  two  succeeding  pregnancies,  but  about  the  third  month 
of  her  fourth  pregnancy  she  reported  that  the  old  scar  was  en- 
larged and  tender.  Examination  showed  a  swollen,  indurated 
mass  in  the  breast,  and  axillary  and  supra-clavicular  glands  en- 
larged. A  well  known  surgeon  saw  her  at  once  with  me,  diag- 
nosticated malignancy  of  rapidly  growing  type,  and  did  a  thor- 
ough extirpation  of  breast  and  all  lymphatic  connections.  The 
wound  healed  kindly,  but  in  spite  of  the  sweeping  thoroughness  of 
removal  the  disease  seemed  scarcely  to  have  been  checked. 
It  broke  out  immediately  over  the  whole  area  of  operation,  u legat- 
ing and  discharging  and  finally  involving  the  pleura.  I  induced 
labor  early  in  the  eighth  month,  saving  the  child,  now  a  well 
grown  boy ;  but  the  young  mother  died  a  few  weeks  later. 

This  case  familiarized  me  with  the  behavior  of  cancer  of  the 
breast  during  gestation,  but  it  needed  still  another  to  awaken 
my  dull  perceptions  to  the  importance  of  this  knowledge  for  the 
surgeon. 

Case  II. — Pregnancy  Complicating  Cancer  of  the  Breast. — in 
March,  1905,  I  operated  on  a  woman  aged  36,  doing  the  usual 
removal  of  breast,  axillary  contents,  and  muscles,  by  a  wide  cir- 
cumsection  necessitating  Thiersch  skin-grafts  to  close  the  defect. 
I  mention  these  details  to  show  that  the  work  was  thorough. 
The  wound  healed  well,  only  a  soft  pliable  scar  remaining 
I  watched  this  case  from  time  to  time,  and  more  and  more  felt 
that  the  result  promised  at  least  long  postponement  of  return. 
All  went  smoothly  till  in  December,  1905  (nine  months  after 
operation),  the  patient  reported  herself  pregnant  two  months, 
and  examination  verified  this  suspicion.  Her  danger  was  in- 
stantly clear  to  me,  and  I  told  her  the  pregnancy  should  be  in- 
terrupted in  order  to  avert  the  chance  of  its  relighting  the  disease. 
This  view  being  concurred  in  by  a  consultant,  I  emptied  the 
uterus  of  a  two  months'  embryo. 

But  even  at  the  second  month  we  were  too  late.  I  had  ob- 
served the  scar  to  be  a  trifle  red  and  indurated  just  before  the 
curettage,  but  soon  after  there  could  be  no  doubt.  A  flame  of 
reddened  lymphatics  spread  from  the  scar  to  the  other  breast 
which  was  swollen  and  glossy  with  indurated  oedema.  ("Mastitis 
carcinomatosa"  of  Volkmann.)     The  situation  was  so  dreadfully 


Wood  for  Paper.  81 

clear  that  the  patient  herself  recognized  it,  and  asked :  "Did  my 
pregnancy  bring  this  back  again?"  I  had  no  need  to  answer; 
she  read  the  truth,  and  pierced  my  conscience  with  the  searching 
query:    "Then,  why  did  you  not  warn  me?" 

I  have  asked  myself  that  question  many  times  since,  and  1 
would  ask  my  colleagues  to-day :  Why  have  we  not  warned 
breast  cases  of  the  dangers  of  pregnancy ?  Of  course,  the  cases 
suffering  from  our  omission  have  been  few  in  number,  un- 
fortunate rarities,  I  judge,  of  surgical  experience.  Cancer  at- 
tacks the  breast  commonly  late  in  life,  well  after  the  child-bea:mg 
period.  But  not  exclusively  then.  The  circles  of  incidence  of 
the  two  conditions  intersect  anil  overlap  to  a  considerable  extent. 
So  that  there  is  a  period  of  ten  to  fifteen  years  in  which  a  small 
percentage  of  women  are  liable  to  both  conditions.  But  even  if 
the  number  of  such  women  were  too  small  to  affect  the  statistics' 
underlying  operative  prognosis,  even  if  we  see  but  one  :>r  two 
such  cases  in  a  long  surgical  experience,  we  shall  no-:  escape  the 
condemnation  of  conscience  if  we  fail  to  individualize  in  ihtir 
favor,  and  admonish  them  of  their  peril. 

I  do  not  know  whether  others  have  recognized  this  danger  and 
this  duty  to  their  patients.  If  so,  they  have  failed  to  indicate 
it  in  the  literature.  A  research  carried  on  for  me  in  the  library 
of  the  Syracuse  Academy  of  Medicine  fails  to  bring  to  light  any 
evidence  that  the  subject  has  received  attention.  I  am  con- 
strained, therefore,  to  believe  that  the  danger  has  not  been  c1earlv 
appreciated,  and  that  once  notice  is  drawn  to  it,  others  will  wish, 
like  myself,  to  include  in  the  advice  given  patients  after  opera- 
tions for  malignancy  of  the  breast,  a  warning  against  pregnancy. 
— Buffalo  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  January,  1908. 


WOOD  FOR  PAPER  COSTS  TWENTY-SIX 
MILLIONS. 

The  Publisher  Pays  Much  More  for  His  Stock  Than   He 

Did  Last  Year. 

To-day  there  is  general  complaint  among  publishers  that  print- 
ing paper  is  constantly  growing  dearer.  In  the  Middle  West 
many  local  papers  are  raising  their  subscription  price  50  per  cent. 
in  order  to  pay  for  the  paper.     From  the  time  when  Gutenberg 


82  Wood  for  Paper. 

first  used  movable  type,  made  of  wood,  to  the  present  day  of 
metropolitan  papers,  some  of  which  consume  the  product  of  acres 
of  spruce  in  a  single  edition,  printing  has  in  very  large  degrees  de- 
pended upon  the  forest. 

In  the  face  of  a  threatened  shortage  of  timber,  the  amount  of 
wood  consumed  each  year  for  pulp  has  increased  since  1899  from 
2  million  to  3^  million  cords.  The  year  1906  marker!  an  increase 
of  93,000  cords  in  the  imports  of  pulpwood,  the  highest  average 
value  per  cord  for  all  kinds  and  a  consumption  greater  by  469,- 
053  cords  than  that  of  any  previous  year. 

Spruce,  the  wood  from  which  in  1899  three-fourths  of  the  pulp 
was  manufactured,  is  still  the  leading  wood,  but  it  now  produces 
a  little  less  than  70  per  cent,  of  the  total.  How  well  spruce  is 
suited  to  the  manufacture  of  pulp  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  dur- 
ing a  period  in  which  the  total  quantity  of  wood  used  has  doubled 
and  many  new  woods  have  been  introduced,  the  proportion  of 
spruce  pulpwood  has  remained  nearly  constant  in  spite  of  the 
drains  upon  the  spruce  forests  for  other  purposes.  During  this 
time  three  different  woods,  from  widely  separated  regions,  have 
in  turn  held  the  rank  of  leader  in  the  lumber  supply. 

Since  1899  poplar,  which  for  years  was  used  in  connection  with 
spruce  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  paper  woods,  has  increased  in 
total  quantity  less  than  100,000  cords,  and  is  now  outranked  by 
hemlock.  Pine,  balsam  and  cottonwood  are  used  in  much  smaller 
amounts. 

New  York  alone  consumes  each  year  over  a  million  and  a  quar- 
ter cords  of  wood  in  the  manufacture  of  pulp,  or  more  than  twice 
as  much  as  Maine,  which  ranks  next.  Wisconsin,  New  Hamp- 
shire, Pennsylvania  and  Michigan  follow-  in  the  order  given. 
Sixty  per  cent,  of  the  wood  used  in  New  York  was  imported  from 
elsewhere,  and  even  so  the  supply  appears  to  be  waning,  since  the 
total  consumption  for  the  State  shows  a  small  decrease  since 
1905,  whereas  the  other  States  named  have  all  increased  their 
consumption.  Other  States  important  in  the  production  of  pulp 
are:  Massachusetts,  Minnesota,  Ohio,  Oregon,  Vermont,  Vir- 
ginia and  West  Virginia. 

The  average  cost  of  pulp  delivered  at  the  mill  was  $7.21.  The 
total  value  of  wood  consumed  in  1906  was  $26,400,000.  The 
chief  item  determining  the  price  of  paper  is  the  cost  of  pulp.  An 
example  of  the  increased  price  of  paper  is  found  in  the  case  of  a 


The  Old,  Old  Social  Problem.  83 

publisher  of  a  daily  in  the  Middle  West,  who  recently  paid  $1,200 
for  a  carload  of  paper.  The  same  quantity  and  grade  of  paper 
cost  a  year  ago  but  $800. 

The  chemical  processes  of  paper  making,  which  better  preserve 
the  wood  fiber,  are  gaining  over  the  mechanical  process.  In  1899, 
65  per  cent,  of  the  wood  was  reduced  by  the  mechanical  process ; 
in  1906,  less  than  50  per  cent. 

All  importations  of  wood  for  pulp  are  from  Canada,  and  com- 
prised, in  1906,  739,000  cords,  nearly  all  of  which  was  spruce. 
Four  and  a  half  million  dollars'  worth  of  pulp  was  imported  in 
1906,  a  slight  falling  off  from  1905. 

Circular  120  of  the  Forest  Service  contains  a  discussion  of  the 
consumption  of  pulpwood  in  1906,  based  on  statistics  gathered  by 
the  Bureau  of  the  Census  and  the  Forest  Service.  The  pamphlet 
can  be  had  upon  application  to  the  Forester,  United  States  De- 
partment of  Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C. 


THE   OLD,   OLD  SOCIAL  PROBLEM. 

Dr.  I.  B.  H.  Sayse  thus  handles  this  problem  in  a  recent  issue 
of  the  New  York  Medical  Times: 

"Anent  the  discomfiture  of  women  who  seek  bread  by  the 
pleasure  of  men  outside  of  marriage,  in  conformity  with  the 
moral  sentiment  of  conservative  religious  attitude,  and  of  the 
applauded  spurt  of  scene-shifting  political  'reformers,'  in  Phila- 
delphia, there  has  been  started  an  insistent  clamor  to  tear  out 
something  special  for  diplomatic  buncombe  in  the  social  interests 
of  the  city.  There  has,  therefore,  been  inaugurated  a  hostile 
repetition  of  midnight  raids  by  the  police  upon  houses  of  ill 
repute.  These  heroic  onsets  are  planned  and  conducted  by 
schedule  information  furnished  by  clandestine  spies  and  co- 
operative officials  who  are  spasmodically  impelled  by  the  steam  oJ: 
high  pressure  sense  of  popular  duty  in  response  to  claims  for 
service  and  salary.  The  church  authorities  warmly  applaud  the 
name  of  one  eagle-eyed  agent,  of  the  persecuting  or  prosecuting 
machinery,  but  at  same  time  they  do  not  offer  or  furnish  these 
hundreds  of  unfortunate  erring  women  any  substantial  oppor- 
tunity of  social  salvation  by  giving  them  honest  and  more  hon-* 
orable  employment  and  life-supporting  compensation.  They  are 
willing  to  have  these  women  hounded  to  jail  instead — they  would 


84  The  Old,  Old  Social  Problem, 

self-righteously  prefer  to  crush  the  female  sexual  refugee  on 
earth  completely.  On  a  rounding-up  night  campaign,  hundreds 
of  girls  and  women  are  hauled  unexpectedly  into  the  police  drag- 
net. The  last  vestige  of  their  self  respect  must  be  thus  openly  un- 
done and  lost,  the  last  chance  to  get  back  into  the  avenues  of  cor- 
rect life  is  officially  slammed  into  their  faces  with  bars  of  iron. 
No  champion  of  the  Gospel  of  sympathy  and  charity  which  lead- 
eth  the  erring  heavenward  intervenes  with  the  life-line  of  rescue 
after  the  pattern  of  Christ  when  the  censorious  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees dragged  before  Him  for  judgment  the  erring  woman.  In 
the  zeal  for  a  puff  of  surface  'reform'  it  is  forgotten  that  these 
'fallen'  girls  and  women  have  all  been  nursed  at  a  mother's 
bosom,  all  have  suffered  some  ignominious  cross  of  life,  all  are  in 
bonds  of  betrayed  trust,  of  repressive  circumstances,  of  mentai 
delusion,  of  physiological  tension,  of  constitutional  degeneracy 
that  have  singly  or  by  group  perverted  and  deformed  their 
natures.  Furthermore,  their  perceptions  and  senses  have  possible 
been  submerged  by  the  misdirections  of  drink,  paid  for  by  the 
passion-offering  of  men  of  respected  popular  positions,  and 
whereby  responsive  womanhood  so  resistlessly  loses  grasp  of 
normal  balance.  'But  why  don't  such  women  resist?'  cry  the 
Pharisees.    Did  Eve  resist?    They  also  are  daughters  of  Eve." 


Venesection  Saves  Life. — In  the  clinic  at  Prague  in  a  case  of 
poisoning  with  coal  gas  the  ancient  remedy  of  venesection  has 
been  applied  with  the  most  brilliant  effect,  leading  to  the  saving' 
of  life.  Two  women  had  filled  their  range  with  anthracite  coal. 
had  lit  it,  and  had  then  retired  to  rest.  Next  morning  one  of  them 
was  found  dead,  the  other  in  deep  unconsciousness.  She  was 
brought  into  the  clinic  and  venesection  was  at  once  resorted  to,  in 
which  process  500  grammes  of  blood  were  withdrawn  and  as 
many  grammes  of  the  solution  of  common  salt  were  injected. 
Besides  this  oxygen  was  applied  for  inhalation.  On  this,  respira- 
tion improved,  but  consciousness  had  not  returned ;  there  was, 
therefore,  another  resort  taken  to  venesection  next  day.  The  pa- 
tient then  returned  to  consciousness,  and  in  two  weeks  the  patient 
was  fully  restored.  The  restorative  action  of  venesection  may  be 
explained  from  the  fact  that  the  poisonous  action  of  carbonic 
acid  first  poisoned  the  blood,  which  was  in  part  removed  from  the 
body  through  venesection. 


Book  Notices.  85 

BOOK  NOTICES. 


Le  Triomphe  de  l'Homoeopathie,  par  le  Dr.  Flasschoen  de  la 
faculte  de  medecine  de  Paris.  Ouvrage  de  490  pages  in-8°, 
Paris,  1908,  librairie  generate,  L.  Sauvaitre,  72  Boulevard 
Hausmann.    Prix :  cinq  francs. 

So  runs  the  title  of  a  handsomely  printed  book  of  490,  8vo 
pages,  with  broad  margins.  It  follows  the  European  custom  of 
being  "stitched"  only,  i.  c,  paper  bound,  the  buyers  there  suiting 
each  his  particular  taste  in  the  matter  of  permanent  binding.  For 
some  years  the  author  has  been  demanding  "de  la  faculte  de  med- 
icine de  Paris,"  the  right  to  deliver  an  official  course  of  lectures 
on  Homoeopathy  at  the  medical  schools  of  that  city,  but  needless 
to  add,  has  been  constantly  refused.  What  else  could  they  do? 
The  two  won't  mix  and  cannot  mix,  for  they  are  incompatible 
when  you  get  down  to  their  respective  foundations.  The  idea  of 
the  two  becoming  one  is  an  idle  dream.  This  fact,  however, 
would  not  prevent  a  course  of  lectures  on  Homoeopathy  in  an 
allopathic  school  from  being  very  useful,  for  it  would  give  the 
students  the  opportunity  of  choosing  between  the  two  antagonistic 
principles  in  medicine.  Man  does  not  create  these  opposites,  he 
discovers  them  and  then  should  have  freedom  of  choice  between 
them.  A  clear  insight  into  the  errors  of  an  opposing  element  is 
always  helpful  to  the  student  and  to  the  adult  mind.  But  the 
allopathic  powers  that  be  think  otherwise — or  they  are  afraid  to 
let  the  homoeopathic  light  shine  in  their  darkness.  Yet  though 
they  set  faces  of  flint  against  any  teaching  of  what  Homoeopathy 
is  to  their  students,  they  will  "charitably"  say  to  the  homoeopaths, 
"Drop  your  name  Homoeopathy,  come  to  us  and  be  brothers." 
Strange  that  sane  men  should  even  consider  such  an  impossibility. 
If  you  see  the  truth  of  Homoeopathy  you  cannot  join  their  ranks; 
if  you  do  not  you  can  easily  go  over  to  them  or  to  the  Christian 
Scientists,  the  voodoos  or  any  other  medical  outfit.  A  chair  of 
Homoeopathy  in  an  allopathic  medical  school  would  be  a  good 
thing  for  the  students  and  their  prospective  patients,  but  old 
principles  would  be  upset  and  old  idols  smashed.  If  Dr.  Flass- 
choen's  book  could  be  done  into  English  it  would  make  interest- 
ing reading  for  many. 


Hornoeopathic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED   MONTHLY   AT   LANCASTER,    PA. 

By  BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  $i.oo,TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PER  ANNUM 
Address  communications ,  books  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  the  editor,  to 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


EDITORIAL. 

Uneasy  Lies  the  Head  That  Wears  a  Crown. — Dr.  Henry 
Beates,  Jr.,  seems  to  have  discovered  the  truth  of  this  even  though 
his  crown  be  that  of  the  President  of  the  Medical  Examining 
Board  of  Pennsylvania.  He  had  fun  slanging  the  homoeopaths 
and  telling  his  own  crowd  that  the  greater  part  of  the  medical 
graduates  they  turned  loose  on  the  world  were  "unfit  to  practice 
medicine."  All  this  was  fine  until  the  return  match  began  and 
the  verbal  brick-bats  came  hurtling  his  way,  then  it  was  different, 
so  different  that  the  president  seeks  refuge  in  a  newspaper  inter- 
view : 

"In  the  examinations  which  we  make,"  said  Dr.  Beates,  ''we 
merely  endeavor  to  ascertain  whether  the  applicant  has  or  has 
not  medical  knowledge.  If  he  has  the  sort  of  knowledge  that 
qualifies  him  to  take  charge  of  human  life  and  health,  he  is  passed. 
Nevertheless  the  construction  of  his  replies,  the  spelling  and  the 
English  discloses  to  a  very  important  degree  whether  he  was 
fitted  to  enter  the  medical  school  at  all,  or  whether  he  never 
should  have  been  admitted. 

"Some  of  those  who  do  not  like  my  attitude  on  this  matter  are 
pleased  to  criticise  me  personally — my  training  and  the  character 
of  the  questions  which  constitute  the  examination  of  students. 

"Now,  as  to  my  training.  I  graduated  as  valedictorian  of  my 
class  in  the  West  Philadelphia  Academy,"  etc. 

Further  on  he  affirms  that  of  the  160  medical  schools  of  this 
country  only  20  to  40  of  them  give  good  results.  Questioned  as 
to  the  Philadelphia  schools  he  would  only  say  that  "the  University 
gives  good  results,"  which  is  a  facer  for  Jefferson  and  the 
Medico-Chi.    Dr.  Beates  is  a  graduate  of  the  University. 


Editorial.  87 

He  also  challenges  any  one  to  go  over  the  examination  papers 
at  Harrisburg  and  deny  the  truth  of  his  assertion ;  if  it  can  be 
proved  that  he  is  wrong  he  will  give  up  his  job. 

It  seems  that  English,  grammar  and  spelling  play  no  unim- 
portant part  in  the  passing  of  "the  recent  graduates,"  and  a 
cynical  friend  suggests  that  clothing,  correct  ties,  collars,  and  the 
like,  ought  also  to  be  considered.  Think  of  that  rough  old  doctor 
whom  Ian  Maclaren  pictures  entering  a  silky  bed-room !  As  for 
spelling,  there  are  a  number  of  men  to  whom  a  foolish  world 
looks  up,  George  Washington,  for  instance,  who  would  be  turned 
down  with  a  dull  thud  on  the  examining  board's  requirements 
anent  spelling. 

Under  the  sub-heading,  "These  puzzled  students,"  is  given  a 
lot  of  questions.  One  of  them  is :  "How  is  the  heat  of  the  body 
supplied  and  maintained  at  an  even  temperature?"  If  the  in- 
quisitors, with  Dr.  Beates  at  their  head,  will  tell  us  how  it  is  sup- 
plied at  all  the  world  will  be  grateful,  especially  the  learned 
world. 

The  whole  examining  board  business  all  over  the  country  is  in 
a  most  chaotic  and  unsatisfactory  condition  and  ridiculous  posi- 
tion. A  legislature  passes  the  "bill,"  knowing  nothing  of  the  real 
subject.  Then  some  one  selects  a  number  of  men  to  do  the  ex- 
amining— this  some  one  knows  nothing  of  the  subject.  Then  the 
medical  graduates  who  have  satisfied  their  respective  colleges  of 
their  qualifications  are  turned  over  to  these  boards  to  determine 
whether  they  have  "the  sort  of  knowledge  that  qualifies"  to  take 
charge  of  human  life  and  health  !  Do  the  members  of  the  various 
examining  boards  possess  these  qualities  ? 

Echinacea  in  Gangrene. — Ellingwood's  Therapeutist  for 
January  has  a  short  paper  from  a  Dr.  C.  S.  Whitford,  adding 
more  testimony  to  the  long  list  in  favor  of  this  remarkable  drug. 
The  case  was  a  man  who  had  been  cut  in  the  leg  near  the  knee. 
He  worked  in  a  cowyard.  The  time  was  during  the  hot  term  in 
July.  The  result  was  gangrene.  The  attending  physicians  said 
that  amputation  was  the  only  hope,  but  as  the  man  refused  to  have 
his  leg  cut  oft  Dr.  Whitford  was  called  in,  and  by  the  use  of 
Echinacea,  internally  and  externally,  cured  the  patient  in  fourteen 
days,  so  that  he  could  go  to  work.  A  remedy  that  can  accomplish 
such  results  is  well  worth  knowing. 


88  Editorial. 

A  "Specific/' — There  are  men  in  this  queerest  of  all  queer 
worlds  who  get  an  idea,  or  adopt  one,  and  then  monotonously  re- 
peat it  and  nothing  else  for  days  and  weeks  and  years.  The 
never  ceasing  drone  of  one  idea  sooner  or  later  influences  a  cer- 
tain number  of  men,  and  they  become  fanatics  of  the  much  droned 
idea  or  verbal  formula.  Something  the  same  occurs  when  a  man 
gets  the  bee  in  his  bonnet  of  "specifics"  in  medicine.  Such  a  man 
will  write  or  asserts  that  such  a  drug  is  a  "specific"  for,  let  us  say, 
rheumatism,  or  this,  that  or  the  other  disease,  and  he  believes 
what  he  says  or  writes.  There  is  this  to  be  said  in  favor  of  this 
idea,  namely,  that  all  diseases,  according  to  the  ruling  belief,  are 
caused  by  specific  germs,  and,  therefore,  it  logically  follows  that 
each  disease  must  have  a  specific  remedy  if  there  be  such  a  thing 
for  disease.  There  is  where  you  are  logically  landed — for  a 
specific  cause  there  must  be  a  specific  antidote,  or  remedy,  or 
counteracting  thing.  But  when  we  descend  from  theory — or  as- 
cend may  suit  some  as  being  the  better  term — to  things  as  they 
are  any  one  at  once  realizes  that  there  is  not  nor  cannot  be  such 
a  thing  as  a  "specific"  for  disease  as  it  is  catalogued  in  the  text- 
books. The  hard  facts  of  experience  knock  the  theory  on  the 
head,  and  the  wise  man  falls  back  on  the  sometimes  flouted  in- 
dicated remedy.  Burnett  came  nearer  solving  the  "specific" 
question  than  any  one  else,  when  he  preached  his  "organ  reme- 
dies."   They  are  useful  and  practical. 

How  to  Treat  Asiatic  Cholera. — The  following  from  the 
J.  M.  A.  is  the  latest  treatment  for  Asiatic  cholera.  It  is  scientific 
and  may  possess  a  certain  interest  to  those  who  know  the  better 
way.  Patient  first  receives  four  or  six  tablets  of  cocaine  hydro- 
chloride, 1-20  grain;  creosote,  1-8  minim;  cerium  oxalate,  2 
grains ;  pepsin,  1-4  grain;  tincture  of  nux  vomica,  3-8  minim. 

This  is  followed  by  tablets:  Morphine  sulphate,  1-6  grain; 
hyoscyamus,  1-8  grain;  nitroglycerine,  1-100  grain;  citrated 
caffeine,  1-2  grain;  capsicum,  camphor,  of  each,  1-4  grain;  tinc- 
ture of  digitalis,  5  drops. 

After  this,  "every  few  minutes,  until  the  pulse  can  be  felt  at  the 
wrist,  the  tablet  of  nitroglycerine,  1-100  minim,  with  2  minims  of 
the  tincture  of  digitalis,  is  given." 

In  the  meantime  the  patient  is  given  the  following  mixture 
diluted  one-half  with  water,  tincture  of  eucalyptus,  4  fluidounces ; 
spirit  of  camphor,  2  fluidounces ;  tincture  of  capsicum,  30  minims. 


Editorial.  89 

"Mutard  plasters  and  the  application  of  heat  to  the  body  are  not 
neglected." 

"Heroic  doses''  of  tannic  acid  are  given  to  stop  the  diarrhcea. 

"A  great  many  patients  promptly  react  as  a  result  of  this  treat- 
ment, and  then  are  attacked  by  suppression  of  urine,  which  often 
occurs  at  this  time.  To  fight  this  he  employs  the  tincture  of 
eucalyptus  in  addition  to  the  digitalis  and  citrated  caffeine,  which 
also  act  as  "diuretics." 

There  you  have  it,  not  in  detail,  but  in  essentials.  "The  re- 
covery is  rapid  unless  complications  occur." 

Sure  ! — "In  spite  of  the  rigid  criticism  and  enquiry  of  our  age,'* 
writes  Dr.  Edwin  Walker,  of  Evansville,  Ind.,  in  the  California 
Medical  Journal,  "there  is  still  in  medical  literature  much  which 
is  unture."  Truly  there  is  very  much.  What  medical  book  lives 
more  than  a  few  years  outside  of  homoeopathic  books  ?  Practically 
none  save  anatomies  and  dictionaries.  Are  the  "latest"  true? 
About  as  true  as  their  predecessors.  Why  does  the  Organon 
live?  It  has  truth.  Truth  lives.  Error  is  chaff  and  perishes. 
"There  is  still  in  medical  literature  much  which  is  untrue."    Sure ! 

Official  Organs. — The  Pacific  Medical  Journal  asserts  that 
the  official  journal  of  the  medical  society  of  the  State  of  Cali- 
fornia had,  some  years  ago  but  three  subscribers  outside  of  its 
own  membership,  i.  e.,  the  society,  while  to-day  "the  number  of 
bona  fida  subscribers  is  seventeen."  Rather  a  small  subscription 
list  for  even  a  medical  journal.  But  it  seems  the  official  organ  has 
other  strings  to  its  bow,  as  the  following  extract  from  a  circular 
sent  out  to  members  of  the  society  demonstrates : 

"Again  your  hearty  co-operation  can  be  of  great  service  to  your 
journal  (the  society  'organ')  by  treating  the  salesman,  who  fre- 
quents your  office  on  a  basis  of  'give  and  take.'  When  Mr.  X. 
calls  to  sell  you  goods,  you  should  say  to  him,  after  carefully  look- 
ing over  your  journal,  T  notice  that  your  firm  does  not  advertise 
in  our  journal.  Why  is  this?  When  I  can  purchase  equally  as 
reliable  goods  from  a  firm  which  patronizes  our  journal,  I  pro- 
pose to  do  it.'  If  a  representative  of  a  house  which  does  not  take 
advertising  space  in  your  journal  met  with  such  questions  as  the 
above  in  every  doctor's  office  who  is  a  member  of  our  society,  how 
long  do  you  think  it  would  be  before  that  firm  would  seek  ad- 
vertising space  in  your  journal?" 


90  Editorial. 

Any  journal  must  make  good  to  its  readers  or  it  will  die. 
Even  bullying  advertisers  will  not  save  it. 

A  "Potentized"  Child. — In  answer  to  a  query  from  Bradford 
A.  Booth,  M.  D.,  Medical  Inspector,  Department  of  Public  Safety, 
Pittsburg,  Pa.,  concerning  Variolinum,  and  "what  is  the  legal 
meaning  of  vaccination,"  the  Journal  of  the  A.  M.  A.  replies: 
"We  know  of  no  legal  decision  giving  the  meaning  of  vaccina- 
tion.". As  to  Variolinum  the  editor  quotes  Blackwood's  Materia 
Medica  as  to  what  it  is,  how  prepared  and  the  dose.  The  editor 
then  sapiently  throws  in  the  following  bit  of  information :  "A 
child  who  takes  this  substance  internally  is  said  to  be  'poten- 
tized.' '  Verily,  one  must  go  to  the  great,  to  the  big-wigs,  to 
learn  things  as  they  are  in  the  minds  of  the  great !  Homceopaths 
have  never  been  accused  of  cruelty,  but  if  the  mighty  Journal  of 
the  A.  M.  A.  can  prove  that  they  potentize  children  we'll  show 
"em  up  and  spare  not. 

Trouble  Among  the  "Regulars/' — The  "regular"  is  having 
his  own  troubles  just  now.  For  example,  down  in  Texas  the 
Texas  Medical  Journal  calls  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  "the  Octopus,"  and  raises  merry  Cain  over  the 
"lemon"  the  profession  has  been  handed  in  the  shape  of  an  ex- 
amining board,  a  board  made  up  of  pretty  much  everything  med- 
ical save  the  Christian  Scientists.  The  Texas  Journal,  for  in- 
stance, asserts  that  "the  House  of  Delegates  is  dominated  by  the 
great  machine  goes  without  saying — and  our  Committee  on  Leg- 
islation sacrificed  every  principle  of  professional  ethics  and  pride 
at  the  dictation,  really,  of  an  apostate  homoeopath,  the  power  be- 
hind the  octopus,  Simmons."  Aside  from  the  family  row  here 
revealed  the  point  that  will  strike  good  homceopaths  is  the  con- 
temptuous reference  to  an  "apostate  homoeopath."  Better  stick  to 
your  colors  or  go  into  some  other  business. 

Also  the  American  Medical  Association,  as  we  learn  from  the 
Century,  has  a  council  on  pharmacy,  the  duty  of  which  seems  to 
be  to  dictate  what  pharmaceutical  preparations  may  be  ethically 
prescribed,  and  which  are  anathema.  On  this  council  of  fifteen 
there  are  no  practicing  physicians  apparently  no  one  but  medical 
politicians.  They  have  passed  250  preparations,  over  seventy-five 
per  cent,  of  which  are  foreign.    The  leading  American  drug  firms 


Editorial.  91 

seem  to  be  taboo.  The  bulk  of  the  American  preparations  passed, 
as  might  have  been  expected,  belong  to  one  house.  And  these 
gentlemen  solemnly  prate  about  "protecting  the  public." 

The  true  physician  is  he  who  heals  the  sick,  relieves  suffering 
and  is  the  guide,  counsellor  and  friend  of  physically  erring  hu- 
manity ;  he  does  not  prate,  or  pose,  or  blow  his  own  horn,  or  seek 
power  and  pelf — the  other  kind  apparently  does,  and  is  very 
anxious  to  "protect  the  public." 

Rat  Poison. — "Ratin"  is  the  latest,  or  one  of  the  latest,  "made 
in  Germany"  things.  It  is  a  substance  inoculated  with  a  bacillus, 
which  bacillus  not  stated.  It  is  mixed  with  bread,  or  anything  the 
rat  will  eat.  It  not  only  kills  the  rat,  but  before  he  dies  the  in- 
fected rat  infects  the  whole  rat  community  and  they  all  die.  If 
the  bacillus  dies  with  the  rat  well  and  good,  but  if  the  bacillus 
lives  on  then  there  may  be  trouble  for  others  besides  the  rat. 
It  must  be  a  lively  bacillus  that  can  kill  a  colony  of  rats,  which 
are  reputed  to  carry  the  bacillus  of  the  plague  apparently  without 
any  inconvenience. 

"Breaking  Down  the  Barriers." — Commenting  on  the 
eagerness  of  some  men  to  break  down  the  barriers  (truths!) 
which  separate  the  old  school  and  the  homoeopaths,  Dr.  Arndt 
writes  (Pacific  Coast  Journal  of  Homoeopathy,  December)  : 

"About  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  Dr.  Piffard,  of  New  York, 
took  occasion  to  avow  his  respect  for  Homoeopathy  and  cited 
many  instances  in  which  he  had  in  practice  proved  the  efficacy  of 
certain  methods  of  homoeopathic  practice,  referred  chiefly  to  the 
clinical  value  of  the  minute  dose  of  highly  subdivided  drug  sub- 
stances (as  mercury)  and  the  practical  value  of  'provings'  in  in- 
dicating the  therapeutic  field  of  subtances  thus  proved  (as  Rhus 
in  the  treatment  of  certain  diseases  of  the  skin).  Dr.  Piffard  was 
at  first  passed  in  silence,  then  taken  to  task;  and  now  many  a 
year  has  come  and  gone  since  he  has  been  heard  from.  Yet  he  is 
still  actively  engaged  in  practice,  and  those  who  know  him  well 
stoutly  affirm  that  his  views  to-day  are  exactly  the  views  he  held 
twenty-five  years  ago." 

Come,  "you  miserable"  and  "we'll  forgive  you — but  don't  do  it 
again."    "All  ye  who  enter  here  leave  Homoeopathy  behind." 

Changing  Views  of  Modern  Medicine. — Dr.  E.  C.  Hebbard, 


92  Editorial. 

of  Boston,  Mass.,  contributed  a  rather  suggestive  paper  to  the 
New  Y.ork  Medical  Times,  January.  While  acknowledging  the 
importance  of  the  work  done  by  the  bacteriologists  he  warns  his 
readers  "not  to  lose  sight  of  the  science  of  therapeutics."  He 
further  says : 

"It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  powers  of  a  specific  antitoxin, 
while  destroying  the  effects  of  original  toxin,  often  results  in 
much  harm  by  its  deleterious  effects  on  the  nerve  centers.  It  is 
also  a  question  if  antiseptic  application  may  not  be  the  agency  of 
carrying  other  dangerous  agencies  into  the  tissues — agencies  that 
are  incompatible  to  the  body  requirement. 

"While  the  body  possesses,  in  a  marked  degree,  the  power  to 
sustain  the  attack  of  injurious  substances,  its  integrity  is  often 
overcome  and  most  unscientific  results  obtain." 

Good  homoeopaths  will  be  rather  pleased  at  this  acknowledg- 
ment that  the  antitoxins  may  be  dangerous,  for  they  have  sus- 
pected it  for  some  time.  Here  also  is  another  hint:  "Late  in- 
vestigators are  beginning  to  question  the  germ  theory  as  the 
cause  of  disease."  It  looks  as  though  Hahnemann's  views  ad- 
vanced in  the  Chronic  Diseases  may  yet  come  to  the  fore. 

A  complete  system  of  therapeutics  is  suggested  "restoring 
chemical  equilibrium."  This  looks  like  an  approach  to  Schuessler's 
biochemistry.  Let  the  good  work  go  on !  it  is  headed  in  the  right 
direction  now. 

Skillful  Advertising. — Germany  is  no  longer  in  it  in  the 
"ethical  advertising"  of  "ethical"  proprietory  drugs.  Whenever 
you  see  the  alkaloidal  ad.  you  can  feel  certain  that  the  files  of 
that  journal  will  contain  a  few  scientific  papers  in  which  very 
casually  will  occur  something  like  "The  best  form  in  which  this 
invaluable  drug  can  be  prescribed  is" — see  alkaloidal  ad.  Some 
grim  homoeopaths  point  to  the  fact  that  their  "indications"  are 
"lifted"  from  Homoeopathy.  Then  Homoeopathy  is  patted  on  the 
head,  told  it  was  very  well  in  its  day,  but  not  "scientific."  We 
wonder  why  these  "scientific"  ones  have  not  put  forth  "alkaloid" 
"Lachesioiod ;"  the  indications  are  open  to  all  and  there  are  many 
who  would  eagerly  bite.    There's  millions  in  it ! 

Great  Learning. — The  learning,  the  medical  science,  furnish- 
ed to  doctors  free  and  without  the  asking  is  at  once  profound  and 


Editorial.  93 

stunning.  Here  is  one  gentleman,  or  company  of  them,  who  in- 
forms the  medical  world  that  the  katabolism  of  the  protoplasm 
exceeds  the  anabolism,  and,  therefore,  all  needed  to  knock  out  the 

lowering  katabolism  is  to  take so  and  so,  at  so  much  per 

bottle.  The  advice  is  free  and  the  remedy  is  cheap.  Don't  bother 
reading  books ;  read  the  free  "literature,"  prescribe  the  dope  rec- 
ommended, and  take  no  care,  leaving  that  to  the  philanthropic 
dope  makers.    It  is  docterin'  made  easy. 

The  Modern  Frankenstein  Creation. — Scientific  physicians 
have  dwelt  so  much  on  "germs"  as  the  one  and  only  cause  of  dis- 
ease that  finally  the  public,  like  a  huge  and  blind  land  slip,  has 
slipped  en  masse  to  their  way  of  teaching,  and  the  result  is  that 
the  scientific  ones  are  being  crowded  into  an  unpleasant  corner. 

"Germs  are  the  cause  of  disease ;  kill  the  germs  and  quarantine 
the  sick  and  there  will  be  no  more  disease."  in  a  broad  way  is  the 
teaching  of  the  scientific  ones  when  they  condescendingly  or 
didactly  give  the  public  a  glimpse  of  what  is  doing  in  the  esoteric 
realms  of  their  scientific  domain. 

And  in  that  domain  it  is  all  germs,  nothing  but  germs,  and  they 
have  sung  this  song  for  so  long  that  the  public  has  become  hyp- 
notized and  are  now  demanding  results,  and  thereby  crowding  the 
high  priests  of  "scientific  medicine"  into  an  uncomfortable 
corner.  For  instance,  here  is  a  very  sane  daily  journal  of  Phila- 
delphia indignantly  demanding  that  the  board  of  health  stop  the 
epidemic  of  grippe  now  (January  1st)  raging  in  Philadelphia,  and 
from  reports,  all  over  the  United  States.  "The  disease."  argues 
this  confiding  editor  in  effect,  "we  know  is  caused  by  a  bacillus 
(b.  Pfeffcr),  and  the  board  of  health  is  neglecting  its  duty  when 
it  does  not  head  off  this  bacillus.  Every  person  affected  with  this 
disease  is  a  centre  of  infection  and  should  be  quarantined  and 
isolated  and  thus  stop  the  spread  of  the  disease.  If  the  board  has 
not  the  necessary  authority,  give  it  to  them,  and  stop  this  epi- 
demic."   Such  is  the  tenor  of  the  editorial. 

It  would  be  nuts  and  balm  to  the  board  to  have  this  added  power 
to  wield  and  money  to  spend,  but  back  of  this  must  loom  the  after 
effects.  No  one  knows  better  than  these  men  that  even  with  all 
the  money  in  the  U.  S.  Treasury  and  a  standing  army  of  quar- 
antine guards  they  could  no  more  stay  a  grippe  epidemic  than 
they  could  sweep  back  a  storm  tide  with  old  woman's  brooms. 


94  Editorial. 

But  they  have  taught  the  public  to  believe  in  germs,  and  the  re- 
action is  now  beginning,  or,  rather,  the  public  demands  something 
more  than  talk. 

The  other  day  (true)  a  physician  sent  a  hurry  call  for  certain 
medicine.  "Can't  give  it  out  fast  enough  to  the  grippe  cases.  I've 
got  it  myself." 

Instead  of  being  a  centre  of  healing  he  was  a  centre  of  infec- 
tion, according  to  the  prevailing  idea. 

Let  the  newspaper  wise  men  turn  their  guns  on  the  weather 
bureau  and  demand  better  weather,  for  germs  or  no  germs,  so 
long  as  the  air  resembles  that  of  a  damp  cellar  we  will  have 
grippe,  pneumonia,  and  the  like. 

Let  the  germ-faddist  stand  on  two  legs.  "Germs  are  the  cause 
of  disease"  they  teach.  But  they  teach  nothing  about  the  equally 
important  fact  that  without  "the  soil"  the  germs  are  harmless. 
If  one  is  in  condition  to  contract  a  certain  disease  he  will  prob- 
ably do  so,  if  not  he  can  snap  his  fingers  at  the  b.  Pfeifer  and  the 
rest  if  his  tribe. 

The  secret  is  to  have  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body,  and  not 
get  unduly  excited. 

Has  It? — In  one  of  his  philosophical  editorials  (December 
Clinique)  Dr.  H.  V.  Halbert  writes,  under  the  heading,  "Looking 
Backwards,"  in  part,  as  follows : 

"In  this  day  of  advanced  medicine  the  question  has  arisen 
whether  the  homoeopathic  profession  has  not  accomplished  its 
work.  Well,  we  believe  it  has,  but  that  is  no  argument  for  stop- 
ping it.  Without  doubt  the  idea  of  'similia5  is  better  understood 
and  more  practically  applied  than  ever  before ;  it  has  made  its  im- 
pression upon  the  general  school  of  medicine,  and  the  uncalled  for 
ridicule,  which  was  once  our  lot,  has  given  way  to  a  more  just 
appreciation." 

Now  there  be  those  who  hold  that  so  far  from  Homoeopathy 
being  better  understood  to-day  a  knowledge,  of  what  it  is  is  less 
understood  than  ever,  and  that  there  is  an  ample  field  even  in  the 
homoeopathic  ranks  for  yeomen  effort  in  the  missionary  line. 
There  be  those  who  hold  even  this.  When  a  layman  raises  Cain 
over  the  fact  that  his  homoeopathic  physician  had  put  him  up 
against  70  dollars  worth  of  drug  store  prescriptions  in  two 
weeks  in  a  case  of  typhoid,  it  looks  as  though  Homoeopathy  had 


Current  Items.  95 

either  greatly  advanced  or  in  some  way  greatly  changed.  There 
are  also  those  who  hold  that  the  mission  of  Homoeopathy  will  be 
fulfilled  when  all  men  are  homoeopaths  and  disease  has  ceased  to 
trouble. 

Mullein  Oil  in  Deafness. — Dr.  V.  G.  Vance,  Tafel,  Ind., 
writing  to  Ellinzvood's  Therapeutist,  December,  has  this  to  say 
of  Mullein  oil : 

"Personally,  I  have  had  some  exeprience  in  the  use  of  mullein 
oil.  In  a  number  of  cases  of  simple  deafness,  which  I  thought 
were  dependent  upon  slowly  increasing  catarrhal  conditions  of 
the  ear,  I  have  used  this  remedy  in  three  minim  doses,  dropped 
directly  into  the  ear  three  or  four  times  each  day. 

"While  its  influence  has  not  always  been  marked,  and  often  not 
entirely  satisfactory,  there  are  a  number  of  cases  in  which  marked 
benefit  has  been  derived  from  this  use  of  the  remedy.  I  am  espe- 
cially favorable  to  its  use  in  conjunction  with  other  indicated 
measures. 

"It  has  been  of  direct  service  in  a  number  of  cases  of  simple 
earache  in  children.  One  drop,  dropped  directly  into  the  ear,  will 
often  give  immediate  and  satisfactory  relief." 

Dr.  Vance  also  says  "it  is  not  an  oil.  It  is  more  the  juice  of  the 
plant.''  This  is  an  error.  Mullein  oil  is  a  dark,  aromatic  liquid 
sun  distilled  from  the  bloom  of  the  mullein  plant.  It  is  to  the 
mullein  what  the  attar  of  roses  is  to  the  rose. 


CURRENT    ITEMS. 

Dr.  James  W.  Ward,  the  famous  surgeon  of  San  Francisco, 
Calif.,  has  removed  his  offices  to  The  Marsden,  1380  Suter  St., 
cor.  of  Franklin. 

The  next  regular  meeting  (annual)  of  the  Minnesota  State 
Homoeopathic  Institute  will  be  held  at  Minneapolis,  May  19,  20 
and  21.  This  is  ample  notice  and  every  doctor  should  set  his 
house  in  order  and  attend.  Dr.  A.  E.  Comstock  is  president  and 
H.  O.  Skinner  secretary,  both  of  St.  Paul. 

Dr.  Guy  E.  Manning  has  been  appointed  to  the  seven  year 
term  on  the  San  Francisco  Board  of  Health. 


PERSONAL. 


"I'm  afraid  of  premature  burial."  No  danger  of  your  being  buried  too 
soon,"  replied  Binks. 

Men  who  can  stop  a  furious  bayonet  charge  cannot  stop  the  baby  from 
crying. 

"Does  Mr.  Brown  keep  many  chickens,  Rastus?"  "Yes,  sah,  as  many  as 
he  kin." 

When  will  the  "regular"  brother  learn  that  the  assertion  that  Homoeop- 
athy is  "dying"  has  become  funny. 

It  is  more  dangerous  to  head  the  procession  than  to  plod  unnoticed  in  the 
rear. 

The  doctor  saved  the  fellow's  life.  Afterward:  "Doc,  isn't  your  bill 
rather  steep?"  "It  is,"  replied  the  doctor,  "far  more  than  the  services  were 
worth."    Fellow  looked  thoughtful  as  he  paid. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Fish  says  that  cider  is  an  excellent  drink  for  typhoid  cases. 

"He  that  knows,  and  knows  that  he  knows  is  wise."  We  all  know  that 
we  know,  hence  are  wise. 

Oh,  well,  1908  is  already  an  almost  twice  told  tale.  Time  is  purely  me- 
chanical anyhow ;  suppose  there  were  no  clocks ! 

What  is  in  a  name?     Much  when  on  a  check. 

No,  Mary,  food  for  thought  is  not  manufactured  at  Battle  Creek,  Mich. 

A  medical  editor  tells  us  how  to  cure  the  financial  condition. 

Dr.  Nash's  Regional  Leaders  is  being  translated  into  Spanish. 

Certain  cheerful — ones  try  to  make  us  believe  that  skim-milk  is  better 
than  cream. 

A  wife  talking  too  much  is  a  cause  for  divorce  in  China.  Now  let  the 
wan-eyed  funny  man  do  his  duty. 

Pity  is  a  poor  relation  to  love. 

A  "complication  of  diseases"  is  the  twin  of  "heart  failure." 

Wonder  if  love  would  laugh  at  a  modern  time-lock? 

When  a  man  tells  you  that  truth  is  stranger  than  fiction,  he  is  not  neces- 
sarily personal. 

Dr.  Doty  tells  us  that  money  does  not  carry  germs.  Good !  Now  you 
can  take  it  without  fear. 

Bulwer  used  to  insist  that  disbelief-skepticism  were  evidences  of  a  small 
mind. 

"The  law  is  an  ass,"  said  Dogberry.  "The  law  is  the  perfection  of  human 
reason,"  say  the  lawyers.    Can  both  be  right? 

Said  Jeremy  Bentham,  "Lawyers  are  the  only  persons  in  whom  ignor- 
ance of  the  law  is  not  punished." 

Wonder  if  the  gentleman  who  got  up  ethylglycolicacid  cester  couldn't 
have  hit  upon  a  more  technical  term  ? 

They  say  that  deep  breathing  will  cure  broken  hearts  and  liver  com- 
plaints. 

"Skin  diseases  are  but  danger  signals,"  say  the  advanced  medics  who 
have  got  nearer  Flahnemann's  Chronic  Diseases. 

Take  plenty  of  olive  oil  and  thus  soothe  the  mental  and  physical  as- 
perities of  life. 


THE 


Homeopathic  Recorder. 


Vol.  XXIII.        Lancaster,  Pa.,  March,  1908.  No.  3 


ONE  SIDED. 

Dr.  Charles  E.  Page  is  a  doctor  in  Boston  town  well-known 
to  those  who  read  many  and  varied  medical  journals.  He  is  a 
man  who  knows  what  he  wants  to  say,  knows  how  to  say  it, 
and  is  not  in  the  least  afraid  to  say  it.  Much  of  what  he  says  or 
writes  is  good,  very  good,  but  some  of  it  is — well,  one  sided.  His 
last  paper  appears  inThe  New  York  Medical  Times,  the  best  of 
its  class,  though,  also,  one  sided  sometimes.  Dr.  Page's  last  paper 
is  headed  "Strychnine ;  Just  a  Thought :  'Heart  Disease/  "  Here 
is  the  gist  of  it : 

"This  Christmas  morning  opens  up  very  sadly  for  the  Ball 
family  and  near  relatives  at  Hopedale.  The  morning  papers  give 
us  a  lot  of  figures  anent  the  prevalence  of  'heart  disease.'  and  an 
editorial  on  this  subject  gives  some  good  advice  as  to  the  in- 
fluence of  overtaxing  the  physical  powers  in  the  struggle  for 
success  in  business,  and  of  bad  and  over-eating;  and  there  is  an 
item  of  news  from  Hopedale  telling  of  the  fatal  poisoning  of 
two-year-old  Catherine  Ball  by  Strychnine  pills  prescibed  by  the 
family  doctor  for  her  mother  who  is  said  to  have  heart  disease. 
Her  small  daughter  was  killed  by  a  'medicine,'  every  little  dose 
iof  which  was  a  positive  injury  to  the  mother,  bringing  her  a  little 
nearer  to  her  death  from  'heart  disease,'  or,  perhaps,  some  other 
disease  resulting  from  the  outrage  inflicted  upon  the  great  central 
organ,  the  heart.  Such  accidents  as  this  which  caused  the  little 
girl's  death  are  of  quite  frequent  occurrence.  One  of  these  not 
long  ago  caused  the  death  of  two  young  children,  while  the  in- 


98  One-Sided. 

valid  mother  looked  on,  sitting  helpless  in  her  chair  while  her 
dear  babes  ate  from  her  box  of  Strychnine  pills.  Imagine  the 
horror  of  it!" 

''When  that  good  time  comes  which  Sir  Frederick  Treves,. 
King  Edward's  physician,  has  recently  predicted  must  some  day 
come,  when  'the  people  will  leave  off  the  extraordinary  habit  of 
taking  medicine  when  they  are  sick' — it  has  already  arrived  for 
some  millions  of  well-informed  human  beings,  thanks  to  the  teach- 
ings of  hygienic  physicians,  health  magazines,  such  as  'Physical: 
Culture,'  'Health  Culture.'  etc.,  etc.,  and,  to  be  sure,  to  the 
'Mother  Eddy'  jolliers — the  doctor  who  should  prescribe  Strych- 
nine, Digitalis,  or  other  poisonous  drugs,  would  be  prosecuted 
for  mal-practice,  and,  in  case  of  a  fatality,  for  manslaughter." 

Further  along  he  takes  up  the  case  of  the  late  King  Oscar,  of 
Sweden,  and  the  only  surprise  expressed  is  that  the  King  with- 
stood the  "heroic"  treatment  of  his  doctors  as  long  as  he  did. 
The  treatment  was  the  cause  of  his  death. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  all  this  that  Dr.  Page  says,, 
but  it  is  one  sided,  for  not  only  are  the  extreme  druggers  condemn- 
ed by  him,  but  the  drugs  as  well.  Physical  culture  and  health  cul- 
ture are  excellent  things ;  Mrs.  Eddy  has  made  many  "cures" 
by  taking  the  patient  away  from  heavy  drugging ;  hygiene,  sani- 
tation and  the  removal  of  the  cause  of  illness  are  things  against 
which  no  one  can  say  a  word  of  disparagement,  but  after  all  is 
said  and  done  all  these  excellent  measures  are  absolutely  helpless 
when  confronted  by  disease. 

A  case  is  presented  where  the  patient  exhibits  undoubted  evi- 
dences of  illness.  His  life,  habits,  dwelling,  surroundings  are 
corrected  and,  behold,  the  man  (or  patient)  recovers  health.  But 
suppose  another  patient  presents  himself  who  has  had  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  proper  living,  and  all  implied,  yet  is  ill,  what  then? 
What  can  the  new  method  men  do  for  him?  Nothing.  It  is 
here  that  the  one-sidedness  of  the  new  men,  if  the  term  be  allow- 
able, is  revealed,  and  it  is  here  that  Homoeopath}-  and  Homoe- 
opathy only  is  of  avail. 

Take  the  case  related  by  Teste  (we  believe  it  was  Teste)  of 
the  man  who  was  apparently  hopelessly  ill.  He  had  gone  through 
drugging,  hydro-therapy,  change  of  climate,  every  thing,  but  to 
no  avail.     As  Dr.  Page  would  do  to-day,  Teste  sought  for  the 


Meeting  of  American  Institute.  99 

origin  of  the  illness,  others  had  sought  for  it.  perhaps  found  it, 
but  did  not  recognize  it  as  the  cause  of  the  disease,  nor  could 
they  have  benefited  the  case,  even  if  they  had  recognized  the 
cause,  could  not  because  of  their  one-sidedness. 

The  man  said  that  some  years  before,  in  winter,  he  had  traveled 
for  700  miles  in  a  sleigh  and  had  been  exposed  during  that  time 
to  dry,  bitter  cold  winds  ;  from  that  dated  his  illness.  Clear  as 
sunlight  to  the  man  who  knows  Homoeopathy,  dark  as  Erebus 
to  all  others !  A  few  doses  of  homoeopathic  Aconite  restored  the 
man  to  health.  And  so  it  is — only  Homoeopathy  can  overcome 
real  disease  and  God  knows  there  is  enough  of  it  in  the  world. 

Ever}-  school  of  medicine  will  be  on<  and  not  scientific 

until  it  learns  when  and  how  to  use  drugs — learns  Homoeopathy. 


NEXT  MEETING  OF  THE   AMERICAN  INSTITUTE 
OF  HOMCEOPATHY,   KANSAS   CITY. 

The  president  and  first  vice-president  of  the  Institute 
visited  Oklahoma  City  early  in  January  and  reluctantly  decided 
against  that  city  as  the  next  meeting  place  of  the  Institute.  They 
found  the  hotel  accommodation  entirely  inadequate,  bath  rooms 
are  scarce  in  both  hotels  and  the  ''White  Temple"  entirely  un- 
available as  a  place  to  hold  sessions.  Also  the  hotels  practically 
refused  reduced  rates  and  could  promise  to  take  care  of  but  few 
of  the  Institute  members,  and  these  would  be  compelled  to 
"double-up."  two  in  a  room.  For  these  reasons  the  Committee 
decided  on  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  as  the  next  place  of  meeting.  Con- 
cerning this  city  the  Committee  reports  : 

"It  were  perhaps  a  work  of  supererogation  to  speak  of  the 
beauties  and  attractions  of  this  wonderful  city.  Commercially, 
physically,  aesthetically,  it  is  second  to  none  in  the  United  States. 
The  combined  population  of  Kansas  City.  Missouri,  and  Kansas 
City,  Kansas,  separated  simply  by  an  imaginary  line,  is  nearly 
four  hundred  thousand.  The  municipalities  form  one  great,  rest- 
less, aggressive,  progressive,  beautiful  city.  High  bluffs,  deep 
gorges,  attractive  ravines,  multitudes  of  rivulets,  great  rivers, 
.high  land  and  bottoms — all   give  themselves   to   natural   pictur- 


ioo  Morphinum  Sulphuricum. 

esqueness  and  artistic  possibility.  Millions  upon  millions  have 
been  spent  in  developing  one  of  the  finest  park  and  boulevard 
systems  in  the  world.  This  is,  without  doubt,  one  of  the  show 
cities  of  America.  The  transcontinental  tourist  who  has  simply 
passed  through  Kansas  City,  and  almost  every  American  railway 
system  touches  it,  knows  nothing  of  the  multitudinous  attractions 
of  this  place.  The  railways  are  in  the  valley  out  of  sight ;  and 
the  city,  on  the  hilltops.  One  must  take  the  incline  and  view  it 
from  a  high  place  to  know  that  at  his  feet  lies  the  pride  of  the 
West,  beautiful  Kansas  City.  Here  are  vast  hotels,  gorgeous 
theatres,  great  churches,  palatial  homes,  wide  gardens,  inviting 
shade,  and  cool  retreats.  The  hundred  members  of  the  local 
profession  and  the  nearly  two  thousand  of  the  States  of  Kansas 
and  Missouri  will  give  us  hearty  welcome." 

"The  trip  to  Kansas  City  is  easily  and  quickly  made.  It  is  a 
night's  journey,  twelve  hours  from  Chicago:  six  hours  from  St. 
Louis ;  over  night  from  Denver :  and  can  be  reached  from  Xew 
York  City  with  but  one  night  on  the  sleeper." 

The  main  thing  is  the  meeting  itself.  The  meeting  at  Kansas 
City  ought  to  be  a  rousing  one. 


MORPHINUM   SULPHURICUM. 
By  John  Hutchinson,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

A  Proving  of  the  30th  Centesimal  Potency. 

This  proving,  made  for  the  Bayard  Club,  of  Xew  York  City, 
illustrates  some  results  that  may  be  secured  by  remedy  proving, 
as  distinct  from  drug  proving.  The  two  experiments  are  not 
identical ;  they  differ  under  the  same  technique  in  both  range 
and  quality  of  accomplishment. 

It  has  been  found  possible  to  avoid  much  of  the  gross  dis- 
turbance caused  by  massive  or  crude  drug-dosage.  That  method 
yields  inadequate  returns  in  definite  and  available  symptoms.  On 
the  other  hand,  an  employment  of  the  potentized  or  dynamized — 
the  potentiated — medicinal  substance  is  sure  to  reward  the  com- 
petent observer  with  a  finer  grade  of  characteristic  disturbances 


Morphinum  Sulphitricum.  iov 

of  the  organism  ;  that  is,  symptoms  of  graphic  nature,  at  once 
establishing  their  utility  as  leaders  in  prescribing. 

Twelve  persons  were  selected  for  this  proving,  as  follows  : 

Xo.  I.  Boy  of  1 6  years,  unemployed. 

No.  2  Young  man.  18,  accountant. 

Xo.  3.  Single  man.  23,  physician. 

Xo.  4.  Single  man.  24,  fireman. 

Xo.  5.  Single  man,  25,  business,  mostly  indoors. 

Xo.  6.  Single  man.  28,  commercial  traveler.. 

Xo.  7.  Married  woman,  38,  housekeeping,  has  had  one  child 
(living). 

No.  8.  Married  man,  48,  writer. 

No.  9.  Single  woman,  49,  no  employment. 

Xo.  10.  Single  woman,  50,  teacher. 

Xo.  n.  Married  man,  52.  business,  mostly  out  of  doors. 

X'o.   12.  Married  man,  y6,  author,  and  literary  worker. 

The  first  six  provers  (Xos.  1-6)  were  examples  of  average  phy- 
sical sturdiness.  Three  of  them  were  fairly  athletic.  All  the 
twelve  provers  were  attending  to  their  usual  duties  in  life,  with 
which,  barring  one  exception,  the  work  of  this  proving  inter- 
fered in  some  measure.  This  exception  was  Prover  X^o.  9,  the  single 
woman,  age  49,  having  no  employment.  Her  health  was  greatly 
benefited  by  the  proving,  and  some  time  later,  it  being  thought 
best  to  repeat  the  remedy  for  a  renewal  of  the  improvement,  one 
dose  of  a  higher  potency  was  given  with  immediate  and  lasting 
advantage. 

Prover  No.  11,  married  man,  52,  whose  business  kept  him  in 
the  open  air,  was  distinctly  benefited  by  the  proving,  as  shown 
by  marked  and  sustained  increase  of  general  vigor. 

No.  4,  single  man,  24,  in  the  fire  department,  complained  of 
nothing  while  under  the  remedy.  He  had  a  few  unimpressive 
objective  symptoms,  however,  such  as  sallow  face,  disinterested 
manner,  and  irresponsive  mental  attitude.  These  being  somewhat 
characteristic  of  the  man  (except  the  sallow  skin)  little  weight 
was  accorded  them. 

With  these  three  exceptions  (X^os.  9,  11,  and  4)  certain  pro- 
nounced disorders  appeared  in  all  the  provers.  That  is,  out  of 
the  group  of  twelve,  nine  provers  developed  symptoms  in  com- 
mon.   The  most  obvious  condition  was  a  sore  throat,  a  dry,  burn- 


io2  Morphinum  Sulphuricum. 

ing  pharyngitis,  in  some  a  marked  laryngitis  as  well,  with  un- 
natural and  husky  voice.  This  condition  can  best  be  described 
as  one  calling  for  Belladonna.  Two  provers  were  so  ill  as  to  de- 
mand Belladonna,  which  they  received  with  consequent  relief. 
These  were  provers  who  had  taken  Morphine  30.,  a  tablet  every 
two  hours  for  two  days.  The  other  provers  received  the  remedy 
once  in  six  hours. 

Capsicum  and  JEsculus  were  remedies  also  thought  of  in  the 
circumstances,  but  they  were  not  prescribed.  The  Belladonna 
was  dominant  in  its  indications,  in  those  provers  whose  distress 
demanded  relief. 

It  may  be  stated  here  in  passing  that  all  these  provers  were 
ultimately  improved  in  health  by  their  experience  with  this  rem- 
edy, a  fact  that  brings  to  mind  the  teaching  of  Hahnemann  him- 
self ;  that  the  proving  of  remedies  is  a  healthful  experience.  It 
is  a  pity  that,  as  a  school,  we  do  not  see  it  in  that  light,  or,  at 
least,  that  we  do  not,  as  individual  physicians,  oftener  demon- 
strate it. 

Though  this  proving  brought  out  some  valuable  and  practical 
characteristics  of  the  remedy,  Morphine  in  potency,  it  did  not 
exhibit  a  prover  so  peculiarly  susceptible  to  the  medicine  as  to 
express  in  his  symptomatology  remarkable,  striking,  and  unique 
effects.  The  desideratum  in  a  series  of  provers  is  that  one  (if 
not  more)  shall  be  found  who  is  so  delicately  sensitive  to  the 
particular  substance  under  investigation,  that  his  organism  shall 
express  the  finest  lines  and  shades  of  intolerance  in  his  subjective 
symptoms.  Just  as  we  get  the  best  proving,  say,  of  Pulsatilla, 
from  the  person  most  susceptible  to  that  given  remedy,  so  it  is 
ever  with  all  remedies.  We  neither  look  nor  hope  for  pathologi- 
cal changes  in  tissue.  Our  best  expectations  are  for  an  expres- 
sion of  revolt  of  the  organism  against  the  introduction  of  the 
morbific  agent.  Only  then  are  we  given  data  on  which  to  base 
safe  therapeutic  conclusions  and  technique. 

In  this  series  of  twelve  provings,  that  intolerance  which  yields 
the  highest  grade  of  symptomatology  was  not  reached.  What 
was  determined  belongs  in  a  field  somewhat  beyond  the  syndrome 
of  the  "Morphine  fiend,"  so-called,  with  which  we  are  more  or 
less  familiar.  His  sallow  cachexa,  glassy  eyes,  egoism,  and 
mendacity,  are  all  too  general  and  common.     They  do  not  help 


A  Loner  Felt  Want.  103 


us  in  any  large  area  to  prescribe  for  the  individual  patient ;  though, 
undoubtedly,  this  very  class  of  cases  could  be  reclaimed  by  the 
same  drug,  if  administered  in  suitable  potency. 

In  this  series,  however,  was  demonstrated :  Dejected  mental 
state.  Anxiety.  Apprehension  of  incurability.  Intellection  in- 
creased. Self-pity.  Egoism.  Mind  occupied  with  physical  con- 
dition. Nerves  at  high  tension  ;  on  edge.  Hyperesthesia  of  all 
senses.  Exquisite  general  irritability.  Face  red;  throbs  (sallow 
next  day).  Yellow  countenance,  cachectic.  Unnatural  expression 
of  eyes,  glittering,  glassy,  staring.  Pupils  contracted  (with  sore 
throat).  Dilated  (with  sore  throat).  Loss  of  taste.  Sneezing. 
Takes  cold,  though  well  clad.  Throat  dry  and  burn- 
ing, with  fever.  Congested.  Bright  in  color.  Angina.  Pharyn- 
gitis. Laryngitis.  Swallowing  painful.  Better  hot  drinks. 
"Worse  solid  food.    Hoarseness. 

Probably  in  this  series  the  most  to  be  learned  is  from  Prover 
No.  9,  wdio  was  benefited,  as  stated,  by  the  proving  experience. 
For  many  years  her  health  had  been  impaired,  and  she  had  re- 
ceived much  medical  treatment.  Her  conditions  were  character- 
ized by  general  hyperesthesia,  and  this  state  was  instantly  af- 
fected for  the  better.  She  had  taken  anodynes  and  soporifics  for 
many  years.  Undoubtedly,  her  system  demanded  for  its  return 
to  health,  Morphine  in  potency. 

78  East  55th  Street. 


"A  LONG  FELT  'WANT." 

By  T.  L.  Bradford,  M.  D. 

Since  Dr.  Hill  published  his  little  book,  as  a  guide  to  the 
family  and  the  busy  doctor  in  the  practice  of  Homoeopathy,  there 
have  been  issued  many  books,  family  guides,  pocket  doctor-books, 
ready  references  for  the  physician,  monographs  upon  disease, 
and  all  have  been  more  or  less  useful.  The  latest  little  volume 
to  appeal  to  the  man  who  wants  his  knowledge  condensed  is  the 
second  edition  of  "The  Elements  of  Homoeopathy."  Its  authors, 
Dr.  F.  A.  Boericke  and  E.  P.  Anshutz,  have  sought  not  vainly  to 
include  in  this  handsome  pocket  volume  of  218  i2mo.  pages  the 


104  ^  Long  Felt  Want. 

facts  necessary  to  the  family  prescriber,  to  the  hurried  doctor, 
^nd  to  the  doctor  who  wants  to  know  more  about  the  Homoe- 
opathy he  has  so  often  ridiculed.  It  seems  to  be  well  adapted  to 
the  wants  of  each  of  these  persons.  And  to  compile  a  book  that 
shall  meet  such  widely  diverse  demands  is  by  no  means  an  easy 
matter. 

The  publishers  say  in,  perhaps,  the  shortest  preface  ever  writ- 
ten, "This  little  book,  judging  the  way  the  first  edition  sold, 
seems  to  have  filled  'a  long  felt  want.'  There  have  been  some 
additions  made  to  the  new  edition  and  the  headings  under  Thera- 
peutics and  Materia  Medica  have  been  put  in  black  letter  type." 

Like  all  Gaul,  it  is  divided  into  three  parts,  although  the  con- 
tents page  mentions  but  Part  I  and  Part  II.  In  Part  I,  under 
generalities,  we  find  the  name  Samuel  Hahnemann,  followed 
by  a  short  sketch  of  the  life  of  that  thinker.  Next,  the  origin  of 
Homoeopathy,  with  a  lucid  analysis  of  its  law.  Then  a  quiet  "dig" 
at  enterprising  people  who  are  always  demanding  "the  latest," 
suggesting  that  the  homoeopathic  medicine  of  to-day  is  just  the 
homoeopathic  medicine  of  Hahnemann's  time,  that  the  medicines 
of  Homoeopathy  being  founded  upon  a  law  have  the  same  effects 
upon  disease  as  they  did  one  hundred  years  ago ;  Provided,  That 
they  are  prescibed  according  to  that  LAW. 

A  lucid  explanation  of  dosage  and  potency,  a  description  of 
Hahnemann's  "Chronic  Diseases"  and  their  theory,  some  remarks 
upon  symptomatology  and  its  value,  a  list  with  a  short  description 
of  the  books  of  our  school,  especially  adapted  for  the  beginner, 
■and  for  quick  reference. 

Several  pages  are  devoted  to  the  manner  of  action  of  homoeo- 
pathic medicines,  and  the  method  of  preparation  of  tinctures,  di- 
lutions, attenuations,  triturations,  and  the  vehicles  used  in  their 
dispensing,  with  some  remarks  as  to  how  the  medicines  act. 

Part  II.  is  devoted  to  therapeutics.  The  names  of  the  prin- 
cipal diseases  are  given  alphabetically,  and,  praise  be,  in  black 
type  that  quickly  catches  the  eye.  After  the  name  the  more  com- 
mon symptoms  with  the  remedies  oftenest  required.  Thus  under 
•dyspepsia :  "Flatulent,  acid,  heartburn,  loose  bowels,  Carbo  veg. 

"From  indigestible  food,  tongue  brown  at  the  back,  cramping 
or  spasmodic  pain,  flatulence,  vomiting,  constipation,  Nux  vom, 

"Feeling  of  a  stone  in  the  stomach,  Bryonia. 


A  Long  Felt  Want.  105. 

"Feeling  as  if  the  stomach  were  loaded  with  undigested,  hard- 
boiled  eggs,  Abies  nigra. 

"In  whiskey  drinkers,  Kux  vom.}  or  Capsicum. 

"In  beer  drinkers,  Kali  bicJiromiciini. 

"From  starchy  food,  Natniin  iniir. 

"From  eating  rich  or  fat  food,  heartburn,  Pulsatilla. 

"Hungry,  but  a  few  mouthfuls  satiate,  fulness,  gas,  Lyco- 
podium. 

"Immediate  relief  from  eating  though  pain  comes  on  some  time 
after,  Anacardium" 

This  is  a  fair  example  of  the  carefulness  with  which  the  thera- 
peutic section  has  been  prepared'.  The  list  of  diseases  is  quite 
complete,  from  abscess  to  yellow  fever,  and  these  therapeutic 
hints  are  largely  made  up  of  keynotes  or  characteristics  of  the 
various  remedies.  This  covers  eighty-seven  pages  of  this  use- 
ful little  book. 

Part  III.  is  devoted  to  Materia  Medica.  The  botanical  name 
of  the  remedy  is  given,  followed  by  the  common  name  and  the 
portion  used  in  medicine.  In  the  symptoms  following,  seldom 
has  there  been  a  more  explicit  presentation  of  the  peculiar  symp- 
toms defining  the  genius  of  the  remedy. 

There  is  no  elaborate  verbiage  of  symptoms,  but  such  as  are 
given  tell  us  that  story  that  we  all  need  to  know,  the  story  how 
to  fix  upon  the  right  remedy.  Thus,  under  Aconite,  "In  all 
typical  Aconite  cases,  mental  distress,  anxiety,  restlessness  and 
fear  are  prominent.  Effects  of  fright.  Exposure  to  dry  cold, 
inflammation.  Bad  effects  of  sudden  chill.  Neuralgia  and  rheu- 
matism, with  numbness  and  tingling."  Now,  is  this  not  in  few 
words  a  picture  of  capillary  congestion?  And  from  it  can  one 
not  see  the  picture  of  the  remedy  one  needs  for  useful  prescrib- 
ing? 

We  are  reminded  that  JEsculus  is  for  bleeding  piles,  when  the 
rectum  feels  full  of  sticks ;  Agaricus  for  twitching,  for  chorea, 
and  for  chilblains;  Agnus  for  sexual  atony:  Ailanthus  for  that 
terrible  malignancy  of  scarlet  fever;  Aloes  for  venous  conges- 
tion ;  Anacardium  for  the  mental  state  that  lies  between  mania 
and  sanity;  Ant.  tart,  for  the  rattling  cough  and  the  tendency  to 
respiratory  paralysis  so  often  met  with  in  the  young  and  the 
very   old;   Apis,   the   puffy   swelling  of   dropsy;    Baryta    for   the. 


106  Going  to  the  Original. 

prematurely  aged  and  the  dwarfed ;  Belladonna  for  the  violence 
of  apoplexy;  Calcarea  carb.  for  the  lack  of  bone  formation ;  Cam- 
phor, with  its  choleraic  collapse ;  Cantharis  and  its  cystic  picture ; 
the  peevishness  of  Chamomilla;  the  constriction  of  the  bodily 
orifices  found  under  Collinsonia;  the  ascending  paralysis  of 
Conium;  the  bone  pains  of  Eupatorium;  the  watery  charms  of 
Euphrasia,  the  lassitude  of  Gelsemium;  the  lacerations  of  Hyperi- 
cum; the  sighs  of  Ignatia;  the  eczemas  of  Petroleum;  the  cough 
of  Sticta;  the  delirium  of  Stramonium;  the  dinginess  of  Sulphur. 
All  the  characteristics,  the  pictures  of  the  remedies  are  pre- 
sented in  few  words,  but  so  plainly  that  even  the  novice  can  pre- 
scribe from  them. 

This  useful  book  has  also  an  index  combining  the  remedies 
and  the  diseases.  The  book  is  of  the  size  easily  to  be  carried  in 
the  pocket,  and  we  predict  that  it  will  be  of  great  value  to  many 
a  busy  and  conscientious  doctor.  In  it  we  find  combined  the  best 
points  in  many  of  the  previous  handbooks  and  presented  in  a 
plain  and  easily  understood  manner. 


GOING    TO    THE    ORIGINAL.  — CACTUS     GRANDI- 

FLORUS. 

Men  to-day,  save  the  favored  few,  who  own  the  right  kind  of 
libraries,  or  have  access  to  large  and  properly  equipped  libraries, 
must  take  their  knowledge  of  many  things  at  second  hand,  yet, 
when  they  go  to  the  original,  the  subject  takes  on  new  phases 
and  light.  What  gave  rise  to  this  statement  is  a  little  pamphlet, 
the  translation  of  Dr.  Rocco  Rubini's  pathogenesis  of  Cactus 
grandiflorus,  of  which  he  was  the  prover,  by  Dr.  A.  Lippe,  and 
printed  by  J.  B.  Rodgers  in  1865.  It  is  a  rare  pamphlet  and 
should  any  reader  run  across  a  copy,  our  advice  is  to  hold  on  to 
it. 

We  can  only  give  a  point  or  two  here  concerning  it.  The 
translator  complains  that  the  translation  by  Dr.  Dudgeon,  in 
1864,  and  the  German  translation,  by  Dr.  Meyer,  from  Dr. 
Dudgeon's  rendering,  are  inaccurate  in  some  respects,  as  "it  ap- 
pears that  liberties  have  been  taken  by  the  translator,  which  are 


Going  to  the  Original.  107 

not  admissible."  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  go  into  the  matter 
here,  as  it  seems  to  be  really  non-essential,  being  errors  of  omis- 
sion chiefly,  it  seems,  for  Dr.  Lippe  says  :  'The  notes  left  out 
stamp  Dr.  Rubini  to  be  a  true  Hahnemannian :  by  omitting  them 
he  may  be  claimed  by  the  'other  side."  Symptom  154  seems  to 
be  the  chief  error  of  commission ;  in  the  original,  as  translated 
by  Lippe,  it  reads  : 

"Urine  more  copious  than  usual   (the  first  four  days 

This  is  translated  by  Dudgeon  as  "Less." 

Turning  to  more  interesting  matter  we  read  in  Rubini's  pref- 
ace, the  following  statement : 

"My  wife  and  I,  on  perceiving  how  powerfully  it  acted  on 
the  heart  and  circulating  system,  causing  the  shedding  of  tears 
and  feeling  of  terror,  had  not  the  courage  to  go  further  in  ex- 
periments which  might  endanger  our  lives."  and  he  expresses 
the  hope  that  others  with  more  fortitude  may  continue  the 
proving.    The  symptoms  that  caused  this  pain  are  thus  rendered : 

Symptom  67.  Very  acute  pain,  axd  such  painful  stitches 
IX   THE   heart,  as   to   cause   him   to   weep  axd   to   cry   out 

LOUDLY,     WITH     OBSTRUCTIOX     OF     THE     PERSPIRATIOX      (the     first 

eight  days). 

Symptom  74  reads  : 

"Periodical  attacks  of  suffocatiox,  with  faixtixg,  cold 

PERSPIRATIOX  OX   THE  FACE,   WITH    LOSS  OF  PULSE    (the  first   eight 

days)." 

Symptom  64,  the  famous  one  known  to  all,  reads : 

'''Sexsatiox  of  coxstrictiox  ix  the  heart,  as  if  an  iron 
hand  prevented  its  normal  movement   (the  first  ten  days)." 

All  of  our  materia  medica  men.  including  T.  F.  Allen  and  J. 
H.  Clarke,  render  this  "iron  band,"  probably  following  Dudgeon. 
There  is,  of  course,  no  practical  difference,  but  if  Lippe  is  right 
in  his  translation,  all  the  rest  of  them  are  wrong.  There  is  the 
possibility  that  Lippe  may  have  translated  the  word,  or  his  com- 
positor have  set  it  "hand"  instead  of  "band." 

Some  symptoms  read  as  though  they  were  clinical : 

90.  "Many  pleurisies,  which  are  all  cured  in  from  two  to  four 
days." 

91.  "Hepatization  of  the  lungs,  which  is  resolved  in  a  few 
davs." 


io8  Apis  for  Spontaneous  Limping. 

92.    "Very  severe  peripneumonia/'  cured  in  four  days. 

94.  "Violent  pneumorrhagia,  which  is  checked  in  a  few 
hours,  and  ceases  entirely/' 

As  to  dosage,  Rubini  writes :  "It  acts  with  much  efficacy  in  the 
dose  0,  that  is  to  say,  the  mother  tincture ;  it  acts  equally  well  in 
the  6th,  30th  and  100th  dilution  (dynamization)." 

Here  is  another  bit  from  the  preface  to  the  remedy,  though 
why  the  part  in  italics  should  be  put  in  quotation  marks  is  not 
apparent :  "The  characteristics  of  this  Cactus  consists  in  the  de- 
velopment of  its  action  'specifically  on  the  heart  and  its  blood- 
vessels, dissipating  their  congestions  and  suppressing  their  irri- 
tations' without  weakening  the  nervous  system,  like  Aconite. 
Hence  it  is  preferable  to  the  latter  in  all  cases  of  inflammation, 
particularly  in  cases  of  lymphatic  and  nervous  temperaments." 
Elsewhere    we    read,    under    Clinical    Observations :    "It    is    a 

SPECIFIC  REMEDY  FOR  DISEASES  OF  THE  HEART,  Upon  which  it  acts 

promptly."  Here  also  the  dose  question  again  appears  and 
Rubini  states,  "In  the  above  organic  diseases,  i.  e.}  heart  diseases, 
""the  dose  is  from  one  to  ten  drops  of  mother  tincture  mixed  in 
water."  Further  on :  "In  nervous  diseases  of  the  heart  the 
globules  of  the  6th,  30th  and  100th  dilutions  give  immediate  re- 
lief." 


APIS   FOR   ''SPONTANEOUS   LIMPING." 

Wolf,  in  his  monograph  on  Apis  mcUihca  (Berlin,  1857. 
Radde,  Philadelphia,  1858)  writes :  "Spontaneous  limping  is  an- 
other affection  which  we  cure  with  Apis.  This  disease  which 
-causes  so  much  distress  in  life,  is,  likewise,  in  its  essential  na- 
ture, an  outburst  of  psora,  as  regards  its  local  character  and  its 
•effects  upon  the  constitution  of  the  patient :  it  seems  to  be  char- 
acterized by  the  same  inflammatory  and  suppurative  process  as 
whitlow,  and  be  endowed  with  a  similar  tendency  to  organic 
destruction."  "Who  has  not  seen  coxarthrocace  develop  itself 
during  the  course  of  a  severe  cerebral  disease,  scarlatina  or 
typhus,  where  the  patient,  on  suddenly  awakening  to  conscious- 
ness from  a  state  of  stupor,  is  made  sensitive  of  the  presence  of 
this  insidious  disease,  perhaps,  already  fully  developed  J     Since 


Toxins.  109 

I  have  used  Apis,  I  have  never  had  to  deplore  such  saddening 
results." 

•"According  to  my  observation,  we  may  regard  Apis  as  a 
specific  remedy  for  spontaneous  limping;  every  new  trial  con- 
firms me  in  this  statement." 

Wolf  was  led  to  this  use  of  Apis  by  "American  Provings, 
symptom  917,  'Painful  soreness  in  the  left  hip- joint,  immediately 
after  taking  a  dose  of  Apis  2,  afterwards  debility,  unsteadiness, 
trembling  in  this  joint.'  "  This  "is  the  only  symptom 
that  seems  to  indicate  the  curative  power  of  Apis  in  this  dis- 
tressing  malady." 

When  the  psoric  taint  is  fully  developed  Apis  gives  place  to 
Kali  carb..  and  later,  perhans,  to  Silicca. 


TOXINS." 


A  regular  editor'  1  Medical  Council)  seems  to  be  a  little  tangled 
up  in  comparing  such  remedies,  used  by  the  homoeopaths,  as 
BaciUinum,  Medorrhinum,  Psorinum  and  the  rest  of  them,  and 
those  which  to-day,  in  a  very  crude  form,  bear  the  sanction  of 
that  chameleon  known  as  scientific  medicine.  He  confesses  to 
have  been  made  just  a  little  dizzy  in  reading  one  of  Dr.  J.  C. 
Burnett's  books  in  which  such  remedies  are  prescribed,  "yet  here 
we  are  working  medical  editors  overtime  in  an  effort  to  make 
an  old  theory  appear  new."  i.  c.  working  the  bacterial  vaccines, 
the  "opsonic"  what-you-may-call-'ems,  etc. — serums,  like  lymphs, 
seeming  to  be  back  numbers  now.  But  the  point  of  the  matter  is 
his  assertion  concerning  the  homoeopathic  nosodes,  namely,  "All 
these  were  so  prepared  as  to  kill  the  bacteria,  but  preserve  the 
toxines."  Ay,  there's  the  rub  that  makes  a  joy  of  bacterial 
science  and  a  fearsome  mystery.  Time  was  when  it  was  the 
micro-organism,  the  bacillus,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  unre- 
generate,  "the  bug,"  that  did  the  mischief.  Now,  it  is  not  that 
many  named  bug  that  is  at  fault,  but  his  toxin,  and  what  a  toxin 
is  no  one  seems  to  quite  know,  and  all  have  but  a  very  hazy  idea 
concerning  it.  Whether  the  homoeopaths,  in  the  preparation  of 
their  nosodes,  "kill  the  bacilli  and  preserve  the  toxines"  or  not, 
is  a  very  puzzling  question. 


no  Objective  Symptoms. 

They  take  from  a  given  and  typical  case  of  tuberculosis,  diph- 
theria, or  any  other  disease,  the  bacilli,  or  what  is  coughed  up 
from  the  lungs  of  a  consumptive  or  swabbed  from  the  throat  of 
a  diphtheritic  case,  and  triturate  it  with  sugar  of  milk  for  many 
hours;  this  trituration,  i  to  10,  is  again  triturated  in  the  same 
proportion  with  fresh  sugar  of  milk,  making  the  2x,  and  so  on 
up  to  the  6x.  The  6x  trituration  is  then  thoroughly  dissolved 
and  run  up  with  alcohol  to  the  30th,  100th,  or  to  any  other  centesi- 
mal potency  desired.  Whether  in  the,  say,  30th  potency,  there  is 
any  toxin  left,  is  a  question,  but  there  is  a  most  powerful  some- 
thing  there.  What  is  it?  Hahnemann,  for  want  of  a  better 
name,  called  it  the  "spirit-like"  power,  and  the  scientific  ones  of 
his  day  laughed  at  him  as  they  do  to-day.  Perhaps  they  mistake 
scepticism  for  scientific  acumen.  Be  it  either  way,  the  curative 
power  is  there  and  it  is  not  toxines,  though  it  may  be  developed 
from  them  as  light  is  from  radium. 


OBJECTIVE  SYMPTOMS. 
By    Dr.  Oemisch. 

To  the  newcomer  in  Homoeopathy  our  collection  of  disease 
pictures  presents  the  greatest  difficulties.  He  has  heard  from  the 
mouths  of  his  celebrated  university  clinicians,  that  the  only  im- 
portant symptoms  of  disease  are  those  from  among  which  the 
particular  sickness,  the  diagnosis,  can  be  objectively  established. 
All  else  is  non-essential  and  without  meaning,  especially  does 
one  not  dare  to  guide  himself  by  subjective  statements.  The 
diagnosis  establishes  the  point  of  view  ;  in  the  vast  majority  of 
instances  it  indicates  the  therapy.  Now  comes  Homoeopathy 
teaching  that  we  can  in  no  wise  be  satisfied  therewith  and  that 
the  subjective  symptoms  of  the  sick  are  of  the  very  greatest  im- 
portance in  the  choice  of  the  remedy,  and  that  when  we  have 
made  a  diagnosis,  our  real  difficulties  have  only  begun,  i.  c,  the 
choosing  of  the  remedy. 

i  [ere  the  young  proselyte  at  once  raises  the  objection  that  we 
thus  depend  upon  a  most  unsafe  and  doubtful  requirement,  for 
we  make  ourselves  dependent  upon  the  subjective  statements  of 


Objective  Symptoms.  in 

the  patient  who  frequently  himself  does  not  know  the  nature  of 
his  sensations,  and  who  wittingly  or  unwittingly  opens  the  door 
to  self  deception.  Building  upon  such  an  uncertain  ground  must 
lead  to  mistakes  of  the  gravest  consequence  and  how  is  it  with  the 
children,  the  unconscious  or  deaf  and  dumb  where  all  subjective 
complaints  fail?  To  the  first  named,  this  objection  is  on  super- 
ficial examination,  indeed,  troublesome,  and  evidently  legitimate. 
After  I  had  been  a  homoeopath  some  years  I  met  a  student  friend, 
then  a  private  docent  on  surgery.  Naturally,  the  conversation 
turned  upon  Homoeopathy  ;  he  related  that  he  had  once  looked 
into  a  homoeopathic  practice  and  found  many  curious  subjective 
symptoms  therein,  some  of  which  he  mentioned.  I  still  hear  his 
laughter — and  since  that  time  concluded  that  he  was  done  with 
this  "science."  I  don't  remember  my  answer,  evidently  I  did  not 
remain  owing  one,  for  I  was  already  an  enthusiastic  adherent  of 
Homoeopathy.  The  conversation  on  the  street  was  short  and 
had  no  sequences.  I  remember  how  bitter  I  had  found  these 
weak  sides  of  our  method  and  how  gladly  I  would  have  given 
the  so-called  rubbish  of  one  subjective  symptom  provings  for 
some"  objective  ones.  Later  I  obtained  a  true  insight  into  the 
necessity  for  these  subjective  pictures  of  provings,  but  on  the 
•other  hand,  I  made  it  my  duty  to  zealously  sieze  every  open 
symptom  that  I  could  perceive  upon  the  sick.  Thus,  from  the 
Tirgings  of  bitter  necessity  I  slowly  learned  to  recognize  objective 
symptoms  in  their  own  drug  settings.  Unfortunately,  our  text 
hooks  jiot  infrequently  fail  us  more  or  less  in  this  respect ;  the 
compilers  themselves  do  not  seem  to  have  known  them  ac- 
curately. Their  grains  of  wheat  mostly  lie  quite  hidden  in  a  mass 
of  chaff  where  they  are  difficult  or  impossible  to  find.  The 
practical  text  book  of  materia  medica  is  yet  to  be  written. 

There  is  a  book,  truly,  that  may  help  and  always  give  certain 
advice,  von  Bcenninghauseh's  Repertory.  This  pocket-book  be- 
came my  teacher.  In  this  experiment  it  also  stood  the  test.  He 
who  does  not  wish  to  continually  get  into  perplexities  in  prac- 
tice must  refer  to  it  again  and  again.  Confessedly,  its  use  must 
be  learned,  for  constant  exercise  makes  the  master. 

Take  the  case  of  a  child  with  pneumonia  ;  what  shall  we  do  in 
this  instance0  Subjective  manifestations  are  certainly  not  over- 
plentiful.     Shall  we  merelv  say  that  it  is  shown,  statistically  or 


H2  Objective  Symptoms. 

by  experience,  that  of  all  remedies  Phosphorus  has  been  the  most 
helpful  in  the  lung  inflammations  of  children,  hence  we  will  give 
it?  He  who  speaks  thus,  handles  the  disease  from  an  allopathic 
standpoint,  with  homoeopathic  remedies.  Xo !  YVe  must  ask 
ourselves  much  more;  that  for  which  our  remedy  stands,  is  the 
sum  of  its  proved  symptoms,  as  related  to  the  conditions  of  the 
present  sickness.  To  find  out  this  is  most  difficult,  if  we  also 
observe  the  objective  symptoms  of  our  sick. 

Within  the  meaning  of  "objective  symptoms"  are  not  only  the 
so-called  pathognomonic  symptoms  which  may  be  called  objec- 
tive symptoms  of  the  first  class  but  we  may  also  extend  their 
scope  much  further.  Every  illness  which  we  or  the  laity  may  ob- 
serve with  our  five,  sound  senses  conclusively  depicts  an  objec- 
tive symptom.  Among  these  are  found  exactly  those  which  are 
of  decisive  import  in  the  choice  of  the  remedy. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  define  these  symptom-  more  closely  ; 
their  number  is  far  too  great  for  that  and  I  also  question  whether 
anyone  can  give  a  comprehensive  summary  of  them.  I  will. 
therefore,  only  select  some  of  the  most  important  ones. 

Referring  to  the  above-mentioned  case  of  pneumonia  of  child- 
hood, let  us  predicate  a  condensation  of  the  lower  lobe,  fever 
102.2  to  104,  pulse  quick  but  strong,  breathing  quickened,  cough 
and  expectoration  absent ;  as  I  have  too  often  witnessed,  in  op- 
position to  our  text  books.  The  patient  complains  only  of  heat 
and  shortness  of  breath.  We  next  observe  the  posture  of  the 
patient.  He  lies  on  his  back;  is  that  strange?  He  must  lie  in 
some  position,  I  hear  some  one  say.  Very  well !  but  why  does  he 
not  lie  on  his  side0  His  relatives  even  state  that  before  his 
sickness  he  always  desired  to  sleep  on  his  right  side.  I  saw  de- 
sired to  sleep,  for  in  sleep  most  persons  assume  the  position  in 
which  they  are  best  able  to  go  to  sleep  and  -lee]).  (  Naturally, 
there  are  patients,  who,  like  well  people,  can  sleep  in  any  posi- 
tion.) Therefore,  lying  upon  the  back  must  be  a  necessity  for 
our  patient;  furthermore,  he  asked  for  another  pillow  and  was 
more  comfortable  when  lying  with  the  head  high  ;  another  objec- 
tive symptom.  Again,  he  put  his  arms  out  upon  the  cover,  as 
often  as  his  parents  tried  to  cover  them  up,  in  the  mistaken  belief 
that  he  might  take  cold.  Even  during  sleep  he  stuck  them  out. 
That  makes  three  objective  symptoms  that  distinctly  point  to  at 


Objective  Symptoms.  113 

definite  remedy  which  we  will  readily  find  with  our  Boenning- 
hausen.  Aggravation  from  lying  on  the  side  and  from  warm 
wrapping,  as  well  as  amelioration  when  lying  with  the  head  high, 
are  three  symptoms  which  find  no  place  in  the  imagination  of  the 
patient  and  objectively  individualize  our  case  of  pneumonia.  Ex- 
perience teaches  that  the  remedy  chosen,  by  reflecting  over  the 
case,  cures  the  attack. 

(  )bjective  manifestations,  of  the  greatest  importance  in  prac- 
tice, appear  in  subacute  and  chronic,  as  well  as  acute  sic) 
It  is  in  these  particularly,  that  Homoeopathy,  when  rightly 
handled,  glories  in  her  triumph.  If  we  rightly  observe  and  learn 
to  use  these  symptoms  we  will  enjoy  the  greatest  satisfaction  in 
treating  chronic  cases.  Light  and  simplicity  at  once  come  into 
the  chaos  of  the  most  inexplicable  and  unheard  of  complaints: 
with  the  c  nsequence  that  we  can,  withoul  reserve,  place  our 
reliance  on  such  symptoms  because  of  the  absolute  impossibility 
a  false  apprehension  or  subjective  delusions. 

Again,  in  most  instances,  the  position  of  the  patient  in  bed  is 
of  the  utmost  importance.  Many  remedies  'and  patients)  have 
amelioration  in  the  dorsal  position.  I  may  mention  Bry.,  Cale.  e., 
Kali  e..  Lye..  Puis.,  Rhus  tox.,  often  also  Plws.  and  Sul.;  while 
.Irs..  Canst.,  Cham..  Coloe.,  Cup..  loo!.,  Nux  v.,  Sep.  and  Sil.r 
also  do  not  tolerate  the  dorsal  decubitus  well.  This  is  truly  a 
whole  array  of  polychrests.  Furthermore,  there  is  a  whole  series 
of  remedies  unable  to  bear  lying  on  the  left  side.  Naturally,  those 
which  affect  the  heart  ctand  at  the  head  :  Aco.}  Cact.,  Colch., 
Kalm..  Xat.  e..  Xat.  m..  Xai.  s.,  Plws.,  Pul.,  Sep.,  Sil.  and  SuL 
in  no  wise  exhaust  the  group  whose  consideration  in  the  main 
is  not  restricted  to  heart  remedies.  Am.  m.,  Mag.  m..  Merc,  Xu.v 
t\.  and  numerous  others  lie  on  the  right  side  poorly.  \\  nether 
the  liver  plays  a  role  in  this,  as  we  might  infer  from  the  remedies 
named,  remains  undecided.  Whether  the  patient  can  lie  on  the 
affected  or  painful  side  is  often  important.  Naturally,  we  must 
consider  that  the  pressure  of  the  bodily  weight  on  this  side  may 
become  disagreeable,  therefore,  is  avoided;  the  number  of  rem- 
edies belonging  to  this  category  is  truly  great,  so  that  one  is 
not  inclined  to  count  or  make  note  of  them.  Just  that  much 
more  important,  however,  are  the  remedies  in  which  the  patient 
lies  on  the  painful  side  a  number  of  polychrests:  Bry.,  Cale.  c.r 


114  Objective  Symptoms. 

Canst.,  Cham.,  Coloc,  Flu.  ac,  Ign.}  Puis,  and  Stann.,  while 
Kali  c.  and  Rhus  tox.  have  it,  but  not  characteristically.  Finally, 
sometimes  the  question,  as  to  whether  patients  would  rather  lie 
with  the  head  high,  comes  into  question.  According  to  my  ob- 
servations most  patients  with  heart  and  respiratory  troubles  do 
not  like  the  head  low.  It  is,  therefore,  unquestionably  evident 
that  we  will  find  a  remedy  among  Ant.  t.,  Ars.,  Puis,  and  Spig., 
or,  again,  Arg.,  Chin.,  Colch.,  Hep.,  Kali  n.,  etc.  (When  they 
prefer  the  head  low  think  of  Verat.  vir.)     B. 

The  behavior  of  the  patient  toward  the  heat  of  the  bed  is 
highly  important.  Often  enough  we  get  nothing  at  all,  or  little 
of  importance  to  the  question  as  to  whether  heat  or  cold  are  more 
bearable.  Truly,  the  question  in  this  form  often  admits  but 
poorly  of  an  answer.  Instead,  every  patient  knows  how  to  tell 
accurately  whether  he  must  cover  himself  to  his  throat  or 
whether,  on  the  contrary,  some  other  part  of  the  body  must  be 
uncovered.  The  restless  sleeper  will  often  unconsciously  do  the 
latter.  The  chilly  person  awakes  because  the  uncovered  part 
becomes  cold  and  then  covers  himself  again ;  the  other  will  not 
be  awakened  thereby.  For  chilly  persons,  Ars.,  Aur.,  Bell.,  Bry., 
Cocc.,  Colch.,  Con.,  Dulc,  Hep.,  Mer.,  A'at.  c,  Arat.  m.,  Nux 
m.,  Nux  v.,  Psor.,  Rhod.,  Rhus  t.,  Samb.,  Sep.,  Sil.  are  es- 
pecially suitable;  my  numerous  observations  on  the  sick  also  add 
Caust.  and  Kali  c.  For  the  opposite  condition,  we  have  mainly : 
Bor.,  Calc.  c,  Ferr.,  Iod.,  Kali  iod.,  Led.,  Lye.,  Pul.,  Sec.  c, 
Snl.  and  Verat.  a. 

But  few  sick  have  a  healthy,  undisturbed  sleep.  Very  many 
complain  of  nightly  restlessness ;  they  awake  repeatedly  and  find 
no  restful  position  and  even  toss  about  during  sleep.  Who  would 
not  here  think  of  Rhus  tox.  immediately?  But  Ars.,  Calc.  c, 
Carb.  v.,  Cham.,  Cimi.,  Cup.,  Hyos.,  Ign.,  Lach.,  Merc,  Nux  v., 
Pul.,  Sep.,  Sil.,  Staph.,  Stram.,  Snl.,  Thuj.,  Valer.,  Zinc,  etc., 
also  belong  here.  Naturally,  we  must  note  the  exact  cause 
of  the  restlessness.  He  who  can  not  go  to  sleep  turns  over  and 
over,  hence  restlessness  is  the  result.  Mostly,  however,  it  is 
the  reverse,  and  the  sufferer  does  not  rest  because  of  the  pains 
( i.  c,  Rhus  t.)  or  the  heat  of  the  bed  feels  oppressive  (/.  c,  Puis.. 
Sul.)  or  because  his  sufferings  become  worse  at  night  (7.  e., 
Kali  iod.).  Often  an  internal  nervousness  is  the  cause  (i.  c, 
Valer.).   ' 


Objective  Symptoms.  115 

Another  important  symptom,  usually  taken  objectively,  is  the 
time  when  the  symptoms  appear.  Many  sicknesses  show  them- 
selves at  very  definite  times.  One  has  an  early  morning  diar- 
rhoea, another's  head  always  aches  toward  noon,  the  third  has 
a  cough  in  the  evening,  and,  finally,  a  fourth  becomes  asthmatic 
about  midnight.  This  important  subject  was  so  thoroughly  de- 
lineated by  Sanitarist  Dr.  Ide.  a  year  ago,  that  I  need  not  persue 
it  further. 

Whether  motion  or  rest  is  more  bearable  to  the  patient  is 
readily  seen.  Here  we  can  draw  from  a  large  number  of  rem- 
edies. It  is  much  the  same  with  the  influence  of  light  and  dark- 
ness, the  various  kinds  of  weather,  atmospheric  changes,  etc.  But 
here  we  enter  the  borderland  lying  between  objective  and  sub- 
jective symptoms. 

The  appearance  of  the  expectoration  takes  us  into  the  midst 
of  objective  symptoms  again.  It  is  often  very  characteristic  and 
plainly  points  to  definite  remedies.  Who  does  not  recognize  the 
yellow,  stringy  mucus  which  almost  invariably  demands  Kali  hi.? 
We  note  the  color  of  the  expectoration  (mixed  with  a  little 
blood),  the  quantity,  its  solubility,  odor  or  consistency.  Of 
similar  portent  is  the  nature  of  the  blood  during  menstruation, 
menorrJiagia  or  abortion.  Here  the  acute  observer  notes  many 
differences  ;  the  blood  is  bright  red,  dark,  fluid,  lumpy,  odorous 
or  acrid.     The  leucorrhcea  has  just  as  many  peculiarities. 

It  is  often  very  necessary  or  useful  to  get  an  accurate  descrip- 
tion of  the  stool.  Many  remedies  have  quite  characteristic  mo- 
tions. In  diarrhoea  we  are,  indeed,  almost  completely  guided 
by  objective  symptoms  as.  i.  e.,  in  little  children.  Who  will  say 
that  these  patients  are,  for  this  reason,  more  difficult  to  handle 
and  cure? 

The  urine  also  depicts  a  lot  of  variations  from  the  natural, 
which  often  influence  the  choice  of  the  remedy. 

I  will  skim  over  the  skin  diseases.  Even  if  we  can  see  in 
them  the  most  of  all  symptoms,  it  is  no  secret  that  the  form^  1  if 
eruption,  for  instance,  unfortunately,  do  not  point  conclusively  to 
the  remedy.  However,  some  definite  fornix  stand  in  close  re- 
lationship to  certain  remedies.  The  seat  of  the  eruption  often 
characterizes  particular  drugs,  i,  c,  the  edges  of  the  hair,  bends 
of  joints,  about  the  scrotum,  etc.     In  moist  forms,  the  nature  of 


u6  Objective  Symptoms. 

the  secretion  as  well  as  the  odor  is  often  noteworthy.  Further. 
local  sweats  are  of  great  importance.  Cold  sweat  on  the  forehead 
is  a  well-known  characteristic  of  Veratrum  album.  A  sweat  on 
the  head  during  sleep  points  to  Calc.  c.  or  Sil.  in  children.  Finally, 
footsweat,  a  great  distress  to  the  patient,  is  important,  and  of 
additional  significance  when  it  has  been  suppressed  by  some  ex- 
ternal measure. 

Ulcers,  and  the  nature  of  their  secretions,  are  highly  import- 
ant objective  symptoms.  Boenninghausen  devotes  a  number  of 
pages  to  them. 

At  the  first  glance  there  seems  no  greater  subjective  symptom 
than  the  voice,  and  yet  how  rarely  is  it  in  reality  subjective.  Ac- 
cording to  my  experience,  we  ordinarily  get  the  best  grasp  of  it 
by  examining  the  situation  instead  of  the  patient.  Here,  also, 
wilful,  or  involuntary  delusions  are  good,  as  excluded,  because 
from  long  observation,  nothing  is  as  apparent  as  the  state  of 
the  mind  wdiich  frequently  enough  bears  the  whole  impress  of  its 
environment.  I  need  only  mention  the  irritability  of  Nux  vomica, 
the  morbidness  of  Staphysagria,  the  weeping  of  Pulsatilla,  or 
the  indifference  of  Phosphoric  acid. 

As  important  as  the  preceding  objective  symptoms,  indeed,  are, 
they  take  a  very  inferior  rank,  as  compared  with  the  greatest 
and  weightiest  symptom  obtainable,  namely,  the  combined  im- 
press that  the  patient  makes  upon  us.  There  are  a  great  number 
of  remedies  holding  the  closest  relation  to  certain  types  and  ex- 
ternal peculiarities.  Who  does  not  know  the  Baryta  child,  with 
its  open  mouth,  giving  the  whole  face  such  a  stupid  expression 
that  to  avoid  our  gaze  it  shrinks  behind  its  mother  from  whence 
it  timidly  observes  us !  Whose  spiritual  eye  does  not  see  Calc.  c. 
when  a  thick-set,  blonde  person  slowly  ascends  a  step  laboriously 
gasping  for  breath  while  he  wipes  beads  of  sweat  from  his  fore- 
head and  face.  Just  so  it  is  no  riddle  to  the  initiated  what  rem- 
edy this  large,  lanky  blonde  needs  whose  spiritual  face  betrays 
such  intense  sensitiveness  that  she  starts  at  every  noise,  and  in 
addition  has  a  dry,  hacking  cough.  As  truly  as  she  needs  Phos., 
so  surely  is  Sul.  the  constitutional  remedy  for  the  thin,  snuffling 
snooper  who  saunters  in  with  poorly  brushed  clothes,  drooping 
■shoulders  and  reddened  lid  margins,  and  yonder  rotund  woman 
with  red  cheeks  and  deep  shadows  about  the  eyes,  closing  her 


Facts  About  Variolinum.  117 

■ears  to  the  noises  of  the  children  and  hurrying  into  the  open  air 
lias,  without  further  inquiry,  certainly  a  Sepia  nature.  Enough ! 
These  are  all  too  evident  objective  symptoms,  and  he  who  does 
not  know  them  will  experience  many  mischances  in  his  practice. 
I  close  my  experiences,  naturally,  without  imagining  that  I 
have  exhausted  the  theme.  He  who  glances  through  the  materia 
medica  will  find  that  almost  every  remedy  possesses  a  number  of 
typical  objective  ■symptoms  which  do  not  repeat  the  same  com- 
bination under  any  other,  but  indicating  them  would  overstep 
the  bounds  of  this  brochure.  My  effort  has  only  been  to  properly 
bring  into  relief  the  important  and  prominent  ones ;  setting  them 
in  their  true  light  in  the  disease  sketch.  He  who,  from  this,  be- 
lieves that  he  can  neglect  real  subjective  symptoms,  more  or  less, 
even  if  they  seem  unsafe  and  not  indicative,  will  find  it  a  costly 
mistake,  for  they  belong  to  the  disease  picture  just  as  much  as 
the  objective  ones  and  are  only  in  evidence  more  because  they 
make  use  of  the  gift  of  gab.  Both  have  the  same  weight.  A 
one-sided  view  of  the  disease  picture  leads  very  certainly  to  a 
partial,  therefore,  a  false  choice.  If  we  want  to  be  homoeopaths 
in  the  best  sense  of  the  word  we  need  all  the  evidences  in  every 
case  in  order  to  heal  quickly,  safely  and  pleasantly. — Translated 
by  Dr.  C.  M.  Boger  from  an  article  by  Dr.  Oemisch,  of  Halle, 
in   the  December  Zeitschrift  des  Berliner  Vereins  Horn.  Aertz. 


THE   FACTS  ABOUT  VARIOLINUM. 
By  Charles  Woodhull  Eaton,  M.  D.,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

(This  is  a  condensation  of  the  paper  read  by  Dr.  Eaton,  at 
Jamestown,  and  ordered  reprinted  and  circulated  in  pamphlet 
form  by  the  Institute.  The  paper  is  excellent  throughout,  but 
too  long  to  be  reprinted  entire  in  the  Recorder.) 

The  entire  matter  of  internal  vaccination  by  means  of  Varioli- 
num is  comprised  in  the  answer  to  three  simple  questions: 

First.     \Yhat  is  Variolinum? 

Second.  Is  its  use,  as  a  greatly  improved  form  of  vaccination, 
reasonable  ? 

Third.  Has  the  test  of  actual  experience  demonstrated  its  ef- 
fectiveness ? 


n8  Facts  About   Variolinum. 

First.  What  is  Variolinum?  A  pertinent  and  necessary  in- 
quiry it  would  seem ;  for  the  leading  editorial  in  a  recent  issue  of 
one  of  our  ablest  Journals  refers  to  it  as  "a  drug.''  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  Variolinum  is  the  contents  of  the  ripened  pustule  of 
small-pox.  It  is  not  the  contents  of  a  vaccine  pustule.  It  is  the 
virus  of  variola ;  not  the  virus  of  vaccinia.  It  is  the  virus  of 
small-pox ;  not  the  virus  of  cow-pox.  There  has  been  some  con- 
fusion on  this  point.  Our  pharmacies  afford  both  Variolinum 
and  Vaccininum,  with  the  result  that  the  two  preparations  have 
been  mistaken  for  each  other. 

The  importance  of  this  distinction  is  evident  when  it  is  re- 
membered that  any  immunity  conferred  by  cow-pox  virus  is  in- 
direct; conferred  by  small-pox  virus,  it  is  direct. 

Second.     Is  the  use  of  Variolinum  reasonable? 

It  is  reasonable 

(a)  If  an  individual  may  be  rendered  immune  to  a  given 
disease  by  inoculation  with  the  virus  of  that  disease,  in  the  proper 
preparation  and  amount ;  and 

(b)  If  the  virus  of  disease  is  effective  when  administered  by 
the  mouth,  as  distinguished  from  administration  hypodermically 
or  by  scarification. 

These  two  propositions  demand  close  attention  and  exact 
thinking.  For  just  here  is  the  very  core  of  the  whole  matter.  Xo 
loose  and  hazy  "general  impressions,"  and  no  half-and-half  con- 
clusions will  do  here.  We  must  advance  cautiously ;  weigh  our 
words  ;  reach  definite  and  clear-cut  conclusions  ;  and  then  stand  by 
them.  In  this  spirit  of  unbiased  precision  let  us  take  up  each  in 
its  turn. 

(a)  May  then  an  individual  be  rendered  immune  to  a  given 
disease  by  the  administration  of  the  virus  of  that  disease  in  the 
proper  preparation  and  amount? 

Behind  this  question  lies  an  enormous  amount  of  experimental 
research  which  bears  upon  it  as  directly  as  if  instituted  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  determining  the  answer.  For  you  will  not  fail  to 
observe  that  all  the  work  done  in  the  entire  field  of  serum  therapy 
rests  absolutely  upon  the  proposition  that  immunity  is  obtained 
by  the  administration  of  the  virus  of  the  disease.  I  am  especially 
anxious  not  to  be  misunderstood  just  here.  We  have  nothing  to 
do  just  now  with  the  question  of  the  merits  or  demerits  of  serir 


Facts  About  Variolinum.  119 

therapy  as  a  mode  of  treatment.  We  are  not  concerned  with  the 
•question  what  these  serums  accomplish,  but  solely  with  the  ques- 
tion how  these  serums  are  obtained.  Stop  and  think  closely  for 
a  moment.  These  serums  are  all  obtained  from  animals  rendered 
immune  to  a  disease  by  the  administration  of  the  virus  of  that 
disease.  Every  animal  that  ever  furnished  a  serum  is  an  affirma- 
tive answer  to  this  question.  Every  animal  is  evidence  that  im- 
munity is  obtained  by  the  administration  of  the  virus  of  the  dis- 
ease. 

(b)  Now,  for  the  second  question ;  and  again  I  invite  that 
pointed  attention  which  has  in  it  the  decisive  quality.  Is  the 
virus  of  disease  effective  when  administered  by  the  mouth  as  dis- 
tinguished from  administration  hypodermically  or  by  scarifica- 
tion ?  Must  it  be  by  the  hypodermic  syringe,  or  may  it  be  by  the 
mouth  ?  Is  disease  virus  absorbed,  actually  taken  into  the  system 
when  swallowed0  Are  its  characteristic  reaction  and  its  im- 
munizing impress  upon  the  system,  obtained  only  when  it  is  in- 
jected?    Or  are  they  also  so  obtained  when  it  is  ingested? 

Never  mind  the  theory,  what  we  want  is  the  fact.  And  again 
I  avoid  trespass  on  your  time  by  citing  at  once  an  established 
and  conspicuous  fact,  namely,  the  danger  from  ingestion  of 
tuberculous  milk  and  meat.  Why  dangerous?  Because  disease 
products  do  make  their  impress  on  the  system  when  ingested. 
The  protest  of  the  medical  world  when  Koch  maintained  that 
bovine  tuberculosis  was  not  transmissible  to  man,  and  the  quick 
and  earnest  demonstration  that  he  was  in  error,  are  still  fresh 
in  your  minds.  In  Great  Britain  this  assertion  of  Koch  caused 
the  appointment  of  a  Royal  Commission  to  investigate.  I  have 
before  me  their  "Second  Intermediary  Report,"  an  extended 
and  elaborate  document  published  this  year.  They  say,  "Of  the 
total  sixty  cases  (of  hrhuan  tuberculosis)  investigated  by  us, 
twenty-eight  possessed  clinical  histories  indicating  that  in  them 
the  bacillus  was  introduced  through  the  alimentary  canal.     *     * 

These  facts  indicate  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  tubercu- 
losis contracted  by  ingestion  [italics  mine]  is  due  to  tubercle 
bacilli  of  bovine  source." 

But  the  comparative  amount  required  by  the  two  methods  of 
inoculation  in  order  to  produce  toxic  effects,  does  not  now  con- 
cern us.     The  question  is  not  one  of  size  of  dose,  but  simply 


120  Facts  About  Variolinum. 

whether  actual  inoculation  results  from  swallowing  disease  prod- 
ucts in  any  dose.  And  the  answer  furnished  by  the  investiga- 
tions of  the  British  Royal  Commission,  and  by  the  establishment 
of  our  own  systems  of  meat  and  milk  inspection,  is  so  undeniable 
and  so  pointed,  that  it  would  seem  to  be  a  waste  of  your  time  to 
indulge  its  further  consideration.  So,  again,  I  ask  you  to  come 
squarely  to  the  scratch.  If  your  answer  is  "yes,"  let  it  be  clear 
and  decisive. 

Reverting  now  to  the  original  query,  is  the  use  of  Variolinum 
reasonable?  there  seems  to  be  no  escape  from  an  affirmative 
answer.  We  have  seen  that  it  is  the  virus  of  small-pox :  we  have- 
seen  how  complete  is  the  demonstration  that  an  individual  may 
be  rendered  immune  to  a  given  disease  by  the  proper  administra- 
tion of  its  virus ;  we  have  seen  how  experience  has  so  amply 
demonstrated  inoculation  by  swallowing,  that  that  fact  has  com- 
pelled the  enactment  of  food  inspection  laws.  How  then  can  we 
escape  the  verdict  that  the  use  of  Variolinum  is  reasonable.?" 
In  a  word,  we  have  first  the  virus,  second  the  law  of  immuniza- 
tion, and  third,  the  fact  of  inoculation  by  ingestion.  Is  internal 
vaccination  reasonable?    The  answer  is  inevitable. 

So  much  for  the  scientific  basis.  It  remains  to  inquire  whether 
the  test  of  actual  experience  has  demonstrated  its  effectiveness. 

The  small-pox  epidemic  of  five  years  ago  (which,  indeed,  has 
not  yet  wholly  disappeared)  afforded  a  rare  opportunity  for  just- 
such  a  test.  Up  to  the  time  of  this  epidemic,  most  physicians  had 
never  seen  a  case  of  small-pox,  much  less  had  they  any  chance  to 
test  its  prophylaxis.  But  with  its  onset,  all  this  was  changed, 
and  experience  with  both  methods  of  vaccination  accumulated 
rapidly.  What  was  the  verdict  of  this  experience  regarding  the 
internal  method?  How  did  Variolinum  stand  the  test  in  actual 
practice  ? 

This  is  a  simple  question  of  fact  and  should  be  answered  by 
the  actual  figures.  So  I  asked  some  of  my  Iowa  colleagues  who 
I  knew  were  the  users  of  the  new  vaccination  to  contribute  their 
experience  in  the  following  particulars : 

I.  Number  whom  you  protected  by  Variolinum 

II.  Number  that  you  know  to  have  been  exposed  to  small-pox: 
after  taking   Variolinum 

III.  Number  who  had  small-pox  after  taking  Variolinum..  .  .  * 


Facts  About   Variolinum.  121 

In  making  this  request,  I  was  careful  to  write,  "I  trust  that 
reference  to  your  case  book,  ledger  and  other  records  will  enable 
you  to  make  your  figures  on  these  three  points  definite  and  exact. 
May  T  ask  that  in  any  uncertain  cases  such  ones  be  omitted  from 
your  report,  to  the  end  that  the  figures  may  be  conservative,  and 
an  understatement  rather  than  an  overstatement." 

This  suggestion  was  cordially  received,  all  those  reporting 
their  experience  being  careful  to  have  their  figures  well  inside  the 
facts.  So  much  so  that  the  total  number  they  vaccinated  by  the 
internal  method  was  much  larger  than  the  figures  given,  because 
their  records  were  not  complete  enough  to  enable  them  to  report 
the  full  number.  One  of  the  most  careful  observers  wrote  that  he 
presumed  he  had  used  Variolinum  in  twice  as  many  cases  as  he 
reported,  but  had  not  the  records  to  verify  the  figures.  Because 
of  this  care  on  their  part  to  make  the  report  of  their  experience 
conservative,  I  take  pleasure  in  presenting  the  following  com- 
bined experience : 


Number  Protected 
by  Variolinum 

Nuuiber  known  to  have 
been  exposed  to  smallpox 
after  taking  Variolinum 

Number  who  had  smallpox 
after  taking  Variolinum. 

*28o6 

547 

14 

As  already  noted,  the  total  number  of  Variolinum  vaccinations 
was,  in  fact,  materially  greater  than  the  figures  indicate,  because 
of  rigid  conservatism  in  reporting.  But  to  a  still  greater  degree 
are  the  reported  number  of  exposures  less  than  those  which 
actually  occurred,  for  the  terms  of  the  report  were  severe,  namely, 
""Number  that  you  know  to  have  been  exposed  to  small-pox." 
Necessarily  the  number  known  to  have  been  exposed  must  have 
been  far  less  than  the  number  actually  exposed.    And  here  again 

*I  am  indebted  for  these  reports  to  Drs.  C.  B.  Adams,  Sac  City;  E.  C. 
iirown,  Madrid;  E.  N.  Bywater,  Iowa  Falls;  A.  P.  Hanchett,  Council 
Bluffs;  A.  H.  Hatch,  Des  Moines;  T.  L.  Hazard,  Iowa  City;  H.  M. 
Humphrey,  Lake  City;  J.  W.  Laird,  Mt.  Pleasant;  A.  M.  Linn,  Des 
Moines ;  H.  E.  Messenger,  Des  Moines ;  P.  J.  Montgomery,  Council  Bluffs ; 
George  Royal,  Des  Moines;  L.  W.  Struble,  West  Liberty.  It  is  but  just 
to  say  that  these  are  all  well  known  Iowa  practitioners  of  character  and 
standing.  Two  are  members  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  and  a  third  was 
also  a  member  of  that  body  when  the  small-pox  epidemic  was  at  its  height. 


122  Facts  About  Variolinum. 

the  scientific  caution  of  the  reporting  physician  is  conspicuous, 
and  commendable.  For  example,  one  of  them  who  reports  only 
eight  known  exposures,  expresses  the  opinion  that  ioo  were 
"doubtless  exposed.,, 

Many  of  these  reported  "Exposures"  were  of  severe  character,, 
as  for  instance  the  following : 

"Mrs.  A.  R.,  aged  64.  Had  never  been  vaccinated.  Found 
her  nursing  her  son  who  was  in  the  pustular  stage  of  small-pox. 
Gave  Variolinum  I2x  five  disks  every  four  hours.  On  the  fifth 
day  had  a  severe  general  headache  with  a  temperature  of  102.5. 
The  next  day  one  vesicle  appeared  on  the  face.  The  tempera- 
ture subsided  on  the  fifth  clay.  She  had  sole  care  of  her  con- 
valescing son  and  herself  all  the  time."     (Dr.  Royal.) 

"I  had  three  different  houses  where  one  of  the  inmates  had 
small-pox.  In  one  house  there  were  six  inmates.  One  of  their 
number  had  small-pox.  The  other  five  had  never  been  vaccinated. 
I  used  the  Variolinum  on  three,  the  other  two  I  scarified.  None 
of  them  took  small-pox.  In  the  other  two  houses  there  were  four 
and  five  inmates  besides  the  one  stricken.  I  gave  Variolinum 
to  all  of  them  and  none  of  them  took  the  disease."     (Dr.  Laird.) 

"One  case  began  atypically,  was  taken  to  the  hospital  where 
he  was  visited  by  a  number  of  relatives,  was  worked  over  by  in- 
ternes and  nurses  by  the  hour  to  relieve  a  severe  pain  in  an  old 
appendicular  scar,  thus  fully  exposing,  at  least,  twenty  people. 
To  every  one  of  them  Variolinum  was  given  and  not  one  of  them 
took  the  disease.  This  was  a  marked  case  and  wTas  in  the  pest- 
house  for  about  four  weeks."     (Dr.  Hazard.) 

"I  know  positively  of  eleven  that  were  exposed  to  small-pox 
and  wrere  continuously  in  the  room  with  the  sick.  Of  that  num- 
ber, two  had  what  I  thought  to  be  the  initial  fever  of  small-pox„ 
but  no  eruption  appeared,  and  in  three  days  all  the  trouble  had 
subsided."     (Dr.  Humphrey.) 

"Family  of  J.  S.  Three  cases  of  small-pox  developed  in  family 
before  I  was  called  in.  Four  other  members  of  family,  two- 
young  men  who  had  never  been  vaccinated,  and  the  parents  who 
had  been  vaccinated.  Administered  Variolinum  to  all  four  and 
none  of  them  developed  small-pox,  though  in  constant  and  direct 
contact  with  the  sick  members  of  the  family."     (Dr.  Adams.) 

"February,  1901.    V.  H.    Developed  small-pox.    His  wife  who 


Facts  About   Variolinum.  123 

liad  been  vaccinated,  and  three  children  who  had  not  been  vac- 
cinated, were  given  Variolinum.  They  lived  in  the  same  house, 
•and  slept  in  the  same  room  with  him  during  all  of  his  sickness, 
yet  none  of  them  contracted  the  disease."     (Dr.  Adams.) 

''March,  1902.  D.  L.  Four  of  family  developed  small-pox. 
His  wife  and  five  children,  none  of  whom  had  been  vaccinated, 
were  given  Variolinum.  Within  forty-eight  hours  the  oldest  son 
developed  symptoms  of  small-pox,  but  his  attack  was  very  light. 
All  other  members  of  the  family,  though  living  in  the  same  house 
and  directly  exposed  through  attendance  on  the  sick,  escaped  all 
symptoms  of  the  disease."     (Dr.  Adams.) 

"March,  1902.  F.  R.  Young  man  aged  thirty,  developed 
-small-pox.  His  mother  and  an  adult  sister  who  lived  with  him, 
neither  of  whom  had  been  vaccinated,  were  given  Variolinum. 
They  attended  and  nursed  him  through  a  very  virulent  attack 
and  neither  contracted  the  disease."     (Dr.  Adams.) 

"March,  1902.  C.  S.  A  young  man,  aged  24,  developed  small- 
pox. His  father  and  mother  were  given  Variolinum  and  both 
escaped  the  disease,  though  in  constant  attendance  upon  him." 
(Dr.  Adams.) 

"Gave  Variolinum  30X  for  one  week.  That  day  her  brother 
came  home  with  a  well  developed  case  of  small-pox.  The  girl 
nor  her  mother  had  neither  ever  been  vaccinated  before.  I  at 
once  gave  the  mother  Variolinum..  They  were  quarantined  35 
days  with  the  case  of  small-pox  and  neither  of  them  contracted 
the  disease."     (Dr.  Bywater.) 

"Girl.  Given  Variolinum  in  October,  1904.  Was  quarantined 
35  days  this  spring  with  three  cases  of  small-pox  and  did  not 
contract  the  disease.  Was  of  that  type  that  takes  everything 
that  comes  along,  but  escaped  this  time."     (Dr.  Bywater.) 

"Ethel  Stevens.  Then  aged  six,  was  given  Variolinum  30X  in 
January,  1902.  Have  had  small-pox  in  the  family  three  times 
since  the  Variolinum  was  given,  was  never  vaccinated  or  pro- 
tected in  any  other  way,  has  been  exposed,  at  least,  each  of  these 
three  times,  and  has  never  showed  a  symptom  of  the  disease.  Her 
grandfather  died  of  it,  her  brother  was  very  sick  with  it  (the 
worst  case  of  small-pox  I  ever  attended)  in  March,  1903,  and 
some  cousins  had  it  a  year  later,  and  she  has  been  with  them 
all  and  never  contracted  the  disease."     (Dr.  Brown.) 


124  Facts  About   Variolinum. 

"Two  children  who  had  never  been  vaccinated  I  protected  by 
Variolinum.  An  uncle  had  small-pox  some  two  or  three  months 
after,  and  they  were  exposed,  but  did  not  take  the  disease.'' 
(Dr.  Brown.) 

Of  the  fourteen  who  had  small-pox  after  the  use  of  Varioli- 
num, one  was  a  mild  case  of  small-pox  occurring  two  years  after ;. 
three  were  not  strictly  within  the  limitations  of  the  test,  as  they 
"had  also  been  vaccinated  by  scarification  a  short  time  previous 
to  the  attacks  of  small-pox."  In  addition  to  the  fourteen  cases 
reported,  there  were  three  others,  but  "in  each  of  these  cases  the 
symptoms  appeared  within  72  hours  after  the  first  dose,  thereby 
proving  that  infection  had  occurred  before  the  administration 
of  the  remedy." 

The  evident  deduction  to  be  drawn  from  these  few  cases  is 
that  the  protection  afforded  is  not  absolute  and  without  a  single 
break;  but  that  in  exceptional  instances,  small-pox  will  occur  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  Variolinum  had  been  used. 

But  the  same  is  true  of  the  scarification  method ;  and  experi- 
ence  shows  that  small-pox  occurs  after  scarification  with  much 
greater  frequency  than  it  occurs  after  the  use  of  Variolinum. 
That  the  old  vaccination  often  fails  to  protect,  has  been  the  per- 
sonal observation  of  all  those  who  have  had  to  do  with  small-pox 
epidemics ;  while  the  numerous  deaths  in  the  army  of  the  Philip- 
pines, in  spite  of  the  Government's  painstaking  vaccination  and 
re-vaccination  of  the  troops,  is  fresh  in  the  minds  of  all.  The 
same  fact  is  indicated  in  the  reports  of  the  Registrar-General  for 
England  and  Wales,  which  show  for  the  year  1879  to  1884,  a 
total  number  of  deaths  from  small-pox  among  those  who  had 
been  vaccinated  of  1,648  persons. 

With  these  few  words  of  comment  I  have  the  honor  to  place 
before  the  Institute  the  above  figures  of  actual  experience  with 
the  internal  method  of  vaccination  by  the  administration  of 
Variolinum.  The  2,806  cases,  the  547  known  exposures,  and  the 
fourteen  instances  of  small-pox,  should  constitute  a  sufficiently- 
extended  test  to  satisfy  all  scientific  requirements.  Further  than 
this,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  figures  submitted  represent 
the  experience  of  only  a  few  of  the  Iowa  physicians  using  Varioli- 
num, and  constitute  but  a  fraction  of  the  total  Iowa  experience. 
And  with  striking  unanimity  the  physicians  using  it  have  come  to 


Facts  About  Variolinum.  125 

be  strong  adherents  of  the  Variolinum  method,  though  many  be- 
gan its  use  with  decided  skepticism. 

My  own  personal  experience  is  not  included  in  the  above  re- 
ports. It  seems  to  me  so  important  that  this  inquiry  be  scru- 
pulously judicial  in  its  spirit,  that  I  omit  my  personal  figures,  so 
that  this  presentation  of  the  matter  shall  have  in  it  nothing  of  the 
bias  of  the  advocate. 

Proceeding  then  to  the  test  of  actual  experience,  we  have 
passed  in  review  a  series  of  2,806  vaccinations  with  Variolinum, 
including  547  exposures  and  14  cases  of  small-pox.  Shown  thus 
by  clinical  test  to  be  remarkably  effective  in  actual  practice,  as 
well  as  scientifically  correct  in  principle,  the  demonstration  stands 
complete.  The  use  of  Variolinum  is  sound  in  theory  and  con- 
spicuously successful  in  practice.  It,  therefore,  does  not  ask  our 
acceptance,  it  demands  it.  As  scientific  men,  we  are  at  liberty  to> 
indulge  our  whim  about  the  matter.  It  is  not  something  that 
asks  our  support.  The  demonstration  is  placed  squarely  before 
us,  and  a  demonstration  never  requests,  it  demands.  We  must 
do  Homoeopathy  the  injustice  of  giving  this,  one  of  its  most  suc- 
cessful and  useful  outgrowths,  a  partial  and  equivocal  recogni- 
tion, just  because  it  happens  to  be  strange  to  us.  This  splendid 
piece  of  practice  is  not  new,  it  has  its  roots  in  the  past,  though 
we  may  not  have  known  it.  And  we  must  not  injure  the  cause 
by  refusing  to  recognize  its  value,  just  because  we  happen  not 
to  have  been  conversant  with  it.  We  cannot  afford  to  play  with 
the  question,  and  temporize  with  it,  and  half  way  repudiate  it, 
until  in  the  course  of  time  some  one  of  our  opponents  shall  make 
a  wTonderful  discovery,  and  cultivating  the  small-pox  virus 
through  old  horses  or  prolific  guinea  pigs,  produce  an  uncertain 
and  inferior  product  combined  with  some  secret  antiseptic  to  pre- 
serve it,  which  yet  shall  retain  sufficient  activity  to  make  possible 
the  announcement  of  another  great  advance,  to  be  used  for  the 
good  of  humanity, — and  the  discomfiture  of  Homoeopathy. 

Variolinum  is  distinctly  our  own,  as  distinctively  as  is  Aconite 
or  Lachesis  or  Lycopodium,  and  its  immense  value  should  be 
gladly  recognized  and  vigorously  claimed.  It  is  a  high  honor 
to  Homoeopathy,  and  we  cannot,  we  must  not,  let  our  individual 
lack  of  familiarity  with  it  bar  it  out  from  its  proper  place.  An 
unfamiliarity   that   costs   Homoeopathy    so    much,     is    a    heavy 


126  H-M-C. 

responsibility.  When  so  much  is  at  stake,  it  is  not  optional  with 
us  whether  we  will  know  or  remain  uninformed.  In  such  cir- 
cumstances, we  are  under  the  highest  obligations  to  know ;  and 
failure  to  inform  ourselves  is,  in  the  words  of  the  Organon,  "a 
crime." 

Let  us  take  to  ourselves  the  earnest  admonition  which  a  shrewd 
old  Sioux  Indian  woman  impressed  upon  her  grandson, — "When 
you  see  a  new  trail,  or  a  footprint  that  you  do  not  know,  follow 
it  to  the  point  of  knowing." 


H-M-C. 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 
My  Dear  Sir: 

In  the  January  issue  of  your  journal  you  make  some  comments 
upon  my  article  in  the  American  Physician,  which  are  unjust  and 
uncalled  for.  If  you  gentlemen  of  the  homoeopathic  school  have 
been  treated  badly  and  unjustly,  it  ought  to  be  the  best  reason  h* 
the  world  for  your  avoidance  of  indulging  in  a  similar  Fault.  You 
find  fault  with  my  remark,  that  at  the  time  Hahnemann  made  his 
observations  the  influence  of  suggestion  was  unknown.  Is  this 
not  true?  Does  it  not  apply  to  the  therapeutics  of  every  school? 
There  is  no  slur  in  this  against  Homoeopathy,  for  it  is  simply  a 
statement  of  fact.  It  is  only  of  recent  years  that  any  of  us  has 
begun  to  comprehend  how  much  of  the  effect  which  we  attributed 
to  our  drugs  was  really  due  to  suggestion.  This  fact  in  itself 
renders  questionable  all  the  data  recorded  as  to  therapeutic  action 
in  the  past.  There  was  nothing  said  in  my  paper  to  indicate  that 
I  credited  all  the  data  recorded  by  Hahnemann  to  suggestion,  but 
only  that  the  influence  of  this  principle  was  not  appreciated  at  the 
time.  Still  more  unjust  are  your  remarks  implying  that  my 
advocacy  of  the  alkaloids  is  simply  commercial.  I  have  no  patent 
on  the  alkaloids.  They  are  not  protected  by  any  species  of 
monopoly,  but  are  absolutely  free  for  every  pharmacist  to  furnish 
if  he  chooses.  Why,  then,  should  I  be  charged  with  commercial- 
ism in  their  advocacy?  Can't  a  man  be  honest,  even  about  a  drug 
which  he  as  well  as  everybody  else  sells?  Can't  a  man  offer  for 
sale  a  thing  which  he  believes  to  be  good,  just  because  he  believes 
it  to  be  good?    There  is  not  a  particle  more  justification  in  this 


H-M-C.  127 

accusation  than  there  is  in  the  allegation  that  every  homoeopathic 
physician  is  commercially  interested  in  advocating  Homoeopathy 
because  he  uses  it. 

The  one  great  fault  I  have  to  find  with  homceopathists  is  that 
they  are  continually  looking  for  slights.  My  own  relations  with 
this  portion  of  the  profession  are  of  the  most  cordial  character.  I 
number  many  of  them  among  my  warm  personal  friends,  and  the 
question  of  school  never  comes  up  between  us.  We  recognize  our 
individual  rights  in  this  respect.  If  you  prefer  Homoeopathy 
have  just  as  much  right  to  do  so  as  I  have  to  prefer  the  alkaloids. 
You  only  injure  your  class  by  displaying  such  small  feeling.  It  is 
my  conviction  that  Homoeopathy  demands  the  reproving  of  drugs 
under  the  light  of  modern  science.  If  it  makes  absolutely  no 
difference  in  Homoeopathy  whether  the  opium  on  which  the 
provings  are  founded  contains  eighteen  per  cent,  of  morphine,  or 
none  at  all,  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  there  cannot 
be  anything  definite  or  tangible  in  Homoeopathy. 

This  I  do  not  believe.  My  own  studies  of  drug  action  have 
shown  me  that  there  is  a  very  wide  difference,  in  many  cases  an 
absolute  antagonism,  between  minute  doses  of  a  remedy  and 
maximum  doses  of  the  same  remedy.  As  to  the  claims  of  Ho- 
moeopathy, I  believe  in  submitting  them  to  the  clinical  test,  which 
is.  after  all,  what  decides  the  correctness  of  the  hypothesis  we 
construct  in  regard  to  the  drug  action. 

Yours  very  truly. 

W.  C.  Abbott. 

Ravenswood,  Chicago,  Feb.  14,  1908. 


The  Recorder  asks  Dr.  Abbott's  pardon  for  hinting  that  his 
strenuous  advocacy  of  the  alkaloids  is  due  to  "commercialism" — 
if  this  be  not  the  case.  The  error  was  due  to  the  fact  that,  pr<  I  - 
ably  without  exception  (there  may  be  a  few  isolated  instana  s  . 
whenever  a  scientific  article  on  the  alkaloids  appeared  in  a  journal 
there  would  be  found  an  advertisement  of  the  alkaloidal  com- 
pany in  the  advertising  forms  of  that  journal,  to  say  nothing  ; 
reading  notices.  This  impression,  which  Dr.  Abbott  indicates  to 
be  erroneous  in  the  above  communication,  was  further  con- 
firmed by  the  fact  that  so  often  when  a  remedy  was  men- 
tioned  in  the   scientific   articles   already   referred   to   the   lett<  rs 


128  H-M-C. 

"H-M-C"  were  appended  to  it.  These  letters  being,  we  be- 
lieve, the  trade-mark  of  Dr.  Abbott's  company.  The  practice 
reminded  one  of  a  St.  Louis  company  which  a  few  years 
ago  made  a  practice  of  putting  their  name,  in  brackets,  in  every 
article  they  republished,  after  the  name  of  each  drug  mentioned, 
even  though  the  writer  of  the  article  may  never  have  heard  of  that 
company.  However,  since  Dr.  Abbott  assures  the  profession  his 
drugs  are  the  same  as  "everybody  else  sells,"  the  conclusion  must 
be  that  the  "H-M-C"  habit  is  a  mere  idiosyncrasy  and  really  of  no 
scientific  portent.  So  the  question  is  narrowed  down,  so  far  as 
the  members  of  the  homoeopathic  medical  profession  is  con- 
cerned, to  the  relative  merits  of  alkaloids  and  our  old  homoeo- 
pathic forms  of  the  several  drugs.  The  latter  have  been  proved 
and  on  those  provings  Homoeopathy  is  founded,  and  from  those 
provings  comes  much  of  the  therapeutic  "advances"  of  other 
schools.  The  alkaloids  are,  potentially,  probably  as  valuable  as 
the  tinctures,  but  until  they  are  as  thoroughly  proved  their  use 
must  be  based  on  clinical  observations  or  empiricism. 

Dr.  Abbott  states :  "If  it  makes  absolutely  no  difference  in 
Homoeopathy  whether  the  opium  on  which  the  provings  are 
founded  contain  eighteen  per  cent,  of  morphine,  or  none  at  all,  it 
is  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  there  cannot  be  anything 
definite  or  tangible  in  Homoeopathy."  Very  true,  but  no  ho- 
moeopath has  ever  said  it ;  and,  in  fact,  opium  that  contained 
"none  at  all"  would  not  be  opium.  It  would  be  about  as  much  to 
the  point  as  if  someone  were  to  write  that  if  an  alkaloidal  tablet 
contained  no  alkaloids  it  would  not  be  "very  definite  or  tangible." 
The  effects  on  the  provers  demonstrate  quite  conclusively  that 
the  opium  they  proved  was  a  very  robust  article. 

Again,  "There  was  nothing  said  in  my  paper  to  indicate  that 
I  credited  all  the  data  recorded  by  Hahnemann  to  suggestion,  but 
•only  the  influence  of  this  principle  was  not  appreciated  at  the 
time."  Quite  so,  but  even  the  quotation  just  made  insinuates  that 
while  not  "all"  of  the  homoeopathic  provings  of  Hahnemann  were 
•due  to  suggestion,  part  of  them  were,  and  which  are  real  and 
which  suggestive  is  indeterminate ;  a  beautiful  illustration  of 
""damning  by  faint  praise." 

Just  here  Dr.  Abbott  might  be  informed  that  Messmer  was 
born  in  1733  and  Hahnemann  in  1755,  and  that  both  were  physi- 
cians.    What  has  this  to  do  with  it?     Simply  that  Messmerism 


Remedies  in  Rachitis.  129 

was  and  is  essentially  the  same  as  hypnotism  and  its  ally,  sugges- 
tion, and  that  the  early  homoeopaths  were  quite  well  informed  on 
the  subject,  and  were,  as  a  body,  vigorously  opposed  to  it.  If  Dr. 
Abbott  believes  that  the  provers  were  under  the  "spell"  he  is  quite 
welcome  to  his  belief,  for  it  alters  nothing.  Also,  if  he  advocates 
the  use  of  his  drugs  on  certain  old  homoeopathic  lines  there  is  no 
law  against  the  fact  save  that  of  good  form,  which  consists  in  the 
acknowledgment  of  priority  in  things  literary  and  scientific  where 
such  priority  exists. 

To  insist  on  such  matters  may  be  a  display  of  "small  feeling;" 
if  so.  why  so  be  it ;  but  there  are  a  certain  number  of  men  who 
will  view  the  matter  in  quite  a  different  light  and  put  the  word 
"small"  elsewhere. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  Dr.  Abbott  personally ;  he  runs  a  very 
good  journal,  entertaining  and  readable,  and  we  agree  with  him 
on  the  desirability  of  reproving  drugs,  especially  their  alkaloids, 
if  these  are  to  be  intelligently  used  by  homoeopathic  physicians. 
Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder. 


REMEDIES   IN    RACHITIS. 

Aloes:  The  first  remedy  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  is 
Aloes.  This  remedy  is  seldom  thought  of  by  those  who  have  al- 
ready made  a  diagnosis  of  rickets  and  perhaps  it  would  not  be  so 
well  indicated  at  that  stage,  that  is,  when  such  a  diagnosis  would 
be  reasonably  certain.  But  I  believe  Aloes  is  an  antipsoric.  hav- 
ing many  symptoms  like  Sulphur.  When  this  remedy  is  indicated, 
there  is  usually  a  rise  in  temperature  with  dry  lips,  tongue  dry 
and  red,  with  thirst.  Diarrhoea,  character  of  stool  not  so  import- 
ant, but  is  worse  after  nursing,  worse  in  the  morning,  in  damp 
weather,  with  gurgling  in  the  abdomen ;  pain  before  and  during 
stool.  Child  is  peevish,  hard  to  please  and  cries  at  least  provoca- 
tion;  not  as  cross  as  the  CJiamomilla  child.  I  am  afraid  Chamo- 
milla  has  often  spoiled  a  good  Aloes  case,  but  the  symptoms  ac- 
companying the  stool  should  differentiate  it  from  A 

Baryta  carb.:  This  remedy  is  more  often  called  for  in  the  older 
child  with  granular  enlargements.  Child  looks  old,  weakened, 
mental  and  physical  weakness,  no  desire  to  play,  wants  to  lie 
down  often,  eyelids  inflamed,  loss  of  appetite.     Diarrhoea  with 


130  Remedies  in  Rachitis. 

much  urging,  rectum  sore,  with  expulsion  of  pin  worms.  Pro- 
fuse sweats  on  first  falling  asleep,  mostly  on  left  side  of  body  and 
head,  bad  smelling  foot  sweat,  with  soreness  between  toes 
(Sulph.).     Sweat  especially  in  the  evening. 

Calc.  carb.:  This  is  a  remedy  whose  symptomatology  is  so  well 
known  to  you  all  that  I  will  not  repeat  many  of  them  here.  The 
open  fontanelles,  profuse  head  sweats,  retarded  dentition,  with  its 
enormous  appetite,  whitish,  frothy  diarrhoea,  always  worse  during 
the  last  quarter  of  the  moon,  when  convulsions  are  liable  to  occur 
from  worms  (Sil.  and  China  in  the  new  moon).  Feet  sweat,  but 
the  oder  is  not  bad  like  Baryta  carb..  and  Sulph.  Hands  do  not 
sweat  like  the  Sil.  child. 

The  indurated  glandular  enlargements  and  tendencies  towards 
suppurative  conditions  are  better  met  with  Calc.  iiuoricum  which 
has  cured  large,  hard  periosteal  swellings,  accompanied  with  great 
tenderness  so  that  the  least  covering  was  unbearable. 

Phosphorus:  In  experiments  on  young  animals,  Phos.  has  pro- 
duced rickets.  Now  what  more  do  we  need  for  a  good  homoeo- 
path? I  think  we  need  a  good  deal  and  we  have  it  in  our  other 
remedies,  and  if  they  have  been  carfully  selected,  the  case  will 
y.ever  get  to  that  state,  where  Phos.  will  be  necessary,  except  in 
the  case  of  early  bronchial  troubles,  which  may  be  the  beginning 
of  the  rickety  condition,  but  it  is  in  the  badly  treated  or  far  ad- 
vanced cases  that  Phos.  will  be  of  such  great  value,  and  it  is  not. 
necessary  to  give  it  in  material  doses  either. 

The  necrosed  bone,  or  digestive  derangements  with  vomiting, 
diarrhoea,  distended  abdomen,  open  anus,  accompanied  with  the 
hunger  and  thirst  as  characteristic,  will  respond  to  the  200th  and 
higher  potencies  much  better  than  to  the  crude  drugs.  This  poor, 
sick,  almost  disintegrated  child  needs  to  be  handled  with  care. 
We  may  have  to  change  our  potency  to  fit  the  peculiar  condition 
of  each  child,  ,but  you  will  find  it  much  safer  and  surer  to  begin 
high  and  go  lower,  if  needs  be,  than  to  overdo  it,  and  likely  spoil 
the  case  by  beginning  with  the  crude  drug  or  6x  even.  To  go  into 
the  finer  indications  of  the  remedy,  would  be  out  of  place  here.  I 
have  called  your  special  attention  to  Calc.  c.  and  Phos. — Dr. 
Byron  I.  Clark,  from  paper  read  before  American  Institute  of 
Homoeopathy. 


Book  Notices.  131 

BOOK  NOTICES. 


L,es  Secrets  de  1' Homoeopathic  Par  le  Dr.  Jules  Galla- 
vardin,  de  Lyons.  Liste  des  Oevres  de  Hahnemann.  Preface 
du  Dr.  H.  Duprat,  de  Gineve.  Geneve.  Imp.  Ed.  Pfeffer. 
Boulevard  Georges-Favon  6.     1908. 

This  little  paper  bound  pamphlet  of  thirty-two  pages  con- 
tains five  papers,  by  Dr.  Gallavardin,  that  were  contributed  to 
a  well-known  French  allopathic  medical  journal,  VEcho  de  la 
Medicine  et  de  la  Chimrgie  in  the  year  1907,  and  by  request  of 
the  editor.  Dr.  Tassau.  The  papers  are  followed  by  a  complete 
list  of  Hahnemann's  works  in  chronological  order,  running  from 
the  year  1777  to  1835.  The  first  is  a  translation  from  the  English 
of  an  "Essay  on  Hydrophobia,"  and  the  last  one  is  "Discours  de 
Hahnemann  a  la  Societe  homoeopathic  gallicane."  It  seems  from 
Dr.  Duprat's  preface  that  many  allopaths  in  France  have  the 
idea  that  "les  homoeopathes  forment  une  secte  plus  ou  moins  oc- 
culte,  et  pratiquent  des  formules  secretes  par  eux  seuls  comues," 
or  in  other  words,  that  the  homoeopaths  constitute  an  occult  so- 
ciety and  practice  by  secret  remedies  and  methods,  known  only 
to  the  esoteric.  This  fantastic  notion  is  what  Dr.  Gallavardin 
combats  by  expounding  the  homoeopathic  law  and  illustrating  it ; 
he  thus  reveals  all  the  "secrets."  Concerning  Isopathy  he  makes 
the  rather  interesting  statement  that  it  was  practiced  by  "Her- 
ing,  Lux,  T.  J.  M.  Collet"  in  1833,  apparently  originated  by 
them,  and  then  adds,  "Pasteur  fut  aussi  medeirn  isopathie."  So 
it  would  seem  that  so  far  from  Pasteur  being  the  originator  of 
modern  therapeutics  the  honor  belongs  to  Hering  and  the  others. 
Isopathie  remedies  are  simply  homoeopathic  to  the  symptoms 
they  will  cause  in  the  healthy,  as  is  every  known  substance  that 
will  cause  symptoms,  for  is  not  Homoeopathy  a  Law,  and  thus 
necessarily  universal"-'  Variolinum  is  a  so-called  isopathie  rem- 
edy, but  did  not  Dr.  Eaton,  in  his  paper  read  at  the  Institute 
meeting  held  at  Jamestown  last  year,  demonstrate  from  the  prov- 
ings  made  on  the  healthy  when  it  was  given  too  strong,  or 
too  frequently,  as  a  prophylactic,  that  it  caused  all  the  symptoms 
of  small-pox?     And,  furthermore,   ''id  he  not  demonstrate  that 


132  Book  Notices. 

it  was  both  a  prophylactic  for  that  disease  and  a  most  excellent 
remedy  for  it?  The  "secret'  '  of  Homoeopathy  is  its  law,. 
Similia  similibus  curantur. 


"Hering    College    Happenings"        is   the   title   of   a   fifty-two 

page  booklet,  issued  by  the  Class  of  '08,  which  is  "serious  and 

saucy,   solemn   and  silly" — the  booklet,  not  the  class.     Extra 

copies,  10  cents   (to  swell  the  Class  Treasury). 

A  class  book  does  not  readily  lend  itself  to  comment,  for  the 

very  good  reason  that  most  of  the  jokes  and  allusions  are  purely 

personal — the   class   catches   the   point,   but   the   outer   barbarian 

doesn't.     That  which  best  illustrates  this,  but  is  very  good,  is 

the  "Keynotes  of  the  Class  of  '08,"  under  "Hering  Condensed  !r 

each  keynote  being   directed   at  a  professor  or  member   of  the 

class : 

"Time  passes  too  slowly — an  hour  seems  half  a  day." 
"Proud,  self-contented  look." 
"Great  loquacity,  wants  to  talk  all  the  time." 
"Great  longing  for  fresh  air — (especially  when  there  is  a  base 
ball  game)." 

The  Recorder  suggests  that  to  the  many  things  for  which  there 
are  "collectors" — stamps,  coins,  autographs,  etc. — there  be  added 
class  books,  and  begin  with  the  Hering,  '08.  No  charge  for  the 
suggestion,  even  though  it  be  a  good  one. 


A  Text-Book  of  Clinical  Medicine.  Treatment.  By 
Clarence  Bartlett,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Medical  Diagnosis  and 
Clinical  Medicine  in  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  Phila- 
delphia ;  Visiting  Physician  to  the  Hahnemann  Hospital. 
1,223  pages.  One  volume,  cloth,  $8.00.  Two  volumes,  half 
morocco,  $10.00.  Expressage,  extra.  Philadelphia :  Boericke 
&  Tafel.     1908. 

The  author  of  this  book  is  so  well-known  that  anything  as  to 
his  personality  may  be  a  work  of  supererogation.  He  compiled 
and  arranged,  among  other  things,  Farrington's  Clinical  Materia 


Book  Xoticcs.  133 

Medica,  from  stenographic  notes,  had  a  very  considerable  hand 
in  preparing  and  publishing  Goodno's  Practice,  and  is  the  author 
of  A  Text-Book  of  Clinical  Medicine,  Diagnosis,  by  many  con- 
sidered the  best  book  on  the  subject  ever  published.  The  pres- 
ent volume  is  a  venture  into  a  medical  field  that  is  almost  un- 
explored ;  true,  we  have  our  many  most  excellent  works  on  ho- 
moeopathic therapeutics  and  every  writer  on  special  topics,  or 
practices,  follows  each  disease  by  a  more  or  less  complete  sec- 
tion on  the  treatment,  but  a  book  exclusively  confined  to  treat- 
ment is  a  rarity.  We  know  of  but  one,  and  that  is  rather  old 
and  contains  nothing  of  homoeopathic  treatment.  Dr.  Bartlett 
gives  homoeopathic  treatment  in  full,  and  also  includes  the  treat- 
ment that  is  recognized  as  best,  and  is  accepted,  by  the  most  ad- 
vanced men  of  other  schools.  There  never  has  been,  and,  prob- 
ably, never  can  be.  a  book  on  treatment  that  in  all  particulars 
will  meet  with  the  unqualified  approval  of  all  physicians.  Each 
reader,  doubtless,  will  find  certain  treatments  of  which  he  does 
not  approve,  but.  more  especially,  each  will  fail  to  discover  some 
measure  that  in  his  practice  is  peculiarly  valuable.  The  book, 
we  hold,  must  be  regarded  as  an  epitome  of  the  modern  treat- 
ment of  disease,  including  Homoeopathy,  and  thus  the  aim,  or 
scope,  of  the  book  is  above  criticism.  When  it  comes  to  par- 
ticulars there  is,  doubtless,  much  room  for  criticism  of  this,  that 
or  the  other  treatment  given  for  a  special  disease ;  but  even  here 
the  critic  must  go  easy  for,  most  likely,  in  the  same  section  he 
will  find  that  of  which  he  highly  approves.  The  author  has 
gathered  the  generally  accepted  data  on  the  subject  and,  we  be- 
lieve, has  presented  it  accurately.  There  his  work  ceases  and  the 
reader  must  determine  what  treatment  given  in  the  book  is  the 
one  to  be  employed  on  his  patient,  if  any.  The  man  of  other 
schools  will  find  the  best  homoeopathic  treatment  in  its  pages — the 
best  aside  from  the  classical  Hahnemannian  method  of  writing 
down  the  totality  of  the  patient's  symptoms  and  finding  the 
similimum — and  the  homoeopath  will  find  the  best  treatment  of 
what  is  generally  known  as  modern  medicine.  The  errors  of  the 
book  will  be  found  by  individuals  to  be  chiefly  those  of  omission. 


HomoeopathLic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

By  BOERICKE  <Sc  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  $i.oo,TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PER  ANNUM 
Address  communications ,  books  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  the  edito* ,  to 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

EDITORIAL. 

A  Proving  of  Barium  Chloride. — Dr.  T.  G.  Stonham  re- 
ports a  proving  of  Chloride  of  barium  (or  Baryta  muriatica,  as 
it  is  sometimes  listed),  in  the  British  Homoeopathic  Review  for 
February.  One  grain  of  the  drug  was  taken  every  morning  and 
evening  for  ten  days.  The  action  was  chiefly  on  the  lower  ex- 
tremities and  the  lower  alimentary  tract,  especially  the  rectum. 
The  most  marked  feature  was  stiffness  and  weakness  of  the  legs 
"similar  to  what  one  feels  from  overwalking  or  bicycling  too 
far."  "Weak  knees  which  feel  as  if  they  must  give  way." 
"Aroused  from  sleep  by  severe  spasmodic  pain  in  the  rectum,  as 
from  pressure  of  wind,  which  would  not  pass — it  lasted  on  and 
off  for  an  hour."  Aching  pain  in  right  knee  under  patella,  be- 
fore getting  out  of  bed,  and  continuing  until  after  walking." 

Hahnemann  somewhere  says  that  the  proving  of  drugs  (un- 
less too  "heroic")  so  far  from  being  deleterious  to  the  health  is 
positively  beneficial,  and  his  long  life  seems  to  back  up  this  as- 
sertion. It  is  a  pity  we  could  not  have  more  short,  but  clear  cut 
provings  such  as  Dr.  Stonham  reports.  Have  them  published 
in  some  journal. 

Common  Sense. — The  Hahnemannian  Monthly  under  this 
heading  gives  us  an  editorial  that  is  rather  good.  Here  is  the 
gist  of  it : 

"The  healers  of  the  sick  are,  indeed,  a  motly  crowd.  On  one 
side  we  see  the  'Indian  doctor'  with  his  collection  of  skins  and 
herbs,  and  on  the  other  the  'Christian  Scientist'  with  his  present 
or  absent  treatment ;   here  the  osteopathist  and   there  the  psy- 


Edit  or  nil.  [35 

chotherapist ;  here  the  surgeon  and  there  the  electro-therapist; 
here  the  materialistic  polypharmacist  and  there  the  homoeopath ist ; 
here  the  hydropath  and  there  the  dry  air  specialist,  and  so  on 
through  an  innumerable  list  that  would  tire  the  writer  to  relate 
and  the  reader  to  hear.  What  is  more  essential  for  the  physician 
in  selecting  from  all  this  jumble  of  true  and  false  that  which  he 
may  employ  to  advantage  in  the  treatment  of  the  sick  than  a 
large  and  well  trained  bump  of  common  sense  ?  Let  us  not  be  in 
too  much  of  a  hurry  to  abandon  the  old,  nor  let  us  be  in  too 
great  haste  to  take  up  the  passing  fad,  but  let  us  carefully  and 
considerately  prove  all  things  and  hold  fast  to  that  which  is 
good." 

Medical  Progress. — Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson  is  a  man  of  some 
weight  in  the  medical  world,  and  he  writes  in  Monthly  'Cyclo- 
paedia: "How  many  of  our  boasted  and  much-used  antipyretics 
act  simply  like  an  increased  dose  of  the  toxin,  by  depressing  the 
vital  resistance  and  preventing  the  temperature  reaction  ?  I  have 
no  hesitation  in  naming  two — Aconite  and  Vcratrum — and  ex- 
pressing grave  suspicions  of  a  third,  namely,  the  whole  group 
of  coal-tar  products.  The  man  who  gives  Aconite  or  Veratrum 
in  a  case  of  pneumonia,  typhoid,  or  appendicitis  is  pouring  a 
second  poison  into  the  body  of  his  unfortunate  patient  to  sup- 
press the  resistance  which  it  makes  against  the  first.  They  make 
the  patient  more  comfortable  and  the  doctor  much  easier  in  his 
mind  for  the  time  being,  but  what  of  the  ultimate  outcome? 
They  lower  the  temperature,  slow  the  pulse,  but  it  is  much  after 
the  same  fashion  that  a  blow  on  the  head  with  a  club  will  quiet 
the  struggles  of  a  man  resisting  arrest,  or  a  dose  of  Opium  will 
relieve  the  fatigue  of  a  soldier  on  the  march." 

Very  true,  doubtless,  of  those  who  prescribe  according  to  the 
name  of  a  disease,  and  in  the  usual  "heroic"  doses,  but  not  in 
the  least  true  of  the  man  who  prescribes  the  homoeopathic  po- 
tentized  drug  according  to  the  law  of  Similia.  Some  day  they 
will  learn  that  the  fault  in  their  drug  practice  lies  in  their 
science  which  doesn't  prove  to  be  science  when  put  to  the  test. 
Do  not  blame  the  drugs  for  your  own  short  comings. 

How  It  Works. — Our  English  friends  are  experiencing 
trouble    in   having   their   prescriptions   properly   compounded    it 


136  Editorial. 

seems.  The  Westminster  Gazette  says  that  85.7  per  cent,  of  the 
prescriptions  sent  to  the  city  analyst  for  inspection  were  found 
to  be  wrongly  compounded.  And  what  puzzles  the  Londoners  is 
to  know  how  can  such  things  be  in  face  of  the  fact  that  the 
standard  for  examinations  has  been  raised  so  high  that  it  is 
most  difficult  for  chemists  to  get  assistants.  Can  it  be  that  the 
strenuous  examinations  are  breeding  a  race  of  professionals  like 
Mr.  Toots,  that  classic  product  of  the  forcing  system? 

Freak  Questions  of  "Examining  Boards." — "Describe  the 
phenomena  of  karyokinesis."  Even  with  his  "Dunglison"  at 
hand,  the  student  would  only  be  more  in  the  fog  than  ever.  Also 
"Describe  colostrum,  emmetropia,  diapedesis,  hemolysin,  lochia, 
osmosis,  alexins,  atavism,  zymogen."  These  are  specimen  bricks 
from  the  wall  built  by  an  examining  board  to  "protect  the  pub- 
lic." Unless  you  know  all  about  atavism  you  must  not  attend  to 
the  baby's  colic,  for  may  not  a  knowledge  of  the  protoplasm  from 
which  the  line  of  baby's  ancestors  were  evolved  be  highly  im- 
portant in  the  scientific  treatment  of  the  wind  that  causes  the 
present  yell  ?  Go  to,  thou  scoffers.  How  would  "Define  the  real 
function  of  the  cramming  board"  do  for  a  question  ? 

The  wise  guy  would  answer  "a  body  of  learned  men  engaged 
in  protecting  the  public  from  those  who  say  'sweating  of  blood' 
instead  of  diapedesis,  and  who  do  not  know  that  an  alexin  is  a 
microbe  killer — not  Radam's." 

"We  Fail  to  Find/' — If  any  reviewer  of  homoeopathic  books 
wants  to  show  his  knowledge  of  therapeutics  and  at  the  same  time 
gently  roast  an  author,  let  him  select  his  disease  from  the  author, 
then  compare  it  with  Lilienthal's  pages  on  the  same  disease  and 
he  can  write  "we  fail  to  find"  this,  that,  or  the  other  remedy 
"mentioned"  to  his  heart's  content,  and,  what  is  more,  be  really 
accurate  in  his  failures  to  find. 

More  Serum  Accidents. — At  a  place  named  Mulkowal,  in 
India,  there  were  nineteen  deaths  from  tetanus,  recently,  due  to 
injections  of  an  anti-plague  serum.  The  authorities  are  looking 
around,  to  find  out  how  the  germs  got  into  the  serum,  especially 
as  the  bottle  was  known  to  be  tightly  corked  and  was  one  of  five 


Editorial.  137 

used    in   the   vicinity,   and    from   the   others   only   one   person    is 

known  to  have  "suffered."  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  authorities 
will  discover  the  cause  of  these  deaths,  as  the  discovery  would, 
probably,  revolutionize  some  medical  procedures. 

Pro  Bono  Publico. — The  editor  of  The  Eclectic  Review  warns 
its  readers  to  keep  their  weather  eye  on  the  Legisla- 
ture of  Xew  York,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  other 
legislatures,  when  it  comes  to  medical  legislation.  The 
cause  of  this  caution  is  the  fact  that  some  one.  1  >r 
some  "crowd."  is  urging  the  passage  of  a  bill  pro- 
hibiting physicians  from  dispensing  medicine.  Thus,  if  the  act 
passed,  a  homoeopathic  physician  would  be  a  law  breaker  who 
gave  the  baby  a  dose  of  Chamomilla.  If  such  a  fool  measure 
were  to  become  a  law  (and  could  be  enforced)  it  would  be  a 
fat  thing  for  pharmacists  and  druggists,  for  the  patent  medicine 
outfit  and  for  the  swarms  of  hungry  "drugless  healers."  Such  a 
bill,  like  most  of  its  species,  is  a  "snake."  to  use  the  slang  of  the 
legislator,  and  to  malign  an  honest  reptile. 

Why  They  Do  It. — The  Medical  Concensus  writing  of  "The 
Ideal  Medical  Journal"  incidentally  remarks  that  the  objection- 
able features  to  the  big  medical  publications  is  that  they  are  too 
"long  winded."  and  that  "the  principle  reason  why  medical  men 
subscribe  to  most  of  such  publications  is  that  they  mistake  quan- 
tity for  quality."  "Interesting"  is  the  word  that  demies  "good 
writing,"  whether  it  be  long  winded  or  short  breathed,  gram- 
matical or  ungrammatical.  If  the  writer  can  hold  his  reader  he 
is  on  the  right  writing  road,  whether  what  he  writes  is  believed 
or  not.    He  gets  the  floor. 

Bossism  ix  Medicine. — Pity  the  poor  "'regular."  the  (R)  of 
Polk's  Directory.  He  sanctioned  the  "official  journal."  and  his 
creation  is  now  dictating  to  him  what  he  must  and  what  he  must 
not  do.  There  is  no  law  to  enforce  the  decrees,  but.  as  the  years 
go  by  it  will  be  more  and  more  difficult  to  avoid  obeying  and  the 
day  must  come  when  to  disobey  will  mean  excommunication  and 
the  disobedient  one  will  be  a  medical  pariah.  The  rank  and  file 
are  now  "requested"  not  to  prescribe  or  use  anvthing  in  their 


138  Editorial. 

profession  that  is  not  sanctioned  by  the  "Council  of  Chemistry." 
The  request  will  easily  merge  into  the  command  and  the  indi- 
vidual will  become  the  mere  slave  of  the  creature  he  has  formed 
— or,  supposed  he  did,  good,  easy  man.  Better  be  the  free  man 
outside  of  the  cabalistic  (R)  than  an  automaton  in  it. 

It  Adds  to  the  Gaiety  of  the  Nations. — Recently,  in  run- 
ning through  an  exchange,  devoted  to  "nature  cure"  and  abusing 
doctors  and  drugs,  attention  was  arrested  by  a  head  line  an- 
nouncing the  restoration  of  sight  to  a  blind  man.  Hello !  What's 
this !  Why,  it  was  the  case  of  a  reader,  a  subscriber,  who,  "hav- 
ing noticed advertised  for  eye  trouble,  I  decided  to  give  it 

a  trial,"  and,  lo !  his  sight  came  back  to  him  and  he  can  now  see 
as  well  as  ever,  even  to  reading  medical  "ads."  In  the  words  of 
Jean  Jacques  Rosseau  and  T.  R.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  "Back  to  na- 
ture !"  and  "'ware  the  nature  fakirs !" 

No  Apologies  Needed. — Dr.  L.  F.  Ingersoll,  of  Chicago,  con- 
cludes a  paper  in  The  Clinique,  with  the  following  tart  words : 
"I  always  regret  to  hear  apologies  for  our  system  of  therapeutics. 
It  doesn't  need  them,  but  its  disciples  often  do.  When  we  fail 
we  too  often  charge  it  to  inefficiency  of  Homceopathy,  instead  of 
individual  incompetency."  A  friend  who  read  these  words 
added,  "There's  more  truth  than  poetry  in  that."  And  the  remedy 
seems  to  lie  in  a  closer  study  of  the  materia  medica,  not  the 
boiled  down  and  abbreviated  materia  medica,  but  the  unabridged 
article.  Go  a  little  deeper  into  Bryonia  than  "worse  on  motion." 
Or  Pulsatilla  than  "Timid,  tearful  and  blonde,"  and  so  on,  for 
there  is  more  to  learn.     Also  be  sure  of  your  drugs. 

Mitchella  Repens  ix  Child  Bearixg. — Dr.  H.  T.  Webster 
(Eclectic  Medical  Journal)  got  his  first  start  in  obstetric  prac- 
tice by  treating  a  woman,  who  had  always  aborted,  with  the 
above  named  drug,  with  the  result  of  no  abortion,  but  a  fine 
baby.  Another  case  treated  with  the  same  drug  was  that  of 
a  married  woman  who  was  subject  to  profuse  uterine  haemor- 
rhage at  nearly  every  menstrual  period,  with  the  result  that  the 
haemorrhages  ceased  and  the  woman,  in  time,  became  the  mother 
of  a  healthv  familv  of  children.     In  another  case  a  woman  who 


Editorial.  139 

had  suffered  severely  at  two  confinements  was  given  the  drug  for 
three  or  four  months  before  confinement,  with  the  result  of  very 
easy  labor.  Dr.  Webster  concludes :  "Mitchella  repens  probably 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  list,  as  a  resort  when  we  desire  to  favor 
the  reproductive  power  of  the  female  organs.  If  it  is  reserved 
for  this  alone  we  will  not  employ  it  often,  but  results  will  be  very 
satisfactory  whenever  a  demand  arises  for  it.  It  is  important 
that  we  get  as  near  the  fresh  plant  as  possible  in  using  it." 
The  drug  was  given  in  material  doses. 

Surgery  and  Ingrowing  Toe-Nails. — The  American  Journal 
of  Surgery  says :  "It  is  doubtful  whether  the  classical  operations 
for  ingrown  toe-nail  cure  permanently  in  even  a  fair  percentage 
of  cases."  Very  few  have  ever  used  the  classical  remedy  of 
Homoeopathy  for  this  condition,  Magnus  polus  oust.,  in  not  less 
than  the  30th  potency  (preferably  the  200th),  yet  the  few  who 
have,  made  favorable  reports  of  its  action.  It  seems  to  be  the 
constitutional  remedy  where  ingrown  toe-nails  constantly  recur 
in  spite  of  surgical  interference. 

That  Old  School  Shot-Gun. — Scndder,  of  the  Eclectic 
Medical  Journal — a  good  one,  too,  by  the  way — after  quoting 
some  of  the  "scientific"  alkaloid  proprietary  prescriptions  put 
up  by  the  Abbott  people,  writes :  "No  wonder  that  rebellion  fol- 
lows in  the  ranks  of  the  allopathists  when  their  section  on  al- 
kaloidal  medication  asks  them  to  father  this  kind  of  drug  study. 
Such  conglomerates  remind  one  of  their  ancient  shot-gun  mix- 
tures, and  are  enough  to  make  an  allopath  of  the  olden  time 
turn  green  with  envy."  That  poor  old  drudge  word  "scientific" 
is  most  awfully  abused.  Some  day  the  innate  moral  sense  of  the 
medical  fraternity  will  insist  that  the  overworked  word  be  given 
a  much  needed  rest. 

"Can  Such  Things  Be  and  Overcome  Us  Like  a  Summer 
Shower/' — The  irrepressible  Dr.  Henry  Beates,  Jr.,  president  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Medical  Examining  Board  has  again  appeared 
in  the  daily  press,  advocting  the  use  of  the  press  for  educating 
the  people  in  things  medical.  To  illustrate  this  he  relates  an  in- 
cident during  the  consideration  of  the  vaccination  bill  which  Dr. 


140  Editorial. 

Dr.  Samuel  G.  Dixon,  Commissioner  of  Health  of  Pennsylvania, 
narrowly  escaped  assassination. 

"There  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature,"  said  Dr.  Beates, 
"who  so  inflamed  his  constituents  over  the  exclusion  from  the 
public  schools  of  their  children  who  had  not  been  vaccinated  that 
two  of  them  followed  Dr.  Dixon,  and,  armed  with  pistols,  lay  in 
wait  for  him.  Dr.  Dixon  escaped  assassination  only  because  he 
happened  to  leave  his  office  by  a  door  he  seldom  used.  That  in- 
cident was  directly  due  to  the  lack  of  proper  dissemination  of 
information  on  vaccination  through  the  public  press." 

If  this  is  true,  some  one  has  been  very  remiss  in  the  duty  of 
good  citizenship  in  not  having  these  would-be  assassins  arrested, 
for  any  one  who  would  assassinate  or  attempt  to  assassinate  an- 
other for  any  cause,  deserves  punishment.  If  it  is  not  true  (it 
reads  very  fishy),  what  must  be  thought  of  a  physician  and  a 
State  official,  who  would  publicly  make  such  a  charge? 

Some  Personal  Experience  in  Small-Pox. — Dr.  W.  E. 
Reiley,  of  Fulton,  Mo.,  in  a  short  communication  to  the  Clinical 
Reporter  on  his  experience  with  small-pox,  rather  caustically  re- 
marks :  'During  an  epidemic  of  small-pox  most  doctors  call 
■every  case  of  eruptive  fever  small-pox.  I  have  seen  measles, 
German  measles,  chicken-pox,  and  even  roseola  diagnosed  as 
small-pox  and  nobody  held  accountable  for  the  error — unless, 
perchance  he  be  a  homoeopath,  in  which  case  it  was  unexcusable." 
Also,  "the  effects  of  vaccination  were  not  recognizable  in  either 
of  these  epidemics.  In  one  family  in  which  I  had  a  case  of  con- 
fluent small-pox  there  were  four  members,  and  only  one  of  the 
four  would  submit  to  vaccination.  They  nursed  the  child  through 
the  case  and  were  all  in  the  room  with  her  much  of  the  time,  but 
no  other  case  ever  developed  in  that  family.  In  another  family 
in  which  all  had  been  recently  vaccinated,  we  had  two  cases  of 
confluent  small-pox  and  two  or  three  lighter  cases.  The  con- 
fluent cases  were  in  patients  with  typical  vaccine  scars." 

"Stamping  Out  Quackery." — The  Post-Graduate,  January, 
tells  of  circulars  wrapped  around  filled  prescriptions  by  Paris 
pharmacists  "that  would  make  an  American  proprietory  drug 
maker  blush  at  his  own   feebleness  as  a  writer."     There  is  no 


Editorial.  141 

reason  why  a  man  should  ever  die,  if  he  can  make  a  correct  diag- 
nosis of  his  case  and  buy  his  medicine  at  an  apothecary  shop 
in  the  Rue  de  la  Paix."  Also,  "This  indicates  that  it  is  impossible 
■even  in  old  civilizations  to  stamp  out  quackery."  One  might  well 
parody  Pilate's  question,  "What  is  quackery?"  If  every  humbug 
in  medicine  were  to  be  pilloried,  what  a  sensation  there  would  be ! 

Refraction. — The  Post-Graduate  quotes  "one  of  our  con- 
temporaries" on  the   subject  of  refraction,   in  part,  as  follows: 

"Where  shall  you  begin  to  study.  As  you  must  begin  with  re- 
fraction there  can  be  only  one  answer :  Philadelphia.  Things 
are  bad  enough  there,  Heaven  knows,  but  they  are  so  bad  else- 
where that  Heaven  couldn't  know.  By  the  art  of  refraction,  of 
course,  is  meant  subjective  refraction,  supplemented  by  retin- 
oscopy  when  the  subjective  method  is  impossible.  Only  two  or 
three  men  in  all  Europe  know  anything  about  this  art,  and  if 
you  went  there  to  study  you'd  never  find  them.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  New  York,  Chicago,  etc.  Some  day  some  discerning 
philanthropist  will  give  a  million  or  two  dollars  to  found  a  school 
of  refraction.  And  if  it  should  get  into  the  right  hands  it  will 
do  more  good  to  humanity  than  all  the  hundreds  of  millions  that 
have  been  given  to  'charity'  in  the  last  generation.  In  the  mean- 
time we  must  wait  and  blunder  along  as  best  we  may,  until  an 
aroused  and  repentant  profession  tires  of  anatomic  pathology, 
laboratories  and  east  wind." 

Good  advice  to  these  gentlemen  would  be :  "Get  a  copy  of 
Copeland's  Refraction  and  read  up  on  the  subject,"  for,  if  what 
the  Post-Graduate's  quotation  asserts  is  true,  refraction  is  a  big- 
ger subject  than  is  dreamt  of  in  most  men's  philosophy. 

"Not  Responsible." — Many  editors  print  standing  matter 
which  asserts  that  they  are  "not  responsible,"  or  "do  not  neces- 
sarily endorse,"  etc.,  etc.,  the  opinions  or  statements  of  con- 
tributors. Surely  not  unless  one  is  steering  a  try-to-please  affair 
in  which  nothing  but  smooth  platitudes  are  admitted.  Any  one 
can  safely  endorse  a  smooth  platitude,  for  it  is  like  a  diet  of  bread 
and  water — unobjectionable,  but  somewhat  tiresome. 

Dr.  Swan  to  the  Fore. — If  the  shade  of  the  late  Dr.  Samuel 
Swan  could  revisit  the  earth  it  would  be  amazed,  or  rejoiced,  or 


142  Editorial. 

angered,  as  the  case  might  be,  to  see  his  pet  system,  isopathy,  in 
the  very  fore-front  of  "modern  medicine,"  and  medical  men  fol- 
lowing it  eagerly.  The  cure,  to  Dr.  Swan,  for  a  case  of  habitual 
bellyache  from  eating  cucumber  was  a  potency  of  cucumber.  He 
advocated  a  potency  of  tuberculosis,  of  diphtheria,  of  any  other 
disease  for  the  cure  or  prevention  of  that  disease.  This  is 
isopathy,  very  baldly  put.  Wherein  does  that  differ  from  the 
serums  or  the  opsonics — is  that  their  proper  name — save  in  the 
matter  of  simplicity? 

When  the  disease  virus,  or  toxine,  or  whatever  its  proper  term 
is,  is  given  in  the  potentized  form  nature  has  the  opportunity  of 
rejecting  it,  but  when  administered  hypodermically  this  op- 
portunity is  denied.  Some  brilliant,  cures  are  reported  by  the 
new  isopathy  and  some  cases  that  are  rather  startling  in  their  re- 
sults. The  old  isopathic  practice  had  the  advantage  of  simplicity, 
safety  and  cheapness,  three  attributes  that  are  not  always  so 
marked  in  the  latter  day  practice.  The  probabilities  are  that 
the  new  method  will  be  wrecked,  as  usually  happens  in  all  al- 
lopathic practice,  by  big  dosage  and.  the  hypodermic  syringe. 

Rule  or  Ruin. — The  following  from  the  February  number 
of  the  Medical  Century  shows  to  what  lengths  the  friends  of  the 
new  and  curious  homoeopathic  pharmacopoeia  (or  some  of  them, 
rather)    are   willing  to   go   in   support   of  that   moribund   book: 

"The  American  Druggist  and  Pharmaceutical  Record  opposes 
the  amendments  to  the  National  Food  and  Drugs  Act  proposed 
by  Senator  Gallinger,  whereby  a  drug  shall  be  deemed  adulterated 
if  not  prepared  according  to  the  homoeopathic  pharmacopoeia  of 
the  United  States.  And  we  agree  with  the  American  Druggist. 
It  has  been  stated  that  probably  98  per  cent,  of  the  homoeopathic 
remedies  used  are  prepared  according  to  the  American  Homcco- 
pathic  Pharmacopoeia/' 

"Adulterated,"  ye  gods  !  Is  it  not  psychologically  curious  that 
there  should  be  men  willing  to  have  the  drugs  used  bv  all  ho- 
moeopaths from  Hahnemann  down  to  the  present  day  officially 
condemned  and  for  the  sake  of  an  ill  written  and  unscientific 
book  ? 

Grippe  and  Appendicitis. — The  Pacific  Medical  Journal  says 
that   San  Francisco  was  in  the  grip  of  Grippe  during  January 


Items  of  Interest.  143 

and  that  one-half  the  inhabitants  were  affected  by  it.  Then  fol- 
lows the  curious  comment  that  "whenever  we  have  an  epidemic 
•of  influenza  the  cases  of  appendicitis  multiply  many  fold." 


ITEMS  OF  INTEREST. 

Dr.  S.  M.  Ghose  has  removed  to  Jangail,  Bengal,  India. 

Kraft  has  changed  his  dress,  coming  out  in  a  dull  orange 
■shade,  and  the  cut  much  smaller  than  the  old  suit,  dress,  being 
an  8vo.,  this  time.  For  whether  you  say  Kraft  or  American 
Physician,  is  it  not  the  same  ?    He  presents  quite  a  fine  front. 

Dr.  H.  A.  Klock,  of  Mahanoy  City,  long  time  practitioner  of 
Homoeopathy,  died  in  February. 

The  Medical  Forum,  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  has  suspended  pub- 
lication. Running  a  homoeopathic  journal  isn't  "altogether  a  snap, 
as  many  have  discovered. 

Dr.  Oscar  K.  Richardson  announces  change  of  office  to 
Donaldson  Building,  corner  of  7th  St.  and  Nicollet  Ave.,  Suite 
401. 

Metropolitan  Hospital,  New  York  City,  with  its  1,300  beds,  is 
the  largest  homoeopathic  hospital  in  the  world,  and  presents  to 
its  internes  unsurpassed  opportunity  for  obtaining  experience  in 
every  department  of  medicine  and  surgery.  Examinations  for 
appointment  on  the  Resident  Staff,  will  be  held  at  the  hos- 
pital on  Friday,  April  3d,  1908,  at  10  a.  m.,  and,  simultaneously, 
at  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  St.  Louis  and  Cleveland.  Eighteen 
vacancies  are  to  be  filled  for  twelve  or  eighteen  months'  service, 
commencing  June  1st  or  December  1st,  1908.  Applications  for 
examination,  accompanied  by  three  letters  of  reference,  should 
be  sent  to  Edward  P.  Swift,  chairman  Examining  Committee, 
.No.  170  West  88th  St.,  New  York. 


PERSONAL. 


Chicago  is  going  to  try  Christian  psychology  as  a  cure  for  the  booze 
men.    Good  field. 

"Some  folks  think  they  are  holy  because  a  good  dinner  makes  them  feel 
unhappy." 

It  is  suggested  that  the  Standard  Oil  may  try  for  rebates  on  its  fines. 

There  can  be  nothing  but  "hold  ups"  in  balloon  expresses. 

Hear,  O  ye  doctors!     "The  price  of  diamonds  is  advancing. 

After  you  have  downed  the  other  fellow  don't  rub  it  in.    'Tisn't  wise. 

The  Illinois  Board  of  Health  calls  out :    "Spread  the  gospel  of  vaccina- 
tion."    It's  a  religion,  eh? 

As  we  now  have  Daughters  of  the  Revolution  why  not  have   Sons  of 
Guns? 

/'Training  the  phagocytes  to  cure,"  etc.,  is  the  latest  off-shoot  of  isopathy 
as  she  is  now  preached. 

The  limb  should  realize  the  truism  that  it  is  not  the  tree. 

"Trading   on    a   name"    is   the    sincerest   flattery — even    in    homoeopathic 
pharmacy. 

Man  said,  "I've  carried  this  umbrella   for  two  years."     Friend  replied, 
"Time  you're  returning  it." 

"Lime  light"  being  out  of  date,  isn't  it  time  to  omit  it  from  verbal  pyro- 
technics ? 

The  Chironian  invents  or  quotes:    "He  who  is  without  enthusiasm  for 
Homoeopathy  is  without  knowledge  of  Homoeopathy. 

A  doctor  Herzog  (Ec.  Reviezv)  asserts  that  "everybody  is  a  born  crimi- 
nal."    Oh,  Jerusha  Ann ! 

"If  dirt  were  trumps,  what  a  hand  you'd  hold,"  said  Charles  Lamb  to  his 
whist  partner  once. 

"My  wife  isn't  a  'club  woman,'  "  remarked  the  man  ;  "she  mostly  uses  a 
flat-iron." 

"Large    fees   are   like   large   fish,    more   talked    about   than    seen." — The 
Clinique. 

The  earnest  seeker  after  truth   is  perhaps   some  times   very  much   dis- 
gusted when  he  finds  it. 

Dr.  Jacobi  in  address  recently  referred  to  "those  that  come  from  Jersey, 
South  Brooklyn  and  Russian  Poland" — and  no  joke  was  intended. 

A  man  remarked  that  it  was  very  hard  to  lose  one's  savings,  and  Binks 
replied,  "Not  in  the  stock  market." 


THE 

HOMEOPATHIC  RECORDER. 

Vol  XXIII.  Lancaster,  Pa.,  April,  1908. 

DR.  wanstall  and  homceopathy. 

The  leading  article  in  the  March  Hahnemannian  Monthly, 
covering  fourteen  pages,  is  by  Dr.  Alfred  Wanstall,  of  Baltimore, 
Md.  The  heading  is:  "Homoeopathy:  A  Natural  Law  of 
Cure ;  or  a  Systematic  Empiric  Principle,  by  which  Drugs  are 
Selected  for  the  Treatment  of  Disease."  Dr.  Wanstall  takes  the 
stand  that  it  is  an  empiric  principle.     He  writes : 

"The  following  conclusions  have  been  slowly  reached  by  the  most 
elementary  reasoning,  and  they  are  such  as  one  naturally  hesitates  to  ex- 
press. They  sound  so  discordant  a  note  among  the  views  prevailing  in 
this  body,  if  those  that  are  audible  here  prevail,  that  one  fears  one  will 
be  stoned,  figuratively  speaking;  and,  perhaps,  it  would  have  been  better 
to  have  kept  one's  light  under  a  bushel.  But  each  of  us  has  to  make 
peace  with  his  own  soul  as  he  goes,  and  history  will  write  down  sooner 
or  later  what  is  the  truth." 

Thus,  right  at  the  outset  the  reader  is  confronted  by  that  old, 
old  question,  What  is  Truth?  A  question  that  has  caused  more 
bloodshed  than  any  other  in  this  world,  but  has  never  been 
"scientifically"  answered. 

Dr.  Wanstall  writes  honestly  and  sincerely  and  with  the  ob- 
ject of  benefiting  the  medical  profession,  what  he  considers  to 
be  the  truth,  but  many  other  men  equally  honest  will  regard  his 
truth  as  mere  aberration. 

Dr.  Wanstall  defines  his  position,  as  follows : 

''Why  the  homoeopathic  law  has  not  been  and  cannot  be  defined  is,  to 
the  mind  of  the  writer,  due  to  an  intellectual  confusion  regarding  the 
idea  on  which  it  is  based.  At  the  outset  I  desire  to  announce  my  con- 
viction that  Homceopathy  is   not  founded  on  a  natural   law   of  cure— we 


146  Dr.    If '(install  and  Homoeopathy. 

do  not  know  how  drugs  cure  diseases — but  is  simply  a  method  of  pro- 
cedure according  to  which  drugs  are  selected  for  the  treatment  of  disease; 
systematic,  inasmuch  as  it  is  based  on  the  principle  of  a  symptomatic 
similarity;  and  empiric,  inasmuch  as  it  is  dependent  upon  the  clinical  test." 

There  are  many  ways  of  answering  this,  but,  perhaps,  the  most 
direct  would  be  one  in  kind :  "My  conviction  is  that  Homoe- 
opathy is  a  law  of  cure,"  and  each  of  Dr.  Wanstall's  arguments 
advanced  to  support  his  conviction  could  be  answered  by  argu- 
ments, equally  valid,  in  support  of  the  opposing  conviction. 

"We  do  not  know  how  drugs  cure  disease."  Very  true  ;  neither 
do  we  know  how  the  sun  shines,  how  gravitation  acts,  how  life 
comes  and  goes ;  in  fact,  there  are  several  things  we  do  not  know. 
But  we  do  know  that  the  sun  shines,  that  things  fall  to  the  earth, 

and  that  man  lives  for  a  few  years  and  then  ?     We  know 

that  drugs  act  on  disease,  and,  some  believe,  act,  on  the  "prin- 
ple,"  if  one  prefers  the  word,  of  similia,  and  are  governed  ac- 
cordingly. The  success  that  follows  this  rule  of  action  in  the 
administration  of  drugs  leads  some  men  to  believe  that  the 
action  is  governed  by,  or,  rather  is,  a  law  of  nature.  If  another 
man  choose  to  believe  that  it  is  not  such  a  law  why,  so  be  it. 
Further  on : 

"The  theory  of  dynamization  has  been  Homoeopathy's  greatest  mis- 
fortune, both  because  it  has  repelled  investigation  and  because  it  has  in- 
volved the  minds  of  practically  all  its  votaries  in  an  intellectual  tran- 
scendentalism." 

So  much  the  worse  for  those  so  repelled.  And  why  should  it 
repel  investigators?  The  facts  of  radium  and  the  X-rays  have 
led  many  men,  of  late,  not  homoeopaths,  to  believe  that  there  is 
something  more  in  dynamization  than  what  Dr.  Wanstall  terms 
''transcendentalism."  The  Austrian  provers  of  old  did  not  be- 
lieve in  dynamization  and  selected  salt  for  a  test  of  its  truth  or 
falsity — and  were  convinced  that  it  was  a  very  potent  fact.  Why 
do  not  the  scientific  doubters  put  the  theory  to  the  only  test  pos- 
sible, instead  of  mere  denials,  backed  by  nothing  but  their 
disbelief? 

''It  behooves  the  homoeopathic  school  to  look  sharply  after  its  funda- 
mentals at  this  time,  as  it  is  daily  becoming  more  difficult,  if  it  is  not 
already  imposible,  to  firmly  establish  its  dogma  in  fresh  minds  that 
are  being  simultaneously  imbued  with  the  principles  of  rational  medicine, 
because  the  homoeopathic  dogma  and  the  present  intellectual  motive  in 
rational    medicine    represent    intellectual    incompatibilities." 


Calendula  an  Antidote  to  Apis.  147 

Really,  is  not  the  term  "rational  medicine"  what  might  be 
termed  borrowed  plumage?  Bear  in  mind  that  the  whole  ques- 
tion at  issue  is  the  application  of  drugs  to  the  cure  of  disease. 
Are  the  coal-tar  things,  the  serums,  and  the  rest,  at  present,  in 
fashion,  any  more  rational  than  the  similimum  ?  To  some  men 
they  are,  to  others  they  are  not.  Proof?  Each  side  will  bring 
"proof"  that  satisfies — itself.  What  is  the  truth?  Why,  there 
comes  that  bothersome  old  question  again.  It  really  looks  as 
though  truth  were  what  seems  good  to  each  individual.  When,  oc- 
casionally, a  truth  (like  "the  earth  is  round")  becomes 
demonstrable  to  all,  it  is  solidified  into  fact.    One  more : 

"We  should  realize  that  we  possess  no  charter  from  God  for  an  in- 
spired law  of  cure;  that  Hahnemann  was  human  and  mortal;  that  we 
treat  disease  with  drugs  not  because  it  was  the  Divine  intention  that  they 
should  be  so  treated  and  that  nature  would  reveal  no  other  means  nor 
on  account  of  their  extraordinary  utility,  but  because  and  when  we  have 
nothing  better  to  take  their  place ;  and  the  great  wonder  should  be  not 
that  drugs  do  not  do  more,  but  they  do  so  much." 

What  is  a  "charter  from  God?"  When  "rational  medicine" 
comes  at  one  in  that  form  there  is  nothing  left  for  one  to  do 
but  look  on  in  silence,  for  part  of  it  is  self-evident,  and  part  of 
it  an  assumption  of  a  knowledge  of  Divine  intention  that  goes 
further  than  anything  ever  advanced  by  the  most  enthusiastic 
Hahnemannian. 


CALENDULA  AN  ANTIDOTE  TO  APIS. 

Editor  of  the  Homceopathic  Recorder: 

If  you  think  the  following  cases  from  practice  worthy  of  a 
place  in  the  Recorder,  please  insert  the  same : 

First  case.  A  little  girl,  stung  by  a  honey-bee  on  the  finger — ■ 
intense  pain  and  swelling  of  the  arm  to  the  shoulder,  with  red 
streaks ;  as  different  remedies  had  been  applied  without  effect, 
sent  small  powder  of  sugar  with  six  drops  of  Calendula  tincture 
on  it,  to  be  dissolved  in  half  teacup  of  water,  arm  to  be  fre- 
quently bathed  with  it.  Result :  Pain  relieved  in  a  very  few 
minutes ;  swelling  disappeared. 

Second  case.  Man  came  to  the  office  with  his  arm  in  a  sling; 
stung  by  a  bumblebee ;  could  not  bear  the  arm  to  hang  down ; 


148  Calendula  an  Antidote  to  Apis. 

pain  so  great ;  applied  Calendula,  as  above ;  in  a  few  minutes  left 
the  office  without  pain,  with  use  of  arm  in  any  position. 

Third  case.  Woman  stung  on  upper  lip  by  honey-bee ; 
screamed  with  pain ;  lip  swollen  and  extended  as  far  as  the  end 
of  the  nose.  Calendula  applied,  as  above,  relieved  the  pain  almost 
instantly,  swelling  disappeared  in  a  very  short  time. 

Fourth  case.  t  Woman  stung  on  finger  by  honey-bee ;  in  a  short 
time  not  only  pain,  but  nearly  all  the  bad  symptoms,  as  recorded 
in  the  provings  of  Apis  appeared,  terrible  swellings  in  different 
parts  of  the  body,  with  decided  marks  similar  to  hives,  etc.,  to- 
gether with  threats  of  convulsions,  drowsiness,  almost  coma. 
Treatment  as  above,  together  with  two  or  three  drops  of 
Calendula  tincture,  to  half  tumbler  of  water,  one  teaspoonful  to 
be  taken  every  few  minutes,  internally ;  prompt  improvement 
followed,  entirely  relieved  in  an  hour  or  two. 

Fifth  case.  A  brother  of  the  writer,  who  keeps  bees.  One  of 
the  hives  being  filled  with  combs  and  honey,  the  bees  built  a 
large  size  of  combs  on  the  bottom  of  the  hive.  Two  of  his 
children,  aged  four  and  six,  went  to  the  hive,  the  boy,  by  closing 
his  arms  around  the  mass  of  combs,  pulled  it  entirely  from  the 
hive ;  in  an  instant  they  were  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  bees ; 
both  children  were  stung,  probably,  by  scores  of  bees.  The 
pain  being  terrible,  all  domestic  remedies  being  applied  without 
effect,  their  life  being  almost  despaired  of.  Some  one  suggested 
that  I  had  a  preparation  for  such  cases,  sent  and  got  the  remedy. 
Severe  pain  subsided  almost  instantly,  the  terrible  swelling,  which 
closed  the  eyes  and  invaded  the  whole  body  disappeared  in  an 
hour  or  two.  Fully  recovered  without  any  particular  desire  for 
honey.  Treatment  same  as  above,  but  no  internal  treatment  with 
the  Calendula. 

Of  course,  but  few  cases  of  bee  stings  prove  very  dangerous, 
yet  we  hear  of  them  occasionally.  The  writer  knew  a  man  in 
Lancaster  county  a  few  years  ago,  who  was  stung  on  an  ear,  he 
died  of  convulsions  in  twenty  minutes. 

Although  an  advocate  of  high  attenuations,  have  never  used 
Calendula  in  other  than  the  above  preparations,  but  firmly  be- 
lieve Calendula  an  antidote  to  Apis. 

J.  B.  Temple.  M.  D. 

Mar  shall  ton,  Pa,,  R.  D.    No.  8. 


The  "Nezv  Movements"  in  Medicine.  149 


THE    "NEW   MOVEMENTS"   IN   MEDICINE. 

Mr.  Elbert  Hubbard,  in  his  Philistine  for  March,  gets  off  the 
following : 

Anxious  Subscriber:  The  expression  Similia  Similibus  is 
a  Latin  phrase  and  means  that  an  imaginary  disease  can 
be  cured  by  an  imaginary  remedy. 

The  Fra.  dearly  loves  an  epigram.  The  foregoing  black-let- 
ter effort  was  brought  out  by  a  Farewell  Address  issued  by  Dr. 
A.  L.  Mitchell,  of  East  Aurora,  N.  J.,  which,  as  all  the  faithful 
know,  is  the  headquarters  of  the  Society  of  the  Immortals.  Dr. 
Mitchell  has  been  a  successful  practitioner,  and,  being  an  honest 
man,  has  given  it  all  up.  He  doesn't  believe  in  drugs,  or  in 
medicine,  as  practiced.  Here  are  a  few  pebbles  from  his  ad- 
dress : 

"If  a  physician  can  practice  medicine  successfully  and  not  jug- 
gle policy  and  principle,  he  has  accomplished  a  feat  seldom  at- 
tainable.    In  fact,  I  doubt,  if  it  is  ever  done  continuously." 

"The  physician  of  to-day  sacrifices  his  self  esteem  for  the  whim 
and  prejudice  of  his  patients.  The  homoeopathic  attenuation,  the 
Galenic  'dough  pill,'  as  well  as  its  ultra-modern  successor,  the 
blank  tablet,  synonyms  of  the  many  things  that  might  be  classed 
under  the  head  of  'dope'  are  some  of  the  subterfuges  that  he 
uses  as  reminders,  to  fix  good  advice  in  minds  fickle  through 
fear  and  excess." 

"If  this  rooted  evil  of  applying  a  drug  to  every  ill  were  but 
overcome,  much  of  the  fear  of  disease,  as  well  as  its  anticipa- 
tion, would  be  avoided." 

"The  physician  is,  primarily,  the  product  of  a  demand." 

"Hurry  and  ambition  stimulate  the  commercial  features  of 
his  relation  to  you;  and,  if  he  has  the  expected  professional 
spirit,  he  will  act  according  to  the  popular  medical  opinions  of 
the  day." 

Dr.  Mitchell  concludes  his  address  by  stating  that  he  has 
practiced  medicine  for  twenty-five  years,  and  his  wife  for  ten 
years,  very  successfully,  in  both  senses,  it  is  to  be  inferred,  but 
"we  have  come  to  feel  a  lack  of  faith  in  drugs  as  a  cure  of  dis- 
ease.    If  we  have  been  successful  in  a  professional  way,  I  am 


150  The  "New  Movements'  in  Medicine. 

convinced  that  it  has  been  through  an  ability  to  restore  con- 
fidence in  the  minds  of  our  patients/' 

These  words  close  the  address,  and  after  them  follows  the 
Fra.'s  black  letter  squib,  quoted  above. 

This  is  the  drift  to-day.  It  reminds  one  of  our  old  friend,  the 
pendulum.  At  one  time  the  school  of  medicine,  broadly  taken 
in  by  the  term  "allopath,"  could  not  give  big  enough  and  varied 
enough  doses  of  drugs  to  suit  their  ideas,  for  the  human  body 
would  not  stand  for  it ;  now  they  are  repudiating  all  drugs,  which, 
while  less  harmful  than  their  former  practice,  is  just  as  absurd. 
The  whole  thing  is  simply  a  stealing  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  thunder 
without  crediting  that  lady — to  be  sure,  she  got  it  from  some 
one  else,  but  she  formulated  it  and  made  it  known,  and  to  her 
belongs  the  credit. 

It  may  be  that  Dr.  Mitchell  has  taken  up  with  Christian 
Science  though  he  does  not  say  so.  If  restoring  "confidence  to 
the  minds  of  our  patients"  is  to  be  the  sole  therapeutic  rule  of 
the  doctor,  then  we  cannot  see  the  difference  between  it  and  Chris- 
tian Science,  and  there  is  none.  Of  course,  there  is  much  said 
about  proper  living,  eating,  exercise  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  but 
does  not  the  gentle  Christian  scientist  teach  and  sometimes  prac- 
tice all  these  things?  Indeed,  these  things  have  always  been 
known,  but  never  before  trotted  out  as  something  wonderfully 
new. 

A  physician,  or,  a  "healer,"  may  have  the  unlimited  confidence 
of  a  community,  but  should  Asiatic  cholera,  or  yellow  fever, 
break  out,  that  confidence  would  not  stay  the  disease,  only  medi- 
cine, and  homoeopathic  medicine  at  that,  can  cure.  Right  living 
will  go  a  long  way  towards  abolishing  disease,  but,  when  disease 
comes — it  is  the  rankest  kind  of  folly  to  ignore  the  helping  hand 
of  Homoeopathy.  Suppose  the  child  has  croup,  diphtheria, 
scarlet  fever,  is  anaemic  or  rachitic,  or  any  of  the  things  that 
babies  may  be,  what  can  "confidence"  do?    Nothing! 

Fra  Elbertus  is  a  brilliant  and,  what  is  better,  an  entertaining 
writer.  He  gets  off  much  good  stuff  along  with  considerable 
tommy-rot.  When  it  comes  to  medicine  he  is  simply  a  slangy, 
free  and  easy,  let-'er-rip,  Christian  Scientist. 

Here  is  a  bit  of  free,  but  good  advice  to  the  Fra :  Write  a 
"Little  Journey"  to  the  home  of  Hahnemann.     It  will  mightily 


Dermatitis  Medicamentosa.  151 

interest  the  little  journey  world  (which  is  a  big  one),  and,  bet- 
ter, instruct  them  as  to  the  true  and  only  use  of  drugs. 

Later.  After  the  foregoing  was  written,  we  concluded  to  look 
up  Dr.  Mitchell  in  Polk's  Directory,  and,  behold,  we  find  him  a 
graduate  of  "279  b.,"  1883,,  *•  e->  Cleveland  Homoeopathic  Medi- 
cal College,  in  the  last  edition  marked  (H),  but,  in  previous  edi- 
tions (R).  This,  however,  makes  no  difference,  for  was  not  Mrs. 
Eddy  a  homoeopathic  physician,  who,  unable  to  believe  that  the 
little  potentized  drug  could  possibly  exercise  the  tremendous 
power  it  evidently  did  over  disease,  concluded  that  the  effects 
must  be  the  result  of  her  mind  acting  on  the  mind  of  the  patient. 
In  so  believing  she  made  a  scientific  faux  pas,  but  gained  a 
fortune,  and  gradually  evolved  a  church,  of  which  she  is  the 
head.  When  she  dies  (we  presume  she  is  mortal),  will  that 
church  select  another  head  for  itself? 

The  breaking  up  of  old  allopathy  seems  to  have  been  followed 
by  conditions  similar  to  those  that  prevailed  when  the  tower  of 
Babel  proved  a  fiasco.  The  one  stable  thing  to-day,  medically, 
is  Homoeopathy. 


DERMATITIS  MEDICAMENTOSA. 
P.  W.  Shedd,  M.  D.,  New  York. 

We  see  no  reason  when  a  classic  text-book  of  the  old  school 
contains  a  chapter  of  inestimable  homoeotherapeutic  value,  why 
it  should  not  be  offered  in  toto  to  homceotherapeutists.  We  refer 
to  the  chapter  under  the  above  heading,  found  in  Prof.  Stel- 
wagon's  Treatise  on  Diseases  of  the  Skin  (5th  Ed.  W.  B.  Saund- 
ers Co.,  Phila.).  Dr.  Stelwagon  performs  for  homoeotherapists 
a  labor  of  love  in  his  exhaustive  collocation  from  all  sources,  save 
homoeopthic  pathogenies,  of  dermatites  admitted  by  him  as 
medicinal  in  nature. 

It  is  true  that  it  has  not  dawned  upon  him,  nor  any  philosophoid 
mind  in  the  old  school,  that,  possibly,  there  may  exist  a  therapeu- 
tic relation  between  these  constant  medicinal  dermatites,  and  the 
dermatites  developing  as,  or  in  conjunction  with,  "natural"  dis- 
ease. When  such  relation  is  traced,  the  philosophoid  mind  will 
have  become  philosophic,   for  the   law   or   laws  governing,   cor- 


152  Dermatitis  Medicamentosa. 

relating  or  intercalating  two  series  of  facts  will  then  have  been 
discovered  and  formulated.  At  such  time  a  reference  to  the  com- 
pleter, finer  indications  found  in  homoeopathic  pathogenies  will 
develop  whether,  in  gangrene,  for  example,  Arsenic  or  Bella- 
donna, or  Ergot,  or  Iodine  compounds,  or  Quinine,  or  salicylate 
compounds  are  indicated,  and  hence  curative.  There  is  a  vast 
difference  in  the  syndromes  presented  by  two  patients  suffering 
with  gangrene,  and  one  of  whom  needs  Arsenic,  and  the  other, 
Ergot  (Secale  comutum). 

And  the  old  school  investigator  not  swathed  in  the  rhinocerus- 
hide  of  tradition  nor  hampered  by  the  strait- jacket  of  preju- 
dice, will  find  that  the  specialized  work  of  the  homceotherapist, 
his  exhaustive  tests  of  almost  every  known  medicinal  substance, 
and  of  many  unknown  to  traditional  medicine  and  ordinarily  in- 
ert, but,  developing  medicinal  powers  by  molecular  separation 
in  the  process  of  trituration  and  dilution,  as  in  Graphites, 
Sodium  chloride,  Carbo  vegetabilis,  Silica,  Lycopodium,  have 
materially  extended  the  list. 

The  balance  of  this  article  consists,  practically,  of  the  sum- 
mary of  Prof.  Stelwagon,  to  whom  the  credit  should  be  given. 
Its  practical  value  for  the  homceotherapist  is  very  evident,  and  the 
summary  should  be  incorporated  into  homoeopathic  literature. 

The  symptomatology  of  drug  eruptions  is  essentially  the 
symptomatology  of  the  various  erythematous,  exudative,  and 
inflammatory  diseases.  Thus,  all  the  various  skin  lesions  are  en- 
countered in  different  cases,  such  as  erythema,  papules,  vesicles, 
pustules,  tubercles,  blebs,  purpura,  and  even  gangrene.  The 
carbuncular  or  anthracoid  eruption  and  papillomatous  nodules  or 
plaques  produced  by  Iodine  and  Bromine  compounds  are.  how- 
ever, somewhat  peculiar,  and  will  be  referred  to  later.  In  most 
instances  there  is  more  or  less  uniformity  in  the  type  of  lesion 
in  the  same  individual  from  a  particular  drug,  but  not  infre- 
quently an  eruption  of  a  mixed  type  may  result,  such  as,  for  ex- 
ample, the  various  forms  of  erythema  multiforme. 

Medicinal  eruptions  are  apt  to  make  their  appearance  some- 
what suddenly,  after  one  or  two  doses,  or,  with  some  drugs  only 
after  continued  use.  They  are  usually  highly  colored.  Upon 
withdrawal  of  the  drug  they,  with  few  exceptions,  rapidly  dis- 


Dermatitis  Medicamentosa.  153 

appear.  Sometimes,  however,  the  eruptive  phenomena  may  con- 
tinue for  some  time  after  the  drug  has  been  stopped,  as  has  oc- 
casionally been  observed  with  bromides,  and  less  frequently  with 
the  iodides,  especially  in  children.  And  in  exceptional  cases  it 
has  been  noted  that  the  first  appearance  of  the  rash  has  not 
presented  until  the  drug  has  been  withdrawn.  Exceptionally, 
too,  the  eruption  produced  may  go  through  the  various  stages 
of  the  idiopathic  malady  which  it  simulates.  In  generalized 
eruptions,  especially  of  the  erythematous,  morbilliform,  and 
scarlatiniform  types,  there  may  be  a  variable  degree  of  con- 
stitutional disturbance. 

Etiology. — In  the  large  majority  of  cases  the  eruption  called 
forth  is  due  to  some  idiosyncrasy  of  the  individual,  and  while 
the  same  drug  produces  most  frequently,  as  a  general  rule,  the 
same  type  of  eruption  in  other  susceptible  individuals,  this  is 
by  no  means  always  the  case.  On  the  other  hand,  certain  few 
drugs,  e.  g.,  the  iodides  and  bromides,  give  rise  so  often  to 
pustular  or  acnoid  lesions  that  such  effect  may  really  be  con- 
sidered its  normal  or  physiologic  action.  Many  of  the  more 
severe  types  of  medicinal  eruption  are  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
medicine  is  continued  after  the  milder  manifestation  has  shown 
itself,  or  has  been  administered  in  large  dosage ;  on  the  other 
hand,  occasionally,  profound  cutaneous  disturbance  results  from 
an  exceedingly  small  quantity. 

Women  and  children  seem  to  present  drug  idiosyncrasy  most 
frequently,  and  those  of  light  complexion  more  commonly  than 
brunettes.  Probably,  too,  those  of  a  weakened  state  of  health 
and  a  neurotic  temperament  are  more  susceptible.  Defective 
kidney  elimination  is  certainly  a  factor  of  importance. 

As  illustrating  an  extreme  of  drug  idiosyncrasy,  a  man  tak- 
ing an  ordinary  dose  of  Quinine  was  attacked  with  an  erythe- 
matous scarlatinoid  eruption  of  itchy  character  with  some  exu- 
dation, and  which  took  several  weeks  to  run  its  course,  ending 
with  desquamation.  Several  years  subsequently  he  went  into  a 
drug  store  and  took  a  "calisaya  soda-water  tonic,"  with  the 
same  eruption  as  a  result.  A  few  years  later,  the  family  physi- 
cian gave  him  some  pills,  each  containing,  among  other  in- 
gredients, one-sixteenth  grain  dose  of  Quinine,  of  which  he  took 
only  three,  with  the  development  and  course  of  the  cutaneous 
outbreak  as  before. 


154  Dermatitis  Medicamentosa. 

Dermatologic  Types. — The  subject  of  dermatitis  medica- 
mentosa is  of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  a  summary  of  the 
eruptive  types  provoked  by  different  drugs,  and  a  brief  con- 
sideration of  the  possible  eruptions  which  each  individual  drug 
may  produce. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  forms  of  eruption  which 
may  follow  ingestion  or  absorption.  Many  drugs  are  capable 
of  giving  rise  to  several  types  in  different  individuals,  or  even 
in  the  same  individual ;  many  are  only  rarely  causative ;  others, 
for  example,  the  Bromides,  Iodides,  Quinine,  Copaiba,  coal-tar 
derivatives  are  somewhat  frequently  etiologic. 

Dermatologic  Types. 

Bullous  :  Aconite,  Anacardium,  Antipyrin,  Boric  acid, 
Chloral,  Bromin,  Copaiba,  Cubebs,  Iodides,  Iodoform,  Mercury, 
Opium  (?),  Phosphoric  acid,  Salicylates. 

Carbuncular  (Anthracoid)  :  Arsenic,  Chloral,  Iodides, 
Bromides,  Opium. 

Cyanotic  :     Acetanilid,  Pot.  chlorate. 

Eczematous  :  Boric  acid,  Belladonna,  Carbolic  acid.  Opium, 
Morphine,  Sod.  borate. 

Erythematous  :  Acetanilid,  Antipyrin,  Arsenic,  Alcohol, 
Antitoxin,  Belladonna,  Benzoic  acid,  Boric  acid,  Bromides.  Cap- 
sicum, Carbolic  acid,  Chinolin,  Chloral,  Chloralamid,  Cantharides, 
Chloroform,  Castor  oil,  Conium,  Copaiba,  Cubebs,  Dulcamara, 
Exalgin,  Iodides,  Iodoform,  Guaiacum,  Gurjun  oil,  Hydrocyanic 
acid,  Hyoscyamus,  Lead  acetate,  Mercury,  Opium,  Pilocarpin, 
Piper  meth.,  Phenacetin,  Phosphoric  acid,  Pot.  chlorate,  Quinine, 
Salicylates,  Sod.  benzoate,  Santonin,  Sod.  borate,  Stramonium, 
Sulfonal,  Tannic  acid,  Tar,  Oil  of  Turpentine,  Tuberculin, 
Veratrum  vir. 

Erythematopapular  :  Acetanilid,  Antipyrin.  Benzoic  acid, 
Copaiba,  Digitalis,  Gurjun  oil,  Iodides,  Iodoform,  Phenacetin, 
Silver  nitrate,  Pot.  chlorate. 

Epitheliomatous  :     Arsenic    (secondarily  to  keratoses). 

Furuncular  :  Antipyrin,  Arsenic,  Bromides,  Calx  sulfurata, 
Chloral,  Condurango,  Ergot,  Mercury,  and  opiates. 

Gangrenous  :  Arsenic,  Belladonna,  Ergot,  Iodides,  Quinine, 
Salicylates. 

Keratotic  :  Arsenic. 


Dermatitis  Medicamentosa. 


CO 


Morbilliform:  Antipyrin,  Antitoxin,  Belladonna,  Copaiba 
and  Cubebs,  Boric  acid,  Opium,  Sod.  borate,  Sulfonal,  Tar, 
Turpentine,  Tuberculin. 

Nodular  :     Iodine  and  Bromine  compounds. 

Papillomatous  :     Iodine  and  Bromine   compounds. 

Papular  :  Arsenic,  Boric  acid,  Bromides,  Cantharides, 
Chloral,  Conium,  Copaiba,  Cubebs,  Digitalis,  Iodides,  Jaborandi, 
Ol.  tereb.,  Mercury,  Terebene,  Opium. 

Papulovesicular  :     Capsicum. 

Pigmentary  :    Arsenic,  Silver  nitrate,  Antipyrin. 

Pruritus  (without  eruption)  :  Opium,  Chloral,  Copaiba, 
Strychnine. 

Purpuric  (including  petechial)  :  Antipyrin,  Antitoxin, 
Arsenic,  Benzoic  acid,  Calx  sulfurata,  Chloral,  Chloroform, 
Copaiba,  Cubebs,  Ergot,  Hyoscyamus,  Iodoform,  Iodides,  Lead 
acetate.  Mercury,  Phosphoric  acid,  Pot.  chlorate,  Sandalwood 
oil,  Quinine,  Salicylates,  Stramonium,  Sulfonal. 

Polymorphous  (resembling  erythema  multiforme)  :  Anti- 
pyrin, Antitoxin,  Sod.  benzoate,  Copaiba  and  Cubebs,  Iodides, 
Iodoform,  Boric  acid,  Chloral,  Exalgin,  Coal-tar  derivatives, 
Opium.  Pot.  chlorate. 

Psoriasiform  :     Sod.  borate,  Tuberculin. 

Pustular  :  Aconite,  Antipyrin,  Arsenic,  Bromides,  Calx  sul- 
furata, Condurango,  Antimony,  Hyoscyamus,  Iodides,  Ergot, 
Mercury,  Xitric  acid,  Cod  liver  oil,  Opium,  Tanacetum,  Ol.  tereb., 
Salicylates,  Veratrum  vir. 

Papulopustular  :     Bromine  and  Iodine  compounds. 

Scarlatiniform  :  Antipyrin,  antitoxin,  Belladonna,  Chloral, 
Copaiba,  Cubebs,  Digitalis,  Hyoscyamus,  Mercury,  Nux  vomica, 
Opiates,  Ol.  tereb.,  Pilocarpin,  Rhubarb,  Quinine,  Strychnine, 
Sulfonal,  Salicylates,  Stramonium,  Tuberculin,  Viburnum 
prunif. 

Ulcerative:  Arsenic  (secondarily  to  keratoses),  Bromides, 
Chloral,  Iodides,  Mercury. 

Urticarial:  Alcohol,  Antimony,  Anacardium,  Antipyrin, 
Antitoxin,  Arsenic,  Bromides,  Benzoic  acid,  Chloral,  Copaiba, 
Cubebs,  Digitalis,  Dulcamara,  Hydrocyanic  acid,  Guarana, 
Hyoscyamus,  Iodides,  Opium.  Mercury,  Pilocarpin,  Phenacetin, 
Pimpinella,  Quinine,  Salicylates,  Salol,  Santonin,  01.  tereb., 
Sod.  benzoate,  Tannin,  Tar,  Valerian. 


156  Dermatitis  Medicamentosa. 

Vesicopustular  :     Antimony,  Antipyrin. 

Vesicular:  Aconite,  Anacardium,  Antimony,  Antipyrin, 
Arsenic,  Bromides,  Cannabis  Ind.,  Calx  sulfurata,  Chloral,  Co- 
paiba, Cubebs,  Cod  liver  oil,  Ergot,  Iodides,  Iodoform,  Nux 
vomica,  Ol.  tereb.,  Opium,  Quinine,  Salicylates,  Sod.  santonate. 

Hair  Loss  :    Boric  acid,  Thallium  acetate. 

Drug  Types. 

Aconite  :  Not  common ;  usually  vesicular,  exceptionally  bul- 
lous, and  pustular. 

Acetanilid  :  Occasional ;  erythematous  and  erythemato- 
papular ;  not  infrequently  cyanosis,  especially  of  lips,  face,  and 
extremities. 

Alcohol  :  Rare ;  erythematous  and  urticarial,  of  generalized 
distribution. 

Anacardium  :     Rare ;  urticarial,  vesicular  and  bullous. 

Antimony  (Ant.  tart.)  :  Uncommon;  urticarial  and  vesico- 
pustular. 

Antipyrin  :  Not  common ;  usually  morbilliform,  occasionally 
erythematopapular,  polymorphous,  scarlatiniform  and  urticarial ; 
there  may  be  considerable  sweating,  variable  pruritus,  and 
desquamation  may  follow ;  trunk,  flexures,  and  occasionally  face 
are  the  most  common  sites ;  mouth,  hands  and  feet  may  also  be 
involved ;  exceptionally,  vesicopustular,  bullous,  furuncular  and 
purpuric.  The  erythematopapular  may  leave  behind  redness  and 
pigmentation  for  several  weeks.  Exceptional  blackness  of  the 
skin  of  the  penis  (verge  noir)  has  developed,  usually  taking  a 
long  time  to  disappear. 

Antitoxin  :  Rather  frequent ;  simple  erythema,  scarlatini- 
form, morbilliform,  urticarial  and  polymorphous.  The  morbilli- 
form and  scarlatiniform  may  or  may  not  be  followed  by  desqua- 
mation. There  may  be  prodromic  symptoms,  or,  the  outbreak 
may  be  sudden,  with  considerable  temperature  rise  and  pain  and 
swelling  about  the  joints.  The  rash  may  appear  shortly  after 
the  injection  or  not  until  several  days  later.  The  subjective 
symptom  of  itching  is  variable.  The  eruption  usually  lasts  from 
several  days  to  a  week.     Exceptionally,  petechia?  are  observed. 

Arsenic  :  Somewhat  rare :  almost  every  form  of  cutaneous 
eruption  has  resulted  from  the  internal  use  of  Arsenic — erythe- 


Dermatitis  Medicamentosa.  157 

matous,  papular,  vesicular,  urticarial,  pustular,  petechial,  ery- 
sipelatous, herpetic,  furuncular,  carbuncular,  pigmentary,  kera- 
totic,  ulcerative  and  gangrenous.  The  genital  region,  especially 
the  scrotum,  is  the  usual  site  of  the  ulcerative,  cedematous  and 
gangrenous  manifestations.  Herpes  zoster  has  been  observed  in 
a  number  of  instances,  to  follow  its  use.  The  prolonged  use,  as 
in  psoriasis  and  chorea,  is  sometimes  followed  by  extensive  pig- 
mentation, especially  about  the  trunk.  Thickening  of  the  callus 
of  the  hands  and  soles  and  over  elbows  and  knuckles  is  oc- 
casionally noted  in  long-continued  administration.  The  horny 
formations  may  undergo  epitheliomatous  degeneration,  and  in  a 
few  instances,  death  has  finally  resulted. 

Belladonna — Atropin  :  Not  infrequent,  especially  in  chil- 
dren ;  scarlatinous  type  most  usual ;  patchy  erythematous  areas 
or  flushings  occasional.  The  eruptions  are,  as  a  rule,  of  short 
duration  upon  suspending  the  drug.  Exceptionally,  erythema 
and  gangrene  of  the  scrotum  have  been  observed.  Itching  is 
sometimes  troublesome. 

Bromine  Compounds  :  Quite  common.  An  acne-like,  papulo- 
pustular  and  pustular  about  the  face  and  shoulders  and  back  most 
frequently ;  although  the  lesions  are  usually  discrete,  several  or 
more  may  tend  to  group  and  become,  in  places,  confluent,  form- 
ing a  sluggish,  conglomerate  patch  studded  with  pustular  points 
and  slightly  resembling  a  superficial  carbuncle.  The  eruption 
may,  in  some  instances,  be  more  or  less  generally  distributed. 
Occasionally,  erythematous,  vesicular,  papular,  urticarial,  fur- 
uncular and  carbuncular  eruptions  are  observed.  Exception- 
ally, an  eruption  similar  to  erythema  nodosum  develops.  Bullae 
are  rarely  noted. 

A  rather  rare  manifestation,  occurring,  especially  in  children 
and  adolescents,  consists  of  one  or  several  red  or  purplish-red 
elevated  papillomatous  or  condylomaform  areas,  sometimes 
crusted,  and  sometimes  with  numerous  points  of  pustulation ; 
there  may  also  be  in  parts  of  such  lesions  superficial  ulceration, 
but  rarely  of  marked  character.  Such  formations  are  usually 
of  sluggish  appearance,  and,  while  they  may  be  numerous  and  of 
general  distribution,  there  may  be  but  one  or  two  plaques  present, 
occupying  an  area  of  several  square  inches.  In  the  latter,  the 
lower  leg  is  the  most  common  site ;  in  the  extensive  form,  legs, 
arms  and  region  of  the  face  are  favorite  situations. 


158  Dermatitis  Medicamentosa. 

Contrary  to  observations  concerning  most  drugs,  the 
Bromide  eruption  may  persist,  especially  in  children,  for  several 
weeks  after  discontinuance  of  the  drug.  The  plaque  or  con- 
dylomaform  type  is  usually  slow  in  disappearing. 

Benzoic  Acid  (Sod.  Bexzoate)  :  Uncommon;  from  Benzoic 
acid,  erythematous,  erythematopapular  and  urticarial,  the  last 
most  usual.  After  Sod.  benzoate,  erythematous,  polymorphous 
and  urticarial,  with  or  without  furfuraceous  desquamation. 

Boric  Acid  and  Sodium  Borate  :  Rare ;  from  Boric  acid, 
erythematous,  papular  and  bullous.  An  inflammatory,  scaly 
eruption,  eczematous  in  character,  quite  marked  on  scalp,  face  and 
neck,  with  more  or  less  complete  loss  of  hair,  has  resulted  in  a 
few  instances  after  long  dosage ;  condition  subsided  after  stop- 
ping drug  and  hair  grew  in  again.  From  Sod.  borate,  rare  ery- 
thematous, morbilliform,  eczematous  and  psoriasiform,  the  last 
after  long  use. 

Calx  Sulfurata  :  Xot  common ;  usually  furuncular  and 
pustular ;  rarely,  vesicular ;  and  exceptionally,  petechial. 

Cannabis  Indica  :  Exceptional ;  vesicular,  more  or  less  gen- 
eral, with  puritus. 

Cantharides  :     Rare  ;  erythematous  and  papular. 

Capsicum  :     Rare  ;  erythematous  and  papulovesicular. 

Chinolin  :  Not  infrequent;  erythematous;  observed  in  six 
out  of  twenty  fever  patients  to  whom  the  drug  was  given. 

Chloral  :  Not  uncommon ;  scarlatinous  most  frequent  and 
usually  with  fever,  congestion  of  buccal  and  conjunctival  mu- 
cosae, and  followed  by  desquamation.  Occasionally  urticarial, 
papular,  and  vesicular,  and  exceptionally  bullous,  furuncular, 
carbuncular,  petechial  and  ulcerative ;  and  in  children,  ulcers  of 
tongue  and  cornea. 

Chloralamid  :  Exceptional ;  punctate  erythematous  with 
vesicles  and  redness  of  nasal  and  oral  membranes,  coryza.  febrile 
action  and  subsequent  desquamation. 

Chloroform  :  Not  infrequent :  erythematous,  punctate  or 
blotchy ;  exceptionally  purpuric. 

Cod  Liver  Oil:     Rare;  vesicular  and  acneiform. 

Condurango  :     Rare  ;  acnoid  and  furuncular. 

Conium  :  Uncommon  ;  erythematous,  papular  and  erysipela- 
tous. 


Dermatitis  Medicamentosa.  159 

Copaiba  and  Cubebs  (in  combination):  Not  infrequent; 
usually  erythematous,  scarlatinious,  morbilliform  or  polymor- 
phous ;  rarely,  vesicular,  papular,  bullous,  urticarial  and 
petechial.     There  may  be  considerable  pruritus. 

Copaiba  :  Not  infrequent ;  most  of  the  rashes  from  the  pre- 
ceding combination  are  due  to  Copaiba. 

Cubebs:     Rather  unusual;   erythematous  and   small   papular. 

Digitalis  :  Exceptional ;  scarlatiniform,  papular,  erythe- 
matopapular,  urticarial  and  erysipelatous  (of  face). 

Dulcamara:  Rare;  erythematous,  urticarial,  and  erythe- 
matosquamous. 

Ergot:  Rare;  usually  only  after  long  use.  Vesicular,  pe- 
techial, pustular,  furuncular,  gangrenous ;  this  last  on  the  ex- 
tremities and  usually  circumscribed. 

Guarana  :     Rare  :  urticarial. 

Guaiacum  :     Exceptional ;  miliary,  erythematous. 

Gurjun  Oil  :     Rare  ;  erythematous  and  erythematopapular. 

Hyoscyamus  :  Occasional :  commonly  erythematous  and 
urticarial,  with  oedema,  exceptionally  scarlatiniform,  pustular 
and  purpuric. 

Iodine  axd  Iodides:  Common:  usually  papulopustular  and 
pustular — "Iodide  acne ;"  generally  on  face,  shoulders,  back,  al- 
though it  may  be  more  or  less  scattered.  Occasionally,  two  or 
more  lesions  may  blend,  as  in  the  Bromides,  giving  rise  to  a 
papillomatous,  condylomaform,  carbuncular,  crustaceous  or 
rupial  area:  they  are  somewhat  perisstent.  disappearing  but 
slowly  after  stopping  drug. 

Exceptionally,  the  Iodides  may  provoke  a  multiform  or  poly- 
morphous eruption,  closely  simulating  erythema  multiforme, 
sometimes  erythema  nosodum.  Urticarial  eruptions  are  also  ob- 
served :  likewise,  vesicular,  bullous,  purpuric  (rarely).  The  bul- 
lous may  be  with  considerable  erysipelatous  redness  and  swell- 
ing, and  with  more  or  less  profound  constitutional  disturbance ; 
such  lesions  may  be  numerous,  sometimes  confluent,  most  com- 
mon on  face,  hands,  arms.  Ulcerations  beneath  the  lesions  are 
sometimes  observed.  The  bullous  and  purpuric  are  usually  seen 
with  kidney  and  heart  disease.  Investigations  tend  to  show  that 
the  Sodium  salt  is  least  apt  to  cause  eruptions. 

Iodoform  :     Uncommon ;   may   be   erythematous,   ervthemato- 


160  Dermatitis  Medicamentosa. 

papular  and  polymorphous,  vesicular,  bullous  and  petechial. 
Serious  constitutional  symptoms  can  also  result;  delirium, 
nephritis  and  death  have  been  observed. 

Ipecacuanha  :  Exceptional ;  circumscribed  erysipelatous 
patches  of  more  or  less  general  distribution. 

Jaborandi  and  Pilocarpin  :  Rare ;  erythematous,  miliary, 
papular,  urticarial.     Active  diaphoresis. 

Mercury  :  Not  common ;  erythematous,  scarlatiniform. 
papular,  pustular,  herpetic,  bullous,  purpuric,  furuncular,  ulcera- 
tive. Almost  all,  especially  the  severe,  forms  result  from  over- 
dosing and  are  scarcely  observed  at  the  present  day. 

Oleum  Ricini  :     Rare  ;  erythematous,  with  pruritus. 

Opium  Morphine:  Not  common;  erythematous,  of  scar- 
latiniform, morbilliform  and  polymorphous  types,  usually  with 
intense  itching ;  desquamation  may  follow ;  less  frequently, 
urticarial ;  exceptionally,  vesicular,  bullous,  pustular,  furuncular, 
carbuncular. 

Piper  Meth.  :  Kava-kava,  the  fermented  juice,  gives  rise  to 
erythematosquamous,  exfoliative  dermatitis. 

Phenacetin  :  Not  common  ;  erythematous,  erythemtopapular 
and  urticarial. 

Phosphoric  Acid — Phosphorus  :    Rare ;  bullous  and  purpuric. 

Pimpinella  :     Exceptional ;  urticarial. 

Plumbum  (Carbonate  and  Acetate)  :  Rare  ;  erythematous  and 
purpuric. 

Potassium  Chlorate  :  Exceptional ;  erythematopapular, 
polymorphous,  cyanotic. 

Quinine,  Cinchona  :  Occasional ;  erythematous,  scarlatini- 
form, with  or  without  desquamation,  most  common ;  less  fre- 
quently urticarial,  purpuric,  vesicular,  bullous,  erysipelatous,  and 
gangrenous  (especially  of  scrotum).  In  the  scarlatiniform  and 
sometimes  in  other  types  of  general  distribution  there  may  be 
considerable  constitutional  disturbances,  with  marked  febrile 
action,  etc.  In  the  desquamating  cases  this  may  be  branny, 
lamellar,  or  come  off  in  sheets  or  from  the  hands  as  a  partial  or 
complete  casting.  Idiosyncrasy  and  not  dosage  is  the  all-im- 
portant factor.  Itching  is  frequently  present,  sometimes  very 
annoying. 

Rhubarb  :  Exceptional ;  scarlatiniform.  desquamative  ery- 
thema. 


Dermatitis  Medicamentosa.  161 

Salicylic  Acid — Salicylates  :  Not  common  ;  usually  ery- 
thematous, scarlatiniform  and  urticarial,  with  or  without 
desquamation;  rarely  vesicular,  bullous,  purpuric  or  even 
gangrenous. 

Salol  :  Exceptionally ;  urticaria.  (Very  marked  in  a  case  of 
the  writer's,  coming  from  old  school  hands.) 

Salipyrin  has  been  credited  with  oedema  and  loss  of  tissue. 

Santonin  and  Sod.  Santonate  :  Exceptional ;  from  San- 
tonin in  generalized  urticarial,  with  desquamation  and  oedema; 
from  Sod.  santonate,  vesicular. 

Silver  Nitrate  :  Slate-colored  and  grayish-black  pigmenta- 
tion or  discoloration ;  exceptionally  erythematopapular. 

Stramonium  :  Not  common ;  usually  erythematous  and 
scarlatiniform;  rarely  erysipelatous  and  purpuric. 

Strychnine — Nux  Vomica  :  Rare ;  scarlatiniform  and 
miliary,  with  pruritus. 

Sulfonal  :  Occasional ;  commonly  erythematous  and  scarla- 
tiniform, with  desquamation  and  pruritus ;  rarely  morbilliform 
and  purpuric. 

Tanacetum  :     Exceptional ;  varioliform. 

Tannin  :     Rare ;  erythematous  and  urticarial. 

Tar  :     Rare  ;  erythematous,  morbilliform,   urticarial. 

Thallium  Acetate  :     More  or  less  complete  alopsecia. 

Tuberculin  :  Not  common ;  erythematous,  scarlatiniform, 
morbilliform,  with  or  without  desquamation;  exceptionally, 
psoriasiform. 

Turpentine — Terebene  :  Occasional ;  erythematous,  scarla- 
tiniform, morbilliform ;  exceptionally,  vesicular  and  papular, 
urticarial  and  pustular.     Terebene,  papular,  with  pruritus. 

Valerian  :     Exceptional ;  urticarlial. 

Veratrum  Viride:     Rare;  erythematous  and  pustular. 

Viburnum  Prunifolium  :  Exceptional ;  scarlatiniform,  with 
subsequent  desquamation. 


The  homceotherapist,  who,  from  the  above,  cannot  obtain  re- 
freshment of  much  of  his  knowledge,  as  well  as  many  valuable 
addenda,  must  be  far  advanced  in  dotage. 

The  comparative  study  of  Prof.   Stelwagon's  two  repertories 


162  Helianthus  Annus. 

should  be  a  scientific  delight.  We  congratulate  Prof.  Stelwagon. 
It  is  charming  to  find  in  an  old  school  text-book  an  accurate 
(even  if  inconsistent)  therapeutic  approximation  of  condition 
and  remedy;  a  marshalling  of  two  series  of  facts  which  (in- 
consistently) afford  the  development  of  a  therapeutic  law.  Con- 
sider the  scarlatiniform  remedies,  and  note  the  possibilities  lying 
before  the  homoeopath;  Belladonna's  prophylactic  and  curative 
powers  are  well  known,  but,  probably,  more  extended  study  of 
Chininiun  sulfate  and  Chloral  would  not  be  valueless,  and.  alto- 
gether, the  Stelwagon  list  of  scarlatiniform  drugs  alone  is  provo- 
cative of  thought  and  experiment  and  therapeutic  practice. 
J 318  Brook  Avenue,  New  York. 


HELIANTHUS    ANNUS. 
By  Eduardo  Fornias,  M.  D. 

Helianthus  annus  (Eng.,  Sunflower;  Spa.,  Girasol;  Ger., 
Sonnenrose ;  Fr.,  Tournesol).  Linn. — Natural  Order:  Com- 
posite, is  the  only  species  employed  in  Homoeopathy.  This 
plant  is  called  sunflozver,  because  it  always  turns  the  flat  sur- 
faces of  its  flowers  towards  the  sun.  The  flower  grows  on  a 
long,  clean  stem  or  stalk,  with  long  terminal  leaves,  and  consists 
•of  projecting  yellow  petals  and  dark,  pointy  seeds,  gathered  to- 
gether in  a  central  alveolar  disk.  It  really  presents  the  aspect 
of  a  solar  disk  with  its  golden  rays.  It  flourishes  exuberantly 
in  tropical  countries,  but  it  is  nurse  everywhere,  and  even  springs 
up  spontaneously  in  temperate  and  cold  climates,  during  the 
summer  months.  It  has  no  fragrancy  and  its  chemical  analysis, 
according  to  Dr.  Vargas  Pardo,  of  Bogota  (Colombia),  shows 
that  it  contains  an  alkali,  an  inodorous  substance  called  camphor ; 
a  special  oil,  helianthic  acid  (C7H904),  bitter  principles,  potas- 
sium nitrate,  sugar,  and  a  more  or  less  variable  amount  of 
emetina. 

The  Tincture  of  Helianthus  is  prepared,  according  to  Hahne- 
mann's Pharmacopoeia,  with  the  petals  and  seeds  of  the  flower, 
gathered  during  mild  weather ;  at  twilight  or  daybreak.  When 
collected  during  damp  weather,  they  seem  to  lose  part  of  their 
sap,  and  some  of  their  medicinal  virtues. 

The     same     authority,     in     his     recent     excellent    paper     on 


Helianthus  Annus.  163 

Helianthus  Annus  vel  flos  solis,  published  in  "La  Homoeo- 
patia,"  organ  of  the  Homoeopathic  Institute  of  Colombia,  gives 
the  physiological  action  of  this  remedy  as  consisting  of  dryness 
of  the  mucous  membranes  of  the  mouth,  throat'  and  fauces; 
vomiting;  heat  and  redness  of  the  skin,  and  slight  inflammation 
of  the  epidermis.  He  recommends  the  employment  of  the  tinc- 
ture, and  up  to  the  6.  attenuation,  and  he  gives  as  antidotes  of 
this  drug,  Sambucus  and  Ammonium,  stating  that  in  many 
cases,  Graphites  and  Aconitum  are  analogous  remedies. 

He,  likewise,  asserts  that  Helianthus  is  employed  to  cure 
the  great  pustulous  o:dcnia;  eruptions  of  psoric  character;  irrita- 
tive laryngitis;  tonsillitis,  with  burning  and  disturbance  in  the 
nasal  fossa,  and  measles,  when  other  remedies  fail.  It  is  also 
prescribed,  with  excellent  results, 'in  chronic  vaginitis,  with  diffi- 
cult expulsion  of  gases  from  the  stomach,  and  anguish  and  dis- 
tress in  the  thoracic  cavity;  and  especially  in  diseases  of  the  di- 
gestive canal.  More  brilliant  yet  have  been  the  results  obtained 
from  this  drug,  in  the  treatment  of  malarial  fevers,  principally 
when  Quinine  and  its  compounds  have  proved  inefficacious. 

He  also  gives  the  therapeutic  scheme  of  a  celebrated  physician 
of  Switzerland,  which  reads,  as  follows:  1.  J\Ieasles.  2.  Dis- 
eases of  the  skin.  3.  Thoracic  affections.  4.  Digestive  and 
genital  disorders. 

It  was  stated  in  a  foreign  journal,  some  time  ago,  that  the 
common  sunflower  was  gaining  favor  in  many  parts  of  Europe 
as  a  febrifuge;  that  in  Russia,  where  this  plant  is  extensively 
cultivated  for  its  edible  seeds  and  its  oil,  fever  patients  sleep  upon 
beds  of  sunflower  leaves;  and  that  a  Russian  physician,  experi- 
menting on  one  hundred  children,  between  one  month  and 
twelve  years  of  age,  had  found  the  alcoholic  extracts  of  the 
leaves  and  Holders  to  cure  fever  as  rapidly  as  Quinine. 

By  the  above  description,  however,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
the  Helianthus  annus  is  not  the  plant  referred  to  as  being  ex- 
tensively cultivated  in  Russia  for  its  seeds  and  oil.  The  only; 
species  of  Helianthus  grown  for  culinary  purposes,  that  I  know,. 
is  the  variety  called  tubcrosus,  the  Jerusalem  Artichoke,  a  native 
of  Brazil,  much  resembling  the  common  sunflower  in  habit  and 
appearance. 

I  took  interest  in  the  above  report,  and  have  since,  in  anything 


164  Helianthus  Annus. 

referring  to  the  plant,  on  account  of  a  rare  case  of  poisoning  I 
was  called  to  treat  over  two  years  ago.  The  patient  was  a  Rus- 
sian boy,  nine  years  old,  who,  the  day  before,  had  eaten  a 
quantity  of  sunflower  seeds  he  picked  off  in  a  neighboring  yard. 
I  found  him  suffering  with  a  distressing  nausea  and  vomiting 
of  a  greenish  substance.  The  face  was  flushed,  the  tongue  dry 
and  morbidly  red,  with  raised  papillcc,  the  bowels  inactive,  and 
there  was  some  febrile  disturbance.  For  a  couple  of  days  the 
appetite  was  entirely  lost,  and  a  critical  green  fermented  stool, 
with  some  tenesmus,  ended  his  sufferings.  The  only  remedies 
prescribed  with  favorable  results  were  Ipecac.  6.,  followed  by  a 
single  dose  of  Sulphur  30.  It  is  unnecesaary  to  say  why,  as  I 
am,  this  time,  not  writing  for  students.  Further  inquiry  from  the 
mother  revealed  the  fact  that  the  family,  while  living  in  Russia, 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  eating  the  seeds  of  the  sunflower,  and 
she  positively  asserted,  that  the  partaking  of  these  seeds  in  this 
country,  by  some  members  of  the  family,  had  always  been  fol- 
lowed by  sickness  of  the  stomach  and  vomiting,  and  she  was 
still  more  positive  that  the  sunflower  of  this  country  was  not 
like  the  one  that  grows  in  Russia.  In  view  of  all  this,  I  planted 
the  Helianthus  annus  in  my  own  yard,  nursed  carefully  the 
plants,  gathered  the  flowers  in  due  time,  and  had  the  reliable 
house  of  Boericke  &  Tafel  to  prepare  for  me  the  mother  tincture. 

Since  I  obtained  this  remedy,  only  several  months  ago,  I  de- 
termined to  utilize  the  knowledge  the  above  experience  gave  me, 
and  I  am  glad  to  say  I  did  not  wait  long  to  put  into  practice  this 
knowledge.  I  prescribed  Helianthus  3X.  in  two  cases  of  acute 
malaria,  with  predominant  gastric  disorder;  in  a  case  of  simple 
continued  fever,  with  gastric  disturbance,  dry  skin  and 
an  uniform,  diffused  redness  of  the  surfaces  of  the  body;  and 
externally  and  internally  in  a  case  of  lichen  tropicus  (prickly 
heat),  which  commenced  with  vomiting,  insomnia,  restlessness, 
and  never  showed  a  tendency  to  become  vesicular.  This  patient 
was  convalescing  from  a  severe  attack  of  malaria,  with  inter- 
mittent manifestations.  If  lichen  tropicus  is,  as  Fox  asserts,  an 
affection  of  the  sweat  glands,  this  may  be  a  hint  for  the  con- 
sideration of  Helianthus,  in  glandular  diseases. 

Of  course,  the  cases  given,  are  few,  and  require  repeated 
verifications  for  the  indorsement  of  this  remedy;  but  everything 


Helianthus  Annus.  165 

must  have  a  beginning,  and,  for  my  part,  I  am  quite  convinced 
that  there  is  real  therapeutic  value  in  Sunflower. 

The  only  proving  we  have  of  this  remedy,  is  by  Dr.  Cessoles, 
of  Switzerland,  which  is  incorporated  in  Allen's  Encyclopaedia  of 
Materia  Medica.     It  reads  as  follows : 

Head. — Headache. 

Eye. — Slight  redness  on  the  margin  of  the  left  upper  lid,  with 
smarting  in  the  inner  canthus.     Eyes  suffused. 

Nose. — After  a  short  time  slight  epistaxis  occurred,  and  the 
nostrils  became  free  from  pre-existing  catarrhal  discharges. 

Face. — Anxious  countenance.     Face  deeply  flushed. 

Mouth. — Sticking  in  the  upper  back  teeth.  Tongue  and 
fauces  very  red,  and  inclined  to  dryness.  Unusually  hot  taste 
while  eating.     Difficulty  in  articulating. 

Throat. — Stiffness  and  dryness  of  the  throat.  Sensation  of 
glowing  in  the  throat  and  stomach.  Severe  burning  sensation 
in  the  fauces,  oesophagus,  and  epigastrium. 

Stomach. — Thirst.  Nausea.  Vomiting  (produced  apparently 
by  too  large  a  dose).  This  effect  recurred  frequently,  though  in 
slight  degree,  when  Helianthus  had  been  administered  for  an 
ordinary  cold.  Symptoms  increased  in  severity  until  she  vomited 
freely,  when  she  felt  rather  better. 

Rectum  and  Anus. — Haemorrhoids. 

Stool. — Stool,  soft,  black,  with  emission  of  semen.  Hard, 
black  stool  every  second  day. 

Respiratory  Organs. — Voice  hoarse.  Cough,  in  the  fore- 
noon, with  gelatinous  expectoration  streaked  with  blood. 
Breathing  rather  difficult  and  hurried. 

Pulse —  Pulse  no,  full,  soft,  and  compressible. 

Inferior  Extremities. — Rheumatic  pain  in  the  left  knee  on 
descending  stairs. 

Skin. — Skin  generally  of  a  scarlet  redness,  and  very  hot. 
Groups  of  red  pimples  on  the  inner  side  of  the  knee,  with  slight 
itching.  Many  urticaria-like  pimples,  especially  on  the  inner  side 
of  the  forearm,  and  afterwards  on  the  leg*,  afterwards  itching 
in  external  warmth,  in  the  morning  and  night.  Small,  red  tetter 
to  the  right  of  the  navel.     Tingling  of  the  skin. 

Authorities : — Dr.  Cessoles  took  expressed  juice  of  flowers 
(B.  J.  of  Horn.,  2,  169 — from  trans,  from  Bib.  Horn,  de  Geneve). 


166  Beriberi  and  Its  Treatment. 

Effects  on  a  lady,  aged  40.  ibid. — A.  H.  Z.,  31,  p.  20  (apparently 
from  Bib.  Horn,  de  Geneve,  though  the  symptoms  differ  very 
materially  from  preceding;  the  original  is  not  accesible),  effects 
on  a  man.  Effects  on  a  girl.  Davey,  from  Med.  Gaz..  Oct., 
1848;  effects  on  a  woman  of  eating  a  quantity  of  sunflower 
seed. —  (See  my  case  ut  supra.) 


BERIBERI  AND   ITS  TREATMENT. 
By  Dr.  Srish  Chandra  Casu,  L.  H.  M.  S. 

Synonym. — Bad  sickness  of  Ceylon — peripheral  neuritis. 

Definition. — According  to  some  authorities,  beriberi  is  a  com- 
plicated case  of  dropsy,  while  the  others  are  of  opinion  that  it  is 
an  epidemic  form  of  neuritis. 

The  name  beriberi  has  been  given  to  this  disease  by  Nalanban — - 
Singalese  for  weakness,  and  by  repetition  implies  great  weak- 
ness. 

This  disease  is  common  in  Burma,  Celyon,  Eastern  Archi- 
pelago, China  and  the  southern  coast  of  India,  and  generally  at- 
tacks people  living  in  damp  and  swampy  locations  in  these 
countries.  Sometimes  it  breaks  out  among  the  Europeans,  native 
troops,  and  convicts  in  jail  in  these  places,  but  it  is  seldom  found 
in  European  countries. 

At  the  present  time,  Calcutta  has  been  visited  by  this  disease 
and  many  are  dying  from  it. 

Etiology. — The  fertile  brain  of  our  friends  of  the  old  school 
will  probably  connect  with  some  microbe  of  special  type,  as  it 
sometimes  breaks  out  in  epidemic  form.  Actually,  some  of  them 
have  surmised  that  it  is  due  to  a  lucmatozoon  allied  to  that  caus- 
ing malaria,  as  there  is  a  certain  periodicity  about  some  of  the 
symptoms.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  exciting  causes  are  cold  and 
wet,  hence  beriberi  occurs,  generally,  towards  the  close  of  the 
rainy  season. 

Among  the  predisposing  causes  may  be  mentioned,  (1)  the 
hydrogenoid  conditions  of  blood,  (2)  ill  health,  (3)  consequences 
which  follow  a  neglect  of  sanitary  laws,  (4)  scorbutic  diathesis, 
(5)  rheumatic  and  gouty  disposition,  (6)  co-existing  heart, 
liver  and  renal  diseases.  Overcrowding  is  often  a  potent  factor 
in  bringing  out  an  epidemic  of  this  disease. 


Beriberi  and  Its  Treatment.  167 

Classification. — There  are  three  varieties  of  this  disease,  (1) 
the  atrophic,  or  dry,  (2)  the  hydropic,  or  wet,  and  (3)  the 
acute  pernicious  type. 

The  atropine  type  usually  presents  the  ordinary  symptoms  of 
a  severe  multiple  neuritis,  such  as  severe  pains  and  muscular 
weakness,  followed  by  atrophic  paralysis. 

The  hydropic  exhibits  almost  the  same  symptoms  as  those  in 
the  atrophic,  with  the  addition  of  oedema  and  disturbances  in  the 
•circulatory  organs. 

The  pernicious  type  is  characterized  by  the  symptoms  of  the 
foregoing,  which  progress  to  a  fatal  termination  with  peculiar 
malignancy. 

Symptoms. — This  disease  is  prone  to  attack  all  ages  and  sexes. 
The  incipient  stage  is  marked  by  great  and  progressive  weak- 
ness, lassitude  and  faintness.  As  it  progresses,  the  numbness  of 
the  body,  with  stiffness  and  pain,  oedema  of  the  lower  limbs, 
anaemia  becomes  apparent :  then  the  trunk  and  face  get  swollen, 
and  eventually  there  are  anxiety  and  vomiting — sometimes  of 
blood.  Now  the  urine  becomes  scanty,  and  sometimes  almost 
•suppressed,  the  thirst  great,  the  pulse  intermittent  and  frequent, 
skin  dry  and  warm,  and  temperature  rises  from  1010  to  1030. 
Then  comes  the  fluttering  or  palpitation  of  heart,  with  a  sense 
•of  suffocation,  probably  due  to  effusion  of  serum  into  the  plurae 
and  pericardium.  In  some 'cases  there  is  effusion  in  the  peri- 
toneum, exhibiting  signs  of  ascites,  and  in  the  meninges  of  the 
brain,  followed  by  coma  towards  the  close  of  the  disease;  diar- 
rhoea often  supervenes,  but  this  is  sometimes  brought  on  by  too 
much  use  of  purgatives  injudiciously  given  by  some  physicians. 
In  this  way,  the  patient  struggles  for  two  or  three  weeks,  and 
•sometimes  for  a  month  or  more,  and  at  last  dies  from  exhaustion. 
In  some  cases,  in  the  midst  of  apparent  improvement,  death  oc- 
curs suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  probably,  from  embolism. 

Prognosis. — In  cases,  which  terminate  favorably,  the  oedema 
does  not  extend  beyond  the  lower  extremities ;  kidney,  lungs, 
heart  and  brain  remain  unaffected ;  there  is  no  constitutional  dis- 
ease :  sweating  is  abundant,  urine  is  profuse  and  stool  copious 
and  watery.  In  unfavorable  cases,  there  are  oedema  of  lungs, 
hydrothorax,  hydropericardium,  ascites,  cranial  effusion,  sup- 
pression of  urine,  absence  of  perspiration,  alarming  anaemia,  in- 
termittent and  compressed  pulse,  coma  and  convulsion. 


i68  Beriberi  and  Its  Treatment. 

Diagnosis. — This  disease  is  likely  to  be  confounded  with  ana- 
sarca, but,  in  the  latter,  there  is  often  derangement  of  kidney, 
liver,  or  heart,  proceeding  sometimes  back. 

Pathology. — There  is  a  very  meagre  information  about  the 
pathological  change  which  this  disease  brings  about — so  far,  it 
is  certain,  that  the  blood  is  found  in  watery  condition  with  co- 
agulation here  and  there  in  the  circulatory  system.  While  the 
white  corpuscles  of  blood  increase  abnormally,  the  red  corpuscles 
diminish  considerably.  The  serous  membranes  become  affected 
and  the  veins  and  arteries  lose  their  power  of  absorption,  due 
mainly  to  the  effusion  of  serum  in  the  cavity.  The  visceral  or- 
gans are  often  found  filled  with  water. 

Treatment. — By  way  of  general  treatment,  it  is  suggested  that 
the  means  which  prevent  anaemia  should  be  adopted.  The  vapor 
or  hot  bath  seems  beneficial,  and  wet  sheet  packing  is  also  recom- 
mended. The  diet  should  consist  of  milk,  soup  and  animal  food 
and  also  fresh  fruits. 

As  to  the  remedial  agencies,  our  brethren  of  the  allopathic 
school  would  probably  give  a  combination  of  Digitalis  and  steel, 
relieve  the  bowels  with  purgatives  and  resort  to  diuretic,  and  in 
extreme  cases,  to  stimulate  also.  Dr.  Tanner  recommends  two 
remedies,  which  he  found  much  esteemed  in  India,  although  he 
himself  is  not  very  confident  about  their  curative  value.  These 
are  Treeak  Farook  and  Oleum  Nigram;  the  dose  of  the  former 
is  3  to  15  grains  and  that  of  the  latter,  10  minims. 

The  homoeopathic  treatment  of  this  disease  appears  to  be  most 
natural  and  effective,  but,  unfortunately,  homoeopaths  here  have 
little  opportunity  of  testing  their  skill  in  combating  with  it,  as, 
in  their  eagerness,  the  people  often  run  to  the  allopathic  doctor 
for  help.  I,  however,  suggest  the  following  few  remedies  which 
may  be  tried  by  our  brethren : 

Apis  Mel.:  In  all  variety  of  the  disease,  urine  scanty,  in- 
somnia, absence  of  thirst,  stinging  burning  pain  in  different  parts 
of  the  body.     Must  sit  up  to  get  any  ease. 

Apocynum  Can.:  General  dropsy  with  sinking  feeling  at  the 
pit  of  the  stomach.  Stomach  irritable,  cannot  retain  even  a 
draught  of  water.  Bruised  feeling  in  the  abdominal  wall. 
Choked  up  if  he  lies  down,  sitting  Up  relieves.  Urine  scanty  or 
suppressed.     Thirst  great. 


Beriberi  and  Its  Treatment.  169 

Arsenic.  Alb. :  The  body,  particularly  the  face,  looks  livid, 
pale  or  greenish.  Great  prostration  and  debility.  Faint  feeling 
from  slight  motion.  Tongue  dry.  Great  thirst,  but  drinks  only 
a  little  at  a  time.  Feeling  of  suffocation,  especially  at  night 
when  lying  on  back.  Great  anxiety.  Warm  within,  but  cold 
outside.     Diarrhoea,  with  foul  smelling  stool.     Fear  of  death. 

Asparagus :  Applicable  to  old  people  with  affection  of  heart. 
Face  pale,  wax-like  and  bloated.  Expression  of  anxiety  and  dis- 
tress. Heart  visibly  throbbing,  especially  at  night.  Urine  scanty, 
straw-colored  and  foul. 

Aurum:  Ascites,  due  to  functional  disturbance  of  abdominal 
organs. 

Bryonia  Alb. :  CEdema  of  feet,  swelling  increases  during  day, 
but  lessens  at  night.  Obstinate  constipation  or  retarded  stool. 
Frequent  desire  to  pass  urine,  but  only  a  few  drops  at  a  time. 
Lower  eyelids  cedematous.  Lips  bluish,  dry,  cracked.  Great 
thirst. 

Cactus  Grandiflorus:  CEdema  of  the  hands,  especially  the  left. 
CEdema  of  lower  limbs.     Skin  shining,  and  pits  on  pressure. 

Cantharis:     Dropsy  from  the  atony  of  the  urinary  organs. 

Chimaphila :     Anasarca  following  intermittent  fever. 

China :  CEdema  in  consequence  of  the  affection  of  the  liver 
and  spleen  or  arises  from  the  loss  of  animal  fluid. 

Colchicum:  CEdema  due  to  heart  disease  in  consequence  of 
acute  rheumatism.  Face  yellow,  and  cedematous  swelling  of  feet 
and  leg.  Skin  dry  and  cold  or  alternating  with  heat  during 
night.     Scanty,  dark  colored  urine. 

Convolvulus :  LTrine  almost  entirely  suppressed.  Abdomen 
filled  with  water.  Constipation.  Weakness,  with  good  appetite. 
Could  eat  more  if  there  is  more  room. 

Digitalis :  Difficult  micturition.  Countenance  pale.  Inter- 
mitting pulse.  Doughy  swelling,  which  easily  yields  to  pressure 
of  finger.     Cyanotic  symptoms. 

Eupatorium  Pur  p.:  Swelling  all  over  the  body,  due  to  renal 
disease. 

Fluoric  Acid:  When  the  abdomen  is  affected  from  the  en- 
larged or  indurated  liver  in  consequence  of  drinking  whisky. 

Ferrum :  CEdema  of  the  body.  Anaemia,  with  pale  face  and 
lips.  Great  debility.  Great  paleness  of  the  mucous  membrane, 
especially  that  of  the  cavity  of  the  mouth. 


iyo  Beriberi  and  Its  Treatment. 

Helleborus:  Acute  cases.  Diarrhoea  of  jelly-like  mucus 
with  griping.  Suppression  of  urine.  Slow  comprehension  and 
slow  in  answering  questions. 

Helonias :  Swelling  of  whole  body,  with  general  debility. 
Connected  with  atonic  condition  of  the  sexual  organs  and  renal 
disease. 

Hepar  Sulph. :  Due  to  Bright's  disease. 

Iris  Vers. :    In  consequence  of  hepatic  disease. 

Kali  Carb. :  Swelling  over  eyelids.  In  complication  with 
heart  and  liver  affection.     Skin  dry.     Worse  at  3  a.  m. 

Lycopodium:  Upper  portion  of  the  body  emaciated,  while 
the  lower  is  greatly  swollen.  One  foot  cold  and  the  other  warm. 
Restless  sleep.     Urine  scanty  with  red  sediment. 

Lachesis :  Complicated  with  heart,  liver  and  spleen  diseases. 
Hoarse  after  sleep.  Cyanosis.  Urine  black  and  scanty.  Faeces 
offensive.     Dyspnoea. 

Ledum:     Swelling  with  pain  in  the  limbs.     Dry  skin. 

Leptandra :  Swelling  of  abdomen  or  whole  body  from  the  ob- 
structed circulation  in  the  portal  system. 

Mercurius :  Abdomen  swollen,  tense  and  hard.  Not  much 
thirst.  Oppression  of  chest.  General  heat,  and  sweat  which  does 
not  relieve.     Anguish.     Constant  short  and  racking  cough. 

Natrum  Mur. :  Distension  of  stomach.  Complexion  sallow 
and  very  pale.     Constipation. 

Natrum  Sulph.:     Hydremia,  hydrocyanid  condition  of  blood. 

Nux  Vom.:  In  consequence  of  gastro-intestinal  derangement,, 
sedentary  life. 

Opium:  Cranial  effusion.  Stertorous  breathing.  Coma. 
Face  bluish. 

Seneeio:  Abdomen  very  tense.  Feet  and  legs  swollen.  Pain 
in  the  lumbar  region.  Urine  scanty  and  high  colored,  or  pro- 
fuse and  watery.     Especially  suited  to  females. 

Senega:    When  the  disease  is  confined  to  chest. 

Spigelia :  Hydrothorax.  Dyspnoea  during  motion  in  bed. 
Can  lie  only  on  right  side  and  with  trunk  raised.  Anxiety  and 
palpitation  of  the  heart. 

Tercbin. :  Hydrothorax  with  suffocative  fit  at  night  when 
turning  to  the  other  side,  but  going  on  sitting  up.  Dropsical, 
burning  swelling  of  the  external  parts.     After  suppressed  erup- 


Echinacea  and  a  Few  of  Its  Uses,  171 

tion.  Skin  dry  and  husky.  Sleep  with  moaning.  Quick  pulse. 
Cold  feet.  Sweats  easily,  especially  on  the  face.  Painless  diar- 
rhoea, particularly  in  the  morning. 

Zinc u  111  :  Convulsion.  Brain  failing.  From  effusion  of 
brain.     Eve  closed. 

2$  Parvati  CJiaran  Ghosc's  Lane,  Calcutta,  India. 


ECHINACEA  AND   A  FEW   OF  ITS   USES. 

The  first  case  in  which  I  used  Echinacea  was  that  of  an 
old  man  who  came  to  me  after  his  regular  physician  had  given 
him  up  to  die  from  septicaemia  from  absorption  from  the  urinary 
bladder  after  twelve  years  of  catheter  life.  His  left  foot  and  leg 
were  tremendously  swollen,  but  there  was  no  pitting,  the  swell- 
ing being  very  hard.  Had  had  the  chills  at  times  with  following 
perspiration  ;  was  unable  to  walk  and  was  subject  to  such  severe 
pains  that  Morphia  had  been  given  continually.  He  was  first 
put  through  a  good  course  of  Strych.  phos.  2-4  and  then  put 
on  Hexamethalinc,  5  grs.  twice  a  day,  to  keep  the  bladder  as  in- 
nocent as  possible.  Following  this  he  was  given  Echinacea  tinc- 
ture, one  drop  every  hour,  which  was  later  increased  to  two 
drops.  The  result  was  not  a  complete  cure  in  two  days,  but  in 
less  than  two  weeks  the  pain  ceased,  appetite  improved;  in  two 
months  the  swelling  of  the  limb  had  softened  sufficiently  to 
allow  walking  in  moderation,  and  from  that  time  for  eighteen 
months,  he  remained  in  comparative  comfort.  At  times,  as 
special  symptoms  arose,  he  was  given  other  drugs,  but  usually 
his  medication  was  as  outlined  above. 

Of  course,  I  claim  no  cure,  but  life  in  comparative  comfort  for 
two  extra  years  is  well  worth  considering  if  the  average  man 
may  be  allowed  to  judge. 

One  other  case  of  my  own — Mrs.  D.  S.  Taken  suddenly  with 
acute  cramps  and  pains  in  abdomen,  "low  down,"  as  she  ex- 
pressed it,  with  extreme  soreness  over  both  ovarian  regions,  and 
the  uterine  also,  about  five  days  after  another  physician  had  re- 
placed a  misplaced  uterus  with  a  sound.  Had  slight  convulsions, 
ill  defined;  temperature,  ioo°  F. ;  pulse,  112.  Could  not  bear 
weight  of  either  bed  clothes  or  night  robe — profuse  leucorrhoea, 


1/2  Echinacea  and  a  Fcz^'  of  Its  Uses. 

pain  severe  in  lumbar  region.  Gave  Echinacea  tincture  hourly 
the  first  day  with  pearls  of  Amyl  nitrite  for  convulsive  attacks. 
Second  day  repeated  same,  and  in  five  days  pain  was  all  gone, 
soreness  largely  gone  and  patient  up  and  at  work  about  the 
house. 

Reports  from  other  physicians  show  quite  a  variation  in  dos- 
age and  effect. 

One  reports  relief  and  probable  cure  of  a  case  of  septic  endo- 
carditis after  anti-streptococcus  serum  had  been  given  in  vain. 
Tincture  used,  20  m. 

One  reports  using  it  on  himself  for  a  crop  of  boils  without 
effect.  Strength  and  amount  used  not  given,  but  material  doses 
were  taken.  One  reports  apparent  cure  of  a  like  case  with  the 
200th. 

One  physician  in  Vermont,  who  has  used  it  extensively  for  six 
years,  says  he  has  had  uniform  success  and  is  especially  pleased 
with  it  in  cases  of  septic  abortion  or  sepsis  after  labor. 

A  most  interesting  case  of  pyaemia  was  treated  in  Wesson 
Hospital,  after  six  weeks  trying  other  things  unsuccessfully,  by 
full  doses  of  Echinacea  tincture,  with  the  result  that  chills,  sweats, 
fever  and  finally  sickness  ceased,  and  now  the  patient  is  well  on 
toward  recovery.  This  particular  result  has  been  questioned 
somewhat,  because  of  a  few  doses  of  Sulph.,  given  at  one  time. 

Among  the  major  symptoms  collected  by  Dr.  Fahnestock  from 
twenty-five  provers,  including  himself,  are  the  following: 

Dulness  in  the  head,  with  cross,  irritable  feeling.  Confused 
feeling  in  brain,  depressed  afternoons.  Drowsy — can't  apply 
mind,  restless,  dull  headache.  Troubled  dreams ;  severe  headache 
in  back  of  head,  better  on  rest.  Dull  or  sharp  pain  in  eyes, 
worse  reading.  Stuffiness  in  nostrils,  nose  feels  full.  Face  pale 
when  head  aches.  Neuralgia  of  fifth  nerve,  tongue  coated  white, 
gas  in  stomach,  metallic  taste  in  mouth,  anorexia,  nausea,  better 
lying  down.  Pain  in  right  hypochondrium.  abdomen  feels  full. 
Urine — pale,  profuse,  frequent.  Increase  of  heart's  action  with 
anxiety.  Pain  in  small  of  back,  wrists,  fingers  and  knees ;  cold 
feet,  weakness  of  limbs,  depressed,  tired,  exhausted,  aches  all 
over.  Worse  zfier  eating;  evenings,  after  physical  or  mental 
labor ;  better  at  rest.  Chills  run  up  back,  cold  flashes.  Itching 
and  burning  of  skin,  pimples  on  neck  and  face.  Diminution  of 
red  corpuscles. 


litis.  173 

A    greater    -  3m    regarding  's    alleged    virtues 

exists  near  Boston  than  toward  the  west,  traceable,  probably,  to 
the  point  of  it?  origination.  Accessible  proving?  are  believed  by 
many  to  be  n  Me.  and  while  we  are  willing  to  admit 

this,  we  can  hard1.  ourselves 

time  a?  it?  proving?  shall  meet  our  full  expectation?.  In  all 
probability  the  symptoms  we  have  at  present  \:  are 

just  a?  reliable  as  th  >s<     i  many  a         3  w  use  freely  and 

of  whose  proving  we  may  feel  quite  we'd  satisfied. 

The  concensus  of  opinion  favor?  sixty-  lr<  p  doses  of  the  tinc- 
ture, and  in  some  cases  I  believe  it  -  -  s,  and  give 
it  about  four  time?  daily. 

I  would  not  by  any  is  neglect  such  accessory  treatments 

a?  seem  indicated  in  in  lividual  cases,  such  as  irrigating  ?eptic 
cavities,  flushing  out  the  bowel?,  or  any  other  proceeding  sug- 
gested by  common  sense. 

From  my  own  experience,  as  well  as  that  oi  other?.  I  believe 

acea   to  be  a   valuable   acquisition  to  our  materia   medica, 

and  that  after  a  careful  trial  on  a  few  seleeted  cases  you  will  be 

unwilling  to  be  wil  — Dr.  E.  W.  Cap:';:,  in  New  England 

Medical  Gj^rttc. 


A   CASE   OF  TYPHLITIS. 
By  H.  O.,  Assistant  Surgeon  in  P. 

The  case  I  here  report  wa?  that  of  my  mother,  and  I  premise 
a  description  of  it :  My  mother  i?  sixty-nine  years  old.  of  a 
weak  constitution,  and  inclined  to  di?ea?e?  of  the  abdomen.  From 
the  time  of  her  last  childbirth,  in  the  year  1S77.  she  had  an  in- 
guinal rupture  on  the  left  side.  In  general,  she  wa?  in  good 
health  up  to  the  year  1900.  when  in  June  of  that  year,  she  had 
an  inflammation  of  the  liver.  For  this  she  was  treated  bv  a 
homoeopathic  physician,  Dr.  H..  in  K..  for  ?ix  week?,  with  good 
success. 

Toward?  the  end  of  the  year  1903,  my  mother  began  to  com- 
plain of  pain?  in  the  abdomen,  which  increased  up  to  March. 
1904.  but  she  wa?  unable  to  say  anything  definite  a?  to  the  seat 
of  the  pain.     Xow  to  come  to  the  case  itself : 


174  A  Case  of  Typhlitis. 

On  April,  1904  (Easter  Sunday),  I  was  called  to  see  my 
mother,  who  lived  about  half  a  mile  from  my  house,  and  word 
was  sent  that  she  was  seriously  ill.  I  went  at  once  and  found 
my  mother  in  a  violent  fever.  On  asking  whether  there  had  been 
anything  preceding  the  attack,  she  answered  that  the  evening 
before,  she  had  a  shaking  chill,  followed  later  on  by  heat.  She 
had  not  been  able  to  sleep  all  night,  owing  to  the  pains  in  her 
abdomen.  She  especially  complained  of  pains  in  the  ilio-ccecal 
region.  The  temperature  was  1040  F.,  and  the  pulse  no  a 
minute.  To  understand  better  about  the  pains,  I  carefully  ex- 
amined the  abdomen  and  found  it  very  painful,  but  only  in  the 
region  of  the  vermiform  appendix.  This  showed  a  great  sensi- 
tiveness to  pressure,  as  also  at  every  movement  of  the  patient. 
On  palpation  I  felt  a  long  immovable  and  smooth  swelling, 
which,  in  form  and  position,  perfectly  corresponded  to  the  ccecum 
and  the  beginning  of  the  colon  ascendens.  To  this  was  added 
nausea  and  eructation,  but  no  vomiting ;  there  had  also  been  con- 
stipation for  two  days.  From  these  symptoms  I  at  once  con- 
cluded on  typhlitis. 

Owing  to  the  severity  of  the  case,  I  at  once  called  in  the 
allopathic  physician,  who  came  immediately.  After  he  had  ex- 
amined my  mother,  I  asked  him  for  his  diagnosis.  He  gave 
this  as  hernia  on  the  left  side,  and  he  suspected  that  there  was 
also  an  incarcerated  hernia  on  the  right  side,  although  there  was 
a  total  lack  of  vomiting.  He  also  advised  us  to  be  ready  for  any 
emergency,  as,  owing  to  the  severity  of  the  case,  the  patient  was 
not  apt  to  survive  the  night.  When  he  had  thus  given  his  view, 
I  told  him  also  my  view  of  the  case,  and  he  said,  that  this  could 
not  be  decided  at  once,  but  it  was  possibly  correct.  He  would 
next  day  make  another  examination.  But  if  it  should  grow 
worse  in  the  meantime,  we  should  call  him  at  once.  His  pre- 
scription consisted  in  suppositories  for  the  stool,  Phenacitin 
powders,  Codein  and  Tine.  Opii  simpl.  Besides  this,  he  di- 
rected cold  compresses  to  be  laid  on  the  swelling,  which  should 
also  be  rubbed  with  mercury  ointment. 

The  suppositories  were  of  no  effect ;  I  did  not  give  her  the 
powders  and  the  tincture,  as  I  thought  the  stool  ought  to  have 
been  secured  by  the  suppositories,  while  the  Opium  tincture  is 
used  by  allopaths  chiefly  in  catarrh  of  the  bowels. 


A  Case  of  Typhlitis.  175 

Whether  I  acted  right,  I  leave  for  the  reader  to  judge :  I  gave 
Aconitum  3.  and  Belladonna  3..  in  alternation,  every  quarter 
of  an  hour.  I  also  prescribed  hot  compresses  of  linseed  oil, 
which,  however,  were  not  well  endured  by  the  patient.  On  ac- 
count of  the  constipation,  I  gave  Mercurius  sol.  3.  D..  every  two 
hours,  a  powder  of  one  grain.  Next  morning  the  doctor  came 
early  and  made  his  examination.  I  met  him  on  the  street  and 
asked  him  as  to  the  result  of  his  examination,  when  he  con- 
firmed the  diagnosis  which  I  had  made,  and  told  me  to  continue 
his  medicines.  He  said  that  the  patient  would  have  eventually 
to  be  operated  on.  but  for  the  present  he  would  not  operate, 
since,  owing  to  the  weakness  of  the  patient,  the  effect  would 
probablv  be  fatal.  As  no  stool  had  as  yet  resulted,  he  prescribed 
a  clyster  of  soap  suds,  which  he  administered  himself.  A  little 
firm  stool  had  been  discharged  in  consequence.  On  leaving  he 
directed  me  to  repeat  the  clyster  next  morning  and  desired  to 
be  notified  of  the  result.  The  temperature  on  the  evening  of 
April  3.  had  mounted  to  1020  F..  the  pulse  being  115  a  minute. 
When  I  came  to  my  mother's  house  she  complained  to  me,  that 
she  had  not  been  able  to  sleep  for  pains  all  night ;  she  also  added 
that  all  night  her  abdomen  had  been  distended  and  gas  had  been 
discharged  continually,  causing  the  most  violent  pains.  I  left  her 
continue  the  other  remedies,  and  gave  her,  during  the  day. 
Opium  1..  four  drops  in  a  teaspoonful  of  water,  every  hour  to 
half  hour,  which  somewhat  eased  her  pains,  so  that  she  had  some 
sleep  the  following  night.  On  the  fifth  of  April  I  administered 
the  clyster  prescribed,  about  a  pint  and  a  half.  when,  in  about 
fifteen  minutes,  quite  a  quantity  of  blackish-brown,  fetid  stool 
was  discharged,  causing  a  considerable  relief.  I  immediately 
notified  the  physician  of  the  result,  and  he  said  that  this  was  a 
very  good  sign.  He  desired  to  examine  the  urine,  which  was 
at  once  sent  to  him  ;  he  said  that  it  only  showed  a  slight  trace 
of  albumen.  The  temperature  now  fluctuated  between  104"  and 
1020.  I  discontinued  the  Mercurius.  On  the  tenth  of  April  the 
swelling  had  much  increased  in  size.  I  now  stopped  the  use  of 
Aconitum  and  Belladonna,  and  gave  instead  He  par  and  Silicea 
in  alternation,  whereupon  the  pains  increased,  and  there  were 
some  nodules  formed  around  the  swelling.  Owing  to  this  very 
aggravation,   I  continued  the  medicines,   until   the  pains,   which 


ij6  Clinical  Cases  of  Renal  Hemorrhages. 

were  very  violent,  reached  their  acme  on  the  15th  and  17th  of 
April,  and  the  swelling  broke  open  on  the  afternoon  of  April  18, 
in  the  ilio-ccecal  region,  and  about  two  quarts  of  putrid  pus 
were  discharged.  The  physician  was  at  once  called  in  and  was 
much  surprised  at  the  quantity  of  the  pus  as  well  as  at  the  rapid 
and  favorable  turn  of  affairs.  After  the  pus  was  pretty  well  dis- 
charged, he  pushed  a  plug  of  Iodoform  gauze,  about  two  inches 
deep  into  the  opening,  and  directed  me  to  renew  this  every  day 
for  six  or  seven  days. 

I  continued  the  Hepar  and  the  Silicea  for  a  few  days  more  ;  but 
after  four  days  no  more  pus  was  discharged,  so  I  discontinued 
the  Hepar  and  continued  the  Silicea  for  another  week.  After  this 
the  plug  of  gauze  was  thrust  out  and  the  opening  closed  slowly, 
after  which  I  discontinued  also  the  Silicea.  As  there  was  con- 
siderable sleeplessness,  I  gave  her  Passiflora  tincture,  fifteen 
drops,  and  was  well  satisfied  with  the  effects. 

On  the  25th  of  April  the  patient  left  her  bed  for  a  few 
hours,  and  she  is  quite  restored.  Whether  my  mother,  if  we 
had  followed  all  the  directions  of  the  physician  had  recovered, 
may  well  be  doubted. — Leipzig  er  pop.  f.  Ho  in. 


CLINICAL  CASES  OF  RENAL  HEMORRHAGES. 

By  Dr.  Granow,  Frankfurt,  A.  M. 

I.  Mr.  W.  M.,  of  Hanau,  had  been  sick  with  renal  haemor- 
rhages, with,  and  also  without  renal  colic.  He  had  been  treated 
and  looked  into  according  to  all  the  rules  of  our  art,  he  had  also 
taken  quite  a  variety  of  medicines,  was  for  a  time  in  Wildungen, 
as  also  in  the  clinics  at  Bonn  and  at  Heidelberg.  He  has,  in- 
deed, had  times  in  which  he  was  free  from  attacks,  but  has 
never  been  free  from  pains.  When  I  saw  him  he  was  very 
much  depressed  and  despondent.  My  diagnosis  pointed  to  renal 
gravel.  I  treated  the  patient  for  a  year  and  three  months,  and 
cured  him  with  Phosphorus,  Terebinthina,  Nitric  aciduni,  and 
Coccus  cacti.  At  least,  he  is  quite  well  since  last  July.  I  hope 
that  he  will  not  be  troubled  with  a  relapse.  In  any  event,  he 
has  never  before  had  five  months  without  an  attacks.  His  free 
periods  before  this  never  exceeded  eight  days. 


Clinical  Cases  of  Renal  Hemorrhages.  177 

II.  Merchant  Sch.,  of  Sachsenhausen,  brought  me  in  the  be- 
ginning of  August  last,  his  urine  in  which,  as  a  sediment,  there 
was  a  thick  stratum  of  yellowish  lumps  and  of  pus  and  mucus, 
over  which  there  was  spread  a  thick  coating  of  blood  corpuscles, 
as  I  could  plainly  see  with  the  microscope.  The  patient  is  quite 
emaciated  and  his  mucous  membranes  are  pale.  He  is  very 
much  depressed,  as  he  thinks  he  ought  to  recall  his  engagement 
to  be  married,  owing  to  his  disease.  He  has  no  faith  in  a  cure. 
His  condition  was,  indeed,  quite  alarming.  I  had  to  make  my 
diagnosis  as  tuberculosis,  and  then  consider  what  was  best  to 
be  done.     Quite  a  desperate  case ! 

By  the  administration  of  Tuberculin,  Nitric  acidum  and  Ar- 
senicum jodatum,  I  have  now  restored  him  so  far,  that  the  urine, 
which,  when  brought  to  me  at  first,  was  mostly  of  a  milky  ap- 
pearance, now  shows  only  a  slight  turbidity,  while  it  is  dis- 
charged without  pain ;  the  patient  has  regained  some  of  his 
weight  and  is  now  in  hopes  of  getting  well.  Traces  of  blood 
still  appear  now  and  then.  He  feels  himself  so  far  invigorated 
that  he  has  undertaken,  with  his  bride,  a  two  weeks'  tour  to 
visit  his  parents.  I  am  quite  content  with  my  success  so  far  and 
hope  he  will  be  entirely  restored. 

III.  Merchant  H.,  in  L.  This  case  occurred  a  few  years 
back.  The  patient,  owing  to  a  contusion  from  a  falling  tree,  had 
such  copious  haemorrhages  from  the  kidneys,  that  the  physicians 
were  perplexed,  and  were  going  to  excise  the  kidney,  in  order  to 
check  the  haemorrhage.  The  haemorrhage  was  not  at  once 
checked  by  Terebinthina.  The  urine,  however,  graduallv  as- 
sumed a  lighter  color  and  in  three  weeks  was  entirely  clear.  In 
six  weeks  he  could  again  take  up  his  work. — Pop.  .c.  f.  Horn., 
Leipzig. 


178  Book  Notices. 

BOOK   NOTICES. 

Enlarged     Tonsils     Cured     by     Medicine.        By   J.   Comp- 

ton   Burnett,   M.   D.,   London.      Second   Edition.      100   pages. 

Cloth,  60  cents.     Postage,  5  cents.     Philadelphia :  Boericke  & 

Tafel.     1908. 

Though  this  little  volume  is  a  "second  edition,"  it  is  but  a 
reprint  of  the  original  first  edition,  for,  alas,  Burnett  is  no  longer 
living,  save  in  his  books.  And  those  books !  This  is  but  one  of 
them,  but  they  are  all  along  one  general  line,  which  is  at  variance 
with  some  accepted  procedure  in  medicine,  allopathic  or  homoeo- 
pathic. Not  that  Burnett  was  a  medical  iconoclast,  but  ever  and 
anon  he  would  revolt  against  an  accepted  practice,  would  try  for 
some  new  and  better  method,  would  investigate  until  his  new 
departures  were  proved  to  his  own  satisfaction  to  be  better  than 
the  old  and  then  he  would  embody  them  in  a  small  book  instead 
of  a  magazine  article,  for  the  former  lives,  if  worthy,  while  the 
latter  is  soon  unattainable  and  too  often  forgotten.  This  little 
book  is  an  illustration  of  his  methods,  theories  and  practice.  It 
is  the  accepted  practice  to  cut  out  the  enlarged  tonsils  and  then 
in  Burnett's  words,  "heave  a  sigh  of  relief,  'Now  that's  done 
with!'  But  is  it?  I  fear  not."  The  enlarged  tonsil,  in  his  eyes, 
is  but  an  evidence  of  a  deep-seated  disease  and  the  cutting  leaves 
the  patient  as  badly  off  as  ever,  even  if  the  operation  does  give 
seeming  relief.  Cure  the  patient  and  the  tonsils  will  become  nor- 
mal. This  little  book,  like  every  one  of  the  many  he  wrote,  is 
well  worth  reading,  reading  very  carefully  and,  in  time,  reading 
again.  Next  to  Ringworm,  it  is  his  smallest  book,  but  points  to 
the  underlying  conditions,  as  is  done  in  his  other  books,  rather 
than  to  the  local  exhibition  of  the  disease  in  the  patient.  "When 
you  cut  off  a  tonsil  you  certainly  get  rid  of  it,  so  you  do  if  you 
shrivel  it  with  gland  tissue  destroyers,  but  the  perfect  cure  is 
where  the  enlargement  disappears  under  the  influence  of  dyna- 
mic remedies ;  here  the  normal  tonsils  remain  to  do  the  work  al- 
lotted to  them  within  nature's  cycle."  This  was  his  view.  Glanc- 
ing over  the  remedies  he  used,  one  is  struck  by  the  fact  that  the 
most  "advanced"  medicine  of  the  day  is  but  an  awkward  stum- 
bling in  his  footsteps ;  he  gave  the  potentized  nosode  direct,  while 
the  advanced  one  first  potentizes  it  through  the  veins  of  a  horse, 


Book  X  of  ices.  179 

or  goat,  doctors  it  with  antiseptics  and  administers  it  by  the  hypo- 
dermic syringe,  with  poor  results  when  compared  to  those  ob- 
tained by  Burnett.  That  his  methods  are  not  regarded  favorably 
by  many  homoeopaths,  and  are  even  condemned  by  some  of  them, 
is  most  true,  but — try  them,  no  harm  can  result  in  these  "hope- 
less" cases,  and  something  very  new  may  be  learned,  new  and 
valuable.  There  is  something  in  Burnett's  books  that  gives  them 
unwonted  vitality. 


The  Production  and  Handling  of  Clean  Milk.  By 
Kenelm  Winslow,  M.  D..  M.  D.  V.,  B.  A.  S.  (Harv.).  207 
pages.  Cloth,  $2.50.  Xew  York :  William  R.  Jenkins  Co. 
1907. 

The  author  writes  :  The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  provide  a  work- 
ing guide  for  those  pursuing,  or  wishing  to  pursue,  one  of  the 
most  wholesome,  worthy  and  laudable  undertakings — the  produc- 
tion of  '"clean  milk."  The  book  contains  47  illustrations  and  17 
plates,  and  gives  the  inquirer  about  all  the  milk  lore  he  can  ask. 


The  Correction  of   Featural   Imperfections.        By     Charles 
C.  Miller,  M.  D.     134  pages.     121110.     Cloth.  $1.50.     Published 
by  the  Author. 
On  the  side  of  this  little  book  is  stamped  "Cosmetic  Surgery." 

It  tells  how  the  author  corrects  facial  defects,  which  seems  to  be 

a  growing  branch  of  surgery. 


Therapeutics    of    Vibration.       The    Healing    of    the    Sick    an 
Exact   Science.     By   Wm.   Lawrence   Woodruff,   M.   D.      144 

pages.     Cloth,  $1.50.     J.   F.  Elwell  Publishing  Co..   Los   An- 
geles, Cal. 

The  author,  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homce- 
opathy,  is  enthusiastic  over  vibration,  which  makes  electrical 
treatment  "seem  ordinary/"  and  will  bring  the  physical  millen- 
nium about  if  anything  can.  Those  who  want  to  know  about 
vibration  can  get  the  book. 


HomoeopathLic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

ByBOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  $i.oo,TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PER  ANNUM 
Address  communications ,  books  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  the  editor,  to 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

EDITORIAL. 

Passi flora  in  Insomnia. — "I  have  observed  the  action  of 
Passiflora  in  the  treatment  of  insomnia.  The  remedy  cannot  be 
used  indiscriminately,  but  I  have  found  that  where  there  is  an 
absence  of  pain,  it  may  be  given  in  the  majority  of  cases  to  pro- 
duce quiet  and  restful  sleep.  I  add  a  teaspoonful  to  half  of  a 
glass  of  water,  and  give  the  mixture  in  teaspoonful  doses  every 
half  hour  before  retiring  until  the  patient  is  quiet.  I  would  ad- 
vise the  physicians  who  have  not  used  it  to  try  it." — Ida  H. 
Barnes,  M.  D.,  in  Ellingwood's  Therapeutist. 

Send  if  Interested. — Our  excellent  Uncle  Sam's  "Forest 
Service,  Washington,  D.  C,"  has  discovered  a  cheap  method  of 
treating  timber  so  that  it  will  last  three  or  four  times  longer  than 
if  untreated.  Any  interested  Recorder  reader  should  send  his 
name  to  above  address  for  a  free  copy  of  directions. 

It  is  the  Law. — Antitoxins,  vaccines,  opsonines,  seras  and 
isopathy  seem  to  be  hopelessly  mixed,  but  it  is  the  great  homoeo- 
pathic Law  that  gives  them  what  vitality  they  possess.  Take  a 
disease  product,  whether  "cultivated"  or  not.  It  is  not  the  dis- 
ease. It  will  produce  symptoms  in  the  human  body.  It  will 
cure  its  similar  symptoms  in  disease.  The  virus,  to  use  the  old 
fashioned  term,  of  small-pox,  is  not  small-pox,  yet  it  will  pro- 
duce symptoms  similar  to  small-pox,  and  it  will  cure  and  pre- 
vent small-pox.  It  is  homoeopathic  to  its  symptoms.  All  the 
marvels  of  modern  medicine  in  this  region  of  research  are 
nothing  but  old   Homoeopathy,   more   or  less   hampered   by   so- 


Editorial.  181 

called  scientific  bandages  and  useless  spangles.  Any  substance 
that  will  cause  deviations  from  health  will  tend  to  cure  similar 
symptoms. 

Small-Pox  in  Japan. — We  were  shown  a  letter  recently  from 
Japan  in  which  the  wrriter  said  that  small-pox  had  broken  out 
in  that  country  and  that  the  officials  were  hard  pressed  for  vac- 
cine material.  Compulsory  vaccination  is  enforced  in  that  coun- 
try with  Japanese  thoroughness,  but,  for  all  that,  the  disease  has 
made  its  appearance.  Small-pox  really  seems  inevitable  after  a 
great  war  and  even  the  superb  medical  corps  of  Japan  could  not 
prevent  it.  It  would  be  useless  to  advocate  the  use  of  Vavioli- 
num,  even  though  it  would  be  the  most  effective  means  of  stay- 
ing the  disease  outside  of  sanitation,  for  Japan  does  not  officially 
recognize  Homoeopathy,  which,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  adopts 
everything  else  progressive,  is  singular. 

Be  "Liberal/'' — Among  the  many  odd  bits  of  printed  drift- 
wood that  float  this  way,  is  a  little  journal  that  relates  the  fol- 
lowing case,  in  good  faith :  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  a  young  man 
was  "sorely  afflicted  with  spinal  trouble,  which  baffled  all  medical 
skill,  and  which,  for,  at  least,  seven  months  of  each  year,  for 
thirty-nine  years,  had  rendered  him  a  helpless  cripple."  He  had 
been  a  "backslider,"  but  returned  to  grace,  and  one  night,  after 
thirty-nine  years,  by  earnest  prayer,  "he  was  certainly  com- 
pletely healed.  His  spine,  which  had  had  a  curvature,  was  now, 
thank  God,  perfectly  straight."  To  confirm  the  truth  of  this 
case  the  photograph  of  the  man  is  given,  before  and  after,  the 
healing.  After  healing  he  presents  the  picture  of  a  fine  looking 
man.  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  Be  "liberal"  and 
"investigate"  or  be  liberal  and  leave  them  alone?  The  latter 
liberality  is  the  wisest,  and  the  only  successful  to  pursue  in 
meeting  these  queer,  religious  obsessions.  Opposition  and  reason 
but  fans  them  to  fury. 

The  Examining  Board  Czar. — At  a  public  meeting  held  at 
Philadelphia,  February  16,  Dr.  Henry  Beates,  Jr.,  chairman  of 
the  State  Board  of  Medical  Examiners  of  Pennsylvania,  who,  of 
late,  has  appeared  so  frequently  in  the  newspapers  that  his  name 


1 82  Editorial. 

is  almost  as  well-known  as  that  of  "Professor"  Munyon  to  news- 
paper readers,  gave  warning  that : 

"I  will  give  the  officers  of  these  diploma  mills,  who  are  grind- 
ing out  so-called  'doctors,'  just  six  months  more  to  alter  their 
standards.     I  shall  not  expose  them  just  yet,"  etc. 

The  hypercritical  might  smile  over  Dr.  Beates'  English  (alter- 
ing standards  being  a  rather  peculiar  phrase,  especially  as  this  is 
one  of  the  faults,  according  to  him,  of  the  product  of  the  medical 
diploma  mills,  against  which  he  fulminates),  but  what  will  strike 
the  cynic  is  the  czar-like  "I."  Dictatorship  is  something  new 
to  the  American  people,  as  yet,  except  from  the  political  boss, 
and  he  is  very  chary  of  publicly  launching  his  "I  command !" 
He  has  had  more  experience,  however,  than  his  medical  brother. 
When  a  public  officer,  at  least  that  is  what  he  is  supposed  to  be, 
publicly  brands  old  and  honored  colleges  as  "diploma  mills,"  it 
shows  that  one  of  two  things  must  be  true  in  the  matter. 

ist.  That  public  officer  has  the  personal  power  and  intends  to 
use  it,  or, 

2d.  He  has  very  strong  convictions  of  his  own  importance 
and  power,  from  which  he  may  recover  in  time. 

If  the  first  point  be  true  it  is  a  veritable  thought  provoker. 

The  Dawning  Light?" — The  quarrels  of  doctors  is  a  stock- 
joke,  every  joke-smith  carrying  it  in  his  outfit.  Quarrels  be- 
tween individuals  are  merely  personal  and  are  not  considered  in 
the  regular  stock  in  trade  of  the  jokes,  but  when  it  comes  to  the 
other  "quarrels"  the  matter  is  very  different  and  the  would-be 
joker  shows  his  ignorance,  for  in  this  matter  it  is  a  conflict  of 
principles  and  not  of  personal  wrangle,  principles  that  involve 
life  or  death.  Ever  and  anon  some  one  arises  and  speaks  of 
"brotherly  love,"  of  "harmony,"  of  "all  working  for  the  common 
end  for  the  good  of  humanity,"  of  the  "most  self-sacrificing  and 
noblest  profession"  and  the  like,  and  no  one  can,  or  will,  say  a 
word  against  his  sentiments,  but  in  reality  they  are  almost  as 
meaningless  as  the  joker's  jokes.  Imagine  an  assemblage  of 
physicians,  doctors,  each  one  representing  the  best  in  his  par- 
ticular form  of  belief  and  each  absolutely  unselfish  anil  animated 
solely  by  the  desire  of  alleviating  or  curing  human  ills.  Such 
an  assemblage  could   be  gathered   from  almost  any  community. 


Editorial.  183 

A  patient  is  brought  in  who  is  seriously  ill  and  the  assemblage 
is  asked  to  cure  him.  Now,  with  the  utmost  honesty  of  purpose, 
one  would  prescribe  crude  and  massive  doses  of  drugs,  another 
would  advocate  a  careful  reading  of  the  symptoms,  objective  and 
subjective,  and  the  history  of  the  case,  and  then  prescribe  a 
potentized  drug  covering  the  case  in  its  totality,  another  would 
give  hypodermic  injections  of  a  drug  or  drugs,  another  would 
give  no  drugs,  but  regulate  the  patient's  life  and  diet,  another 
would  claim  that  only  a  surgical  operation  could  do  any  good, 
and  so  on.  All  honest  men  and  all  learned.  What  would  you? 
If  there  is  to  be  harmony,  who  will  give  way,  and  how  shall  an 
honest  man  give  up  his  convictions  and  remain  honest?  If  each 
adheres  to  his  conviction,  the  joker  sees  but  a  "doctor's  quar- 
rel/' the  man  for  harmony  sighs,  and  the  wan  eyed  patient  waits. 
There  is  no  "joke"  in  such  a  situation,  is  there? 

The  only  solution  we  can  see — there  may  be  others — is  for  the 
patient  to  decide  and  for  the  other  doctors  to  abide  by  that  de- 
cision and  not  to  hamper  the  chosen  physician  in  his  task.  There 
may  be  other  roads  to  "harmony/'  but,  if  so,  where  are  they  and 
what  are  they? 

A  Homceopathic  Book. — Dr.  Valiente,  of  Cartagena,  Colum- 
bia, South  America,  highly  praises  Dr.  H.  C.  Allen's  Therapeu- 
tics of  Fevers,  as  being  a  book  "based  on  the  true  doctrine  of 
Hahnemann."  His  daughter  was  attacked  with  "pernicious  inter- 
mittent fever,"  or,  rather,  an  attack  of  fever  developed  into  that 
usually  fatal  form.  The  text-books,  homceopathic  and  allopathic, 
advised  quinine  only,  "prompt  and  energetic."  He  was  about 
to  resort  to  this  last  and  almost  hopeless  expedient,  when  he 
remembered  Allen's  book.  This  guided  him  to  Veratrum  alb., 
the  result  was  a  stay  of  the  disease ;  it  then  guided  him  to  the 
fact  that  back  of  all  cases  of  very  low  or  malignant  fevers  there 
is  a  constitutional  taint,  and  to  the  remedy.  That  was  four  years 
ago  and  since  then  the  patient  has  "enjoyed  perfect  health." 
Dr.  Valiente  is  right  in  his  praise  of  this  book  of  genuine  ho- 
moeopathic therapeutics  of  fevers  of  all  kinds.  It  is  a  book  of 
more  than  therapeutics. 

A  Warning  Against  Tuberculin  Test. — Dr.  A.  Trosseau 


184  Editorial. 

in  Journal  de  Medicine  et  de  Chirurgie,  Jan.  10,  writes:  "The 
noisy  demonstration  which  has  followed  the  advocacy  of  the 
ophthalmo-tuberculin  reaction''  has  made  it  his  duty  to  warn 
medical  practitioners  against  the  danger  in  that  procedure.  It 
is  not  always  harmless  and  may  be  very  dangerous,  and  many 
cases  from  various  sources  are  cited  in  proof  of  this.  Tuberculin 
"tests"  seem  to  be  good  things  to  severely  let  alone,  whether  in 
man  or  beast.  If  a  diagnosis  cannot  be  made  without  the  use 
of  a  virulent  nosode,  better  not  make  one,  but  "treat  the  patient" 
instead. 

What  Not  to  Do  in  Acute  Alcoholism. — The  following 
clipping  is  from  a  paper  by  Dr.  Robert  S.  Carroll,  of  Asheville, 
N.  C,  and  published  in  Charlotte  Medical  Journal: 

"The  third  day  of  delirium,  with  a  pulse  running  from  140  to 
160,  he  received  fifteen  grains  of  Chloral,  190  grains  of  Bromide 
of  Potash,  one  and  one-half  grains  of  Sulphate  of  Morphine,  hy- 
podermically.  Within  five  days,  he  received  a  total  of  580 
grains  of  Potash,  60  grains  of  Chloral,  140  grains  of  Veronal, 
one  and  one-half  grains  Strychnine,  one-sixth  of  a  grain  of 
Digitalis,  three  grains  of  Sulphate  of  Morphine,  besides  paralde- 
hyde and  adrenalin.  This  man  was  treated  according  to  the  ad- 
vice of  many  of  our  good  text-books,  he  was  treated  by  good 
men ;  conscientious  and  earnest,  and  had  the  benefit  of  counsel." 

Death  was  the  result ;  not  from  the  disease,  but  from  the  treat- 
ment, which,  even  a  robust  man  could  hardly  survive,  Dr.  Car- 
roll hints. 

Time  Works  Wonders. — Over  three  hundred  years  ago  the 
most  famous  surgeon  of  his  day,  Ambrose  Pare,  wrote :  "God 
is  my  witness,  and  all  good  men  know  that  I  have  now  labored 
fifty  years  with  all  care  and  pains  in  the  illustration  and  ampli- 
fication of  my  art ;  and  that  I  have  so  certainly  touched  the  mark 
whereat  I  aimed,  that  antiquity  may  seem  to  have  nothing  where- 
in it  may  exceed  us  beside  the  glory  of  invention,  nor  posterity 
anything  left  but  a  certain  small  hope  to  add  some  things,  as  it 
is  easy  to  add  to  former  inventions." 

Wouldn't  it  be  interesting  to  read  the  comment  of  some  old 
Dryasdust  in  the  year  2208  on  a  volume  published  in  1908 ! 


Editorial.  185 

Get  Out  of  Ruts. — Dr.  Robert  Gray,  writing  from  Pichu- 
caleo,  Mexico.,  to  the  Medical  Summary,  says: 

"In  many  big  retail  stores  there  are  prominent  signs,  'If  you 
don't  see  what  you  want,  ask  for  it.'  It  seems  to  me  that  there 
should  be  a  sign  or  motto  in  the  cranium  of  every  practitioner, 
'If  you  have  not  what  you  need,  seek  it  out  of  the  common  ruts."  v 

''Antiseptic.'" — The  Eclectic  Medical  Gleaner,  March,  says: 
"Baptisia  tinctoria  has  held  a  prominent  place  for  many  years  in 
the  Eclectic  Materia  Medica  as  an  antiseptic,  but  of  more  recent 
date  it  has  shared  honors  with  Echinacea.  Both,  however,  have 
their  particular  uses,  and  the  one  should  not  be  discarded  for  the 
other,  a  practice  too  common  in  these  days  when  a  new  drug  al- 
most daily  displaces  another.  Both  Baptisia  and  Echinacea  are 
good  general  antiseptics,  yet  each  has  its  specific  indications 
pointing  to  different  specific  action  and  needs."  Is  not  the  term 
''antiseptic''  applied  to  remedies  a  misnomer?  Or  does  it  here 
betray  a  lack  of  comprehension  of  the  law  governing  the  action 
of  drugs  in  the  human  body?  You  put  an  antiseptic  in  a  sick 
room  for  a  specific  purpose:  do  you  put  Baptisia  or  Echinacea 
into  a  patient  on  the  same  principle,  merely  to  antidote  decaying 
matter?  and  after  all,  are  they  antiseptics? 

A  Fatal  Horse-Disease. — The  following  is  an  extract  from 
a  letter  received  from  North  Carolina :  "Within  the  last  three 
years  there  has  been  over  1,000  horses  die,  in  this  State,  from 
eating  moulded  grain.  The  allopaths  have  never  saved  a  horse 
once  affected,  they  give  it  up  as  incurable  and  homoeopaths  are 
not  allowed  to  practice  here.  I  had  a  valuable  horse  die  from 
this  disease  before  I  knew  the  cause.  It  is  called  ''stagers" 
here  and  is  quite  common.  Just  before  the  corn  comes  in  it 
sometimes  heats  and  then  moulds,  and  such  corn  causes  the  dis- 
ease. Is  there  any  homoeopathic  remedy  for  this  disease?"  We 
do  not  know  of  any  remedy  for  this  disease,  or,  rather,  poisoning, 
for  that  it  is.    Do  any  of  the  readers  of  the  Recorder? 

Luck. — Luck  is  one  of  the  most  used  and  apparently  best  un- 
derstood words  in  the  English  language,  but  when  you  come  to 
define   it  you  are   "up  against"   something.     The  other  day   we 


1 86  Editorial. 

read,  'There  isn't  enough  bad  luck  in  the  world  altogether  to 
ruin  one  real  live  man."  This  floated  forth  the  query  as  to 
what  is  luck?  The  dictionary  (boiled  down)  tells  you  that  luck 
is  luck,  and  then  hastens  to  give  you  examples  of  how  to  use  the 
word.  The  average  sinner  defines  it  ''When  things  come  your 
way,"  and  that  is  about  as  good  a  definition  as  one  can  find,  but 
the  question  still  remains  unanswered. 

The  Potentized  Remedy  Won  Out. — Dr.  G.  A.  Leach,  of 
Morris,  111.,  contributes  a  very  suggestive  clinical  case  to  the 
February  number  of  The  Cliniquc.  Dr.  Leach  states  that  "hav- 
ing been  first  well  grounded  in  old  school  practice,  when  I  get 
a  serious  case  I  am  quite  apt  to  lose  faith  in  our  potentized  rem- 
edies and  take  the  easier  way  of  giving  physiological  doses."  The 
case  was  one  of  leukaemia.  The  patient,  a  Greek  of  twenty-one. 
He  vomited  and  passed  dark  blood,  membranes  blanched,  skin 
yellow,  spleen  enlarged,  headache,  and  altogether  rather  lifeless. 
Had  a  previous  attack  and  had  not  been  able  to  work  for  a  year. 
The  treatment  from  October  10  to  28  included  salt  solution  and 
adrenalin,  which  stopped  the  haemorrhage ;  these  were  followed 
by  infusion  of  Digitalis,  Carduus  mar.,  Ceanothus,  Thyroid  and 
Apocynum,  all  in  physiological  doses,  but  the  patient  was  no 
better.  Then  arose  the  question,  ''Why  not  try  a  homoeopathic 
potency?"  The  symptoms  were  carefully  gone  over  and  they 
indicated  Nat  rum  inur.,  which  was  given  in  the  30X.  Improve- 
ment set  in,  the  patient  became  cheerful  and  was  ready  to  go  to 
work.  Dr.  Morris  concludes :  "The  mistakes  and  failures  are 
ours  and  do  not  belong  to  the  homoeopathic  law." 

And  then  it  is  so  much  easier,  and  self-satisfying,  to  be  skepti- 
cal !     It  is  an  easy  way  to  appear  learned. 

Internal  Vaccination. — A  correspondent  of  that  very  ex- 
cellent homoeopathic  journal,  The  Iozva  Homoeopathic  Journal, 
writes,  March  issue:  "I  am  interested  in  'Internal  Vaccination,5 
though  I  am  a  so-called  'Regular'  physician,  and  I  will  tell  you 
why.  My  wife,  when  a  girl  about  fourteen  years,  was  vac- 
cinated with  humanised  vaccine,  with  the  result  that  she  was 
given  a  terrible  scourge  of  scrofula,  none  being  of  record  among 
her   ancestors.      It   has   given    me    much    trouble.      My    second 


Editorial.  187 

daughter,  now  about  eleven  years  old,  inherited  scrofula  from 
her  mother.'1  The  letter  then  goes  on  to  state  that  he  "vac- 
cinated" this  daughter  with  Variolinum.  All  went  well  until  he 
moved  and  was  compelled  to  send  the  child  to  another  school. 
The  doctor  here  would  not  accept  the  Variolinum  vaccination 
and  insisted  that  the  vaccine  virus  must  be  inserted  into  her 
blood  in  the  usual  manner.  The  father  staved  off  the  operation 
as  long  as  possible,  giving  the  child,  in  the  meantime,  Variolinum. 
The  result  was  that  the  vaccination  would  not  take,  though  fre- 
quently repeated,  and  the  orthodox  ''scar"  was  only  obtained  by 
the  actual  "deep  cutting"  of  the  vaccinator. 

More  Inanity. — The  Maryland  Legislature  has  passed  a  law 
that  puts  a  quietus  on  Christian  Science,  at  least,  officially ;  en- 
forcement will — "but  that's  another  story."  The  Christian 
Scientist  is  now  required  to  pass  examinations  in  things  she  does 
not  believe  exist  unless  she  tells  fibs.  But.  the  wise  men  as- 
sert, she  (or  he,  it's  generally  she)  can  believe  what  she  pleases, 
"we  do  not  oppose  freedom,  we  only  aim  to  protect  the  public 
from  incompetent  practitioners."'  Very  true,  but  as  she  believes 
it  to  be  her  duty  to  dispel  ignorance  and  erroneous  beliefs,  and 
as  you  are  a  big  factor  in  the  errors  why — there  you  are !  Leav- 
ing out  all  the  pros  and  cons  in  the  matter,  we  are  inclined  to 
the  belief  that,  from  a  purely  business  point  of  view,  the  "laws'' 
directed  against  Christian  Science,  and  all  the  other  flummeries, 
is  most  wretched  policy.  It  won't  bring  a  single  patient  more  to 
the  doctor's  office,  but  it  will  earn  the  hatred  of  a  well  meaning 
class  and  excite  the  cynical  amusement  of  the  others  who  take  the 
trouble  to  think  of  the  matter  at  all.  When  Homoeopathy  was 
young  the  allopaths  virtually  did  all  they  could  to  "protect  the 
public''  against  it ;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  a  very  unwise  move 
to  protect,  as  they  thought,  their  pockets,  but  it  had  the  very  op- 
posite effect.  Human  nature  has  not  changed  since  those  days. 
Hot  talkers  dearly  love  to  exclaim,  "Truth  is  mighty  and  will 
prevail!"  If  truth  is  mighty,  what  need  is  there  of  wire-pullers 
in  the  Legislatures  to  make  it  prevail  ?  Wherever  truth  does  pre- 
vail, it  is  a  force  so  mighty  that  it  needs  no  little  "laws,"  or  the 
police,  to  uphold  and  protect  it. 


1 88  Editorial. 

A  Weak  Point  in  Some  Text-Books. — Many  authors  assume 
that  their  readers  know  more  than  they  (the  readers)  actually 
do,  or  it  may  be  that  the  authors  are  a  little  hazy  themselves. 
The  Critic  and  Guide  dwells  on  this  point,  as  follows : 

"Prescriptions  in  medical  journals  and  ui  text-books  are  looked 
down  upon  by  a  certain  class  of  physicians.  Still  they  are  in- 
dispensable to  the  everyday  general  practitioner.  Suppose  the 
young  doctor  has  a  case  of  chronic  laryngitis  and  looks  up  his 
latest  edition  of  Osier  for  the  treatment.  Here  is  the  entire 
treatment  as  given  by  Osier :  'Among  the  remedies  most  recom- 
mended are  the  solutions  of  Nitrate  of  Silver,  Chlorate  of  Pot- 
ash, Perchloride  of  Zinc  [by  the  way,  there  is  no  such  a  thing  as 
Perchloride  of  Zinc,  there  is  only  a  Chloride  of  Zinc,  Zn  CI2], 
and  Tannic  acid.  Insufflations  of  Bismuth  are  sometimes  use- 
ful.' Now,  kind  sirs,  of  what  benefit  is  such  information  to  any 
physician,  young  or  old?  What  practical  use  can  he  make  of  it? 
Shall  he  use  the  Nitrate  of  Silver  1-10  per  cent,  strong,  or  5  per 
cent,  or  50  per  cent.  ?  Shall  he  use  the  Chloride  of  Zinc  in  1  per 
cent,  solution,  or  shall  he  burn  and  destroy  the  patient's  throat 
with  a  50  per  cent,  solution?  Such  indefinite,  practically  useless, 
information  characterizes  many  of  our  text-books,  and  as  long 
as  this  is  the  case,  there  will  be  a  very  definite  demand  for  clear, 
explicit  statements  and  clear-cut  prescriptions." 

Dr.  Bartlett  has  avoided  this  mistake  in  his  last  book.  Treat- 
ment. 

The  Summer  School  of  Homoeopathy. — Dr.  E.  B.  Nash 
has  favored  the  Recorder  with  the  announcement  of  the  session 
of  his  summer  school  for  1908,  see  page  xv.  Port  Dickinson, 
N.  Y.,  is  a  suburb  of  the  thriving  city  of  Binghamton.  While 
in  mind,  just  drop  a  card  to  Dr.  Nash  for  particulars,  as  this 
summer  school  is  growing,  and  it  is  worth  while  knowing  about 
it,  even  if  unable  to  attend.  Accompanying  the  announcement 
is  the  card  of  the  Corwin  Sanitarium,  devoted  especially  to 
Chronic  Cases.  There  is  no  one  thing  in  modern  medicine  that 
equals  in  importance  what  is  known  as  Homoeopathy,  and  it  is. 
therefore,  rather  desirable  to  get  a  rather  firm  intellectual  grip 
on  it. 

A   Correction. — In   the   reply   to  Dr.   Abbott  published    last 


Editorial  189 

month.,  the  words  were  used,  'These  letters  (H-M-C)  being,  we 
believe,  the  trade-mark  of  Dr.  Abbott's  company."  This  is  an 
error,  writes  a  correspondent,  as  the  letters  are  not  the  general 
trade-mark,  but  stand  for  a  compound  tablet,  consisting  of 
"hyoscine  bromide  1/100  gr.,  Morphine  hydrobromide  ji  gr.,  and 
cactine,"  for  hypodermic  use.  This  may  be  a  very  excellent  tab- 
let, for  all  we  know  to  the  contrary,  but  our  general  contention 
is  that  essentially  the  Abbott  Co.  differs  only  from  Professor 
Munyon  in  the  fact  that  it  advertises  for  physicians'  trade,  while 
the  "Professor"  seeks  the  public's  trade.  Cannot  Dr.  X.,  Y.,  or 
Z.,  compound  drugs,  if  they  must  be  compounded,  quite  as  in- 
telligently as  an  advertising  compounder? 

Colorado  Examining  Board. — The  Colorado  Examining 
Board  is  giving,  or  offering,  the  other  States  what  our  respected 
President,  Roosevelt,  terms  "a  square  deal."  The  examinations 
of  fourteen  States  are  now  good  in  Colorado  and,  reciprocally, 
that  of  Colorado  is  good  in  those  States.  This  is  as  it  should  be. 
Restricting  physicians  to  the  limit  of  one  State  is  un-American, 
and  utterly  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  the  country.  The  spirit  of  the 
country  originally  was  that  the  State  guarantees  every  man  per- 
sonal, civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  tacitly  assumes  that  he,  the 
man.  is  capable  of  minding  his  own  business;  but  now  it  seems 
to  be  assumed  that  the  man  is  a  weakling,  and  the  State  must 
think  for  him  and  regulate  his  life  and  "protect"  him  as  though 
he  were  a  mewling  infant. 

The  First  Conviction. — Mr.  Robert  N.  Harper,  of  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  bank  president.  Chamber  of  Commerce  president,  and 
proprietor  of  "Curforhedake"  and  "Brane-Fude,"  is  the  first  one 
to  be  convicted  for  violating  the  new  Pure  Food  Law.  His  "fude" 
is  ' "misleading"  for  "food"  and  anything  misleading  doesn't  go 
under  the  new  law.  Whether  guilty  or  not  he  deserves  to  be 
fined  for  making  such  fool  abortions  as  "Curforhedake"  and 
"Brane-Fude."  "Uneda  Biscuit"  was  clever  and  took,  but  since 
then  the  world  has  been  sickened  by  its  kind. 

SCHUESSLER  REMEDIES    AND  THE   Io\VA   COURTS. A    Woman    in 

Iowa  has  been  convicted    for    practicing    medicine    without    a 


190  Editorial. 

license.  She  did  not  claim  to  prescribe  medicine,  but  dealt  out,  on 
plates,  "tissue"  food  "prepared  by  a  distinguished  German 
scientist,  Professor  Schuessler,  who  was  alleged  to  have  dis- 
covered that  the  human  system  is  made  up  of  fourteen  different 
elements  of  properties,  and  that  with  a  sufficient  tissue  or  rem- 
edy for  the  building  up  of  these  elements  of  component  parts,  all 
diseases  would  become  curable.  Twelve  of  these  ultimate  ele- 
ments and  their  proper  food  had  been  discovered  by  Professor 
Schuessler,  and  when  the  other  two  had  been  found  'you  simply 
need  never  die.'  '  The  case  was  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court 
and  "conviction  confirmed.'' 

All  very  proper,  but  it  is  a  wide,  open  question  whether  these 
prosecutions  do  not  do  the  medical  profession  far  more  harm 
than  good ;  the  average  man  will  not  care  a  button,  unless  it 
might  be  fleeting  feeling  for  the  woman,  while  those  who  im- 
agined they  were  benefitted  by  the  "foods"  will  get  an  additional 
grouch  against  "the  doctors." 

Bok  After  the  Doctors. — Mr.  Edward  Bok,  needless  to  say, 
of  the  Ladies'  Home  Journal,  has  got  into  the  J.  A.  M.  A.,  and 
this  is  the  way  he  wields  his  good  broad-sword : 

"I  ask  every  intelligent  physician  this  question  :  Suppose  the 
present  tendency  to  investigation  should  turn  itself  on  the  medi- 
cal profession  and  its  methods  ?  What  kind  of  a  revelation  would 
come  to  the  public?  What  would  the  public  think  of  the  scores 
and  hundreds  of  instances  of  densely  ignorant,  unintelligent  and 
criminally  careless  prescription  writing  of  which  the  physicians 
of  to-day  have  been  guilty?" 

Now,  what  is  this  Samson  doing  among  the  J.  A.  M.  A. 
philistines?  So  far  as  can  be  seen  he  is  lambasting  the 
scientific  doctors  who  prescribe  proprietory  and,  therefore,  really 
secret,  medicines  that  are  persona  non  grata  to  the  J.  A.  M.  A. 
and  that  are  not  to  be  found  in  its  advertising  pages.  Probably 
they  couldn't  get  there  if  they  tried,  but'  the  fact  that  they  are 
not  there  remains.  Suppose,  Mr.  Bok,  that  the  "fierce  electric 
search  light"  should  be  turned  on  the  other  crowd  ?  Ugh !  Sup- 
pose the  "fierce  light"  were  to  glare  at  Homoeopathy?  But  then 
it  never  does,  for  it  seems  to  know  that  it  is  not  needed  in  the 
sun-light ;  its  mission  is  to  glare  in  dark  places. 


News  Items.  191 

Bleeding  Oxce  More. — Dr.  H.  I.  Parker  writes  of  a  case 
of  pernicious  influenza  to  which  he  was  called.  His  treatment 
consisted  in  drawing  off  thirty-two  ounces  of  blood  by  venesec- 
tion. Patient  recovered  and  Dr.  Parker  writes  :  '"Do  not  let  the 
horse  get  away,  but  catch  him  on  the  first  dash  and  use  that 
greatest  of  horse  tamers,  the  lancet,  which  has  defied  death  itself 
for  three  thousand  years,  and  under  the  intelligent  use  of  which 
inflammation  and  conditions  of  autointoxication  vanish  like  mist 
before  the  morning  sun."  Reads  queer,  does  it  not?  Oh,  that 
oil  pendulum!  Does  not  the  mere  fact  that  the  pendulum  is 
used  as  a  figure,  tell  that  the  practice  it  typifies  is  at  no  point 


An  Anti-Fat  Fallen  from  Grace. — Some  years  ago  quite 
a  stir  was  made  over  the  simple  treatment  for  fat,  consisting  of 
drinking  Vichy  and  Kessingen  water.  It  was  tried  quite  exten- 
sively. A  correspondent  of  the  Medical  World  writes  that  in  his 
neighborhood  ''One  gentleman  lost  reason  and  life,"  and  a  lady 
lost  "health,  hair  and  complexion"  from  its  use.  If  nature  makes 
one  fat,  better  puff  and  bear  it. 


NEWS  ITEMS. 

The  Charlotte  Medical  Journal  and  the  Carolina  Medi- 
cal Journal  have  been  consolidated  and  will  "retain  the  same 
architectural  features,"  etc.,  as  the  first  named  enjoyed. 

Dr.  X.  M.  Collins,  of  Rochester,  Xew  York,  one  of  the  lead- 
ing surgeons  of  that  city,  sailed  for  Europe  this  month. 

Dr.  D.  H.  Chandler,  of  Cornwall,  Xew  York,  died  in  March,  of 
pneumonia. 

It  is  said  that  Humphrey  (specifics),  Eddy  (Christian  Science), 
and  Abbott  (alkaloid),  were  all  originally  homoeopathic  physi- 
cian-. Aconite  tablets  in  gaudy  trappings  and  with  a  foreign 
title,  would  sweep  the  country.  X"early  all  successful  '"nostrums" 
are  but  simple  remedies  masquerading  under  assumed  titles. 

Prescriptions  for  35.011  quarts  of  whisky  were  filled  in  the 
year  1907,  in  one  town  in  the  "dry"  zone  of  the  South,  according 
to  the  veracious  J.  A.  M.  A. 

Small-pox  prevails  in  nearly  every  State  at  present. 


PERSONAL. 


"Sure  there  isn't  a  Mike  Robe  in  th'  ward,"  said  O'Flynn. 

Many  a  man  who  resigns  is  not  resigned,  but  full  of  fight. 

The  man  who  covertly  sneers  at  his  flag  is  worse  than  he  who  openly 
turns  against  it. 

Detective  Byrnes  says  that  a  born  criminal  cannot  be  reformed.     Well? 

Xo  fellow,  not  even  a  deacon,  strenuously  objects  to  being  called  "a 
devil  of  a  fellow." 

Germany  is  getting  after  doctors  who  write  "strictly  scientific  papers" 
about  a  proprietory  drug  for  pay. 

It  cost  Thaw's  family  $17,694  for  medical  experts  to  prove  that  he 
was  insane.     How  much  will  it  cost  to  prove  that  he  has  recovered? 

Often  a  mathematician  doesn't  count  in  his  own  home. 

An  impecunious  man  in  the  divorce  court  pleaded  he  was  well  off  be- 
fore marriage. 

It  is  now  proposed  to  have  an  examining  board  to  examine  the  ex- 
aminers.    The  professors  who  pass  the  students  would  make  a  good  one. 

The  riddle  of  the  Sphinx — there's  nothing  to  say. 

"A  funny  affinity  must  be  a  mermaid,"  remarked  the  Wise  Young 
Person. 

"How  did  you  come  to  fall  in  the  water?"  "I  didn't  come  to  fall  in,  I 
came  to  fish,"  replied  the  dripping  man. 

"Xo  blowing  of  horns."  whispered  the  usher  to  the  man  who  produced 
his  ear-trumpet  in  church.     "Hey!"  and  then 

Some  finicky  persons  shudder  at  "I  have  to  meet  a  party"  when  "I  have 
to  meet  the  bunch"  wouldn't  faze  them. 

The  frontier  lecturer  dwelt  on  the  beauty  of  cheerfulness  and,  finally 
shouted  at  his  audience  "D n  you,  smile !" 

A  fool,  the  dictionary  man  tells  us,  is  "one  destitute  of  reason,"  i.  c, 
the  fellow  our  reasons  won't  change. 

Wit  is  the  salt  of  humor. 

"Stick  to  it"  is  good  advice  to  a  man, learning  to  ride  a  horse. 

The  "practitioner"  is  passing  and  the  "practician"  taking  his  place. 

Now  the  mosquito  is  held  responsible  for  leprosy.  Lucky  he  doesn't 
buzz  in  grippe  times. 

Pittsburg  doesn't  have  to  have  "smokers." 

A  friend  suggests  that  when  brain  storms  fail,  we  can  advance  to  brain 
blizzards. 

The  big-guns  might  even  have  brain  cyclones. 

Countless  is  the  wealth  of  many  a  count. 

"Don't  bother  to    forgive   your   enemies — just    forget    them." — Charcot. 

The  seasick  man  wants  the  earth. 

When  an  advertiser  "guarantees,"  who  guarantees  him? 

In  bygone  days  they  wrote,  "Let  us  then  be  up  and  doing;"  now  it  is, 
"Get  busy !" 


THE 

Homeopathic  Recorder. 

Vol.  XXIII.         Lancaster,  Pa.,  May,  1908  Nc  5 

THE   BARS  ARE  STILL  UP. 

The  Philadelphia  newspapers  of  April  16th,  modestly  head- 
lined the  fact  that  the  Philadelphia  County  Medical  Society — 
allopathic,  for  want  of  a  descriptive  name — had  admitted  to  mem- 
bership four  graduates  of  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  the 
same  city.  The  reporter  makes  the  following  comment  on  the 
act: 

"This  was  the  first  time  in  the  society's  history  that  disciples  of 
Samuel  Hahnemann  have  been  granted  that  privilege,  and  the 
move  is  regarded  by  physicians  in  general  as  revolutionary  in  the 
professional  relations  between  the  two  schools  of  medicine." 
What  form  this  revolution  is  to  take  the  reporter  does  not  state. 
Dr.  Henry  Beates,  Jr.,  however,  president  of  the  State  Board  of 
Medical  Examiners  (allopathic,  for  want  of  a  more  descriptive 
term)  and  general  spokesman  of  late  for  the  medical  orthodox, 
comments  on  the  ''revolutionary"  event  as  follows  : 

'"This  is  not  letting  down  the  bars.  Xo  homoeopaths  will  be  ad- 
mitted as  such.  We  all  know,  however,  that  a  physician  is  a 
scientific  man,  who  treats  suffering  humanity  in  any  manner  and 
by  the  use  of  any  means  that  genuine  scientific  study  has  proved 
to  be  of  value  for  relief  or  cure.  A  doctor,  therefore,  cannot 
possibly  be  limited  to  any  single  theory,  cannot  be  a  sectarian. 

"We  propose,  then,  to  take  the  stand  that  all  practitioners  of 
the  healing  profession,  from  whatever  school,  may  be  admitted 
to  membership,  so  long  as  they  can  honestly  declare  that  they  are 
governed  by  no  dogma.  This  and  the  proof  that  they  are  thor- 
oughly educated  in  science  of  medicine  as  taught  at  approved 
colleges  are  the  sole  requirements  of  a  technical  sort." 


194  A  Comment  on  Our  Materia  Medica. 

At  the  first  reading  this  appears  to  be  just  what  all  men  of 
sense  are  looking  for,  but  the  oftener  it  is  read  the  clearer  the 
avoidance  of  its  own  sentiments  is  apparent.  Dr.  Beates  and  his 
side  loudly  exclaim  against  "dogma,"  but  they  really  mean  "all 
dogma  that  is  not  our  own." 

Medicine  is  a  peculiar  science,  or  art,  or  whatever  it  may  be 
termed,  in  that  it  cannot,  apparently,  be  formulated  into  a  science. 
Samuel  Hahnemann  tried  to  so  formulate  it,  and  men  who  be- 
lieve in  Homoeopathy  think  he  succeeded.  Science  at  its  root 
means  "knowing,"  with  the  attendant  capacity  of  demonstrating 
that  which  you  know.  In  all  sciences  men  formulate  demon- 
strable truths  which  if  doubted  can  be  proved,  their  formulated 
science  is  not  dubbed  by  that  old  scare-crow  word  (really  used 
only  by  the  narrow  minded)  "dogma  ;"  but  when  it  comes  to  medi- 
cine the  rules  that  apply  to  science  are  useless,  for  if  a  man  of 
medicine  formulates  a  belief,  as  did  Hahnemann,  it  is  not  an 
apothegm  of  science  but  a  "dogma."  Homoeopathy  is  merely 
"dogmatic  assertion,"  they  say.  If  Homoeopathy  is  not  the  science 
in  medicine  of  drug  therapeutics,  then  there  never  can  be  a  science 
in  medicine.  Are  not  the  results  of  every  science  its  true  and  only 
test?  Wherever  and  whenever  true  Homoeopathy  is  put  to  the 
test  of  curing  the  sick — and  is  not  that  the  supreme  test  of  medi- 
cine?— it  gives  results  so  far  superior  to  all  other  medical  methods 
as  to  raise  the  question  as  to  whether  the  other  methods  are  not 
harmful. 

Yet  the  men  who  employ  methods  that  in  results  are  not  com- 
parable to  those  of  Homoeopathy,  and  who  with  no  sense  of 
humor,  dub  their  methods  "scientific"  are  willing  to  receive  the 
homoeopaths  into  fellowship  if  the  latter  will  abjure  their 
"dogma,"  which  is  to  say,  give  up  their  formulated  science.  Is 
not  this  very  requirement  evidence  of  a  pragmatical,  dogmatic 
narrow-mindedness  quite  foreign  to  science?  And  what  is  to  be 
gained  by  association  with  those  who  thus  restrict  mental  free- 
dom?    Nothing. 


A  COMMENT  ON   OUR  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
By  Dr.  Lewis  E.  Rauterberg. 

There  is  no  curable  disorder  in  the  human  body  nor  any  cur- 
able invisible  morbid  change  that  does  not  make  itself  known  as 


A  Comment  on  Our  Materia  Medica.  195 

disease  by  signs  and  symptoms,  and  hence  by  removing  the  entire 
complex  of  perceptible  signs  and  disturbances,  the  disease  itself  is 
canceled.  Therefore,  to  observe  the  totality  of  symptoms  in  each 
individual  case,  can  be  the  only  guide  in  the  selection  of  a  rer  edy. 

This  is  the  teaching  of  Hahnemann. 

This  being:  the  rock  bottom  of  our  doctrine,  and  the  very  back 
bone  of  successful  treatment,  it  does  not  require  very  much  argu- 
ment to  deduce  the  immense  importance  of  the  books  that  teach 
us  the  symptoms — the  deviation  from  the  normal — produced  by 
toxic  doses  of  medicine  upon  the  human  economy.  To  make  our- 
selves familiar  with  the  vast  compilations  of  symptoms  in  our 
materia  medica  is  the  most  important  thing  in  the  life  of  a  ho- 
moeopathic physician.  I  used  often  to  hear  my  reverened  father 
say  that  the  whole  secret  of  success  in  Homoeopathy  lay  in  just 
one  word,  "study:'  There  is  no  way  out  of  it  unless  we  would 
be  frauds  or  failures ;  short  cuts  and  pocket  repertories  won't  do. 
There  must  be  toil  and  sweat  and  labor  and  dogged  perseverance ; 
we  must  know  it  so  well  that  it  is  instinctive;  we  must  be  so 
soaked  with  materia  medica  that  we  can  never  think  without  it. 
Subconsciously  we  must  always  be  carrying  on  a  quiz  class  with 
ourselves.  While  talking,  walking,  while  in  street  cars,  in  society, 
in  business  relations,  that  subconscious  mind  must  be  searching 
every  human  face  and  form  for  tell  tale  clues  and  symptoms,  and 
fastening  the  remedy  upon  them.  Study — that  is  our  watchword. 
Study,  read,  no  matter  how  often  or  how  long,  you  will  always 
find  great  treasures  hidden,  that  will  prove  invaluable  yet ;  it  will 
"come  in  handy"  and  save  life  and  suffering — sometimes  when 
you  least  expect  it.  I  know  it  has  often  been  the  complaint  that 
these  books  are  too  voluminous,  that  they  should  be  simplified 
and  abbreviated.  I  used  myself  to  assert  with  an  arrogance  for 
which  I  now  blush,  that  our  materia  medica  was  much  too  large, 
uselessly  voluminous ;  but  with  riper  years  I  have  reached  the  con- 
clusion, not  that  the  materia  medica  is  too  big.  but  that  our  brains 
are  too  small,  and  our  duty  lies  not  in  shortening  the  book,  but  in 
enlarging  the  brain.  With  the  conceit  of  mediocrity  I  used  to 
fume  over  the  mass  of  unimportant  symptoms  (as  I  called  them) 
and  superfluous  matter  with  which  our  pages  are  cluttered.  I 
asserted  that  they  should  be  weeded  out,  leaving  only  the  vital 
points.  Fool  that  I  was.  Which  of  us  with  our  puny  brains  can 
presume  to  point  out  the  unimportant  symptoms  ! 


196  A  Comment  on  Our  Materia  Medica. 

I  was  recently  shocked  to  hear  a  brother  physician  announce 
that  he  had  stopped  studying  when  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  fifty, 
and  he  thought  everyone  should.  Why,  I  most  modestly  assert, 
that  I  have  studied  more  diligently  and  learned  more  to  appre- 
ciate the  truth  and  depth  and  infinite  value  of  our  materia  medica 
since  I  passed  that  age  than  I  had  in  all  my  preceding  years.  It 
seems  to  me  that  I  find  new  gems  every  day.  Things  that  I  had 
thought  entirely  superfluous  and  trifling  suddenly  assume  a  lustre 
and  value  never  dreamed  of,  and  save  life  and  suffering.  It  fully 
repays  one.  The  haze  clears  away,  a  grasp  upon  the  individuality 
of  the  remedies  is  obtained,  the  provings  are  no  longer  a  dis- 
jointed string  of  independent  symptoms,  but  a  logical  sequence, 
with  a  connecting  thread  through  the  whole.  I  remember  when 
my  sole  use  for  Antimonium  crudum  was  for  an  overloaded 
stomach  with  nausea  and  white  tongue.  Occasionally  I  gave  it 
for  rheumatism  when  the  symptoms  seemed  to  tally,  but  fre- 
quently without  success.  We  all  have  our  pet  remedies.  Anti- 
monium crudum  was  no  pet  of  mine.  I  saw  no  connection  be- 
tween the  symptoms.  I  did  not  see  why  sometimes  it  cured  the 
rheumatic  and  sometimes  it  didn't.  My  head  was  gray  before  I 
perceived  the  wonderful  thread  upon  which  each  of  her  symp- 
toms is  so  plainly  strung.  That  thread  is  intestinal  auto-intoxica- 
tion, and  the  haemorrhoids  and  the  rheumatism,  the  gout  and  the 
callous  skin  and  the  snarling  temper  are  all  dependent  upon  and 
secondary  to  a  sluggish,  overworked  intestinal  tract,  and  they  can 
only  be  cured  by  working  back  to  this  starting  point.  And  the 
only  form  of  gout  or  rheumatism  which  it  zvill  cure  is  that  which 
results  from  this  auto-intoxication. 

With  shame  I  recall  the  time  when  Aurum  metallicum  was  to 
me  a  great  remedy  for  melancholia  and  suicidal  mania,  useful  also 
in  some  forms  of  syphilis  and  mercurialization.  "And  it  was 
nothing  more."  But  a  daily  pegging  away  at  the  old  materia 
medica  taught  me  what  a  fool  /  was  and  how  stupendous  was  the 
brain  of  Samuel  Hahnemann.  I  gradually  began  to  see  zvhy  he 
mentions  Gold  as  a  remedy  for  barren  women  with  indurated  and 
prolapsed  wombs ;  why  it  cures  pining,  undeveloped  boys  ;  why 
bone  exostoses,  rheumatic  metastasis  to  the  heart,  sclerosis  and 
dropsy.  It  is  because  Gold  ends  the  blood  thundering  through  the 
body,  forcing  it  through  withered  and  forgotten  capillaries,  gath- 


A  Comment  on  Our  Materia  Medica.  197 

ering  up  waste  and  distributing  life  to  the  dying  tissue.  It  elimi- 
nates, it  absorbs,  and  it  feeds,  that  is,  it  forces  the  blood  to  do  it. 
And  so  on  with  numerous  remedies,  I  could  tell  you  how  they  un- 
folded themselves  to  me. 

While  speaking  of  Aurnm,  I  will  relate  several  cases  which  will 
illustrate  the  value  of  its  so-called  unimportant  symptoms.  A 
boy  of  thirteen,  becoming  overheated  while  roller  skating,  sat 
down  on  the  curbstone  to  cool  off.  A  severe  cold  resulted  with 
general  aching ;  next,  rheumatism  of  knees  and  ankles  developed, 
worse  on  motion.  Next  day  it  had  left  the  legs  and  attacked  the 
shoulders  and  arms.  From  that  point  it  flew  back  to  the  feet, 
which  began  to  swell.  He  had  received  Bryonia,  Lachnantes, 
Ledum,  etc.,  according  to  the  symptoms,  but  at  this  point  I  was 
myself  confined  to  my  home  for  some  days  and  had  to  rely  upon 
the  reports  of  his  parents,  which  were  vague  and  indefinite.  They 
now  reported  that  while  the  feet  continued  to  swell,  the  rheuma- 
tism was  gone,  but  that  now  he  had  pain  in  his  chest,  it  hurt  him 
to  breathe,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  take  a  long  breath.  I  gave 
Bryonia,  then  Cimicifnga,  upon  their  representation  without  good 
results ;  the  boy  grew  worse.  On  the  sixth  day  the  mother  re- 
ported that  the  boy  was  so  weak  that  he  could  scarcely  speak.  I 
cross-questioned  her  very  closely,  among  other  things  asked, 
"Lying  upon  which  side  was  the  pain  worse?" 

"Oh,"  exclaimed  the  poor,  stupid  woman,  "I  forgot 'to  tell  you, 
he  can't  lie  down  at  all,  he  hasn't  lain  down  for  five  nights.  We 
have  him  in  a  Morris  chair,  he  sits  bent  forward  all  night  with 
his  head  resting  in  a  chin  strap  made  of  towTels."  A  light  broke 
upon  me.  Then  I  knew  it  was  no  pleurisy  I  had  to  deal  with,  but 
rheumatism  of  the  heart.  I  hastened  to  his  home.  As  I  entered 
the  room  I  was  shocked  at  the  pitiful  change  in  the  child  since  I 
had  seen  him  six  days  before.  The  labored  gasps  for  breath  could 
be  heard  outside  the  door,  the  little  figure  sat  bent  forward  in  the 
Morris  chair,  face  blue,  sunken,  cyanotic,  feet  and  ankles  swollen 
as  big  as  watermelons ;  but  the  thing  that  struck  me  most  as  I  en- 
tered was  the  terrific,  visible  throbbing  of  the  carotids,  which 
could  be  seen  across  the  room.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  I 
could  examine  his  heart ;  he  could  not  endure  the  least  touch,  and 
at  each  attempt  gasped,  "Oh,  doctor,  give  me  time ;  give  me  a  little 
more  time."   I  finally  made  out  a  muffled,  tumultuous  heart  sound, 


198  A  Comment  on  Our  Materia  Medica. 

as  if  beating  under  water.  The  fever  was  103,  yet  there  was  a 
good  deal  of  perspiration,  urine  very  scant,  no  thirst,  no  appetite. 
He  had  only  slept  short  naps  for  many  nights.  He  could  scarcely 
speak  audibly.  I  feared  the  boy  was  dying.  There  was  a  time 
when  I  would  have  treated  the  heart  symptoms  with  Aconite  or 
Kalmia  and  the  dropsy  with  Apocynum  and  what  not.  and  so 
zigzagged  a  slow  cure  or  a  speedy  death.  But  fortunately  I  knew 
better  now.  I  knew  that  everv  one  of  these  symptoms  are  sum- 
med up  under  one  remedy,  and  that  is  Aurum,  and  it  is  the  only 
remedy  which  covers  every  point  exactly.  I  gave  Aurnm  iox. 
Dose  to  be  given  every  three  hours.  I  never  saw  a  more  brilliant 
cure.  The  first  dose  was  at  7  p.  m.  I  requested  that  they  'phone 
me  at  11  p.  M.  that  night.  At  eleven  the  message  came,  "Louis  is 
in  a  drenching  perspiration,  he  has  urinated  immense  quantities, 
and  his  breathing  is  less  labored."  At  eight  o'clock  next  morn- 
ing they  'phoned  that  he  had  slept  peacefully  most  of  the  night, 
though  still  in  his  upright  position  with  chin  straps.  That  night 
he  could  recline  in  the  chair,  and  the  next  he  could  lie  down  in 
bed.  The  urine  continued  in  unbelievable  quantities,  the  per- 
spiration rained  from  him,  and  the  swelling  promptly  disappear- 
ed. You  see  what  a  profound  eliminant  gold  is  when  homceo- 
pathically  indicated.  The  lad  made  a  rapid  and  complete  re- 
covery with  no  other  medication.  He  received  it  first  in  the  iox. 
then  I  rose  to  the  30th,  and  then  to  the  200th.  on  which  I  kept  him 
until  the  poor  damaged  little  heart  was  quite  normal  again. 

You  will  recall  that  every  one  of  the  above  symptoms  are  re- 
corded by  Hering  and  Hahnemann  in  these  words : 

"Rheumatism  which  jumps  from  joint  to  joint  and  finally  fast- 
ens upon  the  heart. 

"Impossible  to  lie  down.    Must  sit  up  bent  forward. 

"Visible  throbbing  of  the  carotids. 

"Face  cyanotic.  Gasps  for  breath.  Can  hardly  speak  above  a 
whisper. 

"Much  perspiration,  as  in  auric  fever. 

"Swelling  of  feet  and  limbs." 

Does  not  that  picture  the  little  boy  I  have  just  described"  An- 
other case  yet  which  proved  to  me  how  important  are  all  the 
unimportant  symptoms  of  this  and  all  remedies.  A  lady  brought 
her  little  son  aged  ten  to  me.     The  child  was  not  sick,  but  some- 


A  Comment  on  Our  Materia  Medica.  199 

thing  was  wrong-.  He  cried  if  spoken  to,  he  moped,  he  was  cross, 
tired.  He  didn't  care  to  romp  or  play  or  even  fight.  He  could 
not  learn  his  lessons.  He  could  not  remember  anything.  He  was 
a  sulky,  listless,  bloodless  looking  little  chap.  He  had  been  dosed 
bv  other  physicians  for  malaria  and  anaemia.  At  first  I  sus- 
pected some  vice,  but,  upon  closer  examination,  decided  that  the 
reason  of  his  lack  of  manly  spirit  and  energy  was  because  his 
manly  body  was  not  developed  properly.  One  powder  of  Aurum 
worked  a  miracle.  It  made  a  new  boy  of  him.  That  was  a  year 
ago.  and  his  mother  says  he  has  been  a  different  boy  ever  since. 
It  humbled  me  to  remember  that  I  used  to  regard  the  paragraph 
on  "pining  boys''  under  Aurum  as  superfluous  and  useless,  and  I 
would  gladly  have  stricken  it  from  the  pages.  It  took  many  years 
for  me  to  grasp  the  scope  of  Aurum  in  not  only  rejuvenating  dead 
and  worn  out  tissue,  but  also  in  building  up  the  starved  and  1111  le- 
veloped. 

I  have  heard  men  assert  that  they  only  aspired  to  master  the 
broad  lines  of  a  remedy  and  let  the  details  go.  I  earnestly  assure 
you  that,  important  as  the  broad  lines  are.  this  is  not  enough.  A 
wide,  thorough  understanding  of  the  disposition  and  meaning  of 
a  remedy  is  not  enough.  We  must  possess  an  infinite  knowledge 
of  detail  and  the  finest  shades  of  difference  between  remedies.  It 
is  a  Herculean  labor  and  a  never  ending  one.  Constantine  Hering 
once  said  to  me:  "It  is  impossible  for  any  brain  to  remember  it  all. 
but  it  is  astonishing  how  elastic  our  brains  can  become  by  per- 
sistent effort." 

I  was  not  long  ago  impressed  by  the  value  of  a  knowledge  of 
detail.  A  certain  lawyer  of  this  city  was  taken  ill  while  at  At- 
lantic City  with  a  violent  cold  followed  by  abscesses  in  both  ears. 
He  suffered  agonies  and  slept  only  under  morphia.  A  violent 
chill  and  high  fever  indicated  the  formation  of  pus.  As  the  at- 
tending physicians  could  afford  him  no  relief,  he  insisted  upon 
returning  to  Washington.  The  physicians  protested,  but  being 
headstrong  and  impatient  he  could  not  be  controlled,  and  with 
fever  of  1030  he  arrived,  and  I  was  sent  for.  I  found  him  suffer- 
ing terribly.  The  drum  of  one  ear  had  ruptured,  and  it  was  dis- 
charging freely.  The  condition  of  the  other  ear  was  grave. 
Friends  were  clamoring  for  mastoid  incision,  and  the  patient  was 
besides  himself  with  agony.  T  recognized  that  the  Eustachian  tube 


200  A  Comment  on  Our  Materia  Mcdica. 

was  closed,  so  that  it  could  not  discharge  through  that  avenue. 
According  to  the  allopathic  practice,  I  suppose,  I  should  have 
punctured  the  drum  and  drawn  of!  the  pus,  lest  it  should  back 
water  into  the  mastoid  process,  causing  graver  complications. 
But  I  know  old  Hahneniannn  could  do  better  than  that.  As  there 
was  oily  perspiration  in  spite  of  the  fever  and  worse  towards  night, 
it  was  clearly  a  Mere.  case.  I  gave  Mere,  vivus,  confident  of 
success.  After  ten  hours  the  patient  was  not  one  whit  better.  It 
was  surely  a  Mere,  case  I  knew.  And  yet,  which  preparation  or 
combination  of  Merc.?  Ah,  there  is  the  rub !  Of  our  eight  prep- 
arations of  Mere.,  all  so  closely  related  and  similar  in  general 
outline,  which  was  the  key  that  would  fit  this  lock  exactly?  Here 
a  knowledge  of  detail  was  imperative.  In  a  flash  I  remembered 
that  Farrington  mentions  in  an  unobtrusive  little  footnote  that 
where  there  is  closure  of  the  tube,  Merc,  dulcis.  is  preferrable. 
Rejoicing  that  this  detail,  this  mere  crumb  of  materia  medica  had 
been  stored  up,  I  gave  Merc,  dulcis  3X.  Imagine  my  delight 
when  at  nine  o'clock  next  morning,  his  wife  burst  into  the  office 
exclaiming  that  the  medicine  had  worked  a  miracle  with  the  first 
dose.  He  had  slept  all  night  and  had  no  pain.  Merc,  dulcis  was 
the  key  that  fitted  the  lock,  you  see.  It  opened  the  Eustachian 
tube,  the  abscess  discharged  through  that  avenue  and  all  went 
well.  Mere,  dulcis  was  continued  for  two  days.  After  that  the 
hissing  in  the  perforated  ear  and  the  continued  discharge  seemed 
to  call  for  Silicea,  but  as  Sil.  must  never  follow  directly  upon 
Merc.,  I  interposed  Bella,  for  one  day  for  an  erratic  neuralgia  and 
then  Silica  completed  a  prompt  and  perfect  cure. 

There  is  yet  another  phase  of  study  necessary  for  the  homoce- 
path,  a  study  not  often  found  in  books.  It  is  not  only  necessary 
to  have  a  broad,  comprehensive  insight  into  the  general  nature 
of  a  remedy,  and  a  complete  mastery  of  detail,  but  to  be  able  to 
recognize  the  symptoms  in  the  patient.  As  we  are  all  painfully 
aware,  patients  do  not  always  relate  their  symptoms  in  the  words 
of  the  book,  and  it  is  surely  a  study  and  an  art  to  be  able  to 
recognize  and  translate  them  into  the  language  of  the  materia 
medica.  Here  is  a  clinical  example  of  this  point.  A  young  man 
of  thirty  was  brought  to  me  afflicted  with  epilepsy  of  eight  years' 
standing.  The  attacks  were  frequent  and  of  frightful  severity. 
He  looked  almost  imbecile.     He  was  florid  and  scrofulous.     He 


A  Comment  on  Our  Materia  Medica.  201 

knew  of  nothing  that  aggravated  or  ameliorated  the  attacks.  He 
could  name  no  time  or  circumstance  that  influenced  the  fit.  They 
seized  him  at  random.  The  only  thing  that  he  could  tell  was  that 
he  heard  voices  calling  him,  calling,  calling.  He  felt  that  he 
must  get  to  them,  he  must  break  away,  he  must  struggle  to  reach 
those  calling  voices  ;  and  then  and  there  he  fell  in  the  fit,  scream- 
ing, struggling  and  biting.  As  you  know,  the  books  say  that  the 
Stramonium  epilepetic  hears  voices  calling  him.  So  Stramonium 
was  given.  Well,  it  had  no  effect  whatever.  Then  I  sat  down  to 
think  and  to  translate  his  symptoms.  I  reasoned  thus  :  The  promi- 
nent symptom  of  Bella,  is  a  desire  to  escape,  to  get  out  or  away 
from  where  they  are,  to  get  from  under  an  oppressing  load,  to 
escape  from  something  that  holds  to  something  else.  Again, 
under  Bella,  we  read  yet,  "illusions  of  sight  and  hearing."  Might 
not  this  epileptic's  illusion  of  hearing  and  struggle  to  escape  to 
the  voice  be  translated  into  Bella.  Remembering  that  florid  face 
settled  it.  I  gave  him  several  powders  of  Bella.  30,  and  he  has 
never  had  another  fit  since,  and  that  was  two  years  ago. 

In  conclusion,  I  want  to  call  attention  to  the  importance  of  a 
careful  selection  of  the  books  we  study,  remembering  that  while 
many  lightweights  rush  into  print,  it  takes  an  intellectual  giant 
to  be  a  reliable  authority  upon  this  immense  subject.  If  we  will 
cling  fast  to  Hahnemann  and  Hering.  Von  Bcenninghausen  and 
Jahr,  both  the  Aliens,  the  brilliant  Burnett  and  good  old  man 
Nash,  we  will  have  selected  books  worthy  of  our  reliance.  If 
we  live  with  them  intimately  we  can  not  help  but  catch  some  of 
their  glory.  Let  us  stick  to  the  highest  type  of  old  true  Homoeop- 
athy. Remember  that  the  really  great  men  of  Homoeopathy  have 
invariably  been  the  strictest  Hahnemannian  homoeopaths.  I 
would  not  for  a  moment  have  you  think,  however,  that  because  I 
advocate  the  old  Hahnemannian  Homoeopathy,  that  I  mean  noth- 
ing modern  is  worth  while.  That  would  be  unworthy  of  any  in- 
telligent physician.  Do  not  mistake  me,  I  am  warning  against  dis- 
carding old  splendors  for  new  trash.  While  I  consider  Hahne- 
mann and  Hering  as  the  very  backbone  of  our  literature,  we  find 
in  lesser  degree  modern  masters,  too.  These  have  perfected  a 
large  array  of  nosodes  and  added  them  to  our  splendid  equip- 
ment. Bacillinum,  Medorrhinum,  Syphilinum,  Variolinum  and  all 
the  other  inums,  with  the  exception  of  Psorinum,  represent  their 


202  Medical  High  Finance. 

work.  I  cannot  imagine  what  I  would  do  without  Bacillinum  now- 
adays, in  tuberculosis,  or  without  Pyrogenium  in  septic  fevers. 
And  in  passing,  permit  me  to  remark  that  of  this  last  I  have  seen 
the  most  brilliant  results  where  physicians  and  surgeons  pro- 
nounced cases  doomed.  I  fear  this  wonderful  remedy  introduced 
by  Burnett  has  been  sadly  neglected,  judging  by  the  number  of 
septic  cases  where  I  have  found  the  patient  being  dosed  to  death 
with  Fowler's  solution,  quinine  and  the  like,  where  Pyrogenium 
cured.  Stop  and  think  what  it  is.  Rotten  meat.  Could  anything 
be  more  homoeopathic  to  aseptic  or  puerperal  fever,  or  any  con- 
dition where  decayed  animal  matter  has  been  absorbed?  We 
owe  debts  of  gratitude  to  Burnett  for  his  introduction  of  it,  and 
H.  C.  Allen  for  his  admirable  proving. 

Thus  from  time  to  time  there  arise  such  great  men  who  can  add 
another  bit  to  the  great  work  of  Hahnemann,  but  not  one  who  has 
yet  been  able  to  detract  from  it. 

For  myself,  through  a  long  life,  while  I  have  gathered  useful 
hints  from  many  writers,  I  invariably  find  I  am  at  my  best  when 
I  am  following  most  closely  in  the  steps  of  the  master,  Hahne- 
mann. 

The  Farragut,  Washington,  D.  C. 


MEDICAL  "HIGH    FINANCE." 

The  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association  and  the 
American  Journal  of  Clinical  Medicine  (Abbott  Co.)  have  been 
waging  a  feud  for  some  time  past.  In  its  issue  of  March  14th  the 
former  turns  loose  on  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company  under  the 
rather  grave  heading,  "Modern  High  Finance  and  Methods  of 
Working  the  Medical  Profession." 

The  charges  may  be  summarized  as  follows,  from  the  columns 
of  the  Journal: 

That  many  of  the  alkaloids  and  active  principles  of  drugs  ex- 
ploited by  the  company  are  nothing  but  "typical  nostrums." 

That  the  journal  is  published  for  "the  exploitation  of  the  vari- 
ous products  of  the  company." 

That  during  the  year  1907  Dr.  Abbott  wrote  forty-eight  papers 
that  were  published  in  various  medical  journals,  which  papers 
were  chiefly  devoted  to  the  products  he  has  for  sale. 


Medical  High  Finance.  203 

That  there  are  a  corps  of  doctors  who  write  for  the  company, 
and  who  are  "afflicted  with  the  testimonial  habit  :"  one  of  them  in 
a  vear  contributed  thirteen  "original"  papers  devoted  to  thirteen 
different  proprietory  preparations,  but  now  writes  solely  of  the 
Abbott  proprietories.  In  short,  these  men  have  flooded  the  medi- 
cal journals  with  pseudo-scientific  "original"  articles  which  were 
"clearly  advertising  matter." 

That  the  company  issues  "bonds"  to  physicians  (it  is  estimated 
that  $125,000  have  been  sold  to  the  doctors),  which  makes  them 
really  profit  sharers,  yet  these  bonds  are  "simply  unsecured  notes, 
nothing  more." 

That  the  real  estate  of  the  company  is  mortgaged  to  Dr.  Abbott 
for  $30,000. 

That  the  Ravenswood  Bank  is  now  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver; 
its  president  is  secretary  of  the  Alkaloid  Co. ;  its  vice-president  is 
Dr.  \Y.  C.  Abbott,  and  Dr.  W.  F.  YVaugh  is  a  director.  The 
bank  owes  its  depositors  "over  $400,000."  The  Abbott  Com- 
pany (Chicago  Tribune)  owed  the  bank  $100,000  on  personal 
notes  of  $100  or  thereabouts  held  by  1,000  physicians  throughout 
the  country."  These  notes  are  the  "guaranteed  participating  co- 
operative bonds." 

That  the  Abbott  Company  is  now  offering  preferred  stock 
"guaranteed"  to  pay  the  doctor  7  per  cent. 

Incidentally,  it  is  noted  that  Dr.  Abbott  is,  or  was,  actively  in- 
terested in  selling  the  stock  of  a  silver  mine  to  physicians. 

The  foregoing  is  a  bald  outline  of  over  ten  columns,  in  fine 
type,  devoted  to  the  matter  by  the  /.  A.  M.  A. 

It  is  said  that  France  is  one  of  the  richest,  or  the  richest,  nation 
in  the  world.  The  Frenchman  puts  his  surplus  money  into  securi- 
ties that  are  safe.  If  the  doctors  of  the  United  States  were  in  the 
future  to  follow  the  example  and  put  their  surplus  into  safe 
stocks,  bonds  or  mortgages,  and  cease  chasing  the  get-big-returns 
bubble,  it  would  be  but  a  few  years  until  collectively  they  would 
be  a  wealthy  body  of  men.  Do  not  kok  for  big  returns.  A 
thousand  dollars  safely  put  will  return  from  forty  to  fifty  dollars 
a  year,  and  can  lie  turned  into  cash  at  will.  Tt  is  not  much,  but 
each  year  it  will  be  easier  to  increase  the  safe  investment  until  the 
aggregate  will  constitute  sufficient  to  retire  on.  But  so  long  as 
the  doctor  rises  to  the  bait  of  silver,  gold,  copper  or  other  mines. 


204  Boldo  and  Boldine. 

or  oil  stock  or  other  schemes  that  the  promotors  assure  him  will 
"conservatively"  earn  10  per  cent,  and  "probably  will  pay"  30,  40 
or  100  per  cent.,  so  long  will  the  doctor  and  his  surplus  be  easily 
parted. 

The  very  worst  investment  a  doctor  can  make  is  in  the  stock  or 
securities  of  a  pharmaceutical  concern;  and  this  is  true  even 
though  the  concern  should  prove  to  be  successful,  which  it  nearly 
always  doesn't.  Let  it  be  whispered  in  a  community  where  a 
detrimental  word  spreads  like  a  drop  of  indigo  in  water:  "Yes, 
Doctor  X  is  financially  interested  in  the  company  whose  medi- 
cines he  gives  his  patient,"  and  a  subtle  blight  has  touched  that 
doctor.  It  is  an  unjust  and  unmerited  insinuation;  the  fact  of  the 
securities  owned  may  not  swerve  the  doctor  a  hair's  breadth  from 
his  duty  to  his  patients,  but  until  human  nature  changes  it  will 
insiduously  work  detrimentally  to  a  physician. 

This  is  not  written  with  a  view  to  what  is  past — that  speaks 
for  itself — but  with  reference  to  the  future.  Turn  your  backs  on 
the  promising  baits,  and  put  your  money  wrhere  it  is  safe,  where  it 
will  pay  you  an  assured  income,  and  in  securities  that  can  be 
turned  into  cash  whenever  wanted.  The  writer  is  not  theoriz- 
ing, but  can  look  back  on  money  that  had  it  been  invested  as  out- 
lined would  have  been  a  comfortable  competence,  but  to-day  is 
worth — nothing,  literally  not  one  red  cent.  Where  did  it  go? 
Oh,  in  iridescent  mines,  oleaginous  "wells,"  glittering  "com- 
panies," in  business  enterprises  managed  by  others,  in  all  sorts  of 
ways.    The  one  certain  thing  is  that  the  money  "went." 

All  this  is  somewhat  out  of  the  Recorder's  path,  but  it  is  an 
honest  effort  to  warn  physicians  against  the  anglers  that  are  ever 
fishing  for  their  surplus,  and  if  it  prevents  any  reader  from  mak- 
ing a — from  making  a  bad  investment  it  will  not  have  been 
written  in  vain. 


BOLDO   AND   BOLDINE. 

By  Dr.  Eduardo  Fornias. 

Pharmacologv. — The  Chilian  shrub  Boldo  is  the  Pen  inns 
Boldus  of  Molina  (1782);  Penmns  fragrans,  Pers ;  Boldca 
fra  grans,  C.  Gay,  also  Juss. ;  Ruizia  fragrans,  Ruiz  and  Pa  von. — 
(see    Bentley    and    Trimen,    Medicinal    Plants,    217.) — Synon.: 


Boldo  and  Boldine.  205 

Laurel  de  Chili;  Laurelia  aromatica.  Sp. — Nat.  ord.  Monimiaceoe. 
— Note:  There  seems  to  exist  some  dissent  about  the  botanical 
classification  of  Boldo,  for  while  the  majority  consider  the  plant 
the  Peumus  Boldns  of  Molina,  a  few  regard  it  a  tetranthera  (four 
anthers),  Jacq. ;  of  the  Xat.  ord.  Lauracccc. 

The  Boldo  leaves,  which  are  the  parts  chiefly  used  in  medicine, 
are  opposite,  on  short  pistils,  coreaceous,  about  2  inches  (5  cm.) 
long,  broadly  oval  or  oval-oblong,  very  obtuse  at  the  apex,  entire  or 
somewhat  undulate  on  the  margin,  with  numerous  glands  upon 
their  surfaces,  rough  on  both  sides,  glossy  above,  and  pale  and 
hairy  beneath.  When  dry  they  are  reddish-brown,  fragrant,  and 
of  a  refreshing  aromatic  pungent  taste.  The  bark  is  usually  em- 
ployed in  tanning  and  to  perfume  wine  casks  ;  the  zvood  is  es- 
teemed for  charcoal  making,  and  the  seeds  are  said  to  be  eaten  by 
the  Chilians. 

It  is  in  the  intercellular  spaces  of  the  leaves  that  a  large  amount 
of  an  aromatic  volatile  oil  has  been  found,  and  it  was  Claude 
Yerne  (1875)  who  first  obtained  from  them  about  2  per  cent,  of 
this  oil.  Boldo  leaves  also  contain  about  10  per  cent,  of  an  alka- 
loid called  Boldixe.  discovered  by  Bourgoin  and  Yerne  (1873), 
and  which  on  account  of  its  toxic  effects  should  be  employed  with 
caution.  It  imparts  to  water  a  bitter  taste,  and  is  soluble  in  alco- 
hol, ether,  chloroform,  etc.  It  is  an  hypnotic  and  local  ancesthetic, 
whose  dose  is  2-4  grs.  (0.133-0.266).  [More  recently  Chapoteaut 
found  the  glucosid  Boldoglucix*  (C30H52Os),  which  is  also 
hypnotic  and  narcotic,  and  it  has  been  given  in  capsules  in  doses 
of  20-60  gr. 

Yerne  was  the  first  to  propose  a  tixxture  of  Boldo.  made  with 
20  parts  of  the  leaves  and  100  parts  of  60  per  cent,  alcohol.  There 
is  also  a  wine  made  with  3  parts  of  the  leaves  and  100  of  Madeira, 
as  well  as  an  aqueous  and  an  alcoholic  extract  of  Boldo,  the  latter 
prepared  by  evaporating  the  tincture.  The  mother  tincture,  pre- 
pared according  to  our  methods,  can  be  obtained  at  Boericke  & 
Tafel's  pharmacies. 

Physiological   Action. 

1)  Boldo  seems  to  owe  its  properties  to  its  alkaloid  Boldine, 
and  like  ginger,  cardamons  and  mint  is  an  aromatic  stimulant. 
Like  all  plants  which  contain  an  essential  oil.  Boldo  in  moderate 


206  Boldo  and  Boldine. 

doses  is  an  active  stimulant  of  the  nervous  and  circulatory  sys- 
tems. (Stille.) 
2)  Boldo,  and  chiefly  Boldoglucin,  in  moderate  doses  excite 
the  biliary  function  and  provoke  sleep.  At  a  very  high  dose 
Boldo  becomes  toxic,  producing  burning  in  the  stomach,  vomit- 
ing, purging,  etc.     (Martin.) 

3)  Fifteen  grains  of  the  extract  of  Boldo  dissolved  in  14  cm. 
of  alcohol,  were  injected  into  a  dog,  and  the  dose  renewed  at  the 
end  of  an  hour,  when  the  animal  could  not  stand  on  his  legs  and 
was  sleepy,  and  his  temperature  had  fallen  a  degree  or  two. 
(Early  theoretical  critics  claimed  that  these  effects  were,  in  a 
great  measure,  due  to  the  alcohol,  but  this  opinion  is  not  supported 
by  later  researches.  We  know  to-day  that  the  alkaloid  Boldine 
is  an  hypnotic  and  local  anccsthctic,  similar  to  Cocain,  and  that 
even  the  glucoid  Boldoglucin  has  hypnotic  and  narcotic  proper- 
ties.) 

4)  Among  the  symptoms  following  the  administration  of  the 
volatile  oil  to  a  large  dog,  none  referable  to  the  nervous  system 
were  observed,  but  the  urine  acquired  a  strong  smell,  the  stomach 
was  disturbed  by  vomiting,  and  the  bowels  affected  wih  diar- 
rhoea.    (Stille  and  Maisch.) 

5)  In  man  even  the  tincture  is  represented  by  some,  as  not  to 
have  produced  cerebral  or  spinal  phenomena  (a  perverted  state- 
ment), but  only  a  glow  in  the  mouth,  fauces  and  stomach,  and 
some  quickening  of  the  pulse.  It  is  also  claimed  that  in  the  dose 
of  30  or  40  eg.  of  the  oil,  in  capsules,  only  some  burning  at  the 
epigastrium,  nausea  and  eructations  were  produced,  which,  as  well 
as  the  smell  of  the  urine,  lasted  for  not  less  than  twelve  hours.  In 
still  larger  doses  only  a  higher  degree  occurred  of  the  same  phe- 
nomena, with  the  addition  of  diarrhoea. 

6)  Experiments  upon  himself  by  Verne  (1882)  showed  that 
Boldo  affects  neither  the  circulation,  the  temperature,  nor  the 
secretion  of  the  urine,  but  that  it  augments  the  discharge  of  urea. 
(Bull,  de  thcr.,  CII,  286.)  There  we  have  a  clear  evidence  of  the 
influence  of  Boldo  on  hepatic  metabolism. 

7)  More  recent  investigations  place  Boldo  not  only  among  the 
totiics,  but  among  the  antirheumatics  and  antifcbriles. 

8)  According  to  Pascaletti  (Therapia  Moderna,  1891)  Bold- 
ine when  injected  hypodermically  paralyzes  both  the  motor  and 


Boldo  and  Boldinc.  207 

sensory  nerves,  and  .also  attacks  the  muscle  fibre.  As  a  local 
anaesthetic  he  believes  it  superior  to  Caffeine,  but  inferior  to 
Cocaine.  When  given  internally  in  toxic  doses  it  produces  great 
excitement,  zmth  exaggeration  of  the  reflexes  and  of  the  respira- 
tory movements,  increased  diuresis,  cramps,  disorder  of  co-ordina- 
tion, convulsions,  and  finally  death  from  centric  respiratory  pa- 
ralysis, the  heart  continuing  to  beat  long  after  the  arrest  of  res- 
piration, and  finally  stopping  in  diastole. 

9)  Boldoglucin  acts  on  the  lower  animals  as  a  narcotic.  Fif- 
teen drops  of  the  oil  cause  in  man  some  warmth  in  the  epigas- 
trium; in  half  a  drachm  doses,  much  gastric  irritation,  with  pain 
and  vomiting,  and  the  passage  of  the  urine  smelling  strongly  of 
the  oil.  Larger  doses  than  5  drops  of  the  tincture  are  apt  to 
vomit  and  purge.     (Wood.) 

10)  All  the  clinical  researches  and  physiological  experiments 
made,  says  Houde,  agree  as  to  the  influence  of  Boldine  on  the 
liver  and  on  hepatic  affections.  All  its  therapeutic  activity  is  con- 
centrated on  this  organ. 

A  careful  analysis  of  the  above  observations  readily  show  that 
Boldo  and  its  derivatives  act  with  energy,  not  only  on  digestive 
and  hepatic  metabolism,  but  on  the  motor  and  sensory  nerves  and 
the  brain. 

Therapeutics. — Much  of  the  knowledge  I  have  of  Boldo  to- 
day I  owe  it  to  my  friend.  Dr.  Saaverio,  of  Havana,  who,  besides 
supplying  me  with  sufficient  and  valuable  data,  informs  me  that 
in  Chile,  vulgar  therapeutics  employs  both  the  bark  and  leaves 
against  rheumatism  and  dropsy. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  Boldo  acts  favorable  upon 
hepatic  congestion,  especially  when  attended  with  painful  phe- 
nomena, and  it  is  claimed  that  it  has  been  afficacious  in  hepatic 
colic.  The  enthusiasm  of  some  goes  so  far  as  to  declare  it  a 
wonderful  agent  to  combat  diseases  of  the  liver,  particularly 
ascites  due  to  atrophy.  Moreover,  our  opponents  assert  that 
Boldo  has  proved  serviceable  not  only  as  a  tonic  but  as  an  atiti- 
rheumatic  and  antifebrile.  Boldine  as  an  hypnotic  and  local  an- 
esthetic. Boldoglucin  as  a  narcotic  and  hypnotic.  The  bark 
has  also  been  used  for  the  cure  of  dysentery.  The  oil  for  gonor- 
rhoea and  chronic  cystitis. 

From  the  current  literature  on  Boldo  we  still  take  additional 


208  Boldo  and  Boldinc. 

commendations.  This  remedy  has  been  recommended  in  alcoholic 
and  vinous  solution  for  ancemia,  dyspepsia  and  general  debility, 
and  the  oil  has  been  proposed  for  the  relief  of  catarrh,  especially 
of  the  urinogenital  organs.  (Stille.)  Dujardin  Beaumetz  rec- 
commends  Boldo  as  a  stimulant  tonic  and  in  affections  of  the 
liver;  he  found  the  oil,  in  5  drop  doses,  a  useful  remedy  in  genito- 
urinary inflammations.  (Bull.  gen.  de  Therap.,  1875.)  Accord- 
ing to  Chernoviz  Boldo  (boldea  fragrans)  has  been  extolled 
against  blenorrhcca  and  liver  troubles.  The  same  authority  rec- 
commends  the  alcoholic  tincture  of  Boldine  for  dyspepsia  and 
chloroancemia,  and  during  the  convalescence  of  serious  fevers. 
He  also  refers  to  the  good  effects  obtained  with  Boldo  in  acute 
and  chronic  cystitis.  (Guia  Medica,  4th  Edit.)  Potter  states 
that  Boldo  is  chiefly  used  as  a  substitute  for  quinine,  and  as  a 
tonic  for  cases  of  chronic  hepatic  torpor,  and  that  in  S.  America 
is  employed  for  gonorrhoea  and  chronic  cystitis.  (Memoranda 
on  New  Remedies.)  Verne  (1883)  employed  this  remedy  with 
success  as  a  tonic  in  chronic  hepatic  torpor,  and  in  hepatitis. 
(Doses  higher  than  5  drops  of  the  tincture  often  produced  vomit- 
ing and  purging.)  Rene  Juranvillec  employed  Boldoglucix,  with 
asserted  success,  as  a  hypnotic  and  calmative  remedy  in  insanity. 
The  dose  was  from  20  to  60  gr.  in  capsules.     (Wood.) 

To  Haude,  of  Paris,  however,  we  are  indebted  for  the  highest 
encomium  of  Boldine  as  a  hepatic  remedy.  He  states  that  "in 
cases  of  chronic  hepatitis,  jaundice,  hypertrophy  of  the  liver, 
hepatic  colic,  and  diseases  of  the  liver  contracted  in  the  Colonies. 
Boldine  gives  rapid  and  conclusive  results,  often  determining  a 
complete  cure."  He  says,  in  addition,  "that  due  to  its  properties 
the  constipation,  the  bilious  vomiting,  the  headache,  the  jaundice, 
the  dyspnoea,  all  disappear  with  notable  success.  The  morbid 
symptoms  are  dispersed,  the  hepatic  sensitiveness  vanishes,  the 
urine,  which  is  at  first  of  the  color  of  coffee,  becomes  clear  and 
leaves  no  sediment,  and  there  is  a  cessation  of  the  fever,  chills 
and  sweating.  He  makes  also  reference  to  other  notable  changes, 
namely,  the  decrease  in  the  volume  of  the  liver,  the  return  of  the 
appetite  and  the  gradual  gain  of  strength,  thus,  slowly  and  pro- 
gressively attaining  the  cure."  (The  dose  he  uses  is  a  granule  of 
one  millegramme,  six  times  a  day.) 

This  is  a  sweeping  claim  which  should  be  received  with  caution, 


Boldo  and  Boldine.  209 

and  yet  there  seems  to  be  a  consensus  of  opinion  as  to  the  valuable 
influence  of  Boldo  upon  the  liver,  a  gland  so  greatly  concerned  in 
metabolic  activity,  in  the  breaking  down  of  albuminoids,  in  the 
elaboration  of  urea,  and  in  the  blood  making  process ;  an  organ 
which  suffers,  more  or  less,  in  all  general  diseases,  where  many  of 
the  symptoms  are  due  to  hepatic  disturbance ;  and  as  we  know  that 
Boldo,  in  moderate  doses,  excites  the  biliary  function  and  induces 
sleep,  we  may  anticipate  good  results  from  its  use  in  torpidity  of 
the  liver  with  its  train  of  distressing  symptoms.  Moreover,  its 
toxic  effect,  when  given  in  large  doses,  are  chiefly  translated  by 
great  excitement,  with  aggravation  of  the  reflexes  and  of  the 
respiratory  movements,  increased  diuresis,  cramps,  disorder  of 
co-ordination,  convulsions,  and  even  cardiac  failure,  which  to- 
gether with  the  gastric  burning,  vomiting  and  purging  which  also 
produces  may  become  indications  of  value  in  many  diseases  of 
centric,  medullary  and  gastro- enteric  origin. 

We  should  also  notice  that  Boldine  paralyses,  both  the  motor 
and  sensory  nerves,  attacks  the  muscular  fibres,  and  produces  an- 
esthesia, a  symptom  which  may  arise  from  organic  disease  of  the 
brain,  cord,  or  nerves,  or  from'  functional  nervous  disease,  as 
hysteria. 

We  have  also  clear  enough  evidences  of  the  effects  of  the 
Oil  of  boldo  upon  the  genito-urinary  track  to  suggest  its  appli- 
cation to  gonorrhoea  and  cystitis.  It  has  been  compared  with 
Terebinthina,  which  in  excessive  doses  deranges  the  stomach 
and  bowels,  and  produces  oliguria,  albuminuria  and  even  hema- 
turia, and  is  eliminated  chiefly  by  the  urine,  as  Cubeba.  Cubeba, 
like  Boldo,  produces  gastro-intestinal  irritation,  with  nausea, 
vomiting,  griping  and  diarrhoea.  Copaiba  is  another  similar 
remedy. 

The  hypnotic  and  narcotic  properties  of  its  active  principle,  lead 
us  to  infer  that  the  sensorium  is  profoundly  affected  by  this  drug, 
which  may  prove  a  useful  remedy  in  any  morbid  condition  at- 
tended by  drowsiness  or  stupor  with  gastric  or  hepatic  irrita- 
tion, and  as  atony  of  the  stomach,  acute  yellozv  atrophy,  acute 
alcoholism,  jaundice,  lithcemia,  etc. 

Of  course,  any  use  we  may  make  of  this  drug,  at  present,  will 
be  empirical  or  experimental,  and  it  seems  indeed  officious  and 
unwarrantable  to  run  after  unproved  remedies,  of  doubtful  origin. 


210  Transactions  of  the  American  Institute. 

when  we  have  at  our  disposal  so  many  therapeutic  agents  of  ad- 
mitted value  to  combat  not  only  liver  troubles,  but  all  classes  of 
disease;  drugs  with  a  long  clinical  history,  well  experimented 
upon  the  healthy  human  organism,  strictly  confirmed  and  sanc- 
tioned by  experience.  And  yet  we  cannot  afford  to  ignore  the 
claims  of  honest  men,  especially  in  an  age  in  which  the  impossible 
no  longer  exists,  and  surely,  in  this  case,  we  should  suspend  ad- 
verse judgment  as  to  the  value  of  Boldo  in  liver  disorders,  for,  if 
the  clinical  symptoms  of  Dr.  Olivera's  cases  published  in  The 
Recorder,  for  August,  1907,  should  ever  be  verified,  we  will  then 
have  good  reasons  to  undertake  the  proving  of  a  plant,  which 
really  seems  to  own  valuable  properties. 

The  synthetic  syndrome  of  Dr.  Olivera's  cases  can  be  laconic- 
ally expressed  as  follows:  1)  "Burning  pain  in  the  region  of  the 
liver,  with  inability  to  bear  the  weight  of  her  garments.  Sensa- 
tion of  weight,  pain  in  the  stomach,  and  a  feeling  of  something 
hard,  that  she  thought  was  a  tumor.  No  appetite,  mouth  bitter, 
constant  headache,  constipation,  insomnia,  sadness  and  weeping 
all  the  time;  for  eight  years  could  not  bend  the  riglit  knee.  (Prob- 
ably a  hysterical  symptom.)  Her  face  had  a  yellow-clay  look, 
languid,  glazy  eyes,  tired  feeling  while  talking,  with  dyspnoea. 
2)  Hepatic  abscess,  with  vomiting  of  pus.  3)  Bloated,  cyanotic 
countenance,  with  high  delirious  fever." 

It  is  to  be  regreted  that  Dr.  Olivera  omitted  to  give  us  his 
thermometrical  and  hematic  observations,  as  well  as  to  tell  if 
there  was  or  not  a  history  of  malaria  in  all  his  cases:  and  import- 
ant would  have  been  also  to  know,  if  in  the  study  of  his  cases,  he 
did  consider  such  drugs  as  Sepia,  Kali  carb.,  Pulsat.,  Nat. 
mur.,  Sulphur.,  Arc  xit.,  Chelid.,  Hydras.,  Phosph.,  and 
Mercurius,  etc. 


TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  SIXTY-THIRD   SESSION 

OF  THE  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE   OF 

HOMCEOPATHIC. 

This  big  volume  of  1,175  Pages>  edited  by  Secretary  Kraft,  to 
hand.  Here  are  a  few  little  bits  picked  from  its  pages  that  may 
be  of  general  interest : 

Dr.  Peck,  in  his  report  on  International  Homoeopathy,  tells  us 


Transactions  of  the  American  Institute.  211 

(and  he  is  generally  very  accurate)  that  there  are  312  homoeo- 
pathic physicians  in  Germany.,  England  has  193,  Spain  142, 
France  120,  Russia  61,  Italy  47.  Austria  44,  Belgium  44.  Switzer- 
land 24,  Holland  22,  Denmark  6,  Greece  3,  and  Portugal  2. 
Proportionately  the  pharmacies  largely  outnumber  the  physicians, 
which  seems  to  show  that  Homoeopath}-  is  very  popular  among  the 
people.     For  instance,  England  has  73  homoeopathic  pharmacies. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Sutherland  in  his  paper  spoke  of:  "'Combination 
prescriptions'  and  'combination  tablets'  whose  use,  in  my  own  be- 
lief, is  being  viewed  with  too  complaisant  an  eye.  The  specialist 
in  therapeutics  who  calls  himself  a  homceopathist,  cannot  con- 
sistently make  use  of  drugs  whose  action  on  the  healthy  remains 
unproved.  Where  are  our  provings  of  'combination  tablets?' 
Let  the  physician  employ  such  if  he  desires — but  let  him  not  call 
himself  a  homoeopathic  physician  while  employing  them." 

The  Committee  on  Drug  Provings  state  that  several  colleges 
have  appointed  directors  of  drug  proving. 

The  Pharmacopoeia  Committee  stated  that  an  effort  had  been 
made  to  have  the  new  pharmacopoeia  adopted  by  the  U.  S.  Gov- 
ernment as  official,  also  this  comment:  "In  the  meantime,  let  us 
promote  the  success  of  Homoeopathy  in  the  United  States  by 
binding  ourselves  together  by  an  additional  tie-loyalty  to  phar- 
macopoeia. To  do  this  we  must  see  that  all  our  pharmacists  con- 
form to  its  directions  so  that  their  preparations  shall  be  uniform 
and  official,  and  that  the  remedies  spoken  of  in  our  literature  shall 
be  in  its  nomenclature.  Only  thus  can  we  have  a  uniform  scien- 
tific literature.  During  what  may  be  called  the  transition  period 
it  would  be  welkto  remember  that  the  0  and  ix  are  the  same,  and  to 
mention  that  fact  wherever  they  are  used  in  reporting  cases." 
But  suppose  it  is  impractical? 

The  committee  to  investigate  the  value  of  I  'ariolinum  as  a 
prophylactic  against  small-pox  said  that  "Experience  with  the 
remedy  is  practically  conclusive  as  to  its  value  in  immunizing 
against  small-pox."  Also  "The  conclusion  of  your  committee  is 
that  Variolinum  is  an  effective  means  of  immunizing  against 
small-pox,  and  we  recommend  that  as  such  it  shall  be  accorded 
proper  recognition  at  the  hands  of  the  American  Institute." 

The  Committee  on  Medical  Examination  Boards  said:  "A  re- 
newed  effort,   more   open   than   ever   before,   is   making   to    ex- 


212  Transactions  of  the  American  Institute . 

tinguish  completely  our  school  of  practice,  through  legislative  en- 
actment, assuming  that  they  have  the  right  to  govern  all  medical 
legislation.  While  we  believe  the  majority  are  honest  in  this 
course,  we  cannot  think  that  the  arbitrary  leaders  are  altogether 
sincere  in  the  movement," 

Here  is  a  practical  hint  from  remarks  made  by  Dr.  H.  C. 
Allen  on  the  subject  of  homoeopathic  missionary  work:  "One  of 
our  graduates  went  to  Texas  a  few  years  ago,  and  sent  to  me  for 
500  tracts  to  distribute.  I  said,  'Does  this  pay  you?'  He  replieJ, 
'I  have  all  I  can  do.'  " 

Dr.  W.  F.  Hinckley  wanted  to  look  into  Homoeopathy  and  was 
referred  to  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  and  grew  indignant  that 
an  allopathic  doctor  should  have  been  employed  to  describe,  so 
"I  went  down  to  Lafayette  street  and  bought  these  books,  the 
Organon,  Key  Notes,  Jahr's  Forty  Years  and  Bryant's  Packer 
Manual — costing  seven  dollars,  then  I  studied  Homoeopathy  that 
year,  and  the  next  year  joined  the  homoeopathic  profession.  T  did 
not  throw  away  all  the  palliative  medicine  I  had  on  hand,  bur  I 
did  use  the  law  of  similars  as  fast  as  I  could  absorb  it.  until  now  I 
practice  Homoeopathy  and  have  for  a  great  many  years." 

Dr.  John  P.  Sutherland  said  of  homoeopathic  editors:  "The 
most  formidable  single  problem  the  homoeopathic  editor  has  to 
face  stares  at  him  from  the  advertising  pages  of  his  journal.  Ad- 
vertisements are  a  journal's  sinews  of  war.  Advertisers,  fke 
stoutest  financial  supporters  of  a  journal,  may  easily  become  its 
most  subtle  and  powerful  ethical  and  professional  foes,  the  more 
so  as  they  are  so  literally  foes  in  its  own  household." 

Dr.  H.  E.  Beebe  got  oft  quiet  satire :  "Dr.  Osier  in  the  first  e  !i- 
tions  of  his  works  on  practice  appears  in  the  role  of  the  the 
peutic  nihilist.     But  seeing  that  this  was  not  fully  accepted,   in 
his  second  editions  he  commends  the  use  of  medicine,  a  direct 
contradiction  to  his  former  books."     "Thrift,  Horatio,  thrift!" 

An  allopathic  doctor  was  quoted  :  "Did  you  ever  note  the  fact 
that  without  the  contributions  made  by  the  proprietaries  our  drug- 
equipment  would  with  very  few  exceptions  be  practically  where 
it  was  fifty  years  ago?" 

Another  allopath  :  "If  no  more  attention  was  given  in  the  course 
of  study  to  surgery  than  to  materia  medica.  surgery  would  be  in 
the  hands  of  the  instrument  makers,  as  materia  medica  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  manufacturers  of  drugs." 


My  Experience  in  Treatment  of  Cancer.  213 

MY  EXPERIENCE    IN    TREATMENT  OF  CANCER. 

Editor  of  the  Homceopathic  Recorder: 

In  February  number  of  the  Recorder  I  find  an  article  by  Dr. 
Cheesman,  On  Danger  of  Pregnancy  Following  Operation  of 
Cancer  of  the  Chest.  The  doctor  writes  from  the  standpoint  of  a 
surgeon ;  I  will  write  as  a  medical  specialist,  a  homoeopath. 

When  the  doctor  sees  danger  following  pregnancy  he  is  per- 
fectly right.  Every  patient  operated  upon  for  this  goes  soon  if 
pregnant  or  not,  besides  suffering  the  tortures  of  the  damned  be- 
fore she  dies.  Dr.  Beaston  in  ablating  the  ovaries  was  able  to 
effect  the  disappearance  of  the  disease.  Does  this  not  point  to  the 
origin  of  it?  I  say  that  if  pregnancy  occurs  with  a  patient 
afflicted  with  mammary  cancer,  it  is  a  favorable,  condition  for  a 
cure,  it  proves  that  the  functions  of  the  sexual  organs  are  still 
intact,  and  when  so  are  more  amenable  to  treatment. 

Pregnancy  stimulates  the  growth  by  increased  activity,  trans- 
ferring the  disease  to  the  breast,  but  it  does  not  produce  it. 

Homceopathic  treatment  will  retard  and  extinguish  according 
as  the  uterus  and  appendages  are  rendered  active  or  functionally 
obsolete. 

I  speak  from  experience  in  about  seventy  cases  of  cancers.  My 
success  in  the  treatment  of  cancers  is  as  good  as  in  other  severe 
diseases.  I  do  not  extirpate  in  a  single  case.  Well  directed  ho- 
mceopathic treatment  cures,  never  kills.  If  the  disease  is  too  far 
advanced  does  not  shorten  life,  it  smooths  the  path  to  the  grave 
what  no  operation  can  do.  Have  never  found  a  healthy  liver  in  a 
cancer  patient,  never  healthy  sexual  organs  with  mammary  cancer. 
Does  extirpation  cure  this?  No,  it  throws  the  outer  offsprings 
of  the  inner  evil  back  with  greater  force  to  the  first  cause,  hence 
speedy  death. 

Sweeping  knowledge  of  homceopthic  materia  medica  and 
therapeutics  is  the  only  way  to  handle  cancer. 

I  am  happy  in  knowing  this,  and  so  escape  the  condemnation  of 
conscience.  "Clear  up  the  case,"  hunt  the  cause,  read  between  the 
lines,  do  not  follow  fads.  Do  not  warn  against  pregnancy,  help 
it  on  with  well  selected  remedies.  Be  a  thorough  and  true  ho- 
moeopath. Early  recogntion,  not  early  extirpation;  the  latter  :.> 
evidence  of  ignorance. 

Respectfully, 

Dr.  J.  H.  Peterman. 

Ardmore,  Oklahoma,  March  9,  1908. 


214  Heredity  and  Tuberculosis. 


HEREDITY  AND  TUBERCULOSIS. 

"Professor  Karl  Pearson,*  than  whom  there  is  no  higher  au- 
thority on  biologic  statistics,  finds  that  his  researches  on  the  in- 
cidence of  pulmonary  tuberculosis  rather  favor  the  presumption 
of  hereditary  being  a  leading  if  not  a  dominant  factor.  It  is  im- 
possible, he  admits,  to  assume,  with  the  present  insufficient  data, 
that  any  disease  is  inherited  in  the  same  sense  that  physical  and 
mental  characteristics  are  inherited,  but  if  inheritance  of  a  con- 
sumptive tendency  or  diathesis  is  not  assumed,  it  is  difficult  to  ex- 
plain the  facts,  or  to  see  how  any  one  escapes  with  the  actual  uni- 
versal distribution  of  the  infection,  especially  in  dense  populations- 
Few  individuals,  he  says,  who  lead  a  moderately  active  life  can 
escape  an  almost  daily  risk  of  infection.  Another  fact  pointing 
the  same  way  is  that  the  average  age  at  the  onset  of  the  disease  is 
practically  the  same  in  all  cases,  whereas  with  the  infection  theory, 
pure  and  simple,  it  should  occur  earlier  when  a  constant  possi- 
bility of  infection  exists,  as,  for  instance,  in  families  where  some 
members  is  a  sufferer  from  the  disease.  Statistics  show  only  an 
insignificant  difference  in  such  cases.  The  present  tendency  to 
magnify  the  infection  factor  at  the  expense  of  the  formerly  more 
generally  accepted  view  of  the  importance  of  heredity  in  the 
spread  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis  is,  we  think,  largely  based  on 
a  priori  grounds.  When  consumption  was  demonstrated  to  be 
due  to  microbic  infection  there  seemed  to  be  little  need  of  invoking 
any  other  agency.  Another  thing  favoring  the  change  of  view 
was  the  apparent  better  prognosis  afforded,  and  further,  we  may 
perhaps  consider  the  advocacy  of  the  infection  theory  as  some- 
what prompted  by  ideas  of  expediency  as  falling  more  readily  in 
line  with  the  active  campaign  against  'the  great  white  plague.' 

"For  a  biometric  authority  like  Professor  Pearson  to  magnify 
the  importance  of  heredity  in  tuberculosis  is,  however,  significant 
and  should  tend  to  modify  some  of  the  radical  utterances  that 
consumption  is  not  and  can  not  be,  in  any  proper  sense,  hereditary. 
Another  fact  brought  out  by  Professor  Pearson  is  that,  while  the 
offspring  of  consumptives  are  not  less  fertile  and  in  all  probability 
are  even  more  fertile  than  those  of  normal  heredity,  the  fact  that 


*A  First  Study  of  the  Statistics  of   Pulmonary   Tuberculosis,  London ; 
reviewed  in  Nature,  Feb.  27,  1908. 


Asclepias  Tuberosa.  215 

consumption  is  pre-eminently  a  disease  of  youth  and  early  middle 
life,  lowers  the  marriage  rate  and  the  period  of  fecundity,  and 
thus  tends  to  lower  the  normal  birth  rate  of  a  community." — 
Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  in  a  few  years  the  man  who  talks 
"germs"  as  the  cause  of  disease  will  be  hooted  and  jeered  as  being 
"out  of  date."  "a  back  number"  and  an  "old  fossil." — Recorder. 


ASCLEPIAS    TUBEROSA. 
By  C.  M.  Boger,  M.  D. 

Pleurisy  root  is  a  general  relaxant,  increasing  the  secretions, 
This  is  particularly  true  of  the  skin,  mucous  membranes  and 
pleura.  There  are  also  certain  myalgic  manifestations.  (  )ften  a 
gentle  perspiration  only  appears,  then  again  the  sudiferous  glands 
may  be  very  active  and  pour  out  a  profuse  sweat :  in  either  case 
the  moisture  seems  very  natural. 

The  intestinal  secretions  are  also  augmented,  ending  in  a  very 
characteristic  diarrhoea.  The  provings  show  several  kinds  of 
stools,  but  the  one  most  commonly  met  with  in  practice  has  an 
odor  of  rotten  eggs  (Chamomilla)  and  burns  the  anus  like  fire 
{Iris  versicolor,  Lycopodium  )  as  it  passes.  It  is  generally  of  a 
dark  color.  I  recently  cured  a  diarrhoea  of  this  kind  in  an  aged 
man  who  had  just  passed  through  a  long  siege  of  pneumonia 
under  allopathic  care.  It  was  interesting  to  note  that  as  the  diar- 
rhoea improved  he  showed  symptoms  indicative  of  incipient 
pleuro-pneumonia,  but  it  all  passed  away  without  any  special 
event.  You  should  know  that  when  old  svmptoms  reappear 
they  had  best  be  left  alone  as  they  will  eventually  pass  away  of 
their  own  accord  and  leave  the  patient  in  much  better  health.  If 
you  are  imprudent  enough  to  give  a  new  remedy  while  the  symp- 
toms are  leaving  in  the  reverse  order  of  their  appearance,  you  will 
generally  spoil  the  whole  case  and  get  the  patient  as  well  as  your- 
self into  a  lot  of  trouble.  It  also  has  stools  like  moss  floating  in 
water  (Magnesia  carbonica,  Gratiola).  It  also  has  oily  stools, 
leading  one  to  think  that  it  must  have  some  effect  upon  the  pan- 
creas. Other  remedies  with  this  symptom  are.  Causticum,  Picric 
■acid.  Phosphorus,  TJiuja.  etc. 


216  Asclepias  Tuberosa. 

The  main  interest  in  Asclepias,  however,  centers  about  the 
chest.  Very  many  cases  of  pleurisy  and  pleuro-pneumonia  and 
some  of  the  pleurodynia  have  been  cured  by  it.  In  such  instances 
the  temperature  is  usually  not  very  high,  and  the  pulse  is  soft  and 
compressible.  There  are  various  sorts  of  chest  pains,  none  of 
which  are  especially  noteworthy  unless  it  be  one  of  a  cutting 
nature.  It  is  usually  sensitive  externally,  and  the  patient  has  a 
desire  to  sit  up  and  lean  forward.  The  cough  is  usually  partly 
moist,  and  may  not  be  painful.  Like  under  Bryonia  the  cough 
often  causes  pain  in  forehead  and  abdomen,  but  the  posture  as- 
sumed is  just  the  opposite.  It  is  one  of  the  drugs  having  diagonal 
pains. 

It  must  always  be  remembered  that  the  homoeopathic  prescrip- 
tion is  based  upon  the  combination  of  the  symptoms  and  of  their 
groups.  When  the  groups  containing  the  principal  actions  of  the 
remedy  are  combined  we  may  reasonably  expect  a  good  result,  if 
the  conditions  agree,  even  if  the  symptoms  given  have  not  as  yet 
been  elicited  in  the  provings  of  that  particular  remedy.  In  the 
case  of  Asclepias  we  have  sweatiness  combined  with  pleural  and 
enteric  symptoms,  the  former  ameliorated  by  bending  forward  and 
the  latter  marked  by  burning  discharges ;  when  this  combination 
is  present  your  remedy  is  certain. 

Compare:   Bryonia,  Ferrum  phosphoricum. 

Lac  Caninum. 

Some  of  the  earlier  writers  in  medicine  mention  the  use  of 
bitch's  milk  as  a  remedy,  but  we  owe  its  modern  use  in  medicine 
to  Homoeopathy,  where  it  fills  a  very  useful  and  pretty  well  de- 
fined place.  It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the  weak  points  in 
the  organism  of  the  dog  should  correspond  to  the  region  most 
affected  in  the  human  economy  by  provings  of  this  substance. 

The  tendency  of  Lac  caninum  symptoms  is  erratic,  to  wander 
from  place  to  place,  but  in  doing  this  they  almost  invariably 
change  from  side  to  side,  be  the  disease  what  it  may.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  throat  manifestations.  Objectively  the 
parts  may  present  almost  any  appearance  from  a  simple  angina 
to  tonsillitis  or  diphtheria.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  repeated 
changing  from  side  to  side  happens  in  recurrent  tonsillitis  oftener 


Asclcpias  Tubcrosa.  217 

than  in  any  other  throat  affection.    For  this  type  of  sore  throat  it 
is  the  only  remedy  I  know  of. 

In  diphtheria  the  membrane  is  very  often  of  a  glistening,  china- 
like whiteness,  and  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  throat  also  takes 
on  this  glistening  or  varnished  appearance.  (Apis,  Kali  bi- 
chromicum.)  Cracks  often  appear  in  the  angles  of  the  mouth 
and  nose. 

This  alternation  of  sides  is  not  restricted  to  the  throat  by  any 
means ;  it  is  not  unusual  in  the  female  sexual  organs.,  first  in  one 
ovary  then  in  the  other,  or  they  shoot  from  one  to  the  other. 
Here  Cimicifuga  leads  all  other  medicines,  but  if  the  concomi- 
tants agree  Lac  caninum  may  be  indicated. 

Before  we  leave  the  female  sexual  sphere  I  wish  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  great  usefulness  of  this  medicine  in  drying  up  the 
breast  milk.  Sometimes,  for  various  reasons,  you  may  find  your- 
self compelled  to  stop  the  flow  of  milk,  and  it  will  be  one  of  the 
pleasures  of  your  practice  to  do  this  without  resorting  to  the 
nasty  practice  of  applying  camphorated  lard  or  Belladonna  oint- 
ment, like  the  old  school.  If  Lac  can  in  11 111.  in  the  rapidity  of  its 
action  should  form  a  few  nodules  in  the  breasts,  Phytolacca  will 
speedily  disperse  them. 

The  Lac  caninum  patient  is  exquisitely  sensitive,  overwrought 
and  full  of  all  kinds  of  horrid  imaginations  ;  she  thinks  she  is 
tormented  by  the  presence  of  snakes,  dreams  of  them,  is  terrified 
by  them.  She  fancies  her  body  is  loathsome  with  disease  or  that 
she  has  some  poison  or  other  in  her  system  (Lachesis,  Vipera). 
She  even  don't  want  her  fingers  to  touch  each  other,  so  she  keeps 
them  spread  apart  (Lye,  Sec.  c).  This  sensitiveness  extends  to 
the  retina,  which  retains  impressions  of  objects  long  after  the  eyes 
have  been  turned  elsewhere,  like  Nicolin  and  Tuberc.  Lac  caninum 
then  presents  the  very  useful  combination  of  throat  and  sexual 
symptoms ;  one  that  will  come  up  in  your  work  pretty  often,  and 
when  it  does  you  will  do  well  to  look  this  remedy  over  very  care- 
fully. Sore  throat  coming  on  and  passing  away  with  the  menses 
should  attract  your  attention.  (Mag.  c.)  Menses  are  some- 
times green. 

The  symptoms  are  very  apt  to  be  worse  on  the  morning  of  one 
day  and  on  the  afternoon  of  the  next.  In  a  general  way  it  re- 
minds one  very  much  of  Lachesis. 


2i8  Finding  of  the  Similimum. 


FINDING   OF   THE  SIMILIMUM  IN  HOW  TO  TAKE 

THE    CASE. 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

I  enclose  a  letter  (see  below)  from  Dr.  Lusk,  which  I  desire  to 
answer  through  the  pages  of  your  journal. 

I  think  this  the  best  way,  because  there  may  be  others  that 
might  get  "balled  up"  as  is  Dr.  Lusk,  and  I  can  see  how  it  might 
be  so.  I  tried  in  the  footnote  on  page  45  to  make  myself  clear  as 
to  symptoms  of  different  values,  but  perhaps  should  have  added 
that  in  the  count  I  always,  allow  the  numeral  3  for  the  highest 
grade  symptoms,  2  for  italics,  and  1  for  the  ordinary  symptoms, 
unless,  as  Dr.  Lusk  does,  T  only  use  the  two  higher  orders,  which 
I  also  find  very  practical.  In  common,  offhand  work  if  (as  Dr. 
Lippe  used  to  say)  I  get  three  of  the  symptoms  styled  peculiar  or 
characteristic  by  Hahnemann  (Sec.  153  Organon),  I  have  the 
three  legs  to  my  stool  and  can  feel  quite  safe  sitting  upon  it.  Of 
course,  more  mane  it  firmer.  But  in  working  out  a  difficult 
chronic  case  repertory  work  will  sometimes  be  necessary. 

I  will  repeat  in  substance  what  I  meant  to  be  understood  in  the 
footnote  referred  to  that  if  I  had  a  case  of  twenty  symptoms  and 
one  remedy  covered  eighteen  of  them,  but  only  three  were  char- 
acteristic (or  strong),  and  another  remedy  covered  only  twelve 
of  the  symptoms,  but  ten  of  them  were  characteristic,  I  should 
certainly  choose  the  latter  remedy. 

Hoping  this  may  answer  not  only  the  very  honest  and  pertinent 
question  of  Dr.  Lusk,  but  others  in  whom  the  same  question  might 
arise,  I  will  close  by  thanking  Dr.  Lusk  and  all  others  who  may 
honor  me  with  a  study  of  my  modest  endeavors  to  be  helpful  to 
my  brethren  in  the  profession. 

E.  B.  Nash,  M.  D. 

Port  Dickinson,  N.  Y.,  April  22,  1908. 


E.  B.  Nash,  M.  D. 

Dear  Doctor:  I  have  just  finished  reading  your  little  brochure. 
"How  to  Take  the  Case,*'  but  a  question  arises  which  is  not  an- 
swered therein  relative  to  how  to  "find  the  similimum."  Take  for 
example  the  sample  case  given,  what  symptoms  do  you  place  first 


Homoeopathic  Pharmacy.  219 

in  studying  the  case  from  Bcenninghausens  Pocket  Book?  [n  my 
work  with  the  Pocket  Book  it  is  my  plan  to  take  what  seems  to  be 
a  leading  symptom,  select  the  remedies  named,  all  except  those 
in  the  smallest  type,  and  use  this  list  to  choose  from  under  the 
next  important  symptom.  This  is  also  the  method  used  by  Dr. 
George  Royal,  of  Des  Moines,  ex-president  of  the  A.  I.  H.  From 
your  discussion  of  the  case  in  studying  the  remedy  I  do  not  catch 
the  significance  of  the  numerals  affixed  to  the  various  remedies, 
and  I  can  not  quite  see  by  what  process  you  arrive  at  a  conclu- 
sion. Xo  doubt  the  fault  is  my  own.  but  really,  doctor.  I  can  not 
tell  from  vour  book  by  what  methods  yon  find  the  similimum. 

If  it  is  not  asking  too  much  of  you  I  should  consider  it  a  great 
favor  if  you  could  find  time  out  of  your  busy  life  to  explain  this 
point  to  me. 

Awaiting  your  pleasure  and  convenience  for  a  reply.  I  am. 

Yours  very  truly. 

E.  E.  Lusk. 

Keota.  Iowa,  April  10.  1908. 


HOMOEOPATHIC  PHARMACY. 

The  Recorder  has  received  a  letter  from  a  well  known  ho- 
moeopathic pharmacist  strongly  commending  the  position  taken 
by  this  journal  on  the  pharmacopoeia  question.  Erom  the  phar- 
macist's point  of  view  (it  may  be  added  that  the  letter  referred  to 
is  by  no  means  the  only  one  received  of  a  similar  tenor)  the  chief 
objection  to  the  new  pharmacopoeia  is  that  it  is  impractical,  and 
the  sooner  the  gentlemen  who  are  actively  upholding  it,  out  of  a 
sense  of  loyalty  to  the  Institute,  realize  this  the  better  it  will  be  for 
Homoeopathy.  The  very  best  thing  that  could  be  done  in  the 
matter  would  be  to  let  the  book  quietly  slip  into  oblivion,  as  the 
old  school  has  done  in  a  parallel  case.  On  this  point  another 
pharmacist  said:  "The  old  school  men  tried  something  similar 
when  they  wanted  (officially  only')  to  have  their  tinctures  'as- 
sayed.' It  was  found  to  be  impractical  with  few  exceptions  tint 
always  have  been  assayed,  and  given  up ;  one  or  two  houses  for  a 
time  made  a  bluff  at  it  but  no  one  paid  any  attention  to  them  and 
Tne>-  dropped  the  bluff.  In  all  probability  they  did  not  change  the 
mode  of  making  tinctures  before  or  after  their  bluff.'' 


220  Crataegus  Oxyacantha. 

It  is  the  old  story  over  again,  beautiful  (to  some)  in  theory,  a 
dismal  failure  in  practice.  Individually,  with  a  very  few  excep- 
tions, the  members  of  the  Institute  seemingly  care  little  about  the 
matter  ;*  they  probably  realize  that  pharmacists  naturally  know 
more  about  the  preparing  of  tinctures  than  they.  Only  two  ho- 
moeopathic pharmacies  claim  to  follow  the  new  book  to-day ;  sev- 
eral tried  it  but  gave  it  up.  They  did  not  abandon  the  new  phar- 
macopoeia because  they  wanted  to  "fight  the  Institute,'"  or  on  ac- 
count of  ''hostility"  to  any  one,  but  because  the  new  work  is  im- 
practical. 

Another  point  worthy  of  consideration  even  by  the  friends  of 
the  new  work  is  that  it  is  based  on  the  atomic  theory,  one  that  :  = 
now  no  longer  tenable  or  held  by  any  scientist.  Is  it  wise  to  have 
a  book  based  on  an  abandoned  theory  adopted  as  the  homoeo- 
pathic standard  by  the  United  States  Government? 


CRATAEGUS    OXYACANTHA. 
By  Crawford  R.  Green,  M.  D.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

The  introduction  of  Cratccgus  oxyacantha,  the  Hawthorn  I 
into  medicine  as  a  heart  remedy  is  attributed  to  a  Dr.  Green,  f 
Ennis,  Ireland.  From  time  to  time  this  remedy  has  attained  to 
some  sporadic  vogue,  but  it  has  never  received  that  general 
recognition  which  it  so  richly  deserves.  Indeed,  Cratccgus  has 
given  such  uniformly  successful  results  where  it  has  been  em- 
ployed in  heart  conditions  that,  although  a  comparatively  new 
remedy,  the  neglect  it  has  received,  both  in  our  literature  and 
our  practice,  is  quite  remarkable. 

Unfortunately,  this  wonderful  remedy  has  not  been  proved,  so 
that  we  know  little  of  its  truly  homoeopathic  action.  The  clinical 
observation  of  those  who  have  employed  it,  however,  is  sufficient 
to  establish  that  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  it  is  one  of  the 
greatest  heart  remedies  which  we  at  present  command. 

The  action  of  Cratccgus  is  so  broad  that  there  are  few  heart 
conditions  it  does  not  include,  and  none  that  contraindicate  it.    In 


*When  the  new  pharmacopoeia  came  out  Boericke  &  Tafel  prepared  all 
the  leading  drugs  according  to  its  directions  and  catalogued  them,  but  there 
is  very  little  call  for  them. 


Cratcegus  Oxyacantha.  221 

fact,  it  may  be  regarded  as  approaching  a  specific  for  cardiac  con- 
ditions in  general.  It  acts  both  as  a  powerful  heart  tonic  and  as  a 
stimulant.  It  profoundly  affects  the  circulation,  strengthening  the 
weak  pulse  and  regulating  its  rhythm,  correcting  alike  tachy- 
cardia, brachycardia,-  or  simple  arrhythmia,  apparently  regardless 
of  cause. 

Its  action  in  valvular  heart  conditions  is  truly  remarkable, 
whether  the  mitral  or  aortic  area  be  affected.  It  seems  to  have 
positive  power  to 'dissolve  valvular  growths  of  calcareous  or  vege- 
tative origin.  It  is  of  value,  too,  in  heart  conditions  caused  by,  or 
associated  with  anaemia. 

Crataegus  has  saved  many  lives  in  cases  of  organic  disease  with 
failing  compensation.  In  the  pronounced  oedema  of  such  condi- 
tions, it  manifests  a  diuretic  action  in  every  respect  rivaling  that 
of  Digitalis,  Apocynum  and  Strophanthus.  Some  observers  have 
found  the  extreme  dyspnoea  frequently  associated  with  these  con- 
ditions to  be  a  leading  indication  for  its  employment.  Unques- 
tionably, it  has  a  powerful  action  upon  the  pneumogastric  nerve, 
correcting  its  inhibitory  function  when  heart  failure  is  imminent 
a-  a  result  of  over-stimulation. 

In  heart  pains  of  various  kinds,  where  we  so  frequently  think  of 
Cactus,  Spigeiia,  Kahiiia,  and  their  allies,  Crataegus  often  gives  re- 
lief when  other  remedies  fail.  In  angina  pectoris  it  is  of  indubit- 
able value.  Jennings  has  reported  its  use  in  a  series  of  fort}-  cases 
of  true  angina  with  remarkably  good  results. 

As  a  heart  stimulant  and  sustainer  in  the  infectious  fevers, 
Cratcegus  is  of  the  greatest  service.  In  diphtheria,  typhoid, 
pneumonia  and  all  other  toxemic  conditions,  it  may  be  confidently 
prescribed  as  a  routine  measure  upon  the  least  sign  of  a  flagging 
heart.  In  such  conditions,  it  gives  results  far  safer  and  far  more 
effective  than  alcohol.  Digitalis  or  Strychnia.  When  employed  in 
this  manner,  I  have  frequently  seen  lives  saved  with  it  when  I  am 
confident  that  any  other  form  of  stimulation  would  have  failed. 
In  two  cases  of  typhoid  fever  I  have  seen  heart  murmurs  disap- 
pear within  twenty-four  hours  after  its  administration,  reappear 
within  a  few  hours  when  the  remedy  was  experimentally  discon- 
tinued, and  again  disappear  upon  its  readministration. 

In  fatty  degeneration  of  the  heart,  where,  above  all,  we  must 
guard  against  the   dangers  of  over-stimulation,   Cratcugus  is  an 


222  Therapeutic  Pointers. 

absolutely  safe  remedy.  For  this  reason,  pulmonary  tuberculosis, 
so  generally  associated  with  fatty  heart,  presents  a  field  of  excep- 
tional utility.  In  the  tubercular  wards,  it  has  been  shown  that 
Crataegus  will  often  tide  a  patient  over  critical  periods  when 
adrenalin  is  of  too  transient  action,  and  Strychnia,  always  dan- 
gerous in  pulmonary  tuberculosis,  would  expand  the  heart  and  as 
surely  kill  the  patient. 

In  shock,  in  collapse,  in  syncope  of  cardiac  origin,  Crataegus 
gives  excellent  results  when  administered  alone  or  in  conjunction 
with  any  other  stimulant  that  seems  immediately  indicated. 

A  summary  of  the  symptoms  for  which  Cratcegus  has  been  ad- 
ministered would  be  an  epitome  of  the  symptomatology  of  heart 
disease  in  general.  Feeble  and  irregular  pulse  ;  valvular  mur- 
murs ;  oedema  ;  dyspnoea  ;  pallor ;  cutaneous  chilliness  :  blueness  of 
fingers  and  toes;  circulatory  disturbances;  heart  inflammations; 
heart  pain — all  these  symptoms  and  many  more  are  attributed  to 
it  by  various  observers. 

The  dosage  of  Cratcegus  is  usually  given  as  five  to  fifteen  drops 
of  the  mother  tincture,  repeated  every  six  hours.  As  the  remedy 
has  no  cumulative  action,  it  may  be  repeated  at  more  frequent 
intervals  in  severe  cases  with  perfect  impunity.  As  a  heart  tonic 
and  sustainer  the  administration  of  seven  to  ten  drops,  three  times 
a  day  to  adults,  or  two  to  four  drops  to  children,  gives  excellent 
results.  Clarke  recommends  giving  it  during  or  immediately  after 
a  meal,  as  otherwise  it  may  cause  nausea.  I  have,  however,  re- 
peatedly given  it  upon  an  empty  stomach,  and  in  only  one  instance 
have  observed  it  to  cause  gastric  disturbance.  As  an  immediate 
stimulant  in  extreme  cases  of  collapse,  it  may  be  administered 
hypodermically  in  ten  drops  of  the  tincture.  The  preparation 
used  is  of  importance,  for  the  tincture  should  be  prepared  from 
the  ripe  hawthorn  berry  and  not  from  the  whole  plant. — The 
Chironian. 


THERAPEUTIC    POINTERS, 

"A  troublesome  itching  of  the  shin-bone/ 
permanently  cured  by  Rumex  crispus. 

"Intense  and  distressing  itching  of  the  end  of  the  coccyx,"  of 
very  long  standing,  cured  by  Bovista. 


Olive  Oil  in  Gastric  Troubles.  223 

"Stinking  feet  for  many  years,  even  the  little  children  in  the 
evening  would  run,  holding  their  noses  and  crying  'Papa  is  tak- 
ing off  his  boots.'  '  Sanicula  cured  the  case  when  washing  three 
times  a  day  was  of  no  avail. 

A  boy  continually  blistered  by  sun-burn,  was  made  like  other 
boys  by  several  doses  of  Camphora. 

A  man  who  itched  and  scratched  for  many  year^  when  cold 
weather  set  in,  but  was  always  freed  from  the  affection  by  going 
south  in  winter,  was  cured  by  Sulphur,  high. — Dr.  IV.  A.  Ying- 
ling,  Med.  Advance. 

A  woman,  aet.  46,  gasps  on  first  lying  down,  breathless  on  de- 
scending stairs,  starts  at  sudden  noises,  awakes  gasping,  on  fall- 
ing asleep.  Borax  cured. — Dr.  M.  E.  Burgess,  Hahn.  Round 
Table. 

For  the  foul  breath  I  have  yet  to  find  the  case  that  will  not 
yield  to  Baptisia  tinctoria,  for  I  think  that  back  of  syphilis  is  a 
condition  that  has  never  been  recognized,  that  is  akin  to  typhoid." 
— Dr.  Webb,  Ec.  Review. 

Dr.  P.  C.  Majumdar  reports  a  case  of  hiccoughs  accompanying 
paralysis  that  was  removed  by  Xux  vomica.  Other  remedies 
cured  the  paralysis. 

Pambotano  is  used  in  Mexico  by  distillers  to  prevent  acetous 
fermentation.  Dr.  Roby  (  Ellin  gwood's  Therapeutist  J  combined 
it  with  Echinacea  in  a  case  of  senile  gangrene  with  the  best  re- 
sults.    It  was  given  internally. 

Dr.  Bloss  reports  a  case  of  Aconitinc  poisoning  in  which  two 
of  the  Aconite  keynotes  were  very  prominent,  i.  c.,  "numbness 
and  tingling  throughout  the  body/' 

Rumex  crispus  is  said  to  be  peculiarly  rich  in  "organic  iron," 
and  to  be  very  useful  in  youthful  anaemia,  or  "impoverished 
blood"  of  any  age,  and  has  high  repute  in  some  quarters  for  very 
intractable  eczemas. 

A  mild  solution  of  quinine  is  said  to  be  a  sure  cure  for  Rhus 
poisoning. 


OLIVE    OIL    IN    GASTRIC   TROUBLES. 

Those  who  have  used  olive  oil  in  gastric  troubles  have  become 
convinced  that  there  is  a  field  for  the  action  of  this  remedy  which 
is  not  thoroughly  understood. 


224  Letter  from  Kansas  City. 

Bloch  treated  nineteen  cases  of  gastric  ulceration,  a  part  of 
which  were  accompanied  with  pyloric  stenosis,  with  the  use  of 
either  olive  or  linseed  oil  given  in  a  small  quantity  three  times 
a  day.  This  not  only  promoted  restoration  of  the  strength  of  the 
patient,  but  relieved  the  pain. 

Where  from  spasm  of  the  pyloris  there  was  enlargement  of 
the  stomach,  the  result  was  immediate  and  satisfactory.  Where 
the  stenosis  was  extreme,  the  results  were  most  apparent. 

This  suggestion  is  a  good  one  and  I  should  be  glad,  if  any 
reader  has  adopted  a  similar  course,  to  receive  a  report  of  the 
result.  The  oil  is  nutritional  in  its  influence  and  will  do  away 
with  the  necessity  of  so  large  a  quantity  of  nutrition  which  the 
stomach  may  not  receive  well. 

Should  there  be  liver  faults  in  conjunction  with  stomach  diffi- 
culty the  remedy  would  be  of  increased  advantage. — Ellin  gwood's 
Therapeutist. 


LETTER    FROM    KANSAS    CITY. 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

The  local  physicians  of  this  city  are  working  hard  to  perfect 
•arrangements  for  the  coming  meeting  in  June,  of  the  A.  I.  H. 
All  feel  satisfied  that  one  of  the  best  meetings  in  the  history  of 
the  Institute  will  be  held. 

Dr.  Cramer,  of  the  Local  Committee,  has  hotel  arrangements 
completed.  The  Coates  House,  which  has  been  selected  as  head- 
quarters, is  located  at  the  corner  of  ioth  and  Broadway,  several 
blocks  from  the  business  centre,  and  is  a  first-class  hotel  in  every 
way.  It  has  abundant  facilities  to  handle  the  entire  attendance, 
should  all  elect  to  stop  there.  The  rates  on  the  American  plan 
will  be  from  $2. 50  up  per  day;  on  the  European  plan,  $1.00  a 
day  up. 

The  sectional  meetings,  committee  meetings,  and  officers'  head- 
quarters will  be  located  in  the  "Coates,"  as  will  also  the  Ex- 
hibitions, for  whom  ample  arrangements  have  been  made.  Mr. 
Firey,  manager  of  the  hotel,  is  bending  all  his  energies  to  pro- 
vide for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  his  coming  guests. 

The   general   meeting's   of   the    Institute   will   be   held    at   the 


Book  Notices.  225 

"Casino/'  a  new  assembly  hall,  adjoining  the  hotel.  This  is  a 
modern  building,  that  will  accommodate  the  largest  meeting,  and 
has  all  the  modern  conveniences. 

There  are  numerous  other  hotels  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  "Coates,"  at  rates  to  suit  all  purses.  Numerous  entertain- 
ments will  be  provided  for  the  visitors,  including,  we  under- 
stand, a  banquet.  The  Reception  Committee,  including  Drs. 
Lyon,  Starkey.  Alexander,  and  others,  will  see  that  all  are  made 
comfortable. 

M.  R.  F. 


BOOK  NOTICES. 


The      Clinic     Repertory.        By   P.   W.    Shedd,   M.    D.,    Xew 

York.     Including  a  Repertory  of  Time  Modalities,  by  Dr.  Ide, 

of  Stettin,  Germany.     Translated  from  the  Berliner  Zeitschrift 

Homoeopathic  JEvzte,  Band  xxv.,  Hefte  3  and  4.     240  pages. 

Cloth,   $1.50.      Postage,   8   cents.      Philadelphia:    Boericke    & 

Tafel.     1908. 

In  reviewing  Dr.  Shedd's  Clinic  Repertory,  we  feel  that  we  are 
reviewing  a  book  of  essentials,  practicalities,  and  exposition  in 
the  repertory  form  of  the  simplicity  and  wide  range  of  homoeo- 
pathic medication.  The  book  was  designed  originally,  as  stated 
in  the  preface,  for  use  in  the  clinic,  and  physicians  who  have  had 
charge  of  a  medical  clinic  with  its  numerous  patients  and  limited 
time  will  appreciate  the  need  of  such  a  work  :  and  professional 
visits  at  the  bedside  (whither  one  cannot  carry  a  library),  or  even 
office  consultations,  present  many  features  found  in  clinic  prac- 
tice. The  consideratum  of  such  a  book  is  its  facile  groupings  of 
essential  elements,  which,  with  an  ordinary  working-knowledge 
of  materia  medica,  shall  lead  to  reliable  scientific  prescription. 

The  repertory  begins  with  a  very  complete  summary  of 

Aggravations  and  Ameliorations  from  Weather  and  Tern- 
perature. 

Aggravations  and  Ameliorations  from  Position  and  Motion. 

Remedies  Markedly  Affecting  the  Sides  of  the  Body. 


226  Book  Notices. 

Remedies  Corresponding  to  Sensory  Stimulation. 
Peculiar  Sensations. 
Formication,  Numbness. 
Alternation  of  Complaints,  for  example: 
Asthma  X  eruptions:    Calad.,  Rhus. 
X  gout:  Lye.,  Sulf. 
X  nocturnal  diarrhoea:    Kali  carb. 
Colic  X  delirium:  Pb. 
Contrary  complaints  in  general:     Croc,  Ign.,  Kali  bi.,  Plat.y 

Puis. 
Convulsions  X  rage:     Stram. 
Cough  X  eruptions:    Crot.  tig. 

X  sciatica:    Staph. 
Diarrhoea  X  rheumatism:    Dulc. 

X  headache:    Podo. 
Herpes  X  dysentery:    Rhus. 
Laryngeal  X  uterine  symptoms:    Arg.  nit. 
Lumbago  X  headache:    Aloe. 
Mental    X    physical    symptoms:     Croc,  Hyos.,   Lil.   tig., 

Plat. 
Numbness  X  pains:     Cham.,  Graph,  (sciatica  lumbago). 
Paralytic  X  spasmodic  symptoms:     Stram. 
Religious  affections  X  sexual  excitement:     Lil.  tig. 
Rheumatism  X  cardiac  pains:   Benz.  ac. 
X  catarrh:    Kali  bi. 
X  gastric  symptoms:     Kali  bi. 
Vertigo  X  colic:    Ver.  alb. 
and  then  follows  the  anatomic  schema :     Mind,  Head  and  Brain, 
Eye,  Ear,  Nose,  Face,  Mouth,  Teeth,  Tongue,  Throat  and  Voice, 
etc. 

The  glandular,  nervous,  osseous,  and  muscular  systems  are 
again  taken  up  under  their  respective  rubrics,  and  Common  Dis- 
eases and  Conditions  are  also  grouped  together. 

Aside    from   the   purely    symptomalogic   points,    there   are    in- 
cluded under  the  anatomic  headings  the  remedies  found  clinically 
most  useful  in  common  disease-types,  e.  g.,  under  Skin  we  have : 
Erysipelas:      Acox.,    Amm.    c.     (blackish),    Apis     (smooth, 
(Edematous),   Ars.    (blackish),   Bell,    (smooth,    er- 
ratic),   Bry.    (joints),    Caxtii.    (vesicular).    Carb. 


Book  Notices.  227 

ac.     (vesicular),     Euphorb.,     Graph,     (ulcerative; 

moist;    wandering;    chronic),    Hep.     (ulcerative), 

Lach.,    Lappa    (chronic),    Merc,    Puis,    (erratic),. 

Rhus  (vesicular),  Sulf.    (ulcerative;  chronic). 
Gangrene  (from  bums  or  sores):  Agar.,  Ars.,  Asaf.,  Canth.r 

Carb.  ac,  Carbo  v.,  Caust.,  Kreos.,  Rhus,  Strain. 
cold:    Ars.,  Pb.,  Sec 
hot      Ars.,  Sab.,  Sec 
moist:    China,  Hell. 
senile:     Cepa,  Secale. 
spots  in:  Crot.  h.,  Cycl.,  Hyos.,  Sec. 
A  valuable  materia  medica  of  the  keynotes  of  50  polychrests^ 

Nitric  acid:    Sad,  despondent,  joyless. 

Excessive  psychical  and  physical  irritability,  an  "easy  cus* 

ser." 
Weak,  but  still  irritable. 

<  from  cold,  always  chilly. 
<at  night. 

<  from  sensory  disturbances. 
General  weakness  worse  in  a.  m. 

Bleeding  fungoid  ulcers  with  sticking  pains.  ' 

Acid  sweat  like  horse-urine. 

After  a  loose  stool,  distress  for  hours. 

Last  stage  of  hemorrhagic  typhoid. 

Liquifies  rather  than  coagulates  the  blood. 

Seniles  (natural  or  premature)  with  diarrhceic  tendencies^ 
is  a  part  of  the  work.  There  is  a  chapter  of  Common  Sequences ; 
of  Dynamic  Antidotes ;  one  of  Poisons  and  their  Physiologic 
Antidotes,  and  of  great  interest  and  worth  is  a  most  complete 
repertory  of  the  Appearances  and  Aggravations  of  Complaints- 
according  to  Time,  as  translated  by  Dr.  Shedd  from  the  German 
of  Dr.  Ide  (Stettin:  Zcitschrift  des  Berliner  Vereines  horn. 
Aertze.  Band  XXV,  Hefte  3-4.)  No  remedy  which  has  a  time 
aggravation  of  any  complaint  or  symptom  is  lacking  here. 

The  work  is  unique  in  its  facility  of  reference,  and  exhibits  an 
intensely  practical  turn  of  mind.  Dr.  Shedd's  familiarity  with 
the  resources  of  homoeopathic  literature  in  all  languages  has  per- 
mitted the  collocation  of  a  number  of  remedies  found  most  useful 


228  Book  Notices. 

in  the  experience  of  our  over-sea  homoeopaths.  An  early  edition 
■of  the  Repertory  in  Spanish  will  be  forthcoming. 

The  typographical  part  of  the  work  is  done  in  the  best  style 
of  this  publishing  house ;  the  binding  is  substantial ;  the  book  fits 
the  pocket  or  the  satchel  (240  pages)  and  the  price  ($1.50)  fits 
the  purse. 

We  feel  that  we  may,  without  bias,  heartily  commend  the 
Clinic  Repertory  to  the  general  practitioner,  old  or  young:  the 
medical  student  and  interne ;  and  to  "Old  School  Men"  to  whom 
the  author  dedicates  it  as  a  practical  introduction  to  the  science 
of  homoeopathic  medication. 


A  Nursery  Manual.  The  Care  and  Feeding  of  Children 
in  Health  and  Disease.  By  Reuel  A.  Benson,  M .  D.  Lecturer 
on  Diseases  of  Children,  Xew  York  Homoeopathic  Medical 
College,  etc.  184  pages.  Cloth,  $1.00.  Postage,  5  cents. 
Philadelphia  :  Boericke  &  Tafel.     1908. 

A  daintily  bound,  well  printed  on  fine  paper,  and  well  written 
book  that  is  much  needed  to-day,  both  for  the  actual  use  it  will 
be  to  mothers,  and  as  a  beginning  of  the  reaction  of  homoeopathic 
physicians  from  their  past  attitude  of  hostility  to  family  Homoe- 
opathy. A  sound  little  book  like  this  will  greatly  strengthen  Ho- 
moeopathy in  the  family  where  it  acts  as  a  guide,  and  thus  bene- 
fits both  family  and  physician,  to  say  nothing  of  the  youthful 
denizen  of  the  nursery  of  whom  Dr.  Benson  writes :  "A  child 
who  has  been  properly  fed  and  reared  under  homoeopathic  re- 
gime, is  physically  better  equipped  for  life  than  any  other."  And 
that  saying  is  sound  to  the  core ;  given  a  hundred  average  babies 
one-half  of  them  making  the  start  in  life  under  homoeopathic  treat- 
ment, and  the  other  under  the  old  schol  treatment,  and  the  little 
homoeopaths  will  far  outstrip  their  handicapped  brothers  and 
sisters  in  the  matter  of  physical  equipment.  The  idea,  as  inti- 
mated above,  that  has  ruled  for  some  time  past  among  physi- 
cians that  families  should  not  be  encouraged  to  study  into  family 
practice  is  a  very  erroneous  one  for  both  doctor  and  patient,  for 
books  like  this  put  into  the  nursery  will  enormously  enlarge  the 
clientele  of  the  physician  by  cultivating  an  intelligent  apprecia- 


Book  Xotices.  229 

tion  of  what  Homoeopathy  really  is  and  what  it  can  do  for  health 
and  attendant  happiness. 

As  for  the  text,  it  need  only  be  said  that  it  is  plain,  simple 
and  practical,  and  the  medical  treatment  what  might  be  well 
termed  "first  aid"  in  Homceopthy,  just  such  as  will  be  really  use- 
ful in  the  nursery  and  tend  to  strengthen  the  family's  belief  in 
the  efficacy  of  Homoeopathy. 


Knaves  or  Fools  ?  By  Charles  E.  Wheeler,  M.  D.,  B.  S.r 
B.  Sc.  104  pages.  60  cents.  Postage,  5  cents.  London : 
John  Hogg.     1908. 

Dr.  Wheeler,  the  author  of  this  book,  is  now  editor  of  the 
Homoeopathic  World,  succeeding  Dr.  John  H.  Clarke.  The  book 
is  divided  into  five  chapters  and  their  headings  will  give  the 
reader  an  outline  of  the  book.  These  are,  ''The  Situation," 
"Samuel  Hahnemann  and  His  Times,"  "The  Trend  of  Modern 
Medicine,"  "Knaves  or  Fools?"  and  "The  Future  and  Its  Pos- 
sibilities." The  book  is  most  excellently  written  on  these  topics 
which  concern  the  status  of  Homoeopathy  in  its  relation  to 
modern  medicine,  and  that  the  blind  negation  of  the  latter  will 
no  longer  avail.  If  scientific  medicine  is  to  be  worthy  of  its  as- 
sumed title,  it  must  face  that  which  is  known  as  "Homoeopathy." 
The  title,  in  our  opinion,  is  not  a  very  happy  one ;  at  first  glance 
one  naturally  jumps  to  the  conclusion  that  the  doctor  who  will 
not  follow  the  law  of  similia  must  be  a  knave  or  a  fool,  but  re- 
fers to  the  amusing  attitude  of  the  allopaths,  who  look  on  ho- 
moeopaths as  being  one  or  the  other — chiefly  the  latter.  This 
attitude  reminds  one  of  courtiers  in  the  court  of  an  African  king- 
met  by  Stanley,  who  looked  down  on  him  and  the  other  whites 
quite  contemptuously.  Something  of  this  spirit  is  shown  even 
by  homoeopath ists  who  laugh  at  Hahnemann's  Chronic  Diseases r 
because  he  terms  the  chief  of  his  chronic  miasms  "psora,"  i.  e., 
itch.  If  Hahnemann  taught  that  the  vast  army  of  psoric  ills  are 
due  to  the  itch  mite  the  scoffers  would  have  some  grounds  for 
their  superior  knowledge,  but  it  happens  that  he  does  nothing' 
of  the  kind,  and  those  who  laugh  are  those  who  never  read  the 
book. 


Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

By  BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

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EDITORIAL     BREVITIES. 

Is  it  A  Dream  ? — Is  it  mere  idle  speculation  to  read  in  the  signs 
of  the  times  that  about  the  period  some  of  our  worthy  homoeo- 
paths have  succeeded  in  getting  doses  big  enough  and  strong 
enough  to  suit  their  ideas,  that  the  restless  allopath  will  have 
struck  the  trail  of  the  dynamic  remedy  and  have  followed  it  to  the 
point  where  even  the  I.  H.  A.  will  have  to  sit  up  and  take  notice? 
You  can  wager  your  little  surplus,  with  a  surety  of  winning,  if 
you  live  long  enough,  that  the  man,  the  faction,  the  school,  or 
what  you  will,  who  follows  the  dynamic  remedy  administered  on 
the  law  of  Similars,  as  laid  down  in  The  Materia  Medica  Pur  a 
and  The  Chronic  Diseases,  will  be  the  medical  survivor  of  the 
future.  Man  is  too  apt  to  mistake  the  passing  show  for  the  dis- 
covery of  eternal  verity. 

The  Law. — Dr.  Eustace  Smith,  in  the  British  Medical  Journal, 
February  29  (quoted  in  Hahn.  Monthly),  writing  of  the  uses  of 
Antimony  in  small  doses,  adds :  "There  is  another  use  for  the 
antimonial  salts  which  must  not  be  forgotten.  It  is  a  recognized 
fact  that  all  nauseating  medicines  when  given  in  minute  doses 
lose  their  irritating  properties  and  become  gastric  sedatives. 
( rood  examples  of  this  lazv  (our  italics)  are  seen  in  the  cases  of 
Ipecacuanha  and  Zinc  sulphate,"  i.  c.  Ipecac  in  large  doses  will 
pre  duce  vomiting  and  in  "minute  doses"  will  relieve  vomiting. 
If  "this  law"  prevails  in  one  class  of  drugs  is  it  not  but  element- 
"ary  logic  to  affirm  that  it  must  govern  all  drugs?  If  it  governs 
all  drugs  is  it  not  Homoeopathy?  x\nd  if,  as  seems  to  be  admitted 
Tby  Dr.  Smith,  this   is  the  general  law  governing  the  effects  of 


Editorial  B verities.  231 

drugs  in  their  action  on  human  beings,  should  not  the  old  school 
men  for  the  sake  of  humanity  avail  themselves  of  it?  And  if  they 
do  adopt  this  practice  which  common  sense  dictates,  should  not 
they  as  honest  men  admit  the  fact  that  Homoeopathy  is  a  natural 
law — the  law  of  therapeutics? 

Bier's  Hypeflemic  Treatment. — This  method  is  making 
something  of  a  stir  to-day.  though  in  reality  it  is  not  new.  During 
"the  war"  a  doctor  named  Hatfield,  at  Cincinatti,  O.,  employed 
what  is  practically  the  same  treatment,  and  though  he  advertised 
he  was  a  rather  skilful  physician.  His  advertising  was  original. 
It  was  "No  cure  until  paid/'  While  he  used  drugs,  and  even 
homoeopathic  drugs,  his  chief  reliance  was  in  an  air  pump  with 
various  appliances  to  remove  the  air  pressure  from  any  part  of 
the  body,  thus  causing  an  accumulation  of  blood,  which  is,  it 
seems,  the  essential  thing  in  the  Bier  method.  He  could  apply  the 
suction  to  any  part  of  the  body,  and  even  to  the  whole  body. 
When  it  first  appeared  it  was  quackery.  Xow  it  emerges  from 
the  limbo  of  the  forgotten  as  science,  while  the  principle  remains 
the  same.  It  doubtless  has  some  uses,  but  is  very  far  from  being 
millennium  medicine. 

''Regular''  Therapeutics. — Dr.  Torald  Sollman  has  been  dis- 
cussing "the  aims  of  the  council  on  pharmacy  and  chemistry," 
which  council  seems  to  be  a  part  of  the  A.  M.  A.  organization 
whose  duty  it  is  to  pass  on  proprietary  preparations  and  steer 
the  prescriber  in  the  way  he  should  go.  This  is  a  surmise  only 
and  subject  to  correction,  of  course,  but  no  one  can  deny  that  the 
council,  or  a  member  of  it,  is  sometimes  right  as  when  Dr.  Soll- 
man asserts  of  the  ("regular")  therapeutics  of  the  day,  "at  pres- 
ent it  cannot  be  classed  as  an  art,  nor  as  a  science :  it  can  only  be 
classed  as  a  confusion."  After  this  frank  statement  Dr.  Soil- 
man  proceeds : 

"Within  the  gates,  we  hear  clamor  from  the  man  who  would 
substitute  the  laboratory  for  the  bedside,  and  from  the  man  who 
would  substitute  the  bedside  for  the  laboratory.  One  shouts  vali- 
antly for  every  new  product  of  the  advertiser's  skill;  another 
asserts  boldly  that  the  treatment  of  disease  is  a  figment  of  the 
imagination.  One  praises  baths  as  the  modern  elixir  of  life,  an- 
other electricity,   another   radium.     This  one  rests  his   faith  in 


232  Editorial  Brevities. 

nurses,  and  this  one  in  office  furniture — and  thus  it  goes.  With- 
out the  gates,  we  see  healers  of  various  names,  even  more  noisy, 
each  shouting  for  his  little  cure-all,  liscordant  in  every  thing  but 
their  attacks  on  what  they  discern  as  the  weakest  part  of  medi- 
cine." 

The  "product  of  the  advertiser's  skill"  is  an  especially  happy 
phrase,  for  what  general  reader  has  not  run  across  statements  of 
physicians,  who  do  not  believe  in  diphtheria  antitoxin,  yet  dare 
not  cut  out  the  use  of  it  in  a  case  of  diphtheria?  Dare  not  be- 
cause if  the  patient  were  to  die  he  would  be  tacitly  held  respon- 
sible for  the  death.  vVhy?  Because  of  skillful,  exceedingly  skill- 
ful, advertising  the  public  have  adopted  it  as  a  fetish,  and  woe 
to  the  luckless  medical  wight  who  in  practice  flouts  it.  Homoeo- 
pathic doctors  will  do  well  to  remain  in  the  clear  light  of  their  law 
and  keep  out  of  the  therapeutic  rat  pit  of  "scientific"  medicine 
described  by  Dr.  Sonman. 

There  Is  Xothixg  Better. — Dr.  William  Sharp  wrote,  in  one 
of  his  tracts  (Xo.  10)  :  "I  have  allowed  that  Hahnemann's  prov- 
ing are  not  free  from  errors  and  defects ;  but  I  contend,  and  this 
from  my  own  personal  observation  and  experience  at  the  bedside 
of  the  sick,  that,  notwithstanding  these  errors  and  defects,  they 
are  of  more  practical  value  in  the  treatment  of  disease  than  any- 
thing which  had  been  effected  by  former  physicians.''  And  these 
words  might  be  honestly  written  to-day,  A.  D.  1908. 

The  Xosodes. — In  the  discussion  following  the  reading  of  Dr. 
Stuart  Close's  paper  on  ''Gonorrhoea"  at  Jamestown,  showing  the 
far-reaching  and  disastrous  evils  that  follow  that  disease,  which 
is  rarely  cured  and  never  by  injections,  Dr.  H.  C.  Allen  said:  "I 
have  used  Medorrhinum  for  perhaps  thirty  years,  and  the  more  I 
have  studied  its  symptomatology  the  better  results  I  have  had  in 
eliminating  some  of  the  worst  chronic  cases  I  ever  saw.  Those 
allopathic  physicians  who  have  never  applied  these  remedies  as 
Hahnemann  has  instructed  us  by  strict  symptomatological  appli- 
cation have  yet  some  surprises  for  them  in  the  future.  They  will 
find  many  cases  which  may  be  kept  away  from  the  operating  table 
by  Medorrhinum."  No  man  to-day  is  better  fitted  to  write  a 
book  on  the  nosodes  than  Dr.  Allen,  and  no  book  would  be  more 
welcome. 


Editorial  Brevii  2$$ 

Bryonia  in  Puerperal  Fever  in  Cows. — Or.  Chatain,  an  old 
veterinary  surgeon,  relates  his  experience  with  Bryonia  in  puer- 
peral fever  in  Lc  Propagatear  de  I'Homceopathie.     He  got  his 

knowledge  from  Teste  and  other  of  the  early  practitioners.  His 
first  case  was  a  cow  that  had  given  birth  to  a  calf  and  was  lying 
on  the  floor  of  the  stable  immovable,  with  closed  eves  and  cold. 
He  diagnosed  it  as  an  advanced  case  of  puerperal  fever.  Ten 
drops  of  the  tincture  were  put  in  a  quart  of  water,  and  a  tumbler- 
ful given  the  cow  every  hour.  After  the  third  dose  the  cow 
arose  and  began  to  eat  at  her  stall.  Dr.  Chatain  says  that  he  was 
successful  in  every  case  of  the  disease  that  he  treated  with 
ma. 

e  Original  Examining  Board. — Dr.  Remindino  (Pacific 
Med.  Jour.)  tells  of  the  first  medical  examining  board  and  its 
origin.  When  France  became  "nutty,"  as  the  language  of  the  day 
would  put  it,  over  Liberty,  Fraternity  and  the  rest,  she  chased  off 
ail  the  aristocrats  ( which  word,  if  memory  is  not  at  fault,  means 
"the  best"),  and  with  them  went  the  doctors  and  surgeons.  Then 
France  engaged  in  a  gran'!  scrap  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  and 
man}-  citizen  patriots  got  hurt.  The  medical  corps  of  the  army 
was  made  up  of  barbers,  tooth  drawers  and  leeches.  At  the  head 
of  this  body  was  Baran  Percy,  who  seem  to  have  been  one  of  the 
surgeons  who  was  not  chased  out  of  the  country  and  escaped  hav- 
ing his  head  shave  1  off  ar  the  neck.  He  complained  to  the  patriot 
government,  convention,  at  Paris,  of  the  inefficiency  of  his  so- 
called  surgeons  and  doctors.  The  convention  remedied  the 
trouble  by  establishing  a  medical  examining  board.  This  board 
didn't  know  anything  of  medicine  or  surgery  more  than  those  they 
examined,  but  they  had  the  guillotine  back  of  them  so  what  they 
decided  z^'cut.  The  candidate  was  locked  in  a  room  and  one 
written  question  after  another  was  shoved  into  him.  The 
"board''  then  decided  on  his  fitness  and  there  was  no  appeal,  for 
while  not  aristocratic,  it  was  autocratic.  Dr.  Remindino  seems 
to  think  that  "we  have  fallen  heir  to  this  raw  system  of  ex- 
aminations." If  you  happen  to  remember  the  answers  to  the 
questions  you  are  a  good  doctor,  while  if  you  don't  you  are  n.  g. 
"Marvelous!" 

"More  Olives — Less  Pork." — Such  is  the  hi  .      f  an  edi- 


234  Editorial  Brevities. 

torial  in  the  Southern  California  Practitioner,  highly  lauding  ripe 
olives  and  olive  oil  as  "ideal  nutrients"  that  "have  good  effect 
on  both  mind  and  body."  "Olive  oil,  with  bread,  makes  a  delicious, 
healthful  luncheon,"  at  once  cheap,  palatable,  highly  nutritious 
and  easily  digested.  Now,  that  hot  weather  is  approaching,  the 
substitution  of  olive  oil  for  beef  and  pork  would  at  once  prove 
healthful  to  the  body  and  bracing  to  the  pocket.  It  would  also 
be  a  gentle  hint  to  the  philanthropic  beef  trust  that  there  are 
others. 

A  Proving  of  Sodii  Iodidi. — The  other  day  a  man  went  to  a 
very  good  doctor  and  received  a  prescription  made  up  of  Sodii 
iodidi,  Aquas  and  Glycerine.  The  dose  was  five  drops,  three 
times  a  day.  This  man,  like  many  of  his  kind,  knew  more  than 
his  doctor  and  took  a  dessertspoonful  three  times  a  day,  with  the 
result  that  he  had  quite  a  neat  proving  of  the  Sodii  iodidi.  As 
near  as  could  be  gathered  from  the  man  who  knew  better  than  his 
doctor,  he  had  the  following  experience :  It  caused  heavy  nose- 
bleed, lasting  once  nineteen  minutes,  and  recurring  off  and  on 
all  day.  Head  felt  heavy  and  swollen.  Neuralgic,  shooting  pains. 
Back  of  head  heavy  and  swollen.  Great  heat  all  over  the  body. 
Running  at  nose,  watery,  but  bland.  Felt  heavy  all  over,  and 
couldn't  sleep  well  on  account  of  pains  in  head.  The  heat  that 
welled  up  from  all  the  body  evidently  centered  in  the  head. 

One  Way  to  the  Remedy. — Our  friend,  Dr.  AW  L.  Morgan, 
says  that  if  one  of  his  patients  has  a  craving  for  a  certain  article 
he  looks  it  up  in  his  repertory  and  does  the  same  when  they  ex- 
hibit a  special  aversion  to  anything  and  finds  it  to  be  a  great  aid. 
Though  this  is  not  new  it  is  worth  recalling  in  everyday  practice. 

"The  Emanuel  Movement." — In  what  is  termed  "the 
Emanuel  Movement,"  it  looks  as  though  the  ministers  were 
reaching  out,  or  back,  to  the  mediaeval  times  when  priest  and 
doctor  were  one.  Also,  from  the  outside,  it  looks  as  though  they 
were  appropriating  the  Christian  Science  thunder,  and  making 
assertions  that  read  like  a  proprietory  medicine  pamphlet.  The 
thing  back  of  this  particular  "movement"  is  the  same  as  in  all,  of 
a  similar  nature,  that  have  preceded  it,  many  of  which  still 
flourish.     It  is  "suggested"  to  a  human  being  that  he,  or  she,  is 


Items  of  General  Interest.  235 

ill,  or  the  patient  imagines  it  on  his  own  hook,  the  result  is  the 
same,  imaginary  illness.  The  more  the  imagined  ill  is  dwelt  upon 
the  worse  it  becomes.  Finally,  it  is  "suggested"  by  some  other 
mortal  that  a  bath  in  a  certain  river,  a  dip  in  a  pool,  a  visit  to  a 
shrine,  a  pilgrimage  to  a  certain  place,  a  visit  to  some  gentle  little 
lady,  who  assures  you  that  you  only  imagine  yourself  ill,  the 
touch  of  some  one's  hands,  the  exorcising  by  a  spirit-medium,  the 
hypnotist,  the  prayer  curer,  the  Emanuel  healers,  or  what  not, 
"will  cure/'  and,  behold!  you  imagine  yourself  cured,  even  as 
before  ypn  imagined  yourself  ill.  The  "cure"  is  very  real  to  the 
sufferer,  for  imagination  often  is  an  uncanny  thing,  and  the 
♦  heater,  be  he  pagan  or  Christian,  has  done  a  good  work,  but  the 
trouble  comes  when,  as  generally  happens,  he  gets  puffed  up,  he 
is  apt  to  tackle  ills  that  are  not  imaginary,  and  then  he  becomes 
an  evil  to  the  real  sufferer,  holding  him  from  a  physician  by  means 
of  the  power  acquired  by  his  cure  of  imaginary  ills.  When  these 
well  meaning  and  perfectly  honest  enthusiasts  learn  that  their 
therapeutic  power  begins  and  ends  in  the  imaginary  they  will 
have  become  useful  members  of  the  healing  profession.  Oc- 
casionally,  a  physician  gets  caught  in  one  of  these  eddies  and  is 
soon  left  stranded  on  the  shore. 

We  are  all  apt  to  say  that  the  imagination  is  "nothing,"  and 
therein  we  err,  for  it  is  a  very  real  and  very  important  thing,  but 
it  is  not  everything  in  the  make-up  of  human  ills,  and  the  man 
who  sticks  solely  to  the  material  is  about  as  one-sided  as  the 
man  who  places  the  all  of  cure  in  "suggestion"  in  any  of  its 
phases.  The  true  homceopthic  considers  both.  And  even  in 
Homoeopath}-  that  tendency  to  one-sidedness  is  apparent  in  the 
exclusive  use  of  the  "low"  or  the  "high"  potency.  They  are  both 
"needed. 


ITEMS    OF    GENERAL    INTEREST. 

Dr.  E.  C.  Winsmore  has  removed  from  Philadelphia  to  Ephrata, 
Pa. 

Dr.  C.  E.  Sawyer  has  fully  recovered  from  his  recent  accident 
and  attendent  illness,  and  is  again  attending  to  his  professional 
duties  at  Marion.  Ohio. 


236  Items  of  General  Interest. 

A  Kentucky  woman  has  sued  her  city  for  damages  resulting 
from  vaccination,  to  which  she  was  forced  to  submit.  Suits  of 
this  sort  chill  the  professionals. 

A  Xebraska  doctor,  sued  for  accepting  a  pass  from  the  U.  P.. 
railroad,  said  that  he  gave  professional  services  to  the  company 
for  $25  a  month  and  an  annual  pass.    Cheap ! 

According  to  a  German  pharmaceutical  journal,  "Eno's  Fruit 
Salts"  are  seidlitz  powders  masquarading  under  the  aforesaid 
name. 

A  German  surgeon  removed  a  stone  from  a  patient's  bladder 
and  used  it  in  demonstrations,  before  a  class  ;  patient  refuses  to 
pay  the  bill  unless  stone  was  returned,  and  was  upheld  by  legal 
authority.     Moral — obvious. 

Xosebleed  is  the  latest  field,  perhaps,  entered  by  serotherapy. 
Dr.  Sheffers,  of  Liege,  reports  two  cases  of  nosebleed  cured  by 
serum  injection. 

Koch's  emulsion  of  tuberculin  consists  of  the  filtrate  of  the 
bacilli  cultures  to  which  has  been  added  1  per  cent,  of  carbolic 
acid. 

In  an  obituary  column,  April  4th,  there  were  64  deaths  of 
doctors  reported,  and  of  these,  23  were  over  70  years  of  age.  It 
is  not  a  killing  profession. 

President  Dr.  W.  L.  McCreary,  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  in  his  ad- 
dress, said:  "Wherever  you  find  a  good  homoeopath  [in  the 
South]  you  find  his  practice  among  the  wealthiest  people  in  his. 
community." 

Dr.  Edward  N.  By  water,  of  Iowa  Falls,  writes  (Iowa  Horn. 
Jour.)  :  "In  internal  vaccination,  I  believe  we  have  a  safe  method 
of  producing  immunity  against  small-pox.  Wherever  tried,  it 
has  proved  its  efficacy."  He  also  adds  that  in  his  belief  the  cause 
of  the  great  increase  in  tuberculosis  is  due  to  "nothing  less  than 
the  infection  through  vaccination  by  scarification,"  which  will 
continue  as  long  as  the  old  method  of  vaccination  continues. 

Dr.  John  H.  Clarke  has  retired  from  the  editor's  chair  of  the 
Homoeopathic  World,  and  is  succeeded  By  Dr.  C.  E.  Wheeler. 
The  policy  of  the  World  will  be  unchanged. 

Dr.  A.  C.  Pope,  for  man}-  years  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Monthly  Homoeopathic  Review,  now  British  Homoeopathic  Re- 
view,  died  on  March  26. 


Items  of  General  Interest.  237 

A  Denver  surgeon  sued  a  patient  for  $225.25  for  removing 
his  appendix.  Patient  demanded  that  the  appendix  be  produced, 
which  surgeon  couldn't  do. 

Medical  news  teems  with  damage  suits  against  doctors,  sur- 
geons and  hospitals.  This  fact  is,  probably,  largely  due  to  those 
pests  of  civilization,  the  lawyers  who  take  "contingent  fees,"  i.  e., 
cases  on  "spec." 

Dr.  Cummings,  of  the  U.  S.  Marine  Hosp.  Service,  reports  that 
small-pox  is  epidemic  in  Japan.  As  Japan  is  as  rigidly  vaccinated 
ss  Germany,  this  fact  must  make  many  sit  up  and  think. 

When  one  considers  the  ways  of  the  house-fly,  one  loses  faith 
in  the  doctrine  of  contagion  to  a  great  extent.  Perhaps  the  fry 
is  really  a  scavenger  and  not  dangerous,  only  vile.  Don't  give 
him  any  work  to  do  and  he  will  clear  out. 

Mr.  Hibbard,  proprietor  of  the  Boston  Medical  Institute  and 
the  Bellevue  Medical  Institute,  Chicago,  has  been  convicted  of 
using  the  mails  for  fraudulent  purposes,  and  sentenced  to  two 
years'  imprisonment.  Temporary  stay  of  execution  granted.  The 
decision  caused  a  flutter  among  the  various  medical  institutions 
of  a  similar  nature. 

A  doctor,  health  officer  of  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  has  preferred 
charges  against  the  Board  of  Education,  for  permitting  an  un- 
vaccinated  child  to  attend  schol,  though  its  physician  certified 
that  it  was  too  delicate  to  stand  the  operation.    Noble  officer ! 

A  Jersey  patient  sued  his  doctor  for  malpractice  and  lost.  Now 
the  doctor  is  suing  the  patient;  he  will,  probably,  lose,  or  fail  to 
collect.     The  lawyers  are  always  winners  in  such  suits. 

The  Philadelphia  health  officer  had  another  small-pox  scare  on 
April  17.  Two  negroes  were  down  with  chicken-pox,  according 
to  their  physician,  but  the  health  doctor  said  it  was  small-pox. 
Aided  by  about  80  doctors,  policemen,  etc.,  he  swooped  down 
on  the  neighborhood  and  quarantined  118  houses.  The  Africans 
had  not  visited  these  houses,  nor  their  inmates,  the  domicile  of 
the  Africans,  so  the  health  army  was  apparently  out  for  practice 
drill. 

The  Prosecutor,  of  Chicago,  is  out  for  the  scalps  of  the  "adver- 
tising specialists."  It  will  be  $25  to  $200  per  for  all  convictions. 
There  are  other  places  where  this  game  is  played. 


238  Items  of  General  Interest. 

A  jury  has  given  a  verdict  of  $10,000  against  Dr.  Charles  E„ 
Still,  of  Kirksville,  Mo.  (the  Father  of  Osteopathy?),  for  break- 
ing several  ribs  in  a  patient  during  ''treatment." 

Drs.  David  A.  Strickler  and  A.  C.  Stewart  have  given  up  the 
editorial  management  of  Progress,  and  are  succeeded  by  Dr. 
James  Polk  Willard. 

The  New  York  Times  recently  made  a  great  sensation  over 
a  "lanceheaded  viper,"  at  the  Bronx  Park,  Xew  York,  that  had 
been  procured  by  a  firm  of  homoeopathic  pharmacists.  This 
snake,  it  was  said,  furnished  "a  spoonful"  of  the  "precious, 
serum"  for  "insanity"  and  replenished  the  world's  supply  of  ho- 
moeopathic Lachesis  "for  fifty  years"  to  come.  A  week  later 
(May  4)  the  Times  editorially  said  that  the  affair  was  a  "huge 
joke."  Fortunately  for  the  welfare  of  Homoeopathy,  the  snake,, 
from  which  Hering  obtained  the  poison  for  his  proving,  is  in  a. 
perfect  state  of  preservation  at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences^ 
Philadelphia — fortunately,  because  those  who  have  seen  both 
snakes,  say  they  are  of  an  entirely  different  species.  This  point 
should  be  settled  beyond  question  before  the  poison  of  the 
Bronx  snake  is  accepted  as  genuine.  Someone  told  the  reporters, 
that  the  old  supply  of  Lachesis  was  "exhausted"  and  "inert ;'" 
this  statement  displays  gross  ignorance,  or  is  an  intentional  mis- 
statement of  fact. 

The  New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  and  Hospital! 
has  established  a  "Voluntary  Fifth  Year  Course  of  Clinical  Medi- 
cine and  Surgery." 

Dr.  G.  E.  Dienst  has  changed  his  address  from  Naperville  tc> 
•81  Fox  St.,  Aurora,  111.  Dr.  Dienst  is  the  author  of  What  to 
Do  for  the  Head,  ditto,  Stomach,  two  recent  publications  hint- 
ing what  to  do  for  those  regions  of  the  body  when  they  are  out  o£ 
condition. 

Two  San  Francisco  druggists  have  been  fined  $50  each  for 
selling  poisons  without  a  prescription.  Alternative,  50  days  in 
jail.     $1.00  a  day  the  value  of  druggists'  time? 

"The  Supreme  Court  (of  Illinois)  is  said  to  have  declared 
that  the  State  law,  which  makes  vaccination  compulsory,  is  il- 
legal."— Journal  A.  M.  A. 

Dr.  H.  Leonard,  of  Pomona,  Fla.,  died  some  weeks  ago. 


Items  of  General  Interest.  239 

The  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Otis  Clapp  &  Son,  publishers 
and  proprietors  (  ?)  of  the  new  pharmacopoeia,  is  allotted  seven 
pages  in  the  May  number  of  The  Hahnemcmnian  Monthly,  to  de- 
fend that  work  from  a  few  comments  that  recently  appeared  in 
the  Homoeopathic  Recorder.  Unfortunately,  as  at  Atlantic  City, 
when  the  first  edition  of  that  unfortunate  work  was  discredited, 
he  "wells  only  on  what  are  non-essentials  and  does  not  say  a  w<  >rd 
on  the  real  objections  to  the  book.  He  writes  that  but  two  ob- 
jections have  been  advanced  against  this  pharmacopoeia.  The 
first  of  these  is  that  no  mention  is  made  of  the  preparation  of  di- 
lutions from  the  insolubles,  and  the  other,  that  the  new  work  di- 
rects the  preparation  of  a  few  drugs  by  maceration  instead  of 
from  the  expressed  juice.  If  these  were  the  only  objections  to 
the  book,  there  would  never  have  been  a  serious  word  raised 
against  it.  and  for  the  senior  member  to  advance  these  in  the 
pages  of  a  leading  journal  as  the  sole  reason  for  the  wide-spread 
dissatisfaction  with  the  book  for  which  he  stands,  evidences  an 
obtuseness  which  we  did  not  believe  characterizes  him,  or  a 
weak  effort  to  dodge  the  real  objections  to  the  book.  The  new 
book  claims  to  be  guided  by  "modern  science,"  and  is  based  on 
the  exploded  atomic  theory.  Guided  by  this  theory,  it  says  that 
all  traces  of  the  drug  disappear  at  about  the  12th  centesimal  po- 
tency, consequently,  the  inference  must  be,  the  reported  provings 
and  cures  by  homoeopathic  physicians  by  drugs  from  the  12th 
potency  upwards  are  but  mere  imaginings  of  enthusiastic  and 
visionary  individuals.  Now  we  hold  that  a  pharmacopoeia  has 
no  business  to  go  into  the  matter  at  all ;  and,  further,  that  modern 
science  has  already  utterly  discredited  the  old  atomic  theory. 
There  are  many,  very  many,  more  practical  objections  to  the 
book,  but  let  these  suffice,  and  let  the  reader  thoroughlv  com- 
prehend the  fact  that  this  book  means  the  repudiation  of  every- 
thing in  Homoeopathy  that  has  to  do  with  anything  above  the 
1 2th  centesimal  potency.  As  for  Dr.  Clapp's  assertion  that  the 
Recorder  is  animated  solely  by  "sordid  commercialism"  in  this 
matter,  we  will  pass  that  by.  knowing  full  well  that  he  will  some 
day  blush  at  the  remembrance  of  having  written  anything  so  ut- 
terly at  variance  with  the  truth. 


PERSONAL. 


In  biblical  times  many  cases  of  nervousness  were  diagnosed  ''possessed 
of  a  devil." 

The  greater  number  of  the  "new  movements"  are  but  little  eddys  on  the 
edges  of  the  big,  turbulent  stream  of  life. 

When  Pope  wrote  "Man  wants  but  little  here  below,"  the  big  trusts  were 
not  in  commission. 

We  are  apt  to  silently  grin  when  we  remember  that  in  the  days  of 
Nineveh  men  worried  about  their  future  just  as  we  do. 

Man  can  always  find  fault  when  he  cannot  find  anything  else. 

"Capital  isn't  timid,"  said  Binks,  "it's  too  husky  a  brute  for  that." 

"I'd  like  to  paint  your  barn,"  said  the  artist.  "'Taint  wuth  it,"  replied 
the  farmer. 

The  success  of  the  "four  flusher"  depends  on  yourself. 

The  artist  should  never  paint  rotten  fruit. 

Roaster  accounts  for  Solomon'?  knowledge  by  the  fact  that  there  wasn't 
so  much  to  know  in  his  day. 

You  feel  surer  of  your  spelling  in  "rickets"  than  in  "rachitis." 

"Avoid  fear,"  shout  the  "nature"  whoopers.  Wouldn't  they  make  the 
soldiers,  though. 

Dr.  Kinnett  affirms  that  Natrum  mur.  3.x  is  the  remedy  for  sunstroke. 

Elder  reports  a  case  of  endoaneurysmorrhaphy. 

To  tell  a  man  who  has  broken  through  the  ice  to  "keep  cool"  is  needless. 

Binks  says  he  never  gets  the  remittent  fever  unless  a  lawyer  writes  him. 

Monkeys  probably  regard  Darwin  as  quite  clever  and  the  missing  link 
man's  misfortune. 

A  picture  of  Wall  Street  in  1644  shows  a  flock  of  lambs  peacefully  repos- 
ing under  the  trees. 

Xo,  child,  a  rear  admiral  is  not  necessarily  a  laggard  in  a  fight. 

"He's  real  mean,"  said  little  Willie,  of  his  sister's  young  man.  "he  won't 
let  her  have  a  chair  to  herself. 

"Elaborately  beaded  belts  are  prescribed  by  fashion."  Woman's  page. 
Fashion  ought  to  pass  the  examination  board  before  prescribing. 

M.  Grandin  has  walked  over  80,000  miles — and  hasn't  got  there  yet. 

Read  up  on  Thlaspi  bursa  pastoris  for  uric  acid. 

The  chatelaine,  little  camera,  reticule  or  the  green  baize  bag,  carried  is, 
most  likely,  but  a  modern  dinner  pail. 

How  many  men  honestly  believe  she  is  the  better  half? 

The  dilatory  man  is  a  veritable  Johnny-on-the-spot  with  an  excuse. 

Why  is  the  auto  man  always  in  a  hurry?    He  doesn't  know  why  himself. 

The  circus  men,  they  say,  intend  to  charge  double  admission  this  year 
for  trie  girl  with  the  hat. 

"People  do  not  dress  as  much  on  board  as  is  supposed"  is  a  rather 
ambiguous  ocean  steamer  item. 


O    W 
£    35 


THE 

HOMCEOPATHIC  RECORDER. 

Vol  XXIII.         Lancaster,  Pa.,  June,  1908  No  6 

THE  NEW  LACHESIS  VS.  THE  TRUE  LACHESIS. 

Probably  the  most  of  our  readers  have  seen  the  somewhat  sen- 
sational accounts  of  the  extracting  of  the  poison  from  a  lance 
headed  viper  at  the  Bronx  Park,  New  York,  that  have  recently 
appeared  in  the  newspapers,  some  of  them  giving  the  matter  a 
full  page,  with  elaborate  illustrations. 

The  only  point  of  vital  interest  to  homoeopathic  physicians  in 
the  affair  is  to  determine  the  question  :  Is  the  poison  extracted 
the  same  as  that  from  which  the  provings  of  LacJicsis  were  made? 
If  it  is.  we  have  a  new  supply  of  Lachesis,  while,  if  it  is  not,  the 
fact  should  be  known  to  all  physicians.  After  a  very  careful  in- 
vestigation, the  Recorder  is  prepared  to  announce  that  the  new 
Lachesis  is  not  the  true  Lachesis  of  our  provings. 

If  one  were  to  attempt  to  settle  this  question  from  books,  he 
would  soon  be  lost  in  a  maze,  for  the  truth  is  that  our  pharma- 
copoeias, materia  medicas  and  authorities  generally  sadly  mix 
things  when  it  comes  to  Lachesis,  a  purely  fanciful  name,  as  Dr. 
Fornias  points  out,  derived  from  Greek  mythology.  Fortunately 
for  Homoeopathy,  the  question  can  easily  be  settled  beyond  dis- 
pute. The  snake  from  which  Hering  obtained  the  poison  used 
in  his  proving  of  the  remedy  known  in  Homoeopathy  as  Lachesis 
is  at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  of  Philadelphia,  in  a  per- 
fect state  of  preservation.  A  simple  comparison  of  it  with  the 
snake  at  the  Bronx  Park  settles  the  matter  very  conclusively  for 
anyone  who  sees  them,  for,  regardless  of  names,  the  two  snakes 
are  of  a  different  species.  There  is  another  Lachesis  snake  at 
the  Academy,  one  at  Hahnemann  College,  Philadelphia,  and  one 
in  possession  of  Boericke  &  Tafel,  and  any  one  can  see  that  these 
four  are  the  same,  and  different  from  the  snake  at  the  Bronx. 


2_|2  The  New  Lachesis  vs.  the  True  Lachesis. 

One  can  really  make  the  comparison  at  the  Academy,  for  they 
have  a  lance-headed  viper  there  on  the  shelf  with  the  Lachesis 
mutus  of  Hering. 

Here  is  further  incontestible  proof  in  the  matter.     The  original 
snake  at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  is  a  very  large  one, 
and  is  labeled  in  Dr.  Hering's  own  hand  writing,  as  follows : 
Lachesis    Mutus  Daud 

Surinam  Dr.  Hering. 

Now,  bearing  this  in  mind,  read  the  following  from  the  pen  of 
Mr.  Ditmars,  curator  of  the  Bronx  Zoological  Park,  which  ap- 
peared in  the  N.  Y.  Journal,  May  17th — just  here  we  should  add 
that  Mr.  Ditmars  has  been  strictly  accurate  in  all  his  statements, 
and  none  of  the  error  in  the  matter  is  due  to  anything  he  has 
said  or  written : 

"While  the  lance-headed  snake,"  he  writes  in  the  Journal,  "is 
one  of  the  most  deadly  serpents  of  the  New  World,  having 
enormously  developed  fangs  in  proportion  to  its  size,  it  is  not, 
as  has  been  stated,  the  most  deadly  of  all  serpents,  although  its 
bite  is  usually  fatal.  The  mapapire,  scientifically  known  as 
Lachesis  Mutus,  and  occasionally  called  the  bushmaster,  inhabits 
much  the  same  country  and  grows  to  a  greater  size." 

Mr.  Ditmars  here  states  that  the  lance-headed  snake  at  the 
Bronx  Park  is  not  the  Lachesis  Mutus,  and  that  ought  to  settle 
all  controversy  in  the  matter. 

There  remains,  however,  the  evidence  of  sight,  and  as  few 
readers  are  in  a  position  to  compare  the  two  snakes,  we  have  here 
reproduced  pictures  of  both. 

That  of  the  Lachesis  Mutus  was  painted  by  H.  Faber,  at  the 
request  of  Dr.  Hering,  and  the  original  hangs  on  the  walls  of 
Hahnemann  College,  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Faber  drew  the  greater 
part  of  the  illustrations  in  the  recently  published  work,  Piersol's 
Anatomy,  which  fact  vouches  for  his  ability  as  an  artist. 

The  illustration  of  the  lance-headed  viper,  is  taken  from  life — 
from  the  snake  at  the  Bronx  Zoological  Park.  The  reader  can 
compare  the  two  and  draw  his  own  conclusions.  Lnfortunately, 
these  pictures  do  not  give  a  proper  idea  of  the  relative  size  of 
the  two  reptiles.  The  Lachesis  Mutus  is  very  much  larger  than 
the  lance-head. 

The  error    of    confusing    the    lance-headed    viper    with    the 


Lachesis.  243 

Lachesis  Mutus,  probably  arose  from  the  fact  that  there  are  many 
species  of  the  Lachesis  family,  and  among  these  is  the  lance- 
headed  viper,  but  a  St.  Bernard  and  a  terrier  are  both  of  the  dog 
family,  yet  no  one  would  think  of  substituting  the  one  for  the 
other.  Please  understand  that  we  make  no  charge  of  deliberate 
substitution  here,  believing  that  it  was  solely  due  to  error,  an 
error  that  might  have  proved  very  detrimental  to  Homoeopathy 
had  it  not  been  discovered. 

In  some  quarters  it  has  been  stated  that  the  supply  of  Lachesis 
is  about  exhausted  and  what  remains  is  inert.  We  can  state  that 
the  supply  of  the  6th  potency  is  ample,  and  that  there  is  plenty  of 
the  lower  triturations  on  hand.  The  6x  is  the  lowest  sold.  As  to 
its  having  become  "inert''  any  physician  who  prescribes  the  drug 
knows  that  it  is  not  only  not  inert  but  fully  as  active  as  ever.  In 
fact,  some  men  go  so  far  as  to  contend  that  the  properly  made  and 
potentized  homoeopathic  drug,  if  anything,  rather  improves  with 
age. 


LACHESIS. 

The  following  letter  from  Dr.  Fornias  to  Messrs.  Boericke  & 
Tafel  speaks  for  itself: 
Mf.ssrs.  Boericke  &  Tafel. 

Gentlemen: — I  was  just  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  a  paper 
on  the  ''Snake-poisons/'  when,  to  my  surprise,  I  learned,  from 
the  daily  press  of  this  city,  that  a  successful  extraction  of  poison 
had  been  made,  from  a  lanee-Jiead  viper,  in  the  Bronx  Park 
Zoological  Garden,  Xew  York ;  and  you  can  well  understand 
how  such  an  event  has  stirred  up  the  homoeopathic  profession, 
which,  naturally,  wishes  to  have  some  information  as  to  the 
geographical  origin  and  species  of  the  snake  employed,  as  well  as 
to  the  pathogenic  character  of  venom  obtained. 

I  appeal  to  you,  in  the  name  of  several  friends,  in  the  hope 
that  you  may  be  able  to  furnish  the  information  desired,  but, 
principally,  because  it  is  your  house,  which,  for  years,  has  sup- 
plied me  with  remedies,  and  among  them  Lachesis,  a  drug  I  hold 
in  great  esteem,  especially  to  combat  mental  and  circulatory  dis- 
orders connected  with  the  menopause. 

In  expressing  this  legitimate  wish,  however,  permit  me  to  state 
that  it  would  be  very  desirable  to  particularly  find  out,  whether 


244  Lachesis. 

the  serpent  brought  from  Brazil  and  experimented  upon  is,  or 
not,  of  the  same  species  as  the  one  from  which  Dr.  Hering  ob- 
tained the  venom  for  his  proving  Moreover,  I  cannot  further 
speak  of  this  subject  without  remarking,  that  while  the  patho- 
genesis of  the  venom,  employed  by  Hering,  is  recorded  in  our 
materia  medica  under  the  name  of  Lachesis,  no  work  on  Zo- 
ology, I  am  acquainted  with,  gives  any  variety  of  Crotalidce, 
Elapsidcc  or  Vipc rider,  under  such  a  name,  and  as  to  Trigono- 
cephalns,  the  term  simply  implies,  triangular  shape  of  the  fore- 
head. Hence,  I  sincerely  believe  that  our  illustrious  Hering,  for 
some  reason  or  other,  applied  this  mythical  name  to  the  Brazilian 
Viper,  as  a  striking,  descriptive  term,  for  Lachesis  in  Mythology 
really  means  one  of  the  three  goddesses  (Parcce),  who  were  sup- 
posed to  preside  over  accidents  and  events,  and  to  determine  the 
date  and  period  of  human  life.  They  were  called  Atropos, 
Clotho,  and  Lachesis,  and  are  variously  represented — sometimes 
as  spinning  the  thread  of  human  life ;  in  which  employment 
Clotho  held  the  distaff,  Lachesis  turned  the  wheel,  and  Atropos  cut 
the  thread.  And  yet  I  have  notes  from  an  old  dictionary,  which 
refer  to  Lachesis  Rhombeata  (Flammon)  as  a  poisonous  ser- 
pent, common  in  the  lower  forests  of  Peru ;  as  well  as  to  Lachesis 
Picta  (Tschudi),  an  arrow-poison,  said  to  be  composed  of  the 
poison  capsicum,  and  infusions  of  a  strong  kind  of  tobacco,  and 
of  euphorbiaceae,  mixed  together  with  the  poisonous  emmet,  and 
the  teeth  of  the  formidable  serpent,  called  by  Peruvian  Indians 
Miuamani,  or  ] ergon.  May  not  this  be  the  origin  of  the  name  of 
Hering's  remedy?  I  have  read  also  in  a  medical  dictionary,  that 
our  remedy,  Lachesis,  is  derived  from  the  Lachesis  mutus,  a 
South  American  serpent  (Sclenoglyphe  of  Guiana). 

Important  would  be  also  to  know  whether  Lachesis  belongs 
to  the  family  Crotalidce,  Elapsidcc  or  Viperidce.  The  first,  from 
the  Greek  Krotalon,  a  rattle,  is  the  family  of  the  Rattlesnakes, 
and  comprises  some  of  the  most  deadly  poisonous  serpents,  whose 
upper  jaw  contains  but  few  teeth,  but  is  armed  with  sharp- 
pointed,  perforated,  or  grooved,  movable  poison-fangs.  In  this 
species  the  fangs  are  concealed  in.  a  fold  of  the  gum,  or  raised, 
at  the  will  of  the  animal.  They  connect  with  a  gland  situated 
near  the  eye,  which  furnishes  the  fluid  poison.  When  the  snake 
bites,  the  fangs  are  raised,  and  the  pressure  of  the  temporal  mus- 
cle upon  the  gland  forces  the  poison  along  the  fang  into  the 


Laches  is.  245 

wound.  The  Crotalidcc  have  a  deep  pit  between  the  eye  and  the 
nostril,  and  the  rattlesnakes  proper  have  the  tail  furnished  with  a 
rattle,  with  which  they  make  a  noise  when  they  apprehend  danger. 
The  family  Elapidcc,  comprises  venomous  snakes  which  have 
fixed  and  permanently  erect  fangs;  while  the  family  Viperidce 
is  distinguished  by  having  the  upper  jaw  toothless,  but  with  mov- 
able fangs  in  front,  no  pit  between  the  nostrils  and  eyes,  the 
scales  generally  keeled  and  the  tail  short  and  tapering.  It  is 
claimed  by  some  that  no  species  of  Vipera  has  been  found  in 
America.  To  this  family  belong  the  Common  Viper  of  Europe; 
the  Homed  Viper,  or  Cerastes,  of  North  Africa  and  West  of  Asia, 
repulsive  in  appearance,  and  which  carries  a  pair  of  horns  on 
the  snout,  from  which  its  name  is  derived;  the  Puff  Adder,  of 
Africa,  and  the  Death  Adder  of  Australia  (Acanthoptus  tortor), 
which  differs  from  most  of  the  Viperidce,  in  not  having  the  scales 
keeled.  It  is  also  known  in  Australia  as  the  Black  Snake,  and  it 
has  two  poison-fangs  on  each  upper  jaw,  and  its  tail  ends  in  a 
small  recurved  spine ;  its  bite  is  said  to  be  sometimes  fatal  in  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  The  Viperidce  are  more  numerous  in  warm 
climates,  in  which  also  their  bite  is  said  to  be  more  deadly  than 
in  colder  ones. 

In  distinguishing  species  of  serpents,  it  should,  likewise,  be 
remembered  that  some  are  oviparous,  and  of  those  some  deposit 
their  eggs  in  a  sort  of  chain,  leaving  them  to  be  hatched  in  a 
warm  situation ;  others  like  the  Pythons,  incubate  their  eggs ;  and 
still  others  are  vivi parous,  their  eggs  being  hatched  inside  their 
bodies.  In  this  analytic  study,  however,  we  should  not  include 
the  Boidce  (Boa-family),  which  have  both  jaws  armed  with  teeth, 
and  rudiments  of  hind  legs,  or  spur-like  appendages ;  neither  the 
Calubridcc,  serpents  having  both  jaws  fully  provided  with  sharp 
teeth,  directed  backwards,  but  without  poisonous  fangs ;  nor  the 
Hydro phidcr,  sea-snakes  of  small  size,  which  inhabit  the  warm 
parts  of  the  Indian  and  Pacific  oceans,  and  the  streams  of  the 
East  Indies,  and  are  very  venomous. 

And,  finally,  I  would  highly  appreciate  any  information 
you  could  give  me  about  the  Bothrops  laxceolatus,  a  remedy 
of  which  Dr.  Farrington  speaks  in  his  Clinical  Materia  Medica, 
and,  which  is  said  to  cause  aphasic  symptoms. 

Edward  Forxias,  M.  D. 

706  W.  York  St.,  Philadelphia,  May  6,  1908. 


246  Lachesis. 

P.  S. — Since  my  letter  of  the  6th  inst.,  asking  you  for  informa- 
tion about  Lachesis,  I  have  had  access  to  "Dr.  Brelim's  Thier- 
leben  Allgemeine  Kunde  des  Thierreichs/'  Leipzig,  1883.  In 
this  excellent  work  we  find  the  name  of  Lachesis  applied  to 
various  species  of  the  Ophidia.  On  page  478,  this  authority 
speaks  of  Coluber  Lachesis  or  Vipera  inflata,  and  on  page  510, 
of  Lachesis  aIuta.  or  Lachesis  rhombeata.  But  here,  as  in 
other  works  on  Zoology,  we  find  the  same  confusion  about  the 
names  of  the  different  species  of  serpents.  For  instance,  while 
the  French  give  the  names  of  Lachesis  to  Crotalus  Mutus,  a 
solcnoglyphc  of  Guiana,  and  Lachesis  rhombeata  to  Flammon, 
a  poisonous  serpent  common  in  the  lower  forests  of  Peru,  the 
Germans  describe  the  Crotalus  Mutus  under  the  name  of 
Lachesis  Muta,  Lachesis  rhombeata,  Bothrops  surucuco, 
Scytale  ammodytcs,  Cophias  Surucuco  and  Crotalinus.  But 
neither  the  Bothrops  lanceolatus  (Coluber  glaucus  and 
Megaera,  Vipera  coerulcscens,  Trigonocephalus,  Cophias  and 
Craspedocephalus  lanceolatus) ,  a  native  of  West  Indes  and  Cen- 
tral America,  Brazil,  which  is  from  2.5  to  3  metres  long,  and  of 
the  thickness  of  a  man's  arm ;  nor  the  Bothrops  brasiliexsis 
(Brazil  vipera,  Cophias  Iararaca,  Bothrops  Megaera,  furia,  leu- 
eostigma  and  anihigua,  Trigonocephalies  Iararaca,  Craspedo- 
cephalus brasilieusis ) ,  which  is  about  half  the  size  of  the  former, 
are  of  the  same  species  of  Lachesis  Muta  or  rhombeata,  also 
called  Bothrops  Surucucu,  which  is  a  crotalidce,  and  I  think 
the  Lachesis  of  Hering. 

Dr.  Brehm  also  describes  another  species  of  lance-head  Both- 
rops, under  the  name  of  Labaria  (Bothrops  atrox;  Coluber, 
Vipera,,  Cophias  and  Trigonocephalies  atrox,  and  Bothrops  dirus, 
principally  native  of  Guiana,  and  which,  like  all  Bothrops,  are 
not  provided  with  rattle. 

For  our  purpose,  it  is  unnecessary  to  go  any  farther,  it  suf- 
fices to  repeat  that  the  name  of  Lachesis  is  of  mystical,  if  not 
of  obscure  origin,  and  that  Dr.  Brehm  is  the  only  authority  I 
know,  who  speaks  of  the  "Lachesis  Schlangen"  (Lachesis)  as 
a  species  of  the  ''Stum  me  Klapperschlangen"  (Crotalus 
Mutus),  which  he  holds  as  the  terrible  monster  of  the  Deutch- 
Guiana-Jungle. 

F. 


Serum  Therapy.  247 

(The  Lachesis  of  Hering  was  obtained  by  him  in  Dutch 
Guiana  from  the  "terrible  monster"  described  by  Brehm,  a  very 
different  reptile  from  the  lance-headed  viper. — Editor  of  the  Ho- 
moeopathic Recorder.) 


SERUM  THERAPY. 
Eric  Graf  von  der  Goltz,  M.  D. 

If  any  one  will  take  the  time  to  scan  over  the  three  volumes  of 
J.  H.  Clark's  Dictionary  of  Materia  Medica  he  will  find  all  that  on 
record  which  at  the  present  time  fills  the  allopathic  press  as  the 
newest  gain  of  scientific  researches.  But  it  must  be  said  that  the 
statements  of  those  old  records  show  a  greater  clearness,  a  more 
simple  language  than  the  editorials  and  original  articles. 

The  reader  must  recognize  easily  an  old  acquaintance  in  this 
opsonic  treatment — isopathy,  well  known  since  Hahnemann's 
time  in  1833. 

The  writer  cannot  help  but  suspect  when  contemplating 
Wright's  opsonic  theory  and  its  manifold  bacterial  vaccines  to 
have  before  him  nothing  else  than  a  great  analogue  to  the  teach- 
ings of  isopathy  since  the  first  beginnings  with  the  English  phy- 
sician, Fudd,  dead  since  over  200  years,  with  his  fundamental 
teaching:  "Sputum  ejectum  a  pulmonibus  post  debitam  prsepara- 
tionem  curat  Phthisim,"  and  later  Lux,  Swan,  Burnett  and 
others. 

It  must  be  said  suspiciously  analogous,  as  the  thought  cannot 
be  put  off,  that  the  whole  teachings  of  the  opsonics  should  have 
arisen  absolutely  independently  and  without  any  possible  knowl- 
edge of  the  experiments  and  observations  of  all  the  isopathists. 

The  wonderful  mathematical  congruency  between  the  opsonic 
theory  and  isopathy  can  even  be  followed  further. 

Xot  only  is  isopathy  used  in  its  remedies  according  to  its  name, 
but  isopathic  remedies  are  successfully  used  in  different  diseases 
w^ith  the  theoretical  consideration  of  possible  constitutional  taint, 
etc. 

Exactly  in  the  same  line  of  arguing  we  observe  the  different 
allopathic  writers  publishing,  xfor  instance,  the  following  essays : 

1.  Treatment  of  Pertussis  With  Diphtheria  Antitoxin,  by  \Y. 
H.  Deardorff,  February,  '08,  American  Medicine. 


248  Scrum  Therapy. 

2.  Treatment  of  Asthma  With  Diphtheria  Antitoxin  With 
Fatal  Case,  by  P.  N.  Willis,  March,  '08,  Northwest  Medicine, 
Seattle,  Washington. 

The  writer  could  easily,  if  hunting  through  any  index  medicus, 
amplify  at  will  those  articles  treating  the  application  of  the  differ- 
ent serums  for  setiologically  most  different  diseases. 

The  opsonic  and  general  vaccine  treatment  at  the  present  time 
has  its  great  drawbacks,  and  one  especially,  the  great  danger. 

Every  reader  knows  the  great  danger  of  sudden  death  after 
antitoxin  injection,  so  more  appalling  if  used  as  a  prophylactic 
treatment  in  the  office  of  the  family  physician. 

Every  unbiased  reader  must  concur  in  the  opinion  that  a  treat- 
ment that  should  guard  against  a  dangerous  disease  should  under 
all  conditions  be  free  from  being  liable  to  deal  unsuspectedly  the 
death  blow.  > 

Such  a  remedy  must  be  judged  worse  than  the  possible  disease. 

The  sudden  death  till  to-day  after  antitoxin  injection  after  few 
minutes  has  been  the  cause  of  a  considerable  literature  filled  with 
conjectures,  but  without  giving  the  least  possible  cause;  one  of 
the  latest  of  such  a  publication  is  contained  in  the  March  issue  of 
the  Carolina  Medical  Journal,  1908,  Charlotte,  by  Dr.  T.  F.  Pat- 
terson, New  Bern,  N.  C. — An  attempted  explanation  of  sudden 
death  subsequent  to  injection  of  antitoxin. 

The  writer  especially  lays  stress  in  the  present  paper  on  the 
fact  that  in  all  those  years,  since  antitoxin  (diphtheria),  with  all 
improvements  of  preparation,  this  sudden  death  neither  has  been 
eliminated  nor  understood  and  satisfactorily  explained.  A  second 
grave  danger  of  those  sera  (as  also  known  from  different  dis- 
asters with  antitoxin)  has  lately  been  warned  against  by  Dr. 
Theobald  Smith,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  in  an  article  in  Journal  A.  M. 
A.,  Vol.  50,  No.  12 — Some  neglected  facts  in  the  biology  of  the 
tetanus  bacillus ;  their  bearing  on  the  safety  of  the  so-called  bi- 
ologic products.  The  essence  of  this  article  being  that  there 
practically  up-to-date  does  not  exist  any  reliable  safeguarding  in 
the  manipulation  in  the  laboratories  against  tetanus  bacillus  in 
animalized  lymphs. 

The  third  drawback,  especially  in  regard  to  the  opsonic  treat- 
ment, is  of  minor  gravity,  and  has  been  argued  in  the  British 
Medical  Journal  March  14,  '08.  by  Dr.  West,  of  London,  that 


Serum  Therapy.  249 

these  individual  toxins  ean  be  used  only  in  chronic  cases,  as,  for 
instance,  in  cases  of  pneumonia  and  other  acute  diseases  it  would 
take  too  long  to  prepare  the  sera — "the  patient  cither  had  been 
convalescent  or  died." 

To  be  enthusiastic  is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  life,  but 
to  be  over-enthusiastic  is  decidedly  wrong;  the  continuously  go- 
ing on  of  the  congratulatory  Chinese  handshaking  with  them- 
selves as  done  by  the  allopathic  (scientific!)  press  and  its  spokes- 
men and  leaders  has  not  only  become  monotonous,  but  must  be 
regarded  skeptically  as  'an  alarming  symptom  of  impending  catas- 
trophe— the  bursting  of  a  so  long  guarded  and  hedged  soap 
bubble — the  germ  theory  with  ks  different  branches  of  a  more  or 
less  lucrative  industry,  the  commercial  output  of  all  those  sera, 
recommended  and  advertised  in  nearly  all  medical  papers. 

It  is  characteristic  if  suddenly  in  this  prolific  age  of  sera  and 
antitoxins  an  allopathic  physician  writes  as  Dr.  Herbert  Snow, 
of  London :  "It  has  become  evident  that  there  are  numerous  facts 
throwing  grave  suspicion  on  the  whole  germ  theory  and  dis- 
crediting the  virulent  properties  ascribed  to  the  micro-organisms 
identified  with  various  diseases." 

The  paradoxical  behaviour  between  infectious  diseases  and  the 
finding  of  the  germ,  as  the  causal  moment  for  the  infection,  shows 
clearly  that  the  whole  teaching  must  have  somewhere  a  weak 
point. 

The  whole  structure  of  the  serum  treatment,  therefore,  seems  to 
be  in  danger  of  collapsing. 

The  reader  especially  must  be  referred  to  on  editorial  in  the 
New  York  Medical  Record,  Vol.  62,  No.  9  (August  30,  1902), 
coming  to  the  same  ©pinion  held  by  the  late  Schuessler  in  1897,  to 
have  hi  the  dreaded  germ  rather  the  result  than  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  disease. 

This  was  argued  by  English  physicians  in  India  shortly  after 
Dr.  Koch  had  isolated  and  charged  the  comma  bacillus  as  the 
cause  of  cholera.  This  must  be  absolutely  the  reason  of  all  nega- 
tive results  regarding  all  researches  so  lately  the  Lancet,  London, 
April  4,  '08,  "Bacteriology  of  Scarlet  Fever,"  by  H.  Kerr,  unable 
to  claim  anything  specially  as  the  agent  of  infection. 

This  manner  in  finding  the  specific  agent,  but  on  the  other  side, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  writer  of  the  present  paper,  must  be  received  as 


250  Serum  Therapy. 

the  proof  of  the  isopathic  side  of  the  infectious  diseases,  and  of 
the  products  of  the  infectious  diseases. 

The  sera  must  not  be  cultures  of  more  or  less  fancifully  iso- 
lated germs,  but  must  be  as  done  by  the  isopathists,  the  unchang- 
ed product  in  more  or  less  potentized  form,  following  the  rational 
explanation  of  the  chemical  law  of  the  minimum  of  the  recog- 
nized chemist,  Justus  V.  Liebig  (Chem.  Letters,  Vol.  II.,  p.  295). 

This  isopathic  side  to  the  question  called  formally  genius 
epidemicus.  is  a  true  and  simple  explanation  that  one  sera  (diph- 
theria) is  to  the  present  day  nearly  the  only  serum  to  be  called 
effective,  where  nearly  all  other  antitoxins  have  proved  to  be  with 
few  exceptions  failures. 

We  must  say  that  the  isolated  culture  of  the  diphtheria  germ 
was  not  able  to  destroy  the  isopathic  affinity  (the  genius  epidemi- 
cus of  the  diphtheria),  and  that  this  isolation  (Bein-culture)  of 
all  other  germs  so  far  was  deleterious  to  the  genius  epidemicus  of 
the  individual  sera  with  few  exceptions,  in  which  exception  this 
isopathic  property  was  too  strong. 

It  must  be  mentioned  in  reference  to  the  great  cures  of  diph- 
theria antitoxin  that  many  cases  of  simple  tonsillitis  folhcularis 
have  been  pronounced  diphtheria  without  the  least  truth,  and  then 
that  the  antitoxin,  at  best  not  harming  the  patient,  was  accredited 
with  unmerited  result. 

Incidentally,  the  controversy  between  the  Xew  York  Times 
and  Dr.  Mills,  of  the  Horn.  Co.  Soc,  the  contentino  of  the  Xew 
York  Times  must  be  refuted  as  erroneous  and  false. 

The  two  reasons  that  the  New  York  Times's  editorial  regard- 
ing the  snake  poison  if  taken  per  os  is  wrong,  are  first  the  letter 
written  by  Dr.  H.  Pratt,  from  the  laboratory  of  the  Board  of 
Health,  and  in  second  line  the  following  citation  from  a  publica- 
tion in  the  International  Medical  Journal,  of  Australia,  Mel- 
bourne, February,  1908,  by  D.  M.  Paton,  "New  Generalization  in 
Serum  Therapy." 

The  interesting  passage  reads :  "Give  by  rectum  or  by  mouth 
they  act  on  all  tissues  physiologically  in  normal  serum  with  in- 
creased power  on  tissues  which  have  been  pathologically  affected." 
.  .  .  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  the  New  York  Times  in 
claiming  that  snake  poison  per  os  was  so  innocent  like  egg 
albumen  was  erroneous.    The  Xew  York  Times  editor  or  anonv- 


Homoeopathy  vs.  Homoeopathy..  2$i 

mous  writer  should  himself  try  the  internal  use  of  Lachesis  [by 
the  way  not  at  all  C.  Hering's  Lachesis]  in  the  form  according  to 
the  once  already  mentioned  law  of  the  minimum,  to  find  out  the 
truth ! 

This  ignorance  of  a  layman  cannot  be  accepted  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  the  behaviour  of  Dr.  M orris. 

To  use  abusive  language  instead  of  weighty  arguments  proves 
only  to  have  no  arguments,  and,  therefore,  to  be  filled  with  im- 
potent hatred  and  malignancy.     O  si  tacuisses.     .     .     . 

New  York,  242  East  J2d  Street. 


HOMOEOPATHY  VS.  HOMOEOPATHY. 

Editor  of  the  Hom-oeopathic  Recorder: 

In  perusing  the  latest  copy  of  the  Century  am  confronted  with  a 
paper  forcefully  presenting  the  query,  "What's  the  matter  with 
Homoeopathy?"  in  which  the  author  states  as  a  fact  that  Ho- 
moeopathy is  all  right,  "the  matter  lies  with  us,"  he  declares. 

This  is  all  well  and  good,  but  do  we,  the  practitioners,  not  repre- 
sent the  system  to  the  laity?  and  if  we  fail,  does  not  the  system 
fail,  when  the  flag  is  furled  the  nation  dies,  when  the  rulers 
capitulate  what  becomes  of  the  rank  and  file? 

To  all  intents  and  purposes,  so  far  as  the  progress  of  Ho- 
moeopathy is  concerned,  when  the  practitioner  fails  the  system 
fails,  and  that  family  rightly  so  considers  it,  and  when  the  ''Little 
Pills"  sends  a  prescription  to  the  drug  store  for  iodalbin,  or  an- 
acorcin,  or  sanmetto,  or  vapo-cresoline,  all  of  which  I  find  ad- 
vertised in  the  current  number  of  the  Medical  Century,  what  can 
the  family  think  except  that  there  is  no  difference  between  the 
allopath  and  the  homoeopath?  And  the  homoeopath  gladly  toys 
with  his  hypo,  and  talks  learnedly  of  a  heart  tonic,  and  uses 
plasters  and  liniments  and  lotions  by  the  score,  yet  he  wonders 
why  the  people  do  not  flock  to  him,  and  students  try  to  be  allowed 
the  privilege  of  sitting  at  his  feet. 

Pshaw !  Scan  the  catalogues  of  our  pharmacies  and  note  the 
increasing  number  of  compound  tablets  on  the  market,  read  the 
advertising  pages  of  many  of  our  magazines  and  see  the  number 
of  nostrums  there  set  forth. 

Homoeopathy  is  afflicted  with  senile  gangrene.     It  is  dying  of 


252  Homoeopathy  vs.  Homoeopathy. 

dry  rot,  the  leaders  are  surrendering  and  the  banner  is  being 
trailed  in  the  mire. 
For  shame ! 

If  I  were  possessed  of  the  pen  of  my  old  professor,  Dr.  Wilson, 
it  should  write  such  a  screed  as  would  set  Homoeopathy  on  fire 
and  arouse  its  adherents  to  a  sense  of  duty.  Why,  men,  the  nation 
is  crying  for  relief  from  Oslerism  and  therapeutic  nihilism ;  it 
needs  homoeopathic  prescribing  at  the  hands  of  a  master,  it  is  ripe 
for  a  therapeutic  revolution,  and  we  are  dying  as  a  direct  result 
of  thrombotic  processes  in  our  colleges.  The  life  blood  of  Ho- 
moeopathy is  its  materia  medica  pura,  hinder  its  circulation  and  we 
have  no  excuse  for  living. 

"We  have  a  name  to  live,  but  art  dead."  During  the  session 
of  i893-'94  the  following  prescriptions  were  placed  on  the  board 
for  the  enlightenment  and  edification  of  benighted  students  in  one 
of  the  colleges  in  Cleveland, O.  It  is  taken  from  a  note-book  I 
still  ruminate  over  occasionally : 

5.     Carbol.  ac.  grs.  x. 

Ol.  Cach.  3ss. 

Ung.  sulph.  3j. 

M.  S.     For  erysipelas. 
Here  is  another  by  the  same  teacher : 
]J.     Tr.  rhus  tox. 

Tr.  canthar.  aa  gss. 

Aqua  pint  3. 

M.  Sig.    Apply  on  hot  cloths. 
Another  professor  presented  us  this : 

I>.     Ac.  salicyli.  scruple  j. 

Amyl.  gss. 

Pulv.  talci.  gijss. 

M.  S.  Hyperidronis. 
Still  another  gave  this : 

IJ.     Carbol.  ac.  5j. 

Tr.  iodine  5j. 

Acidi  tannic  5 


Cerate 


Fiat  ung. 
I 
date. 


o 


IV. 


And  I  could  continue  this  throughout  my  clinical  record  of  that 


Reply  to  "Dr.  JVanstall  and  Homoeopathy."  253 

Now  comes  a  prominent  professor  of  clinical  medicine  and 
therapeutics  with  an  article  detailing  five  cures  with  iodalbin. 
Did  Hahnemann,  or  Hering,  or  Dunham  ever  find  it  necessary  to 
resort  to  such  "drugs"?  Did  either  of  them  ever  exploit  such  a 
remedy  as  saxanite? 

If  the  blind  lead  the  blind  do  they  not  both  fall  into  the  ditch? 
The  students  are  blind,  how  about  the  teachers  ? 

If  the  teacher  is  apologetic  can  the  taught  be  enthusiastic? 

The  time  was  when  our  system  encountered  active  opposi- 
tion. It  is  still  so  in  rural  communities,  particularly  in  the  South. 
Men  were  antagonized  and  ostracized,  the  homoeopath  was  iso- 
lated, and  made  to  fight  manfully  for  the  faith  that  was  in  him, 
and  he  delivered  the  goods.  Xow  we  are  opposed  by  a  system  of 
benevolent  assimilation  whereby  we  are  being  enveloped  in  a  coat 
of  slime  preparatory  to  being  swallowed  whole  by  our  friends  the 
enemy,  and  not  a  struggle  appears  against  the  process,  the  froth- 
ings  and  slobberings  are  seemingly  enjoyed,  and  I  doubt  not  the 
little  souls  will  be  happy  to  be  counted  a  member  of  the  great 
A.  M.  A.  and  wear  a  button  as  insignia  of  their  slavery. 

"And  there  were  giants  in  those  days." 

"Backward,  turn  backward,  O  time  in  your  flight,"  and  give  us 
just  a  giant  or  two. 

Vine  Grove,  Ky. 

O.  F.  Miller.  M.  D. 


REPLY    TO    "DR.    WANSTALL  AND   HOMOEO- 
PATHY." 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

Touching  your  editorial  in  the  April  number  on  "Dr.  Wanstall 
and  Homoeopathy,"  permit  me  to  say  a  word.  I  gratefully  ac- 
knowledge your  appreciation  of  the  motive  of  my  article.  You 
ask,  anent,  my  "history  will  write  down  sooner  or  later  what  is 
the  truth."  "What  is  truth?"  and  continue  :  "A  question  that  has 
caused  more  bloodshed  than  any  other  in  this  world,  but  has  never 
been  'scientifically'  answered."  While  one  may  not  be  able  to  say 
that  this  or  that  is  true,  there  can  be  no  question  whatever  as  to 
"what  is  truth."  "What  is  truth"  has  caused  no  bloodshed,  and  is 
answered  "scientifically"  daily,  hourly,  minutely ;  but  what  is  true 
or  what  is  not  true  is  an  altogether  different  question.  Truth  is 
fact,  and  fact  is  truth. 


254  Reply  to  "Dr.  Wanstall  and  Homoeopathy.'' 

You  say  "each  of  Dr.  Wanstall's  arguments  advanced  to  sup- 
port his  conviction  could  be  answered  by  arguments,  equally  valid, 
in  support  of  the  opposing  conviction."  It  would  be  interesting  to 
have  the  counter  arguments  in  detail,  if  they  have  not  been  al- 
ready considered  in  my  original  article. 

Regarding  my  statement,  "we  do  not  know  how  drugs  cure  dis- 
ease," you  say,  "very  true ;  neither  do  we  know  how  the  sun 
shines,  or  how  gravitation  acts,"  etc.,  and  to  which  I  reply,  but  the 
sun  always  shines  and  gravitation  is  always  acting,  both  are  facts 
and  are  the  truth  so  far  as  concerns  themselves,  although  I  can 
imagine  a  child  in  fact  and  one  in  intellect  disputing  both  proposi- 
tions in  the  case  of  a  fog  or  a  ballooH.  You  go  on  to  say,  "We 
know  that  drugs  act  on  disease,"  etc.  Would  it  not  be  nearer 
"truth"  (fact)  if  we  were  to  say,  we  know  that  drugs  act  on  per- 
sons in  health,  and  that  they  also  act  on  persons  in  disease,  and 
that  such  action  may  be  made  useful  to  persons  in  disease  ?  And 
even  if  it  could  be  conceded  that  drugs  act  on  disease,  between 
the  words  "act"  and  "cure"  there  is  still  a  gap,  which  may  be  so 
narrow  as  to  be  crossed  in  a  stride  or  so  wide  as  to  be  absolutely 
impassable.  That  drugs  cure  disease  is  in  no  wise  an  established 
fact  (truth),  although  it  may  be  freely  conceded  that  drugs  con- 
tribute to  the  recovery  from  disease. 

Regarding  the  question  of  dynamization  you  ask:  "And  why 
should  it  repel  investigators?"  Then  you  say,  "The  facts  of 
radium  and  the  X-rays  have  led  many  men,  of  late,  not  homoeo- 
paths, to  believe  there  is  something  more  in  dynamization  than 
what  Dr.  Wanstall  terms  "transcendentalism.'  '  You  can  hardh 
mean  that  the  facts  of  radium  and  the  X-rays  have  led  "many 
men,"  not  hornceopathists,  to  believe  in  "dynamization,"  as  that 
word  is  understood  in  homoeopath}-;  and  yet  if  you  don't  mean 
this  the  sentence  means  nothing.  There  is  nothing  dynamic  about 
the  X-rays  in  the  sense  of  "dynamization"  as  understood  in  ho- 
moeopathy ;  and  however  wonderful  are  the  emanations  from 
radium,  the  radium  is  there.  Do  those  who  are  familiar  with  the 
phenomena  of  radium  and  the  X-rays  believe  their  properties  are 
common  to  all  other  substances  in  nature?  And  what  are  the 
special  therapeutic  facts  of  radium  and  the  X-rays  justifying  the 
broad  generalization  in  substantiating  the  truth  of  "dynamiza- 
tion", and  its  clinical  utility  as  understood  in  Homoeopathy? 


Reply  to  "Dr.  Wanstall  and  Homoeopathy."  255 

Supposing  the  Austrian  pro  vers  were  right  when  they  were 
convinced,  in  the  case  of  salt,  that  dynamization  was  a  very  po- 
tent fact,  does  this  establish  the  same  potent  fact  for  all  other 
substances?  If  it  is  a  fact  it  must  have  had  a  beginning,  a  rise,  a 
maximum  and  a  decline,  and  if  the  main  fact  was  established,  it 
does  not  seem  possible  that  its  cardinal  points  should  not  have 
been  established  also.  Or  has  it  no  beginning,  no  maximum 
and  no  limit  as  seems  to  be  the  theoretic  idea  of  "dynamization" 
homoeopathically  considered  ? 

Is  what  is  supposed  to  be  true  of  salt  true  of  opium  also?  If  a 
quarter  of  a  grain  of  morphine  (hypodermatically)  is  a  maximum 
therapeutic  dose  for  an  individual  weighing  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds,  it  is  a  truism  (due  allowance  being  made  for  the 
susceptibilities  of  age  and  individuality),  that  one-half  a  grain 
would  bear  practically  the  same  relation  to  a  person  weighing 
three  hundred  pounds,  and  one-eighth  of  a  grain  to  one  of  seventy- 
five.  What  objective  or  subjective  evidence  is  there  to  justify  the 
assumption  that  dilution  or  trituration  develops  something  else 
in  this  substance  to  which  the  term  "dynamization"  is  applicable? 
Do  we  know  two  actions  of  morphine,  one  material  and  the  other 
"dynamic?"  Or  does  the  action  of  morphine  diminish  pari  passu 
with  the  diminished  dose  ?  The  action  we  do  know  as  a  maximum 
dose  is  as  1  4,61 7,600. 

Are  man's  actions  and  reactions  limited  or  not?  Are  there  not 
heat  rays  and  light  vibrations  to  which  he  does  not  respond,  to 
which  he  is  immune?  Every  drop  of  water  we  drink,  and  even- 
cubic  foot  of  air  we  breathe  may  be  supposed  to  contain  endless 
unidentifiable  "dynamizations"  to  which  we  are  immune.  It  is  a 
favorite  illustration  to  bring  forward  the  fact  that  certain  re- 
puted insoluble  metals  can  render  water  toxic  to  certain  vege- 
table micro-organisms  as  proving  the  existence  and  therapeutic 
action  on  Jiian.  "dynamizations"  homoeopathically  considered.  If 
we  cannot  prove  our  law  with  our  own  science  certainly  we  can- 
not with  another's.  What  is  one  man's  bread  may  be  another's 
poison  is  an  old  enough  maxim  to.  at  least,  accustom  us  to  the 
thought  that  one  form  of  life  may  be  quite  immune  to  influences 
that  are  detrimental  to  another. 

I  do  not  understand  why  the  term  "rational  medicine"  is  "what 
might  be  termed  borrowed  plumage."     "Rational.   1.  Possessing 


256  Reply  to  "Dr.  Wanstall  and  Homoeopathy/' 

the  faculty  of  reasoning.  2.  Conformable  to  reason ;  reasonable : 
judicious.  3.  Pertaining  to  reason;  attained  by  reasoning.  4. 
Pertaining  to  rationalism."  The  "coal  tar  things,  the  serum  and 
the  rest,"  according  to  the  individual  instance,  may  be  more  or 
may  be  less  rational  than  the  similimum.  When  I  use  the  word 
rational  I  use  it  in  its  broad  sense,  and  not  as  pertaining  to  a  par- 
ticular school  of  medicine.  Similarity  is  rational  when  considered 
as  a  mode  of  procedure,  irrational  when  considered  as  nature's 
law  for  the  cure  of  disease. 

Regarding  the  question,  "What  is  a  charter  from  God?"  the 
answer  is  obvious,  it  is  a  figure  of  speech.  The  following  sentence 
I  don't  understand.  "When  'rational  medicine'  comes  to  one  in 
that  form  (in  the  form  of  'a  charter  from  God'  ( ?)  )  there  is 
nothing  left  for  one  to  do  but  to  look  on  in  silence,  for  part  of  it  is 
self-evident,  and  part  of  it  is  an  assumption  of  knowledge  of 
Divine  intention  that  goes  further  than  anything  ever  advanced 
by  the  most  enthusiastic  Hahnemannians."  One  of  the  gentlemen 
replying  to  my  original  article  believes  that  in  order  to  cure  every 
patient  with  mathematical  certainty,  it  would  be  only  necessary  to 
have  perfect  pathogeneses  of  every  possible  drug  substance  and  a 
corresponding  power  to  elicit  symptoms.  But  he  subsequently 
says :  "Such  wisdom  is  only  possible  with  God."  Although  this  is 
only  a  figure  of  speech,  it  implicitly  implies  a  God  given  law, 
whose  intentions  we  are  feebly  following  in  our  man-like  way. 
This  gentleman  is  not  even  an  "enthusiastic  Hahnemannian."  I 
shall  not  soon  forget  his  pathetic  plea  at  Atlantic  City,  in  1906, 
to  the  users  of  the  so-called  "dynamization"  to  at  least  adopt  a 
rational. nomenclature  if  they  would  not  adopt  a  rational  dilution, 
and  the  naive  reply  of  one  of  them  that  his  clinical  results  with 
the  "dynamizations"  whose  nomenclature  could  not  be  rational- 
ized were  better  than  with  those  that  are  what  they  purport  to  be. 

A.  Wanstall,  M.  D. 

Baltimore,  31  d. 

Reply. 

In  that  veritable  store  house  of  interesting  things,  Sharp's 
Traets,  we  find  the  following,  clipped  from  Baden  Powell's  "His- 
tory of  Natural  Philosophy,"  anent  the  discovery  of  the  satellites 
of  Jupiter,  by  Galileo  with  his  new  telescope,  which  made  so  much 
stir  at  the  time  among  the  orthodox  scientists,  and  their  reasons 
for  not  accepting  anything  so  scandalous. 


Gleaned  Therapeutic  Pointers.  257 

"The  principal  professor  of  philosophy  at  Padua  (in  which 
university  Galileo  was  also  a  professor)  pertinaciously  refused  to 
look  through  the  telescope.  Another  pointedly  observed  that  we 
are  not  to  suppose  that  Jupiter  had  four  satellites  given  him  for 
the  purpose  of  immortalizing  the  Medici  (Galileo  having  called 
them  the  Medicean  stars).  A  German,  named  Horky,  suggested 
that  the  telescope,  though  accurate  for  terrestrial  objects,  was  not 
true  for  the  sky.  He  published  a  treatise  discussing  the  four  new 
planets  as  they  were  called ;  what  they  are  ?  why  they  are  ?  and 
what  they  are  like?  concluding  with  attributing  their  alleged  ex- 
istence to  Galileo's  thirst  of  gold.'' 

It  may  be  that  The  Recorder  is  refusing  to  look  through  its 
friend  Dr.  YVanstall's  telescope,  or  the  reverse.  Each  is  positive 
that  the  other  is  laboring  under  error — so  let  it  go  at  that. — 
Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder. 


GLEANED  THERAPEUTIC   POINTERS. 

Dr.  W.  E.  Kinnett  says  that  Kali  muriaticum  given  in  apendi- 
citis  will  prevent  suppuration  and  otherwise  greatly  aid  the  case. 

Dr.  H.  C.  Allen  says  that  Malaria  off.  seems  to  hold  the  same 
relation  to  suppressed  chronic  malaria  that  Cinchcua  does  to 
acute.  Full  account  as  far  as  known  in  New,  Old  and  Forgotten 
Remedies.     It  is  a  sort  of  malarial  Pyrogcnium. 

Kraft  points  out  the  fact  that  Arnica  and  Lachesis  are  both 
blue  remedies,  but  the  blueness  of  Arnica  is  from  a  very  different 
cause  from  that  of  Lachesis. 

Dr.  C.  YVesselhceft  reports  infant  of  nine  months  affected  with 
a  sort  of  laryngitis,  awakening  almost  suffocated,  cured  by  Sam- 

bucus. 

Dr.  Bodman  reports  case  of  spasmodic  dysmenorrhcea,  griping 
pains  after  causing  fainting,  apparently  permanently  cured  by 
Pulsatilla  30. 

Dr.  Day  reports  case  of  albuminuria  in  a  two-year-old  boy 
cured  by  Plumbum  12.  (The  12th  is  the  extreme  limit  sanctioned 
by  the  new  H.  P.  U.  S.) 

"Scald  head,"  with  yellow  crusts  and  discharges,  is  a  condi- 


258  Hull's  Jahr. 

tion  for  which  Calcarca  sulph.  is  prescribed  by  those  who  believe 
in  the  tissue  remedies. 

Dr.  Thomas  S.  Blair  says  that  unless  Phytolacca  decandra  is 
prepared  from  the  fresh  roots  it  has  no  "particular  therapeutic 
value." 

In  orchitis,  inflammation  of  the  testicles,  Phytolacca  is  a  rem- 
edy to  be  considered. 

Dr.  A.  E.  Ibershoff  {Med.  and  Sur.  Rep.)  gives  three  cases  of 
ringing,  noises  in  the  ear  that  always  followed  the  eating  of  grape 
fruit.  It  has  a  popular  repute  in  the  South  as  a  remedy  for 
malaria. 

Dr.  Harvey  Bodman  (Monthly  Homoeopathic  Review)  reports 
a  case  of  facial  paralysis  with  symptoms  that  was  cured  with 
Silica  30. 

Sanguinaria  canadensis  nitricum  was  twice  used  with  good 
effect  by  Dr.  Kopp  in  seminal  effusion  after  onany  with  simul- 
taneous cold  ablutions  of  the  sexual  parts. 

According  to  Dr.  Noack,  in  Lyon,  Berberis  vulgaris  is  ativost 
a  specific  in  Hat  warts.  The  most  effective  dose  seems  to  be  the 
first  decimal  potency. — Le  Propagateur  de  V Homoeopathic. 


HULL'S  JAHR:      A  NEW   MANUAL    OF     HOMOEO- 
PATHIC PRACTICE. 

Nearly  all  the  older  practitioners  of  Homoeopathy  are  familiar 
with  this  fine  work,  but  later  generations  impelled  by  the  idea  that 
newer  works  must  be  better  have  neglected  it  much  to  their  own 
loss,  for  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  there  is  not  to-day  a  ho- 
moeopathic book  extant  that  is  its  equal  in  giving  one  a  better  in- 
sight into  the  true  nature,  scope  and  use  of  the  remedies  than  this 
"Hull's  Jahr:  Snelling." 

The  book  is  in  plates,  and  how  many  editions  have  been  printed 
no  man  knows.  This  year,  1908,  the  publishers  reprinted  it 
again,  but  changing  the  date  on  the  title  page  was  overlooked, 
and  the  title  page  bears  the  date  of  a  previous  reprint,  1898.  The 
book  was  first  printed  in  i860,  and  no  changes  have  been  made  in 
it  since.  It  was  originally  the  production  of  Jahr,  then  Ameri- 
canized (so  to  speak)  by  Hull,  and  finally  revised  and  enlarged 
by  Snelling,  aided  by  Hempel,  Gray  and  others. 


Hull's  Jahr.  259 

It  is  a  curious  book,  full  of  lore  unknown,  probably,  to  many  of 
the  men  of  to-day,  yet  if  any  man  wants  to  write  a  paper  on  any 
of  our  remedies  that  is  out  of  the  usual  rut  (the  paper,  that  is), 
and  one  that  will  command  attention,  he  would  do  well,  he  could 
not  do  better,  in  fact,  than  to  turn  to  Hull's  Jahr  for  his  facts  and 
general  data. 

Take  that,  perhaps,  mightiest  of  remedies.  Aconite.  "Hull's 
Jahr"'  begins,  with  the  usual  small  type  matter,  on  page  55,  and 
ends  on  page  85.  Up  to  page  75  the  space  is  devoted  to  a  general 
consideration  of  Aconite  in  all  its  phases  and  actions,  drawn  from 
all  sources  and  then  from  page  J$  to  end  follows  the  symptom- 
atology of  the  drug  carefully  given  and  differentiated  with  italics 
and  asterisks.  The  first  part  embraces  the  "Rationale  of  its  Ac- 
tion." "Secondary  or  Reactive  Stage  of  the  Aconite  Disease," 
"General  Effects  on  the  Nervous  System."  "Muscular  System," 
"Vascular  System."  "Venous  System."  "Lymphatic  System,'' 
"Toxicology."  "Hahnemann,"  "Hartman,"  and  many  other  au- 
thorities, then  the  various  diseases  and  other  matter,  and  finally 
the  materia  medica.  "When  one  has  gone  over  all  this  he  knows 
something  about  Aconite. 

Xot  all  the  remedies,  to  be  sure,  are  treated  in  this  full  manner, 
but  each  is  handled  in  a  way  that  holds  the  attention  of  the  reader. 
Take  as  an  example  the  following  from  Anacardiuw: 

"Xoack  and  Trinks. — 'The  confectio-anacardina  sui  sapien- 
tium'  has  been  celebrated  as  a  distinguished  remedy  against  weak- 
ness of  mind,  memory  and  the  senses.  Nevertheless,  R.  A. 
Yogel  (Hist.  [Materia  Med.,  p.  276)  remarks:  That  Caspar  Hoff- 
man has  called  this  confection  of  the  wise  a  confection  of  fools, 
because  many  had  lost  their  memory,  and  had  become  mad  on  ac- 
count of  using  it  too  often  and  inconsiderately.''  Hence  it  is  only 
the  improper  and  too  frequent  use  of  Anacardium  that  made  it 
hurtful ;  if  applied  correctly,  it  becomes  curative. 

In  this  we  get  a  glimpse  of  our  "loss  of  memory"  symptom. 

Take  again  this  under  Argcntum  nitriann.  by  Dr.  John  F. 
Gray:  "Epilepsies  produced  by  moral  causes  (such  as,  for  ex- 
ample, very  impassioned  lay  preaching  )  and  promptly  and  dur- 
ably cured  by  a  few  small  doses  of  this  drug,  whilst  those  pro- 
ceeding from  abdominal  irritation,  independently  of  moral  causes, 
are.  at  best,  but  poorly  palliated  by  very  large  and  frequently  re- 
peated doses.''     Dr.   Gray  contends  here  that  the  drug  uses   is 


260  Hull's  Tahr. 

peculiarly  "confined  to  diseases  originating  from  moral  causes," 
7.  c,  the  brain,  but  we  cannot  go  into  it  at  length  here. 

The  preliminary  to  Arnica  is  peculiarly  interesting,  but  can- 
not be  quoted,  being  too  long.  Hahnemann  says  it  "is  an  indis- 
pensable intermediate  remedy  in  most  inveterate  chronic  dis- 
eases." 

Under  Arsenicum  alb.  the  greater  part  of  the  symptoms  are 
preceded  by  asterisk.  *,  which  means  that  the  symptom  has  been 
verified  at  the  bedside.  This  sign  holds  throughout  the  book,  and 
adds  greatly  to  its  value  to  the  practitioner.  Some  remedies  have 
no  asterisks  to  their  symptomatology 

Probably  every  one  knows,  "according  to  Hahnemann,"  Cal- 
carea  carb.  is  indispensable  when  the  menses  appear  too  soon  and 
are  too  profuse,  whereas  Calcarca  is  almost  always  prejudicial 
when  the  menses  appear  at  or  after  the  proper  time." 

Calendula  off.  is  not  dignified  by  asterisks  but  one  of  its  ''Char- 
acteristic Peculiarities'"  is  "Almost  all  the  symptoms  make 
their  appearance  during  the  chilly  stage." 

Camphor  is  lauded  for  "Siberian  influenza  when  it  appears 
amongst  us  at  the  time  when  the  hot  weather  has  set  in."  Here  is 
a  point  about  C amphora  by  Dr.  Gray  that  will  interest  many: 
"Camphora.  as  is  well  known,  is  very  efficacious  when  administer- 
ed by  olfaction,  but  does  not  sustain  dynamization."  (One  for 
Dr.  WanstalL) 

Capsicum  gives  us:  "Tabes-testiculorum;  dwindling  of  the 
testes  to  the  size  of  a  bean,  extinction  of  the  sexual  instinct,  ema- 
ciation, falling  oft  of  the  beard,  and  weakness  of  sight,"  and  a 
foot-note  tells  us  the  French  soldiers  in  Egypt  experienced  this 
from  drinking  brandy  liberally  supplied  with  the  drug. 

Cicuta  z'irosa  is  starred  with  "Epilepsy.   Horrible  epilepsy,'''  etc. 

Colocynth  is  credited  with  ability  to  remove  "complaints  arising 
from  indignation  *  *  *  about  unworthy  treatment,"  etc.,  and 
who  hasn't  been  "mad  all  over"  from  unworthy  treatment? 

The  reader  won't  find  any  microbes  in  this  book,  and  it  is  quite 
innocent  of  any  serums,  but  when  a  man  wants  a  cure  it  will  beat 
those  things  to  a  stand  still. 

It  contains  1.272  pages  in  half  morocco  binding,  and  its  price 
is  S4.80.  to  which  add  38  cents  postage. 


The  General  Medical  Council.  261 


THE  GENERAL  MEDICAL  COUNCIL 
The  English  are  stirred  up  over  the  General  Medical  Council  of 
.:  country.  It  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  medical  inquisition  answer- 
able to  no  one,  not  even  to  the  British  laws.  We  are  told  that 
when  any  one  sends  in  papers  or  documents  in  a  disciplinary  ca:-e 
I  *se  papers,  etc..  no  one  but  the  Council  may  ever  see.  as  other 
wise  persons  would  be  deterred  from  submitting  the  information. 
In  a  recent  case  the  court  demanded  that  certain  papers  in  the 
^session  of  the  Council  be  produced,  but  this  was  refused  even 
though  it  constitute  contempt  of  court,  and  the  counsel  for  the 
Council  said  that  the  registrar  would  rather  be  committed  to 
\  rison  than  to  produce  the  papers.  At  first  glance  this  position 
seems  to  be  rather  admirable,  but  when  it  is  considered  that  the 
"confidential"  matter  is  submitted  to  this  secret  council  in  its  trial 
of  a  doctor  in  which  an  adverse  decision  means  professional  ruin, 
the  thing  takes  on  a  different  aspect  It  is  a  court,  an  inquisition. 
for  the  trial  of  physicians  from  whose  verdict  there  is  no  appeal. 
Who  gave  this  body  this  terrible  power?  They  acquired  it 'pre- 
sumably in  the  same  manner  that  leaders  of  a  mob  acquire  theirs. 
A  clique  advocated,  no  doubt,  the  formation  of  a  Council  to  ad- 
judicate professional  matters  secretly.  This  once  adopted  and  a 
few  domineering  men  in  the  saddle  unlimited  and  unrestrained 
power  over  things  medical  was  theirs.  For  any  one  to  protest 
placed  him  in  the  same  position  as  those  who  protested  against  the 
.acts  of  the  men  who  fed  the  guillotine  in  the  days  of  the  French 
revolution,  and  it  may  be  that  doctors  shout  for  the  Council  as  the 
sans-cullotes  shouted  for  its  Council  in  France,  because  they  fear 
to  do  otherwise.  A  man  may  have  shouted  himself  hoarse  in 
protestation  of  his  administration  at.  and  joy  over,  the  work  of  the 
keen-knifed  guillotine  but.  as  we  all  know,  this  did  not  always 
save  him.  Secretly  information  was  lodged  before  the  all-power- 
ful I  for  a  time")  Council  and  it  settled  the  case — and  there  was  no 
appeal.  Theoretically  every  safeguard  was  thrown  about  the 
"citizen,"  practically  there  was  only  the  will  of  the  Council,  an- 
swerable to  none.  And  this  seems  to  be  the  case  with  doctors  in 
England.     In  the  United  States?    That's  another  story. 

Medicine  from  its  very  mission  should  be  the  freest  of  all  pro- 
fessions.   It  is  the  profession  that  opens  up  the  highest  and  great- 


262  Some  Remarks  on  Appendicitis. 

est  fields  of  knowledge  for  it  concerns  the  human  race,  and  when 
viewed  in  this  light  the  binding  of  fetters  on  doctors  seem  to  be  a 
— mistake.  On  the  other  hand,  even  as  medicine  opens  up  the 
greatest  possibilities  for  great  learning  so  does  it  for  enthusiasts, 
dreamers  and  quacks.  The  one  needed  restriction  should  be  that 
no  one  be  legally  empowered  to  force  his  ideas  on  others. 

The  regulars  say  that  a  "pathy"  is  a  dogma,  and  its  believers 
are  sectarians,  cramped  and  limited,  while  the  physician  without 
any  special  belief  is  "free."  The  reverse  of  this  is  true,  for  these 
men  who  claim  to  be  free  are  held  in  hand  and  ruled  by  an  iron 
despotism.  They  dare  not  inquire  into  Homoeopathy  or  avowedly 
practice  it  without  danger,  perhaps  certainty,  of  being  sum- 
moned before  the  secret  Council.    Free  ?    Well,  hardly  ! 


SOME   REMARKS  ON   APPENDICITIS. 
By  Dr.  Matteg,  Ravensburg. 

As  is  well-known,  the  appendix  vermicularis.  with  the  herbi- 
vora,  is  enormously  extended  and  we  find  in  it  a  quantity  of  un- 
digested food,  while  further  up  in  the  larger  intestine  the  food 
has  already  disappeared.  Why  then  should  man,  who  eats  every- 
thing, also  herbs,  have  no  vermiform  appendix?  Cellulose  and 
fibrin  are  not  digested  by  the  saliva,  the  gastric  juice  or  the  in- 
testinal and  pancreatic  secretions,  while  in  the  vermiform  ap- 
pendix it  is  transformed  into  sugar  and  into  carburetted  hydro- 
gen gases  (see  "The  Function  of  the  Caecum  and  of  the  Vermi- 
form Appendix,"  by  Dr.  Schlegel,  Allg.  Horn.  Z.,  1095,  Xr.,  7 
and  8). 

My  supposition  is  that  the  supposedly  superfluous  vermiform 
appendix  is,  as  it  were,  the  rudder  and  the  lever  of  the  peri- 
staltic action  of  the  caecum  and  of  the  large  intestine,  and  also 
the  regulator  for  the  Bauhinic  valve,  extending,  when  it  is 
opened  and  contracting  when  it  is  closed,  and  then  discharging 
its  digestive  juice.  Therefore,  when  the  vermiform  appendix 
is  diseased,  this  action  ceases,  and  there  is  a  paralysis  of  the 
large  intestine  and  of  the  ileum,  and  constipation  with  frequently 
following  intussusception  or  volvulus.  This  is  another  reason 
for   supposing   that   the   so-called   typhlitis   stercoralis   is   a   sec- 


Some  Remarks  on  Appendicitis.  263 

1 

ondary  phenomenon,  1.  e.,  a  consequence  of  a  disease  of  the  vermi- 
form appendix,  fomented  by  internal  causes  (as  indicated  above), 
and  so  also  the  disturbance  in  digestion  after  the  extirpation  of 
the  vermiform  appendix  may  thence  be  explained. 

It  is  probable  that  through  immoderate  use  of  meat,  and  the 
use  of  meats  not  always  sound,  which,  in  consequence  of  the 
modern  mode  of  feeding  the  stock,  are  continually  becoming  more 
common,  the  lymphatic  juices  and  also  the  lymph  of  the  vermi- 
form appendix  are  becoming  much  corrupted  (by  the  so-called 
nuclein  albumen),  since,  as  is  well-known,  infectious  bacilli  are 
more  easily  formed  from  a  meat  diet  than  from  a  vegetable  diet. 
Xow.  in  this  one-sided,  i.  ev  predominantly  meat  diet,  the 
strong  and.  besides  this,  also  corrupted  secretion  of  the  vermi- 
form appendix  finds  no  use  and  no  disposal,  and  through  further 
decomposition  there  may  be  formed  inflammations  and  conges- 
tions in  the  lymphatic  passages. 

If.  then,  exceptionally,  or  at  rare  intervals,  fibrous  food  is 
consumed,  as  happens  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  it  will  fre- 
quently lie  undigested,  and  will  then,  of  course,  also  further  con- 
tribute to  foment  the  inflammation  already  existing.  As  is  well- 
known,  an  organ  which  does  not  find  the  appropriate  activity 
frequently  becomes  diseased  and  it  degenerates. 

Therefore,  give  the  caecum  its  appropriate  activity  and  do  not 
live  in  a  one-sided  manner  on  meat,  but  also.  and.  indeed,  pre- 
dominantly, on  a  vegetable  diet  and  on  vegetable  fibre!  This  is 
the  best  way  of  guarding  against  appendicitis  !  In  regions  where 
people  live  more  than  they  do  with  us  on  vegetables,  this  dis- 
ease is  found  more  rarely,  while  in  regions  with  prevailing  meat 
diet  it  is  as  frequent  as  tuberculosis,  as.  indeed,  it  is  the  fre- 
quent precursor  of  the  same.  For  whoever  has  once  passed 
through  appendicitis  is.  and  remains,  according  to  my  experi- 
ence, predisposed  to  tuberculosis,  and  then  also  it  is  only  in- 
pendicitis.  Thence  it  is  necessary  that  a  physician,  during  ap- 
pendicitis and  afterwards,  should  treat  the  whole  man.  i.  e.. 
lie  should  improve  his  constitution,  and  not  cut  out  the  vermi- 
form appendix  in  order  to  guard  against  this  disease.  The  best 
protection  is  a  natural  mode  of  life,  with  a  predominant  vege- 
tarian diet  and  temperance,  or.  rather,  abstinence  from  alcohol, 
.a  proceeding  which  is  also  to  be  recommended  in  the  tuberculous 


264  Some  Cases  of  Asthma. 

diseases  of  the  various  organs,  which  diseases  follow  after  ap- 
pendicitis. 

After  an  operation  on  the  appendix,  the  digestion  of  vege- 
table food  is  essentially  limited  from  the  causes  above  indicated, 
and,  according  to  my  experience,  there  frequently  appear  dis- 
turbances in  digestion,  diarrhcea  or  constipation,  with  flatulence. 
On  the  other  side,  man,  through  a  one-sided  meat  diet,  becomes 
more  prone  to  various  diseases,  especially  to  cancer  and  tuber- 
culosis. And  especially  those  of  a  tuberculous  disposition,  who 
have  been  operated  on  after  typhlitis,  thereby  become  particularly 
prepared  for  tuberculosis,  and  especially  to  abdominal  and  in- 
testinal tuberculosis.  I  have  been  able  to  show  wTith  certainty 
that  people,  who,  in  the  course  of  years,  have  been  seized  with 
appendicitis,  are  tuberculous  or  descended  from  tuberculous 
families.  It  is  also  certain  that  the  particular  age  and  constitu- 
tion which  dispose  'to  tuberculosis  of  the  lungs  are  also  easily 
seized  with  appendicitis. 

Appendicitis  is  as  certainly  an  introduction  to  tuberculosis  of 
the  lungs  as  the  lymphatic  swelling  of  the  glands  of  the  various 
organs.  My  treatment  is  predominantly  a  constitutional  one; 
therefore,  besides  the  various  well-known  medicines,  Tub'ercu- 
1  ilium  plays  the  first  role  and  in  all  the  cases  treated  by  me  in  the 
last  ten  years  ;  it  produces  a  decisive  and  rapid  improvement  and 
cure,  without  passing  into  suppuration.  The  cases  treated  bt  me 
in  that  time  were  sixty,  and  of  these  I  only  lost  two,  these  being 
advanced  cases  in  which  perforation  ensued  in  the  first  five  or 
six  days.  From  this  surprisingly  rapid  action  of  Tuberculinum 
we  may  also  again  conclude  as  to  the  tuberculous  nature  of 
typhlitis.^  All  gem  cine  Horn.  Zeitung. 


SOME  CASES  OF  ASTHMA. 
By  Dr.  Martens,  Lueneburg. 

The  present  communication  is  caused  by  the  cure  of  several 
cases,  of  nervous  asthma.  In  all  the  four  cases  here  adduced  a 
longer  or  shorter  allopathic  treatment  had  preceded,  consisting 
chiefly  in  the  prescription  of  Iodide  of  Potassa,  Bromide  of 
Potassa,  Quinine,  Atropin,  and  the  inhalation  of  vapors  of  Spirits 


Some  Cases  of  Asthma.  265 

of  Turpentine  and  Ammonia,  etc.  In  one  case  (IV.)  also  a 
climatic  cure  at  the  sea-coast  had  been  tried  for  some  time  with- 
out any  success.  I  may  add  that  I  did  not  use  in  the  cases  cited 
any  hydropathic  measures.  The  cures  may,  therefore,  be  desig- 
nated as  purely  homoeopathic. 

Case  I. — On  the  4th  of  last  August  there  appeared  in  my  office 
a  young  man,  twenty-three  years  of  age,  who,  for  two  full 
years,  had  been  troubled  with»asthma.  According  to  his  state- 
ment, this  developed  with  considerable  violence  after  a  forced 
foot- tour,  followed  by  a  cold  bath  in  the  river.  An  objective 
examination  showed  that  the  upper  air-passages  were  perfectly 
free ;  on  the  chest,  whistling  noises  were  heard.  There  is,  on  the 
whole,  but  little  cough;  a  little  tough,  grayish  white  mucus  is 
thrown  out  during  the  coughing.  On  the  chest  there  is  a  strong 
sensation  of  constriction  and  oppression.  The  asthmatic  trouble 
is  worse  in  the  morning;  it  is  very  apt  to  come  on  when  he  is 
in  a  room  where  there  are  many  men.  The  patient  also  suffers 
from  headaches  appearing  periodically  with  a  sensation  as  if  the 
head  zvas  expanding.  I  gave  him  Argent um  nitric.  5.  D.,  five 
drops,  three  or  four  times  a  day,  and  the  patient  felt  easier  in  a 
few  days.  I  last  saw  him  a  week  ago,  on  the  14th  of  September. 
His  dyspnoea  had  altogether  vanished,  and  I  am  of  opinion  that 
Argentum  nitricum,  which  he  is  now  receiving  only  twice  a 
week,  and  in  the  fifteenth  potency,  will  complete  the  cure.  The 
headache  also  has  quite  disappeared,  since  he  began  the  use  of 
Argentum. 

Case  II. — In  this  case  Capsicum  was  the  remedy  which  ef- 
fected the  cure.  This  case  occurred  three  and  a  half  years  ago. 
The  young  woman  in  question  was  about  twenty-two  years  of 
age.  She  was  seized  with  asthmatic  oppression  every  three  to 
four  weeks,  three  to  four  days  at  a  time.  Even  before  her  mar- 
riage she  had  suffered  from  asthmatic  dyspnoea  to  a  slight  de- 
gree, but  these  attacks  had  become  worse  after  an  abortion. 
There  was  always  a  disagreeable  smell  from  her  mouth;  during 
the  attacks  there  was  a  cough  with  very  ill-smelling  breath,  also 
a  sensation  of  chilliness  and  cold  in  the  body.  It  was  relieved 
by  the  expectoration  of  mucus. 

Case  III. — A  woman,  sixty-five  years  of  age,  had  been  suf- 
fering for  fifteen  years  from  asthma ;  there  was  also  in  this  case 


2,66  Echinacea  in  Fevers. 

some  emphysema  of  the  lungs.  The  attacks  of  dyspnoea  ap- 
peared, especially,  about  midnight,  and  were  attended  with  great 
anguish  and  palpitation,  followed  by  a  sensation  of  weakness, 
In  the  chest  there  was  a  sensation  as  if  it  was  constricted.  There 
was  relief  from  expectoration  of  mucus,  which  was  sticky,  and 
slightly  salty  in  taste.  There  were  also  attacks  from  violent 
exercise  and  from  going  upstairs.  On  the  chest  there  could  be 
heard  a  rattling  of  mucus,  which  was  discharged  with  difficulty. 
Arsenicum  alb.  produced  a  considerable  relief.  On  account  of 
the  mucus,  which  was  difficult  to  bring  up,  I  afterwards  al- 
ternated this  remedy  with  Ipecacuanha.  The  general  health  was 
much  improved.  Owing  to  the  age  of  the  patient  and  her  general 
weakness,  we  can  hardly  expect  a  full  cure  in  this  case. 

Cafe  IV. — In  this  case  I  was  led  to  the  suitable  remedy,  es- 
pecially by  the  nature  of  the  mucus  expectorated.  I  was  called  on 
September  5th  to  see  painter  Z.,  forty-three  years  of  age,  and 
found  him  still  suffering  from  his  attack.  These  attacks  have 
appeared  for  almost  four  years,  and  appear  frequently  two  or 
three  times  a  week,  and  then  almost  always  early  in  the  morn- 
ing.    The  expectoration  is  of  a  yellowish  white  color,  sticky, 

VERY   TOUGH   AND    HANGING   FROM    THE   MOUTH    IN    LONG   STRINGS. 

In  the  morning  on  waking  up  he  is  frequently  hoarse,  his  voice 
is  rough.  The  attacks  are  apt  to  come  on  in  wet  and  cold 
weather.  Kali  bichromicum  at  once  gave  relief;  the  attacks  ap- 
pearing less  frequently  and  with  less  violence.  After  seven  or 
eight  weeks  the  trouble  was  entirely  cured  and  has  not  returned 
since.  I  may  add,  that  in  all  attacks  of  asthma  I  first  give  low 
potencies,  the  third  to  the  fifth  decimal,  in  frequent  doses  ;  after  re- 
lief has  set  in,  I  give  higher  potencies,  the  tenth  to  the  thirtieth 
decimal,  and  less  frequently,  mostly  two  to  three  times  a  week. 
— Leipsiger  pop.  f.  Ho m. 


ECHINACEA   IN   FEVERS. 

"Echinacea  is  a  remedy  that  should  not  be  forgotten  in  fevers. 
My  experience  has  been  such  that  I  can  lay  claim  to  the  wonder- 
ful results  that  some  claim  for  it  in  febrile  conditions.  In  measles, 
chicken-pox  and  scarlet  fever  it  seems  to  exert  a  powerful  influ- 
ence, not  shortening  the  attack,  but  the  diseases  run  a  very  mild 


Kali  Phosphoricum.  267 

course  and  leave  no  bad  after  effects.  If  you  give  Echinacea 
angustifolium  in  scarlet  fever  you  should  never  fear  having  it 
complicated  with  nephritis  or  any  other  complication. 

"Many  physicians  claim  more  for  the  remedy  in  malarial  fever 
than  others,  and  I  can  only  say  this  about  the  remedy:  I  have 
used  it  in  twenty  cases  without  one  failure ;  the  disease  would  soon 
be  under  the  control  of  the  drug,  the  chills  would  not  return  after 
several  days'  use  of  the  drug,  and  the  patients  could  return  to 
work  as  if  they  never  had  been  ill.  If  the  remedy  is  continued 
several  weeks  after  the  fever  is  broken  up,  they  will  have  no  re- 
turn of  the  trouble,  as  the  remedy  seems  to  entirely  rid  the  blood 
of  the  malarial  plasmodia.  I  have  watched  the  blood  very  close!  v 
while  giving  the  remedy,  and  have  found  that  the  red  and  white 
blood  corpuscles  increase  in  number,  and  the  blood  gradually  be- 
coming free  from  the  Plasmodium." — O.  L.  Massenger,  M.  D., 
Eclectic  Medical  Journal. 


KALI     PHOSPHORICUM. 
By  Dr.  George  Royal. 

Let  me  give  you  a  few  groups  of  Kali  pJws.  symptoms  which 
have  been  verified  and  which  will  show  some  of  the  conditions 
for  which  it  will  prove  useful. 

Case  I.  Amenorrhea.  The  Kali  pJws.  symptoms  were  "con- 
stant, dull  headache,  yet  drowsy  all  day,"  cross  and  snappish 
(irritable)  ;"  "cries  easily  (depressed)  ;"  "so  fidgety  she  could 
not  control  herself."  Kali  phos.  3X,  four  times  daily,  cured  in 
three  months. 

Case  II.  Xerz-ous  dyspepsia.  "Xausea  soon  after  eating,  ac- 
companied by  marked  drowsiness."  "Eructations  putrid  both  to 
taste  and  smell."  "Eructations  relieved  by  nausea."  "Gnawing 
pains  with  fulness  in  the  afternoon." 

W.  T.  Laird  made  this  comparison  between  the  dyspepsia  of 
Kali  phos.  and  Anacardium: 

"The  Kali  phos.  patient  is  more  decidedly  neurasthenic  than 
the  other;  and  the  relapses,  which  are  frequent  in  both,  are 
mostly  due  to  dietetic  errors  in  the  Anacardium  cases,  and  to  ex- 
citement or  worry  in  the  Kali  phos.  cases." 

Case  III.  Nervous  exhaustion.  H.  F.  Dodge  reports  the  case 
of  a  worn  and  nervous  mother  made  so  weak  bv  a  sicklv  babv. 


268  Gonorrhoea. 

The  indications  are:  "Dull,  heavy  ache  in  the  occiput."  "Drowsy 
but  yet  restless."     "Foul  breath."     "A  brown  coated  tongue." 

Case  IV.  Nervousness  due  to  sexual  excitement.  Dr.  J.  C. 
Nottingham  gives  the  following  group :  "Excessive  excitement 
whether  suppressed  or  indulged ;"  "aching  in  the  sacrum ;" 
"sleeplessness ;"  "dull  aching  pain  in  occiput  and  back ;"  "natural 
irritability;"  "great  despondency;"  "frequent  micturition;"  the 
quantity  being  large  and  the  amount  of  phosphates  increased. 

Case  V.  Typhoid  fever.  Many  cases  have  been  reported 
claiming  help  from  Kali  phos.  in  typhoid  fever,  but  the  symp- 
toms for  which  it  was  given  were  not  clearly  set  out. 

One,  however,  gives  the  following,  all  found  in  the  provings : 
"Mental  confusion  for  a  few  days ;"  "pain  in  the  forehead,  at 
first  sharp  and  transient,  then  dull  and  constant ;"  "foul  breath ;" 
"brown-coated  tongue ;"  "chilliness ;"  "weak,"  "tired  feeling ;" 
"distention  of  abdomen  and  offensive,  dark-yellow  pasty  stools." 

The  patients  for  which  Kali  phos.  will  be  most  useful  will  be 
adults  of  both  sexes  of  nervous  temperament. 

The  cause  of  their  troubles  will  be  excitement,  overwork  and, 
especially,  worry. — Transactions  Am.  hist.  Horn.,  !8p/. 


GONORRHOEA. 


(The  following  is  clipped  from  Dr.  Stuart  Close,  Trans.  A.  I. 
H.,  1907,  and  shows  the  necessity  of  good  homoeopathic  treatment 
in  old  gonorrhoeas.) 

We  have  strong  endorsement  of  this  position  by  a  number  of 
the  highest  authorities.  Prof.  Lydston,  in  his  recent  admirable 
treatise  on  Venereal  and  Sexual  Diseases,  says,  "the  disease 
[gonorrhoea]  is  rarely  treated  upon  rational  principles.  The  pa- 
tient expects  more  from  the  surgeon,  and  the  latter  expects  more 
from  remedies,  than  in  almost  any  disease.  The  fallacious  notion 
of  the  simplicity  of  gonorrhoea  and  its  congeners  has  proved 
disastrous.  Physicians  should  embrace  every  opportunity  to  im- 
press the  patient  with  the  fact  that  gonorrhoea  is  one  of  the  most 
severe  and,  perhaps,  the  most  far-reaching  in  its  results  of  all 
the  infectious  diseases.  It  is  not  only  worse  than  a  bad  cold, 
contrary  to  the  lay  opinions   upon  the   subject    [and   he   might 


Gonorrhoea.  269 

have  added,  some  professional  opinions],  but  it  is  far  worse  than 
its  much  dreaded  rival  for  popularity — syphilis.''      (Page   136.) 

Again,  the  same  author,  after  a  review  of  the  subject,  says, 
''gonorrhoea  is  the  most  dangerous  of  the  venereal  diseases,  for, 
through  the  medium  of  its  sequels  and  complications,  it  causes 
more  deaths  than  syphilis.  By  comparison,  chancroid  is  benign. 
Subtract  the  evil  effects  of  gonorrhoea  from  human  ills,  and  the 
resulting  increase  in  human  longevity  and  happiness  would  be 
surprising."     (Page  140.) 

In  taking  up  the  subject  of  the  complications  of  gonorrhoea 
Lydston  says  :  "Most  complications  are  due,  not  to  the  intrinsic 
pathologic  tendencies  of  the  disease  itself,  but  to  irrational  gen- 
eral management  or  over  enthusiastic  attempts  to  cure.  The 
frequency  of  complications  is  proportionate  to  the  energy  ex- 
pended in  the  treatment.''     (Page  129.) 

Xoeggerath  was  the  first  in  the  old  school  to  declare  the  truth 
in  regard  to  suppressed  gonorrhoea.  His  first  statements  startled 
the  profesion,  but  surprise  soon  gave  way  to  incredulity  and  he 
became  the  victim  of  ridicle  and  vilification  for  a  time.  Later 
his  findings  were  confirmed  by  the  discovery  of  the  gonococcus 
and  its  presence  in  the  disease  which  he  had  ascribed  to  gonor- 
rhoeo.  Xoeggerath's  theory,  as  originally  formulated,  is  sub- 
stantially as  follows  : 

1.  That  nearly  all  men  who  have  had  gonorrhoea  and  ap- 
parently been  cured,  sooner  or  later  infect  their  wives. 

2.  That  this  infectiousness  on  the  part  of  the  man  is  usually 
latent,  but  may  possibly  become  perceptible  in  the  form  of  an 
urethritis,  more  or  less  severe,  following  sexual  intercourse. 

3.  That  consequent  upon  this  latent  gonorrhoea  in  the  man, 
there  occurs  a  similar  latent  infection  of  the  wife,  which  may 
in  its  turn  become  active  as  the  etiologic  factor  of  one  or  more 
forms  of  pelvic  inflammation. 

Ricord  said  that  800  men  in  1,000  have  had  gonorrhoea. 
Xoeggerath  said  that  90  per  cent,  of  these  cases  remain  uncured, 
and  recent  writers  agree  with  him.     Comment  is  unnecessarv ! 


270  Some  High  Potency  Cases  from   Germany. 

SOME   HIGH    POTENCY    CASES   FROM    GERMANY. 
By  Dr.  Strohmeyer,  Frankfurt  a.  M. 

Translated  for  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder  from  the  Leipzig.  Pop.  Z.  f 
Horn.,  April  1,  1908. 

The  following  three  cases,  I  think,  I  can  claim  as  having  been 
cured  by  means  of  high  potencies,  and  I  would  go  further  and 
would  claim  that,  basing  my  assertion  on  former  experience,  that 
they  would  not  have  been  healed  as  promptly  and  safely  by  lower 
potencies,  as  by  the  high  dilutions  which  I  used  : 

I.     A  Stye. 

The  first  case  was  that  of  a  lady,  thirty-five  years  of  age,  who, 
hitherto,  had  always  enjoyed  an  enviable  state  of  good  health,  un- 
til a  short  time  back,  when  her  cheerful  disposition  was  a  little 
disturbed  by  the  appearance  of  a  stye  on  an  upper  eyelid.  As 
the  ailment  in  the  days  following  increased  and  caused  her  lively 
trouble,  an  eye  doctor  was  called  in,  who,  through  a  slight  in- 
cision, put  an  end  to  this  disturbance.  In  a  few  days  all  was 
right  again,  and  our  lady  as  merry  as  before.  But  what  could 
describe  properly  her  indignation,  when  a  week  later,  a  second 
stye  made  its  appearance  in  the  same  place  with  the  same  symp- 
toms, and  the  disturbance  in  the  use  of  the  eye  through  the 
swelling  induced  another  visit  to  the  specialist.  Hot  poultices 
matured  the  stye,  a  slight  cut.  and  the  lady  was  relieved  the 
second  time.  In  about  the  same  time  a  third  stye,  the  same  pro- 
cedure, and  the  same  result.  But  when  the  trouble  arose  for  the 
fourth  time,  the  patient  lost  her  patience,  and  endeavored  to  cure 
it  in  another  manner.  I  must  confess  that  there  was  little  to  be 
seen  of  the  merry  disposition,  which,  as  the  patient  stated,  had 
formerly  been  her  usual  mood,  when  she  paid  a  visit  to  me.  On 
the  contrary,  the  lady  showed  an  impatient  and  embittered  spirit, 
and  charged  herself  with  crossness  and  perversity ;  and  she 
rather  made  the  impression  of  a  little  Xanthippe  than  of  a  gentle 
and  cheerful  (lame.  Every  one  knows  what  a  great  weight  ho- 
moeopaths lay  even  in  slight  troubles  on  the  mood  and  disposition 
and  it  would  hardly  do  to  say  that  any  fair  lady  would  be  thus 
irritated  by  the   appearance  of  four   styes   in   succession.      Now 


Some  High  Potency  Cases  from  Germany.  271 

would  you  suppose  that  such  a  disposition  would  have  been  cured 
by  Pulsatilla?  As  little  as  by  Silicea.  But  Staphisagria  200.  D., 
in  three  powders  of  sugar  of  milk,  each  powder  receiving  six 
drops  of  the  dilution,  one  to  be  taken  every  evening  on  three 
successive  days,  not  only  prevented  every  return  of  the  ailment, 
but  brought  relief  on  the  second  day,  while  the  stye  was  still  at 
its  height. 

II.     Furuncles. 

The  second  case,  no  less  interesting,  was  that  of  a  young 
forester,  who  had  been  suffering  for  some  time  from  furuncles, 
which  kept  recurring,  and  for  which  he  in  vain  endeavored  to 
find  a  cause.  Treatment  with  Arsenic,  by  an  allopath,  had  not 
the  least  effect  upon  it,  nor  the  use  of  yeast,  taken  for  a  lengthy 
period.  An  examination  of  the  vigorous,  blooming  young  man 
yielded  absolutely  no  result,  with  the  exception  of  a  slight  in- 
dolence of  the  stools,  which,  however,  had  existed  for  years.  Xor 
could  the  patient  remember  having  received  either  a  greater  or 
lesser  bodily  lesion.  There  had  not  been  any  sexual  infection, 
the  urine  was  free  from  albumen  and  sugar  :  the  appetite,  sleep, 
and  all  the  other  functions  were  normal — and  yet  one  furuncle 
kept  following  the  other ;  at  the  present  time  there  were  several 
in  the  neck,  and  one  in  the  right  axilla.  The  indolence  of  the 
stool,  then,  was  the  only  etiological  moment  which  could  be 
brought  in  connection  with  this  cutaneous  disease.  This  was  the 
more  astonishing,  as  the  diet  of  the  patient  was  thoroughly 
rational,  and  he  was  compelled,  by  his  calling,  to  take  the  most 
strenuous  bodily  exercise.  There  was,  indeed,  a  daily  stool,  but, 
owing  to  the  dry  consistence  of  the  faeces,  this  was  in  some  de- 
gree, labored,  and  the  patient  had  the  sensation  as  if  quantities 
of  the  faeces  remained  undischarged  in  the  bowels.  An  ex- 
amination of  the  rectum  showed  a  slight  predisposition  to  piles. 
I  supposed  that  the  furunculosis  was  supported  by  a  certain  pro- 
cess of  self-intoxication,  and  this  supposition  was  sustained  by 
the  result  of  the  medication.  The  patient  received  Sulphur  200. 
D..  taken  on  four  successive  evenings,  seven  drops  at  a  time,  in 
a  tablespoonful  of  water.  I  requested  him  to  call  again  in  two 
weeks,  but  I  had  to  wait  for  three  weeks,  before  I  saw  him  again. 
He  told  me  then  that  during  the  first  eight  days  nothing  unusual 


272  Some  High  Potency  Cases  from  Germany. 

had  taken  place,  but  toward  the  end  of  the  second  week  a  large 
and  extremely  painful  furuncle  had  formed  on  the  back  of  the 
region  of  the  last  ribs.  This  had  tied  him  to  his  bed  for  fully 
five  days.  His  wife  had  made  hot  poultices  of  linseed,  which 
softened  the  furuncle,  after  which  a  great  mass  of  matter  was 
discharged — but  since  that  time  there  had  been  no  more  furuncles. 
Being  questioned  as  to  the  stools,  he  merrily  answered  that  he 
had  been  constipated  for  the  first  few  days,  but  since  that  almost 
the  contrary  had  been  the  case,  and  now  this  function  was  en- 
tirely normal. 

III.     Gonorrhoea. 

The  third  case  was  that  of  an  engineer,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  a  lieutenant  of  the  reserve,  and  who  had  brought  back  as 
a  memorial  of  the  last  manceuvers,  a  case  of  gonorrhoea,  which 
had  been  treated  in  the  customary  manner  with  injections,  and 
had  been  dismissed  as  cured,  after  some  weeks.  The  case  was 
cured,  or  not  cured,  according  to  a  man's  point  of  view.  There 
was  not,  indeed,  any  more  discharge,  in  fact,  according  to  his 
statement  there  had  only  been  an  urethritis  anterior.  But  a  queer 
result  was,  that  since  this  cure  he  did  not  feel  any  more  bright 
as  before,  and  suffered  from  broken  sleep,  a  certain  dull  head- 
ache, and  light  rheumatic  pains,  which  kept  changing  their  posi- 
tion. He  felt,  as  we  say,  "under  the  weather."  I  made  no 
further  explanation,  as  these  would  not,  probably,  have  been 
understood,  but  I  prescribed  three  powders,  moistened  each  with 
Thuja  200.  D.,  six  drops  to  be  taken  on  three  successive  even- 
ings. As  I  had  expected,  so  it  happened ;  on  the  third  day  there 
appeared  a  thin,  watery  discharge,  with  slight  burning  of  the 
urethra  and  a  slight  weariness  in  all  the  limbs.  In  the  nights 
following,  there  was  a  copious  perspiration,  with  a  gradual  disap- 
pearance of  all  the  symptoms.  The  discharge,  which  had  slightly 
frightened  the  patient  and  had  brought  him  post-haste  to  see  me, 
came  to  an  end  in  two  weeks.  I  think  that  anyone  who  has  once 
seen  such  a  prompt  action  of  a  medicine  is  not  apt  to  forget  all 
his  life  how  great  and  brilliant  is  the  action  of  the  high  potencies. 


Low  Potency  Cases  fr&m  France.  273 

LOW    POTENCY    CASES    FROM    FRANCE. 
By  Dr.  Sieffert,  Paris. 

Translated  for  tta  Homceopathic  Recorder. 
Whooping   Cough. 

A  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in  his  own  country.  This 
saying  was  also  verified  a  short  time  back  with  the  children  of  our 
janitor.  Both  of  these,  a  little  daughter,  of  five  years  of  age,  and 
a  little  son,  three  years  of  age,  were  seized  with  whooping  cough. 

Of  course,  the  parents  did  not  think  of  consulting  the  physi- 
cian, whose  advice  they  could  get  without  expense,  but  his  wife 
consulted  with  the  neighbors'  wives,  and  thus  gradually  all  the 
domestic  remedies  at  their  disposal  were  put  in  use.  But  none 
of  them  proved  of  any  use.  The  attacks  became  ever  more  fre- 
quent and  more  violent,  occurring,  at  last,  eighteen  times  a  day. 

The  consulting  wives,  therefore,  concluded  to  send  the  chil- 
dren to  the  country.  Finally  the  janitor,  probably,  merely  from 
courtesy,  thought  of  also  asking  my  opinion.  I  opposed  the 
idea  of  sending  them  to  the  country,  and  offered  to  treat  the 
children  homceopathically.  The  janitor  and  his  wife  accepted 
my  offer,  after  I  had  promised  them  to  furnish  the  remedies 
gratis.  Their  agreement  to  my  proposition,  probably,  was  only 
due  to  their  fear  of  displeasing  me;  for,  secretly,  the  janitor's 
wrife  said  to  our  servant  girl :  "What  can  the  Doctor  expect  to 
do  with  his  watery  solutions?  I  shall  let  him  try  for  a  week, 
then  if  you  are  no  better  I  will  send  them  to  the  country.  A 
change  of  air  is  to  be  preferred  to  all  medicines." 

I  prescribed  Drosera  6.,  six  drops  for  every  child  every  day. 
On  the  fourth  day  of  the  treatment  their  case  was  considerably 
improved ;  the  attacks  had  diminished  in  frequence  to  twelve  a 
day,  and  at  the  end  of  the  week  they  had  diminished  to  six 
times  a  day.  With  the  boy  the  improvement  continued  without 
interruption.  I  diminished  his  dose  to  four  drops  a  day,  and  at 
last  to  two  drops  a  day.  But  with  the  girl  there  appeared  after 
every  transient  improvement,  vomiting  and  epistaxis.  In  two 
days  this  was  stayed  by  means  of  Ipecacuanha,  when  I  came  back 
to  Drosera.    At  present,  after  treating  them  for  three  weeks,  the 


274  Low  Potency  Cases  from  France. 

whooping  cough,  with  both  the  little  patients,  has  been  quite 
assuaged.  Now  and  then  one  attack  a  day,  and  none  since  the 
day  before  yesterday.  So  at  last  I  succeeded  in  gaining  the  re- 
spect of  the  janitor  and  his  wife. 

II.     Congestion  of  Liver. 

A  spinster,  of  thirty  years  of  age,  somewhat  corpulent,  and 
living  a  sedentary  life,  whom  I  had  treated  a  few  years  ago  for 
appendicitis,  felt  somewhat  unwell.  Loss  of  appetite,  coated 
tongue,  a  dull  headache,  torpid  stool,  pains  in  the  abdomen.  The 
patient  at  once  was  afraid  of  another  siege  of  appendicitis.  But 
an  examination  showed  no  symptoms  in  the  region  of  the  ap- 
pendix, nor  was  there  any  fever.  Still  I  found  a  slight  induratioi* 
on  the  lower  border  of  the  liver,  which  did  not  cause  me  any 
astonishment,  as  the  patient  had  always,  I  might  say,  by  in- 
heritance, been  suffering  from  a  sensitiveness  of  the  liver. 

To  regulate  the  stool,  I  prescribed  lukewarm  clysters,  in- 
ternally, Nux  vomica  3.,  six  drops  a  day.  This  caused  an  im- 
provement in  the  coating  of  the  tongue,  and  the  stool  proceeded 
regularly.  But  the  induration  of  the  liver  and  its  sensitiveness 
would  not  yield,  though  the  appetite  had  come  back.  I  advised 
a  strict  diet,  and  gave  Mercurius  dulcis,  first  decimal  trituration, 
five  doses  of  one  decigram  each,  five  times  a  day,  for  two  days 
in  succession.  A  copious  micturition  followed  on  this  treatment. 
The  border  of  the  liver  now  felt  soft  to  the  touch,  and  was  not 
swollen  any  more.  The  liver  returned  to  its  normal  position 
and  at  the  end  of  the  week  everything  was  again  normal  with- 
out the  use  of  any  other  medicine. 

III.     Slight  Glandular  Swelling. 

While  I  was  treating  the  young  lady  mentioned  above,  her 
mother,  while  out  walking,  had  stepped  into  a  large  shoe-nail, 
which  had  passed  at  the  same  time  through  the  sole  of  her  shoe, 
the  stocking  and  the  sole  of  her  foot.  There  was,  of  course,  no 
considerable  wound,  it  merely  looked  like  the  prick  of  a  large 
pin. 

The  patient  at  first  did  not  mind  the  wound  at  all,  and  quietly 
attended  to  her  business.  But  after  a  few  days,  the  foot  became 
painful,  somewhat  heavy,  without  being  swollen,  and  was  very 


Lozv  Potency  Cases  from  France.  275 

painful  when  she  stepped  on  it.  When  examined,  there  appeared 
a  slight  swelling,  as  large  as  a  walnut,  i.  e.}  a  small  gland  was 
inflamed. 

I  warned,  the  patient  to  give  her  limb  rest,  in  order  that  no 
abscess  might  form,  daily,  a  lukewarm  foot-bath,  and  internally, 
Silicea  6.,  two  drops  morning  and  evening.  In  a  week  all  the 
symptoms  had  disappeared. 

IV.     Long   Continued   Chronic   Acute    Congestion    of   the 

Liver. 

A  man,  seventy  years  of  age,  who,  in  his  youth,  had  suffered 
from  syphilis,  and  later  from  articular  rheumatism,  came  to  my 
office  a  few  months  ago  and  complained  of  jaundice.  The  pa- 
tient had  pased  through  several  such  attacks,  and  since,  in  some 
of  these  attacks  renal  colic  had  appeared,  he  was  afraid  of  a 
similar  painful  contingency  at  this  time.  An  examination  showed 
nothing  striking ;  there  was  no  trace  of  syphilis.  The  border  of 
the  liver  was  only  slightly  swollen  and  somewhat  indurated.  The 
patient  stated  that  he  was  sensitive  to  medicines  and  desired  to 
be  treated  with  higher  potencies.  So  I  prescribed  Nnx  vomica 
12.,  and  in  a  few  days  all  morbid  symptoms  seemed  actually  to 
have  disappeared. 

Three  weeks  later,  however,  the  patient  called  me  in.  The 
jaundice  had  returned,  more  violent  than  before.  The  skin  of 
the  whole  body  was  a  dark  yellow.  The  tongue  was  coated 
thickly  with  a  yellow  coating.  Not  much  fever.  Obstinate  con- 
stipation. The  border  of  the  liver  was  thick  and  swollen  hard ; 
the  region  of  the  liver,  especially  the  gall  bladder,  was  extremely 
sensitive  to  the  touch.  Daily  clysters  promoted  the  stools.  In- 
ternally, I  prescribed  Podophyllum  6,  two  drops,  four  times  a 
day.  On  this  his  condition  showed  improvement,  without  a  com- 
plete removal  of  the  trouble. 

One  morning  I  found  without  any  other  warning,  that  the 
pulse  was  much  retarded  and  diminished  in  volume,  the  micturi- 
tion reduced  to  one-half.  What  had  occurred?  There  was  no 
question  that  the  circulation  had  been  seriously  disturbed,  the  more 
as  on  examining  the  heart  I  found  an  extremely  violent  mitral 
sound.  Of  course,  the  liver  was  again  thick,  and  swollen  hard. 
A    syphilitic    phenomenon    was    excluded,    but    a    rheumatic    in- 


276  Low  Potency  Cases  from  France. 

fluence  might  be  considered.  But  on  scanning  this  cause  more 
closely,  I  also  gave  up  this  supposition  and  explained  the  phe- 
nomenon— correctly,  as  the  event  proved — in  the  following  man- 
ner : 

The  circulation  is  a  closed  circle,  in  which  various  obstructions 
have  to  be  surmounted.  If  one  of  these  obstructions  is  difficult 
to  surmount,  this  difficulty  reacts  on  the  whole  circulation.  In 
the  case  in  question  all  the  circumstances  seemed  to  begin  wTith 
the  liver.  The  lower  vena  cava,  which  returns  to  the  heart  all  the 
venous  blood  of  the  abdomen  and  lower  limbs,  was  compressed 
by  the  swollen  liver.  The  venous  change  which  takes  place  in 
the  capillaries  thereby  became  more  difficult,  and  this  produced 
an  increased  tension  in  the  large  arterial  vessels,  causing  a 
mitral  insufficiency  and,  in  consequence,  an  enlargement  of  the 
left  ventricle.  The  mitral  insufficiency  again  was  able  to  produce 
an  obstruction  in  the  pulmonary  circulation,  and  by  means  of  a 
like  process  (an  increase  in  the  tension,  enlargement  of  the 
ventricle  and  insufficiency  in  the  valves),  an  insufficiency  in  the 
tricuspidal  valve.  In  this  manner  I  explained  the  sounds  of  the 
heart,  the  more  as  it  proved  in  the  sequel  that  this  sound  disap- 
peared with  the  removal  of  the  lesion  of  the  liver.  This  process 
we  may  assume  all  the  more  readily,  as  every  insufficiency  of 
the  liver  may  be  attended  with  the  resorption  of  toxins  causing 
a  weakening  of  the  muscle  of  the  heart. 

Now  as  to  the  treatment :  In  spite  of  the  preference  of  the  pa- 
tient for  minimal  doses,  I  made  use  of  Mercurius  dulcis  in  pretty 
massive  doses,  and  the  pulse  was  somewhat  accelerated  and  more 
vigorous  next  day,  the  sound  of  the  heart  was  no  more  violent, 
and  the  excretion  of  urine  was  essentially  increased.  I  then 
waited  for  a  few  days  and  repeated  the  Mercurius  dulcis,  and 
all  the  threatening  symptoms  gradually  disappeared,  and  a  full 
cure  was  effected.  A  few  doses  of  Nux  vomica  removed  the 
last  vestiges  of  the  disease. 

The  whole  treatment  had  lasted  five  weeks  and  the  patient 
is  at  present  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  health. 

V.     Inflammation  of   the  Testicle. 

A  syphilitical  patient  whom  I  have  been  treating  for  some 
time  on  account  of  tertiary  symptoms  of  his  disease,  appeared  in 


Abdominal  Pains — Chionanthus.  277 

my  office  lately  and  complained  of  the  extremely  painful  inflam- 
mation of  the  right  testicle,  which  was  swollen  hard;  this  was 
attended  with  violent  fever. 

I  naturally  enough  thought  of  a  malignant  phenomenon.  But 
when  I  examined  the  patient  more  closely,  I  found  out  that  he 
had  a  few  years  ago  been  afflicted  with  gonorrhoea ;  but  as  he  sup- 
posed that  this  had  been  cured,  as  he  had  only  slight  symptoms 
of  it  left,  he  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to  call  my  attention  to 
it.  This  made  the  case  clear.  Compresses  according  to  Pries- 
nitz,  rest  in  bed,  and  some  doses  of  Clematis  erecta  6.  in  six 
days  cured  the  case  completely. 


ABDOMINAL  PAINS— CHIONANTHUS. 

A  woman  of  forty-one  came  to  the  hospital  complaining  of  at- 
tacks of  abdominal  pain,  at  irregular  intervals,  lasting  seven  or 
eight  hours,  and  accompanied  by  more  or  less  jaundice,  vomiting, 
and  distension.  This  condition  had  continued  for  six  years. 
There  was  no  enlargement  of  the  liver,  but  much  tenderness  in 
the  right  hypochondrium.  I  took  the  attacks  to  be  biliary  colic, 
and  began  treatment  with  Berberis  6.  The  following  fortnight 
she  had  three  attacks.  Chelidon.  0  succeeded  no  better.  After 
four  weeks,  with  little  or  no  relief,  she  was  put  on  to  Chionanthus- 
6  and  now  has  had  no  real  attack  (though  mild  threatenings  now 
and  then)  for  six  months,  except  for  one  fortnight  when  Iris  v. 
was  substituted  in  November  last.  Chionanthus  has  been  con- 
tinued fairly  steadily — indeed,  she  will  not  be  left  without  a  sup- 
ply. As  her  attacks  were  coming  every  few  days  when  she  came 
to  the  hospital  and  for  a  month  thereafter,  I  feel  bound  to  at- 
tribute some  effect  to  the  Chionanthus.  I  must  add,  however, 
that  latterly  she  has  been  subject  to  headache  (frontal),  and  has 
only  lately  obtained  some  relief  from  this  complaint  by  means  of 
Lycop.  200.  So  that,  although  considerably  improved,  she  is  not 
yet  in  a  fully  satisfactory  condition. — Dr.  C.  E.  Wheeler,  Ho- 
moeopathic World. 


Remember  Cratccpus  ox.  0.  in  all  cases  of  heart  disease. 


278  Book  Notices. 

BOOK  NOTICES. 


Des  Vrais  Caracteres  de  la  Therapeutique  Experi- 
mentale.  Premier  facicule.  Reponse  a  M.  le  Dr.  Pierre 
Jousset.  Par  le  Dr.  Jules  Gallavardin  de  Lyon,  Prix  :  2  francs. 
Paper,  71  pages.  A.  Malone,  25  Rue  d  Y  Ecolesde-Medicin, 
Paris,  France.     1908. 

In  the  controversy  between  Drs.  Jousset  and  Gallavardin,  the 
latter  stands  for  what  we,  in  this  country,  term  Hahnemannian 
Homoeopathy,  and  the  former  for  the  Homoeopathy  which  plays 
a  subordinate  role  in  medicine,  though  still  a  very  important  one, 
as  a  therapeutic  measure.  It  is  the  old  controversy  presented 
in  new  dress,  but  lack  of  space  prevents  giving  an  outline  of 
this  particular  exchange  of  opinions.  Generally  speaking,  the 
man  who  stands  for  old  Homoeopathy  is  on  firmer  ground  than 
he  who  would  stray  to  the  brilliant,  but,  too  often  unstable 
ground,  of  what  is  termed  "modern  scientific  medicine."  But 
each  one  to  his  taste. 


A     Manual    of    Practical    Obstetrics.  By  Frederick  W. 

Hamlin,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics,  New  York  Homoeo- 
pathic   Medical    College    and    Hospital.      480    pages.      Cloth, 
$2.50.    New  York :  Boericke  &  Runyon.     1908. 
Of  this  work  the  author  says :     "This  little  book  is  intended  to 
b>e  a  vade  mecum  for  the  busy  practitioner.     It  is  not  designed 
as  a  text  book,  but,  as  a  ready  reference  book  for  the  use  of  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  profesion." 

The  book  treats  its  subject  very  concisely,  yet  clearly.  Old 
school  treatment  is  given  in  the  therapeutics,  and  also  the  ho- 
moeopathic therapeutics  very  fully,  together  with  diet,  hygiene, 
etc.  The  book  ought  to  have  a  good  sale  among  the  family  prac- 
titioners and  homoeopathic  students. 


The  second  edition  of  Nash,  Regional  Leaders,  is  out.     It 
considerably  enlarged. 


Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

By  BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  $1.00,  TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PER  ANNUM 
Address  communications ,  books  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  the  editor,  to 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  021.  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


EDITORIAL     BREVITIES. 

Seeking  the  Truth. — When  a  man  says  there  is  some  good 
in  all  systems  of  medicine  and  more  or  less  error  in  them  all,  and 
that  the  student  should  seek  the  good  in  all  and  reject  the  errorr 
he  has  taken  a  position  that  is  unassailable,  yet  which  may  land 
him  in  nebulosity,  unless  he  be  a  veritable  intellectual  giant  and 
one  who  can  distinguish  good  and  evil.  After  one  has  glanced 
at  the  ceaseless  stream  of  books  and  pamphlets  which  no  human 
being  could  read  in  toto,  listened  to  the  numerous  enthusiasts, 
depicting  the  wondrous  beauty  and  effectiveness  of  some  par- 
ticular hobby,  one  realizes  that  to  "select  the  good  and  reject 
the  bad"  is  quite  a  task. 

Sunbeams  from  Cucumbers. — A  very  eminent  Professor  tells 
us  that  "Metchnikoff  and  Roux  announce  that  they  have  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  the  attenuation  of  human  syphilitic  virus 
by  passage  through  small  monkeys,  opening  a  prospect  for  suc- 
cessful vaccination  against  syphilis."  If  attenuation  is  sought, 
why  not — attenuate  the  virus?  Any  homoeopathic  pharmacist 
will  show  how  it  is  done.  And,  if  it  is  attenuation  plus  some- 
thing else  in  the  monkey  is  sought,  what  is  that  something  else? 
What  is  the  object  of  all  this  expensive  hugger-muggering  when 
attenuation  to  any  degree  and  with  the  utmost  exactness  is  open 
to  any  "scientist?"  Can  it  be  that  plain  attenuation  is  too  cheap 
and  simple,  while  the  other  method  offers  a  wide  field — for — 
for—?1 


260  Editorial. 

To  Cure  Old  Age. — Our  most  estimable  contemporary,  the 
Buffalo  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  for  May  contains  a  most 
absorbingly  interesting  paper  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Suzor,  of 
Paris,  copied  from  National  Therapeutics.  The  theme  of  the 
paper  is  "old  age."  The  learned  scientist,  Suzor,  demonstrates 
that  old  age  is  an  infectious  disease  that  may  be  cured.  The 
paper  concludes  that  the  specific  for  old  age  is  prepared  with 
great  care  at  the  "Pasteur  Vaccine  Co.'s  Laboratories"  in  "tablet 
form,"  "hermetically  sealed,"  etc.  The  only  thing  missing  in  this 
wonderful  contribution  to  scientific  medicine  is  the  admonition 
to  "Beware  of  imitations !" 

Vivisection. — The  Nezv  York  Medical  Times,  with  its  usual 
level-headedness  on  most  subjects,  seems  to  put  the  vivisection 
problem  in  its  true  light,  i.  e..  vivisection  properly  conducted  by 
sane  men  and  for  a  definite  purpose  is  useful,  but,  "In  many  in- 
stances vivisection  has  been  merely  the  instrument  of  an  un- 
reasoning curiosity  or  ambition,  without  any  practical  humani- 
tarian motive.  In  others,  it  seems  to  have  been  worse  than  this, 
a  horrible  expression  of  Sadism  differing  only  in  the  fact  that 
it  was  performed  in  a  laboratory  instead  of  in  a  brothel  from  the 
vile  acts  of  non-professional  sexual  perverts." 

It  is  the  morbid,  the  brutal  and  the  sexually  perverted,  that 
have  brought  vivisection  into  such  disrepute.  The  average  man 
loves  a  dog,  and  when  he  sees  or  hears  of  one  of  them  being 
brutally  tortured  by  some  one  apparently  for  the  gratification  of 
a  morbid  love,  he  feels  that  the  world  could  better  spare  the  two- 
legged  brute  than  his  four-legged  victim.  At  best,  the  knowl- 
edge gained  by  this  practice  is  of  no  great  value. 

Ladies'  Doctors  and  Serum  Therapy. — A  prominent  one  of 
the  gentler  sex,  in  Philadelphia,  recently  turned  loose  on  serum 
therapy  and,  judging  from  the  defence  of  Dr.  J.  P.  Reynolds,  in 
the  Public  Ledger,  Airs.  White  got  the  best  of  the  fray.  Dr. 
Reynolds  states  that  serum  therapy  opens  up  "a  large  field  that  is 
yet  in  process  of  active  cultivation."  That  "this  department  of 
science  is  in  a  process  of  evolution"  with  investigators  "hard  at 
work  in  it."  That  "the  causation  of  disease  is  but  imperfectly 
understood."     That  "it  is  true  that  virulent  bacilli  are  frequently 


Editorial  281 

found  in  persons  having  no  symptoms."  and  the  reverse.  But 
"all  these  apparently  paradoxical  facts  will,  in  due  time,  be  ex- 
plained," and  that  the  serum  men  "may  be  relied  upon  to  emerge 
with  credit  from  the  ordeal  through  which  your  correspondent 
imagines  they  are  passing."  "Serum  therapy  is  not  yet  what 
your  correspondent  would  have  it.  nor,  seemingly,  any  other  de- 
partment of  medicine.  Let  her  not  despair."  and  so  on.  This  is 
a  fair  abstract  of  the  defence,  which,  after  all.  is  but  a  plea  to  sus- 
pend judgment  and  wait  for  what  ''evolution"  will  produce.  But 
in  the  meantime,  certain  impatient  folk  are  wanting  cure  for  them- 
selves, or  their  children.  Homoeopathy  is  good  enough  yet.  And 
then  the  parturition  act  of  evolution  may  bring  forth  a  mon- 
strosity. 

Naturopathy  and  Biochemistry. — Our  estimable  friends,  the 
"naturopaths/'  have  taken  biochemistry  into  their  fold.  They  say 
a  cell  salt  is  not  a  drug,  but  a  "food,"  and  a  necessary  substance 
far  the  maintenance  of  life."  If  cell  salts  are  drugs,  so  are 
"potatoes,  meat,  butter,  eggs  and  flour,"  and  there  you  are.  If 
this  be  true,  then  each  man  should  take  his  regular  rations  of 
Silica,  Kali  phos.,  and  the  others,  every  day,  and  be  happy.  Health 
chasing  is  a  queer  sport. 

Advertised  Medicines. — After  one  has  looked  on  the  combat 
waging  between  the  big  A.  M.  A.  Journal  and  the  other  allopathic 
journal*  for  any  length  of  time,  he  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
if.  as  is,  probably,  the  case,  the  various  word  gladiators  are  truth- 
ful men,  none  of  the  advertised  medicines  are  worth  their  price 
to  a  physician  who  knows  his  profession,  as  he  is  presumed  to 
know  it.  For  example.  Potassium  iodide  (or  any  other  old 
drug),  masquerading  under  a  "scientific"  name,  will  do  pre- 
cisely what  plain  Pot.  iod.  will  do.  and  it  will  do  nothing  more. 
If  the  advertiser  tells  you  it  will  do  more  under  its  masked-ball 
title,  he  is — laboring  under  a  delusion. 

Crude  Prescribing. — In  a  letter  to  the  Medical  Century,  de- 
scribing his  experiences  in  establishing  hospitals  in  connection 
with  raikoad  construction  in  the  South.  Dr.  C.  E.  Fisher  tells  of 


282  Editorial. 

the  difficulty  he  experiences  in  getting  homoeopathic  assistants 
in  his  work.  At  the  last  hospital  in  North  Carolina,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  young  homoeopathic  physician,  and  he  was 
"the  crudest  prescriber  I  have  had  on  my  lists."  The  growth  of 
Christian  Science  ought  to  convince  any  one  that  success  in  the 
future  in  medicine  does  not  lie  in  the  direction  of  crude  drugging. 


Wisdom. — The  Philadelphia  papers,  of  May  14,  contained  the 
following  "whereas"  and  "resolved :" 

"Whereas,  It  has  pleased  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Dixon,  Commissioner 
of  Health  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  to  call  his  medi- 
cal inspectors  together,  etc. 

"Resolved,  That  we,  the  county  medical  inspectors  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  most  heartily  acknowledge  our  appreciation  of 
his  wise  purpose,  etc." 

A  New  Danger  from  the  X-Ray. — The  case  of  Southern  vs. 
Lynn,  Thomas  &  Skyrme,  in  England,  wherein  the  plaintiff  re- 
covered $20,000  damages,  is  rather  suggestive  of  possibilities. 
We  only  know  the  general  features  of  the  case  and  the  results. 
The  case  was  "a  subglenoid  dislocation  of  the  humerus,  with  a 
fracture  of  the  surgical  neck  and  much  bruising,"  etc.  The  dis- 
location was  easily  managed,  but,  in  some  way  the  fracture  inter- 
fered. The  point  is,  that  the  surgeons  used  the  X-rays  on  the 
case,  which,  not  progressing  favorably,  was  the  ground  for  the 
damages  awarded,  because  there  was  no  precedent  for  such  a 
procedure  in  well-known  text  books  in  Great  Britain.  If  this  is 
to  be  the  position  of  juries  and  courts  in  England,  surgery  will 
come  to  a  standstill  in  that  precedent  ruled  country.  Law  is  some- 
times as  freaky  as  medicine  in  some  of  its  phases. 

Sedum  Repens. — One  of  our  homoeopathic  journals  recently 
published  a  translation  of  a  paper  by  Dr.  Stagger,  that  appeared 
in  the  Homocopathiselie  Monatsblcetter,  extolling  the  virtue  of 
Sedum  re  pens  in  the  cure  of  cancer.  As  the  drug  was  asked  for 
by  a  number  of  physicians  after  the  publication  of  the  translation, 
a  letter  was  addressed  to  Dr.  Staeger,  asking  for  a  supply  of  the 
remedy.    The   reply   was:      "What   I   call   Sedum    repens,   is.   in 


Editorial.  283 

reality,  a  mixture  of  the  various  crassulacae  in  a  homoeopathic 

dilution.  Xo  one  knows  the  composition,  but  1  myself.  I  do  not 
intend,  for  the  present,  to  make  known  this  composition.  "It  is 
offered  at  S30  pr.  Kilo  in  30X  medicated  pellets.  The  house 
in  question  declined  the  offer  of  the  sole  agency  for  the  United 
States. 

Advertising   "To   Physicians   Only." — Dr.   G.   G.   Burdick 

rather  acidly  writes  (  Wisconsin  Med.  Recorder)  : 

"As  a  'come  on;  the  general  practitioner  is  a  success.  To  de- 
lude him  into  prescribing  some  fool  thing  of  which  he  does  not 
even  suspect  the  composition  is  almost  as  easy  as  selling  'green 
goods  to- the  backwoods  farmer.  He  has  an  abiding,  even  child- 
like faith  in  any  proprietary  article  of  which  he  does  not  know 
the  combination,  and  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  observe,  he 
has  no  ethical  consideration  of  the  pitiful  figure  he  cuts  in  the 


Ax  Alkaloidal  Dig. — Dr.  William  F.  Waugh  ( alkaloidal 
man)  writes  to  Wis.  Med.  Reporter  that  the  Homoeopathic  Re- 
corder "finds  nothing  but  commercialism  in  the  alkaloidal  propa- 
ganda. Other  homoeopathic  journals  not  dominated  by  trade  in- 
fluences have  only  kind  words  for  the  alkaloids.  Take  off  your 
green  spectacles  and  the  world  will  not  seem  all  green  to  you." 

The  only  objection  the  Recorder  has  to  the  alkaloidal  crowd — 
they  are  no  worse  or  better  than  the  others — is  that  they  take  the 
alkaloid  of  a  given  drug  and  then  lift  its  indications  from  the 
homoeopathic  materia  medica  as  being  something  of  their  own 
discovery.  Why  do  not  they  prove  the  alkaloids?  It  is  not 
scientific,  or  very  honest,  to  give  Aconitine,  for  instance,  on  the 
provings  of  Aconite  tincture.  Until  the  alkaloids  are  proved,  as 
Hahnemann  proved  drugs,  their  use  must  be  empirical.  Be 
square,  gentlemen,  and  prove  your  own  drugs,  and,  perhaps,  the 
less  you  say  about  commercialism  the  better  for  yourselves 

The  Old  "Indicated  Remedy/' — Some  time  ago  a  man  at 
work,  in  the  big  five-story  laboratory  of  B.  &  T..  Philadelphia, 
making  suppositories,  was  confronted  by  the  fact  that  one  of  the 
kettles  of  cocoa  butter  had  boiled  over  and  caught  fire.     Quick 


284  Editorial. 


work  was  needed  to  prevent  a  big  fire.  To  come  to  the  point,  the 
fire  was  nipped  in  the  bud,  if  the  term  may  be  used  about  a  fire, 
and  the  man's  arm  and  hand  severely  burned.  The  arm  was 
dressed  according  to  the  best  of  medical  art,  but  refused  to  heal, 
and  the  man  began  to  fear  he  would  lose  the  use  of  it  if  not  the 
arm  itself.  He  then  went  to  a  good  homoeopathic  prescriber,  who 
carefully  "took  the  case"  and  prescribed  the  indicated  remedy. 
At  once  there  was  a  turn  for  the  better ;  the  threatening  symp- 
toms disappeared  and  the  use  of  the  arm  and  hand  were  regained. 
A  very  simple  case,  yet  it  looks  as  if  the  man  who  does  not  call 
on  the  sometimes  sneered  at  "indicated  remedy"  is  severely  handi- 
capped in  his  wrestle  with  disease  in  any  form. 

The  Infinitesimal  Dose. — The  Journal  (A.  M.  A.)  for  May 
2,  prints  a  paper  by  Dr.  Paul  H.  Ringer  on  the  subject  of 
■"Tuberculin  in  Pulmonary  Tuberculosis."  Dr.  Ringer  opens  his 
paper  as  follows : 

"It  is  now  generally  accepted  that  in  Tuberculin  we  possess  a 
most  valuable  remedy  in  the  treatment  of  tuberculosis.  Koch's 
Tuberculin,  introduced  in  1890,  as  a  cure  for  tuberculosis,  proved 
not  to  be  such.  Tuberculin  was  then  given  in  large  doses.  Vio- 
lent, dangerous,  in  some  cases  fatal  reactions  were  produced ;  the 
curative  effects  were  not  seen.  Error  in  the  conception  of  the 
action  desired  of  Tuberculin  led  to  misconception  as  to  the  proper 
mode  of  administration.  Reactions  were  sought ;  cases  were  not 
properly  selected;  all  were  subjected  to  the  new  remedy.  As  a 
result,  Tuberculin  came  to  be  almost  universally  condemned." 
The  writer  then  goes  on  to  consider  the  revival  of  the  use  of 
Tuberculin  and  the  employment  of  "infinitesimal  doses"  success- 
fully. They  are  in  hot  chase  after  the  infinitesimal  dosage,  and 
have  eyed  the  "similar."  Pretty  soon  these  gentlemen  may  be 
homoeopaths,  in  spite  of  themselves.  Then  must  come  the  ad- 
ditional acknowledgment  that  a  human  being  is  not  all  material 
in  his  make-up ;  that  the  scrappiest  and  most  pugilistic  part  of 
the  human  is  not  subject  to  microscopical  and  chemical  tests,  and 
it  must  be  considered  in  the  treatment. 

Query. — If  there  is  nothing  in  a  dilution  above  the  12th  po- 
tency, as  the  H.  P.  U.  S.  says,  does  not  every  pharmacist  and 


Items  of  Gene-  est.  285 

physician   who   labels   a   bottle   Arsenicum    30    violate   the    Pure 

Food  Act? 

Certainly. — "Consider  a  priori,  we  find  that  various  infections 
Fer  widely  in  their  fastigium.     On  the  average,  rotheln  is  the 

infection  of  shortest  course,  barring  the  gr<  >up  of  hydrophobia., 
equinia,  etc..  which  is  usually  fatal  and  in  which  the  termination 
of  the  disease  may  be  considered  as  prematurely  hastened  by 
death." — Benedict.  N.  Y.  Med.   Times. 

Changing  Science.— Dr.  John  B.  Huber.  of  the  St.  John's 
Hospital  for  Consumptives,  in  a  paper  in  the  N.  Y.  Medical 
Times  (June),  writes:  "We  have  pretty  well  dropped  the  idea 
that  pulmonary  tuberculosis  comes  about  primarily  through  the 
inhalation  of  the  Koch  bacillus  into  the  air-vesicles." 

Academic  Wisdom. — "So  long."  thundered  the  Health  Pro- 
fessor, "as  men  and  women  will  sleep  in  ill  ventilated  rooms 
from  which  the  pure  air  and  God's  sunshine  are  excluded  :  so  long 
as  they  will  gorge  themselves  on  luxurious  food  and  take  no 
exercise :"  so  long  as  they  will,  and  will  not.  do  many  other 
things,  "so  long  will  ill  health,  disease  and  death  prevail."  The 
slum  doctor  rubbed  his  head  as  he  wended  his  homeward  way. 

Have  Printed  Letter-Heads. — The  following  is  from  the 
Zoological  Bulletin  and  every  business  man  of  everv  journal  will 

say  Amen!  to  it.  "Writing  Names  Plainly:  There  is  nothing 
with  which  a  correspondent  is  so  familiar  as  his  own  name,  and 
-nothing  which  he  writes  so  frequently,  so  easily,  and.  conse- 
quently, so  carelessly.  At  the  same  time  there  is  nothing  so  im- 
portant in  a  letter  as  the  signature  and  address  of  the  writer. 
Proper  names  are  difficult  to  recognize,  and  the  greatest  possible 
care  should  be  used  to  write  them  so  plainly  that  there  will  be 
no  mistake  concerning  either  the  address  or  the  name  of  the 
writer.  The  chief  cause  of  failure  of  replies  to  reach  their  proper 
destination  is  to  be  found  in  the  inability  to  determine  these  ac- 
•curatelv  when  written  bv  hand." 


ITEMS   OF   GENERAL   INTEREST. 

The  Medical  School  of  the  Boston  University  held  a  "Clinic 
"Week."  June  ist-6th.  A  live  year  optional  course  has  been  es- 
tablished. 


286  Items  of  General  Interest. 

Dr.  W.  C.  Butman  has  removed  from  Glasgow,  Ky.,  to  Phy- 
sician's Building,     Denver,  Col. 

J.  Sutcliffe  Hnrndall,  M.  R.  C.  V.  S.,  has  removed  to  the 
Sanatorium  2,  Cornwall  Garden  Stables,  S.  Kensington,  S.  W. 
London,  England.  Dr.  Hurndall  is  author  of  the  standard  book 
Veterinary  Homoeopathy  in  Its  Application  to  the  Horse. 

The  two  Italian  homoeopathic  journals,  la  Rivista  Omeopatica 
and  rOmipatia  in  Italia,  have  consolidated. 

The  Illinois  State  Board  of  Health  has  brought  suit  against 
an  advertising  doctor  of  Chicago,  and  will  bring  similar  suits 
against  all  doctors  who  advertise  to  cure  diseases  of  the  genital 
organs. 

The  British  Medical  Journal  has  been  analyzing  the  "Cuti- 
cura"  products,  and  finds  that  the  "Cuticura  Resolvent"  is  com- 
posed of  potassium  iodide,  mixed  with  sugar,  alcohol  and  water. 

Dr.  A.  B.  Norton  will  sail  for  Europe  on  July  3 — to  escape  the 
fire  crackers,  maybe.  Dr.  William  McLean  will  attend  to  his 
practice  during  his  absence — to  September  22. 

Let  every  reader  remember  that  the  American  Institute  of  Ho- 
moeopathy meets  at  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  on  June  22.  If  anyone 
wants  particulars,  write  to  Dr.  W.  J.  Gates,  the  chairman.  His 
address  is  Suite  408,  Portsmouth  Building,  Kansas  City,  Kansas. 
Please  note  the  "Kansas  City,  Kansas."  The  two  Kansas  Citys 
lie  opposite  each  other  like  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  The  head- 
quarters is  the  New  Coates  House,  10th  and  Broadway,  Kansas 
City,  Missouri.  It  is  a  first-class  hotel,  and  the  rates,  European 
plan,  are  "$1.00  per  day  up."  The  meetings  will  be  held  at  "The 
Casino,"  adjoining  the  New  Coates  House. 

Dr.  S.  Runnels,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  has  sent  the  following 
circular  letter  to  all  homoeopathic  pharmacists  : 

"Will  you  please  let  me  know  by  return  mail  whose  Homoeo- 
pathic Pharmacopoeia  you  follow  in  preparing  your  drugs,  or  do 
you  follow  any  other  than  that  of  your  own,  preparing  your  drugs 
according  to  the  Hahnemann  idea  ?  I  am  in  receipt  of  a  letter  from 
Dr.  T.  H.  Carmichael,  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Pharma- 
copoeia of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy,  asking  that 


Items  of  General  Interest.  287 

a  resolution  be  passed  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Indiana  In- 
stitute in  May,  indorsing  the  Homoeopathic  Pharmacopoeia  of  the 
United  States  as  the  standard  authority  in  the  preparation  of  Ho- 
moeopathic medicine,  and  shall  be  pleased  to  know  what  you 
think  about  this." 

Indiana  has  a  Village  for  Epileptics  near  New  Castle.  Con- 
tracts for  a  new  $20,000  building  had  been  awarded. 

The  institutions  for  the  tuberculous  are  so  overcrowded  as  to 
be  "disgrace."  If  all  the  tuberculous  are  to  be  isolated,  the 
State  will  have  its  hands  full  and  will  have  to  go  deep  down  into 
Its  pockets,  as  they  of  Xew  York  State. 

Children  in  Japan  are  vaccinated  in  their  first  year  until  a 
good  "take"  is  secured  ;  then,  in  their  fifth  year,  and  again  in  their 
twelfth  year.  Also,  if  small-pox  appears,  they  and  others  must 
have  emergency  vaccination.  From  1886  to  1904,  there  were 
210,491  cases  of  small-pox,  with  54,173  deaths.  The  Govern- 
ment, to  arrest  this  fatality,  prepared  its  own  vaccine  lymph.  At 
Kobe,  according  to  the  X.  Y.  Evening  Post,  there  were  recently 
2.000  cases  of  small-pox,  with  a  mortality  of  nearly  50  per  cent. 
Only  1  per  cent,  were  unvaccinated.  The  Government  vaccine  has 
been  in  use  in  the  Empire  since  1896.  The  average  death  rate 
from  the  disease  is  about  22  per  cent. 

Dr.  Andrew  Ross,  of  Sidney,  Australia,  vigorously  protests  in 
a  local  paper  against  the  "anti-toxin  craze."  which,  he  says,  is 
spreading  broadcast  malignant  disease  among  the  animals,  and  in 
animal  food,  and  this  will  soon  react  on  the  human  race. 

In  the  Lachesis  uproar,  one  medical  gentleman  asserted  that  the 
supply  of  Lachesis  is  "nearly  exhausted"  and  what  remains  is 
"inert."  Those  who  sell  the  drug  know  the  absurdity  of  the  first 
statement,  and  those  who  prescribe  it  the  absurdity  of  the  second. 

Dr.  H.  W.  Schwartz  has  removed  to  Sendai,  Japan. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Neurological  Association,  Phila- 
delphia, Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell  condemned  hypnotism  and  said: 
"I  have  seen  some  appalling  results  from  hypnotism."  Dr. 
Sacks  said  :  "If  there  are  persons  who  want  to  go  to  Christian 
Science  or  Osteopathy  to  be  healed  let  them  go.  We  will  have 
•enough  left."' 


PERSONAL. 


New  York  has  28,000  lunatics — caged. 

A  doctor  writes  of  ''Our  Gaseous  Environment."  Yes  it  often  is,  very 
often. 

The  English  language  has  more  hiss-s-s  in  than  any,  or  all,  others. 

A  German  observer  says  that  those  minus  the  appendix  spend  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives  in  a  state  of  constipation  or  the  reverse. 

Many  German  children  committed  suicide  from  reading  Nietzsche.  That 
gent  must  have  had  an  exceedingly  bad  liver. 

Dr.  Suzor,  of  Paris,  says  that  old  age  is  an  infectious  disease.  Wonder 
what  health  boards  will  do  about  it  ? 

Life  intimates  that  one  danger  from  California  fruit  is  of  an  apple  fall- 
ing on  a  man. 

The  arid  region  in  the  world  is  steadily  growing — there's  a  double  mean- 
ing there,  brother. 

A  cynical  doctor  the  other  day  intimated  that  "medical  science  had  made 
giant  strides"  in  all  directions  save  in  curing  the  patient. 

Dr.  John  Hutchinson  wants  to  know  what  twentieth  century  Homoeop- 
athy is  anyhow? 

When  the  world  has  become  homoeopathic  and  medicine  an  exact  science, 
what  will  become  of  the  medical  journals? 

The  successful  never  believe  in  luck ;  only  the  unlucky  do. 

The  man  got  off  his  joke  and  laughed,  but  the  world  didn't  laugh  with 
him. 

"Call  things  by  their  right  name!"  Certainly,  but  be  sure  you  can  lick 
the  other  fellow. 

Nature  habitually  violates  the  blue  laws. 

When  the  woodpecker  heard  the  steel  riveter  at  work  he  admitted  that  he 
was  no  longer  "up-to-date." 

It  is  suggested  that  a  pocket  camera,  revolver  shaped  and  quickly  used, 
would  take  pictures  of  people  without  any  studied  pose. 

Wherein  "infantil"  is  a  "reformed"  spelling  from  "infantile"  is  a  weighty 
problem ;  as  an  old  ringster  we'll  stick  to  the  "e"  appendix. 

"To  be  great  is  to  be  misunderstood."  That's  Emerson,  it's  wise,  but 
what  the  deuce  does  it  mean? 

Out  in  Frisco  one  medical  editor  refers  to  a  brother  pen  pusher  as  a 
"ludicrous  tumblebug."     All  country  boys  will  recognize  the  bug. 

Mark  Twain's  books  do  not  require  organized  effort  to  dig  out  their 
meaning. 

A  river  that  is  confined  to  its  bed  does  not  require  the  attendance  of  a 
physician.     Ding!     Ding! 

There  is  a  growing  protest  against  cheap  surgical  instruments ;  but  are 
they  not  "just  as  good" — according  to  the  maker? 

It's  an  off-stand.  The  poor  man  rarely  gets  what  he  wants  and  the  rich 
man  what  he  gets. 

An  exchange  thinks  that  cuss-words  with  a  physiological  basis  are 
normal. 


THE 

Homeopathic  Recorder. 

Vol.  XXI II.   Lancaster,  Pa.,  July,  1908      No  7 


LOOKING    BACKWARD,   LACHESIS. 

Looking  over  old  books  and  journals  to  arrive  at  the  truth  of 
the  muddled  Lachesis  affair  revealed  some  rather  interesting 
points.  The  documentary  evidence  alone  concerning  the  name 
would  puzzle  a  Philadelphia  lawyer  and  drive  any  jury  to  dis- 
agreement. Mr.  A.  L.  Ditmars,  Curator  of  the  Bronx  Zoological 
Park,  where  the  poison  of  the  new  Lachesis  snake  was  extracted, 
testifies  under  oath,  as  follows : 

''This  is  to  certify  that  Messrs.  Boericke  &  Runyon,  homoeo- 
pathic chemists  of  New  York  City,  delivered  into  my  custody  for 
verification  and  manipulation  a  serpent  purporting  to  be  a  lance- 
headed  viper;  that  I  made  critical  and  complete  examination  of 
its  generic  characteristics,  and  found  the  same  to  be  a  perfect  liv- 
ing male  specimen  of  a  snake  popularly  known  as  the  lance- 
headed  viper;  technically  embraced  in  the  genus  Lachesis;  order, 
Ophidia ;  family,  Crotalidae ;  Latin  synonym,  Trigonocephalus 
Lachesis ;  habitat,  Northern  Brazil ;  conforming  to  the  serpent 
mentioned  in  the  Homoeopathic  Pharmacopoeia,  and  specified 
therein  as  Lachesis  Trigonocephalus ;  that  I  extracted  from  the 
said  serpent  a  given  quantity  of  venom,  the  whole  of  which  venom 
I  delivered  on  the  26th  day  of  April,  1908,  to  the  aforesaid 
Messrs.  Boericke  &  Runyon. 

As  Mr.  Ditmars  is  without  prejudice  in  the  matter,  and  is  un- 
doubtedly one  of  the  best  living  authorities  on  snakes,  this  testi- 
mony determines  the  fact  that  the  new  snake  is  a  specimen  of  the 
Lachesis  trigonocephalus.  The  fact  that  all  homoeopathic  phar- 
macopoeias, and  nearly  all  our  text  books,  give  that  name  for  the 
Lachesis  proved  by  Hering  seems  to  demonstrate  that  the  alleged 
new  supply  of  Lachesis  is  genuine. 


290  Looking  Backward,  Lachesis. 

Hering  himself  seems  to  have  been  confused  about  the  name. 
In  his  Condensed  Materia  Medica  he  gives  it  as  "Lachesis  Suru- 
kuku."  In  November,  1852,  he  contributed  a  paper  to  the  No- 
vember number  of  the  North  American  Journal  of  Homoeopathy, 
then  published  by  William  Radde,  and  edited  by  Drs.  Hering, 
Marcy  and  Metcalf.  The  title  of  the  paper  is  "On  Psorinum  and 
Its  Chemical  Rescue."  In  this  paper  he  discusses  the  events  of 
his  proving  of  Lachesis.     He  writes : 

"On  the  28th  of  July,  1828.  I  first  received  the  poison  of  the 
Trigonocephalus  lachesis,  which  I  immediately  triturated  and 
commenced  taking  and  administered  to  others  in  good  health, 
and  also  to  some  patients.  The  results  of  these  investigations 
were  first  transcribed  on  the  18th  of  June,  1830,  and  sent  to 
Staph,  who  now  printed  my  former  communications  and  those 
subsequent  researches.  (Arch.  X.,  2,  S.  1  und  24,  183 1.)  I  men- 
tion this  to  show  that  neither  I  nor  Staph  was  in  too  great  hurry ; 
we  both  took  our  time." 

This  was  written  in  the  year  1852,  and  the  proving  referred  to 
was  made  in,  or  about,  the  year  1828,  so  presumably  in  the  in- 
tervening time  the  specimen  of  the  snake  furnishing  the  poison 
was  presented  to  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadelphia, 
and  it  is  labeled  by  Hering:  "Lachesis  mutus.  Surinam.  Daud. 
Dr.  Hering."  The  snake  so  labelled  is  the  one  whose  venom  was 
proved,  and  so,  regardless  of  names,  we  have  the  means  of  posi- 
tively identifying  any  new  Lachesis  that  may  be  offered.  The 
other  Lachesis  snakes  furnishing  the  remedy  used  to-day  were 
identified  by  Dr.  Hering;  a  comparison  (they  are  all  preserved  in 
alcohol  or  glycerine)  will  show  that  they  are  of  the  same  species, 
and,  as  Mr.  Ditmars  seems  to  be  right,  they  are  not  Lachesis 
trigonocephalus.     This  name  has  been  wrongly  applied  to  them. 

Thus  it  is  that  Lachesis  mutus  is  the  poison  proved,  and  used 
for  over  half  a  century  in  Homoeopathy,  yet  in  all  that  time  it  has 
been  named  Lachesis  trigonocephalus,  whereas  the  genuine 
Lachesis  trigonocephalus  is  an  unproved  and  therapeutically  un- 
known remedy.  This  error  will  doubtless  cause  much  confusion 
in  the  future,  as  it  is  universally  incorporated  in  homoeopathic 
text-books  and  literature.  We  cannot  say  whose  fault  it  was,  but 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  homoeopathic  writer  and  journal  to  do  what 
lies  in  their  power  to  correct  it. 


The  Mission  of  Genus.  291 

The  whole  matter  may  be  summed  up  as  follows :  The  two 
snakes  are  of  a  different  species.  The  proved  poison  is  Lachesis 
mutus.  The  unproved  poison  is  Lachesis  trigonocephalus.  Since 
its  introduction  the  former  has.  erroneously  borne  the  latter's 
name. 


THE    MISSION     OF   GERMS. 

By  Dr.  Leslie  Martin,  Baldwinsville,  N.  Y. 

Prefatory.* 

After  over  forty  years'  careful  study,  my  only  motive  to  send 
forth  this  message  is  my  love  for  my  sick  and  suffering  fellow 
beings,  and  in  the  full  spirit  of  altruism.  I  am  fully  aware  that 
this  much  mooted  theory,  that  germs  cause  disease,  will  call  forth 
many  criticisms.  I  beg  of  my  critics  not  to  deal  harshly  with  me. 
Let  us  ask  ourselves  carefully,  is  it  not  sacrilege  for  us  to  charge 
God  with  such  a  crime  as  to  create  a  germ  to  destroy  man?  He 
gave  us  warning  explicitly  in  His  Holy  Word,  that  the  wages  of 
sin  is  death,  and  if  we  sow  to  the  flesh  we  will  reap  corruption. 
And  sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  law.  Now  the  Father  it 
grieves  Him  to  have  us  disobey  Him.  He  would  have  us  saved 
from  sin,  sickness  and  suffering.  We  transgress  His  mandates  and 
we  suffer  the  results  of  our  disobedience.  I  know  that  I  will  be 
criticised  severely  by  some  bacteriologists.  I  ask  of  them  to  deal 
leniently  with  me,  and  we  all  unite  in  an  altruistic  spirit,  and  study 
what  the  mission  of  this  supposed  disease  germ  is. 

As  God  never  created  anything  useless,  was  the  germ  created 
as  a  curse  to  man,  or  a  blessing?  You  may  claim  that  I  am  ver- 
bose and  repeat  too  often.  In  such  a  great  and  important  work 
as  this,  when  we  have  to  do  with  an  art  whose  end  is  the  saving 
of  human  life,  any  neglect  to  make  ourselves  thorough  masters 
of  it  becomes  a  crime.     Therefore,  frequent  repetition  could  be 

*Dr.  Martin's  paper  is  unique.  It  puts  the  Bible,  the  Word  of  God, 
against  the  Germ  Theory  of  Disease.  Take  your  choice.  The  Recordfr 
is  a  medical  forum,  and  Dr.  Martin  is  welcome  to  address  its  readers. 
The  doctor  has  been  in  the  medical  harness  since  1864.  As  the  paper  was 
too  long  to  be  printed  in  one  issue,  it  has  been  divided  into  two  parts. — 
Editor  of  the  Homozopathic  Recorder. 


292  The  Mission  of  Germs. 

compared  to  the  great  good  to  follow,  as  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  or 
Old  Hundred.  When  human  life  is  at  stake  we  cannot  repeat  it 
too  much,  and  keep  it  prominently  in  our  minds. 

Part  I. 

Let  us  study  carefully  God's  purpose  and  learn  if  He  created 
germs  to  be  a  curse  to  man  or  a  blessing,  as  men  view  it*  at  the 
present  time.  After  His  act  of  creation  of  all  things  animate  and 
inanimate  for  man's  good,  and  to  save  man  and  for  man's  use  in 
this  beautiful  world  which  He  created  for  man  to  rule  over  and 
all  created  things  to  serve  man  and  for  his  use  under  the  arched 
canopy  of  the  blue  sky,  also  all  created  things  in  the  earth,  water, 
animal,  vegetable  or  mineral  kingdoms ;  after  all  things  were 
created  God  saw  that  His  work  was  good  and  completely  finished, 
He  then  saw  that  He  did  not  want  all  of  these  created  things  for 
His  use,  therefore  He  said,  "Let  us  create  man  in  our  own  image 
to  rule  over  the  works  of  our  hands.  Therefore  He  created  man 
in  His  own  image,  and  breathed  into  him  the  breath  of  life."  Can 
it  be  that  the  all-wise,  perfect  and  loving  Father  after  He  created 
man  in  His  own  image  and  breathed  into  him  His  own  breath, 
His  own  soul,  would  stultify  Himself  and  destroy  the  crowning 
piece  of  work  of  His  own  hands  by  creating  germs  to  cause  dis- 
ease suffering  and  death  of  him.  This  fact  alone  positively  proves 
the  falsity  that  God  created  germs  to  cause  disease. 

Let  us  advance  another  step  and  study  God's  work.  If  He  had 
created  germs  to  cause  disease  and  death,  one  germ  would  have 
been  enough  to  annihilate  the  whole  human  race ;  if  the  germ 
had  such  power  embodied  in  it  to  cause  disease,  this  fact  would 
also  disprove  the  theory.  God  created  all  germs  for  a  good  pur- 
pose to  serve  man  when  he  is  sick  and  diseased  to  aid  him  to 
cleanse  and  purify  and  to  get  rid  of  the  impurities,  which  man 
himself  caused  by  improper  living,  and  in  this  cleansing  and  puri- 
fying process  help  to  restore  himself  to  health  again.  God  knew 
when  He  created  man  that  man  would  bring  all  kinds  of  dis- 
ease on  himself  through  sin ;  therefore,  He  created  germs  to  help 
man  to  overcome  disease. 

God  created  germs  for  every  disease  that  man  is  subject  to. 
He  knew  when  He  created  man  what  was  in  man.  and  he  would 
have  all  forms  of  disease ;  therefore,  He  individualized  and  created 


The  Mission  of  Germs.  2(j$ 

a  ererm  for  every  disease  so  that  each  individual  germ  should  feed 
upon  its  own  special  soil  adapted  to  it,  and  could  live  and 
thrive  only  on  its  own  particular  disease. 

God  never  generalized  as  man  does,  but  everything  created  by 

Him  was  individualized.  Man  was  created  perfectly  pure  and  in 
the  image  of  his  Maker  and  without  sin.  God  told  Adam  and 
Eve  not  to  sin,  God  gave  them  their  choice,  not  to  eat  and  live 
tree  from  pain,  sickness  and  death,  and  if  they  did  eat  of  the 
forbidden  fruit,  then  pain,  sickness,  suffering  and  death  would 
be  the  result.  They  decided  to  serve  the  devil.  God  permitted 
them  to  have  their  choice.  God  then  knew  that  the  human  race 
ever  after  would  have  entailed  upon  them  all  kinds  and  forms  of 
disease.  Therefore,  God  has  created  these  germs  to  aid  man 
when  he  was  sick,  and  to  help  cleanse  and  purify  him  from  dis- 
ease of  all  kinds  brought  on  himself  from  sin.  The  all-wise 
Creator  in  His  infinite  wisdom  created  so  many  germs  for  each 
to  do  its  own  special  work  which  He  designed  for  them  to  do. 
and  not  to  occupy  other  fields  of  labor.  God  does  not  make  man 
to  be  a  sufferer.  He  said  that  the  wages  of  sin  would  be  death, 
and  sin  is  the  transgressions  of  His  great  law  of  nature.  God 
also  said  that  he  that  sowed  to  the  flesh  would  reap  corruption. 
Christ  healed  diseases  of  all  kinds  proves  that  God  did  not  create 
germs  to  cause  disease,  if  so  Christ  would  not  have  done  so 
against  His  Father's  will.  His  Father  would  have  punished  Him 
for  disobeying.     Reference.  Math,   ioth  Chap..   1st  verse. 

''And  when  he  had  called  unto  him  his  twelve  disciples,  he  gave 
them  power  against  unclean  spirits,  to  cast  them  out  and  to  heal 
all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  diseases,  and  to  cleanse 
the  leper."  Where  were  the  germs  in  these  cases  that  were  thus 
healed? 

Observe  what  wise  act  it  was  of  the  Creator  to  construct  the 
nose  with  its  secretions  to  destroy  germs  and  to  protect  us  from 
catarrhs  and  inflammations  of  all  the  air  passages  by  simply 
using  the  nose  for  breathing  and  not  the  mouth.  Study  carefully 
the  anatomical  and  physiological  functions  of  the  nose,  the  pecu- 
liar forms  of  the  turbinated  bones  to  increase  the  mucous  surface. 
We  can  enter  into  the  sick  room  of  the  most  virulent  diseases 
and  be  perfectly  immune  from  contracting  the  disease  if  we  will 
only  be  sure  and  keep  the  mouth  well  closed  and  breathe  through 


294  ^7**  Mission  of  Germs. 

the  nose.  To  prove  how  the  nose  will  save  us  from  inflammation 
of  the  air  passages  from  a  sudden  change  of  temperature :  The 
air  in  a  warm  room  might  be  8o°.  and  we  suddenly  go  out  in  a 
cold  winter's  air  of  40°,  and  instantly,  if  we  breathe  through  the 
nose,  it  changes  the  cold  air  instantly  to  So0,  and  the  air  is  warmed 
before  coming  in  contact  with  the  mucous  surface  of  the  throat, 
and  saves  us  from  severe  colds  and  bronchial  affections. 

Christ  gave  no  remedies  in  any  form  to  cure  disease  or  destroy 
germs  in  all  of  the  thousands  of  cases  He  healed  of  all  kinds  of 
disease.  (He  knew  that  germs  could  not  cause  disease.)  Christ 
said  to  His  apostles  that  if  any  were  sick  among  you  to  call  the 
elders  of  the  church  and  lay  hands  on  them  and  pray  with  them, 
and  if  they  had  committed  many  sins  they  would  be  forgiven 
them.    What  about  the  germs  in  such  healing  as  this  ? 

Bishop  Foster  asks  is  it  possible  to  imagine  that  the  Infinite 
did  create  such  a  being,  and  open  before  Himself  and  before  it 
such  a  prospect,  and  nourish  it  with  the  idea  only  that  He  might 
dash  the  beautiful  vase  and  scatter  all  its  increase  in  one  mad 
moment!  Geo.  B.  Wendling  says:  "Remember,  however,  that 
throughout  all  nature  even'  created  object  fitly  serves  some  dis- 
coverable purpose,  and  is  fully  capable  of  performing  its  mission. 
God  made  three  great  forces,  viz..  vital  force,  chemical  affinity 
and  gravitation,  and  those  three  great  forces  will  explain  to  man 
all  of  His  works  of  creation." 

This  same  vital  force  that  makes  us  sick  restores  us  to  health 
again.  The  force  embodied  in  chemical  affinity  will  both  destroy 
and  preserve  its  powers.  We  might  say  that  the  blow  given  a 
stick  of  dynamite  was  the  cause  of  its  explosion,  the  blow  was  the 
occasion  and  not  the  cause,  chemical  affinity  caused  the  ex- 
plosion. A  thoughtful  writer  says :  These  chemical  forces  that 
will  reduce  the  matter  of  the  body  to  dust,  do  not  explain  how  it 
has  been  built  from  the  dust,  and  preserved  from  year  to  year 
and  its  destructive  forces  have  been  curbed  while  life  remains  in 
the  flesh. 

Also  the  law  of  gravitation  both  floats  the  balloon  or  dashes  it 
to  earth  again  and  destroys  it.  What  cured  Job  of  his  sores  after 
all  the  doctors  tantalized  and  persecuted  him  with  their  vaunted 
cures.  He  replied  to  them  that  "ye  are  all  forgers  oi  lies,  ye  are 
physicians  of  no  value."     Did  germs  cause  Job's  sores?     What 


The  Mission  of  Germs.  295 

caused  the  issue  of  blood  to  cease  after  she  had  spent  all  her  liv- 
ing on  the  doctors  for  the  past  twelve  years?  Faith  cured  and 
not  germs  eradicated. 

Cases  like  these  are  fully  sufficient  to  explode  and  convince 
any  intelligent  or  observing  or  investigating  mind  the  great 
fallacious  decision  of  bacteriologists  that  germs  are  the  cause  of 
disease.  Bacteriologists  at  the  present  time  have  found  some  sixty 
or  more  germs  in  disease,  they  will  find  that  there  are  many 
thousands  more  beyond  the  power  of  chemistry  or  the  microscope 
to  reveal,  as  God's  creative  power  is  endless.  Who  by  searching 
can  find  out  God?  The  wisdom  of  all  the  nations  combined  is 
naught  but  foolishness  with  Him.  Astronomers  find  galaxy  after 
galaxy  of  stars  beyond  the  powers  of  the  most  powerful  tele- 
scopes to  reveal,  and  thus  it  will  be  with  the  study  of  germs  and 
bacteria.    Man  cannot  find  out  God. 

It  has  been  tested  and  thoroughly  proved  that  healthy  human 
blood  will  destroy  as  quick  as  a  stroke  of  lightning  all  germs 
known  when  put  into  healthy  blood.  This  was  a  wise  act  of  the 
Creator  thus  to  protect  man,  so  that  germs  could  not  destroy  him. 
This  test  proves  incontestably  that  germs  cannot  cause  disease,  as 
so  many  scientific  men  claim.  All  the  human  race  would  be  dis- 
eased and  destroyed  if  this  were  true. 

After  Adam  and  Eve's  disobedience  to  God  sins  of  man  were 
entailed  upon  him,  and  diseases  of  all  types  and  kind  man  brought 
on  himself  through  sin.  To  prove  that  man  was  the  first  cause  of 
disease  read  Old  Testament  history.  The  most  loathsome  dis- 
eases man  suffered  from  sin  and  sinful  practices  and  produced 
syphilis,  sycosis  and  psora,  which  have  cursed  the  human  race 
ever  after.  The  history  of  prostitution  written  by  Dr.  Sanger,  of 
Xew  York  City,  is  the  most  complete  history  of  the  origin  of  the 
first  cause  of  disease  and  traced  from  Egyptian  times,  and  is  so 
replete  with  interest  the  reader  never  tires  of  its  reading. 

All  diseases  come  from  sin,  transgression  of  nature's  laws,  the 
laws  of  health,  and  all  sin  is  of  the  devil. 

If  germs  caused  disease  why  not  all  be  sick,  when  we  are  con- 
stantly exposed  to  their  power?  Tainted  or  soiled  money  or  oth  ••• 
articles  or  substances  as  groceries  and  nearly  all  foods  are  alive 
with  bacteria  and  germs,  and  always  will  be  where  dirt  and  filth 
is  existing.    It  is  claimed  that  diphtheria  was  caused  in  a  child  by 


296  The  Mission  of  Genus. 

putting  a  soiled  penny  in  its  mouth.  If  the  secretions  of  the 
child's  mouth  had  been  in  a  healthy  condition  diphtheria  nor  any 
disease  could  not  be  contracted.  The  diphtheria  soil  was  present 
in  the  child's  mouth  and  no  other  form  of  diseased  soil.  We  con- 
sume enormous  quantities  of  germs  every  day  with  our  food  ;ind 
drink ;  they  do  not  cause  disease.  A  noted  pathologist  spread  his 
bread  thoroughly  with  germs  of  all  kinds  and  ate  it  freely  with 
impunity  to  test  the  power  of  germs. 

Why  can  we  do  this?  Simply  because  we  are  in  health  and 
they  have  no  power  over  us,  the  secretions  of  the  salivaiy  glands 
and  the  stomach  are  in  a  healthy  condition,  and  these  secretions 
destroy  them  rapidly  when  they  are  brought  in  contact  with  these 
secretions.  This  also  was  a  wise  act  of  the  Creator  to  protect  us 
from  disease. 

Germs  never  attack  a  healthy  person,  always  one  out  of  the 
line  of  health.  Germs  never  come  until  the  proper  soil  is  fur- 
nished them  to  feed  and  propagate  on.  Germs  have  no  power  of 
their  own  to  cause  disease,  we  must  supply  the  right  conditions 
and  soil. 

If  we  should  examine  a  portion  of  our  food  eaten,  with  the  lens 
of  a  powerful  microscope,  we  would  see  it  alive  with  germs  and 
bacteria,  but  the  secretions  of  the  glands  of  the  mouth  and 
stomach  destroy  them  rapidly  when  the  secretions  are  normal. 

We  must  supply  the  condition  or  soil,  or  be  susceptible  to  dis- 
ease, then  the  germs  for  that  special  soil  will  come  and  feed  upon 
it. 

We  must  be  out  of  the  line  of  health  for  germs  to  attack  us. 

Diseases  and  tumors  do  not  come  and  make  us  sick  but  come 
because  we  are  susceptible  and  sick. 

Germs  are  scavengers  and  purifiers,  and  always  seek  for  filth 
and  impurities,  the  same  as  bedbugs  and  cock  roaches,  which 
always  denote  uncleanliness  when  you  find  them. 

Horace  Fletcher  says  in  his  work  on  Happiness,  on  p.  208, 
mosquitoes  are  said  to  breed  in  malarial  conditions,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  absorbing  the  malaria. 

Flies  do  not  exist  except  in  conditions  of  ferment,  and  are  of 
greatest  service  in  carrying  it  away.  Roaches  are  splendid  scav- 
engers, and  are  a  result,  and  not  a  cause,  of  unclean  conditions. 
Our  warfare  should  be  waged  against  unclean  and  inharmonious 


The  Mission  of  Germs.  297 

conditions,  and  not  against  the  purifiers  and  harmonizers  of  the 
conditions. 

When  the  germs'  work  of  purifying  is  finished  in  a  case  of  dis- 
ease, where  do  they  go  then  ?  for  there  are  thousands  and  millions 
more  of  them  than  when  they  began  their  work.  We  know  that 
many  thousands  of  them  die  when  their  work  is  done,  yet  their 
forces  are  so  much  increased,  why  do  they  not  renew  their  attack 
on  the  same  person,  or  other  members  in  the  family,  and  make 
them  sick,  and  not  leave  a  good  field  to  renew  their  labors  on  some 
other  person  ? 

If  germs  are  the  cause  of  disease,  why  are  not  all  sick  in  the 
city  of  Berlin,  where  the  canal  empties  into  the  river  Spree, 
where  there  is  a  medley  of  rebellious  smells  and  odors  that 
cannot  be  suppressed  and  a  hot  bed  of  bacterial  germs?  Be- 
cause the  people  are  not  susceptible  and  are  in  the  line  of 
health.  What  about  the  germs  of  fear?  Fear  is  a  fruitful 
occasion  in  the  causes  of  disease  of  the  most  virulent  form, 
as  small-pox,  cholera  and  yellow  fever,  etc.,  which  can  be  at- 
tested to  and  verified  by  thousands  of  physicians  and  other  good 
competent  people.  Who  has  seen  the  germs  of  fear?  or  what  is 
their  size  and  color?  We  have  one  of  the  most  complete  works 
written  on  the  effects  of  fear  by  Dr.  Tuk,  of  London,  "On  the 
Influence  of  Fear  on  the  Body."  This  most  excellent  work  is  ac- 
knowledged by  the  medical  profession  as  standard  authority,  and 
reading  it  will  convince  the  most  skeptical  of  the  deleterious 
effects  of  fear  on  the  human  body  to  cause  disease.  We  know  the 
results  and  effects  of  fear  from  exposure  to  the  above  named  dis- 
eases. We  also  have  an  excellent  chapter  written  by  Dr.  Wm. 
H.  Holcomb,  on  "The  Influences  of  Fear  in  Disease ;"  in  Horace 
Fletcher's  work  on  "Happiness,"  page  223,  Appendix  A,  which 
cannot  be  excelled.  Diphtheria  germs  have  been  found  repeatedly 
by  bacteriologists  in  healthy  persons'  mouths,  and  caused  them  to 
be  put  under  strict  quarantine.  Therefore,  germs  are  not  the 
prime  factor  in  causing  diphtheria.  If  so,  why  found  on  healthy 
mucous  surfaces  ?  As  stated,  diphtheria  is  a  filth  disease,  same  as 
typhoid  fever;  we  must  furnish  the  soil  from  bad  hygienic  con- 
ditions before  the  germs  come.  Bacteriologists  have  found  a 
leprosy  germ.  What  became  of  them  in  the  case  of  Xaman,  the 
Syrian  leper,  who  was  cured  of  that  most  loathsome  and  fatal 


298  The  Mission  of  Germs. 

disease  by  simply  dipping  in  the  river  Jordan  seven  times?  The 
doctors  were  at  that  time  very  skeptical,  as  they  are  at  the  present 
day,  and  were  positive  there  were  some  chemical  or  medicinal  prop- 
erties contained  in  the  water  that  killed  the  germs  and  effected  a 
cure,  but  by  the  most  careful  chemical  tests,  no  medicinal  prop- 
erties were  found. 

We  are  told  in  Holy  Writ  what  it  was  cured.  Faith  and  obedi- 
ence. Germs  have  no  power  any  more  than  drugs  or  food  has  to 
act  on  vital  force.  Vital  force  acts  on  food  and  drugs,  and  not 
food  and  drugs  on  vital  force.  Vital  force  digests  and  assimilates 
food.  Food  cannot  act  on  vital  force,  if  so  food  would  restore, 
life  again  to  a  corpse. 

Remember  life  is  always  from  life.  We  cannot  get  something 
from  nothing.  Also  remember  that  the  sun  does  not  rise  in  the 
east  and  set  in  the  west,  as  we  have  always  been  taught ;  but  the 
earth  revolves  around  the  sun,  not  the  sun  around  the  earth.  Now 
as  to  drug  action  on  the  body  as  we  have  always  been  taught  is 
fallacious. 

Opium  given  or  any  drug  in  the  materia  medica,  vital  force 
acts  in  the  line  of  the  drug  given  to  the  sick.  The  chemical  prop- 
erties in  the  drug  do  not  act  on  the  vital  force,  but  the  vital 
force  liberates  it  and  sets  it  free  for  vital  force  to  act  upon.  After 
the  system  is  cleansed  from  disease  the  germs  cease  and  leave  for 
other  fields  of  work.  If  they  were  the  cause  of  disease  as  man  sup- 
poses, why  after  he  has  gained  his  health,  the  same  germs  have  it 
in  their  power  to  attack  him  again  and  again  repeatedly  and  cause 
his  death. 

As  there  are  thousands  or  millions  more  germs  after  four  or  six 
weeks  of  sickness  to  make  a  renewed  attack  than  at  first,  this 
disproves  the  mere  theory  of  cause. 

As  yellow  fever  has  its  own  special  germ  and  its  own  soil  as- 
signed to  it,  now  this  honor  is  taken  away,  and  the  cause  is  charg- 
ed to  a  certain  kind  or  type  of  the  mosquito  family.  How  is  it  to 
be  reconciled?  We  know  positively  that  people  have  the  yellow 
fever  in  localities  where  this  kind  of  mosquito  is  not  known.  How 
will  they  explain  this  charge  to  the  mosquito?  Also  in  localities 
where  this  mosquito  is  abundant,  many  persons  bitten  by 
it  do  not  have  this  fever.  The  mosquitoes  may  be  the  occasion  in 
a  susceptible  person  but  not  the  cause.    This  mosquito  is  certainly 


The  Mission  of  Germs.  299 

a  very  large  germ  and  readily  seen  with  the  naked  eye,  and  in  its 
warning  buzzing  will  cause  a  strong  man  to  flee  from  it,  or  cause 
a  whole  camp  of  people  to  flee  from  its  presence.  Fear  in  these 
cases  is  the  strongest  in  susceptible  persons  to  have  this  fever, 
which  has  been  abundantly  proved  by  many  of  our  ablest  and 
most  experienced  physicians  in  their  localities.  Bacteriologists 
lately  claim  that  they  have  found  the  female  mosquito  (stegomia) 
is  the  one  that  causes  yellow  fever  from  its  bite  and  not  the  male, 
but  this  female  mosquito  has  ahvays  to  bite  a  yellow  fever  patient 
first  before  it  can  cause  the  fever.  If  this  female  (stegomia)  is 
the  cause,  where  did  the  first  case  of  yellow  fever  have  its  origin 
without  the  bite  of  this  peculiar  mosquito  ?  This  proves  positively 
that  the  delusion  that  the  bite  of  this  mosquito  is  the  cause  of 
yellow  fever  is  false.  This  also  proves  that  the  mosquito  is  the 
occasion,  and  is  not  the  first  cause  of  the  fever. 

What  kind  of  a  germ,  think  you,  affected  a  certain  man  of 
the  Gadarenes  of  many  devils  who  had  no  clothes  on  and  was 
kept  bound  with  chains  and  fetters,  and  would  brake  them  all 
from  the  severity  of  his  malady?  He  asked  what  have  I  to  do 
with  Thee  Jesus  Thou  Son  of  God  Most  High,  I  beseech  Thee 
torment  me  not.  Jesus  asked  him,  "What  is  thy  name?"  and  he 
said,  "Legion,"  because  many  devils  were  entered  into  him. 

It  may  be  claimed  by  bacteriologists  that  Christ  performed 
so  great  cures  similar  to  this,  and  many  severe  fevers  and  other 
types  of  disease,  that  this  healing  power  was  vested  in  Him  by 
His  Father  to  do  such  cures  and  restore  the  dead  to  life.  If 
Christ  did  cure  fevers  and  diseases,  this  would  conflict  with  His 
Father's  will,  and  His  Father  would  punish  Him  severely,  as  His 
Father  created  germs  to  cure  disease,  and  Christ  would  not  dis- 
obey His  Father's  will  in  destroying  germs.  Do  germs  cause 
scarlet  fever?  Cases  to  follow.  My  father's  family  of  six  chil- 
dren ;  my  brother  who  was  about  eight  years  old  had  scarlet  fever 
very  severe,  and  his  life  was  despaired  of,  and  a  severe  complica- 
tion of  dropsy  as  a  sequel,  and  he  fully  recovered  his  health ; 
eight  years  after  my  youngest  sister  has  a  very  severe  course  of 
it  and  recovered,  then  about  eight  years  after  my  sister  had  it  my 
aunt,  who  was  visiting  our  family,  and  her  child  some  two  or 
three  years  old  had  it  so  severe  that  for  some  days  her  life  was 
despaired  of,  but  she  eventually  recovered,  and  none  of  the  rest 


300  The  Mission  of  Germs. 

of  the  family  contracted  it,  and  all  of  us  five  other  children  were 
in  the  same  room  day  after  day,  when  those  three  others  had  it  at 
intervals  of  eight  years. 

Also  in  Zora  Haydon's  family,  a  nearby  neighbor,  of  nine  chil- 
dren, one  of  the  boys  some  eight  years  old  had  a  severe  and  a 
long  course  of  scarlet  fever  and  a  long,  slow  recovery  on  account 
of  dropsy  as  a  complication,  and  died  a  few  years  after  as  a 
result  of  its  sequel,  and  none  of  the  other  eight  children  had 
the  fever.  If  it  is  so  contagious  as  we  are  taught,  and  germs  are 
the  cause,  why  did  not  the  rest  of  the  children  in  these  two  fami- 
lies have  the  fever?  This  proves  that  all  of  the  rest  of  the  mem- 
bers in  the  two  families  were  in  the  line  of  health  and  not  suscepti- 
ble to  its  influence,  and  did  not  furnish  the  soil  for  the  scarlet 
fever  germs  to  feed  upon. 

Also  in  these  two  families  condition  and  environment  had  a 
good  opportunity  to  test  the  germ's  power  to  cause  this  fever,  as 
in  these  two  families  the  children  were  not  segregated,  but  all 
lived  in  the  same  rooms  day  after  day.  I  have  attended  many 
cases  of  scarlet  fever  in  families  where  only  one  or  two  of  the 
family  out  of  four  or  five  children  have  it  of  a  severe  type,  when 
the  germs  were  certainly  plentiful  enough  to  cause  the  fever  in 
the  others  exposed  if  they  had  the  power  vested  in  them.  We 
know  that  there  are  enormous  quantities  of  germs  of  all  kinds  of 
disease  eaten  every  day,  in  rare  meats  and  badly  cooked  foods, 
and  do  not  cause  disease  of  any  kind. 

As  has  been  stated,  we  know  that  typhoid  fever  and  diphtheria 
are  caused  from  filth,  and  their  most  fruitful  source  is  from  the 
exhalations  of  human  excrement  or  leaching  of  these  excrements 
in  the  soil,  water  sources,  cesspool,  wells,  cisterns,  sewers,  etc.  If 
typhoid  fever  is  contagious  and  caused  by  a  germ,  why  are  not 
more  or  all  persons  exposed  to  those  germs  sick  with  the  fever,  as 
so  large  a  number  of  people  have  partaken  of  the  same  polluted 
water  or  milk  or  inhale  the  exhalations  from  any  and  every  con- 
taminated source?  I  have  known  of  many  families  who  have 
drank  of  the  same  polluted  water  or  milk  for  weeks  and  months 
and  only  one  or  two  in  families  of  six  or  eight  persons  had  the 
fever.  If  a  germ  is  the  cause  why  do  not  all  of  the  people  who  live 
in  cities,  towns  and  country  who  have  drank  and  eaten  and  in- 
haled these  germs  for  long  periods  of  time,  all  such  have  the 


The  Mission  of  Genus.  301 

fever?  We  know  positively  that  we  have  to  furnish  the  condi- 
tions and  environment  and  soil  and  render  ourselves  susceptible 
through  bad  sanitation  and  unhygienic  habits  of  living,  and  we 
first  become  sick  and  then  the  typhoid  germs  come  to  aid  us  to 
cleanse  and  purify  and  to  recover  our  health  again,  and  when 
their  work  is  done,  they  do  not  renew  their  attack  on  us  again,  for 
there  is  no  more  diseased  food  for  them  to  feed  upon,  and  the  soil 
is  rendered  obnoxious  to  them,  as  they  never  thrive  in  and  attack 
a  healthy  person.  If  we  have  a  relapse  we  are  the  cause  of  the 
relapse  and  not  the  germs.  We  cause  our  relapse  by  some  errors 
of  diet  or  bad  treatment  or  nursing.  These  germs  are  scavengers 
and  purifiers.  If  all  our  health  boards  would  make  personal  visi- 
tations, and  then  strictly  enforce  sanitary  laws,  they  would 
nearly  eradicate  typhoid  and  diphtheria  from  all  communities  and 
localities,  for  we  know  positively  that  these  two  diseases  cannot 
exist  where  we  have  purity  and  good  sanitation.  This  same  law 
will  hold  good  in  diseases  like  small-pox.  cholera,  yellow  fever 
and  malaria  in  all  its  forms ;  this  law  has  been  partially  tested  in 
large  cities  where  the  above  named  diseases  were  endemic,  also 
the  yellow  fever  in  Xew  Orleans  was  checked  by  cleansing  the 
city  and  not  charging  the  cause  to  the  dreaded  female  mosquito, 
the  stegomia.  I  have  treated  a  large  number  of  cases  of  typhoid 
for  over  forty  years,  and  have  rarely  seen  it  endemic  in  either  city, 
town  or  country,  and  generally  sporadic  cases,  as  one  or  two  in  a 
family  of  six  or  eight  persons  in  any  of  the  above  named  localities, 
which  prove  that  all  persons  were  not  susceptible  to  the  fever. 
(We  recall  the  pathologist  who  spread  cholera  germs  on  his  bread 
and  ate  it  without  producing  any  ill  effects.  Why?  Because  he 
was  in  health.)  In  sections,  of  country  where  the  fever  prevailed, 
I  found  their  water  closets  within  a  few  feet  of  the  well,  also 
their  slops  thrown  near  the  well  and  contaminated  the  drinking 
water,  also  large  pits  dug  and  filled  with  cobble  stones,  and  all  of 
their  refuse  and  slops  ran  into  these  pits,  and  then  leached  into  the 
wells  or  cellars  for  them  to  inhale  the  exhalations,  and  when  in 
the  fall  of  the  year  the  well  at  the  house  became  dry  they  resorted 
to  the  well  at  the  barn  or  barnyard  or  some  well  in  low,  swampy 
land,  and  in  their  use  of  such  drinking  water  there  were  only 
sporadic  cases.  Xow  if  germs  were  the  cause  of  typhoid  fever. 
why  were  there  not  more  than  one  or  two  cases  in  these  families 


302  The  Crucial  Test  of  Nux  Moschata. 

attacked,  when  all  of  them  drank  daily  of  this  contaminated  well 
water  or  breathed  night  and  day  from  the  gases  from  these  cess- 
pools and  pits  and  old  wells  near  the  house  where  they  let  all  of 
the  slops  or  privy  or  refuse  discharge  into  them  ?  Also  they  used 
and  drank  the  milk  freely  from  the  cows  that  drank  the  water 
from  the  barn  or  barnyard  and  wells,  or  dead  stagnant  water 
from  low  stagnant  rivers  or  low  marshy  land  or  ponds  and  creeks. 
What  kind  of  germs  cause  appendicitis?  It  is  very  evident  that  it 
is  caused  by  improper  foods  and  errors  in  eating,  also  adenoids  in 
children.  These  diseases  were  not  known  years  ago ;  they  are 
caused  by  pappy  or  sloppy  or  predigested  foods,  which  require  no 
act  of  chewing,  and  not  being  properly  insalivated  in  the  act  of 
eating.  What  kind  of  germs,  think  you,  caused  the  deaths  of 
Presidents  Garfield  and  McKinley  ?  Garfield's  vital  forces  put  up 
a  big  fight  of  almost  three  months  to  save  him,  but  the  expert 
surgeons  probed  him  to  death,  and  not  surgical  germs.  Mc- 
Kinley was  all  O.  K.  for  the  first  nine  days  and  no  fever,  and  he 
would  have  recovered  if  the  learned  experts  in  their  wisdom  had 
not  interfered  with  nature's  resources  and  fed  him  and  brought 
on  the  surgical  fever  which  caused  his  death.  If  they  had  given 
him  nothing  but  pure  cold  water  and  waited  until  he  asked  for 
food,  no  doubt  but  that  he  would  have  lived. 


THE    CRUCIAL    TEST    OF    NUX    MOSCHATA.- 

By  Edmund  Carleton,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

In  some  unremembered  publication,  it  is  impossible  to  say  when 
or  where,  I  have  read  how  the  ape  indulges  his  natural  fondness 
for  nutmeg ;  falls  into  profound  sleep  in  consequence ;  and  then  is 
captured  by  wily  man.  The  nurse  of  yore  was  accustomed  to 
offer  panada,  generously  spiced  with  nutmeg,  to  the  puerperal 
woman.  The  multipara,  suffering  with  after  pains,  felt  much 
better  after  eating  the  panada.  My  first  study  of  the  provings 
of  Nux  moschata  upon  the  healthy  impressed  me  with  the  ability 
of  the  nut  to  produce  great  sleepiness  and  long  sleep ;  a  dry- 
tongue  which  will  stick  to  the  roof  of  the  mouth ;  a  cool  skin  and 

*Read  before  the  Homoeopathic  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New 
York,  October  10,  1907. 


The  Crucial  Test  of  Nux  Moschata.  303 

disturbance  of  the  emotional  and  sexual  spheres,  especially  in 
women.  My  constitution  is  such  that  the  foregoing  outlines  come 
instantly  to  view,  when  Nux  moschata  or  the  corresponding  clini- 
cal problem  is  presented.  Study  and  clinical  experience  are  add- 
ing to  this  picture ;  but  the  original  sketch  of  it,  given  above,  was 
engraved  upon  my  memory. 

I  hold  in  my  hand  the  monograph  of  Nux  moschata  compiled 
by  Hering  with  the  assistance  of  his  Philadelphia  colleagues.  It 
is  rare.  I  only  obtained  it  through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  T.  L. 
Bradford.  It  summarizes  the  life  work  of  Dr.  C.  E.  Helbig  and 
his  contributing  associates.  Of  Nux  moschata  Hering  says: 
''There  is  not  another  drug  in  our  materia  medica  as  fully  and  as 
comprehensively  treated."  The  symptoms  considered  character- 
istic are  indicated  by  finger  points.  They  are :  White  coated 
tongue.  Dry  mouth  and  throat.  Bad  smell  from  mouth.  While 
eating,  soon  satisfied.  Bearing  down  in  the  belly.  Soft  stool  ex- 
pelled with  difficulty.  Burning  in  the  urethra  when  passing 
water.  Menorrhagia ;  blood  thick,  dark  with  such  as  have  had 
catamenia  very  irregularly.  Pain  in  sacrum  when  riding  in  a 
carriage.  Lassitude  from  the  least  exertion.  Disposition  to 
faint.  Drowsiness.  Complaints  orginating  from  cold,  especially 
wet  cold.  Pains  and  febrile  symptoms  alleviated  by  external 
warmth.  Cool,  dry  skin,  but  sensitive  to  the  air.  All  the  parts  on 
which  one  lies  ache  as  if  sore. 

What  delights  me  is  the  marking  of  highest  value  affixed  by 
Boenninghausen  to  some  symptoms  to  properly  emphasize  them. 
Among  the  symptoms  thus  distinguished  are  drowsiness,  sleepi- 
ness and  great  sleep.  All  the  symptoms  thus  marked  by  Boen- 
ninghausen are  faithfully  recorded  in  the  Guiding  Symptoms, 
with  which  you  are  familiar. 

Hahnemann  said:  "Nux  moschata  is  one  of  the  greatest  poly- 
chrests  (at  least  here  in  Paris),  and  is  second  to  none  except  to 
Sulphur." 

One  purpose  of  this  brief  paper  is  to  stimulate  the  presenta- 
tion here,  to-night,  of  clinical  experiences  with  this  medicine  at 
the  hands  of  careful  prescribers,  which  shall  bring  out  prominently 
and  verify  some  of  the  characteristic  symptoms  of  Nux  moschata. 
Who  has  not  seen  great  results  from  this  medicine  in  the  treatment 
of  apoplexy,  catalepsy,  delirium,  mania,  weak  memory,  diseases 


304  The  Crucial  Test  of  Nux  Moschata. 

of  the  nervous  system,  fainting,  exaggerated  emotions,  typhoid 
fever,  ulceration  of  the  umbilicus  and  umbilical  hernia ;  in  dis- 
orders of  menstruation,  pregnancy  and  lactation ;  in  gout  and 
rheumatism,  all  accompanied  with  great  sleepiness?  Tell  us  the 
characteristic  indications  for  the  remedy  in  each  case.  That  we 
may  have  sufficient  time  for  your  valuable  contributions  my  own 
clinical  illustration  shall  be  restricted  to  one  case,  and  allow  me  to 
preface  it  with  the  truism  that,  provided  he  has  "taken"  the  case 
as  Hahnemann  directed,  the  physician  is  not  to  be  adjudged  guilty 
of  making  selection  of  the  remedy  upon  insufficient  evidence, 
though  in  that  work  he  has  credited  one  grand  characteristic  with 
being  relatively  more  important  than  many  common  symptoms. 

The  patient  alluded  to  was  a  young  lady  in  literary  pursuits. 
Her  nerves  had  given  out  in  consequence  of  continued  hard  work 
and  worriment.  The  malady  had  successfully  defied  the  efforts 
of  an  eminent  specialist,  who  gave  no  allegiance  to  the  law  of 
cure.  The  patient  slept  most  of  the  time.  It  was  a  heavy  sleep, 
from  which  she  was  not  easily  awakened,  but  presented  no  other 
unusual  features.  When  she  awoke  her  eyes  were  dry,  and  she 
said  that  her  "tongue  was  so  dry  that  it  stuck  to  the  roof  of  her 
mouth."  She  felt  exhausted  and  would  not  arise  from  the  bed. 
The  skin  was  dry  and  cool.  The  abdomen  was  distended  but  not 
sore.  There  was  no  fever.  There  were  flatulence  and  loose 
stools.     Menstruation  was  late  and  scanty. 

My  attention  was  immediately  directed  to  nutmeg.  All  the 
symptoms  which  have  been  mentioned  were  found  to  have  been 
produced  in  healthy  persons  by  it.  I  gave  Nux  moschata  in  the 
two  hundredth  centesimal  potency,  to  the  sick  person,  and  she 
was  cured  by  it  safely,  speedily  and  easily. 

Another  purpose  of  this  paper  is  to  get  your  counsel  in  the 
following  matter:  The  sleeping  sickness  is  depopulating  large 
districts  in  Africa,  and  constantly  enlarging  its  field  of  operations, 
as  you  know.  It  was  formerly  supposed  to  afflict  the  negro  only, 
but  now,  to  his  dismay,  the  white  man  finds  himself  not  immune. 
It  demands  the  life  of  its  victim,  and  will  not  relent.  It  is  said  to 
be  caused  by  a  parasite,  the  Trypanosoma  gambiense,  which  is 
conveyed  into  the  human  system  by  the  sting  of  the  tsetse  fly, 
Glossina  palpalis.  Koch  is  on  the  ground  investigating  the  aeti- 
ology of  the  disease.     May  success  attend  those  endeavors.     We 


The  Crucial  Test  of  Nux  Moschata.  305 

want  to  know  the  disease  and  its  cause  and  what  to  avoid.  If 
Koch  will  work  along  that  line  and  leave  curative  measures  to 
those  who  understand  the  science  of  therapeutics  we  will  applaud 
him. 

Quain  describes  the  disease  as  follows : 

"Anatomical  Characters. — Manifestly  sleeping  sickness  is  a 
brain  disease,  and  in  the  two  cases  of  which  the  organs  were 
recently  examined  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  Mott 
showed  that  the  essential  lesion  is  an  extensive  meningo-encepha- 
litis,  sections  of  the  brain  showing  extensive  and  possibly  general 
infiltration  of  the  blood  vessels  with  leucocytes.  Xo  gross  lesion 
was  discovered  in  either  case. 

"Symptoms. — Xegro  lethargy  attacks  both  sexes  and  all  ages; 
it  is  stated  to  have  a  predilection  for  the  young,  vigorous  and  in- 
telligent of  about  eighteen  or  twenty.  It  commences  insidiously 
with  lassitude,  muscular  and  intellectual  debility,  often  morose- 
ness  and  an  irresistible  tendency  to  fall  asleep  at  unwonted  times 
and  even  while  at  work.  Dull  headache  is  sometimes  complained 
of,  but  not  always.  A  tottering  and  unsteady  gait,  as  if  from 
weakness,  is  a  frequent  and  early  symptom,  as  is  also  a  peculiar 
and  pathognomonic  fades;  the  upper  eyelids  droop  as  if  weighed 
down  by  sleep,  the  eyes  are  lustreless  and  the  face  puffy,  and  the 
expression  is  sad  or  taciturn.  The  memory  becomes  weak  and 
the  senses  dull.  Little  by  little,  sometimes  interrupted  by  decep- 
tive periods  of  arrest  or  improvement,  the  state  of  torpor  becomes 
intensified,  so  that  after  a  time  sleep  is  nearly  continuous ;  or,  if 
not  asleep,  the  patient  will  lie  with  closed  eyes  in  an  apathetic 
condition  from  which  he  can  be  aroused  with  difficulty.  He  may 
generally  be  got  to  reply  to  questions,  but  he  is  unable  to  sustain 
a  conversation,  and  speedily  relapses  into  his  habitual  state  of 
lethargy.  At  this  stage,  were  he  not  roused  to  take  food  he 
would  starve  to  death ;  even  after  being  roused  up,  so  great  is  the 
somnolence  that  he  may  fall  asleep  again  in  the  act  of  conveying 
food  to  his  mouth  or  during  mastication.  There  may  be  some 
evening  rise  of  temperature,  but  for  the  most  part  the  skin  is 
absolutely  cold,  the  patient  evidently  feeling  chilly  and  liking  to 
lie  asleep  in  the  hot  sun.  Examination  fails  to  detect  any  disease 
of  the  thoracic  or  abdominal  viscera ;  the  deep  reflexes  are  pre- 
served.    Although  appetite  and  digestion  generally  continue  un- 


306  The  Crucial  Test  of  Nux  Moschata. 

impaired,  towards  the  end  of  the  disease  the  body  wastes ;  the 
sphincters  may  fail  to  act,  and  extensive  bed  sores  may  form. 
Limited  areas  of  skin  may  become  anaesthetic.  Muscular  tremor 
is  frequently  noted,  and  as  the  disease  advances,  localized  mus- 
cular spasms  or  general  convulsions  may  supervene.  Death  may 
occur  during  one  of  these  convulsions,  or  it  may  be  brought  about 
by  simple  inanition  or  by  some  intercurrent  disease.  A  certain 
proportion  of  the  cases  exhibit  maniacal  symptoms  at  an  early 
stage ;  these  may  subside  or  recur  or  persist  for  a  variable  period 
before  the  development  of  the  characteristic  somnolence.  En- 
largement of  the  cervical  glands  and  of  the  salivary  glands  with 
a  degree  of  salivation  and  an  itching  papular  or  papulo-vesicular 
eruption  on  the  chest  and  limbs  are  said  to  be  almost  invariably 
observed.  The  symptoms  described  are  not  all  present  in  every 
case,  and  the  individual  features  vary  much  in  different  instances, 
in  degree  and  combination  and  rate  of  progress.  Progress  may  be 
rapid  or  slow,  so  that  the  duration  of  sleeping  sickness  is  vari- 
ously stated  at  from  four  to  five  months  to  as  many  years.  Cases 
are  on  record  in  which  recovery  seemed  to  take  place,  to  be  fol- 
lowed, however,  almost  invariably,  sooner  or  later,  by  relapse  and 
death.  It  is  doubtful,  indeed,  if  permanent  recovery  ever  really 
does  take  place.  The  negro  smitten  with  sleeping  sickness  con- 
siders himself  and  is  looked  upon  by  his  companions  as  doomed. " 
Doubtless  a  homoeopathic  physician  after  observing  a  number 
of  cases  would  report  additional  symptoms,  modalities  and  indi- 
vidual peculiarities,  but  presuming  that  civilization,  or,  more  prop- 
erly speaking,  diabolism,  has  so  far  spared  native  Africans  many 
of  the  diseases  constantly  seen  in  Europe  and  America,  each  of 
them  exhibiting  symptoms  peculiar  to  itself  which  would  modify 
the  otherwise  uniform  expressions  of  an  epidemic  disease,  we  may 
reasonably  infer  that  an  epidemic  in  Africa  will  demand  a  com- 
paratively small  number  of  remedies ;  therefore,  we  appear  to 
have  some  right  to  base  a  prescription  upon  the  known  symptoms 
just  read.  They  lack  the  suffused  face  and  over-circulation  of 
alcohol,  and  the  contracted  pupil,  stertor  and  slow  pulse  of 
Opium.  The  favoring  eruption  and  opposing  sweat  of  Anti- 
monium  tartaricum  attract  notice ;  its  sleepiness  also,  which,  how- 
ever, does  not  eventuate  in  profound,  undisturbed  sleep.  Bap- 
tisia  tinctoria  is  possible,  although  its  disturbed  sleep  and  mental 


The  Crucial  Test  of  Nux  Moschata.  307 

restlessness  disagree  with  our  case.  The  ecstacy  and  dilated  pupil 
of  cocaine  are  inimical.  Chloral-hydrate  may  not  be  dismissed, 
but  its  characteristic  red  and  watery  eyes  are  against  it.  The 
Apium  virus  patient  shrieks  and  is  restless.  Helleborus  has 
spasms.  The  occasional  patient  may  require  Hyoscyamus,  but  in 
general,  it  is  too  restless  and  spasmodic.  Phosphoric  acid  is  close, 
barring  its  night  sweats.  Rhus  toxicodendron  is  too  restless. 
Stramonium  has  snoring  and  convulsions.  Nux  moschata  fur- 
nishes a  great  resemblance.  There  may  be  a  flaw  in  the  simi- 
larity of  the  mouth  symptoms,  but  the  occasional  salivation  of 
Nux  moschata  should  not  be  forgotten,  nor  the  bleeding  gums 
and  bloody  sputum.  Its  mania,  staggering,  cool  skin,  desire  for 
heat  and  dryness,  bed  sores  and  profound  sleep  entitle  it  to  first 
place  among  remedies,  and  warrant  great  hopes  of  its  efficacy. 

In  1894,  Reverend  Wilson  S.  Naylor,  assistant  to  Bishop  Hart- 
zell,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  at  my  request  put  into  the 
hands  of  Missionary  N.  P.  Dodson,  at  Angola,  Africa,  a  dram  vial 
of  Nux  moschata  two  hundredth  centesimal  potency,  with  the 
request  to  use  it  in  the  first  case  of  sleeping  sickness  that  offered 
opportunity,  and  to  let  me  know  the  result.  Mr.  Dodson  dis- 
claims to  be  a  physician,  but  he  saw  one  case  which  he  con- 
sidered to  be  sleeping  sickness ;  gave  the  contents  of  the  vial,  and 
saw  the  patient  get  well  to  all  appearances.  Sometime  later,  I 
have  not  learned  how  long  afterwards,  the  young  man  became 
sick  with  some  disease  which  was  considered  to  be  epilepsy,  with 
a  fatal  result.  At  Bishop  Hartzell's  request  I  have  recently  sent 
a  supply  of  the  medicine  to  Angola.    He  promises  to  have  it  used. 

Question :  May  not  the  hitherto  incurable  sleeping  sickness  be 
subjugated  by  similia  by  applying  the  individual  remedy  to  the 
individual  case?  I  hope  so.  Among  the  medicines  which  are 
likely  to  be  needed  Nux  moschata  seems  to  be  the  most  con- 
spicuous.   What  say  you  ? 

Postscript. 

My  attention  has  been  called  to  the  news  of  the  day,  which  is 
that  Koch  is  pleased  with  the  results  of  his  experiments  with 
atoxyl  upon  sick  people. 

According  to  Professor  Coblentz,  of  Columbia  University, 
"atoxyl  is  meta  arsenic   acid  anilid,  which  mav  be  considered  as 


308  Hydrophobin. 

anilin,  C6H5NH2,  in  which  one  H  of  the  amido  group  (NH2)  is 
replaced  by  the  meta  arsenic  acid  rest,  or  radicle  As02,  meta 
arsenic  acid  being  As  02OH.  Atoxyl  is  a  white  powder,  soluble 
in  six  parts  of  water  (  ?)  and  contains  37.7  per  cent,  of  arsenic, 
which  is  very  firmly  united  in  the  organic  molecule.  It  is  claimed 
to  be  forty  times  less  toxic  than  liquor  Fowleri.  Dose,  0.05  to 
2  gm.  daily,  subcutaneously,  in  a  15  to  20  per  cent,  solution.  Pre- 
pared by  the  United  Chemical  Works  in  Berlin." 

Koch  is  said  to  consider  atoxyl  "as  much  of  a  specific  for 
sleeping  sickness  as  quinine  is  for  malaria."  Xow  everybody 
knows  that  quinine  is  not  a  specific  for  malaria.  Quinine  often 
suppresses  and  does  not  cure  chills  and  fever,  because  it  is  not 
similar  to,  and,  therefore,  the  proper  medicine  for  that  individual 
case.    The  patient  is  then  worse  off  than  before. 

Experiments  upon  sick  people  have  been  rejected  by  Hahne- 
mann and  his  adherents  for  good,  sufficient,  well  understood  and 
accepted  reasons.  The  results  of  such  experiments  have  no  stand- 
ing with  us.  We  also  experiment ;  but  always  upon  healthy 
people ;  and  the  symptoms  thus  obtained  are  utilized  according  to 
similia  for  the  benefit  of  the  sick.  The  symptoms  which  quinine 
produces  in  healthy  people  indicate  what  kind  of  a  case  of  malaria 
needs  quinine.  Does  atoxyl  produce  symptoms  in  healthy  people 
closely  resembling  those  symptoms  of  sleeping  sickness  which 
appear  in  my  paper  ?  Where  is  the  record  of  those  provings  ?  I 
challenge  its  production.  I  should  like  to  read  it  that  I  may  know 
to  what  kind  of  a  case  of  sleeping  sickness  atoxyl  is  similar  and 
therefore  applicable. 

Enough  of  empiricism !  Homceopathists  will  not  abandon  cer- 
tainty for  uncertainty,  in  imitation  of  the  dog  in  the  fable,  that 
dropped  his  piece  of  meat  into  the  brook  while  grasping  at  the 
unsubstantial  image  of  meat  which  was  reflected  in  the  water. 


HYDROPHOBIN. 


Concerning  this  drug  introduced  by  Hering,  and,  in  the  usual 
cumbersome  manner,  exploited  by  the  Pasteur  Institute,  Hering 
wrote:  "When  in  Philadelphia  I  happened  to  fall  in  with  a 
dog  in  a  state  of  decided  rabies ;  while  he  was  still  living  and 
shaken  with  convulsions  I  gathered  some  of  his  saliva,  triturated 


The  Therapeutic  Nihilist.  309 

it,  and  soon  convinced  myself  by  actual  experiment  that  it  was  a 
remarkably  efficient  remedy.  I  have  cured  dogs  in  the  first  stage 
of  rabies  with  it,  and  also  ulcers  remaining  after  the  bite  of  evil 
disposed  dogs.  All  those  who  were  bitten  by  a  dog  reputed  mad 
to  whom  I  administered  Hydrofhobin  continued  well." 

"A  man  became  disordered  in  mind  and  was  constantly  anxious 
from  fear  that  he  had  been  bitten  by  a  mad  dog,  and  was  about  to 
become  hydrophobic ;  this  anxiety  continually  increased,  and  was 
a  constant  source  of  uneasiness  to  the  whole  family.  I  gave  him 
a  dose  of  Hydrophobia,  carefully  abstaining  from  mentioning 
what  it  was  in  order  not  to  excite  his  imagination,  and  even  stat- 
ing that  it  was  a  very  doubtful  remedy,  as  indeed  was  the  truth. 
In  a  week  he  was  almost  free  from  his  fearful  state,  and  asked 
me  whether  that  was  accidental."  The  case  made  complete  re- 
covery. 

"I  had  in  the  meanwhile  taken  the  third  step.  If  the  Hydro- 
phobic virus  will  produce  effects,  why  will  not  other  morbid  prod- 
ucts? Pus  from  the  eruption  of  small-pox,  and  finally  from  the 
itch-pustules  were  the  next  subjects  of  experiments." 

"I  have  for  the  present  named  the  remedies  contained  in  this 
entire  division  of  the  Materia  Medica  nosodes,  and  understand 
by  this  term  morbid  products,  and  especially  the  active  salts 
therein." 

To-day  we  have  serums  for  practically  every  known  disease 
with  a  "virus,"  i.  e.,  "germ"  applied  generally  on  the  principles 
just  quoted  from  Hering  written  sixty  years  ago.  The  chief  differ- 
ence is  that  the  serums  have  more  show  and  glitter  about  them 
and  cost  enormously ;  also  they  are  more  dangerous  to  the  pa- 
tient and  less  efficacious  than  the  nosodes.  The  serum  men 
would  depend  on  serums  alone,  while  the  homoeopath  knows  that 
such  remedies  are  but  intercurrent  remedies. 


THE    THERAPEUTIC    NIHILIST. 

The  therapeutic  nihilist  is  a  person  for  whom  nearly  every  one 
has  a  brick-bat  ready,  and  is  not  averse  to  hurling  it  when  occa- 
sion offers.  This  species  of  nihilist  is  found  almost  exclusively  in 
the  haunts  of  the  old  school,  though  occasionally  one  is  found  in 
the  domain  of  Homoeopathy ;  in  the  latter  realm  he  is  always  one 


310  The  Sympathetic  Nerve. 

who  has  never  had  a  chance  to  use  good  drugs,  does  not  know 
how  when  the  opportunity  offers,  or  is  afflicted  with  the  curious 
obsession  that  it  is  his  powerful  personality  that  cures.  His  case 
is  hopeless,  it  is  le  grosse  tete  for  which  no  cure  is  known  unless 
it  be  one  so  radical  that  when  completed  there  is  very  little  left  of 
the  patient. 

But  for  those  of  the  species  found  roaming  the  allopathic 
regions  there  is  some  hope.  Generally  they  are  so  big  that  it  is 
unsafe  for  their  fellows  to  brick-bat  them.  The  hope  for  them  is 
in  their  honesty.  When  young  they  were  taught  that  the  correct 
thing  is  mercury  in  syphilis,  quinine  in  malaria,  iron  in  simple 
anaemia,  arsenic  in  pernicious  anaemia,  thyroid  extract  in  cretinism 
and  myxcedema,  antitoxin  in  diphtheria,  digitalis  in  cardiac  dis- 
orders, sodium  salicylate  in  muscular  rheumatism,  strychnine  in 
adynaemia,  and  so  on.  They  go  through  the  mill  and  afterwards 
become  therapeutic  nihilists.  What  else  can  they  be?  When 
taught  the  above  rigamarole  they  are  also  most  earnestly  warned 
against  the  danger  that  threatens  all  who  ever  venture  near  Ho- 
moeopathy ;  they  know  nothing  about  it,  neither  do  their  teachers, 
it  being  merely  a  case  of  "beware  of  the  dog!"  When  one  of 
these  nihilists  plucks  up  courage  to  look  into  the  region  against 
which  they  are  warned  they  become  singularly  expert  homoeop- 
athists.  Hahnemann  was  a  very  complete  old  school  therapeutic 
nihilist,  but  he  did  not  blame  the  drugs  for  the  miserable  results 
that  followed  their  administration,  but  questioned .  the  "authori- 
ties," questioned  their  knowledge,  demonstrated  its  worthlessness, 
and  gave  in  its  stead  the  true  science  of  the  use  of  drugs  in  the 
cure  of  disease. 


THE   SYMPATHETIC  NERVE  AS  IT  RELATES  TO 
THE    CAUSE  OF   DISEASE    AND   ITS   HOM- 
OEOPATHIC TREATMENT. 

By  E.  R.  Mclntyre,  M.  D. 

Many  years  ago  I  became  interested  in  the  fact  that  practically 
all  of  my  patients  in  whom  Aconite  was  indicated  were  made  sick 
by  some  sudden  shock  to  the  cutaneous  capillaries,  as  from  cold 
wind,  sudden  change  of  temperature,  etc.    But  at  that  time  I  was 


The  Sympathetic  Nerve.  311 

unable  to  find  an  explanation  that  was  satisfactory  to  my  own 
mind.  I  had  some  crude  ideas  on  the  subject,  but  was  wholly  at 
a  loss  for  anything  tangible.  I  found  that  all  of  our  authorities 
on  materia  medica  taught  that  Aconite  produces  congestion  by 
acting  through  the  cerebro-spinal  nervous  system.  And  I  be- 
lieved this  to  be  true  until  I  learned  that  this  system  has  abso- 
lutelv  nothing  to  do  with  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  This  being 
true,  I  could  not  see  how  it  would  be  possible  to  get  congestion 
through  its  action.  But  since  all  vascular  action  is  controlled  by 
the  sympathetic  system,  so-called,  congestion  must  result  from 
some  disturbance  in  this  system. 

But  when  we  attempt  to  trace  the  action  of  drugs  we  realize 
that  our  provers  have  all  failed  to  record  a  very  important  part  of 
their  work,  viz.,  the  relative  time  of  appearance  of  the  different 
symptoms  in  their  provings.  And  so  we  have  a  mass  of  symp- 
toms thrown  together  without  system,  from  which  we  are  ex- 
pected to  get  what  we  may,  but  with  no  possibility  of  obtaining 
the  true  picture  of  any  drug.  However,  the  first  symptom  of 
Aconite  seems  to  be  tingling  in  the  ends  of  the  fingers,  mouth  and 
throat.  This  shows  that  its  action  begins  in  the  peripheral  nerve 
ends.  Later  there  are  indications  that  deeper  structures  are  in- 
volved. 

Now  if  we  compare  these  facts  with  the  course  of  a  case  of 
pneumonia  which  calls  for  Aconite,  we  find  that  the  primary  shock 
was  received  by  the  cutaneous  capilary  vaso-motor  nerves  (peri- 
pheral sympathetic),  resulting  in  their  (temporary)  spasmodic 
contraction,  which  drove  the  blood  from  the  surface  to  the  in- 
ternal organs,  and  later  the  symptoms  of  congestion  appeared  in 
the  thoracic  viscera.  I  have  mentioned  pneumonia  because  it 
illustrates  the  course  of  all  other  diseases  calling  for  Aconite,  only 
differing  in  the  organs  involved,  and  because  it  is  a  common  con- 
dition. In  this  connection  I  might  say  that  after  the  lungs  are 
congested  the  so-called  pneumonia  germ  can  find  suitable  pabulum 
for  its  maintenance,  and  the  blood  having  lost  its  power  of  self- 
preservation,  the  germ  can  live  in  the  tissues,  because  they  are 
already  diseased.  All  diseases  calling  for  Aconite  have  their 
primary  beginning  at  the  periphery  of  the  sympathetic  nerves,  and 
extend  toward  the  centers. 

It  is  well  known  that  Belladonna  is  rarelv  indicated  in  anv  of 


312  The  Sympathetic  Nerve. 

the  eruptive  fevers  except  scarlet  fever,  in  which  the  eruption 
appears  very  early.  The  first  symptom  of  this  drug  is  dryness  of 
the  fauces,  and  the  next  dilated  pupils  (peripheral  symptoms), 
and  this  even  when  administered  by  injections.  The  red  face  is 
also  peripheral  and  an  early  symptom.  My  experience  has  been 
that  all  diseases  in  which  Belladonna  is  indicated  begin  in  the  peri- 
phery, and  later  show  disturbance  in  the  central  organs  (brain, 
spinal  cord,  etc.). 

The  extreme  nausea  and  vomiting  of  Ipecac  are  never  forgotten 
by  the  victim  as  the  first  symptom  or  manifestation  of  its  action. 
No  one  doubts  that  this  results  from  irritation  to  the  peripheral 
nerve  ends  in  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach.  The  more 
central  and  general  symptoms  appear  later,  and  even  "key- 
note" prescribers  recognize  this  first  symptom  as  a  key-note  for 
the  administration  of  Ipecac. 

Profuse  watery  diarrhoea  is  an  early  symptom  of  Podophyllum, 
the  other  symptoms  coming  later.  What  does  this  tell  us  ?  That 
Podophyllum  begins  its  action  in  the  Billroth-Meisner  plexus 
(peripheral  nerves). 

I  have  selected  these  four  of  our  most  common  remedies  for 
acute  diseases  because  their  symptoms  are  so  well  known.  Xow 
let  us  compare  their  beginning  and  the  course  of  their  action  with 
four  well  known  chronic  remedies,  so-called,  or,  more  properly, 
our  deep  acting  drugs.  How  different  in  its  origin  and  course  of 
action  from  those  given  above  is  Arsenicum,  whose  primary  action 
(except  in  poisonous  doses  which  corrode  the  tissues  by  simple 
contact),  is  profound,  striking  down  of  the  centers  of  the  life 
forces  so  that  the  patient  is  utterly  prostrated.  This  appears  long 
before  the  characteristic  blood  changes  and  cutaneous  affections. 
When  we  find  an  Arsenicum  skin  trouble  we  always  find  a  patient 
who  has  been  "ailing"  for  a  long  time,  and  we  never  expect  quick 
results  because  the  skin  (peripheral  nerves)  is  the  last  point 
reached  in  the  action  of  the  drug. 

The  Calcarea  patient  always  has  a  history  of  disturbance  in  the 
general  nutrition  long  before  the  enlarged  glands  on  the  surface. 
He  shows  profound  weakness,  abnormal  development  of  the  ab- 
domen, deficient  lime  in  the  bones  and  the  characteristic  "pot- 
bellied" appearance,  not  infrequently  from  infancy.  Late  in  the 
course  of  his  trouble  the  cutaneous  symptoms  appear. 


The  Sympathetic  Nerve.  313 

In  Silicea  we  can  always  find  that  the  patient  has  long  noticed 
some  central  disturbance  like  "weakness  and  sense  of  debility" 
before  the  external  manifestations  in  the  form  of  boils,  suppura- 
tion, etc.  It  may  be  simply  a  profound  sensitiveness  to  cold  air. 
But  whatever  it  is  it  points  directly  to  the  ganglionic  centers  of 
the  sympathetic  system  as  the  starting  point  of  disturbed  rhythm. 

The  patient  with  a  Sulphur  rash  has  been  sick  for  weeks, 
months  or  years  before  the  eruption  appeared  on  the  skin.  I 
now  have  a  patient  with  such  an  eruption,  who  gives  a  history  of 
life-long  trouble  from  inherited  scrofula  (whatever  scrofula  may 
mean),  who  is  now  about  60  years  old.  The  eruption  did  not 
appear  until  a  year  or  two  ago,  and  he  tells  me  that  he  never  felt 
so  well  in  his  life  as  he  has  since  it  appeared. 

What  kind  of  logic  would  lead  us  to  apply  external  means  to 
cure  such  a  case?  It  is  the  external  manifestation  of  an  internal 
disturbance.  Remove  the  cause  and  the  effect  will  cease.  I  do 
not  wish  to  be  misunderstood.  I  do  not  condemn  such  local 
measures  as  will  relieve  some  unbearable  local  irritation  or  a 
foreign  body  from  the  tissues  or  the  evacuation  and  cleansing  of  a 
pus  sack.  He  who  neglects  these  is  as  deeply  in  error  as  he  who 
by  cutting  out  an  enlarged  gland  or  some  diseased  tissue  expects 
to  cure  the  patient  by  this  alone.  When  such  measures  are  nec- 
essary the  patient  must  always  be  cured  afterwards,  by  establish- 
ing the  normal  rhythm  through  the  sympathetic  nerves  and  gang- 
lia. A  surgical  operation  can  never  do  that.  Neither  can  medi- 
cine if  we  permit  a  foreign  body  to  remain  in  the  tissues.  No  one 
who  knows  anything  about  the  importance  of  the  sympathetic 
nervous  system  in  its  relation  to  the  primary  cause  of  disease 
would  think  of  curing  a  sick  person  by  any  local  means  alone, 
whether  surgical  or  otherwise. 

Several  years  ago  when  I  began  a  systematic  study  of  the 
sympathetic  nerves  for  the  purpose  of  making  some  practical  use 
of  it  in  my  work,  I  found  that  the  literature  on  the  subject  was 
exceedingly  limited  and  meagre.  About  all  there  was  to  be  found 
were  a  few  pages  of  big  words  in  the  general  works  on  anatomy 
with  absolutely  no  practical  application.  But  since  that  time  very 
creditable  works  have  been  written  on  the  subject.  And  we  now 
know  that  this  system  presides  over  every  function  of  our  body 
not  subject  to  the  will ;  all  our  involuntary  acts  controlling  the 


314  The  Sympathetic  Nerve. 

circulation  of  the  blood  and  lymph,  secretion,  absorption,  assimila- 
tion, excretion  and  every  step  in  nutrition.  It  is  the  nerve  of 
rhythmical  action  in  every  organ  of  our  body.  It  is  the  balance 
wheel  governing  the  action  of  the  cerebro-spinal  system.  It  ex- 
tends to  every  organ  and  tissue  in  the  human  body.  It  unites 
every  organ  and  tissue  with  every  organ  and  other  tissue.  A  dis- 
turbed condition  in  any  part  of  it  affects  every  other  part.  These 
facts  cannot  be  denied  by  any  one  who  has  studied  this  system  of 
nerves.  When  we  admit  this  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that 
a  purely  local  disease  is  a  physiological  impossibility,  outside  of 
mechanical  injury,  which  very  soon  becomes  systemic,  as  is  well 
known  by  all  who  have  noted  the  rise  in  temperature,  etc.,  and  as 
we  compare  the  symptoms  and  course  of  acute  and  chronic  diseases, 
so-called,  with  the  physiology  of  the  sympathetic  nerves  we  can 
hardly  fail  to  see  that  they  are  the  results  of  agencies  whose  action 
begins  in  very  different  parts  of  this  system,  and  whose  disturbance 
extends  in  different  directions  over  it.  The  first  disturbance  in  all 
acute  diseases  is  at  some  point  at  the  peripheral  extremities  of  the 
sympathetic  (the  ganglia  being  understood  as  central,  and  the 
nerve  fibres  peripheral),  and  extends  towards  the  central  ganglia, 
while  all  chronic  diseases  have  their  first  disturbance  in  some  of 
the  central  ganglia,  and  extend  toward  the  periphery. 

In  order  for  a  remedy  to  be  strictly  homoeopathic  to  any  dis- 
ease, it  must  begin  its  action  where  the  disorder  or  sickness  for 
which  it  is  given  began,  and  extend  in  the  same  direction,  involv- 
ing the  same  tissues  in  the  same  relative  order,  and  be  capable  of 
producing  in  the  healthy  a  similar  disturbance  of  rhythm  or  de- 
parture from  health. 

All  remedies  indicated  in  chronic  diseases  must  begin  their  ac- 
tion in  the  ganglionic  centers.  All  remedies  indicated  in  purely 
acute  diseases  must  begin  their  action  at  the  periphery  of  these 
nerves. 

At  first  sight  these  seem  broad  statements.  And  outside  of 
those  who  not  only  believe  in  the  law  of  similars,  but  who  know 
something  of  the  sympathetic  nerves,  they  will  probably  not  be 
believed.  But  I  only  ask  them  to  prove  that  my  position  is 
erroneous. 

70  State  St.,  Chicago,  111. 


Hernia.  315 


HERNIA*. 
By  G.  W.  Bowen,   M.   D. 

Inguinal  hernia  can  generally  be  cured  in  thirty  days'  time,  and 
avoid  the  necessity  of  a  surgical  operation  or  the  necessity  of 
wearing  a  truss  later.  A  truss  is  simply  a  "Dam"  with  a  capital 
D. 

A  hernia,  if  reducible,  can  be  cured  by  closing  up  the  hernia 
ring.  This  can  be  done  by  blood  brought  there  for  that  especial 
purpose.  A  patient  will  be  obliged  to  remain  in  a  recumbent 
posture  or  in  bed  only  six  or  eight  days. 

From  my  own  observation  it  is  quite  certain  that  three-fourths 
of  all  the  inguinal  hernias  occur  on  the  left  side.  The  first  step 
in  the  treatment  is  to  see  that  the  intestinal  canal  is  cleared  of  all 
obstructions  and  left  in  a  condition  where  it  can  remain  torpid  or 
inactive  for  three  or  four  days.  The  diet  for  a  few  weeks  should 
be  such  as  would  be  easily  digested  and  assimilated  so  as  to  leave 
but  little  refuse  for  expulsion.  Next  is  to  see  that  the  hernia  is 
reduced.  Then  the  hernia  ring  can  be  closed  so  as  to  preclude 
the  possibility  of  any  internal  extrusion.  Raw  flax  seed  meal 
should  then  be  used  for  a  poultice,  as  there  is  nothing  better.  This 
should  be  applied  hot  for  the  first  day,  to  draw  the  blood  there  to 
produce  a  local  congestion,  to  be  followed  by  an  inflammation  to 
last  for  two  or  three  days.  This  inflammation  will  soften  up  the 
hernia  ring  and  cause  the  growth  of  muscles  to  make  new  ma- 
terial. This  inflammation  can  be  easily  regulated  and  controlled 
by  the  use  of  the  cold  compress  judiciously  applied,  not  to  subdue 
the  inflammation  but  to  hold  it  under  control. 

About  the  fourth  day  you  can  commence  giving  medicine  to 
remove  the  inflammation  and  carry  away  the  surplus  blood  no 
longer  needed  there.  A  small  callosity  or  induration  should  be 
allowed  to  remain  for  perhaps  a  month.  This  is  an  excess  fibrin 
or  more  material  carried  there  than  was  used  up  or  needed. 

One  vial  should  be  medicated  with  the  first  decimal  of  Bella- 
donna, the  other  with  Nux  vomica  the  first  decimal.  These  should 
be  given  two  or  three  hours  apart  for  three  or  four  days,  then  for 
a  week  five  or  six  hours  apart,  and  for  the  next  month,  morning 

*Read  before  the  Indiana  Institute  of  Homoeopathy. 


316  The  Potency  I  Use  and  Why. 

and  night.  A  small  cloth  wet  with  Arnica  and  water  (one-tenth 
Arnica)  should  be  applied  occasionally  over  the  place  where  the 
hernia  was. 

About  the  tenth  day  the  patient  should  be  up  and  around.  Then 
a  cotton  bandage  six  or  eight  inches  wide  should  be  put  around 
the  waist  and  fastened  with  a  safety  pin;  the  third  tail  to  the 
bandage  should  be  sewed  to  the  back  and  brought  up  between  the 
limbs  and  fastened  to  the  bandage  around  the  waist,  but  before  it 
is  fastened,  a  knot  should  be  tied  in  it  just  below  the  hernia  and  a 
small  cotton  cloth  six  or  eight  inches  square  should  be  wet  with 
Arnica  and  water  and  tied  around  the  bandage  just  above  the 
hernia.  The  knot  will  prevent  it  from  slipping  down.  This  should 
be  wet  with  the  Arnica  and  water  once  or  twice  a  day  for  a  few 
weeks  to  help  give  tenacity  to  the  new-made  muscles.  The  pa- 
tient should  be  requested  to  wear  this  bandage  for  a  month  or 
more  to  remind  him  that  he  must  not  lift  too  heavy. 

Three  patients  have  been  cured  by  this  treatment,  and  two  have 
remained  well  for  over  three  years  and  have  needed  no  truss 
since.  Third  was  well  five  months  later  when  I  saw  him  last. 
There  are  no  other  remedies  needed  in  treating  an  inguinal  hernia 
except  those  specified  above. 

638  Third  Street,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 


THE    POTENCY    I    USE    AND  WHY.* 
By  Ernest  Franz,  M.  D.,  Berne,  Ind. 

The  theme  assigned  to  me  to  prepare  a  few  brief  remarks,  had 
been  accepted  with  pleasure,  and  it  shall  be  my  opportunity  to 
publicly  proclaim  my  doings  as  a  servant  and  follower  of  the  law 
of  similia  similibus  curantur. 

Having  had  the  observation  in  the  prescribing  of  the  homoeo- 
pathic remedy  from  childhood  up,  first  by  my  father,  although  a 
layman,  who  had  in  possession  a  so-called  family  chest,  fitted  with 
about  thirty  remedies,  prepared  in  pellets  of  low  attenuation.  He 
also  had  the  well  known  guide  of  Dr.  Lutze,  of  Germany,  and 
following  his  method  precisely  the  most  brilliant  results  were  ob- 
tained. 

*Read  before  the  Indiana  Institute  of  Homoeopathy,  May  20,  1908. 


The  Potency  I  Use  and  Why.  317 

Upon  entering  the  medical  studies  with  my  preceptor,  the  late 
Dr.  P.  A.  Sprunger,  of  my  town,  observations  have  also  been 
that  he  used  mostly  the  lower  potencies,  in  very  few  remedies  did 
he  use  anything  higher  than  the  30X. 

And  as  a  close  prescriber  he  was  crowned  with  great  success ; 
nevertheless  occasions  presented  themselves  that  he  was  at  a  loss 
to  know  what  to  give,  and  jumping  from  one  remedy  to  another, 
with  aggravations  every  time,  a  light  dawned  in  my  studies,  that 
if  by  a  low  potency  aggravation  would  be  manifested,  cease  with 
the  drugging  and  give  nature  a  chance  to  present  a  different 
picture,  and  if  by  the  same  symptoms  and  no  amelioration  then 
give  a  higher  one. 

When  attending  lectures  at  college  and  listening  to  the  teach- 
ings of  our  worthy  Prof.  H.  C.  Allen,  of  Chicago,  really  the  true 
teacher  in  Homoeopathy,  my  aspirations  were  that  if  on  entering 
the  field  of  practice  I  would  only  follow  the  art  of  prescribing  the 
higher  potencies. 

But  very  soon  I  had  the  experience  that  my  wings  which  were 
at  first  carrying  me  in  the  lofty  air  of  the  high  potency  alone  be- 
came weakened  and  the  feathers  steadily  dropping  out,  and  the 
consequence  I  found  myself  in  the  lower  altitude,  which  com- 
pelled me  to  search  for  the  aid  given  to  every  student  of  materia 
medica,  as  low  as  even  the  original  tincture  when  the  occasion 
demanded. 

My  principal  potency  in  almost  every  acute  disease  is  selected 
from  the  3X.  Why?  Take  a  case  in  severe  high  fever,  I  find 
that  I  can  not  rely  upon  the  high  potency  alone,  as  something 
must  be  done  in  order  to  aid  my  case,  and  the  lower  potency  will 
always  give  me  the  most  speedy  result. 

Remedies  out  of  the  vegetable  and  some  from  the  animal  king- 
dom I  select  mostly  in  the  3X,  while  the  ones  out  of  the  mineral 
kingdom  are  giving  me  better  results  in  the  6x,  I2x  and  30X. 

Treating  the  chronic  ailments  my  experience  is  that  success  is 
best  obtained  by  the  200th  up  to  the  im  or  even  higher,  as  high 
as  I  can  get  them. 

The  nosodes  I  seldom  use  lower  than  the  im  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one,  the  Pertussin,  which  was  as  yet  not  obtainable  higher 
than  the  200th,  and  wish  that  it  could  be  gotten  in  the  im  or  the 
50m,  as  I  know  I  could  get  better  results,  though  I  have  had 


318  The  Medical  Society. 

with  it  the  most  brilliant  results  in  the  treatment  of  whooping 
cough.  Boericke  &  Tafel  were  the  first  people  to  get  it  from  Dr. 
Clark,  of  London,  who  also  wrote  a  little  book  on  Pertussin. 

As  already  stated  some  remedies  from  the  animal  kingdom 
are  selected  and  given  in  the  3X,  the  Apis  is  the  only  remedy 
which  is  given  in  the  low  potency ;  all  the  others  are  rarely  selected 
lower  than  the  30X.  Not  saying  by  this  that  Apis  is  not  given  in 
a  high  potency,  as  you  will  upon  investigation  in  my  prescription 
case,  find  it  in  the  200th,  im  and  the  C.  M.  also. 

Years  ago  I  have  been  using  the  Natrum  mur.  in  the  Schuess- 
ler's  preparation  of  the  3X,  but  found  that  it  will  act  better  in  the 
30X  and  higher,  yes,  up  to  the  C.  M. 

In  order  to  avoid  taking  up  unnecessary  time  by  going  over 
the  many  remedies  which  I  am  using  and  their  potencies,  I  wish 
to  make  the  statement  in  summary,  that,  as  I  have  at  my  com- 
mand all  the  remedies  in  the  Homoeopathic  Pharmacopoeia,  I  do 
not  obligate  myself  to  the  use  of  any  potency  alone  in  every  case 
as  long  as  I  adhere  to  the  similimum ;  there  is  no  principal  potency 
I  mostly  use.  Why?  The  selection  of  the  remedy  according  to 
the  indication,  in  any  potency,  to  the  requirement  of  the  indi- 
vidual, even  if  it  should  have  to  be  taken  from  the  tincture. 


THE    MEDICAL    SOCIETY. 

An  anonymous  correspondent  of  the  N.  Y.  Med.  Times  ad- 
dresses a  letter  "to  the  man  on  the  outside"  of  medical  societies. 
He  wants  to  know  if  you  are  the  man  who  stands  aloof  because 
the  societies  are  controlled  by  "a  ring  of  college  professors  or 
hospital  grafters"  who  will  sneer  at  you  if  you  try  to  occupy  the 
floor  and  have  "a  claque  of  tail-enders"  who  applaud  all  they  say? 
But  "so  far  as  we  can  judge  it  (the  medical  society)  is  a  place 
where  every  man  stands  on  his  own  merits"  and  so  on.  Our 
anonymous  one  also  philosophically  observes  that:  "Tastes  and 
natural  proclivities  differ  but,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  medical  teach- 
ers, burglars,  etc.,  have  to  work  harder  for  the  money  that  they 
get  from  their  profession  than  from  the  odd  jobs  of  practice  and 
gas  fitting,  etc.,  that  they  do  on  the  side  and  the  hours  for  the 
former  occupations  are  inconvenient."     He  also  observes  that  a 


Enforcing  the  Texas  Medical  Practice  Act.  319 

medical  journal  is  in  a  sense  a  medical  society.  The  conclusion 
we  draw  is  that  in  a  medical  society,  as  indeed  in  every  organiza- 
tion, a  man  is  usually  sized  up  at  his  true  worth.  Naturally  every 
man  is  not  appreciated  at  the  value  he  puts  on  himself.  All  this 
and  more  looms  dimly  in  Carlyle's  Sartor  Resartus  where,  as 
those  who  have  groped  their  way  through  the  philosophy  of  Herr 
Teufeldroch  therein  expounded,  know  that  mankind  without 
clothes  would  at  once  sink  to  a  ludicrous  level,  and  many  an  in- 
tellectual giant  would  move  as  a  shrimp.  The  point  of  the  whole 
thing  is  not  very  refulgent,  in  fact,  it  is  rather  smoky,  but  it  seems 
to  be  that  no  man  should  flock  by  himself  but  found  a  society  or 
join  one,  local,  state,  national  or  journalistic,  and  listen  or  say  his 
say,  remembering  Herr  TVs  philosophy.  Also  remember  that  so- 
and-so  is  not  so  because  Bigwig  says  it  is  so,  but  it  is  so  because 
of  a  quality  known  as  truth  inherent  in  it,  over  which  Big  or 
Little  Wig  has  no  more  power  than  over  the  rising  of  the  sun. 
Don't  be  a  hero  worshiper.    Don't  be  a  clam. 


ENFORCING    THE    TEXAS    MEDICAL    PRACTICE 

ACT. 

The  Texas  State  Journal  of  Medicine,  April,  discusses 
the  constitutionality  of  the  new  Texas  medical  practice 
act,  and  some  of  the  general  principles  of  medical  legisla- 
tion.   It  says : 

The  police  power  of  the  State  is  an  attribute  of 
sovereignty  and  exists  without  any  reservation  in  the  con- 
stitution. It  is  founded  on  the  duty  of  the  State  to  protect 
its  citizens  and  to  provide  for  the  safety  and  good  order 
of  society.  Its  essential  element  is  to  secure  orderly  gov- 
ernment. On  it  depends  the  security  of  social  order,  the 
life  and  health,  of  the  citizens,  and  the  comfort  of  exist- 
ence in  thickly  populated  communities.  Indeed,  it  is  the 
very  foundation  of  our  social  system,  and  finds  its  basis 
in  the  maxim  of  public  policy,  Salus  populi  suprema  est 
lex.  Everything  necessary  for  the  protection  and  safety, 
as  well  as  the  best  interests  of  the  people  of  the  State, 
may  be  done  under  its  power,  and  in  its  exercise  persons 
and  property  may  be  subjected  to  all  reasonable  restraints 
and  burdens  for  the  common  good.  The  preservation  of 
the  public  welfare  must  be  maintained  even  at  the  expense 


J20  Enforcing  the  Texas  Medical  Practice  Act. 

of  private  rights.  So  the  contention  of  a  practitioner  that 
he  has  secured  a  right  to  practice  medicine,  which  is  a 
vested  right,  and  that  it  can  not  be  taken  away  from  him 
is  begging  the  question.  The  purpose  of  the  Legislature 
is  not  to  take  away  any  man's  right,  but  to  regulate  him 
in  the  exercise  of  it.  .  .  .  The  right  which  a  man  has  by 
nature  may  be  taken  from  him  if  it  interferes  with  the  best 
interest  of  society. 

The  principle  underlying  the  theory  of  the  police  power 
of  the  State,  as  a  means  of  regulating  occupations  and  pro- 
fessions for  the  good  of  the  general  public  can  not  be  too 
strongly  emphasized  or  impressed  on  both  the  public  and 
the  profession.  Not  until  there  is  a  proper  understanding 
and  appreciation  of  the  purpose  of  medical  legislation 
shall  we  see  an  end  of  the  absurdities  and  inconsistency 
of  special  and  sectarian  legislation.  Only  as  the  public 
understands  and  supports  medical  legislation  will  it  be 
effective.  The  medical  profession  of  Texas  achieved  a 
notable  victory  last  year  in  securing  legislation  substituting 
a  single  non-partisan  board  for  multiple  partisan  boards. 
If  the  principles  underlying  this  law  are  thoroughly  under- 
stood by  the  physicians  of  the  State  there  will  be  no  ques- 
tion of  their  support  and  co-operation. — Journal  of  the 
American  Medical  Association. 

In  the  foregoing  are  not  the  two  editors  "begging  the  ques- 
tion" most  vigorously?  They  assume  that  the  practice  they 
represent  is  so  far  superior  to  all  others  that  the  police  power  of 
the  State  should  be  employed  to  indirectly  drive  all  citizens  to 
them  for  treatment.  Can  they  make  good?  Quite  a  number  of 
fairly  respectable  people,  quite  law-abiding,  hold  that  if  the  police 
are  to  interfere,  there  should  be  a  showing  of  hands — or,  perhaps, 
results,  would  be  the  better  term.  Could  these  gentlemen  show 
such  superior  results  as  to  justify  the  police  in  suppressing  all 
competitors?  To  some  it  looks  as  though  such  employment  of 
the  police  power  is  a  gross  misuse  of  that  power.  There  are  also 
those  who  think  that  the  police  have  no  more  right  to  drive  pa- 
tients to  the  allopaths  than  they  have  to  drive  men  to  a  particular 
church.  To  this  it  may  be  replied  that  the  police  are  not  driving 
people  in  this  matter,  and  that  all  that  is  sought  is  to  "regulate 


The  First  Homoeopathic  College  in  the  World.  321 

the  practice."/,  e.,  to  fit  every  man  to  the  allopathic  mould.  "It 
is  for  the  public  good,"  they  say,  but  in  saying  so,  they  beg  the 
question. 

It  looks  as  if  the  allopaths  were  riding  for  a  fall — and  they 
will  get  it,  for  they  cannot  make  good.  If  they  could,  and  had, 
there  would  be  none  of  the  hundred  and  one  medical  "sects,"  for 
in  truth,  all  the  people  want  is  to  be  healed  of  their  ills.  Evi- 
dently, the  old  practice  couldn't  do  it,  so  the  people  have 
wandered  away  and  the  call  is  for  the  police  to  drive  them  back. 

"Physician,  heal  thyself!" 


THE    FIRST    HOMOEOPATHIC    COLLEGE    IN    THE 

WORLD. 

The  Philadelphia  Record  of  a  recent  date  contains  an 
article  under  the  above  heading  and  giving  two  views  of  the 
building  at  Allentown,  which  is  still  standing,  having  been  pur- 
chased by  the  city  and  used  since  as  a  public  school  house.  There 
is  nothing  new  in  it  to  students  of  homoeopathic  history,  but  as 
not  every  homoeopathic  physician  is  up  in  history,  an  abstract 
may  not  be  amiss  to  some  of  them  : 

Allentown  and  Homoeopathy  are  indissolubly  linked  together. 
In  a  certain  sense,  Allentown  is  the  cradle  of  Homoeopathy,  for  it 
was  here  that  the  first  homoeopathic  college  in  the  world  was 
founded,  and  it  is  in  Rittersville,  just  beyond  the  city  limits,  that 
the  first  homoeopathic  insane  asylum  in  the  State  is  now  in  course 
of  erection. 

How  little  honor  a  prophet  has  in  his  own  country  is  some- 
what humorously  demonstrated  by  the  following  true  story  :  A 
"homoeopathic  physician,  residing  not  over  a  thousand  miles  from 
Allentown,  some  years  ago  made  a  trip  to  Europe.  In  the  course 
•of  his  continental  tour  he  met  a  famous  professor  of  the  same 
school  of  medicine.  In  the  conversation  which  followed  the  in- 
troduction, the  European  professor  learned  that  the  American 
doctor  hailed  from  near  Allentown.  "Ach."  exclaimed  the  pro- 
fessor, who,  by  the  way,  was  a  German,  "that  is  the  city  where 
the  first  homoeopathic  college  in  the  world  was  founded.  Have 
you  seen  the  buildings  ?  What  d'o  you  know  about  them  ?  What 
a  shrine  thev  must  be !" 


322  The  First  Homoeopathic  College  in  the  World. 

This  was  all  news  to  the  tourist,  and  he  had  to  express  him- 
self to  that  effect,  much  to  his  regret  and  bewilderment.  The 
German  doctor  gave  him  one  look  of  deep  disgust,  and  exclaim- 
ing, "Dumkopf!"  (blockhead),  turned  on  his  heel  and  left. 
The  first  thing  the  other  doctor  did  on  his  return  home  was  to 
pay  a  visit  to  these  buildings  and  learn  their  history. 

Homoeopathy  was  introduced  into  Lehigh  county  in  the  fall 
of  the  year  1830  by  two  Lehigh  county  men.  Dr.  John  Romig, 
of  Allentown,  and  Dr.  John  Helfrish,  of  Weisenburg  township. 
Both  of  them  are  now  dead.  Rev.  Mr.  Helfrish  ministered  to 
the  spiritual  wants  of  several  congregations  in  this  and  adjoining 
counties.  Both  gentlemen  had  been  induced  to  take  up  the  new 
system  of  medicine  by  Dr.  William  Wesselhoeft,  of  Bath,  North- 
ampton county,  who,  before  his  conversion,  had  been  an 
allopathic  physician  of  great  ability. 

Dr.  Wesselhoeft  was  among  the  first  homoeopathic  physicians 
in  this  county.  It  was  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1830  that  he  began 
to  make  weekly  visits  to  the  home  of  Rev.  Mr.  Helfrish,  in  Wei- 
senburg, for  the  purpose  of  instructing  the  latter  in  Homoeopathy. 
Here  a  number  of  patients  were  regularly  present,  so  that  the 
new  healing  system  could  at  once  be  put  to  a  practical  test.  Those 
meetings  were  kept  up  until  August  23,  1834. 

On  that  day  was  organized  a  society  known  as  "The  Ho- 
moeopathic Society  of  Northampton  and  Adjacent  Counties," 
which,  of  course,  included  Lehigh. 

The  members  from  Lehigh,  beside  Dr.  Romig  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Helfrish,  were  two  German  physicians,  Dr.  Joseph  Pulte  and 
Dr.  Adolph  Bauer. 

The  Homoeopathic  Society  held  regular  meetings  at  Bethlehem,. 
Allentown,  and  at  the  residences  of  its  members.  The  result  of 
these  meetings  was  the  establishment  of  a  homoeopathic  school 
at  Allentown,  called  "The  North  American  Academy  of  the  Ho- 
moeopathic Healing  Art."  This  was  the  first  homoeopathic  medi- 
cal college  in  the  world.  It  was  founded  on  April  10,  1835,  the 
eightieth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Dr.  Hahnemann,  the  founder 
of  the  system. 

Some  time  previous  to  this  Dr.  Constantine  Hering  had  be- 
gun the  practice  of  Homoeopathy  in  Philadelphia.     He  was  re- 


Homoeopathic  Books.  323 

quested  to  come  to  Allentown  and  be  president  of  the  new  col- 
lege. He  accepted  the  call  and  became  the  leading  spirit  of  the 
institution.  The  faculty  was  as  follows :  Drs.  Hering,  William 
Wesselhoeft,  E.  Freytag,  John  Romig,  J.  H.  Pulte  and  Henry 
Detwiler.  The  last  named  resided  -at  Hellerstown,  and  was  the 
man  who,  on  July  24,  1828,  had  prescribed  the  first  dose  of  ho- 
moeopathic medicine  ever  given  in  this  State.  The  remedy  was 
given  to  a  lady  in  Bethlehem. 

The  course  of  instruction  was  of  a  high  standard,  and  given 
entirely  in  German.  Its  annual  sessions  lasted  from  November 
1  to  August  31. 

When  the  college  went  out  of  existence  the  city  purchased  the 
buildings  and  changed  them  into  schools,  and  they  have  con- 
tinued thus  ever  since. 

The  Dr.  Pulte  of  this  early  college  afterwards  removed  to 
Cincinnati.  O..  and  the  Pulte  College  of  that  city  is  named  after 
him. 


HOMCEOPATHIC    BOOKS. 

Allen's  Handbook  I  use  more  than  any  other.  In  it  I  find  the 
relative  value  of  the  different  symptoms  indicated  by  the  different 
types  of  print.  I  also  find  that  his  clinical  notes  save  me  much 
time,  as  Allen  has  arranged  the  symptoms  into  groups  such  as 
you  so  frequently  find  in  practice.  The  relative  value  and  the 
convenient  and  accurate  grouping  of  the  symptoms  are  of  great 
advantage  to  the  busy  practitioner. 

Lilienthal's  Therapeutics,  though  not  strictly  a  text  book  on 
materia  medica.  comes  next  to  the  Handbook  in  frequency  of 
use.  In  this  book  the  remedies  are  not  only  classified  according 
to  the  tissues  and  organs  which  they  affect,  but  the  type  and  ar- 
rangement, of  each,  facilitates  differentiation. 

Hughes'  Manual  of  Pharmacodynamics  gives  us,  in  a  narra- 
tive form,  the  pathological  as  well  as  the  physiological  and 
dynamic  symptoms  so  interwoven  as  to  make  the  study  of  materia 
medica  interesting  and  instructive.  This  book  I  read  through 
once  every  year. 

Farrington,  in  his  Clinical  Materia  Medica,  compares  in  a 
narrative  form  the  different  remedies  which  Lilienthal  and  Mc- 


324  "Short  Stops." 

Michael  compare,  one  by  classifying  in  groups  and  the  other  by 
arranging  in  parallel  columns. 

Nash's  Leaders  I  try  to  read  once  a  month  in  order  to  keep 
fresh  in  my  mind  the  mountain  peaks  of  symptomatology  which 
Nash  shows  so  clearly  to  his  readers.  These  three  books  are 
the  ones  to  suggest  to  any  old  school  friend  who  wants  to  glean 
in  our  held  of  materia  medica  because  they  are  nearer,  in  form.. 
not  substance,  to  what  he  is  accustomed  to  use. 

On  the  other  hand.  Hering's  Condensed  is  the  last  book  you 
want  to  put  into  the  hands  of  young  students  or  a  new  convert 
from  the  old  school.  It  was  given  to  me  as  my  first  text  book 
and  I  was  told  to  study  Rhus  tax.  for  my  first  remedy.  This 
came  very  near  sending  me  back  to  allopathy.  Now.  I  could 
not  get  along  without  the  Condensed,  because  in  it  I  find  the 
"make-up  of  the  patients.'"  "'stages  and  states."  also  "relation- 
ship." to  be  of  great  help. — Dr.  George  Royal  in  Iowa  Homoro- 
pathic  Journal. 


"SHORT    STOPS." 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

As  the  years  go  by  I  am  more  thoroughly  convinced  of  the 
value  of  careful  homoeopathic  prescribing.  The  correct  simil- 
imum  in  each  individual  case,  so  that  the  law  which  the  immortal 
Hahnemann  bequeathed  to  the  world  will  shine  out  in  all  its 
truthfulness  while  civilization  continues  to  be  known  on  this  ter- 
restrial sphere.  And  yet  there  seems  to  be  an  occasional  other 
helpful  remedial  agent  of  great  value  in  giving  relief  to  our  pa- 
tients to  which  the  law  seems  not  to  apply.  So  that  in  marching 
forth  to  be  of  the  greatest  value  in  bringing  relief  to  our  patients 
it  is  well  to  take  our  "thinker"  with  us.  for  it  may  help  us  out  in 
a  time  of  need. 

T  was  called  to  attend  a  gentleman  not  long  ago  who  was 
suffering  from  stricture  of  the  urethra.  I  prepared  my  steel 
sounds  and  commenced  the  gradual  dilatation  of  the  stricture. 
using  the  negative  pole  of  the  galvanic  battery  while'  doing  so. 
As  I  withdrew  the  last  sound  some  blood  followed  and  soon  con 
siderable  pain  caused  my  patient  to  call  for  relief.  He  wanted  to 
urinate  but  could  not.     The  pain  increased.     Something  must  be 


''Short  Stops/'  z2o 

done.  I  saturated  a  piece  of  absorbent  cotton  with  alcohol  and 
introduced  it  into  the  rectum.  The  change  was  magical.  In  a 
few  seconds  the  pain  stopped  and  he  urinated. 

In  writing  up  "Short  Stops"  mention  might  be  made  of  this  so 
that  some  other  sufferer  could  find  relief  from  its  use  and  the 
doctor  helped  out  of  a  "close  corner.'* 

Very  truly  yours, 

; .  D. 
San  Luis  Ol  ,'d\. 


To  the  Editor  of  the  Homceopathic  Re 

Will  you  please  inform  your  readers  that  the  omission  of  the 
name  of  the  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  at  Minneapolis,  from  the  Annual  Announcement  and 
Program  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy  was  an  ac- 
cident discovered  too  late  for  correction  ?  Diligent  search  thus  far 
failed  to  disclose  how  this  error  of  omission  occurred.  It  was 
an  unusually  unfortunate  error,  and  no  one  regrets  it  more  sin- 
cerely than. 

Yours  very  truly. 

Frank  Kraft,  M.  D.. 

Secretary  A.  I.  H. 
Cleveland,  June  10.  191 


Passiflora   in   Insomnia. — "I  have  observed  the  actioi 

Passiflora  in  the  treatment  of  insomnia.     The  remedy  cannot  be 
used  indiscriminately,  but  I  have   found  that  where  there  is  an 
absence  of  pain,  it  may  be  given  in  the  majority  of  cas< 
duce  quiet  and  resl  jp.     I  add  a  teaspoonful  to  half  a 

iter,  and  give  the  mi  -•      nfc     '   ses   every  half 

the  patieni 
the  pi  t  used  it  1     try  it." — Ida  H.  Barnes, 

M.  D.,  in  Ellingwood's  TherapeuU 


326  Therapeutic  Pointers. 


THERAPEUTIC  POINTERS. 

Echinacea  tincture  applied  directly  to  snake,  or  other  venomous 
bites,  is  commended. 

A  doctor  claims  to  have  been  cured  of  intractable  sciatica  by 
letting  a  bee  sting  him  on  the  hip.  Wonder  if  Apis  met.  wouldn't 
have  done  the  trick. 

Rodent  ulcer,  etc.,  they  say  can  be  cured  by  "the  rays"  of 
various  kind ;  sunlight  concentrated  through  a  burning  glass  on 
the  parts  will  do  better  work  and  is  cheaper,  according  to  a  writer 
who  wrote  before  the  rays  were  known.  This  has  been  confirmed 
several  times. 

Dr.  C.  R.  Green  (N.  J.  H.)  cured  a  patient  who  suffered  with 
hysterical  attacks  followed  by  periods  of  unconsciousness  with 
Ambra  grisea  3X.  The  keynote  to  the  remedy  was  a  marked  in- 
tolerance of  music. 

Dr.  Green  relieved  another  patient,  chronic  nephritis,  nausea, 
retching,  vomiting,  could  not  raise  head  from  pillow  without 
nausea,  with  Symphoracarpus  racemosa  3X. 

Fernie  Herbal  Simples)  writes :  "Externally  the  spirit  of  Nut- 
meg (Nux  moschata  0)  is  a  capital  application  to  be  rubbed  in  for 
chronic  rheumatism,  and  for  paralyzed  limbs/'  The  same  writer 
also  claims  that  the  3  decimal  of  cloves  will  frequently  do  much 
to  lessen  the  quantity  of  albumen. 

Over  half  a  century  ago  Dr.  Roth,  of  Paris,  wrote  that  "Dr. 
Landerer,  of  Athens,  uses  the  seeds  of  Angus  castus  with  the 
greatest  success  in  gonorrhoea,  curing  cases  in  which  even  cubebs 
had  failed."    The  tincture  is  therapeutically  the  same. 

Linnaeus  is  said  to  have  been  a  great  admirer  of  the  medicinal 
virtues  of  Teucreum  marum  verum.  One  old  gentleman  of  70 
with  sterterous  breathing,  who  could  neither  speak  nor  move,  was 
put  on  his  feet  with  it.  ■  A  preacher  with  asthma  "due  to  water  on 
the  chest,"  could  only  sleep  comfortably  after  taking  it.  A  Judge 
had  the  same  experience.  A  centenarian  who  became  so  weak 
that  he  could  no  longer  cough  up  the  phlegm  and  was  in  danger 
of  suffocation,  was  relieved.  A  doctor  with  cough  and  night 
sweats,  was  relieved  by  the  Teucreum  m  v.  So  much  from  Lin- 
naeus concerning  this  plant.    The  dosage,  of  course,  was  material. 


Book  Notices.  327 

BOOK  NOTICES. 


Regional  Leaders.  By  E.  B.  Nash,  M.  D.,  author  of  "Leaders  in 

Homoeopathic  Therapeutics."  "Leaders  in  Typhoid."  "Leaders 
for  the  Use  of  Sulphur"  and  "How  to  Take  the  Case."  Second 
edition.  Revised  and  enlarged.  315  pages.  Flexible  leather, 
$1.50,  net;  postage,  7  cents.  Philadelphia:  Boericke  &  Tafel, 
1908. 

Just  seven  years  ago,  in  June,  1901,  the  first  edition  of  this  book 
appeared.  The  issuing  of  a  second  edition  is  the  best  of  evidence 
that  the  matter  and  its  arrangement  met  with  the  approval  of  the 
profession.  The  author  has  used  the  opportunity  by  adding 
thirty-eight  pages  of  new  "leaders"  to  the  old.  The  book  in  one 
sense  is  built  with  the  ruling  idea  of  the  Hering  Materia  Medica 
Cards  in  so  far  as  it  is  very  useful  for  memorizing  materia  medica 
keynotes,  of  which  it  contains  about  2.500.  The  arrangement 
followed  is  that  of  Hahnemann's  schema.  The  book  opens  with 
"mind,"  followed  by  "head,"  and  so  on  down  the  list,  concluding 
with  a  section  on  "Constitution  and  Temperament."  Here  is  a 
specimen  of  the  arrangement  under  section  on  "Respiratory  Or- 
gans :" 

~  I    Cough  with  circumscribed  redness  of  cheeks,  and  pain 

ng'      ^        in  the  chest. 

f    Spasmodic   cough  with   frequent   eructations   of  gas. 
Ambra.  }      %        .  „    .    *   ,  .      4 

J        Especially  in  old  people. 

I    Inability  to  expectorate  what  is  raised,  must  swallow 
v,aust.      \ 

}    ll- 

The  names  of  the  remedies  are  on  the  inside  of  both  right  and 
left  hand  pages,  so  that  one  may  easily  quiz  oneself.  Let  a  book 
marker  rest  on  the  inner  margin  of  the  page  where  the  names  of 
the  remedies  stand,  as  above,  and  you  have  the  ideal  quiz  to  the 
keynote  symptoms  of  the  various  parts  and  organs  of  the  body. 
Useful  for  young  or  old. 


A  Clinical  Materia  Medica.  Being  a  course  of  lectures  de- 
livered at  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College,  of  Philadelphia,  by 
the  late  E.  A.  Farrington,  M.  D.     Reported  phonographically 


328  Book  Notices. 

by  Clarence  Bartlett,  M.  D.  With  a  memorial  sketch  of  the 
author,  by  Aug.  Korndoerfer,  M.  D.  Fourth  edition.  Revised 
and  enlarged  by  Harvey  Farrington,  M.  D.  826  pages.  8vo. 
Cloth,  $6.00;  half  morocco,  $7.00;  postage,  40  cents.  Phila- 
delphia :  Boericke  &  Tafel,  1908. 

Fifty-six  pages  of  new  matter  have  been  added  to  this  classic 
by  the  editor,  Dr.  H.  Farrington,  who  has  in  his  possession  his 
father's  manuscript  of  the  lectures  that  Dr.  Bartlett  reported  in 
short  hand,  the  transcript  of  which  made  up  the  previous  editions. 
In  this  edition  the  book  has  been  carefully  compared  with  the 
manuscript  and  enough  matter  added  that  was  not  taken  down  in 
the  short  hand  report  to  make  the  additional  fifty-six  pages. 
Among  the  new  matter  is  a  lecture  on  Natrum  arsenicum  that  for 
some  unknown  reason  was  omitted  from  the  first  three  editions. 

Well,  here  is  the  goodly  book  after  being  out  of  print  for  about 
two  years,  during  which  time  there  were  many  inquiries  for  it, 
demonstrating  the  fact  that  it  is  firmly  rooted  as  one  of  Homoeop- 
athy's text-books  on  materia  medica.  There  are  two  leading 
causes  for  this:  The  first,  probably,  is  the  fact  that  the  author 
was  a  homoeopathic  physician,  a  very  stalwart  one,  who  firmly  be- 
lieved in  Homoeopathy  and  wrote  what  he  believed.  He  did  not 
inject  doubts  or  apologize  for,  or  explain  away,  the  fact,  that  Ho- 
moeopathy is  not  accepted  by  modern  medicine.  He  fully  realized 
that  Homoeopathy  is  a  scientific  truth  and  that  it  will,  therefore, 
never  conflict  with  any  scientific  truth,  cannot,  in  fact,  for  when 
there  is  a  conflict  with  what  is  put  forward  to-day  as  "science" 
that  something  is  but  a  flare  that  will  go  out  and  be  forgotten  to- 
morrow. The  other  cause  for  the  book's  vitality  is  the  fact  that  it 
is  readable;  any  one  interested  in  the  subject  does  not  have  to 
force  himself  to  "wade  through"  these  pages,  for  they  have  the 
charm  of  being  readable,  even  to  the  man  not  especially  inter- 
ested in  the  subject.  It  is,  finally,  a  book  that  has  taken  its  place 
and  will  always  be  needed  by  the  medical  profession. 


The  publishers  promise  us  that  the  Lesser  Writings  of  Von 
Bcenninghausen  will  be  out  of  the  binder's  hands  in  time  for  re- 
view in  the  next  issue  of  the  Recorder. 


Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

By  BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  $1.00,  TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PER  ANNUM 
Address  communications,  books  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  the  editor,  to 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

EDITORIAL     BREVITIES. 

Getting  There. — In  the  "current  medical  literature"  of  an 
exchange  it  is  stated  that  the  European  scientists  have  discovered 
vaccination  may  be  performed  via  the  stomach,  or,  in  the  words  of 
the  head-line  of  an  abstract  of  an  article  credited  to  Annals  de 
r Institute  Pasteur,  Paris,  "Vaccination  Against  the  Plague  by 
Way  of  the  Stomach  or  Rectum."  No  details  are  given  and  none 
are  needed  by  homoeopaths,  for  they  have  known  "internal  vac- 
cination" for  a  long  time.  It  is  a  process  that  is  much  more 
efficacious  than  scarification,  and  is  attended  by  none  of  the 
dangers  that  follow  the  old  method,  nor  the  more  or  less  serious 
illness  that  results  from  the  scarification.  Probably  no  credit  will 
be  given  the  -discoverers  of  this  method,  for  medical  science  alone 
refuses  credit  to  any  discoverer  outside  of  the  self-hypnotized  or- 
ganization, for  are  not  all  others  "quacks"  even  though  they  lead 
the  way  a  mile? 

Business. — A  good  deal  has  been  written  about  the  poor  down- 
trodden doctor,  and  his  difficulty  in  making  patients  pay.  One 
gentleman  intimates  that  a  man  will  cheerfully  pay  a  lawyer  for 
keeping  him  out  of  the  penitentiary,  but  kicks  over  the  bill  of  the 
doctor  who  keeps  him,  temporarily  presumably,  out  of  hell,  and 
thinks  this  is  not  just.  Well  at  best  it  is  a  problem ;  some  doctors 
seem  to  have  no  trouble,  while  others  have  all  that  is  coming. 
Why  ?  Well,  there's  the  problem !  It  seems  to  us  that  if  every 
doctor  would  take  the  trouble  to  send  out  monthly  bills  and 
follozi'  them  up  with  monthly  statements — especially  the  state- 
ments showing  amount  due  on  bills  rendered — collections  would 


330  Editorial 

not  be  so  poor.  Remind  a  man  that  he  owes  you  money  and  he 
will  pay  much  sooner  than  if  you  apparently  forget  it  as  he  often 
does.    Try  it  and  watch  the  effect. 

All  the  Modern  Conveniences. — Dr.  Joseph  Luff,  of  In- 
dependence, Mo.,  writes  of  a  case  of  septic  fever  he  recently  at- 
tended. It  was  in  another  State  where  he  was  not  licensed  to 
practice,  but  was  called  in  by  the  attending  homoeopathic  physi- 
cian. Not  to  go  into  details,  the  patient  was  found  encased  in 
antiphlogistine ;  he  seems  to  have  been  receiving  combination 
tablets,  sleeping  potion,  bowel  moving  drugs,  proprietory  cure- 
alls,  alkaloidal  sure  cures  and  that  sort  of  thing.  When  Dr.  Luff 
suggested  homoeopathic  treatment  he  was  turned  down,  but  some 
days  later,  as  the  case  seemed  to  be  nearing  the  point  when  the 
undertaker  would  have  to  assume  his  professional  gloom,  he  was 
recalled,  and  told  to  take  the  case.  The  first  act  was  to  sweep 
away  all  the  modern  medical  conveniences,  sponge  the  patient, 
relieve  him  by  an  enema  and  give  him  the  remedy  indicated, 
which  in  this  case  happened  to  be  Pyrogen.  The  temperature  fell 
so  rapidly  that  the  doctor  was  hastily  summoned,  but  as  the  pa- 
tient was  easy  and  normal  nothing  more  was  done,  and  the  sick 
man  got  well.  Some  modern  treatments  are  an  embarrassment 
(to  the  patient)  of  riches. 

A  Work  for  All  Doctors. — The  following  came  to  us  in  the 
course  of  an  informal  gabfest  the  other  day.  It  is  second  hand, 
but  the  authority  is  good.  Talking  of  books,  one  made  the  as- 
sertion that  shortly  before  his  death  Dr.  (mentioning  a 

world  known  physician,  dean  and  author  of  the  old  school)  said 
that  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  every  medical  student,  if 
it  were  possible,  should  study  Hahnemann's  Organ  on.  He  did 
not  mean  that  every  student  should  become  a  homceopathist,  but 
that  the  Organon  forms  the  broad  basis  for  every  true  physician 
no  matter  what  his  practice.  At  this  same  fest  the  assertion  was 
made  that  to  get  the  full  import  of  this  book  a  man  must  read  it 
three  times. 

"Bosh !"  some  will  exclaim.    Well,  perhaps — and  perhaps. 

• 

Carnegie  Medals,  Ho! — The  London,  England,  St.  James' 


Editorial  331 

Gazette  writes  of  the  Lachesis  affair  at  New  York  in  part  as  fol- 
lows :  "Four  homoeopathic  doctors  have  risked  their  lives  in  New 
York  Zoological  Garden,  Bronx  Park,  to  obtain  a  supply  of 
scarce  venom  from  a  lance-headed  viper.  Their  purpose  was  pri- 
marily to  cure  a  millionaire  patient  of  delusional  insanity." 
What's  the  matter  with  having  the  dare-devil  homoeopathic  doctor 
for  a  hero  and  give  the  western  bad  man  a  much  needed  rest? 

A  Rare  Drug. — The  New  England  Medical  Gazette  for  June 
has  dug  out  of  a  southern  journal  a  case  of  some  interest.  It  is 
that  of  a  business  man  who  had  fallen  into  a  morbid  condition 
owing  to  years  of  overwork,  the  usual  story.  Apparently  the 
doctor's  drugs — he  was  a  famous  Baltimore  physician — did  not  do 
any  good,  so  he  "prescribed  a  course  of  funny  stories,  one  at  each 
meal,  with  an  extra  two  at  dinner."  The  prescription  cured  the 
man.  The  -editor  tells  us  that  "laughter,  in  fact,  is  one  of  the 
cheapest  and  most  effective  of  medicines."  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  prescription  is  a  good  one,  but  where  can  it  be 
filled? 

A  Discovery. — Dr.  H.  J.  Davidson,  of  Seattle,  Wash.,  has 

made  a  discovery  of  such  importance  that  the  Journal  A'.  M.  A. 
gives  a  description  of  it  in  Dr.  Davidson's  own  words.  He  has 
discovered  a  method  of  making  tuberculin  dilutions.  In  brief,  it 
consists  of  putting  1  part  of  tuberculin  into  diluent  so  as  to  make 
1  to  200.  To  this  is  added  enough  diluent  to  make  a  "1  to  1000 
dilution."  The  whole  is  well  shaken.  The  result  is,  of  course, 
the  homoeopathic  3X,  but  perish  the  thought  of  terming  it  by  that 
word  so  fraught  with  the  heresy  of  Homoeopathy.  The  Chinese 
dearly  love  roast  pig,  as  Charles  Lamb  tells  us,  but  find  it  rather 
expensive  to  burn  down  a  house  every  time  they  crave  roast  pork. 
Similarly  our  medical  orthodox  may  find  it  rather  cumbersome 
and  expensive  if  their  diluent  costs  them  anything  to  make  the 
4x,  the  1-10,000,  so  we  would  suggest  that  if  they  will  take  1 
part  of  1,000  and  add  to  it  9  parts  of  the  diluent  they  will  have 
the  1 -10.000  with  little  trouble  or  expense.  They  can  attain  a 
higher  potency  (if  we  may  use  the  word)  in  a  similar  manner. 
They  should  also  shake  each  potency  thoroughly.  No  charge  for 
the  suggestion  as  it.  and  very  much  more,  can  be  found  in  the 
Homoeopathic  Pharmacopoeia. 


332  Editorial 

"State  Medicine/' — Dr.  Samuel  G.  Dixon,  Commissioner  of 
Health  of  Pennsylvania,  in  his  address  before  the  A.  M.  A.,  said, 
in  effect,  that  the  happiness  of  the  people  and  the  prosperity  of  the 
nation  depended  on  State  medicine,  for  that  nation  would  be 
strong  which  was  vigorous  in  the  health  of  its  individuals.  The 
contention  that  the  enforcement  of  sanitary  laws  could  be  an  in- 
fringement of  personal  liberty  was  puerile.  All  which  is  very 
true.  No  one  objects  to  sanitation,  to  the  stopping  of  the  pollu- 
tion of  streams,  to  the  abolition  of  plague  spots  and  to  many  other 
useful  things  that  fall  within  the  province  of  a  board  of  health, 
but  when  the  gentlemen  of  that  board  and  their  sometimes  won- 
derful physicians,  invade  the  privacy  of  the  family  and  usurp  the 
duties  of  the  family  physician,  then  there  are  objections,  and  these 
will  not  down.  By  means  of  the  germ  theory,  which  seems  to  be 
rapidly  disintegrating,  these  gentlemen  have  assumed  great  power 
over  the  people.  The  people,  as  Dr.  Dixon's  address  reveals,  do 
not  like  it,  and  in  the  long  run  the  people  prevail.  Better  not  go 
too  far,  gentlemen.     Stick  to  your  last. 

Comparative  Mortality  Statistics. — The  New  England 
Medical  Gazette  for  June  quotes  the  following  rather  interesting 
figures  from  the  Guia  Homoeopathico  Brazileiro: 

Hospital  da  Sociedada  Portugueza,  Homoeopathic  Department, 
founded  in  1859:  Mortality,  1859-1882,  homoeopathic,  4.57;  allo- 
pathic, 5.6.    Mortality,  1880-1900,  homoeopathic,  5.18;  allopathic, 

8.97. 

Hospital  da  Ordem  Terceira,  founded  1873  \  Mortality,  1873- 
1900,  homoeopathic,  6.59;  allopathic,  10.73. 

Hospital  da  Veneraved  Ordem  Terceira,  founded  in  1859 ;  Mor- 
tality, 1859-1882,  homoeopathic,  5.56;  allopathic,  6.86.  Mortality, 
1880-1900,  homoeopathic,  6.92  ;  allopathic,  11.69.  Mortality,  1859- 
1900,  homoeopathic,  6.42 ;  allopathic,  9.27. 

It  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  the  homoeopathic  department  of 
any  hospital  should  show  better  results  than  the  allopathic  end, 
for  that  is  always  the  case  where  the  two  treatments  are  tried  side 
by  side  on  equal  terms,  but  it  is  very  curious  that  the  advances 
made  in  modern  medicine,  concerning  which  so  much  is  written, 
should  show  a  very  much  increased  death  rate  over  the  old  treat- 
ments.    But  there  are  the  figures ! 


Newsy  or  Otherwise.  333 

Who  Can  This  Be? — "In  our  country  just  now  the  powers 
of  a  desirable  organization  of  the  American  profession  are  being 
used  for  a  most  undesirable  monopoly,  for  crushing  out  demo- 
cratic spirit  and  independence,  for  extinguishing  minorities  and 
independent  rival  journals.  Impertinence,  bulimia  of  power, 
trades  unionism,  are  being  fostered,  and  an  insane  howling  about 
little  evils  is  used  to  silence  critics  of  infinitely  greater  ones.  The 
worst  abuse  is  being  officially  poured  upon  good  drug  manu- 
facturers by  men  secretly  in  the  secret  drug  business,  and  who 
are  carrying  on  far  more  degrading  businesses  than  those  derided. 
It  is  scarcely  wise  or  logical  to  laud  and  support  manufacturers 
who  secretly  put  up  thousands  of  private  formulas,  secret  drugs 
and  "specialities"  for  the  quacks,  and  then  abuse  the  quacks  for 
selling  them.  And  especially  if  the  quacks  sell  them  to  physi- 
cians !" 

So  writes  the  Pacific  Medical  Journal.  It  looks  as  though  they 
might  be  referring  to  the  inner  circle,  or  council,  that  dominates 
the  Allopathic  American  Medical  Association,  it  looks  very  much 
like  it.  One  thing  seems  certain,  and  that  is  the  country  is  on  the 
eve  of  greater  medical  freedom  or  the  reverse. 


NEWSY  OR  OTHERWISE. 

C.  Gurnee  Fellows,  M.  D.,  announces  his  removal  to  Marshall 
Field  Annex,  Chicago. 

The  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court,  N.  Y.,  on 
appeal,  have  decided  that  a  death  certificate  from  an  osteopath  is 
all  O.  K.,  and,  therefore,  they  are  thus  regarded  as  "physicians  in 
good  standing." 

According  to  the  new  bill  you  cannot  get  "a  drink"  in  Okla- 
homa without  a  doctor's  prescription.  The  doctors  promise  to  "be 
good."  Also  the  new  medical  examining  board  is  to  have  no 
school  in  the  majority  on  it.  It  must  grind  some  of  them  to  be 
classed  as  a  "school." 

Dr.  Van  den  Berg,  30  W.  48th  St.,  New  York  City,  will  be  out 
of  town  until  September  15th.  During  his  absence  patients  are 
referred  to  Dr.  P.  C.  Thomas  or  H.  C.  Sayre,  243  W.  99th  St. 

Dr.  Homer  I.  Ostrom  will  not  go  to  Europe  this  summer  but  to 
his  country  place  on  Cape  Cod,  June  24th  to  October  1st.    There 


334  Newsy  or  Otherwise. 

is  no  hardship  in  this  determination,  for  Ostrom's  "Wonder- 
strand"  is  a  beautiful  place.  Needless  to  add  that  Dr.  Ostrom  is 
the  author  of  that  sterling  and  thorough  text-book,  Diseases  of 
the  Uterine  Cervix. 

The  Pennsylvania  homoeopaths  hold  their  45th  annual  session 
this  year  at  Harrisburg  in  September.  The  date  of  the  meeting 
will  be  announced  later. 

Dr.  H.  Fledderman  has  removed  from  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  to 
Seymour.  Ind. 

After  the  expiration  of  the  current  volume  the  All  genie  ine 
Homoopathische  Zeitung  will  be  issued  monthly  instead  of  every 
two  weeks  as  heretofore. 

Institute  Mention. — President  Copeland's  address,  in  the 
words  of  our  other  president,  was  a  corker;  no  perfunctory  Ho- 
moeopathy in  it  but  the  live  thing. 

Dr.  W.  D.  Foster,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  was  elected  president  for 
next  term,  with  Carmichael,  Philadelphia,  and  Hensley,  Okla- 
homa, for  vice-presidents.  Kraft  and  Smith,  needless  to  add, 
were  re-elected  secretary  and  treasurer,  respectively 

The  "kissing  bee"  story  telegraghed  to  all  the  newspapers  and 
headlined  by  a  certain  class  of  them,  demonstrates  the  reliability 
of  that  great  ''moral  power,"  the  press.    It  was  a  "fake." 

Dr.  J.  T.  Kent  was  present  for  the  first  time  in  years. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Cobb,  the  censor,  was  kept  busy  looking  up  the  nedi- 
gree  of  candidates. 

Dr.  H.  C.  Allen,  of  course,  was  on  deck,  expounding  the 
science  of  Homoeopathy.    Lots  of  room  there  they  say. 

Dr.  H.  V.  Halbert  is  happy  over  the  fact  that  his  Practice  is 
nearly  sold  out.    He  speaks  highly  of  Harriett's  Treatment. 

The  new  Bureau  of  Homoeopathy  seems  to  fill  a  long-felt  want, 
and  is  run  by  the  right  men. 

A  number  of  veterans  ("not  that  they  are  so  very  old)  were  ab- 
sent, among  whom  were  noted  (there  is  a  bit  of  Erin  in  this  pen) 
Custis.  Porter.  Hawkes,  Harvey,  King,  Garrison,  Close,  and  a  few 
others  the  reporter  did  not  see. 

The  Pharmacopceial  Committee  scored  the  opponents  of  the 
new  pharmacopoeia,  and  urged  all  the  pharmacists  to  adopt  the 


Newsy  or  Otherwise.  335 

new  work,  and  a  resolution  to  that  effect  was  passed.  A  resolu- 
tion urging  the  members  of  the  Institute  to  demand  i-io  tinct- 
ures might  better  meet  the  difficulties  that  hapless  book  has  en- 
countered. 

Reprints  of  Dr.  J.  Wilkinson  Clapp's  article  in  the  Hahne- 
mannian  Monthly  defending  the  new  pharmacopoeia  from  its  crit- 
ics were  profusely  present. 

One  of  the  eminent  editors  from  Michigan  would  not  "swallow 
the  Recorder's  snake  story."  Let  him  and  other  doubters  take  a 
look  at  the  Lachesis  mutus  that  furnished  the  remedy  and  then  at 
the  Bronx  snake,  and  they  will  see  that  the  Recorder  was  but 
chronicling  fact  not  story.  It  is  of  some  importance  to  those  who 
practice  Homoeopathy  that  these  remedies  be  true  to  the  label,  is  it 
not? 

The  new  Coates  House,  the  headquarters  for  every  one,  is  all 
right ;  you  will  make  no  mistake  by  going  there  when  you  visit 
Kansas  City. 

Dr.  William  Harvey  King  has  resigned  the  office  of  dean  of  the 
New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College.  Dr.  John  W.  Dowling 
succeeds  Dr.  Howard  G.  Tuttle  as  secretary  of  the  faculty.  Dr. 
Royal  S.  Copeland  will  succeed  Dr.  King  as  dean. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Rand  has  purchased  the  estate  at  5  Benefit  St.,  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  for  an  office  and  residence,  where  he  will  be  pleased 
to  receive  his  friends. 

The  International  Hahnemannian  Association  at  their  annual 
meeting  at  the  Chicago  Beach  Hotel  in  June,  officially  adopted 
the  American  Homoeopathic  Pharmacopoeia. 

Dr.  A.  L.  Blackwood,  the  well  known  author  of  several  stand- 
ard homoeopathic  works,  and  professor  of  clinical  medicine  at  the 
Chicago  Hahnemann  College  and  Hospital,  has  been  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Chicago  School  Board.  Mayor  Busse  has  made  a 
good  appointment. 

Dr.  Roy  C.  Richards,  of  Hopedale,  111.,  prescribed  beer  for  a 
patient,  and  was  fined  $20,  under  some  of  the  new-fangled  acts. 

Led  by  Spaulding,  100  doctors  raided  the  "black  belt''  of 
Chicago,  and  compelled  all  to  be  vaccinated  who  couldn't  show 
"scars."  The  health  board  of  Chicago  evidently  says  of  the 
Supreme  Court  as  Vanderbilt  did  of  the  public. 


PERSONAL. 


They  have  now  concluded  that  "intestinal  antiseptics"  are  on  the  bum 
and  that  bacteria  gives  them  the  ha !  ha ! 

It  was  decided  by  the  debating  society  that  it  was  not  wrong  to  cheat  a 
lawyer  but  too  difficult. 

The  ambidextrous  man  cannot  put  his  left  hand  in  his  right  side  breeches 
pocket. 

She:  "I  always  say  what  I  think."  He:  "Heavens!  when  do  you  find 
time  to  think?" 

Manufacturers  of  "predigested"  foods  should  be  compelled  to  state  who 
digested  them. 

Whether  it  be  chance  or  skill  depends  on  your  temperament  and  whether 
you  are  winner  or  loser. 

Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox  wants  Congress  to  "teach  parents  how  to  live." 
But  Congressmen  are  only  mortals,  Ella! 

A  free  government  is  one  where  you  can  talk  as  much  as  you  please  but 
pay  just  the  same. 

Base  ball  umpires  deserve  Carnegie  medals. 

In  a  multitude  of  funny  stories  there  is  weariness. 

"What's  the  matter  with  Homoeopathy?"  growled  Cynicus.  "It  cures 
too  soon." 

Don't  tell  people  you  have  the  "biggest  hoop  pole  industry  in  the  world," 
but  let  it  go  at  "The  pleasure  of  your  company,"  etc.    Better. 

Hahnemann  pharmacy  individualizes  drugs  as  a  good  physician  does  pa- 
tients. 

George  Ade  left  Indiana  for  Chicago  to  "avoid  mental  competition." 
Bully  for  Posey  County ! 

No  man  wants  to  be  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey,  yet  his  friends  rather 
regard  the  act  as  a  compliment.    It  depends  on  your  point  of  view. 

Soon  we  may  expect  ads.  of  "light  fly- about  aeroplanes,  just  suited  for 
country  doctors." 

At  a  "husband  show"  out  west  a  doctor  is  said  to  have  taken  the  first 
prize. 

Records  show  that  Captain  Kidd  was  one  of  the  original  householders 
and  dwellers  on  Wall  St.,  N.  Y. 

Why  not  have  a  society  of  "The  Old  Men  Who  Pay  the  Bills?"  They 
could  meet  and  mumble  in  the  garret. 

The  question  has  been  asked:  "Can  an  editor  be  a  strictly  honest  man?" 

It  is  said  that  a  man  with  his  first  "car"  suffers  for  awhile  with  auto- 
intoxication. 

"The  physician  should  attack  the  disease  and  not  the  patient." — St  Basil. 

A  ministers'  meeting  unanimously  voted  down  a  suggestion,  from  the 
pews,  that  a  time  limit  be  placed  on  sermons. 

Health  boards  should  spot  the  strenuous,  slovenly,  smoking  and  bad 
smelling  auto. 


THE 

HOMCEQPATHIC  RECORDER. 

Vol.  XXIII.      Lancaster,  Pa.,  August,  1908.  No.  8 

WHAT  WILL  YOU   DO? 

The  Report  of  the  Interstate  Committee  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Homoeopathy  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  Institute, 
Kansas  City,  has  the  following  to  say  anent  the  new  Pharma- 
copoeia, the  pharmacists  and  proposed  legislation  : 

"Several  matters  of  importance  should  be  considered  by  the 
Interstate  Committee,  and  I  would  call  your  attention  especially 
to  the  report  made  by  the  Committee  on  the  Homoeopathic  Phar- 
macopoeia, and  urge  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  which  that 
committee  proposes  to  present,  which  resolutions  will  insist  on 
the  recognition  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  American  Institute 
in  the  pure  food  laws  of  the  country;  and  the  Institute  should 
certainly  insist  that  the  phamacists  of  the  country  should  not  in 
any  way  interfere  with  any  legislation  proposed  by  the  Ameri- 
can Institute.  They  are  certainly  dependent  on  the  physicians 
for  a  large  part  of  their  business,  and  it  is  only  because  of  great 
magnanimity  on  the  part  of  the  medical  profession  that  they  are 
patronized  in  spite  of  their  disregard  of  the  local  laws,  advertis- 
ing of  specific  combination  tablets  and  prescribing  for  the  ail- 
ments of  customers.  If  the  commercial  spirit  which  is  doing  so 
much  damage  to  the  profession  should  extend  the  manufacture 
of  their  own  remedies  by  specially  authorized  pharmacists  the 
others  would  certainly  have  to  give  up  their  business,  but  the 
main  reason  for  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  referred  to  and 
for  the  efforts  we  should  use  to  see  that  the  purposes  are  carried 
out  is  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  we  have  a  fixed  standard 
of  strength  for  drugs  to  be  used  in  reproving  our  remedies  in 
order  that  all  provings  made  will  stand  the  Government  test  when 
the  Government  acknowledges  the  work  done  by  our  Institute 


338  What  Will  You  Do? 

of  Drug  Proving.  All  remedies  used  in  their  provings  must  be 
in  accordance  with  the  labels,  and,  as  the  Institute  of  Drug  Prov- 
ing expects  to  have  all  drugs  used  in  test  provings  standardized 
by  the  Government  itself,  remedies  used  upon  indications  result- 
ing from  the  new  provings  with  the  expectations  of  favorable 
results  under  the  law  of  Similia  should  be  of  the  standard  used 
in  the  provings." 

"Enactment  of  the  proposed  law  will  not  interfere  in  any  way 
with  the  manufacture  of  drugs  under  other  standards,  provided 
the  fact  is  made  plain  on  the  label,  but  remedies  used  in  provings 
from  this  date  on,  if  they  are  to  be  recognized  or  be  under  the 
auspices  of  our  organization,  must  be  made  of  remedies  pre- 
pared in  accordance  with  the  Pharmacopoeia,  which  has  been 
adopted  upon  the  recommendation  of  its  Committee." 

The  period  in  the  above  beginning,  "If  the  commercial  spirit," 
etc., is  somewhat  obscure;  but  we  feel  sure  that  it  means  well, 
though  apparently  mapping  out  a  new  region  for  old  Homoe- 
opathy, if  its  medicines,  provings  and  general  affairs  are  to  be 
under  governmental  supervision,  even  though  it  be  indirect.  We 
believe  that  a  number  of  pharmacies  have  tinctures  prepared  ac- 
cording to  the  proposed  new  rules  in  every  respect,  yet  physi- 
cians will  not  order  them.  What  can  a  pharmacist  do  in  this  case 
— refuse  to  sell  any  other  than  the  new  i-io  tinctures?  Why 
should  not  the  writer  of  the  Report  rate  the  members  of  the 
Institute  for  this  rather  than  the  pharmacist? 

The  pharmacist,  as  a  rule,  tries  his  best  to  give  the  physician 
what  he  orders,  even  if  he  does  try  to  "work  him  on  the  side"  for 
some  of  his  wonderful  and  special  dope,  and  we  are  sure  will  give 
the  doctor  the  new  tinctures  if  he  will  specify  them.  To  change 
without  warning  would  be  highly  unethical.  If  a  physician  has 
been  ordering  and  receiving  a  given  tincture  made  according  to 
a  well  established  method,  the  pharmacist  would  be  false  to  his 
professional  obligations  if  he  were  to  substitute  a  tincture  made  in 
a  different  manner ;  that  is  self-evident,  so  it  behoves  those  who 
want  the  H.  P.  U.  S.,  tinctures  to  specify  them  and  the  phar- 
macist must  furnish  them,  for  to  do  otherwise  would  border 
closely  on  the  line  of  a  criminal  offense,  punishable  by  fine  or 
worse. 

To  many  it  may  seem  a  little  hard  and  somewhat  at  variance 


The  X  at  rums.  339 

with  our  form  of  government  that  no  pharmacists  must  "in  any 
way  interfere  with  any  legislation  proposed,"  especially  as  that 
legislation  relates  to  their  business,  and  legislators  nearly  always 
inquire  very  thoroughly  into  all  phases  of  proposed  national 
legislation. 

National  laws  are  sometimes  far  reaching  in  their  effects.  The 
Pharmacopoeia  that  it  is  proposed  to  adopt  as  a  legal  homoeo- 
pathic standard,  explicitly  states  that  the  limit  of  the  divisibility 
of  matter  is  reached  somewhat  below  the  12th  centesimal  potency, 
though  it  does  not  limit  the  pharmacist  to  that  potency  in  prepar- 
ing drugs,  if  they  are  ordered.  Suppose  the  validity  of  the  30th 
potency,  for  instance,  should  some  day  be  brought  before  the 
courts  ?  The  court,  guided  by  the  legal  standard  adopted  by  the 
government,  would  have  to  rule  out,  as  illegal,  the  30th  potency 
and  its  alleged  cures  or  failures,  and  put  the  prescribers  of  it  in 
the  same  category  with  Christian  Scientists,  faith  curers  and 
others  of  that  ilk  who  work  on  the  credulity  of  the  people.  You 
cannot  get  away  from  this  if  the  matter  ever  gets  into  the  courts. 

Is  it  wise  to  get  in  this  position? 

It  has  not  been  a  pleasing  task  for  the  Recorder,  now,  or  in 
the  past,  to  oppose  this  new  pharmacopoeia,  but  the  opposition 
has  been  prompted  solely  by  a  sense  of  duty  (mistaken,  if  you 
please)  for  the  welfare  of  Homoeopathy.  This  is  probably 
the  last  time  we  will  bring  up  the  matter;  henceforth  ours  shall 
be  the  policy  of  laisser  faire,  and  we  will  not  oppose  the  pro- 
posed legislation.  It  is  up  to  the  profesion  to  do  that  if  it  is  to 
be  done. 

Our  pages  are  open  to  all  in  this  very  serious  matter,  which 
should  be  discussed,  not  in  a  spirit  of  hot  partisanship,  but  in  a 
sane  and  rational  manner. 


THE   NATRUMS.* 

By  C.  M.  Boger,  M.  D. 

Natrum    Carbonicum. 

This  is  the  common  washing  soda :  sodium  bicarbonate  is  bak- 
ing soda. 


:Notes  on  lecture  delivered  at  Pulte  Medical  College. 


340  The  Natrums 

Natrum  carb.  is  especially  suited  to  feeble,  impressionable  peo- 
ple, who  are  too  susceptible  to  heat  or  cold,  changes  of  weather, 
music  or  any  ordinary  occurrence.  They  are  puffy,  but  relaxed 
(Calc.  c.)  and  show  a  want  of  bodily  solidity  which  encourages 
sprains,  weak  ankles,  etc.  Weakness  and  sensitiveness  are  upper- 
most in  every  disorder ;  very  much  like  Hepar.  There  is  a  want 
of  balance  between  the  physical  and  nervous  systems. 

The  disposition  is  naturally  lively,  but  timid,  being  easily  either 
animated  or  saddened.  The  mind  is  easily  exhausted,  becomes 
incapable  of  thinking  and  seems  deficient  in  staying  force.  The 
digestive  tract  is  in  a  like  condition  and  there  are  many  symptoms 
pointing  to  an  exceedingly  weak  digestion ;  they  include  perver- 
sions of  taste,  acidity,  inflation,  stopped  feeling,  or,  finally,  urinary 
symptoms,  often  indicative  of  lithsemia. 

The  sexual  organs  are  correspondingly  weak  but  irritable.  It 
is  one  of  the  debilitating  remedies,  having  emissions  from  the 
mere  touch  of  a  female,  like  Arnica,  Gelsemium,  Conium  and 
Phosphorus. 

The  febrile  manifestations  are  accompanied  by  mental  phe- 
nomena, and  circulatory  disturbances  are  worse  from  lying  on 
the  left  side. 

The  skin  is  usually  dry  and  sluggish,  but  sweats  profusely  upon 
the  slightest  exertion  or  from  pain ;  during  the  sweat  there  is  dis- 
like to  uncovering.  Most  eruptions  prefer  to  show  themselves  on 
the  backs  of  the  hands,  others  suppurate  readily.  Nasal  dis- 
charges incline  to  become  hard  and  foul  smelling. 

We  think  of  this  remedy  when  people  with  blue  rings  about  the 
eyes,  hawk  up  much  mucus  and  are  intolerant  of  milk;  they  do 
not  assimilate  properly,  therefore,  feel  better  after  eating,  rub- 
bing, or  from  pressure ;  conversely  they  are  not  so  well  from  ex- 
ertion in  the  open  air,  particularly  in  the  wind,  although  motion 
helps  the  symptoms  which  arise  during  rest.  Amelioration  from 
boring  into  the  nose  or  ear  is  an  odd  modality  worth  remember- 
ing. 

Natrum    Muriaticum. 

Salt  has,  perhaps,  a  more  fundamental  connection  with  life  than 
any  other  substance;  mythology,  as  well  as  science,  hints  at  its 
relation  to  the  birth  of  living  matter.  To  the  ancients  it  sym- 


The  X  at  rums.  341 

bolized  immortality,  permanence  or  sterility,  but  the  modern 
world  sees  more  of  its  stunting  and  preserving  effects.  In  man 
its  need  is  governed  by  the  nature  of  his  food. 

Many  confirmations  have  shown  the  seemingly  trivial  fever 
blisters  of  the  provings  to  be  a  very  indicative  part  of  a  general 
state  which  may  also  crop  out  in  the  form  of  a  mapped  tongue, 
ringworm,  or  some  other  herpetiform  manifestation. 

It  impairs  elimination  and  develops  a  periodicity  very  like  that 
of  quinine,  to  which  it  is  a  great  antidote.  Why  the  symptoms 
should  elect  to  return  regularly  about  10  A.  M.  is  not  clear  but 
very  characteristic.  Intermittents,  brow  agues  and  some  hemi- 
cranias  call  for  it,  that  the  man  who  treats  them  mostly  with 
quinine  is,  indeed,  a  novice  in  Homoeopathy.  Heat  is  usually 
accompanied  by  headache  or  sweating  feet,  while  the  sweat 
brings  dim  vision  with  it.  It  impoverishes  the  tissues,  engenders 
torpidity  and  greatly  lowers  the  tone  of  the  whole  body.  In  the 
mind  this  is  oddly  expressed  by  a  sad  reserve,  easily  turned  to 
anger  by  consolation ;  usually  it  originates  in  mortification,  con- 
stipation or  the  sexual  sphere. 

Various  symptoms  show  its  mental  depression  to  be  only  part 
of  a  general  slowing  down  which  weakens  and  fatigues  the 
muscles,  at  times  causing  blurred  vision  with  running  together 
of  letters,  at  others  a  painful  shortness  of  the  hamstrings  or  even 
emaciation  starting  from  the  neck.  The  effect  may  be  profound 
enough  to  induce  a  slow  growth,  slow  speech  and  slow  gait.  Dry- 
ness is  very  prominent ;  both  the  skin  and  mucous  membranes 
show  it.  The  former  becomes  inactive,  looks  tettery,  cracked  or 
muddy,  even  the  hair  may  fall  out  and  hangnails  annoy.  Al- 
though the  tongue  is  dry  and  the  sense  of  taste  and  smell  blunted, 
yet  ofttimes  there  is  a  strange  craving  for  salt  or  ices,  coupled 
with  a  loathing  for  all  ordinary  food,  betokening  a  form  of  cell 
hunger  not  infrequent  in  anaemia,  etc.  For  a  like  reason  it  is 
not  out  of  the  ordinary  to  find  a  sense  of  roughness  internally  or 
a  dislike  for  coition.  Exceptionally  the  secretions  are  increased, 
but  colorless ;  easy  lachrymation,  for  example. 

Females  who  need  this  remedy  often  crave  the  pressure  of  a 
tight  corset  or  a  pillow  against  the  back.  They  are  very  apt  to 
be  victims  of  hammering  headaches,  worse  from  coughing,  or  of 
anxious  palpitations,  worse  from  lying  down  or  on  the  left  side. 


342  The  Natrums. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  Natrum  muriaticum  patients 
are,  as  a  rule,  intolerant  of  heat ;  they  don't  feel  so  well  in  sum- 
mer, in  the  sun  or  during  the  fullfledged  malaria  season.  It  is 
one  of  the  principal  remedies  for  sun  pains.      (Compare  Sang.) 

It  sometimes  suits  a  cough  which  seems  to  arise  from  a  tickling 
in  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  and  is  accompanied  by  lachrymation 
and  a  bursting  headache. 

The  toothache  is  worse  from  both  heat  and  cold. 

It  has  a  way  of  selecting  particular  regions  for  its  clearest 
action.  The  headaches  and  neuralgias  nearly  always  come  just 
over  the  brows  and,  incidentally,  are  made  worse  from  straining 
the  eyes.  Herpetic  eruptions  are  very  apt  to  select  the  borders 
of  the  hair  or  come  out  about  the  lips ;  in  fact,  there  seems  to  be 
a  general  tendency  to  affect  the  margins  somewhere. 

The  principal  antidote  is  Sweet  Spirits  of  Nitre,  then  come 
Camphor  and  Phosphorus.  It  counteracts  the  effects  of  quinine 
and  Nitrate  of  Silver;  especially  cauterization  by  the  latter.  In 
intermittents  it  should  be  compared  with  Arsenicum. 

Natrum  Phosphoricum. 

In  allopathic  parlance  it  is  known  as  a  laxative  cholagogue, 
being  much  used  for  clearing  the  gall  duct  of  catarrhal  obstruc- 
tions. It  is  also  one  of  the  Schuessler  tissue  remedies  and  has 
had  a  good  proving  in  the  hands  of  Farrington,  whose  provers 
brought  out  some  quite  distinctive  symptoms.  The  experiments 
showed  a  number  of  manifestations  distinctly  attributable  to 
either  the  Phosphorus  or  the  Natrum  of  its  composition.  The 
new  setting  has,  however,  placed,  them  in  a  different  light  and 
altered  their  value. 

Phosphate  of  Soda  stimulates  the  mucous  secretions,  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  digestive  tract,  where  the  larger  portion 
of  its  force  seems  to  be  expended  upon  the  duodenum.  Smooth, 
moist,  creamy  coatings  form  upon  various  parts  of  the  visible 
mucous  membranes.  They  are  generally,  although  not  ex- 
clusively, of  a  dirty,  yellow  color,  and  are  most  frequently  seen 
at  the  base  of  the  tongue,  but  may  cover  its  whole  upper  surface. 
It  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  indicated  when  the   secretions  are 


The  Nat  rums.  343 

scanty  and  the  parts  tend  to  become  dry.  Conformably  with  its 
general  action  the  stools  are  loose,  watery  and  defecation  is 
mostly  painless  with  a  distinct  inclination  to  become  involuntary ; 
in  this  respect  again  showing  its  relationship  to  Phosphorus. 
This  proneness  of  the  secretions  to  liquify  is  even  manifested  in 
the  semen,  which  becomes  watery,  just  as  it  does  under  the  action 
of  Selenium,  and  a  few  other  drugs. 

The  catarrhal  discharges  incline  to  become  yellow  and  purulent, 
although  its  pus  making  power  is  much  feebler  than  that  of 
Natrum  sulphuricum.  Leucorrhoeas ,  ophthalmias,  etc.,  with  deep 
yellow  secretions.  Here  it  should  be  compared  with  Pulsatilla, 
Hydrastis  and  some  others.  That  such  a  hypersecretion  should 
finally  end  in  a  form  of  acidity  is  not  very  strange  and  is  the  very 
thing  that  happens.  Natrum  phosphoricum  is  a  true  rival  of 
Rhubarb  and  Magnesium  carbonicum  in  hyperacidity.  The  pa- 
tient is  often  a  sour  smelling  one  with  an  acid  stomach,  sour 
sweats  or  other  evidences  of  acidity. 

Some  of  the  sensations  observed  in  the  provers  are  of  more 
than  ordinary  interest.  It  is  one  of  the  few  drugs  that  have  the 
sensation  of  a  "hair"  or  thread  in  the  internal  parts ;  naturally 
it  is  oftenest  located  on  the  tongue  or  in  the  throat.  Other  drugs 
having  the  same  symptoms  are  mostly  Arsenicum,  Coccus  cacti, 
Kali  bichromicum,  Natrum  muriaticum,  Rhus  toxicodendron, 
Silicea,  Sulphur  and  Valerian. 

Intense  itching  of  the  nose  and  anus  were  observed  among 
its  effects  and  led  to  its  use  in  worms  with  quite  good  success. 
We  should  in  this,  as  well  as  in  all  other  instances,  carefully  dif- 
ferentiate it  from  similarly  acting  medicines.  The  principal  rem- 
edies for  such  irritations  are  Arum  triphyllum,  Belladonna,  Cina, 
Mcrcurius,  Sabadilla,  Spigelia  or  Selenium,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances. 

There  is  also  itching  about  the  mouth.  Calcarea  carbonica 
and  Rhus  tox.  have  the  same  symptom.  The  patient  is  apt 
to  pick  the  nose  persistently  {Cina  and  Arum  triphyllum).  The 
head  symptoms  are  often  one-sided.  One  pupil  is  dilated  or  one 
ear  red,  while  supra-orbital  pains  locate  themselves  alternately 
over  either  eye,  like  those  of  Sepia  and  Iris  vers. 

From  what  has  been  said  you  will  easily  see  how  I  came  to 


344  The  Xatrums. 

select  this  remedy  in  a  case  of  typhoid  fever,  which  had  the  fol- 
lowing symptoms : 

1.  Persistently  picks  the  nose. 

2.  Sensations  of  a  hair  upon  the  tongue. 

3.  First  one  cheek  red,  then  the  other,  alternately   (CheL). 

4.  Screams  out  in  sleep. 

5.  Very  yellow  stools ;  has  had  a  small  haemorrhage  from  the 
bowels. 

6.  Craves  acids. 

7.  Formerly  had  yearly  recurrence  of  a  pneumonia. 

Three  doses  of  the  DMM.  potency  (Swan)  brought  the  fever 
to  a  close  in  two  weeks,  after  which  an  uneventful  convalescence 
followed. 

In  its  action  upon  the  skin  it  keeps  up  the  reputations  of  the 
Natrums.  Herpetic  and  other  eruptions  locate  themselves  about 
the  joints,  especially  the  ankle  (Sepia).  Eczema  in  patients  of 
the  acid  diathesis.  There  are  a  few  joint  pains  which  seem  prone 
to  transfer  themselves  to  the  heart  like  those  of  Spigelia  and 
Kalmia. 

The  sleep  symptoms  are  such  as  are  often  found  in  children 
suffering  from  some  form  of  irritation.  Waking  from  sleep  in 
fright,  is  the  commonest. 

The  modalities  are  those  of  its  constituents.  Aggravation 
from  heat  is  the  most  marked  one,  then  there  is  an  aggravation 
from  gas  light,  thunderstorms  and  warm  rooms ;  there  is  also 
some  periodicity. 

Natrum  Sulphuricum. 

This  is  the  Glauber  Salt  of  our  forefathers,  and  in  their  day 
was  used  as  a  saline  laxative  much  in  the  same  way  that  Epsom 
Salt  is  today :  even  miraculous  powers  were  ascribed  to  it  by 
the  ignorant;  its  violent  action,  however,  led  to  the  gradual  sub- 
stitution of  the  Magnesium-sulfat.  Its  popular  use  exhibits  its 
more  obvious  action,  this  Homoeopathy  has  amplified  and  defined 
by  provings  until  it  is  today  one  of  our  tried  and  true  antipsorics 
exhibiting  a  long  and  deep  action. 

The  liquid  stools  it  causes  were  formerly  believed  to  be  due 


The  Natrums.  345 

to  an  osmodic  transudation  of  liquid  from  the  blood  into  the 
intestinal  canal,  they  are  now  known  to  be  due  to  a  stimulation 
of  the  intestinal  glands,  causing  an  increased  secretion  of  watery- 
mucus,  with  the  evolution  of  much  gas,  even  enough  to  be  pain- 
ful ;  it  is  passed  in  quantities  with  the  stool  so  that  a  morning 
diarrhoea,  after  rising,  with  a  stool  which  is  forcibly  expelled 
with  much  spluttering,  is  looked  upon  as  its  characteristic.  Such 
diarrhoeas  may  accompany  tuberculosis  of  the  mesentery  and 
have  often  been  cured  with  Nat.  sul.  in  a  single  dose  of  the 
highest  potency.  Other  remedies  for  morning  diarrhoea  are, 
Sulphur,  when  the  patient  is  hurried  out  of  bed  with  barely  time 
to  reach  the  closet,  and  passes  a  large  mushy  stool. 

Rumex  is  just  like  Sulphur,  but  in  addition  it  has  a  dry  cough 
excited  by  tickling  in  the  throat-pit,  or  inhaling  cold  air  through 
the  open  mouth. 

Kali  bichromicum  has  the  same  urgency,  may  even  soil  his 
clothes,  but  the  stool  is  watery,  comes  with  a  gush  and  is  fol- 
owed  by  much  tenesmus. 

Aloe  involuntarily  passes  masses  of  jelly-like  mucus,  or  in  the 
morning  he  finds  a  large  lump  of  feces  as  his  companion  in  bed; 
before  the  stool  there  is  much  rumbling  and  gurgling  in  the  ab- 
domen ;  he  retains  the  fluid  feces  with  difficulty  and  often  suffers 
with  prolapsing  piles. 

Podophyllum,  gushing  morning  stool  hurrying  the  patient  out 
like  Sulphur,  but  it  continues  the  whole  day  and  the  stools  have 
a  carrion-like  odor,  are  generally  light  colored  and  may  have  a 
meal-like  sediment. 

Gamboge  has  a  gushing,  yellow  stool,  preceded  by  gurgling, 
and  followed  by  a  sense  of  great  relief,  as  if  an  irritating  sub- 
stance had  been  removed ;  it  also  irritates  and  makes  the  anus 
sore. 

Bryonia  causes  and  cures  diarrhoea  coming  on  as  the  patient 
begins  to  move  about  in  the  morning,  it  is  worse  from  vegetables 
and  stewed  fruits  or  overheating ;  in  general,  the  patient  is  worse 
from  all  kinds  of  motion,  especially  of  distant  parts. 

Dioscorea  will  cure  if  gripy,  colicky  pains  which  fly  to  other 
parts  acompany  it.  Just  a  moment's  digression  here.  Some  day 
you  will  meet  a  case  in  which  cramps  in  the  fingers  or  other  dis- 


346  The  Natrums. 

tant  parts  accompany  more  central  affections  like  dysmenorrhea 
diarrhoea,  etc.,  then  you  must  know  how  to  differentiate  between 
Cuprum  arsenicosum,  Secale  cornutam,  Dioscorea,  Ignatia, 
Jatropha  and  Veratrum  album. 

Von  Grauvogel  showed  that  Nat  rum  sulphuricum  patients  are 
severely  affected  by  dampness  and  that  the  sensitiveness  thereto 
is  often  a  result  of  sycosis ;  thus  originated  the  theory  of  the 
hydrogenoid  constitution,  for  which  he  proposed  Thuja  and  Nos- 
trum sulphuricum  as  remedies ;  I  would  impress  upon  you  that  no 
one  or  two  remedies  can  by  the  very  nature  of  things  be  a 
specific  for  any  given  disease,  they  can  only  be  such  when  the 
symptoms  agree  and  not  otherwise. 

"Oppression  of  breathing,  then  diarrhoea,"  "Symptoms  in  other 
parts  cause  oppression  of  breathing"  {Arsenicum),  and  "Short 
respiration  with  sharp  stitch  in  the  left  chest  when  standing,"  are 
symptoms  that  should  attract  your  attention!  and  when  combined 
with  aggravation  from  dampness  they  have  led  to  the  cure  of 
humid  asthma. 

This  salt  has  a  fine  record  to  its  credit  in  brain  and  mental  af- 
fections caused  by  injuries  to  the  head.  Traumatic  meningitis 
with  piercing  pains  extending  from  the  neck  to  the  occiput  severe 
enough  to  extort  screams.  Sudden  jerks  throwing  the  head  to 
on  side.  Brain  feels  loose.  Headache  better  by  a  cold  foot 
bath.  Scalp  sensitive  to  combing  the  hair.  Irritable,  dreams  of 
fighting.  Loss  of  memory.  Buzzing  in  the  head.  All  these  point 
to  violent  irritation,  and  when  the  other  symptoms  agree,  are 
cured  by  it.  Cutting  pain  in  the  heels,  due  to  traumatic  irritation 
of  the  cord  has  been  cured  by  it. 

It  has  a  considerable  record  in  disease  of  the  liver,  the  organ 
is  usually  sensitive  and  the  patient  feels  worse  from  lying  on  the 
left  side,  like  Ptelea  trifoliata  and  Carduus  Marianus.  As  is  not 
uncommon  in  troubles  of  this  organ,  we  also  find  the  system  try- 
ing to  rid.  itself  of  the  products  of  deficient  oxidation  by  the 
elimination  of  brick-red,  acid,  urinary  deposits,  one  phase  of  the 
so-called  lithgemia,  which  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  too 
much  soot  has  accumulated  in  the  flues  and  that  the  bodily  fires 
are  choked  either  from  deficient  oxidation  or  too  much  fuel  in 
proportion  to  the  oxygen  consumed.     It  will  do  much  for  these 


The  Nat  rums. 


347 


cases,  if  indicated,  but  your  good  judgment  will  add  plenty  of 
fresh  air  and  out-of-door  exercise  to  the  prescription,  this  will 
hasten  the  cure. 

The  photophobia  of  this  remedy  is  remarkable  for  its  intensity 
and  the  fact  that  it  is  worse  by  lamplight;  the  eyes  are  so  in- 
tensely inflamed  that  they  feel  as  though  they  gave  out  heat.  It 
is  a  prime  remedy  for  the  tendency  to  runrounds,  as  they  are 
popularly  termed,  and  when  the  patient  subject  to  them  also  has 
sore  looking  eyes  your  remedy  is  evident  and  will  cure.  Pains 
are  piercing,  compressive  or  boring  in  almost  any  part ;  the  patient 
is  always  better  on  a  dry  day  and  when  out  of  doors.  Many 
symptoms  are  worse  during  the  menses,  notably  the  headaches, 
etc.,  nosebleed  is  apt  to  occur  then  and  the  patient  is  apt  to  be 
chilly :  on  the  contrary  the  Natrum  muriaticum  patient  feels  hot 
during  the  menses. 

All  the  Natrums  have  vesicular  eruptions  at  one  place  or  an- 
other, in  the  Sulphate  and  Muriate  they  occur  about  the  lips,  a 
beady  streak  of  slime  along  the  edge  of  the  tongue  is  also  a  re- 
liable indication  for  the  latter.  The  Hyposulphite  has  been  used 
as  a  topical  application  in  vesicular  erysipelas  for  some  time  by 
the  alopaths,  evidently  homceopathically. 

There  is  a  cough  curable  by  this  remedy.  It  is  so  violent  that 
it  hurts  the  head  and  sides  and  the  patient  is  compelled  to  hold 
them  for  relief ;  here  it  compares  with  Drosera  and  Eupatorium 
perfoliatum. 


NATRUM    MUR. 

Sadness,  worse 
from  consolation. 

Fever  blisters. 

Craves  salt. 

Dryness. 

Constipation. 

Periodicity,  es- 
pecially at  10  a. 
M. 

Pyrexia  with 
head  symptoms. 
Hot  during 
menses. 

Borders,  espe- 
cially of  hair. 

kgg.  Heat  and 
light. 

Amel.  Pressure 
against  back. 


NATRUM  CARB. 

Feeble,  but  im- 
pressionable. 

Indigestion;  in- 
tolerance of  milk. 

Pyrexia  with 
mental  s  y  m  p- 
toms. 

Agg.  Open  air. 
Exertion  during 
menses. 

Amel.  Eating. 
Boring  into  nose. 


NATRUM  PHOS.         NATRUM    SUT.PH. 


General  acid- 
ity. 

Cheeks  alter- 
nately red. 

Increased  mu- 
cous secretions, 
deep  yellow; 
creamy  coatings 
about  base  of 
tongue. 

Loose,  lumpy 
stools. 

Agg.  Light  and 
heat. 


Head  symp- 
toms; especially 
from  injury. 

Liver  symp- 
toms, lying  on 
left  side. 

Loose,  noisy, 
watery  stools, 
after  rising. 

Cough.  com- 
pel holding  the 
sides. 

Chilly  during 
menses. 

Agg.  Damp- 
light,  heat. 

Amel.  Open 
air. 


348  The  Mission  of  Germs. 

THE   MISSION   OF   GERMS. 

By  Dr.  Leslie  Martin.  Baldwinsville,  N.  Y. 

(Concluded.) 

II. 

I  was  called  to  see  a  man  who  was  accidentally  shot,  the  ball 
entering  the  right  side  of  the  abdomen  a  little  above  and  about 
two  inches  from  the  navel,  I  probed  for  the  ball,  and  found  that 
it  had  perforated  the  abdominal  wall,  lodging  somewhere  in  1  he 
abdominal  cavity,  I  made  no  other  attempt  to  locate  the  ball,  and 
ordered  him  to  lie  quietly  in  bed  for  two  weeks  and  take  nothing 
the  first  week  but  cold  water  to  drink,  and  second  week  a  careful 
diet  of  milk  and  water.  At  no  time  did  he  present  any  symp- 
tom of  peritonitis  or  show  rise  of  temperature.  With  this  plan 
of  treatment  he  made  a  good  recovery,  and  subsequently  had  no 
untoward  symptoms.  What  would  have  been  the  result  had  I 
cut  and  probed  and  fed  as  the  expert  surgeon  did  in  the  cases  of 
Garfield  and  McKinley?  I  had  no  surgical  fever  or  germs  to 
fight  and  cause  death. 

It  has  been  asked  why  germs  multiply  so  rapidly  in  disease,  if 
they  were  not  the  cause.  In  mild  cases  of  disease  there  are  not  so 
many  germs  required  to  do  the  work  as  there  are  in  severe  forms. 

Flies  are  classed  as  useless,  a  pest  and  transmitter  of  disease. 
Let  us  again  ask  ourselves,  whether  God  created  flies  for  a  good 
or  evil  mission,  or  to  be  a  blessing  to  man  and  not  a  curse.  Flies 
always  search  for  refuse,  all  forms  of  filth,  dead  carcasses  of  all 
kinds,  and  every  decaying  thing  that  is  deleterious  to  man.  How 
quickly  the  flies  will  deposit  their  eggs  on  all  kinds  of  such  matter 
wherever  found.  Flies  are  scavengers  and  we  never  see  them 
deposit  their  eggs  on  a  healthy  surface,  but  always  on  dead  mat- 
ter. Their  mission  can  be  compared  to  that  of  germs.  You  have 
observed  that  they  come  in  very  large  numbers  to  deposit  their 
eggs  on  a  large  carcass,  and  in  lesser  numbers  to  a  small  one.  You 
have  seen  how  rapidly  their  eggs  hatch  and  become  active  worms 
or  maggots  and  in  a  day  or  two  we  will  see  the  large  body  of  the 
dead  animal  rise  and  fall  as  if  there  was  life  there  from  the  active 
movements  of  the  worms  feeding,  and  the  carcass,  a  mass  of  liv- 


The  Mission  of  Genus.  349 

ing  worms,  and  in  two  or  three  days  they  have  consumed  the  de- 
caying body.  After  their  work  is  all  done  they  are  transformed 
into  other  forms  of  organisms  or  bodies,  and  then  search  for 
other  dead  matter  to  destroy,  and  bring  aid  and  not  a  curse  to 
man.  If  we  desire  not  to  have  so  many  flies,  do  not  furnish  the 
refuse  matter  for  them  to  feed  and  propagate  on. 

Germs  are  attracted  to  their  natural  soil.  We  will  take  a 
typhoid  soil  as  an  illustration.  We  have  a  flock  of  sixty  or  more 
germs  of  all  kinds  of  disease  floating  about  through  the  air 
searching  for  the  soil  that  will  afford  their  own  special  food. 
The  first  germ  to  examine  the  typhoid  soil  is  an  erysipelas  germ 
and  finds  it  not  adapted  for  its  food,  and  passes  on  in  search  of 
an  erysipelas  soil  to  feed  upon ;  following  this  erysipelas  germ  we 
may  have  to  examine  this  typhoid  soil,  pneumonic,  anthrax, 
tuberculous,  diphtheritic  and  a  score  of  other  kinds  of  germs,  and 
find  this  typhoid  soil  repugnant  to  their  nostrils  and  distasteful, 
and  they  all  pass  on  in  search  of  their  own  special  food.  Now 
comes  a  typhoid  germ  that  finds  its  own  special  soil  to  feed  and 
propagate  upon  and  begins  the  work  of  aiding  the  vital  force  to 
change  and  purify  the  system  from  this  disease,  and  when  its 
work  is  completed  it  leaves,  when  the  patient  is  restored  to 
health,  again  in  search  of  other  fields  of  typhoid  soil.  Now, 
when  this  typhoid  germ  has  entered  and  has  developed  thou- 
sands more  of  its  kind  to  aid  in  the  work  of  purification,  there 
appears  on  the  scene  a  much  more  powerful  enemy,  a  yellow  fever 
germ,  examining  this  typhoid  soil.  Now,  as  the  yellow  fever 
germ  is  so  much  more  powerful  and  virulent,  as  bacteriologists 
claim,  why  does  not  it  exterminate  or  expel  the  typhoid  germs 
and  convert  this  typhoid  soil  into  yellow  fever  only?  It  cannot 
because  this  is  a  typhoid  soil,  and  not  adapted  to  its  use.  For 
the  same  reason  all  of  the  other  most  powerful  germs,  as  those 
of  bubonic  plague,  small-pox,  tubercular  and  Asiatic  cholera, 
and  all  of  the  other  germs  known  to  bacteriologists,  which  are 
stronger  and  could  expel  the  typhoid  germs  and  occupy  their  soil, 
refuse  it  the  same  as  the  yellow  fever  germs  that  preceded  them, 
and  search  for  their  own  special  soil  to  feed  and  propagate  on. 
If  the  germs  found  in  small-pox  are  the  cause,  why  do  not  all 
persons  exposed  to  its  influence  in  close,  warm,   illy  ventilated 


350  The  Mission  of  Genus. 

places  contract  the  disease?  Take  for  an  illustration,  a  railroad 
coach  with  fifty  or  sixty  passengers  in  the  winter  time,  close  and 
very  warm,  and  in  that  coach  is  a  person  who  has  small-pox,  and 
has  ridden  with  the  occupants  of  the  coach  some  one  hundred 
or  more  miles,  this  person  is  sick,  and  at  the  end  of  the  journey 
is  found  to  have  genuine  small-pox,  and  all  of  the  passengers  in 
that  coach  have  been  exposed  to  its  germs.  Now,  if  the  germ  is 
the  cause  of  small-pox,  why  do  not  all  in  that  coach  contract  the 
disease  if  the  germ  has  such  power?  After  all  of  these  passengers 
have  been  carefully  quarantined  and  vaccinated,  we  find,  as  a  re- 
sult, that  possibly  two  or  three  persons  exposed  in  that  coach 
out  of  the  fifty  or  sixty,  have  the  small-pox.  Why  not  all  in  the 
coach?  This  proves  positively  that  the  others  were  healthy  and 
not  susceptible  to  its  influence,  as  a  healthy  person  is  immune 
from  this,  and  all  other  diseases  known.  If  vaccination  had  pro- 
tective power  why  did  the  two  or  three  cases  come  down  with 
the  disease  and  not  the  others? 

We  know  from  many  good  and  reliable  records  that  vaccination 
is  not  a  good  preventive.  If  it  were,  why  do  so  many  in  armies, 
and  all  over  the  world,  after  being  repeatedly  vaccinated,  have 
the  small-pox,  and  vaccination  has  to  be  so  often  repeated  on 
every  new  exposure?  Vaccine  from  the  animal  is  just  as  bad  to 
use  as  the  vaccine  from  arm  to  arm,  or  from  a  supposed  healthy 
child.  We  have  personally  seen  and  know  that  the  cows  have 
all  kinds  of  tumors,  and  cancers,  and  all  kinds  of  disease  like  the 
human  race.  All  of  their  diseases  lie  latent  in  the  animal  the 
same  as  in  the  human  family,  and  are  shown  and  developed  as  age 
advances,  and  the  vaccine  is  no  more  safe  to  use  than  the  human. 
I  have  seen  enormous  cancerous  livers,  and  cancerous  tumors 
upon  different  portions  of  the  animal's  body,  these  observations 
include  the  horse  also,  these  diseases  proved  fatal  the  same  as 
in  the  human  family.  Do  tubercle  bacilli  cause  consumption, 
the  scourge  of  the  human  race  today? 

If  so,  why  do  so  few  over  the  whole  world  have  it  when  milk  and 
other  foods  have  been  eaten  and  drank  by  children  and  adults 
for  ages  of  time,  with  impunity  and  no  tuberculous  disease  the 
result  ?  Even  at  the  present  day  a  healthy  child  or  adult  can  drink 
freely  of  tuberculous  milk,  and  the  vital  forces  have  the  power 


The  Mission  of  Genus.  351 

created  within  us,  by  the  all-wise  Creator  to  protect  us,  to  kill 
not  only  the  bacillus,  but  every  germ  known,  or  that  ever  will  be 
known.  The  all-wise  God  affords  us  protection  to  aid  us  to 
cleanse  and  purify  us  when  we  have  disease. 

We  are  the  first  cause,  and  we  never  see  germs  in  disease  until 
the  soil  is  produced  by  us,  we  are  the  first  great  cause  of  all 
diseases,  by  unhealthy  and  unhygienic  conditions  and  environ- 
ment germs  come,  and  then  only  do  we  find  them.  If  germs 
cause  tuberculosis  in  cattle,  contagious  and  communicable,  why 
do  we  not  find  more,  or  even  all,  of  the  herd  tuberculous  in  a 
large  herd,  when  all  have  been. subject  to  the  same  unsanitary 
conditions  and  environment?  Because  the  rest  of  the  herd  were 
healthy  and  not  susceptible,  but  the  healthy  ones  may,  in  course 
of  time,  being  constantly  exposed  to  this  unsanitary  environment, 
become  tuberculous. 

I  have  personally  visited  many  stables  among  farmers  and 
others,  where  cattle  are  herded,  and  have  seen  many  very  foul, 
filthy,  ill-ventilated,  dark,  damp  and  wet  underground  basements 
or  cellars,  used  for  housing  animals.  In  many  large  cellar-stables, 
when  closed  for  the  night,  there  is  no  light  or  ventilation,  doors 
and  windows  being  closed  to  keep  them  warm  so  that  the  cows 
would  give  more  milk.  When  the  door  was  opened  on  cold  winter 
mornings  this  foul,  pent  up  air  would  rush  out,  a  heavy  body  of 
steam,  laden  with  the  rank,  foul  odor  of  offal,  as  well  as  the  vit- 
iated, peculiar,  sweetish  odor  of  their  breath.  How  can  pure  milk 
be  expected  from  such  a  source?  Sterilized  or  Pasteurized  milk 
is  not  healthy  milk,  as  sterilized  and  Pasteurizing  kill  or  destroy 
the  red  animal  principle  in  the  milk,  and  it  is  deprived  of  its 
real  food  value.  Children  cannot  thrive  on  such  milk.  We  are 
the  cause  of  cows  becoming  tuberculous  and  unhealthy.  I  have 
seen  a  large  number  of  cows  lie  down  in  their  own  excretions,  and 
their  hind  quarters  become  covered  with  a  solid  mass  of  filth  dur- 
ing the  winter  season,  from  their  offal,  which  strongly  adhered 
to  them  from  one  to  two  inches  thick,  until  they  were  turned 
out  to  pasture  in  the  spring  and  shed  their  hair.  Also  the  cow's 
whole  udder  and  teats  were  well  soaked  with  their  own  excre- 
tions, which  dropped  off  in  drops  in  the  morning.  Now  these 
cow's  udders  were  never  washed  before  milking;   the   milkers 


352  The  Mission  of  Germs. 

would  take  a  wisp  of  hay  or  straw  and  wipe  the  dripping  secre- 
tions from  the  udders  and  teats,  but  not  from  the  bag,  so  that 
while  milking,  the  secretions  would  run  down  from  the  cow's  ud- 
der into  the  hand  and  drip  off  into  the  milk  between  the  milk- 
man's ringers.  This  milk  was  rank  with  the  taste  of  these  secre- 
tions. (I  have  personally  seen  this  and  will  make  affidavit  there- 
to.) Also,  I  have  seen  lumps  of  the  soft  offal  fall  from  the 
cow's  bag  into  the  pail  of  milk  while  milking,  and  the  milkman 
put  his  soiled  hand  down  in  the  milk  and  take  the  lump  of  offal 
out.  Other  times  when  the  cow's  bag  was  dry  and  covered  with 
dry  dust  and  dirt  and  while  milking  this  dry  dust  and  dirt  would 
fall  and  cover  the  foam  with  dust  and  dirt,  and  this  dust  and  dirt 
would  remain  on  the  milk  until  it  was  carried  to  the  milk  room 
or  cellar  to  be  strained  into  pans  for  creaming,  and  in  the  bottom 
of  the  strainer  would  be  a  good  handful  of  hacked  black  dirt. 
Many  times  the  milk  was  strained  and  left  in  very  damp,  mouldy, 
musty,  unsanitary  cellars,  to  make  butter  to  sell.  Also  these 
cows  were  never  carded  or  washed  from  year  to  year,  and  in  the 
spring  of  the  year  have  seen  the  cows'  backs  full  of  large  white 
grubs.  Also  one  or  two  in  the  herd  very  poor  and  lousy :  many 
would  die.  These  grubs  and  lice  were  never  found  on  healthy 
animals.  Now  if  the  germs  of  tuberculosis  have  the  great  power 
assigned  to  them,  why  did  they  not  attack  the  unhealthy  ones, 
that  the  grubs  and  lice  did  before  the  grubs  and  lice. 

These  cows  and  horses  often  drink  the  water  of  stagnant  ponds 
or  foul  river  water  or  swamps,  or  foul  wells,  when  the  water 
was  contaminated  from  the  backing  of  the  barnyards  into  wells 
after  heavy  storms.  Yet  these  people  lived  and  drank  such  con- 
taminated milk  from  tuberculous  cows,  and  also  from  all  filthy 
secretions.  Can  germs  be  the  cause  of  tuberculosis  in  cattle  and 
man? 

Preventive  Treatment. 

With  pure  air  and  sanitary  environment  none  of  the  cows  or 
any  of  the  stock  become  unhealthy  for  germs  to  feed  upon.  Also 
all  of  the  diseased  and  tuberculous  ones  can  be  cured  without 
the  law  ordering  them  to  be  killed,  simply  by  observing  and 
putting  in  force  sanitary,  hygienic  conditions. 


The  Mission  of  Germs.  353 

Our  laws  would  be  more  potent  for  good  if  the  money  were 
employed  strictly  to  enforce  sanitary  laws  rather  than  to  pay 
for  the  destruction  of  herds  after  they  become  tuberculous.  The 
animals  can  be  cured  just  as  well  from  tuberculosis,  as  we  now 
cure  it  in  the  human  family.  If  we  want  to  eradicate  con- 
sumption in  the  human  as  well  as  in  the  animal  kingdom,  do  not 
supply  the  environment  or  conditions  for  its  propagation  as  we 
now  do  in  all  cities  and  villages  by  the  hot-beds  of  so  many  un- 
sanitary tenements.  It  is  useless  for  us  to  erect  hospitals  for  the 
tuberculous,  as  long  as  our  lax  laws  permit  property  holders  to 
maintain  and  construct  their  foul,  unsanitary  tenements,  to 
breed  diseases  of  all  kinds. 

The  first  great  factor  would  be  for  our  laws  to  be  strictly  en- 
forced, that  all  living  rooms  in  all  tenements,  and  other  un- 
sanitary places,  be  well  supplied  with  good,  pure  air  and  light, 
and  free  from  all  filth  and  unsanitary  conditions.  If  we  strictly 
enforce  such  a  law,  in  a  few  years  we  would  nearly  eradicate  this 
Great  White  Plague.  Such  a  law  would  prove  effective  in  all 
kinds  of  diseases  which  man  or  animal  is  subject  to  over  the 
whole  world.  We  learn  that  the  reason  why  small-pox  is  so  fatal 
with  the  Esquimaux  is  that  the  temperature  outside  of  their  huts 
in  that  frigid  climate  is  often  6o°  below  zero,  and  in  huts  gener- 
ally 900  above,  and  only  a  small  opening  at  the  apex  of  the  hut,  so 
that  the  smoke  of  the  burning  oil  might  escape.  It  is  so  hot  and 
close  in  their  huts,  that  all  of  the  inmates  are  naked,  and  they 
wipe  the  perspiration  freely  from  their  bodies  and  it  adds  to  the 
general  filth. 

It  has  been  proved  in  the  large  hospital  in  Ontario.  Canada, 
and  localities  in  the  United  States  that  about  70  per  cent,  of 
tuberculous  cases  can  be  cured  by  simple,  pure  cold  air.  good  en- 
vironment and  hygienic  conditions,  with  no  drugs  in  any  form 
whatever. 

I  have  treated  and  seen  many  cases  in  the  very  last  stage, 
whose  lives  were  dispaired  of,  recover  better  health  than  they 
had  ever  enjoyed,  and  after  one  or  two  years,  go  back  again 
to  their  former  habits  of  living  and  environments,  and  damp  places 
where  they  formerly  lived  and  relapse  rapidly  to  their  old 
enemy  and  prove  fatal  in  a  few  months.     Patients  who  recover 


354  The  Mission  of  Germs. 

from  tuberculosis  must  never  go  back  to  any  of  their  old  habits  of 
living  or  environment,  and  they  will  never  get  a  relapse  or  re- 
currence of  their  old  disease.  Small-pox  was  nearly  eradicated 
in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  other  localities,  by  cleaning  up  all  filth 
and  enforcing  strict  sanitary  laws ;  also,  yellow  fever  in  New  Or- 
leans by  enforcing  the  same  laws.  Unsanitary  conditions  and  not 
germs  are  the  first  causes  of  small-pox,  yellow  fever,  consump- 
tion, etc. 

Microbes  and  Germs  "All  a  Modern  Humbug." 

In  the  autobiography  of  Andrew  D.  White  is  to  be  found  this 
very  significant  paragraph :  "Count  Muenster,  who  was  selected 
by  the  German  Emperor  as  the  head  of  the  delegation  to  the 
first  Peace  Conference  at  the  Hague,  to  represent  Germany,  in  a 
conversation  with  Andrew  D.  White,  said  that  bacteria,  microbes 
and  disease  germs  were  'all  a  modern  humbug.'  Such  a  state- 
ment coming  from  one  of  the  leading  scholars  of  Germany,  where 
research  in  bacteriology  is  carried  to  its  highest  degree  of  perfec- 
tion, is  certainly  very  remarkable."  Count  Muenster,  as  one  of 
the  leading  scholars  of  Germany,  and  as  one  of  the  German 
Emperor's  advisers  and  counselors,  is  in  a  position  to  know 
something  about  the  development  of  medical  science  in  his  own 
country.  But  unlike  the  medical  profession  of  Germany,  he  has 
no  apparent  interest  whatever  in  maintaining  the  germ  theory 
which  has  become  the  source  of  so  many  official  positions  and 
good  salaries  among  the  medical  profession. 

Man  has  the  power  to  entail  on  himself  disease  and  suffering. 
Disease  means  a  house  cleaning,  a  purification,  therefore,  disease 
is  not  a  curse  but  a  blessing.  When  our  system  is  cleansed  from 
its  impurities  we  are  restored  to  health  again.  Observe  the  pa- 
tient after  a  severe  course  of  fever,  or  any  other  severe  disease, 
he  generally  remains  well  and  has  no  return  of  the  fever,  or  any 
other  disease,  unless  he  resumes  his  former  habits  of  living. 

I  can,  and  you  may,  recall  many  cases  of  fever  that,  after  the 
patient  recovers,  remains  well  the  rest  of  his  life :  the  same  dis- 
ease never  recurs ;  also,  he  remains  immune  from  other  sickness. 
Pain  is  a  friend,  not  an  enemy.  It  is  a  sentry  on  guard  to  give 
us  a  warning  of  danger.  It  is  then  for  us  to  ask  ourselves,  what 
have  I  been  doing,  or  eating,  to  cause  this  pain?    We  must  ask 


The  Mission  of  Germs.  355 

Mr.  Pain  to  just  keep  on  proding  us.  until  we  learn  what  we  have 
done  to  cause  this  suffering.  If  we  learn  the  cause,  that  moment 
we  are  two-thirds  cured.  Germs  did  not  cause  this  pain,  but 
some  inherent  ferment.  Our  old  and  expert  observer,  Prof. 
Bomberg.  says  that  "pain  in  a  nerve  is  a  prayer  for  healthy  blood." 
Pain  in  a  nerve  indicates  that  it  is  receiving  impurities,  and  acts 
as  a  poison,  and  gives  us  a  warning  of  danger. 

As  germs  were  created  before  Adam  was,  if  they  were  the 
cause  of  disease,  why  did  they  not  attack  and  destroy  Adam  be- 
fore Eve  was  created,  so  there  would  have  been  no  human  race 
to  suffer?  Let  us  keep  first  and  prominently  in  our  minds  that 
God  created  Adam  pure  and  holy,  and  warned  him  what  the  re- 
sult would  be  if  he  disobeyed  Him  and  sinned,  and  at  this  present 
time  we  are  suffering  the  results  of  Adam's  and  Eve's  dis- 
obedience and  sin.  and  germs  were  not  the  cause  of  the  first  dis- 
ease from  sin  that  appeared  in  the  human  family.  God  made 
antidotes  from  the  beginning  of  creation  for  every  known  dis- 
ease. These  remedies  He  planted  all  over  the  whole  world,  on 
mountains,  hills,  valley  and  plain,  also  in  the  animal,  vegetable 
and  mineral  kingdoms,  for  man  to  study  and  learn  how  to  apply 
them  in  all  forms  of  disease  for  his  good.  Observe  how.  for 
malaria,  He  caused  the  Eucalyptus,  Salix,  Eupatorium  per.  and 
Peruvian  tree  to  grow  along  malarious  rivers,  swamps  and  all 
other  remedies  were  placed  in  their  proper  localities. 

If  we  wish  to  be  healthy  we  must  know  and  obey  the  laws  of 
health.  How  shall  we  accomplish  this  result  and  conquer  dis- 
ease? First,  we  would  have  the  governments  over  the  whole 
world  enact  stringent  laws  and  enforce  them  that  students  of 
every  school  be  taught  thoroughly,  physiology  and  hygiene, 
which  are  at  the  present  time  so  sadly  neglected,  and  these 
studies  would  be  the  forerunner  to  cleanliness  and  sanitation. 
If  this  law  was  enacted  and  strictly  enforced  it  would  open  the 
door  for  the  study  of  dietetics,  and  to  prepare  good  and  whole- 
some hygienic  foods.  It  is  true  that  this  is  an  age  of  pappy, 
sloppy,  and  "predigested"  foods,  which  are  gulped  down  and 
need  no  biting,  chewing  or  mastication,  but  the  digestion  of 
these  pappy,  unhygienic  foods  is  left  mostly  to  intestinal  diges- 
tion and  poor  assimilation ;  such  prepared  foods  are  the  principal 


356  The  Mission  of  Genus. 

cause  at  the  present  day  of  99  per  cent,  of  all  cases  of  appendi- 
citis and  adenoids  of  children's  air  passages.  Fifty  years  ago  ap- 
pendicitis was  very  rare,  and  caused  by  some  foreign  substance. 
Adenoids  were  not  then  known  in  children.  The  function  of 
the  salivary  glands  of  the  mouth  is  to  alkalize  the  food  before 
passing  from  the  mouth  to  the  stomach,  whose  secretions  are 
acid.  When  our  foods  are  well  masticated  and  thoroughly  in- 
salivated and  alkalized  in  the  mouth  before  swallowing  to  mingle 
with  the  gastric  juice  of  the  stomach  which  is  acid,  and  when 
the  alkalized  food  meets  the  acid  secretion  in  the  stomach,  it 
changes  and  alkalizes  it  and  prevents  acid  fermentation.  If  acid 
fermentation  is  not  prevented,  then  follows  a  long  train  of  all 
kinds  of  derangements  of  the  digestive  organs,  and  this  condition 
forms  the  basis  of  a  large  number  of  diseases  at  the  present  time. 

History  proves  that  in  former  ages,  when  our  foods  were 
hard,  and  man  had  to  chew  them  thoroughly  before  swallowing, 
and  by  this  act  the  food  became  thoroughly  insalivated  and  al- 
kalized, appendicitis  and  adenoids  were  scarcely  known.  At  the 
present  day  we  can  see  the  good  results  from  the  drainage  of 
marshes,  swamps  and  low  lands,  which  have  nearly  eradicated 
fever  and  ague  or  intermittent  fevers ;  also,  the  bilious  remittent 
fevers,  which,  about  one  hundred  years  ago,  were  so  prevalent, 
that  nearly  every  family  had  the  ague  and  kept  quinine  in  the 
house,  and  all  the  members  would  take  it  daily  before  meals,  to 
ward  off  the  dreaded  so-called  shakes  of  those  days.  In  many 
cases  quinine  and  other  remedies  failed  to  control  the  chills,  and 
then  cases  would  last  them  seven  years,  and  these  sufferers  would 
say  that  we  must  shake  or  wear  it  out,  if  it  did  not  shake  them 
out  of  existence.  Many  of  these  did  continue  seven  years,  and  these 
afflicted  ones  were  sallow,  wan  and  very  emaciated,  and  many 
suffered  from  the  Ague  Cake,  or  enormous  enlargement  of  the 
spleen,  from  its  congestion  from  the  very  severe  chills,  and  at 
this  stage  many  succumbed  from  the  resultant  complications  of 
the  ague.  I  have  treated  very  many  such  cases,  and  have  seen 
some  patients  take  twenty  grains  of  quinine  at  a  single  dose  to 
control  the  chills,  and  such  large  doses  failed  to  conquer  these 
severe  chills. 

In  villages  where  they  have  sewers,  the  health  board  has  neg- 


The  Mission  of  Germs.  357 

lected  their  duty  to  compel  and  strictly  enforce  the  law,  that  all 
water  closets,  drains  and  cesspools  in  the  corporation  be  well 
connected  with  the  sewers.  We  know  of  villages  where  only  a 
few  parties  have  their  water  closets  connected  with  sewer,  and 
in  such  towns  they  have  many  cases  of  typhoid  fever  and  diph- 
theria from  such  unsanitary  sewers.  If  the  health  board  in  these 
villages  would  make  a  personal  inspection  of  all  these  houses  where 
the  water  closets  are  not  connected  with  the  sewer,  they  would 
find  full  proof  of  the  source  of  these  two  filth  diseases,  which 
many  times  prove  so  fatal.  They  would  find  on  their  inspection 
many  of  the  most  foul  and  unsanitary  water  closets,  and  the  ex- 
halations from  these  foul  closets  contaminating  the  air,  which  can 
be  readily  detected  at  night,  in  warm,  or  rainy,  damp  weather. 
After  their  inspection  they  would,  no  doubt,  be  surprised  at  the 
bad,  unsanitary  conditions  found,  and  wonder  why  there  is  not 
more  sickness  in  town  than  there  is  from  the  unsanitary  dele- 
terious, contaminated  sewers.  Well  enforced  sanitary  laws  will 
eradicate  all  kinds  and  types  of  disease  that  have  their  origin 
from  such  contaminated  conditions.  If  we  want  to  eliminate  this 
type  of  disease,  we  must  not  supply  the  soil  and  conditions  from 
such  sources.  We  will  admit,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  for  the 
large  majority  of  people  who  are  laboring  under  the  delusion 
that  germs  cause  disease.  Take  a  case  of  typhoid  fever,  when  the 
patient,  after  a  course  of  three  or  four  weeks,  is  just  recover- 
ing, or  has  recovered,  from  the  fever,  and  there  is  a  larger  force 
of  germs  than  when  this  fever  began,  and  these  germs  have  the 
power  embodied  in  them  to  cause  the  fever,  why  do  they  not, 
while  the  patient  is  in  a  weakened  condition  of  his  vital  forces, 
renew  their  attack,  and,  if  necessary,  repeat  it  until  they  cause 
the  death  of  the  patient  ?  We  know  positively  they  do  not,  as  the 
vital  force  of  the  patient,  with  the  aid  of  the  germs,  the  system, 
has  been  cleansed  and  purified  and  restored  to  healthy  conditions, 
and  there  is  no  typhoid  soil  for  the  germs  to  feed  upon,  and  these 
germs  have  not  the  power  to  create  anew  this  soil. 

Remember,  that  if  we  would  be  healthy,  we  must  know  and 
obey  the  laws  of  health,  and  this  door  is  always  open  for  all  who 
will  enter  in,  but  very  few  find  it  and  enter  in  its  portals.  We 
have  but  a  few  plain,  simple  rules  to  adopt.    We  take,  first,  pure 


358  The  Mission  of  Germs. 

air,  as  that  was  designated  by  the  Creator  as  the  first  element  that 
we  all  should  receive  when  born  into  this  world.  But  what  a 
large  majority  in  after  life  avail  themselves  of  this  great  boon. 
We  find  very  many  at  the  present  day  retire  at  night,  and  say 
that  prayer,  "Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep  and  pray  the  Lord  my 
soul  to  keep,"  and  then  close  the  doors  and  windows  tightly. 
Some  fifty  years  ago  we  had  many  cases  of  croup  in  families 
and  quite  fatal.  These  cases  were  all  caused  from  close,  impure 
air  in  warm  rooms.  The  children  always  slept  in  warm,  close, 
unventilated  rooms,  supposedly  to  keep  them  warm  and  from  tak- 
ing colds,  and  all  of  thec~  cases  were  caused  in  so  doing.  Now 
at  the  present  day  we  rarely  hear  of  a  child  having  the  dreaded 
croup,  as  the  sleeping  room  is  supplied  with  fresh  air. 

We  find  as  the  first  great  factor  in  consumption,  the  dreaded 
"Great  White  Plague,"  at  the  present  day,  the  first  symptoms  are, 
on  careful  examination  of  the  patient,  some  derangement  of 
the  digestive  organs,  and  associated  with  this  condition,  impure 
air  in  the  living  rooms,  but  especially   in  the   sleeping  rooms. 

This  great  scourge  can  be  nearly  eradicated  by  pure,  well 
cooked,  hygienic  foods  and  pure  air,  and  we  can  discard  drugs 
entirely.  To  conquer  this  great  scourge  of  the  human  family,  we 
must  have  very  stringent  laws  enacted  by  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment, and  our  official  authorities  in  all  of  the  States  fully  en- 
force the  law.  The  first  great  law  chat  should  be  enacted  is  to 
eradicate  all  now  existing  tenements  in  cities,  or  wherever  located, 
to  first  get  rid  of  these  hot-beds  of  consumption  and  kindred 
diseases.  Our  authorities  must  cut  the  tap  root  of  the  tubercular 
tree,  foul  tenements,  and  forbid  the  construction  of  others,  save 
those  in  which  every  living  and  sleeping  room  can  be  supplied  with 
fresh  air  and  light.  There  is  certainly  no  use  of  our  government 
building  and  expending  large  sums  of  money  for  consumptive 
hospitals,  until  we  exterminate  the  first  great  cause.  If  we  adopt 
this  course,  consumption  can  easily  be  eradicated  in  the  United 
States. 

The  sum  of  the  laws  of  health  are,  pure  air,  sanitation,  good 
environment,  and  good  wholesome,  well  cooked  foods. 


Chronic  Case  of  Ileo-colitis.  359 

A  CHRONIC  CASE  OF   ILEO-COLITIS.* 

By  Agostino  Mattoli. 

Y.  D.,  born  March  22d,  1906,  was,  at  time  of  birth,  a  very 
healthy  child,  weighing  four  Kg.  (8>4  lbs.),  and  he  developed 
normally  until  early  in  August,  1906,  when,  as  a  result  of  the 
change  from  mother's  milk  to  artificial  diet,  necessitated  by  his 
mother's  illness,  he  began  to  fail. 

A  regular  school  specialist  was  called,  who  made  the  diagnosis 
of  ileo-colitis,  and  began  his  treatment  with  calomel,  followed  by 
castor  oil,  etc.     .     .     . 

During  the  ensuing  winter  the  child  seemed  pretty  well,  though 
every  now  and  then  he  had  an  intestinal  attack.  In  the  spring  of 
1907  the  child  failed  to  gain,  looked  very  delicate  and  the  intes- 
tines were  almost  all  the  time  out  of  order.  Then  the  specialist 
ordered  that  the  little  patient  be  taken  to  a  summer  resort,  in- 
structing the  parents  to  continue  his  treatment  there.  But  even 
the  country  air  and  all  possible  care  from  the  mother  (a  very 
intelligent  American  woman)  did  very  little  good  and  the  child 
was  sickly  all  summer. 

In  December,  1907,  the  parents,  back  in  Rome,  and  being  very 
much  afraid  of  losing  their  child,  resolved  to  try  Homoeopathy, 
and  they  sent  for  me. 

I  examined  him  December  1st,  1907,  and  found  the  little  pa- 
tient, then  one  year,  eight  and  a  half  months  old,  weighing  10 
Kg.  (20^  lbs.),  and  looking  very  badly.  The  face,  cheeks  and 
lips,  were  pale,  the  head  seemed  too  large,  the  abdomen  tympan- 
itic, the  tongue  coated.  He  was  unable  to  digest,  as  the  mother 
said,  even  a  tablespoonful  of  milk.  He  was  irritable  all  the 
time,  weak,  never  wanted  to  play :  sometimes  he  was  constipated 
and  sometimes  had  diarrhcea,  most  of  the  food  being  undigested. 

Considering  the  symptoms  and  the  fact  of  the  frequent  allo- 
pathic doses  the  child  had  taken,  I  prescribed  Nux  vom.  3X  for 
six  days,  morning  and  night,  and  a  carefully  arranged,  suitable 
diet,  the  principal  part  being  a  quart  of  milk  in  every  twenty-four 


*The  Recorder  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Spencer  Carleton,  of  New  York  City, 
for  the  manuscript  of  Dr.  Mattoli's  excellent  and  very  suggestive  paper. 
Editor  of  the  Homozopathic  Recorder. 


360  Chronic  Case  of  Ileo-colitis. 

hours.  The  mother  was  very  sceptical  about  its  being  possible 
for  the  child  to  digest  milk,  as  he  never  had  been  able  to. 

After  six  days,  the  report  was,  good  improvement,  the  child 
digested  his  milk  and  took  it  with  pleasure. 

Nux  vom.  6x,  one  dose  in  the  evening  only,  and  Sac.  lac,  was 
the  new  prescription  for  the  next  six  days. 

Child  reported  to  be  still  better,  but  had  still,  sometimes,  con- 
stipation, and  sometimes  diarrhoea,  especially  in  the  morning, 
followed  by  weakness  and  dislike  of  water. 

Sulphur  200th,  was  prescribed,  a  dose  every  other  day,  for  six 
days,  and  Sac.  lac. 

January  1,  1908. — Patient  generally  better,  weight,  11  Kg. 
(22^  lbs.).  Sulphur  200th,  a  dose  every  week,  and  Sac.  lac, 
was  prescribed. 

The  child  continued  to  improve,  and  on  April  22,  weighed 
12.200  Kg.  (25  lbs.),  slept  very  well,  was  round-faced  and  red- 
cheeked,  was  always  happy,  and  played  boisterously  all  the 
time. 

The  mother  said,  "His  appetite  is  wonderful,  he  wants  to  eat  all 
the  time,  and  the  assimilation  of  his  food  is  almost  perfect ;  he  has 
a  little  trouble  with  teething,  at  present,  and  is  rather  thirsty, 
and  two  or  three  times  has  had  diarrhoea,  rather  green  and 
slimy." 

I  gave  Calc.  phosph.  3X,  one  dose  a  day,  for  seven  days. 
Child  reported  much  better  and  having  no  more  trouble  with 
his  bowels.  Prescribed  Calc.  phosph.  6x  a  dose  every  other 
day,  and  Sac.  lac. 

May  16. — Child  well,  gained  400  grammes  more  since  his  last 
weight,  in  spite  of  his  being  in  Rome  in  hot  weather.  No  medi- 
cine. He  is  now  two  years,  two  months  •  old,  has  been  six  months 
only,  under  homoeopathic  treatment,  is  well,  happy,  and  weighs 
Kg.,  12.600  (25^4  lbs.). 

What  is  there  to  say  in  connection  with  this  case  ?  It  certainly 
shows  the  wonderful  action  of  the  indicated  remedy  and  the  ease 
with  which  our  school  can  cure  cases  called  chronic  and  hopeless 
by  our  regular  school  friends,  who,  with  their  strong  doses, 
while  trying  to  help  their  patients,  do  them  much  harm,  and  often 
when  they  do  get  well,  it  happens,  not  as  a  result  of  their  having 


Hieracium  Pilosella.  361 

followed  nature  in  her  grand  and  immutable  laws,  but  ab- 
solutely "Contra  Medicum  !" 

Great  allopaths  still  advise  their  pupils  about,  at  least,  not  harm- 
ing any  of  their  patients,  and  Hyett,  in  the  preface  of  his  book 
on  anatomy,  writes,  "There  are  very  few  drugs  that  are  really 
useful  in  practice,  and  those  can  be  written  on  a  finger  nail,  but 
what  I  recommend  is  not  to  do  any  harm  to  the  patients,  and 
this  many  doctors  never  learn  during  all  their  lifetime !"     .     .     . 

Holt,  in  his  book,  "Diseases  of  Infancy  and  Childhood,"  on 
page  359,  speaking  of  the  treatment  of  chronic  ileo-colitis,  writes 
— "Little  or  nothing  is  to  be  expected  from  drugs  ;  no  greater  mis- 
take is  made  than  to  give  these  children,  week  after  week,  the 
various  diarrhoea  mixtures,  with  the  expectation  that  ultimately 
the  formula  which  exactly  meets  the  wants  of  the  particular  case 
will  be  found.  Drugs  are  to  be  used  only  for  the  relief  of  special 
symptoms !" 

And  being  so,  why,  instead  of  trying  the  palliative  treatment 
(that  is  always  harmful),  do  not  our  dear  colleagues  consult 
with  us  over  these  cases  when  they  have  seen  that  we  are  able,  by 
our  system  of  therapeutics,  "similia  similibus  curantur,"  to  cure 
these  patients — fighting  always  the  cause  of  the  disease — tute, 
cito  et  jucundef 

Rome,  Italy,  June  3,  1908. 


HIERACIUM   PILOSELLA. 
By  Dr.  E.  Fornias. 

In  the  Revue  Homoeopatique  Francaise,  for  February,  1908, 
we  find  an  interesting  article  on  the  common  Creeping  Mouse- 
ear  (Spa.,  Pilosela  0'  vellosilla;  Fch.,  Oreille  de  souris;  Ger., 
Habichts  kraut).  It  belongs  to  the  Hieracium,  gender  of  the 
liqueliform,  herbaceous  Tynanthae,  one  of  the  richest  in  species. 
"The  name  Hieracium  is  derived  from  the  Greek,  and  signifies 
hawk,  because  this  bird  of  prey,  according  to  Pliny,  as  soon  as 
its  sight  flags  never  fails  to  recover  its  sharpness  to  rub  its  eyes 
with  the  juice  of  this  herb ;  or,  more  probable,  because  in  former 
times  the  young  hawks,  trained  for  the  chase,  were  fed  on  the 
seeds  of  the  plant  known  in  botany  under  the  name  of  Hiera- 


362  Hieracium  Pilosella. 

cium  Murorum,  and  which,  undoubtedly,  gave  its  name  to  all 
the  species  of  the  gender." 

"The  Hawk-weeds,  O.  Cichoracece,  usually  flourish  in  high 
mountains,  but  are  found  also  in  low  regions.  Among  them  we 
should  mention :" 

1.  "The  Hieracium  Murorum  {Auricular  muris  major,  Pul- 
monaire  des  Francais),  whose  common  characteristic  is  that 
they  possess  red-brown  spots  spread  on  their  leaves.  The 
country  people  look  for  this  plant  on  account  of  its  aperient  and 
vulnerary  properties." 

2.  "The  French  Hawk-weed  (Pulmonaria  Gallica),  which 
grows  abundantly  in  the  woods  and  has  the  same  properties  as 
the  above.  But  the  best  known  is  the  Hieracium  Pilosella, 
which  is  the  one  we  shall  consider  and  study." 

"The  Hieracium  Pilosella  is  found  by  the  side  of  roads, 
along  slopes,  and  in  all  uncultivated  lands.  The  vilous  stems 
creep  from  the  soil,  bringing  forth  white,  shaggy  leaves,  like 
mouse-ears,  sprouting  suckers  and  carrying  on  their  peduncles, 
sulphur-yellow  flowers,  those  at  the  periphery  being  usually 
streaked  with  red  underneath.  Its  roots  are  short  and  slender. 
This  plant  flourishes  from  May  to  September,  and  contains  a 
bitter,  lactescent  juice,  which  is  slightly  astringent." 

"Mathioli,  who  has  given  us  a  very  complete  description  of 
this  plant,  distinguishes  a  variety  of  Pilosella  which  grows 
among  the  rocks,  and  is  considerably  larger  than  those  known  in 
France.     He  calls  it  Pilosella  Major." 

"Pilosella  was  employed  for  many  years  in  medicine.  Pliny 
relates  that  an  eye-wash  of  repute  was  made  of  this  plant.  Later 
on,  it  was  used  as  an  astringent  to  heal  wounds  and  arrest  the 
descent  of  the  bowel.  Mathioli  considers  it  a  good  remedy  for 
those  purposes,  not  only  internally,  but  when  externally  applied." 
"This  authority  adds,  'that  the  shepherds,  when  informed  of  the 
astringent  property  of  this  plant  are  careful  not  to  take  their 
flocks  of  sheep  to  places  where  this  herb  grows  in  abundance,  for 
it  constipates  the  cattle  so  as  to  cause  the  death  of  many."  "This 
is  the  origin  of  our  knowledge,  as  to  the  value  of  this  plant  in 
diarrhoea  and  dysentery,  and  Mathioli  again  asserts  this  to  be  a 
good  remedy  for  catarrhal  conditions  of  the  stomach  and  bilious 


Hieracium  Pilosella.  363 

vomiting,  and  equally  effective  in  spitting  of  blood,  and  all  kinds 
of  cuts  and  bruises,  especially  those  of  the  cranium."  'Even  in 
our  days,  the  astringent  properties  of  Pilosella  are  utilized  with 
success.'  The  facility  with  which  it  is  procured  in  France  from 
May  to  September,  has  made  of  this  plant  a  precious  remedy 
for  summer  diarrhoea.  Besides,  in  symptomatic  diarrhoea,  or 
diarrhoea  due  to  other  affection,  its  administration  is  followed  by 
an  immediate  improvement,  which  consists  in  a  diminution  of  the 
intestinal  secretion  and  a  more  firm  consistency  of  the  stools." 

"The  astringent  principle  is  chiefly  found  in  the  leaves.  They 
are  employed  in  doses  of  5  to  20  per  1,000,  which  can  be  in- 
creased without  inconvenience  in  infusion.  This  plant  is  non- 
toxic and  makes  an  agreeable  drink.' ' 

"We  can,  likewise,  employ  the  leaves  of  Pilosella,  as  we  do 
other  vegetable  astringents  in  their  multiple  applications." 

"Finally,  its  use  has  been  advised  in  Cholera,  both  as  an  as- 
tringent and  intestinal  antiseptic ;  as  wrell  as  in  gravel  and  ter- 
tian fever."  • 

"By  its  numerous  properties  and  the  facility  with  which  it  is 
obtained,  it  is  certainly  a  precious  remedy,  deserving  to  be  better 
known  and  more  generally  utilized."  {Echo  medical  des  Civen- 
nes.) 

Note. — It  seems  to  me  that  this  reemdy  could  be  conveniently 
compared  with  Ruta,  Calendula,  Arnica,  Hamamelis,  Hy- 
pericum, Ledum,  Symphytum,  and  even  Rhus  tox. 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Xote. — Although  Hazvk-weed  (Hieracium)  has  been  used  by 
the  old  school  in  several  diseases,  such  as  scrofula  and  chronic 
catarrh,  its  chief  claim  to  notice  rests  on  its  reputed  power  of 
curing  the  bites  of  venomous  snakes.  From  Stille  and  Maisch, 
we  learn  that  the  late  Dr.  Griffith,  of  Philadelphia,  in  his  Medical 
Botany,  relates  the  following:  "Some  years  ago  a  person  brought 
a  collection  of  rattlesnakes  to  this  city,  and  professed  to  be  in  pos- 
session of  a  certain  cure  for  the  symptoms  arising  from  their 
bite,  which  he  offered  to  divulge  for  a  moderate  compensation. 
This  being  paid  him,  he  suffered  himself  to  be  bitten  several 
times,  and  after  the  poisonous  effects  had  displayed  themselves, 
was  completely  relieved  by  taking  a  few  ounces  of  the  decoction 


364  The  Right  Talk. 

of  a  plant  which  was  identified  as  Hierachun  venosum.  The 
same  snake  was  suffered  to  bite  a  small  puppy,  which  died  from 
the  poison  in  about  five  hours.  These  experiments  were  made 
in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  distinguished  medical  and  scien- 
tific persons." 

The  Hieracium  venosum  grows  in  the  dry  woods  and  plains  of 
North  America,  the  Hieracium  Pilosella  is  an  European  plant, 
with  a  bitter  and  astringent  taste,  more  so  than  the  former. 
There  is  another  .variety,  called  Hieracium  murorum  (Linne), 
Pulmonaire  of  the  French,  which  is  only  slightly  bitter  and  as- 
tringent, and  which  has  been  used  as  a  vulnerary  and  in  chest 
affections. 


THE   RIGHT  TALK. 

President  Royal  S.  Copeland  in  his  splendid  address  at  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy  at  Kansas 
City,  said : 

"As  compared  with  the  death  losses  of  1890,  in  the  United 
States,  the  losses  per  hundred  thousand  in  1900  had  enormous- 
ly increased  as  regards  certain  diseases.  Pneumonia,  for  in- 
stance, reaped  1,107  more  deaths  in  every  hundred  thousand  cases 
than  ten  years  previously;  heart  disease,  1,328  more;  kidney 
disease,  1,222  more;  apoplexy,  806  more;  diseases  of  the  stomach, 
338  more  ;  diabetes,  164  more ;  cancer,  634  more.  The  increase  of 
fatal  cases  of  cancer  in  this  country  and  all  over  the  world  is  terri- 
fying. In  1900,  of  reported  deaths,  thirty  thousand  people  died 
from  this  dread  disease  in  the  United  States.  Probably  if  the 
truth  were  known,  more  than  fifty  thousand  persons  departed  this 
life  as  the  direct  result  of  cancer  in  1907."  Naturally  the  query 
arises,  Why?  Has  not  scientific  medicine  given  us  serums  and 
vaccine  and  other  things  galore  to  squirt  or  scratch  into  the  blood, 
so  why  this  unseemly  behaviour  of  the  "grim  reaper?" 

Dr.  Copeland  concludes  as  follows : 

Homoeopathy  the  Solution. 

"In  Homoeopathy,  humanity  has  the  priceless  secret  the  key  to 
the  shackles  of  disease,  the  relief  from  the  bane  of  the  ages.  This 
has  long  been  the  testimony  of  our  own  school  of  practice,  it  has 


Dr.  Abbott  Once  More.  365 

occasionally  been  admitted  by  a  broad-minded  and  observant  man 
of  the  other  school,  and  this  past  twelve  months  especially  has 
been  widely  discussed  in  scientific  bodies,  and  the  homoeopathic 
ideas,  if  not  the  name,  are  now  practically  accepted  by  the  domi- 
nant school.  In  the  language  of  the  bright-winged  angel  of  olden 
days,  we  'bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all 
people."  In  Homoeopathy  is  healing  for  the  nations.  With  joint 
ownership  in  all  the  marvels  of  surgery,  in  all  the  products  of  the 
laboratories,  in  all  that  the  sciences  collateral  to  medicine  have 
determined — with  joint  ownership  in  all  these,  Homoeopathy  has 
been  sole  possessor  of  the  knowledge  of  remedial  application. 
When  surgery  has  been  helpless,  the  laboratory  impotent,  and 
general  science  hopelessly  at  sea,  Homoeopathy  has  gone  on, 
serene  in  the  conviction  of  cures  impossible  by  other  methods. 
Practitioners  of  our  faith  are  everywhere,  our  hospitals  are  in- 
creasing in  numbers  and  influence,  our  asylums,  homes  and  dis- 
pensaries are  without  end ;  the  records  are  open  and  the  results 
of  our  practice  speak  for  themselves. 

"But  the  homoeopathic  profession  has  no  wish  to  make  selfish 
use  of  its  knowledge.  As  the  momentary  ambassador  of  this  great 
profession  and  in  the  name  of  Samuel  Hahnemann,  I  'freely  con- 
fer upon  all  physicians,  of  all  schools,  of  all  creeds  and  color,  of 
all  nationalities  and  languages,  a  boon  greater  than  scalpel  or  for- 
ceps, greater  than  anaesthetic  or  anodyne,  greater  than  hypodermic 
or  application,  greater  than  lotion  or  emollient,  the  knowledge  of 
the  homoeopathic  materia  medica,  and  the  rights  to  use  it  in  its 
original  purity.  By  authority  of  his  living  heirs,  I  divide  with  you 
our  inheritance  and  receive  you  as  sons  and  daughters,  with  our- 
selves, of  our  father  in  the  faith,  Samuel  Christian  Frederick 
Hahnemann." 

That's  the  right  talk !  Drop  the  passing  medical  craze  and  go 
back  to  those  old  war  horses,  Aconite,  Belladonna,  Bryonia  and 
the  others  of  the  old  guard. 


DR.   ABBOTT   ONCE   MORE. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

Inasmuch  as  in  your  issue  for  May  15,  in  an  editorial  entitled 
"Medical  'High  Finance,'  "  you  make  some  statements  concern- 


366  Dr.  Abbott  Once  More. 

ing  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company  and  myself  (presumably  ab- 
stracted from  the  Journal  of  the  A.  M.  A.),  which  are  prac- 
tically all  misrepresentations  of  fact  and  in  part  absolutely  un- 
true, I  feel  confident  that  you  will  give  me  the  opportunity  to 
put  myself  before  the  readers  of  your  journal.  Let  me  take  up 
in  detail  the  various  points  which  you  make  and  which  you  say 
you  gather  from  the  columns  of  the  Journal  of  the  Association, 
i.  The  statement  that  "many  of  the  alkaloids  and  active  prin- 
ciples of  drugs  exploited  by  the  company  are  nothing  but  'typi- 
cal nostrums.' '  This  is  absurd,  because  an  alkaloid  or  an  active 
principle  is  never  a  nostrum,  being  in  every  case  a  definite  and 
well  defined  substance.  Out  of  about  six  hundred  remedies  on 
the  list  of  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company,  less  than  a  dozen  are 
designated  as  specialties.  Three  of  these,  I  believe,  have  been 
criticised  by  the  Journal  of  the  A.  M.  A.,  and  called  by  them 
"typical  nostrums."  Inasmuch  as  not  one  of  them  is  a  secret 
preparation,  and  all  are  offered  in  free  competition  by  other 
manufacturers,  the  charge  that  they  are  "nostrums"  is  truly  far- 
fetched. 

2.  You  make  the  statement,  again,  upon  the  authority  of  the 
Journal  of  the  Association,  that  our  journal  is  published  for  "the 
exploitation  of  the  various  products  of  the  company."  This  ap- 
pears with  rather  ill  grace  upon  your  own  pages,  inasmuch  as  the 
Homceopathic  Recorder  is  much  more  closely  related  to 
Boericke  &  Tafel  than  the  American  Journal  of  Clinical  Medi- 
cine is  to  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company.  The  statement  that 
our  journal  is  published  for  the  exploitation  of  Abbott  Alkaloidal 
idea  of  Company  products  is  untrue.  Its  purpose  is  to  promote 
the  idea  of  alkaloidal  therapy,  just  exactly  as  I  suppose  your 
journal  exists  to  promote  the  homoeopathic  school,  except  that 
active  principle  therapy  is  in  no  sense  a  sectarian  school.  It  is 
simply  a  method  of  treatment,  and,  we  believe,  one  which  is  of 
the  utmost  value  to  all  physicians,  to  whatever  school  they  be- 
long. 

3.  That  I  wrote  forty-eight  articles  in  1907,  which  were  pub- 
lished in  various  medical  journals,  and  that  these  articles  were 
chiefly  devoted  to  the  products  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company 
have  for  sale.     I  plead  guilty  to  writing  the  articles.     Further- 


Dr.  Abbott  Once  More.  367 

more.  I  believe  that  the  journals  which  published  them  were  gen- 
erally glad  to  get  them,  and  found  them  of  value  to  their  read- 
ers. That  they  were  chiefly  devoted  to  the  products  of  the  Ab- 
bott Alkaloidal  Company  I  deny.  Careful  analysis  shows  that 
of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  remedies  mentioned  in  these 
articles,  only  nine  were  distinctly  products  of  the  Abbott  Alka- 
loidal Company.  All  the  rest  of  the  drugs  mentioned  were  those 
made  by  many  pharmacists,  and,  therefore,  information  given 
concerning  them  helped  every  drug  manufacturer.  Against  the 
nine  of  my  own  products  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  United 
States  Pharmacopceial  products  were  mentioned. 

4.  That  "there  is  a  corps  of  doctors  who  write  for  the  com- 
pany, and  who  are  'afflicted  with  the  testimonial  habit,'  "  etc. 
I  admit  with  pleasure  and  gratitude  that  there  are  a  number  of 
physicians  in  this  country  who  think  well  enough  of  the  alka- 
loidal idea  to  use  voice  and  pen  in  promoting  it.  That  one  of 
these  men  contributes  papers  praising  different  proprietary  prep- 
arations is  not  my  fault.  I  can  hardly  be  held  responsible  for  that 
fact. 

5.  That  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company  issued  bonds  to  phy- 
sicians which  are  simply  unsecured  notes.  Admitted.  There 
has  never  been  any  secret  about  it — not  the  slightest.  Moreover, 
every  purchaser  of  these  bonds  has  received  exact  and  definite 
information  as  to  their  character,  and  knew  that  he  was  pur- 
chasing unsecured  notes,  or  call  loans,  and,  understanding  this 
fact,  not  one  of  them  has  made  a  complaint.  These  men  are 
satisfied  with  their  investment,  which  pays  them  from  7  to  9  per 
cent.,  according  to  the  series  of  bonds  of  which  they  are  owners. 
No  man  who  has  invested  in  these  bonds  ever  lost  a  dollar,  and 
the  interest  upon  them  has  been  paid  promptly.  Why,  then,  the 
assault  upon  us?  Furthermore,  the  character  of  these  bonds  was 
explained  in  a  long  letter  to  the  trustees  of  the  A.  M-.  A.  sent 
them  more  than  a  year  ago.  This  letter  will  be  printed  a  little 
later.  The  wonderful  discovery  on  the  part  of  the  Journal  of 
the  American  Medical  Association  is,  therefore,  a  little  far- 
fetched. 

6.  That  "the  real  estate  of  the  company  is  mortgaged  to  Dr. 
Abbott  for  $30,000."    This,  my  dear  Mr.  Editor,  is  a  figment  of 


368  Dr.  Abbott  Once  More. 

your  own  imagination.  There  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it.  I 
hold  no  mortgage  upon  any  property  of  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal 
Company,  and  never  have  held  such  a  mortgage,  but  a  portion  of 
the  property  of  the  company  was  transferred  to  me  to  be  held 
for  them,  in  order  that  a  mortgage  might  be  placed  upon 
this  property,  which  would  enable  us  to  build  our  new  printing 
plant  after  our  fire  of  November  9,  1905,  which  wiped  out  about 
$150,000  of  our  property.  Although  this  real  estate  is  held  in  my 
name,  it  is  not,  and  never  has  been,  my  personal  property,  and 
has  never  been  so  treated  by  me.  As  soon  as  the  mortgage  is 
lifted  it  will  be  transferred  back  to  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Com- 
pany. The  transaction  was  made  to  meet  the  conditions  of  the 
lender,  because  of  the  laws  relative  to  corporations  holding  real 
estate  which  they  do  not  occupy. 

7.  That  the  Ravenswood  Bank  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  re- 
ceiver, and  that  Dr.  Waugh,  Mr.  Scoville  and  myself,  all  officers 
of  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company,  were  directors  of  the  bank. 
Admitted,  except  that  Mr.  Scoville,  president  of  the  bank,  is  no 
longer  an  officer  of  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company,  and  never 
had  any  considerable  interest  in  that  company,  while  he  had 
charge  of  practically  all  the  affairs  of  the  bank.  The  bank  has  no 
connection  whatever  with  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company,  ex- 
cept in  the  line  of  business.  It  was  not  an  "Abbott  Alkaloidal 
Company  Bank,"  as  stated  by  the  Journal.  Its  affairs  were  car- 
ried on  just  like  those  of  any  other  partnership  bank,  such  as 
this  was.  It  went  down  in  the  panic  last  fall,  as  many  others 
did,  and  from  no  fault  of  my  own.  Its  failure  was  a  misfortune 
which  I  suffer  most,  but  its  failure  does  not  affect  the  Abbott 
Alkaloidal  Company. 

8.  That  "the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company  owes  the  bank  $100,- 
000  on  personal  notes  of  $100,  or  thereabouts,  held  by  1,000  phy- 
sicians throughout  the  country."  This,  again,  is  untrue,  absolute 
nonsense.  The  notes  held  by  physicians  have  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  affairs  of  the  bank.  The  bank  held  none  of  these 
notes.  Moreover,  the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company  never  has 
owed  the  bank  $100,000,  or  anywhere  near  it.  The  actual  net 
indebtedness  to  the  bank  is  about  $21,000. 

9.  That  "the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company  is  now  offering  pre- 


Dr.  Abbott  Once  More.  3^9 

ferred  stock  'guaranteed'  to  pay  the  doctor  7  per  cent.''  This  is 
also  absolutely  untrue.  At  one  time  it  was  planned  to  reorganize 
our  company  on  a  capitalization  commensurate  with  its  profits, 
giving  the  owners  of  bonds  the  privilege  of  taking  preferred 
stock  in  their  place.  Under  this  plan,  the  debt  of  the  company, 
which  is  only  small,  and  far  more  than  covered  by  material  as- 
sets, would  have  been  entirely  eliminated. 

10.  That  I  was  interested  in  "silver  mining  stock  which  I  was 
selling  to  physicians."  Admitted,  but,  inasmuch  as  the  prop- 
erty was  a  good  one,  and  I  put  in  thousands  of  dollars  of  my 
own  money,  asking  no  one  to  risk  where  I  was  not  willing  to 
risk,  I  fail  to  see  anything  dishonorable  about  the  business.  The 
property  was  and  is  valuable,  and  mining  was  and  is,  a  clean 
business. 

Finally,  you  quote  the  danger  of  investment  in  pharmaceutical 
concerns,  moralizing  particularly  upon  the  immorality  of  gold, 
silver  and  other  mining.  So  far  as  dangerous  investments  in 
pharmaceutical  concerns  are  concerned,  you,  of  course,  have  the 
right  to  speak  from  your  own  experience.  So  far  as  ours  is  con- 
cerned, you  have  not.  As  we  have  said,  our  business  has  been 
profitable,  and  every  man  who  has  invested  in  it  has  received  big 
interest  for  his  money.  Our  business  is  a  clean  business,  one  in 
which  many  doctors  are  interested,  and  one,  which,  in  our 
opinion  of  many  physicians,  is  destined  to  do  more  to  help  the 
progress  of  medicine  than  any  other  movement  extant. 

I  am  surprised  that  a  journal  like  yours,  one  which  represents 
a  competing  house  (even  though  it  be  a  homoeopathic  one),  should 
lend  itself  to  attacks  upon  a  competitor,  and  to  the  publication  of 
statements,  everyone  of  which  is  a  distortion  of  fact,  when  not 
(as  in  several  cases)  absolute  falsehood.  In  justice  to  me  and  to 
the  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Company,  I  request  that  you  give  this  let- 
ter early  publication  in  your  journal. 

Very  truly  yours, 

W.  C.  Abbott. 
Chicago,  III. 

Reply.  The  Recorder's  statements  contained  in  the  article  re- 
ferred to  were  not   "presumably,"  but  actually  taken   from   the 


370  Primary  and  Secondary  Drug  Action. 

pages  of  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association.  We 
give  Dr.  Abbott  nearly  four  times  more  space  for  reply  than  was 
taken  by  our  abstract,  though  the  squabble  is  not  ours. 

Our  objections  are  that  this  medical  company  takes  the  alka- 
loids of  many  drugs  and  then  draws  largely  on  the  homoeopathic 
materia  medica  and  therapeutics  for  indications  for  their  use. 
This  is  literary  piracy.  After  "lifting"  many  indications  they 
"smartly"  inform  the  world  that  this  substitution  of  alkaloids 
for  indications  obtained  from  tincture  provings  represents  "ad- 
vance ;"  that  the  Hahnemannian  tinctures  were  well  enough  in 
their  day,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  This,  we  hold,  borders  on  dishonesty,  or, 
is,  at  least,  unethical.  Let  the  alkaloids  be  proved  if  they  are  to 
be  used  on  homoeopathic  lines. 

Dr.  Abbott's  final  fling  at  this  journal  seems  to  reveal  the  fact 
that  his  field  of  vision  is  limited  to  commercial  affairs,  which  is 
regretable,  but,  perhaps,  unavoidable.  The  sole  aim  of  the 
Recorder  is  to  be  a  sound,  commonsense,  readable  homoeopathic 
journal  and  nothing  more;  in  this  we  welcome  "competitors," 
for  in  Homoeopathy  lies  the  medical  salvation  of  the  world,  and 
the  more  good  homoeopathic  journals  there  are  in  the  field  the 
better  for  mankind. 


PRIMARY  AND  SECONDARY   DRUG  ACTION 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

I  was  interested  in  one  of  the  statements  made  by  Dr.  Wan- 
stall,  in  regard  to  the  action  of  a  given  quantity  of  Opium,  in  re- 
lation to  the  body  weight.  I  believe  all  concede  that  to  a  certain 
extent  this  exists,  but  to  my  mind,  what  the  doctor  did  not  take 
into  account,  the  primary  and  secondary  action  of  the  drug  itself, 
both  of  which  are  based  upon  the  so-called  physiological  action, 
and  which,  in  most  cases,  are  diametrically  opposite  in  their 
effect. 

The  few  following  examples  are  taken  from  Hare's  "Text- 
Book  of  Practical  Therapeutics,"  12th  edition  (1907),  and  will, 
I  think,  go  to  show  that  a  minute  dose  of  the  drug  has  the  op- 
posite action  to  the  poisonous  dose,  or  even  to  that  generally 
accepted  by  the  old  school.     I  hardly  think  that  the  doctor  will 


Primary  and  Secondary  Drug  Action.  371 

dispute  this  authority,  whose  book  is  a  recognized  text  in  most 
of  the  representative  regular  medical  colleges. 

Before  I  cite  the  few  examples,  I  am  reminded  of  a  para- 
graph from  Petersen's  "Materia  Medica  and  Clinical  Therapeu- 
tics" (Eclectic),  which  appears  to  give  a  fair  example  of  drug 
action  in  all  its  aspects.  .  .  .  Drugs  have  marked  medicinal 
virtues  in  both  their  primary  and  secondary  form.  .  .  .  The 
following  will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  dual  action  of  drugs 
useful  in  both  their  forms.  By  getting  the  basic  symptoms  of  the 
physiological  action,  it  is  easy  to  know  what  the  indications  are 
for  the  drug  in  its  primary  and  secondary  form,  viz. : 

I.  Glonoine:     Physiological  basic   indications: 

Marked  cerebral  engorgement — face  very  red,  throbbing 
carotids  and  general  feeling  of  fullnes  in  head,  followed  by  se- 
vere headache,  cannot  bear  hat  on.  Warmth  or  heat  <  condi- 
tion.    Bending  head  backwards  <  condition. 

II.  Secondary  basic  indications: — (V100  gr.)  Temporary  cere- 
bral anaemia,  anaemic  headache  >  bending  head  backwards.  Head 
may  feel  cool  >  by  warmth.     In  sudden  collapse,  sunstroke,  etc. 

III.  Primary  basic  indication  (6x — higher)  :  Flushed  face, 
marked  cerebral  engorgement,  throbbing  carotids,  headache. 
Can't  bear  pressure  or  weight  on  head.  Wants  head  uncovered. 
Least  jar  <   headache.     Warmness   <   headache. 

It  can  be  readily  seen  the  physiological  is  our  key  to  the 
primary  and  secondary  use  of  this  drug.  The  basic  physiological 
symptoms  are  the  indication  for  the  drug  in  its  primary  form. 
In  the  secondary,  we  have  the  reverse — instead  of  engorgement 
we  have  anaemia  of  the  brain,  etc." 

If  the  doctor  understood  the  two  laws  that  govern  Homoe- 
opathy, (1)  The  single  remedy  (which  does  not  exclude  the  ad- 
ministration of  undercurrent  remedies)  whose  symptomatology 
offers  the  nearest  similimum  to  the  diseased  condition;  (2)  The 
minimum  dose  which  does  not  in  all  cases  mean  the  infinitesimal, 
he  would  not  find  Homoeopathy  so  impossible. 

I  recollect  stopping  in  to  hear  a  lecture  given  by  Dr.  Nash, 
who  is  looked  upon  as  a  high  potentist,  who,  desiring  to  impress 
upon  his  auditors  the  fact  that  we  must  chose  the  dose  quantity 
as  well  as  the  indicated  remedy,  told  the  story  of  a  patient  whom 


372  Primary  and  Secondary  Drug  Action. 

he  was  treating,  whose  condition  called  for  a  certain  remedy, 
which  he  administered  in  several  of  the  higher  dilutions  without 
any  result. 

The  case  so  clearly  called  for  the  drug  in  question  that  he 
eventually  gave  it  in  five  grain  doses  of  the  crude  drug,  which 
was  followed  by  the  speedy  recovery  of  the  patient. 

As  a  general  thing,  prescribing  on  the  primary  indications,  we 
are  forced  to  give  smaller  doses,  else  we  produce  an  aggravation 
of  the  condition,  as  will  show  in  the  paragraph  on  Iodine.     .     .     . 

On  page  367,  of  Hare,  under  Opium,  we  find  the  following: 

"In  minute  doses,  Opium  is  a  feeble  stimulant,  at  least,  not  a 
depressant  of  the  function  of  respiration.  In  overdose,  it  is  one 
of   the   most   powerful   paralysants    of   the   respiratory   centre." 

Iodine,  p.  290,  under  Symptoms  of  Iodism : 

"Intense  coryza — frontal  headache,  sore  throat,  etc."  P.  293, 
under  the  Therapeutics  of  Iodine,  he  says :  "Tincture  of  Iodine, 
according  to  Renger,  may  be  used  with  signal  benefit  in  some 
persons  suffering  with  itching  of  the  nose,  of  the  inner  canthus, 
of  one  or  both  eyes,  sneezing,  running  at  the  nose,  weeping  of 
the  eyes  and  severe  frontal  headache"  Renger's  method  of  ad- 
ministering the  Iodine  was  to  fill  partly  a  two  pint  jug  with  boil- 
ing water,  to  which  he  added  20  to  30  m.  of  Tincture  of  Iodine,  and 
the  patient  breathed  in  the  iodized  steam.  Hare,  however,  sug- 
gests that,  as  this  produces  an  aggravation,  that  the  patient  hold 
the  Iodine  bottle  in  his  hand  and  simply  sniff  the  fumes,  as  the 
heat  of  the  hand  liberates  sufficient  Iodine,  and  does  not  pro- 
duce the  agravation. 

P.  843,  Treatment  of  Vomiting: 

"The  treatment  of  a  case  of  vomiting,  dependent  upon  de- 
pression and  debility  of  the  stomach  rather  than  upon  irritation, 
is  directed  to  the  administration  of  a  gastric  and,  it  may  be,  sys- 
temic stimulant. 

The  employment  of  a  drug  generally  resorted  to  for  the  pro- 
duction of  emesis  by  physicians,  has  caused  the  homoeopaths  to 
claim  that  the  regular  school  obey  the  rule  of  similia  similibus 
curantur  and  infinitesimal  doses.  The  claim  only  holds  good  on 
its  face,  for  we  do  not  use  the  infinitesimal,  and  obey  no  law,  but 
use  common  sense.    Ipecac,  is  an  irritant,  even  to  the  skin,  find  it 


Primary  and  Secondary  Drug  Action,  373 

is  partly  by  its  irritant  effect  that  it  causes  vomiting  by  exciting 
the  stomach  to  a  point  over  and  above  its  normal  condition.  In 
vomiting  dependent  upon  gastric  debility  and  depression,  small 
doses  of  Ipecac,  do  good,  because  they  irritate  the  stomach  suf- 
ficiently to  restore  the  normal  tone  without  extreme  hyperex- 
citation. 

"Under  these  circumstances,  a  drop  dose  of  the  wine  of  Ipecac. 
or  one-fourth  grain  of  the  powdered  Ipecac,  every  hour  is  of  the 
greatest  value,  often  succeeding  after  all  other  remedies  have 
failed." 

What  homoeopath  would  prescibe  Ipecac,  unless  the  condition 
were  accompanied  by  nausea  showing  the  gastric  origin  of  the 
vomiting  and  not  from  a  centric  source?  An  emetic  dose  of  the 
wine  of  Ipecac,  for  an  adult  is  jg,  so  one  would  be  inclined  to 
think  that  1/500  (regularly)  of  this  is  approaching  the  infinitesi- 
mal. 

P.  155,  Cantharides. — Large  amounts  produce  great  pain  in 
lumbar  region,  heat  in  bladder  and  urethra,  priapism,  agonizing 
vesical  tenesmus,  widespread  acute  nephritis,  bloody  urine,  etc. 

Turpentine,  p.  468. — Overdose  causes  strangury,  bloody  urine, 
renal  inflammation,  etc. 

Under  Cystitis,  p.  647,  cystitis  of  a  chronic  type,  "Dry  doses 
of  Tincture  of  Cantharides  do  great  good.  Turpentine  may  be 
also  used  with  advantage  in  5-20  m.  doses." 

Under  the  treatment  of  Acute  Nephritis,  p.  j6j :  "The  appear- 
ance of  a  large  amount  of  blood  in  the  urine  at  almost  the  fifth 
day  of  the  illness,  is  an  indication,  according  to  Sidney  Renger, 
for  the  use  of  drop  doses  of  Tincture  of  Cantharides,  given  every 
few  hours."  Presumably,  the  author  would  be  afraid  to  use  this 
method  of  treatment. 

However,  on  p.  155,  in  the  chronic  form,  he  advises  the  use  of 
one-half  drop  doses,  three  times  a  day. 

Podophyllum,  p.  404:  In  one-half  grain  doses,  Podophyllum  is 
a  purge,  however,  in  children  who  suffer  from  summer  diarrhoea 
in  which  the  passages  consist  almost  entirely  of  water,  with  a 
musty  odor,  Podophyllum  in  1/60  to  1/B0  grain  doses,  renders  the 
passages  normal. 

P.   106,  Arsenic  offers  the  best  chance  of  benefiting  cases  of 


374  Book  Notices. 

anaemia,  but  how  it  acts  is  not  known,  and  it  is  curative  in  chronic 
diarrhoea  associated  with  dysentery,  being  of  service  in  1/100  grain 
doses.  Amongst  the  symptoms  of  chronic  Arsenic  poisoning, 
Tanner,  in  his  "Memoranda  of  Poisons,"  tells  us  that  anaemia  and 
persistent  diarrhoea  are  some  of  the  results  of  this  drug. 

Camphor,  p.  149 :  "In  large  amounts — convulsions,  rapid, 
feeble,  numb  pulse,  skin  cold  and  livid,  covered  with  sweat. 
Burning  in  the  belly,  gastro-intestinal  and  renal  inflammation." 
This  gives,  on  the  whole,  a  pretty  good  picture  of  the  collapse  in 
Asiatic  cholera,  and  under  the  treatment  of  Asiatic  cholera,  p. 
623,  Hare  advocates  the  use  of  small  doses  of  Camphor  in  strong, 
red  wine,  to  which  is  added  gum  arabic  and  alcohol.  He  thinks 
that  it  is  probably  the  tannic  acid  of  the  wine  that  inhibits  the 
growth  of  the  spirillium.  Then,  why  not  give  the  red  wine  alone 
without  the  Camphor?  Have  not  the  homoeopaths  statistics  suf- 
ficient to  show  the  benefit  of  Camphor  and  Cuprum  in  this  dread 
disease,  unless  we  believe  with  Mark  Twain  that  there  are 
three  kinds  of  lies,  ordinary  ones,  damned  lies  and  statistics  ?  He 
appears  to  look  with  disfavor  upon  the  use  of  Opium  in  this  con- 
dition. 

"The  devil  can  quote  Scripture  for  his  purpose,"  so  can  one 
find  here  and  there  in  old  school  text-books  reason  to  believe 
that  the  law  of  similars  is  in  accordance  with  common  sense,  but 
that  law  also  has  a  corollary — the  greatly  diminished  dose. 

M.  D.  S. 

New  York  City. 


BOOK  NOTICES. 


Pocket  Manual  of  Homoeopathic  Materia  Medica.  By 
William  Boericke,  M.  D.  Fourth  edition.  With  a  Repertorv, 
by  Oscar  E.  Boericke,  A.  B.,  M.  D.  Pages,  981.  Price,  S3. 50. 
New  York :  Boericke  &  Runyon.     1908. 

This  is  a  fine  little  work  and  one  edition  following  another  in 
rapid  succession  is  proof  that  its  merits  are  fully  appreciated.  It 
gives  what  might  be  called  a  free  hand  sketch  of  all  our  remedies, 
their  salient  features  and  characteristics.  To  be  sure  this  has 
been  done  often  before,  but  Dr.  Boericke  seems  to  have  served 


Book  Notices.  375 

up  the  old  dish  in  a  peculiarly  attractive  manner.  The  quality  of 
the  paper  used  in  this  fourth  edition  is  noteworthy,  as  it  is  an 
imported  paper  of  very  fine  quality,  genuine  "Bible  paper."  We 
have  sometimes  wondered  whether  it  would  not  have  been  better 
to  have  omitted  the  repertory,  as  was  the  case  in  the  earlier  edi- 
tions, for  it  is  not  a  book  one  would  turn  too  to  study  up  a  remedy 
in  detail  or  to  work  out  a  case,  but  one  you  pick  up  for  a  brill- 
iant, sketchy  outline  of  the  drug,  or  to  stir  up  your  previous,  but, 
maybe  rusty,  memory  of  a  drug. 


The    Lesser   Writings   of  C.   M.   T.   von  Bcenninghausen. 

Compiled  by  Thomas  Lindsley  Bradford,  M.  D.     Translated 

from  the  original  German,  by  Professor  L.  H.  Tafel.  350  pages. 

8vo.     Cloth,   $1.50,   net.      Postage,    15    cents.      Philadelphia: 

Boericke  &  Tafel.     1908. 

What  Dr.  R.  E.  Dudgeon  did  for  Hahnemann  in  compiling 
his  ''lesser  writings"  (now,  alas!  out  of  print),  our  own  Brad- 
ford has  done  for  Boenninghausen,  who,  perhaps,  next  to  Hahne- 
mann, made  a  greater  impress  on  Homoeopathy  than  any  of  the 
pioneers.  Bradford  has  done  his  work,  as  usual,  thoroughly, 
and  it  is  doubtful  if  there  are  any  of  Bcenninghausen's  essays  or 
articles  that  have  been  omitted.  The  entire  work,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  famous  repertory,  'The  Sides  of  the  Body,"  was 
translated  from  the  original  by  Professor  Tafel,  who  always 
makes  an  accurate  and  as  nearly  literal  translation  as  possible 
and  does  not  attempt  to  render  his  author  into  "elegant"  English 
at  the  expense  of  virile  original. 

That  this  revival  of  some  choice  old  homoeopathic  literature  is 
of  good  historical  value,  must  be  admitted  by  all.  That  it  is  of 
practical  value  to  those  who  would  practice  Homoeopathy  will 
be  evident  to  every  reader.  Whether  it  is  wanted  by  the  ho- 
moeopaths of  to-day  is  a  question  that  time  alone  can  answer. 

The  essays  or  papers,  which  are  mostly  short,  range  from 
things  historical  down  to  the  practical  use  of  drugs,  diet,  and 
even  the  treatment  of  domestic  animals.  It  is  all  well  worth 
reading  and  owning.  The  edition,  we  are  informed,  is  1,000 
copies,  and  it  will,  in  all  likelihood,  never  be  reprinted,  so  that  it 
is  not  improbable  that  before  many  years  a  copy  will  be  "good 
property." 


Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

By  BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  $i.oo,TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PEK  ANNUM 
Address  communications,  hooks  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  /he  editor,  10 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia.  Pa. 

EDITORIAL     BREVITIES. 

The  Post-Graduate  and  Homoeopathy. — The  July  number 
of  The  Post-Graduate  contains  an  editorial  on  osteopathy  in 
which  Homoeopathy  is  mentioned.  The  editor  says  that  it  is 
argued  that  as  Homoeopathy  accomplished  much  good,  therefore, 
osteopathy  may  do  the  same,  but,  he  argues,  Homoeopathy  was 
a  fanciful  theory,  honestly  held,  while  osteopathy  is  merely 
"employed  for  business  purposes/'  and  is  "demonstrably  false," 
Then  he  continues,  "Homoeopathy  accomplished  great  good  by 
showing  the  regular  profession  that  patients  could  get  well  with- 
out medicine."  The  query  very  naturally  arises :  \Yhen  the 
homoeopaths  were  treating  their  cholera  cases  with  a  death  rate 
of  6  per  cent,  and  the  regular  profession  with  a  death  rate  of 
50  per  cent.,  what  caused  the  death  of  the  intervening  44  per 
cent.?  It  is  quite  an  interesting  question  and  The  Post-Graduate,. 
a  learned  and  scientific  medical  journal,  ought  to  answer  it,  es- 
pecially as  the  differences  (slightly  modified)  hold  to-day. 

Rather  Curious. — R.  A.  Pearson,  Commissioner  Department 
of  Agriculture,  New  York,  writes  a  letter  to  the  Jour.  A.  M.  A. 
on  the  subject  of  "Bovine  Tuberculosis  Inspection,"  from  which 
the  following  is  taken  : 

"The  special  point  which  I  wish  to  make  in  connection  with 
your  statement  is  that  we  have  not  found  the  tuberculin  test 
'unreliable  as  well  as  costly  and  cruel.'  You  may  be  interested 
also  to  know  that  we  are  now  killing  such  reacting  animals  as 
the  owners  do  not  wish  to  keep  in  quarantine.  The  killing  is 
done  under  Federal  supervision,  which  permits  the  use  of  such 
meat  as   is   found  wholesome.     This,   we   believe,   removes   the 


Editorial  Brevities.  377 

greatest  objection  to  the  use  of  tuberculin.  It  should  not  be 
overlooked  also  that  our  new  amendment  provides  for  larger 
payments  to  farmers  for  animals  condemned  on  account  of  tuber- 
culosis." 

To  one  unskilled  and  unlearned  in  tuberculin  testing  science  it 
appears  that  if  an  animal  is  so  ill  that  it  must  be  slaughtered, 
even  "Federal  supervision"  will  not  make  its  flesh  fit  for  food, 
but  that  is,  of  course,  but  a  view  of  the  unlearned.  Commis- 
sioner Pearson  also  writes  that  the  State  has  appropriated  $130,- 
000  for  this  service,  which  is  quite  a  nice  little  sum  to  spend ; 
the  farmers  can  get  "larger  payments"  for  undesirable  cattle, 
the  officials  a  good  salary,  the  public  the  beef,  and  all  are  happy, 
so  why  grouch? 

"Tuberculous"  Cows. — Dr.  Stowell,  Ward's  Island  Hospital, 
N.  Y.,  writes  (Medical  Record)  of  the  results  of  feeding  children 
in  certain  wards  of  that  hospital  with  milk  from  a  herd  that 
was  afterwards  found  to  be  tuberculous,  according  to  the  "tuber- 
culin test,"  and  killed.  The  conclusion  is  that  "the  danger  of  in- 
fection by  tuberculous  milk  is  very  -slight,"  also  that  clean,  whole- 
some jnilk  is  better  than  Pasteurized  milk.  This  is  undoubtedly 
true.  He  might  have  added  that  the  value  of  the  "tuberculin 
test"  is  also  "very  slight,"  probably  Worse  than  useless,  a  costly 
folly  in  short. 

Arsenic  Out  of  Favor. — Dr.  Jay  Frank  Schamberg  con- 
tributes a  paper  to  the  June  number  of  the  Therapeutic  Gazette 
under  the  tittle  of  "The  Abuse  of  Arsenic  in  the  treatment  of 
diseases  of  the  skin  and  the  deleterious  results  that  may  oc- 
cur from  its  injudicious  employment."  The  paper  is  illustrated 
with  a  number  of  pictures  that  at  first  glance  suggest  syphilis  or 
small-pox,  but  they  are  only  specimens  of  the  beauty  of  "pushing 
the  drug."  There  is  nothing  special  to  be  learned  from  the 
paper  unless  it  might  be  the  fact  that  "pushing  a  drug"  is  not 
always  much  fun  for  the  patient,  or  of  any  special  benefit. 

Alexander  von  Humboldt  said  that  one  year  in  college  was 
enough  for  any  man  and  Humboldt  was  a  most  learned  man — for 
his  day.     The  young  fellow  of  to-day  has  to  learn  so  much  that 


378  Editorial  Brevities. 

he  sights  early  middle  age  before  he  can  use  his  learning  and 
test  its  quality.  Too  often  he  is  compelled  to  take  a  painful 
-  -graduate  course  in  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks  and 
throw  over-board  much  of  the  erudition  he  has  acquired  with  so 
much  mental  travail.  A  man  may  become  so  learned  that  he 
needs  some  one  to  guide  him  through  life,  a  man  cram-full  of 
book  lore,  but  with  no  working  knowledge.  An  argument  could 
be  put  up  for  Humboldt's  assertion  even  though  it  runs  counter 
to  the  ideas  prevailing  at  present. 

"Digestive  Ferments." — This  is  from  the  Journal  A.  M.  A., 
July  ii  :  "The  fallacies  attending  the  use  of  digestive  ferments 
in  most  stomach  diseases  have  been  previously  noted  in  The 
J  ok  nia!.  In  most  digestive  disorders  a  deficiency  of  the  diges- 
tive ferment  has  not  been  proved.  In  cases  in  which  pepsin  is 
lacking,  its  administration  is  valueless  unless  it  is  combined  with 
large  doses  of  hydrochloric  acid,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  this 
combination  is  either  necessary  or  conspicuously  useful.  There 
is.  however,  something  so  alluring  about  medication  by  digestive 
ferments  which  are  assumed  to  supply  a  physiologic  need,  that 
since  their  discover}'  they  have  formed  a  fertile  field  for  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  manufacturer  of  proprietaries." 

Leaf  by  leaf  the  roses  fall. 

The  Point  of  View. — An  estimable  exchange  of  the  regular 
type  has  the  following  squib  which  .probably  raps  Mr.  Edward 
Bok.  the  gallant  knight  of  the  gentle  Ladies'  Home  Journal,  who 
recently  ventured  away  from  tidies  and  good  manners  to  the 
society  of  the  rough-house  medicine  venders  : 

"The  trouble  with  many  lay  journals  that  attempt  to  show  up 
the  patent  medicine  evil  is  that  they  do  not  recognize  the  differ- 
ence between  a  nasty,  worthless  dope  and  a  pharmaceutical  prod- 
uct of  real  merit.  The  'exposers'  seem  to  regard  all  remedies 
as  they  do  Indians — all  bad." 

It  is  a  pity  the  editor  could  not  have  informed  the  world  by 
what  methods  the  good  and  the  bad  may  be  distinguished  in 
advertised  compounds,  nearly  all  of  which  are  secret.  If  quite 
candid  he  would  doubtless  refer  the  inquirer  to  "our  advertising 
pages.*' 


The 


las  al  not 

circl 

tic  ::  the  case  a  cure  i 

nt  gathered 


ache,  or  of  I 

hically.  C  :  : 
up  to  the  third  i 
ar.  1  thirteen  a: : 
noted  was  that  :: 
frecycer.tly  than  : 
■  wei 


-  -  —  .  .  — 


ere 


twenty- tr.e  were  treat-      ".v:t"   me  t 
m :  fifty  from  fourth  to  thirtieth, 

•r   thirt:   th   ;        r.cy.      The    thief    iifferer.ce 
low  r  ctencie:  va  =  re:  rate  :  rr   re 

:  higher,  but  cure  followed  from  them  all, 
ruecrathic  t:   the   eases.      77:  ai  :':  the  vital 


-  -  ~  -   --  --• 


-     Airy     Authority. — Ever     an"     antr.      hi: 
Holmes,  that  prolific  writer  of  delightfully  g 
:      s     :   as  an  authority  on  medicine,  at  least,  he  is 

Yet.  probably,  if  Htlrr.es  hail  beer,   tailed 
r.zht  with  actual  sickness  that 
genei  titioner  he  could  not   have 

good,  perhaps.   It  is  said  that  he      a ; 
when  he  needed  :  medical  a  ivi  ce. 

and  rr.aybe  net.  ftr  the  kmtwledge    :•:  a  s 
loftily  looked  down  upon  by  practical  me 
matter   of   nc    great   raiment   either   v.- ay. 
ent  rrtc  mine  writer. 


the  avea 
1 — not  very 


)harmacist  is  not 

t  any  rate  it  is  a 


.  :  .  ■  :o. — Art  eminent  rhysi 
Clir.ic.  says  that  many  mer/car.  ; 
without  manifesting  injury;  that 

jurious  sooner  or  late-  ar.  1  that  1 
h  the  individual.    All  this  rem 
fine  old  sailer  man.  Jack  T  ur.sb 
"If   smoking;   hurts   veu   it  hurts 
belay  an  c  avast ! 


writing    for    the   Lancet- 

ce  moderately  ftr  a  lifetime 

cssive  smtking;  is  always  in- 
:  constitutes  "t 
us  '  f  the  or:  fur.  It       :  that 
■hi   ntimht  have   rendered  it. 
.  if  it  doesn't  it   loesn  I    - 


"Don't   Be   a   Sectarian/* — Th  ge    allopath,    like   the 

tee  homoeopath,    loesn't  care  a     utton  about  "sectarian: sm." 

but  is  on  the  lookout  for  something  tc    cure  his  patients.     The 


380  Editorial  Brevities. 

"leaders"  have  no  time  to  heal  the  sick,  but  are  much  employed 
in  regulating  the  doctors  and  teaching  the  ways  of  the  ethical. 
The  homoeopath  has  always  been  a  hard  nut  for  them  to  crack, 
and,  in  fact,  they  have  given  up  the  job  (openly),  and  now  say 
"Drop  into  our  unsectarian  basket,  but  have  the  politeness  to 
shed  your  sectarian  shell  before  doing  so."  Thus  do  they  hope 
to  crack  the  nut.  To  be  sure  a  belief  in  the  law  of  similars  is  no 
more  sectarian  than  is  a  belief  in  any  other  law  of  nature,  but 
that  simple  fact  is  too  repugnant  a  thing  for  the  allopathic 
leader  to  acknowledge ;  it  would  play  the  very  dickens  with  his 
traditions,  so  he  tries  to  get  around  it  by  taking  in  a  few  homoeo- 
paths just  as  though  that  very  simple  thing  could  alter  a  nat- 
ural law.  It  is  pathetic !  In  the  meantime  his  own  shell  withers 
and  shrinks  still  smaller.  In  England  The  Lancet  recently 
virtuously  refused  an  advertisement  of  three  scholarships  of 
$500  each,  offered  to  duly  qualified  medical  men  to  study  Ho- 
moeopathy in  America.  A  good  homoeopath  couldn't  breathe  if 
he  were  to  be  bound  by  the  real  sectarian  fetters  of  allopathy. 
Better  remain  in  the  "Land  o'  th'  leal." 

That  Olive  Branch. — Dr.  Wm.  Harvey  King,  in  a  recent 
address,  had  the  folowing  to  say  which  is  self-explanatory : 

"We  know  that  this  parading  with  the  olive  branch  is  for  the 
sake  of  public  opinion.  Four  years  ago  Dr.  Osier,  in  a  lecture 
before  his  students  in  Baltimore,  said  that  the  homoeopaths  should 
unite  with  the  others,  and  that  there  was  no  longer  a  separate 
school  of  medicine.  We  invited  him  to  our  dinner.  We  did  not 
think  that  he  would  come,  but  we  expected  that  he  would  write 
a  letter  that  we  could  have  read  at  the  dinner.  He  wrote  a  letter. 
But  we  didn't  have  it  read.  In  that  letter  he  practically  told  us 
we  are  a  lot  of  quacks,  and  belonged  to  an  unscientific  school. 
That  was  his  opinion  for  us,  the  other  his  opinion  for  the  public." 

A  Desolating  "Cure." — Dr.  A.  L.  Monroe  (Med.  Century) 
writing  of  Anrum  met.,  says : 

"Provings  of  Anrnm  have  been  frequent  of  late  years  in  the 
nervous  and  mental  wrecks  turned  out  by  the  numerous  'Keeley 
cures.'  Such  patients  are  subject  to  many  forms  of  nervous  and 
mental  collapse.    The  Keeley  graduate  has  lost  will  power,  men- 


Editorial  Brevities.  381 

tal  force,  the  power  of  mental  concentration,  sexual  power.  All 
this  seems  to  contribute  as  a  factor  in  the  hopelessness  and  help- 
lessness with  suicidal  tendency  found  in  these  unfortunate,  and 
when  they  relapse,  as  they  generally  do,  from  a  lack  of  will 
power  and  an  insatiable  craving  for  something  to  overcome  their 
pitiful  abjectness,  they  generally  go  deeper  into  excesses  than  be- 
fore, and  their  last  condition  is  worse  than  the  first."  Apparently 
nearly  every  "cure"  not  homoeopathic  has  a  "string"  to  it,  that  is 
a  little  worse  than  the  thing  "cured." 

"Active  Principles/' — Taylor,  of  the  Medical  World,  writes 
that  the  proprietory  preparations  of  cod  liver  oil  are  chiefly  noted 
for  the  absence  of  the  oil  in  their  make-up,  but  to  balance  this  the 
manufacturers  dwell  learnedly  on  the  beauties  of  the  "active 
principle"  of  the  oil.  Their  preparation  is  free  from  "offensive 
fat,"  but  it  contains  the  "active  principle,"  etc.  The  man  who 
works  the  "active  principle"  racket  always  has  a  learned  air,  be- 
cause no  one  knows  much  about  the  thing.  The  "active  princi- 
ple," or  alkaloid,  of  a  tincture  may  be  a  very  potent  something, 
but  it  is  no  more  the  tincture  than  grape  sugar  is  wine. 

An  Old-Time  Experience  With  Variolinum. — Some  time 
about  the  year  1850,  a  Dr.  Nogueira,  of  Porto-Alegre,  Brazil, 
wrote  to  The  Lancet  of  a  successful  method  he  had  tried  in  treat- 
ing and  preventing  small-pox ;  previously  he  had  had  very  little 
success  in  treating:  that  disease.  The  remedy  was  the  lymph 
{Variolinum,  it  is  termed  to-day)  of  the  pustule  of  the  small-pox 
on  an  otherwise  healthy  person.  He  was  led  to  this  treatment 
by  reflecting-  that  it  might  act  "on  the  same  principle  that  Bella- 
donna, so  efficacious  in  the  treatment  of  scarlet  fever,  is  also  a 
preservative  against  it."  Where  he  received  this  bit  of  homoeo- 
pathic practice  is  not  stated.  At  any  rate,  he  procured  the  lymph, 
diluted  it  with  water,  and  it  was  very  successful  in  controlling 
and  preventing  the  disease.  This  remedy,  he  concludes  (this 
Variolinum) ,  "so  well  known  to  the  profession  as  a  preventive, 
when  taken  internally,  I  have  found  to  be  the  most  powerful 
agent  that  can  be  used  for  its  [small-pox]  cure,  and  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  specific  remedy." 

And  there  you  are! 


382  News  and  Gossip. 

The  Ocular  Tuberculin  Test. — This  case  is  reported  at 
length  by  Dr.  Satterlee  in  the  June  27  number  of  the  Journal 
A.  M.  A.  The  patient  was  a  school  girl  of  eighteen.  When,  for 
diagnostic  purposes,  the  tuberculin  solution  was  dropped  in 
"the  eyes,  were  apparently  normal,  and  there  were  no 
evidences  of  conjunctival  irritation."  Four  hours  later  the  ef- 
fects of  the  tuberculin  began  to  show.  The  final  reports  of  the 
condition  of  the  girl's  eyes  are  detailed  at  length,  but  we  will 
quote  the  conclusion  only : 

"The  iris  is  off-color  and  does  not  respond  to  Atropin,  show- 
ing a  form  of  iritis.  The  vision  is  limited  to  simple  light  percep- 
tion. The  whole  condition  is  that  of  a  kerato-iritis  with  ulcera- 
tions of  the  cornea,  a  state  probably  tubercular.  The  right  eye 
shows  a  swelling  of  the  lids  with  a  slight  injection  of  the  palpebral 
and  ocular  conjunctiva  and  a  clear  cornea." 

The  diagnosis  seerris  hardly  worth  the  price  to  the  girl.  If  a 
diagnosis  cannot  be  made  without  the  risk  of  harming  the  pa- 
tient would  it  not  be  better  to  let  it  go  unmade,  and  treat  the 
totality  of  the  symptoms? 

Back  To  Nature. — The  American  Druggist  doesn't  seem  to 
have  much  respect  for  some  of  the  modern  medicine  men's  ways 
when  it  says :  "As  always  happens  when  the  pendulum  has  swung 
too  far  in  one  direction,  the  return  swing  is  likely  to  be  violent. 
One  can  trace  in  the  increasing  attention  which  is  being  paid  to 
the  treatment  of  diseases  by  the  administration  of  the  substance 
of  animal  organs,  a  return  to  the  practices  of  savage  tribes  and 
the  ignorant  Chinese.  Of  course,  we  have  refined  on  these  prac- 
tices, and  employ  more  elegant  means  of  administering  the  animal 
extracts,  but  the  principle  is  there." 

It  looks  as  if  every  physician  who  has  not  the  principle  of 
similia  to  guide  him  is  like  a  derelict — floating  wherever  the 
wind  and  tide  takes  him,    even  back  to  his  starting  point. 


NEWS  AND   GOSSIP. 

Porter  E.  Cope,  secretary  of  the  National  Antivaccination 
League,  4806  Chester  Ave.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  writes  that  it  is 
proposed  to  hold  an  Antivaccination  Conference  in  that  city  on 
October  7-10,  "provided  sufficient  interest  is  manifested." 


'News  and  Gossip.  383 

Dr.  John  F.  Edgar,  well-known  to  all  who  attend  the  Institute 
meetings,  has  changed  his  address  at  El  Paso,  Texas,  to  1 1  Cen- 
tre Block. 

Dr.  A.  P.  Williamson  has  retired  from  the  office  of  superin- 
tendent of  the  Southern  California  State  Hospital  at  Patton,  and 
has  opened  an  office  at  Santa  Monica. 

The  following  dispatch  appeared  in  the  papers  as  copy  for  this 
issue  was  being  finally  arranged  for  the  compositor : 

St.  Louis,  July  20. — Dr.  Frank  Kraft,  a  widely  known  physi- 
cian of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  died  last  night  of  heart  disease.  Dr. 
Kraft  was  professor  of  materia  medica  and  therapeutics  in  the 
Cleveland  Homoeopathic  College.  He  was  also  an  extensive 
writer  on  medical  subjects  and  was  editor  of  the  American  Phy- 
sician. 

An  Ohio  doctor  sued  a  brother  doctor  for  knocking  him 
down  and  the  knocker  retaliated  by  suing  in  turn  for  libel.  The 
jury  awarded  damages  to  both. 

A  Colorado  Springs  doctor  was  sued  for  malpractice,  his  in- 
struments not  being  sterilized.     Damages  were  awarded. 

A  French  doctor  who  "chipped  in"  with  a  workman  to  obtain 
damages  for  alleged  injury,  was  fined  and  his  license  to  practice 
suspended  for  five  years. 

Davenport,  la.,  doctors  left  a  sponge  in  a  patient,  wife  sued 
for  damages  and  jury  disagreed. 

"The  Council  on  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry,"  A.  M.  A.,  is  in- 
vestigating "bottled  Psychotherapy."  They  have  found  that 
Cactus  grandiflorus  is  a  "Psychic  cardiac  tonic."  Ain't  we  gitten 
"scientific !" 

Dr.  D.  C.  Hughes  has  changed  his  office  from  Lincoln  Place  to 
46  Eighth  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

An  exchange  intimates  that  Detroit,  Mich.,  will  be  the  place  of 
the  next  meeting  of  the  Institute. 

The  McKinley  Homoeopathic  Hospital,  Trenton,  N.  J.,  wants 
two  internes.    Address,  Dr.  D.  P.  Brown,  Crosswicks,  N.  J. 

President  Dr.  W.  D.  Foster  has  appointed  Dr.  Moses  T.  Run- 
nels, Kansas  City,  secretary  of  the  American  Institute  of  Ho- 
moeopathy, vice  Frank  Kraft,  deceased. 


PERSONAL. 


It  might  be  said  of  some  men  who  air  their  opinions  that  they  need  it. 

"I'm  not  difficult  to  please,"  said  the  amiable  lady.  "True;  I've  seen 
your  husband,"  replied  the  cat-lady. 

"The  profession  is  confronted  with  two  alternatives." — Ex.  That's  more 
than  others  have. 

"Experiments  in  Psycho-galvanic  Reactions  From  Subconscious  Ideas  in 
a  Case  of  Multiple  Personality,"  is  the  title  of  a  paper  by  a  Boston  doctor. 
It's  great,  they  say. 

A  Michigan  nurse  "operated"  on  an  infant;  infant  died.  Moral  (for 
nurse)  :  Don't  operate. 

"Hot  horse  serum"  is  the  latest  and  nobody  even  smiles ! 

Old  Grump  says  that  inborn  cussedness  is  the  cause  of  crying  with  many 
babies. 

Women  don't  like  the  last  word. 

The  man  who  says  he  "is  ready  to  go"  tells  a  fib. 

It  is  said  that  the  jackass,  more  than  any  one  else,  recognizes  man's 
stupidity.     Hence  man's  name  for  him. 

A  blarsted  Britisher  says  that  American  humor  is  characterized  by  a 
"dissociation  from  culture."     Hey,  Boston  !  , 

He  eked  out  a  poor  living  by  teaching  young  men  how  to  make  money. 

A  foreigner  said  that  Washington  was  famous  because  he  was  an 
American  who  told  the  truth. 

Love  finds  the  way  but  not  always  the  means. 

An  allopath  may  become  a  splendid  Homoeopath,  but  the  Homoeopath 
:never  amounts  to  much  as  an  allopath. 

The  "petty  difference"  between  Homoeopathy  and  allopathy  is  about  the 
.difference  between  the  positive  and  negative  poles — a  mere  trifle. 

Often  when  men  say  "broad"  they  really  mean  "tolerant." 

"War  is  hell,"  but  necessary,  sometimes,  nevertheless. 

It  isn't  a  compliment  to  put  up  a  monument  to  a  man's  memory. 

The  open  window  fiend  is  a  gritty  cuss. 

Wall  Street  is  the  greatest  dermatologist. 

Erasmus,  the  printer,  said,  "Compete  in  quality,  not  price." 

Nearly  every  man  could  have  better  health  but  he  doesn't  want  it  at  the 
price. 

There's  nothing  like  the  "rest  treatment"  on  a  hot  day  in  August. 

A  Scotch  doctor  says  the  Japs' are  increasing  in  size.  They  have  grounds 
•for  becoming  chesty. 

An  Illinois  doctor  has  been  found  guilty  of  obtaining  money  under  false 
pretense.     Gee!     What  school? 

Cannot  some  one  stop  those  Fourth  of  July  epidemics?  They  are  worse 
than  microbes. 

The  crowded  car  naturally  contains  more  men  of  standing  than  the  other 
kind. 


TTHK 

HOMCEOPATHIC  RECORDER. 

Vol.  XXIII.    Lancaster,  Pa.,  September,  1908  No  9 

TOPICS   FROM   THE   PAST. 

There  is  something  interesting  beyond  the  usual  in  an  old 
journal,  to  some  of  us.  The  other  day,  like  a  stray  cat,  a  bound 
volume  of  The  American  Journal  of  Homoeopathy,  Vol.  I.,  came 
to  our  desk,  whence  and  whither  not  known,  and  no  marks  of 
ownership,  only  a  scrawled  "25,"  in  pencil,  which  a  Sherlock 
Holmes  might  read  as  betokening  a  second  hand  book  stall.  The 
year  of  publication  is  1846;  the  printer  is,  or  was,  Chas.  G. 
Dean,  2  Ann  St.,  New  York;  and  the  editors,  Dr.  S.  R.  Kirby 
and  Dr.  R.  A.  Snow;  their  object  to  interest  the  "general  reader" 
in  Homoeopathy,  "a  fundamental  principle  for  the  administration 
of  remedies/''  believing  that  nothing  will  do  more  "to  place  the 
healing  art  upon  a  firm  and  enduring  basis."  Evidently  in  those 
days  they  believed  in  appealing  to  the  intelligence  of  the  people, 
perhaps  not  a  bad  plan  for  making  an  enduring  success.  It  was 
patriotic,  too,  for:  "This  publication  will  be  emphatically  An 
American  Journal."  Perhaps  a  few  points,  as  to  things  homoeo- 
pathic, may  not  be  uninteresting  to-day. 

A  Senator,  "Dr.  Backus,"  at  Albany,  opposed  a  bill  to  estab- 
lish a  homoeopathic  medical  college,  and  gets  off  what  are  to-day 
the  stale  jokes  against  Homoeopathy,  but  which  he  eventually 
considered  "mighty  wit."  The  American  compares  him  to  "a 
simple  child  of  the  forest,  who,  for  the  first  time,  had  seen  a 
great  modern  improvement."  Also,  "The  learned  Senator  would 
seem  to  prefer  that  easy  and  comfortable  way  of  practicing  more 
by  names  of  diseases,  given  by  artificial  arrangement,  than  by  the 
laborious  method  of  taking  an  exact  account  of  the  whole  and 
peculiar  disturbance  of  the  diseased  system."  Reads  like  ancient 
history,  doesn't  it,  for,  of  course,  to-day  such  slipshod  practicing 
is  unknown  as  that  favored  by  Senator  Doctor  Backus ! 


386  Topics  From  the  Past. 

A  case  of  Strychnia  poisoning  is  quoted  from  The  Lancet,  for 
the  sake  of  the  symptoms :  "The  arms  were  found  extended 
and  rigid,  as  also  were  all  the  muscles  of  her  body,  which  was 
bent  backwards  at  a  considerable  curve ;  face  much  flushed,  and 
lips  livid ;  breathing  rapid  and  difficult,  but  larynx  free ;  spasm 
of  the  diaphragm  very  marked.  Every  few  minutes  she  had  a 
fit  of  general  convulsions."  The  allopaths  bled  her  and  The 
American  says  they  should  have  given  her  tincture  of  coffee  or 
tincture  of  camphor. 

The  "Physicians  of  our  School  from  every  part  of  the  United 
States"  are  urged  to  attend  the  Meeting  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Homoeopathy,  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  13th  inst.  (May, 
1846),  just  as  they  are  yearly  urged  to-day. 

On  the  potency  question,  it  is  emphatically  asserted  that 
"quantity  is  not  essential  to  the  exhibition  of  power."  It  had 
been  asserted  that  "hundreds  of  physicians"  would  flock  to  Ho- 
moeopathy if  the  potency  feature  were  abandoned,  but  The 
American  evidently  thinks  that  the  giving  up  of  «a  truth  for  so 
ephemeral  a  reward  would  be  foolishness.  Quite  right,  for  why 
give  up  facts  for  the  sake  of  a  few  condescending  converts? 

The  first  clinical  use  of  a  remedy  reported  is  by  Dr.  W.  E. 
Payne,  of  Bath,  Me.,  who  has  found  Kali  bich.  to  be  a  fine  rem- 
edy in  croup — when  indicated.  Dr.  Payne  was  led  to  the  rem- 
edy by  Dr.  Drysdale's  proving,  published  in  the  British  Journal 
of  Homoeopathy. 

A  case  of  death  in  a  four-year-old  child,  "resulting  from  the 
application  of  a  blister,"  is  dwelt  upon. 

The  case  of  a  gentleman,  who  took  rather  massive  doses  of 
"nitrate  of  silver"  for  epileptic  fits,  is  given,  as  related  by  Dr. 
James  Johnson.  The  fits  soon  left,  but  the  man  continued  to 
take  the  remedy  for  three  years ;  "His  skin  became  intensely  blue 
and  continued  so  for  twenty-five  years." 

"We  have  been  politely  furnished  by  Mr.  C.  L.  Rademacher, 
39  N.  4th  St.,  Philadelphia,  with  two  copies  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy,  vol.  I.,  of  which  he 
is  the  publisher." 

The  first  advertisement  is  "Cheap  Cash  Printing.  (Tobittrs 
Office,  9  Spruce.)" 


Topics  From  the  Past.  387 

Very  interesting  is  a  letter  from  Madam  Lvoff,  to  her  father, 
Admiral  Marvinow,  concerning  the  Asiatic  cholera  in  Russia. 
After  relating  her  husband's  personal  experience  on  his  estate, 
where,  in  one  village,  fifty  cases  were  treated  without  a  death,  to 
say  nothing  of  other  villages,  she  adds :  "The  Asiatic  cholera, 
preceded  by  terror,  ushered  in  by  danger,  and  followed  by  deso- 
lation, comes  now,  remains,  and  departs  a  harmless  thing.  Its 
cure  is  in  reality  easier  than  that  of  a  fever."  "All  the  sick  who 
took  medicine  in  strict  conformity  to  the  rules,  were  saved,  al- 
though some  of  them  were  already  in  a  state  of  collapse."  Evi- 
dently, Madam  Lvoff  and  her  husband  were  simple  persons  using 
simple  Homoeopathy  and  were  quite  unscientific.  They  wonder 
why  every  one  doesn't  take  up  with  Homoeopathy.  And  the 
same  wonder  may  be  indulged  in  to-day.  Guess  it  cures  too 
easily  and  quickly  to  "pay."  The  average  man  who  experiences 
a  truly  homoeopathic  cure  rarely  realizes  what  a  veritable  miracle 
has  been  performed  on  him,  whereas  if  he  goes  through  months 
or  years  of  illness  and  comes  out  more  or  less  of  a  wreck,  he  is 
apt  to  be  very  grateful.  Homoeopathy  is  not  sensational  enough 
to  be  popular ;  it  is  too  much  a  case  of  virtue  being  its  own  re- 
ward, a  reward  that,  in  truth,  not  every  one  craves.  The  "lime- 
light" and  the  applause  of  the  ignorant  mob  is  sought  more  than 
the  quiet  reward  of  virtue,  which,  indeed,  is  rather  jeered  at  by 
the  up-to-daters  of  all  ages.  "Why  should  I  do  this  for  the  bene- 
fit of  others  when  I  get  no  reward  and  too  often  not  even 
credit?"  Few  there  be,  who  can  cast  stones  at  such  reasoning, 
for  we  are  nearly  all  guilty  of  it.  Still  it  is  good  to  know  how 
to  cure,  at  times. 

But  this  is  a  digression. 

One  doctor,  who  signs  his  initials  only,  sends  a  prescription  to 
the  American  that  one  of  the  "regulars"  had  given  a  patient.  It 
contained  Sanguinaria,  Eupatorium,  Ginger,  Liquorice,  Cham- 
omile. Lappa,  Dandelion,  Conium,  Manna,  Gin.  Wintergreen, 
Molasses  and  Water.  The  writer,  S.  B.  B..  M.  D..  terms  this 
a  "farrago  of  trashy  drugs." 

Another  doctor,  in  a  pioneer  Western  field,  writes  of  the  won- 
derful success  that  follows  his  practice  of  Homoeopathy,  and  of 
the  people  that  "they  dread  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  an  allopathic 


388  Topics  From  the  Past. 

drencher,  who  comes  like  a  butcher,  with  all  the  instruments  of 
death.  He  sticks  (with  his  lancet) — skins  (with  his  blisters) 
— and  guts  (with  his  calomel)." 

An  Encyclopaedia  published  by  "Harper  and  Brothers" 
comes  in  for  a  deserved  scoring  for  the  chap  who  wrote  the 
section  on  Homoeopathy,  goes  on  like  a  shyster  lawyer  with  his 
"not  the  least  absurd  part,  etc,  etc. 

"Rhus  Radicans. — The  New  York  Bureau  are  proving  this 
drug." 

The  "died  of  debility"  clause  on  death  certificates  comes  in 
for  an  editorial  rap,  as  it  would  be  "as  reasonable  as  to  certify, 
died  of  want  of  breath."    What  about  "heart  failure  ?" 

Dr.  Ware,  of  New  York,  contributes  a  paper  on  Hydrocyanic 
acid:  "My  own  experience  has  proved  it  to  be  a  valuable  remedy 
in  nervous  diseases,  particularly  in  delirium  tremens."  It  exerts 
a  "quick  and  decisive  action  on  the  nerves"  in  this  complaint. 

Symphytum  off.,  a  drug  of  great  value,  but  little  known  to-day, 
is  touched  upon  in  cases  quoted  from  Dr.  P.  P.  Wells.  The  fore- 
arm of  a  boy  had  been  fractured,  and  twice  during  the  healing 
process  had  been  reopened  by  falls,  and  was  in  bad  shape.  Dr. 
Wells  prescribed  Symphytum  off.  30,  and  the  fractures  promptly 
healed  and  "the  lad  became  more  robust  and  had  better  general 
health  than  before."  Other  cases  of  broken  bones  showed  similar 
results. 

In  another  paper  Dr.  Wells  .tells  why  he  strongly  believes  in 
the  "high  potencies."  A  chronic  case,  a  Sulphur  case,  had  re- 
ceived that  drug  in  low  triturations  and  on  up  to  the  30th.  No 
result,  and  other  drugs  gave  no  results.  Dr.  Wells  gave  it  up. 
Six  months  later  he  saw  the  case  again  and  it  was  still  unmis- 
takably a  Sulphur  case  and  still  uncured.  This  time  he  gave 
"the  1530th  attenuation."  For  the  first  time  there  was  a  response 
to  the  drug  and  the  case  of  years'  standing  made  quick  and  com- 
plete recovery. 

A  letter  from  Washington,  Nov.  10,  1846,  signed  S.  Y.  A.  L., 
says :  "The  new  science  is  becoming  daily  more  popular  here. 
Last  winter,  many  Senators  and  Representatives  tested  its  su- 
perior merits,  and  there  is  no  more  enthusiastic  advocate  in  its 
behalf  than  the  intelligent,  clear-headed  Dixon  H.  Lewis,  U.  S. 


The  Study  of  Materia  Medica.  389 

Senator  from  Alabama."  The  writer  adds  that  there  are  two 
homoeopathic  physicians  there. 

Dr.  D.  M.  Dake,  in  a  letter  from  Munda,  N.  Y.,  says  that  the 
allopaths  there  have  many  severe,  lingering  cases,  while  the  ho- 
moeopaths have  scarcely  any  (i.  e.,  severe  and  lingering  cases), 
the  reason  is  that  "the  treatment  makes  the  difference." 

In  December  we  run  across  an  "Important  New  Work,"  i.  e., 
Jahr's  Symptom  en  Codex,  translated  by  F.  Humphreys,  M.  D., 
and  with  Chas.  G.  Dean,  as  publisher.  In  the  next  issue  is  a  card 
from  Mr.  Dean  announcing  that  he  has  sold  his  interest  in  the 
book  to  Wm.  Radde. 

"Homoeopathy  in  Austria"  is  very  interesting,  but  too  long  to 
quote.  One  allopath  admits  that  the  homoeopathic  hospital  there 
is  "one  of  the  cleanest  and  best  regulated  hospitals  in  the  town." 

But  this  may  be  getting  tiresome  to  the  reader,  so  we  will  close 
this  old  waif. 


THE    STUDY    OF    MATERIA    MEDICA. 
By  C.  M.  Boger,  M.  D. 

Our  pathogeneses,  in  spite  of  showing  many  features  due  to 
the  provers'  idiosyncrasies,  the  translators'  command  of  idioms, 
clinical  experiences  and  misinterpretations,  are,  nevertheless,  ex- 
cellent resumes  which  place  the  keynotes  in  their  true  light;  as 
points  of  the  departure  only,  for  their  abuse  distorts  nature's 
image  and  often  brings  disaster,  which  ends  in  skepticism  or 
mongrelism.  A  concise  view  not  only  includes  the  time  and  order 
in  which  their  symptoms  arise,  but  also  the  things  which  modify 
them — the  modalities. 

Bcenninghausen  saw  and  corrected  the  tendency  of  Homoe- 
opathy to  pay  too  much  attention  to  subjective  sensations,  while 
it  lacked  the  firm  support  of  those  etiologic  factors  and  the 
modalities,  which  afford  so  many  objective  and  distinctly  certain 
criteria.  The  triumphs  of  similia  in  the  diseases  of  children  and 
insanity  certainly  show  how  vastly  important  they  may  be,  for  no 
judgment  can  pay  it  a  handsomer  compliment  than  to  speak  of 
its  especial  adaptability  to  chidren  and  old  people. 


390  The  Study  of  Materia  Me  die  a. 

From  the  very  provings,  in  which  but  a  small  part  of  the  in- 
finite circle  of  similia,  Hahnemann  predicated  its  amplitude,  and 
finally  gave  us  the  immeasurable  power  of  potentization ;  a 
scientific  demonstration  which  rests  therapy  firmly  upon  experi- 
ment and  at  the  same  time  dispenses  with  learning  our  symp- 
tomatology by  rote. 

Study  shows  every  drug  to  be  a  living,  moving  conception, 
with  attributes  which  arise,  develop,  expand  and  pass  away  just 
as  diseases  do;  each  holding  its  characteristics  true  through  an 
ever  widening  scope,  to  its  last  expression  in  the  highest  poten- 
cies. The  homceopathist  is  a  true  scientist,  in  that  he  spares  no 
pains  to  learn  the  nature  of  this  individuality,  for  it  lifts  him 
above  doing  piece-meal  work  and  the  restraint  of  nosological 
ideas,  especially  as  everyday  practice,  too  often,  never  gets  be- 
yond the  simple  lessons  of  student  life  and  they  thereafter  remain 
the  doctor's  only  resource.  This  is  very  wrong  and  acts  as  a 
constant  handicap.  The  true  physician  is  the  man  who  knows 
how  to  make  the  best  cures  and  the  most  expert  healer  is  the 
man  who  knows  best  how  to  handle  his  materia  medica.  The 
faculty  of  mastering  it  is  not  dependent  upon  an  encyclopaedic 
memory,  but  rather  upon  the  inquisitor's  ability  to  pick  out  from 
among  the  essential  embodiments  of  each  picture  the  things 
which  show  how  it  exists,  moves  and  has  its  being,  as  distin- 
guished from  its  nearest  similar.  That  a  mental  variation  should 
be  the  determining  factor,  is,  therefore,  not  strange,  for  are  not 
minute  differences  the  very  essence  of  science? 

It  is  very  useful  to  have  an  idea  of  the  relative  values  of  re- 
lated remedies,  for  in  essence  each  portrays  a  certain  type,  with 
variations  which  relate  it  to  its  complementaries ;  thus  dove- 
tailing into  each  other.  The  effect  of  material  doses  simulates 
acute  diseases,  while  the  potencies  bring  out  finer  effects,  al- 
though this  is  not  an  invariable  rule. 

A  knowledge  of  many  symptoms  is  of  small  value,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  learning  how  to  examine  the  patient  and  then 
to  find  the  remedy  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  The  common 
way  of  eliciting  well-known  keynotes  and  prescribing  accordingly 
is  a  most  pernicious  practice,  which  has  earned  a  deserved  odium 
and  is  no  improvement  upon  the  theoretical  methods  of  the  old 


The  Study  of  the  Materia  Medica.  391 

school.  To  be  ruled  by  clinical  observations  and  pathological 
guesses  is  a  most  disastrous  error  which  limits  our  action  and 
only  obscures  the  wonderful  power  of  which  the  true  similimum 
is  capable.  Such  reports  mostly  lack  individuality  and  at  best 
describe  only  end  products,  standing  in  strong  contrast  to  those 
expressions  which  reveal  the  real  mind,  whether  in  actions,  words 
or  speech.  The  recital  of  properly  cured  cases  only  shows  what 
can  be  done,  but  not  how  to  do  it. 

To  do  the  best  work,  nothing  must  prevent  a  full,  free  and 
frank  presentation  of  the  symptoms,  as  they  are  without  bias 
and,  although  their  comprehension  necessarily  involves  judg- 
ment, the  more  clearly  they  follow  the  text  the  greater  is  their 
similitude,  hence  usefulness.  Hahnemann  showed  rare  acumen 
in  setting  down  each  expression  in  a  personal  way,  thus  securing 
scientific  as  well  as  physical  accuracy. 

The  patient's  relative  sensitiveness  is  a  very  material  help  in 
separating  remedies.  The  alertness  of  drugs,  like  Aconite  or 
Coifea,  is  just  the  reverse  of  the  dulness  of  Gelsemiwm,  Phos- 
phoric acid  and  the  like,  and  yet  fright  may  cause  the  oversen- 
sitiveness  of  the  former  as  well  as  the  depression  of  a  drug  like 
Opium.  If  stupidity  be  due  to  high  temperature  or  an  over- 
whelming intoxication,  we  don't  await  the  development  of  a  sense 
of  duality,  which  may  never  come,  but  think  of  Baptisia,  etc.,  at 
once.  Such  an  early  prescription  saves  many  a  life  and  forestalls 
pathological  changes. 

The  various  cravings  and  aversions  are  highly  significant,  es- 
pecially when  combined  with  the  patient's  behavior  toward  soli- 
tude, light,  noise,  company,  or  any  other  daily  environment. 

The  most  expressive  new  symptom,  is  usually  the  key  to  the 
whole  case  and  directly  related  to  all  of  the  others,  being  often 
expressed  by  a  change  of  temper  or  other  mental  condition,  such 
apparent  trifles  reveal  the  inner  man  to  the  acute  observer  and 
have  proven  the  undoing  and  insufficiency  of  liberal  Homoe- 
opathy. 

We  do,  however,  not  say  that  diagnosis  is  of  no  value  in 
choosing  the  remedy,  for  certain  drugs  are  so  often  called  for 
in  some  diseases  as  to  have  established  a  fundamental  relation 
thereto,  hence  they  involuntarily  come  to  mind  during  treatment 


392  The  Study  of  the  Materia  Medica. 

and  deserve  our  careful,  but  never  elusive,  attention.  A  Baryta 
carb.  patient  may  have  adenoids ;  black  teeth  make  one  suspect 
that  the  patient  drooled  badly  during  dentition  and  the  survivor 
of  pneumonia  may  still  carry  earmarks  calling  loudly  for  Phos- 
phorus, etc.,  etc.  These  and  many  more  should  suggest  the  pa- 
tient first  and  the  disease  afterward. 

The  past  history  and  the  way  each  sickness  leaned  is  both  use- 
ful and  interesting,  for  most  persons  develop  symptoms  in  a 
distinctive  way  through  the  most  diverse  affections.  Such  con- 
stancies are  truly  antipsoric,  and  it  should  be  our  pleasure  to 
search  out  the  differentiating  indications  from  among  them. 
While  their  discovery  is  not  always  easy,  for  it  involves  a  re- 
cital of  every  past  sickness,  the  trend  of  each  illness  and  its 
peculiarities  are  a  part  of  the  sick  man's  way  of  doing  things  and 
must  be  known  if  you  wish  to  do  the  best  work.  They  will  give 
you  a  better  idea  of  present  and  future  prospects,  as  well  as  lay 
a  solid  foundation  for  the  prescription  which  do  much  and  reveal 
many  things. 

If  we  say  that  remedies  typify  patients  and  know  that  consti- 
tutions exhibit  tendencies,  then  why  are  drugs  not  specifics? 
Simply  because  vitality  is  a  varying  force,  whose  mutations  are 
always  similar,  but  never  the  same ;  it  is  modified  by  every  in- 
fluence and  keeps  itself  in  relative  equilibrium  only.  The  more 
nearly  it  holds  one  phase  the  more  certainly  will  it,  even  with 
varying  external  manifestations,  demand  a  particular  medicine. 
Under  what  circumstances  and  in  what  way  shall  we  discover 
this  more  or  less  constant  factor?  It  lies  in  the  peculiar  per- 
sonality of  the  patient,  especially  in  the  deviations  of  his  mind 
from  the  normal.  Sometimes  an  active  mental  state  overshadows 
all  else,  as  under  Aur.,  Bell.,  Ign.,  Lye,  Nat.  c,  Phos.,  Plat., 
Pal.  or  Veratrum,  according  to  circumstances ;  at  others  a  strange 
mental  placidity  during  the  gravest  physical  danger,  is  a  most 
striking  guide.  The  facial  expression  may  be  its  true  index  and 
deserves  our  most  careful  scrutiny.  No  effort  should  be  spared 
to  learn  the  nature  of  the  mental  change  which  has  overtaken 
the  victim,  for  it  epitomizes  the  whole  patient. 

Ideally,  no  two  remedies  can  be  equally  indicated,  although 
practically  we  find  innumerable  variations  obscuring  the  choice. 


The  Study  of  the  Materia  Medica.  393 

As  students,  it  is  of  the  first  importance  to  have  a  grasp  of  the 
type  which  each  represents,  leaving  experience  to  master  intri- 
cacies and  detail.  We  speak  of  a  Phosphorus,  Sulphur,  Sepia  or 
a  Pulsatilla  type,  and  yet  this  does  not  convey  a  very  useful  idea 
to  the  young  man,  because  he  lacks  the  experience  which  rounds 
out  the  image  of  each  drug  in  his  mind's  eye,  and  finally  enables 
him  to  pick  it  out  on  sight.  How  often  does  the  dilated  pupil 
suggest  Belladonna,  when  accompanied  by  nervous  erethism  and 
dryness,  while  contrariwise,  moisture,  puffiness  and  sluggishness 
make  one  think  of  Calcarea  carb.  Then  we  have  the  nervous 
irritability  of  a  Nux  vomica  patient  to  contrast  with  the  mildness 
of  Pulsatilla,  etc.,  etc. 

The  treatment  of  coughs  is  a  severe  test  for  the  perscriber, 
and  yet  no  patient  demands  a  more  careful  going  over  than  the 
one  who  coughs.  In  addition  to  the  above  hints  one  should  first 
carefully  find  out  where  and  by  what  the  coughing  is  excited. 
Ordinarily  it  is  the  result  of  an  irritation  starting  from  the 
throat,  larynx,  chest  or  stomach,  but  it  is  especially  necessary  to 
know  the  exact  point  of  origin.  Those  beginning  in  the  throat 
pit  generally  call  for  Bell,  Cham.,  Nux  v.,  Rum.,  Sang.,  Sepia. 
or  Silicea.  When  the  primary  seat  seems  to  be  on  the  left  side 
of  the  throat  or  larynx,  Bapt.,  Bell.,  Con.,  Hepar,  Ol-anim  or 
Salicylic  acid  stand  first,  but  if  it  is  on  the  right  side  we  look 
mostly  to  Dioscorea,  Iris-foet.,  Phosphorus  or  Stannum.  Coughs 
that  come  from  what  seems  to  be  a  dry  spot  generally  need 
Nat.  mur.  or  Conium.  If  a  sense  of  a  lump  in  the  throat  excites 
it,  we  have  Bell.,  Calc.  c,  Cocc.  cact.  and  Lachesis.  So  the  mat- 
ter goes  on  indefinitely,  with  the  accessories  determining  the 
final  choice,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  greatly  our  task  is 
lightened  by  being  able  to  find  the  location  of  the  exciting  cause 
and  then  differentiate  with  the  aid  of  the  modalities  and  the  gen- 
eral picture.  This  is  the  true  homoeopathic  way  and  will  bring 
unexpected  aid,  doing  more  than  any  other  possible  method.  The 
similimum  re-established,  the  normal  conversion  of  energy  and 
the  patient  reacts  with  a  definiteness  unknown  under  other 
methods. 

It  is  the  nature  of  every  human  being  to  be  extremely  sensi- 
tive to  the  constitutional  similimum,  and,  although   it  may   not 


394  The  Study  of  the  Materia  Me  die  a. 

always  be  easy  to  detect  the  signs  which  call  for  it,  when  once 
found,  a  single  dose  of  a  very  high  potency  will  act  over  long 
periods  of  time.  Because  they  do  not  know  how  to  manage  re- 
actions and  are  not  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  materia 
medica,  some  prescribers  avoid  such  prescriptions.  With  a 
little  more  knowledge  of  the  Organon  and  care  in  handling  the 
complementaries,  particularly  the  nosodes,  they  will  be  able  to 
accomplish  much  more  than  they  do  now.  We  should  keep 
in  mind  the  fact  that  the  premature  repetition  of  changing  of 
remedies  before  reaction  is  finished,  does  endless  harm  to  the 
patient  and  almost  hopelessly  confuse  the  prescriber.  The  pre- 
server must  know  when  to  give  the  remedy,  and  when  to  hold 
his  hand  while  nature  expediates  the  forces  to  which  he  has  given 
a  new  direction.  He  must  know  the  power  of  Sac.  lac.,  and  re- 
member that  an  inward  movement  of  the  symptoms  bodes  no 
good. 

It  is  worth  remembering  that  most  prescriptions  are  guess- 
work, a  hideous  trifling  with  human  life,  for  every  drug  is  either 
similar,  hence  curative,  or  dissimilar  and  baneful ;  therefore  it 
surely  behooves  every  man  to  do  his  utmost  in  diligently  and 
systematically  getting  every  symptom  and  then  searching  for 
the  nearest  similar.  When  you  have  once  fully  tested  this 
method,  you  will  discard  empiricism  and  all  that  charlatanry 
which  goes  under  the  name  of  rational  medicine,  while  it  puts 
the  conscience  of  the  doctor  to  sleep  and,  by  suppressive 
measures,  steadily  pushes  the  patient  toward  the  grave. 

To  make  good  cures,  it  is,  above  all,  necessary  to  avoid  run- 
ning to  the  specialist  every  time  new  groups  of  symptoms  arise, 
for  very  few  men  of  this  class  are  broad  enough  to  see  that  the 
whole  man  is  sick  when  he  shows  local  symptoms,  and  that  the 
carefully  selected  remedy  would  render  most  of  his  work  super- 
fluous. If  the  laity  ever  learn  this  lesson,  they  will  certainly 
smite  the  men  who  call  themselves  doctors,  but,  as  surely  are 
not  physicians. 

Every  day  we  are  confronted  with  conditions  which  lie  on  the 
borderland  between  surgical  interference  and  the  remedial  powers 
of  medicine  for  surgeons,  with  the  aid  of  the  knife,  have  steadily 
pushed  the  use  of  medicines  further  and  further  into  the  back- 


The  Study  of  the  Materia  Medica.  395 

ground.  This  is  especially  true  of  allopathic  procedure  and,  al- 
though most  homoeopaths  have  not  gone  to  such  extremes,  the 
signs  are  not  wanting,  that  many  men  who  profess  the  law  of 
similia  understand  so  little  of  it  that  they  are  constantly  willing 
to  relegate  it  to  a  very  subordinate  place  and  go  on  using  the 
knife  to  the  utmost  limit.  It  is  too  often  not  a  question  of  what 
is  good  for  the  patient,  but  of  how  far  he  will  allow  the  operator 
to  go.  Such  is  the  spirit  with  which  the  glamor  of  the  operating 
room  overshadows  the  more  prosaic  prescription,  which,  if  left 
alone,  is  capable  of  gradually  unloading  the  embarrassed  vital 
force  and  allowing  life  to  flow  on  in  its  usual  way;  it  nips  dis- 
ease in  its  inception  before  the  microscope  can  possibly  pass  a 
doubtful  verdict.     No  manner  of  cutting  can  do  as  much. 

The  similimum  often  surprises  us  by  its  power ;  what  we  have 
been  taught  to  look  upon  as  incurable  or  to  be  removed  with  the 
knife  only,  is  cured.  In  these  days  the  laity  look  for  mechanical 
removal  because  homoeopaths  have  not  led  them  to  expect  any- 
thing better  than  the  work  of  the  surgeon.  I  can  fully  confirm 
what  Boenninghausen  says  in  his  Aphorism  of  Hippocrates,  Book 
6,  Aphorism  58,  "Homoeopathy  cures  all  kinds  of  ruptures,"  a 
strong  statement,  but  experience  bears  him  out.  He  further 
says  that  it  is  not  a  local  trouble  and  at  best  will  not  long  re- 
main so,  and  that  the  final  cure  depends  upon  the  concomitants, 
all  of  which  is  true.  He  mentions  Aco.,  Alum.,  Asar.,  Aur., 
Bell.,  Bry.,  Calc.  c,  Caps,,  Cham.,  Cocci,  Coloc,  Guai.,  Lach., 
Lye,  Mag.  c,  Nit.  ac,  Nux  v.,  Op.,  Phos.,  Plb.,  Put.,  Rhus  t.f 
Sep.,  Sit.,  Staph.,  Sul.,  Sul.  ac,  Thuj.,  Verat.  a.  and  Zinc,  as 
the  foremost  remedies,  from  which  we  <£ioose  Aco.,  Alum.,  Aur., 
Bell.,  Calc.  c,  Caps.,  Cham.,  Coloc,  Lach.,  Lye,  Nit.  ac,  Mux 
v.,  Op.,  Plb.,  Sil.,  Sul.,  Sul.  ac,  or  Verat.  a.,  for  incarcerated 
hernia.  The  predisposition  to  this  disorder  is  often  hereditary, 
and  th£  surgical  olosure  of  one  ring  is  ^ust  the  prelude  to  the 
formation  of  a  rupture  at  another. 

The  domain  of  surgery  lies  largely  within  the  trauma-tic 
sphere  and  in  the  palliative,  which  enable  the  chronic  patient 
to  live,  but  cjn  a  lower  plane.  The  vast  maprity  of  early  opera- 
tions for  incipient  malignant  disease  not  only  inflict  a  severe  in- 
jury upon  the  Wtal  force,  but,  at,  best,  remove  a  suspicion  only. 


396  The  Study  of  Materia  Me  die  a. 

None  but  the  grossest  materialist  would  do  such  a  thing.  We 
should  use  the  indicated  remedy  from  the  very  start,  well  know- 
ing that  it  saves  the  strength  of  the  patient  and  improves  his 
chances  immeasurably,  if  an  operation  is  finally  necessary. 

Why  do  we  operate  for  adenoids  or  polypi,  for  piles  and  a 
thousand  other  things?  Simply  because  of  the  uncured  sin  of 
the  parents  and  ignorance  of  how  to  live  the  present  life.  The 
law  leads  toward  morality  and  a  natural  expression  of  inherent 
powers ;  it  adds  nothing  and  subtracts  nothing,  but  harmonizes 
everything.  Until  the  cutters  can  be  brought  to  see  this  point 
and  that  the  most  facile  method  of  cure  lies  in  its  correct  ap- 
plication, they  can  know  nothing  of  Homoeopathy,  and  very  little 
of  nature. 

Such  things  may  seem  far  off,  but  a  clearer  view  is  fast  get- 
ting a  better  understanding  of  life,  its  ways  and  ends,  and  is  be- 
ginning to  see  that  sickness  means  ignorance,  and  that  a  cure 
means  a  comfortable  return  to  health  instead  of  the  old-fashioned, 
lame  recovery.  The  former  is  what  is  expected  of  Homoeopathy, 
the  latter  is  essentially  the  surgical  way.  To  be  a  good  homoeo- 
path and,  at  the  same  time,  a  good  surgeon ;  there's  *he  rub. 
The  materialism  of  the  one  seems  incompatible  with  the 
dynamism  of  the  other,  but  no  amount  of  sophistry  can  rub  out 
the  fact  that  we  are  dealing  with  the  man  whose  life  and  being 
flows  from  within  and  who  uses  his  organs  to  guide  this  internal 
self ;  therefore,  an  external  injury  has  internal  effect,  and  an 
internal  disturbance  shows  itself  by  external  signs,  be  the  cause 
moral  or  physical. 

The  psoric  theory  of  Hahnemann  has  been  a  great  stumbling 
block,  especially  to  those  who  have  not  read  the  39th  aphorism 
of  the  2d  Book  of  Boenninghausen's  Aphorism  of  Hippocrates. 
Among  other  things,  we  read  there  that  'The  discovery  of  the 
itch  mite  does  not  belong  to  modern  times,  as  650  years  ago  the 
Arabian  physician,  Abenzohr,  not  only  surmised  it.  but  the  com- 
mon people  knew  it  by  the  name  of  "Syrones."  Fabricius  (En- 
tomologist, 1 745-1808),  also,  in  his  "Fauna  Greenlandica," 
praised  the  dexterity  of  its  inhabitants  in  detecting  and  destroy- 
ing these  insects  with  the  "point  of  a  needle."  He  also  points 
out  that  Hahnemann's  critics  have  uniformly  confused  the  prod- 


The  Study  of  Materia  Medica.  397 

uct  of  psora  with  its  cause.  Hahnemann  was,  perhaps,  un- 
fortunate in  calling  susceptibility.  Psora,  especially  when  applied 
to  the  herpetic  diathesis.  He  laid  the  greatest  stress  upon  the 
fact  that  itch  aroused,  or  greatly  intensified  this  susceptibility 
(psora)  ;  nothing  could  be  truer. 

It  is  certain  that  psora  shows  itself  in  the  form  of  skin  symp- 
toms in  some  persons,  and  that  their  suppression  often  causes 
internal  metastases.  The  seriousness  of  such  accidents  is,  per- 
haps, plainest  in  the  case  of  erysipelas.  When  this  happens,  the 
similimum  generally  includes  the  symptoms  of  the  original  dis- 
ease, plus  those  of  later  developments,  which,  thereby  become  all 
important.  Occasionally  no  one  remedy  corresponds  to  the  whole 
picture ;  then  we  must  prescribe  for  the  most  recent  phase  and 
for  this  earlier  one,  when  it  is  again  uncovered. 

A  metastasis  means  that  ingrained  affection  is  expressing  itself 
in  another  form  and  is  demanding  the  patient's  constitutional 
remedy,  rather  than  a  time  serving  palliative.  In  this  connection 
I  cannot  too  strongly  insist  that  chronic  diseases  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully treated  without  taking  the  anamnesis  into  account.  The 
mistake  of  omitting  it  seems  to  be  one  of  the  great  causes  of 
failure  in  our  times.  It  has  been  artfully  claimed  that  such  a 
proceeding  nullifies  the  whole  law  of  similia,  but  a  more  egre- 
gious blunder  is  hard  to  imagine  for  it  is,  on  the  one  hand,  in- 
deed, unthinkable  that  the  entire  list  of  anamnesic  symptoms 
with  their  correspondingly  numerous  drugs  could  be  the  result 
of  the  experience  of  any  one  or  two  men,  or,  on  the  other,  that 
they  should  bave  been  so  adroitly  conjured  up  by  the  human 
mind.  On  the  contrary,  they  bear  much  inherent  evidence  of 
having  been  reasoned  out  from  the  provings,  as  rectified  by  in- 
numerable experiences. 

Unfortunately,  our  modern  life  becomes  less  and  less  suited  to 
such  a  way  of  doing  things ;  everybody  is  in  a  hurry,  some  even 
die  in  a  hurry ;  every  one  wants  to  be  cured  quickly,  without  re- 
gard to  the  natural  vital  processes.  This  is  one  of  the  great  and 
fundamental  causes  of  palliative  medication  and  drug  addictions. 
In  the  last  analysis  it  will  be  found  that  the  mind  of  material 
mould  grasps  the  idea  of  imponderables  with  difficulty ;  but 
recent  advances  of  science  are  about  to  force  the  issue,  and  it 


398  Thoughts  on  Trituration. 

will  no  longer  be  possible  to  impunge  the  qualifications  and  mo- 
tives of  those  who  trust  and  use  their  powers  with  unrivalled 
success.  Their  advocates  must,  of  necessity,  persistently  cultivate 
the  habit  of  keen  observation,  correct  reasoning,  direct  inquiry 
of  nature  and  absolute  honesty  with  themselves,  and  all  will  be 
well. 

When  we  remember  these  things,  we  should  be  more  charitable 
toward  many  who  differ  from  us  in  therapeutics ;  they  mean  well, 
but  some  don't  know,  some  don't  care,  and  others  can't  com- 
prehend. After  all  is  said  and  done,  it  simply  resolves  itself 
into  a  matter  of  education ;  you  must,  first  of  all,  educate  away 
all  prejudice  and  preconceived  ideas.  No  man  holding  tenacious- 
ly to  the  idols  of  a  cure  by  force,  as  generally  understood,  can 
be  a  good  scientist  or  a  clean  homoeopath ;  there  is  no  such  thing. 
The  power  used  comes  from  within,  and  in  curing,  you  draw  it 
forth  and  guide  it  into  the  ways  of  health.  This  law  is  spiritual 
as  well  as  material ;  it  gradually  merges  from  one  into  the  other ; 
if  you  would  be  a  whole  man  you  must  understand  it  and  learn 
how  to  apply  it,  for  by  similars  you  are  healed,  both  mentally 
and  physically.  No  man  can  stand  in  your  place ;  there  is  a  great 
image  after  which  your  mind  copies  and  a  perfect  life  toward 
which  you*  body  grows ;  it  is  a  unit  striving  to  bring  itself  into 
harmony  with  the  All  Father. 

They  are  our  best  friends  who  make  us  think,  albeit  we  may 
not  fully  agree  with  them.  Now,  if  I  have  shown  you  only  one 
reason  why  the  sick  are  cured  by  similars,  you  are  thinking,  and 
it  is  but  a  step  to  seeing  that  the  highest  potencies  aet  for  the 
same  reason  that  the  lower  do.  By  the  similarity  of  their  time- 
pace,  they  change  the  polarity  of  vital  action  and  a  cure  follows. 


THOUGHTS    ON    TRITURATION. 
By  Dr.  John  Albert  Burnett,  Hackett,  Ark. 

Triturations  are  now  being  used  by  many  physicians  that  are 
not  homoeopaths,  and,  in  my  opinion,  will  grow  more  popular 
I  will  quote,  as  follows,  from  the  last  edition  of  Potter's  Materia 
Medica,  one  of  the  standard  allopathic  works : 


Thoughts  on  Trituration.  399 


"Prof.  H.  G.  Piffard,  in  his  treatise  on  Materia  Medica  and 
Therapeutics  of  the  Skin,  after  detailing  the  results  of  several 
microscopical  examination  of  pills  and  triturations,  uses  the  fol- 
lowing language :  'It  is  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  the  pro- 
toiodide  trituration  will  prove  ceteris  paribus  more  active  than 
the  pill,  as  such  we  have  found  it.  .  .  .  Since  we  have  used 
the  triturations,  however,  in  preference  to  the  ordinary  pills,  pa- 
tients more  rarely  complain  of  disagreeable  sensations.  We  have 
been  enabled  to  materially  reduce  the  size  of  the  dose  in  order 
to  obtain  the  desired  effect.  In  other  words,  a  larger  proportion 
of  the  drug  is  utilized  for  specific  purposes,  while,  but  a  small 
amount  remains  to  give  rise  to  local  irritation.  ...  I  have 
nothing  to  add  to  this,  except  that  I  continue  to  use  triturations 
of  Mercury  and  other  substances  with  increasing  satisfaction. 
Besides  those  mentioned,  I  employ  Calomel,  Cyanide  of  Mer- 
cury, Black  Oxide  of  Mercury  and  Corrosive  Sublimate  in  this 
form.'  " 

The  above  from  this  authority  should  be  sufficient  to  convince 
one  of  the  so-called  "regular"  or  "allopathic"  school,  of  the  value 
of  triturations. 

Recently,  I  wrote  Dr.  W.  E.  Kinnett,  an  eclectic  physician,  who 
has  been  president  of  the  Illinois  State  Eclectic  Medical  Society 
for  several  years,  and  asked  him  about  the  use  of  the  tissue  rem- 
edies, in  both  crude  and  triturated  form,  and  told  him  I  would 
like  to  thoroughly  investigate  this  matter,  and  received  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"Your  letter  of  inquiry  of  the  7th  inst.  received  and  contents 
noted,  and  in  reply  will  say  that  I  have  not  accomplished  as 
much  good  from  the  tissue  remedies  in  crude  form  as  in  the 
triturations.  However,  perhaps,  others  have  and  can.  I  will  be 
pleased  to  learn  about  your  investigations  along  that  line.  Doctor, 
you  must  remember  that  it  does  not  take  medicine  in  quantity 
to  correct  a  wrong,  but  quality  and  the  correct  remedy.  We 
usually  want  the  therapeutic  effect  rather  than  the  physiological 
effect  in  treating  the  sick,  and  we  want  the  very  smallest  amount 
that  will  accomplish  the  work.  In  regard  to  the  dose,  I  have 
given  in  large  and  small  doses  of  the  crude,  as  well  as  the  tritura- 
tions, and  have  received  better  results  from  the  triturations.    In 


400  Thoughts  on  Trituration. 

some  cases  where  the  crude  drug  failed  I  have  used  the  at- 
tenuated drug  of  the  same  kind  with  very  best  of  results." 

Dr.  Kinnett  has  just  completed  a  series  of  articles  on  the  tis- 
sue remedies. 

These  remedies,  as  well  as  the  triturations  oi  many  other  rem- 
edies, are  now  used  extensively  by  many  eclectic  physicians. 

A  few  years  ago  a  noted  physio-medical  physician  was  writing 
in  the  Physio-Medical  Record  and  highly  recommended  the  trit- 
urations of  Podophyllin  and  explained  its  advantage  over  the 
crude  drug.  Many  of  the  physio-medical  physicians  of  Chicago 
use  triturations,  especially  of  the  tissue  remedies.  Many  rem- 
edies, when  given  in  the  triturated  form,  are  absorbed  better  and 
a  much  smaller  dose  is  sufficient,  and  the  effect  of  the  remedy 
is  obtained  without  any  of  the  untoward  action  of  it. 

In  the  last,  or  next  to  the  last,  edition  of  Hare's  Therapeutics, 
a  standard  allopathic  authority,  he  recommends  the  homoeopathic 
preparation  of  some  drug,  I  cannot  call  to  memory  just  what 
drug. 

Potter  says : 

"Pulsatilla  is  generally  credited  with  specific  therapeutical 
action  on  the  generative  organs  of  both  sexes.  Epididymitis  and 
orchitis  have  been  often  controlled  and  entirely  dissipated  by  its 
administration  in  very  small  doses,  a  few  drops  of  the  tincture 
in  a  glass  of  water,  of  which  5j  is  given  every  two  hours  (Pif- 
fard,  Sturgis).  In  more  than  twenty-four  cases  of  acute  un- 
complicated epididymitis,  doses  of  two  drops  of  the  tincture 
every  two  hours,  gave  immediate  relief,  the  patient  wearing  a 
suspensory  bandage,  but  not  being  confined  to  bed  ( Borcherin). 
Doses  of  five  drops  aggravated  this  disorder,  while  those  of  m 
Vio  every  three  hours  proved  curative  (Piffard)." 

This  is  evidence  that  the  small  dose  is  curative,  which  cor- 
roborates Dr.  Kinnett's  views  on  the  subject  of  dosage,  one  a 
regular,  and  one  an  eclectic. 

Triturations  of  most  drugs  are  more  pleasant  to  take  and 
likely  to  do  less  harm.  It  will  be  to  any  physician's  advantage 
to  investigate  the  action  of  most  remedies  in  the  form  of  tritura- 
tions. 

Potter  says  triturations  of  many  substances  were  employed  by 


401 

the  Arabian  physicians  of  the    i;th  cei 

case,  no  one  could  doubt  but  what  Hahnemar/  -   the  one  to 

brino-  their  use  to  the  □  of  the 


ARE    THEY    ADVANCES   ? 

Quite  a  number  of  homoeopaths   eagerly  pursue   the   class  in 
me  licine  that  repudiates  what  is  known 

lopathv.  scorns  Homoeopathy  as  being  "antiquated"  and   I      :  • 

proclaim   themselves   to   be  the  medical    -   ft     >f   the   earth3   very 

scientific   and  very   much   up-to-date.      So   far   as   being   in   the 
-light."  occupying  the  centre  of  the  medical  stage  an  '.  fill- 
ing the  pages  of  the  medi  u*nals3  they  are  an  unqiu 
success,   but   after?      Take   the    following,    for   instance,    clipped 
almost  at  random  from  the  pages  of  the  last  issue  of  the  Medical 
f  Review             urnal  that,  from  its  title,  ought  to  give 
the  '"very  latest" — the  subject  is  "Tuberculin  Reactions," and 
Dr.  Pelton  writes  : 

"If  in  ;.  -  -     the  test  is  negative  or  doubtful,  it  is  the  □ 

se  to  try  it  again,  but  to  do  so  introduces  a  complication  of  rather  a 
is  nature.     This  is  bound  up  in  the  question  of  su        -      •  :     ttlon,  or 

phenomenon   wl  s    bee-:    ext 

n  with  "serum  disease;   and  which  for  the  pre- 
define  as  an  increased  sensitive]]    ss         the  s       nd  and  sul 
lations  with  a  serum.     Pirque:  sugg   sts  the  -  :  te  this 

increased  sensitiveness  A'.lergie  tests'  have  been  employed  in  a  num- 

ber of  cases.  Ferrand  and  Lemaire  are  among  those  who  report  the 
recurrence  :■:'  th  ophthalmo-raction  on  a  cur  :   of  tuberculin 

given  weeks  after  the  test  has  been  applied.  Klieneberger  found  that  on  a 
second   test  being   applied   76  per    cent       :    :'...     -  non 

show  the  ophthalmoreaction.  Dufour.  however,  found  that  two  suc- 
cessive instillations  into  different  eyes  always  yielded  concordant  results. 
though  the  second  reaction  might  be  more  severe:  wit  rcessive  in- 

stillations into  the  same  eye,  the  first  be'-  0       g     ' .  e.  the  second  was  some- 
times positive:  with  three  or  more  instillations  st  being  negat: 
later  ones                                                   the  s 
one.     Anaphylaxis  is.  therefore,  local." 

There  may  be  something  very  profound  in  all  this,  but  to  the 
outside  barbarian  the   only  concrete   fact  apparent   is   that  they 


402  Are  They  Advances. 

have  created  a  new  disease  with  their  new  remedy,  and  that  it 
is  proposed  to  name  it  "Allergie,"  after  one  of  its  sires.  Where 
does  the  poor  devil  of  a  patient  come  in? 

Here  is  another  clipping  on  the  treatment  of  feverish  babies : 

"Very  young  children,  up  to  the  age  of  four  years,  are  more  thoroughly 
cooled  off  by  cold  baths  (20  degrees  Celsius,  lasting  twelve  minutes)  than 
are  children  above  this  age.  From  the  fourth  year  on  the  age  makes  no 
further  difference,  but  poorly  developed  and  undernourished  children 
always  present  a  greater  drop  of  temperature  than  the  well  developeed 
and  nourished  patients.  The  antipyretic  action  of  the  bath  is  independent 
of  the  height  of  the  fever  and  the  daily  temperature  curve.  The  tempera- 
ture after  the  bath  diminishes  in  about  the  same  manner  as  during  the 
bath,  reaching  its  lowest  point  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  afterwards. 
Untoward  accidents  were  observed  in  shape  of  an  enormous  drop  of  tem- 
perature in  two  cases,  and  diarrhoea  in  four  cases  concerning  little  chil- 
dren with  rubella." 

If  the  man  who  knows  Homoeopathy  had  a  "little  fairy,"  as 
the  soap  advertisement  puts,  and  illustrates  it,  would  he  prefer 
this  treatment  to  what  the  mighty  Osier  terms  "antiquated  Ho- 
moeopathy?" To  the  outside  barbarian,  fighting  temperature 
per  se  is  about  as  scientific  as  battling  with  smoke  would  be 
while  trying  to  put  out  a  fire.  And  then  Homoeopathy  is  not  af- 
flicted with  "untoward  accidents." 

Again,  this  time  on  dermatology : 

"In  judging  of  the  value  of  methods  of  mercurial  treatment,  in  addi- 
tion to  clinical  observation,  valuable  information  can  be  obtained  from 
quantitative  examination  of  mercury  excreted  in  the  urine,  for  we  are 
justified  in  assuming  that  the  quantity  of  mercury  in  the  urine  depends 
upon  the  amount  in  the  body  or  blood.  Patients  were  treated  with  in- 
unctions, intramuscvular  injections  and  by  the  Merkalator  mask,  and  a 
daily  quantitative  examination  of  urine  made.  From  a  study  of  his  results 
the  writer  draws  the  following  conclusions : 

1.  The  amount  of  mercury  excreted  in  the  urine  depends  not  alone  on 
the  amount  actually  absorbed,  but  also  on  the  rapidity  of  absorption. 

2.  A  more  rapid  absorption  of  mercury  results  ceteris  paribus  in  a  more 
rapid  excretion. 

3.  Methods  of  treatment  with  rapid  absorption  and  rapid  excretion  are 
ceteris  paribus  of  less  worth  than  those  with  gradual  absorption  and  slow 
excretion. 

4.  Methods  with  gradual  absorption  and  slow  excretion  allow,  ceteris 
paribus,  the  mercury  to  remain  in  the  system  a  longer  time. 


The  Function  of  the  Vermiform  Appendix.  403 

5.  The  intravenous  sublimate  injections  of  Bacelli  should  not  be  con- 
sidered practically  on  account  of  their  danger,  and  theoretically  on  ac- 
count of  the  rapid  excretion  of  mercury. 

6.  Large  salicylate  of  mercury  injections  at  several  days'  intervals  are 
less  productive  of  results  than  daily  small  injections  of  the  same  drug. 

7.  Inunctions  have  the  advantage  of  slow  absorption,  gradual  excretion 
and  the  longer  remaining  in  the  tissues  of  the  mercury  as  opposed  to 
salicylate  of  mercury  injections. 

8.  The  Merkalator  teratment  combines  the  advantages  of  the  inunctions 
with  the  rapid  action  of  the  salicylate  injections." 

What  does  the  man  of  Homoeopathy  or  any  other  man  learn 
from  all  this?  Nothing,  save  that  the  less  Mercury  the  patient 
receives  the  better  for  the  patient.  " Antiquated"  Homoeopathy 
knew  that  a  century  ago. 

Here  is  something  else : 

"The  exact  nature  of  opsonins  is  not  known,  but  it  is  known  that  they 
are  not  identical  with  the  agglutions,  antitoxins,  etc.,  which  are  also  found 
in  the  plasma.  Their  action  is  not  on  the  leucocytes,  but  on  the  bacteria, 
which  they  prepare  for  ingestion." 

Honestly,  now,  wouldn't  the  study  of  some  old  homoeopathic 
book  yield  better  results  than  the  science  of  which  the  foregoing 
are  fair  specimen  bricks? 


THE  FUNCTION  OF  THE  VERMIFORM  APPENDIX 
By  S.  L.  Corpe,  M.  D. 

While  attending  medical  colleges  of  both  schools  ten  or  twelve 
years  ago,  some  of  my  best  professors  advocated  the  theory  that 
all  infants  should  receive  the  operation  for  appendectomy.  The 
same  theory  has  been  favorably  mentioned  in  most  of  the  medical 
journals  since.  In  a  recent  number  of  one  of  them  is  the  state- 
ment: 

"Of  the  function  of  the  appendix  nothing  is  known ;  of  the 
essential  etiological  character  of  its  diseases  we  know  but  little 
more." 

Eren  with  modern  aseptic  surgery,  the  percentage  of  fatality 
of  the  infants  operated  upon  universally  woufa  certainly  equal 


404  The  Function  of  the  Vermiform  Appendix. 

that  of  the  deaths  from  appendicitis  as  it  is.  And  as  people  be- 
come more  enlightened,  the  disease  will  become  more  infrequent. 
All  classes  will  learn  from  the  intelligent  family  physician  how 
to  prevent  or  avoid  it;  not  by  the  use  of  medicines,  but  by  right 
living.  Removing  the  "little  rascal"  would  prevent  trouble  be- 
ing caused  by  the  entrance  of  a  seed  (which  is  very  rare),  but 
it  would  invite  a  train  of  kindred  troubles  all  through  life. 

Only  about  25  per  cent,  of  the  cases  of  appendicitis  are  caused 
by  having  a  seed,  fecal  matter  or  any  other  foreign  substance 
whatever  in  the  appendix. 

My  observations  on  about  fifty  persons  who  have  had  their 
appendices  excised  show  that,  as  a  general  rule,  they  have  more 
pain  in  the  abdomen,  more  general  trouble,  especially  constipa- 
tion, than  other  people,  and  more  than  they  experienced  before 
the  operation.  My  experience  on  animals — mostly  dogs,  as  they 
are  more  abundant  here  than  rabbits  or  other  creatures — prove 
that  constipation  is  always  greater. 

Testing  the  substance  in  the  appendix  chemically  and  me- 
chanically, I  find  it  to  be  chiefly  a  lubricant  and  slightly  a  di- 
gestive juice. 

This  is  needed  to  assist  in  the  movement  of  the  feces  in  the 
colon.  This  juice  is  also  a  powerful  germicide,  as  are  all  the  di- 
gestive juices  when  not  weakened  or  deranged  by  abuse  of  drugs 
which  is  yet  such  a  universal  habit  with  doctors  and  the  laity. 
This  fluid  is  much  greater  than  we  would  suppose,  judging  by 
the  size  of  the  appendix.  In  an  adult,  this  organ  averages  three 
and  one-half  inches  in  length,  and  is  about  the  thickness  of  a 
lead  pencil.  I  can  only  estimate,  but  I  believe  it  gives  off  about 
four  ounces  a  day. 

The  appendix  is  not  a  rudiment  of  a  lengthened  caecum,  as 
has  been  taught  by  some  of  our  standard  text-books,  but  is  a 
distinct  organ,  having  a  distinct  function. 

The  solitary  glands  are  far  more  numerous  in  it  than  in  any 
portion  of  the  colon.  It  is  remarkably  well  supplied  with  lym- 
phatics and  lymphatic  glands  which,  as  we  may  say,  feed  it. 

As  this  little  organ  becomes  better  understood,  surgeons  will 
be  less  keen  to  remove  it  upon  the  least  provocation.  And  if 
it  is  found  to  be  the  case  that  it  is  curable  medically,  the  sur- 


Practical  Experience  with  Remedies  in  Typhoid  Fever.    405 

geon  will  do  his  patient  greater  service  by  closing  the  ex- 
ploratory incision  and  leaving  the  appendix  to  do  its  further 
work. 

Cove,  Oregon. 

(This  paper  was  first  printed  in  a  local  journal  in  1903,  and 
was  the  first,  or  among  the  first  to  call  attention  to  the  important 
use  the  appendix  performs. — Ed.  H.  R.) 


DOESN'T  BELIEVE  IN   PASTEUR. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

Without  entering  into  the  phase  of  the  question  of  the  germ 
theory  of  disease  pre*sented  by  Dr.  Leslie  Martin,  permit  me  to 
inform  your  readers  that  in  "Les  grande  Problemes  Medicaux," 
Prof.  A.  Bechamps  characterizes  the  microbic  theory  of  disease, 
"la  plus  grande  sottise  scientifique  de  ce  temps." 

Dr.  Bechamps  died  recently  in  Paris,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one 
years,  in  full  possession  of  all  his  faculties  except  vision. 

It  was  from  him  Pasteur  stole  nearly  all  his  pretended  dis- 
coveries, grossly  distorting  them  in  plagiarizing  them. 

I  hope  you  will  place  this  before  your  readers,  and  if  you  find 
a  demand  for  proof,  I  will  refer  your  readers  to  the  original 
works,  whereby  they  can  prove  the  fact  for  themselves.  I  will 
also  indicate  to  them  an  absolutely  fake  experiment  of  Pasteur's, 
which  they  can  verify  if  so  minded. 

Moxt.  R.  Leverson,  M.  D. 

427  Grant  Ave..  Brooklyn,  N.  Y .,  July  17,  ipo8. 


PRACTICAL    EXPERIENCE    WITH    REMEDIES    IN 
TYPHOID    FEVER. 

First.    Bryonia. 

Someone  has  said :  'The  more  the  typhoid  the  more  the 
Bryonia/3     Whoever  said  it,  said  well. 

Bryonia  has  served  us  more  often  and  more  regularly  than 
all  other  remedies  combined.  So  much  is  this  true  that  our  corps 
has  almost  come  to  prescribe  it  routinely  upon  the  reception  of 
a  fever  case. 


406    Practical  Experience  with  Remedies  in  Typhoid  Fever. 

Begun  at  the  beginning,  the  temperature  rarely  gets  beyond 

control  and  we  have  been  very  fortunate  in  warding  off  the  in- 
testinal relaxations  that  are  such  a  nuisance  so  often. 

The  mental  hebetude,  the  dulled  expression,  the  besotted 
countenance,  the  dry  brown  tongue,  the  foul  breath,  the  slug- 
gishness of  functions,  the  decubitus  and  desire  to  lie  quiet,  the 
slowness  of  pulse  as  compared  with  temperature,  these  and  other 
symptoms  to  be  found  in  the  Symptom-Codex  are  the  picture 
for  Bryonia  in  typhoid. 

Many  of  our  cases  have  been  carried  through  on  Bryonia 
alone,  without  a  single  constitutional  or  intercurrent. 

Second.  Next  to  Bryonia  has  come  Baptisia.  But  it  has  not 
been  called  for  in  anything  like  the  number  that  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  praise  it  has  received. 

Ever  since  Hale  pronounced  Baptisia  a  remedy  which  would 
abort  typhoid  fever  it  has  been  used  frequently  and  indiscrim- 
inately in  the  beginning  as  an  abortifacient.  Whereas,  Baptisia 
is  rarely  indicated  early.  Its  chief  characteristic  are  putridity 
and  duality  of  consciousness,  or  rather,  a  perversion  of  our 
duality. 

Baptisia  is  a  secondary  remedy,  always  to  be  thought  of  as 
the  patient  gets  mixed  up,  and  as  his  breath  and  discharges  be- 
come penetratingly  foul. 

Someone  else  is  in  bed  with  him;  it  is  tfie  other  man  who  is 
sick;  what  has  become  of  his  chest,  leg  or  arm;  in  answering 
questions  it  is  in  the  third  person  singular;  it  is  "he,"  not  "I," 
who  slept  well  or  who  didn't. 

These  symptoms  never  occur  in  the  first  week.  They  doubt- 
less arise  from  the  effect  of  the  typhoid  toxin  and  the  continued 
heat  upon  those  centres  in  the  brain  that  preside  ove*  duality  ol 
consciousness — hence  it  is  the  other  part  of  us.  the  other  fellow. 
if  you  will,  who  is  sick  and  behaving  badly. 

In  this  perversion  Baptisia  is  a  cfessic.  Likewise  v/here  pu- 
tridity predominates. 

And  this,  also,  is  always  late. 

A  word  about  the  potency.  For  years  it  was  my  view  that  all 
our  indigenous  remedies  did  better  in  the  tincture  or  low.  Hale 
so  taught,  and  he  was  the  New  Remedies  authority.  My  ideas 
have  long  since-  undergone  a  change  along  this  lipe. 


Practical  Experience  with  Remedies  in  Typhoid  Fever.    407 

Baptisia  does  better  the  farther  removed  from  the  crude. 

There  may  be  a  limit  to  the  distance  to  be  travelled  to  keep 
this  statement  good,  but  thus  far  I  seem  not  to  have  reached  it. 
The  sixth,  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  even  the  one-thousandth  have 
served  me  better  than  the  first,  second  or  ticture. 

Third.    Belladonna. 

No  small  number  of  typhoid  fever  cases  suffer  severe  head- 
ache, flushed  face,  injected  eyes,  dry  mouth  and  tongue,  nose- 
bleed, general  redness  of  skin. 

Here  Belladonna  has  served  a  good  purpose.  But  it  is  not 
a  long-indicated  remedy.  It  relieves  quickly  or  it  does  not.  It 
will  not  carrv  a  case  clear  through  as  does  Bryonia  or  as  does 
Rhus  or  Baptisia.  But  it  is  often  indicated,  and  often  helpful 
where  ordinarily  Gelsemium  or  Veratrum  viride  is  prescribed. 

Fourth.    Rhus  tox. 

The  early  homoeopaths  were  in  the  habit,  as  are  too  many  to- 
day, of  giving  Bryonia  and  Rhus  alternately  to  all  their  typhoid 
patients,  the  journals  containing  many  brilliant  cures  by  this 
treatment. 

The  pathogeneses  of  these  drugs  proclaim,  however,  that  they 
are  direct  opposites  in  all  their  chief  characteristics.  This  be- 
ing true,  they  are  not  even  analogously  related  and  should  not 
be  prescribed  conjointly.  If  it  is  a  Bryonia  case  it  is  not  a  Rhus 
case. 

For  patients  with  intense  restlessness,  constant  tossing  about, 
incessant  throwing  of  arms  and  legs,  bitter  complaints  about  the 
bed.  always  too  hard,  muttering  delirium  that  never  lets  up, 
nightly  diarrhoea  of  a  pea-soup  character,  involuntary  watery 
and  offensive  stools,  tongue  intensely  dry,  red  at  the  tip  and 
with  a  dry  streak  down  the  centre,  extending  from  tip  to  base, 
Rhus  tox.  is  without  an  equal. 

As  stated,  in  our  cases  it  has  not  been  very  often  called  for. 
But  when  needed  it  has  been  needed  bad  and  has  done  good 
work. 

Fifth.    Lycopodium. 

Kraft  calls  Lycopodium  the  '"Yellow  Remedy. " 

Everything  is  yellow,  the  skin,  the  sclerotics,  the  tongue,  the 
urine,  the  feces,  the  perspiration,  the  liver  is  swollen  and  torpid, 


408  Hahnemann's  Grandson  in  Stuttgart. 

the  abdomen  is  distended  with  gas,  borborygmus  and  flatulence 
are  characteristic,  the  mind  is  as  torpid  as  the  liver,  the  patient 
is  listless. 

Lycopodium  is  only  an  intercurrent,  as  a  rule,  and  not  often 
called  for.    But  occasionally  it  is  very  helpful. 

Sixth.    Sulphur. 

Not  often  called  for,  yet  a  good  passing  remedy. 

The  heat  is  dry  and  pungent,  insistent  and  intense.  It  is 
worse  toward  and  in  the  night.  The  skin  is  as  dry  as  if  burned, 
and  burns  the  hand. 

The  pulse  is  fast,  for  typhoid,  the  temperature  extreme,  and 
neither  will  come  down  and  stay  down. 

The  bowels  are  torpid,  as  with  Lycopodium,  the  urine  slug- 
gish and  very  red,  staining  everything,  but  not  leaving  the  sedi- 
ment of  Lycopodium. 

The  bladder  is  paralyzed,  full  to  bursting. 

Sulphur  is  a  regenerator,  a  revivifier,  an  arouser  of  dormant 
forces,  the  clearer  away  of  dyscrasial  rubbish. 

Rarely  will  it  be  needed  long  at  a  time,  an  occasional  dose  in 
the  high  potency  sufficing. — C.  E.  Fisher,  M.  D.,  in  A'.  E.  Med. 
Gas. 

[These  observations  are  based  on  Dr.  Fisher's  experience  while 
chief  of  the  railroad  builder's  hospitals  in  North  Carolina  re- 
cently.— Editor  H.  R.] 


HAHNEMANN'S  GRANDSON   IN   STUTTGART. 

It  may  interest  our  readers  to  hear  something  of  the  grand- 
son of  Hahnemann,  himself  a  homoeopathic  physician,  who  lately 
visited  the  Hahnemannian  Society  in  Stuttgart.  We  give  the 
article  as  it  is  found  in  the  (fHomceopathische  Monatshefte," 
June,  1908,  the  organ  of  the  Hahnemannian  Society  : 

"A  few  days  before  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Hahnemannian 
Society,  we  were  able  to  inform  the  officers  of  our  branch  so- 
cieties throughout  Wuertenberg,  that  Dr.  S.  Hahnemann,  from 
Ventnor,  Isle  of  Wight,  the  grandson  of  our  venerable  master, 
had  promised  us  his  presence  at  our  annual  meeting.  This  visit 
was  all  the  more  an  honor  to  our  societv,  as  the  asred  gentleman 


Hahnemann's  Grandson  in  Stuttgart.  409 

who,  spite  of  his  eighty-two  years,  is  still  quite  sturdy,  had  de- 
termined on  this  far  journey  without  being  urged  by  us.  For 
several  years  he  has  had  the  desire  of  visiting  the  national  so- 
ciety in  Wuertenberg,  of  which  he  is  an  honorary  member,  and 
to  be  present,  if  possible,  at  one  of  its  annual  meetings." 

The  president,  Professor  Jauss,  greeted  the  visitor  heartily  in 
the  name  of  the  Hahnemannian  Society.  At  the  request  of  the 
meeting,  Dr.  Hahnemann,  at  a  later  part  of  the  meeting,  ascended 
the  rostrum,  to  give  to  us  some  reminiscences  of  his  grandfather. 
As  these  may  also  interest  our  readers,  we  herewith  give  them  in 
brief : 

"First  of  all,  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  my  election  as  honorary 
member  of  your  society.  I  am  well  aware  that  I  owe  this  honor 
alone  to  the  circumstance  that  I  have  the  good  fortune  of  being 
the  grandson  of  so  renowned  a  man.  I  am  heartily  glad  to  belong 
to  a  society  likes  yours,  which  so  highly  values  the  teachings  of 
my  dear  grandfather,  and  which  thinks  no  efforts  too  great  to 
publish  Homoeopathy  in  the  remotest  circles. 

"My  recollections  of  my  grandparents  go  back  to  my  earliest 
childhood.  I  have  only  an  indistinct  recollection  of  my  grand- 
mother, and  how  she  took  me  on  her  lap  and  gave  me  sweet- 
meats. But  I  well  remember  my  grandfather,  in  whose  house 
it  was  my  privilege  to  spend  my  childhood.  I  also  happened  to 
be  the  first  patient  to  whom  he  prescribed  Drosera  in  whooping- 
cough.  His  practice  filled  all  his  time.  His  office  was  filled  with 
patients  from  the  early  morning,  and  in  the  street  before  his 
house,  Wall  street,  there  were  numerous  carriages,  in  which  his 
patients  from  abroad  were  brought  there  or  taken  away  again. 
When  I  was  eight  years  of  age,  my  grandfather,  who,  then  was 
already  eighty  years  old,  married  for  the  second  time,  and  this 
time  a  French  woman.  Shortly  after  this  he  took  me  to  Halle, 
where  I  entered  the  gymnasium.  There  I  again  saw  my  grand- 
father when  on  his  way  to  Paris  with  his  newly  married  wife. 
He  came  in  an  extra  post-chaise,  and  remained  in  Halle  over 
night  and  invited  his  friends  and  acquaintances  to  a  farewell 
supper.  Several  daughters  of  Hahnemann,  among  them  also  my 
mother,  accompanied  the  couple  to  Halle,  and  took  part  in  the 
farewell-banquet,   at   which   I   also   was   allowed   to   be   present. 


410  Hahnemann's  Grandson  in  Stuttgart. 

Later,  I  saw  my  grandfather  again  in  Paris.  Of  his  daughters 
my  mother  was  the  only  one,  who  did  not  recoil  from  the  journey 
to  Paris,  which,  at  that  time,  was  pretty  troublesome.  Two  of 
my  aunts,  who  were  living  in  Coethen,  had  once  made  up  their 
mind  to  accept  the  invitation  of  my  grandfather  to  come  to 
Paris.  But  when  they  drove  over  the  long  bridge  over  the 
Rhine,  at  Mayence,  they  were  taken  with  such  a  fright,  that 
they  ordered  the  coachman  to  turn  back,  and  to  return  at  once 
to  Coethen.  I  am  also  one  of  the  few  persons  who  was  allowed 
to  stand  at  the  deathbed  of  Hahnemann.  I  was  spending  at  the 
time  some  days  with  my  mother  in  Paris.  We  several  times  en- 
deavored to  get  to  see  my  grandfather,  but  his  second  wife  de- 
terminedly refused  us  admission.  It  is  probable  that  she  was 
afraid  we  might  induce  the  man,  who  was  then  on  his  death- 
bed, to  change  his  testament.  Only  when  she  saw  that  he  was 
dying,  she  permitted  us  to  see  him.  My  grandfather  at  once 
recognized  me  in  spite  of  his  great  weakness.  He  had  taken 
cold  a  few  weeks  before  when  visiting  a  patient,  and  had  caught 
a  bronchial  catarrh  which  caused  his  death  in  his  eighty-ninth 
year.  As  Madame  Hahnemann  had  secured  permission  from  the 
authorities,  to  keep  her  husband's  body  at  home  for  two  weeks, 
no  one  knew  the  day  or  hour  of  his  interment.  On  a  rainy 
morning  we  were  informed  quite  early  in  the  morning,  that  the 
interment  was  about  to  take  place.  Without  any  attendant 
solemnity,  the  coffin  was  lifted  into  the  hearse  and  taken  to  the 
cemetery  of  Montmartre,  and  there  let  down  into  a  grave  in 
which  there  were  already  two  other  coffins.  Besides  my  mother, 
but  few  mourners  attended  the  funeral,  as  Madame  Hahnemann 
had  informed  neither  the  numerous  friends  nor  the  colleagues  of 
the  departed  of  the  funeral. 

'This  strange  action  of  my  grandmother,  more  than  all  else, 
may  serve  to  show  how  little  interest  she  showed  in  the  nearest 
relatives  of  her  departed  husband.  Of  the  enormous  property 
which  my  grandfather  left  behind,  we  never  came  to  see  a  cent, 
and  when  my  mother,  later  on,  requested  a  contribution  for  me, 
so  that  I  might  be  able  to  finish  my  medical  studies  in  Leipsic 
without  financial  cares,  Madame  Hahnemann  refused  all  assist- 
ance and  said :  "If  you  have  not  the  necessary  means  for  allowing 


The  Homoeopathic  Remedy  vs.  the  Catheter.  411 

your  son  to  study  medicine,  let  him  turn  shoemaker."  But  by 
good  fortune  I  was  enabled  to  finish  my  studies  even  without 
her  help;  after  which  I  settled  in  London.  There  I  practiced 
for  a  half  century  of  years,  according  to  my  grandfather's  prin- 
ciples, and  always  enjoyed  an  extensive  practice." 


THE   HOMCEOPATHIC   REMEDY  VS.  THE 
CATHETER. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

In  the  July  number  of  the  Recorder,  page  324,  "Short  Stops," 
a  case  of  stricture  of  the  urethra,  by  Charles  C.  Curtus,  M.  D., 
reminds  me  of  some  interesting  cases  that  I  have  had  to  deal 
with,  that  I  think  worth  relating  and  will  be  of  interest  to  Dr. 
Curtus  and  some  others,  who  like  to  give  true  Homoeopathy  a 
fair  chance. 

During  the  year  1883,  a  man  about  six  feet  tall  and  forty 
years  old,  came  into  my  office  suffering  with  greatly  distended 
bladder  from  stoppage  of  urine,  and  wishing  to  get  him  relieved 
as  quickly  as  possible,  I  introduced  a  small  silver  catheter  which 
revealed  the  existence  of  a  rigid  stricture  near  the  prostate  gland. 
After  several  efforts  which  caused  great  pain  I  had  to  give  it  up 
as  a  hopeless  case,  and  sat  down  to  consider  what  to  do.  After 
resting  and  thinking  a  few  minutes  I  concluded  that  it  was  a  case 
for  therapeutics  and  not  for  surgery,  and  at  once  began  to  take 
symptoms,  which  were  not  a  few,  but  soon  taken.  A  little  refer- 
ence to  my  repertory  and  Hering's  Condensed  Materia  Medica 
soon  told  that  every  symptom  in  his  case  was  a  symptom  for 
Cantharides;  I  gave  him  a  dose  of  the  200  (B.  &  T.)  and  left 
him  on  a  couch  and  went  out  to  see  a  patient,  and  returned  in  an 
hour  and  a-half  to  find  he  had  passed  near  two  quarts  of  urine. 
He  got  up  and  walked  about  a  little  while  and  passed  some  more, 
and  said  he  felt  quite  easy  and  went  home  and  returned  next 
morning  to  tell  me  he  was  all  right.  Since  then  I  have  had  two 
other  cases  in  which  a  catheter  was  unable  to  relieve,  and  all  the 
symptoms  clearly  indications  for  Cantharides,  and  in  each  case 
gave  prompt  relief ;  and  several  others  in  which  no  attempt  was 
made  to  use  an  instrument,  but  the  remedy  indicated  was  always 


412  The  Pharmacist  and  His  Charges. 

Cantharides  and  was  equally  effective.     This  is  not  routine.     It 
is  prescribing  by  symptoms. 

The  sensible  patient  will  pay  more  willingly,  to  be  cured  than 
for  an  operation  which  doesn't  cure.  But  the  heromaniac  will 
pay  more  willingly  for  an  operation  and  be  maimed  for  all  after 
life  to  have  the  pleasure  of  boasting  of  heroism  and  have  the 
glory  of  talking  about  it.  I  have  always  found  it  better  and  safer 
to  study  the  case,  find  the  right  remedy  and  give  it  a  chance  be- 
fore calling  a  surgeon,  for  by  so  doing  a  surgeon's  services  are 
seldom  necessary  and  leave  the  patient  in  better  condition. 

W.  L.  Morgan,  M.  D. 

Baltimore,  Md.,  July  22,  1908. 


THE   PHARMACIST  AND   HIS   CHARGES. 

George  P.  Mills,  a  pharmacist,  writes  to  the  /.  A.  M.  A.  con- 
cerning the  oft  repeated  charge  that  pharmacists  get  'exorbitant 
prices"  for  their  product : 

"The  pharmacist's  charges  should  not,  and  can  not,  be  simply 
for  the  material  furnished  plus  an  allowance  for  time  at  laborer's 
rates.  The  remuneration  which  he  should  and  must  receive  dif- 
fers not  one  iota  from  that  of  any  one  of  the  professional  follow- 
ings,  plus  ordinary  mercantile  profits.  The  amount  received 
must  be  in  proper  proportion  to  the  great  length  of  time  and  the 
necessary  education  required  to  enable  him  to  compound  and  to 
dispense  properly.  The  competent  surgeon  is  not  paid  two,  five 
or  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  simply  carving  human  flesh,  but  for 
so  skilfully  performing  an  operation  that  a  human  life  will  be 
saved.  So  with  the  pharmacist,  a  proper  reward  must  follow 
for  his  services  in  skilfully  manufacturing  and  dispensing  while 
assisting  in  prolonging  or  saving  that  same  life.  It  is  realized 
that  we  must  exercise  the  greatest  amount  of  patience  possible 
in  handling  the  subject  so  often  spoken  of  as  'a  return  to  the 
practice  of  medicine  and  pharmacy'  and  also  with  each  other 
while  doing  so.  In  order  to  accomplish  the  greatest  amount  of 
good,  it  is  necessary,  without  doubt,  that  the  physician  should 
become  more  fully  acquainted  with  the  pharmacist's  side  of  the 
subject  and  the  pharmacist  must  take  an  equal  interest  in  becom- 


Southern  Homoeopathic  Medical  Association.  413 

ing  more  intelligent  regarding  the  physician's  ground.  'The 
well-known  fact'  that  the  druggist's  charges  are  far  greater  than 
is  necessary,  has  never  been  proved  by  the  existence  of  swollen 
bank  accounts  or  a  showing  of  what  money  can  buy." 
The  editor  of  the  journal  makes  the  comment  on  this : 
"The  plea  of  Mr.  Mills  deserves  the  serious  attention  of  the 
medical  profession.  Whoever  has  had  the  least  acquaintance 
with  the  business  side  of  pharmacy  will  agree  that  the  common 
notion  of  the  enormous  profits  of  the  druggist  are  entirely  er- 
roneous." 


SOUTHERN   HOMCEOPATHIC   MEDICAL  ASSOCIA- 
TION. 

President  V.  H.  Hallman,  M.  D.,  of  Hot  Springs,  Ark.,  and 
Edward  Harper,  M.  D.,  New  Orleans,  La.,  have  sent  out  the 
following  circular  letter  to  all  the  southern  homceopathic  physi- 
cians. It  is  proposed  to  hold  the  meeting  at  New  Orleans,  Feb- 
ruary Mardi  Gras,  and  hoped  that  many  northern  homceopathic 
physicians  will  attend,  for  all  are  invited,  and  volunteer  papers  will 
be  acceptable.  It  will  be  a  delightful  trip,  and  all  who  can  should 
avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity.  For  details,  address  the 
secretary,  Dr.  Edward  Harper,  Macheca  Bldg.,  New  Orleans, 
La.: 

"The  Southern  Homceopathic  Medical  Association,  the  most 
important  interstate  or  sectional  society  of  our  school,  has  reached 
aseriously  critical  period.  The  pending  question  is :  Will  it  con- 
tinue to  exist  or  go  out  of  existence  for  want  of  support." 

"Can  we  afford  to  sacrifice  this  one-time  prosperous  organiza- 
tion? We  need  its  influence  for  the  progress  and  defense  of 
Homoeopathy.  Now  especially  that  the  American  Institute  has 
started  a  propaganda  to  advance  our  cause  in  every  section  of  our 
country  it  would  be  little  less  than  criminal  to  allow  it  to  die. 

"By  the  first  of  October  at  lastest  the  secretary  must  know 
whether  or  not  sufficient  support  is  pledged  to  warrant  the  un- 
dertaking of  a  meeting.  In  the  meantime  all  preliminary  ar- 
rangements will  be  made  for  active  work,  and  if  reports  are 
favorable  you  will  be  informed  of  the  exact  dates  of  the  meet- 
ing. 


414  Therapeutic  Pointers. 

"Answer  at  once.  Your  co-operations  must  be  secured.  If  you 
are  in  arrears  pay  in  your  dues  for  1908,  or  if  you  wish  to  make 
a  contribution  send  either  to  the  treasurer,  Dr.  R.  s.  Moth, 
Macheca  Bldg.,  New  Orleans,  La. 

"If  you  are  not  a  member  notify  the  secretary  that  you  will 
join  the  organization.  Every  recipient  of  this  notice  is  expected 
to  inform  him  that  he  or  she  is  getting  busy  and  determined  to 
help  in  every  way  possible.  Success  depends  on  each  of  you  in- 
dividually." 

N.  B. — No  initiation  fee.     Annual  dues,  $2.00. 


THERAPEUTIC    POINTERS. 

Dr.  Charles  E.  Wheeler  places  special  stress  on  the  great  value 
of  Kali  chloratnm  in  chronic  nephritis,  which  he  has  given  in  the 
2x  to  6th  dilution  with  benefit  on  pathological  lines.  Dr.  Hush- 
field  finds  that  this  drug  in  fatal  cases  of  poisoning  by  it  causes 
"important  new  changes  in  the  white  corpuscles  of  the  blood." 

Dr.  C.  E.  Wheeler  successfully  treated  a  case  of  "paroxysmal 
abdominal  pain  of  several  years'  standing"  with  Chionanthus  6, 
after  several  other  remedies  had  failed.  You  will  find  the 
Lawshe  proving  in  New,  Old  and  Forgotten  Remedies,  with 
plenty  of  abdominal  pain  in  it. 

Dr.  R.  M.  C.  H.  Cooper  (Horn.  World)  calls  attention  to  the 
great  value  of  Belladonna  6,  as  a  local  application  in  acute  sup- 
purative inflammation. 

When  patient  is  more  or  less  rheumatic  Rhus  tox.  is  the  prob- 
able remedy  if  heart  is  affected,  and  Phosphorus  where  fat  is 
the  trouble.    Dr.  O.  F.  Miller  finds  them  good  in  these  conditions. 

Tartar  emetic,  6x,  is  said  to  be  almost  a  specific  for  herpes  in 
the  beard. 

Miss ,  forty  years  old ;  has  to  urinate  every  five  to  ten 

minutes,  and  always  a  large  quantity ;  rapid  loss  of  strength  and 
great  dejection  of  spirits.  Cantharis  30,  in  water,  every  two 
hours,  one  teaspoonful,  relieved  at  once. — Dr.  Goullon. 

I  had  a  very  pretty  proving  of  Borax  several  weeks  since.  A 
few  days  after  having  discharged  myself  from  an  obstetric  case, 


Therapeutic  Pointers.  415 

I  was  again  summoned  to  prescribe  for  the  baby,  which  the 
mother  said  was  "so  nervous,"  and  also  said  that  she  noticed  this 
nervousness  chiefly  in  one  symptom,  that  the  child  (a  girl)  "was 
exceedingly  afraid  of  falling;"  she  said  this  symptom  was  so 
noticeable  that  her  husband  and  others  had  observed  it.  I,  of 
course,  at  once  thought  of  Borax,  and  was  about  looking  into  the 
little  one's  mouth  in  search  of  further  indications.  At  this  junc- 
ture the  mother  of  the  child  informed  me  that  "the  baby  had  not 
a  sore  mouth,  as  the  nurse  had  given  it  a  washing  out  twice  a 
day  with  Borax  to  prevent  it,  and  had  also  washed  the  baby  all 
over  with  the  preparation  every  day  to  make  its  skin  healthy." 
Suspecting  a  Borax  proving,  I  determined  to  confirm  my  sus- 
picions and  give  no  medicine.  I  accordingly  stopped  the  nurse's 
work  and  gave  Sac.  lac,  enough  to  last  three  days.  Calling  at 
the  end  of  that  time,  I  found  that  the  child  was  too  well  to  need 
any  antidote.  I  should  also  state  that  I  found  a  slight  inflamma- 
tion of  the  mouth  on  the  first  inspection,  which  would,  doubtless, 
have  developed  into  something  more  troublesome.  I  cannot  say 
whether  this  was  also  a  "proving"  or  a  mere  chance  symptom, 
but  believe  the  former,  as  it  also  disappeared  with  the  other. — 
Dr.  William  Jefferson  Guernsey. 

Offensive,  or,  in  Anglo-Saxon,  stinking,  -  discharges  of  "mat- 
ter," calls  for  Psorinum  30 — not  too  often.  Dr.  Rabe  reports  a 
case  {Critique)  of  such  a  discharge,  greenish,  following  measles, 
that  was  cleared  up  by  that  remedy. 

Dr.  G.  H.  Thacker  {Critique)  writes  of  Acetic  acid.  The 
more  the  victim  of  the  vinegar  habit  becomes  poisoned  with  it 
the  more  he  craves  it.  Like  whiskey.  Becomes  pale,  bloodless, 
waxy,  anaemic  and  dropsical,  with  sweat  and  thirst.  It  is  worth 
looking  up. 

Dr.  C.  E.  Quigg,  Tomah,  Wis.,  writes  of  Mitchella  Repens  in 
Ellingwood's  Therapeutist:  "The  remedy  was  used  by  the  Indian 
women  previous  to  labor,  and  had  a  reputation  for  accomplish- 
ing exactly  that  which  I  use  it  for.  But  few  writers  have  en- 
larged upon  its  virtues,  but  those  who  have  used  it  for  any 
length  of  time  have  become  enthusiastic  concerning  its  action 
and  depend  upon  it  with  much  positiveness.    It  not  only  removes 


416  Better  Than  Circumcision. 

complications,  but  improves  the  general  condition  of  the  nervous 
system,  especially  in  its  influence  over  the  reproductive  function. 
It  removes  erratic  pains  and  unsatisfied  longings,  corrects  hys- 
terical conditions  and  reflex  symptoms,  and  causes  the  functions 
of  the  urinary  apparatus  to  be  properly  performed.  The  bowels 
become  regular,  faulty  digestion  is  corrected,  the  appetite  be- 
comes natural,  the  digestion  is  improved,  and  there  is  a  general, 
normal  nourishing  not  only  of  the  mother,  but  also  of  the  child." 
Material  doses.     Has  employed  it  in  over  500  cases. 

BETTER  THAN   CIRCUMCISION. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  a  twenty-four  hours'  old  boy,  crying  and 
straining  with  pain,  had  not  micturated.  Two  years  before  an- 
other physician  had  a  similar  experience  with  a  brother  of  the 
child,  and  had  him  circumcised  for  relief,  and  the  parents  were 
sure  similar  proceedings  were  needful  with  this  child.  Instead, 
however,  I  first  inserted  the  blunt  of  a  probe  into  the  meatus  of 
the  prepuce,  and  followed  it  with  the  bills  of  small  dressing  for- 
ceps and  then  dilated.  The  result  was  a  spouting  flow  of  urine. 
I  then  inserted  the  flat  end  of  the  probe  and  carefully  but  thor- 
oughly separated  the  prepuce  from  the  glands  penis  and  then 
retracted  the  prepuce  until  about  half  of  the  glans  appeared.  The 
child  had  no  further  difficulty  in  micturating.  Since  then,  when- 
ever a  prepuce  has  seemed  abnormally  long  or  there  was  com- 
plaint about  the  boy  not  micturating,  I  have  always  similarly 
operated.  After  some  of  these  boys  had  attained  manhood  I 
found  occasion  to  examine  their  organs,  and  in  every  case  the 
prepuce  was  naturally  retracted  nearly  or  quite  to  the  corona.  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  circumcision  is  very  rarely  necessary,  and 
that  if  this  process  was  generally  followed  it  never  would  be. 
An  adult  with  a  long  prepuce  is  imperfectly  developed  and  should 
be  circumcised;  but,  in  my  judgment,  his  predicament  might  have 
been  avoided  by  the  above  procedure. 

The  prepuce  exists  as  a  protection  for  the  delicate  nerve  ter- 
minals of  the  glans  until  the  development  of  manhood  no  longer 
requires  it.  And  then  it  slowly  and  naturally  retracts  if  not  ad- 
herent to  the  glans.  I  do  not  think  complete  retraction  of  the 
prepuce  needful  for  the  sake  of  cleanliness  in  childhood.  Na- 
ture will  care  for  that  if  let  alone." — Sinclair,  The  Eclectic  Re- 
view. 


Book  Notices.  417 

BOOK  NOTICES. 


Radium    as    an    Internal    Remedy.  Especially  Exempli- 

fied in  Cases  of  Skin-Disease  and  Cancer.    By  John  H.  Clarke, 
M.  D.     126  pages.     Cloth,  2s.  6d.,  net.     Postage,  2d.  extra. 
The  Homoeopathic   Publishing  Co.,   12,  Warwick  Lane,  Lon- 
don, E.  C.     Philadelphia :  Boericke  &  Tafel. 
This  handsome,  red  covered  little  book  is  decidedly  interesting 
and  timely,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  tremendous  power  of 
the  drug,  and  every  homoeopathic  tyro  knows  that  its  therapeutic 
value  could  never  be  scientifically  defined  save  by  homoeopaths. 
Fortunately,  the  drug  makes  its  homoeopathic  appearance  under 
the  auspices  of  such  a  master  of  Homoeopathy  as  Dr.  J.  H.  Clarke. 
Aside  from  introductory  matter  and  index,  the  book  is  divided 
into  five  parts,  viz. : 

I.  Introductory. 

II.  Provings. 

III.  Cases  Treated  With  Radium. 

IV.  Cancer  and  Carcinosis. 

V.  Schematic  Arrangements  of  Symptoms. 

To  avoid  possible  future  confusion,  it  might  be  well  to  state 
here  that  Radium  and  Radium  bromatum,  as  Dr.  Clarke  calls  the 
drug,  are  the  same,  there  being  but  one  form  of  the  drug  or  salt 
obtainable.  Needless  for  us  to  state  here  the  book  is  both  timely 
and  decidedly  interesting.  Further  proving  and  clinical  experi- 
ence alone  can  clearly  define  the  clinical  sphere  of  the  remedy, 
though  Dr.  Clarke  has  made  a  most  satisfactory-  start  in  the  work. 


Whooping-Cough  Cured  With  Coqueluchin.  Its  Ho- 
moeopathic Nosode.  By  John  H.  Clarke,  M.  D.  90  pages. 
Cloth.  The  Homoeopathic  Publishing  Co.,  12,  Warwick  Lane, 
London,  E.  C. 

The  first  edition  of  this  work  came  out  under  the  title  of 
Whooping-Cough  Cured  With  Pertussin,  but  was  withdrawn 
because  the  English  authorities  had  granted  a  patent  to  a  German 


418  Book  Notices. 

firm  for  a  proprietory  preparation  of  that  name,  i.  e.,  Pertussin. 
The  name  of  the  nosode  was  changed  then  to  the  French 
equivalent,  Coqueluchin,  under  which  name  it  will  henceforth  be 
known  in  England,  at  least,  and  should  be  also  in  the  United 
States,  to  prevent  confusion,  for  the  German  patent  medicine  of 
that  name  is  not  the  same  as  the  homoeopathic  nosode.  The 
book  is  written  in  Dr.  Clarke's  usual  good  and  interesting  style. 
The  remedy  is  to  whooping-cough  what  Bacillinum  is  to  tuber- 
culosis. The  remedy  is  prescribed  by  Dr.  Clarke  in  the  30  po- 
tency and,  we  believe,  that  is  the  only  potency  obtainable  in  the 
United  States  of  the  same  preparation  Dr.  Clarke  found  to  be 
so  successful  in  practice.  As  whooping-cough  is  now  very 
prevalent  in  many  parts  of  this  country,  the  appearance  of  the 
book  is  timely. 


Dr.  Geo.  H.  Martin,  of  Oakland,  Cal.,  wrote  to  Dr.  Boger  con- 
cerning the  Boenninghausen  Characteristics  and  Repertory,  as 
follows :  "There  will  be  no  volume  on  my  shelves  which  I  shall 
value  as  much  as  Boenninghausen's  Characteristics  and  Reper- 
tory. As  to  the  work  itself,  it  is  certainly  a  monument  of  pains- 
taking, careful  study,  which  will  be  invaluable  to  the  homoeo- 
pathic profession  for  all  time,  and  we  certainly  owe  you  a  debt 
of  gratitude,  which  we  cannot  repay.  Such  a  life  work  as  this, 
is,  I  fear,  largely  its  own  reward,  for  money  cannot  pay  for  it. 
I  have  looked  it  over  carefully  and  am  much  impressed  by  its 
usefulness.  You  have  put  the  matter  in  new  form  for  us,  which 
makes  it  most  convenient  for  study." 

This  is  a  repertory  that  should  be  better  known  than  it  is  by 
all  those  who  make  a  specialty  of  finding  the  similimum.  Just 
keep  this  hint  in  mind  and  give  the  book  a  careful  examination 
on  the  first  opportunity. 


Dr.  M.  S.  Wing,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  {Therapeutist) ,  advocates 
the  use  of  warm  olive  oil  (1050),  as  an  enema. 

An  eclectic  writer  advises  Gelsemium  when  patient  complains 
that  pain  covers  the  entire  head. 

Staphisagria  has  been  highly  commended  in  cases  of  chronic 
gleet. 


Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

By   BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  $i.oo,TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PER  ANNUM 

Address  communications ,  books  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  the  editor,  to 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

EDITORIAL     BREVITIES. 

Not  Quacks. — The  last  number  of  the  Recorder  contained 
a  little  squib  to  the  effect  that  Dr.  Osier,  in  refusing  an  invitation 
to  attend  a  banquet  of  N.  Y.  Horn.  Med.  College,  intimated  that 
they  were  quacks.  This  seems  to  be  error,  for  Dr.  Osier  merely 
said  they  were  "antiquated  and  unreasonable."  Here  is  his  let- 
ter, as  published  in  the  Medical  Record,  taken  from  the  N.  Y. 
Sun: 

Dear  Dr.  McDowell — I  do  not  think  that  we  have  a  common  ground  at 
present  so  long  as  your  school  clings  to  the  law  of  similia,  which  from  the 
modern  scientific  point  of  view  is  as  antiquated  and  unreasonable  as  is 
the  so-called  allopathic  system  from  which  we  modern  physicians  have 
departed.  With  kind  regards  and  best  wishes,  and  thanking  you  most 
sincerely  for  the  compliment,  sincerely  yours — William  Osier. 

This  is  another  shift,  a  going  on  a  new  tack.  Homoeopaths 
have  been  pretty  much  everything  in  the  past  that  was  medically 
naughty,  but  now  they  are  only  unfit  for  the  society  of  "modern 
physicians"  because  they  are  antiquated.  The  definition  of  a 
"modern  physician,"  as  typified  by  Dr.  Osier,  would  be  a  prob- 
lem that  would  puzzle  the  problem  solvers.  The  antiquated  idea 
of  a  doctor  is  of  one  who  finds  the  Balm  of  Gilead,  the  leaves 
of  the  tree  for  the  healing  of  the  nations  and  things  of  that  sort. 
The  physician  of  the  Osier  type  seems  to  be  in  action  a  sort  of 
director  of  nurses,  and  in  the  chair,  an  expounder  of  theories 
which  he  gravely  dubs  "science,"  which  changes  with  the  seasons, 
the  changes  being  termed  "advance."  This  is  good  gallery  play, 
but  when  a  physician  wants  to  do  some  genuine  healing,  he  had 
better  hike  back  to  "antiquated"  Homoeopathy. 


420  Editorial. 

Darwinian  Grounds. — In  an  article  in  the  Medical  Record 
(Aug.  8),  under  the  heading,  "Darwinian  and  Diabetes,"  Dr.  R. 
G.  Eccles  writes :  "For  many  years  there  has  been  a  constantly 
growing  sentiment  within  the  medical  profession  to  explain 
nearly  every  disease  on  Darwinian  grounds."  One  rather  nat- 
urally jumps  to  the  conclusion  that  this  means  "heredity,"  but 
this  is  not  the  case,  for  "a  microbic  explanation  of  disease  is  es- 
sentially a  Darwinian  one,"  being  the  struggle  for  existence 
between  man  and  microbe,  for  "they  enter  our  circulation  and 
contest  with  our  cells  the  right  of  our  pabulum  there.  They  even 
attack  the  protoplasm  of  the  cells  and  seek  to  appropriate  it  to 
their  own  use."  The  conclusion  seems  to  be  that  microbes  are  the 
cause  of  diabetes.  It  is  curious  what  different  characters  the 
microbe  takes  on  in  the  eyes  of  different  men ;  to  one  he  is  a 
"germ"  which,  planted  in  fruitful  soil,  brings  forth  abundant 
crops  of  disease;  as  Dr.  Eccles  pictures  him,  he  seems  like  a 
minute  rat,  who  plays  havoc  by  eating  our  substance,  and  to 
others  he  (or  it)  takes  on  still  other  phases.  Some  men,  out  of 
date  or  far  ahead  of  their  times,  as  you  choose,  see  in  him  but  a 
tissue  change,  wrought  by  that  unknown  something,  which 
comes  to  man  and  is  known  as  disease.  Many  men  are  looking 
beyond  the  microbe  for  the  origin  of  disease  to  trie  first  cause 
and  they  are  coming  back  to  the  Mosaic,  or  divine,  revelation, 
that  it  is  in  sin — physical  sin.  The  father  commits  physical  sins 
and  they  are  visited  on  his  posterity.  Some  organ  is  weakened 
in  the  child  of  the  physical  sinner — or  the  whole  organism — and 
this  weakness  assumes  a  form  known  as  tuberculosis,  or  what 
not,  the  microbes  are  developed  or  are  the  representatives  of  what 
Hahnemann  calls  the  "dynamic"  change,  and  disease,  as  described 
in  the  medical  books,  is  established.  The  microscope  is  exceed- 
ingly useful,  but  it  will  never  discover  the  first  cause  of  disease. 
The  cause,  whatever  it  be,  is  back  of  matter,  and  that,  probably, 
accounts  for  the  many  seeming  miracles  wrought  by  the  d\  namic 
remedy.    There  is  a  good  deal  in  the  subject. 

Ever  Something  "New/' — The  Journal  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  in  enumerating  the  blights  on  medical 
journalism,  gives  as  the  first  one  "the  over-production  of  articles 


Editorial.  421 

that  are  not  new."  At  first  sight  this  seems  very  reasonable  and 
true,  but  the  more  you  consider  it,  the  further  it  leads  you  into  a 
maze.  Suppose  nothing  were  to  be  published  in  medical  journals 
for  the  next  ten  years  except  that  which  is  new,  what  a  great 
peace  and  silence  would  prevail.  And  if  the  ban  were  to  be  still 
further  extended  to  exclude  everything  but  what  was  true,  the 
silence  would  become  painful.  There  may  be  a  few  men  who 
know  all  that  is  new  and  old  in  the  medical  world,  but  their 
number  is  very,  very  small,  and  there  be  some  of  the  few  who 
think  they  do,  but  mistake.  To  impress  every  new  thing  on  all 
the  medical  profession  would  require  brass  trumpets  and  gongs 
and  then  there  would  be  many  who  would  escape,  perhaps,  much 
to  their  advantage.  The  vision  of  one  journal  and  one  editor  is 
a  pleasing,  iridescent  dream  that  will  never  be  realized.  Remem- 
ber that  what  is  shop-worn  knowledge  to  one  is  dewey  freshness 
to  another,  and  geneially  turns  out  to  be  as  perishable  as  the 
flower  which  springeth  up  and  is  withered. 

A  Little  About  Pedigree. — Dr.  Abbott,  exploiter  of  the  al- 
kaloids, in  his  recently  printed  "reply  to  his  critics,"  meaning 
the  editor,  Dr.  G.  H.  Simmons,  of  the  Journal  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  writes :  "The  slurring  references  to  the  ho- 
mceopathists  are  characteristic,  inasmuch  as  Dr.  Simmons  him- 
self is  a  graduate  of  a  homoeopathic  school.  The  animosity  of 
the  renegade  against  his  former  associates  is  traditional."  Polk's 
last  edition  gives  Simmons  to  Hahnemann,  Chicago,  1882,  and 
Rush,  Chicago,  1892.  The  same  authority  gives  Abbott  to  the 
University  of  Michigan,  though  which  department  is  not  stated. 
Curious,  isn't  it,  that  a  "reformed"  homoeopath  should  be  training 
the  allopathic  mind  in  the  way  it  should  go  and  another  (suspect- 
ed) should  be  trying  to  exploit  alkaloids  on  the  line  developed 
t>y  provings  of  the  tinctures? 

Serum  and  Serum. — No  recent  preparation  has  held  the  stage 
so  long  as  antitoxin;  indeed,  it  seems  to  have  become  almost 
a  fixed  star  in  the  scientific  medical  heavens.  Still  no  one  need 
t>e  surprised  to  see  it  some  day  become  a  shooting  star  and  trail 
■out  of  sight,  as  have  the  others  of  that  heavenly,  but  delusive 


422  Editorial. 

expanse  where  fixed  stars  seem  to  have  no  place.  Indeed,  it  is 
already  changing  and  a  "refined  and  concentrated  antitoxin"  is 
being  earnestly  advocated  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  "unrefined 
horse  serum,  with  its  accompanying  rashes,"  etc.,  and,  as  the 
makers  of  the  "refined"  brand  gather  headway  we  may  look  for 
the  sins  of  the  "unrefined"  horse  product  to  be  revealed.  There 
be  those  who  contend  that  a  properly  diluted  injection  of  carbolic 
acid  will  do  the  work  better,  that,  in  fact,  all  the  wonderful  vir- 
tues of  the  horse  serum,  refined  or  unrefined,  lie  in  its  preserva- 
tives ;  these,  however,  are  but  "old  cranks'  who  oppose  prog- 
ress."    Maybe  they  are,  who  knows?    Time  will  tell. 

Are  There  After-Claps? — The  "regular"  and  "liberal"  medi- 
cal journals  are  full  of  the  beauties  of  "immunization,"  which 
seems  to  be  the  putting  of  a  poisonous  substance  into  the  blood 
until  the  dose  that  at  first  caused  distress  ceases  to  show  any 
marked  effect.  When  this  stage  is  reached  the  man  or  beast  is 
"immune."  At  one  stage  in  his  career  a  stiff  horn  of  whiskey 
will  show  marked  results  in  a  man ;  later  it  will  take  that  amount 
to  brace  him  up  to  apparent  normal.  A  man  by  practice  may  take 
enough  arsenic  to  have  killed  him  several  times  over  at  an  earlier 
stage.  How  about  those  made  "immune"  by  diseased  serum  in- 
jections? 

Some  one  may  earn  and  merit  a  feather  in  his  cap  by  studying 
the  after  effect  of  much  immunizations  and  serum.  But  don't 
try  it  on  yourself. 

Rhus  Potsoning. — C.  W.  Reynolds,  in  The  Lancet-Clinic, 
writes  that  in  cases  of  Rhus  poisoning,  if  the  parts  are  first  wet 
with  water  and  then  rubbed  with  a  piece  of  alum,  relief  from  the 
itching  will  be  felt  in  a  few  minutes,  and  the  case  will  soon  heal. 
The  same  procedure,  rubbing  the  skin  with  alum,  will  prevent 
the  poisoning.  This  treatment  proved  effective  in  one  case,  at 
least,  but  whether  it  will  succeed  in  all  cases,  is  a  question  that 
experience  alone  can  answer. 

That  Tuberculin  Test. — The  following  is  clipped  from  an 
exchange  and  is  prayerfully  commended  to  the  attention  of  the 


Editorial.  423 

warriors  against  tuberculosis,  who  are  making  wholesale  use  of 
this  nosode :  "The  'Schles.  Yolksztg.'  reports  that  the  veterinary 
surgeon,  Bougert,  of  Berlin,  observed  that  cattle  which  were 
treated  with  the  Behring  method  of  protective  vaccination  gave 
for  many  months  milk  which  contained  germs  of  tuberculosis. 
The  meat  is  rendered  unfit  for  human  food,  and  the  milk  is 
poisoned." 

Free  Advertising. — Some  medical  manufacturing  companies 
possess  the  secret  of  obtaining  free  advertising.  If  the  recipe 
for  this  could  be  sold  it  would  command  a  goodly  sum.  Certain 
German  houses  have  the  secret,  and  the  Pasteur  Company, 
""Limited,"  of  Paris,  is  not  a  bad  second.  Its  remedy  for  old 
age  is  frequently  written  up  by  lay  and  medical  editors,  as  some- 
thing showing  the  wonders  of  modern  medical  science,  but  no 
scientists  possess  the  secret  of  its  make-up.  It  is  about  as  ef- 
ficacious as  Sayso's  Consumption  Cure,  and  belongs  in  the  same 
category.  It  probably  started  with  the  "discovery"  of  the  mi- 
crobe of  old  age,  which  was  heralded  by  the  press  as  science  in- 
stead of  joke,  and  the  rest  was  easy. 

A  Contribution  to  the  Common  Fund. — A  physician  con- 
tributes, to  a  very  serious  medical  journal,  an  article  which,  in 
its  prelude,  informs  the  world  that : 

*'An  active  vegetable  principle  in  medical  practice  is  a  tonic  when,  by  its 
proper  therapeutic  use,  it  neutralizes  a  disturbing  toxin,  early  in  the  toxin's 
biochemical  course  of  worrying  the  nerve  structures  in  some  part  of  the 
body.  The  worry  of  the  nerve  structures,  referred  to,  is  the  catalysis  of 
the  affected  nerves,  which,  continued  to  the  extent  of  autocatalysis,  fur- 
nishes in  apparently  disintegrated  form  the  affinitive  cognate  of  the  toxin 
recently  in  the  structure  of  the  nerve." 

As  the  subject  here  treated  is  "Toxinneutralization  is  Tonicity" 
- — or,  rather,  not  subject,  but  statement  which  the  writer  seeks 
to  prove — one  feels  that  some  comments  are  needed,  but,  on  a 
second  reading,  the  conclusion  is  arrived  at  that  "All  right,  let 
it  go  at  that"  will  be  sufficient.  After  dwelling  on  the  subject 
in  detail  the  writer  sums  it  all  up  as  follows : 

'The  therapeutic  uses  of  the  various  curative  sera  and  vaccines  are  the 
latest  stimulus  to  the  recognition  of  the  correlation  of  the  disturbing  toxins 


424  Editorial. 

and  the  proteid  vegetable  principles.  The  disintegrated  protoplasm  of  the 
bacteria  in  the  sera  and  vaccines  contain  vegetable,  alkaloid  principles  in 
the  entranglements  of  their  simple  nature,  which  when  injected  into  the 
body  calls  out  all  of  the  latent  power  of  the  immunizing  faculty  of  the 
body,  to  economically  dispose  of  them  to  the  last  therapeutic  advantage." 

Now  the  reader  knows  how  all  the  various  serums  perform 
their  task  of  robbing  disease  of  its  terrors.  Isn't  it  all  pellucid, 
now? 

The  Crazy  Ones. — Drs.  Doane  and  De  Armand,  the  latter 
of  Davenport,  la.,  have  fallen  afoul  of  each  other  in  the  pages  of 
the  Medical  Summary,  on  the  subject  of  insanity,  and  the  latter 
comes  back  on  the  former,  as  follows : 

"Personally,  I  do  not  feel  that  the  average  specialist  reflects 
any  great  amount  of  credit  upon  his  profession  or  contributes 
an  excess  of  knowledge  in  the  average  attempt  to  prove  that  a 
man  is  or  is  not  insane,  depending  entirely  on  how  big  a  fee  can 
be  paid  for  the  testimony.  People  have  come  to  believe  that  if 
you  can  pay  the  cost  you  can  get  experts  who  will  make  it  a 
matter  of  grave  doubt  if  any  man  is  not  insane,  for  who  has  not 
said  and  done  things  which,  in  the  light  of  cold,  sober  thought, 
looked  like  the  work  of  a  man  barely  out  of  a  strait-jacket?  I 
would  not  assume  to  be  an  authority  on  insanity  for  the  simple 
reason  that  I  do  not  believe  that  a  man  who  does  peculiar  things, 
such  as  cut  off  no-account  relatives  without  a  cent,  is  insane  or 
shows  the  slightest  symptoms  of  insanity.  The  medical  expert 
is  a  joke;  he  has  brought  more  censure  upon  the  profession  than 
all  the  learning  of  all  the  experts  can  atone  for  in  the  next  cen- 
tury." 

Evidently  De  Armand  isn't  a  specialist.  But  then  every  special- 
ist can  be  made  to  look  like  twenty-five  cents,  with  five  added 
in  the  hands  of  a  wolfish  lawyer.  When  the  chemist  or  en- 
gineer gets  on  the  stand  he  testifies  to  things  that  are  demonstra- 
ble, but  what  demonstrable  thing  can  a  medical  expert  show? 
Perhaps  it  is  a  mistake  to  class  medicine  among  the  sciences ; 
it  is  something  higher,  like  religion. 

Plumbum  in  Spasmodic  Dysmenorrhea. — Dr.  E.  A.  Neat- 
by's   paper,   "Scraps   of  Medical   Gynaecology"    (Journal  of  the 


Editorial.  425 

British  Horn.  Society),  contains  one  "scrap"  especially  worth 
noting,  because  it  is  practical  and  easily  remembered.  The  pa- 
tient was  a  lady,  in  otherwise  excellent  health,  who  suffered  from 
menstruation  that  was  scanty,  and  delayed  from  one  to  two 
weeks.  "The  case  is  introduced  chiefly  to  refer  to  the  virtues  of 
Plumbum  in  spasmodic  dysmenorrhcea.  The  drug  is  indicated 
for  the  genus  by  its  known  spasmodic  effect  on  involuntary 
muscle  and  for  the  individual  by  the  symptom — 'the  flow  lessens 
or  ceases  during  the  spasms  of  pain.' '  The  patient  received 
the  drug  in  3X  to  I2x  for  several  months,  with  occasional  inter- 
current remedies  and  is  seemingly  relieved  of  the  trouble.  An 
interval  of  nine  months  having  elapsed  since  treatment  was  dis- 
continued. 


Medical  Politicians. — The  entrance  of  the  A.  M.  A.  into 
national  and  local  politics,  and  the  entering  of  Dr.  Reed  for  the 
office  of  U.  S.  Senator,  from  Ohio,  as  part  of  the  general  cam- 
paign is  not  very  enthusiastically  received  by  many  allopathic 
journals.  Of  Dr.  Reed's  candidacy,  one  of  them  writes :  "The 
fact  is,  it  is  but  part  and  parcel  of  a  scheme  long  ago  hatched 
out  by  the  clique  at  Chicago  to  secure  legislation  that  will  give  to 
themselves  complete  power  and  control  over  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine in  this  country." 

Also :  "Already  there  is  a  growing  distrust  of  physicians,  and 
even  of  the  science  of  medicine  itself,  all  over  the  cquntry;  of 
which  the  rapid  rise  of  so-called  Christian  Science,  Osteopathy 
and  other  similar  cults  are  but  symptoms.  Conduct  such  as  we 
have  described,  on  the  part  of  medical  bureaucracy,  will  cause 
this  distrust  to  ripen  into  resentment,  and,  eventually,  into  a 
system  of  reprisal.  And  thus  the  150,000  physicians  of  the  coun- 
try will  be  made  to  suffer  for  the  high-handed  and  autocratic  do- 
ings of  a  small  but  powerful  ring." 

It  will  be  a  sorry  day  for  a  great  and  useful  profession  if  a 
handful  of  schemers  succeed  in  making  a  political  machine  out 
of  its  organization.  Doctors,  as  a  body,  have  no  more  business 
to  meddle  with  national  policies  than  have  politicians  to  dictate 
to  doctors  in  their  practice.     Let  the  doctor  act  as  an  individual 


426  Editorial. 

in  politics,  as  other  men  c\o,  and  not  in  a  body,  for  there  is  pro- 
fessional danger  in  the  latter  form. 

Skepticism. — A  reasonable  amount  of  reasonable  skepticism  is 
needed  in  the  make-up  of  a  reasonable  man,  but  there  is  a  point 
where,  as  Bulwer  affirmed,  it  is  evidence  of  a  narrow  mind,  or 
shows  a  tendency  to  an  "authority"  led  mind.  There  is  no  known 
homoeopathic  remedy  that  has  so  often  demonstrated  startling- 
power,  almost  magical  power,  as  Lachesis,  yet  there  are  men  who 
contemn  it  and  others  who  say  it  has  "lost  its  power."  Men- 
tioning this  peculiar  antagonism  that  has  always  existed  towards 
this  drug  to  a  surgeon,  he  replied  that  in  his  experience  it  was 
a  peculiarly  potent  drug  and  apparently,  if  anything,  more  quick- 
ly active  than  any  drug  he  used.  He  told  of  a  case  of  gangrene, 
or  threatened  gangrene,  sent  to  him  by  another  doctor,  who 
knew  not  Lachesis,  for  amputation.  After  looking  the  case  over 
he  told  the  man  that  he  would  treat  him  for  a  few  days  before 
cutting  off  his  hand.  "I  didn't  want  the  poor  fellow  to  lose  his 
hand  if  it  could  be  helped."  The  patient  was  given  Lachesis,  and 
a  hand  condemned  to  amputation  was  saved.  This  isn't  a  story 
from  the  past,  but  occurred  A.  D.  1908.  It  is  but  the  other  day 
that  another  case  came  to  our  notice  of  a  man  doomed  to  in- 
evitable death  from  blood  poisoning  was  cured  by  Lachesis. 
Well,  after  all,  skepticism  does  not  alter  facts,  but  only  the 
skeptic's  mind. 

Contradictory? — The  following  is  clipped  from  an  exchange: 

Rats  to  Go. — Preparations  for  a  wholesale  extermination  of  rats  have 
been  begun  in  New  Orleans  by  the  Board  of  Health.  A  number  of  the 
rodents  are  to  be  inoculated  with  the  virus  of  a  fatal  disease  and  turned 
loose  so  that  they  may  infect  other  rats.  If  first  experiments  prove  suc- 
cessful, thousands  of  rats  will  be  inoculated  and  sent  out  all  over  the  city. 

No  one  but  a  rabid  member  of  the  S.  P.  C.  A.  will  object  to 
this  procedure  on  the  grounds  of  its  being  rough  on  rats,  but 
it  must  cause  the  germ  theorists  to  scratch  their  heads,  at  least 
those  of  them  who  think.  Germs  are  the  cause  of  our  ills,  they  say, 
yet  these  gentlemen  propose  to  spread  germs  that  will  kill  a 
rat,  throughout  the  city.  Is  it  scientifically  consistent?  Or  is  it 
that  the  "antiquated"  virus  is  the  thing  that  does  the  deadly  work 


Editorial.  427 

so  learnedly  attributed  to  germs  from  the  professorial  chairs  of 
the  gentlemen  who  cannot  associate  with  Homoeopaths  because 
they  are  "antiquated" 

The  "Lost  Manhood"  Swindlers. — One  of  the  tricks  of  these 
soi  disant  "doctors"  is  to  get  the  patient  to  urinate  and  then  test 
the  urine  for  semen,  at  the  same  time  getting  of  plenty  of  "scien- 
tific" patter.  When  the  ''doctor"  has  the  test-tube  and  his  chemi- 
cal (a  chloride  or  something)  ready,  he  says  that  if  the  urine 
shows  so  and  so  he  is  right  in  his  diagnosis,  if  it  doesn't  he 
stands  convicted  of  being  in  error.  The  urine,  of  course,  con- 
firms the  "doctor's"  perspicacity,  and  the  patient  is  duly  im- 
pressed and  shells  out  the  cash.  The  duration  of  "the  treat- 
ment" is  regulated  by  the  patient's  gullability.  "Improvement" 
is  attained  by  weakening  the  chemical  that  acts  on  the  urine, 
and  a  "complete  cure"  is  attained  by  substituting  water  for  the 
chemical,  which,  of  course,  produces  no  change  in  the  test-tube. 
It  is  a  clever  "con"  game. 

Reform  Run  Mad. — The  average  reformer,  even  the  good 
reformers,  have  apparently  a  plentiful  lack  of  ordinary  horse 
sense.  Unrestricted  and  uncontrolled  liquor  traffic  is  an  evil,  but 
the  intemperate  temperance  people  when  they  get  the  upper  hand 
generally  act  like  they  had  parted  company  with  reason.  Thus 
the  Solons  of  Durham,  N.  C,  have  voted  it  illegal  for  drug  stores 
to  furnish  brandy,  wine  or  whiskey  even  on  physicians'  pre- 
scriptions. There  are  times,  emergencies,  when  these  ai  tides 
may  be  essential  in  the  saving  of  life,  but  the  heated  law  makers 
do  not  see  it  that  way.  They  might  be  logical  and  at  once  pro- 
hibit the  sale  of  all  medicine,  for  the  greater  part  of  it  is 
"poison."  The  American  nation  is  a  little  "dippy"  at  present  on 
the  subject  of  curing  ills  by  mere  edicts. 

More  Untoward  Effects  of  Antitoxin. — Dr.  T.  W.  Thomas, 
of  Claremont,  Calif.,  reports  at  length  the  effects  of  an  injection 
of  antitoxin  in  a  boy  of  15,  suffering  from  an  attack  of  diphtheria. 
He  received  4,000  units. 

"There  was  a  change  at  once  in  the  boy's  countenance.  A  look  of  in- 
tense anxiety  came  over  him,  and  the  lips,  face  and  neck  became  livid  in 


428  Editorial. 

appearance.  He  gasped  for  breath,  cried  out  that  he  was  smothering  and 
that  his  heart  was  hurting  him.  Froth  proured  out  of  his  mouth  in  pro- 
fusion, while  he  clutched  at  his  throat  and  chest  with  his  fingers.  There 
was  a  peculiar  death-like  stare  in  his  eyes,  the  pupils  became  widely  dilated, 
and  he  immediately  passed  into  convulsions,  throwing  himself  from  one 
side  of  the  bed  to  the  other.  Finally  his  breath  seemed  to  leave  him,  and 
he  dropped  back  on  the  bed  in  a  complete  stare  of  collapse  and  uncon- 
sciousness, while  the  radial  pulse  entirely  disappeared  from  both  wrists." 

Pretty  much  everything  known  in  the  way  of  stimulants,  from 
1-50  gr.  of  nitroglycerine  to  whiskey,  was  given,  and  after  days 
of  doubt  the  case  made  a  slow  recovery.  Among  the  comments 
made  by  Dr.  Thomas  on  the  uncertainty  of  what  antitoxin  will 
do  is  the  following  very  practical  one: 

"And  lastly,  I  would  say  that  it  is  not  a  wise  thing  for  the  medical  at- 
tendant to  make  the  unqualified  statement  to  the  parents  or  the  patient 
that  there  is  no  possible  harm  to  come  from  the  injection  of  antitoxin. 
It  might  prove  otherwise." 

It  sure  might!  Good  homoeopathic  remedies  are  safer,  and 
probably  very  much  more  efficient. 

More  Experimenting. — A  contributor  to  the  Medical  Record 
devotes  considerable  space  to  a  new  vaccination  for  diagnostic 
purposes  with  tuberculin.  He  says  it  has  been  practiced  ex- 
tensively in  German  and  Austrian  clinics  where,  apparently,  the 
patient  is  nothing  but  material  for  experimental  purposes.  The 
method  of  vaccinating  is  about  the  same  as  that  employed  with 
the  pox.  The  results  are,  it  seems,  nothing,  and  proof  of  its 
diagnostic  accuracy  "will  have  to  come  from  the  autopsy  room." 
As  usual  its  effect  is  but  temporary,  though  ever  and  anon  some- 
thing rather  serious  follows.  Twenty-four  persons  dying  of  tuber- 
culosis were  experimented  on;  thirteen  didn't  react,  and  eleven 
died.  A  diagnosis  that  can  be  confirmed  by  autopsy  seems  of 
very  slight  value,  or  it  might  be  said  of  it  that  it  isn't  worth  a — 

A  Suggestion. — The  Clinique  after  commenting  on  what  an 
agreeable  place  Kansas  City  is,  socially  and  otherwise,  makes  the 
following  suggestion: 

"Then,  too,  they  took  good  care  of  us;  with  the  true  western 
spirit  they  kept  us  well  supplied  with  outside  attractions,  and  the 


Editorial.  429 

bureau  meetings  suffered  only  for  the  want  of  a  quorum ;  in  many 
instances  there  were  several  in  attendance,  but  they  did  not  re- 
main long.  As  the  picnic  tendency  is  so  rapidly  annihilating  the 
old-fashioned  convention  spirit,  why  would  it  not  be  a  good  plan 
in  the  future  to  conduct  the  proceedings  in  automobile  relays, 
allowing  the  essayists  to  read  their  papers  by  the  title  while  we 
rapidly  pass  the  grand  stand?  No  sarcasm  is  meant  by  this,  as 
it  is  only  our  intention  to  keep  up  with  the  spirit  of  the  times.  If 
we  are  not  to  listen  to  good  papers,  then  surely  there  is  no  object 
to  write  them,  and  it  might  be  well  to  get  the  best  out  of  a  good 
time  and  not  wear  ourselves  out  with  scientific  research." 

Presumably  the  members  think  they  can  read  the  papers  in 
"The  Transactions"  (they  don't,  as  a  rule),  but  can  only  see  the 
sights  of  Kansas  City  once.  At  any  rate  the  social  meetings  of 
old  friends  and  the  making  of  new  friends,  is,  perhaps,  the  chief 
use  of  the  annual  gatherings. 

"Theoretical  vs.  Clinical  Medicine." — Not  many  years 
ago  the  "regular"  brother  thought  he  had  hit  upon  the  secret  of 
curing  disease.  In  brief,  it  was  that  as  "germs"  are  the  cause  of 
disease,  all  required  was  to  kill  the  germs.  So  on  this  theory 
germicides  became  quite  the  vogue  until  it  was  realized  that 
under  this  treatment  the  patient,  as  well  as  the  germs,  suffered. 
But  this  idea  is  still  quite  alive,  as  is  evidenced  by  a  paper  pub- 
lished in  the  July  Clinique.    There  we  find : 

"In  olden  times  when  the  majority  of  homoeopathic  provings  were 
made  they  had  an  inkling,  but  that  was  about  all  as  regards  the  germ 
theory  of  disease,  and  it  was  all  very  well  to  theorize  that  because  Rhus 
tox.  would  produce  certain  typhoid  conditions  in  poisonous  doses  that 
it  does  good  in  typhoid  conditions.  But  clinically  we  now  know  this  is 
all  wrong." 

Yet  there  be  men  who  think  that  so  far  from  being  all  wrong 
it  is  all  right,  germs  to  the  contrary.  Who  is  right?  Despised 
statistics  only  can  answer,  and  they  still  point  to  the  old  "theory.'* 
Further  along  we  find : 

"With  our  present  knowledge  there  is  no  more  use  in  giving  the  in- 
dicated remedy  in  the  usual  run  of  diseases  when  we  know  germ  life  is 
the  basis  of  nearly  all  disorders.  It  is  often  hard  to  tell  the  causes  of 
eczema,  but  it  is  usually   due  to  some  stomach  disorder  that  throws  the 


430 


Editorial. 


trophic  centers  off  and  control  of  peripheral  ends  is  lost,  resulting  in  irri- 
tation and  stagnation.  In  jumps  the  pus  germs,  as  in  rhus  poisoning  and 
pustular  eczema  results  even  to  the  scabbing  from  crown  of  head  to  soles 
of  feet." 

Perhaps  Dr.  Gibbs  is  right,  but  we  would,  in  sporting  parlance, 
give  heavy  odds  every  time  on  Indicated  Remedy  against  the 
whole  field  of  the  germ  fighting  remedies ;  but,  of  course,  that  is 
only  an  opinion.  The  up-to-date  medical  scientists  take  as  a 
major  premise  that  germs  are  the  cause  of  disease  and  act  ac- 
cordingly. But  their  major  premise  is  not  proved.  If  it  fails, 
the  whole  system  collapses.  It  isn't  a  question  calling  for  acri- 
monious debate,  but  cool  reason  and  observation,  and  if  we  have 
read  late  medical  literature  aright,  there  are  many  men  of  note 
who  are  dimly  realizing  that  the  germ  is  about  as  much  the  cause 
of  disease  as  ashes  are  of  fire.  One  thing  is  sure,  in  what  Bur- 
nett termed  the  Medical  Derby,  namely,  that  Indicated  Remedy 
leads  the  field  of  results  at  a  canter.  It  has  not  the  glittering  of 
the  other  contestants,  but  it  gets  there  much  easier. 

The  Remedy  vs.  the  Catheter. — Dr.  Morgan's  very  inter- 
esting communication  concerning  a  case  where  the  catheter  could 
not  pass,  published  in  this  issue  of  the  Recorder,  demonstrates 
the  importance  of  never  losing  sight  of  the  remedy  homeeo- 
pathic  to  the  case.  Even  cases  where  it  is  possible  to  pass  the 
catheter  the  remedy  will  prevent,  or  tend  to  prevent,  a  recur- 
rence of  the  trouble,  for  at  the  very  best  the  use  of  the  catheter 
is  but  a  palliative  measure,  very  necessary,  even  imperative  at 
times,  but  it  can  cure  nothing.  Cases  like  those  given  by  Drs. 
Curtus  and  Morgan  are  always  read  with  interest  by  the  pro- 
fession, as,  indeed,  is  any  clear  cut  case  where  the  homoeopathic 
remedy  demonstrates  its  power  to  remove  morbid  states. 

Proprietary  Meat  Juice. — Puro,  a  widely  advertised  Ger- 
man tonic,  is  stated  to  be  the  meat  juice  expressed  from  raw  beef- 
steak, each  bottle  "representing  five  pounds  of  meat  juice." 
About  a  million  bottles  of  the  preparation  are  sold  annually  in 
Germany,  and  quite  a  sensation  has  followed  the  announcement 
by  Prof,  von  Gruber  in  the  Antiquackery  Society's  organ,  the 


News  Items.  431 

Gesundheitslehrer,  that  there  is  little  or  no  meat  juice  in  the 
preparation  and  that  it  consists  only  of  meat  extract  and  egg 
albumin.  The  numerous  testimonials  from  physicians  to  the  re- 
markable efficacy  of  the  "meat  juice"  preparation  show  once  more 
the  effects  of  autosuggestion  in  the  matter  of  proprietary  articles." 
— Journal  American  Medical  Association. 


NEWS    ITEMS. 

Dr.  C.  E.  Fisher  has  finished  his  work  in  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  the  railroad  builders  having  completed  their  contract. 
The  Doctor  will  take  a  well-earned  vacation,  spending  it  in  a 
visit  to  Alaska. 

Mr.  P.  Remington,  of  Swannanoa,  N.  C,  writes  that  there  is 
a  good  opening  for  a  homoeopathic  physician  at  that  place.  He 
will  give  information  on  request. 

The  Postmaster  General  has  ruled  that  packages  of  medicine 
bearing  written  directions  must  pay  letter  postage. 

Two  Indiana  doctors  have  had  their  licenses  revoked  for  writ- 
ing booze  prescriptions  without  first  making  examination.  What 
fiddle-faddle  it  all  is ! 

The  A.  M.  A.'s  Council  has  passed  on  "Manola"  and  finds  it, 
in  the  slang  of  the  day,  "the  limit,"  both  as  to  ingredients  and 
"literature." 

Spotted  fever  is  epidemic  in  "almost  every  part  of  Russia" 
this  year. 

The  Munchener  Medizinische  Wochenschrift  says  that  the 
Aretsliche  Mitthe  slim  gen's  department  "aus  der  praxis"  is 
nothing  but  proprietory  "reading  notices."  American  journals 
never — well,  hardly  ever — print  "reading  notices"  as  "scientific 
articles." 

Dr.  Adolph  von  OOteghem  died  at  Gand,  Belgium,  in  August, 
aged  73.  He  was  one  of  the  oldest  homoeopathic  physicians  of 
Flanders. 

Twenty-five  deaths  from  cancer  in  Chicago  for  week  ending 
August  15. 

Week  ending  August  10,  New  York  had  1,419  deaths  ;  Chicago, 
620,  and  Philadelphia,  418  deaths. 


PERSONAL. 


A  French  doctor  proves,  to  his  own  satisfaction,  that  baldness  is  con- 
tagious.    Quarantine  the  front  row! 

A  woman  refused  to  marry  him  because  she  liked  his  attentions. 

"How  to  spend  your  vacation"  is  well  meaning  advice,  but  how  to  get 
one  would  be  better. 

If  sex  could  be  determined,  wonder  what  the  statistical  result  would  be  ? 

"A  fool  and  his  money  are  soon  parted."     Not  so  with  the  miser. 

A  wasp-like  waist  often  causes  a  disposition  that  might  be  termed  ditto. 

That  glorious  winning  run  would  not  have  been  a  winner  but  for  the 
plodding  predecessors. 

What  must  be  the  feelings  of  a  bald-headed  man  when  his  wife  shows 
him  a  lock  of  his  own  hair. 

"Every  dog  has  his  day"  and  every  cat  his  night — sometimes  more. 

"It  pays  to  advertise" — if  not  the  advertiser  certainly  the  journal. 

"Barking  dogs  never  bite" — because  they  cannot  do  both  at  once. 

It  is  pathetic  to  see  the  young  man  with  his  trousers  turned  up,  sewed 
up  and  pressed  up. 

The  secret  of  beauty  is  not  to  scold  and  nag. 

Dr.  Swayze  asks,  "Who  are  the  sane,"  and  the  N.  Y.  Med.  Times,  "Are 
we  undergoing  mental  deterioration?"  Guess  so;  but  if  in  the  majority  we 
can  lock  up  the  sane. 

The  same  Times  calles  The  Lancet  an  "atavistic  relative." 

The  N.  Y.  Sun  says,  "everything  is  deadly." 

The  wild-eyed  ologist  says  soap  and  water  are  dangerous,  hair  brushes 
deadly,  shoes  fatal  and  the  food  poison.    "Who  are  the  sane?" 

Fleas  are  "essential  factors"  in  the  plague,  and  rats  have  it  in  their 
blood.     Avaunt ! 

Dr.  Osier  is  60.     Bring  out  the  well  stoppered  bottle! 

An  examining  board  asks  its  applicants  to  differentiate  between  haema- 
tosalpynx,  haematometra  and  hsematocolpometra." 

To  differentiate  "between"  three  things  is  a  task  for  any  man. 

A  parson  addressing  a  crowd  in  the  penitentiary:  "My  brethren,  I  am 
glad  to  see  so  many  of  you  here" — then  he  coughed. 

The  ungrateful  bull  will  toss  a  vegetarian  as  readily  as  he  will  a  beef 
eater. 

The  boss  said  to  the  applicant  that  the  editorial  chair  was  filled  and  he 
didn't  know  enough  to  take  the  office  boy's  position. 

They  say  St.  Peter  wonders  where  all  the  people  go  these  days. 

Sometimes  the  bride  who  is  "given  away"  finds  it  a  "sell"  after  all. 

Bad  spirits  haunts  prohibition  communities. 

"One-half  the  world  doesn't  know  how  the  other  half  lives,"  but  is  eager 
to  learn. 


THE 

Homeopathic  Recorder. 

Vol.  XXIII.     Lancaster,  Pa.,  October,  1908  No  10 

THE  LAW  OF  SIMILIA   IN   MEDICAL    HISTORY. 

The  address  of  President  Dr.  John  Murray  Moore  at  the  an- 
nual British  Homoeopathic  Congress  held  at  London,  July  3d,  is 
devoted  chiefly  to  the  "foreshadowing  of  Homoeopathy  from  Hip- 
pocrates to  Hahnemann."  It  covers  over  forty  pages  of  the 
British  Homoeopathic  Review,  is  very  interesting  and  scholarly. 
A  few  abstracts  may  prove  interesting  to  the  readers  of  the 
^Recorder. 

The  first  homoeopathic  cure  on  record,  reported  by  Hippo- 
crates, is  that  of  an  Athenian,  who  had  all  but  succumbed  to  an 
attack  of  what  we  would  call  Asiatic  cholera,  with  violent  vomit- 
ing, purging,  spasms  and  prostration,  who  "drank  the  juice  of 
white  hellebore,  mixed  in  the  juice  of  lentils,  and  recovered." 
The  recovery  must  have  been  unusual  else  Hippocrates  would 
not  have  noted  it.  White  hellebore,  or  Veratrum  album,  as  is 
well  known,  is  one  of  the  chief  remedies,  homoeopathic,  to  this 
disease. 

A  Greek  poet,  Antiphanes  (B.  C.  404),  got  off  a  line  that  is  so 
often  quoted  in  connection  with  Homoeopathy  and  for  the  condi- 
tion that  so  often  occurs,  "the  morning  after,"  namely,  the  tak- 
ing "the  hair  of  the  dog  that  bit  you."  Antiphanes  puts  it,  evi- 
dently as  an  old  saw  in  his  day : 

Take  the  hair,  as  it  is  written. 
Of  the  dog  by  which  you're  bitten ; 
Work  off  one  wine  by  his  brother, 
And  one  labor  by  another,  etc. 

Shakespeare  gets  off  something  similar  when  Benvolio  ex- 
claims to  Romeo : 

Tut!  man,  one  fire  puts  out  another's  burning; 
Turn  giddy,  and  be  holp  by  backward  turning. 


434  1  he  Laic  of  Similia  in  Medical  History. 

This,  however,  we  think,  smacks  more  of  Isopathy  than  Ho- 
moeopathy. 

Asclepiades,  a  Roman  physician  (B.  C.  90),  practiced  a  crude 
sort  of  Homoeopathy,  but  his  chief  achievement  was  to  have 
coined  the  phrase  that  so  aptly  fits  homoeopathic  cures,  i.  e.,  "tuto, 
cito,  ct  jucunde." 

Athenaeus,  in  the  first  century,  vaguely  got  hold  of  one  of 
Hahnemann's  ideas  or  truths,  that  the  pneiima,  or  spirit,  is  the 
active  principle,  or  basis,  of  life,  and  its  disturbance  the  cause  of 
disease.     From  him  came  bleeding,  cupping  and  leeches. 

Galen  came  in  from  Pergamos,  Asia  Minor,  and  was  the  phy- 
sician of  the  Roman  Caesars.  He  brought  into  medical  literature 
the  terms  "remote,"  "predisposing,"  "exciting"  and  "proximate" 
causes  of  disease.  He  also  put  forth  the  idea  that  sneezing  clears 
the  brain.  He  gave  this  therapeutic  hint  to  posterity.  "I  once 
knew  a  boy  who  was  never  seized  with  an  epileptic  fit  after  he 
carried  a  large  piece  of  fresh  paeony  about  his  neck."  With  him 
came  contraria  contrariis  curantur. 

Alexander,  of  Tralles  (360  A.  D.),  lives  in  medical  history  as 
being  the  man  who  introduced  colchicum  seeds  for  the  treatment 
of  gout. 

Jewish  hermits,  who  aided  the  poor  and  healed  the  sick,  were 
the  original  "herbalists"  and  users  of  "simples." 

Theodore,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  one  of  the  first 
(690  A.  D.)  to  call  attention  to  the  influence  of  the  moon  on  dis- 
eases, for  he  warns  against  bleeding  when  "the  moon  is  waxing" 
in  his  "Manual  of  Medicine." 

The  Ecumenical  Council,  1162,  separated  medicine  from  the 
Church  by  forbidding  priests  and  monks  from  its  practice. 

To  the  Arabian  physicians  we  owe  our  first  pharmacopoeia — 
and  consequently  many  ructions. 

To  Roger  Bacon  (1214)  we  owe  the  best  general  advice  to* 
physicians,  though  not  often  followed.  He  said  that  the  impedi- 
ments to  knowledge  were : 

1.  A  too  great  dependence  on  authority. 

2.  A  too  great  weight  to  custom. 

3.  A  fear  of  offending. 

4.  The  affection  a  specious  knowledge  to  conceal  ignorance. 
When  the  "sweating  sickness"  afflicted  Europe  the  physicians 

displayed  these  "impediments"  to  the  full,  and  it  was  not  until 


The  Law  of  Similia  in  Medical  History.  435 

some  one  employed  the  law  of  similars  and  gave  sudorifics  that 
the  mortality  was  stayed. 

The  real  reform  of  medicine  was  started  by  Paracelsus,  so,  of 
course,  he  is  ''the  arch  quack."  He  burned  the  old  medical  book 
and  committed  the  heresy  of  lecturing  in  plain  German  instead 
of  in  Latin.  He  came  into  the  world  the  year  Columbus  discov- 
ered America.  "Reading,"  he  said,  "never  made  a  physician — 
only  practice."  At  that  day  "humours"  occupied  the  same  place 
that  "germs"  do  to-day,  and  Paracelsus  said :  "Humours  are  not 
diseases  ;  it  is  disease  which  makes  the  humours."  He  believed 
in  specifics,  and  said.  "Like  treats  its  own  like." 

Following  Paracelsus  came  Rademacher,  almost  within  our 
own  time,  with  his  "organopathy."  Of  the  former.  Van  Helmont 
wrote :  "Paracelsus  was  the  forerunner  of  true  medicine,  God- 
sent,  armed  with  true  knowledge."  Of  the  latter,  Rademacher, 
our  own  J.  Compton  Burnett  wrote  that  he  was :  "A  man  far  in 
advance  of  his  time — a  fore-runner  of  Homoeopathy." 

Paracelsus,  the  "arch-quack,"  really  introduced  mercury,  laud- 
anum, copper,  arsenic  and  antimony  into  medicine,  and  is  seems 
did  not  abuse  them  as  did  the  men  who  afterwards  took  them  up 
in  medicine.     He  vaguely  realized  the  "spirit"  in  man. 

"Van  Helmont,"  writes  Dr.  Moore,  "anticipated  Swedenborg 
in  the  belief  that  there  is  a  spiritual  world  in  intimate  union  with 
the  spirit  of  man."  This  is  Hahnemann's  "vital  force."  and  hence 
Tiis  "spirit-like  power"  of  the  dynamized  drug.  Von  Helmont 
wrote:  "When  a  person  falls  ill  it  is  only  this  spiritual,  self-acting 
vital  force  everywhere  present  in  his  organism  that  is  primarily 
disarranged  by  the  dynamic  influence  upon  it  of  a  morbific  agent 
inimical  to  life."  It  is  only  the  "vital  force"  that  is  deranged  in 
illness. 

One  fact  in  medical  history  perhaps  not  generally  known  is  that 
to  William  Harvey  apparently  was  first  applied  the  epithet  of 
'"quack."  When  his  book,  written  in  Latin.  "An  Anatomical 
Disquisition  on  the  Motion  of  the  Heart  and  Blood  in  Animals," 
was  published,  "he  was  called  a  'circulator*  or  'quack'  by  his  col- 
leagues." 

Sydenham  made  the  distinction  that  acute  diseases  were  ''for 
the  most  inflicted  bv  God,  just  as  the  chronic  are  what  we  bring: 
on  ourselves." 

We  will  bring  these  gleanings  from  Dr.  Moore's  paper  to  a 
close  with  a  final  quotation  from  it : 


436  Bothrops  Lanceolatus. 

"A  well  trained  homoeopathic  practitioner  knows  more  than  a 
non-homoeopath."  This  is  without  qualification.  He  knows  the 
way  to  cure  sickness.  This  is  the  sole  reason  for  the  existence  of 
the  art  of  medicine. 


BOTHROPS  LANCEOLATUS. 
(Fer  de  lance — Langenschlange.) 

By  Dr.  Eduardo  Fornias. 

When  on  May  the  6,  1908,  I  addressed  a  letter  to  Messrs. 
Boericke  &  Tafel,  inquiring,  among  other  things,  about  the 
Bothrops  lanceolatus,  a  remedy  of  which  Dr.  Farrington 
speaks  in  his  Clinical  Materia  Medica,  I  was  far  from  hoping  the 
information  desired  would  reach  me  so  soon,  and  from  such  an 
unexpected  quarter.  Very  probably  the  article  on  this  selen- 
oglyph,  which  appeared  in  "Le  Propagateur  de  I 'Homocopathie;' 
of  the  31st  of  May,  1908,  was  written  by  Dr.  G.  SiefTert,  of  Paris, 
about  the  same  time  I  was  addressing  the  above  inquiry.  This 
certainly  I  call  a  happy  issue,  which  has  led  me  to  the  translation 
of  Dr.  Sieffert's  paper,  and  to  the  addition  of  valuable  data.  I 
have  recently  obtained. 

According  to  Dr.  Lande,  as  quoted  by  Sieffert,  the  Bothrops 
lanceolatus  is  exclusively  found  in  Martinique  and  Sainte 
Lucie,  but  Calmette,  Brehms,  and  others,  give  also  tropical 
America  as  its  habitat.  This  lance-head  snake  has  also  been 
called  by  authors  Coluber  glaucus  and  Megaera,  Vipera  coeru- 
lescens,  Trigonoccphalus,  Cophias  and  Craspedocephalus  lanceo- 
latus, and,  like  the  Jaracaca  or  Bothrops  Brasiliensis,  and  Labaria 
or  Bothrops  atrox,  can  live  in  captivity  for  many  months  without 
food.  Brehms,  of  Germany,  claims  that  this  Ophidia  attains  the 
size  of  from  25  to  5  meters  long,  and  that  it  is  larger  and  heavier 
than  Lachesis  mutus.  But  Calmette,  of  France,  gives  the  length 
size  of  Lachesis  mutus  as  of  1  m.  995,  including  the  tail,  which 
measures  O.  M.  170,  and  that  of  Bothrops  lanceolatus  of  1 
m.  600,  of  which  O.  M.  190  belongs  to  the  tail ;  hence,  according 
to  this  authority,  Bothrops  lanceolatus  has  a  large,  longer  tail, 
but  otherwise  is  smaller  than  Lachesis  mutus. 

The  color  of  Bothrops  lanceolatus  is  verv  variable,  even  in 


Bothrops  Lanccolatus.  437" 

the  younger  of  a  brood.  Prof.  Brehms  gives  it  as  a  more  or  less 
deep  brown-yellowish  red,  which  may  be  shaded  from  brown  to 
gray-brown  and  black,  and  constitute  the  ground  tint.  The 
delineation  consists,  on  the  one  hand,  of  continued  stripes  which 
start  at  the  nose  and  under  the  eyes,  down  the  neck,  and  are  not 
rarely  absent,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  of  irregular,  somewhat 
bright  spots,  sometimes  tiger-like.  Some  specimens  exhibit  a 
beautiful  red  color  on  the  sides. 

Dr.  R.  L.  Ditmars,  curator  of  the  Reptile  House,  Zoological 
Gardens.  Xew  York,  by  letter  of  the  24th  of  June  last,  informs 
me  that  Lachesis  laxceolatus,  or  Bothrops,  is  a  viviparous 
ophidia,  bringing  forth  living  young  to  the  number  of  from  ten 
to  twenty-four.  The  young  are  about  six  inches  long,  and  have 
a  bright  sulphur  yellow  tail.  At  birth  they  are  fully  provided 
with  fangs,  and  leave  the  mother  at  once  to  shift  for  themselves. 
This  statement  is  in  contradiction  with  Brehms's  teaching,  who 
claims  that  the  time  of  copulation  of  Bothrops  laxceolatus  is 
January,  the  eggs  are  laid  in  July,  and  that  the  issue  crawls  out 
of  the  shells  in  the  moment  the  last  egg  is  laid.  But  Brehms's- 
work  is  full  of  errors  that  need  confirmation. 

Ditmars  also  asserts  that  Lachesis  mutus  is  oviparous,  as 
demonstrated  by  R.  R.  Mole,  of  Trinidad,  of  Port  Spain.  "The 
eggs  are  about  Ij4  inch  in  length,  creamy  white,  with  a  soft 
shell."  This,  says  Ditmar,  is  the  only  tcPitm  viper"  or  Crotaline 
snake  known  to  lay  eggs.  This  is  a  fine  distinction  between  the 
two  Ophidia,  which  of  late  have  been  the  cause  of  much  con- 
troversy. 

Prof.  Calmette,  in  his  recent  work,  "Les  venins,"  page  117. 
counts  Bothrops  laxceolatus,  or  Fer  de  lance,  among  the 
twenty-one  varieties  of  American  Lachesis,  which  he  describes. 
He  also  calls  this  viper  " Lachesis  lanccolatus"  in  fact,  he  em- 
ploys the  terms  Lachesis,  Bothrops  or  Trigonocephalus  indis- 
tinctly, as  generic,  that  is,  marking  a  genus. 

When  young  the  Bothrops  laxceolatus  lives  chiefly  on 
lizards,  later  on  birds,  and  finally  on  rats.  It  causes,  like  Cro- 
talus  horridus,  the  largest  number  of  deaths.  It  is  of  all  the 
serpents,  the  one  which,  in  the  act  of  biting,  opens  the  jaws  more 
widely  apart.  In  the  impenetrable  woods,  it  lies  quiet  as  death, 
seldom  disturbed  but  by  the  singing  of  some  birds  that  live  in  the 


438  Bothrops  Lanccolatus. 

wilderness.  The  night  is  the  time  of  its  wandering,  and  it  has 
been  seen  in  the  roads  crossed  by  men  during  the  day.  During 
the  day  time  and  while  resting,  it  lies  rolled  up  in  ring  shape,  with 
the  head  in  the  center,  but  when  disturbed,  it  stretches  itself  the 
whole  length,  and  like  an  arrow  springs  mercilessly  at  the 
enemy,  and  rolls  up  again  into  a  ring  after  the  danger  is  over. 
Its  attack  is  always  powerful,  and  after  a  bite  is  ready  for  the 
next.  When  mad  may  bite  its  victim  twice  or  more.  While 
crawling  it  proudly  holds  its  head  up,  and  moves  with  such  light- 
ness that  no  noise  is  heard  or  impression  left  in  its  track.  Even 
the  young  are  very  lively  and  vicious. 

Witnesses  of  the  effects  of  the  bite  of  Bothrops  laxceolatus 
state  that  after  protracted  illness,  those  who  survive,  have,  as  a 
rule,  the  limbs  cut  and  mutilated.  The  characteristic  syndrome 
consists  of  sudden  swelling  of  the  parts,  which  soon  become  blue 
and  shriveled,  with  acute  pain,  vomiting,  fainting,  convulsions, 
pain  in  the  heart,  invincible  somnolency,  and  death  after  a  few 
hours  or  days  of  suffering.  In  favorable  cases  the  reaction  is 
slow,  and  there  is  diminution  or  perversion  of  the  faculty  of  ex- 
pressing ideas  by  speech ;  that  is,  the  articulation  of  words  is 
defective;  the  sufferings  may  have  a  steady  course  for  years,  and 
vertigo,  pain  in  the  chest,  anguish,  confirmed  aphasia,  gangrene, 
abscesses  and  lameness  constitute  the  leading  expressions  of  the 
poisoning.  It  is  said  that  old  cicatrices  do  break  open,  bleed  and 
become  gangrenous.  Moreover,  that  such  profound  morbid  state 
as  that  produced  by  the  bite  of  Fer  de  lance  should  translate 
itself,  not  only  under  the  form  of  acute  pain,  but  under  the  form 
of  abnormal  sensations  (numbness,  formication,  itching,  crawl- 
ing, burning,  etc.),  cannot  fail  to  be  appreciated  by  anyone  con- 
versant with  our  methods  of  observation  and  experimentation. 

From  various  observations  made  by  officers  of  the  French 
Government,  the  bite  of  the  Bothrops  laxceolatus  is  soon  fol- 
lowed, in  some  cases,  by  heaviness  of  the  leg  and  inability  to 
stand  on  it,  and  then  a  profound  prostration  sets  in,  attended 
often  by  repeated  fainting  spells.  Voluminous  oedema  and  a  feel- 
ing of  impending  paralysis,  have  also  been  noticed.  Dr.  Gries, 
of  Fort-de-France  (Martinique),  speaks  not  only  of  enormous 
swellings,  but  of  accentuated  numbness  of  the  parts  bitten,  and 
even  of  complete  insensibility  of  the  limb  affected.    Dr.  Lavigne, 


Bothrcps  Lanceolatus.  439 

of  the  same  locality,  also  alludes  to  acute  pain,  oedema,  vomiting, 
tetanic  phenomena  and  elevation  of  temperature,  with  a  crisis  of 
profuse  sweating. 

The  analysis  of  these  morbid  syndromes  lead  us  to  infer  that 
Bothrops  lanceolatus  is  not  only  a  hemolytic  poison,  and  most 
probably  a  depressor  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  but  that  it  has  a 
special  influence  upon  the  posterior  part  of  the  third  left  frontal 
gyrus,  usually  termed  Broca's  convolution.  This  venom,  how- 
ever, does  not  seem  to  produce  a  genuine  paralysis  of  the  organs 
of  articulation,  like  Kaja,  but  a  trouble  of  speech,  which  consists 
in  impossibility  of  expressing  thoughts  by  words,  and  in  the  fact 
that  the  center  of  verbal  expression  does  no  longer  transmit 
words  as  in  the  normal  state. 

These  are,  more  or  less,  the  features  of  this  neglected  snake- 
poison,  and  in  order  to  enrich  our  knowledge  of  its  action  and 
application,  I  proceed  now  to  translate  the  paper  of  Dr.  Sieffert, 
mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  this  article,  and  which  I  repeat  is 
an  extract  of  a  work  in  preparation  with  Dr.  de  la  Lande. 

"Toxic  Action. — The  poisoning  is  the  result  of  bite  of  the 
serpent.  The  wound  is  announced  by  a  sudden  acute  pain,  often 
accompanied  with  syncope.  The  effects  are,  in  general,  percepti- 
ble in  about  fifteen  to  twenty  seconds,  and  the  first  manifestations 
are  entirely  local.  The  sensibility  becomes  blunted  and  may  ter- 
minate in  complete  insensibility.  These  are  the  phenomena  ordi- 
narily present  in  slight  morbid  cases  of  poisoning." 

"The  amelioration  of  this  condition  usually  becomes  manifest 
towards  the  fourth  day,  by  profuse  sweats  and  a  diminution  of 
somnolence  or  sopor.  Sometimes  the  cause  and  termination  of 
the  malady  is  not  so  encouraging,  and  a  more  or  less  intense 
fever  supervenes,  with  pulmonary  congestion  and  oppression  of 
variable  intensity.    Pneumonia  is  usually  a  fatal  complication." 

"In  severe  cases  we  notice  around  the  bite  a  swelling  which  is 
first  pale,  soon  becomes  livid,  and  finally  extends  to  whole  limb. 
This  tumefaction  is  attended  by  a  distressing  sensation,  radiating 
to  episgastrium  and  by  an  indefinite  malaise  or  general  suffering, 
then  follow  nausea,  vomiting,  inexplicable  lassitude,  frequent 
dizziness,  embarrassment  of  ideas,  somnolence,  and  a  deep  coma 
which  may  end  in  death.  At  the  same  time  we  find  the  pulse  and 
respiration  are  lowered,  the  cutaneous  surfaces  are  more  or  less 


440  Bothrops  Lanceolatus. 

dark  in  color  or  more  or  less  livid,  as  in  the  algid  stage  of 
cholera,  or  as  in  the  last  stage  of  yellow  fever.  Moreover,  the 
extremities  are  cold,  the  body  is  bathed  in  a  cold,  clammy  sweat, 
and  repeated  fainting  spells  precede  death,  which  is  the  result  of 
cerebral  or  pulmonary  complications." 

"A  certain  number  of  symptoms  present  in  this  malady  are 
worth  noting: 

"Thorax. — Precordial  pains,  syncope,  bloody  expectoration, 
pneumonia.  The  autopsy  reveals  black  spots  on  the  pericardium 
and  under  the  endocardium;  the  trachea  and  bronchi  are  bluish 
and  the  heart  soft  and  flabby. 

"Arms. — Numbness.  Soft,  emphysematous-like  tumefaction 
of  the  fingers,  hand,  arm,  with  very  painful,  livid  stains.  The  cel- 
lular and  muscular  tissues  are  filled  with  black  blood.  An  ex- 
tensive phlegmon  with  destruction  of  the  skin.  Denudation  of  the 
bone  of  the  forearm  and  of  the  hand.  Consecutive  necrosis.  Pa- 
ralysis of  the  right  arm. 

"Lower  Extremity. — Enormous  tumefaction  of  the  thigh, 
bluish  tint  of  the  skin ;  sero-sanguinolent  infiltration ;  phlyctsena 
in  hollow  of  the  groin ;  gangrene  of  the  skin  in  the  right  leg,  from 
the  knee  to  the  foot;  denudation  of  the  lower  extremity  of  the 
tibia  (fifteen  days  after  the  bite)  ;  gangrene  of  the  muscles,  de- 
struction of  the  whole  cutaneous  surface  of  the  leg,  denuded  mus- 
cles, extensive  suppuration;  unbearable  pain  in  the  right  big  toe 
(the  patient  was  bitten  in  the  thumb  of  the  left  hand)  ;  gangren- 
ous ulcers  of  right  toe ;  paralysis  of  the  right  leg." 

"Pathogenesis — General  Symptoms. — Nervous  trembling  ; 
syncope ;  sudden  or  rapid  death  without  agony ;  general  debility 
and  emaciation ;  haemorrhages  from  various  outlets,  principally 
from  the  wounds ;  opisthotonos  after  eighteen  days. 

"Mental. — Persistent  hypochondriasis. 

"Sleep. — Tendency  to  sleep,  somnolence ;  coma,  deeper  and 
deeper  until  death. 

"Fever. — Coldness  ;  general  heat ;  frequent,  tight  pulse  ;  chills, 
abundant  sweats. 

"Head. — Hemicrania,  stupor,  vertigo. 

"Face. — Swollen,  injected,  cyanotic. 

"Mouth. — Trismus  on  eighteenth  day;  aphasia  at  the  end  of 
seven  to  fifteen  hours,  inability  to  articulate  words,  while  the 
tongue  retains  all  its  liberty. 


Bothrops  Lanceolatus.  441 

"Eyes. — Hemeralopia,  amaurosis  without  any  notable  pupillary 
dilatation,  persistent  amaurosis. 

"Stomach. — Vomiting,  extreme  epigastric  distress,  nausea ; 
the  gastric  mucosa  is  red  and  dotted. 

"Kidneys. — Hematuria. 

"Skin. — Abundant  cold  sweats  at  the  beginning  and  end  of 
the  malady.  Skin  bluish,  as  from  deep  and  extensive  contusion. 
Skin  yellow,  as  in  yellow  fever.  Phlyctena.  Blackish,  serous  in- 
filtration, both  subcutaneous  and  intramuscular.  Gangrene  of 
the  skin.    The  wounds  heal  slowly. 

"Sphere  of  Action. — Like  all  the  snake  poisons  BoTHRors 
lanceolatus  is  a  powerful  hemolytic.  The  functional  troubles 
and  anatomical  lesions  observed,  clearly  indicate  that  the  especial 
action  of  this  toxin  is,  first,  on  the  blood  life,  and  second,  on  the 
nervous  system.  It  has  a  special  predilection  for  the  right  side  of 
the  body." 

"Clinical  History. — The  allopathic  school  has  made  no  use 
of  this  medicine.  The  homoeopathic  school  has  had  only  a  limit- 
ed experience  with  this  remedy  in  aphasia  (Farrington),  and  in 
diffuse  phlegmon,  which  is  a  common  lesion  in  all  the  cases  ob- 
served (Ozanan).  Its  pathogenesis,  however,  seems  to  indicate 
it  in  yellow  fever,  cholera  Asiatic,  lipothymias,  hypochondriasis, 
right  hemiplegia,  hemeralopia,  amaurosis,  tetanus,  hemicrania, 
vomiting,  intolerable  colic,  rebellious  diarrhoea,  pulmonary  con- 
gestion, malignant  pneumonia,  necrosis  of  bones,  and  obstinate 
ulcers."  (Note. — To  this  group  I  would  add  cardio-asthenias 
and  asystolia,  for  Bothrops  lanceolatus,  like  Lachcsis  mutus 
and  other  serpent  poisons,  produces  weakness  of  the  heart's  ac- 
tion, and  with  them,  a  common  cause  of  death  is  syncope  or 
suffocation.) 

"I  have  not  stopped  to  consider  the  mode  of  preparation  and 
employment  of  this  toxin,  as  well  as  the  dose  in  which  it  should 
be  given,  because  it  is  a  dogmatic  question,  whose  importance  can 
only  be  demonstrated  a  posteriori.  It  is  mutual  relation  and  not 
bulk  which  constitute  the  homceopathicity  of  drugs,  but,  at  the 
same  time,  the  minimum  dose  and  the  single  remedy  are  un- 
avoidable precepts  of  our  law  of  cure.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
intelligent  physician  of  our  school  should  consider  homoeopathic 
any  dose  above  the  scale  of  disturbing  action,  and  admit  that  the 


442  Bothrops  Lanceolatus. 

exact  appreciation  of  its  value  can  only  be  ascertained  at  the  bed- 
side, and  that  its  effects  are  commensurate  with  our  knowledge 
of  materia  medica  and  pathology.  Outside  of  this  we  have  noth- 
ing but  routine,  with  its  inevitable  disappointments.  On  the  other 
hand,  those  of  us  who,  for  theoretical  reasons  only,  object  to  the 
use  of  these  venoms  as  remedies,  can  certainly  not  stand  one 
moment  against  the  testimony  of  experience,  and  the  daily  demon- 
strations of  eminent  authorities.  Some  of  the  objections  come 
from  men,  who,  prescribing  on  pathological  bases,  and  rejecting 
always  homoeopathic  precepts,  do  think  they  cannot  get  along 
without  ponderous  doses  of  dangerous  drugs,  and  from  others 
who,  ignorant  of  the  mode  of  preparation  and  preservation  of  the 
snake  toxins,  expect  to  obtain  unstable  and  unobtainable  prod- 
ucts of  the  same.  And  how  about  those  who  had  expected  to 
acquire  the  mother  tincture  of  substances  of  such  lethal  effects 
and  which  cannot  be  procured  in  any  country  of  the  world." 

"I  think  it  is  time,  indeed,  for  a  lot  of  us  to  divest  ourselves  of 
preconceived  ideas,  habits  of  thought  and  dogmatism,  and  look 
seriously  into  those  subjects,  which,  like  the  present,  we  have 
neglected  and  rejected,  and  which  our  opponents  have  taken  up 
with  enthusiasm,  without  giving  us  the  least  credit  for  our  initial 
labors,  much  less  to  recognize  our  priority  in  the  matter." 

"One  of  the  most  interesting  works  on  snake  toxins  I  ever  came 
across  is  Oppenheimer's,  and  although  his  definition  of  these 
venoms  is  based  on  chemical  grounds  and  on  the  side  chain 
theory,  quite  independently  of  their  origin  and  their  effects  on' the 
human  organism  proper,  we  must  admit  that  no  educated  Ho- 
moeopath with  a  historical  knowledge  of  these  substances  will 
fail  to  appreciate  the  thorough  manner  in  which  he  has  presented 
the  subject,  and  the  valuable  lessons  he  gives  us  in  regard  to 
these  animal  poisons.  Pregnant  with  meaning  for  us  is  his  in- 
troduction to  the  study  of  the  snake  toxins,  where  he  says:  "Al- 
though venomous  serpents  have  long  been  an  object  of  fear  and 
interest  to  widely  different  races  of  man.  yet  the  history  of  the 
investigations  of  their  venom  is  quite  recent.  And  this,  one  must 
admit,  is  remarkable,  since  surely  nothing  should  have  suggested 
itself  more  naturally  to  the  scientific  investigator  than  the  ap- 
plication of  recent  results  in  toxicology,  especially  in  connection 
with  vegetable  alkaloidal  poisons,  to  the  study  of  these  poisons, 


Bothrops  Lanccolatus.  443 

which  are  as  interesting  to  the  investigator  as  they  are  important 
from  the  point  of  view  of  public  hygiene.  For  in  India  alone 
more  than  20,000  men  perish  annually  from  the  bite  of  the  cobra, 
Naja  tripudians.  And  yet  this  branch  of  research  remained  al- 
most completely  untouched  until  the  investigations  into  the  nature 
of  bacterial  poisons,  and  especially  those  inaugurated  by  Mets- 
chnikoff,  Roux  and  Yersin,  compelled  attention  to  be  directed 
also  towards  these  poisons,  which  have  similar  incredible  toxic 
power." 

What  do  our  so-called  progressive  men  think  of  this?  For 
lack  of  time  and  space  I  shall  sum  up  the  leading  conclusions 
arrived  at  by  these  investigations,  and  leave  for  discussion  many 
other  important  points  relating  to  the  venoms  of  the  snakes  when 
I  come  to  prepare  a  paper  on  Crotalus  horrid  us,  in  the  near 
future. 

Conclusions. — Snake  venoms  contain,  in  addition  to  two 
agents  that  act  specifically  upon  the  corpuscles  of  the  blood,  two 
poisonous  constituents,  called  neurotoxin  and  hemorrhagine. 
The  latter  component  manifests  its  activity  in  crotalus  venom, 
and  is  almost  entirely  absent  in  the  cobra  venom,  but  the  neuro- 
toxin prevails  in  the  cobra  and  other  snakes.  The  venoms  of  the 
Crotalus,  Bothrops  lanccolatus  and  Cerastes,  are  distinguished 
from  Cobra  poison  by  their  much  greater  activity,  especially  as 
regards  the  local  effects  (oedema,  gangrene,  necrosis,  etc.),  but 
the  local  effects  also  vary  very  considerably  in  intensity  with 
snake  poisons  of  different  origin.  Lccithides  have  been  obtained 
not  only  from  cobra  venom,  but  from  all  the  other  hemolytic 
snake  poisons  examined,  including  those  of  Bothrops  lanccolatus, 
Naja,  Crotalus,  Bun  gams,  etc. 

Summary. — Thus  we  have  in  smke  venom  four  distinct  active 
principles,  the  proportions  of  which  show  great  variations. 

1.  Hjemagglutinines. — These  are  destroyed  by  a  0.2  per 
cent,  solution  of  hydrochloric  acid  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  in 
a  short  time  by  heating  them  to  75  °  C. 

2.  Hemorrhagine  (Principally  of  Crotalus  venom). — This 
is  only  destroyed  after  about  two  days  by  hydrochloric  acid  (2 
per  cent.)  and  pepsin-hydrochloric  acid,  and  can  resist  the  tem- 
perature of  an  incubating  oven. 

3.  FLemolysine,  which  is  very  slowly  destroyed  by  hydro- 


444  Three  Clinical  Cases. 

-chloric  acid  (up  to  3  per  cent.),  but  rapidly  destroyed  by  pepsin 
hydrochloric  acid.     Exposure  to  an  incubating  temperature  de- 
stroys it  to  the  extent  of  about  80  per  cent. 

4.  Neurotoxine. — This  is  fairly  resistant  to  the  action  of 
hydrochloric  acid  (up  to  3  per  cent.),  and  to  pepsin  and  papain. 
It  loses  about  90  per  cent,  of  its  toxicity  by  being  allowed  to 
stand  for  nineteen  days. 

The  hccmagglntinine  and  hcemolysitie  attack  the  blood  cor- 
puscles exclusively,  while  the  hcemorrhagine  attacks  the  endothe- 
lium of  the  walls  of  the  vessels,  and  the  neurotoxine  the  cells  of 
the  central  nervous  system. 


THREE  CLINICAL   CASES. 

By  S.  C.  Bannerji,  M.  D. 

Persistent    Vomiting. 

A  laborer,  named  Jaggu  Kurmiot  Bajitpur,  45  years  old, 
•suffered  for  six  months  from  vomiting  of  food  and  water.  Food 
tasted  bitter.  He  had  a  great  desire  for  milk,  which  he  did  not 
like  before,  and  had  never  drank  so  much  milk  before  as  he  has 
done  now.  He  could  not  sleep  for  horrible  visions  he  used  to  see 
•on  closing  his  eyes.  He  had  headache  just  after  eating,  and  was 
very  suspicious.  He  thought  that  people  were  making  faces  and 
laughed  at  him.  Diarrhoea  after  rising.  I  administered  Bryo. 
6th  im  dose  every  four  hours.  This  was  continued  till  the  15th  of 
May  last,  when  he  was  better.  The  medicine  was  still  continued 
in  im  dose  every  other  day  up  to  30th  idem,  after  that  no  medi- 
cine.    He  is  doing  well  now. 

A  Lung  Case. 

A  lady  of  about  60  years  of  age  came  to  my  office  on  June  4, 
1908,  who  had  an  infiltration  of  the  apices  of  both  lungs  ;  she 
had  coughed  for  years,  especially  during  every  winter,  and  during 
the  summer  somewhat  better.  She  had  almost  continuous  fever, 
temperature  100.4  to  102.2°  F. ;  hollow,  spasmodic  cough  worse 
in  the  evening  before  midnight.  Purulent  sputa,  hoarseness, 
weak,  fatigued  feeling  of  chest,  weary  after  a  short  walk,  cold 
-feet,  cold  knees,  thirst  but  drinks  little  at  a  time,  appetite  lost, 


"Sedum  Repens."  445 

tongue  thickly  coated  white,  peevish  indifference,  bad  smell  from 
mouth,  acidity  after  eating.  Carbo  veg.  200th,  1  drop  dose,  one 
dose  every  other  day ;  though  not  -totally  cured  as  yet,  but  much 
improved.     The  medicine  is  continued. 

Syphilis- Rheumatism. 

A  man  (Ramdham),  22  years  old,  has  suffered  from  lumbago 
and  rheumatism  of  right  hip- joint  due  to  syphilis,  who  placed 
himself  under  the  treatment  of  an  allopath  who  gave  him  several 
medicines  but  of  no  good.  At  last  despairing  of  recovery  came  to 
my  office  on  the  5th  of  June  last.  On  enquiry  I  learned  that  he 
has  used  all  sorts  of  mercurial  preparations  at  the  hand  of  the 
former  doctor.  The  pain  increased  at  night  and  relieved  by 
pressure.  He  was  very  anxious.  Ill  humor,  great  disgust  for 
food,  diarrhoea  sometimes  painful,  distention  of  abdomen  with 
feeling  as  of  peristaltic  action  were  reversed,  relieved  by  passing 
flatus.  Frequent  pain  from  place  to  place.  Under  the  above  cir- 
cumstances I  gave  him  Asafcetida  30th,  one  drop  dose  thrice 
daily.  After  three  days  the  bowels  were  all  right.  This  was  con- 
tinued for  a  month,  and  he  was  cured.     No  complaint  since  then. 

Sitamarbi,  India. 


"  SEDUM    REPENS." 

As  this  remedy  apparently  is  being  exploited  by  some  German 
homoeopathic  journals,  so  it  may  be  useful  to  let  the  readers  of 
The  Homoeopathic  Recorder  know  the  simple  facts  concerning 
it  so  far  as  we  know  them. 

But  first  a  few  words  concerning  its  latest  claims.  The  Horn. 
Monatsblatter  of  September  contains  an  article,  "Experience 
From  Practice  With  Sedum  Repens,"  by  Sanitary  Councilor,  Dr. 
Hellman,  of  Seigen.  This  paper  relates  six  cases  treated  with 
''sedum  repens,"  which  may  be  summarized  as  follows  : 

Case  I.  A  woman  of  seventy-four,  near  death  from  cancer  of 
the  liver,  notwithstanding  everything  that  could  be  done.  "Sedum 
repens"  and  afterwards  "sedum  specificum,"  which  seems  to  be 
the  same  thing,  was  given  with  wonderful  relief.  The  last  time 
Dr.  Hellman  called,  the  patient  had  "gone  travelling." 

Case  II.  A  shoemaker  with  "cancerous  formation  in  the  abdo- 
men." "Prescribed  sedum  repens  and  was  delighted  tn  see  this 
candidate  of  death  about  again  and  attending  to  his  duties." 


446  "Sedam  Repens." 

Case  III.  Mrs.  M.,  aged  50.  Uterus  compact,  tense,  painful 
and  "excrescence  in  the  pelvis."  Sedum  repens  worked  a  wonder- 
ful cure. 

Case  IV.  Cancer  of  stomach.  Sedum  repens  enabled  the  man 
to  go  to  work. 

Case  V.  and  VI.  Cancer  of  rectum  or  intestines.  Much  im- 
proved under  sedum  repens.  Still  under  treatment.  The  writer 
concludes :  "Not  all  the  cases  adduced  can  be  designated  as  can- 
cer, still  it  will  appear  clearly  from  my  description  that  Sedum 
repens  has  a  specific  action  on  the  organs  of  the  abdomen,  and  is 
able  to  alleviate  violent  pains  and  to  check  prostration." 

Immediately  following  the  article  by  Dr.  Hellman  is  another  by 
Dr.  Staeger,  of  Bern,  headed,  "What  is  Sedum  Repens."  We 
give  it  entire : 

In  an  article  on  page  380  of  the  Homoeopathic  World,  of  August,  1908, 
treating  of  my  remedy  for  cancer,  Sedum  repens,  and  written  by  Mr.  E.  B. 
Ivatts,  in  Birmingham,  we  find  the  statement  that  the  term  Sedum  repens 
is  quite  indefinite.  That  there  are  really  eleven  different  kinds  of  Sedum 
which  are  practically  all  repens,  i.  e.,  creeping.  It  is  not,  therefore,  known 
which  of  these  kinds  of  Sedum  is  meant.  The  author  in  question  does  not 
seem  to  be  acquainted  with  the  twelfth  kind,  namely,  Sedum  repens.  This 
kind  actually  exists  as  a  bona  fida  species  and  not  as  a  local  variety,  and  is 
found  in  a  few  places  in  the  higher  Alps.  The  specific  name  of  ''repens" 
was  given  to  it  by  the  well  known  botanist  Schleich.  On  this  account  I 
also  placed  the  name  of  this  author  behind  the  term  repens  when  I  pub- 
lished my  cures  in  the  Homceopathische  Monatsblaetter. 

In  later  botanical  works,  as,  c.  g.,  in  the  excellent  "Flora  der  Schweiz,''- 
by  Prof.  Dr.  Schinz  and  Dr.  R.  Keller,  the  plant  is  called  Sedum  alpestrc, 
Vill.  The  latter  designation  and  the  name  Sedum  repens,  Schleich,  are 
synonymous.  I  have  introduced  the  older  name  Sedum  repens,  Schleich, 
into  homoeopathic  therapy  and  intend  to  retain  it.  In  any  case  I  have 
from  the  beginning  taken  the  utmost  care  to  be  exact  in  the  designation  of 
my  preparation.  I  cannot,  therefore,  exactly  see  how  Mr.  Ivatts  comes  to 
make  his  remark.  It  is  probable  that  Sedum  repens,  Schleich,  or  Sedum 
alpestrc,  Vill.  is  not  found  at  all  in  England.  This  would  explain  the  mis- 
understanding, which  I  hope  will  be  removed  once  for  all  with  this  ex- 
planation. 

With  this  I  may  also  be  allowed  to  remark  that  I  succeeded  in  the  course 
of  the  last  July  in  finding  and  gathering  in  the  high  mountains  of  the 
Grisons  a  comparatively  large  quantity  of  Sedum  repens,  Schleich,  and  this 
took  place  in  company  of  a  troop  of  eleven  botanists,  who  had  come  to 
Geneva  to  attend  the  International  Congress  of  Geography,  and  had,  for 
the  sake  of  making  botanico-geographical  studies,  come  to  the  Engadin, 
and  whom  I  had  joined.     As  botanical  authorities  of  the  first  magnitude 


A  Few  Clinical  Cases.  447 

were  in  this  company  (also  one  Englishman),  I  have  the  full  guarantee 
that  I  collected  the  genuine  and  rare  Sedum  repens,  Schleich,  as  it  was 
recognized  as  such  by  several  of  the  gentlemen  taking  part  in  the  ex- 
cursion. 

Sedum  repens,  Schleich,  will  soon  come  into  the  public  market.  Then 
the  locality  where  it  is  found  will  be  made  known  more  particularly. 

All  this  leads  us  back  to  the  article,  translated  from  the  same 
German  journal  and  published  in  the  North  American  Journal  of 
Homoeopathy  early  this  year,  relating  two  cases  of  cancer  cured 
with  this  remedy.  This  translation  caused  considerable  demand 
for  the  remedy,  and  [Messrs.  Boericke  &  Tafel  wrote  to  Dr. 
Staeger  concerning  it,  and  received  the  following  reply — the  busi- 
ness part  being  omitted : 

Bern,  April  28,   1908. 
Messrs.  Boericke  &  Tafel,  Philadelphia. 

Honored  Sirs. — What  I  call  Sedum  repens  is  in  reality  a  mixture  of 
various  Crassulaceae  in  a  homoeopathic  dilution.  No  one  knows  the 
composition  but  I  myself.  I  do  not  intend  for  the  present  to  make  known 
this  composition,  as  I  desire  to  make  a  financial  use  of  this  remedy,  which 
is  of  such  prominent  use.  On  this  account  also  I  do  not  give  out  the  rem- 
edy except  in  the  30  decimal,  and  this  only  in  the  form  of  pellets. 

I  offer  you,  etc.,  etc. 

Doctor  Staeger. 

This  is  the  story  of  the  drug  so  far  as  we  can  learn  it.  It  looks 
very  much  as  though  it  were  a  proprietary  preparation  mas- 
querading as  a  homoeopathic  remedy,  or  a  rival  for  Count  Mattel's 
famous  remedies — the  most  successfully  worked  proprietary  med- 
icines ever  put  out.  Of  the  merits  of  the  drug,  whatever  it  is.  we 
know  nothing,  but  the  clinical  cases  read  rather  flashy. 


A  FEW    CLINICAL     CASES— CHOLERA     AND     IN- 
CIPIENT PHTHISIS. 

By  Dr.  Srish  Chandra  Basu,  L.  H.,  M.  S. 
Cholera — Case  No.  I. 

Name  of  the  patient,  Master  P.  C.  Gupta,  age  15.  student. 
On  the  10th  of  April,  '08,  he  had  loose  stool  in  the  morning. 
There  were  four  or  five  such  stools  during  the  day. 

In  the  evening  at  6:30  P.  M.  he  suddenly  had  one  copious  stool, 


448  A  Few  Clinical  Cases. 

very  watery,  intermixed  with  flocculent  matter,  after  which  he 
fainted.  This  was  followed  by  several  more  purgings  and  vomit- 
ings. I  was  sent  for,  but  as  I  was  then  out  on  my  usual  round 
my  services  could  not  be  availed  of  immediately.  I,  however, 
saw  the  patient  at  about  9 130  P.  M.,  by  which  time  he  had  purged 
and  vomited  many  more  times.  The  interval  between  each  stool 
was  twenty  to  twenty-five  minutes.  The  stools  were  at  first  yel- 
low, but  gradually  assumed  rice  water  character.  Vomiting  con- 
sisted of  water  and  mucus,  and  was  simultaneously  following 
each  stool.  Urine  suppressed.  Thirst  almost  insatiable.  Pulse 
rapid  but  almost  thready.  Cramps  in  the  fingers  of  both  hands 
and  legs ;  restless ;  wanting  to  be  fanned.  Eyes  sunken,  hands 
and  feet  pinched.  I  prescribed  Verat.  alb.  30,  to  be  taken  every 
two  hours. 

At  about  12  130  in  the  night  I  was  again  called  in  and  found 
purging  and  vomiting  were  no  longer  simultaneous,  and  the  in- 
tervals between  each  stool  were  forty-five  to  fifty  minutes,  but  the 
other  symptoms  remaining  the  same.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
burning  over  the  body  and  restlessness  were  more  intense  than 
before.  I  prescribed  Arsenic  30,  to  be  taken  in  alternation  with 
Verat.  alb.  every  two  hours. 

Next  morning  (nth  of  April,  '08)  when  I  again  saw  the  pa- 
tient I  found  much  improvement  so  far  as  purging  and  vomiting 
were  concerned.  Taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  the  first 
stool  had  begun  early  in  the  morning,  the  burning  sensation  of 
the  body,  amelioration  in  cool  air,  desire  to  put  the  hands  out  of 
the  bed  and  place  them  on  the  floor,  I  thought  of  trying  a  dose  of 
Sulphur.  Accordingly  two  pellets  of  this  medicine  in  the  200th 
potency  was  given,  and  in  two  or  three  hours  all  the  symptoms 
disappeared,  and  he  slept  soundly  for  the  whole  day. 

Again  next  morning  (12th  of  April,  '08)  the  boy  felt  bad,  began 
to  have  stools,  which  were  scanty  and  yellow,  and  there  were  also 
ineffectual  attempts  to  vomit.  Having  ascertained  that  the  boy 
had  the  disposition  to  worms,  I  at  once  gave  two  pellets  of  Cinu 
200,  which  had  the  effect  of  controlling  all  the  symptoms.  Since 
then  he  made  rapid  progress  towards  recovery,  and  was  quite 
cured  in  two  days. 

Cholera— Case  No.  II. 

Sister-in-law  of  Babu  Bhuhan  Chandra  Chatay,  age  45  or  46. 
widow.     She  is  a  close  neighbor  of  the  previous  patient. 


A  Few  Clinical  Cases.  449 

On  the  night  of  the  18th  of  April,  08,  from  3  A.  M.,  she  began 
purging  and  vomiting.  Stools  watery,  intermingled  with  floccu- 
lent  matter,  urine  suppressed,  pulse  imperceptible,  hands  and 
feet  cold  as  ice,  face  pinched,  eyes  sunken,  thirst  insatiable,  purg- 
ing and  vomiting  simultaneous,  occurring  almost  every  quarter 
of  an  hour. 

I  saw  her  at  8  A.  M.  in  the  morning,  and  prescribed  Verat.  alb. 
30,  every  hour.  Two  doses  of  the  medicine  given,  but  no  im- 
provement. I  noticed  particularly  the  burning  sensation  all  over 
the  body,  intensity  of  thirst,  restlessness  and  desire  to  put  her 
hands  out  of  the  bed.  These  induced  me  to  try  a  dose  of  Sulphur 
200,  which  had  the  effect  of  controlling  the  vomiting  and  pro- 
longing the  interval  between  stools.  I  waited  to  see  the  result  for 
three  hours,  and  then  I  gave  a  dose  of  Podophyllum  6,  which 
checked  the  stool  entirely,  although  her  stool  ceased  for  six  hours. 
She  was  cold  and  pulseless  as  ever.  I  gave  her  a  dose  of  Secale 
cor.  30,  which  was  repeated  every  three  hours  without  any  ap- 
parent effect. 

At  3  o'clock  in  the  night  news  was  brought  to  me  that  she  had 
again  been  vomiting  and  purging,  and  that  my  attendance  was 
imperitively  necessary.  The  recurrence  of  these  symptoms  fright- 
ened me,  as  I  thought  that  this  might  lead  to  her  dissolution. 
However,  I  went  over  and  gave  a  dose  of  Podophyllum. 

Xext  morning  (19th  of  April,  '08)  when  I  saw  her  again,  I 
found  much  improvement.  Thinking  that  these  might  be  the 
work  of  worms  I  gave  a  dose  of  Cina  200.  To  my  great  astonish- 
ment I  found  that  her  pulse  established  gradually  and  that  she 
passed  urine.  The  diarrhoea  continued  for  two  or  three  days 
more,  but  was  subsequently  checked  by  Sulphur  200. 

Note. 

The  above  two  cases  appear  to  be  of  the  same  type.  Altogether 
both  of  them  assumed  a  very  serious  aspect,  they  were,  in  fact, 
the  work  of  worms.  They  would  have  most  probably  terminated 
fatally,  if  the  disposition  to  worms  were  not  taken  into  considera- 
tion. It  is,  however,  satisfactory  to  note  that  both  these  cases 
were  saved  by  the  timely  administration  of  Cina. 


450  -  /  Few  Clinical  Cases. 


Incipient  Phthisis — Case  No.  III. 

Patient,  a  student,  age  18. 

Family  History. — His  father  died  at  the  age  of  52  of  chronic 
dyspepsia.    One  of  his  sisters  died  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis. 

Previous  History. — The  patient  was  all  along  very  robust  and 
never  had  any  serious  disease.  All  that  might  give  rise  to  any 
suspicion  was  that  he  was  twice  vaccinated,  and  that  he  had  to 
attend  to  his  sister  who  died  of  consumption. 

Present  condition. — Apparently  he  was  looking  very  stout  and 
strong,  but  actually  he  was  a  man  of  flesh  without  any  real 
strength.  His  bowels  were  not  regular,  had  cough,  and  sputa 
yellow  and  streaked  with  faint  blood.  He  was  also  occasionally 
getting  fever,  his  morning  temperature  was  not  exactly  normal. 
The  examination  of  his  lungs  revealed  no  distinct  symptom  of 
any  wrong. 

It  was  on  the  18th  of  May,  1907,  he  came  to  me  for  treatment. 
Of  course,  it  was  then  very  difficult  to  give  opinion  on  the  case 
one  way  or  the  other,  but  I  assured  him  that  if  he  could  stick  to 
Hahnemannian  mode  of  treatment  he  might  escape  further  de- 
velopment. To  this  he  agreed,  and  I  prescribed  Calc.  carb.  200, 
two  pellets  every  week,  and  Placebo  twice  daily.  I  also  directed 
him  to  rub  cod  liver  oil  with  mustard  oil,  proportion  half  and  half, 
twice  daily. 

25th  of  May,  1907. — He  again  came  to  me  for  further  advice. 
On  inquiry  I  learned  that  the  color  of  the  sputa  had  now  been 
changed,  and  that  there  were  no  longer  streaks  of  blood  over  it, 
but  the  other  symptoms  were  almost  the  same.  The  same  pre- 
scription continued. 

5th  of  June,  1907. — Febrile  symptoms  disappeared,  cough  much 
less,  sputa  much  better,  but  complained  of  constipation — Xux 
vom.  200,  two  globules. 

15th  of  June,  1907. — No  further  trouble  about  bowels,  other 
symptoms  much  improved.     Calc.  carb.  200,  two  globules. 

Since  then,  he  improved  a  great  deal.  A  relative  of  his  called 
at  my  office  three  months  afterwards,  from  whom  I  learned  that 
he  is  still  doing  well. 

Calcutta,  India,  July,  1908. 


The  Latest  Investigations — Human  Serum.  451 


THE  LATEST  INVESTIGATIONS- 
HUMAN  SERUM. 

The  eminent  scientists  who  lead  the  van  of  progress,  or  at  least 
a  van  of  some  sort,  have  now  arrived  at  "human  serum."  How 
they  obtain  it  we  do  not  know,  and  must  confess  equal  ignorance 
as  to  the  results.  For  instance:  "The  results  obtained  by  Davis 
show  that  while  the  serum  of  normal  human  beings  may  contain 
certain  meningococcidal  substances  as  well  as  opsoins  for  men- 
ingococci, both  these  specific  properties  are  markedly  increased 
in  the  course  of  meningitis."  Davis  tried  it — whatever  it  may 
be — on  two  patients,  one.  died  and  the  other  didn't,  "and  the  only 
deduction  permissible  would  seem  to  be  that  the  serum  in  no  way 
did  harm,"  which  fact  is  something  in  its  favor.  McKenzie 
and  Martin  used  serum  from  patients  who  had  recovered  from 
cerebro-spinal  fever,  on  fourteen  cases,  of  whom  "eight  died  and 
six  got  well." 

We  are  digging  this  out  of  the  pages  of  the  Journal  A.  M.  A., 
September  26th,  and  the  writer  after  this  states : 

"The  authors,"  i.  e.}  McKenzie  and  Martin,  "state  that  the  pa- 
tients thus  treated  were  unselected  and  cite  figures  showing  that 
the  recovery  rate  presented  by  the  patients  injected  with  human 
serum  is  much  greater  than  that  presented  by  other  cases  in  the 
same  hospital  but  not  treated  with  serum — fifty  such  cases  giving 
only  four  recoveries." 

Here  is  another  clipping  from  the  same  paper: 

"  Antimeningococcic  serum  owes  its  properties  to  several  dis- 
tinct bodies,  of  which  the  most  important  probably  is  the  anti- 
endotoxin.  The  great  toxic  action  of  the  meningococcus  is  well 
shown  in  the  experiment  by  Davis  in  which  he  obtained  a  prompt 
and  profound  reaction  in  twenty  minutes  by  injecting  dead  men- 
ingococci into  a  normal  person ;  a  profound  intoxication  resulted'. 
with  violent  headache,  some  delirium,  vomiting  and  later  herpes 
and  severe  acute  nephritis  developed,  but  there  were  no  special 
meningeal  symptoms."  All  this  is  presumably  up-to-date  medical 
science  of  the  serum  brand. 

In  Hans  Christian  Anderson's  fairy  tales  for  children  we  read' 
of  a  king,  his  courtiers  and  loyal  subjects  to  whom  a  very  learned' 
scientist  once  appeared,  at  the  court,  and  displayed  a  bolt  of  won- 


452  Vaccination  and  Small- pox  in  Austria. 

derful  and  magnificent  cloth.  The  king,  presumably,  after  viewing 
his  courtiers  out  of  the  tail  of  his  eye,  greatly  admired  the  won- 
derful cloth,  as  did  all  the  others,  and  ordered  robes  for  himself  to 
be  made  from  it.  When  the  robes  were  completed  the  king  ar- 
rayed himself  in  them  and  accompanied  by  his  court  paraded  the 
streets.  Solid  and  conservative  citizens  who  had  heard  of  the  new 
robes  from  the  wonderful  cloth,  together  with  the  court,  greatly 
admired  the  robes  until  a  little  child  exclaimed,  "Why,  mamma, 
the  king's  naked." 

How  the  king,  his  courtiers  and  the  solid,  conservative  citizens 
explained  the  episode  is  something  that  further  investigation  will 
be  required  to  ascertain.  Probably  the  court  journals  wrote  up 
the  robes  quite  fully  until  the  king  wore  them  and  afterwards  "ad- 
vanced" to  other  topics. 


VACCINATION     AND     SMALL-POX    IN     AUSTRIA. 

The  Vienna  letter  in  the  Journal  A.  M.  A.,  September  12th, 
treats  of  the  subject  of  vaccination  and  small-pox  in  Austria. 
The  letter  says : 

Partly  because  of  the  constant  efforts  of  the  medical  profession,  and 
partly  because  of  repeated  outbreaks  of  epidemics  in  various  large  towns, 
the  subject  of  vaccination  has  lately  received  much  attention  from  the  gov- 
ernment. In  consequence  of  the  outbreak  in  Vienna  in  the  summer  of  1907 
more  than  a  million  persons  voluntarily  underwent  vaccination.  Vaccina- 
tion is  not  compulsory  in  this  country. 

Most  of  the  army  and  the  civil  officers  have  been  vaccinated. 
The  letter  has  the  following  to  say  concerning  the  vaccine  used : 

Human  lymph  is  no  longer  used  for  vaccination  here.  There  are  seven 
public  and  three  private  institutions  for  producing  cow's  lymph.  The 
largest  one  is  that  in  Vienna,  which  is  owned  by  the  state.  It  produces 
3,000  grams  of  cow's  lymph  a  year,  which  is  made  up  with  glycerine  into 
78,000  grams  of  vaccination  lymph,  equalling  700,000  tubes,  each  tube  suffi- 
cient for  two  persons.  As  a  rule,  the  cow's  lymph  is  diluted  with  five  parts 
of  glycerine ;  then  kept  for  two  weeks  in  a  refrigerator ;  then  once  more 
diluted,  and  kept  on  ice  for  four  months.  The  lymph  prepared  in  this  way 
has  a  mild  but  sufficiently  protective  action.  During  the  epidemic  of  last 
year,  when  more  than  70.000  persons  applied  daily  for  lymph,  the  material 
dispensed  had  to  be  taken  -from  fresh  stock.  Strong  reactions,  marked  by 
rigor  and  pyrexia  for  eight  to  seventeen  days,  were  observed. 


Medical  Terms  Criticise  453 

The  writer  says  that  small-pox  ''is  very  rare  in  this  country." 

and  that  few  practitioners  who  entered  the  hospitals  after  1885 

"know  small-pox  except  from  books."     However,  owing  to  the 

spread  of  the  "Naturheiler" — nature  cure — a  movement  has  been 

started  for  a  compulsory  vaccination  law. 

As  Austria  has  got  along  singularly  well  without  it  such  a  law 
seems  useless. 


MEDICAL    TERMS    CRITICISED. 

Dr.  Howard  B.  Given,  of  Nashville,  Term.,  contributes  a  paper 
to  the  :.7  Brief,   September,  from  which  the  subjoined  is 

taken  and  respectfully  submitted : 

5  me  years  ago.  while  pursuing  the  study  of  anatomy  at  the 
University  of  Louisville,  my  attention  was  arrested  by  the  un- 
scientific, puerile  and  often  absurd  namings  that  exist  in  our  med- 
ical vocabulary.  There  appeared  to  be  about  sixty  or  seventy-five 
parts  of  the  human  body  having  the  names  of  men ;  besides  these. 
there  are  many  indefinite  and  nondescript  names,  such  as  acetabu- 
lum, for  which  I  would  suggest  the  name  of  octoform.  Some  of 
these  names  have  been  displaced  and  others  are  doomed. 

"Misnomers  occur,  also,  as  regards  both  diseases  and  their 
remedies.  It  is  a  mark  almost  of  mental  imbecility  to  continue 
such  names  as  Addison's.  Bright's,  Potts's.  Graves's  disease,  etc. 
Some  of  the  names  of  this  class  are  properly  supplanted,  such  as 
chorea  for  St.  Yitus's  dance,  erysipelas  for  St.  Anthony's  fire. 
Again,  as  regards  remedies,  surgical  and  medicinal,  note  Colles's 
iracture,  Caesarian  section  or  Sanger's  operation.  Loreta's  opera- 
tion. Wardrop's  operation  and  Warburg's  tincture.  Blaud's  pills. 
Buckley's  uterine  tonic.  Dover's  powder,  epsom  salts,  rochelle 
salt.  etc.  As  an  interesting  study,  track  this  false  nomenclature 
through  your  medical  dictionary,  catalogues  and  literature. 

''Few  things  are  well  defined,  more  are  proximately  described, 
"but  many  are  whimsically  denominated,  e.  g.s  electricity  from  the 
Greek  word  elektron.  amber,  an  agent  from  which  it  is  supposed 
to  have  been  derived,  and  in  medicine,  calomel,  derived  from  the 
combined  stems  of  two  Greek  words,  meaning  beautiful  black. 
While  such  names  are  arbitrary,  they  are  now  fixed  and  have  the 
e  of  a  proper  name  given  to  a  person." 


454  d  Case  of  Aconite  Poisoning. 

A  CASE  OF  ACONITE     POISONING. 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

Homer  Hollinger,  age  26,  2012  Prospect  Ave.,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
drank  about  three-fourths  of  an  ounce  of  the  tincture  of  Aconite. 
This  occurred  on  Friday  afternoon,  August  21st,  about  twenty- 
five  minutes  after  2  o'clock.  He  immediately  discovered  his  mis- 
take, and  took  about  a  tablespoonful  of  ground  mustard  in  water, 
but  couldn't  vomit.  His  sister,  who  lives  with  him,  being  fright- 
ened, could  not  phone  me.  She  finally  did  succeed  in  finding  my 
number  and  told  him.  He  says  that  by  this  time  his  memory  was 
so  affected  he  could  not  retain  the  number,  and  she  repeated  it  to 
him  over  and  over.  When  he  got  the  connection  I  asked  him  what 
the  matter  was.  He  told  me.  I  ran  over  with  a  bottle  of  the 
tincture  of  belladonna,  which  is  said  to  be  an  antidote.  Before 
reaching  the  house  I  decided  that  belladonna  was  dangerous. 
The  man  was  frantic,  sitting  down,  getting  up,  pacing  the  floor, 
pulse  weak  and  irregular,  intense  burning  in  throat  and  stomach. 
He  told  me  how  much  he  had  taken,  and  showed  me  the  bottle 
with  some  of  the  "real  thing"  in  it.  All  this  occurred  in  one- 
tenth  the  time  it  takes  to  write  it.  "Have  you  any  vinegar?"  I 
asked.  In  response  he  brought  a  glass  jar  with  about  a  quart  of 
excellent  cider  vinegar.  A  half  teaspoonful  was  about  all  I  cared 
for.  "Drink,  drink!"  said  I.  He  drank  about  a  half  pint.  "I 
don't  taste  it  at  all,"  said  he.  "It  doesn't  matter;  drink  some 
more,"  I  replied.  He  drank  another  half  pint  right  out  of  the 
quart  jar.  In  fewer  than  five  minutes  he  was  greatly  relieved, 
and  his  pulse  was  much  better.  Then  having  watched  him  about 
twenty  minutes  I  went  home  across  the  street,  thinking  I  would 
read  up,  leaving  orders  for  my  patient  to  take  a  half  cup  of  vine- 
gar, diluted  with  water,  every  half  hour.  Having  looked  up  the 
subject  hurriedly,  I  called  up  Dr.  J.  A.  Lytle,  registrar  of  the 
Cleveland  Homoeopathic  College,  and  several  other  doctors. 
Every  one  said,  "Your  patient  will  die."  This  was  rather  dis- 
couraging. I  hurried  back  to  find  my  patient  somewhat  weak  in 
the  legs  and  back,  and  his  sense  of  smell  so  acute  that  he  held  his 
nose  while  drinking  the  vinegar.  The  muscles  about  his  eyes, 
too,  were  somewhat  drawn.  Otherwise  he  was  feeling  fine.  He 
took  no  more  vinegar  after  4  o'clock,  and  in  all  took  almost  a 


The  Pharmacopoeia   Question.  455 

^quart,  the  first  dose  about  fifteen  minutes  after  taking  the  aconite. 

The  vinegar  almost  immediately  relieved  the  burning  and 
choking  sensation  in  his  throat.  His  saliva,  which  was  thick  and 
stringy  (hanging  down  three  or  four  feet,  at  my  arrival,  on  his 
attempting  to  spit),  did  not  change  its  character  for  at  least 
half  an  hour.  It  gradually  became  normal.  All  the  symptoms 
gradually  subsided,  and  there  were  no  others  except  that  he 
says :  "About  midnight  my  head  felt  very  strange  and  flighty,  but 
it  lasted  only  a  few  minutes."  This  was  probably  due  to  the 
vinegar.    Next  day  he  was  ravenously  hungry. 

The  next  morning,  Saturday,  having  been  convinced  that  my 
man  was  out  of  danger,  although  I  could  hardly  believe  it,  I 
called  up  Dr.  Lytle,  and  said:  "Well,  doctor,  I  saved  my  man." 
"You  did?  Is  he  still  alive?"  he  said.  Having  been  assured  that 
it  was  true,  he  said :  "You  are  to  be  congratulated.  That's  re- 
markable." 

C.  M.  Swixcle. 
Student  Cleveland  Homoeopathic  Medical  College. 

2101  Prospect  Ave.,  Cleveland,  O. 


THE  PHARMACOPCEIA  QUESTION. 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder: 

Have  just  read  in  your  August  number  "What  Will  You  Do?" 
If  I  understand  from  that  article  that  the  American  Institute  of 
Homoeopathy  through  its  committee  on  Pharmacopoeia  proposes 
legislation  that  will  prevent  one  legally  from  using  the  30th 
potency  or  higher,  I  intend  to  oppose  it,  both  by  word  and  pen, 
and  will  talk  loud  enough  to  be  heard  everywhere.  If  I  am  cor- 
rect, it  looks  to  me  as  if  they  were  trying  to  fly  into  the  hands  of 
our  opponents. 

Were  ever  such  puerile  efforts  made  in  the  days  of  our  leaders 
of  old.  Who  ever  heard  Hering,  Dunham,  Lippe,  Guernsey  and 
a  host  of  the  true  blue  talking  such,  etc.,  nonsense. 

Many  of  our  would-be  leaders  are.  T  fear,  going  or  gone  over 
to  the  enemy.  We  want  pure  drugs,  but  we  want  to  use  them  as 
high  as  we  please. 

C.  H.  Cogswell,  M.  D. 

Cedar  Rapids,  la.,  Aug.  31,   08. 


456       Officers  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homccopathy. 


OFFICIAL    LIST    OF    OFFICERS    OF  THE  AMERI- 
CAN  INSTITUTE  OF   HOMCEOPATHY,  190S. 

Officers,  bureau  chairmen  and  chairmen  of  committees  elected 
and  appointed  at  the  Kansas  City  session,  1908: 

Officers. 

Hamilton  F.  Biggar,  M.  D.,  Cleveland,  O..  Honorary  President. 

William  Davis  Foster,  M.  D.,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  President. 

T.  H.  Carmichael,  M.  D.,  Germantown,  Pa.,  First  Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

Joseph  Hensley,  M.  D.,  Oklahoma  City,  Second  Vice-President. 

*Frank  Kraft,  M.  D.,  Cleveland,  O.,  Secretary. 

J.  Richey  Horner,  M.  D.,  Cleveland,  O.,  Secretary  Pro  tern. 

T.  Franklin  Smith,  M.  D.,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  Treasurer. 

Joseph  H.  Ball,  M.  D.,  Bay  City,  Mich.,  Registrar. 

Eldridge  C.  Price,  M.  D.,  Baltimore,  Md.,  Chairman  Bd.  of 
Censors. 

George  T.  Showers,  M.  D.,  Baltimore,  Md..  Xecrologist. 

Chairmen  of  Bureaus. 

Lewis  P.  Crutcher,  M.  D.,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Materia  Mediea. 
R.  F.  Rabe,  M.  D.,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  Homoeopathy. 
Edward  D.  Harper,  M.  D.,  New  Orleans,  La.,  Clinical  Medi- 
cine. 

Annie  W.  Spencer,  M.  D.,  Batavia,  111.,  Pedology. 

H.  Franklin  Staples,  M.  D.,  Cleveland,  O.,  Sanitary  Science. 

Chairmen  of  Committees. 

Organization,  Reg.  and  Statistics,  T.  Franklin  Smith.  M,  D., 
New  York. 

Transportation,  N.  B.  Delamater,  M.  D.,  Chicago,  Mo. 

^Publication,  Frank  Kraft,  M.  D..  Cleveland,  O. 

Press,  W.  Rufus  King,  M.  D.,  Washington.  D.  C. 

Resolutions  and  Business,  New,  J.  Pettee  Cobb,  M.  D..  Chicagor 
111. 

International  Bureau  of  Homoeopathy,  Geo.  B.  Peck.  M.  D.„ 
Providence,  R.  I. 


*Deceased. 


Officers  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy.       457 

Med.  Exam,  and  Legislation,  J.  M.  Lee.  M.  D.,  Rochester, 
X.  Y. 

Memorial  Services,  D.  A.  Strickler,  M.  D.,  Denver,  Colo. 

Homoeopathic  Pharmacopoeia,  T.  H.  Carmichael,  M.  D.,  Ger- 
mantown,  Pa. 

Hahnemann  Monument,  J.  H.  McClelland,  M.  D.,  Pittsburg, 
Pa. 

New  Members,  W.  A.  Paul,  M.  D.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Formation  of  a  National  Association  for  Clinical  Research, 
James  Krauss,  M.  D.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Tuberculosis  Congress,  W.  B.  Hinsdale,  M.  D.,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich. 

Intercollegiate  Committee,  C.  E.  Walton,  M.  D.,  Cincinnati,  O. 

Interstate  Committee,  H.  D.  Schenck,  M.  D.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Journal  and  Incorporation  of  Institute,  George  Royal,  M.  D., 
Des  Moines,  la.;  Joseph  P.  Cobb,  M.  D.,  Chicago,  111.;  Benj.  F. 
Bailey,  M.  D.,  Lincoln,  Neb.;  C.  E.  Sawyer,  M.  D.,  Marion,  O. ; 
Royal  S.  Copeland,  M.  D.,  New  York. 

Trustees  for  Incorporation,  Benj.  F.  Bailey,  M.  D.,  Lincoln, 
Neb. ;  Joseph  P.  Cobb,  M.  D.,  Chicago,  111. ;  Royal  S.  Copeland, 
M.  D.,  New  York ;  C.  E.  Sawyer,  M.  D.,  Marion,  O. ;  Wm.  Davis 
Foster.  M.  D.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. ;  George  Royal,  M.  D.,  Des 
Moines,  la. 

American  Inst,  of  Drug  Proving.  J.  B.  Gregg  Custis,  M.  D., 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Council  of  Medical  Education,  George  Royal,  M.  D.,  Des 
Moines,  la. :  Willis  A.  Dewey,  M.  D.,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich. ;  John  B. 
Garrison,  M.  D..  New  York,  N.  Y. ;  John  P.  Sutherland,  M.  D., 
Boston,  Mass. :  W.  J.  Gates,  M.  D.,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Conference  with  A.  M.  A.,  H.  D.  Schenck,  M.  D.,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y. ;  Benj.  F.  Bailey,  M.  D.,  Lincoln,  Neb.;  Frank  C.  Richard- 
son, M.  D.,  Boston ;  W.  Rufus  King,  M.  D.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Chairman  of  Local  Committee  on  Arrangements,  D.  A.  Mac- 
Lachlan,  M.  D.,  Detroit,  Mich. 

Next  session  of  the  Institute  of  Homoeopathy,  in  June,  1909,  in 
Detroit. 

Dr.  J.  Richey  Horner,  Secretary  Pro  tern. 


458  Lachesis. 

WAKE   UP,   YOU   SOUTHERN    HOMOEOPATHS! 

New  Orleans,  La.,  Sept.  15,  1908. 
Dear  Doctor: 

We  sent  a  call  August  18th  to  all  Southern  Homoeopaths  plead- 
ing for  assistance  for  Homoeopathy  at  once.  Comparatively  few 
answers  have  been  received.  What  is  the  matter  with  the  Southern- 
Homoeopaths?  Are  we  to  understand  by  your  silence  that  you 
are  in  favor  of  sacrificing  the  Southern  in  the  face  of  the  propa- 
ganda started  at  the  Kansas  City  meeting  of  the  American  In- 
stitute ?  We  beg  you  not  to  do  so.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  recip- 
ient of  both  these  appeals  to  support  the  Southern  morally  and 
financially  as  well  as  to  attend  its  meetings  whenever  it  is  possi- 
ble for  him  to  do  so,  just  as  much  as  it  is  to  support  his  local 
or  State  society  and  the  American  Institute.  That  you  do  not 
need  its  influence  personally  because  you  live  near  strong  ho- 
moeopathic centers,  or  near  the  north  and  can  attend  meetings 
there  does  not  release  you  from  this  duty. 

Awake  from  your  apathy  and  come  to  the  support  of  Homoeop- 
athy, the  Southern  and  the  propaganda. 

Do  it  right  now,  don't  postpone  action,  fill  out  the  enclosed  ap- 
plication blank  and  return  at  once  with  assurance  of  your  hearty 
support,  good  will  and  attendance. 

Yours  fraternally, 

Edward  Harper, 

Secretary. 

New  Orleans,  La.,  Sept.  15,  1908. 


LACHESIS. 

And  now  I  Avill  relate  some  of  my  successes  with  the  remedy. 
My  first  experience  with  it  was  during  the  winter  of  i88o-'8i.  I 
was  treating  a  case  of  pneumonia  in  an  elderly  lady — past  seventy 
— of  delicate  constitution.  Her  children  did  not  expect  her  to 
survive  the  attack,  but  the  case  progressed  favorably  for  sev- 
eral days,  until  it  seemed  as  though  the  acme  had  been  passed,  and 
that  convalescence  would  soon  follow.  One  evening,  however.  I 
found  her  much  prostrated,  breathing  faintly,  with  the  pulse  al- 
most entirely  gone.    What  could  be  found  was  feeble  and  tremu- 


Lachesis.  459 

Ions,  so  rapid  and  indistinct  as  to  prevent  counting,  though  it 
seemed  to  be  about  160  per  minute.  I  concluded  that  the  end 
had  come,  but  decided,  remembering  what  Hughes  says  of 
Lachesis  and  tremulous  action  of  the  heart,  to  give  it  a  trial.  I 
left  some  powders  of  the  drug  without  any  hope  of  success,  and 
returned  the  following  day  expecting  to  find  crape  on  the  door. 
To  my  surprise,  I  found  her  convalescing,  with  a  regular  pulse, 
less  than  100,  and  all  other  symptoms  improved.  She  was  well  a 
few  days  afterwards,  and  remained  well  for  several  years. 

The  same  winter  I  encountered  a  case  of  stubborn  and  racking 
cough  in  a  man  about  middle  age.  He  was  a  robust  farmer,  and 
did  not  seem  very  sick,  but  the  cough  would  not  "down."  I  treat- 
ed the  case  for  a  fortnight  without  impressing  it  in  the  least,  and 
became  discouraged.  Little  signs  of  local  irritation  could  be 
found  in  the  bronchial  tubes  or  pulmonary  alveoli,  but  the  cough 
was  explosive  and  rasping,  aggravated  at  night  from  cold  air,  and 
very  much  provoked  by  dust  when  the  wife  did  any  sweeping. 
It  was  evidently  a  case  of  irritability  of  the  pneumogastric 
branches,  and  I  finally  "tumbled"  to  Lachesis.  I  had  a  very  small 
quantity  of  the  remedy  on  hand,  about  nine  small  powders,  if  I 
remember  correctly,  but  these  cured  the  cough,  and  it  did  not 
return. 

About  five  years  ago  a  boy  of  five  years  was  brought  to  me  in  a 
go-cart  from  San  Francisco  who  was  a  cripple  from  post-diph- 
theritic paralysis.  A  younger  child,  a  little  girl,  had  succumbed 
to  diphtheria,  and  the  boy  had  nearly  died  with  it,  but  finally  sur- 
vived, in  this  condition.  They  had  been  treated  with  antitoxin 
and  allopathic  remedies,  secundum  artem.  The  paralysis  had 
continued  for  about  five  months,  in  spite  of  electricity  and  strych- 
nia. There  was  complete  paralysis  of  the  lower  extremities,  and 
deglutition  and  phonation  were  much  impaired.  The  child  was 
peevish  and  babyish,  though  the  parents  informed  me  that  before 
his  illness  he  was  a  self-assertive  and  cheerful  boy.  Enough 
Lachesis  to  last  a  fortnight  was  furnished  him,  with  instructio* 
to  return  when  it  was  gone.  When  brought  back  great  improve- 
ment was  reported.  The  boy  could  swallow  well  and  speech  was 
nearly  normal.  Also,  the  boy  could  stand  on  his  feet  without  help 
for  a  short  time,  and  made  frequent  efforts  to  do  so  without 
prompting.     In  another  fortnight  he  had  entirely  recovered,  and 


460  Therapeutics  of  Cancer. 

afterward  remained  well.  The  parents  became  patients  of  miner 
so  I  see  him  occasionally.  He  is  a  strong,  healthy  child,  full  of 
romp  and  mischief. — Dr.  H.  F.  Webster,  Eclectic  Medical 
Journal. 


THERAPEUTICS   OF   CANCER. 
By  Dr.  John  H.  Clarke. 

Cancer  of  the  Breast. 

I  must  strongly  emphasize  the  great  importance  of  the  early- 
recognition  of  any  swelling  in  the  female  breast  as  an  aid  tc 
diagnosis  and  treatment.  The  innate  modesty  of  the  patient 
makes  her  so  reticent  that  she  will  for  months  go  on  without  tell- 
ing even  her  own  mother  or  sister  she  suspects  anything  wrong, 
and  finally  when  she  has  summoned  up  courage  to  divulge  her 
fears,  it  is  to  one  of  her  intimate  acquaintances  rather  than  to 
any  member  of  her  own  family.  By  this  time  her  anxiety  has 
begun  to  tell  on  her  health,  so  much  so  that  the  cachexia  of 
malignancy  has  already  stamped  itself  in  her  face. 

When  a  case  of  cancer  in  the  breast  presents  itself  to  me  in  its 
early  stages,  and  before  there  is  much  or  even  no  pain,  I  invari- 
ably put  the  patient  on  Hydrastis  ix  internally,  two  or  three  drops 
of  the  tincture  four  times  a  day  before  meals,  and  a  lotion  of  equal 
parts  of  Hydrastis  and  Glycerine  applied  by  being  painted  on 
with  a  camel's  hair  brush  and  covered  with  medicated  wool.  I 
have  this  done  morning  and  night. 

I  give  strict  injunctions  whenever  outward  applications  are 
employed  that  they  are  not  to  be  rubbed  in,  lest  irritation  may  be 
set  up  unnecessarily  in  the  swelling.  I  also  impress  on  the  pa- 
tient the  desirability  not  to  be  constantly  feeling  if  the  tumor  is 
altered  in  its  size,  and  not  to  think  about  it  more  than  she  can 
possibly  help.  I  also  insist  on  the  absolute  necessity  for  the  arm, 
on  the  affected  side,  being  kept  quiet  and  in  a  sling. 

I  have  certainly  found  Hydrastis  ix  very  efficacious  when  per- 
sisted in  for  some  weeks,  as,  besides  affecting  the  breast  favor- 
ably, it  seems  to  influence  for  good  the  faulty  nutrition. 

Conium  mac. — But  if,  with  the  swelling,  there  is  pain  in  the 
early  stages  and  an  absence  of  redness,  I  have  found  one  to  three 
drops  four  times  a  day  of  Conium  33c,  over  and  over  again,  give 


Therapeutics  of  Cancer.  461 

marked  relief,  even  more  so  than  Belladonna,  though  this  last 
remedy  is  invaluable  when  there  is  great  throbbing.  Conium 
ointment,  B.  P.,  applied  on  lint  is  most  soothing. 

Arsen.  alb. — When,  however,  the  pain  is  of  an  agonizing, 
burning  character — not  only  in  the  breast  but  in  the  nerves  of  the 
brachial  plexus — Arsenicum  alb.  3X  at  the  onset,  and  then  later 
on  in  the  fifth  centesimal,  is  the  medicine  I  lelv  on  for  a  long 
period.  It  is  more  indicated  where  there  has  been  at  any  time 
eczema  of  the  nipple  and  areola.  Its  action  on  the  blood  itself, 
the  stomach,  and  heart,  makes  it  a  most  estimable  "pick-me-up," 
and  this  is  the  name  T  give  it  to  the  patients,  who  swear  by  it. 
This  medicine  seems  to  hold  the  whole  trouble  in  check.  If  the 
pains  are  of  a  very  stabbing  character,  then  Spigelia  3X  is  given, 
but  cautiously,  as  I  so  often  have  found  medical  aggravation  set 
up  by  this  medicine  if  the  patient  is  at  all  hyper-sensitive  to  its 
action,  and  in  that  case  a  higher  dilution,  the  12th,  is  more  suit- 
able. 

Met.  cor. — As  soon,  however,  as  ulceration  is  set  up,  with  a 
marked  tendency  to  the  breaking  down  of  tissue,  I  invariably  call 
to  my  aid  Mercurius  cor.  3X  internally,  and  a  tepid  lotion  of  1  in 
3,000  of  the  same,  externally  as  a  wash,  to  be  applied  gently 
with  a  glass  syringe  twice  daily.  The  affected  part  is  then  packed 
lightly  with  small  pieces  of  lint  soaked  in  the  same  lotion,  and 
when  changed  washed  out  with  the  syringe.  I  continue  this  in- 
definitely, unless  any  fresh  symptoms  arise  in  the  general  health 
calling  for  other  remedies.  I  have  seen  the  most  brilliant  results 
in  producing  healthy  granulation,  so  that  what  was  once  a  large 
open  sore  has  gradualy  healed,  and  at  the  same  time  the  glands  in 
the  axilla  have  quite  or  almost  entirely  disappeared.  I  have  a 
case  now  of  a  lady,  who  came  to  me  twelve  yetirs  ago,  when  she 
had  been  told  by  surgeons  she  must  undergo  an  operation.  She 
was  suffering  intensely  night  and  day  with  pain  in  the  breast,  arir 
and  shoulder.    I  at  once  put  her  on  Conium  ix. 

Conium  ix. — At  the  end  of  ten  days  she  comes  telling  me  she 
"has  not  had  nearly  so  much  pain,  though  she  has  a  little  sharp 
stinging  occasionally  for  a  few  minutes,  which  soon  passes  off." 
The  skin  over  the  tumor  looked  very  suspicious  of  soon  ulcerat- 
ing, which  it  did  at  the  end  of  five  weeks,  and  I  at  once  turned 
to  my  sheet  anchor,  Merc.  cor.  3X.  When  any  slight  bleeding  oc- 
curred I  stopped  Merc,  cor.,  internally  and  externally,  and  11 


462  Therapeutics  of  Cancer. 

gave  Phosphorus  5  internally  and  Calendula  externally.  If,  how- 
ever, the  bleeding  was  more  profuse  than  a  simple  oozing,  I  em- 
ployed pure  Hamamelis  or  Haseline.  When  the  haemorrhage 
stopped  I  at  once  reverted  to  the  Merc.  cor.  3X. 

Some  patients  suffer  more  pain  in  the  breast  at  the  menstrual 
period,  and  at  such  times  I  have  found  Bryonia  3X.  to  be  the 
panacea,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  sufferer,  and  that  when 
Belladonna  has  been  absolutely  useless,  Aconite  in  half  drop 
doses  has  frequently  relieved  the  restlessness  and  produced  sleep, 
which,  when  under  allopathic  treatment,  had  to  be  obtained  with 
Opium. 

Mental  distress  and  anxiety  in  family  matters  will  often  pro- 
duce disastrous  results  in  the  organ  affected.  I  have  often  seen 
the  quiescent  tumor  roused  to  activity  and  pain  after  some  shock 
or  domestic  trouble,  and  in  these  cases  frequently  repeated  doses 
of  Ignatia  ix  have  been  the  greatest  comfort  to  the  patient.  For 
*twenty-two  years  one  of  my  patients  had  scirrhus  of  the  right 
breast  and  no  one  knew  of  it  except  myself  and  my  colleagues. 
During  all  these  years  she  took  nothing  but  Hydrastis  ix,  Arsen- 
icum 3X,  and  Mercurius  cor.  3X,  according  to  symptoms,  and  not 
until  about  six  months  before  she  died,  when  she  had  a  period  of 
anxiety  and  strain,  were  there  any  secondary  deposits.  Then  the 
glands  in  the  anterior  mediastinum  became  implicated  with  the 
malignant  trouble,  and  so  interfered  with  the  action  of  the  heart 
;that  the  patient  ultimately  died. 

Two  only  of  my  cases  underwent  operation  for  amputation  of 
the  breast.  One  patient,  a  married  lady,  lived  four  years  of  mis- 
erable life,  and  finally  died  of  cirrhosis  of  the  liver  and  malig- 
nant jaundice.  The  "violet  leaves  cure"  was  tried  in  this  case,  but 
with  no  good  result.  The  other  was  a  maiden  lady  who,  after  the 
breast  had  been  removed,  lived  five  years.  To  detail  the  history 
■of  this  case  and  its  many  and  varied  phases  would  fill  a  volume ; 
but  I  refrain. 

Besides  the  medicines  I  have  mentioned  in  the  treatment  of 
scirrhus,  there  are  others  amongst  those  usually  prescribed,  ac- 
cording to  circumstances,  constitution  and  symptoms,  such  as 
Calcarea  carb.,  Graphites,  Phytolacca  and  Silicea. 

Cancer  of  the  Stomach. 
The  range  of  symptoms  in  malignant  disease  of  the  stomach  is 


Threat oicd  Abortions  in  One  Pregnancy.  463 

very  wide  and  lays  a  heavy  embargo  on  our  materia  medica.  The 
number  of  medicines  at  our  "beck  and  call"  is  very  large,  and  to 
differentiate  between  the  various  drugs  according  to  the  totality 
of  the  symptoms  and  constitution  of  the  patient  is  a  very  import- 
ant task  in  the  homoeopathic  treatment  of  the  disease.  Arsenic 
3x  is  well  to  the  front  for  the  burning  pain,  vomiting  and  emacia- 
tion so  constantly  present,  though  I  think  Kali  bichrom.  5  runs  it 
very  closely,  especially  so  if  there  is  a  tendency  to  constipation 
and  a  feeling  of  nausea  when  moving  about.  Both  medicines  have 
the  same  cachexia  in  their  pathogenesis. 

For  the  vomiting  I  have  found  Kreasote  3  of  more  help  than 
Ipecac,  or  Ant  crudum,  though  if  there  be  coffee  ground  appear- 
ances I  believe  largely  in  Phosphorus  5.  In  some  cases  drinking 
hot  water,  and  in  others  sucking  small  pieces  of  ice,  is  very 
salutary.  Where  the  patient  finds  relief  from  taking  food, 
Hydrastis  ix  and  Lyco podium  5  are  useful,  the  former  more  so 
if  constipation  is  present,  and  the  latter  if  there  is  much  distention 
of  the  intestines  and  a  sandy  deposit  in  the  urine,  together  with 
a  mapped  appearance  of  the  tongue.  Lachesis  5.  too,  is  indicated 
by  a  gnawing  pressure,  made  better  by  eating,  but  coming  on 
again  in  a  few  hours.  The  emptier  the  stomach  the  more  violent 
the  pain,  and  here  Lachesis  5  is  good. 

If  acidity  be  a  prominent  symptom,  I  think,  in  most  cases.  Pul- 
satilla ix  is  an  excellent  remedy,  especially  if  the  thought  and 
smell  of  food  produce  disgust  and  aversion  to  eating;  though  in 
several  cases  where  Pulsatilla  seemed  to  be  called  for  and  failed, 
Hydrochloric  acid  ix.  three  to  five  drops  in  half  a  wineglass  of 
cold  water,  has  often  been  very  useful  in  my  hands  when  acidity 
is  the  marked  symptom.  This  is  taken  before  meals.  Of  Con- 
durango.  Acetic  acid  and  Lapis  albus,  and  many  others,  I  have 
had  no  experience. — Monthly  Homoeopathic  Review. 


REPEATEDLY      THREATENED      ABORTIONS     IN- 
ONE   PREGNANCY. 

By  Dr.  R.  Kluge,  Bremerhaven. 

A  young  married  woman  of  twenty  years,  brunette,  slim  and 
somewhat  pale  of  complexion,  had  an  abortion  four  months  ago, 
when,  with  a  violent  haemorrhage,  a  foetus  eight  weeks  old  was 


464  Threatened  Abortions  in  One  Pregnancy. 

discharged;  this  case  had  been  finished  by  the  gynaecologist  by 
the  customary  scraping  of  the  uterus.  Formerly  the  patient  had 
always  had  a  very  strong  menstruation,  which  had  usually  ap- 
peared too  early,  and  was  accompanied  with  many  nervous 
troubles.  She  had  also  suffered  from  rheumatism  and  from 
pneumonia,  and  had  been  treated  for  chlorosis.  Since  her  abor- 
tion she  had  no  menstruation,  but  she  had  since  then  frequently 
a  painful  drawing  on  both  sides  of  the  abdomen,  which  the  gynae- 
cologist explained  was  owing  to  the  contraction  of  the  two  round 
bands  of  the  uterus ;  moreover,  the  patient  suffered  from  a  rather 
copious,  yellow,  acrid  leucorrhcea. 

I  was  called  in  on  February  6th  at  1 1  o'clock  at  night,  and  I  was 
told  that  lately  there  had  frequently  been  some  nausea  and  some 
discharge  of  blood  from  the  genitals,  but  since  the  night  before 
the  patient  had  stayed  in  bed  owing  to  pains  resembling  those  of 
labor.  This  evening  about  8  o'clock  about  a  hand  full  of  blood 
was  discharged  and  also  at  the  present  time  often  pains  resem- 
bling labor  come  back,  during  which  some  blood  is  discharged. 
The  uterus  showed  a  strong  version  forward,  and  the  part  of  it 
which  was  soft  to  the  touch  lay  upon  the  posterior  wall  of  the 
vagina ;  the  uterus  feels  full  and  is  enlarged.  I  gave  her  some 
drops  of  Secale  2  D.,  which  I  had  with  me  in  my  pocket  case,  in 
a  cup  of  water,  directing  her  to  take  a  teaspoonful  every  hour,  in- 
creasing the  intervals  as  there  was  relief. 

Next  day  there  were  no  more  pains.  The  patient  had  a  better 
appetite  than  for  some  time ;  but  she  dreamed  much  about  mur- 
ders and  is  very  much  disquieted.  I  directed  her  to  continue  the 
dilution,  taking  a  teaspoonful  three  times  a  day,  and  I  prescribed 
a  clyster  to  remedy  the  constipation,  as  also  a  diet  of  fruit,  with 
rest  in  bed. 

On  the  8th  of  February  I  heard  that  she  still  had  some  pains 
as  of  labor,  attended  with  traces  of  blood.  Otherwise  the  pa- 
tient felt  well.    Secale  continued. 

"On  February  9th  it  was  reported  that  there  was  no  more  blood, 
but  the  drawing  pains  in  the  side,  mentioned  above,  had  reap- 
peared. The  urine  is  turbid  with  reddish-white  sediment.  Secale 
was  continued  once  a  day. 

February  nth  the  patient  complained  of  the  occasional  drawing 
pains  in  the  side,  as  also  of  lancinating  pains  in  both  the  mam- 
mae, which  are  soft  and  do  not  discharge  any  colostrum  on  pres- 


Threatened  Abortions  in  One  Pregnancy.  465 

sure.  There  is  some  thirst,  tenesmus  in  micturition  and  frequent 
stitches  in  the  abdomen.  Palpation  showed  a  similar  result  as  on 
the  sixth.  She  was  given  Sepia  D.  12,  five  globules  in  a  wine- 
glass full  of  water,  a  teaspoonful  three  times  a  day.  The  pa- 
tient got  up  from  bed. 

February  12th.  The  pains  in  the  abdomen  are  more  violent, 
and  on  the  13th  a  blackish  secretion  was  discharged,  consisting 
of  blood  disintegrated  behind  the  parts  affected.  The  urinary 
troubles  still  continue.    Sepia  is  continued. 

February  21st.  She  still  complains  of  the  pains  in  her  side  and 
the  urinary  troubles ;  there  is  a  full  feeling  in  the  head,  more  when 
walking  about ;  lancinations  in  the  mammae ;  no  more  discharge ; 
-the  sleep  is  disturbed  by  frightful  dreams ;  she  is  very  anxious. 
Calcarea  earb.  D.  10,  three  times  a  day,  three  drops.  An  ab- 
dominal bandage  was  ordered. 

March  1st.  She  complains  less  of  headaches,  sometimes  of 
cramp-like  pains  in  the  middle  of  the  abdomen  (uterus),  espe- 
cially after  walking.  The  urinary  trouble  appears  more  rarely, 
no  more  tenesmus.  The  sleep  is  easy,  the  appetite  good.  A  sen- 
sation as  if  something  would  drop  out  below.  Calcarea  is  con- 
tinued. 

March  7th.  There  is  sudden  headache  with  heat,  also  con- 
vulsive pains  in  the  uterus,  especially  after  walking,  better  when 
lying  down;  leucorrhoea  is  again  pretty  violent,  there  is  still  a 
pressure  downwards.  Cimicifuga  D.  6,  three  times  a  day,  three 
globules. 

March  13th.  The  headache  is  still  frequently  violent,  but  no 
more  abdominal  pains ;  she  can  walk  a  good  distance  without 
pains ;  the  leucorrhoea  has  diminished.  The  downward  pressure 
"has  disappeared.     Cimicifuga  continued. 

March  22d.  There  is  still  a  pressive  headache  in  the  forehead 
and  in  the  occiput;  pulsation  in  the  temples,  attended  with  heat 
in  the  head ;  this  morning  she  fainted,  many  frightful  pains ;  there 
are  still  at  times  pains  in  the  glands  of  the  breasts  and  a  sensation 
•of  pressure  downwards.  Since  eight  days  there  are  pretty  lively 
motions  in  the  uterus,  also  at  night.  Belladonna  6  D.,  two 
globules  three  times  a  day. 

March  28th.  She  reports  that  she  had  no  more  pains  in  the 
head,  also  the  other  troubles  are  gone;  she  feels  well.  Calcarea 
phosph.  D.  6,  on  account  of  her  anaemia.  I  advised  a  dry  diet  to 
secure  a  light  weight  child. 


466  Threatened  Abortions  in  One  Pregnancy. 

May  19th.  I  was  called  at  12  o'clock  at  night  to  the  same 
woman  after  she  had  suffered  from  drawing  pains  in  her  right 
side  all  the  afternoon ;  she  complained  of  pains  in  her  back,  has 
vomited  twice,  has  frequent  eructations  while  sitting  up,  is  chilly, 
lachrymose,  feels  strong  movements  of  the  foetus ;  now  she  also 
has  pains  drawing  downwards  on  the  right  side ;  tenesmus  ;  vagina 
is  strongly  contracted,  a  portion  of  it  protrudes  anteriorly,  the 
mouth  of  the  uterus  allows  the  insertion  of  two  fingers.  Pre- 
scription :  Hot  compresses  on  the  abdomen ;  she  is  not  allowed  to 
take  any  solid  food ;  she  may  drink  cold  water  in  small  quanti- 
ties. I  gave  her  from  my  pocket  case  Nux  vom.  3  D.,  as  much 
as  would  lie  on  the  tip  of  a  penknife,  in  a  cup  of  water,  and 
directed  her  to  take  a  teaspoonful  every  hour  or  two,  according 
to  her  condition. 

On  the  20th  of  May,  in  the  morning,  I  heard  that  the  patient 
had  slept  after  I  left  her  at  1  o'clock,  till  half  past  four,  then  she 
again  had  violent  pains,  twice  a  vomiting  of  a  greenish  substance, 
and  while  sitting  up  constant  eructations ;  better  while  lying 
down ;  tenesmus  is  still  present,  no  chills,  frequent  heat,  violent 
motions  of  the  foetus ;  after  Nux  the  pains  generally  were  dimin- 
ished at  once,  but  there  followed  vomiting.  The  os  uteri  is  much 
enlarged,  so  that  a  large  part  of  the  foetal  integument,  five  to  six 
centimeters  in  circumference,  may  be  felt,  and  a  midwife  was 
called  in,  as  I  lived  a  mile  and  a  half  away,  for  there  seemed  a 
likelihood  of  a  sudden  delivery.  Nux  vom.  was  discontinued  for 
a  time,  and  was  later  continued  in  a  higher  dilution.  In  the  after- 
noon I  heard  that  the  patient  had  no  more  pains  from  10  o'clock 
till  4  in  the  afternoon,  and  had  even  slept  much  of  the  time ;  since 
that  time  she  has  again  had  slight  pains. 

May  2 1  st.  The  woman  had  some  pains  in  the  back,  the  move- 
ments of  the  foetus  are  still  pretty  strong,  there  are  burning  pains 
in  the  vagina.  There  is  still  tenesmus,  stools  after  clysters,  no 
appetite,  much  sleep,  frequent  perspiration  after  sleeping,  much 
thirst.  To-day  the  bag  of  water  could  again  be  felt  to  a  lesser 
degree.  The  patient  was  ordered  to  remain  in  bed.  Nux  vomica 
in  rare  doses. 

May  22d.  The  patient  continued  to  have  much  thirst,  is  very 
sleepy,  has  no  more  pains  in  the  vagina,  some  drawing  pains  yes- 
terday evening  after  the  examination ;  no  tenesmus,  a  stool  yester- 
day after  the  clyster,  to-day  there  was  one  without  it;  the  ap- 


Therapeutic  Pointers.  467 

petite  is  better,  much  perspiration.  Syphilin.  D.  300,  four  Delfts. 
Opium  D.  3,  eight  globules  in  a  wineglass  full  of  water,  one 
teaspoonful  every  three  hours. 

May  25th.  After  a  dose  of  the  Opium  dilution  the  patient  for 
one  night  had  again  pains  in  the  back  resembling  labor.  Opium 
was  then  discontinued,  and  after  the  use  of  hot  compresses  the 
pains  ceased.  The  movements  of  the  foetus  are  moderate.  The 
thirst  is  less,  sleeplessness,  tenesmus  less,  she  still  perspires  much. 
The  os  uteri  is  again  contracted;  if  the  improvement  continues 
she  will  be  allowed  to  leave  her  bed  again  and  move  about  cau- 
tiously, wearing  an  abdominal  bandage. 

After  this  the  pregnancy  proceeded  almost  to  its  natural  ter- 
mination. The  birth  was  to  be  expected  in  the  middle  of  August 
as  counted  from  the  first  motions  of  the  foetus.  In  the  end  of  July 
the  delivery  took  place,  and  was  accomplished  without  special 
aid  by  the  birth  of  a  slim  child. 

This  case  seems  to  prove  that  even  with  such  a  pronounced 
tendency  to  abortion,  when  the  abortion  had  apparently  preceded 
the  impregnation  so  shortly  that  the  uterus  had  not  had  time  to 
resume  its  normal  state,  and  although  in  spite  of  the  avoidance 
of  all  unusual  exertions,  and  in  spite  of  the  protection  of  the  ab- 
dominal bandage,  an  immature  delivery  had  threatened  twice, 
nevertheless  the  properly  selected  homoeopathic  remedy  which 
covered  the  totality  of  the  symptoms  brought  the  desired  help. 
It  also  proves  that  Opium,  which  is  alone  used  in  the  old  school 
in  such  cases,  as  the  trial  of  May  25th  shows,  even  where  it  was 
used  in  a  homoeopathic  dose,  diluted  a  thousand  fold,  and  was 
homoeopathically  indicated,  may  still  show  its  action  tending  to 
abortion,  so  that  as  we  also  see  from  the  effects  of  Nux  vom.  it  is 
well  with  pregnant  patients  to  use  higher  dilutions.  Yingling  in 
his  "Accoucher's  Emergency  Manual,"  on  page  23,  warmly  rec- 
ommends, especially  in  all  cases  of  delivery,  the  use  of  the  high 
potencies.  These  are  not  indeed  in  high  favor  with  most  German 
practitioners,  but  the  present  case  taught  me  that  we  should  not 
in  such  cases  use  low  potencies,  especially  not  in  repeated  doses. — 
Allge.  H.  Zcitung. 


THERAPEUTIC    POINTERS. 

Solidago  virga  is  useful  in  well  defined  pains  above  the  kid- 
neys, where  there  is  difficult  and  diminished  micturition,  or  when 
the  urine  is  of  a  dark  color  and  containing  a  heavy  sediment. 


468  Book  Notices. 

Phytolacca.  The  influence  of  Phytolacca  on  granulation  is  such 
that  with  those  who  have  used  this  remedy  and  also  the  iodine 
remedies,  there  is  a  strong  conviction  that  in  many  cases  it  stands 
above  the  iodine  remedies.  In  any  case  there  is  a  decided  agree- 
ment between  them.  While  it  does  not  seem  to  have  the  same 
power  over  exudation  from  lymphatic  glands  and  glandular  tis- 
sues, it  furthers  their  transmutation,  causes  them  to  soften,  coun- 
teracts inflammation  and  opposes  septic  infection,  and  restores 
natural  functions.  We  may  fully  rely  on  its  transmuting  in- 
fluence  when   it   has   been   properly   prescribed.      (Ellinwood.) 


BOOK  NOTICES. 


The  Chronie  Miasms,  Sycosis.  By  J.  Henry  Allen,  M.  D... 
author  of  "Diseases  and  Therapeutics  of  the  Skin"  and  "Psora 
and  Pseudo-psora."  Professor  of  Dermatology,  Hering  Medi- 
cal College,  Chicago.  Volume  II.  424  pages.  Cloth,  $3.00. 
This  book's  position  is  a  bit  curious,  for,  while  its  subject  is  the 
greatest  in  medicine,  yet  it  is  all  found  in  Hahnemann's  Chronic 
Diseases.  The  author  says :  "I  have  no  new  truth  for  you.  I 
make  no  claim  to  that;  I  am  simply  'one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness, make  the  paths  straight.'  '  The  book  is  but  confirmatory  of 
the  teachings  of  Hahnemann  with  some  rather  startling  asser- 
tions added,  as,  for  instance,  "Until  I  saw  clearly  that  la  grippe 
was  a  sycotic  disease  I  often  found  it  difficult  to  select  a  curative 
remedy  that  would  wipe  it  out,  without  the  necessity  of  a  second 
or  third  selection."  Again:  "The  false  teaching  that  has  gone 
forth  for  years  that  everything  is  psora  is  not  syphilis,  has  done 
much  to  harm  the  cause  of  Homoeopathy."  It  was  true  in  Hahne- 
mann's time  but  "this  new  element,  sycosis,  has  increased  and 
multiplied  ten  thousand  fold  since  that  time."  Sycosis,  of  course, 
is  what  is  termed  in  general  medicine  constitutional  gonorrhoea, 
including  its  transmission  to  children  born  unto  parents  so 
tainted. 

From  page  165  to  the  end,  page  419,  the  book  is  devoted  to 
the  materia  medica  of  gonorrhoea,  of  the  urinary  tract,  of  dys- 
menorrhoea  and  leucorrhcea.  Twenty-seven  remedies  are  includ- 
ed  under  the  gonorrhoea,   nearly  one  hundred   and   twentv-five 


Book  Xotices.  469- 

under  dysmenorrhcea,  and  about  half  as  many  under  leucorrhcea. 
The  chief  value  of  this  book,  it  seems  to  us,  lies  in  the  em- 
phasis it  places  on  Hahnemann's  last  and  greatest  work,   The 
Chronic  Diseases.    The  book  has  no  table  of  contents  or  index — 
a  mistake  in  any  book. 

Diseases  of  Children.  By  William  Xelson  Mundy,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Pediatrics  in  the  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  Cin- 
cinnati, O.  Second  revised  edition,  illustrated,  8vo,  512  pp.. 
Cloth,  $3.00.  The  Scudder  Brothers  Co.,  Publishers,  Cincin- 
nati, O. 

Dr.  Mundy  writes :  "We  have  the  courage  of  our  convictions 
and  believe  in  therapeutics,  notwithstanding  the  skepticism  so 
rife  among  medical  men.  There  is  a  physiological  and  a  thera- 
peutical action  of  a  remedy.  It  is  the  latter  we  desire.  Ipecac, 
for  instance,  will  produce  emesis ;  in  small  doses,  frequently  re- 
peated, it  will  stop  vomiting.  Strychnia  in  large  or  poisonous 
doses  produces  tetanic  spasms;  in  therapeutical  doses  it  will  act 
as  a  stomachic  and  a  stimulant,  and  will  relieve  pain.  Bella- 
donna in  large  doses  produces  congestion,  even  paralyzing  the 
vaso-motor  system,  as  evidenced  by  the  dryness  of  the  throat  and 
flushing  of  the  face,  yet  it  is  one  of  our  best  remedies  for  conges- 
tion when  given  in  therapeutical  doses."  The  etiology,  pa- 
thology and  all  that  sort  of  thing  are  necessarily  nearly  the  same 
in  all  books ;  the  treatment  is  outlined  above,  a  species  of  broad 
Homoeopathy,  or,  as  Dr.  Mundy  would  prefer,  eclecticism,  the 
difference  one  is  sometimes  inclined  to  think  being  something  like 
that  between  the  rough  diamond  and  the  diamond  cut  and  polish- 
ed as  it  sparkles  in  its  setting.  If  this  were  an  essay  on  the  writ- 
ing of  books  rather  than  what  purports  to  be  a  review,  we  would 
say  to  writers,  put  your  individuality  into  your  book  and  do  not 
try  to  be  too  learned.  Any  doctor's  personal  experience,  honestly 
given,  is  of  value  and  interesting  in  proportion  as  it  is  purely  per- 
sonal. The  academic  we  have  ever  with  us  and  plenty  of  it,  but 
the  actual  individual  experience  with  the  handling  of  disease  is 
what  is  wanted. 

Dr.  Mundy  has  admirably  succeeded  in  his  aim  "to  present  a 
work  on  diseases  of  children  based  upon  the  eclectic  system  of 
therapeutics." 


Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

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By  BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

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E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia,  Pa 

EDITORIAL     BREVITIES. 

Hahnemann's  Manuscripts. — Dr.  W.  H.  DiefTenbach  in  a 
letter  to  the  Medical  Century  says  that  while  in  Europe  recently 
he  called  on  Dr.  Fritz  von  Bcenninghausen,  who  is  81  years  old, 
but  who  still  practices  "along  lines  followed  by  his  father,  C.  von 
Bcenninghausen,  for  over  fifty  years."  Dr.  Boenninghausen  pos- 
sesses Hahnemann's  unpublished  manuscripts  secured  in  a 
hermetically  sealed  case.  He  admitted  the  desirability  of  pub- 
lishing them,  but  wants  to  supervise  their  publication.  If  this  is 
not  done  he  claims  to  have  made  provision  for  the  safety  of  the 
manuscript  in  case  of  his  death.  His  favorite  assertion  concern- 
ing Homoeopathy  is :  "Homoeopathy  is  like  the  alphabet,  it  is  easy 
for  one  who  understands  it  and  can  put  the  letters  together  and 
employ  them,  but  for  the  Hottentot  or  allopath  it  is  unintelligible, 
and  we  must  not  chide  them  for  not  applying  or  understand- 
ing it." 

The  After  Effects  of  Serum. — "Moser's  serum  as  a  scarlet 
fever  remedy"  has  recently  been  thoroughly  written  up  in  a  Ger- 
man journal  on  the  diseases  of  children.  Among  the  ten  conclu- 
sions arrived  at  by  the  author  the  last  one  is  of  especial  interest 
as  a  straw  showing  the  direction  of  the  wind.  Flere  it  is :  "The 
negative  feature  of  the  serum  treatment  consists  in  the  frequency 
of  serum  complication's  and  the  gravity  of  these  cases  due  to  the 
large  amount  of  serum  injected."  This  is  the  fly  in  the  serum 
amber — the  remedy  may  make  serious  trouble.  Reports 
of  the  ills  and  deaths  caused  by  the  serums  get  more  plentiful 
every  day.  The  troubles  directly  traced  to  them  are,  probably, 
very  few  when  compared  with  those  caused  by  the  serums  but  not 
attributed  to  them.     It  would  be  interesting  to  observe  the  after- 


Editorial.  471 

life  of  one  who  had  undergone  prolonged  treatment  with  serum, 
and  recovered.  Burnett  wrote  that  the  ills  due  to  vaccination 
were  many  and  lasted  a  life  time,  and  it  may  be  so  with  the 
serums. 

Yet  Another  Cure. — Stumpf,  whoever  he  may  be,  has  dis- 
covered that  white  clay  is  a  reliable  cure  in  Asiatic  cholera  and 
"bacterial  diseases"  generally,  and  tells  of  it  in  the  Deutsche 
Militardiche  Zeitschrift.  It  may  have  its  place  among  reme- 
dies but  will  not  be  in  vogue  very  long  if  given  in  125  gram  doses. 
From  "bacterial  vaccines"  to  clay  is  a  long  step.  Both,  with 
other  new  things  the  future  may  have  in  store,  will  soon  go  out 
of  commission  because  of  lack  of  definite  indications,  and  from 
the  fact  that  the  men  who  use  these  remedies  apparently  cannot 
refrain  from  constantly  increasing  the  size  of  the  dose.  They 
give  a  drug  in  a  case  where  it  is  really  indicated  and  get  good 
results;  next  comes  a  case  of  the  same  (diagnosed)  disease  where 
it  is  not  indicated  and  then  in  place  of  realizing  this  fact  they 
think  they  have  not  given  enough  of  the  drug  and  act  accordingly. 
Result:  They  look  for  another  remedy.  This  must  continue 
until  the  great  law  is  recognized. 

The  Cause  of  Nervousness. — Dr.  P.  C.  Hunt,  Virginia  Medi- 
cal Semi-Monthly,  tells  the  world  that  the  causes  of  nervousness 
are  dyspepsia,  constipation  and  insomnia,  which,  if  true,  puts  the 
nerve  specialist  nearly  out  of  business.  Having  found  the  causes 
of  nervousness  the  next  step  is  to  remove  them,  which,  needless 
perhaps  to  add,  is  another  problem,  for  something  else  may  be 
the  cause  of  them  as  they  are  the  cause  of  nervousness.  In  fact, 
each  step  may  open  a  new  vista.  It  is  a  problem.  In  another 
southern  medical  journal,  Gaillards,  Dr.  M.  O.  Burke  tells  the 
readers  that  the  stomach  is  not  only  a  resevoir  but  also  a  factory, 
a  chemical  laboratory,  a  mill  and  sometimes  a  brewery,  which 
shows  that  the  stomach  must  be  a  very  versatile  organ.  Some- 
times it  is  a  tank. 

Serum  vs.  Rabbit's  Foot. — Flippant  Life  makes  merry  over 
the  following  cable  to  The  Herald  from  Buenos  Ayres :  "The 
special  committee  charged  to  investigate  the  efficiency  of  Behr- 
ing's  anti-tuberculosis  serum  reported  that  the  experiments  were 
a  complete  failure."    On  this  Life  comments:    "If  reports  of  this 


4/2  Editorial. 

kind  are  encouraged  some  crazy  mischief-maker  will  soon  be  de- 
claring that  Brer  Rabbit's  foot  is  no  protection  against  rheuma- 
tism." 

Medical  Ethics. — The  British  Medical  Association  was  re- 
cently confronted  with  the  following  proposed  amendment  to 
"the  code:"  "A  practitioner  who  has  seen  a  case  in  consultation 
should  not  supersede  the  attending  practitioner  or  attend  the  case 
in  any  future  illness  without  the  permission  of  the  introducer." 
It  was  voted  down.  Human  nature  has  a  considerable  part  to 
play  in  such  cases,  for  if  a  practitioner  calls  in  another  there  is 
apt  to  be  the  tacit  assumption  on  the  part  of  the  patient  that  the 
one  called  in  must  be  of  a  superior  rank  else  why  is  he  called  in? 
Where  the  consultant  is  a  surgeon  this  assumption  does  not  exist, 
"but  in  others  it  seems  that  it  must  be  more  or  less  present. 

The  Plague. — A  contributor  to  the  British  Medical  Journal, 
A.  Buchanan,  writing  of  the  plague,  says  that  houses  in  which 
cats  were  kept  were  free  from  the  plague,  and  that  plague  camps 
are  the  safest  place  in  a  plague  epidemic,  and  that  the  disease  is 
never  conveyed  directly  from  man  to  man.  Some  day  when 
scientific  medicine  gets  through  with  the  microscope  and  looks 
abroad  with  larger  view  it  may  see  that  disease  is  due  to  indi- 
vidual bad  life  or  to  conditions  that  are  prevailing  in  nature  and 
not  to  bacteria.  India,  the  home  of  so  many  "plagues,"  is  an 
over-populated  country ;  ever  and  anon  matters  get  to  the  point 
that  some  must  go  because  the  soil  cannot  feed  them.  If  they 
happen  to  go  by  some  form  of  plague  the  "germs"  get  the 
credit. 

But  Does  It? — Dr.  Abbott's  good  looking  journal  asserts: 
"In  medical  practice  the  heart  wins  more  victories  than  the  head." 
Assuming  that  the  editor  uses  the  words  in  their  usually  ac- 
cepted meaning,  one  is  tempted  to  think  that  he  writes  more  from 
the  heart  than  the  head  unless  he  means  that  the  victories  con- 
sist in  the  making  of  friends  by  a  display  of  sympathy,  love,  kind- 
liness and  all  those  good  traits.  But  to  give  these  requires  no 
medical  education,  and  while  they  make  things  pleasant  generally 
they  do  no  more  than  Christian  Science  for  the  patient.  Really 
the  only  physician,  the  doctor,  is  he  who  can  read  symptoms, 
trace  their  antecedents  and  fit  them  with  the  remedv  that  is  of  a 


Editorial.  473, 

similar  genus ;  if  he  happens  to  be  a  disagreeable  old  rough  that 
doesn't  interfere  with  the  working  of  the  law. 

Therapeutics. — It  has  been  said  that  one  reason  why  the 
proprietary  medicines  are  sold  so  largely  is  that  medical  students 
are  taught  so  little  of  therapeutics  and  almost  nothing  about 
drugs.  This  was  illustrated  (Critic  and  Guide)  by  a  patient  who 
called  on  a  new  doctor  on  account  of  severe  headaches.  The 
doctor  learned  that  he  drank  coffee,  so  he  ordered  him  to  stop 
it  and  then  prescribed  Caffein  in  large  doses. 

"Tuberculin/" — To  ask  for  tuberculin  to-day  is  like  asking 
for  "Mr.  Smith,"  for  the  tribe  has  multiplied.  There  is,  first,  the 
original  Koch's  tuberculin,  which  was  made  from  six  weeks'  old 
bacilli  broth,  boiled  and  evaporated.  Then  came  Koch's  new 
tuberculin,  with  the  added  designation  T.  R.,  made  from  the 
dried  and  ground  bacilli  worked  up  in  saline  solution  and  wrater. 
Bacillin-emulsion  is  the  pulverized  bacilli  shaken  up  with  gly- 
cerine and  water.  The  Calmette  reagent  is  a  precipitate  of  the- 
old  tuberculin,  by  alcohol,  dissolved  in  distilled  water.  Then 
there  is  Kleb's  tuberculocidin,  Hirshfelder's  oxytuberculin, 
Hahn's  tuberculoplasm,  Beraneek's  tuberculin,  Maragliano's 
water  extract,  Deny's  B.  T.,  Spangler's  P.  T.  O.  and  many  others 
more  or  less  proprietary.  The  homoeopathic  Bacillinum  is  the 
oldest  of  the  lot  and  the  simplest  and  most  accurate,  as  it  con- 
sists of  the  raw.  so  to  speak,  bacilli  direct  from  the  diseased  lung, 
triturated  in  milk  sugar  up  to  the  6x  and  then  run  up  to  poten- 
cies in  pure  alcohol.    It  acts. 

Bromide  Eruptions. — The  N.  Y.  State  Jour,  of  Med..  Sep- 
tember, contains  a  paper  by  Dr.  J.  A.  Fordyce  on  syphilis.  It  is 
quite  well  illustrated.  Figure  9  shows  a  leg  with  six  large  erup- 
tions. They  are  not  syphilitic  but  are  caused  by  the  use  of 
bromides  over  a  long  period  of  time,  the  patient  being  an  epileptic. 
Dr.  Fordyce  writes : 

The  administration  of  bromid  results  not  only  in  disseminated  ulcera- 
tive and  encrusted  lesions,  but  also  in  the  production  of  large  f  ungating- 
areas  which  clear  in  the  centre  and  spread  at  the  periphery  much  in  the 
same  manner  as  a  serpigenous  ulcerative  syphilide.  These  lesions  are  seen 
on  almost  any  part  of  the  body,  but  have  been  observed  more  frequently  by 
the  writer  on  the  lower  extremities  of  adults,  where  they  persist  for  months 
and  are  distinguished  with  extreme  difficulty  from  their  specific  congeners- 


474 


Editorial. 


The  Examination  System. — The  A*.  Y.  State  Jour.  Med. 
"begins  an  editorial  on  this  topic  as  follows :  "One  of  the  blight- 
ing influences  upon  the  study  and  teaching  of  medicine  is  the  ex- 
amination system.  Its  pernicious  effects  may  be  seen  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  modern  medical  curriculum.  Un- 
fortunately the  examination  fetish  is  steadily  gaining  a  stronger 
hold  upon  medical  education.  Dr.  Lauriston  E.  Shaw,  before  the 
Harvean  Society,  said  that  its  influence  is  wholly  detrimental  to 
our  true  aims."  The  contention  is  that  examinations  do  not 
demonstrate  a  man's  intelligence  but  are  memory  tests  only.  A 
man  may  answer  every  question  correctly  and  really  have  no  in- 
telligence on  the  subject. 

Carbuncles. — Helmuth's  A  System  of  Surgery  is  an  old  book 
as  surgeries  go  to-day,  but  for  the  man  who  is  not  concerned 
with  big  operations,  for  the  general  practitioner,  it  is  probably  the 
"best  book  on  surgery  obtainable.  The  other  day  while  looking 
through  it  for  what  it  has  to  say  on  "dislocations,"  our  attention 
was  arrested  by  a  paragraph  beginning:  "Of  late,  however,  I 
"have  adopted  a  treatment  which  has  been  so  successful  that  I 
have  been  surprised  at  the  results."  The  treatment  was  of  car- 
buncle, and,  in  brief,  consisted  in  the  application  of  a  dressing 
saturated  with  a  solution  of  one  part  Calendula  to  six  of  water, 
renewing  every  two  hours,  and  giving  a  dose  of  Arsenicum  alb. 
6x  every  time  the  bandage  was  removed.  One  patient  who  had 
suffered  "the  routine  of  poultices  and  incisions  could  scarcely  be- 
lieve that  he  was  affected  with  a  true  carbuncle,  so  free  from 
pain  was  he  during  the  entire  course  of  this  treatment."  The 
book  is  full  of  such  helpful  points  on  surgical,  or  semi-surgical, 
-cases. 

Specialists  vs.  General  Practitioners. — A  recent  Berlin 
letter  says  that  specialists  have  so  multiplied  that  the  general 
practitioner  has  become  "merely  an  address  book  for  specialists." 
It  also  says  that  the  specialists  by  "excessive  multiplication"  have 
injured  both  income  and  reputation.  It  looks  as  though  the  day 
of  the  general  practitioner  was  dawning  again  and  the  specialist 
may  again  become  his  helper.  The  true  specialist  is  evolved  from 
•the  ranks  of  the  general  practitioners  and  not  made  to  order. 

Beef,  Wine  and  Iron. — Mr.  J.  P.  Street  has  been  examining 


Editorial.  475 

the  various  ''beef,  wine  and  iron"  preparations,  and  reports  (Am. 
four.  PJiariii.,  August)  that  they  are  "nothing  more  than  sherry 
wine  of  more  or  less  questionable  quality,  to  which  has  been 
added  small  quantities  of  meat  extract  and  either  tincture  or 
citrate  of  iron."  Their  value  approaches  nil.  The  name,  how- 
ever, is  very  catchy. 

Salicylic  Acid  and  Rheumatism. — Dr.  J.  E.  Winter,  of  the 
Cornell  University  Medical  College,  in  a  paper  read  at  the  Alumni 
Society  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  asserts  that  nature's  antidote  to 
rheumatism  is  natural  (not  synthetic)  salicylic  acid.  He  believes, 
with  Dr.  Andrew  H.  Smith,  of  New  York,  that  salicylic  acid  will 
cause  rhematic  patients  to  become  three-fourths  well,  but  the 
other  fourth  of  the  disease  lurks  in  the  tissue  fluids,  and  this 
fourth  it  is  most  difficult  to  eradicate.  There's  the  rub  that  makes 
Homoeopathy  enduring.  Salicylic  acid  is  a  good  remedy,  but, 
like  the  young  man  in  the  New  Testament,  there  is  one  thing 
lacking — it  cannot  cure. 

Lithia  Water. — A  correspondent  writes  the  /.  A.  M.  A.:  "A 
few  weeks  ago  the  representatives  of  the  Buffalo  Lithia  Water 
called  on  me  at  my  office.  In  discussing  the  merits  of  the  water, 
I  called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  contained  merely  a  trace 
of  lithium.  He  replied  that  they  made  no  claim  for  it  as  a  lithia 
water,  but  sold  it  as  an  alkaline  water  which  the  physician  might 
prescribe  as  he  saw  fit.  He  said  that  the  name  was  selected 
simply  to  distinguish  it  from  the  host  of  other  mineral  waters." 
The  following  is  the  gist  of  the  editor's  comment :  "When  Buffalo 
Lithia  Water  was  first  put  on  the  market  uric  acid  was  the  scape- 
goat on  which  most  of  the  sins  of  etiologic  ignorance  were  heap- 
ed." Consequently  these  and  other  waters  have  ceased  to  be 
"uric  acid  solvents." 

And  so  the  world  wags,  a  thing  may  be  science  to-day  and 
dust  heap  to-morrow. 

Large  Doses  of  Antitoxin. — Dr.  A.  C.  McClanahan,  of 
Victor,  Colo.,  contributes  a  paper  to  the  /.  A.  M.  A.,  Septemb?*- 
12th,  on  this  subject,  the  chief  interest  of  which,  as  he  notes,  is  in 
the  conclusion  which  is :  "But  the  point  of  interest  is  that  in  the 
space  of  five  days  75.000  units  of  antitoxin  were  injected  with- 
out any  evidence  that  any  of  it  had  done  any  good  until  the  last 


,476  Editorial. 

'.9,000  units  were  used.  All  the  antitoxin  used  in  this  case  was 
fresh  and  was  the  product  of  the  two  principal  laboratories  in 
America." 

This  is  interesting  from  the  professional  point  of  view  and  also 
from  the  money  point,  for,  roughly  estimating,  the  case  received 
about  $113.00  worth  of  the  serum  in  the  five  days.  As  the  anti- 
toxin treatment  shows  no  better,  or,  indeed,  as  good  results,  as 
those  yielded  by  the  homoeopathic  remedy,  there  is  a  question  of 

■  economics  entering  here  which  makes  the  homoeopathic  remedy 
preferable. 

Serum  in  Scarlet  Fever. — Dr.  Cumpston  (Brit.  Medical 
lour.)  treated  forty-two  cases  of  scarlet  fever.  The  summarized 
results  are :  The  serum  seems  to  be  of  value  in  the  septic  type 
only.  The  dose  should  be  large,  50  c.c.  The  percentage  of  deaths 
in  cases  in  which  it  was  used  was  thirty-three.  From  this  the 
homoeopathic  practitioner  can  measure  the  value  of  the  treatment 
when  compared  with  his  own ;  if  he  were  to  lose  thirty-three  per 
cent,  of  his  cases  of  this  disease  he  would  know  that  his  me.'H- 
cines  were  at  fault  as  to  their  quality. 

Admonition  to  Schools  for  Nurses. — Dr.  E.  S.  McKee,  in 
Medico-Legal  department  of  the  Buffalo  Medical  Journal,  treats 
of  some  of  the  purely  feminine  tricks  of  the  trained  nurse,  with 
doctors  and  male  patients,  needless  to  recapitulate  here,  and 
concludes  with  the  following  hint  to  the  managers  of  the  training 
schools :  ''Taking  these  startling  facts  into  consideration  it  be- 
hooves schools  for  nurses  to  be  more  careful  whom  they  admit  to 
their  classes.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  these  are,  of  course,  very 
great  exceptions  to  the  average  trained  nurse." 

That  Red  Nose. — The  Medical  Press  and  Circular  has  come 
to  the  rescue  of  many  men  by  announcing  what  might  by  'lie 
flippant  be  called  a  shop-worn  fact,  that  a  red  nose  is  by  no 
means  "a  sign  of  drunkenness,"  and  is  as  common  among  tee- 
totalers as  tipplers.  Indigestion,  too  much  tea,  disorders  of  the 
heart  or  a  sluggish  circulation  may  be  the  cause.  These  facts 
may  be  mentioned  to  acquaintances  by  all  the  red  nosed  with 
comfort. 

Remedies  in  Surgery. — In  a  pamphlet  on  the  "Needs  of  the 
Homoeopathic  Materia  Medica,"  by  J.  B.  Gregg  Custis,  Wash- 


Editorial.  477 

■"ington,  D.  C,  is  the  following  paragraph  that  surgeons-to-be 
should  cut  out  and  paste  in  their  note  books :  "The  old  homooe- 
pathic  surgeons,  such  as  Gilchrist,  Franklin,  Helmuth,  McFarland 
and  McClelland,  and  some  of  your  local  surgeons  of  to-day,  have 
learned  that  Hypericum  will  frequently  relieve  the  pain  of  a 
severed  or  shattered  nerve  more  quickly  than  will  morphia  and 
without  the  nauseating  effects  so  frequently  following  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  latter ;  that  Symphytum  will  relieve  the  shock 
of  broken  bones  and  hurry  the  union;  that  Arnica  will  not  only 
relieve  the  soreness  but  prevent  suppuration  at  the  site  of  a  blow, 
and  that  Calendula  will  prevent  the  formation  of  pus  in  wounds 
of  doubtful  cleanliness."  Surgeons  with  a  knowledge  of  remedies 
homoeopathic  to  causes  have,  from  the  patient's  point  of  view,  an 
incalculable  advantage  over  their  old  school  rival.  If  they  do 
not  make  use  of  it  the  loss  is  theirs.  Because  this,  that  or  the 
other  big  surgeon  or  surgical  work  does  not  use  or  mention  them 
is  no  evidence  of  lack  of  value  in  the  remedies,  but  rather  of 
lamentable  lack  of  knowledge  on  part  of  the  aforesaid  men  and 
books. 

Gelsemium. — "The  typical  Gelsemium  fever,  however,  comes 
in  that  condition  which  we  call,  correctly  or  incorrectly,  but  cer- 
tainly with  great  frequency,  'grippe.'  That  catarrhal  fever  which 
steals  upon  you  with  chilliness  and  vertigo,  perhaps  a  little  sore 
throat;  which  makes  you  too  tired  to  breathe;  you  feel  sleepy  but 
you  can't  sleep  for  every  muscle  feels  as  though  it  had  been 
pounded.  Your  face  is  hot  and  your  nose  runs  but  your  back 
is  chilly  and  you  feel  miserable.  Your  mouth  is  dry  but  you  don't 
want  to  drink;  you  want  to  be  let  alone.  You  know  the  condi- 
tion— if  you  have  never  tried  Gelsemium  for  this  before,  give  it 
the  next  time  you  get  a  chance.  Give  a  drop  or  two  of  the 
tincture  every  hour  if  you  can't  get  relief  with  less,  and  I  think 
you  will  not  be  disappointed." — Dr.  H.  O.  Skinner,  St.  Paul, 
Minn.,  The  C Unique. 

Serum  in  India. — Hon.  Chase  Gane  has  sent  a  circular  letter 
to  150  newspaper  publishers  in  India.  It  is  based  on  the  mor- 
tality returns  issued  by  the  British  Government's  India  Office. 
Deaths  from  "the  plague"  have  risen  from  2,219,  in  1896,  to 
940,821,  in  1905,  and  this  in  the  face  of  the  enormous  use  of 
Halfkine's  "plague  serum"  in  the  later  years.     The  deaths  from 


478  Editorial. 

small-pox  for  thirty  years  average  111,140  per  annum,  an  average 
increase  in  the  face  of  ever-increasing  vaccination.  And  now- 
Half  kine  is  engaged  in  cholera  inoculation.  The  faith  of  the 
English  Government  in  serums,  inoculations,  etc.,  must  be  colossal 
when  it  can  be  maintained  in  the  face  of  such  figures.  If  it  would 
stop  this  modern  revival  of  ancient  methods,  as  it  did  inoculation 
for  small-pox  in  England,  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  deaths 
from  these  diseases  would  fall  to  normal.  The  ordinary  intellect 
cannot  see  how  the  inoculation  of  diseased  animal  products, 
lymph  or  serum,  into  the  human  blood  can  be  a  health  measure. 

Get  Thee  to  a  Dictionary. — Megalocytes,  microcytes,  poly- 
chromatrophil,  normoblasts,  metrocyte,  leukopenia,  lymphocyto- 
sis, polymorphonuclears,  eosinophils,  ankylostomum,  megacarwo- 
cytes,  gonorrhceica  megalosplanchnia,  meningorrhachia  are  a  few 
words  met  with  in  dipping  in  an  exchange.  They  are  all  right, 
of  course,  or  approximately  so,  but — get  thee  the  latest  dictionary 
if  you  would  be  in  the  swim  of  words. 

A  Plague  Conundrum. — A  letter  dealing  with  the  plague  in 
Punjab  says  that  the  mortality  in  1907  reached  30.3  per  1,000,  and 
that  the  highest  rate  previously  reported  was  19.7  in  the  year 
1904.  The  letter  then  makes  the  following  curious  statement: 
"The  most  striking  fact  in  the  epidemiology  of  plague  is  its  ap- 
parent dependence  on  climate  variations,  its  disappearance  when 
the  temperature  becomes  very  high  and  its  reappearance  when 
the  temperature  falls.  How  does  the  bacillus  maintain  its  exist- 
ence during  the  non-epidemic  season?"  That's  the  question! 
Perhaps  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  coming  or  going  of  the 
disease  or  its  causation.  Perhaps  the  germ  theory  is  but  a  theory 
and  nothing'  more. 


NEWS    ITEMS. 

The  Antikamnia  Chemical  Company  has  contracted  for  the 
erection  of  a  modern  building  four  stories  high  on  Pine  street 
west  of  1 2th  street,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  Looks  as  though  Antikamnia 
people  were  making  headway  even  against  the  pronunciamentos 
to  the  J.  A.  M.  A..  If  doctors  want  to  use  the  "coal-tars"  the 
antikamnia  forms  are  quite  as  good  as  the  best  of  them. 

Dr.  Henry  Fledderman  has  changed  his  address  from  Seymour. 
Ind.,  to  Castleton,  111. 


News  Items.  479 

The  Medical  Advance  has  changed  address  to  72  Madison 
street,  Room  1003,  Chicago,  111. 

The  Kansas  State  Board  of  Health  has  issued  a  leaflet  entitled 
'"Swat  the  Fly." 

Dr.  L.  T.  Ashcroft  has  removed  his  office  to  No.  2105  Chest- 
nut street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

A  California  physician  who  performed  a  "criminal  operation" 
which  resulted  in  death,  has  been  sentenced  to  four  years  in  the 
penitentiary  after  a  new  trial. 

The  new  medical  practice  act  of  Louisiana  provides  for  two 
boards  of  examiners,  one  of  them  being  composed  of  homceo- 
pathic  practitioners.  This  opens  a  new  field  for  the  homoeo- 
pathic physician. 

Dr.  R.  Milton  Richards  has  removed  his  office  to  suite  601-2-3 
Gas  Office  Building,  Detroit,  Mich. 

A  St.  Louis  doctor  forgot  to  report  a  birth  to  the  Health  Com- 
missioner. This  mnemonic  lapse  caused  him  a  green  X,  other- 
wise $10. 

Dr.  E.  B.  Fanning,  author  of  Hay  Fever  (B.  &  T.),  has  re- 
moved his  office  to  143 1  Tasker  street,  Philadelphia. 

Urging  the  public  to  consent  and  aid  in  the  registrations  of 
consumptives,  a  director  of  health  in  a  big  eastern  city:  "His 
clothes,  never  disinfected,  may  touch  yours  in  the  street  cars." 
Consumptives  are  to  be  made  the  lepers  of  civilization  it  seems. 

The  address  of  Dr.  M.  R.  Leverson  is  927,  instead  of  427 
Grant  avenue,  Bronx,  New  York,  as  given  on  page  405  of  the 
Recorder  for  September. 

Dr.  William  Osier  has  received  leave  of  absence  for  one  year 
from  Oxford  University.     The  reason  is  not  stated. 

Dr.  Leudeking  was  offered  by  Brewer  Busch.  of  St.  Louis, 
$35,000  for  "several  years'  medical  attendance,"  and  refused  it, 
demanding  $55,000.     He  must  be  an  unusually  expert  doctor. 

Some  one  has  fitted  out  a  "rest-cure"  ship  on  the  Baltic  for 
neurasthenics.  A  dose  of  seasickness  might  work  wonders  in 
some  cases,  though  probably  this  is  not  mentioned  in  the  treat- 
ment. 


PERSONAL. 


Do  not  confuse  the  therapeutic  power  with  poison  power. 

A  man  without  an  appendix  is  like  an  engine  without  oil. 

When  you  start  out  to  reform  and  enlighten  the  world  bear  in  mind  that 
the  world  wants  neither  though  posing  otherwise. 

The  thought  of  their  wives  becoming  widows  is  annoying  to  some  men, 

Mr.  Alfred  Henry  Lewis  writes  that  "critics  bear  the  same  relation  to* 
literature  that  fleas  do  to  a  dog."     Comforting  to  the  roasted  author. 

Lawrence  Sterne  said  of  a  group  of  asses  he  passed,  "How  they  viewed 
and  reviewed  us  !"    More  comfort. 

Sooner  or  later  all  must  learn  the  general  lesson  that  you  cannot  get 
something  for  nothing — not  many  of  you. 

Oshkosh,  Wis.,  is  phonetic  sneezing. 

Mr.  Dooley  says,  "be  good  if  ye  can,  but  don't  be  gr-reat,"  else  history 
will  spot  your  weakness.  , 

"Rest  until  I  come,"  is  the  wife's  words  on  the  tombstone  of  her  hus- 
band. 

New  Jersey  has  arisen  in  its  wrath  and   says  that  New  York  breeds 
more  mosquitoes  than  it  does.    Very  likely. 

There  is  always  a  break  in  the  conversation  when  some  one  abruptly 
drops  it. 

"More  men  drink  because  they  are  miserable  than  are  miserable  because 
they  drink." — Tom  L.  Johnson. 

"A  statesman  is  a  politician  who  has  been  a  long  time  dead." — Tom  B. 
Reed. 

"Nothing  is  certain  but  death  and  taxes." — Ben.  Franklin. 

A  man  deceives  himself  oftener  than  he  does  others. 

When  a  thing  "is  right  in  theory  but  won't  work  in  practice"  it  is  because 
we  don't  want  it  to  work. 

"In  the  matter  of  clothes  avoid  the  speed  limit." — Fra  Elbertus. 

A  Chinaman  described  a  widow :    "He  dead — she  glad." 

The  philosopher  who  takes  his  philosophy  seriously  becomes  a  crank,  a 
fanatic,  or  has  a  monument  after  his  demise. 

The   less   we   know   about   things   the   more   we   talk.     When   we  know 
there's  nothing  else  to  say. 

Time  was  when  a  doctor  without  whiskers  wasn't  in  it,  but  times  have 
changed. 

When  the  world  gets  hold  of  something  it  cannot  understand  it  invents 
a  name  for  it,  and  all  is  well. 

Dr.  Lyday  says  it's  time  to  resume  bleeding. 

Alexander,  who  wanted  more  worlds  to  conquer,  ought  to  have  tackled 
Venezuela. 

An  optimistic  editor  asserts  that  flies,  fleas,  mosquitoes  and  rats  will' 
soon  be  extinct.    Such  faith  is  refreshing  to-day. 


THE 

Homeopathic  Recorder. 

Vol.  XXIII.    Lancaster,  Pa.,  November,  1908  No  11 


"TRUTH   IS   MIGHTY  AND  WILL  PREVAIL." 

The  chests  of  quite  a  number  of  homoeopathic  graduates,  recent 
and  remote,  are  expanding  with  good  feeling  and  satisfaction  at 
the  thought  that  the  allopaths  have  "let  down  the  bars"  and  now 
"we  are  all  brothers  with  one  lofty  aim."  If  this  were  true  it 
would  be  lovely,  but  there  are  grave  doubts.  The  stalwart,  Dr. 
J.  W.  Mastin,  of  The  Critique,  in  his  October  number,  prints  an 
editorial  from  the  Columbus  Medical  Journal,  on  the  question, 
possibly  raised  by  some  hard  shelled  subscriber,  "Why  is  the 
Homoeopath  tolerated  by  the  American  Medical  Association." 
This  is  it : 

"Simply  because  the  American  Medical  Association  has  use  for  them. 
That  is  why.  They  had  to  admit  them  or  fight  them.  The  American  Med- 
ical Association  knew  very  well  that  to  exclude  so  large  a  body  of  phy- 
sicians as  the  Homoeopaths  from  their  association,  would  be  to  precipitate 
a  fight  that  would  defeat  the  most  of  the  legislation  which  they  were  pro- 
posing to  ask  for.  But  to  admit  the  Homoeopaths  to  temporarily  blind- 
fold them  by  a  tacit  endorsement  of  their  theory  of  practice,  to  muzzle 
them  by  a  little  taffy  and  cajoling,  to  chloroform  them  with  a  pretended 
fraternity,  they  could  then  ask  with  brazen  effrontery  for  legislation  in  the 
name  of  the  whole  medical  fraternity." 

There  you  have  it  straight  and  frank.  It  is  all  very  well,  and 
also  very  true,  to  say  "truth  is  mighty  and  will  prevail."  So  it 
will,  but  it  can  prevail  only  in  the  human  mind,  even  though  it 
be  something  abstract  from  the  human  mind  ;  outside  of  the  hu- 
man mind  you  would  search  long  for  truth.  Books  are  but 
that,  ultimated  and  fixed,  which  came  through  the  human  mind 
and  is  but  ink  and  paper  until  it  returns  to  the  region  whence  it 
came  and  goes  into  action. 


482  "The  True  Laehesis." 

Truth  being  mighty  should  be  mightily  used  to  smash  error  out 
of  the  way.  In  no  field  of  human  life  is  there  more  necessity  for 
the  lusty  swinging  of  the  mighty  club  of  truth  than  medicine. 
Every  man  imbued  with  the  truth  of  Homoeopathy  knows  that  if 
it  prevailed  in  the  world  the  swarms  of  physicial  ills  would  be 
largely  cleared  away  and  there  would  be  no  excuse  for  medical 
world's  race  tracks  where  hobby-horses  are  trotted  to  the  admir- 
ing gaze  of  a  medically  ignorant  people.  So  long  as  truth  lies 
dormant  in  the  human  mind  it  is  potentially  mighty  only,  and  it  is 
the  same  so  long  as  those  who  possess  it  are  tickled  to  receive  a 
contemptuous  nod  from  error  instead  of  banging  the  latter  over 
the  head  as  should  be  done. 

In  this  banging  business,  however,  another  error  too  often 
slips  in  and  turns  aside  the  blow  from  its  brother  error  and  lets 
it  fall  on  the  skull  of  some  brother  of  the  truth  swinger  instead 
of  the  error  that  dominates  him.  Truth  and  error  are  both  ab- 
stract from  the  human  mind,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  printed  page, 
hence  truth  should  smash  error  and  not  persons.  Every  one  in 
a  cool  moment  sees  this,  but  when  he  gets  hot  about  the  collar  he 
forgets  it  and  slams  away  at  some  brother  mortal  in  whose  mind 
error  holds  revel. 

To  drop  out  of  the  realm  of  metaphysics  back  to  the  starting 
point  that  editorial  which  Friend  Mastin  dug  out  of  the  Colum- 
bus Journal  shows  the  true  meaning  of  the  recent  spirit  of  tol- 
eration (a  thing  that  heats  about  the  collar)  towards  the  Ho- 
moeopaths that  prevails  to-day  among  the  allopaths ;  it  is  merely 
policy  and  does  not  in  the  least  include  the  great  truth  embodied 
in  the  word  "Homoeopathy."  It  will  be  well,  very  well  for  the 
Homoeopaths  to  tighten  up  their  organizations  and  to  mightily 
swing  their  "big  stick."  If  there  be  any  who  think  the  big  stick 
is  only  a  little  switch  they  ought  to  flock  in  neutral  territory,  for 
truth,  mighty  as  it  is,  has  never  downed  error  without  a  fight  to 
the  finish. 


"THE  TRUE     LACHESIS." 

Under  this  heading  Dr.  Jules  Gallavardin  devotes  considerable 
space  in  the  September  number  of  Le  Propagateur  de  V  Homoco- 
pathie  to  the  authenticity  of  the  "new  supply  of  Laehesis"  that  a 


"The  True  Lachcsis."  483 

number  of  our  American  homoeopathic  journals  have  announced, 
yet  failed  to  caution  their  readers  that  its  authenticity  is  doubtful. 
All  doubts  in  the  matter  are  now  set  at  rest.  The  following  is 
the  article  in  question  : 

"Dr.  Nilo  Cairo,  of  Curityba  (Brazil),  appreciating  the  efforts 
made  in  France  by  Le  Propagateur  de  V  Homceopathie  in  spread- 
ing the  ideas  of  Hahnemann,  had  the  happy  idea  of  addressing 
to  it  an  article  on  the  true  Lachcsis,  which  our  readers,  physi- 
cians and  their  patients,  will  read  with  much  pleasure." 

"It  is,  in  fact,  very  useful,  when  we  employ  a  medicine,  to  first 
"know  its  origin,  then  to  make  sure  that  this  medicine  may  always 
be  procured  from  the  same  source,  in  order  that  the  pathogenetic 
provings  made  with  a  former  preparation  may  preserve  all  their 
value,  when  the  question  arises  of  using  the  subsequent  prepara- 
tions of  the  medicine." 

"The  first  provings  made  by  Hering  with  the  poison 
of  Lachcsis  nnttus  date  from  the  year  1828.  The  poison 
collected  by  Hering  has  served  to  supply  all  the  homoeo- 
pathic pharmacies  in  the  two  hemispheres,  and  the  preparations 
of  Hering  actually  still  preserve  the  same  efficacy.  I  possess  a 
200th  dilution  of  Lachcsis  prepared  by  Hering  himself,  which  he 
had  given  to  one  of  my  grandparents,  in  Philadelphia,  and  this 
dilution  always  manifests  its  therapeutic  action.  My  father  re- 
ported in  The  Honuvopathic  World,  of  London  (October,  1894), 
the  usefulness  of  this  dilution  in  treating  chronic  intermittent 
fever ;  and,  lastly,  I  myself  have  been  able  to  verify  the  efficacy 
of  this  same  dilution  in  a  case  of  chronic  intermittent  fever,  the 
attacks  of  which  returned  periodically  every  month,  although  the 
patient  had  not  returned  to  the  colonies  for  three  years.  This  pa- 
tient, who  had  not  been  relieved  by  any  treatment  during  the 
three  years,  was  completely  cured  by  Hering's  200th  potency  of 
Lachcsis,  a  single  dose  of  fifteen  pellets  taken  dry  en  the  tongue. 
The  importance  of  securing  a  good  preparation  of  Lachcsis  is 
thence  apparent,  and  especially  is  it  necessary  that  the  venom  of 
this  snake  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  poison  of  similar 
snakes.  The  venom  of  all  snakes  have,  indeed,  a  similarity  in 
their  action,  but  homoeopaths,  who  especially  seek  for  scientific 
precision,  ought  to  have  a  careful  regard  to  the  differences  bo- 


484  ''The  True  Lachcsis." 

tween    the    action  of  the  venom    of    two    serpents    of    different 
species." 

"On  this  account  Le  Propagateur  dc  V  Homccopathie  feels 
under  a  great  obligation  to  Dr.  Nilo  Cairo,  who  is  well  situated 
to  know  the  snakes  of  Brazil,  for,  insisting  on  the  differences  be- 
tween the  snakes  of  South  America ;  and  since  at  present  the 
question  is  that  of  differentiating  between  the  Lachcsis  of  Hering 
and  the  Bothrops  lanceolatus,  the  best  plan  seems  to  be  to  give 
a  picture*  of  each  species.  Among  the  elegant  engravings  pub- 
lished by  theKosmos,  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  (May,  1908),  we  have 
selected  those  representing  the  Lachcsis  mutus  (Surucucu)  and 
the  Bothrops,  or  the  Lachesis  lanceolatus  (Jararaca)." 

"As  this  latter  snake  is  pretty  common  in  Brazil,  we  can  recog- 
nize the  fact  that,  according  to  the  engravings  that  have  been 
published,  this  snake  much  resembles  the  engravings  given  by  Dr. 
E.  Rufz,  in  his  work :  "Researches  on  the  Snake  in  la  Martinique 
(lance-head  Snake,  Bothrops  lanceole,  etc.).  Second  Edition, 
Paris,  i860.  Dr.  Rufz  supposed  that  the  Bothrops  lanceolatus 
only  existed  in  Martinique  and  in  Ste.  Lucie.  The  works  of 
Brazilian  doctors  of  today  enable  us  to  identify  the  lance-headed 
viper  of  la  Martinique  with  the  Bothrops  or  Lachesis  lanceolatus. 
of  Brazil." 

"The  Lachesis  mutus  was  also  called  by  Hering  Trigonocepha- 
lies Lachesis,  the  Trigonocephalis  with  lozenges.  The  particular 
snake  which  yielded  up  its  venow  to  Hering  on  the  28th  day  of 
July,  1828,  was  ten  feet  long  (Archiv.  fuer.  homocopathische 
Heilkunst,  183 1,  Vol.  10,  p.  1-22)." 

"To  complete  the  documents  which  he  sent  us,  Dr.  Nilo  Cairo 
will  publish  in  the  August  number  (1908)  of  the  journal  which 
he  publishes:  la  Revista  homocopathica  brazileira,  an  article  more 
in  detail  and  with  illustrations.  The  homoeopathic  medical  press 
will  profit  by  this  circumstance  to  gather  and  discuss  the  labors 
of  our  learned  Brazilian  colleague." 

Dr.  Jules  Gallavardin. 


*We  did  not  reproduce  these  cuts,  having  already  printed  one  of  each 
snake  in  the  June  issue  of  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder. — Editor  of  The 
H.  R. 


"The  True  La  diesis."  485 

Curityba,  Brazil,  July  20.  1908. 
My  Dear  Gallavardin: — 

I  read  in  the  Propagateur  de  V  Homceopathie,  of  May,  1908,  an 
article  of  Dr.  Sieffert  on  thcBothrops  lanceolatus,  and  since  the 
subject  of  the  true  Laehesis  is  at  present  being  discussed  by  the 
homoeopathic  press  in  the  United  States,  with  respect  to  a  snake 
at  present  in  the  Bronx  Park,  in  New  York,  from  which  Messrs. 
Boericke  &  Runyon,  homoeopathic  pharmaceutists,  have  extracted 
the  venom,  declaring  that  this  snake  is  the  true  Laehesis  of  Hir- 
ing, think  it  is  timely  to  present  to  you  some  reflections  on  this 
subject,  all  the  more,  that,  as  I  am  living  in  Brazil,  where  much 
has  been  published  on  the  classification  of  American  snake-.  I 
think  that  I  am  in  a  position  to  enter  on  this  subject. 

I  will  commence  by  declaring  with  Dr.  Sieffert,  that  the 
Laehesis  of  Hering  is  by  no  means  the  Bothrops  lanceolatus,  and 
then  I  would  add  that  the  snake  which  is  in  the  Bronx  Park  Zoo- 
logical Garden  is  a  Bothrops  lanceolatus  and  not  the  Laehesis  of 
Hering. 

The  Laehesis  of  Hering,  according  to  Hering  himself.  i>  the 
Laehesis  inutus  or  Laehesis  rombata,  the  Surueueu,  as  it  is  call- 
ed in  Brazil,  where  it  inhabits  the  northern  part  of  the  country 
and  also  the  State  of  Minas  Geraes,  and  that  of  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
This  snake,  which  is  very  rare,  is  also  found  in  the  northern  part 
of  South  America,  and  even  in  Peru.  It  is  one  of  the  genus  Cro- 
talidce,  and  is  considered  in  Brazil  to  be  very  venomous.  This 
snake  may  attain  to  a  great  length,  up  to  two  and  a  half  meters. 
The  upper  part  of  its  body  is  a  beautiful  dark  reddish  color,  or  of 
a  reddish  yellow,  on  which  there  are  detached  large  lozenges  of 
a  brownish  black,  the  diagonal  line  of  which  coincides  with  the 
middle  dorsal  line.  Each  of  these  lozenges  contains  two  lighter 
spots  of  the  color  of  the  body.  The  belly  is  of  a  whitish  yellow 
color,  pale  and  like  porcelain. 

The  snake  in  the  Bronx  Park,  of  Xew  York,  was  sent  there 
some  time  ago  from  Rio  de  Janeiro  by  the  Brazilian  homoeopathic 
pharmacy  of  Murtinho  Xobre  &  Co.,  to  the  American  Homoeo- 
pathic Institute,  and  is  a  Laehesis  lanceolatus,  i.  e..  a  Brazilian 
Jararaca,  which  is  no  other  than  the  Bothrops  lanceolatus,  de- 
scribed by  Dr.  Sieffert.     For  certain  European  naturalists,  elassi- 


486  "The  True  LacJicsis." 

tying  the  American  snakes  by  hearsay,  have  made  a  mistake  in 
regarding  as  two  different  species  the  Bothrops  lanceolatus  of  la 
Martinique  and  the  Jararaca  or  Lachesis  lanceolatus  of  Brazil, 
since  these  two  snakes  are  but  one  and  the  same  species.  In  fact, 
the  genus  Bothrops  has  in  the  modern  classification  of  serpents 
disappeared  and  has  been  replaced  by  the  genus  Lachesis,  so  that 
the  Bothrops  lanceolatus  of  la  Martinique,  is  identical  with  the 
well-known  Lachesis  lanceolatus  of  Brazil. 

The  snake  in  New  York,  therefore,  is  a  Bothrops  lanceolatus, 
or  rather,  a  Lachesis  lanceolatus,  a  Jararaca,  as  we  call  it  in 
Brazil,  a  lance-headed  snake;  in  French,  le  serpent  fer  de  lance; 
and  this  lance-headed  snake  is  by  no  means  the  Lachesis  mutus 
of  Hering ;  the  Jararaca  is  by  no  means  the  Surucucu.  This  can 
be  established  from  the  descriptions  of  the  two  species  in  com- 
parison with  the  engravings  as  presented  in  the  engravings  in  the 

HOMCEOPATHIC  RECORDER,   of  June,    I908. 

I  have  already  given  a  description  of  the  Surucucu,  I  will  now 
describe  the  Jararaca  somewhat  more  in  detail.  Contrary  to  the 
statement  of  Dr.  Sieffert,  I  can  assure  you  that  the  Bothrops 
lanceolatus,  i.  e,,  the  Lachesis  lanceolatus,  the  Jararaca,  is  a  most 
common  snake  in  Brazil,  and  inhabits  all  parts  of  this  country, 
north  and  south,  even  around  the  towns,  and  I  believe  that  there 
are  very  few  Brazilians  who  have  not  seen  a  Bothrops  lanceolatus. 
As  to  myself,  I  have  seen  several,  and  can  give  a  physical  descrip- 
tion of  the  snake,  otherwise  well-known  in  Brazil,  which  agrees 
perfectly  with  that  given  by  Brehm,  Blot,  and  other  naturalists,  of 
the  snake  found  in  la  Martinique. 

As  you  well  know,  the  scrum  antizrnimcu.v  of  Mr.  Calmette 
has  not  given  good  results  in  Brazil,  because  the  snakes  used  in 
making  Cahnctte's  Serum  are  not  of  the  same  family  as  the 
American  snakes,  especially  those  in  Brazil.  This  ill  success  has 
induced  a  famous  allopathic  Brazilian  physician.  Dr.  Vital,  Brazil, 
to  prepare  a  serum  antiophidic  from  the  venom  of  our  serpents, 
and  this  serum  has  succeeded  marvellously  well.  His  numerous 
works  on  the  subject  have  been  published  throughout  the  country, 
and  with  these,  his  detailed  studies  on  the  snakes  of  Brazil. 
Therefore,  I  say,  that  his  description  of  the  Bothrops  lanceolatus 
is  very  well  known  in  the  Brazilian  republic,  even  by  persons  who 
have  not  themselves  seen  a  Jararaca. 


> 


"The  True  Lachesis."  487 

The  Bothrops  lanccolatus  is  not  as  long  as  the  Lachesis  of  Her- 
ing.  It  may  attain  a  meter  and  a  half  in  length,  but  usually  it 
is  no  longer  than  a  meter;  while  the  Lachesis.  i.  c,  the  Surucucu, 
reaches  a  length  of  two  meters  and  a  half. 

The  head  of  the  Bothrops  lanccolatus  is  almost  triangular,  like 
the  head  of  a  lance,  covered  with  small  scales  in  seven  or  eight 
rows,  arranged  between  the  spots  over  the  eyes,  which  are  large ; 
the  rostral  part  is  as  broad  as  it  is  long,  the  nasal  region  is  di- 
vided, there  are  a  couple  of  internasal  spots,  two  or  three  spots 
behind  the  eyes  ;  the  spots  below  the  eyes  are  separated  from  the 
higher  labial  spots  by  one  or  two  rows  of  scales.  There  are  eight 
superior  labial  spots.  The  second  higher  labial  spot  forms  the 
anterior  border  of  the  lachrymal  trough.  The  dorsal  scales  are 
in  twenty-three  rows,  there  are  195  to  200  ventral  scales,  and 
fifty-three  scales  in  two  rows  under  the  tail 

The  color  of  the  Bothrops  is  very  variable.  On  a  foundation 
of  deep  green,  ash-colored  or  sometimes  yellowish,  we  see  on  each 
side  of  the  snake  black  and  angular  figures,  the  tips  of  these 
angles  arc  turned  toward  the  dorsal  median  line  of  the  snake: 
these  tips  either  touch  each  other  or  alternate  on  this  line.  The 
design  is  such  as  was  shown  in  the  illustration  published  in  the 
Homoeopathic  Recorder,  and  also  on  the  one  distributed  by 
Messrs.  Boericke  &  Runyon,  where  the  serpent  is  represented  in 
different  positions. 

As  seen  before,  the  design  on  the  back  of  the  Lachesis 
mutus  does  not  consist  of  angular  figures,  the  vertices  of  which 
meet  or  alternate  on  the  median  line,  but  are  large  rhomboidal 
spots,  the  diagnosis  of  which  agree  with  the  median  dorsal  line ; 
these  spots  are  of  a  brownish  black  color,  enclosing  two  others 
which  have  the  color  of  the  body,  which  is  of  a  dark  reddish 
color. 

Thence  it  is  manifest  that  our  brethren,  Boericke  &  Runyon, 
of  the  United  States,  were  mistaken,  when  they  thought  they  had 
the  venom  of  the  true  Lachesis  in  that  of  the  snake  in  the  Zoo- 
logical Garden  of  the  Bronx  Park.  It  is.  furthermore,  evident 
that  the  venom  sold  at  present  by  these  gentlemen  under  the 
name  of  Lachesis  is  the  venom  of  the  Brazilian  Jararaca  I  Both- 
rops lanceolatus) ,  and  not  the  venom  of  the  Surucucu  of  Hering 


488  Why  We  Believe  in  Homoeopathy. 

(Lachesis  luittus),  the  true  Lachesis    of    our    Materia    Meclica. 
Here  you  have  the  whole  truth. 

Dr.  Nilo  Cairo. 


WHY   WE   BELIEVE  IN   HOMOEOPATHY.* 
By  A.  M.  Cushing,  M.  D. 

Mr.  President:  By  alphabetical  arrangement  Dr.  Brown  should 
furnish  a  paper  for  this  evening,  but  he  has  asked  me  to  do  what 
little  I  could  to  prevent  some  of  the  disappointments.  The  short- 
ness of  the  time  compels  me  to  bring  an  unlaundried  article 
direct  from  the  wash.  I  shall  occupy  a  little  of  your  time  in  tell- 
ing why  we  should  believe  in  Homoeopathy. 

We  believe  in  it  because  of  its  common  sense,  its  scientific 
foundation,  our  experience  with  it,  and  because  statistics  prove 
it  to  be  the  most  successful  practice.  The  better  homceopathists 
we  are  the  more  successful  we  shall  be.  We  are  more  success- 
ful because  our  remedies  are  better  prepared  and  our  treatment 
so  much  more  pleasing.  We  know  each  remedy  is  prepared  free 
from  any  other  substance,  and  we  know  what  each  remedy  will 
do,  as  we  test  them  in  large  doses  when  well.  We  dilute  or  at- 
tenuate them  to  a  certain  extent,  which  increases  their  activity, 
diluted  to  suit  the  disease  and  experience  of  the  user.  The  old 
school  journals  and  physicians  acknowledge  our  remedies  are 
better  prepared,  buy  and  use  them,  and  are  surprised  at  their 
efficiency.  If  they  would  dilute  them  a  little  they  would  be  more 
surprised. 

How  do  remedies  act?  has  been  asked  many  times,  but  no  gen- 
eral satisfactory  answer  has  been  given.  We  know  that  a  rem- 
edy that  will  produce  a  symptom  will  certainly  remove  a  similar 
one  caused  in  some  other  way.  Every  remedy  has  certain  action 
producing  certain  symptoms,  and  a  remedy  that  would  produce  a 
symptom  one  thousand  years  ago  will  certainly  produce  it  now, 
and  will  as  certainly  remove  it.  An  illustration.  One  morning 
I  left  my  boy,  two  years  old,  in  perfect  health.  One  hour  later  I 
unexpectedly  returned  and  found  him  apparently  dying  of  croup. 


*Read  before  the  Allen  Homoeopathic  Materia  Medica  Club. 


Why  We  Believe  in  Homceopathy.  489 

with  gapping  breathing,  purple  around  the  mouth,  verj  rapid 
pulse  and  almost  helpless.  I  knew  it  could  not  be  croup  so  sud- 
den and  severe.  I  knew  Aconite  would  produce  these  symptoms, 
and  I  had  some  growing  at  the  back  of  my  garden.  A  quick  ex- 
amination revealed  some  of  the  leaves  on  the  walk  near  the  door, 
and  I  knew  the  cause.  I  had  been  taught  in  a  homoeopathic  col- 
lege that  Camphor  was  nearly  a  specific  antidote  to  vegetable 
poisons.  I  immediately  forced  some  done  his  throat,  and  in  fif- 
teen minutes  he  was  out  of  danger.  Had  I  not  been  taught  that 
my  boy  would  have  been  dead  in  a  few  minutes.  So  much  for 
homoeopathic  teaching,  and  we  are  taught  some  things  that  are 
not  taught  in  other  colleges.  A  good  many  times  I  have  seen 
patients  with  severe  croupous  symptoms  quickly  relieved  by  the 
appropriate  remedy.  One  night  I  was  called  in  haste,  and  be- 
fore I  entered  the  room,  with  door  closed,  I  could  hear  the  loud 
whistling,  gasping  breathing  of  croup.  I  gave  a  dose  of  Aconite 
and  sat  down  with  watch  in  hand  to  see  how  soon  I  could  repeat 
the  dose.  In  four  minutes  the  child  was  apparently  asleep.  Now 
what  did  it?  Could  the  medicne  enter  the  stomach,  be  absorbed, 
pass  through  the  circulation  to  the  affected  part  in  sufficient  quan- 
tity to  give  such  unexpected  relief?  or  was  it  the  charm  of  the 
watch,  or  my  apparent  indifference  after  giving  the  medicine 
casting  a  telepathic  influence  over  all  present  ? 

I  have  seen  children  wildly  screaming  with  earache  almost  in- 
stantly relieved  by  dropping  two  or  three  drops  of  the  extract  of 
Mullein  blossoms  (called  Mullein  Oil)  in  to  the  ears.  What  did 
it?  You  may  say  it  was  the  local  effect,  and  I  will  not  dispute 
it,  but  step  aside  and  relate  something  similar  but  entirely  differ- 
ent. Some  fifty  years  ago  I  with  others  was  standing  beside  a 
doctor  whose  horse  was  rushing  around,  lying  down  and  rolling 
over  and  groaning  with  colic,  and  no  one  knew  what  to  d<>.  Mr. 
Crawford,  who  built  the  Crawford  House  at  the  White  Moun- 
tains, said:  ''Give  me  a  dish  of  cold  water  and  I  will  cure  y  iur 
horse  in  two  minutes."  He  poured  a  little  water  in  the  h 
ear.  and  in  less  than  two  minutes  he  was  apparently  free  from 
pain.  When  in  Lynn  I  recommended  it  at  the  stables,  and  it  was 
used  with  such  success  it  was  called  "Cushing's  Remedy."  1  have 
seen  it  used  many  times,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  certain  cures  I 
have  ever  seen. 


490  Why  We  Believe  in  Homoeopathy. 

Who  can  explain  it?  It  makes  no  difference  what  part  of  the 
system  is  affected,  we  know  what  remedy  will  reach  it.  What  is 
the  power  that  sends  it  there?  We  are  told  it  is  through  the 
circulation  of  the  blood,  but  often  it  is  too  sudden  for  that.  If 
carried  by  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  what  makes  the  blood 
circulate  ?  We  are  told  it  is  solely  by  the  contractile  power  of  the 
muscles  of  the  heart.  If  that  were  true  we  might  ask  what  makes 
the  heart  act.  But  that  is  not  wholly  correct.  When  I  was  a 
student  we  watched  the  circulation  of  the  blood  by  placing  the 
web  of  a  frog's  foot  under  the  microscope.  In  later  years  I 
wished  to  study  it  but  was  unable  to  secure  a  frog,  so  I  fastened 
the  wing  of  a  large  fly  under  the  microscope,  and  it  was  a  com- 
plete success.  While  I  was  watching  it,  observing  each  blood 
globule  move  and  stop  and  move  again  with  perfect  regularity. 
the  fly  tore  away  leaving  the  wing  as  I  had  fastened  it.  Imagine 
my  surprise  when  I  saw  those  globules  continue  to  move  ex- 
actly as  before,  and  continue  to  move  till  every  globule  had  dis- 
appeared. The  same  power  that  moves  the  heart  moves  the 
arteries,  but  as  it  takes  more  power  to  move  the  heart  its  action 
ceases  first,  and  that  is  why  the  arteries  are  empty  after  death. 
What  is  that  power? 

The  leading  scientists  of  the  world  are  leading  us  into  the  light. 
They  have  practically  abandoned  the  atomic  theory  and  say 
everything  is  composed  of  electricity  in  the  form  of  minute  specs 
surrounded  by  rapidly  revolving  ions  composed  of  equal  parts 
of  positive  and  negative  electricity.  A  tree  receives  whatever  is 
needed  for  its  life  and  growth  carried  to  its  extremities  through 
a  medium  of  circulation.  Man  is  an  inverted  tree  receiving  its 
life  giving  power  from  the  brain.  Food  is  introduced  into  the 
stomach  to  furnish  material  through  the  circulation  of  the  blood 
to  sustain  the  muscular  system.  The  brain  extracts  from  the 
blood  that  which  is  required  to  keep  the  ions  in  rapid  circulation, 
and  we  should  see  that  it  has  the  needed  supply,  for  without  this 
the  muscular  is  of  no  use.  We  may  well  believe  there  is  another 
system  of  circulation  composed  of  those  ions  we  call  nerves,  so 
infinitesimal  in  size  they  can  penetrate  the  minutest  portions  of 
the  system.  If  as  they  say  everything  is  composed  of  these  rapidly 
revolving  ions,  of  course,  our  remedies  must  be,  and  they  enter 
the  system  in  that  form.     Now  what  can  be  more  reasonable  than 


Why  We  Believe  in  Homoeopathy.  4gi 

to  believe  those  ions  composing  that  circulating  system  may  be- 
come exhausted  or  deranged  and  cause  what  we  call  disease;  and 
may  not  the  ions  of  our  remedies,  greatly  increased  in  their  ac- 
tivity by  the  grinding  or  triturating  and  shaking,  introduced  into 
the  system,  revive  those  exhausted  ions  and  remove  the  disease? 
We  believe,  as  diseases  become  more  chronic,  they  extend  more 
to  the  surface  among  the  finer  branches  of  this  circulating  sys- 
tem, the  ions  becoming  reduced  in  size.  This  compels  us  to 
divide  or  break  up  the  medical  ions  to  correspond  to  those  de- 
ranged ions.  Many  believe  and  their  success  seems  to  justify 
their  belief  that  the  more  chronic  the  case  the  more  diluted  the 
remedies  must  be.  Does  this  dividing  or  crushing  the  ions  in- 
crease their  activity? 

Seventy-five  years  and  more  ago  blue  mass  or  blue  pill  was  one 
of  the  most  prominent  and  active  remedies  in  use.  This  was  pre- 
pared by  taking  "quick  silver,"  perfectly  non-medicinal  sub- 
stance, used  only  for  its  specific  gravity  to  force  a  passage 
through  the  intestinal  canal  when  all  other  remedies  failed.  It 
was  rarely  used  then,  for  if  it  could  not  force  its  way  through  the 
intestinal  canal,  it  would,  Dy  its  weight,  force  its  way  through  the 
intestinal  walls  and  cause  death.  This  substance  was  mixed  villi 
two  bland  non-medicinal  substances,  one  being  the  conserve  of 
roses  (I  have  forgotten  the  other),  and  this  substance  was  ground 
in  an  iron  mortar  for  one  week  or  one  month  till  every  semblance 
of  mercury  had  disappeared.  What  did  they  have  then?  A 
remedy  so  powerful  and  poisonous  they  dare  not  let  it  remai  i  in 
the  system  only  till  they  could  dyive  it  out  by  a  powerful  ca- 
thartic; then  it  often  caused  dangerous  symptoms.  They  dare 
not  dilute  it  more  even  with  water,  for  then  it  would  become  so 
powerful  it  passed  beyond  human  control.  Every  remedy  has 
an  affinity  for  some  part,  and  this  mercurial  affinity  was  for  the 
nones,  especially  the  teeth,  and  it  was  no  more  relentless  than  the 
physician's  "turnkey"  (which  resembled  the  lumberman's  "cant- 
hook"),  with  the  physicians  handkerchief  not  always  pci 
clean,  wound  around  the  end  of  it,  and  attached  to  the  tooth.  Then. 
"O  Heavens!"  I  have  been  there  more  than  once.  The  crown  of 
the  tooth — the  tooth  or  a  part  of  the  jaw  must  conic.  I  f  it  was  an 
upper  tooth  you  would  think  it  was  your  head.  The  mercurial 
action  was  slower  but  as  sure  and  longer  lasting,  even  to  other 


492  Why  We  Believe  in  Homoeopathy. 

generations.  Would  it  be  unreasonable  to  believe  that  the  brain 
and  nerves  composed  of  ions  from  an  independent  circulation  ? 
In  the  chemical  world  the  amount  of  positive  and  negative  elec- 
tricity can  be  changed,  and  why  not  in  the  human?  Observation 
leads  us  to  believe  and  assume  that  one,  and  we  will  claim  the 
positive,  means  happiness,  health  and  life,  while  the  other  disease 
and  death.     If  so,  it  is  our  duty  to  assist  the  positive  all  we  can. 

At  one  time  there  was  a  case  reported  and  substantially  veri- 
fied of  a  person  who  became  jaundiced  every  time  they  became 
angry.  Pleasure  never  does  that.  Did  you  ever  see  a  child  with 
dull  eyes  and  limp  hands  brought  into  bright  activity  by  the 
presentation  of  a  flower?  Formerly  the  old  school  doctors  gave 
such  nauseating  remedies  it  often  caused  severe  struggles  to  ad- 
minister them,  and  the  struggles  caused  more  harm  than  the 
remedy  did  good,  and  I  believe  many  times  led  to  death.  I  saw 
my  father  bled  till  he  fainted  (that  was  generally  considered  time 
to  stop).  Then  what  excitement  for  fear  he  would  not  return  to 
consciousness.  I  had  an  aunt  bled  several  times  during  a  run  of 
typhoid  fever,  and  no  doubt  would  have  been  bled  again  if  she 
had  not  died.  But  the  old  school  have  learned  much  of  us. 
Sixty  years  ago  I  was  sick  with  typhoid  fever,  and  it  was  sug- 
gested that  I  be  bled,  but  my  mother  said,  "No,  send  for  Dr.  Dar- 
ling, ten  miles  away.  I  don't  know  anything  about  Homoeopathy, 
but  he  was  an  honest  boy."  Now  in  my  eightieth  year  I  can 
remember  that  "No." 

And  here  I  want  to  protest  against  the  present  method  of 
treating  typhoid  fever,  packing  them  in  ice,  often  giving  a  shock 
that  disturbs  the  whole  nervous  system.  And  this  is  classed  in 
the  books  as  "nervous  fever."  Let  us  stick  to  our  law — bathe 
such  patients  in  hot  water  and  the  delightful  reaction  sends  hap- 
X>iness  to  the  brain  and  helps  eradicate  the  disease. 

We  so  prepare  our  remedies  a  child  will  take  them  with  a  thrill 
of  delight  that  reaches  every  part  of  the  system,  and  if  our 
remedy  of  ions  is  rightly  prepared  and  selected,  immediately  be- 
gins its  beneficial  effect.  Crude,  undivided  remedies,  can  be  put 
into  the  stomach  but  must  wait  for  the  human  mill  to  grind  them 
before  they  can  reach  any  disease  outside  the  large  internal 
organs.  Whom  do  we  select  to  nurse  our  sick?*  One  with  a  but- 
termilk or  sunflower  face  and  disposition.     The  Christian  scien- 


Nux  Moschata.  493 

tist  claims  to  cure  imaginary  disease  by  sending  a  few  pleasant 
thoughts  along  debilitated  nerves,  but  how  much  better  if  those 
thoughts  carried  a  few  ions  of  the  carefully  selected  remedy. 
It  was  said  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Abenerthy,  he  was  such  a  jovial 
doctor  there  was  healing  in  the  squeak  of  his  boots.  If  our  boots 
could  squeak  like  that ! 

Now  with  remedies  so  certain  of  action  and  our  knowledge  of 
what  they  will  do,  and  how  readily  mental  action  affects  them 
for  good  or  bad,  we  ought  to  believe  in  them,  and  if  we  honor- 
ably maintain  that  belief  we  ought  to  be  the  most  successful  phy  - 
sician  in  practice.  Now  after  showing  you  what  I  think  we 
ought  to  believe,  I  can  do  no  better  in  closing  than  repeat  a 
verse  I  wrote  some  thirty  years  ago : 

"A  doctor's  smiling  face 

Does  more  of  lasting  good 
Than  a  quart  of  'Cushing's  Process/* 

Or  a  barrel  of  'Murdock's  Food.'  " 
Springfield,  Mass. 


NUX  MOSCHATA. 

Antidote',  Camphor;  Common  Name,   Nutmeg;   Duration, 
Eight  Days  to  Three  Weeks. 

By  Dr.  W.  O.  Cheeseman,  Chicago,  111. 

You  cannot  memorize  all  the  symptoms  of  each  remedy,  bu+ 
you  can  memorize  the  uncommon  peculiar  or  as  usually  called 
the  characteristic  symptoms. 

Now  the  first  and  most  characteristic  symptom  of  Nux 
moschata  is  drowsiness,  sleepiness,  irresistible  drowsiness,  par- 
ticularly after  eating.  We  have  drowsiness  under  Opium  and 
Tartar  emetic  in  a  marked  degree,  and  we  have  it  in  a  minor 
degree  under  other  remedies,  but  the  effect  on  the  brain  under 
Nux  moschata  while  producing  a  sleepiness  and  dullness  almost 
equal  to  that  of  Opium  is  of  an  entirely  different  character.  The 
Opium  being  seemingly  due  to  fullness  of  the  blood  vessels  and 


^Liquors  prepared  by  a  Boston  firm. 


494  Nux  Mdschata. 

pressure,  while  that  of  Nux  moschata  seems  to  be  a  benumbing 
of  the  very  nerve  substance  itself.  It  is  well  to  note  the  drowsi- 
ness of  these  three  drugs  and  to  study  them  by  comparison. 

Opium  and  Tartar  emetic  are  often  remedies  for  pneumonia, 
but  the  concomitant  symptoms  are  very  different.  Opium  and 
Nux  moschata  are  very  useful  in  typhoid  fever,  and  the  choice 
of  these  two  remedies  is  not  very  difficult.  All  of  these  remedies 
are  valuable  in  the  treatment  of  bowel  trouble  in  children,  and 
while  stupor  is  a  symptom  common  to  all,  it  is  not  hard  to  differ- 
entiate between  them.  The  other  very  characteristic  symptom 
of  Nux  moschata  is  excessive  dryness  of  the  mouth.  Mouth  so 
dry  that  the  tongue  sticks  to  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  yet  there  is 
no  thirst.  The  tongue,  lips  and  throat  are  all  dry.  There  are 
other  remedies  that  have  this  dryness  without  thirst,  namely, 
Apis,  Pulsatilla  and  Lachcsis,  but  in  this  respect  Nux  moschata 
is  the  strongest. 

Again  Nux  moschata  is  a  flatulent  remedy,  the  abdomen  is 
enormously  distended,  especially  after  meals.  There  are  two 
remedies  which  have  pains  and  distress  in  the  stomach,  imme- 
diately after  eating,  even  when  the  patient  is  still  at  the  table. 
They  are  Nux  moschata  and  Kali  bichromicum.  With  Nux 
vomica  and  Anacardium  the  pain  comes  on  an  hour  or  two  after 
eating. 

With  Nux  moschata-  everything  they  eat  turns  to  gas  (Kali 
carb.  and  Iod.  also  have  this),  and  fills  the  stomach  and  abdomen 
so  full  as  to  cause  pressure  upon  all  the  organs  of  the  chest  and 
abdomen. 

Clinical.  In  a  case  of  typhoid  fever  noticed  by  Dr.  E.  B. 
Nash,  the  stupidity,  yellow  watery  diarrhoea  and  rumbling  and 
bloating  of  the  abdomen,  Phos.  ac.  was  given  without  avail. 
Then  noticing  the  excessive  dryness  of  the  mouth  with  symp- 
toms already  given,  Nux  moschata  was  given  with  rapid  improve- 
ment of  the  case. 

Nux  moschata  has  a  wide  field  of  usefulness;  it  i>  especially 
suitable  to  women  and  children.  In  the  hydra-headed  disease, 
hysteria,  it  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  ;  in  rheumatic  pains  in  the 
limbs ;  arthritic  affections  and  arthritic  nodosities  ;  scorbutic  affec- 
tions ;  eclampsia  of  infants ;  spasmodic  paroxysms  and  attacks  of 
weakness   in   hysteric   females ;   scrofula   and   atrophy ;    rachitis ; 


"Antiquated  and  Unreasonable."  495 

tabes  dorsalis  ;  bluish  spots  on  skin  ;  chilblains  ;   wounds  ;  boils  ; 
old  sores ;  typhoid  fever ;  apoplexy. 

New  York,  October  23,  iqo8. 


DOES  NOT  ENDORSE  THE  NEW  PHARMACOPOEIA 
Dear  Dr.  Carmichael: 

As  secretary  of  the  Bayard  Club  and  in  reply  to  your  recent 
letter  to  Dr.  Rabe.  our  former  secretary,  requesting  the  endorse- 
ment of  the  new  pharmacopoeia,  I  have  been  instructed  to  say 
that  the  club  does  not  endorse  the  action  of  the  Institute  or  other 
bodies  regarding  same. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  club  any  other  method  of  preparing  drugs 
than  that  of  the  original  process  and  the  limitation  to  certain 
potencies  only,  which  your  committee  recommend  having  legal- 
ized by  act  of  Congress,  if  possible,  are  considered  as  pernicious, 
injudicious  and  altogether  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
homoeopathic  profession  at  large. 

The  club  wishes,  therefore,  to  go  on  record  as  heartily  favor- 
ing the  old  pharmacopoeia  instead  of  and  in  place  of  the  newer 
one. 

It  is  believed  by  the  club  members  that  the  majority  of  the 
different  society  members  who  have  voted  in  favor  of  this  reso- 
lution did  so  without  fully  understanding  their  full  significance, 
and  that  the  majority  of  the  profession  are  entirely  indifferent 
whether  their  drugs  are  prepared  according  to  the  new  phar- 
macopoeia or  to  the  old,  and  but  few  have  ever  called  on  their 
pharmacist  to  change  the  method  of  preparation  or  would  have- 
any  wish  to  do  so  if  they  understood  the  difference  it  might  make 
in  many  of  these  drugs. 

New  York  City. 

Sincerely. 

\Y.    H.    FfiEEMAN, 

Secretary. 


"ANTIQUATED  AND  UNREASONABLE." 

Editor  of  the  Homoeopathic  Rkcordkp  : 

Dr.  Osier  thinks  Homoeopathy  is  antiquated  and  unreasonable 
because  it  clings  to  the  law  of  similia. 


496  "Antiquated  and   Unreasonable." 

I  for  one  am  perfectly  satisfied  to  cling  to  that  good  old  law, 
for  if  that  is  gone  Homoeopathy  has  nothing  left  to  cling  to.  I 
am  sure  his  ''modern  and  scientific"  ideas  of  medicine,  especially 
the  so-called  ethical  products  of  his  school,  so  profusely  adver- 
tised in  many  medical  journals,  and  by  them  endowed  and  rec- 
ommended, does  not  give  the  medical  profession  anything  very 
stable  to  cling  to. 

As  to  being  unreasonable,  we  all  know  that  is  one  of  Dr. 
Osier's  characteristics,  and  it  particularly  showed  itself  in  his 
modern  idea  that  a  man  reached  the  age  of  limit  oi"  usefulness 
at  forty,  and  at  sixty  should  be  chloroformed. 

Senator  Steward,  of  Nevada,  when  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
seven,  said :  "I  am  glad  the  doctor  has  given  us  the  key  to  his 
numerous  failures.  I  am  sorry  that  a  crank  of  his  type  treated 
Senator  Hanna,  Speaker  Reed,  Postmaster  General  Payne,  and 
other  distinguished  Americans.  A  man  of  sense  might  have  saved 
them  to  the  country." 

Dr.  Osier  has  reached  that  antiquated  sixty  mark,  and  I  suppose 
is  ready  to  take  his  modern  scientific  "pill  antiquated  !"  I  sup- 
pose Dr.  Osier  thinks  the  law  of  gravitation  is  antiquated,  and  it 
is  about  time  it  should  be  supplanted  by  a  more  "modern  and 
scientific"  one.  That  thenceforth  the  apple  instead  of  dropping 
to  the  ground  should  go  upwards. 

The  laws  of  optics,  acoustics  and  electricity  are  rather  anti- 
quated, and  according  to  his  ideas  they  should  be  exchanged  for 
more  modern  and  scientific  ones. 

Antiquated !  Have  the  action  of  drugs  used  by  his  school — 
such  as  Opium,  Strychnia,  Ergot,  Quinine  and  may  others — 
changed  from  what  they  were  a  century  ago?  What  modern 
scientific  remedies  will  he  substitute  for  them? 

Antiquated  Homoeopathy  !  Yes  that  is  just  what  we  want,  good 
old,  well  proven  remedies. 

The  progress  Homoeopathy  has  made  in  the  last  one  hundred 
years,  and  the  statistics  as  to  favorable  results,  when  compared 
with  his  school,  makes  us  all  the  more  want  to  cling  to  the 
antiquated  law  of  similia. 

Dr.  F.  E.  Harpel. 

Danville.  Pa. 


Some  Lines  of  Materia  Medica.  497* 

SOME   LINES  OF   MATERIA   MEDICA. 
By  Isaac  W.  Heysinger,  M.  A.,  M.  D. 

"Let  me  write  the  songs  of  a  people,  and  not   who   writes  their- 

laws." 

The  Good  Prescribe:-. 

They  say  that  Materia  Medica 

Is  as  hard  as  a  stone  and  as  dry  as  chalk. 
And  so  is  the  single  rule  of  three, 

Or  learning  to  walk  alone,  or  talk; 
But  if  there's  a  thing  you  are  dying  to  say, 
Or  something  to  grab  for  just  out  of  your  way. 
Or  bills  to  make  out  for  your  debtors  to  pay. 

You  will  find  it  as  easy  as  easy  can  be. 

For  your  heart  and  soul  are  in  it.  you  see. 

And  so  of  Materia  Medica, 

If  you  felt  that  through  its  living  force 
Your  business  must  fail,  or  else  succeed. 

You  would  master  it  as  a  matter  of  course  ; 
You  would  study  its  problems  night  and  day. 
Like  the  stake  of  a  gambler's  feverish  play. 
And  you  never  would  let  it  get  away ; 

'Tis  more  than  this  to  a  doctor's  need. 

For  of  all  his  harvest  this  is  the  ^eed. 

These  rhymes  of  Materia  Medii 

If  you  will  but  spare  the  time  to  r<  ad, 

Perchance  may  answer  your  anxious  call. 

Perchance  may  serve  in  your  time  of  need. 
To  bring  the  knowledge  that  comes  to  stay  : 
For  the  specialist  is  fine  in  his  w 
The  work  of  the  surgeon  is  far  from  play. 

The  diagnostician  by  no  means  small. 

But  the  "good  prescriber"  is  best  oi  all. 

Scope  of  Medicine 

Anatomical  accidents,   hernias,  broken  bones. 

Dislocations,  fractured  skulls,  stabs  and  gunsh<      won 
All  the  "traumatic  lesions''  which  surgery  proudly  owns. 

Can  Homoeopathy  enter  here?    And  what  are  its  metes  and  bounds? 
And  the  dermatologist  steps  in  with  his  parasites  and  tin 

And  then  the  bacteriologist  claims  all  the  rest  have  left ; 


498  Some  Lines  of  Materia  Me  die  a. 

It  would  seem  at  last  that  Medicine  had  only  to  spread  its  wings, 
And  fly  away  from  a  world  forever  of  sorrow  and  pain  bereft. 
But,  alas !  in  spite  of  the  saws  and  squirts,  and  the  ruthless  germicides, 
Mankind  keeps  suffering  on  and  dies,  and  still  disease  abides. 

.'Stop  and  think  of  these  accidents ;  is  a  man  but  a  broken  stick. 

To  be  glued  and  wired  like  a  lifeless  thing,  or  is  there  a  living  tide 
Dashed  into  eddies,  baffled,  resisting,  struggling  against  the  prick; 

Calling,  through  messengers  of  pain,  new  agencies  to  her  side? 
Anatomical  accidents !     They  are  only  such  when  the  whole 

Responds  to  the  cry  of  the  stricken  part;  and  the  work  is  just  begun 
When  the  beam  is  torn  from  the  eye,  or  the  tumor  thrown  in  the  bowl, 

Or  the  lifeless,  gangrened  limb  excised,  or  the  microbe's  work  undone. 
For  behind  these  accidents  we  find  some  deep,  dark  secret  lies, 
Which  medicine  can  alone  reveal  with  her  own  deep-searching  eyes. 

A  great  mill  running  night  and  day,  with  machines  the  most  complex, 

Which  only  a  master's  wondrous  skill  can  carry  along  at  all ; 
A  boiler  explodes  in  the  basement,  and  the  mechanism  wrecks, 

Will  it  all  go  on  the  same  again,  if  you  pull  down  the  shattered  wall  ? 
If  a  railroad  spike  be  suddenly  dashed  into  the  spinning  train 

Of  jewelled  bearings  and  levers  and  wheels,  too  delicate  to  be  seen, 
Will  you  only  need  to  dig  out  the  spike  and  stop  up  the  hole  again, 

And  time  will  fix  the  cogs  and  wheels  and  start  again  the  machine? 
Ah,  no!  there  is  much  more  yet  to  do,  much  to  be  helped  and  healed, 
And  here  there  is  room  for  mind  and  skill,  for  here  is  medicine's  field. 

•Greater  than  all  the  works  of  a  mill,  what  makes  it  a  work  oi  its  own. 

Is  the  sentient  soul,  the  vital  self,  and  the  intercommuning  life. 
Balancing,  like  a  diamond  scale,  nerve  and  blood  and  bone. 

And  this  is  the  work  of  medicine,  to  stay  and  heal  their  strife. 
If  surgeons  learned  that  a  single  master  all  the  parts  obey. 

That  by  blended  sympathies  the  tide  of  life  will  fail  or  flow. 
That  a  morbid  state  is  a  morbid  state,  let  the  cause  be  what  it  may. 

They  would  win  success  the  surgeon's  knife  alone  can  never  know. 
But  the  specialist  with  vision  keen  (and  narrow  it  must  be). 
Studies  alone  the  floating  leaf,  but  not  the  living  tree. 

And  so  of  the  dread  bacteria,  to-day  we  count  them  new. 

But  Hahnemann  with  his  eagle  eye  portrayed  them  long  ago ; 
The  living  germs  of  the  cholera,  and  the  lesson  which  he  drew. 

Was  to  guard  the  gates  of  the  citadel,  and  strike  the  invading  foe. 
For  he  knew  what  all  must  know  who  think,  that  the  germs  come  to  us  all, 

That  every  breath  is  a  volley  fired  from  the  batteries  of  disease. 
And  so,  alas!  of  our  food  and  drink,  but  tew  are  they  who  fall. 

For  Nature,  if  helped  in  her  hour  of  need,  will  conquer  foes  like  these. 
Never  forget  that  the  wondrous  realms  of  land  and  sea  and  sky 
Are  filled  with  the  balm,  as  they  are  with  the  source,  of  man's  infirmity. 


Some  Lines  of  Materia  Medica.  499 

Drug    Action. 

Somewhere  there  must  exist  (but  who  knows  where?), 

The  organizing  principle  of  life, 
Which  builds  the  monad  up,  to  beast  or  man, 

And  works  in  harmony  and  growth,  or  strife; 
And  works  by  hidden  means,  we  know  not  what, 

Through  mechanisms  self-compensatory, 
With  matter  finer  than  our  mortal  ken, 

To  build  each  protoplasmic  cell  and  story. 
So  the  completed  structure  grows,  but  we, 
Seeing  the  growing  picture,  fail  to  see 
The  artist,  and  the  colors,  pure,  and  rich,  and  rare. 
He  blends  and  harmonizes  with  transcendent  care. 


So  there  are  substances  attenuate, 

Which  still  have  work  in  living  men  to  do; 
We  cannot   see  them,  yet  they  make  or  mar 

The  frame,  or  hold  it  to  the  measure  true. 
The  iron  that  we  know  is  but  alloy, 

'Tis  soft  as  lead  when  in  its  purity. 
And  who  would  part  its  secret  conjugates 

Must  lose  the  fabric's  whole  security. 

Deem  not  that  there  is  nothing  left  to  prize 
In  substances  we  fail  to  recognize ; 
Their  purpose  may  be  vast  as  they  themselves  be  small. 
And  what  we  sift,  and  weigh,  and  count,  may  not  be  all. 


Silicea. 

So  of  Silicea,  simple  as  it  seems. 

The  rock-ribbed  fabric  of  the  world's  backbone, 
Found  in  the  meteor  dust,  the  sun  and  stars, 

The  universal  element  in  stone ; 
Tasteless?     Inert?     Insoluble?     Ah.no! 

This  acid  in  its  power  transcends  them  all, 
It  knows  its  own,  it  grasps  with  Samson's  strength, 

And  holds  its  grip  though  earth  and  heaven  fall. 
Inert?     Break  up  its  molecules  and  see 

Its  powers  assert  themselves  with  trituration. 
As  Crookes  bombarded  holes  in  glass  with  air, 

WThich  gained  new  power  with  each  attenuation. 
Silicea !     Not  merely  found  in  rock. 
It  also  peoples  nature's  living  stock  ; 
But  here,  before  the  flint  can  occupy  its  field. 
To  physiologic  power  the  chemic  force  must  yield. 


5<x>  Some  Lines  of  Materia  Medica. 

Down  in  the  basic,  fundamental  growth 

Of  protoplasmic  life,  its  power  it  shows, 
And  here,  among  the  cells  and  inter-cells, 

This  modifier  works  as  tissue  grows. 
The  bony  fabric  lacks  its  complement, 

The  fibrin,  like  the  iron,  lacks  alloy, 
Rachitis  is  the  sphere  of  Silica, 

And  here  the  remedy  brings  strength  and  joy. 
In  malnutrition,  not  in  function  loss, 

In  abscesses  and  chronic  suppurations, 
In  carious  bones,  in  long  perspiring  feet, 

In  nerve-decay  and  chronic  ulcerations, 
Sure,  here's  a  field  sufficient  in  its  scope 
To  fill  a  thousand  anxious  hearts  with  hope. 
And  everywhere  where  protoplasmic  growth  may  fail, 
The  reconstruct* :>r,  Silica,  may  enter  and  prevail. 

Lachesis. 

Lachesis !    That  comes  of  Hering, 
'Co-worker  with  Hahnemann,  one  of  the  mighty  immortals. 

He  passed  from  the  East  to  the  West,  with  science  and  healing, 
And  touched  the  closed  temple  of  health,  and  it  opened  its  portals. 

He  tore  from  the  fang  of  the  serpent 
"The  venom  of  death,  sun-ripened  beneath  the  equator. 

And  under  the  eye  of  the  searcher,  the  hand  of  the  master, 
"From  Siva,  destroyer,  sprang  Brahma,  preserver,  creator. 

When  they  tell  of  the  battle  of  "Serums," 
"With  serums,  in  blood  and  in  gland  and  secretion  engaging. 

Then  think  of  the  hero  who  stood  single-handed,  when  battle 
In  front  with  disease,  and  behind  with  false  leaders,  was  -aging. 

'Tis  won ;  we  have  all  learned  the  lesson, 
And  the  world  now  acclaims  what  it  met  with  indignant  denial. 

That  the  forces  of  life  over  death  must  win  in  the  warfare 
Through  allies  drawn  off  from  the  foe,  in  the  hour  of  life's  trial. 

Would  you  seek  for  the  sphere  of  Lachesis? 
Then  follow  the  blood  to  the  nerve  centers,  vainly  contending. 

The  great  pneumogastric  lies  stricken,  the  heart  sinks  and  falters, 
Dyspnoea,  constriction  of  throat,  and  lo !  death  is  impending. 

They  rally!     The  blood  is  assaulted 
With  "putrid  sore  throat,"  carbuncle,  pyaemia,  phlebitis, 

Traumatic  gangrene  and  the  long  train  of  nervous  retlexes. 
The  cardiac  cough,  palpitation  and  oesophagitis. 


Some  Liv.cs  of  Materia  Medipa.  501 

But  not  in  the  toxin  of  typhus, 
Or  the  primary  poisons  which  mark  the  zymotic  diseases, 

Its  type  is  the  type  of  the  stroke  of  the  death-dealing  serpent 
Which  follows  its  victim  by  stealth,  and  strikes  as  it  seizes. 

Rhus  Toxicodendron. 

Hark!  the  grand  organ,  bank  on  bank  of  keys, 

Multitudinous  stops  and  forest  of  throbbing  sound, 
How  the  surge  rolls  along  the  sculptured  aisles, 

Till  echoing  vault  and  arched  roof  resound. 
See  the  tall  windows  tinct  with  ancient  saints, 

Where  kneels  the  virgin  mother  in  her  tears, 
While  o'er  the  marble  altar,  high  above, 

In  daylight's  fading  glow  a  blood-red  cross  appears. 

The  mighty  harmony  ceases ;  through  the  gloom 

One  single,  quavering,  sorrowing  note  is  heard ; 
It  rises,  falters,  like  a  child  in  pain, 

And  dies  away  in  sobs.    Now  some  new  chord, 
Rich,  chromatic,  intricate,  soars  aloft, 

Clinging,  changing,  sweeping  from  key  to  key, 
To  chorals  of  triumph  from  misereres  of  pain. 

Like  the  reverberant,  rhythmic  surge  of  some  far-sounding  sea. 

The  poison  oak,  accurst  of  all  our  race ! 

Venomed  to  make  life's  blistering  lava  streams! 
But  lo!  the  juice  which  slays  can  also  save, 

The  fire  which  burns  can  guide  us  by  its  gleams. 
No  richer  gift  in  all  pain's  harmonies. 

No  agency  more  subtle  for  man's  good, 
2$o  secret  blessing  hid  from  human  ken 

Was  e'er  more  precious  balm  than  this  despised  wood. 

Gelseminum. 

Gelseminnm  !  of  noble  fame. 
"Sempervirens"  glows  thy  flame. 
How  the  aspiring  tendrils  climb, 
How  the  branches  intertwine; 
Flowers  to  tempt  a  poet's  rhyme, 
Ah,  thou  fair  and  lovely  vine ! 
But  from  out  thy  heart  there  flows 
Balm  tor  nature's  pains  and  woes. 
Mystic  kin  of  Aconite, 
He  who  reads  they  soul  aright, 
Finds  the  fever  and  the  pain. 
Struggling  cords  that   writhe  in    vain, 


502  Some  Lines  of  Materia  Medica. 

Dizzy  surge  of  heart  and  brain, 
Bend  beneath  thy  sovereign  might. 
When  the  lurid  fever  comes, 
Typhoid's  roll  of  muffled  drums, 
Clammy  tongue,  congested  eye, 
Clammy  hand  and  fever  high, 
Breath  that  comes  with  start  and  sigh, 
And  nerve  and  heart  and  brain  benumbs; 
Then  Gelseminum,  to  thee, 
Calm  we  turn  for  victory. 

Belladonna. 

Belladonna  !     Sound  of  trumpet ! 

See  the  high  arterial  flow, 
In  congestion's  throbbing  pulses 

Charging  squadrons  come  and  go ; 
Mark  the  sparkling  eye  dilated, 

Mark  neuralgia's  pulsing  pain, 
See  the  first  dread  peritonitis, 

And  the  rush  to  lung  and  brain ; 
See  the  surging  conflicts  rage ! 
See  the  bright  red  haemorrhage ! 

Belladonna .    bold   commander, 

Chooses  well  her  battle-fields; 
Not  at  random  strikes  the  foeman, 

But  her  standard  never  yields. 
Hyperaemia!     Here  you  find  her: 

Throat  like  scarlet,  skin  like  flame, 
Threatened    infantile    convulsions, 

Teething   children    bless    her    name. 
Look  for  flash  of  eye  and  brain. 
And  never  need  you  look  in  vain. 

Scant  secretions,  see  how  membranes, 

Kidneys,  larynx,  throat  grow  dry ; 
Spastic  cough  and  throbbing  headache, 

Brain,  medulla,  nerves  awry. 
So  we  see  that  Belladonna 

Has  no  secrets  for  the  seer. 
Flash  of  battle  !     Sound  of  trumpet ! 

And  her  legions  all  appear. 
But  what  grandeur  in  her  story ! 
But  what  splendor  in  her  glory ! 


Some  Lines  of  Materia   Medica.  503 

Hamamelis. 

Long  years  ago,  in  the  good  old  district  school, 

Some  budding  genius,  with  prodigious  scrawl, 
Would  write  his  name  and  station,  that  these  truths 

Might  thus  be  made  conspicuous  to  all. 
So,  "Ham-a-melis  is  my  name, 

America's  my  station, 
And  if  your  veins  are  varicose, 

You'll  find  me  your  salvation!" 
In  words  like  these  the  young  Witch  Hazel  might 
Have  written,  had  she  ever  learned  to  write. 

Blue  is  the  color  of  this  virgin  sphere, 

No  bright  arterial  flow,  nor  flush,  the  veins 
Bear  all  the  burden  in  their  pulseless  flow, 

Congested,  tortuous,  with  purpura's  stains, 
With  slow  phlebitis,  haemorrhages 

Venous,  steady,  passive, 
From  throat,  or  lung,  or  gastric  source 

(But  here  the  dose  is  massive), 
From  haemorrhoids  which  vex,  and  bleed,  and  worry, 
And  in  the  bloody  flux  of  Dysentery. 

Pulsatilla. 

A  dream  of  fair  women,  delicate,  gentle  and  sweet, 
(Men  are  sometimes  like  these,  for  opposites  meet), 
""Don't  you  remember  sweet  Alice,  Ben  Bolt,"  and  her  style, 
Her  hair  was  so  brown,  and  she  blushed  with  delight  at  a  smile, 
And  trembled  with'fear  at  a  frown?    Then  stick  a  pin  here, 
If  you're  looking  for  spheres,  Pulsatilla  has  just  such  a  sphere. 

Think  of  the  ovaries,  think  of  orchitis,  and  glands 

Which  fill  up  like  lachrymals,  tk.uik  of  the  long  slender  hands, 

Think  of  the  passive  discharges,  the  alkaline  cysts, 

And  eyes  that  have  lured  you,  as  purple  as  amethysts. 

Perhaps  you'll  be  thinking  of  gleet,  perhaps  of  sore  eyes, 
Wild  hairs  and  sticky  meibomians,  parents  of  styes; 
Leucorrhoeas,  the  menses  retarded,  and  all  sorts  of  things 
That  angels  to  doctors  disclose  when  they  open  their  wings. 

Mercurius. 

"Set  a  thief  to  catch  a  thief," 

That  is  Homoeopathy; 
And  nothing  else  this  principle 

Better  shows  than   Mercury. 


504  Some  Lines  of  Materia  Medico. 

Every  chemical  compound 

In  which  this  protean   drug  occurs, 

Searches  out  its  chosen  foes, 

From  sneak-thieves  up  to  murderers. 

Corrosivus  strikes  like  a  flash 
At  slimy,  bloody  dysentery ; 

Solubilis,  the  old  hay-seed, 

"Permiscous-like,"  with  all  makes  merry. 

And  Vivus  comes  with  stately  gait, 

And  with  the  blood  its  course  preserves, 

While  Calomel  and  Cyanide, 

Seize,  one  the  liver,  one  the  nerves. 

Then  come  the  Iodides,  those  twins, 
So  far  diverse,  yet  so  alike, 

One  takes  the  tonsil-lined  red  lane, 
And  one  the  broad  venereal  pike. 

What  lessons  may  be  learned  from  this. 

How  one  deep  constant  purpose  runs, 
And,  from  one  root,  the  progeny 

Reveals  the  sire  in  all  the  sons. 


Hepar  Sulphuris  Calcis. 

Hepar  Sulphuris  Calcis,  what  a  name! 

Calcium  Sulphide,  but  not  quite  the  same ; 

Our  old-school  friends  caught  on,  they  called  it  new, 

And  jab  their  rotten  glands  with  Hepar,  too. 

So  it  has  always  been,  the  Homoeopath 

Gathers  the  golden  grain,  the  aftermath, 

Our  old  school  brethren,  with  their  horse-rakes  lift. 

And  revile  the  giver,  while  they  accept  the  gift. 

When  slow  abscesses  fail  to  maturate. 

When  nature  for  a  starter  seems  to  wait, 

When  dry  secretions  need  resolvent  grace. 

Then  Hepar  comes  and  stares  you  in  the  face. 

And  through  the  day.  when  croup  breaks  forth  at  night, 

Or  throat  is  dry  and  cough  is  hoarse  and  tight ; 

Tf  antidote  for   Mercury  is  sought, 

Try  Hepar  low,  and  it  will  fail  you  not. 


Some  Lines  of  Materia  Medic  a.  505 

Arsenicum  Album. 

Arsenicum  Album ;  Arsenic,  if  you  will ; 

Hahnemann  knew  all  its  dangers  and  dodges  and  tricks; 
He  marked  the  first  blow,  and  followed  the  victim  until 

He  bade  him  good-by  at  the  ferry  boat  down  on  the  Styx. 
It's  a  curious  sort  of  drug,  you  can  stretch  out  a  man 

For  months  or  a  year,  by  doses  proportioned  "pro  tern," 
And  can  finish  him  up  on  a  sort  of  installment  plan, 

And  note  down  the  symptoms — sixty  pages  of  them, 
But  it's  better  to  learn  how  it  works;  if  you  get  that  clear, 
You  will  find  that  you  have  all  the  rest,  we  call  that  its  "sphere." 


Slow  irritant,  inflamer,  destroyer,  the  dust  of  the  mill, 

Where  it's  made,  so  acts  on  the  skin,  the  mouth  and  the  chest; 
Scabs  on  the  skin,  soreness  and  scales  which  fill 

With  ichor  beneath,  itching  that  gives  no  rest ; 
So  on  the  mucous  membranes,  slowly  inflamed, 

Chronic,  persistent,  recurrent,  gastritis  and  pain 
Burning,  dry,  periodic,  and  all  that  is  named 

Abnormal  malaria,  and  functions  which  struggle  in  vain, 
Diarrhoeas  exhausting  and  passive,  influenzas  which  flow, 
And  cholera,  these  are  the  field  and  the  power  of  Arsenic  to  know. 


Colocynth. 

Colocynth,  thou  curse  of  old, 

Thy  bitter  apple's  juice, 
Has  changed  to  drops  of  liquid  gold 

For  suffering  mortal's  use. 
The  rumbling,  pinching  colic  storms. 

With  diarrhoeic  rain, 
Subside  like  unsubstantial  forms, 

And  roll  and  surge  in  vain, 
For  Colocynth.  with  royal  might. 
Puts  them  at  once  to  flight. 


But  wider  still  this  monarch's  sway, 

The  wild  sciatic  thrill, 
The  pangs  of  fierce  neuralgia 

Are  silent  at  its  will ; 
And  dysentery's  slime  and  strain 

Give  place  to  forms  of  peace. 
And  functions  bound  and  scourged  with  pain, 

Find  in  thee  swift  release. 


506  Some  Lines  of  Materia  Medica. 

Nux  Vomica. 

Good  old  patient,  ever-faithful  Nux, 
In  many  a  fierce  complaint  it  is  the  crux; 
When  first  those  ancient  pagan  gods  began 
To  fling  out  gifts  of  health  to  suffering  man. 
Among  the  best  of  all  of  them  was  Nux. 

Old  Aesop  telle  us  in  his  fables  how 

The  human  members  growled,  as  they  do  now, 

The  legs  said,  "Here  we  run  to  do  its  will," 

The  arms  and  hands,  "For  it  we  waste  our  skill," 

And  tongue  and  teeth  and  throat  growled  out  "Bow-wow 

They  all  forgot  the  text  our  banner  bears, 

"E  Pluribus  Unum,"  all  things  work  on  shares, 

And  what  we  call  the  It,  is  not  the  legs, 

Or  arms,  or  mouth ;  the  house  is  not  the  pegs, 

The  wheel  is  not  the  load  the  wagon  bears. 

So  Nux  comes  in  to  settle  every  doubt, 
And  from  the  stomach  drives  the  growlers  out. 
If  the  digestive  tracts  complain,  it  tones. 
If  the  legs  droop,  it  stiffens  up  the  bones, 
And  puts  the   whole   conspiracy  to   rout. 

Here's  constipation,  here's  a  feeble  heart, 
Here's  a  machine  that  wants  a  healty  start; 
Go  to  your  old-school  brethren,  "squirt  in  strych.," 
Go  to  your  Homoeopath,  tone  up  the  sick, 
And  the  Eclectic,  he,  too,  takes  its  part. 

As  the  good  fellow,  Omar  Khayyam,  says, 

"Pish !"  the  cracked  pot  will  last  yet  many  days," 

Put  in  your  Nux,  and  everything  revives, 

It  is  no  lazy  drone,  see  how  it  strives, 

And  works  in  forty  thousand  different  ways. 

If  Hahnemann  but  this  one  thing  had  done. 
To  teach  us  Nux,  his  fame  had  scarce  begun. 
Then  think  of  all  the  other  gifts  he  gave, 
To  help,  to  recreate,  sustain  and  save — 
And  bow  before  the  deathless  name  he  won. 

Carbo  Vegetabilis. 

Carbo  Vegetabilis,  messenger  of  death. 

Shrunken  are  the  features,  cold  the  clammy  breath. 

Vital  forces  sinking,  glassy  is  the  eye. 

The  spirit  of  a  mortal  is  slowly  passing  by. 


Some  Lilies  of  Materia   Me  died.  507 

Cholera,  collapse,  the  flickering  of  life, 

The  struggles  growing  weaker,  subsidence  of  strife; 
Perhaps  Carbo  will  save  us  with  its  potence  high, 
When  everything  is  failing  there's  Carbo  left  to  try. 

Aconite. 

Aconitum  Xapellus,  whenever  you're  stuck  on  a  case, 

Our  old-school  brethren  tell  us.  with  their  usual  smiling  grace. 

You  put  four  tiny  pellets  of  Aconite  on  the  tongue, 

And  the  dying  patient  is  sound  again,  and  the  octogenarian  young. 

'Tis  an  innocent  amusement,  so  let  them  have  their  fling. 
They  are  nearer  right  than  when  they  blistered  and  bled  for  that  very  thing, 
And  the  mighty  purges  that  used  to  wash  their  sins  and  patients  away. 
We  try  to  forgive,  although  we  live,  at  last  in  a  better  day. 

The  Homoeopath  treats  Aconite  as  he  treats'  his  other  friends. 
Uses  it  when  he  needs  it,  to  accomplish  his  sought-for  ends. 
And  if  he  uses  it  often,  'tis  because  it  is  so  good. 
And  rich  and  generous  in  its  way,  and  its  ways  are  understood. 

Take  old  Jahr.  with  his  thirty  pages  of  autobiography. 

Written  by  Aconite  itself,  read  them  over  and  see 

Now  nearly  all  of  its  doings  are  culled  from  old-school  stock. 

And  we  use  its  power  to  save  the  necks  it  used  to  send  to  the  block. 

To  see  how  the  old-school  use  it.  chained  in  its  prison  pen. 
Is  enough  to  give  the  shivers  to  any  observing  men. 
Why  don't  they  open  its  prison  door,  and  set  this  master  free? 
Nobody,  nothing,  can  do  its  best  till  it  basks  in  liberty. 

Its  power,  indeed,  is  so  wide  and  deep,  and  reaches  out  so  far. 

That  it  shines  through  the  dungeons  of  disease  with  the  piercing  light  of 

a  star. 
But  just  because  of  its  mighty  scope,  it  is  hard  in  a  line  or  two 
To  even  hint  at  the  wondrous  things  that  Aconite  can  do. 

Fever,  of  course,  croup,  the  heart,  congestions  like  a  strike 
Of  functions  overcharged,  arterial,  venous,  alike. 
Tissues,  serous  or  mucous,  or  fibrous,  all  are  one 
To  this  far-reaching  remedy,  and  then  we  have  but  begun. 

'Tis  only  by  learning  what  each  drug  can  do  to  a  healthy  man 
That  we  ever  can  learn  of  any  drug  its  field  and  scope  and  span. 
Surely  no  one  disputes  this  truth,  certainly  none  but   fools. 
Unless  they  deny  that  the  best  mechanic  is  one  who  knows  his  tools. 


508  Some  Lines  of  Materia  Medica. 

So  let  the  student  of  Aconite  study  its  works  and  ways, 

They  are  easy,  but  yet  will  take  some  time,  but  how  can  he  spend  his  days 

Better  than  in  the  learning  of  what  his  tools  can  do? 

For  when  disease  came  into  the  world,  God  sent  the  remedy,  too. 

Clinical  Practice. 

A  hundred  thousand  symptoms  or  more 

Gathered  from  toe  to  head, 
Will  you  con  them  over,  one  by  one, 

At  the  side  of  the  sufferer's  bed? 
Or  will  you  go  down  in  your  saddle-bags 

And  dig  up  a  volume  hoary, 
And  sit  and  thumb,  at  the  well-worn  leaves. 

Of  some  old  repertory? 
Well,  you  had  better  not  try  such  schemes 

In  this  fair  land  of  the  free, 
For  if  your  patient  is  squalling  for  help 

You  will  squall  in  vain  for  your  fee. 
Take  your  brain  and  your  nerve  and  hand 

Right  into  the  room  with  you, 
And  buckle  down  to  the  job  you  find, 

And  do  what  there  is  to  do. 
So  you  will  win,  if  you  first  began, 
A   well-trained   medical    gentleman. 

But  how  shall  you  meet  the  phenomena 

Which  rise  before  your  view? 
How  shall  you  match  the  drug  with  disease, 

And  baffle  its  inroad,  too? 
Learn  the  sphere  of  each  drug  you  use, 

Make  it  your  bosom  friend, 
Search  out  its  scope,  learn  how  it  acts, 

And  measure  its  touch  and  trend; 
You  will  recognize  at  a  glance  sometimes, 

The  picture  before  you  spread, 
And  objective  signs  and  a  question  or  two, 

As  you  sit  by  the  side  of  the  bed, 
Will  give  you  confidence  to  prescribe, 

And,  better  still,  it  will  bring 
Confidence   to   the   sufferer's   friends. 

And  trust  to  the  suffering. 
So  you  wifl  win,  if  you  first  began, 
A  well-trained  medical  gentleman. 


Echinacea  in  Germany.  509* 


ECHINACEA  IN   GERMANY. 

The  great  remedy  Echinacea  seems  to  have  become  very  popu- 
lar in  Germany,  and  deservedly  so  if  we  may  judge  from  the  re- 
ports of  cases  printed  in  the  German  journals.  One  case  was 
diagnosed  several  things  by  two  physicians  before  it  was  seen  to 
be  a  full  fledged  case  of  appendicitis.  Echinacea  had  been  given- 
from  the  start  and  was  continued;  the  case  ran  an  unusually 
favorable  course. 

Another  unusual  case  for  the  remedy  was  one  of  piles,  blue, 
swollen,  protruding  and  exceedingly  dangerous.  But  let  the 
narrator  tell  his  own  story — the  patient  was  a  woman. 

Accordingly  I  prescribed  insted  of  the  cold  water  com- 
presses cold  clay  compresses  to  be  applied  to  the  same  and  the 
surrounding  parts.  They  were  not  ignorant  of  the  use  of  wet 
clay  in  this  manner,  and  the  husband  at  once  said  he  ought  to 
have  thought  of  it.  The  homoeopathic  remedy  to  be  internally 
prescribed  had  from  the  first  moment  been  very  clear  to  me. 
Echinacea!  It  would  take  me  too  far  if  I  would  give  my  reasons- 
for  the  choice  of  this  excellent  remedy.  This  journal  has  during 
the  last  years  given  sufficient  reasons  for  my  choice.  I  am  only 
sorry  that  I  did  not  become  acquainted  with  it  earlier.  It  builds 
up,  stimulates  and  is  antiseptic  more  than  any  other  remedy,  and, 
therefore,  also  assuages  pain.  I  have  used  it  both  internally  and 
externally.  Owing  to  the  case  before  me  my  doses  were  consider- 
able. I  applied  the  tincture  to  the  tumors  every  time  the  clay  was 
changed,  i.  e.,  every  half  hour,  and  besides  this  I  mixed  it  with 
the  clay. 

The  result  was  brilliant !  Even  that  same  afternoon  the  pa- 
tient fell  into  a  refreshing  sleep.  The  next  day  the  violent  in- 
flammation of  the  tumors  and  the  torments  thereby  inflicted  had 
so  much  diminished  that  using  the  cerate  of  Hamamelis  I  could 
apply  a  gentle  massage.  In  three  days  the  tumors  behind  the 
sphincters  had  disappeared,  and  did  not  appear  even  when  the 
stools  now  set  in  copiously.  Up  to  this  day  the  patient  has  not 
felt  any  more  pains,  although  the  tumors  will  never  quite  dis- 
appear. 

It  would  be  idle  to  discuss  the  question  whether  the  tincture 
without  the  clay  would  have  alleviated  the  pains  and  removed  the 


510  Time  Works   Wonders. 

inflammation  as  quickly.  Let  both  remedies  be  used;  they  have 
proved  their  efficacy  a  thousand  times,  and  brilliantly  complement 
each  other.  Allopathy  would  have  worked  with  the  knife  and 
with  morphine.  But  since  the  bloody  removal  of  the  tumors 
would  have  been  an  operation  in  a  highly  inflamed  tissue,  there 
could  have  been  no  idea  of  assuaging  thereby  the  pains.  On  the 
contrary.  Experience  teaches  that  the  pains  on  the  days  after 
the  operation  are  much  increased,  and  the  injection  of  morphine 
would  have  to  be  depended  on,  and  nevertheless  the  diminution 
of  pains  would  have  been  insufficient,  without  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  poisoning  with  morphine  which  is  not  to  be 
neglected,  and  the  disadvantage  of  the  narcosis  from  chloroform 
with  their  previous  excitement  and  the  accompanying  phenomena. 
Our  advice,  therefore,  would  be  to  follow  the  path  pointed  out 
.above.  M. 


TIME  WORKS   WONDERS. 

.  It  is  but  a  few  years  ago  when  the  "regular"  gentlemen  were 
"indulging  in  occasional  emotional  war  dances  over  the  fact  that 
the  Homoeopaths  used  the  pus  from  the  itch,  bed  bugs,  insects 
from  flies'  wings,  the  poison  or  what  you  will,  of  gonorrhoea  and 
other  diseases,  and  all  manner  of  "nasty  and  unutterably  vile" 
things  as  remedies.  To  be  sure  when  the  dance  took  on  a  milder 
pace  they  humorously  worked  themselves  merry  over  the  ho- 
moeopathic dose,  which  they  said  was  but  a  thing  of  the  imagina- 
tion, plus  sugar.  But  now  what  they  term  "medical  science"  has 
made  the  'vaccine"  the  rage.  The  "vaccine,"  we  believe,  is  the 
virus,  to  use  an  old  term,  of  any  disease.  The  homoeopathic 
Medorrhiniim,  is  simply  the  "vaccine"  of  gonorrhoea  run  up  to  a 
'high  potency,  and  administered  in  cases  where  there  was  a  con- 
stitutional taint,  or  chronic  effects,  of  the  disease.  The  late  Dr. 
J.  C.  Burnett  used  all  the  vaccines  of  the  various  diseases,  or,  as 
he  would  have  termed  them,  "nosodes,"  of  the  various  diseases, 
in  his  practice  together  with  his  "organ  remedies"  and  the  indi- 
cated homoeopathic  remedy,  and  this  probably  accounted  for  his 
marvelously  successful  practice — at  least  he  said  it  did  in  his 
various  books. 

This  one-time  "nasty"  practice  has  now  been  adopted  by  the 
•erstwhile  war  dancers,  and  they  term  it  "vaccine  therapy." 


A  Possible  Remedy  in  Idiocy.  51? 

Drs.  Frank  Spooner  Churchill  and  Alex.  C.  Soper,  Jr.,  of 
Rush.  Chicago,  contribute  a  paper  to  the  Journal  A.  M.  Associa- 
tion, October  17.  under  the  title.  "The  Inoculation  Treatment  of 
Gonococcus  Vulvovaginitis  in  Children."  They  write  under 
"Tecnic" — T.  R..  reformed  spelling,  please  note: 

The  estimation  of  the  opsonic  index  has  been  done  by  the  usual  Wright 

method.  The  '"pool*"  serum  has  been  prepared  from  the  blood  of  three- 
healthy  adults.  The  killed  bacteria,  prepared  and  standardized  also  in  the 
Wright  method,  has  been  usually  made  from  old  strain.-  of  one  organism. 
The  dosage  has,  of  course,  been  more  <>r  less  a  matter  of  guesswork;  we 
have  started  with  about  fifteen  millions,  gon<    as  high  as  f 

twenty  millions  for  the  oldest  girls,  and  sixty  or  eighty  millions  for  those 
about  five  years  of  age. 

The  "millions"  here  refer  to  the  ''dead  gonococci"  of  gonor- 
rhoea as  is  seen  in  the  following  paper,  by  Drs.  William  J. 
Butler,  of  Chicago,  and  J.  P.  Long,  Birmingham,  in  the  same 
journal  and  on  the  same  subject,  who  wrote: 

One  of  the  serum  cases  was  treated  by  serum  for  eighty-three  daysv 
when  there  was  still  considerable  discharge,  and  the  serum  treatment  was 
stopped.  The  patient  was  given  fifty  million  dead  gonococci  on  March 
21,  1898,  etc. 

This  is  surely  Samuel  Swan  isopathy  in  allopathic  doses — at 
least  fifty  million  dead  gonococci  of  gonorrhoea  seems  like  :n 
allopathic  dose.  In  view  of  all  this,  and  also  because  the  treat 
ment  doesn't  seem  to  have  been  widely  successful,  is  it  to  much 
to  ask  the  "regular"  gentlemen  to  refrain  from  further  ■ 
dances  over  homoeopathic  "nastiness"  in  the  matter  of  nosodes" 
If  compelled  to  choose  between  a  dose  of  fifty  million  dead  bugs  of 
gonorrhoea  and  one  of  the  prescription  filled  by  Macbeth's 
witches,  we  would  reluctantly  take  the  latter,  even  though  the 
former  be  the  latest  in  medical  science  as  she  is  exemplified  in  the- 
national  organ. 


A  POSSIBLE    REMEDY  IN   IDIOCY,  THE  LOCO 

WEED. 
A  tincture  of  this  curious  plant  that  has  furnished  a  neu    w^vd 
to  the  English  language,   /'.   e.,  "locoed."   was   proved   under  the 


512  A  Possible  Remedy  in  Idiocy. 

auspices  of  Drs.  W.  J.  Hawkes  and  W.  S.  Gee  in  1887,  but  so  far 
as  we  know  has  never  been  used  in  clinical  work.  The  proving, 
tinder  the  name  "Oxytropis  Lamberti,"  may  be  found  in  "New, 
Old  and  Forgotten  Remedies."  The  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Plant  In- 
dustry has  been  investigating  the  loco  weed  and  finds  that  while 
some  of  the  plants  are  harmless  others  are  very  poisonous.  It  is 
found  that  the  latter  are  rich  in  barium  (Baryta  carb.)  which, 
the  inference  is,  has  been  drawn  from  particular  soils.  Here  are 
two  typical  symptoms  of  the  proving  of  Baryta  carb.  (Allen, 
Handbook).  "Dejection,  with  disinclination  to  speak."  Also 
"Want  of  memory;  so  that  he  does  not  knozv  what  he  has  just 
spoken/'     Italics  Allen's. 

Here  is  the  mental  state  as  developed  by  Gee  in  the  proving 
conducted  under  his  auspices.  "Great  mental  depression."  "Can- 
not think  or  concentrate  his  thoughts."  "Very  forgetful  of  famil- 
iar words  and  names."  "No  life."  "Disinclination  to  talk  or 
study."  "Wants  to  be  alone."  "Is  better  satisfied  to  sit  and 
do  nothing."  "Feels  perfectly  despondent."  "A  feeling  as  if  I 
would  lose  consciousness."  They  were  also  "unable  to  move 
around"  on  account  of  these  queer  feelings.  In  Baryta  carb. 
""paralysis  extending  from  below  upward  so  that  he  could  only 
nod  his  head,"  etc. 

The  name  of  the  plant  is  said  to  come  from  the  Spanish  and 
signifies  "insanity."  A  western  paper  (Kansas  City  Star)  says: 
"You  will  see  a  locoed  mule  (i.  e.,  one  who  has  eaten  the  loco 
■weed)  standing  out  on  the  shadowless  plain  with  not  a  living  or 
:moving  thing  in  his  vicinity.  His  head  is  drooping  and  his  eyes 
:are  half  closed.  In  an  instant  he  will  kick  and  thresh  out  his 
heels  in  a  most  war-like  manner.  *  *  *  The  mind  of  the  ani- 
mal is  completely  gone.  He  cannot  be  worked  because  of  his 
titter  lack  of  reason.  He  will  go  right  or  left  or  turn  around  in 
the  harness  in  spite  of  bit  or  whip ;  or  will  fail  to  stop  or  start, 
and  all  in  a  vacant,  idiotic  way,  devoid  of  malice."  A  picture  of 
runmalicious  idiocy. 

In  the  proving,  aside  from  the  idiotic,  "locoed,"  mental  state, 
which  is  the  key  of  the  drug,  the  most  marked  symptoms  or 
•efrects  were  mushy,  jelly-like  stools  and  urine,  "three  or  four 
times  the  normal  quantity,"  in  four  of  the  provers,  with  no  sedi- 
ment. 


Crataegus  Oxyacantha.  513 

One  of  the  provers,  No.  4,  before  making  the  proving-  had  been 
very  subject  to  vertigo,  while  walking,  sitting  or  lying  down. 
This  condition  was  removed  by  the  proving,  or,  to  quote:  "Suffice 
it  to  say  it  has  entirely  disappeared,  and  with  it  the  uncertain 
movements  in  walking,  the  severe  pain  in  the  head  and  feeling  of 
compression."  After  discontinuing  the  drug  there  was  an  "un- 
common flow  of  pale,  straw  colored  urine."  The  drug  strength 
used  by  the  provers  was  from  the  tincture  to  15th.  This  prover 
was  on  the  6th.  He  is  not  the  first  prover  who  nas  stumbled  on 
a  cure  in  proving  a  drug. 

The  best  potency  of  the  drug  is  probably  the  3d  or  6th,  for  it 
is  said  that  some  Spanish  ladies  when  they  take  a  dislike  to  any 
one,  especially  an  American  lover,  steep  some  of  the  plant  in  the 
tea  served  and  thus  "loco"  them. 

So  much  for  this  forgotten  drug,  which,  by  the  way,  never  had 
any  vogue,  whose  possible  sphere  of  usefulness  is  limited  but 
very  important.  It  may  do  good  work  among  the  "locoed,"  and 
is  a  drug  that  ought  to  be  studied. 


CRATAEGUS  OXYACANTHA. 

This  remedy,  which  was  really  introduced  to  the  medical  pro- 
fession years  ago  in  the  pages  of  the  Homceopathic  Recorder, 
continues  to  win  laurels  in  apparently  hopeless  heart  cases.  The 
last  one  we  have  seen  is  by  Dr.  H.  S.  Lawrence  in  the  September 
number  of  Ellingwood' s  Therapeutist.  The  patient  was  Judge 
J.  P.,  aged  82,  weighing  280  pounds,  who  was  taken  with  asthma, 
then  heart  pains,  dropsy  and  the  usual  train  of  ills  that  attend 
such  cases.  Skipping  the  preliminary  skirmishes  with  the  disease 
we  come  to  the  interesting  part  at  once  and  give  it  in  Dr.  Law- 
rence's own  words : 

"I  left  home  for  a  short  vacation  to  attend  our  annual  session 
here  in  Chicago  and  to  be  absent  from  home  about  a  week.  Re- 
turning home,  I  went  at  once  to  see  him  and  found  him  propped 
up  in  a  chair,  and  with  that  suffocating  feeling  in  the  region  of 
the  heart.  His  limbs  were  greatly  swollen ;  an  anxious  look  on  the 
face;  labored  breathing,  and  another  physician  in  charge,  and  I 
found  that  I  was  fired  bodily,  because  I  had  'been  gone  five  days 
and  left  him  to  suffer  so.' 


514  Cratccgus  OxyacantJia. 

"The  doctor  who  had  been  called  in  was  plastering  his  limbs 
with  'Denver  mud,'  but  what  the  internal  medicine  was,  I  do  not 
know.  The  new  doctor  was — according  to  his  published  card — 
*A  Specialist  in  Medical  and  Surgical  Treatment  of  the  Eye, 
Ear,  Nose,  Throat,  Lungs,  Heart,  Stomach,  Bowels,  Nervous 
System,  Kidneys,  Diseases  of  the  Skin,  Diseases  of  Men,  Women 
and  Children,  and  the  Permanent  Removal  of  Cancer  Without  the 
Knife.'  This  was  too  much  for  me,  as  I  could  not  think  to  com- 
pete with  one  so  learned  as  to  be  a  specialist  in  all  diseases  that 
the  human  race  is  heir  to,  so  I  retired  (by  request)  crestfallen 
from  his  glittering  presence. 

"For  some  months  the  patient  was  some  better,  then  worse 
again ;  better,  then  worse.  This  'Denver  mud'  was  the  only  thing, 
so  far  as  I  could  learn,  that  was  applied  to  the  extremities.  The 
limbs  remained  swollen,  and' the  patient  could  not  walk  but  a  few 
steps  at  a  time,  but  he  could  ride  out  if  he  had  help  to  get  in  and 
out  of  the  buggy.     Every  few  days  we  would  hear,  'Well,  Judge 

P had  another  bad  time  last  night,  they  thought  he  would 

die  any  minute.' 

"Not  long  after  this  our  specialist  doctor  took  sick  and  died 
and  I  was  again  called  at  attend  the  Judge,  but  I  declined  with 
thanks,  but  the  next  day  the  patient  asked  me  to  treat  him,  and  I 
consented. 

"At  this  time,  the  dropsy  extended  from  the  toes  up  into  the 
abdomen,  the  heart's  action  weak  and  irregular;  there  was  pain, 
poor  appetite,  and  the  case  did  not  appear  very  promising. 

'T  began  giving  him  Cratccgus,  6  drops  in  water,  every  three 
hours,  and  I  soon  increased  the  dose  to  12  drops  every  three 
hours.  I  have  had  to  vary  the  treatment  occasionally  as  other 
symptoms  came  up,  but  I  usually  managed  to  give  him  daily  some 
Cratccgus.  I  saw  him  Monday,  and  he  now  weighs  146  pounds, 
does  not  have  much  trouble  with  his  heart  any  more,  although  he 
is  frail.  If  he  feels  badly,  he  takes  a  few  doses  of  Cratccgus.  He 
is  now  eighty-four  years  old,  walks  out  daily  if  weather  permits, 
and  hears  a  law  case  occasionally.  I  have  not  examined  his 
heart  lately,  but  he  certainly  owes  his  present  condition  to  the 
good  results  from  the  use  of  Cratccgus." 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  this  remedy  possesses  peculiar 
virtues  in  diseases  where  the  heart  is  involved.     It  is  mentioned 


Some  Points  on  Tuberculosis. 


? '  3 


in  the  older  medical  works  as  far  back  as  Dioscorides,  but  in  a 
vague  manner  as  to  its  uses.  It  is  not  poisonous  like  Digitalis, 
being  nothing  but  a  tincture  of  the  ripe  white  hawthorne  berries 
It  will  repay  any  physician  who  has  troublesome  heart  cases  to 
treat  to  try  Crataegus  oxyacantlia. 


STRYCHNIA    PHOSPHORICA. 

Eleven  students  of  the  Iowa  State  University  Homoeopathic 
School,  under  supervision  of  Dr.  Geo.  Royal,  have  made  a  good 
proving  of  Strychnia  phos.,  under  the  general  rules  adoptt.l  by 
the  O.   O.  and  L.  Society,  which  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 

The  drug  seems  to  act  through  the  cerebro-spinal  nervous  sys- 
tem. 

Twitching,  trembling  of  muscles,  lack  of  co-ordination,  stiff, 
weak,  or  complete  loss  of  power,  vertigo  and  fainting. 

Mentally,  much  silly  laughter. 

Very  irregular  pulse,  from  50  to  132,  face  flushed,  skin  at  times 
cold  and  clammy. 

Sub-normal  temperature,  as  low  as  97. 

Markedly  worse  from  motion ;  better  from  rest  and  open  air 

The  proving  points  to  chorea,  locomotor  ataxia,  paralysis, 
tetanus  and  hysteria. 

Potencies  proved:  30th,  6th,  3d  and  1st:  all  acted. 


SOME  POINTS   ON   TUBERCULOSIS. 

The  Monthly  Bulletin  of  the  X.  V.  Dept.  of  Health  contains 
the  following:  "It  has  been  generally  supposed  that  the  Jew? 
were  largely  immune  from  tuberculosis,  but  the  statistics  of  the 
Phipps  Institute  show  a  high  morbidity  among  the  Tews.  Of 
course,  the  Phipps  Institute,  being  located  in  the  midst  of  the 
Jewish  district,  naturally  attracts  a  larger  percentage  oi  the  Jewish 
than  the  Gentile  tubercular  poor  of  the  city.  Inasmuch  as  these 
poor  Jews  are  of  the  orthodox  type  and  use  Kosher  meat  ex- 
clusively, we  can  probably  rule  out,  as  far  as  these  patients  are 
concerned,  the  transmission  of  the  disease  by  the  infected  meat." 

We  also  clip  the   following   from   the  same   journal:     "Hard 


516  Therapeutic  Pointers.  < 

physical  labor,  poor  food,  and  unhygienic  home  environment  all 
go  with  low  earning  capacity  and  are  factors  in  presenting  a 
high  morbidity  from  tuberculosis." 

The  paper  continues:  "The  tendency  to  recovery  in  this  dis- 
ease is  very  great,  and  many  cases  that  now  succumb  would  un- 
doubtedly recover  if  this  work  problem  could  be  eliminated." 

And  so  here  we  are  up  against,  not  the  famous  coma  bacillus, 
but  the  political  problem  that  makes  socialism  and  all  sorts  of  un- 
pleasant things  to  worry  the  world's  well-to-do. 


FICUS   RELIGIOSO.     IS  IT  A  FRAUD? 

This  Indian  remedy  is  made  from  the  leaves  of  a  native  tree.  It 
was  proved  by  Dr.  S.  C.  Ghose,  of  Bhowanipore.  The  provings 
will  be  found  in  Clarke's  Dictionary  of  Materia  Medica  and  also 
in  the  April  number  of  The  Recorder,  1904.  The  characteristic 
symptoms  elicited  was  blood  in  the  urine,  stools  and  in  vomiting. 
Now  comes  Dr.  Augustus  Mattoli,  Rome,  Italy,  who  says  he  has 
tried  it  clinically  without  results.  He  also  tried  it  in  material 
doses  on  himself  and  on  dogs  without  any  results  whatever.  Dr. 
J.  B.  S.  King,  who  publishes  his  paper  in  the  September  Medical 
Advance,  procured  some  of  the  tincture  from  the  Boericke  & 
Tafel  Chicago  pharmacy  and  himself  took  forty  drops  and  then 
eighty  drops.  "No  symptoms  noted.'''  From  this  we  may  infer 
that  the  remedy  is  inert  on  European  and  American  provers  at 
least.  Probablyythe  old  idea  that  each  country  produces  the  rem- 
edies suitable  to  its  people  is  a  true  one,  or  else  this  remedy  is,  in 
the  language  of  the  day,  "a  fake." 


THERAPEUTIC    POINTERS. 

Splenic  affections.  In  acute  swellings  (Dr.  Pinard)  caused  by 
a  mechanical  cause  (trauma),  Arnica  3  and  Belladonna  3  should 
be  used.  When  caused  by  suppression  of  the  menses,  Graphites 
3.  The  spleen  may  be  the  seat  of  a  considerable  hypertrophy,  es- 
pecially in  intermittent  fevers.  When  the  spleen  is  swollen  and 
the  patient  has  a  certain  tendency  to  haemorrhages  with  an  aggra- 
vation of  the  fever  in  moist  days,  Aranea  diadema  is  indicated. 


Therapeutic  Pointers. 


:>V 


With  patients  who  have  abused  Quinine,  Arsenicum  6  is  to  be 
preferred,  so  also  Nux  vom.  6  and  Veratrum  alb.  6,  where  there  if 
a  tendency  to  taking  colds.  Certain  authors  recommend  Bromium 
5  and  Plumbum  6,  which  are  said  to  give  brilliant  results  in  light 
cases  of  intermittent  fever  with  a  swelling  of  lymphatic  or  other 
glands.  Manganum  acet.  6  gives  equally  good  results  in  such 
cases.  Arnica  and  China  in  alternation  are  also  yet  to  be  men- 
tioned. 

Excessive  secretion  of  sebaceous  substances,  or  seborrhcea,  has 
been  cured  with  Badiaga. 

Tuberculos  iritis.  A  severe  case  of  this  disease  has  been  cured 
with  Baryta  tod. — N.  Am.  J.  of  Horn. 

Polypus  of  the  uterus  was  cured  in  ten  days  with  Sanguinaria 
3  D.,  taken  twice  a  day,  by  Dr.  Majumdar. 

A  fibrona  of  the  uterus  disappeared  under  the  influence  of 
Lilium  tigr.  3  D.,  taken  twice  a  day.     (Indian  Horn.  Rev.) 

Antimonium  arsen.  30,  six  doses  taken  in  three  days,  promptly 
cured  ailments  from  menopause  with  obstinate  attacks  of  asthma. 
(Think  of  Lachesis  in  change  of  life  ills.) 

Obstinate  constipation  arising  from  an  abuse  of  clysters,  which 
had  resisted  Lycopod.,  Natrnm  mur.,  Sulphur  and  Iris,  etc., 
yielded  to  Apium  virus  12. 

Acidum  picricum  is  recommended  by  Dr.  Royal  in  excessive 
strain  on  the  brain,  especially  where  there  is  violent  pulsation  and 
beating  in  the  occiput,  which  extends  to  the  vertex,  or  with  a  sen- 
sation of  weight  on  the  base  of  the  brain. 

General  hay  fever  finds  its  specific  in  Arundo  maur.  Its  ac- 
tion gives  a  true  picture  of  this  disease. 

Small  children  with  a  large  head  and  copious  perspiration  of 
the  head,  who  are  weakly,  indicate  Calcarea  carb.  6,  or,  still  better, 
30. 

In  leucorrhcea  and  rheumatism  of  women  with  wandering  pains 
Caulophyllum  1  will  give  relief. 

Thunderstorms.  Ailments  which  are  aggravated  before  the 
appearance  of  a  thunderstorm,  with  a  great  fear  of  the  same,  in- 
dicate Rhododendron  3. 


518  Therapeutic  Pointers. 

It  is  generally  known  that  when  any  one  can  not  lie  quiet  and 
finds  relief  in  motion,  that  then  Rhus  tox.  6  will  give  relief. 

Dry  nose.  When  the  nose  of  children  is  dry  and  respiration 
through  the  nose  become  difficult  or  impossible,  Sambucus  3  will 
give  relief. 

Thin,  watery,  putrid  secretions  from  wounds,  ulcers,  cancerous 
ulcers,  etc.,  requires  Silicea  30.  The  patient  shuns  cold  and  de- 
sires to  have  his  head  wrapped  up;  headache  where  the  patient 
wraps  up  his  head. 

Extreme  exhaustion,  Stannum  30. 

Arnica  tincture  should  not  be  applied  to  the  skin  undiluted,  as 
it  is  too  strong  an  irritant;  in  order  to  obtain  a  good  effect  we 
should  mix  it  with  twenty  parts  of  water. 

In  angina  pectoris  Magnesia  phosph.  is  an  excellent  remedy  to 
cut  off  the  painful  attacks. 

Arum  triphyllum  6  is  indicated  in  redness  and  rawness  of  the 
lips  and  of  the  mouth  when  they  look  like  raw  beef. 

Sanguinaria  canadensis,  according  to  Dr.  Nash,  is  suitable  in 
the  flushes  of  heat  in  the  climacteric  period,  where  there  is  burn- 
ing of  the  palm  of  the  hand  and  of  the  sole  of  the  foot.  Very 
painful  rheumatism  of  the  knee  with  slight  swelling  was  promptly 
cured  by  the  internal  application  of  Stellaria  media  2  D.,  and  the 
external  application  of  the  mother  tincture  of  the  same. 

Carbo  z'cgctabilis,  according  to  Dr.  Evans,  is  especially  suit- 
able when  there  is  a  gaseous  distension  of  the  stomach,  while 
Lye 0 podium  is  most  suitable  when  there  is  a  distension  of  the 
bowels.  In  Carbo  veg.  there  is  a  tendency  to  diarrhoea,  in  Ly co- 
podium  to  constipation.  Dr.  Bayes  assures  us  that  in  the  chronic 
bronchitis  of  old  people  with  a  profuse  accumulation  of  mucus 
and  difficult  expectoration,  with  blue  nails  and  cold  extremities, 
Carbo  veg.,  from  the  6  to  the  30  potency,  proves  very  useful. 

Graphites  in  cutaneous  eruptions,  as  compared  with  other  ho- 
moeopathic remedies,  according  to  Dr.  Gale,  shows  the  following 
characteristic  differences:  Graphites,  the  eruption  is  humid,  with 
blisters  and  forms  crusts  or  scales,  after  scratching  a  sticky,  wrhit- 
ish  or  yellowish  fluid  oozes  out.     Lycopodium,  a  dry  scaly  erup- 


The  Pharmacopeia.  519 

tion.  Mezereum,  thick  hard  crusts  from  which  when  pressed  a 
thick  pus  is  discharged.  Hepar  sulph.,  crusts  which  easily  come 
off,  leaving  a  bleeding,  sensitive  surface.  Like  as  Calcarea  carb., 
Graphites  makes  fissures  and  chaps,  and  has,  like  Pulsatilla,  a 
tendency  to  form  styes.  Graphites  is  the  chief  remedy  in  eczema 
on  the  sexual  organs  and  on  the  anus. 

Graphites  may  cure  fissures  of  the  anus,  just  as  Ignatia,  P latino, 
Plumbum,  Paeonia  alba,  Xitri  acid  and  Ratanhia. 

The  perspiration  of  the  feet  of  Graphites  is  just  as  profuse  but 
less  fetid  than  that  of  Silicea. 

A  North  Dakota  physician  whose  name  unfortunately  has  got 
away  from  us,  claims  that  Graphites  3X  is  what  might  be  termed 
the  basic  remedy  for  fat  women's  ills — any  other  may  be  called 
for  at  times,  but  Graphites  is  always  needed. 

When  you  have  an  obstinate  case  of  eczema  or  any  dry  skin 
disease  put  it  on  Skookum  chuck  3X  trituration  for  a  week  or  two 
and  note  the  result.     It  has  done  surprisingly  good  work. 


DR.   C.   M.   BOGER  ON   THE   PHARMACOPCEIA. 

Pharmacopoeia  Committee  of  the  A.  I.  H. 

Gentlemen:  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letters  and  reprint-  for 
which  I  thank  you,  but  you  will  have  to  advance  better  arguments 
than  these  before  I  can  take  any  stock  in  them.  The  one  from 
the  "H.  H."  is  of  the  "too  quoque"  form,  and,  therefore,  unworthy 
of  serious  consideration. 

The  logical  deduction  from  the  other  is,  that  because  no  matter 
can  be  demonstrated  beyond  the  12th  potency,  therefore,  all  such 
preparations  are  officially  taboo,  and  if  your  bill  passes  Congress. 
will  belong  to  the  class  of  outlawed  nostrums.  Von  surely  don't 
expect  any  sane  homoeopath  to  put  such  a  gag  in  his  own  thr  >at, 
not  to  say  nothing  of  the  pseudo-scientific  attitude  which  it  as- 
sumes. It  is  the  old  warfare  over  again  when  logicians  finally 
doubt  everything  but  their  own  existence. 

This  kind  of  clap-trap  may  appeal  to  a  certain  class  of  minds, 
but  it  is  indeed  deplorable  that  it*  should  be  found  among  men 
who  call  themselves  homoeopaths. 

Truly  yours, 

C.  M.  Boger. 


Homoeopathic  Recorder. 

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EDITORIAL    BREVITIES. 

Untoward  Results  From  Antitoxin. — Dr.  Herbert  F.  Gil- 
lette, of  Cuba,  N.  Y.,  reports  to  the  Journal  A.  M.  A.,  October 
3d,  twenty-three  cases  in  which  untoward  results  followed  the  use 
of  diphtheria  antitoxin.  Of  these  ten  died  and  the  others  suffered 
collapse  with  ultimate  recovery.  "The  information  was  definite 
and  positive"  concerning  these  cases,  which  were  sent  in  by  prac- 
titioners in  response  to  a  previously  published  request.  The  con- 
clusion is  that  "there  is  a  certain  element  of  danger  if  any  form 
of  horse  serum  in  subjects  who  suffer  from  any  form  of  respira- 
tory embarrassment,"  and  this  is  not  due  to  any  fault  on  the  part 
of  the  manufacturer  of  the  serum.  In  fatal  cases  "the  heart  con- 
tinues to  act  long  after  respiration  has  ceased."  If  ten  cases  of 
death  could  be  positively  traced  to  any  one  homoeopathic  remedy 
with  the  suspicion,  almost  a  certainty,  that  there  were  many  more 
deaths  from  it  that  had  not  been  reported,  the  affair  would  not  be 
academically  discussed  in  medical  jurnals  but  in  the  courts ; 
every  reader  ♦  knows  this  would  be  the  fact.  Well  ?  Nothing. 
These  deaths  were  lawful.  Under  any  other  form  of  medicine 
they  would  have  been  unlawful.  Scientific?  Certainly,  just  as 
scientific  as  they  were  legal.  This  science  learns  by  experiment 
on  that  on  which  it  works,  the  sick.  The  whole  matter  combines 
itself  into  a  very  interesting  condition  of  affairs,  or,  if  you  please, 
problem. 

Deaths  From  Serum. — The  same  issue  of  the  Journal  con- 
taining Dr.  Gillette's  paper  devotes  its  leading  editorial  to  "Pre- 
vention of  the  fatal'  intoxication  that  sometimes  follow  sero- 
therapy."   No  queston  of  abandoning  the  sometimes  fatal  therapy 


Editorial.  521 

is  considered ;  that  most  likely,  will  come  later.  The  editor  points 
out  the  fact  that  considering  the  number  of  injections  of  serum 
made  to-day  the  fatalities  are  not  numerous.  Curious,  isn't  it? 
like  the  poor  girl  who  bore  an  illegitimate  child.  "But,  Judge,  it  is 
such  a  little  thing !"  The  editorial  is  devoted  to  the  discussion  of 
the  question  of  how  the  dose  of  serum  may  be  given  without  kill- 
ing the  patient.  "The  intracardiac"  and  "the  intraperitoneal 
route"  are  "almost  certainly  fatal."  An  interesting  question  for 
discussion  might  be  framed  thus :  "What  will  be  the  effect  of 
serum  on  posterity?"  for  where  it  doesn't  kill  it  must  leave  some 
baneful  taint. 

Therapeutic  Nihilism. — There  is  good  in  everything,  even 
if  it  is  "good  thing  it  wasn't  worse."  Therapeutic  nihilism  is  a 
good  thing  for  the  nihilists'  patients.  The  therapeutic  nihilist, 
"regular"  or  Homoeopath,  is  necessarily  ignorant  of  the  clinical 
use  of  drugs  so  there  is  safety  in  his  nihilism  for  his  patients,  for 
it  throws  a  protecting  mantle  over  the  patient  and  leaves  him  to 
nature  and  the  scientific  mind  cure.  . 

Sermons  in  stones,  books  in  running  brooks  and  good  in  everything. 

Concerning  Diphtheria. — Karsner,  U.  P.  Med.  Bulletin, 
writes  that  diphtheria  is  accompanied  with  a  varying  degree  of 
hyperleucocytosis ;  hyperleucocytosis  may  be  absent  in  extremely 
toxic  or  mild  cases.  "The  differential  counts  in  the  leucocytoses 
of  diphtheria  show  proportions  of  polymorphonuclear  and  mono- 
nuclear cells  consistent  with  grade  of  leucocytosis.  In  these 
leucocytoses  the  cosinophiles  are  present  in  unusually  small  num- 
bers, and  the  myelocytes,  basophiles  in  moderately  small  num- 
bers."   Knowing  this  the  reader  will  be  wiser. 

The  Beginning  and  the  End  Is  Bugs. — And  there  is  nothing 
under  the  sun  but  bugs,  alias  bacteria.  The  Lancet,  which  is  the 
big  thunderer  of  the  allopathic  medical  world,  informs  us  that  all 
spontaneous  fires  are  the  work  of  incendiary  bacilli.  Lampblack. 
peat  and  coal  are  nothing  but  oxidized  bacteria;  they  are  also 
responsible  for  "unlocking  vast  pent  up  forces,"  under  which 
heading  may  be  included  earthquakes  and  volcanos.  In  fact,  it  is 
quite  probable  from  bacteriological  reasoning  that  bacteria  created 


522  Editorial. 

the  earth,  the  sun  and  the  stars,  and  they  are  the  first  Great  Cause 
of  everything.  Hence  the  vanity,  not  to  say  danger,  of  germi- 
cides. Perhaps  the  bacteriologists  have  mistaken  the  ceaseless 
change  constantly  going  on  in  matter,  its  life,  for  bacteria,  have 
mistaken  an  effect  for  a  cause.    What  is  beyond  the  bacteria  ? 

It  Acts. — Jousset  {V  Art  Medicate),  who  writes  of  "Hahne- 
mann's troublesome  hypothesis  upon  drug  dynamization,"  never- 
theless admits  that  there  is  demonstrable  drug  action  in  the  30th 
potency  made  according  to  Hahnemann's  methods.    He  writes : 

I  have  taken  the  trouble  to  demonstrate  by  means  of  experiments  per- 
formed during  the  last  twelve  months  in  the  laboratory  of  the  St.  Jacques' 
Hospitel,  that  the  thirtieth  dilution  of  salts  of  silver  and  mercury,  made 
according  to  Hahnemann's  method  (i.  c,  with  thirty  separate  bottles),  has 
still  an  incontestable  action  upon  the  devlopment  of  Aspergillus  nigcr.  I 
•can  therefore  affirm  that  the  thirtieth  Hahnemannian  dilution  has  an  ac- 
tion upon  the  living  cell,  but  I  am  still  waiting  to  hear  that  similar  ex- 
periments have  demonstrated  the  action  of  the  20,000th  dilution. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  some  scientists  in  the  United  States 
of  North  America  officially  limit  the  potencies  somewhat  below 
the  1 2th  potency  this  is  interesting. 

The  Future  Race. — At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  for  the  advancement  of  science,  the  president,  Prof. 
William  Ridgeway,  in  his  address,  said  that  our  legislators  should 
be  governed  by  "the  principles  of  the  stock  breeder."  At  present 
"the  offspring  of  wastrels  were  given  free  meals,  and  already 
there  were  demands  that  such  should  be  clothed  at  the  expense 
of  the  rate  payers."  Also  "not  more  than  5  or  6  per  cent,  of  the 
children  of  the  working  classes  possess  at  the  age  of  16  the  same 
amount  of  brain  power  as  the  children  of  the  middle  classes." 
Presumably  these  in  turn  do  not  possess  the  same  amount  of 
brain  power  as  do  the  children  of  the  "higher  classes."  We  con- 
fess we  do  not  see  the  way  out  unless  it  be  to  kill  off  all  the 
brainless  ones,  and  that  might  have  such  far-reaching  results  as 
to  cause  a  great  silence  in  many  exalted  scientific  circles. 

The  Kind  of  a  Ho-mozopath  He  Was. — Dr.  J.  B.  S.  King  has 
broken  loose  again  in  the  Medical  Advance  with  one  of  his  semi- 


Editorial.  523 

fables,  which  runs  something-  like  this:  A  man  spent  his  days  in 
shaking,  burning  and  vomiting,  for  he  lived  in  a  region  of  In- 
diana. He  had  taken  much  quinine  and  arsenic  and  many  scien- 
tific dopes,  but  he  burned  and  shook  and  vomited  with  unabated 
vigor.  Then  came  a  time  when  he  heard  of  Homoeopathy,  and 
hied  himself  to  a  great  city  where  many  practitioners  of  that  art 
dwelt.  The  first  one  gave  him  much  quinine  and  arsenic.  The 
second  one  set  to  work  to  peel  off  many  overlying  ills  that  he 
might  get  at  the  trouble.  The  third  would  have  him  on  an  operat- 
ing table,  for  he  saw  the  seat  of  the  disease  in  the  man's  seat, 
otherwise  rectum.  Finally  the  man  went  to  a  fourth,  for  he  still 
burned  and  shook  and  puked  as  badly  as  ever.  This  one  took  his 
symptoms,  gave  him  some  pellets,  and  behold  the  disease  left  the 
man.  But  by  this  time  his  money  had  gone  also  and  the  common 
Homoeopath  got  naught  but  gratitude  for  his  fee.  Dr.  King 
doesn't  append  a  moral,  so  perhaps  there  isn't  any. 

"Medical  Institutes/' — The  trial,  appeal  and  sentence  of  an 
apparently  highly  respectable  citizen  of  Oak  Park,  Chicago,  who. 
unbeknown  to  his  friends,  was  "The  Boston  Medical  Institute" 
and  "The  Bellevue  Institute,"  two  swindling  "lost  manhood"  and 
venereal  diseases  concerns,  is  rather  interesting  reading,  though 
it  reveals  nothing  new.  It  is  interesting,  perhaps,  because  it 
shows  the  confiding  innocence  in  some,  even  syphilitics.  It  is  of 
interest,  also,  in  showing  of  what  stuff  some  doctors  are  made. 
One  of  them,  and  he  was  a  legal  M.  D.,  was  questioned  at  the 
trial  as  to  his  qualifications  to  treat  the  "diseases  of  men." 
Boiled  down  his  special  qualifications  for  the  job  had  been  ob- 
tained by  reading  about  two  pages  in  Dana's  book.  This  doctor 
when  asked,  "Is  semen  ever  absorbed?"  replied.  "Well,  if  it 
gets  into  the  stools  it  has  to  be."  Asked  how  it  got  into  the 
stools,  the  reply  was  by  "way  of  the  rectum."  The  pharmacist 
was  a  sailor  and  the  medicine  was  mixed  in  a  tub.  When  a  pa- 
tient, or  victim,  got  troublesome,  he  was  cowed  by  dire  threats, 
and  termed  "a  calumniator  and  blackmailer,"  threatened  with  ex- 
posure, and  all  the  old  tawdry  bluff  of  such  concerns.  The  pro- 
prietor got  off  easily,  it  seems,  with  two  years  in  the  pen. 

The  Progress  of  Medical  Science. — Editorially  discussing 

"the  present  pandemic  of  plague"  the  editor  of  the  Journal 
writes : 


524  Editorial. 

In  a  recent  interview  with  Professor  Kitasato,  of  Tokyo  Dr.  Robert 
Koch  said  that  he  considers  the  problem  of  plague  prophylaxis  as  essen- 
tially equivalent  to  the  extermination  of  the  rat.  This,  he  said  can  scarcely 
be  accomplished  by  the  employment  of  ordinary  means,  since  they  involve 
an  expense  which  the  public  will  not  tolerate.  Professor  Koch  is  of  the 
opinion  that  the  most  rational  method  of  fighting  rats,  as  well  <  ;  the  one 
most  likely  to  be  successful,  would  be  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  rat's  most 
natural  enemy — the  cat.  Koch  outlined  a  systematic  plan  in  which  he 
suggested  that  keeping  domestic  cats  should  be  compulsory,  and  that  every 
effort  should  be  made  by  selection  and  breeding  to  improve  the  "ratting"' 
capacity  of  the  felines. 

The  compulsory  keeping  of  cats ! 

The  editor  goes  Koch  one  better  and  says  that  the  ground 
squirrels,  those  pretty  little  chaps  who  dance  along  old  country 
fences,  ought  also  to  be  exterminated,  for  has  not  the  "bacillus" 
been  found  in,  or  on,  that  saucy  little  fellow  by  some  medical 
wise  man?  Of  a  verity  the  "germ"  offers  an  immeasurable  field 
for  "scientific"  stunts,  and  no  medical  act  to-day  so  quickly  catches 
the  public  eye.    But  the  public  is  a  fickle  beast. 

Going  Back  to  First  Principles. — In  their  restless  search 
for  a  cure  for  disease  the  gentlemen  who  are  termed  "allopaths" 
by  the  ignorant  world  have  ranged  from  blood-letting  to  opsonins 
covering  a  vast  field  between,  and  now  'Dr.  Lyday  before  the 
North  Carolina  Medical  Society  (Char.  Med.  Jour.,  September) 
harks  back  to  the  beginning :  "I  believe  firmly,  and  such  has  been 
my  personal  experience,  that  nothing  can  take  the  place  of  blood- 
letting at  the  commencement  of  nearly  all  inflammatory  affec- 
tions," so  he  asserts,  and  we  know  a  sturdy  old  allopathic  doctor 
who  says  that  "a  big  dose  of  calomel"  is  what  nearly  every  dis- 
ease needs  in  the  beginning.  It  would  not  be  very  surprising  if 
these  twin  treatments  came  into  vogue  again.  What  a  host  of 
fantastic  theories  and  meaningless  Greek  words  would  be  swept 
from  the  temple  if  simple  Homoeopathy  were  to  rule  therein ! 

Too  Much  Science. — Dr.  G.  Frank  Lydston,  seems  to  think- 
that  the  medical  colleges  are  losing  sight  of  "the  main  purpose  of 
medicine,  the  healing  of  the  sick,"  in  their  endeavor  to  be  "ultra- 
scientific."  "What  boots  it,"  he  asks  in  Daniel's  Texas  Medical 
Journal,  "to  the  practitioner  of  the  crossroads  that  there  be  op- 


Editorial.  525 

sonins  and  opsonic  indices"  and  lots  of  other  "scientific  bricks 
without  straw  ?"  He  recently  had  occasion  to  test  one  of  the  men 
from  a  very  "scientific"  college,  an  "honor  man."  In  the  bright 
lexicon  of  this  young-  man  "papaver  somniferum"  is  "poke  root," 
"atropine"  is  an  alkaloid  of  opium,  and  the  proper  dose  of  the 
tincture  of  aconite  for  a  six-months-old  baby  "half  a  dram  every 
hour."  This  young  man  knew  everything  about  spectacular 
medicine,  but  of  practical  medicine  he  knew  worse  than  noth- 
ing, and  is  really  a  "menace"  in  the  sick  room. 

Concerning  Our  Big  Neighbor. — Editor  and  Doctor  William 
J.  Robinson  expresses  himself  concerning  the  way  things  arc  run 
in  the  big  allopathic  association  in  the  following  vigorous  words : 

"Let  the  machine  elect  as  trustees  and  office-holders  the  most 
narrow-minded,  the  most  bigoted,  the  most  biased  and  the  most 
pliant  members  that  it  can  rind ;  let  the  rights  of  the  passive 
majority  or  the  protesting  minority  be  ignored,  laughed  at  and 
trampled  upon  by  the  powers  that  be;  let  the  publicity  organ  of 
the  Association,  the  Journal  of  The  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, which  is  the  property  of  every  member,  be  open  to  favorites 
only  and  closed  to  all  those  who  have  not  a  jellyfish  backbone  and 
dare  disagree  with  some  of  the  official  policies  and  bureaucratic 
dicta ;  let  all  this,  I  say,  go  on  from  bad  to  worse — so  much  the 
better.  In  this  case  it  is  truly  the  worse,  the  better.  Let  the  ten- 
sion become  greater  and  greater — it  will  reach  the  breaking  point, 
and  then  the  machine,  the  entire  bureaucratic  structure  so  care- 
fully reared  by  our  politicians,  will  go  smash.  Just  some  smither- 
eens left.  And  then  we  will  have  a  true  democracv,  and  true 
representation." 

"HoMCEOPATHlC  Treatment/' — In  discussing  a  paper  on  "thy- 
roid extracts,"  "protoneuclin"  and  similar  products  of  scientific 
pharmacy,  Dr.  Torald  Sollman,  of  Cleveland,  said,  among  other 
things:  "This  means  that  preparations  containing  a  low  amount 
of  iodin  have  been  taken  from  the  thyroids  of  diseased  animals, 
and  in  using  them  we  are  giving  homoeopathic  treatment— giving 
diseased  thyroid  to  cure  diseased  thyroid."  This  demonstrates 
that  Dr.  Dewey  and  his  committee  ought  to  hurry  up  the  pamph- 
lets on  Homoeopathy  and  distribute  them  among  the  "regular" 
brethren,  for  thev  sure  need  them. 


;26  News  Items. 


NEWS     ITEMS. 


At  the  meeting  of  the  National  Antivaction  Society  held  at 
Philadelphia  in  October,  Dr.  R.  Straube,  of  that  city,  a  well  known 
homoeopathic  physician,  issued  a  challenge  to  Drs.  Dixon  and 
Neff,  who,  respectively,  look  after  the  health  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Philadelphia,  to  sleep  in  the  bed  with  a  small-pox  patient,  he, 
Straube,  being  unvaccinated,  if  either  of  the  challenged,  both 
presumably  vaccinated,  would  sleep  in  the  same  bed  at  the  same 
time.  No  reply  received  yet,  and .  probably  none  coming.  Dr. 
Straube  when  young  in  practice  attended  many  cases  of  small- 
pox, and  has  more  than  a  book  knowledge  concerning  the  disease. 
No  one  can  blame  Drs.  Dixon  or  Neff  if  they  refuse  the  chal- 
lenge,, for,  vaccinated  or  unvaccinated,  it  would  be  a  risky  thing 
to  do,  and  would  prove  nothing  no  matter  how  it  turned  out,  for 
every  one  acknowledges  (unless  it  might  be  Dr.  Dixon)  that 
small-pox  visits  vaccinated  and  the  unvaccinated  with  apparent 
impartiality. 

The  last  issue  of  The  Calcutta  Journal  of  Medicine  says :  "Haff- 
kines's  inoculation  of  the  prophylactic  serum  against  plague  has 
proved  a  failure,"  as  has  vaccination  in  India.  Sanitation  is  the 
only  preventive,  in  the  Journal's  opinion. 

A  Danish  medical  quarterly  is  to  celebrate  its  centennial.  The 
publishers  "have  about  concluded  that  the  journal  has  outlived  its 
usefulness,  as  medcine  hastens  on  with  such  strides  that  a  quar- 
terly is  left  far  behind,  and  it  is  hard  work  for  even  a  weekly  to 
keep  up  with  it."  Whether  the  publishers  are  gently  ironic  or  not 
it  is  difficult  to  say.    Did  you  ever  see  a  kitten  chasing  its  tail  ? 

The  Austrian  Government  is  turning  its  attention  to  specialists 
in  medicine,  and  proposes  to  regulate  them.  They  are  getting  too 
plentiful  the  government  thinks. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia  has  ruled  that  when  an  em- 
ployer calls  in  a  physician  to  attend  an  employee,  the  employer 
is  not  liable  for  the  physician's  fee  unless  there  has  been  express 
stipulation.  The  call  does  not  create  an  obligation.  This  is  sus- 
tained by  numerous  previous  decisions,  and  is  an  established 
ruling  of  the  courts. 

The  N.  Y.  Courts  "rule  that  a  corporation  cannot  advertise  to 


News  Items. 


?-/ 


practice  medicine,  as  it  is  the  individual  alone,  in  his  nun  name, 
who  is  legally  qualified,"  etc.  The  decision  was  rendered  against 
the  "John  H.  Woodbury  Dermatological  Institute."  John  EL's 
ads.  are  the  ones  that  show  a  face  with  no  neck,  though  he  seems 
to  have  got  it  in  the  nnshown  place. 

Dr.  William  B.  Davis  has  removed  from  Alt.  Vernon  t<>  Mattea- 

wan,  N.  Y. 

Hahnemann  Hospital,  Philadelphia,  treats  something  over  one 
hundred  thousand  cases  each  year  at  a  cost  of  $129,000,  a  little 
over  $1.25  per  case.  There  was  a  slight  deficit.  The  charitably 
disposed  may  be  sure  their  money  is  well  disposed  of  at  this 
active  institution. 

At  Greenock,  Scotland,  a  doctor  sued  for  his  bill  in  a  confine- 
ment case ;  the  defendant  put  in  a  counter  claim  for  damages 
alleged  to  have  resulted  from  instruments  not  sterilized.  The 
doctor  lost  his  case,  and  the  counter  claims  were  thrown  out  be- 
cause it  could  not  be  proved  that  the  illness  on  which  they  were 
based  was  carried  by  the  unsterilized  instruments. 

Patchogue,  Long  Island,  has  small-pox,  and  "the  local  authori- 
ties are  powerless  to  enforce  vaccination  or  quarantine." 

Chicago  doctors  must  now  report  every  case  of  tuberculosis  to 
the  health  board  under  penalty  of  prosecution.  Yellow  placards 
may  come  later.  The  board  has  issued  a  bulletin  which  says  that 
all  cases  of  contagious  diseases  are  the  result  of  a  "violation  of 
the  law,"  and  "the  mailed  hand  will  cure  any  epidemic  situation 
in  short  order."  Presumably  hereafter  Chicagoans  will  die  of 
old  age  or  with  their  boots  on,  only. 

The  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Entomology  has  issued  pamphlets  warning 
the  people  against  flies  or  mosquitoes  as  carriers  of  disease.  What 
the  people  are  to  do  is  another  story. 

Seattle  paid  a  bounty  in  September  on  2,044  rats  caught.  This 
may  build  up  quite  an  industry  if  the  bounty  is  big  enough. 

Dr.  Nathan  C.  Schaeffer,  State  Superintendent  of  the  Public 
Schools  of  Pennsylvania,  reports  that  the  compulsory  educational 
act  and  the  compulsory  vaccination  law  conflict;  many  thousands 
of  families  flatly  refuse  vaccination,  and  the  opposition  to  it  is 
steadily  growing.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  over  [50,00  )  un- 
vaccinated  children  in  the  State. 


PERSONAL. 


They  say  when  the  raven  remarked  "Nevermore,"  he  was  but  echoing 
remarks  he  had  heard  before  in  the  morning. 

As  the  years  go  by  the  chestnut  crop  increases. 

A  London  paper  says  that  the  U.  S.  A.  is  now  "a  cosmic  power."    Bully  \ 

Wasp  tells  of  an  organist  who  asked  the  absent-minded  clergyman  what 
he  should  play,  and  the  dreamy  reply  was,  "Your  long  suit." 

When  reproached,  according  to  Judge,  for  yawning  during  an  afternoon 
call,  hubby  replied  that  he  couldn't  be  expected  to  keep  his  mouth  shut  all 
the  time. 

Come  to  think  of  it,  if  a  man  believes  only  that  which  he  knows  he 
doesn't  believe  very  much. 

The  "tramp"  steamer  is  bady  named,  for  it  works  hard. 

Mr.  Millionaire  says  it  is  "easier"  to  get  along  now-a-days,  but  you  must 
"work  harder"  to  do  it.     Find  his  nationality. 

The  man  with  a  bank  account  is  always  a  "conservative  citizen." 

"That  thus  to  be  an  angel,  in  lieu  of  otherwise,"  is  the  euphemistic  way 
a  poet  puts  it. 

If  man  followed  all  the  advice  given  him  man  would  be  in  a  mess. 

A  merchant  said  he  would  employ  married  men  only,  for  he  wanted  no 
independent  fellows  about. 

The  man  at  the  top  of  the  ladder  is  more  in  evidence,  but  the  man  on  the 
ground  is  safer. 

Man's  cupidity  exceeds  his  sagacity,  on  the  average,  hence  many  "stocks" 
are  sold,  and,  like  them,  the  buyers. 

Many  a  man  can  truthfully  say  with  the  California  man,  "All  my  virtues 
are  in  my  wife's  name." 

The  absence  of  children  is  a  noteworthy  feature  of  the  Mothers'  Con- 
gress. 

The  text  of  a  recent  sermon  was,  "Is  there  any  hope  for  a  doctor?'' 
What  about  the  preacher? 

That  which  is  precocious  is  generally  worm-eaten. 

When  a  fortune  teller  tells  us  something  we  know  we  think  "it  is  great." 

"A  light  colored  vote"  might  mean  several  things. 

"What  is  all  that  noise?"  asked  a  visitor  at  the  Philadelphia  almshouse. 
"Two  of  the  ladies  are  having  a  fight,"  replied  an  inmate. 

"What  is  that  which  has  a  skin,  fingers  and  thumb  but  no  bones,  flesh  or 
blood?"  asked  the  jocular  examiner. 

The  moon  is  contrary,  being  lightest  when  full. 

When  the  air  is  in  a  great  hurry  we  call  it  a  cyclone. 

November  and  December  numbers  of  Recorder  free  to  new  subscribers 
beginning  January,  1909. 


THE 

Homeopathic  Recorder. 

Vol.  XXIII.     Lancaster,  Pa.,  December,  1908  No  12 


THE  REPETITION   OF  THE   DOSE.     AN   OLD 

STORY. 

There  has  been  an  interchange  of  letters  in  the  Homoeopathic 
World  recently  on  the  dose  question  between  "Nicodemus"  and 
Edward  Redfern,  that  is  worthy  of  more  than  passing  notice. 
"Nicodemus,"  after  quoting  the  Organon,  "Par.  245,"  and  dwell- 
ing on  it,  concludes  as  follows : 

Hahnemann's  whole  scheme  is  so  scientific  and  clear-cut  in  its  details 
that  it  is  marvellous  that  it  is  so  slowly  adopted  by  the  profession  in  gen- 
eral. Every  one  of  his  principles  can  be  demonstrated  to  be  a  fact  in 
nature,  and  this  one  of  the  repetition  of  the  dose  no  less  than  the  others. 
There  is  no  guess-work  at  all.  It  is  all  law.  The  source  of  error  is  in 
ourselves  and  is  due  to  our  imperfection.  Has  Hahnemann  raised  up  too 
high  an  ideal  for  us?  Are  his  principles  practicable  in  everyday  life? 
Have  we  tried?  Are  we  afraid  of  the  work  entailed  by  such  accurate 
scrutiny  of  disease  symptoms?  Are  we  content  with  something  less, 
something  which,  after  Hahnemann's  ideal,  is  scarcely  scientific?  If  we 
are,  let  us  bow  our  heads  and  acknowledge  that  we  are  not  loyal  to  the 
Truth,  that  we  are  flying  the  wrong  flag  and  are  traitors  to  our  colors. 

This  appeared  in  the  October  issue  of  The  World  and  in  the 
November  of  the  same  journal  Mr.  Redfern  replies,  in  part,  as 
follows : 

Many  of  your  readers  are,  of  course,  aware  that  Hahnemann  changed 
"his  views  regarding  the  repetition  of  the  dose  in  the  year  1833.  The  late 
Dr.  Hughes  (see  Lecture  IX.  on  the  administration  of  the  similar  remedy), 
in  his  work,  The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Homoeopathy,  calls  attention  to 
this.  Hughes  says :  "Suddenly,  however,  in  the  Organon  of  1833,  a  com- 
plete change  appears.  The  waiting  for  a  dose  to  exhaust  its  action  is  de- 
clared needlessly  to  delay  the  cure,  and  more  frequent  repetitions  are 
counselled,  at  intervals  to  be  determined  a  priori,  and  with  regard  rather 
to  the  disease  than  to  the  drug."  According  to  Hughes.  Hahnemann's 
later   views  have  been  adopted  by   the  more   liberal    school    of   homccop- 


530  Repetition  of  the  Dose. 

athists,  whilst  those  who  call  themselves  peculiarly  by  his  name  (I  am 
quoting  Hughes)  lean  rather  to  his  earlier  practice.  I  trust  that  "Nico- 
demus"  will  now  admit  that  his  concluding  remarks  as  to  the  "bowing  of 
heads,"  etc.,  are  not  applicable  to  those  who  have  adopted  Hahnemann's 
later  views,  and  that,  like  "the  flowers  that  bloom  in  the  spring,  they  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  case." 

Hahnemann,  it  seems,  can  be  quoted  on  each  side  of  the  ques- 
tion. There  are  several  reasons  that  can  be  advanced  to  support 
what  Dr.  Hughes  writes  of  Hahnemann's  "complete  change"  in 
the  matter.  One  of  the  stock  arguments  the  old  time  allopath 
used  against  Homoeopathy  was  the  assertion  that  a  child  had 
eaten  a  whole  bottle  of  homoeopathic  medicine,  and  it  had  no  more 
effect  than  so  much  sugar  would  have  shown.  The  homoeopaths 
could  not  deny  the  truth  of  this,  yet  knew  that  the  same  remedy 
would  have  been  powerful  for  cure  when  indicated.  The  con- 
clusion must  be  that  the  dynamic  remedy  is  harmless  to  those  in 
health  or  disease,  yet  curative  when  indicated  in  disease.  The 
logic  of  this  probably  caused  Hahnemann  to  change  his  views 
later  in  life. 

Every  reader  of  Hahnemann  will  recall  his  "God  mercifully 
permitted  Homoeopathy  to  be  discovered,"  and  this  disclaimer  of 
any  proprietary  right  in  the  discovery  involves  the  additional  dis- 
claimer of  infallibility  concerning  it.  Homoeopathy  is  a  law  of 
nature,  as  infallible  as  any  natural  law,  but  its  application  is  left 
to  each  man's  rationality.  In  its  working  on  the  almost  infinite 
variety  of  human  beings,  all  more  or  less  diseased,  it  may  be  that 
all  the  way  from  the  crude  drug  to  the  highest  potency  is  called 
for  to  meet  the  varying  cases  and  from  the  infrequent  dose  to  the 
rapidly  repeated  dose.  When  it  comes  to  the  "healing  of  the 
nations"  it  is  not  well  to  be  dogmatic.  When  one  considers  the 
full,  the  mighty  scope  of  what  is  involved  in  the  term-  "law  of 
nature,"  he  must  admit  that  no  human  mind  can  grasp  it  in  its 
entirety;  it  reaches  beyond  drugs,  pellets  and  potencies,  and  the 
endeavor  to  limit  it  to  "low"  or  "high"  potency,  or  its  workings 
to  the  frequent,  or  infrequent,  dose  is  futile.  If  Homoeopathy  is  a 
law  of  nature  it  is  a  very  much  bigger  proposition  than  even  the 
most  ardent  homoeopath  has  conceived,  and  we  are  but  at  the  be- 
ginning of  a  knowledge  of  its  working  and  application. 


Necessity  of  Knowing  Pathology.  531 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  KNOWING  PATHOLOGY  FOR 
TRUE  HOMOEOPATHIC   PRESCRIBING. 

By  Dr.  Edurado  Fornias. 

Homoeopathy,  like  all  systems  of  therapeutics,  has  its  precepts 
but  also  its  limitations,  and  no  prescriber  can  ascertain  the  origin, 
character  and  the  importance  of  symptoms  without  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  pathology,  just  as  no  one  can  successfully  treat  dis- 
eases without  an  early  recognition  of  their  causes  and  the  prompt 
application  of  hygiene,  and  of  those  measures  necessary  to  miti- 
gate their  course,  if  malignant,  and  to  prevent  their  spread,  if  con- 
tagious. We  may,  aided  by  the  natural  defences  of  the  organism 
and  the  administration  of  the  similar,  obtain  sometimes  the  de- 
sired effects,  but,  in  general,  we  will  work  under  great  disadvant- 
ages and  eventually  become  skeptics  if  we  ignore  pathology. 

In  the  midst  of  our  enthusiasms  we  are  apt  to  forget  that  a 
given  symptom  may  have  a  relative  value  in  certain  forms  of  dis- 
eases, and  an  absolute  importance  in  others.  Take  vomiting,  for 
instance,  which  in  the  child  has  a  different  meaning  than  in  the 
adult,  in  the  toper  than  in  pregnancy,  and  what  is  his  value  under 
these  different  circumstances  ? 

Certainly  no  intelligent  physician  would  prescribe  Ipecac  be- 
cause the  vomiting  is  prominent,  persistent  and  attended  by 
deathly  nausea,  without  taking  into  account  its  origin  and  mean- 
ing. And  more  erroneous  still  to  draw  indications  from  doubtful 
suggestive  symptoms  or  from  contingent,  vague  manifestations. 
Vomiting  is  a  common  symptom  of  many  maladies,  and  to  gain 
some  valuable  information  as  to  its  origin  and  meaning,  we  must 
take  into  consideration  the  facility  and  frequence  with  which  it 
takes  place,  the  nature  of  the  vomited  matter,  and  the  morbid 
circumstances  which  preceded  it  and  accompanied  it.  But  no  less 
important  is  to  know  if  it  is  of  cerebrospinal  origin,  irritative 
and  obstrnctve,  reflex,  toxemic,  hecmatic,  etc. 

Vomiting  in  childhood  is  of  much  less  diagnostic  value  than  in 
adults.  Due  to  the  vertical  position  of  the  organ,  the  slight  devel- 
opment of  its  cardiac  sphincter,  and  the  excitable  nervous  system 
of  the  child,  the  stomach  can  empty  itself  of  its  contents  very 
readily,  and  this  is  particularly  the  case,  if  the  infant  suck  at  all 


532  Necessity  of  Knowing  Pathology. 

greedily  or  be  moved  much  immediately  after  feeding.  At  the 
onset  of  most  acute  diseases,  however,  it  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant symptoms.  It  is  seen  in  practically  all  forms  of  gastritis, 
and  is  then  constantly  associated  with  diarrhoea,  because,  par- 
ticularly in  bottle-fed  children,  gastritis  is  generally  combined 
with  enteritis,  both  being  due  to  some  change  in  the  milk.  Im- 
proper feeding  of  any  kind  usually  leads  to  the  same  train  of 
symptoms.  In  many  cerebral  diseases  vomiting  is  the  prominent, 
it  may  be,  the  first  symptom.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  menin- 
gitis, tubercular  or  simple,  but  it  also  occurs  in  other  brain  lesions 
— abscess,  tumor,  etc.  In  such  cases  the  vomiting  often  has  no 
relation  to  the  taking  of  food.  The  spasms  of  whooping  cough 
are  usually  terminated  by  the  emptying  of  the  stomach. 

Moreover,  persistent  vomiting,  in  children,  is  of  much  diag- 
nostic value.  In  gastric  catarrh  it  may  occur  repeatedly,  but,  as 
a  rule,  chiefly  after  the  ingestion  of  food. 

In  intercranial  affections,  vomiting  at  irregular  intervals,  par- 
ticularly after  movement,  is  a  common  symptom.  Constant  vom- 
iting, without  reference  either  to  the  taking  of  food  or  to  the  posi- 
tion of  the  patient,  is  especially  characteristic  of  some  form  of 
obstruction  of  the  bowels.  Thus  in  early  infancy  it  may  be  due 
to  congenital  stenosis  of  the  duodenum  or  large  intestine.  In  the 
former  case  the  symptoms  occur  earlier  than  in  the  latter,  in 
which  they  may  be  delayed  for  some  days  or  even  remain  absent. 
Intractable  vomiting  during  the  first  months  of  life  may  also  be 
due  to  congentital  hypertrophy  of  the  pylorus.  In  later  infancy 
and  childhood  all  forms  of  acute  and  chronic  intestinal  obstruction 
are  associated  with  vomiting,  and  in  acute  cases  the  vomited 
matters  consist,  first,  of  food,  then  bilious  fluid,  and  finally  become 
faecal.  Along  with  this  there  is  usually  absolute  constipation  and 
distention  of  the  abdomen.  In  acute  carditis  and  heart  failure 
generally,  as  in  that  following  diphtheria,  uncontrollable  vomiting 
is  a  sign  of  the  greatest  gravity  and  often  presages  the  end. 
Urcemic  vomiting,  too,  is  sometimes  noticed  in  children.  Pro- 
dromal vomiting,  such  as  occurs  in  scarlet  fever  and  other  erup- 
tive fevers,  demands  special  diagnostic  attention. 

This  is  the  chief  origin  of  vomiting  in  the  infant  or  child,  a 
class  of  patients  in  which  we  must  exclusively  depend  on  object- 
ive  symptoms   and   the   unreliable   information   of   the    mother. 


Necessity  of  Knowing  Pathology.  533 

How  then  can  a  mere  symptom-hunter  appreciate  the  diagnostic 

significance   of  vomiting,  and  meet  the   difficulty   with   success, 

without  a  complete  knowledge  of  pathology  and  the  examination 
of  the  vomited  matter? 

And  how  about  the  future  mother  {adolescence,  pubescence) 
or  the  actual  mother,  both  so  constantly  exposed  to  these  influ- 
ences liable  to  create  this  symptom?  Let  us  first  take  pregnancy, 
where  vomiting  is  so  persistent,  may  occur  with  an  empty  stomach 
and  become  so  serious  as  to  demand  sometimes  the  artificial  pro- 
duction of  premature  labor.  Here,  as  in  endometritis  and  peri- 
tonitis, vomiting  is  a  reflex  symptom,  whose  presence  is  often  of 
serious  omen.  Repeated  vomiting  is  also  a  sign  of  other  visceral 
disorders,  which  should  claim  our  attention  if  we  wish  success. 
Kidney  disease,  the  passage  of  gall  stones,  dysmenorrhoea,  cys- 
titis, acute  metritis,  ovaritis,  pelvic  cellulitis,  hysteria,  and  psychic 
influences,  etc.,  are  common  causes  of  vomiting;  and,  as  in  man, 
there  may  be  vomiting  in  all  diseases  of  the  stomach,  cancer, 
trichinosis,  alcoholism,  irritant  poisoning,  seasickness,  etc. 

In  man,  vomiting  is  very  frequently  present  in  alcoholic  gas- 
tritis, when  its  persistency  is  sometimes  alarming.  Then  it  is  in 
acute  indigestion  and  atonic  dyspepsia  when  we  probably  observe 
this  symptom  most.  Repeated  vomiting  is  also  a  sign  of  other 
visceral  disorders.  It  is  pathognomonic  for  meningitis,  brain 
tumor  and  peritonitis. .  In  Bright' s  disease  it  is  an  evil  omen,  as 
it  is  early  indication  of  ensuing  ur&mia.  Do  not  forget  that  its 
frequency  is  for  a  great  part  a  determining  prognostic  feature 
of  meningitis,  and  that,  as  in  peritonitis,  it  is  of  reflex  origin. 
The  tendency  to  vomiting  in  heart  disease  is  chiefly  induced  by 
congestion,  gastritis  though  often  acute  cardiac  dilatation  (for 
instance,  induced  by  over-exertion)  as  well  as  cardiac  failure  are 
accompanied  by  it.  Among  the  many  gastric  disorders  in  which 
repeated  vomiting  occurs,  I  may  mention  with  profit,  besides 
gastritis,  ulcer  of  the  stomach,  carcinoma,  gastric  neurosis  and 
dilatation  of  the  stomach,  and  from  this  sign  alone  no  diganosis 
is  possible. 

Vomiting    supervening    immediately    after    eating,    chiefly    at- 
tended by  nausea,  is  characteristic  of  hysterical  or  nervous  dys- 
pepsia, and  a  sign  of  great  irritability  of  the  stomach.     In 
of  cancer  of  the  middle  of  the  stomach,  vomiting  general1; 


534  Necessity  of  Knowing  Pathology. 

lows  immediately  after  the  ingestion  of  food,  but  after  the  space 
of  three  or  four  hours,  when  the  disease  is  situated  at  the  pylorus. 
In  the  latter  case  the  ejected  material  is  usually  streaked  with 
blood  in  different  stages  of  decomposition. 

The  pain  caused  by  the  presence  of  food  in  cases  of  gastric 
ulcer  is  often  relieved  by  vomiting,  which,  as  a  rule,  however,  only 
takes  place  when  the  pain  has  reached  a  certain  intensity. 

The  vomiting  of  a  large  quantity  of  matters  in  a  stage  of  fer- 
mentation or  decomposition  occurring  every  two  days,  more 
rarely  every  day,  is  a  sign  of  dilatation  of  the  stomach,  with 
stagnation  of  its  contents.  It  is  usually  due  to  stenosis  of  the 
pylorus.  In  this  condition  as  soon  as  the  stomach  is  over-distend- 
ed by  reason  of  its  continuous  ingestion  of  food,  it  gets  rid  of  a 
part  of  its  contents  by  the  vomiting  of  i  or  2  litres  of  often  de- 
composed fermented  material. 

All  cases  of  strangulated  hernia  and  intestinal  obstruction  are 
attended  at  one  time  or  another  with  vomiting,  which  is  more 
severe  and  persistent  as  the  disease  is  more  acute.  At  first  merely 
matters  from  the  stomach  are  rejected,  but  very  soon  these  are 
mixed  with  bile  from  the  duodenum,  and  at  last  the  contents  of 
intestines  themselves  are  regurgitated   (stercoraceous  vomiting). 

The  early  vomiting  of  peritonitis,  as  well  as  the  vomiting  of 
hepatitis  and  biliary  and  renal  colic,  is  attended  by  nausea,  and 
nausea  and  vomiting  are  rarely  absent  in  the  course  of  Addison's 
disease. 

Associated  with  distressing,  often  unbearable  nausea,  are  those 
periodical  recurrent  attacks  of  frequent  vomiting,  called  gastric 
crises.  They  alternate  with  periods  of  freedom  therefrom,  and 
as  they  appear  in  disease  of  the  spinal  cord,  especially  in  tabes 
dor  salts,  they  have  great  diagnostic  importance.  These  crises 
may  last  for  days  and  frequently  lead  to  inanition.  Let  those  who 
ignore  pathology  bear  in  mind  that  not  infrequently  this  char- 
acteristic syndrome  may  be  the  first  sign  which  calls  attention  to 
the  existing  tabes  which  may  have  previously  been  overlooked, 
and  that  periodical  recurrent  vomiting  may  also  be  a  sign  of  a 
neurasthenic  gastric  disorder  without  having  a  central  origin,  and 
that  in  each  of  the  latter  cases  it  is  wise  to  entertain  a  suspicion 
of  its  being  of  central  origin. 

Combined  with  diarrhcea.  vomiting  is  a  common  result  of  acute 


Necessity  of  Knowing  Pathology.  535 

and  chronic  uraemia,  or  vomiting  may  alone  be  present,  occurring 
at  first  perhaps  only  in  the  morning,  but  afterwards  whenever 
food  is  taken.  It  is  liable  in  these  cases  to  prove  very  persistent 
and  intractable.  The  ejected  matters  generally  contain  some  urea, 
which,  when  they  are  alkaline,  is  partially  decomposed  into  car- 
bonate of  ammonia.  The  association  of  diarrhoea  and  vomiting, 
although  common  enough  in  infants,  should  in  adults  always  raise 
the  suspicion  of  irritant  poisoning,  when  the  presence  of  urcemia 
has  been  negatived.  It  is  important  also  to  remember  that  the 
cough  of  early  phthisis  is  sometimes  attended  with  vomiting. 
which  may  also  occur  in  cases  of  right-sided  pleurisy.  The  latter 
has  been  ascribed  to  congestive  changes  in  the  liver  secondary  to 
the  inflammation  of  the  diaphragmatic  pleura. 

Vomiting  often  occurs  in  the  course  of  certain  fevers.  There 
may  be  prodromal  vomiting  in  scarlatina,  variola  or  erysipelas, 
and  may  also  occur  in  diphtheria,  in  the  course  of  typhus  and  in 
the  cold  stage  of  ague.  It  is  also  common  at  the  onset  of  pneu- 
monia and  pericarditis.  The  well  known  black  vomit  (coffee 
ground  vomit)  of  yellozc  fever  owes  its  color  to  the  presence  of 
masses  of  decomposed  blood  corpuscles,  but  an  analogous,  coffee 
ground  vomit  is  pathognomonic  of  carcinoma.  Vomiting  of  blood 
may  occur  when  the  gastric  mucosa  is  inflamed  by  irritating  sub- 
stances, but  it  is  pathognomonic  of  ulcer  of  the  stomach,  and  also 
takes  place  in  cirrhosis  of  the  liver.  Blood  is  sometimes  vomited 
in  haemophilia  without  any  essential  cause,  or  occurs  in  young 
girls  at  the  time  of  a  suppression  of  the  menses  (vicarious  hecma- 
temesis).  Still  one  should  always  examine  carefully  for  ulcer  of 
the  stomach,  and  be  on  the  watch  to  distinguish  between  vomiting 
of  blood  and  coughing  of  blood.  In  some  cases  haemoptysis  or 
hcematemesis  is  the  first  sign  of  a  pulmonary  or  a  gastric  disorder 
which  may  have  been  concealed  until  the  appearance  of  this 
startles  the  patient  to  the  highest  degree  so  that  he  cannot  describe 
accurately  the  manner  in  which  it  appeared. 

The  vomiting  of  cholera  is  often  sudden  and  coincident  with  or 
following  upon  the  discharge  of  the  rice  water  evacuations,  to 
which  the  ejected  matters  are  very  similar.  Sudden  pain,  such 
as  that  resulting  from  a  blow  on  the  testicles,  a  severe  sprain  or 
dislocation,  usually  causes  a  feeling  of  faintness,  sometimes  fol- 
lowed by  vomiting.     Paroxysm  of  migraine  are  occasionally  re- 


536  Necessity  of  Knowing  Pathology. 

lieved  by  the  occurrence  of  vomiting,  which  frequently  also  fol- 
lows attacks  of  convulsions  in  children.  Vomiting  also  occurs, 
and  with  frequency,  during  the  administration  of  ether  or  chloro- 
form, especially  when  the  stomach  is  full,  but  it  may  also  take 
place  afterwards,  and  sometimes  proves  extremely  intractable  and 
alarming  {chloroform  narcosis).  And  there  are  cases  of  habitual 
vomiting,  lasting  for  years,  in  which  no  efficient  cause  can  be  dis- 
covered. Food  may  inevitably  be  rejected  a  few  minutes  after  it 
has  been  taken,  and  yet  no  decided  emaciation  may  be  apparent. 
Such  a  condition  usually  occurs  in  young  women  in  whom  there 
is  some  evidence  of  an  hysterical  tendency  and  menstrual  irregu- 
larities. 

But  in  no  pathological  condition  has  vomiting  the  important 
meaning  as  in  brain  disease.  It  occurs  in  cases  of  tumor,  menin- 
gitis, abscess,  increased  intra-cranial  pressure,  at  the  onset  of 
apoplexy  and  more  especially  when  the  cerebellum  is  the  seat  of 
the  lesion.  There  are  no  associated  symptoms  of  gastric  derange- 
ment and  usually  no  preceding  sensation  of  nausea,  though  these 
are  in  rare  cases  severe.  As  a  rule,  the  food  is  rejected  soon  after 
it  has  been  taken,  and  it  is  decidedly  uncommon  for  cerebral  vom- 
iting to  occur  on  an  empty  stomach.  It  is  of  immense  value  to 
know  that  it  is  an  early  symptom  of  tumor  and  meningitis,  and 
that  combined  with  headache  may  anticipate  by  a  considerable 
time  the  development  of  further  symptoms. 

By  the  above  we  can  see  that  vomiting  is  produced  in  various 
ways  and  under  different  circumstances.  It  is  produced:  1)  By 
any  disease  of  the  brain  and  spinal  cord  involving  its  reflex 
centre;  2)  by  excessive  irritation  of  the  respiratory  centre,  in 
violent  cough,  etc.;  3)  by  the  presence  in  the  blood  of  any  sub- 
stances which  occasion  irritation  of  the  centre  or  of  the  terminal 
branches  of  the  vagus,  such  as  effete  products  in  uraemia,  emetics, 
etc. ;  4)  by  irritation  of  the  vagus  or  its  branches,  which  is  by  far 
the  most  frequent  cause  of  vomiting.  It  is  thus  that  vomiting  is 
to  be  explained  when  confronted  with  any  of  the  diseases  in 
which  it  may  be  present  and  which  I  have  sufficiently  discussed. 
In  many  cases,  of  course,  it  is  not  possible  to  appreciate  the 
diagnostic  significance  of  vomiting  from  the  character  of  the 
complaints,  and  under  these  circumstances  it  is  necessary  to  ob- 
tain an  objective  examination  of  the  stomach,  and  this  should  in- 


Necessity  of  Knowing  Pathology.  ^^j 

elude  the  ballooning  of  this  organ  if  there  should  be  a  suspicion 
of  a  dilatation,  but  beware  of  distending  the  stomach  with  gas  in 
the  presence  of  an  ulcer.  In  all  cases  where  the  anatomical  diag- 
nosis presents  no  sufficient  data  for  the  appreciation  of  the  condi- 
tion, the  analysis  of  the  stomach-contents  should  be  undertaken. 

The  lack  of  necessary  knowledge  to  value  rightly  pathological 
conditions  and  meet  them  with  success  is  what  have  led  tlv-  un- 
educated to  presume  cures  and  exaggerate  results.  Tt  is  for  this 
reason  that  a  few  have  claimed  to  have  cured  carcinoma  with  a 
single  dose  of  Carbo  animalis  ioo  m.  Besides  our  knowledge  of 
materia  medica,  and,  in  order  to  understand  conditions  which 
the  eye  of  the  unlearned  cannot  penetrate,  we  should  possess  suit- 
able information  of  the  many  processes  which  may  occur  in  the 
course  of  diseases  and  in  different  organs  and  tissues,  and  no  less 
important  it  is  to  make  a  rational  interpretation  of  the  symptoms 
and  signs  of  these  diseases. 

Who  can  den}-  that  when  vomiting  is  unattended  and  independ- 
ent of  any  digestive  trouble,  is  when  its  presence  is  of  serious 
import,  and  when  the  ignorant  is  more  liable  to  err.  Most  medi- 
cal errors,  we  must  admit,  are  the  result  of  incompetence,  and  to 
prescribe  for  the  totality  of  the  symptoms  is  with  us  a  great 
desideratum,  but  to  ignore  pathology  is  to  ignore  what  we  are 
treating  and  what  we  can  expect  of  our  treatment.  A  caried 
tooth,  a  tape-worm,  a  detached  retina,  a  prolapsed  ovary,  a  loose 
cartilage,  impacted  ear-wax,  etc..  may  and  do  give  rise  to  many 
symptoms  which  could  not  be  relieved  by  any  internal  remedy,  no 
matter  how  wrell  chosen,  without  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  condi- 
tions present  and  the  aid  of  other  curative  measures.  And.  again, 
it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  man}-  serious  maladies,  with  their 
insidious  approach  and  train  of  prodromal  symptoms,  are  often 
overlooked  by  the  inexperienced,  often,  until  it  is  too  late  to  main- 
tain confidence  and  prevent  failure. 

It  is  of  no  use  to  build  clinical  syndromes,  nor  even  to  account 
for  histological  lesions,  without  a  clear  understanding  and  appre- 
ciation of  the  normal  and  pathological  variations  of  the  minute 
structure  of  the  tissues,  as  well  as  of  the  various  circumstances 
which  may  contribute  to  retard  or  arrest  recuperative  proc 

It  goes  without  saying  that  I  could  have  elucidated  my  subject 
with  other  pathognomonic  phenomena   (diarrlura,  vert'. 


538  Psychical  Trauma  Cause  of  Disease. 

ing,  dysmenorrhea,  pain,  etc.),  but  the  one  I  have  selected, 
namely,  vomiting,  will  suffice,  I  think,  to  show  the  different  value 
of  a  given  symptom  under  different  pathological  conditions,  and 
the  necessity  of  knowing  pathology.  It  shall  be  my  future  aim, 
however,  to  write  a  second  part  to  this  subject  in  which  I  will 
point  out  a  few  errors,  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  observe  during 
my  professional  career,  and  which  have  been  entirely  due  to 
lack  of  pathological  knowledge. 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  706  W.  York  St. 


PSYCHICAL  TRAUMA  AS  A   CAUSE  OF  PHYSICAL 

DISEASE. 

By  E.  R.  Mclntyre,  B.  S.,  M.  D. 

In  sections  211,  212  and  213  of  the  Organon,  Hahnemann 
pointed  out  the  importance  of  the  mental  symptoms,  both  in  acute 
and  chronic  diseases.  And  in  our  study  of  remedies  we  are  con- 
stantly meeting  with  changed  mentality,  but  we  fail  to  find  any- 
thing like  an  announcement  that  there  may  be  some  important 
connection  between  the  mental  changes  and  the  physical  disorder. 
Yet  it  is  well  known  to  all  observers  that  sudden  mental  shocks 
or  emotions  frequently  cause  some  kind  of  functional  disturbance 
in  some  distant  organ  or  part.  And  the  announcement  of  sudden 
death  from  mental  shock  or  excitement  is  by  no  means  unknown. 
And  it  may  be  that  the  cause  is  given  as  heart  disease. 

But  nowhere  do  we  find  a  word  of  explanation  of  how  these  re- 
sults are  brought  about,  except  that  in  some  cases  we  are  told  it 
is  reflex.  And  this  is  about  as  definite  ,  when  used  in  the  abstract, 
as  heart  failure. 

Not  infrequently  we  hear  of  people  who  are  attacked  with 
stage  fright  when  called  on  to  undergo  some  unusual  ordeal,  and 
the  result  is  they  become  such  sudden  victims  of  that  Gelscmium 
symptom,  "Sudden  diarrhoea  from  grief,  fright  or  some  unusual 
ordeal"  that  it  may  prove  very  embarrassing.  But  no  one,  so  far 
as  I  know,  has  attempted  to  tell  us  why  the  intestinal  secretions 
are  increased  accompanied  by  a  peristaltic  storm  and  relaxation 
of  the  sphincters  from  the  mental  shock,  except  that  it  is  reflex. 
Where  it  starts  or  over  what  road  it  travels  would  seem  to  be  of 
the  most  profound  interest  to  the  student. 


Psychical  Trauma  Cause  of  Disease.  539 

Kirchhoff,  in  his  Handbook  of  Insanity,  says:  "The  term  psych- 
ical trauma  has  been  applied  recently  to  constantly  repeated  in- 
jurious influences  which  may  produce  a  permanent  morbid  con- 
dition in  certain  parts  of  the  nervous  system."  But  he  was  dis- 
cussing mental  effects  exclusively.  But  I  fail  to  find  any  account 
of  attempts  to  trace  out  a  connecting  link  between  psychical 
trauma  and  physical  changes  along  physiological  and  anatomical 
lines.  Indeed  it  has  been  the  disposition  of  doctors  to  ridicule 
the  thought  that  it  might  be  possible  that  the  psychical  trauma 
could  be  a  cause  of  physical  changes.  True  they  admit  that  some 
functional  discomfort  may  result.  Or  where  they  have  shown  a 
disposition  to  acknowledge  that  there  can  be  some  relation,  they 
have  placed  the  physical  disorder  in  the  position  of  cause.  And 
when  they  found  themselves  unable  to  explain  the  case  they  re- 
fused to  inquire  into  what  they  have  been  pleased  to  term  the  ab- 
surdities of  those  who  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  differ  from  the 
"accepted  teachings"  of  science,  just  as  they  have  ridiculed  the 
claims  of  Homoeopathy  (even  some  of  the  so-called  homoeopaths), 
because  they  could  not  understand  the  law,  or  could  not  demon- 
strate it  by  the  microscope,  or  chemical  analysis.  They  fail  to 
realize  that  force  or  energy  is  not  easily  seen  or  analyzed. 

That  mental  shock  has  caused  abortion,  hysteria,  catalepsy  and 
other  alarming  disturbances  and  even  death  are  familiar  to  all. 
But  that  the  continuation  of  severe  psychical  injuries  can  produce 
organic  changes  is  beyond  the  comprhension  of  superficial  ob- 
servers. It  is  true  that  Geo.  W.  Gray  admits  that  deafness  has 
been  caused  by  fright,  and  the  normal  balance  of  the  nervous 
system  permanently  impaired  by  various  powerful  emotions.  And 
he  says  this  "may  be  followed  by  permanent  impairment  of  func- 
tion or  organ."  And  Lauder  Brunton  speaks  of  a  janitor  who 
"was  literally  frightened  to  death  by  some  medical  students." 
But  neither  of  these  gentlemen  has  told  us  how  the  mental  in- 
jury caused  the  results  that  follow. 

People  have  died  from  the  effects  of  some  sudden  mental  shock, 
and  heart  disease  was  thought  to  be  the  cause  until  autopsy  re- 
vealed a  heart  void  of  organic  change. 

I  have  directed  attention  to  these  profound  functional  disturb- 
ances, not  because  they  are  new  or  novel,  but  as  a  basis  for  the 
question,  if  sudden  mental   injury  is  capable  of  bringing  aboui 


540  Psychical  Trauma  Cause  of  Disease. 

such  profound  functional  disturbances,  is  it  not  logical  to  believe 
(aside  from  anatomical  and  physiological  facts)  that  serious 
psychical  injury,  when  continued  for  months  or  years,  may  pro- 
duce organic  changes? 

Let  us  see  what  anatomy  and  physiology  can  tell  us.  I  take  it 
that  all  who  have  investigated  the  subject  will  admit  that  all  in- 
voluntary activity  is  controlled  by  the  sympathetic  nerves,  so- 
called.  Since  nature  has  made  the  very  wise  provision  that  man 
shall  not  be  permitted  to  interfere  with  his  own  nutrition,  every 
function  of  nutrition,  digestion,  absorption,  assimilation,  circula- 
tion and  elimination,  is  directed  and  controlled  by  the  sympa- 
thetic. This  being  true,  it  is  inevitable  that  every  organ,  tissue 
and  cell  in  the  entire  body  must  receive  a  portion  of  its  nerve 
supply  from,  this  system.  The  sympathetic  is  the  nerve  of 
rhythmical  action. 

Rhythm  is  the  universal  property  of  living  matter,  and  any 
disturbance  of  rhythm  is  irritation.  Irritation  of  an  organ  or  part 
may  be  reflected  to  any  or  all  other  parts  in  nerve  relation  with 
the  part  primarily  disturbed.  Irritation  of  any  part,  if  continued, 
results  in  an  abnormal  supply  of  blood  being  sent  to  that  part,  and 
this  is  congestion.  Continued  congestion  results  in  disturbed 
sensation,  discoloration,  tumefaction  and  the  formation  of  a  new 
product,  and  we  call  it  inflammation. 

Given  a  case  of  sudden  fright,  grief  or  other  psychical  trauma, 
and  it  disturbs  the  rhythm  of  some  cells  in  the  cerebral  cortex. 
This  disturbance  is  immediately  flashed  over  the  sympathetic 
fibers  connecting  the  affected  cells  with  the  carotid  and  cavern- 
ous plexuses,  which  supply  the  cerebral  blood  vessels,  causing 
them  to  contract  and  force  the  blood  out  of  them,  thus  causing 
cerebral  anaemia,  and  from  there  it  is  sent  over  the  cervical 
ganglia  and  cardiac  splanchnics  to  the  cardiac  ganglia,  whose 
rhythm  is  broken,  resulting  in  irregularities  in  the  action  of  the 
heart  not  infrequently  resulting  in  syncope  or  death.  This  cardiac 
disturbance  is  usually  the  first  manifestation.  But  if  the  psychi- 
cal cause  be  severe  and  long  continued,  it  is  sent  to  the  solar 
plexus  and  semi-lunar  ganglia,  the  great  center  of  the  sympathetic 
(the  same  as  injury  to  any  part  of  the  cerebro-spinal  nerves  is 
first  sent  to  the  brain),  there  to  be  reorganized  and  sent  on  over 
those  plexuses  in  which  there  is  least  resistance,  that  is,  those 


Psychical  Trauma  Cause  of  Disease.  541 

which  supply  parts  or  organs  in  which  the  resisting  power  has 
been  diminished.  If  the  intestinal  tract  has  from  any  cause  been 
weakened,  the  disturbance  is  sent  from  the  solar  plexus  over  the 
superior  mesenteric,  aortic  and  inferior  mesenteric  plexuses  to 
the  Auerbach's  plexuses,  disturbing  their  rhythmical  action,  re- 
sulting in  an  irregular  peristalsis,  and  at  the  same  time  involving 
the  Billroth-Meisner  plexuses,  increasing  the  intestinal  secretions, 
and  diarrhoea  is  the  necessary  result.  Should  the  psychical  shock 
be  sufficiently  severe,  the  sentries  at  the  anus,  from  the  second, 
third  and  fourth  sacral  nerves,  are  overpowered,  and  the  diar- 
rhoea becomes  involuntary.     This  is  our  Gelsemium  symptom. 

But  suppose  the  psychical  disturbance  remains  with  resulting 
continued  irritation  of  Auerbach's  and  Billroth-Meisner's 
plexuses ;  sooner  or  later  the  rhythm  of  the  blood  vessels  will  be 
disturbed,  resulting  in  congestion  and  consequent  tissue  changes. 
When  this  stage  is  reached,  it  has  ceased  to  be  a  Gelsemium 
case,  and  some  other  remedy  is  indicated,  because  Gelsemium  is 
not  deep  enough  or  long  enough  in  its  action.  And  permit  me  to 
say  that  no  operation  or  stretching  of  this  rectum  will  do  any 
good,  because  it  cannot  remove  the  cause. 

But  suppose  the  patient  be  of  the  so-called  bilious  temperament, 
with  an  inactive  and  lazy  liver  that  has  been  the  subject  of  all 
kinds  of  whipping  up  with  drugs  until  it  has  become  weakened ; 
the  irritation,  after  reaching  the  solar  plexus,  is  flashed  out  over 
the  coeliac  and  hepatic  plexuses  to  this  organ  to  interfere  with 
the  rhythm  of  the  liver  cells,  causing  faulty  secretions  of  bile  and 
finally  hepatic  congestion,  which,  if  continued,  will  inevitably 
result  in  the  proliferation  of  connective  tissue  and  consequent 
sclerosis. 

.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that  profound  emotional 
disturbance  during  the  menstrual  period  has  caused  suppression 
of  the  menses  for  months  or  years.  The  very  fact  that  a  woman 
is  menstruating  is  sufficient  to  decrease  the  resisting  power  of  the 
pelvic  organs.  And  in  such  a  case,  after  the  irritation  has  been 
reorganized  in  the  semi-lunar  ganglia,  it  will  be  sent  out  over  the 
aortic  hypogastric  and  pelvic  plexuses  to  the  uterine  and  ovarian 
plexuses,  connected  with  which  are  the  peripheral  automatic 
ganglia  that  preside  over  menstruation.  Or  in  some  cases  it 
might  pass   directly   down   the   lateral   chain   of  ganglia   to   the 


542  Psychical  Trauma  Cause  of  Disease. 

sacral,  from  whence  it  would  be  sent  over  the  fibres  which  go 
from  them  to  make  up  the  pelvic  plexus.  But  since  the  solar 
plexus  and  semi-lunar  ganglia  are  the  center  of  the  system,  it 
would  most  likely  go  there  first.  However,  it  makes  no  differ- 
ence which  way  it  travels,  when  it  reaches  its  destination  it  will 
so  interfere  with  normal  rhythm  in  the  organs  that  the  function 
ceases.  Very  naturally  local  tissue  changes  result,  the  organs  be- 
come congested  and  inflamed,  and  if  this  be  continued,  some 
form  of  abnormal  growth  may  appear. 

Now  comes  the  gynaecologist  with  his  local  treatment,  which 
can  neither  remove  the  cause  nor  perceptibly  help  the  patient. 
And  so  he  tells  her  that  the  organs  must  be  removed  at  once. 
This  proceedure  requires  much  less  trouble  or  ability  and  brings 
more  money  than  curing  the  patient.  He  cuts  out  the  poor,  in- 
offensive organs ;  but,  behold,  the  patient  refuses  to  get  well  be- 
cause he  could  not  cut  out  the  cause  of  her  trouble,  and  he  leaves 
her  to  suffer  until  some  one  learns  that  the  treatment  was  ap- 
plied to  the  wrong  end  of  the  nervous  chain,  and  institutes  a 
course  of  treatment  nearer  in  accord  with  Nature's  law  and 
sound  logic. 

But  suppose  the  patient  be  one  who  has  had  his  kidneys  weak- 
ened, either  by  natural  causes,  diuretics  or  the  so-called  alkaline 
treatment  for  rheumatism.  This  so  diminishes  the  resisting 
power  of  the  renal  plexuses  and  automatic  renal  ganglia  that  the 
irritation  is  sent  from  the  solar  plexus  to  them,  and  their  rhythm 
is  disturbed,  with  resulting  changes  in  the  blood  supply  of  the 
organs,  and  some  of  its  sequelae,  such  as  perenchymatous  neph- 
ritis, renal  congestion,  etc.  Or,  if  he  has  been  the  victim  of  the 
quinine  treatment  for  ague  or  otherwise  diminished  their  resist- 
ing power  of  the  spleen,  it  may  receive  the  shock,  resulting  in 
disturbed  rhythm  with  all  its  consequences.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  any  and  all  organs  and  tissues  of  the  body. 

I  trust  I  will  not  be  accused  of  being  a  mental  healer.  I  am  not, 
except  in  so  far  as  mental  influences  has  to  do  with  the  cause  of 
disease.  The  trouble  with  most  of  those  who  have  attempted  to 
investigate  the  subject  has  been  that  they  were  able  to  see  so 
little  of  the  real  cause  of  disease  that  they  jumped  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  mind  did  it  all.  This  is  as  irrational  as  any  other 
fad,  and  can  only  lead  to  confusion  and  failure.     We  must  view 


Sulphur  Disease  Suppressed  by  Quinine.  543 

this  body  of  ours  as  a  unit  composed  of  many  parts,  any  one  of 
which  may  receive  the  primary  shock.  But  the  one  primarily 
involved  is  so  intimately  related  to  all  other  parts  by  its  nerve 
supply  that  it  alone  cannot  suffer  without  all  the  rest  being  dis- 
ordered. There  is  no  such  a  thing  possible  as  a  purely  local  dis- 
ease. But  in  this  paper  I  am  only  discussing  one  of  the  causes 
and  its  starting  point. 

70  State  St.,  Chicago,  111. 


SULPHUR    DISEASE    SUPPRESSED   BY   QUININE. 
By  Dr.  A.  W.  K.  Choudhury, 

Patient  came  under  my  treatment  May  25,  1907.  I  visited  him 
on  the  7th  day  of  his  illness,  the  13th  day  of  the  increasing  moon. 

He  had  a  history  of  eczema ;  never  had  pitiriasis,  ringworm, 
syphilis,  gonorrhoea,  or  small-pox,  but  had  had  chicken-pox ;  was 
inoculated,  not  vaccinated ;  has  two  marks  of  cauterization  on 
abdomen,  the  larger  one  on  the  epigastrium,  and  the  smaller  one 
on  the  splenic  region.  Patient  had  enlargement  of  spleen  and 
liver  in  his  early  age,  for  the  treatment  of  which  he  underwent 
the  cauterization,  mentioned  above.* 

I  visited  him  first  on  a  Saturday ;  he  had  become  actually  ill 
with  fever  the  previous  Sunday.  Night  before  he  was  obliged  to 
sleep  in  an  open  veranda.  The  next  morning,  when  he  got  up,  he 
found  the  mat  on  which  he  had  slept  the  previous  night,  wet  with 
night  dews.  Some  time  after  rising  in  washing  the  mouth  be- 
fore bathing  he  found  water  tasteless,  very  like  a  man  suffering 
from  fever,  as  he  told  me.  After  bathing  he  took  his  usual  food 
but  did  not  relish  it.  The  following  Sunday  he  bathed  and  got 
the  fever. 

About  a  year  before  this  he  had  suffered  from  a  low  malarious 
fever.  He  had  taken  no  medicine  for  this  fever,  as  he  could 
work,  bathe  and  take  food  without  doing  any  apparent  harm  to 
himself. 


*There  has  been  prevalent  here  in  this  portion  of  Bengal  a  practice,  as 
far  as  I  know,  from  time  immemorial,  to  have  recourse  to  cauterization  on 
abdomen  to  get  rid  of  enlargement  of  spleen  and  liver,  not  among  the 
rich  and  well-to-do,  but  among  the  lower  and  poorer  classes.     (Writer.) 


544  Sulphur  Disease  Suppressed  by  Quinine. 

His  present  fever  was  quotidian ;  time,  2  P.  M. ;  no  chill ;  heat 
with  thirst;  heat  ends  with  sweat;  yesterday  and  day  before 
yesterday  he  took  quinine  daily,  grs.  x,  in  two  separate  doses ;  to- 
day very  weak,  could  not  get  up  because  of  dizziness  on  standing 
and  occasional  momentary  loss  of  vision ;  bellows-like  sound  in 
ears ;  no  coryza ;  no  cough ;  no  heaviness  of  head ;  sleeplessness, 
restless  if  there  is  any  sleep.  Yesterday  fever  much  less  severe 
at  the  usual  time ;  eyes  slightly  icteric ;  tongue  moist,  slightly 
whitish,  margins  and  tip  clean  and  slightly  reddish ;  taste  in 
mouth  insipid ;  thirst  and  wants  water  to  moisten  lips  and  tongue, 
which  are  dry ;  water  he  did  not  relish ;  want  of  appetite ;  occa- 
sional nausea ;  desire  for  acid,  cold  drinks  ;  burning  in  abdomen, 
so  much  so  that  he  has  put  a  wet  gamcha  (a  native  towel)  on  ab- 
domen. One  soft  stool,  sort  of  muddy  color,  with  bad  smell  yes- 
terday ;  daily  one  soft,  sufficient  stool  during  the  fever  period. 
Urine  scanty,  red,  with  no  burning  during  urination ;  burning  of 
eyes ;  burning  of  soles  and  palms  with  a  desire  to  put  them  on  a 
cool  surface ;  no  sweat  now ;  occasional  empty  eructations ;  slight 
enlargement  of  spleen,  with  aching  during  fever ;'  >  lying  on  left 
side ;  pain  under  percussion  on  right  hypochondrium  and  epi- 
gastrium ;  abdomen  retracted. 

He  was  given  Sulphur  200,  one  dose.  He  continued  under 
placebo  till  the  29th  inst.  Gradual  improvement  followed  the 
dose.     He  recovered  and  went  away. 

Here  is  another  one-dose-cure  of  which  Homoeopathy  has  many 
thousands  to  boast.  We  have  two  things  to  note  here :  One  that 
quinine  creates  many  cases  for  Homoeopaths  to  treat,  and  the 
other  that  our  homoeopathic  Sulphur  is  a  very  good  remedy  with 
which  to  treat  such  maltreated  cases.  Yes  there  are  many  other 
remedies  for  the  effects  of  maltreatment  by  quinine,  as,  for  in- 
stance, Ars.,  Ipec.,  Puis.,  etc.,  which  I  have  found  very  efficacious 
in  my  own  practice,  but  Sulphur  stands  at  the  head  of  the  list. 

Here  in  Bengal  we  see  many  cases  of  fever,  intermittent  or  re- 
mittent, maltreated  with  quinine  or  aresnic,  transformed  into  a 
quite  different  disease,  having  an  appearance  of  an  intermittent 
fever  with  various  complications.  Ready  suppression  of  inter- 
mittent fever  with  quinine,  arsenic  or  other  powerful  drugs  often 
occasions  lingering  diseases  with  various  organic  disorders.  In 
many  such  maltreated  cases  we  find  disorders  of  digestion  with 


Diagnosis  Through  Selection  of  Remedy.  545 

same  hepatic  derangements,  enlargement  of  spleen  and  irregu- 
larity in  the  action  of  the  bowels.  In  a  case  which  was  under 
my  treatment,  and  the  patient  was  suffering  from  intermittent 
fever  of  the  tertian  type,  complicated  with  some  hepatic  disorder 
and  enlargement  of  spleen,  I  remember  I  saw  leucorrhcea  follow 
the  suppression  of  the  fever  by  the  application  of  the  juice  of  a 
plant  on  the  spine.  In  another  instance  asthma  followed  the-  use 
of  quinine.  In  such  cases  no  trace  of  an  intermittent  character 
remains  with  the  newly  created  disorder. 

But  in  most  cases  the  intermittent  character  of  the  fever 
remains  in  a  modified  form  so  that  the  patient  goes  on  with  his 
usual  food,  bathing  and  daily  work.  These,  perhaps  what  they 
call  the  dumb  ague,  cases  are  complicated,  and  the  patient  often 
pale  and  anaemic  in  appearance. 

The  one-dose-cure  is  a  very  desirable  and  enviable  thing  in  Ho- 
moeopathy. In  recapitulating  my  practice  in  the  field  of  Ho- 
moeopathy I  feel  in  myself,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  pride  to  express 
that  I  have  the  good  luck  to  witness  many  such  one-dose-cures. 

One  dose  of  Sulphur  200  corrected  this  case. 

Five  days,  from  the  25th  to  the  29th  inst.,  he  continued  under 
my  medical  treatment,  getting  placebo  daily,  save  the  dose  of 
Sulphur  mentioned  above. 

I  present  this  case  as  a  fair  example  of  the  antidotal  action  of 
SulpJiur  in  removing  suffering  after  abuse  of  quinine. 

.Satkhira  P.  O.,  Bengal,  India. 


DIAGNOSIS   THROUGH   THE   SELECTION   OF  THE. 

REMEDY.* 

By  Dr.  Wm.  O.  Cheeseman. 

Dunglison,  in  speaking  of  diagnosis,  says:   "That  part  of  medi- 
cine   whose    object    is    the    discrimination    of    diseases    and    the 
knowledge  of  the  pathognomonic  signs  of  each."     In  simple  Ian 
guage  it  is  naming  the  disease. 

This  is  the  allopathic  point  of  view,  that  you  must  first  name 
the  disease  and  then  select  the  proper  medicine  for  its  treatment. 


*Read  before  the  South  Side  Ilomceopathic  Medical  Society    Chicago. 


546  Diagnosis  Through  Selection  of  Remedy. 

Hahnemann,  although  educated  as  an  allopath,  when  he  de- 
veloped his  remarkable  system  of  medicine,  took  an  entirely 
different  position  in  the  matter  of  diagnosis,  believing  that  while 
%l  diagnosis  should  be  made,  the  pathological  symptoms  are  not 
•considered  of  importance  in  the  selection  of  the  remedy. 

He  says  that  the  peculiar  symptoms  are  of  vastly  more  im- 
portance than  the  pathological  ones  developed  by  the  disease. 

The  allopathic  physician  is  often  at  fault  in  his  diagnosis.  A 
<:ase  of  tumor  of  the  breast,  which  came  to  me,  was  pronounced 
cancer  by  twelve  allopathic  physicians,  who  examined  it.  My 
diagnosis  was  that  it  was  a  lymphoma — a  benign  tumor — and 
was  cured  by  me  under  a  course  of  treatment  lasting  five  months. 

But  we  may  often  make  our  diagnosis  from  the  selection  of 
the  remedy,  for,  if  we  are  careful  observers  (and  the  homoeo- 
pathic physician  should  have  that  faculty  strongly  developed),  we 
shall  notice  certain  morbid  states  in  our  patient  which  are  in- 
dicated by  the  peculiar  symptoms  which  the  patient  gives  us  in 
our  examination  of  the  case. 

For  instance,  a  gentleman  came  to  me  for  indigestion  with  a 
peculiar  condition  of  the  stool,  which  he  designated  as  like  mush. 
Examining  the  repertory  I  found  that  Kalmia  latifolia  was  the 
only  drug  that  had  that  kind  of  a  stool.  Examining  the  case 
further  I  found  that  this  man  had  had  several  attacks  of  rheuma- 
tism with  pains  in  the  region  of  the  heart,  all  of  which  I  sus- 
pected after  getting  this  Kalmia  symptom. 

Mrs.  S.  B.  C,  of  Peoria,  wrote  me  in  reference  to  her  condi- 
tion, complained  of  pain  on  top  of  the  head,  also  pain  in  the  back 
of  neck,  circulation  poor,  nervous,  vertigo,  which  was  worse  in 
the  morning,  feeling  of  faintness,  not  much  strength,  head  trouble 
worse  from  company  and  excitement,  feels  blue,  was  afraid  she 
would  have  apoplexy.  Again,  examining  the  repertory  I  found 
Gelsemium  more  nearly  covered  the  symptoms  than  any  other 
remedy,  but  in  studying  those  symptoms  I  was  impressed  that 
these  symptoms  were  largely  due  to  malaria  with  suspected  liver 
trouble,  which  fact  was  proven  by  further  correspondence  with 
this  lady.  I  have  never  seen  this  case.  Six  doses  of  Gels.  200 
removed  the  majority  of  her  symptoms.  In  her  second  letter 
she  mentioned  the  fact  that  the  bowels  were  badly  constipated, 
and  had  been  in  this  condition  for  a  long  time.  Three  doses  of 
Natrum  mur.  200  removed  this  trouble  entirely. 


Keynotes  cuid   the   Totality.  547 

"There  is  a  symptom  found  under  Lachesis,"  says  Dr.  Fleagle, 
'constantly  obliged  to  take  a  deep  breath/  This  symptom 
alone  has  often  led  me  to  suspect  an  on  coming  cerebro-spinal 
meningitis.  But  no  matter  with  what  disease  it  is  associated,  tt 
denotes  an  impending  paralysis  of  the  pneumo-gastric  nerve." 

I  have  endeavored  in  this  short  paper  to  give  you  a  new  view 
point  of  the  beauties  of  our  wonderful  system  of  medicine. 


KEYNOTES   AND    THE    TOTALITY. 
By  Milton  Powell,  M.  D. 

In  the  present  age  we  hear  many  voices  denouncing  key -notes 
and  key-note  prescribing,  and  emphasizing  the  importance  of  the 
totality  of  the  symptoms,  conveying  the  impression  that  the  prob- 
lem of  the  prescription  is  mainly  one  of  addition,  numbers,  qual- 
ity, instead  of  which,  according  to  the  153d  paragraph  of  the 
Organon,  it  is  always  one  of  quality,  character,  individuality. 

If  we  carefully  analyze  that  paragraph  in  the  light  of  all  that 
precedes  it,  our  conclusion  should  be  that  we  arc  to  take  the 
totality,  not  in  order  to  give  the  drug  containing  .the  greatest  of 
symptoms  of  a  patient,  but  because  each  symptom  of  the  totality 
is  to  be  measured  by  or  compared  with  the  standard  of  quality  as, 
stated  in  the  above  mentioned  paragraph  of  the  Organon.  By 
this  method  we  arrive  at  a  final  totality  of  quality,  and  contained', 
in  this  totality  we  should  invariably  see  the  much  despised  but  alt 
important  key-notes. 

Examine  the  cases  reported  as  cured  by  the  same  writers  who- 
raise  their  voices  most  loudly  against  key-notes.  Strike  out  the' 
key-notes  and  it  would  puzzle  the  best  prescriber  to  select  the 
remedy.  Strike  out  all  excepting  the  key-notes  and.  the  remedy  is 
easily  discerned. 

No  one  is  likely  to  assert  that  he  could  invariably  name  the 
symphony  about  to  be  played  if  he  could  hear  the  key-note ;  but 
the  key-note,  or  a  chord  of  a  bar  of  music,  may,  and  frequently 
does,  suggest  a  whole  opera  or  a  familiar  song.  So  one  key- 
note, or,  more  strongly,  three  or  four,  may  suggest  to  the  ph) 
sician  a  remedy  or  a  small  group,  examination  of  which  in  the 
materia  medica  should  lead  to  the  similar. 

New  York,  163  W.  76th  St. 


548 


THE    LACHESIS    MIX-UP    IN    EUROPE. 

Journalists,  always  on  the  watch  for  novelties,  are  interesting- 
themselves  a  at  in  the  delicate  operation  of  extracting  the 

Venom  ol  a  venomous  snake  while  it  is  alive.  They  also  discuss 
various  diseases,  and  especially  insanity,  which  might  be  treated 
by  gi  Qg  ifinitesimal  doses  of  this  poison.  A  number  of  Ameri- 
can and  can  journals,  both  medical  journals  and  daily 
papers,  have  complacently  discussed  this  subject,  without  notic- 

g  certain  errors  which  our  Brazilian  colleague.  Dr.  Milo  Cairo, 
has  roc::  §  de  YHoi  kie.     In  France  a 

Parisian  journal,  Le  Steele,  on  May  29,  100S.  echoed  these 
rumors,  publishing  under  the  title.  "A  Proposed  Bill  of  Fare"  the 
following  brief  article: 

"What  is     greeable  and  at  the  same  time  consoling  about  the 

Syndrome  of  Cotard  is  that  'he  always  performs  his  evolutions 

■on  the  melancholy  basis  wh.ich  has  given  him  birth."     Everybody 

his  syndrome  and  his  evolution,  and  I  shall 

therefore  take  care  not  to  develop  him.     A  quarrel  has  reentry 

•     sen  as  to  the  book  of  a  learned  physician  on  lThe  Insanity  of 

I   myself,  turning  doctor  for  the  moment,  herewith 

present  the  gladsome  news  of  an  easy  and  sure  cure  from  all 

;  rms  of  insanity. 

'"The  Academy  of  Pathological  Sciences  in  London  received 
•last  week  a  communication  of  the  highest  interest.  It  was  pre- 
sented, in  fact,  with  a  viper  from  Brazil,  the  lance-headed  snake. 
ich  will  effect  the  most  wonderful  transformation  in  the  world, 
for  it  will  furnish  the  serum  necessary  for  the  cure,  not  only  of  all 
insanity,  but  also  of  all  mental  or  nervous  disorders  which  so 
cruelly  afflict  poor  humanity. 

''This  viper,  which  may  be  said  to  be  as  dangerous  as  it  is 
beneficent,  presents  to  us.  as  love  does,  at  once  what  is  best  and 
what  is  worst  in  the  world,  death  and  life.  It  is  only  found  in  the 
region  of  the  upper  Amazon  River.  It  was  imported  thence  by 
Dr.  E.  \Y.  Runyon,  of  New  York.  But  the  Amazon  River,  the 
importation,  "the  doctor  himself  here  appear  as  the  smaller  diffi- 
culties of  the  undertaking.  The  end  oi  the  end.  the  proof  oi  the 
vate  undertaking,  consists  in  extracting  the  poison  from  the 
defending  fan_gs  while  the  viper  is  still  alive  and  sound.     The 


The  Lac  he  sis  Mix-Up  in  liu  549 

least  distraction  may  cause  all  to  be  lost;  the  matter  is  like  that 
of  the  lobster  when  it  casts  its  shell.  The  scientific  name  of  this 
viper  is  Lachesis,  and  the  remedy  in  consequence  of  this  is  also 
called  Lachesis. 

"We  cannot  deny  the  generous  action  of  this  Brazilian  viper, 
holding  out  its  fangs  that  humanity  may  draw  thence  health  and 
moral  force.  But  hast  thou  reflected,  Oh,  little  Lachesis!  the  as- 
tounding disproportion  between  the  offer  and  the  demand  ?  We 
do  not  even  know  where  insanity  begins  and  where  it  ends.  Half 
the  people  wear  themselves  out  to  produce  such  a  mass  of  venom 
that  even  the  waters  of  the  Amazon  would  hardly  suffice  for  a 
comparison.  I  have  to  tell  you,  Oh.  good  lachesis  !  that  you  your- 
self are  only  a  crazy  little  thing." 

A.  Bette. 

This  article  became  the  occasion  of  one  of  our  editors,  Dr. 
Kruger,  addressing  an  article  on  the  action  of  this  venom  to  the 
allopathic  journal,  L'Echo  de  la  Medecine  et  de  la  Chirurgie 
(August  1,  1908),  as  its  editor,  Dr.  Tussan.  always  favorably 
receives  the  contribution  of  his  homoeopathic  colleagues.  The 
article  was  entitled : 

Insanity  and  Lachesis. 

Under  the  n/nie  of  Mr.  Brette  there  appeared  in  this  journal 
on  the  29th  of  last  May  an  article,  entitled  ''A  Proposed  Bill  of 
Fare/'  and  treating  of  the  subject  indicated  by  my  title.  May  I 
be  permitted  to  say  some  seasonable  words  as  to  this  question 
which  has  been  barely  touched  upon? 

It  was  in  July  of  the  year  1828  that  the  first  experiment  on  the 
poison  of  the  snake  Lachesis  Surucitcu  was  made  by  Dr.  Constan- 
tine  Hering  in  Paramaribo,  on  the  border  of  Surinam.  This 
snake,  Lachesis  mutus,  belongs  to  a  genus  of  the  Crotalid:e.  It 
is,  therefore,  a  neighbor  to  the  famous  rattle-snake,  the  instru- 
ment with  which  it  rattles  being  some  prickly  scales  curved  back- 
like  a  hook.  This  snake,  elegant  of  color,  marked  with  lozenges, 
may  attain  the  size  of  a  man's  leg.  It  is  the  most  venomous  of 
all  the  snakes  in  South  America.  It  can  kill  a  cow  in  two  hours. 
Its  venom  received  on  some  sugar  of  milk  is  triturated  in  a 
mortar  with  triple  cover,  but  it  rapidly  produces  numerous  severe 
symptoms  merely  through  the  powdery  emanations  from  the  ma- 


550  The  Lachesis  Mix-Up  in  Europe. 

chine.  The  nervous  and  mental  symptoms  figure  prominently. 
Loquacity,  liveliness  of  spirit  and  a  jealous  and  snake-like  humor, 
a  desire  of  injuring  others  while  concealing  oneself  constitute  the 
most  peculiar  states  of  this  mental  condition,  offering  besides 
other  symptomatic  peculiarities.  The  syndrome  of  Cotard,  or  the 
loss  of  mental  vision,  is  met  with,  together  with  the  visual  troubles 
of  Lachesis,  combined  with  melancholy  cerebral  disorders. 

Hering,  aided  by  ninety-seven  colaborers,  investigated  this 
poison  from  the  first  trituration  up  to  the  30,  200,  60,000  and  the 
100,000  potencies,  both  as  to  the  effects  on  healthy  men  as  also  on 
animals  the  most  various  in  the  scale  of  being.  In  conclusion,  he 
gave  us  a  pathogenesis  consisting  of  3,800  symptoms.  The  illus- 
trious founder  of  the  colossal  school  of  the  United  States  began 
a  series  of  experiments  on  the  poison  of  the  various  snakes 
(Crotalidae,  vipers,  lance-headed  bothrops,  the  Naja)  and  on 
corals,  and  on  the  poisons  from  all  the  animal  creation,  from 
mammals  even  to  molluscs,  Sepia,  the  purple  fish,  and  the  star 
fish,  passing  on  the  way  through  a  rich  class  of  insects  (can- 
tharides,  bees,  spiders,  ants)  and  other  poisons. 

We  may  say  that  our  diminutive  fauna  and  our  vipers  are  only 
pigmies  by  the  side  of  those  from  the  virgin  forests.  The  remedy 
drawn  from  Lachesis  is  merely  a  serum,  our  dilutions  free  us  to 
our  advantage  from  the  laborious  preparation  and  application  of 
the  serums,  which  are  merely  approximately  and  cumbersome 
mediums — "Ubi  virus,  ibi  virtus/'  What  flows  from  the  fangs  is 
a  venom. 

Insanity,  such  as  is  generally  understood,  is  a  fundamental  per- 
version of  reason,  which  may  be  partial  or  general,  nevertheless 
there  are  innumerable  troubles  besetting  our  mental  faculties 
which  do  not  affect  our  intellectual  center  in  a  fundamental  man- 
ner. With  these  latter  troubles,  fragmentary  if  I  may  so  call 
them,  the  observation  of  alienists  and  those  who  make  provings 
of  medicines  on  healthy  men,  begin  and  then  they  apply  these 
remedies  with  the  sick. 

Thus  we  arrive  in  the  homoeopathic  school  to  the  cure  of  a 
multiude  of  freaks  and  fancies  and  of  partial  derangement  of  the 
mental  faculties,  and  even  total  mental  alienation,  as  I  have  ob- 
served and  published  surprising  cures,  notably  in  two  cases  in 
which  two  particular  venoms  have  shown  themselves  as  eminentlv 
active. 


The  Lachesis  Mix-Up  in  Europe.  551 

I  am  at  the  present  observing  numerous  cases  of  blenorrhagic 
insanity,  perhaps  the  most  numerous  class  in  psychopathology. 
The  blennorrhagic  virus  has  produced  with  healthy  men,  when 
taken  in  infinitesimal  doses  through  the  mouth,  mental  disorders 
parallel  to  those  engendered  the  way  of  the  genital  organs,  and 
to  those  which  are  produced  and  also  cured  by  hemp,  by  h 
and  other  specific  remedies  of  Homoeopathy.  Mental 
are  the  highest  expression  of  poisonous  action,  and  the  remedies 
which  produce  them  with  the  healthy,  cure  them  with  the  sick. 
But  the  venoms  of  serpents  are  far  from  being  in  the  first  rank  in 
the  cure  of  these  maladies,  although  I  can  cite  in  favor  of 
Lachesis  cures  from  jealous  mania,  melacholy  after  cJiii  : 
delirium  tremens,  meningitis  and  encephalitis,  etc.,  thus  descend- 
ing the  scale  of  cerebral  and  nervous  conditions.  The  Solanece, 
however,  play  a  far  more  important  part,  at  least,  in  the  initial 
treatment  of  mental  maladies. 

If  we  desire  to  receive  palpable  proofs  of  the  curative  action  of 
Lachesis  (which  is  far  from  being  a  slight  insanity),  one  should 
observe,  as  I  have  done,  the  treatment  of  gangrene,  passing  up- 
ward from  a  mortification  of  the  tissues,  and  investing  the  de- 
structive course  the  venom  takes  when  man  is  poisoned,  proceed- 
ing from  death  to  life,  from  the  livid,  the  green,  the  gray,  the 
purple  and  the  black  onward  to  the  living  rosy  red,  to  final  cleans- 
ing and  the  formation  of  the  cicatrice. 

To  the  army  of  mental  disorders  Homoeopath}-  arrays  in  appo- 
sition an  army  of  remedies  capable  of  producing  with  the  healthy 
a  variety  of  artificial  deliria,  hallucinations,  morbid  impulses,  such 
as  Belladonna,  Henbane,  Stramonium,  on  to  the  most  dreadful 
poisons  of  the  ophidians.  No  one  of  these  agents  of  itself  is  a 
panacea  for  these  disorders. 

It  is  thus  that  in  America,  in  the  insane  asylums,  one  of  which 
has  cost  seven  millions  of  francs,  the  most  diverse  kinds  of  in- 
sanity are  treated.  There  we  find  five  thousand  homoeopathic  prac- 
titioners, provided  with  one  hundred  hospitals,  twenty-three  col- 
leges, of  which  several  are  State  institutions,  numerous  learned 
societies  and  institutions,  endowed  with  an  immense  literature 
from  the  huge  encyclopaedia  down  to  the  monographs  and  jour- 
nals, thus  they  have  realized  already  for  some  time  what  in  our 
old  Europe  passes  for  a  mere  dream. 


;» 


Cures  of  Cancer 


Let  us  thank  the  nocturnal  Parcae  that  they  have  placed  this 
new  thread  on  the  loom  of  human  destiny. — Dr.  Kruger  (of 
Nimes),  La  Propagateur  dc  Homoeopathic. 


CURES    OF    CANCER. 

By  Dr.  Nebel,  Lausanne. 

I.    Relapse  of  Cancer  in  the  Lower  Lip. 

The  Syndic  of  P.  s.  C.  was  operated  upon  for  cancer  of  the 
lower  lip,  by  Dr.  Vuillet,  of  Lausanne.  Four  weeks  after  the 
operation  the  patient  came  to  see  me,  owing  to  a  relapse  in  the 
cicatrice,  a  small  tumor  of  the  size  of  a  pea,  bleeding  easily.  This 
latter  symptom  and  the  localization  of  the  disorder  at  the  junction 
of  the  mucous  membrane  of,  the  mouth  and  of  the  skin  caused  me 
to  choose  for  the  remedy  Nitric  acid  t 0,000.  After  this  single 
dose  of  five  globules  the  patient  presented  himself  at  the  end  of 
three  weeks,  when  the  little  tumor  had  entirely  disappared. 

I  report  this  observation  for  the  sake  of  those  of  my  col- 
leagues who  reproached  me  because  I,  in  another  case  of  can- 
cer on  the  lip,  as  reported  in  a  former  number  of  this  jornal.  had 
illegitimately  prescribed  Aurum.  We  must  cure  the  patient,  not 
name  of  the  disease. 

Osteosarcoma  of  the  Left  Lower  Jaw. 

An  aged  lady,  Mrs.  B.,  of  Huemoz.  consulted  me  on  account 
of  a  tumor  on  the  lower  jaw  on  the  left  side,  which  had  rapidly 
increased  in  the  last  week.  Dr.  K.,  of  P.,  who  assisted  in  the  con- 
sultation, diagnosed  it  in  agreement  with  myself  as  osteosarcoma, 
and  advised  Phosphorus.  But  having  in  mind  a  lesson  from 
Burnett,  I  opposed  this  remedy  and  put  my  hope  on  Heclae  lava 
and  Lapis  albus.  As  a  matter  of  conciliation,  however.  I  pre- 
scribed Phosphorus  200,  to  be  given  every  six  days,  one  dose  of 
the  remedy  for  one  month.     Xo  effect. 

Heclae  nwntis  lava  30  and  16,000,  and  Lapis  albus  30,  in  rare 
doses  led  after  a  certain  time  to  the  liquefaction  of  the  tumor.  An 
incision  across  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  mouth,  across  the 
partition  of  the  osseous  envelope  which  had  become  thin,  gave 


The  Treatment  of  Epilepsy.  -?^$ 

issue  to  bloody  pulp.  The  opening  continued  to  secrete  for  sev- 
eral months  a  liquid  of  the  consistency  and  color  of  the  juice  of 
prunes,  and  gradually  the  jaw  resumed  a  normal  aspect.  This 
good  result  has  now  been  maintained  for  four  and  a  half  years. — 
Translated  from  La  Propagateur  de  Homopathie. 


THE    TREATMENT    OF    EPILEPSY. 
By  Dr.  Picard,  Nantes,  France. 

I.  In  the  spring  of  1895  there  came  to  my  office  Miss  Marie 
S.,  fifteen  years  of  age,  a  young  lady  with  a  bright  expression 
and  bearing  all  the  marks  of  good  health.  Her  mobile  features, 
her  intelligent  eyes,  the  distinction  of  her  appearance  rendered 
her  all  the  more  interesting  for  the  observer,  when  her  mother 
declared  that  she  had  the  "falling  sickness." 

She  had  menstruated  without  any  complication  in  this  function 
ever  since  she  was  thirteen  years  old.  She  complained  of  symp- 
toms which  were  quite  commonplace,  and  which  brought  to  mind 
the  chloro-anaemia,  common  at  that  age ;  almost  daily  headache, 
buzzing  in  the  ears,  great  susceptibility,  afraid  of  .ever}  thing,  a 
totality  of  symptoms  for  which  she  would  not  have  come  to  con- 
sult a  homoeopathic  specialist,  as  she  had  at  her  disposal  the  phy- 
sicians of  a  factory.  But  what  disquieted  her,  as  she  said,  was 
one  or  tzvo  attacks  in  which  she  had  lost  consciousness.  Her 
mother,  and  later  on  those  around  her,  informed  me  that  Marie 
S.  had  had  several  attacks  in  public,  commencing  with  a  wild 
cry  and  characterized  by  a  complete  loss  of  consciounsss,  con- 
vulsions of  the  limbs,  rigor  of  the  spinal  column,  noisy  respira- 
tion, foaming  at  the  mouth,  then  after  a  deep  sleep  for  several 
hours,  she  would  wake  up  as  from  a  dream,  and  have  no  recol- 
lection of  what  had  passed. 

This,  then,  was  a  real  case  of  epilepsy  of  which  there  could  he 
no  doubt,  as  the  attacks  were  frequently  repeated,  even  while  at- 
tending high  mass,  and  at  every  attack  she  had  to  be  carried  out 
of  the  church.  For  a  year  or  fifteen  mouths  she  has  presented 
this  sight  many  times,  despite  of  her  illusion,  in  which  she  is  left, 
that  she  had  onlv  one  or  two  fits  in  which  she  lost  consciousness. 


554  The  Treatment  of  Epilepsy. 

Outside  of  these  attacks  Marie  herself  has  strange  sensations, 
complaints  of  confusion  of  ideas,  buzzing  of  the  ears  slowness  and 
indisposition  to  work,  continued  fear  and  hesitation  in  every- 
thing undertaken.  This  moral  condition  and  morbid  susceptibility 
seemed  to  me  to  form  an  aggravation  in  the  progress.  I  com- 
menced her  treatment  with  Calcarea  carb.  6  d.,  three  times  a  day 
before  meals,  and  one  drop  of  Belladonna  6,  just  before  going 
to  bed. 

At  the  end  of  one  month  Marie  S.  returned,  reporting  a  con- 
tinuance of  her  restlessness,  and  her  hesitation ;  she  feels  as  if 
there  were  a  weight  on  her  stomach,  her  head  is  heavy,  as  if  too 
full  or  too  empty ;  but  her  mother  told  me  that  she  had  not  had 
any  more  attacks. 

In  September,  after  three  months'  treatment,  there  was  a  little 
amelioration  in  the  general  morbid  condition,  still  no  more  at- 
tacks, but  an  irritation,  an  acute  and  very  troublesome  vesicular 
strain.  I  substituted  for  Belladonna  6,  Cicnta  6,  for  three  weeks, 
while  continuing  Calcarea  carb.,  when  I  came  back  to  Belladonna, 
of  which  I  got  her  to  take  a  drop  after  the  two  principal  meals. 
Thus  we  reached  January,  1896. 

The  girl  complained  at  times  of  her  stomach,  of  gastralgia, 
lack  of  appetite,  slowness  of  digestion,  so  I  gave  her  Nux  vom. 
6.  She  had  more  trouble  with  her  menstruation,  so  I  gave  in 
addition  Cedron  3,  after  her  meals.  All  these  accessory  symp- 
toms diminished  and  disappeared,  but  only  to  return.  Towards 
May  the  patient,  who  was  always  afraid  of  a  return  of  her  at- 
tack, came  back.  Then  I  gave  her  Oenanthe  2,  later  the  6th,  then 
in  summer  the  3.  This  remedy  was  taken  an  hour  and  a  half 
after  meals,  for  before  the  meals  I  still  gave  her  Calcarea,  some- 
times carb.,  sometimes  phospJi.  No  attack  had  taken  place,  and 
her  serenity  of  mind  has  returned,  but  not  completely.  From  time 
to  time  she  felt  congestion  in  the  head  and  some  vertigo  ac- 
companied with  headache.  This  I  warded  off  with  Gelsetmum 
alternating  weekly  with  Belladonna.  Then  I  again  returned  to 
Oenanthe;  later  again  I  gave  her  Cedron,  when  her  coming  men- 
struation announced  itself  by  an  increase  of  her  vague  disorders, 
restlessness  and  abdominal  pains. 

Since  1897  Marie  S.  has  stopped  coming  to  consult  me  every 
two  months,  as  she  did  formerly,  but  I  kept  her  in  view,  and  at 


The  Treatment  of  I  555 

intervals  of  at  most  six  months  she  would  come  back,  as  she 
lived  in  continued  dread  of  a  return  of  her  malady,  and  she  would 
call  on  me  to  relieve  her  from  the  various  symptoms  of  chlorosis, 
which  lasted  since  her  puberty ;  sometimes  transitory  vertigo 
with  relative  loss  of  memory  and  even  of  clear  vision.  Then 
again  her  flow  was  too  pale,  her  heart  palpitated,  and  especially 
there  was  her  disquietude.  I  warded  off  the  symptoms  every 
time  and  strengthened  her  against  her  malady  with  Calcarea  carb. 
or  phosph.j  which  I  prescribed  several  times  a  year. 

This  treatment  with  the  Calcareas  seems  to  have  eventually 
much  modified  the  mentality  of  Marie,  who,  while  preserving  her 
assiduous  piety,  has  finished  by  freeing  herself  from  her  religious 
scruples,  and  taking  on  more  decision  in  the  conduct  of  her  life. 
But  in  spite  of  her  persistence  in  the  disorders  of  her  circulation, 
which,  with  many  young  girls,  and  also  with  older  ones,  is  a  con- 
dition too  habitual,  a  proved  epileptic,  besotted  by  her  use  of 
Bromide  of  potassium,  which,  in  1895,  had  only  aggravated  her 
feebleness,  she  has  not  had  a  single  attack  of  epilepsy  since  April, 
when  she  first  came  under  homoeopathic  treatment.  And 
I  have  a  late  report  from  her.  for  she  came  only  two  days  ago 
to  consult  me  about  a  gastralgia  of  little  importance. 

This    disappearance    of    the    symptoms    of    epilepsy,    followed 
merely  by  morbid  symptoms  which  are  in  no  way  specific,  have 
ie  to  conclude  that  true  epilepsy  can  be  cured  by  a  regular 
course  of  the  Calcareas,  followed  according  to  the  symptom- 

.7,  Cicn:,:.  Nux  vom.>  Oenanuxe,  Cedron  and  Gelsemium. 

II.  Yves  Goulven  Legr,  a  young  Breton,  an  orphan  on  the 
father's  side,  through  his  death  from  alcoholic  consumption, 
came  to  my  office  in  1897.  being  brought  by  his  mother.  He 
was  a  tall  lad  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  years,  who  has  grown  up  too 
fast,  and  since  the  last  fifteen  months  has  fallen  down  from  at- 
tacks of  epilepsy,  now  on  the  street,  then  again  in  his  workshop ; 
he  has  also  been  found  in  >ns  at  night  in  bed.     He  is  be- 

sides a  sad  rake,  and  beats  his  young  brothers  or  sisters  so  • 
edly  that  his   mother  cannot   leave   them   in   his   company.      He 
has  several  attacks,  two.  three  or  four  a  month.     The  bureau  of 
charities  has  made  him  take  Bromide  of  potassium,  but  without 
success. 

I  gave  him  Calc.  carb.  6  trit..  six  times  a  day.  before  and  after 


556  Adenoid  Growths. 

the  three  meals.  The  first  month  there  was  no  change,  five  at- 
tacks during  the  month.  In  March  I  added  Bellad.  3,  giving  one 
drop  after  each  of  his  three  meals ;  Calcarea  carb.  each  time  be- 
fore the  meal.  Legr  did  not  appear  for  six  weeks,  but  he  con- 
tinued taking  the  medicine.  He  could  not  be  made  to  come 
back  to  me,  but  as  it  did  not  cost  him  anything,  he  kept  taking  the 
medicines,  as  if  he  was  conferring  a  favor,  pretty  regularly.  His 
mother  came  back  to  secure  more  medicine,  until  fall.  She  re- 
ceived always  Calcarea  with  Belladonna  and  Oenanthc.  Then 
I  lost  sight  of  mother  and  son  for  six  weeks,  until  she  came  back 
to  see  me  in  1904,  reporting  that  her  son  had  been  married  for 
two  years,  and  is  completely  cured,  and  had  not  had  a  single  at- 
tack since  the  summer  of  1897.  He  has  become  a  good  worker, 
always  somewhat  abrupt,  but  regular  in  his  life.  He  married  in 
his  twenty-first  year,  and  is  already  a  father,  and  has  no  remem- 
brance of  his  former  wickedness,  which  his  epileptic  fits  with 
foam  at  the  mouth,  seem  to  excuse.  z 

Here  is  another  epileptic  cured,  who  remained  so  for  six 
years,  from  1897  to  1904.  Since  then  I  have  not  heard  from  him. 
He  was  cured  with  Calcarea  carb.,  Bellad.  and  Oenanthe;  the 
former  being  given  before  meals  and  the  latter  after  the  meals, 
alternating  every  week. — Translated  from  Revue  Homccopathie, 
October. 


ADENOID    GROWTHS. 

By  Dr.  Lambreghts,  in  Antwerp. 

From  a  lengthy  article  on  this  subject  we  excerpt  the  follow- 
ing interesting  cases : 

I  would  here  give  two  interesting  cases  which  were  cured  in  a 
comparatively  short  time  by  means  of  local  and  internal  ho- 
maeopathic  treatment. 

I.  On  October  31,  1905,  I  had  to  treat  a  child  six  years  of 
age,  afflicted  with  adenoid  growths.  Her  name  was  Simone  G. 
The  mother  had  consulted  several  specialists  in  Antwerp  and  in 
Brussels,  and  all  had  advised  the  immediate  excision  of  the 
growth.  But  before  proceeding  to  such  extreme  measures 
Madam  G.  determined  to  try  the  homoeopathic  treatment.  The 
little  patient  was  but  imperfectly  developed  for  her  age ;  she  was 


Adenoid  Growths.  ^^y 

pale,  anaemic  and  of  a  pronounced  lymphatic  temperament.  For 
several  months  she  had  been  tormented  with  a  convulsive  cough, 
which  was  aggravated  at  night,  and  for  which  all  manner  of 
allopathic  remedies  had  been  tried  in  vain.  The  two  nostrils  were 
almost  completely  stuffed  up  and  filled  with  thick,  yellowish 
mucus.  The  patient  continually  kept  her  mouth  half  "pen,  which 
gave  to  her  the  characteristic  dull  look  which  we  generally  fin(f 
where  there  are  adenoid  growths.  At  night  she  slept  with  her 
mouth  open  and  snored  noisily.  The  tonsils  were  slightly  en- 
larged. By  an  examination  with  the  finger  I  could  easily  detect 
behind  the  velum  palati  a  swelling  of  the  size  of  a  filbert. 

I  prescribed  internally  Calcarea  phosph.  6,  Kali  bichrom.  6 
and  Mercurius  jod.  6,  and  I  gradually  inserted  plugs  of  sterilized 
cotton  moistened  with  glycerin  and  Hydrastis  Canad.  tincture 
into  the  nostrils.  The  cotton  was  thoroughly  drenched  with  this* 
mixture,  which  was  made  in  the  proportion  of  sixty  grams  of 
pure  glycerine  and  ten  grams  of  the  Hydrastis  tincture.  The- 
plug  was  first  thrust  up  deep  into  one  of  the  nostrils,  and  the  pa- 
tient was  requested  at  the  same  time  to  make  some  deep  inhala- 
tions so  that  the  fluid  ran  down  into  the  posterior  nares.  After 
about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  plug  was  withdrawn  and  a  similar 
plug  was  inserted  into  the  other  nostril,  where  it  is  allowed  to- 
remain  a  like  time.  After  the  child  had  been  treated  in  this 
manner  for  a  week,  the  mother  gladly  informed  me  that  there  was 
a  manifest  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  child.  The  plugs 
of  cotton  had  been  inserted  at  the  beginning  of  the  treatment 
three  times  a  day,  later  once  or  twice  a  day.  An  examination 
showed  that  both  the  nostrils  were  now  quite  free  and  the  snor- 
ing at  night  had  entirely  ceased.  The  treatment  was  continued 
till  December  13th.  At  that  time  the  child  could  be  considered 
cured.  The  growths  could  no  more  be  felt  with  the  finger,  the 
cough  had  ceased  entirely,  and  the  air  passed  freely  through  both 
the  nostrils. 

A  short  time  ago  I  saw  the  child  again.  She  has  become  vigor- 
ous and  robust,  and  the  little  girl  has  passed  through  two  winters 
without  a  sign  of  a  cold. 

II.  A  little  cousin  of  this  patient  had  been  under  treatment 
with  a  Paris  specialist  for  the  same  trouble.  It  was  besides  this 
afflicted  with  a  puriform  discharge  from  the  left  ear.     The  physi- 


558  Use  of  Belladonna  Externally. 

cian  who  had  been  treating  the  case  had  only  been  waiting  for  a 
cessation  of  this  discharge  before  proceeding  to  the  excision  of 
the  adenoid  growths.  The  mother,  Madam  Z.,  who  had  heard 
of  the  cure  of  little  Simone,  visited  me  on  February  3,  1906,  and 
requested  me  to  undertake  the  treatment  of  her  daughter.  She 
was  a  girl,  seven  years  of  age,  very  pale,  tender  and  lymphatic. 
She  had  a  catarrh  of  the  nose  which  prevented  almost  altogether 
all  respiration  through  the  nose.  The  discharge  from  the  ear, 
from  which  she  had  been  suffering  for  several  weeks,  was  treated 
with  injections  of  superoxid  of  hydrogen  into  the  auditory  pass- 
age. The  tonsils  were  considerably  enlarged.  As  internal  reme- 
dies I  prescribed  Pulsatilla  3,  Calcarea  phosph.  6,  and  Kali 
bichrom.  6,  and  then  I  substituted  for  the  injections  of  the  super- 
oxid finely  pulverized  Boric  acid,  which  was  blown  into  the  audi 
lory  passage,  and  which  seemed  to  have  a  better  effect  than  the 
injection  of  fluids  which  frequently  irritate  the  tympanum.  I 
then  applied  the  same  local  treatment  to  the  nostrils  as  in  the 
former  case.  When  the  little  patient  called  again  in  ten  days  I 
<ould  see  a  noticeable  improvement  in  the  nostrils  as  well  as  in 
the  ear.  The  puriform  discharge  had  almost  ceased,  and  had 
diminished  to  a  mere  oozing  out  of  a  watery  fluid  from  the  ear. 
The  child  is  already  breathing  well  through  the  nose  and  can 
.sleep  with  closed  mouth. 

On  the  28th  of  March  the  growths  could  no  more  be  felt  with 
the  finger,  and  as  the  child  was  in  quite  a  satisfactory  condition 
she  returned  to  Paris. 

According  to  a  report  since  received,  she  visited  the  physician 
who  had  had  her  under  treatment.  He  was  very  much  surprised 
at  the  manifest  change  that  had  taken  place,  and  inquired  into 
the  treatment  the  child  had  received,  and  stated  that  he  was  not 
acquainted  with  this  treatment,  but  would  look  into  it. — Trans- 
dated  from  Homccopathie  Monatsblaetter. 


TTHE   USE   OF   BELLADONNA    TINCTURE    EXTER- 
NALLY. 

By  Dr.  Newberry. 

In  the  April  number  of  the  Homoeopathic  World  there  was  an 
article  on  the  "Influence  of  Belladonna  in  Suppurative  Inflamma- 
tion."    As  our  institution  is  situated  practically  in  the  centre  of 


Use  of  Belladonna  Externally.  559 

the  town,  we  get  a  great  number  of  acute  inflammatory  condi- 
tions resulting  from  accidents,  etc.  I  determined  to  try  Bella- 
donna on  the  first  opportunity.  I  had  not  long  to  wait,  for  a  day 
or  two  after  reading  the  article  above  referred  to  I  noticed  one  of 
the  nursing  staff  had  one  of  her  fingers  tied  up,  and  was  mani- 
festly in  great  pain.  On  inquiry  I  found  she  had  been  suffering 
for  five  days  with  a  whitlow  on  the  index  finger,  the  anguish  of 
which  had  kept  her  awake  for  three  nights.  She  thought  it  was 
ready  to  be  "opened."  I  thought  so,  too,  for  there  was  pus  all 
round  the  base  of  the  nail,  and  I  prepared  to  make  a  free  in- 
cision. Then  I  thought  this  was  a  good  opportunity  to  try  Bella- 
donna. As  there  was  no  strength  mentioned  in  the  Homoeo- 
pathic World,  I  ordered  a  compress  of  Tinct.  Bell.,  one  part,  hot 
water  seven  parts,  to  be  renewed  every  three  hours.  The  effect 
was  magical ;  pain  ceased  immediately,  and  nurse  had  a  good 
night.  The  next  morning  the  inflammation  was  entirely  gone ;  on 
raising  the  skin  only  a  little  thin  serum  flowed,  and  the  finger  was 
well  in  a  day  or  two. 

The  next  case  was  one  of  a  more  serious  nature.  A  man  came 
up  to  the  out-patient  department  one  morning  with  a  septic  hand',, 
which  he  had  been  poulticing  for  a  week.  Belladonna  compress,. 
%  twice  daily,  was  ordered,  and  no  incision  was  required. 

Mrs.  D.  had  a  septic  hand  from  a  whitlow,  the  inflammation  ex- 
tending to  the  wrist.  The  pain  was  intense,  and  patient  had  not 
slept  for  nights.  This  time  a  compress  of  equal  parts  of  Tinct. 
Belladonna  and  hot  water  was  ordered,  and  she  was  given  a. 
supply  to  repeat  it  every  three  hours  at  home.  The  next  morning,, 
when  she  came  up  for  dressing,  the  hand  was  practically  well. 

On  May  15,  V.  R.,  a  powerful  laboring  mar.,  was  first  seen  at 
his  own  home.  The  man  was  in  bed,  manifestly  with  general  con- 
stitutional disturbance.  He  had  a  small  punctured  wound  on  the 
back  of  the  left  hand,  from  which  a  little  foul  pus  was  discharg- 
ing. The  wound  was  said  to  have  been  caused  by  a  rust}  nail 
about  a  week  previously.  The  whole  hand  and  arm  ware  intensely 
swolen  and  painful,  enlarged  gland  at  elbow,  and  tl  limb 

brawny.     It  was,  in  fact,  a  bad  case  of  acute  cellulitis,  requiring- 
prompt  measures.     These  would,  no  doubt,  formerly  have  been; 
free  and  deep  incisions,  creolin  baths,  boric   fomentations,  etc. 
Patient  had  not  slept  for  several  nights,  and  had  a  temperature 


560  Book  Notices. 

considerably  over  1010.  He  was  admitted  to  the  hospital,  and  hot 
fomentations  of  Tinct.  Belladonna  and  water,  equal  parts,  were 
applied  to  the  hand  and  forearm  every  three  hours,  while  he  was 
given  gtt.  ii.  Belladonna  ix  3h.  by  the  mouth. 

The  next  morning  the  patient  was  reported  to  have  had  a  very 
good  night ;  the  pain  and  swelling  had  gone  down,  and  there  was 
a  free  discharge  of  pus  from  the  original  wound ;  temperature 
normal.  As  there  was  some  inflammation  above  the  elbow,  the 
fomentations  were  extended  to  the  shoulder,  but  the  strength  was 
-reduced  to  %.  Everything  went  satisfactorily,  and  the  patient 
was  discharged  on  the  eighth  day. 

The  influence  of  Belladonna  in  suppurative  inflammations  be- 
ing thus  confirmed,  hot  Belladonna  fomentations  have  become  a 
routine  practice  in  our  out-patient  department,  with  the  most 
satisfactory  results. 


SANGUINARIA— A  REMEDY   IN   GRIPPE. 

When  there  is  languor,  prostration,  headache,  cough,  pain  in 
'the  chest  with  great  desire  for  rest,  Sanguinaria  will  relieve  in 
from  four  to  twelve  hours,  and  next  day  life  will  be  worth  living. 
When  the  patient  don't  care  whether  he  lives  or  dies  give  San- 
guinaria, and  next  day  he  will  listen  to  what  you  say,  and  won't 
mind  looking  at  the  paper  to  see  what  is  going  on  around  him. 
I  know  of  no  other  remedy  so  reliable  in  la  grippe  as  Sanguinaria. 
Under  Bryonia  he  must  rest  and  keep  still.  Sanguinaria  patient 
feels  better  from  resting,  wants  to  be  quiet,  but  will  move  or 
change  his  position  without  complaint  if  he  can  make  himself 
more  comfortable  by  the  change. — Dr.  Wallace  McGcorge,  Cam- 
den, N.  J.,  in  Medical  Advance. 


BOOK  NOTICES. 


Repertory  of  the  Homoeopathic  Materia  Medica.     By  J.  T. 

Kent,  A.  M.,  M.  D.     Second,  revised  edition.     1,380  pages. 

Half  morocco,  $16.50.     Book  expressage  extra. 
,  When  it  is  necessary  to  print  a  second  edition  of  a  book  of  this 
mature  the  fact  is  pretty  conclusive  evidence  that  it  has  taken  its 


Book  Notices.  561 

place  among  the  standard  books  of  reference.  Aside  from  the 
addition  of  a  few  remedies  there  is  no  essential  difference  between 
this  and  the  first  edition.  The  pages  are  large,  9^3x7  inches. 
The  symptoms,  or  repertory,  is  in  double  columns.  There  are 
forty-six  chapters  or  sections,  beginning  with  "Mind"  and  end- 
ing with  "Generalities."  The  number  of  remedies  repertoried  (if 
the  word  is  allowable)  is  about  550 — a  few  more  or  less.  The  ar- 
rangement? On  this  point  it  can  only  be  said  that  it  is  the  best 
that  a  man  of  Kent's  experience  could  devise.  The  only  point  on 
which  a  repertory  is  open  to  criticism  (aside  from  mechanical 
make-up),  is  in  its  arrangement,  and  we  cannot  see  how  the 
author  could  have  done  better.  There  will  always  be  those  who 
will  complain  of  their  difficulty  in  finding  a  certain  thing,  and  ask 
for  an  index;  but  an  index  to  an  index  (for  that  is  what  a  reper- 
tory is)  is  a  sort  of  an  anomaly,  though,  of  course,  there  is  al- 
ways something  to  be  said  on  the  point.  Aside  from  this  no  one 
can  complain  of  the  wonderful  completeness  of  this  book  down  to 
the  very  finest  shades  of  symptomatology. 

Now  that  Allen's  Symptom  Register  is  practically  out  of  print 
(there  are  less  than  half  a  dozen  copies  left  unsold  we  are  in- 
formed) this  is  the  only  general  repertory  covering  the  materia 
medica  in  its  entirety,  consequently  the  need  of  such  a  book  is  ap- 
parent to  all  who  practice  medicine  according  to  the  law  of  simi- 
lars. Books  of  this  sort  do  not  become  obsolete,  they  are  good 
property  and  will  always  remain  so. 


"Lords  of  Ourselves.  A  chart  for  life  on  earth  for  those  who 
dare.  By  Edward  Earle  Purinton.  Pages  eclxvii.  Limp 
cloth,  $1.50.    Benedict  Lust,  New  York. 

"The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  help  us  to  learn  how  little  we 
"know,"  writes  the  author  as  a  sort  of  motto,  and  adds,  "yet  how 
much  we  can  do  and  be  with  that  little."  Later  on  we  read. 
"The  essentials  and  potentials  of  self  are  revealed  only  to  him 
who  has  explored  the  span  of  the  heavens  above  him,  penetrated 
the  depths  of  the  forces  within  him,  mastered  the  world  of  facul- 
ties about  him,"  and  so  on.  The  book  tells  you  how  to  eat  and 
sleep  and  enlightens  you  on  many  points,  as,  for  instance,  "The 
institution  of  prayer  is  iniquitous,"  "Popular  prayer  is  a  support 
of  idolatry;"  in  short,  it  is  not  a  scientific  procedure,     "llappi- 


562  Book  Notices. 

ness  is  nothing  more  than  the  chief  by-product  in  the  manu- 
facture of  character."  It  is  a  "naturopath"  book  (bum  word 
that!)  that  is  bright,  and  if  followed  will  make  a  first-class  crank 
of  anv  one. 


Catechism  of  Haematology.  By  Robert  Lincoln  Waters,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Haemotology,  Eclectic  Medical  College  of  the  City 
of  New  York.  31  pages.  Physicians'  Book  Publishing  Co., 
New  York. 

This  little  catechism  concerns  itself  exclusively  with  the  ex- 
amination of  fresh  blood  as  a  means  of  diagnosis,  "the  only  true 
method,"  the  author  says.  The  reader  must  determine  that 
question. 


The     Light    of    China.      The  Tao  Teh,   King  of  Lao  Tsze; 
604-504   B.    C.      An   accurate   metrical    rendering,    translated 
directly  from  the  Chinese  text,  and  critically  compared  with 
the  standard  translations,  the  ancient  modern   Chinese   Com- 
mentaries, and  all  accessible  authorities.     With  Preface,  Ana- 
lytical Index,  and  full  list  of  important  works  and  their  radical 
signification.      165   pages ;  cloth,  60  cents.     By   I.   W.   Heys- 
inger,  M.  A.,  M.  D.,  author  of  "Solar  Energy,"  etc.     Research 
Publishing  Co.,  Philadelphia.     MDCCCCTIL 
The  author  of  this  Chinese  classic  was  a  contemporary  of  Con- 
fucius, and  his  book  is  the  basis  of  one  of  the  three  great  religions 
of  China,  the  Taoist.    The  translator  is  our  stalwart  homoeopath, 
Dr.  I.  W.  Heysinger,  of  Philadelphia.     For  obvious  reasons  the 
reviewer  cannot  say  a  word  for  or  against  the  translation,  beyond 
the  fact  that  it  seems  right.     There  is  much  Chinese  wisdom  in 
these  pages.    Here  is  a  touch  on  the  "Virtue  of  Gravity,"  a  virtue 
we  of  this  age  have  outgrown — or  become  so  silly  that  we  do  not 
realize  its  importance : 

"Should  the  lord  of  the  ten  thousand  chariots  be  too  light  for  his  place? 
Then  he  will  lose  not  supporters  alone 
But,  being  too  restless,  loses  his  throne." 

Apparently  only  the  sophomores  of  our  day  realize  the  virtue 
of  the  calming  down  of  freshness — the  sophomores  and  perhaps 
the  German  nation.  The  Chinese  realize  that  people  as  a  mass 
take  things  seriously.    Again: 


Book  Xotices.  563 

"He  who  is  self  asserting  sheds  no  light ; 
He  that  boasts  himself  no  merit  gains." 

There  is  deep  wisdom,  too,  in  this : 

"When  the  work  is  done,  and  reputation  advancing,  then,  say  I, 

Is  the  time  to  withdraw  and  disappear,  and  that  is  the  Heavenly  Way." 

Had  Hobson  followed  this  what  a  hero  he  would  have  been ! 
The  book  is  unique  and  interesting  to  all  who  love  to  delve  in  the 
wisdom  and  thought  of  alien  races  and  the  larger  view  of  life. 


Proceedings  of  the  Twenty-ninth  Annual  Session  of  the 
International  Hahnemannian  Association.  Published  by  the 
Association. 

There  are  many  interesting  papers  in  this  volume  of  271  pages. 
The  ''Bureau  of  Surgery"  seems  a  little  like  Hamlet  minus  the 
Prince  of  Denmark,  for  nearly  every  case  reported  was  cured 
without  resorting  to  an  operation.  A  paper  by  Dr.  Guy  B. 
Stearns,  or,  rather,  a  remark  in  it,  must  set  those  who  read 
a-thinking.  He  says  that  he  has  examined  the  urine  of  men 
who  have  had  gonorrhoea  from  two  to  twenty  years  ago  and  has 
found  gonorrhceal  shreds  in  all  of  them  and  the  gonococci  in  those 
cases  submitted  to  microscopical  examinations.  The  real  point  is 
that  not  all  these  cases  had  been  treated  by  injections,  but  some 
of  them  by  good  homoeopathic  treatment.  Dr.  Stearns  concludes 
with  these  words :  "The  writer's  earlier  sanguine  attitude  re- 
garding the  disease,  based  on  apparently  brilliant  results  from  ho- 
moeopathic medication,  has  changed  on  mature  observations  to 
one  of  conservative  agnosticism.  In  all  cases  the  burden  of  proof 
lies  with  the  one  who  claims  to  make  a  cure."  If  Dr.  Stearns  is 
right  then  surely  "a  dose  of  " — the  disease — is  consider- 
ably more  serious  to  a  man  and  his  posterity  than  "a  bad  cold," 
as  "the  boys"  used  to  say. 


A  Handbook  of  Suggestive  Therapeutics,  Applied  Thera- 
peutics, Psychic  Science.     Second   edition.      By   Henry   S. 
Munro,  M.  D.,  Americus,  Ga.     360  pages,  cloth.     St.  Louis. 
C.  V.  Mosby  Medical  Book  Publishing  Co.,  1908. 
In  the  reviewer's  opinion,  it  is,  of  course,  but  an  opinion,  this 

sort  of  science  is  dangerous,  for,  while  it  may  be  used  for  good, 


564  Book  Notices. 

it  may,  with  equal  ease,  be  used  to  do  devil's  work.  The  patient 
must  be  the  subject  of  the  will  of  another,  and — there  you  are. 
Even  where  the  operator,  if  the  term  may  be  used,  is  animated  by- 
good  intentions  and  seemingly  does  do  the  patient  good,  it  is  done- 
by  subjecting  him  to  a  stronger  personality  and  to  that  extent  he- 
becomes  a  weaker  human  being.  The  slave  is  freed  from  certain 
worries,  but  it  is  at  a  price.  Even  so  may  be  the  cures  by  these 
methods.  Aside  from  these  considerations  the  book  is,  so  far  as 
we  know  about  as  practical  a  one  on  the  subject  as  you  can  find. 
It  is  also  interesting. 


Gonorrhoea  in  Women.  By  Palmer  Findley,  M.  D.,  College  of 
Medicine  of  the  University  of  Nebraska.  112  pages,  large  8vo., 
cloth.  St.  Louis,  Mo.  C.  V.  Mosby  Book  and  Publishing  Co. 
1908. 

The  object  of  this  book  is  "to  instruct  some  and  to  awaken  all 
to  a  greater  realization  of  the  supreme  importance  of  the  subject 
of  gonorrhoea  in  women."  Though  a  small  book  it  has  a  "bibli- 
ography" on  gonorrhoea  covering  nine  pages.  The  author  writes 
of  the  danger  of  "untimely  interference"  which  "is  responsible 
for  the  extension  of  the  infection,"  i.  e.,  '"curing"  by  injection. 
In  the  days  when  "balsam"  and  a  rag  were  the  treatment  the 
disease  did  not  take  on  the  dangerous  nature  it  has  since  the  sup- 
pression of  its  evidence  has  become  the  proper  caper.  The  good 
homoeopath  will  not  accept  the  treatment  in  this  book,  but  other- 
wise will  find  it  useful. 


Arteriosclerosis:  Etiology,  Pathology,  Diagnosis.  Prog- 
nosis, Prophylaxis  and  Treatment.  By  Louis  M.  Warfield,  A. 
B.,  M.  D.  165  pages;  cloth.  C.  V.  Mosby  Medical  Book 
Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo.    1908. 

The  author  tells  us  that  he  has  attempted  in  this  volume  "to 
give  to  the  general  practitioner  a  readable,  authoritative  essay  on 
a  disease  which  is  especially  an  outcome  of  modern  civilization," 
which  is  a  jolt  for  civilization,  and  a  broad  hint  that  it  needs 
amending  in  some  important  particulars.  The  introduction  is  by 
W.  S.  Thayer,  M.  D.,  of  the  Johns  Hopkins,  who  takes  occasion 
to  exclaim  against  "the  tyranny  of  words"  in  medicine,  such  as 
"biliousness,"    "malaria,"    "rheumatism,"    "gastritis"    and   others 


Book  Notices.  565 

under  which  "pathologic  ignorance  hide."  Incidentally  "the  term 
'arteriosclerosis'  is  fast  coming  to  take  a  place  near  the  throne 
once  occupied  by  'malaria ;'  it  is  becoming  a  dangerous  word." 
From  which  it  may  be  infered  that  at  Johns  Hopkins  they  are  be- 
ginning to  individualize  their  patients  and  ignore  disease  names, 
which,  indeed,  is  a  mighty  stride.  In  the  treatment  "first  and 
foremost  is  exercise,"  and  first  in  exercise  is  golf — which  elimi- 
nates a  few  of  us.  If  the  reader  wants  to  know  more  of  this  really 
interesting  book  he  will  have  to  buy  a  copy.  There  is  a  good  deal 
in  it. 


Proceeding  of  the  Forty-fourth  Annual  Session  of  the 
Homoeopathic  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  Edited 
by  H.  F.  Staples,  Secretary,  326  pages. 

A  volume  full  of  good  papers  and  interesting  papers.  Presi- 
dent (A.  I.  H.)  Copeland,  on  the  Pharmacopoeia  question,  said 
he  once  seriously  had  doubts  of  the  proposed  official  book,  but 
one  is  needed  to  be  accepted  by  the  Government  (to  prevent  ho- 
moeopathic remedies  from  being  labeled  as  proprietary,  which  is 
an  error,  as  the  law  does  not  require  this),  and  this  one  has  been 
generally  endorsed  by  State  societies,  so  we  had  better  urge  it. 
As  this  book  if  accepted  would,  technically,  and  before  the  courts, 
make  everything,  past  and  future,  above  the  12th  potency  fraudu- 
lent there  are  quite  a  large,  and  rapidly  increasing  number,  who 
think  that  the  acceptance  of  the  book  by  the  Government  would 
be  costly  at  that  price  and  a  very  severe  blow  to  the  welfare  of 
Homoeopathy.  It  would  indirectly  condemn  much  of  the  litera- 
ture, and  many  of  the  provings,  on  which  Homoeopathy  is  built, 
and  extinguish  some  of  our  shining  lights — Samuel  Hahnemann 
among  them.  No  one  disputes  the  desirability  of  Government 
recognition,  but  is  it  wise  at  this  price?  Did  the  members  realize 
this? 


Practical  Points  in  Anaesthesia.  By  Frederick-Emil  Neef, 
B.  S.,  B.  L.,  M.  L.,  M.  D.,  New  York.  Price,  semi-De  Luxe 
cloth,  60  cents ;  postpaid.  Library.  De  Luxe  ooze  flexible 
leather,  $1.50;  postpaid.  Surgery  Publishing  Co.,  92  William 
St.,  N.  Y.,  U.  S. 

A  neat  little  book  with  red  letter  marginal  index  (also  full  in- 
dex) telling  you  how  to  handle  anaesthetics. 


Honriceopathic  Recorder. 

PUBLISHED    MONTHLY    AT    LANCASTER,    PA. 

By  BOERICKE  &  TAFEL. 

SUBSCRIPTION,  $i.oo,TO  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES  $1.24  PER  ANNUM 
Address  communications,  books  for  review,  exchanges,  etc.,  for  the  editor,  to 

E.  P.  ANSHUTZ,  P.  O.  Box  921,  Philadelphia,  Pa 

EDITORIAL    BREVITIES. 

With  this  issue,  which  closes  the  twenty-third  volume  of  the 
Homoeopathic  Recorder,  the  management  desires  to  thank  its 
many  readers  and  friends  for  their  assistance  during  the  past 
year  and  for  their  kind  words  and  encouragement.  These  words 
may  not  have  been  acknowledged  at  the  time,  but  they  were 
keenly  appreciated.  It  is  the  aim  of  The  Recorder  to  be  a  lib- 
eral, yet  staunchly  homoeopathic  journal,  also  to  be  readable  and 
practically  helpful. 

Gentle  reader  were  you  ever  called  upon  to  make  a  speech — you 
who  had  never  made  one  before?  If  it  came  off  all  right  do  you 
remember  an  obscure  but  certainly  evident  feeling  of  satisfaction 
that  followed,  and  an  access  of  that  very  desirable  trait,  confi- 
dence in  yourself?  There  is  something  akin  to  it  in  writing. 
Nearly  everyone  knows  something  just  a  little  better  than  most 
of  his  fellows,  and  the  mere  writing  of  it  makes  him  uncon- 
sciously, perhaps,  a  larger  man.  A  point  about  a  certain  remedy, 
a  little  useful  detail  of  practice,  an  observation  on  something  gen- 
erally unknown,  contributes  to  the  common  fund.  We  are  de- 
pendent on  our  fellows.  Imagine  owning  the  earth  and  being 
compelled  to  live  alone  on  your  property?  The  Recorder  gives 
its  contributors  a  big,  and  we  are  glad  to  say,  a  growing  circle 
of  readers,  not  local  but  scattered  over  the  five  continents  of  the 
world — and  many  of  the  islands. 

Lastly,  and  distastefully,  comes  the  question  of  "paying  up" 


Editorial.  v>j 

subscriptions,  a  bothersome  but  necessary  detail,  made  more  so 
by  the  later  ruling  of  the  Post-Office  Department.  Please  remit 
as  soon  as  convenient. 

And  now.  A  Merry  Christmas  and  a  Happy   New    Year  to  all! 


The  Uric  Acid  Cycle. — A  few  years  ago  uric  acid  held  the 
center  of  the  stage,  and  men  cheered  it  and  wrote  books  about  it. 
But  now — let  this  clipping  from  a  recent  editorial  tell  the  story : 
''The  old  notion  of  the  uric  acid  diathesis  and  the  systemic  ac- 
cumulation of  the  products  of  poor  metabolism  as  a  causative 
factor  of  so-called  articular  rheumatism,  is  becoming  obsolete  dur- 
ing recent  years  in  the  advanced  professional  mind."  The  writer 
just  quoted  says  it,  uric  acid  and  what  it  stands  for,  is  infectious — 
a  germ  disease.  This  being  so  salicylic  acid  is  as  out  of  date  as 
are  the  many  advertised  remedies  for  the  "elimination  of  uric 
acid."  To-day  the  center  of  the  stage  is  occupied  by  "vaccines" 
which  seem  to  have  shouldered  serums  out  of  the  way.  Perhaps 
when  the  results  of  injecting  dead  microbes  (excuse  the  obsolete 
word)  into  the  blood  is  revealed,  there  may  be  "the  hook"  for  it. 
Quien  sabef  Homoeopaths  will  do  well  to  stick  to  their  time  and 
storm  tried  similia.  It  is  solid  rock.  Sometimes  one  is  inclined 
to  believe  that  the  much  used  term  "recent  advances"  should  be 
altered  to  read  "the  latest  changes." 

Osteopathy. — Doubtless  every  one  will  admit  that  what  is 
known  as  "osteopathy"  has  a  limited  sphere  of  use,  but  its  pro- 
fessors are  claiming  the  whole  field  for  it.  In  a  journal  received 
among  exchanges  is  one  termed  Osteopathic  Health  which  claims 
liver,  stomach,  heart  and  eye  diseases  as  being  curable  by  oste- 
opathic measures  as  well  as  pulmonary  tuberculosis,  anremia.  ton- 
silitis  and  kindred  diseases.  Whatever  good  there  is  in  the 
method  bids  fair  to  be  smothered  by  absurd  claims  of  this  nature, 
which  read  more  like  an  old  fashioned  patent  medicine  advertise- 
ment than  the  claim  of  a  science  that  aspires  to,  and  in  some  cases 
has  received,  State  recognition. 

Trades  and  Professions. — President  Faunce,  of  the  Brown 
University,  remarks  that  "trade  makes  one  the  rival  of  every 
other  trader;  profession  makes  one  the  co-operator  with  all  his 


568  Editorial. 

colleagues."  It  is  evident  that  the  good  president  has  not  read 
Bryan's  speeches  on  the  trade  trusts,  or  attended  a  convention  of 
— any  profession.    His  ideal  is  right,  but  it  is  not  realized. 

How  to  Get  Testimonials. — The  following  occurs  in  the  cir- 
cular letter  that  accompanies  the  "literature"  of  a  certain  "eth- 
pharmacal"  recently  sent  broadcast.  "In  any  event  we  would 
like  to  have  whatever  clinical  data  you  can  give  us  in  regard  to 

your  experience  with ,  even  if  it  covers  only  one  case.    As 

a  token  of  our  appreciation  of  such  a  report,  we  will  send  you 
three  full  sized  bottles  of ,  express  prepaid,  for  your  per- 
sonal use."  Not  so  liberal  as  it  looks ;  three  dollars  worth  of  a 
proprietary  for  the  use  of  a  physician's  name  is  cheap,  especially 
as  the  advertisement  in  the  long  run  will  do  the  physician  more 
harm  than  good. 

"The  Problems  of  Antitoxin." — Under  this  title  Dr.  Szon- 
tagh  contributes  a  paper  to  the  Jahrbuch  fuer  KinderJieilkunde 
(September)  which  seems  to  demonstrate  that  antitoxin  in  diph- 
theria is  like  salicylic  acid  in  rheumatism — it  stops  short  of  a 
cure.  This  is  an  abstract  of  the  paper  found  in  an  allopathic 
journal : 

Szontagh  has  waited  until  his  cases  of  diphtheria  reached  1,000  before 
formulating  his  final  opinion  on  the  value  of  antitoxin  treatment.  Its  local 
action,  he  says,  is  established  beyond  question,  but  he  can  not  accept  an 
antitoxic  power.  After  a  certain  limit  is  reached,  the  efficiency  of  the 
serum  ceases  to  keep  pace  with  the  number  of  units  injected.  Antitoxin 
introduced  into  the  circulation  does  not  seem  able  to  free  the  bound  toxin. 
The  fulminating  cases  are  probably  the  result  of  mixed  infection.  In  two 
cases  in  his  experience  a  non-diphtheric  phlegmonous  inflammation  simu- 
lated true  croup.  It  is  possible  that  this  may  be  the  explanation  of  the 
failure  of  antitoxin  in  certain  cases  of  supposed  diphtheria. 

Opening  Possibilities. — At  the  late  Congress  Dr.  S.  Robin- 
son read  a  paper  on  the  surgical  aspects  of  tuberculosis  of  the 
lungs  and  pleura.  He  concluded  that  "it  can  no  longer  be  justly 
stated  that  tuberculosis  of  the  lung  and  pleura  is  out  of  reach  of 
the  surgeon,  but  the  question  remains  an  open  one  as  to  whether 
drainage  or  excision  of  tubercular  foci  in  the  thoracic  cavity  can 
ever  result  in  the  removal  of  the  infection.'  Perhaps  before  long 
it  will  be  contended  that  as  soon  as  a  diagnosis  of  tuberculosis  of 


Editorial.  569 

the  lungs  is  established  it  will  be  folly  to  delay  operation.  So 
long  as  the  theory  that  all  disease  is  the  result  of  germs  that  can 
be  seen  and  cultivated  the  surgeon  is  logically  right,  for  what  can 
a  drug  in  the  stomach,  or  injected  in  the  blood,  do  to  remove  a 
bacillus  from  the  lung.  But  there  be  those  who  regard  this 
germ  theory  as  but  one  of  the  ephemeral  fancies  of  the  day,  and 
that  disease  is  something  quite  apart  from  its  so-called  germ. 

A  Serum  Possibility. — Judging  from  the  report  of  Dr.  Flick's 
paper  read  at  the  late  Tuberculosis  Congress,  the  serum  making 
and  giving  may  develop  the  disease  it  is  supposed  to  prevent  a 
cure.  However,  let  the  report  (Journal  A.  M.  A.)  tell  its  own 
story : 

Some  of  Maragliano's  serum  was  imported  for  use  in  the  institute,  and 
Dr.  Ravenel  made  the  serum  according  to  Maragliano's  method.  Twenty 
members  of  the  staff  used  the  serum  and  reported  on  it.  The  con 
of  opinion  of  these  men  was  that  the  serum  had  no  specific  value.  The 
cows  used  for  making  serum  were  tested  for  tuberculosis  and  found  free 
from  it.  They  were  guarded  against  infection.  They  were  immunized  by 
injections  with  material  recommended  by  Maragliano.  The  scrum  given 
by  them  seemed  to  be  as  satisfactory  as  the  imported  serum.  On  June  16, 
1907,  one  of  the  cows  died  of  general  tuberculosis.  At  autopsy  she  was 
found  extensively  diseased.  The  other  cow  was  killed  and  was  found  to 
be  slightly  tuberculous.  The  death  of  the  cow  from  general  tuberculosis 
brings  up  two  important  questions:  1.  Can  an  animal  give  an  immunizing 
serum  and  itself  not  be  immune?  2.  Does  the  withdrawal  of  serum  from 
an  animal  deprive  it  of  its  protection  against  the  tubercle  bacillus? 

As  these  two  cows  were  previously  healthy  they  were  either  dis- 
eased by  the  (presumably)  ''tuberculin  test."  by  the  serum  mak- 
ing process,  or  by  both.  In  view  of  this  uncertainty  it  is  curious 
that  this  learned  Congress  should  over-rule  Koch  in  his  conten- 
tion that  what  is  known  as  "bovine  tuberculosis"  is  not  conta- 
gious, and  side  with  those  who  would  continue  the  "test"  and 
further  enforce  it.  What  a  plight  some  scientists  would  be  in  if  it 
is  found  that  the  extract  of  consumption,  i.  e.}  tuberculin,  is  a 
potent  means  of  propagating  the  disease,  as  witness  the  cows  Dr. 
Flick  tells  us  about. 

Late  Investigations  and  Medical  Progress.  --<  )ur  "Id  and 
esteemed  Detroit  Medical  Journal  for  October  con  3  with 

the  leading  article  by  Henry  Rockwell  Varney,  M.   1)..  on  "The 


5/0  Editorial. 

Serum  Diagnosis  of  Syphilis."  From  the  scientific  paper  the 
following  is  taken  as  illustrating  the  advanced  methods  of  those 
foremost  in  medical  science : 

The  technique  first  used  by  Wasserman  for  the  diagnosis  of  syphilis  was 
as  follows :  To  the  complement  of  guinea-pig  he  added  the  inactivated 
serum  of  an  ape,  highly  immunized  to  syphilis,  plus  the  serum  of  a  syph- 
ilitic. This  complement  was  not  able  to  bring  about  hemolysis.  They 
treated  apes  with  the  blood  of  patients  with  secondary  syphilis,  or  extract 
of  primary  syphilitic  bubo,  or  extract  of  condyloma,  or  extract  of  organ  of 
a  child  who  died  with  hereditary  syphilis,  or  extract  of  the  organ  of  an 
ape  which  had  been  inoculated  several  weeks  previous.  If  the  inactivated 
serum  of  this  ape  and  normal  serum  of  a  guinea-pig  were  mixed  with  an 
extract  of  placenta  of  a  mother  with  secondary  syphilis,  or  extract  of  an 
organ  of  an  ape,  which  had  been  inoculated  seven  or  eight  weeks  pre- 
viously, hemolysis  did  not  occur.  From  these  experiments  they  concluded 
that  antibodies  are  developed  in  the  sera  of  apes  which  are  treated,  and  that 
syphilitic  bodies,  or  antigens,  are  found  in  the  extract. 

With  this  little  extract  as  a  specimen  of  the  profound  researches 
being  made  to-day,  which  may  lead  to  peculiar  and,  possibly,  un- 
looked  for  results,  we  close  the  subject,  for  too  much  light  all  at 
once  might  be  blinding. 

Vaccine  Diagnosis. — The  technique  of  vaccination  with  tuber- 
culin for  diagnostic  purposes  is  the  same  as  vaccination  with 
cow-pox,  according  to  Dr.  W.  J.  Butler.  The  Medical  Record 
says :  "The  test  acts  in  children,  since  healthy  adults  may  give 
the  reaction.  It  also  fails  in  the  last  days  of  life  in  fatal  tuber- 
culosis. A  positive  reaction  in  a  child  is  diagnostic  of  tuberclosis, 
and  a  failure  of  reaction  does  not  prove  absence  of  tuberculosis." 
As  this  does  not  seem  to  have  been  written  in  a  numerous  vein,  we 
may  conclude  that  if  the  vaccinated  shows  reaction  he  may  have 
tuberculosis  or  he  may  not,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  does  not 
react  he  may  not  be  tuberculous  unless  he  is  tuberculous.  It  is 
very  lucid  and  undoubtedly  accurate,  for  it  proves  beyond  all 
question  that  the  patient  has  tuberculosis  unless  he  happens  to  be 
free  from  it.  Post  mortems  alone  can  definitely  determine  the 
accuracy  of  the  diagnosis."  Sufficient  time  has  not  elapsed  to  de- 
termine what  are  the  constitutional  effects  of  the  operation  on  the 
patient,  but  it  is  considered  a  great  improvement  on  the  old 
"tuberculin  test,"  not  being  so  dangerous.  Osier  was  right  when 
he  said  that  Homoeopathy  is  "antiquated ;"  for  this  fact  let  us  be 
grateful. 


Editorial. 

Alcoholism  a  Germ  Disease0 — At  the  last  annual  meeting 
of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  Dr.  T.  II.  Crothers,  of  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  is  reported  as  saying  that  alcoholism  is  worse  than 
syphilis,  tuberculosis  or  any  other  germ  disease  :  als<  i :  "Alc<  >hi  »li 
is  contagious,  infectious  and  curable  in  the  same  sense  a^  other 
disease,  and  it  is  always  a  medical  problem  and  not  a  moral  one. 
The  present  agitation  by  laymen,  reformers  and  quack-  -  a  start- 
ling reflection  upon  the  stupidity  of  physicians,  who,  of  all  others, 
should  teach  the  public  and  point  out  the  means  of  cure  and  i 
vention."  In  the  lexicon  of  modern  scientific  medicine  is  there 
any  disease,  moral  or  physical,  that  is  not  a  "germ"  disease?  Ap- 
parently not.  The  logical  outcome  of  this  "science"  must  be  that 
physicians  are  a  useless  set  and  the  sick  should  be  turned  over  to 
health  boards  and  bacteriologists.  According  to  these  eminent 
scientists  about  all  left  for  the  physician  is  to  '"warn  and  instruct 
the  public."  \Yonder  how  much  longer  such  "science"  will  be 
accorded  the  leading  place? 

The  Great  Germ  Killer. — At  the  same  meeting  Dr.  II.  E. 
Jones,  of  Roanoke,  asserted  that  mercury  is  a  specific,  not  only 
for  syphilis,  "but  for  every  other  disease  caused  by  a  living  organ- 
ism." If  this  is  so,  and  as  all  diseases  are  germ  diseases,  and, 
presumably,  all  germs  are  "living  organisms,"  what  is  there  left 
for  physicians  to  do?  Let  the  world  take  mercury  and  be  healed. 
In  the  imminent  medical  cataclysm  the  surgeon  is  the  only  one 
who  will  escape,  for  it  has  not  yet  been  discovered  by  the  medi- 
cal scientist  that  broken  bones  are  a  germ  disease  even  if  the 
Christiana  scientist  has  discovered  that  it  is  but  imagination.  Be- 
tween these  two  scientists  the  poor  doctor  seems  to  be  in  a 
way.  But  let  him  take  heart,  for  there  are  still  a  goodly  number 
of  the  unscientific  who  think  they  need  him.  even  if,  from  the 
scientists  point  of  view,  they  don't. 

Koch  and  the  Congress. — In  his  discussion,  or,  rather,  s< 
what  hot  controversy,  over  the  question  as  to  whether  bovine  and 
tubercle  are  idential,  Koch  said:  "To  Theobald  Smith,  of  Har- 
vard, belongs  the  credit  to  have  been  the  first  to  direct  attenl 
to  certain  differences  between  the  tubercle  bacilli  found  in  man 
and  in  cattle.  It  was  his  work  which  induced  me  to  take  up  this 
same  studv."  In  the  discussion,  needless  to  gro  into  here,  he  sho\^ 


572  Editorial. 

the  difference  between  the  two ;  how  the  same  line  of  investigation 
and  reasoning  that  demonstrates  the  alleged  fact  that  the  human 
tubercle  is  contagious  demonstrates  that  the  bovine  tubercle  is  not 
contagious  to  human  lungs,  but  the  Congress  for  some  occult  rea- 
son refused  to  accept  the  conclusion  of  their  real  leader.  Koch, 
it  is  reported,  challenged  his  opponents  to  show  a  single  case  of 
tuberculosis  resulting  from  beef  or  milk.  When  one  considers  the 
enormous  useless  expense  fighting  bovine  tuberculosis  has  been 
to  the  public  if  Koch  is  right,  the  action  of  the  Congress  is  ex- 
plainable and  quite  human.    We  all  like  to  come  down  easy. 

Correction. — In  the  paper  on  Bothrops  Lanceolatus,  by  Dr. 
Eduardo  Fornias,  published  in  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder  for 
October,  the  matter  following  the  "note,"  page  441,  should  not  be 
in  quotation  marks,  as  it  was  by  Dr.  Fornias  and  not  from  the 
paper  of  Dr.  Sieffert,  as  was  the  matter  immediately  preceding. 

What  Is  Vaccine  Therapy. — It  is  the  treatment  of  infectious 
diseases  in  general  by  the  inoculation  of  the  patient  with  the  prod- 
uct of  the  dead  bodies  of  the  micro-organisms  of  the  same  species 
that  has  caused  and  is  maintaining  the  morbid  process  in  the  or- 
ganism.— Dr.  H.  B.  Weaver,  Charlotte  Medical  Journal. 

A  Gruesome  Charge. — The  N.  Y.  Medical  Times  for  Novem- 
ber contains  a  paper  by  Dr.  Charles  E.  Page,  of  Boston,  headed 
"The  Needless  Slaughter  in  Typhoid  Fever."  It  begins :  "The 
story  of  typhoid  fever  under  the  prevailing  treatment  is  a  fearful 
one  indeed."  This  is  followed  later  on  by  the  question,  "Have 
you  ever  had  typhoid  fever?"  the  question  asked  by  life  insurance 
men,  because  "of  all  ayphoid  fever  patients  who  survive  the  attack, 
one-fourth  finally  die  of  consumption."  The  killing,  according  to 
Dr.  Page,  is  accomplished  by  forced  feeding  and  trying  to  sub- 
due the  temperature  and  thus  enable  the  patient  "to  die  with  a 
fairly  normal  temperature."  The  proper  treatment,  according  to 
Dr.  Page,  is  to  stop  feeding  and  drugs  and  allow  all  the  water  de- 
sired, and  sponge  baths  or  cold  compresses  frequently  renewed. 
Fasting  and  water  clean  out  the  disease  and  recovery  rapidly 
follows.  The  statement  that  one-fourth  of  those  who  have  come 
through  typhoid  bears  out  the  contention  of  Dr.  H.  C.  Allen  that 
back  of  cases  of  bad  fever  is  a  constitutional  taint  that  needs 


Editorial. 

treatment  more  than  the  immediate  fever,  for  it  is  the  evil  power 
behind  the  disease.  So,  to  Dr.  Page's  treatment  should  be  added 
the  dynamized  remedy  which  cannot  have  any  of  the  bad  physi- 
ological effects  that  follow  the  material  dose.  The  statement  by 
Dr.  Allen,  mentioned  above,  will  be  found  fully  elucidated  in  his 
Therapeutics  of  Fever. 

Congress. — The  congress  habit  seems  to  be  growing.  The 
latest,  probably,  is  a  Congress  on  Thalassapheraphy.  to  meet 
somewhere  in  the  south  of  Austria.  To  save  the  reader  the  job 
of  getting  down  his  dictionary  it  may  be  stated  that  the  long 
word  when  Englished  means  "sea-therapy."  Atlantic  City  would 
be  an  excellent  place  in  which  to  hold  such  a  congress,  because 
the  delegates,  if  they  had  any  money,  could  have  a  good  time  in 
almost  any  line  of  good  time  they  might  select,  limited  only  by  the 
size  of  their  "wad"  and' their  physical  capacity.  A  congress  com- 
posed of  the  fraternity  of  The-Old-Man-YYho-Pays-the-Bills 
would  command  world-wide  attention.  Incidentally  the  old  man 
might  blow  in  a  little  himself — if  he  has  any  left — after  "the  sea- 
son." But  then  "the  season''  never  ceases,  for  one  doth  tread  on 
the  heels  of  another,  so  this  congress  is  but  a  vain  dream.  Let  the 
good  work  go  on. 

Arnica. — In  a  short  paper  (Hahn.  Monthly,  Nov.)  on  "The 
Application  of  the  Homceopa  thic  Remedy  in  Obstetrics,"  Dr.  E. 
A.  Kruson,  of  Xorristown,  Pa.,  writes  :  "After  attending  a  woman 
through  a  normal,  healthy  labor,  where  no  special  remedy  is  in- 
dicated, I  always  prescribe  Arnica.  After  labor  the  tissues  are 
always  left  more  or  less  bruised  and  sore.  Arnica  will  relieve  that 
soreness  and  produce  an  early  repair  of  the  tissues  and  rest  of  the 
patient."  It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  note  that  the  Arnica  used 
for  internal  prescriptions  differs  from  that  used  externally,  being 
made  from  the  green  plant,  while  the  latter  is  made  from  the 
dried  plant. 

The  Great  "Blood  Purifier." — The  following  is  clipped  from 
a  paper  by  Dr.  J.  R.  Smith  in  the  Medical  Brie 

"Echinacea   is   one   of   the   most   valuable    internal    antiseptic    and    anti- 
purulent  agents  we  possess.  It  is  indicated  in  all  blood  dyscrasias,  in  all 
cachetic  conditions,  in   sepsis,  acne,  boils,   carbuncle?,  cellulitis 
are  benefited  by   it;    in   typhoid    fever,   pneumonia,   puerperal   sepsis,   the 


574  Editorial. 

\ 
eruptive  fevers,  especially  small-pox  and  scarlet  fever ;  in  ulcerative 
tonsillitis,  'spotted  or  tick'  fever,  in  erysipelas,  with  tendency  to  slough- 
ing, in  septic  wounds,  and  'blood  poisonings/  it  is  our  most  reliable  in- 
ternal remedy.  Echinacea  will  give  results  only  when  pushed;  small  doses 
do  no  good,  unless  administered  at  frequent  intervals." 

Medical  Legislation  Overdone  in  Germany. — Writing  of 
the  medical  legislation  proposed  by  the  A.  M.  A.,  the  editor  of 
The  Medical  Brief  has  the  following  to  say  of  what  happened  in 
German)' : 

That  country,  as  everyone  knows,  has  gone  far  ahead  of  any  other  civ- 
ilized nation  in  its  efforts  at  state  regulation.  The  physicians,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  this  paternalistic  spirit,  gradually  secured  very  restrictive  med- 
ical laws.  Most  of  this  legislation  was  probably  just  such  as  ought  to  have 
been  passed  for  the  benefit  of  the  profession  and  the  protection  of  the 
public ;  but  the  physicians  there  eventually  became  so  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  caste  and  were  so  arrogant  in  their  demands  for  further  privileges,  that 
the  German  people,  accustomed  though  they  are  to  obey  implicitly  the 
mandate  of  a  government  upon  which  they  look  as  occupying  almost  a 
parental  attitude  toward  them,  arose  in  vehement  protest,  with  the  result 
that,  finally,  all  laws  of  every  description  protecting  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine were  wiped  from  the  statute  books. 

Back  to  the  Old  Starting  Point. — An  estimable  contempor- 
ary begins  a  note  as  follows :  "Anti-typhoid  inoculation,  states 
Sanborn  (Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  June  4,  08),  are  practic- 
able," which  statement  is  quite  true,  for  inoculation  is  an  old 
method  of  communicating  disease.  "Every  person  to  be  inoculat- 
ed should  have  explained  to  him  the  symptoms  that  may  follow  ; 
that  a  few  hours  of  malaise  will  have  to  be  endured.  When  we 
propose  protective  inoculations  during  an  epidemic  in  persons 
possibly  already  exposed  we  must  further  explain  the  possibility 
of  their  being  infected,  and  in  the  septicemic  stage  before  symp- 
toms have  developed,  and  the  probability  that  if  inoculated  under 
these  conditions  a  more  serious  attack  may  be  brought  on  than 
would  have  followed  naturally  if  there  had  been  no  inoculation ; 
also  the  possibility  of  infection  immediately  after  inoculation  dur- 
ing the  period  of  depressed  resistance  (negative  phase)  when 
there  would  be  an  abnormal  susceptibility  to  typhoid  fever.  Un- 
der such  circumstances  the  course  of  the  disease  is  usually  mild." 

All  of  the  foregoing  is  on  precisely  the  same  basis  that  the  old 
inoculation  for  small-pox  rested  on,  but  it  comes  from  very  scien- 
tific sources.    The  old  "dust  heap"  is  being  stirred  up. 


News  Items.  $/$ 


NEWS  ITEMS. 

The  new  maternity  hospital  erected  at  Springfield,  Mass.. 
opens  some  time  latter  part  of  November,  'o8,  for  patients.  There 
is  equal  representation  of  the  homoeopathic  and  dominant  schools 
of  medicine.  This  hospital  was  donated  by  Daniel  B.  Wesson,  of 
the  Smith  &  Wesson  Revolvers,  and  according  to  his  will  there 
must  be  equal  representation  of  the  two  schools.  The  hospital 
cost  $200,000  to  erect  and  equip,  and  accommodates,  possibly, 
thirty-six  patients. 

Dr.  and  Surgeon  De  Witt  G.  Wilcox,  after  twenty-two  years 
of  successful  practice  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  will  remove  to  Boston, 
Mass.,  where  he  will  join  forces  with  Dr.  N.  W.  Emerson  in  the 
surgical  Emerson  Hospital  of  that  city.  With  these  two  men 
patients  will  be  certain  of  the  most  skilled  surgical  attendance. 

With  the  December  issue  of  the  Medical  Century  it  ceases  to 
exist,  or,  rather,  it  becomes  the  Journal  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Homoeopathy. 

Dr.  Henry  C.  Vaughn,  Hahnemann,  San  Francisco,  '04,  has 
been  appointed  Chief  Medical  Inspector  of  the  Department  of  In- 
dian Affairs  for  Alaska.     Headquarters,  Douglass,  Alaska. 

The  summer  session  of  the  Homoeopathic  Department  at  the 
University  of  Michigan  is  announced  to  begin  June  8,  1909. 

Closely  following  the  decision  of  the  Illinois  courts  that  com- 
pulsory vaccination  was  unconstitutional,  the  Washington  (the 
State)  courts  sustain  it,  and  Judge  Morris  is  reported,  in  the 
Seattle  Daily  Times,  as  saying  that  "if  any  law  had  been  settled, 
it  was  the  compulsory  vaccination  law."  So  it  appears  that 
judges,  like  doctors  and  lawyers,  sometimes  disagree.  Perhaps  it 
may  be  well  to  add  here  that  by  "settled"  the  judge  meant  that 
the  law  is  constitutional  and  can  be  enforced,  in  his  jurisdiction,  at 
least.    The  case  it  is  stated  will  be  appealed. 


PERSONAL. 


When   ever  the  Recorder  pricks  a  fraud  the  wail  "trade  journal"  is 
heard  in  the  land. 

It  isn't  flattering  to  say  ''he  would  turn  in  his  grave;"  means  he's  only- 
bone-dust,  punk. 

"Esperanto"  is  a  real  sweet  name. 

One  by  one  the  "serums"  are  found  "negative"  or  require  "perfecting. %r 
"Well,  what  do  you  want!     Mocking  birds?" 

A  fat  man  rarely  stoops  to  low  things. 

The  man   trying  to   get   in   is   a   "reformer;"   the   man   who   is   in   is   a 
"ringster,"  otherwise  "office  seeker"  and  "office  holder," 

"Millionaires  who  laugh  are  rare."    Andrew  Carnegie.     But  not  to  laugh 
doesn't  indicate  you're  a  millionaire,  so  there  ye  are! 

When  you  give  money,  ye  charitable  one.  be  a  sport  and  don't  condi- 
tion it  on  a  "similar  amount"  being  raised  by  some  other  fellow  sinner. 

Osteopathic   journals    now    write    of    the    "fakirs    of   neuropathy."      Ohr 
fudgeopathy ! 

"A  willingness  even  to  do  as  you're  told— that's  grip."     Recent  verse. 

A  man   says   kids  are  educated   so  early  and  thoroughly  that  the  old 
mother  of  other  years  is  no  longer  wanted. 

Life  says  that  Koch's  ideas  concerning  bovine  bacilli  caused  a  panic  in 
"the  germ  industry." 

Cynicus  wonders  why  women  never  faint  unless  there  is  a  man  about. 
Doctor  Mary  s-jys  "horrid  men"  cause  it,  "that's  why!" 

The  toughest  sentence :    "Six  slim,  slick  saplings." 

After  he  "wins  her  hand"  she  often  keeps  him  well  in  it. 

There  is  generally  a  pessimist  in  the  house  of  every  pianist. 

The  hen  is  an  alchemist  of  high  degree  who  turns  worms  into   fresh 
laid  eggs. 

The  book  everybody  should  read  accumulates  dust,  while  the  book  no- 
body should  read  becomes  dog-eared. 

Answer!     Quick!     Who  was  vice-president  last  year? 


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